Browsing Tag

JK Rowling

Charlize Theron’s Backyard Photo Shoot

–Charlize Theron photographed herself (with the help of her kids) for EW’s new digital cover to promote Netflix’s The Old Guard, which drops this weekend. I’m mesmerized by every single video in this article.

-This new interview with Kanye West seems to indicate that the man is not well. It is totally unhinged. If you don’t want to give it clicks, The Root did a recap of it.

–Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are trying to be more cordial coparents — though Pitt’s relationship with Maddox is reportedly “non-existent.”

-Clear my schedule — Mariah Carey is releasing a memoir!

-Day two of Johnny Depp‘s libel trial against The Sun saw the actor denying allegations he hit Amber Heard for laughing at his “Wino Forever” tattoo. He also dismissed the texts he sent to Paul Bettany about drowning and burning her by saying he was angry she was acting like “the moral police” and “resentful of the fact Ms. Heard was very aggressive and quite insulting about my use of alcohol.” (Interestingly, in a previous written statement, he claimed Heard encouraged him to continue abusing drugs and alcohol.)

-So this is what it’s come to: according to Page Six, some television networks are now providing “good-behavior bonuses” to their reality TV stars in an attempt to get them to not be racist, sexist, transphobic, or homophobic on social media.

–E. Alex Jung got 14 hours to interview Michaela Coel? No wonder is profiles are so good.  That is not the norm.

-The Toronto, New York, Telluride and Venice film festivals have unveiled a joint statement that commits the long-time rivals to cooperate and not compete for film titles and awards-season bragging rights in the fall. I love this. If I’m going to a stripped down TIFF this fall, I want to see world premieres only.

-A day after announcing he quit the band, Kasabian singer Tom Meighan appeared in court for domestic abuse charges. He escaped jail time after admitting to assaulting his fiancee (which he initially denied until police showed him CCTV footage of him dragging her through their backyard by her ankles).

-Hamilton fans are debating Eliza’s gasp at the end. I assumed it was breaking the fourth wall and she was seeing the audience, realizing that her/Hamilton’s story was being told. But heaven also works.

–J.K. Rowling is back to demonstrating free speech, punching down, and advocating for someone to be cancelled the day after participating in that open letter about how free speech is being threatened by cancel culture. Sounds about right.

-Meanwhile, I liked this take on the letter.

-A gorilla dreams of reuniting with his sister in a new trailer for Disney+’s The One and Only Ivan, starring Bryan Cranston and the voices of Sam Rockwell, Angelina Jolie, Helen Mirren and Danny DeVito.

 

Keke Palmer Covers Cosmo

keke palmer cosmo

–Keke Palmer is on the new cover of Cosmo, where she talks about going viral with her protest speech, and fighting for a better future.

-The New York mag’s TV issue features another stunning profile b E. Alex Jung – this one on Thandie Newton. He gets her to open up about her abuse at the hands of a director when she was 16 being classified in the press as “an affair,” the time Sony head Amy Pascal tried to get her to do Charlie’s Angels by reeling off stereotypes to her of how to be a more convincing Black character, and what it’s like to work with Tom Cruise: “I was so scared of Tom. He was a very dominant individual. He tries superhard to be a nice person. But the pressure. He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done.”

–Lily James and Chris Evans were seen together in London on Saturday night. I have serious questions about his quarantine protocol. Even if he was allowed to be exempt from the 2 week quarantine, and even if she’s in his bubble, should they be going to a club?

–Johnny Depp‘s libel trial kicked off today and he’s already accused Amber Heard of assault. This is going to get so, so ugly.

–Halle Berry has dropped out of playing a trans character after being called out following an interview in which she discussed the role.  In a statement, she said “As a cisgender woman, I now understand that I should not have considered this role, and that the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories.”

–Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said the wrongs of the Commonwealth’s colonial past needed to be acknowledged as one way to create a more just world. Said Harry: “When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past. So many people have done such an incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right those wrongs, but I think we all acknowledge there is so much more still to do. It’s not going to be easy and in some cases it’s not going to be comfortable but it needs to be done, because guess what: Everybody benefits.”

-We’re going to run out of TV. As the shutdown drags on, and as sets remain closed, a drought is upon us.

-Oof. Harper’s Bazaar published an open letter signed by Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Salman Rushdie, JK Rowling, Bari Weiss, Gloria Steinem, David Brooks, and many others on the value of open debate and the dangers of “cancel culture.” This comes off like a bunch of privileged people with very huge platforms being afraid of losing relevance and/or angry about the unwashed masses calling them out on Twitter. They are not being silenced in any way. JK Rowling continues to spout damaging and terrible terf talk on a platform that’s giving her enormous, unrestricted reach.

–Zach Braff spoke on his podcast about Broadway star (and his friend) Nick Cordero’s final moments.

