Browsing Tag

Bryan Singer

THR’s Drama Actress Roundtable

Janelle Monae, Jennifer Aniston, Zendaya, Reese Witherspoon, Helena Bonham Carter and Rose Byrne
THR/Ramona Rosales

-This year’s Hollywood Reporter’s TV drama actress roundtable features Janelle Monae, Jennifer Aniston, Zendaya, Reese Witherspoon, Helena Bonham Carter and Rose Byrne. I love how Witherspoon, Aniston and Carter are all going on about how the pandemic has given them time to pause and think about the world and Monae says “For me and my people, for the Black community, this is not an exciting time. This isn’t a time that we get to really reflect. We’re dealing with a lot of trauma.”

–Jenny Slate has exited Big Mouth. “Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people. Me playing Missy, I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.” Your move, Kristen Bell.

–Bryan Singer appears to still be preying on boys despite The Atlantic’s explosive expose about him last year. In a new thread, Elijah Daniel details how the disgraced director is still around and allegedly recruiting boys for trips to Hawaii, shifting his focus from aspiring actors to Instagram influencers. Minutes after posting the thread, images of boys with the tag #BryanSinger were scrubbed from Instagram.

–Stephen Colbert interviewed John Bolton last night and did not get off his neck. It was glorious. “How did you not know beforehand that [Trump] was just callow? … You’re an international negotiator. How could you be naive? You’ve dealt with the worst people in the world.”

-The Globes’ TV critic John Doyle spilled some tea on Ben Mulroney and his thin skin in today’s paper. He talked about jokingly creating a ‘most annoying Cdn’ poll in 2003. Mulroney, who was hosting Canadian Idol at the time, tied with the guy from the Canadian Tire ads. “All in good fun. Some of the TV personalities on the list thought it was hilarious. One sent me a bouquet of flowers. I didn’t hear from Ben Mulroney directly of course. Oh my, no. I did hear from Senator Marjory LeBreton, the former deputy chief of staff in Brian Mulroney’s government. Her letter to the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher and CEO of this newspaper, also cc’d me, let me know there was umbrage taken at Ben Mulroney being teased in my column…There was certainly a call or two of complaint to the paper’s then Editor-in-Chief from Brian Mulroney.” While Doyle’s bosses were supportive of him, he says his counterpart at The Sun wasn’t so lucky: “Brian Mulroney was then on the board of Quebecor, which owned the Sun, and the Mulroney family complained to the paper’s bosses about the TV critic’s coverage of Ben. The writer was summoned to a meeting and told, ‘Never type the words ‘Ben Mulroney’ again.’ And he didn’t. He couldn’t.”

-Meanwhile, Lainey reiterated and expanded upon the apology she posted on today’s episode of The Social after her old posts were trending online. This is very well done.

–Penn Badgley spoke about his You costar Chris D’Elia being accused of sexually harassing and grooming underage girls: “It did affect me deeply. I was very troubled by it. I am very troubled by it. I don’t know Chris. I know that, if there’s anything we need to do in this age, it’s to believe women.”

-Days of Our Lives’ Melissa Reeves has come under fire for her anti-Black Lives Matter stance. As someone who once made a scrapbook for Jack & Jennifer’s wedding in her youth, this is super disappointing.

-Brooklyn Nine-Nine is reportedly scrapping four episodes and starting over to focus more on BLM.

-Really liked this piece on how we think of — and what we want from — famous people is changing.

–Roch Voisine was trending in Canada, and I’m so happy that it’s not because he has died… It’s because he’s turned into a stone cold daddy.

–Timothee Chalamet and Eiza Gonzalez were spotted vacationing together in Mexico. How is anyone vacationing right now? I have so many questions.

-TIFF has unveiled the first details about this year’s film festival. It’ll be dramatically scaled down (50 features from last year’s 333), will feature some drive-in screenings, and will have a huge online component.

–John Boyega responded to that viral marriage proposal.

-Netflix’s new cooking show Crazy Delicious is getting great buzz.

–Padma Lakshmi’s Taste the Nation on Hulu is also getting good reviews.

-Eurovision Song Contest, starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams and dropping on Netflix this weekend, is getting mixed reviews. Variety says it’s “a badly shot one-joke movie that sits there and goes thud,” while Vulture calls it “glorious,” the Globe & Mail says “it’s barely a movie at all,” and Vanity Fair calls it “silly and fun.”

-Here’s the trailer for HBO Max’s Expecting Amy, a three-part documentary series following Amy Schumer as she juggles looming parenthood with her stand-up career.

-Here’s the first trailer for J.J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles‘ Little Voice, Apple+’s coming-of-age musical drama.

-I can’t believe The Handmaid’s Tale is still limping along. Here’s the season 4 trailer.

–Jessica Chastain is a rogue assassin in trailer for action movie Ava.

Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue Wows Us

Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue Cover

-There’s so much I love about Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood cover. The majority of actors featured are POC! It was shot by someone other than Annie Leibovitz! The ladies are fully clothed! Regina King looks amazing! It features Elizabeth Debicki — who should be getting wayyyy more buzz for her stunning turn in Widows! I probably would have switched out Nicholas Hoult for Brian Tyree Henry, who might have had the best year of anyone in Hollywood, but this is still pretty great.

-Millennium Films put out a statement confirming that Bryan Singer is going to keep his $10M Red Sonya directing gig even after yesterday’s exposé. The film will adapt a comic book character who becomes a great swordsperson after a group of mercenaries kill her family and their leader rapes her. And Singer’s the guy who gets to tell that story. So that’s just effing great.

