Browsing Tag

James Franco

Big Little Lies Lands Meryl Streep for Season Two

-The show that didn’t need any extra star wattage just got some anyway — in a big way. HBO just announced that Meryl Streep has signed on to Big Little Lies to play the mother of Alexander Skarsgard’s character Perry. Executive producer David E. Kelley told THR in October that the actress— along with Tom Hanks — were his dream casting goals for the show. (Whispers: I still don’t want another season)

-In other huge TV news, CBS says it has given a 13-episode order to a Murphy Brown revival starring Candice Bergen. I would have just been happy if the original was streaming somewhere.

-And because nothing ever dies anymore, Tootsie is coming to Broadway.

-Us Weekly is reporting that James Franco is ‘paranoid about anything getting out‘ since the sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against him.

-Has Darren Aronofsky moved on from Jennifer Lawrence to Suki Waterhouse? How does this keep happening?!?

-I really liked this piece on how Get Out has changed how Hollywood talks about racism.

–Jack White is requiring fans to keep their phones in locked pouches during his concerts. In a sure sign that I’m super old, this sounds like a good idea to me.

-It appears that the Billy Bush redemption tour has officially begun. Keep it.

-Mo Ryan’s interview with seven Breaking Bad writers (including Vince Gilligan) is worth your time.

-Nearly two and a half years after its series premiere, the second season of Jessica Jones will start streaming on Netflix on March 8.

-This Vulture interview with Erykah Badu is wild. She talks about what we’ve lost with the rise of digital music (“You can’t roll a joint on the cover of a digital download”), and says she’s a “humanist” who can see the good in everyone, including Bill Cosby and Hitler.

-This Drunk History episode, which features Tiffany Haddish drunkenly telling the story of Rose Valland (played by Busy Phillips!),  is everything I ever wanted.

-Also, Tiffany Haddish signed a first-look deal with HBO.

-I swear, I don’t understand NBC’s marketing of This Is Us. It’s basically like ‘hang out after the Super Bowl and watch us kill off your favourite character!!” It’s a little distasteful, no?

-Meanwhile, This Is Us star Susan Kelechi Watson told an amazing story about Denzel Washington and Phylicia Rashad.

–Olivia meets Annalise in this first look from the Scandal & HTGAWM crossover. This episode is going to lead to a lot of purse envy across the world.

-Watching Colton Haynes and Kevin McHale gossiping while playing with cats is kind of great.

Critics’ Choice Awards Red Carpet

Embed from Getty Images

-The Critics’ Choice Awards were last night, but I only caught the last 20 minutes. From what I saw, the red carpet was more exciting than the show itself.  Allison Janney and Saoirse Ronan continue to kill it fashion-wise.

-Also, look how happy the little girl from The Florida Project looks with Angelina Jolie!

-The Mark Wahlberg story continues to unfold in horrifying ways.  A source told USA Today that his contract included costar approval and “what he said was, ‘I will not approve Christopher Plummer unless you pay me.’ And that’s how he (expletive) them.” Also it also seems like the initial justification circulating that Michelle Williams was contractually obligated to do reshoots and Wahlberg wasn’t isn’t even true, so it just gets worse and worse. This isn’t about how’s a better negotiator; this is about who’s a garbage person and who isn’t.

-He’s not the only one benefiting from the Me Too movement. Hollywood publicists are charging up to $30,000 in “project” fees to handle clients accused of harassment.

-Sources say James Franco is “in a bad place” following the allegations. Aw, muffin!

–Oprah Winfrey interviewed a few of Hollywood’s most powerful women—including Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Shonda Rhimes, and Tracee Ellis Ross—to discuss the impact of Time’s Up.

–Daniel Radcliffe broke his silence on the Johnny Depp casting controversy in Fantastic Beasts. He very diplomatically praised his Harry Potter producers, while wondering why his costar Jamie Waylett was dropped from the franchise for a weed offence.

–George Clooney will return to TV. Well, Hulu anyway. Close enough.

