Browsing Tag

Christopher Nolan

Jean Smart on the ‘Jeanaissance’

jean smart on the cover of variety

Jean Smart, who is nominated at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards for both Hacks and Mare of Easttown, covers the new issue of Variety. She talks about her character on Designing Women (“I always felt like she was my actual core person, kind of gullible and trusting and believes that everybody’s basically good. And I’d like to play a character like that again”) and losing her husband while she was shooting Hacks (“Him passing away was just not ever even a thought. And it’s changed every moment of my everyday life; every atom of my existence I feel like is altered”).

Andrew Garfield revealed his mother died while he was preparing to film Tick, Tick… Boom! and says “every frame, every moment, every breath” of his performance in the musical is in honour of her. “We lost her just before COVID, just before we started shooting, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. So, for me, I was able to continue her song on the ocean and the wave of Jonathan [Larson]’s songs. It was an attempt to honor him in his unfinished song, and her in her unfinished song, and have them meet.”

-Real Housewives star Mary Cosby has been accused of running a cult. What is up with all the shady activity and criminal investigations overtaking this franchise lately?

Timothée Chalamet dined with Larry David in NYC and everyone is wondering what in the world that convo sounded like.

Zoë Kravitz and Channing Tatum may not have officially commented on their relationship yet, but they did allow Vogue to take a photo of them at the Met Gala featuring him holding her purse.

-An ex Grey’s Anatomy exec producer says that leading up to Derek’s death, Patrick Dempsey was “sort of was terrorizing the set. Some cast members had all sorts of PTSD with him. He had this hold on the set where he knew he could stop production and scare people…I think he was just done with the show. He didn’t like the inconvenience of coming in every day and working. He and Shonda were at each other’s throats.”

Natalie Portman‘s new Dior ad is very, very pretty. (I coulda done without the whale shot, for my own mental sanity.)

-Also pretty is JLo‘s video from Venice for Dolce & Gabbana (though I still can’t believe everyone seems to be giving that  brand a pass).

-Smallville’s Allison Mack has begun her three-year prison sentence related to her involvement in the NXIVM sex cult.

-This is an interesting take on how Nicky Minaj‘s vaccine tweets are distracting us all from the fact that her husband is facing 10 years in prison.

-One of the multiple sexual assault lawsuits against Marilyn Manson has been dismissed due to statute of limitations.

-Following all the pushback against CBS’ proposed reality show The Activist (this was my fave reaction to it), they’re backtracking and re-imagining the show.

Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman talked about the horrible racist cyber-bullying he received when judging Canada’s Drag Race. It’s awful obviously, but fan fave contestant Jimbo had a different take on it: “It was just not the right fit with the [early pandemic] times, that stereotypical harsh judge — the Simon Cowell, tough-love judge. I don’t think him playing up that campy bitchiness was the best way to go about it all.” (And I’m guessing his judging had more to do with the producers than him.)

-There won’t be new rotating guest hosts this time around on Jeopardy. Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will split hosting duties for the rest of the season.

-Ted Lasso led the winners at the 37th annual Television Critics Association’s 2021 Awards.

-This is review of Hulu’s The D’Amelio Show paints a grim view of the two teen TikTokers’ lives. “Charlie and Dixie D’Amelio seem truly distressed about the expectations they labor under, but to be famous and to continue working at the pace that they do seems to be their only mode of being.”

-Here’s the trailer for Love Life season 2. I really liked the first season with Anna Kendrick, and am very much looking forward to this one with William Jackson Harper (The Good Place’s Chidi).

Christopher Nolan’s demands to secure the rights to his next film, a movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, included total creative control, at least a 100-day theatrical window, around a $100 million budget, equal marketing spend, 20 percent of first-dollar gross, and a blackout period where the studio would not release another movie for three weeks before and after the feature. Look, I don’t begrudge him for trying to get the most control and money possible. But for someone who talks a big game about how streaming is killing theatres, him demanding the studio can’t release another movie within three weeks of his has nothing to do with the health or future of theatres.

-Following the box office success of Shang-Chi, Disney will debut the rest of the movies on its 2021 schedule in theaters only.

David Chase is not happy that his Sopranos prequel is also streaming on HBO Max. “I don’t think, frankly, that I would’ve taken the job if I knew it was going to be a day-and-date release…People should go see it in a theater. It was designed to be a movie. It’s beautiful as a movie. I never thought that it would be back on HBO. Never.” I don’t know that an audience who fell in love with a show on TV is really interested in watching this any place but on TV. Also, the next time a director bemoans their project going to streaming during a pandemic because they care about which medium is displaying their art (which I’m sure is true), they should also be asked if some of their anger is coming from missing out on box office points and backend profits. Which would be understandable! But maybe it’s just not all about the art?

Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man has been chosen to represent Germany at the Oscars. I saw it this week and I loved it. Who knew Dan Stevens spoke perfect German?

-Here’s a new TV spot for The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson.

Dolly Parton and RuPaul Talk Wigs and Wisdom

dolly parton rupaul

RuPaul interviews Dolly Parton in the new issue of Marie Claire, and it’s fantastic. Parton tells him: “See, you’re a drag queen. Those are like costumes to you. This is my living self. I am a living drag queen. You dress up just now and then, but for me, though, I like the wigs and I wear them almost every day.”

