Richard Dreyfuss doesn’t get it, but most grouchy, self-proclaimed keepers of the old Hollywood guard never do when it comes to creating an industry that gives a chance for everyone to thrive.
It was Sept. 8, 2020, and I was one week into my job as the awards editor for Variety when the Academy dropped its bombshell news that as part of its Aperture 2025 initiative, the organization was introducing new representation and inclusion requirements for submitting in the best picture category. There are four standards, and a film must meet only two in order to be eligible. So naturally, the news designed to promote and encourage diversity in the Hollywood system was met with divisive reactions. Some, such as Viggo Mortensen, said, “It’s about exclusion, which is discrimination.”
Others like comedian and actor Andy Samberg pointed out the apparent loopholes in the Academy’s gesture: “The parameters if you look at them closely… you can have the ‘whitest’ cast in the history of cinema and still very easily meet them by just doing a few key roles behind the camera. People who have problems with it can fuck off.”
Now enters Dreyfuss, whose comments come during an interview on PBS’ “Firing Line With Margaret Hoover.” When asked about the standards that go into effect this year, the 75-year-old actor responded, “They make me vomit.”
Such a physical, dramatic reaction from the Oscar winner of “The Goodbye Girl” (1977), who at 30, became the youngest best actor winner until Adrien Brody, 29, won for “The Pianist” in 2002. I don’t recall the “What About Bob” star sharing his bodily nausea during some of Hollywood’s most significant moments of reckoning, such as the fall of disgraced figure Harvey Weinstein during the height of the #MeToo movement, the murder of George Floyd or even the current writers guild strike that’s halted the business.
Schofield (George MacKay, foreground) with fellow soldiers in “1917,” the new epic from Oscar®-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes.
François Duhamel
This is yet another demonstration of the exhaustive behavior of the vocal “rebellious freedom fighters” in Hollywood. Talking heads like Bill Maher or former Fox and NBC personality Megyn Kelly have made careers out of sitting on the partisan fence with their versions of “both sides are bad,” but seem to only be on the record criticizing actions and policies that advocate for a better world for marginalized communities. In conversations with industry professionals not in favor of the guidelines, I’ve found the absence of a fundamental understanding of the rules, what they mean and how movies remain eligible.
With minimal effort on their part, the current 640-word document as it stands would not disqualify any film nominated for best picture, going as far back as 1980. That means the country-singing character piece “Tender Mercies” (1983), the dual-male-character war drama “1917” (2019) and the macho-gangster best picture winner “The Departed” (2006) all keep their pieces in Oscar history. And that declaration comes without the knowledge of studios’ executive teams or internship programs available during the respective eras.
But Dreyfuss still finds the flaws in the Academy’s motion.
OTHELLO, from left: Frank Finlay, Laurence Olivier, 1965
Courtesy Everett Collection
One of the most jaw-dropping moments from Dreyfuss’ PBS appearance was when he invoked Laurence Olivier’s work in the 1965 version of the William Shakespeare classic story “Othello,” which featured the actor in Blackface.
“He played a Black man brilliantly. Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play [in] ‘The Merchant of Venice’? Are we crazy?” Dreyfuss asked. “This is so patronizing. It’s so thoughtless and treating people like children.”
:: takes a deep breath ::
Mr. Dreyfuss… we live in a free world. If you feel inspired and spiritually driven to play the role of a prominent Black figure like Rosa Parks or the recently departed Harry Belafonte, you can produce, direct, write, star and self-distribute this hypothetical motion picture. If you want to keep the “purity” of art alive and wish to hire an all-white crew, you also can do so.
It may be helpful to know that Mr. Dreyfuss could be nominated and even win a second acting statuette for what he might call his “most important work” during his campaign tour. However, the best picture statuette from the over 9,600 members would likely not meet the prerequisites.
What makes Dreyfuss’ statement more ironic is Olivier’s work garnered him a lead actor nom. While acknowledging the time when “Othello” was filmed, we’ve also seen respected actors like Patrick Stewart, who starred in a 1997 production of the titular character, able to do so without resorting to Blackface.
Dreyfuss, and others in his controversial camp, consistently fail to address the derogatory and offensive stereotypes involved with “playing a Black person” when you’re not. They also won’t acknowledge such a practice does to the attempted erasure of Black actors. They only have the entitlement they possess to play any role they wish.
His comments further suggest the Academy’s guidelines, which are truly the bare minimum of telling Hollywood to get its act together, are pushing this alleged “race and gender war” conservative naysayers cite often. It fuels an arbitrary theory that qualified white men are being prevented from being gainfully employed in favor of unqualified BIPOC people to meet some arbitrary quota. Yet, any recent study examining the data shows a stalemate, even a regression, for BIPOC artists and stories. For example, UCLA Center for Scholars & Storytellers revealed in its report only 4.8% of experienced directors are female compared to 95.2% of experienced directors being male. And 16.3% of experienced directors are BIPOC, and the rest are white.
Also worth noting, “Othello” (1965) would also meet the proposed Academy criteria for best picture — thanks to production and costume designer head Jocelyn Herbert and the storyline focusing on a Black man (even though it wasn’t played by one).
“What is all this for if everything stays the same,” you might be asking yourself. One well-intentioned issue at a time, folks.
Last year, during an online panel at Hot Docs film festival featuring Ukrainian documentary filmmakers who were staying in place, Oksana Karpovych told attendees how she’d gained knowledge working alongside foreign media crews covering the war, and was now applying that to her own creative documentary projects.
This year, at the festival’s 30th anniversary edition, Karpovych attended the in-person Forum market event to pitch “Intercepted” — her observational doc exploring the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — which ended up winning the 2023 CMF-Hot Docs Canadian Pitch Prize.
With Ukraine in the spotlight at Hot Docs this year, both audiences and industry attendees are getting wide exposure to the films and ideas of leading Ukrainian documentary creators. The timing of this programming is perfect, said Hot Docs programmer Myrocia Watamaniuk, not only for the obvious reason.
“Ukrainian documentary cinema has grown in lockstep with the documentary community around the world,” said Watamaniuk, pointing out that Hot Docs and Ukraine are around the same age. “What started as a trickle of Ukrainian names — every once in a while, a feature or co-production — has turned into a steady river of submissions of incredible films.”
“Eurodonbas”
“The fact that this is happening during the second year of the war is a sad historical coincidence,” she added. “So many artists are working so hard, and this is the most challenging time for them, as well as the most significant time for all of us Ukrainians in the country and abroad.”
The centerpiece program Made in Ukraine includes five short films — four made through Docudays UA’s Civil Pitch 2.0 production competition — as well as five recent features: AP journo Mystlav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” winner of the Sundance Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary; Roman Liubyi’s Sundance-premiering investigation of Russia’s 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over Eastern Ukraine, “Iron Butterflies,” which is also building awards buzz on the circuit; Kornii Hrytsiuk’s historical corrective “Eurodonbas,” which examines the region’s true roots; Alisa Kovalenko’s “We Will Not Fade Away,” about Donbas teens who join an adventure mission to the Himalayas; and Mila Teshaieva’s and Marcus Lenz’s “When Spring Came to Bucha,” which respectfully follows a community’s grieving and rebuilding after Russian troops withdraw from a small town near Kyiv in Spring 2022.
At the Made in Ukraine conference panel, moderator Anna Palenchuk — who is also the producer of “Eurodonbas” — asked the filmmakers about the origin, process and intentions of their recent films.
“I actually entered Bucha with the Ukrainian military,” said Teshaieva of “Bucha.” “What I saw was a vast landscape of death. I came with a camera and microphone and started filming because I felt it was my duty as a witness.
“None of us would expect to see what we saw in those first days in Bucha,” she continued. “This had enormous historical significance. So I’ve been meeting people and following from the first days, this process of Bucha coming back to life. I would say we struggled in a way, there was no planning, no thinking about aesthetics or how the dramaturgical line would unfold.
“It was it was really built on the flow of our intuition.”