–David Tennant is launching his own podcast next week and his first guest will be his former Broadchurch costar and current Oscar nom Olivia Colman. Get in my ear holes!!

–Jeff Bridges is teasing that his Big Lebowski character will return on Feb 3 — in a Super Bowl commercial.

-I can’t stop staring at this image that Julianne Moore posted on Instagram. Stun-ning!

-This interview with Catharine O’Hara is a total delight.

–George Clooney responded to The Guardian’s op-ed that questioned his loyalty in helping Sudan with his own article.

–Priyanka Chopra is back from her honeymoon and proving that being married hasn’t stopped her from pulling off bad jeans.

-Is it weird to get turned on by a promo image for a play?

-Only “Shallow” from A Star Is Born and “All the Stars” from Black Panther will be performed at the Oscars. The nominated songs from Mary Poppins, RBG or Buster Scruggs won’t make the cut.

-I’m pretty pumped for USA’s new Briarpatch show starring Rosario Dawson, which was written by one of my fave podcasters.

-The CW is sticking with what it knows. They just ordered spinoffs of Jane the Virgin and Riverdale.

-Everyone’s talking about the batshit ending of Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway‘s new movie Serenity so I went ahead and spoiled myself. Worth it.

-Go, Anna Wintour!

-I’m pretty much all the way out on the Handmaid’s Tale at this point, but Christopher Meloni and Elizabeth Reaser are both good gets.

-The trailer for The Umbrella Academy, Netflix’s new show starring Ellen Page, looks like an American version of Misfits and I’m kind of here of it. They even cast Nathan!

Mindy Kaling’s Life Sounds Incredible — And Exhausting

mindy-kaling-sundance-late-night

-In her new Variety cover story, Mindy Kaling talks about her first movie, Late Night, which debuts at Sundance and stars Emma Thompson as a Letterman-esque talk show host who attempts to address diversity concerns by hiring her first female staff writer. Kaling is also the showrunner for the Hulu miniseries adaptation of Four Weddings and a Funeral, is working on a Netflix show that centers on an Indian teenager, is penning a “slim memoir,” and is raising her daughter. I got tired just reading the interview.

-In yesterday’s post, I said that if a Bryan Singer exposé was going to come out, now would be the time since Bohemian Rhapsody did so well in the Oscar noms. Today, The Atlantic published the big Bryan Singer investigation that Esquire was originally doing months ago. The report took 12 months and writers Maximillian Potter and Alex French spoke to more than 50 people, including four men that are newly accusing the Bohemian Rhapsody director of sexual misconduct and underage sex. It’ll be interesting to see what (if any) fallout comes from this, both with Singer’s career (he’s signed on to direct the adaption of Red Sonja), and BR’s Oscar race.

–This bit right here illuminates why it took so long for the Singer (and Weinstein and Spacey etc.) allegations to go mainstream: “He was abetted, in a less direct way, by an industry in which a record of producing hits confers immense power: Many of the sources we interviewed insisted, out of fear of damaging their own career, that we withhold their name, even as they expressed dismay at the behavior they’d witnessed.” A lot of people in Hollywood must be dealing with a heavy conscious right now. It’s also why Rami Malek‘s comments yesterday about not knowing about the allegations are so frustrating. Even if — IF — he managed to make it all the way through his Mr Robot days without hearing Hollywood’s worst kept secret, the second Singer became attached to the project, someone in his life (agent, publicists, friend) must have mentioned it.

-Potter and French said their story was intended for publication in Esquire magazine but was “killed” by Hearst executives for unknown reasons. Also, the story is reminding a lot of people about this article on how Hollywood failed Apt Pupil star Brad Renfro.

-Meanwhile, Singer has commented on The Atlantic’s exposé, which he calls a “homophobic smear piece” (but he doesn’t actually deny anything). He’s taking a page out of Kevin Spacey‘s handbook and conflating being gay with performing abuse. (Remember when Spacey used being closeted as a privacy shield and responded to the allegations that he came onto a 14-year-old by coming out?)

-I have yet to see Bohemian Rhapsody (and have even less desire to now) but if this wonky edit made it into the final cut, that’s hilarious.

-It looks like Justin and Hailey Bieber are postponing their wedding celebration.

–Jonah Hill trying to transition into a serious photographer is very on brand.

-The Suits cast is going to hang up their suits soon. The show has been renewed for a ninth and final 10-episode season.

-Spice Girls superfan Emma Stone recreated the “Stop” dance with Haim for her Omaze campaign.

–Gina Rodriguez cried over accusations that she hasn’t been supportive of black women. I’m…not sure this was the best way to go.

–Harvey Weinstein was denied his bid to pause the class action lawsuit against him.

-I love that Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow still hang out.

–Meek Mill has teamed with Jay Z to launch a justice reform organization.

-We have an update on the Game of Thrones’ runtime: the six-episode final season will kick off with two hour-long episodes, followed by four 80-minute installments, according to an HBO affliliate.

-This is an interesting thread by Boots Riley about his decision to not campaign for Sorry to Bother You (a movie I’m still not sure I fully understood, but stayed with me wayyyyy longer than, say, Green Book).

-Speaking of good Twitter threads, I adore ones in which people tell stories about meeting celebrities who turn out to be great.

-Wait, is that Shania Twain playing John Travolta‘s wife in the Trading Paint trailer?!?

-Here’s the red-band trailer for Harmony Korine‘s latest film, The Beach Bum, starring Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, Jonah Hill, Martin Lawrence, Isla Fisher and Snoop Dogg.