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Britney Spears

Lena Dunham Is Back in the Spotlight

Lena Dunham wears a rainbow cape on the cover of THR

Lena Dunham is on the cover of THR to talk about her new Sundance film (“My dad called it a ‘sexual fable'”), break her silence on dissolving her creative partnership with Girls co-showrunner Jenni Konner (“I think my recovery played a part in the break with Jenni insofar as it showed me that I needed to pause and clear the slate. I needed to almost start again and just hear my own voice”), and gush about the Sex and the City revival (“It was such a pleasure to see those women back together and to see them take on middle-age sexuality. For me, those are women who can do no wrong”).  I do think this profile lets her off the hook a bit too easily by dismissing her previous controversies through the lens of how right-wing vs left-wing audiences reacted.

-In a new interview to promote the release of his book, Brian Cox says his Succession costar Jeremy Strong was warned against doing the now infamous NYer profile. “It was Jeremy’s idea, the whole article. He pushed for it, and you know, and people kept warning him about it…There is a certain amount of pain at the root of Jeremy, and I just feel for that pain. I think that he puts himself in vulnerable positions and with that New Yorker article, he placed himself in a very, very vulnerable position, and I think that he didn’t need to do that.” When asked if he too was putting himself in a similarly vulnerable position by releasing a memoir, Cox hilariously responded: “No, no. Listen, I’m too old, too tired and too talented for any of that shit.”

Machine Gun Kelly told Vogue that Megan Fox’s engagement ring was designed to hurt if she takes it off. “The bands are actually thorns. So if she tries to take it off, it hurts…Love is pain.” This is some grade A bullshit and I hope she uses it as an excuse to make him to all the housework for the rest of their lives. (“Oh sorry honey, I was going to wash the dishes but taking off my ring is too painful so you need to do it.”)

-Fashion icon and former Vogue creative director André Leon has died at 73. (It trended last night but it took the Vogue twitter account until late this morning to mention it.) In her tribute, Vogue’s Anna Wintour acknowledged that the pair had a “complicated” relationship in recent years.

-This is devastating: French actor Gaspard Ulliel, who stars in Marvel’s upcoming Moon Knight series, passed away at age 37 after a ski accident in the Alps.

Jon Bernthal talked to the NYT about his struggle to make it as a supporting scene-stealer. “I remember casting directors looking at my big nose and my giant ears and just being like, ‘What are you doing here?'” Casting directors are clearly not following the same people I am on Twitter. That swoony clip of him saying “you can call me whatever you want” while smirking hits my TL at least 3 times a week (and I stop to watch it every. damn. time.)

Britney Spearslegal team claims her father, Jamie Spears, collected over $6 million in payments during his years as his daughter’s conservator, as well as spied on her daily activities by secretly obtaining her phone records and therapy notes.

Cardi B has offered to pay the burial costs for all 17 people killed in a fire that ripped through a New York City high-rise in the Bronx, where she grew up. She’s also teamed up with The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City to push for systemic changes.

Ray Fisher tweeted: “Joss Whedon had nearly two years to get his story straight. He’s likely spent tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars on PR, crisis management, and coaching. And his response to the allegations is: ‘They all misunderstood and/or are out to get me—also my mom is sexy’ ???” He’s not wrong.

-Seeming to allude to Whedon‘s controversial profile, Sarah Michelle Gellar posted a photo with the caption, “I can’t take back the past, but I can fight for the future.”

-Meanwhile, I really liked this piece on what it’s like for someone who loved Buffy to watch Whedon‘s self-inflicted downfall.

Shane Carruth, the director of indie films Upstream Color and Primer, was arrested last week at the home of his ex-girlfriend on allegations of domestic assault. In his past, another former partner, actor and director Amy Seimetz, obtained a restraining order against Carruth in 2020, saying he had sent her several disturbing and threatening messages since she broke up with him two years earlier.

-I’m getting increasingly excited for Bridgerton whenever there’s a new wave of pics released from the upcoming season. Kanthony hive rise!!

-Speaking of new pics from Netflix shows, Elizabeth Debicki looks a lot like Princess Diana in these shots from season 5 of The Crown.

