Browsing Tag

Ed Sheeran

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.

Viola Davis Gives Powerful Speech at Women’s March

-Celebrities joined the women’s march on Saturday and offered some rousing speeches. Scarlett Johansson (not a particularly unproblematic spokesperson but ok) talked about gender equality, Halsey wrote a gutting poem, and Viola Davis brought the roof down.

-On the day when hundreds and thousands of women took to the streets, Ciara shared a video that tells women how to find a husband. Gross.

-Every time Jennifer Garner calls her Alias costar Victor Garber “spy daddy,” I get a little choked up.

-Oh. My. God. Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi are bringing the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows to the small screen. This is incredible news.

-It was a weekend of famous dudes that I didn’t even know were in a relationship getting engaged. Ed Sheeran debuted his new relationship status on Instagram, and Darren Criss popped the question to Mia Swier.

–Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis will announce the Oscar nominations tomorrow. Uh oh. Does this mean she isn’t getting one? Because that seems to be the trend with announcers lately.

–Tracee Ellis Ross clarified her Blackish salary dispute, and seems to dispel the rumours that she threatened to cut back on her hours.

-If Stranger Things star David Harbour wants to dance with penguins, then internet, we need to make that happen!

–Olivia Munn texted Anna Faris to make it clear that she’s not dating Chris Pratt, despite what the tabloids say.

-The Stark sisters are sticking together IRL. Maisie Williams is going to be Sophie Turner’s bridesmaid.

-On the SAG Awards red carpet, Alison Brie addressed the allegations of sexual misconduct made against her brother-in-law, James Franco by saying: “I think that above all what we’ve always said is that it remains vital that anyone that feels victimized should and does have the right to speak out and come forward.”  So good! If she had stopped it right there, it would have been perfect. But then she had to go and add “not everything that’s been reported has been accurate, so I think we’re waiting to get all the information.”

-Speaking of stars I like putting their foot in their mouth, William H Macy said at the SAGs: “It’s hard to be a man these days. I think a lot of us feel like we’re under attack and that we need to apologize, and perhaps we do.” He goes on to talk about what men can do as part of the Times Up movement, but that first part…yeesh.

-It turns out it was Lily Tomlin that Morgan Freeman was calling out at the start of his SAG speech.  I thought he was reprimanding someone for being on the phone or something.

–Alexander Skarsgård brought his longtime BFF Jack McBrayer as his SAG Awards date. I didn’t know these guys were buddies, and now I’m obsessed with how that possibly came to be.

-Also, Skarsgård may be in the second season of Big Little Lies (which makes no sense).

–Nick Offerman has no use for your Ron Swanson parody account.

-Some hits are starting to emerge from Sundance already. I love that The Miseducation of Cameron Post is getting such raves because that book was wonderful. Lizzie is also sparking buzz, possibly because Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny have hot barn sex and axe-murder a man together.

-This is a really good piece on how some of the pop culture romances we loved when we were young actually glorify or excuse predatory male behaviour.

-The Resident, Fox’s new medical drama starring Matt Czuchry and Emily VanCamp, debuted last night — but all anyone is talking about today is how one of the show’s staff writers managed to get a job there since he was investigated for sexual harassment on his two most recent shows, The Night Shift and Code Black.

-There’s a new Wrinkle in Time trailer. The more I see of this thing, the more I can’t wait!

 

Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Oprah & More Discuss Fame and Taking Control

 

Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Lange, Elisabeth Moss

-THR’s TV Actress Roundtable this year includes Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Lange, Elisabeth Moss and Chrissy Metz. Once again, Reese brings up the blind item about the crappy movie that leading ladies were fighting over. When she first brought it up, everyone assumed it was Mortdecai but now A Million Ways to Die in the West is picking up steam.

-Speaking of great group convos, The LA Times drama actor roundtable includes Justin Theroux, Laura Dern, Regina King and Milo Ventimiglia.

-The Mummy review embargo was lifted at noon today and suddenly Twitter was filled with hate for the movie, with critics calling it Tom Cruise’s worst ever. (Not that The Mummy movies have ever been well-reviewed…)

–George Clooney’s dad, Nick, is spilling details about the twins.

-Gilmore Girls’ Liza Weil is dating her HTGAWM costar Charlie Weber? Wayment – since when is she no longer married to the guy from Private Practice and Prison Break?! I loved them!

-Even though he split from Olivia Munn, Aaron Rodgers reportedly still isn’t talking to his family. Wow, it’s almost like she wasn’t to blame for the estrangement in the first place. Imagine that.

-Just in case you needed more proof that Gal Gadot is awesome, she was pregnant while filming Wonder Woman.

-Also, it’s crazy that Patty Jenkins has NO deal for a Wonder Woman sequel yet.

-Nothing has tickled me more than my entire Twitter feed trying to re-evaluate their famous Chris rankings this week…

-The National Enquirer era of Us Weekly has started. This Ivanka-positive cover is a mess. US is now owned by a Trump confidant and member of his Health Advisory Board.

–Alexis Bledel and director Reed Morano break down how they created the most haunting scene from The Handmaid’s Tale.

-The latest Actors on Actors features Michelle Pfeiffer and Sarah Jessica Parker interviewing each other. If you don’t want to watch the whole episode, here are clips of SJP talking about SATC, and her trying to convince Pfeiffer that Into the Night is a good movie.

-Meanwhile, it’s SATC’s 20th anniversary, which reminds me of my favourite article on its legacy and why it deserves more praise.

-A deaf woman sang on America’s Got Talent and made the whole country cry at once.

-Vulture has a joint conversation with Ann Dowd and Margo Martindale and now I just want them to star in a buddy movie.

-This is charming: Prince Harry reunited with a 97-year-old fan in the pouring rain.

-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom says she doesn’t want to campaign for the Emmys — in this music video about campaigning for the Emmys.

–Felicity Jones debuted her engagement ring on the red carpet.

-Here’s our first look at Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep in Mary Poppins Returns.

-This is a great deep dive look into The Joy Luck Club and how that movie almost didn’t get made.

–Nicole Kidman is a hockey fan? I did NOT see that coming.

-Also, on James Corden last night Nicole tried to pressure Kit Harington to propose to his girlfriend and Game of Thrones costar Rose Leslie.

–Ed Sheeran joined James Corden for an acoustic Carpool Karaoke last night. I tried really hard to watch it but 13+ minutes of Ed Sheeran was beyond my capabilities today.