–Peter Lenkov, a top CBS showrunner for Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver and Magnum PI, has been fired and had his overall deal terminated following an HR investigation that he created a toxic workplace. “He isn’t racist or sexist or classist singularly — it’s all of it,” an insider told THR. “He’s anti-woman, anti-POC, anti-gay, and everything you’d expect. But he’d also torture straight white men if he felt like it.” This was also the guy that was in a room full of reporters at the TCAs who didn’t remember he had a Latinx writer on staff on Magnum.

-Teens are really broken up about this TikTok cheating scandal and I feel so old.

-This weekend, Hulu’s is dropping the romcom Palm Springs starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti and reviews are great.

-I feel like Tom Hanks holding weekly scoldings of those who don’t adhere basic safety protocols during covid might actually make the world a better place.

-Quibi is rolling out new shows, such as Kevin Hart’s Die Hart, a series about Hart attending an action hero school run by John Travolta.

–Hilary Swank is going to space (and leaving Josh Charles behind) in the trailer for the new Netflix show Away.

–Shia Labeouf is intense in the trailer for The Tax Collector. He reportedly got a full chest tattoo for this role, which seems like a regrettable decision.

Mandy Moore Isn’t Impressed By Ryan Adams’ Apology

-The best thing about Mandy Moore interviews is that her face is so expressive, you know exactly what she’s really thinking. On the Today Show she was asked about ex-husband Ryan Adams‘ new apology more than a year after he was accused of sexual misconduct by several women — and she very politely makes it clear that she has no time for his performative bs. “I find it curious that someone would make a public apology but not do it privately.”

–Kanye West may have announced that he’s running for president, but it’s too late for him to register in some states.

-Also, his Yeezy company received more than $2 million through the Paycheck Protection Program, the Small Business Administration disclosed today.

–Kendall and Kylie Jenner are denying reports that their fashion brand had failed to pay factory workers in Bangladesh during the pandemic.

-At this point, whenever a new celeb profile written by E. Alex Jung comes out, it’s an immediate ‘drop everything and read it’ moment, and his latest on Michaela Coel is no exception. It includes lots of  damning insights on how Hollywood operates, including the fact that she rejected Netflix’s $1M offer for I May Destroy You because she had to negotiate to retain just 0.5% of the copyright. It also reveals that Coel was involved with virtually every aspect of her first show, Chewing Gum – from the writing to the music to the costumes to postproduction – but when she asked to be made an executive producer, she was told no.

-Speaking of today’s must-read New Yorker articles, this deep-dive into Quibi is outstanding.  Tidbits include the CEO struggling to come up with a TV show she likes (“I’m not sure I’d classified myself as an entertainment enthusiast”), to a survey with 70% of respondents assuming it’s a food delivery app, to reports of Jeffrey Katzenberg running “his hand along the hoods of employees’ cars upon arriving at the studio, checking to see who had gotten there only shortly before him.” There’s also this stunner: “When Gal Gadot came to the offices and delivered an impassioned speech about wanting to elevate the voices of girls and women, Katzenberg wondered aloud whether she might become the new Jane Fonda and do a workout series for Quibi. (“Apparently, her face fell,” says a person briefed on the meeting.)”

-The 100 star Bob Morley‘s ex posted on Twitter that he was verbally and emotionally abusive, and implied that he cheated on her with his costar/now-wife Eliza Taylor. Some of their 100 costars liked his ex’s tweet.

-In less messy CW news, Riverdale’s KJ Apa took to TikTok to show off his…um…dancing?

-The CW doesn’t cancel anything, so it’s a big deal that they cancelled Katy Keene.

-The latest round of Actors on Actors interviews include Ramy Youssef and Tessa Thompson, and Dan Levy and Kieran Culkin.

–Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest seems to have rattled Prince Andrew’s cage.

-Never Have I Ever has been renewed for season 2 at Netflix. It feels like 900 years since I watched this but it was only a few weeks ago and I found it delightful.

–JK Rowling just won’t stop until she ruins her entire career and legacy, huh? In her latest terrible Twitter thread, she called transgender hormone therapy a “new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people.”

-Who else is over Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas‘ performative laughter on their pap walks? I mean, no one is that funny.

–Brie Larson has a new Youtube channel and the bros are handing it as well as you’d expect.

–Kacey Musgraves snuck in her divorce announcement late Friday afternoon on a long weekend.

-Dirty Dancing’s Jennifer Grey and Avengers’ Clark Gregg are divorcing after 19 years together.

–Harry Styles recorded a Sleep Story for the Calm app. I had a two-week stretch where I couldn’t fall asleep unless I was listening to Matthew McConaughey’s story, so I get it.

-Did you watch Hamilton this weekend? It sent me down a rabbit hole of Ham2Ham videos. This one of the three actors who played King George performing as the Schuyler Sisters is my fave.

-I’m surprisingly intrigued by the trailer for Seth Rogen’s American Pickle.

-Was the first Kissing Booth movie terrible? Yes. Am I going to watch the second one the weekend it drops? Damn skippy!