Liubyi’s film is creatively constructed from historical footage and other sources, inviting viewers to form their own opinions about the tragedy. “Justice is a complex concept,” he said, when asked about his prescient film, which was made before the war started. “In the case when there is a mass murder of 298 people from different continents and no one is punished — well, you can’t make these people who shot the plane accountable because they hide in Russia.
“Now we are avoiding pathetic words like ’our camera is our weapon’; that is in the past,” he continues. “So the fact that this film exists and is telling what happened there, it’s like, zero point, zero, zero zero, one percent of justice.”
Before closing the formal discussion, Palenchuk — a doc-producing dynamo who recently relocated to Toronto with her family and has spearheaded a professional networking group for Ukrainian film community in Canada — asked the panel filmmakers about current projects.
Teshaieva is continuing to film people she encountered in Bucha. “Look, we became really close with every person who became a part of our movie, and we’re keeping in close contact with many of them,” she said. “We need to show people in Germany and other countries these stories. It’s revealing how society is changing, and how people are finding or not finding their place in society.”
Liubyi typically works with archive and editing and avoids making films that require establishing connections with characters, he said. “Surprisingly, I’m working on a cartoon for kids and grown-ups, but the main audience is Ukrainian kids around 10 to 12.
“I do have some frontline stories, but I also think it’s also vital to create cartoons for kids during a war,” he added.
The Doc Shop — Hot Docs’ market platform for documentaries seeking sales, acquisitions, and festival opportunities — offers 2023 industry delegates access to most 2023 festival selections from April 27 to May 31, via the SwapCard platform.
Amidst the assault investigation of MCU star Jonathan Majors, Marvel Studios is reportedly at least dipping its toes into the idea of a potential recast of the actor.
Majors only has one unreleased Marvel project he has filmed in Season 2 of Disney+’sLoki, meaning if a recast had to happen, it could be done fairly painlessly.
Will Marvel Replace the MCU’s Kang?
Jonathan Majors
According to a new report from The Cosmic Circus, Marvel Studios is exploring the idea of recasting Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror amidst his recent arrest and assault charge.
In updating fans on the in-flux release date for Season 2of Loki, the outlet wrote that according to its sources, Marvel has yet to make a decision on Majors’ future in the franchise, but the studio has started preparations for a recast in the scenario that they drop the Ant-Man actor.
Majors is still set to appear as Kang and his numerous Variants in Loki‘s sophomore effort, but his future beyond that is yet-to-be-determined.
Previously, the 33-year-old actor was announced to star in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but that won’t begin filming until next year after Marvel has decided whether or not to continue with Majors.
The Future of Jonathan Majors at Marvel
Right now, because of this Majors controversy, Marvel Studios finds itself in quite a bind.
To see that this person it has made such an investment into may not be who they thought would be anxiety-inducing, to say the least.
So, what is Marvel Studios to do? Well, it makes sense that the studio would be exploring some sort of recast of the role. If Kang is to be as big a part of the future of the franchise as he has been teased to be, it would only be responsible for Marvel to explore contingencies.
Right now, the word is that Marvel has an idea of the “kind of actor” they would want to bring in if they needed to bring someone else in to play Kang, as until the investigation is complete and a verdict is rendered no plan can be put into action.
Batman: The Animated Series 3×07 – “Joker’s Millions” REVIEW | I Am The Night #86
Welcome to another episode of I AM THE NIGHT, a podcast dedicated to breaking down every episode of Batman: The Animated Series. Each week, the wonderful Steve J Ray (reviewer at DC Comics News, as well as Editor-in-Chief of our sister site Dark Knight News) and a guest will sit down and dive cowl first into an episode of the greatest animated series of all time.
In this episode, Steve is joined by fellow DCN and DKN writer, and his offspring, Adam Ray, to talk about the season three episode of Batman: TAS (aka The New Batman Adventures), titled “Joker’s Millions“. So sit back, put on your cape and cowl, and prepare yourself for a journey into the darkness!
Episode Synopsis: Crime boss Edward “King” Barlowe dies and in his will leaves his archrival, the Joker, a large fortune of $250,000,000. The Joker immediately goes on a shopping spree, even searching for a replacement for Harley Quinn, but realizes too late that almost all of the money is fake as a joke of Barlowe’s to trick him.
Our “Joker’s Millions” episode is also available on YouTube:
Qualcomm has agreed to acquire an Israeli fabless chipmaker called Autotalks, and according to TechCrunch, the deal will cost the company around $350 to $400 million. Autotalks creates chips and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies dedicated towards boosting road safety for both ordinary and driverless vehicles. In its announcement, Qualcomm said that Autotalks’ “production-ready, dual mode, standalone safety solutions” will be incorporated into the Snapdragon Digital Chassis, its set of cloud-connected assisted and autonomous driving technologies.
Nakul Duggal, senior VP of automotive for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., said in a statement: “We have been investing in V2X research, development and deployment since 2017 and believe that as the automotive market matures, a standalone V2X safety architecture will be needed for enhanced road user safety, as well as smart transportation system… We share Autotalks’ decades-long experience and commitment to build V2X technologies and products with a focus on solving real-world road user safety challenges. We look forward to working together to deliver global V2X solutions that will help accelerate time-to-market and enable mass market adoption of this very important safety technology.”
For makers of driverless and driver-assisted vehicles and systems, ensuring people that their technologies are safe is of utmost importance if they want to win them over. They may have to offer safety features that can assuage people’s fears in order to get ahead of their rivals, since most people remain apprehensive about self-driving cars.
Qualcomm expects the automotive industry to be one of its biggest sources of growth and revenue over the coming years. At CES last year, it unveiled the Snapdragon Ride Vision platform, which is an “open, scalable and modular” tech automakers can use to build cars. And in late 2022, it said its automotive business pipeline, or its revenue-generating opportunities, had jumped to $30 billion from the $10 billion it announced during its previous earnings report. The company also said back then that it estimates its automotive business revenue to hit $4 billion by fiscal year 2026. It credited the Snapdragon Digital Chassis for the expansion of its future business opportunities, and Autotalks’ acquisition could grow its customer base and client offerings even further.
Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has nabbed worldwide rights to Spanish filmmaker Chiqui Carabante’s black-comedy whodunnit “The Fortress” (“La Fortaleza”) and is debuting its trailer ahead of the Cannes Film Market.
The film centers on the death of Arturo Viaplana and its aftermath as his offspring, hoping to inherit a great fortune, discover that instead of leaving them the estate, their father has devised a macabre, posthumous game in which his children must first locate his body and bury it themselves in a specified location. Working together to carry out their father’s instructions and pass a series of tests, the siblings are forced to come to terms with a deeply hidden family secret.
“The Fortress” is “the story of an inheritance” about a “game orchestrated by the deceased. The last one he performs with his children,” added Carabante, whose credits include “12+1, una comedia metafísica.”
“This film has the best of two worlds, a whodunnit and a black comedy, creating a magical cinematic gem, said FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud. “It’s ‘Death at a Funeral’ meets ‘Knives Out.’ We expect festivals and buyers to RSVP ASAP.”
“The Fortress,” which premiered at the Seville European Film Festival and also screened in Malaga and at last month’s Moscow Film Festival, features and ensemble cast that includes Fernando Cayo (“The Orphanage”), Goya Toledo (“Marsella”), José Manuel Poga (“The Endless Trench”), Fernando Tejero (“Last Wills”), Vito Sanz (“You Have to Come and See It”), Carla Nieto (“Origin Unknown”), Lola Casamayor (“Luis Miguel: The Series”) and Manuel Zarzo.
Penned by Carabante, Salvador S. Molina (“13 Exorcisms”) and David Orea (“32 Malasana Street”), “The Fortress” is produced by Damián París, Rosa García Merino and José Carlos Conde.
The film is a production of Lolita Films, Womack Studios, Featurent, Un Fin De Semana Juntos AIE in association with Glow and in cooperation with Canal Sur Radio y Televisión and Canal Extremadura.
