Browsing Tag

Taylor Swift

Sandra Oh is a Person of the Year

Sandra Oh in a pink top on the cover of People

–Sandra Oh has been named one of People’s People of the Year, and talked about inspiring others (“It means so much to me to be on this cover. When I was growing up, I never saw my face on the cover. To be asked to be on the cover is a great privilege, because it normalizes things for my nephews and nieces”) and how her impromptu speech at a Stop Asian Hate rally went viral (“There was a lot of pain and outrage, and when that happens, you need to gather together. That’s the only way to get through. If you’re standing side by side with someone who’s not your gender or not your race, you can go, ‘Okay, we have commonality.’ We need to move through fear”).

–Michael B. Jordan covers THR and talks about growing his empire (“To be young, Black and successful — and disruptive — in this industry, there’s a certain navigation to get to the place I need to get to. And you try to hold that moment and stay in it for as long as you can”) and posting about his relationship with Lori Harvey on social media (“There’s a premeditated planning of staying out of the way [of the public eye] that sometimes kills spontaneity and intimacy. I wanted to take that away and give this the best chance it had, in this weird world that we live in, to be somewhat normal”).

–Ben Affleck talked to Wall Street Journal’s magazine about second chances — both in his career and in his love life. However, he’s trying to create boundaries when it comes to sharing details. When asked about Jennifer Lopez, he said, “You can write conjecture about it, but one of the harder lessons that I have learned is that it’s not wise to share everything with the world. There are some things which are private and intimate and have meaning in terms of their intimacy by dint of the fact that they’re not shared with the rest of the world. I’m more comfortable just learning to find a boundary between things that I want to share and things that I don’t.”

–Alec Baldwin gave an “intense” post-Rust interview to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. It’ll air tomorrow, but they released a clip of him tearing up.

-Everyone’s sharing their Spotify Wrapped lists today. In the meantime, Spotify announced that Bad Bunny edged out Taylor Swift for the coveted title of their most-streamed artist of 2021.  This marks the second year in a row for him to get the honour — and he didn’t even release a new album this year.

-Succession’s J. Smith-Cameron says she has “no issue” being a sex symbol. We don’t have an issue with it, either!

-Meanwhile, Matthew Macfadyen discussed which of Tom’s relationships is more secure: Shiv or Greg.

–Sandra Bullock was on Red Table Talk and discussed her terrifying home invasion in 2014 (“The violation of that. I wasn’t the same after that, I was unraveling…I haven’t been alone since the day it happened”), and how she told her photographer boyfriend Bryan Randall that she was adopting another child (“We hadn’t been together that long and I go “You remember that NDA you signed when you photographed my son [at the birthday party where we met?] You know that still holds?’ And he said “Yeah, ok, why?’ And is said, “Cause I’m bringing a child home when I come back from Toronto”).

-Awful: legendary music exec Clarence Avant‘s wife was shot and killed in a home invasion robbery.

-Four more families have turned down Travis Scott’s offer to pay for the funerals of family members who died at Astroworld.

-Congrats to Kathy Griffin, who told Jimmy Kimmel that she’s officially cancer-free.

-Shawn Mendes apparently wants joint custody of a dog named Tarzan following his split with Camila Cabello.

-Yellowjackets is a new show that seems to be sneaking onto people’s radar. I wonder if it’ll end up on some Best of 2021 lists?

-Speaking of Best of lists, I’m surprise how many movie ones have Drive My Car on them. I gave up on that film an hour and a half in.

-Only Murders in the Building has started shooting season 2!

-Should I start watching the Great British Bake-off? Everyone who does just seems really happy with that decision.

–Michael Sheen gets a glimpse of his bleak future in the trailer for Last Train to Christmas.

-Neo experiences deja vú in the new trailer for Matrix: Resurrections.