-So it looks like those early reports of everyone from the franchise coming back for Spider-Man 3 were accurate: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Kirsten Dunst and Alfred Molina are all reportedly set to reprise their roles.

Lori Loughlin‘s daughter Olivia Jade showed up on Red Table Talk and the discussion before about whether she deserves the platform is worth watching. Once she sat down, Gammy didn’t let up.

Courteney Cox revealed how she got the turkey on her head for that Friends episode, and it’s kinda gross.

-Netflix’s Prom is getting good reviews (if you ignore the James Corden bits).

-This clip of Barack Obama sitting for an interview on Showtime’s Desus & Mero made me smile.

-Yass! Zoey’s Infinite Playlist is returning Jan 5. That’s way sooner than I anticipated, which is a happy surprise.

-This video of George Clooney commenting on classic movies is great, but I’m bummed he’s never seen 10 Things I Hate About You.

-Meanwhile, a bevy of his friends and costars—including Julianna Margulies, David Letterman, Bradley Cooper, Sam Rockwell, Tilda Swinton and Felicity Jonespaid tribute to Clooney at Inside the Museum of Modern Art and Chanel’s virtual evening.

-The fallout from Warner Bros moving all their 2020 movies to streaming on HBO Max continues. From the sounds of it, they bungled the announcement and didn’t warn their talent that it was happening. Christopher Nolan slammed them in a statement to THR, saying, “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.” I think they could have handled the communication to the producers/directors/actors better, but given the state of the world it was still the right choice to make. And calling HBO Max “the worst streaming service” shows how little Nolan has dealt with streamers.

-AT&T CEO defended the streaming plan as HBO Max nears 12.6M activated subs, calling it a “win-win-win.”

Shawn Mendes says he’s taking Camila Cabello to his parents’ place in Pickering for the holidays.

Emily Blunt is hopeful that an Edge of Tomorrow sequel with Tom Cruise might actually happen.

Matthew McConaughey continues to get heat for his “let’s all just get along ” bs while the U.S. is sliding towards fascism.

-Wow, I adored the first Euphoria special, which is just Rue and her sponsor eating pancakes in a diner. Sepinwall nails it: “”The show’s rare quiet moments were so powerful, they couldn’t help prompt the question of how good the series as a whole could be if it ever switched to decaf for a while…Necessity is the mother of invention — or, in this case, of restraint. The precarious (and expensive) nature of Covid-era production forced Levinson to take a low-fi approach that otherwise would not have been likely for a proper Season Two premiere. And it results in a spectacular hour that captures nearly all of the series’ strengths, without any of its weaknesses.”

-Everyone’s freaking out over the way Nigella Lawson says “microwave” in this clip.

-Here’s the trailer for the Viggo Mortensen-directed Falling, which got a lot of buzz on the film festival circuit.

Ruth Wilson Talks Leaving The Affair: “I Didn’t Feel Safe”

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-While promoting the new season of His Dark Materials, Ruth Wilson told the Stylist more details about her exit from The Affair — and why she didn’t speak out right away. “There was a situation on The Affair where things didn’t feel right, and I dealt with them, and I managed to protect myself…It was before #MeToo and before Harvey Weinstein — and yet my instincts were very clear and strong about what I felt was wrong, about what was going on, and what I didn’t feel safe about.”

Helena Bonham Carter is promoting the new season of The Crown and in an amazingly candid interview with The Guardian she talks about her outlandish style (“I promise you, even when I think I’m being normal, somehow it comes out wrong. It really does! I later see the photos and think, what was I thinking?”), the accusations against Johnny Depp (“There’s something quite old-fashioned about Johnny, with these manners – none of it makes sense”), and her split from Tim Burton (“At first it’s a horrible thing to get used to, not having your children around [when you share custody]. The cruelty of divorce is extraordinary. But then you get to a point where you’re like, Oh, I get this week off! Some parts are very much to be recommended”).

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello took their relationship to the next level: they got a puppy.

Cardi B was so stressed watching the election results last night, she was smoking three cigarettes at once. Same, girl.

Chris Rock got real about why he doesn’t like civil rights movies: “I applaud the effort and they should exist. The problem is, they only show the back of the bus and the lunch counter. They actually make racism look very fixable…My mother used to get her teeth taken out at the vet ’cause you weren’t allowed to go to the dentist. No movie shows you that.”

Jimmy Kimmel didn’t even ask parents this year to trick their kids into thinking they ate all their Halloween candy — but they did it anyway.

Khloe Kardashian responded to pregnancy rumors with “my abs say otherwise.” Well played.

-Canada has proposed an amendment to its national Broadcasting Act to require streaming services like Netflix and Spotify to invest a portion of their revenue into local production.

Christopher Nolan says studios are drawing the “wrong conclusions” from Tenet’s box office and insists he’s “thrilled” with the results. Sure he is.

Lori Loughlin isn’t enjoying her first few days of prison. Poor thing.

Mena Suvari introduces her daughter to her creepy new fiancé in the What Lies Below trailer.