Syldavia Cinema is releasing the film across Spain on June 23.
Gwyneth Paltrow gave undoubtedly one of the worst speeches in Oscar history after her Shakespeare in Love win.
A lot of Academy Award winners get weepy, sentimental and downright ugly in their speeches. One such Oscar winner is Gwyneth Paltrow, who gave an over-the-top speech that began humbly enough before it quickly turned into a sobfest that is often cited as one of the cringiest acceptance speeches ever.
On the Call Her Daddy podcast, Gwyneth Paltrow discussed both the origins of her emotions and the backlash she faced after winning Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love. “I cried and people were so mean about it and I just thought, ‘Wow there’s this big energy shift that’s happening. I think I’m going to have to learn to be less openhearted and much more protective of myself and filter people out better.’…I remember I was working in England…and I remember the British press being so horrible to me because I cried. And they didn’t necessarily know that my father was dying of cancer.” Perhaps they were pulling for Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I? Heck, even Glenn Close was rooting against her!
Gwyneth Paltrow also mentioned the much-feared question of, So I’ve won the Academy Award–now what? “Once I won the Oscar, it put me into a bit of an identity crisis, because if you win the biggest prize, like what are you supposed to do? And where are you supposed to go? It was hard the amount of attention that you receive on a night like that and the weeks following, it’s so disorienting. And frankly, really unhealthy.” Fortunately, she didn’t exactly go the way of Cuba Gooding Jr. or Roberto Benigni or Mira Sorvino, who are also in the class of people who undeservedly won their statues…Really, Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t have that bad of a slump after her Oscar victory. Sure, there’s Duets and Bounce, but there was also The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Royal Tenenbaums and Shallow Hal, which has a bit of a following. That’s without mentioning later successes, like her role in the MCU (which is definitively over, so sorry, Pepper Potts fans) and whatever the hell she’s trying to pull with Goop, which, while a snake oil empire, is still worth $250 million.
What did you think of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Oscar acceptance speech? Does it rank as one of the worst ever? Let us know where it ranks!
In a world filled with fascinating yet disturbing procedural dramas, Criminal Minds contains some of the most frightening plot lines yet. Debuting to screens on September 22, 2005, the series boasted an ensemble cast of actors that would only rise in popularity, correlating with the show’s growth from another police drama to one of the most recognizable series on cable.
Against the backdrop of perturbing crimes, the personal lives of the protagonists are also explored. At its most stressful and sorrowful, the two worlds converge. While they make for excellent television, watching beloved characters and one-episode victims go through some of the most traumatic and gut-wrenching experiences would leave anyone anxious to leave the lights off at night.
Sharing more in common with slasher films and psychological thrillers than other police procedural dramas, Criminal Minds has a slew of episodes that range from creepy to absolutely frightening.
11 Season 5, Episode 12 – “The Uncanny Valley”
CBS Television
In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the BAU are alerted to investigate a series of crimes that find women kidnapped, murdered, and their bodies undergoing a creepy doll-ification process. The women in question all shared a similarity that the BAU agents found crucial to their investigation. The abductees were all women who were in their late 20s.
The unsub, Samantha Malcolm, is a tailor with a traumatic childhood. Her father, a doctor named Arthur, routinely molested her and bought her dolls to “apologize” for his transgressions. The gifts also came with electroshock therapy, training Samantha to stick to a story that corroborates Arthur’s falsities.
The episode chronicles the cycles of abuse that occur and explores how the lack of accountability enables the proliferation of more abuse. The agents do not pacify Samantha but offer her rehabilitation, sending her to a mental institution after preventing her from killing Bethany, one of her potential victims.
10 Season 5, Episode 13 – “Risky Business”
CBS Television Distribution
“Risky Business” taps into the hysteria of social media’s exponential popularity. After reports of a popular, online trend prompting teenagers to commit suicide, the BAU head to rural Wyoming to peel off the veneer of the seemingly nonsensical phenomenon to reveal a much more unsettling explanation for these disturbing deaths.
Viewers come to learn that the suicides were all part of a vile project conducted by EMT Will Summers. Summers not only experimented with the lives of his victims but also his family members. He was unmasked as the proxy murderer of the Wyoming teenagers, as well as the murder of his wife Cynthia. Poisoning Cynthia, Will routinely brought her to the doctors until she passes away after unknowingly consuming a fatal amount of the poison. Once the agents learn of his discretion, they race against time to apprehend WIll before he murders his son Chris.
“Risky Business” highlights the carelessness that Will carries into his profession, arriving at the scenes of the crimes he committed and collecting trophies after his victims are announced dead.
9 Season 3, Episode 5 – “Seven Seconds”
CBS
“Seven Seconds” plays on the sadly contemporary fears of parents in public with their children. After their daughter, Katie, goes missing, Paul and Beth Jacobs rely on the BAU to help discover their daughter’s whereabouts before they are too late.
What starts as a common, yet frantic search for Katie soon progresses into a dark hour of unearthing harrowing secrets about those close to Katie. The episode does a fantastic job of dispelling myths around sexual abuse while raising awareness of the dangers of internalized misogyny. The unsubs are revealed to be Richard and Susan Jacobs, Katie’s uncle and aunt. After learning of Katie’s molestation at the hands of Richard, Susan irrationally frames Katie as the party responsible for her failing marriage.
Whisking Katie away, the disgruntled wife attempted to asphyxiate her niece, all the while knowing that Katie was asthmatic. While their plans are ultimately futile, the episode is a bone-chilling reminder that most victims are harmed or led to their death by those they know: family, friends, and seemingly trusted adults.
8 Season 2, Episode 7 – “North Mammon”
CBS
In “North Mammon,” three young soccer players and best friends are kidnapped by a then-unknown assailant who keeps them bound in a sealed-off location. The abductor then surveys and instructs the teenage girls to kill one of their friends if they want to escape his hellish, make-shift prison alive.
The perpetrator is revealed to be Marcus Younger, a trash collector who desired to kidnap and manipulate the three girls as a form of confirmation bias. Discarded by his friends in high school after a career-ending knee injury, he aimed to expose the shallowness of teenagers by kidnapping and pitting them against each other.
Younger is one of the few suspects that have been able to get away with his intended crimes, much to the dismay of Agent Gideon and the audience alike.
7 Season 2, Episode 6 – “The Boogeyman”
CBS
“The Boogeyman,” premiering as the sixth episode of the season, saw Cameron Monaghan of Shameless and Gotham fame in one of his earliest roles, and quite possibly his most perturbing. His character, Jeffrey Charles, is introduced as one of the schoolchildren that the BAU has come to protect. After Jeffrey discovers the body of Joseph Finnegan, the agents assume the age of the unsub, believing them to be an adult.
After Agent Rossi interviews Jeffrey’s father, he comes to learn that Jeffrey is a manipulative serial killer that targets other classmates due to his complex abandonment issues.
6 Season 10, Episode 21 – “Mr. Scratch”
CBS
To describe “Mr. Scratch” as a mind game would be an understatement. One of the most complex murder mysteries of the series, the BAU is tasked with investigating three murders. The implicated parties all reiterate variations of the same story: they lost control over their bodies and were seemingly possessed, remembering the sight of a shadowy figure with claws.
The startling conclusion sounds like it came from the deepest parts of a person’s nightmare. Mr. Scratch was revealed to be Peter Lewis, a math genius employed at the NSA. His motivations stem from the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. After his father is falsely accused of pedophilia, he is arrested and subsequently murdered. Lewis, using his newfound station as a vehicle, began hunting those he deemed responsible for his father’s murder. Infiltrating his victim’s vents and drugging them with dissociative agents, Lewis would then prompt them to murder their loved ones during their harrowing hallucinations.