-Wait, Taylor Swift‘s new video is for End Game?, that crappy song with Ed Sheeran?  Seriously, did everyone just forget that Gorgeous is also on that album?!

–Issa Rae might have turned down Drake at a Golden Globes party and now that’s all I want to talk about!

-Stranger Things’ David Harbour is a treasure.

-There’s more talk that Proud Mary being buried. A Thursday night screening in Detroit with 80 tickets pre-sold was reportedly cancelled by the studio an hour before showtime. That’s bananas.

-Just when I thought The Good Place couldn’t surprise me more comes last night’s episode. Also, this interview with Jameela Jamil (who plays Tahani) is great. This was her first acting gig!

-It sounds like Matt Smith got a little tipsy at James Corden‘s wedding.

-Here’s the first trailer for Hulu’s The Looming Tower starring Jeff Daniels and Michael Stuhlbarg.

-And here’s the first trailer for Alan Ball‘s Here and Now, starring Tim Robbins, Holly Hunter, Sosie Bacon, Jerrika Hinton. Vulture calls it “HBO’s version of This Is Us.”

James Franco Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Five Women

-And here it is: five women are accusing James Franco of inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior, according to a new LA Times report. Four were his students, and another said he was her mentor. Before the article broke, Franco appeared on Seth Meyers show, where he repeated basically verbatim what he said on Colbert, calling the accusations “not accurate” (yeah, that’s still the weirdest wording. Not exactly the same as “not true,” is it?), and reiterated that he supports women speaking up. (Good on Meyers for pressing Franco for “not being curious enough to reach out to” Ally Sheedy about her tweet. This is a great piece about how #MeToo is forcing late night talk show hosts to abandon their old-school PR obligations in favour of harder-hitting questions.)

-Meanwhile, his awards show campaign just came to a screeching halt. If he does get an Oscar nomination, it’s going to be incredibly awkward. (Voting ends tomorrow.) It’s a different world from last year’s Casey Affleck moment.

–Johnathon Schaech has accused director Franco Zeffirelli of sexual misconduct 25 years ago.

-Also, Steven Seagal has been accused of a 1993 rape.

-Well, we’ve found someone who doesn’t want Oprah for president. Seal has accused her of knowing about the Weinstein rumours “for decades.”

–Liam Neeson says the gender pay gap is “f***ing disrespectful” — but just don’t ask him to take a pay cut  “No. Pay cut? No, no, no, no. That’s going too far.” Sure.

-On his podcast, Community’s Dan Harmon offered a seven-minute apology to writer Megan Gatz, who called him out on Twitter last week for sexually harassing her.  She publicly forgave him, tweeting “I’m not being flippant. I didn’t bring up this mess just to sweep it back under the rug. But I find myself in the odd position of having requested an apology publicly, and then having received one—a good one—also publicly.”

-I don’t watch Major Crimes but this is gross. The show had only four episodes left to air before its series finale and yet they still felt the need to kill off its female lead (Mary McDonnell). AND they removed her name from the credits of the final episodes. That’s petty af.

–Rosario Dawson is joining Jane the Virgin for a multi-episode arc. I love this casting so much that I don’t even care if she is going to be yet another obstacle between Jane and Ro. (Oh god, she is, isn’t she?!)

–Anne Heche and James Tupper have split after more than 10 years together. (I once got a pedicure next to her and she was the nicest person ever.)

–YouTube said Logan Paul will not be in the fourth season of Foursome, and “his new Originals are on hold.” His channels will also be removed from the Google Preferred platform.

–Channing Tatum‘s X-Men spinoff Gambit just lost its third(!) director.

–Rose Leslie says she and fiance Kit Harrington haven’t really had time to start thinking about wedding planning yet.

–Sarah Jessica Parker “joked” with Stephen Colbert about how “according to just very recent documentation about why we’re not making [a SATC movie] is because the part usually played by Kim Cattrall has been vacated.”

–Idris Elba has begun shooting new episodes of Luther. Praise be!

–Charlize Theron is an overworked mom in the Tully trailer. It looks good, but I’ve been burned by this crew with Young Adult.