-I still can’t stop reading about Station Eleven, partly because there is such smart TV criticism surrounding that show, and partly because I didn’t realize how many easter eggs I’d missed while watching it. Like the fact that when we first meet adult Kirsten, she’s near the cabin, which means she went back there every summer to look for [spoiler]. *sob*

-I also liked this article on the show’s key visual choices.

-My love of Yellowjackets lead me to look up Liv Hewson, who plays Van, which led me to discover that she filmed a second season of Dramaworld! It’s an absolutely adorable show about an American waitress who gets sucked into a K-drama she’s watching, and I need to track down the new season.

-The reviews for Jason Katims‘ new autism dramedy on Amazon, As We See It, are very good. After Friday Night Lights, I’ll give all his shows a shot.

-Parasite director Bong Joon Ho and Robert Pattinson are teaming up for a new sci-fi movie. The project will be based on Mickey7, a forthcoming novel from author Edward Ashton.

-The season six trailer for Outlander shows the revolution is in full swing.

-Here’s the trailer for the 4-part docuseries called We Need To Talk About Cosby, debuting at Sundance and airing on Showtime on January 30.

-Here’s Naomi Watts racing against time to get to her son during a school shooting in the trailer for The Desperate Hour. (I liked this when I saw this at TIFF, when it was called Lakewood. The name change is odd; I’m pretty sure that movie unfolded in real time and was longer than an hour.)

Joss Whedon Just Can’t Help Himself

joss whedon new york mag

-I’m bummed that New York magazine gave a full profile feature to Joss Whedon. Did he really need this big of a platform? Again? Luckily, it doesn’t come off as a redemption piece, but only because the man can’t stop playing the victim. Every answer he gives is pretty much a disaster. He talks about having affairs with actresses on the Buffy set: (“‘I feel fucking terrible about them,’ he said. When I pressed him on why, he noted ‘it messes up the power dynamic,’ but he didn’t expand on that thought. Instead, he quickly added that he had felt he ‘had’ to sleep with them, that he was ‘powerless’ to resist. I laughed. ‘I’m not actually joking,’ he said. He had been surrounded by beautiful young women — the sort of women who had ignored him when he was younger — and he feared if he didn’t have sex with them, he would ‘always regret it'”), he blames the Justice League reshoot issues on the cast’s behaviour, saying Gal Gadot simply didn’t understand his jokes (“English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech”) and casts doubts on Ray Fisher‘s motives for speaking out (“We’re talking about a malevolent force. We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses”). The piece actually ends with him saying, “I think I’m one of the nicer showrunners that’s ever been.” Oh, and he alludes to possibly being responsible for another kid’s death when he was five. An absolute and total catastrophe of an interview.

Ray Fisher has responded to Whedon‘s new comments against him through Twitter: “Rather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today — I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tomorrow the work continues.”

Prince Harry says he won’t visit the UK until he can pay for police protection. He’s tried hiring private security but UK intelligence won’t share with them the credible threats. And to make matters worse, the timing of the story is gross.

Tiffany Haddish was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of DUI.

Britney Spears seems to be open to the idea of making amends with her younger sister, Jamie Lynn. “I admire you for being strong … just know I love you and I think you know that already more than anything!!!”

Kanye West doesn’t want his and Kim Kardashian’s four children to have TikTok accounts. Which…sounds reasonable.

-Meanwhile, Kanye West went on Instagram Live to complain that he wasn’t invited to daughter Chicago’s birthday party — but Kim Kardashian was reportedly shocked he said that. He was later pictured at the party.

-Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer and Dominic Fike (who plays new character Elliot) might be dating.

-Oh no. Bryce Dallas Howard is the latest celeb to start promoting NFTs.

Kendall Jenner insists she asked her friend’s permission before she showed up to her wedding in that barely there dress.

Jeff Goldblum and Kyle MacLachlan walked in Prada’s menswear show at Milan Fashion Week.

-Is Chloe Sevigny shooting her shot with Jason Momoa via Instagram?

-God, what a stellar week of TV. First up was the Station Eleven finale, which left me crying happy tears. For a pandemic show based on a somewhat bleak book, those last 10 minutes were the most uplifting thing I’ve seen in ages.