5 Season 5, Episode 16 – “Mosley Lane”
CBS
“Mosley Lane” continues to leave audiences awake at night. Much like the aforementioned episodes, children are the victims of this case. With the exception of Stephen Shepherd, the children return to the safety of their parent’s embrace. Despite being memorialized as a martyr, Stephen or any other child should not be subjected to such selfish cruelty
A common plot twist, the unsubs are revealed to be a couple. As a result of an inability to have children, Anita and Roger Roycewood have spent the last eight years kidnapping and abusing children. It is not until March 2, 2010, that the two meet their demise. Just as agents Rossi, J.J., and Hotchner barge into the Roycewood residence, the three children have just narrowly escaped their murder due to their witty thinking.
Mosley Lane is a visual reminder that children are prone to extremely dangerous forms of abuse. Furthermore, the rationale behind the abuse is not guaranteed to be understandable to the authorities or other parents. The Roycewood’s actions highlight the pervasive and egregious entitlement that many people carry in their heads and hearts.
4 Season 4, Episode 21 – “A Shade of Gray”
CBS
The death of several children rocks Cherry Hill, New Jersey to its core. As a result, the agents arrive and come across a killer by the name of Hugh Rollins, and seemingly, the slew of abduction and murder cases are solved. That is, until, they come across a case that contains a stark difference from the rest of the killings.
The title of the episode is named after a phrase that denotes an occurrence or object that appears shady or sketchy. The episode lives up to its title once it’s revealed that the murder of Kyle Murphy, a child in the community, was the fault of his older brother Danny, to the shock of many. Finding his brother a nuisance for breaking his toys, Danny killed his brother in a fit of rage, shoving the broken pieces of his recently purchased toy plane down his throat.
Reading about the episode is a spine-chilling experience itself, however, watching the events unfold onscreen is on another level of perplexing.
3 Season 3, Episode 18 – “Lucky”
The Mark Gordon Company
“Lucky” continues to send chills up the viewers’ spines. Eight episodes into season three, the BAU are sent to Bridgewater, Florida to investigate a rather disturbing trend in murders. With Jamie Kennedy portraying the unsub, he excels in startling the audiences, shaking off any resemblances to Randy from the Scream franchise or Professor Eli James from Ghost Whisperer.
Floyd Feylinn Ferrell, Kennedy’s character is a vile, cannibalistic murderer with a pen chance for a subset of Satanism. The most frightening factor of his character is the subsequent decisions he chose to make after the killings. The agents and the audiences alike were understandably disgusted with the revelation that Ferrell serves his victims innocent civilians and even law enforcement.
Furthermore, viewers also had to deal with a fan favorite’s life hanging in the balance of life and death. An elated Penelope soon finds herself embroiled in a budding romance with police officer Jason Clark Battle. However, the BAU and their avid champions sitting at home would come to learn that Officer Battle was anything but Penelope’s dream man.
2 Season 3, Episode 3 – “Scared to Death”
CBS Television Distribution Disney Media Distribution
For many viewers, “Scared to Death” was one of the most uncomfortable episodes to sit through. The unsub in this episode is a serial killer that targets people with seemingly little to no connections. Airing alongside the team reeling from the effects of Gideon’s sudden leave of absence, the agents pick and prod at the cases until a connection between the victims is unearthed.
The unsub, Stanley Howard, is a psychiatrist who kills his victims by turning their greatest fears against them. As a young child, Mr, Howard was afraid of the dark and to punish him, his mother would lock him in dark rooms, which would have a monumental effect on his modus operandi. From burying his victims alive to drowning them in large bodies of water, audiences were subjected to viewing a callous killer carrying out the cruelest of murders.
1 Season 5, Episode 9 – “100”
CBS Television Disney
“100” continues to be one of the most remembered episodes of the series, for all the wrong seasons. Introduced in the episode Omnivore, the Reaper (C. Thomas Howell) inches closer and closer to the BAU’s inner circle, continuing his tour of terror and leaving shattered hearts and gruesome crime scenes in his wake. At the time of the episode, the Reaper, real name being George Foyet, arrives in Washington D.C., hunting down his mortal enemy Aaron Hotchner.
After invading Hotchner’s home, viewers watched in disgust as Foyet murders Haley Hotchner in cold blood, with Hotchner’s son Jack narrowly escaping. The ripples of the murder reverberate throughout the rest of Season Five, with Hotchner and Jack suffering from immense trauma understandably.
Criminal Minds sits in between predictable propaganda and shattering the existing theater of safety that has remained prevalent among American cable and streaming series. With some of the most devastating episodes to air on television, Criminal Minds contributes to the allure of law enforcement while also exposing the corruption within these high-ranking institutions. Nevertheless, the series remains one of the most iconic cable network programs of the 21st century.
The 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards ran a lot like a COVID-era awards show, as the non-live event padded out two hours of runtime with throwback clips, a result of a quick pivot due to the writers strike. (And actually, this was a repeat of the very same thing the MTV Movie & TV Awards did during COVID in 2020, when it also had to trot out dusty clips in lieu of new material.)
In the days leading up to the show, Varietybroke the news that host Drew Barrymore was pulling out of her hosting duties in solidarity with the strike. After that, producers hoped to still pull off some sort of live event sans host. But when the WGA announced it would picket the event on Sunday, producers gave up and announced that the show would shift to a pre-taped event.
At least most of the pre-tapes were already written and shot prior to the May 1 strike. Although that did make for an awkward use of Barrymore as the non-host, but really the only consistent presence on screen. The show began with a “Never Been Kissed’ spoof recorded before the strike, with Barrymore reprising her role of the film’s Josie Geller and parodying the night’s nominees like “Smile,” “Nope,” “Wednesday,” “White Lotus,” “M3GAN,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Cocaine Bear.”
Barrymore also showed up in the first commercial break in a pre-taped sponcon ad for Cheetos Popcorn, which simulated her backstage while hosting the event.
Barrymore additionally filmed a segment as Skipper for a parody of the upcoming “Barbie” film, as well as a “Wednesday” spoof later in the show.
The show itself didn’t reference the strike at the top, but instead went right into the “Best Hero” category, with Pedro Pascal accepting the popcorn statue in a pre-taped speech. Memorably, Tom Cruise accepted his win for Best Performance in a Movie for “Top Gun: Maverick” while piloting an airplane.
Jennifer Coolidge, who received the Comedic Genius Award, was the first person to reference the strike in her speech, and threw her support behind the WGA.
“Almost all great comedy starts with great writers, and as a proud member of SAG, I stand here before you tonight side-by-side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA, who are fighting for the rights of artists everywhere,” she said. “I think of the words of Shakespeare where he once said, ‘The play is the thing.’ Well, I don’t want to put words in his mouth or anything, but I think what he really meant was it’s everything.”
“Stranger Things” star Joseph Quinn also shouted out the striking writers, saying, “Being a writer is a hard job and it deserves respect.” The stars of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” threw their support behind the WGA, ending their Best Competition Series speech by saying, “We Queens stand with the writers in their strike.” While accepting the Golden Popcorn for Best Show for “The Last of Us,” Pascal said that the show’s creative team is “Standing in solidarity with the WGA, that is fighting very hard for fair wages.”
At the show’s start, the voiceover promised plenty of throwback best-moment clips, and these moments made up the bulk of the show, including replays of Sacha Baron Cohen landing on Eminem’s face as Brüno, Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, P!nk and Mýa performing “Lady Marmalade” live, and Chadwick Boseman’s emotional Best Hero speech for “Black Panther.”
Later on, “The Kardashians” won best docu-reality show but didn’t submit a video acceptance speech. Adam Sandler also didn’t make a recorded appearance for his best comedic performance award for “Murder Mystery 2.” The rest of the telecast relied on clips and promos for films and TV shows — including, synergistically, scenes from the next episode of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets.” Showtime, like MTV, is part of the Paramount Global family.
After presenting the Golden Popcorn for Best Movie, the show ended seven minutes short of the two hour time slot.
At least this year’s virtual MTV Movie & TV Awards didn’t require a COVID test.
