Browsing Tag

Penn Badgley

Succession’s Bad Billionaires Are Back

the cast of succession on new york magazine's fall tv preview issue

-I’m going to share a lot of Vulture profiles today because there were so many good ones, but none better than Hunter Harris’ cover story, in which she went on location in Italy with the cast of Succession.

-All the boldfaced names in Italy this weekend for Dolce & Gabbana’s show made it clear that celebs and their stylists are back to being totally cool with D&G now despite their alleged racist, homophobic and fatphobic behaviour, especially if it involves a (free?) trip to Venice.

-Not only am I wondering what Jennifer Lopez was thinking by attending, but I’m also wondering why no one took the price tag off her cape?

-Also regrettable was her overdrawn top lip line. Billie Eilish has tried to make this a thing too, and I hate it.

-Rumour has it that a very rough cut of The Batman screened this weekend and the reaction was positive. It’s apparently horror-level dark, and Pattinson and Kravitz are great.

–Patty Jenkins says the hybrid release of Wonder Woman 1984 was “detrimental” to the film’s success. I mean, it was also possibly because the film was…not good?

–Emily VanCamp is leaving Fox’s The Resident after 4 seasons. Isn’t she the co-lead? There’s no official word why yet, but she’s back in the MCU — not to mention she and her husband, Revenge costar Josh Bowman, recently welcomed a baby girl.

-Manifest has been saved. Netflix is bringing back the cancelled show with a final, 20-episode season. Apparently NBC also made an offer, but Netflix’s had more episodes and a bigger budget.

–Drake will release his next album this Friday (which he weirdly announced on Sports Center).

–Kanye West‘s new album is out (after a bizarre listening party where he “married” Kim Kardashian and featured Marilyn Manson and DaBaby). He’s now claiming Universal released the album without his approval and that they blocked the DaBaby track.

-The album reviews are decidedly mixed.

–John Cho talked to Vulture about getting superhero fit for Cowboy Bebop. “The biggest fear that I had was I was too old. I knew people were gonna have issues with my age. And I had to get over it.” Who has issues with his age?!? Point me at ’em!

-Is this why Tom Cruise was so yell-y on the Mission Impossible 7 set? Paramount sued its insurer today for refusing to cover the vast majority of its losses due to pandemic-related shutdowns on the film.

–An IG account features crew members begging for more rest periods amid complaints that they are working dangerously long hours to meet streaming production schedules. I’ve been following this account for about a month now and the stories are horrific. Lowly PAs who have to pick up the food being expected pay the tip out of their own pocket, crew not being allowed meal or bathroom breaks, and department heads fudging crew’s hours so they don’t have to pay overtime.

-The first male to speak publicly with allegations against R. Kelly took the stand today, describing sexual abuse when he was just 17.

–Nia DaCosta is the first Black woman filmmaker to open a movie at No. 1 at the domestic box office with Candyman. Good for her, but also how depressing that it took this long.

–Halsey says she was turned down by some publications while promoting their new album while pregnant because “they didn’t want a maternity cover.”

-Meanwhile, I like this look back into how Halsey spent a lot of time on the internet during their teenage years — specifically Tumblr, and even more specifically, One Direction Tumblr.

–Jon Stewart has something wrong with his face in the new teaser for his AppleTV series.

–Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke are teaming up to play brothers in Apple TV’s Raymond and Ray.

-Speaking of new AppleTV duos, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson are reteaming for a romantic action-adventure film at Apple.

-Joe isn’t happy he has a son in the season 3 teaser for Netflix’s You. Meanwhile, Penn Badgley talked to Vulture about the new season and says he doesn’t want viewers to root for his character; he wants to push them toward a deeper consideration of You’s themes and the societal myths that allow men like Joe to get away with violence toward women.

-AMC has renewed Kevin Can F*ck Himself for a second season, a show that got much better as it went on.

-Last week’s episode of Ted Lasso was the best of the season so far. Brett Goldstein’s episodes always crush me.

-There’s a lot of speculation about which celebs are invited to the Met Gala, but it sounds like Addison Rae is in.

–Camila Cabello is a good singer, so why is this clip of her singing in Cinderella so not good?

-Here’s the trailer for Jake Gyllenhaal’s The Guilty, which is making the festival rounds before hitting Netflix.