Keanu Reeves Remains Dreamy

Keanu Reeves wears a striped suit on the cover of Esquire

-My only requirement for a Keanu Reeves profile is that it doesn’t ruin the idea I have of Keanu in my mind (which is, admittedly, a high bar). Luckily, his new Esquire profile certainly doesn’t. I love how he repeatedly laughs off the notion that movie making is hard work (“I mean, ‘hard’? Come on, man. We’re making a movie!”),  and won’t complain when he wakes up feeling crappy and sick during his current routine of travel and constant night shoots (“So? Drink some hot tea with some lemon and honey in it. I don’t know. Slap yourself in the face. Stretch. Concentrate, man”). The part that’s going to get the most play is undoubtedly Sandra Bullock’s story about how he once brought her champagne and truffles because she had offhandedly mentioned never trying them — and when he dropped them off she was painting her nails so he let her paint his, too. All in all, the whole article is worth your time — even though the writer describes the upscale Toronto neighborhood of Yorkville as “bohemian.”

-The splits keep coming: Kaia Gerber and Jacob Elordi have reportedly split after a year of dating, and Batsheva Haart and Ben Weinstein of Netflix’s My Unorthodox Life have broken up after nine years of marriage.  As Jezebel says, the end of the pandemic cuffing season for famous people is here.

-Bucking the trend are Jaden Smith and Phoebe Dynevor, who may be dating. The age difference seems big but she’s actually only 3 years older.

–Adele hosted another televised special — this time in the UK, and the audience was even more celeb-packed than the US one. Stars in the crowd included Idris Elba, Emma Thompson, Hannah Waddingham, Emma Watson, Bryan Cranston, Mel B, Naomi Campbell, Josh Gad, Samuel L Jackson and Richard E Grant.

-My favourite part was when Emma Thompson was urging everyone around her to get up and dance. I have been that person at concerts…

-Another great moment was when Adele’s former English teacher surprised her.

–Britney Spears praised Lady Gaga for speaking out on her behalf and chided Christina Aguilera for refusing to do the same. Everyone’s blaming Xtina’s publicist, but look at her face before he even jumps in — this was clearly a “no-go” topic.

–Taylor Swift has topped both the Billboard 200 album chart and the Hot 100 singles chart. Say what you will, but she’s managed to dominate the charts with songs that are a decade old.

-Meanwhile, there’s renewed chatter that Jake Gyllenhaal runs the Instagram account of a cat named Ms. FluffleStiltskin, who has started scolding about cyberbullying.

-This is neat: Jane Campion used a Jungian dream coach – who is also Sandra Oh‘s mentor – to put the unconscious on screen in The Power of the Dog.

–Ridley Scott is blaming The Last Duel bombing at the box office on apathetic millennials. “What it boils down to [are] the audiences who were brought up on cell phones. The millennian, [who] do not ever want to be taught anything unless you told it on the cell phone. This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook. This is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.” There’s a few reasons I didn’t see it in theatres, and they had nothing do with age: the marketing and trailers were abysmal, Matt Damon was promoted much more than Adam Driver and Jodie Comer, I’m still not back to my full in-person theatre-going schedule, AND I had zero desire to watch the same sexual assault repeatedly play out from different perspectives. But go off, I guess.

-For non-ridiculous director talk, here’s Paul Thomas Anderson eating vegan Mexican food and chatting with the NYT.

–Kristen Stewart, Jessica Chastain, Tessa Thompson, Kirsten Dunst, Jennifer Hudson and Emilia Jones open up about their respective films already gathering Oscar buzz in THR’s first roundtable of the awards season.

–Oscars’ best-actor category is shaping up to be this year’s stiffest competition, with Will Smith, Andrew Garfield, Leonardo DiCaprio, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joaquin Phoenix, Bradley Cooper and Mahershala Ali all being bandied about already.

–Jason Reitman’s reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise made a respectable $44 million from 4,315 theaters this weekend.

–Eddie Redmayne is courting controversy yet again by playing the Emcee in Cabaret — a character that is often played by LGBT actors. While he admits past mistakes (“I made The Danish Girl with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake”), he says of his new role “Of all the characters I’ve ever read, this one defies pigeonholing. I would ask people to come and see it before casting judgment.”

-We Are Lady Parts has (finally) been renewed for a second season at Peacock. The first 6-episode season was a blast.

-This is a really good example of how dark and grimy TV looks nowadays. It’s everywhere!

