–Regina King‘s victory lap for her directorial debut One Night In Miami continues with an InStyle cover. She also appeared on last night’s Kimmel, talking about what happened in Washington yesterday.
-It’s over for Shia LaBeouf and Margaret Qualley. Us Weekly is reporting they split on Saturday (making me wonder if their “source” is DeuxMoi, who posted a tip earlier with the same info). In any case, I’m happy she’s free of him.
-According to Page Six, who broke the divorce story, Kanye West’s presidential run was the last straw for Kim Kardashian.
-Here’s a look at every studio film directed by female filmmakers expected to come out in the next two years.
–Taylor Swift quietly released an evermore deluxe edition on streaming platforms, with bonus tracks “right where you left me” and “it’s time to go.” Of course, everyone is assuming the latter is about Karlie Kloss.
-Speaking of Kloss, who’s the wife of Joshua Kushner and sister-in-law to Jared and Ivanka, she’s speaking up against Trumpsters. But Tavi Gevinsonis not impressed her Kloss’ comments. (Gah, I adore Tavi!)
-Quelle surprise: Britney Spears‘ ex hubby Jason Alexander is an anti-masker who attended the Trump riot.
–Sir Ian McKellenexpressed support for his former X-Men costar Elliot Page, and recalls a time he criticized her on set for speaking softly. “I’m so happy for Elliot. And so disappointed in myself that I didn’t detect what their difficulty was with communicating.”
-If you were online at all over the last few days, you’ve probably caught up with the Hilaria Baldwin drama, in which it was revealed that Alec Baldwin‘s wife was actually born in Massachusetts and has faked a Spanish accent for years. This is my favourite kind of end-of-year scandal: a harmless saga featuring random celebrity cameos (hello, Amy Schumer) and a couple who keeps digging a deeper hole after getting caught up in their own lies.
–Constance Wuwelcomed her first child with her boyfriend, musician Ryan Kattner — and they did it 6 months ago and managed to keep it under wraps.
–Emma Roberts and Garrett Hedlund also had their first child, a boy named Rhodes.
–Nick Cannon and his girlfriend, Brittany Bell, also welcomed their second child together over the holidays.
-Personally, I adored Bridgerton on Netflix, even if it’s not without its flaws (the showrunner insists it’s not just colour-blind casting but the show barely engages with race at all). Also, a lot of people’s favourite book is the one focused on Penelope (which I haven’t got to yet), but the reveal at the end of this season makes me wonder how much the audience will still be rooting for her when it’s time for her love story. In any case, if the show follows the books the next season should focus on Anthony and his new love interest, who’s the best character. Like, so good she makes him tolerable.
-We can’t talk about Bridgerton without talking about THE SCENE. Perhaps because I just read the book I was expecting it, but I was surprised at how vocal the reaction to it was. The scene in the book is even *more* problematic but it does a better job with Simon’s POV in the aftermath than the show does. In the book, he more clearly resists, his reaction stutter is worse, it explores his feelings of betrayal more deeply, she’s way more repentant, and he physically separates from her until he can sort out his feelings. Still, I can’t help but wonder why the show didn’t just drop that scene altogether, or at the very least focus more on Simon’s reaction than Daphne’s.
-Speaking of dubious sex scenes in this week’s pop culture, this is a very, very good piece on both Wonder Woman 1984 and Bridgerton’s missteps when it comes to the lack of male consent.
-Speaking of WW84, this review nails it. I still can’t believe that they made Wonder Woman a secondary character in her own sequel, and that her main storyline was about how she’s spent the past 70 years pining (ha!) for a guy she once spent a week with.
-In movie news that actually sounds good, Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum will star in The Lost City of D; she as a romance novelist and he as a romance novel model. Together they’ll be entangled in a “cutthroat jungle adventure.”
–Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have released a holiday podcast special on Spotify. They had Stacey Abrams as a guest and she talked about #BlackLivesMatter and the importance of voting which helped turn Georgia blue.
–Halsey is taking a social media break after apologizing for sharing a photo depicting her eating disorder without adding a trigger warning.
-Netflix is introducing a new weekly chat show about its trending shows. I wonder how this is going to work, seeing as you can’t really have aftershows for series when all your audience is at different stages of their binge?
