Browsing Tag

Jennifer Hudson

TV’s Leading Ladies Talk Shop

Emilia Clarke, Michelle Williams, Patricia Arquette, Christine Baranski, Danai Gurira and Niecy Nash

-God, I love Emmy roundtable season! In THR’s new issue, drama actresses Emilia Clarke, Danai Gurira, Michelle Williams, Patricia Arquette, Christine Baranski and Niecy Nash gather to talk about pay parity, the pressure to look a certain way, and standing up for their characters. (I particularly liked this bit from Gurira: “I remember having an argument with the director [on Walking Dead] because I was like, ‘I know you have [this love scene] written here like this, but this is what you’re getting.’And I wrote it on the script and I handed it to him.”)

–Nina Dobrev and screenwriter/director Grant Mello look blissed up in love in Cannes. I’m happy for her — she seemed to be going through it for a bit.

-A judge ordered Hayden Panettiere’s boyfriend Brian Hickerson to stay away from her after he was arrested on a domestic violence charge earlier this month.

-ABC’s live revival of classic Norman Lear sitcoms last night was weird and wonderful. I didn’t catch the whole thing but I did see Jennifer Hudson doing The Jefferson’s theme song, and Jamie Foxx‘s hilarious break in character.

–Gabrielle Union says she’s coaching hubby Dwayne Wade on basic life skills now that he’s retired from basketball. “He’s like, ‘What is this place? There’s all kind of like khaki shorts and cargo shorts and there’s all different colors.’ I’m like, ‘That’s Old Navy’…He has no idea how much milk costs. He’s like, ‘What is that, $20?’ and I’m like, ‘What kind of goat’s blood milk [are you drinking]?'”

-Warner’s upcoming streaming service just landed Anna Kendrick to star in a romcom series.  Great, yet another subscription!

–Lena Waithe did an amazing job last night guest-hosting for Kimmel, but everyone’s talking about the smooch Halle Berry laid on her which I found…weird. Isn’t it a little queerbaiting? Doesn’t Lena have a fiancée?

-Huh. ABC cancelled Whiskey Cavalier a couple of weeks ago, but fan outcry (and a bump in ratings) has them reconsidering the decision, with sources saying it’s now got a 50/50 shot at coming back.

-The Good Place creator Mike Schur hasn’t given any interviews about the most recent season — until now.

-I have been following this guy’s tweets for a month now and they are a consistent source of delight! His mom recently passed away and when he looked at her Kindle he was surprised to find it filled thousands of verryyyyy risque romance novels — which he is now reading and reviewing on Twitter.

-A bunch of media sites jumped the gun this morning and broke the embargo for the new Star Trek: Picard first teaser trailer, so CBS pulled it. But it’s back online now. Showing Picard (now an admiral after quitting Starfleet dues to events 15 years prior) at his winery.

-The first official trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate has arrived. Linda Hamilton is still fierce.

 

James Gunn Fired From Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 After Offensive Comments Resurface

-Ooh boy, this is a biggie. Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn after a series of offensive tweets from years ago resurfaced. In a statement, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said, “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values.” In a series of tweets, Gunn apologized for the posts that made light of pedophilia and rape, saying “I viewed myself as a provocateur.” He’s been a questionable figure for a while (he had to apologize a few years ago for a homophobic blog post, and there was some drama about sharing writing credits), but the wrinkle in this story is that the tweets were resurfaced by alt-right personalities who are likely less concerned about the offensive content and more about taking down a celeb who frequently rails against the president. (It might also be payback for Roseanne, who was also a Disney star.) However it happened, he should have been fired, but man this is messy. Also, it remains *incomprehensible* to me that celebrities (and/or their publicists) don’t immediately scrub their entire digital presence of anything even remotely questionable the second they get a modicum of fame. It should be part of the Hollywood starter kit!

-Speaking of Roseanne, she “explained” the racist tweet that got her fired from her sitcom in a bizarre new YouTube video. She said she was fired because she voted for Trump (“That is not allowed in Hollywood”) and then screamed at the top of her lungs “I thought the b—- was white! Goddamn it! I thought the b—- was white! F—!” when talking about Valerie Jarrett. According to TMZ, the man asking Roseanne the questions is her son.

–Shonda Rhimes says she’s creating 8(!) shows for Netflix, including an adaptation of The Cut’s viral scamming story about Anna Delvey.

