Monthly Archives

September 2021

Zoë Kravitz is a Triple Threat

Zoë Kravitz wears a fur vest on the cover of Another magazine

-In a new interview with Another, Zoë Kravitz is branching out from acting and working on a solo album with Jack Antonoff, as well as finishing her directorial debut, Pussy Island. The accompanying photos are a little more topless than I need, because apparently I’m turning into my mother…

–Lena Dunham wore three wedding dresses inspired by Claudia Schiffer, Priscilla Presley and Sharon Tate at her London wedding last weekend.

–Jake Gyllenhaal and his girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu made their first public appearance together at the premiere of his sister’s new movie. The 40-year-old actor has been linked to 25-year-old model since 2018.

-On this week’s celebrity news bingo, I did not have “Shakira attacked by wild boars“.

–Aaron Sorkin spoke about the downfall of producer Scott Rudin. “First of all, I have my own experience with Scott, and it’s a higher class of bullying, but I get it.” (I’m more interested by the fact that Josh Charles, who starred in Sorkin’s Sports Night, does not seem to like the interview.)

–This whole thread on Ellen Pompeo is eye-opening, and very much incongruent to how she presents herself as an ally. I know this onset behavior is common (and with actors much lower on the callsheet) but I still can’t believe she volunteered that Denzel story up in a podcast, much less that she did so at the same time a tell-all book is dropping that doesn’t seem to paint her in a great light. Like, why?

–Jamie Spears released a lengthy statement through his lawyer after the court suspended him.

-Meanwhile, Britney Spears is flying high — literally.

-In a new TED Talk, Lizzo opens up about how twerking helped her appreciate her body and delves into the history behind the dance move.

–Lil Nas X says he’s currently single. “I just want to work on music, and every now and then, you know, maybe I’ll kiss a guy every blue moon.”

–Kate Middleton got up close and personal with a tarantula named Charlotte. Prince William did not.

–Graham Norton credits Tom Cruise for getting celebrities comfortable enough to come back into his studio for in-person interviews.

–Daniel Craig has been alerted to the weekend meme. He immediately recognized that it’s not the worst thing to be associated with kicking off what we’re all looking forward to, saying “They do? It’s amazing. I don’t know what that is, but thank you. That’s lovely.”

-To say the reviews for Venom: Let There Be Carnage are mixed would be kind. It’s currently 61% on RottenTomatoes (a drop of 10% since I looked this morning). Some outlets, like the L.A. Times and the Washington Post, gave it raves, but a lot of critics are piling on the venom, calling it a ‘ridiculous mess’ and a ‘porn tentacle fest’ that feels like ‘the mold in the Avengers’ shower.’

–Lily-Rose Depp (who is everywhere lately) falls in love with a guy who thinks he’s a wolf (George MacKay) in the Wolf trailer.

-Here’s the first teaser for Disney’s Encanto.

Katy Perry, Lorde and More Reflect on the Power of Women

Katy Perry wears a white dress on the cover of Variety

-Variety published their Power of Women issue, featuring 5 honorees: Katy Perry, Amanda Gorman, Lorde, Warner Bros TV’s Channing Dungey and Rita Moreno. (The latter’s interview is by far the most amusing.)

-Big win for Britney Spears today in court: her dad was immediately suspended as conservator. Jamie Spears‘ lawyers wanted him to be terminated  but Britney’s lawyers pushed for a suspension instead, saying a termination would mean he’d still get a settlement and wouldn’t be forced to turn over paperwork about how he ran the estate for 13 years.

–Jennifer Garner proves you can just be quietly dating a dude since 2018 and keep it out of the spotlight.

-Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus announced he’s cancer-free after months of chemotherapy. “Still have to get scanned every six month and it’ll take me until the end of the year to get back to normal but today is an amazing day and I feel so blessed.”

–Jesse Palmer will replace Chris Harrison as The Bachelor’s host.

–Brad Pitt is joining his buddy George Clooney in shilling for a European coffee brand.

-The Grey’s Anatomy stories keep coming out — and this one is from Ellen Pompeo herself. She recalled on a podcast the time she got into it with Denzel Washington when he was directing an episode and she said an improvised line of dialogue in a scene with Patrick Dempsey. “I was like, ‘Look at me when you apologize. Look at me.’ And that wasn’t in the dialogue. And Denzel went ham on my ass. He was like, ‘I’m the director. Don’t you tell him what to do.’ I was like, ‘Listen, motherf–ker, this is my show. This is my set. Who are you telling? Like you barely know where the bathroom is.'”  Grey’s being “her set” seems to be a common theme in all these stories.