-Speaking of Netflix shows, the cheerleading drama Dare Me debuts today and critics love it.
–Michael B. Jordan will make his directorial debut with the upcoming third installment of the Creed franchise.
–Lori Loughlin has been released from prison after her 2-month sentence following her college bribery scam.
–Justin Bieber‘s (or Justin Bieber’s PR firm’s) response to his wife on social media is very funny.
–Variety apologized to Carey Mulligan for its “insensitive language and insinuation” after she says its review of Promising Young Woman was “basically saying that I wasn’t hot enough” for the role.
-Speaking of Variety, they had a deep dive into Shia LaBeouf’s career that seems to have gotten overlooked in the holiday rush. It includes a couple of interesting tidbits, like how Harry Styles replaced him in Olivia Wilde’s upcoming film Don’t Worry Darling because Wilde has a “zero asshole policy” on her sets.
–Regina Hall turned 50 and celebrated by posting a hilarious song about it.
–More details from FKA twigs‘s lawsuit against Shia LaBeouf have emerged, and her accusations are chilling. She says when filming The Tax Collector, he got so into his gangster character he drove around Los Angeles, shooting stray dogs dead so that he could get into the “mindset” of a killer.
She claims he also demanded she sleep naked and forced her to watch documentaries about murdered women before going to bed. He apparently was paranoid and suffered recurring delusions about gang members breaking into his home, so he slept with a loaded rifle at their bedside, but insisted on keeping the front door unlocked. She also says he would count the number of kisses she’d give him on any given day, and berate her if it wasn’t enough, and he knowingly infected her with an STD. Meanwhile, rumors surrounding LaBeouf’s alleged domestic violence have existed for years.
-Also, Sia tweeted her support for FKA twigs and said ‘pathological liar’ Shia LaBeouf ‘conned’ her into an ‘adulterous relationship.’“I’m sorry @Sia. This reinforces why I had to publicly share my experience. we need to support each other,” FKA responded.
–George Clooney says he’s barely left his home since March because he’s worried about his 3-year-old asthmatic son and offers the understatement of 2020: “It’s been a crappy year”
-Once again Hollywood is proving that the world is a much different place than when I was in high school: Chris Pine is currently in talks to star in the film adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons.
–Meghan Markle has made her first private investment — a company that counts Oprah amongst its fans.
–Snoop Dogg doesn’t agree with Cardi B’s “Wap,” and says women should have privacy and leave things to the imagination. This is the guy whose debut album was called Doggystyle, right?!
–Janelle Monae wants to work with the Nolan brothers. Maybe? It’s confusing.
-Say what you will about Christopher Nolan‘s stance on the Warner movies streaming on HBO Max, but he’s not wrong when he talks about how the new deal screws over unions.
-This is a very good recap of the best TV of the year. 2020 feels so long that I forgot most of these gems aired this year. Bojack Horseman’s series finale feels like decades ago.
–Dolly Parton saved her 9-year-old Netflix movie co-star from an oncoming car. Is there nothing she can’t do??!
–Charley Pride passed away from complications due to covid over the weekend — one month after he attended the CMA Awards, which were much criticized for being held maskless inside and not appearing safe. Producers of the show have since responded to the backlash and say they followed protocols.
–Ashanti had to postpone her Verzuz battle with Keyshia Cole after she tested positive for Covid-19. This came as no surprise to anyone who’s been following her travelogues on social media.
–Nancy Meyers says she’s done making movies because they went from stressful but fun to just stressful. “Once superhero movies really became the only movie studios cared about, the experience of making a movie like mine changed. I remember when I finished The Intern, I thought, ‘I think this is it.'”
-The Office is coming to Peacock streaming in January, and they’re making the first two seasons free plus adding new footage from the show.
–Taylor Swift released the “dancing witch version of Willow,” remixed by Elvira.
–Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel reunited for a live script reading of Elf to raise money for the Democratic Party of Georgia.
-Speaking of Christmas Day releases, the full Bridgerton trailer has arrived, and Shonda Rhimes adaptation of the romance novels for Netflix looks like everything I’ve ever wanted!
–Regina King‘s victory lap for her directorial debut One Night In Miami continues with an InStyle cover. She also appeared on last night’s Kimmel, talking about what happened in Washington yesterday.