–Wiz Khalifa said straight men shouldn’t bite into bananas. [laughs for infinity]

–Ariana Grande is defending naming a song on her new album after Pete Davidson: “It’s a special song about the most special human being I’ve ever met.”

-I have to say I’m pretty impressed that they are casting an age-appropriate love interest for Tom Cruise in Top Gun 2. Jennifer Connelly in early talks.

–Aaron Paul dressed his baby in Breaking Bad gear for Comic-Con, and it was hella cute.

-Watch Andrew Lincoln get a little tearful at Comic-Con while confirming that he’s leaving Walking Dead.

-Meanwhile, I gave up on The Walking Dead years ago but it’s pretty neat that they landed Samantha Morton as their new big bad.

–Joe Manganiello recalled the time he was told to beat up James Franco in an audition. This man is living my dream!

-Paramount TV president Amy Powell was fired over inappropriate comments she made in a meeting. They didn’t say what the comments were, but they must have been rul rul bad for her to be fired instead of reprimanded.

-Hush Hush is being adapted into a movie? Seriously?! I read that book ten years ago (TEN!) and was horrified by how the “romance” basically consists of a woman being being worn down by her stalker. It was bad enough back then, so how the hell does this get picked up in the #MeToo era?

-DVR alert: Canada is finally getting Killing Eve, which starts airing on Bravo this Sunday.

-I dug this piece on how TV’s need to consume more of our time has led to a frustrating deterioration in quality, even for good shows.

-Conan got Jodie Foster, Hilary Swank, Nick Offerman and more to “audition” for Batgirl.

-I was certain that this story about Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and Ian McKellen signing on to do a movie adaptation of Cats was a joke — but I don’t think it is?

-This thread, which summarizes every Shakespeare play with a Parks and Rec quote, is brilliant.

–Elle Fanning goes on the run in the trailer for Mélanie Laurent’s Galveston.

Gal Gadot Charms in GQ

Gal Gadot GQ Cover

-Have you read Gal Gadot’s GQ profile yet? I wanted to save it until I had time, because it’s a Caity Weaver article and those deserve to be savoured. This one did not disappoint.  From Gal bringing Caity an egg salad sandwich to reluctantly teaching her how to fight, I was thoroughly charmed by all of it.

-Holy moly, Justice League might not even break $100M this weekend. Just a few days ago it was tracking at $110M.

–Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian were married in New Orleans yesterday and guests included Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé, Tina Knowles, Kelly Rowland, La La Anthony, Colton Haynes, and Anna Wintour. The ceremony sounded amazing. Beauty and the Beast theme! Reception tables named for her Grand Slam titles! Tennis trophies party favors! New Edition performances!

–Jay-Z wrote a NYT op-ed about Meek Mill and the flaws in the criminal justice system. I don’t know why his sentencing didn’t make more waves this week. It’s clearly over the top and there is something shady going on with that judge.

-SNL’s Bill Hader and his wife Maggie Carey have filed for divorce after 11 years of marriage.

-Speaking of splits, Jennifer Hudson ended her relationship of 10 years — and received a protective order against him.

–Another woman on the Transparent set has accused Jeffrey Tambor of sexual harassment. Besides his future on Transparent, I wonder if this is going to affect the new season of Arrested Development.

-Go hug you mom; Nashville has been cancelled (again).

-A second grader took on Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton and founding fathers trivia.

-The only thing I thought about when reading this story of how fashion editors mocked the what Vanity Fair’s new editor-in-chief, Radhika Jones, wore on her first day was “where do *I* find tights with foxes on them?!?” Look at them — they’re spectacular!

–Stephen Colbert pressed Ben Affleck on Hollywood harassment. And yet, no one will ask him about his own brother…

-Mad Men producer Marti Noxon (who also worked on Buffy and UnREAL) cane forward to back writer Kater Gordon‘s sexual harassment claims against Matthew Weiner, calling him an “emotional terrorist“.

–Greg Berlanti reportedly met with CW casts and crews this week amid the Andrew Kreisberg harassment claims. How. Is. He. Not. Fired. Yet.

-This is a good review of Better Things and the struggle to acknowledge that it had its best season yet — with Louis C.K.’s involvement.

–Aubrey Plaza, Judy Greer and more make their Easy debut in the new season 2 trailer.