-Three autistic roommates try to conquer their fears in the trailer for As We See It, from This Is Us creator Jason Katims.

-Here’s the trailer for Shonda Rhimes‘ latest Netflix show, Inventing Anna, starring Julia Garner as a grifter who infiltrated the NYC socialite scene.

Lady Gaga Mines Her Pain

lady gaga thr cover

-In her THR cover story, Lady Gaga talks about how she channeled her own trauma and nearly came undone while shooting House of Gucci. All of her quotes about staying in character during the shoot are so over the top and this whole promo tour is going to be wild. “My mother and father met me as Patrizia a couple times. And they were mostly laughing because my family gets a kick out of my love of artistry. … There’s a downside to committing yourself to a role in that way because it’s an adjustment for everybody around you. Suddenly, you’re not talking to Stefani anymore with an accent. You’re talking to Patrizia Gucci.”

–Adam Driver says he and Lady Gaga improvised feral noises of their House of Gucci sex scene: ‘We were feeling it!’

–Britney Spears posted a video celebrating her new freedoms, and it starkly underscores how restricted her life was. “Being able to have the keys to my car…and owning an ATM card and accessing cash for the first time, being able to buy candles — it’s the little things for us women but it makes a huge difference.”

-After starring in Taylor Swift‘s new video, Miles Teller took to Twitter to say, “Hey guys, I don’t usually feel the need to address rumors on here but I am vaccinated and have been for a while.” (In September, both the Daily Mail and The Hollywood Reporter reported delays on The Offer, a TV series featuring Teller about the making of The Godfather, because the actor reportedly refused to get vaccinated against COVID.)

-In the wake of Taylor‘s new songs, her fans are going after John Mayer.

–Rockmond Dunbar has left Fox’s 911 over the show’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. He said in a statement, “I applied for religious and medical accommodations pursuant to the law and unfortunately was denied by my employer.”

–Meghan Markle was on The Ellen Show (which was an odd choice, no?). It will air tomorrow but they showed a cute clip of her talking about going to auditions with her busted car.

–Olivia Munn says there’s lots of incorrect speculation surrounding her relationship with John Mulaney. She told the LA Times it’s “definitely not foreign for me to have people speculate incorrectly about things and to have rumors run rampant in one way. They think they know our relationship so well. When in reality, they don’t. There’s no way anyone could know what any of his relationships were or what our relationship is.”

–Elle Fanning is fans with Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriend, and she says they all fangirled when they were at the same party with the cast of Squid Game. “It was interesting because Leo was kind of around there, and Cami and I were freaking out, and he was like, ‘Guys, act cool. Relax.’ And then we were like, ‘It’s Squid Game!’ And he was like, ‘It is?! Where?!’ So he was excited too.”

-Are we having fun yet?!? A Party Down revival has been ordered at Starz with multiple original cast members returning, including Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Ken Marino, Martin Starr, Ryan Hansen and Megan Mullally. I’m bummed that Lizzy Caplan seems out because of scheduling issues.

-The Harry Potter cast is set to reunite for the 20th anniversary on a HBO Max special — and J.K. Rowling won’t be included.

–Jennifer Coolidge is joining Ryan Murphy‘s upcoming series about a couple being stalked.

-Both of the IATSE contracts have been ratified. But when it comes to the big Hollywood agreement it only passed because of the electoral college-style voting system. Popular vote was 49.6% yes to 50.4% no.

-The reviews of Adele‘s new album 30 are calling it her best.

–Channing Tatum is put in charge of an angry service dog in the first trailer for his buddy trip movie, which is unimaginatively titled Dog.

–Kirsten Dunst says the disparity between her Spider-Man salary and Tobey Maguire’s was “very extreme.” “I didn’t even think about it. I was just like, ‘Oh yeah, Tobey is playing Spider-Man.’ But you know who was on the cover of the second Spider-Man poster? Spider-Man and ME.”

-In the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, Peter and Dr. Strange botch a spell to make everyone forget Spider-Man’s real identity, which leads to visitors from every universe, including Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Alfred Molina‘s Dr. Octopus, the Sandman from Spider-Man 3 and the Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man. (This is a good post laying out all the ways this movie could go.)