Jennifer Aniston’s Latest Role: Firefighter

–Jennifer Aniston proved she’s handy with a fire extinguisher when a bit got more dangerous than expected. Emmy head writer Molly McNearney, who’s married to Jimmy Kimmel, said the fire was supposed to go out immediately. “That was very scary, by the way. I may have grabbed some arms [backstage] to hold them back. Which is kind of crazy, ‘let my husband burn!’ But I didn’t want people rushing out. I knew that they would figure it out.”

–McNearney also explained how Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow were celebrating the Emmys inside Jennifer Aniston’s house: “Those women have been in a pod for a long time. And they’ve been testing every day.” Must be nice. Part of me wanted them to mention that so the audience would know it’s not ok to be having indoor parties, but the other part of me is glad they didn’t because all the people who are struggling to get tested in the US would probably not feel great knowing that the rich and famous are doing it daily preventatively.

-As for the actual show, I kind of loved it? They made the best of the hand they were dealt, and it was fast-moving ceremony with very few objectional wins. (I only wish they’d varied the category order like they usually do so all the Schitt’s Creek wins weren’t back-to-back.)

-Despite there being no in-person Emmy ceremony, many stars made bold style choices – whether that meant red carpet-ready gowns or comfy pajamas.

-It’s hilarious to me that so many Zendaya fans are angry about headlines calling her win an “upset” because they don’t understand that “upset” can mean unpredicted and surprising, not necessarily that people were upset about it.

-Congrats to Penn Badgley and Domino Kirke, who welcomed their first child. Is this the first celebrity baby announcement to involve placenta art?

-BTS broke NPR’s Tiny Desk record for the most YouTube views by a video on its first day … in about 25 minutes.

-I love Legends of Tomorrow and was really hoping it’d be the only CW show without messiness, but leads star Caity Lotz had to go and screw that up by acknowledging RGB’s death by tweeting “I love the people who will vote for Biden, and I love the people who will vote for Trump.” Not only is it no time for bothsides-ism, but it’s especially galling coming from someone who plays an LGBTQ character.

–Ellen DeGeneres addressed those multiple reports about a “toxic” work culture when the daytime program returned today, but she mostly distanced herself from any wrongdoing “I learned that things happened here that never should have happened.” She did add: “The truth is, I am that person that you see on TV. I am also a lot of other things. Sometimes I get sad, I get mad, I get anxious, I get frustrated, I get impatient — and I am working on all of that.”

–Jessica Mulroney called Meghan Markle her “kindest friend” in a since-deleted social post.

-Meanwhile, their friendship in the news again because the Daily Mail’s latest defense in their lawsuit is to claim Markle asked Mulroney to act as a “PR agent” on her behalf to “influence” press coverage. The Mail is also claiming the Duchess cooperated in the new Finding Freedom book, which refers to her father’s letter that’s at the heart of the lawsuit.

–Lori Loughlin was allowed to pick her prison, and it sounds more like a wellness retreat.

–This interview with Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth about their 20-year friendship and their new movie, in which they play a couple, is a delight!

-Despite it being a stripped down film festival, TIFF still managed to generate some big deals — mostly from Netflix, which shelled out huge for Halle Berry‘s MMA movie Bruised, the Zendaya-John David Washington quarantine-shot Malcolm & Marie and the Vanessa Kirby film Pieces of a Woman (which features a 23-minute one-shot of a home birth that’s going to haunt me for a long time).

-While Paris Hilton is getting lots of praise for her new documentary, Jezebel reminds us that she still hasn’t addressed her frequent and casual use of the n-word. Some of the quotes in this article are insane.

-I did a Zoom call with Tatiana Maslany on Friday and she said she’s NOT doing She-Hulk. I assume she’s under a gag order until Marvel officially announces it, but it was weird.

-Speaking of Marvel, the new trailer for WandaVision is kind of great?

THR’s Drama Actress Roundtable

Janelle Monae, Jennifer Aniston, Zendaya, Reese Witherspoon, Helena Bonham Carter and Rose Byrne
THR/Ramona Rosales

-This year’s Hollywood Reporter’s TV drama actress roundtable features Janelle Monae, Jennifer Aniston, Zendaya, Reese Witherspoon, Helena Bonham Carter and Rose Byrne. I love how Witherspoon, Aniston and Carter are all going on about how the pandemic has given them time to pause and think about the world and Monae says “For me and my people, for the Black community, this is not an exciting time. This isn’t a time that we get to really reflect. We’re dealing with a lot of trauma.”

