Browsing Tag

Big Little Lies

Big Drama on Big Little Lies

-Indiewire just published a bomb of an article to lead us into the weekend. According to their sources, HBO and David E. Kelley took the show away from Season 2 director Andrea Arnold (who was told she had free creative reign) without warning and got executive producer (and Season 1 director) Jean-Marc Vallée to reshape her footage and do reshoots to align it with his Season 1 style. The optics on this are BADDDD. As the article states: “A show dominated by some of the most powerful actresses in Hollywood hired a fiercely independent woman director – who was now being forced to watch from the director’s chair as scenes were shot in the style of her male predecessor.” Arnold is an Oscar, BAFTA and three-time Cannes jury-winning director and it feels like HBO used her auteur cred for publicity, only to turn around and say “but let’s make sure men decide the final product.” Diversity and inclusion doesn’t just mean hiring token new people; you need to allow them to succeed. Otherwise, it’s just hollow, performative BS.

-This goes a long way to explaining why, after the first few episodes where we were all wrapped up in the “OMG it’s Meryl” buzz, this season has felt really disjointed and off. Last week’s episode was especially messy. I watched that montage from the last 5 minutes twice and still felt like I didn’t get it. There are only two episodes left and really, what’s this season *about*?

–Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, who publicly supported Arnold’s vision, are exec-producers on the show — which is leading to lots of questions about if they knew what was happening and if they were overruled.

-Anyway, I saw Arnold present her sprawling (and very weird) American Honey at TIFF a few years back and despite its 3 hour runtime and the Shia LeBeouf of it all, I was totally charmed. This scene of Shia dancing to Rihanna in a Kmart to impress a girl remains one of my fave meet-cutes.

-I’m not really sure what type of movie Gunpowder Milkshake is going to be, but judging by their bts videos, no one has ever had more fun making a film than Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, Carla Gugino, Lena Headey, and Karen Gillan.

-How To Get Away with Murder is ending this season – -which means Viola Davis is free  of it!

–Sophie Turner just ended the #BottlecapChallenge.

–Ed Sheeran just confirmed that he’s a married man. In case you were wondering.

-This is a really fun article about how much effort it took to recreate an 80s mall for this season of Stranger Things.

-I wasn’t online yesterday so I missed Jason Momoa getting ridiculed for his “dad bod.” Dads, if this is how you look, feel free to slide into my DMs.

–R. Kelly was arrested on federal sex charges Thursday night nearly five months after he was released on bail.

–Kumail Nanjiani had to cancel his appearance on last night’s Conan through no fault of his own (he was stuck filming Silicon Valley) with a 1/2 hour to go before showtime, so Conan ended up interviewing his assistant — who was a delight!

–Jeremy Renner has released a video for his new song and it’s as bad as you assumed it would be.

-Buckingham Palace confirmed that Meghan and Harry will be on the carpet for the Lion King premiere on Sunday. Beyonce is also attending. The photo possibilities!!

-The more I see from the Beverly Hills: 90210 revival, the more I don’t really understand — but I’m still here for it.

–Milla Jovovich menaces Emma Roberts in Paradise Hills trailer.

Keanu Reeves Gives Shout-Out to Toronto Band Toronto Metz

Keanu Reeves Talks Speed 2

-In Keanu Reeves‘ delicious GQ cover story, he says he was sent “to movie jail” for turning down Speed 2 to play Hamlet in Canada. He also apologized for his time in a band, and mentioned he’s a fan of Toronto-based punks Metz.

-Speaking of delicious mag spreads, check out this Vogue feature on Broadway costars Keri Russell and Adam Driver.

-Whenever Jennifer Garner has dinner with her former Alias costars, it makes my heart burst.

-This is a really good thread about what’s happening between Hollywood agents and the writers guild.

–Cardi B has no intentions of making nice with Nicki Minaj anytime soon…

-Also, Cardi and Offset seem to be officially back on.

-Last night’s Game of Thrones premiere drew 17.4 million viewers.

-It looks like Taylor Swift is about to put out new music, judging by her enigmatic social media posts.

–Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli pleaded not guilty today in the college admissions bribery scandal.

-Yikes. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received terrifying death and bomb threats in the days leading up to their wedding.

-I gave up on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel after season one, but I might have to rethink that decision now that Sterling K Brown in onboard.

-First Get Out, and now Netflix’s upcoming horror The Perfection. Allison Williams is finding her post-Girls niche as a scream queen.

-The trailer for the new season of Big Little Lies is here, and I forgot how much I liked that show.

Big Little Lies Lands Meryl Streep for Season Two

-The show that didn’t need any extra star wattage just got some anyway — in a big way. HBO just announced that Meryl Streep has signed on to Big Little Lies to play the mother of Alexander Skarsgard’s character Perry. Executive producer David E. Kelley told THR in October that the actress— along with Tom Hanks — were his dream casting goals for the show. (Whispers: I still don’t want another season)

-In other huge TV news, CBS says it has given a 13-episode order to a Murphy Brown revival starring Candice Bergen. I would have just been happy if the original was streaming somewhere.

-And because nothing ever dies anymore, Tootsie is coming to Broadway.

-Us Weekly is reporting that James Franco is ‘paranoid about anything getting out‘ since the sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against him.

-Has Darren Aronofsky moved on from Jennifer Lawrence to Suki Waterhouse? How does this keep happening?!?

-I really liked this piece on how Get Out has changed how Hollywood talks about racism.

–Jack White is requiring fans to keep their phones in locked pouches during his concerts. In a sure sign that I’m super old, this sounds like a good idea to me.

-It appears that the Billy Bush redemption tour has officially begun. Keep it.

-Mo Ryan’s interview with seven Breaking Bad writers (including Vince Gilligan) is worth your time.

-Nearly two and a half years after its series premiere, the second season of Jessica Jones will start streaming on Netflix on March 8.

-This Vulture interview with Erykah Badu is wild. She talks about what we’ve lost with the rise of digital music (“You can’t roll a joint on the cover of a digital download”), and says she’s a “humanist” who can see the good in everyone, including Bill Cosby and Hitler.

-This Drunk History episode, which features Tiffany Haddish drunkenly telling the story of Rose Valland (played by Busy Phillips!),  is everything I ever wanted.

-Also, Tiffany Haddish signed a first-look deal with HBO.

-I swear, I don’t understand NBC’s marketing of This Is Us. It’s basically like ‘hang out after the Super Bowl and watch us kill off your favourite character!!” It’s a little distasteful, no?

-Meanwhile, This Is Us star Susan Kelechi Watson told an amazing story about Denzel Washington and Phylicia Rashad.

–Olivia meets Annalise in this first look from the Scandal & HTGAWM crossover. This episode is going to lead to a lot of purse envy across the world.

-Watching Colton Haynes and Kevin McHale gossiping while playing with cats is kind of great.