Browsing Tag

Liam Neeson

Brie Larson Talks Becoming a Superhero in InStyle

Brie Larson Captain Marvel

-Captain Marvel is out in just a month and I feel like the Marvel publicity blitz is a bit slower than usual. But here’s Brie Larson on the cover of InStyle, which is hopefully just the tip of the marketing iceberg. In the interview, she talks about calling Jennifer Lawrence for some advice the morning after her Oscar win, and what it feels like to join the giant Marvel universe.

-Not surprisingly, Liam Neeson is in damage control today, telling GMA “I’m not racist” in the wake of his undeniably racist story.

-Meanwhile, the premiere of his new movie was just cancelled in light of his remarks. It’ll be really interesting to see if this controversy has any affect on its box office.

–Ben Affleck and Lindsay Shookus may have reunited.

–This photo that Priyanka Chopra posted of her and Nick Jonas chilling at home has everyone asking: who took this pic?!

-I dug this article about SNL’s Totino’s sketches. This bit from writer Sarah Schneider is especially great: “While we shot this, I developed a crush on Kristen Stewart…She was super personable. Sometimes hosts are very separate, and that’s fine. I was sitting, she came over and crouched and put her elbow on my knee to just, like, talk. And I was like, ‘I’m gonna leave my boyfriend.'”

–Jasmine Guillory talks about being the first romance novelist chosen for Reese Witherspoon’s book club.

–Angelina Jolie continues to do good work as an UNHCR Special Envoy. This week, she’s advocating for additional international aid while visiting the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.

-Crazy Stupid Love is not a great film except for that perfect 20-min stretch that’s just Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling hanging out at his house. Here’s a look behind the scenes of the Dirty Dancing lift scene.

-I have yet to watch the Netflix doc Abducted in Plain Sight, but everyone on my Twitter TL is losing their poo over it.

-The Craft star Rachel True put fan conventions on blast for excluding her while inviting her white co-stars.

-I don’t know how I missed the new trailer for The Good Fight last week but it’s perfection!

-Why is Max Greenfield talking about shooting sex scenes for the new Veronica Mars reboot? Deputy Leo better stay the hell away from our girl!

–Alex Rodriguez dedicated a message to Jennifer Lopez on their 2-year anniversary: “Only 730 days, which have flown by, but it feels like we have been together forever. We are meant to be, and how much you mean to me cannot be put into words.”

–John Boyega wants to make an Attack the Block sequel. What a coincidence! I want John Boyega to make an Attack the Block sequel.

-Modern Family has been renewed for its 11th and final season.

–Hugh Jackman becomes Big Foot’s buddy in new Missing Link trailer.

Liam Neeson Just Torpedoed His Press Tour

-Jeez, that Liam Neeson interview that everyone’s talking about is a MESS. I don’t understand why he would chose to tell this story (in which he recounts that after his friend identified her rapist as a black man he “went up and down areas with a cosh [bludgeon], hoping I’d be approached by somebody – I’m ashamed to say that – and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him”), why he chose to tell the story in this way (with an unsuspecting costar junketing along next to him), or why a psychologist is interviewed to help contextualise his racism. Yes, he expresses regret but even feeling the freedom to tell a story like this in such a seemingly offhanded way is an insane display of privilege and I’m not sure what he expected the fallout to be.  (Spoiler alert: it ain’t good.)

-This is an interesting addendum: the journalist tweeted the backstory on the decision to run the interview and all the legal and editorial hand-wringing that went with it.

-Goop is expanding into original content, with Gwyneth Paltrow inking a deal for a docuseries on Netflix. You know, the one place that probably won’t layer in any sort of editorial control or responsibility. Swell.

-This Pamela Adlon article in the New Yorker navigates the tricky Louis CK connection so well. As complicated as her feelings and reactions are, I do like that she points out that his female colleagues are being called to task more than he has been. “Anybody who has any association with him is peppered [questions.] Sarah Silverman is his fucking spokesperson.” I like her and love her show, I get why she doesn’t want to work out her feelings about it in public, and think she’s done pretty well after being dealt a shitty hand. She immediately severed professional ties with him, stopped speaking to him, and fired their shared manager Dave Becky. A lot of Becky’s other clients, including Jameela Jamil, Kevin Hart, Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler, seemingly have not (which very much bummed me out every time the end credits of Russian Doll rolled).

-My god. Soulja Boy is being accused of kidnapping and assaulting a woman, according to TMZ.

-After yesterday’s halftime show, a lot of people have pointed out the double standard between Adam Levine and Janet Jackson’s controversial nipple exposure.

-Speaking of the Super Bowl, it gifted us with a ton of new movie trailers, including Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4 and Captain Marvel.

