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Dan Levy

Hollywood Brightens Up for Vanity Fair

vanity fair hollywood issue 2

-The 27th Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue is a splash of candy-coloured craziness this drab February desperately needed. (Watch the video cover to get the full effect.) It features Zendaya, Michael B. Jordan, Charlize Theron, Michaela Coel, Sacha Baron Cohen, Maya Rudolph, LaKeith Stanfield, Dan Levy, Awkwafina and more.

–Tiger Woods has been seriously injured in a car crash in California. He’s undergoing surgery for leg injuries after having to be removed from the car by the jaws of life.

–Tavi Gevinson‘s essay on the Britney Spears documentary is so, so good. The doc positions society/the media of tearing her down because they were uncomfortable with her expressing sexuality, but did Spears as a teenager really have any control over the image she was projecting? Tavi gets to the heart of why there’s way too much focus on a young girl’s “agency” about her appearance/attitude. “Even young women who are not megafamous have typically picked up on what makes them appear valuable by the age of 15. Their capacity to perpetuate these standards doesn’t mean they are not also victims of these standards.”

–Gerard Depardieu has been charged with rape and sexual assault in connection with a 2018 case involving an actress in her 20s.

–Shailene Woodley confirmed that she’s engaged to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, telling Jimmy Fallon: “I never thought as a little girl, ‘Yeah when I grow up I’m going to marry someone who throws balls, yeah!’ But he’s really just so go good at it. I’m very impressed.” She also added “For us, it’s not new news, so it’s kind of funny everybody right now is freaking out over it. We’re like, ‘Yeah we’ve been engaged for a while,'” leading to more questions about the timeline.

-Part of me is confused by these photos of Lucy Hale kissing Skeet Ulrich during a lunch date in L.A., but another part of me totally gets where she’s coming from.

–Drew Barrymore revealed to Howard Stern that her mother placed her in a “full psychiatric ward” for a year and a half when she was 13. “I was going to clubs and not going to school and stealing my mom’s car and, you know, I was out of control…I think after, you know, 30, years of therapy, and a lot of soul-searching and having kids myself, you know, I think she created a monster. And she didn’t know what to do with the monster.”

–George Clooney says his wife Amal will not allow him to go near their daughter’s hair with his Flobee. Smart woman.

-What a shock. The publisher of Woody Allen‘s memoir is facing accusations of a history of workplace toxicity and inappropriate behavior.

-Man, this podcast interview with Ethan Hawke is great. He talks about everything from learning from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Denzel Washington, to joining the MCU,  to Saint Francis of Assii’s quest for sainthood.

-Also great: Vulture has compiled the 101 greatest endings in film history.

-Here’s our first look at HBO’s Tina Turner doc.

-Speaking of HBO, the limited series Beartown premiered last night to strong reviews. I haven’t read the book it’s based on, but I just read that author’s latest (Anxious People) and adored it.

-Superman & Lois premieres on the CW tonight, and THR calls it thirtysomething with superpowers, which intrigues me.

-Ginny And Georgia on Netflix is being promoted as the next Gilmore Girls, but critics are saying it’s more than that.

-Here’s the latest trailer for The Mauritanian. I found this movie really bleak, but Tahar Rahim‘s performance is astounding.

JoJo Siwa Comes Out

-After alluding to it earlier this week, JoJo Siwa has come out as gay with a sweet photo. Considering her brand, this is hugely, wildly brave and I hope she is being showered with love and acceptance.

-Well. Dave Chappelle got Covid hanging out with Joe Rogan, Grimes and Elon Musk during his ten-day residency at a BBQ restaurant during a pandemic.

-The first few new episodes of SNL this year will feature first-time hosts John Krasinki, Regina King, and…wait for it… Dan Levy!

–Casey Affleck is promoting Our Friend (a movie I really liked, despite his presence) and that means he’s facing lots of awkward questions about his brother Ben‘s relationship status.