Ed Sheeran capped an eventful week with a performance onAmerican Idol– and the opportunity to show the remaining contestants how a pro gets about his work.
On Sunday night’s (May 7) Top 8 episode, the English singer and Idol mentor hit “Eyes Closed,” the lead single from − (subtract), the fifth and final album in his mathematics-themed collection.
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Sheeran is a big-stage animal, and, as he’s proved to millions in stadiums around the globe, he doesn’t need more than a mic, a guitar and a splash on digital effects behind him. And that’s all he had.
The Brit crammed more into his week than most of us do in, well, forever. The “Shape of You” singer won a copyright court case earlier in the week, released Subtract on Friday, and was on the ABC stage by week’s end. Watch his performance below.
Not to be outdone, fellow guest Idol judge and ‘90s icon Alanis Morissette performed “Thank U,” a rocking number from her fourth studio album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, the followup to her juggernaut Jagged Little Pill. Watch below.
Though Sheeran and Morissette are household names, the eight remaining contestants all harbor dreams of being the next big star. They all got another chance to get there, three were sent home.
The famous five are Colin Stough, Iam Tongi, Megan Danielle, Wé Ani, and Zachariah Smith. Leaving season 21 is Haven Madison, Oliver Steele and Warren Peay.
Next Sunday (May 14) is Disney Night. For the occasion, multiplatinum singer-songwriter Sofia Carson will serve as the Idol mentor for the Top 5, and Halle Bailey will perform “Part of Your World” from Disney’s upcoming film The Little Mermaid, in which she portrays Ariel.
NOW ON VOD! From the title alone, it is clear that Tom Huang’s Dealing with Dad is about a child’s strained relationship with their father. Fractured familial relations is not a novel narrative beat by any means, so the writer-director has to get audiences’ sympathies right away. So Huang adds some genuine warmth and humor to a rather somber tale of revisiting a past that’s best left forgotten.
Dealing with Dad follows the Chang siblings, Margaret, Roy, and Larry. Margaret (Ally Maki) is employed at a start-up company and needs everything to be clean and perfect. She has a husband (Echo Kellum) and a child. Eldest brother Roy (Peter Kim) works at a bank and is going through a divorce. After receiving news that their father (Dana Lee) has been depressed, a reluctant Margaret and Roy make the trip back home. Here, they reconnect with the unemployed Larry (Hayden Szeto), who still lives with their parents.
Margaret and Roy find that their father is more good-natured in his depressive state. So much so that they end up preferring him that way because he’s not as vociferous and mean-spirited anymore, to say the least. Larry is especially happy with the silence in the house. Unfortunately, their mother (Page Leong) hasn’t changed at all. As expected, the siblings’ reunion causes wounds and rivalries to surface. Watching Margaret, Roy, and Larry bicker and reminisce about old times is by far the most amusing aspect of the movie.
“Margaret and Roy find that their father is more good-natured in his depressive state.”
Maki, Kim, and Szeto are wholly believable as siblings who have an ax to grind with their father or each other. Huang ensures that every sibling is their own person with their own hardship. The opening scene of Dealing with Dad at the PTA meeting portrays Margaret as a perfectionist. But, not long after returning home, it becomes clear that her tempestuous relationship with her father still irks her deeply. Her dad demanded perfection and discipline, perhaps explaining why Margaret is the way she is. Maki brings nuance to the role, outwardly assertive yet showing subtle signs of emotional exhaustion. Larry is reduced to being the nerdy sibling who spews out pop culture references. You see slight development in his character, as you do with Roy and his impending divorce, but romance subplots impede their impact.
Sensibly, the filmmaker orchestrates a handful of conversations between the characters that have nothing to do with their father. Most, if not all, come with revelations. For example, in one conversation, Margaret learns why her mother dislikes her husband. In another exchange, Roy tells his brother that he slept with Larry’s crush back in the day. Huang has a compelling way of capturing the anxieties of the siblings by keeping them in close proximity to each other, even as they seem to be on completely different wavelengths.
For a drama about family dysfunction, Dealing with Dad is surprisingly funny and optimistic. Admittedly, there are emotional confrontations, some of which are more effective than others due to some awfully convenient storytelling. But, for the most part, thisis a film about learning to appreciate what you have and working to repair familial relationships, even if it turns out to be a fruitless act.
Magaluf mega-brawl: More than FIFTY people are filmed fighting and throwing bottles in huge punch-up at holiday resort which left several people with broken bones
Hooligans were seen kicking, punching and throwing bottles in violent clashes
The brutal bust-up went on for around 10 minutes before police intervened
More than 50 people have been filmed taking part in a massive street brawl in the party resort of Magaluf.
Hooligans were seen kicking and punching each other and throwing missiles including bottles in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The fight went on for around 10 minutes before police intervened and managed to restore order.
There has not yet been any official comment from the authorities.
One local report said the incident was sparked by a fight between a group of North African youngsters and Spaniards and ended up involving revellers from different nationalities.
But well-placed sources were saying this morning rival groups of Portuguese youngsters had been involved.
One man was brutally hit to the floor during the mass brawl involving more than 50 people in Magaluf
The fight went on for around 10 minutes before police intervened and managed to restore order
Some were said to have suffered injuries including broken bones and it is understood there have been arrests
Some were said to have suffered injuries including broken bones with arrests reportedly taking place.
Police are said to be checking with local hospitals and health centres to see if anyone sought medical assistance for injuries suffered in the brawl that will help them identify more of those involved.
The violence kicked off in the street outside popular nightspot Panama Jack.
One youngster was seen being knocked to the ground with a punch to the face and getting up before others started lashing out with their feet and fists as witnesses screamed.
A local commenting on the scenes, which occurred following years of attempts by local authorities to clean up Magaluf’s image, said sarcastically: ‘Magaluf in modernisation phase and elimination of drunken tourism.’
In March a British tourist was arrested after allegedly mowing down two holidaymakers including a UK teenager in Magaluf.
No Brits are believed to have been involved in yesterday morning’s violence.
The violence kicked off in the street outside popular nightspot Panama Jack (left) and spilled over across the road (right)
The video ended with another mass brawl as fighting showed no signs of stopping. No Brits are said to be involved
Hot and heavy make-out sessions are what many watch the MTV Movie & TV Awards for, and although this year’s show didn’t include that it doesn’t make the winners’ moment any less special. With several impressive nominees this year, it was a close call, but Outer Banks stars Madison Bailey and Rudy Pankow performed the steamiest kiss of all! MTV also took to Twitter to announce their exciting win that night.
Best Kiss Winner: Madison Bailey & Rudy Pankow in Outer Banks #MTVAwards
Although Madison and Rudy ended up with the Golden Popcorn trophy, the other nominees had some pretty sexy smooches of their own. Those who also were nominated for the BEST KISS (presented by Cheetos®) award included Anna Torv and Philip Prajoux, The Last Of Us, Harry Styles and David Dawson, My Policeman, Riley Keough and Sam Claflin, Daisy Jones & The Six, and Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne, Only Murders in the Building.
This year’s ceremony was vastly different from the recent years prior, as the live show and red carpet were cancelled amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America strikes. Three days ahead of the ceremony, then-host Drew Barrymore, 48, backed out of the hosting gig in support of the strike, per Variety. “I have listened to the writers, and in order to truly respect them, I will pivot from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards live in solidarity with the strike,” she said in the May 4 statement.
Madison Bailey & Rudy Pankow won Best Kiss at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards for ‘Outer Banks.’ (Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix)
“Everything we celebrate and honor about movies and television is born out of their creation. And until a solution is reached, I am choosing to wait but I’ll be watching from home and hope you will join me. I thank MTV, who has truly been some of the best partners I have ever worked with,” Drew’s message continued. “And I can’t wait to be a part of this next year, when I can truly celebrate everything that MTV has created, which is a show that allows fans to choose who the awards go to and is truly inclusive.”