–Jenny Slate has exited Big Mouth. “Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people. Me playing Missy, I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.” Your move, Kristen Bell.

–Bryan Singer appears to still be preying on boys despite The Atlantic’s explosive expose about him last year. In a new thread, Elijah Daniel details how the disgraced director is still around and allegedly recruiting boys for trips to Hawaii, shifting his focus from aspiring actors to Instagram influencers. Minutes after posting the thread, images of boys with the tag #BryanSinger were scrubbed from Instagram.

–Stephen Colbert interviewed John Bolton last night and did not get off his neck. It was glorious. “How did you not know beforehand that [Trump] was just callow? … You’re an international negotiator. How could you be naive? You’ve dealt with the worst people in the world.”

-The Globes’ TV critic John Doyle spilled some tea on Ben Mulroney and his thin skin in today’s paper. He talked about jokingly creating a ‘most annoying Cdn’ poll in 2003. Mulroney, who was hosting Canadian Idol at the time, tied with the guy from the Canadian Tire ads. “All in good fun. Some of the TV personalities on the list thought it was hilarious. One sent me a bouquet of flowers. I didn’t hear from Ben Mulroney directly of course. Oh my, no. I did hear from Senator Marjory LeBreton, the former deputy chief of staff in Brian Mulroney’s government. Her letter to the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher and CEO of this newspaper, also cc’d me, let me know there was umbrage taken at Ben Mulroney being teased in my column…There was certainly a call or two of complaint to the paper’s then Editor-in-Chief from Brian Mulroney.” While Doyle’s bosses were supportive of him, he says his counterpart at The Sun wasn’t so lucky: “Brian Mulroney was then on the board of Quebecor, which owned the Sun, and the Mulroney family complained to the paper’s bosses about the TV critic’s coverage of Ben. The writer was summoned to a meeting and told, ‘Never type the words ‘Ben Mulroney’ again.’ And he didn’t. He couldn’t.”

-Meanwhile, Lainey reiterated and expanded upon the apology she posted on today’s episode of The Social after her old posts were trending online. This is very well done.

–Penn Badgley spoke about his You costar Chris D’Elia being accused of sexually harassing and grooming underage girls: “It did affect me deeply. I was very troubled by it. I am very troubled by it. I don’t know Chris. I know that, if there’s anything we need to do in this age, it’s to believe women.”

-Days of Our Lives’ Melissa Reeves has come under fire for her anti-Black Lives Matter stance. As someone who once made a scrapbook for Jack & Jennifer’s wedding in her youth, this is super disappointing.

-Brooklyn Nine-Nine is reportedly scrapping four episodes and starting over to focus more on BLM.

-Really liked this piece on how we think of — and what we want from — famous people is changing.

–Roch Voisine was trending in Canada, and I’m so happy that it’s not because he has died… It’s because he’s turned into a stone cold daddy.

–Timothee Chalamet and Eiza Gonzalez were spotted vacationing together in Mexico. How is anyone vacationing right now? I have so many questions.

-TIFF has unveiled the first details about this year’s film festival. It’ll be dramatically scaled down (50 features from last year’s 333), will feature some drive-in screenings, and will have a huge online component.

–John Boyega responded to that viral marriage proposal.

-Netflix’s new cooking show Crazy Delicious is getting great buzz.

–Padma Lakshmi’s Taste the Nation on Hulu is also getting good reviews.

-Eurovision Song Contest, starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams and dropping on Netflix this weekend, is getting mixed reviews. Variety says it’s “a badly shot one-joke movie that sits there and goes thud,” while Vulture calls it “glorious,” the Globe & Mail says “it’s barely a movie at all,” and Vanity Fair calls it “silly and fun.”

-Here’s the trailer for HBO Max’s Expecting Amy, a three-part documentary series following Amy Schumer as she juggles looming parenthood with her stand-up career.

-Here’s the first trailer for J.J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles‘ Little Voice, Apple+’s coming-of-age musical drama.

-I can’t believe The Handmaid’s Tale is still limping along. Here’s the season 4 trailer.

–Jessica Chastain is a rogue assassin in trailer for action movie Ava.