-In terms of commercials, I really liked the Chance the Rapper/Backstreet Boys team up, and the Sarah Michelle Gellar horror spoof.  Here are some more of the best and worst.

-Wait, so Pete Davidson and Kate Beckinsale are actually a thing? They were spotted holding hands? I seriously did not believe the stories of them flirting at the Golden Globes because…how?!

-I love that Lizzo is covering the latest issue of The Cut. I have woken up and immediately listened to “Juice” every day for the last two weeks.

–Jussie Smollett performed in public this weekend and spoke out on inaccuracies surrounding his attack.

-Now Rami Malek is saying that Bryan Singer‘s alleged victims “deserve to have their voice heard”. Man, Oscar campaigning is a wild ride, huh?

-If you only have time for one long-read this week, make it this one in the New Yorker about a suspense novelist who duped everyone. You know it’s going to be a good one when the reporter calls an editor for the story and he responds with “My god, I knew I’d get this call. I didn’t know if it would be you or the F.B.I.”

-I guess if you have Anthony Rapp on your cast, you gotta do a Rent parody. Well done, Star Trek: Discovery crew.

–Cardi B‘s former history teacher defended her political knowledge. I’m not surprised. Remember that Caity Weaver profile in GQ when Cardi gushed about how her fave president is Franklin D Roosevelt because he started social security with the New Deal, and then had Weaver quiz her about the order of presidents? I’ll take political commentary from her over basically any other celebrity — and a lot of politicians.

-Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge got the Vogue 73 questions treatment.

-FX’s John Landgraf gave his annual state of TV address at the TCAs, and he warned what we already know: Netflix is “not telling you the whole story” when it comes to the way the ratings statements they chose to release. While Netflix self-reported that You would end up being watched by 40 million households in its first month, Landgraf says Nielsen data (which, let’s face it, is also problematic) indicates it was averaging 8 million viewers an ep.

-Landgraf also let it slip that Atlanta’s third season is delayed .

-Also at the TCAs, the TV adaptation of What We Do In Shadows announced its March premiere date and debuted its first trailer. Critics who’ve screened the first two episodes seem to universally love it. It seems to retain the movie’s vibe, so I’m in!

Helen Mirren Gets Cheeky in Harper’s Bazaar

Helen Mirren The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Zoey Grossman/Harper’s Bazaar

-In Harper’s Bazaar, Helen Mirren talks about playing a baddie in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. “Women get to play much cooler villains these days. But I’ve always had a secret ambition to play a villain in a James Bond movie.”

–Justin Bieber ate a burrito sideways and everyone is very confused.

–Emma Stone says that when she was doing Cabaret on Broadway, during one performance she sang so hard that both of her contacts popped out. She also revealed a disturbing side effect from wearing a corset for months while filming The Favourite: “After a month, all my organs shifted — it was gross, and if you don’t have to, don’t do it.”

–Carey Mulligan talked about attending Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s royal wedding and her husband’s gaffe during the ceremony when he thought the cameras weren’t on them. “When we were allowed to turn our phones back on we had like 15,000 messages saying ‘Marcus, you yawned on TV!'”

-All HBO programs with sex scenes will be staffed by an “intimacy coordinator” to make sure everyone stays safe and respected during filming. That job title would make for really interesting dinner party introductions…

-I gave up on Riverdale ages ago, but I’m definitely going to tune in next week to watch the kids play their parents in the 80’s-set episode, “The Midnight Club.”

–Ellen likes to scare her guests on a regular week, but she really ramps it up the week before Halloween. She got Diddy with Pennywise, and she sent her producer and Chrissy Teigen to a haunted house. (I love how he keeps using her as a human shield.)

-That “significant” character that Modern Family has been teasing about dying for over a month turned out to be not so significant after all… and fans are not impressed.

-I think all interviews with TV stars should include forcing them to watch their onscreen kisses and give a running commentary on them. This is delightful!

-Speaking of delightful interviews, Phoebe Robinson talked about being in Croatia to shoot the Netflix romcom Ibiza, and meeting Julia Roberts because her husband was the director of photography for the movie. When Julia found out she couldn’t swim, she took it upon herself to teach her.

–Jason Sudeikis with long hair is kind of working for me…

-There’s a Clueless reboot in the works from the writers of Girls Trip and Glow.

–John Mayer estimates he slept with 500 women. Is that a lot for a rock star?

-This is a really great interview with Steven Yeun, formerly of The Walking Dead and currently getting huge buzz for his role in Burning.

–Liam Neeson plays a snowplow driver who seeks revenge against the drug dealers who killed his son in the Cold Pursuit trailer.

–Natalie Portman plays a pop star in the trailer for Vox Lux.