Last year, the Best Kiss award went to a surprising pair – Poopiesand The Snake for their work on Jackass Forever. At the time of his acceptance (watch here), Poopies called the win “a dream come true.” Not only did he thank MTV for the Golden Popcorn trophy, but he made sure to thank his Jackass family.
“Huge thanks to Jackass and all the boys. Jeff Tremaine!”, he said at the start of his speech. “Being a new cast member… it’s not easy.” Later, he joked that he and The Snake “broke up” now that he is a “movie star.” He also created a viral moment when they brought out a massive snake for him to kiss. “I’m so glad that thing did not bite me just now,” he joked about the snake that took six people to carry. The other nominees last year included Hunter Schafer and Dominic Fike: Euphoria, Lily Collins and Lucien Laviscount: Emily in Paris, Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz: The Batman, and Tom Holland and Zendaya: Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The Best Kiss award at the MTV Movie and TV Awards is an iconic award. In previous years some of the A-listers to have won the award includeKristen Stewart and Robert Pattinsonfor their work in the Twilight Saga, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams for The Notebook, and many more. The Twilight Saga co-stars notably have won the award four times, per the MTV website, taking home their final Best Kiss Golden Popcorn in June 2012.
The Indian media and entertainment industry grew 20% to reach INR2.1 trillion ($26 billion) in 2022, 10% above pre-pandemic 2019, according to the annual EY report released during the ongoing Frames conference in Mumbai, organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The report collates data from television, digital media, film, animation and VFX, out of home media, live events, music, radio, online gaming and print. Overall, the M&E sector is projected to grow 12% to reach $28.6 billion in 2023, the report says.
While television remained the single largest component of the M&E sector in 2022 with a valuation of $8.6 billion, it shrank 1.5% from 2021 levels, despite advertising revenues growing 2% to reach levels just behind 2019. The reason for the shrinkage is that subscription revenue continued to fall for the third year in a row, reducing 4% due to a reduction of five million pay-TV homes and stagnant average revenues per user. Linear TV viewership declined 7% over 2021. Television is projected to grow slightly to $8.8 billion this year.
Digital media was the second largest component of the sector, valued at $6.9 billion in 2022 and growing to $8.2 billion in 2023. On the digital infrastructure front, the report notes that internet penetration increased by 4% to 866 million subscriptions in December 2022. With over 800 million broadband subscriptions, India has the second largest broadband subscriber base in the world, after China. Smartphone users reached 538 million in 2022, but growth slowed from mid-2021 since the average cost of buying a smartphone increased, resulting in just 35 million net new smartphone additions during 2022. Some 32 million Indian households had a wired broadband connection.
On the streaming front, the report observes that video viewers increased 6% (30 million) in 2022 to reach 527 million. In 2020, 30% of streaming originals were in languages other than Hindi and this increased to 50% in 2022. Some 3,000 hours of original content was produced for streaming platforms, which is 19% higher than 2021. Total online video content investment in India stood at $1 billion in 2022. There were 75 films that released on streaming platforms directly, without a theatrical release, which is lower than the 100+ such film releases in 2021.
Video subscription revenues grew 27% in 2022 to $832 million, paid video subscriptions reached 99 million in 2022, across 45 million households in India, with a total viewership of some 135 to 180 million users, the report found.
Meanwhile, buoyed by the success of south Indian films like “RRR,” “K.G.F: Chapter 2,” “Kantara,” “Ponniyin Selvan: 1” and “Vikram” and Bollywood hits “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva,” “The Kashmir Files,” “Drishyam 2” and “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2,” filmed entertainment recovered to 90% of its pre-pandemic levels to record revenues of $2.1 billion. Of this, local theatrical revenues were $1.2 billion, overseas theatrical $196 million, broadcast rights $122 million, digital rights $440 million and in-cinema advertising $61.1 million.
In 2022, south Indian films, from the language groups Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, together accounted for 53% of box office, the Hindi-language Bollywood 35% and other Indian languages 5%. The share of Hollywood dropped from a high of 15% in pre-pandemic 2019 to 13% in 2022. The report projects the filmed entertainment segment to grow to $2.7 billion by 2025.
The animation segment grew 25% to reach $465 million in 2022, while VFX grew 30% to $611.7 million and India’s vibrant post-production industry surged 35% to $232.4 million, the report notes.
The following contains spoilers for “Barry” Season 4 Episode 5.
After a jaw-dropping cliffhanger from last week’s “Barry,” the HBO series takes a hard left turn midway through its final season to offer something completely different: heaven. Or, at least, Barry’s version of heaven.
“Barry” Season 4 Episode 5 picks up eight years after the events of the last episode with Barry (Bill Hader) and Sally (Sarah Goldberg) now living on the run under different names, and as parents to an eight-year-old son named John. For Barry, this is idyllic: an isolated house in the middle of nowhere with the family he always wanted. For Sally, it’s hell: she’s working a waitressing job and can’t stand Barry, and has no interest in being a mother.
Hader told TheWrap in our latest episodic interview for “Barry” that the idea was to live in this time jump for a while before going back to business as usual. And once the idea for this Barry/Sally detour came about, he wrote the script in a single night.
“There are certain moments in the show where I’ve just kind of gone off and written it quickly,” Hader said, pointing to the “ronny/lily” episode from Season 2 or the sequence with the motorcycles from Season 3. “It was nice to do something that felt completely different from anything we’d done in the show so far, and that’s important to keep it fresh and interesting for the story but also for yourself.”
Still, Hader – who wrote and directed the episode – understands if some are flummoxed by the detour.
“It’s definitely an episode that I understand if people are like, ‘What the f–k was that?,’ but it’s my favorite. That and the finale are my two favorite episodes.”
Read on for our full conversation, which took place before the WGA strike.
When and how did the time jump idea come into play? Is it something you ever considered for previous seasons or something you thought about a long time ago? I think it came along very early when we were writing Season 4, maybe the first day of talking about Season 4, when we had a Zoom room during the pandemic, the summer of 2020. Barry, in Season 1, has this daydream about himself with Sally and a little boy, and it was just the idea of what if he got that? And then if he got that, what if all the characters got some version of the thing that they’ve always wanted? When you’re writing this thing and you’re moving forward and you’re taking it step by step, you got to this place where Sally says, “Let’s go,” and then it’s like, “OK, so where did they go?” When we would talk about that, it just became uninteresting to me. It was all them on the run and Cousineau on the run and Hank sealing his own denial or emotional fallout from what happened with Cristobal, and Jim Moss trying to track them. There was just something about that image of Barry and Sally with a kid that I went, “Well what if he got that?” When we would talk about that, we would all get very excited. It was more interesting to us.
How did you hit upon eight years as the length of time? Just because the kid’s eight. That also made sense to us in terms of the idea of a movie being made about them, which is something we talked about very early and that being the catalyst to bring all the characters back to LA. There’s something nice about that because if they’ve changed, a movie being made about them — especially someone like Gene — it brings up different things for all of them. But it was a very intuitively written episode. Initially, the episode, as outlined, you saw where everybody was at, not just Barry and Sally and Gene. I was talking to HBO’s Amy Gravatt and we were both saying it’d be nice to just live in the jump for a second. Because it’s a big jump, and it’s a thing you have to wrap your head around for a second. There was something in reading these scripts where picking up in the same pace as the season has been just didn’t feel right.
I remember we were in prep on the first two episodes and we were about to leave for a location scout the next day for Joshua Tree where we shot Noho Hank and Cristboal’s house at the beginning of the season. Duffy (Boudreau) and I were walking around talking about it and we just hit on this idea of what if the whole episode was Barry and Sally, and it’s just this quiet episode and then we both got really excited and we called Liz Sarnoff and pitched it to her and she goes, “Oh, I love this.” Then I wrote it that night. I wrote it pretty fast.
The whole thing? Yeah, the whole thing. It was one of those things that just came out, and I wrote it and I go, “I got Episode 5,” and it’s pretty much exactly what you see. I don’t think we changed too much. He didn’t talk about religion that much. He was talking about God and they were watching the sermon and everything on the laptop, but there wasn’t the feeding of the 5000. And the stuff about St. Augustine and Gandhi came later.