-The other big finale everyone’s talking about is Yellowjackets. I love that the showrunners aren’t afraid to shoot down fan theories. Meanwhile, there’s been some great writing about this show, including this piece on how it embraces its gen x roots, this revealing interview with the showrunners, as well as the various excellent weekly recaps.

-Speaking of Yellowjackets, this is a great interview with Christina Ricci, who is stealing the spotlight every week amid a whole show full of scene stealers. She talks about moving to New York when she was a teen and choosing her apartment because it was in her favourite book (“I lived in the Police Building in Little Italy. We moved into that building because I was obsessed with The Alienist”) and how people treat her worse on the Yellowjackets set as soon as she’s dressed as Misty (“I was just, like ‘Oh, this is so interesting, that just because I’m wearing this wig and glasses they’ve forgotten I’m No. 3 on the call sheet'”).

-In other Yellowjackets cast interviews, Melanie Lynskey says her three leading co-stars supported her when she was body-shamed on set by a producer.

-I liked this piece about how we’re finally moving away from mystery-box TV.

-Scream had a really strong opening weekend at the box office.

-People can’t get enough of Peacemaker’s opening credits dance sequence. John Cena and Jennifer Holland talked about nailing the “stoic” moves.

-Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau fights the elements in the Against the Ice trailer.

 

Priyanka Chopra on the “Professional Hazard” of Social Media

Priyanka Chopra vanity fair

Priyanka Chopra covers Vanity Fair and talks about the social media frenzy that followed after she dropped Nick Jonas‘ name from her Instagram handle. “It’s a very vulnerable feeling, actually, that if I post a picture, everything that’s behind me in that picture is going to be zoomed in on, and people are going to speculate.”

-In a new Harper’s Bazaar profile, artist Anna Marie Tendler reflected on her “surreal and shocking” divorce from comedian John Mulaney.

Britney Spears has responded to her sister Jamie Lynn’s recent ABC News interview in multiple Instagram posts. Britney’s first post mentioned that she had a fever of 104 but her security team wouldn’t leave the premises to get her medicine (or, presumably, a covid test?!), while her latest post said that her sister had “stooped to a whole new level of LOW” and denied Jamie Lynn’s story that she once grabbed a knife and locked them in a room.

Pete Davidson won’t be hosting the Oscars, mostly because he’s too tied to NBC and the show airs on ABC.

-Meanwhile, unverified leaked audio of what seems to be Kanye West’s newest single has the lyric, “God saved me from that crash/ just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass.”

Anne Hathaway‘s new look is giving people Devil Wears Prada vibes.

-Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has resumed filming after Letitia Wright was injured in a stunt almost five months ago. (Is it horrible that when I first heard about her injury, I didn’t think that was the real reason she couldn’t film?)

-Everyone leaving Lady Gaga hanging out to dry in this clip from an actress roundtable is amazing.

Geena Davis says she was once denied a role because the leading man said she was too old, even though he was older than her.

-Here’s Prada’s new menwear campaign with Tom Holland.

-This is an excellent debate on the quality of Station Eleven. Personally, I think it’s the best show I’ve seen in ages, but it took me a while to figure out that I liked the odd numbered episodes so much more, and that was because the even numbered ones tended to focus on the travelling symphony. I still haven’t watched the finale yet cause I adored episode 9 so much, I kind of want to savor it.

-Speaking of buzzy shows, I like this piece about how Yellowjackets is great because you can either get really deep into theorizing or just ignore the theories completely. (I need to catch up on episodes, but I also think the comparison to Annihilation is spot on.)

-Aw man, Netflix is raising its prices again in the US and Canada.

-Orange Is the New Black’s Danielle Brooks showed off her wedding pics. That dress is stunning.

-FX has ordered a Justified revival, with Timothy Olyphant set to return as Raylan in the limited series.

Alec Baldwin turned over his cell phone to law enforcement officials as part of the investigation into the fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust after it was reported that he’d failed to do so despite a search warrant.

-Here’s the trailer for Netflix’s limited series Inventing Anna, which is Shonda Rhimes‘ latest and is getting lots of buzz.