-I really adored Sarah Jessica Parker’s Grub Street column, especially when she describes her family meals (so many beans!) and talks about missing restaurants. This part hit me hard: “To me, being on the subway with a book, heading toward a meal, I honestly can’t think of anything better…It’s a vacation — you are literally transported — and I miss it so much it hurts.”

–Meghan McCain was trending again for saying some more stupid stuff on The View, but I was too distracted by her contouring to focus.

–Jane Krakowski’s publicist had a field day when denying the actress is dating the MyPillow CEO: “She is, however, in full fledged fantasy relationships with Brad Pitt, Rege-Jean Page and Kermit the Frog and welcomes any and all coverage on those.”

-This Barbara Kay column on how text messages “exonerate” Jessica Mulroney is bizarre. They didn’t even verify the texts? And Mulroney admits to deleting a message? And the whole thing starts with a long, rambling screed against cancel culture? What is happening?!

-I kind of lost myself a little bit in this weirdly engrossing oral history of the making of High School Musical.

-There’s a new superhero show coming from the creator of The Walking Dead starring Steven Yeun. I just saw him in Minari and though I’m not sure I loved it as much as critics did, he’s phenomenal.

–This is a good piece on how Hollywood giants are developing dozens of shows and spinoff features based on a few valuable franchises to boost streaming services — and we’re all going to get sick of them. Seriously, how many different variations of Batman are coming our way?

-The next Bond movie has delayed its release yet again.

-WandaVision seems to be jumping roughly a decade every episode, so this weekend’s is an homage to the Brady Bunch.

–Tiffany Haddish is introducing audiences to six more of her favorite comics in Season 2 of Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready.

-In a new HBO doc Fake Famous, Nick Bilton recruits a trio of random young ‘uns and turns them into influencers.

George Clooney Gushes About Married Life

George-Clooney-on-marriage

-In his new GQ profile, George Clooney talks about how Amal has changed his life. “I was like, ‘I’m never getting married. I’m not gonna have kids. I’m gonna work, I’ve got great friends, my life is full, I’m doing well.’ And I didn’t know how un-full it was until I met Amal.” He also talks about a brutal motorcycle accident he had when shooting Catch-22 (“When I hit the ground my mouth—I thought all my teeth were broken out. But it was glass from the windshield”), and why he prefers to watch others get into online fights (“I have much more fun watching Chrissy Teigen. Somebody steps into her world and you go, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that, dude.’ It’s so much fun. Like somebody who thinks they’re really smart, and you just go, ‘Ugh, dude. You brought a knife to a gunfight.'”)

–Isaiah Washington is once again calling out Katherine Heigl over the Grey’s Anatomy drama that led to his 2007 firing.  I mean, she stood up for a costar when Washington used a homophobic slur so I don’t understand why he keeps reminding us of it.

–Lil Wayne has been charged with weapons possession in a South Florida federal court, and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

–Scooter Braun has sold the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six albums. The buyer, an investment fund, apparently paid north of $300 million.

-Meanwhile Swift, who is free to re-record songs from her first five Big Machine-issued albums as of this month, hit back at Braun, saying that she didn’t get a chance to buy back her masters unless she signed an NDA.

-We’re still waiting on the People’s Sexiest Man Alive, but we know that Dan Levy is on the list.

–Zack Snyder has unveiled a new black and white trailer for his director’s cut of Justice League, and it still holds zero interest for me, but if you’re looking for a a never-before-seen shot of Darkseid, knock yourself out.

–Richard Schiff, who played Toby on The West Wing, has been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19.

–Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, which this week became the second coronavirus vaccine with a stunningly high success rate.

–Justin Bieber announced what we’d already guessed: he’s doing a collab with Shawn Mendes.

–Rachel Bloom details the whirlwind journey her show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend had to television in this audio excerpt from her new book.

–David E. Kelley‘s new ABC drama Big Sky, starring Ryan Phillippe, is getting brutal reviews. Says THR: “If a pilot is exploitative garbage, but knows it’s exploitative garbage, does that make it less exploitative?”

-Watch the trailer for Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf‘s emotional drama Pieces Of A Woman, which is coming to Netflix. Saw this one at TIFF a few months ago and it’s good but crushing.