There’s also a thing of not wanting it to be an indictment on religion or anything like that. I have a lot of friends and family who are deeply religious and it’s really a beautiful thing for them. So it was never about that. I also feel like that’s just too easy. It’s more about how Barry likes the idea of being redeemed. There’s no one else to redeem him but God, so he’s just decided, “I’m gonna be redeemed by God now. Why didn’t I think about this earlier?” (laughs). And then in normal Barry fashion, like you see with the Abraham Lincoln stuff, he got everything from the internet or watching videos on YouTube so he doesn’t fully understand what all this stuff means.
I wanted to ask about establishing Barry as a father. At the beginning of the episode, he gives this speech about taking responsibility and controlling your emotions and it’s all so ironic. The whole show has also been very much about a guy between two fathers, and now he’s a father. The thing that was nice about him having a kid is Barry had a chance to be the person he always wanted to be in the eyes of his son, which is a hero and a guy who does the right thing and a guy who’s not violent. This kind of upstanding American guy, which is a character he’s playing. So they’re still acting. It’s this idea of him being this upstanding person, but now he has this kid, and this kid can see him and reflect back the person he wants to be, and that’s really important to him. It’s now, I think, more important than Sally’s love or anything else. It’s much more about John.
I love that that shot where Sally’s getting ready for work for her performance with the wig and makeup and everything, and Barry and John are trying to build a fence in the background. She’s isolated from them. I always thought it was interesting that when they watch “Joplin” her mother says, “You don’t have a kid, you’re not married, what are you talking about?” I think making “Joplin” was always this version of Sally of what her life could have been. And now she kind of feels like she deserves that life. But the reason she stays, and I thought it was very important, is that moment when there’s a knock on the door and it’s like, “Thank God Barry’s here.” Their bond is as fugitives. That’s their biggest bond. They’re amazing at the fugitive business. They’re terrible parents. But she’s living his dream. It’s a nightmare for her, but I think there’s a part of her that feels like, maybe this is what I deserve.
You got QuikTrip in there, a Tulsa staple. Yeah, a Tulsa staple. Might give you an idea of where they’re at (laughs).
Do you wanna say explicitly where they are? No, I don’t know where they’re at. We just kind of said somewhere in that part of the country out in the middle of nowhere. It’s all shot in Lancaster, which I was excited about because that’s where Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart grew up and I’m fans of theirs. We had a great time in Lancaster, and then in visual effects we just took out all the mountains.
HBO
Did you build that house? No, the house was brought out there, and then the interior of the house is a set on a stage and then the other set is the bathroom at Sally’s work. Then that’s an actual diner that’s in the Mojave desert.
Tell me a bit about Sally’s job and this performance that she’s putting on, and bringing Emily Spivey in who’s hilarious. I like it when she says, “I’m not gonna lie I thought about tappin’ that till, but I got such a guilty conscious I’d just blow my f—kin brains out.” (laughs) Emily Spivey, we worked together on “SNL” so we’ve known each other for years. She’s one of my favorite people and an amazing writer and just a great human being. And Sally, she’s the one working. I think Barry probably has some money stored away and saved up so they’re living on that a bit, but Sally’s working and she still gets to perform. It’s the closest she gets to acting, she gets to perform every day. I really liked what Sarah does, she’s playing that character just a little bit too much. Sarah’s really smart, she can do a really good Midwestern, southern accent but she’s playing it up a little bit because Sally’s playing it like she gets to be in a play or something. She’s tapping the till and getting some extra money for booze and she’s being lusted after by a dishwasher named Bevel, which is a name straight out of Flannery O’Connor.
The Bevel thing, him lusting after her, it’s creepy, but this guy’s liking her and even when I was writing that I didn’t know where that was going. Then I wrote the scene of them talking at the booth and he’s bragging about what a hard ass he is and there’s a moment where she goes, “How’d that make you feel?” and he goes, “What do you mean how did that make me feel?” and for some reason, as I was writing it, I was going, “Well if I’m Sally, I’m gonna make an example out of this guy, because he doesn’t realize he’s talking to an actual killer, and he’s talking to somebody who’s married to a serial killer, he has no idea what he’s talking about. I’m gonna make an example out of this asshole. Because this is the kind of guy that I probably would have hooked up with in my ‘20s, and this is the kind of guy that makes me feel like s—t and this is kind of the guy that I’m attracted to, and it drives me crazy.” So then when they went into the bathroom together, I was still like, “What is she going to do?” She should choke him because that’s what was done to her. I really like that scene. He’s seeing the real thing, he’s seeing the real deal.
Did you always know that would be shot in one like that, on him? Yeah, I kind of wrote it where I was like, “Oh, this is all going to be kind of a slow push-in shot.” The trick with that one was getting them in the corner. Don and Jim, the dolly grip and the camera operator, did a great job. It’s really funny because we do these screenings for people in the in the office, sometimes we bring everybody in and say what do you guys think? Beforehand I’m going, “Please give us all the notes you have. Any notes. I just wanna hear what you guys have to say.” We showed them that episode and when that scene came up, afterward, everybody was like, “I think you need a close-up of Sally” and I was like, “Are you crazy?!” I immediately clammed up (laughs). “It’s got to end on the back of her head! What do you get from seeing her face?!” They were like, “You asked us to be honest!” and I was like “I’m sorry.”
Then Sally gets him fired, and that scene feels like it’s straight out of “No Country for Old Men.” Oh yeah, 100%. It’s almost embarrassing. That clean living speech was given to me by a super sweet older guy who was my landlord when I first moved to LA. My neighbors had skipped out on rent and he was so disappointed in them and basically gave me that exact speech. I remember it so well.
Let’s talk about Barry and John’s relationship. I love when they’re walking and talking and Barry just keeps on walking. That’s one of the hardest I laugh at, when Barry’s walking with John out in the middle of this desolate landscape and he’s like, “Look at everything God’s given us.” (laughs)
It feeds into this idea of religion for Barry that you were talking about earlier, but one of the big revelations is that Barry has found God and God is making him feel good about his life choices and himself. Yeah, I think Barry doesn’t want to feel bad. He just doesn’t want to feel bad anymore. I think that’s why he’s reading stuff about Abraham Lincoln and all these people in American history, because it makes him feel less alone. He thinks, “Well, maybe I have a chance.”
The whole baseball thing is also extremely funny. Barry wants this perfect American life, but he’s kind of corrupting these American institutions to have the thing that he wants. So it’s like Abraham Lincoln, you can’t get any more American than that. It’s him trying to recreate heaven. And heaven for him is alone in a desolate landscape where he can see anybody coming from miles away. Then the baseball thing, it was just this idea of what if kids were playing baseball and John wanted to play baseball, and how would Barry dissuade him from that? I really like when he finds the glove it’s almost like he’s finding drugs (laughs). And then yeah, again, the internet you can find kids getting killed by baseballs. If you just have the internet raise you, you wouldn’t ever want to leave your house. You’ll find whatever you want to be scared of. It’s there.
There’s also the idea of Barry fabricating his time in war as this hero when he’s telling the story to John. Yeah he tells the story of Albert and it’s totally wrong and it’s like, “Oh my God this guy f—king sucks.”
But John really loves him. Yeah, again he’s trying to be the version of himself that he always wanted to be and this kid can reflect that back to him.
It’s so interesting because Sally is what he always wanted that to be, and now she hates him, she can’t stand him, but he’s got John who’s this ideal version of that. Yeah and Sally, she’s living Barry’s dream. I don’t think she wanted a kid. This is not for her. It’s kind of like her own prison. It’ll be interesting to see what Sarah thinks about it, but there’s always a part of me that felt that because she killed somebody and she tried to come back to all this stuff, the acting teaching and all that, that this is where I deserve to go is with a bad guy. A violent man. It’s what she said in Season 2.