–Eminem is opening an Italian restaurant — and of course it’s called Mom’s Spaghetti.

–The Weeknd is trying his hand at acting/TV writing. He co-created HBO’s upcoming drama The Idol  with Euphoria’s Sam Levinson, and he’ll also star in it alongside Lily Rose-Depp.

–Kanye West’s Gap hoodie dropped this morning. I hate that I like it.

-Speaking of celeb fashion lines, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have launched a children’s capsule for The Row and I’m trying to figure out how much of these I could fit into…

-Now that she’s out of jail, Lori Loughlin will reprise her role on When Hope Calls as a guest star.

-Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter and Adam Granduciel have reportedly split after 7 years together.

-Everything I’ve heard of Titane makes me certain I never, ever want to see it, but good on director Julia Ducournau for breaking through the noise with a truly unique body horror.

-I finished Netflix’s Midnight Mass last night and I found it a mixed bag (the performances were incredibly strong; Mike Flanagan‘s signature overly long monologues were incredibly annoying), but Rahul Kohli was a big highlight. Not only does he give the best monologue of the season, but he remains a delight on Twitter.

-Speaking of new Netflix shows, I don’t know how Squid Game suddenly became the thing every single person on the planet seems to be talking about.

-In the trailer for his new Hulu show The Next Thing You Eat, David Chang looks at how food is changing, from lab-grown fish to recreated dinosaur burgers.

–Joanna Hogg, Honor Swinton Byrne and Tilda Swinton reunite in the trailer for The Souvenir Part II.

-Here’s a new trailer for the final season of Insecure.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Softer Side

jake gyllenhaal in a pink sweater on the cover ofsunday style

-I’m loving this week’s trend of dudes wearing pink. First there’s Jake Gyllenhaal on the cover of The Sunday Times Style in a sweater that he joked he borrowed from Jamie Lee Curtis. And today was the premiere for the new Bond film in London and I’m gagging over Daniel Craig‘s amazing raspberry velvet jacket. I also loved Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s jumpsuit, and was impressed by Kate Middleton’s dress (but not the hair).

-It’s cute that some people believe that Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell had a relationship and now it’s ended. I am surprised that this “news” came out before their movie debuted though.

-The Grey’s Anatomy tell-all book said that a series regular got fired because she posted pics on social media without first getting Ellen Pompeo’s permission. Said the author, “It was this weird thing that [the unnamed actress] was taking pictures behind-the-scenes and was very active with taking pictures of the crew and telling their stories. But Ellen got to the point where it really became Ellen’s set, so you should really check in with mom, just let her know, ‘FYI, doing this, are you OK?’ Kiss the ring. She didn’t do that…and that was her downfall.” (Based on other articles about the book, it seems like the actress was Jerrika Hinton.)

-And now it’s Netflix’s turn for Britney Spears docs. Their documentary about the singer’s legal battle with her father dropped today. Among the revelations: one of the producers was part of a covert operation to try to get Britney a new lawyer in 2009, and Sam Lutfi denied ever drugging Britney.

-Netflix says it’s trying to be more transparent with ratings, but its latest data dump is still frustratingly vague. What we can tell (sort of) is that Bridgerton, Bird Box and Extraction had lots of viewers.

-Also, the CEO says Squid Game is on its way to become Netflix’s most popular show ever.

-I really liked this review of The Eyes of Tammy Faye. As much as I think Jessica Chastain‘s performance should be awarded, but the way the film makes the character so infantile and victimized doesn’t exactly line up with my recollections of the scandal.

-The original iteration of Law & Order was cancelled a decade ago, and now it’s coming back.

-Stellan Skarsgård revealed his thoughts about Martin Scorsese‘s comments on Marvel movies, and he succinctly explained the current state of cinema. “What Martin Scorsese wrote in his article in the NYT was not that it was Marvel’s fault — because it’s not and he knows that — it’s not Netflix’s fault either that the streaming services are taking over so much. The fault is that we have for decades believed that the markets should rule everything and the rich will get richer, and that is the root of it all…They’re not run anymore by people who want to make money specifically out of film because they like film. They’re run by big corporations that want to have 10% back on their invested capital, which means that as long as they sell popcorn, it’s fine. That’s why all the mid-range films, the films that are lower than $100 million dollar budget, and over $3 million dollars, they don’t exist anymore. It’s only $100 million dollar films and $3 million dollars, and nothing in between.”

–Tom Sturridge stars in trailer for The Sandman series on Netflix.

–Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba face off in the first official trailer for Jay-Z-produced The Harder They Fall, also starring Regina King, Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield, and Zazie Beetz.