HBO
And she’s watching “Just Desserts” be this global phenomenon almost as a punishment. Yeah it’s like flogging yourself. There’s a part of it that’s flogging yourself about it and another part of her going like, “This is s–t.” But I think that’s the problem for her. She has integrity (laughs). Even her going in there and possibly hooking up with Bevel, and then she chokes him because it’s like, “No f—k ths guy.” (laughs) I think she’s also a victim of assault by men, and I think that’s really why she’s going after Bevel. I don’t see that scene as a virtuous thing. I think it’s born out of trauma. The reactions to that scene are interesting. Some people are really uncomfortable with it, other people are like, “Oh it’s a great revenge moment.”
I think the key to that scene is the scene in Episode 1 with her mom, where you realize that she has never dealt with any trauma in her entire life and never will. So it’s just gonna fester and it’s going to come out in weird and terrible ways. Yeah exactly.
Tell me about the scene where someone knocks on the door and Barry goes out there and you hear some footsteps. This was my thought while I was writing it: You could take it literally, but I never took it so much literally. It was kind of the idea that the darkness plays a lot into the show of people coming in and out of darkness and Cristobal sinking into darkness and Barry coming out of it at the end of Episode 4. The whole show has had that, so for me it was this kind of this idea of, no matter where they’re at, that thing can find them. That thing, whatever that is, is just gonna knock on the door at some point and I think Barry just goes and stares it down. That was the feeling behind it at least, but people can have their own interpretations of it.
What about the decision to cut to Hollywood instead of just staying with Barry and Sally for the whole episode? Did you consider not cutting to Hollywood at all? No, for me that was important because I think you still wanted to know what was happening and the story needed to keep moving. There was an entire beat-it-out of what Cousineau was doing during the eight years and then that scene of him showing up at the studio was the last scene of it. I said, “Well what if we just do all Barry and Sally and the last scene of Cousineau showing up to the studio?”
Larry Chowder the Magical Boy came from this guy Oliver who is our gaffer who’s very funny and I can’t remember if it was him or a friend of his that worked at a video store and this woman came in and said, “I want to rent Larry Chowder the Magical Boy,” and he didn’t know what she was talking about, and he figured out after a while that she meant “Harry Potter.” He told me that and I laughed so hard, so that’s where that came from. And the guy in the poster is Mark, he’s Alec Berg’s assistant and he’s kind of our script guy, he correlates all the scripts and keeps the continuity together and he’s also the guru of “Barry” where he can tell you anything off the top of his head. He just has interesting knowledge about everything, and he’s the one that gave us the idea of the monastery in Season 2 and he’s also the one that gave us the idea of the sand. He’s been a really great person to work with, so I wanted to give him a little moment. He’s also the guy that when I’m editing the show, ever since Season 1 I always bring Mark in, and during Season 3, Mark and Alyssa Donovan who’s also a very funny writer and works with me, they come in and they’re usually the first people to see cuts of the show. I like to get their feelings on it. And “Mega Girls 4” is a joke that if Sally would have stayed with it, it probably would’ve worked out.
By the end of the episode, Barry finds out there’s a biopic being made and he decides he has to kill Gene. So that idea came about very, very early on. The idea of Episode 5 to me was at the end of Episode 4, you see the moment Barry and Sally decide to leave Los Angeles, and then it was kind of like Episode 5 should be here’s what their life has been like, and then it should end with the moment they are pulled back into Los Angeles and back into that world of Cousineau and Hank. So that and then the idea of the biopic we just thought this is what would happen. Someone would try and make a movie about them. The important thing was how do you do that without it being kind of winky and cheesy.
Overall, this is a very different episode for “Barry” and I can attest it gets even funnier on rewatch. It’s definitely an episode that I understand if people are like, “What the f–k was that?” but it’s my favorite. That and the finale are my two favorite episodes.
It’s like you made a Coen Brothers move in the middle of “Barry.” I was happy that HBO were not just into it, they were really into it. As opposed to, you know, “Can it just be Hank being silly?”
I remember you told me “ronny/lily” came together where you just went off and wrote it by yourself. Did this one come out the same way? Yeah it’s very much that way, or the sequence with the motorcycles. There are certain moments in the show where I’ve just kind of gone off and written it quickly. One was that whole sequence with Barry and that Taylor guy going into the stash house and there’s a shootout and everything in Season 1. Sometimes it’s just fun to think up sequences and the pacing of it, but it was nice to do something that felt completely different from anything we’d done in the show so far, and that’s important to keep it fresh and interesting for the story but also for yourself. I don’t think it would’ve been interesting to bring back other things or bring back the karate girl for some reason.
Oscar nominated director Nicole Newnham (“Crip Camp”) was at Hot Docs with her latest film “The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” a portrait of a feminist pioneer. The helmer was also in Toronto to participate in a Hot Docs Industry storytelling masterclass. During the hour-long talk Newnham revealed how she tackles three of the trickiest aspects of documentary filmmaking.
“The Disappearance of Shere Hite”
Courtesy of Hot Docs
How to make a subject feel comfortable:
“Geeky curiosity is my authentic M.O. and that also is disarming to people. It puts them at ease. If you genuinely are fascinated by (a subject) and you aren’t after a soundbite, but just exploring, people realize that about you. I will say that in terms of embarking on complicated, long, multi-year documentaries with people, that’s a little different. In that case, I will usually try to get to know the person pretty well before filming or interviewing starts. I try to look for the Venn diagram overlap between what I’m interested in and what their interest in having the story told is, and I assure them of my partnership with them around that.”
How to handle sensitive topics:
“I made a film called ‘The Revolutionary Optimists’ (2013), and we were working with this extraordinary teacher who was kind of a main subject of the film. He revealed that he was the victim of sexual assault when he was a kid. He looked at me in the camera before he told the story. So, I knew that he was aware of it. He came up to me afterwards and said, ‘We have to talk about how you are going to use that.’ So, we cut a scene and I described it to him, but we were having a hard time figuring out where to go from there. He wanted us to include (the scene), but he wanted to feel safe. He was in India. So, I raised money to fly him to California. I spent a week with him. I didn’t show him the whole film because I didn’t think that was a good thing to do, but I did show him little examples of scenes, and we talked a lot over the course of a week about what we were doing, and where we were going, and how we were thinking. We came around to a very, very careful kind of architecture of how we could cut that scene in a way that would not harm him or his family, which was his concern.”
How to get a candid, authentic interview:
“Crip Camp”
Courtesy of Netflix and Higher Ground Productions
“It really is so much about time. Some of the folks in ‘Crip Camp’ we interviewed four times over three years. For instance, (disability rights activist) Judy Heumann, who appeared in ‘Crip Camp,’ is very savvy and speaks all over the world, and has told the story of the disability rights movement many, many times. So, it was really hard to get to her. It took us getting to the story close enough to where we were going after very specific things, and asking her questions she had never been asked before, and really catching her in moments of surprise. Another way of doing that is sometimes I show people footage and have them respond to it on camera. There are also other techniques for trying to shake somebody out of that kind of performative thing, but I think the best thing is just that they get used to you being there.”
Singer Arijit Singh, who is on a nationwide tour, performed live at a concert in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, on May 7.
Singer Arijit Singh performed live at a concert in Aurangabad, Maharashtra and was injured when a fan pulled his hand while he was interacting with the audience, as he usually does during his live performances. The incident occurred when an enthusiastic fan attempted to shake Arijit’s hand and pulled on his right hand, causing him to lose his balance and injure himself. A video of the incident has since gone viral, prompting calls for greater responsibility among concertgoers.
What’s noteworthy is that in the video, Arijit Singh remained composed even after being injured, and attempted to tell the person about the importance of respecting artists. The talented singer received first aid on stage, as he did not want to interrupt the performance. In the clip, he can be seen telling the person, “You were pulling me… See, my hand is shaking. I’m struggling… I can’t move my hand.” Following this statement, the audience quickly responded with a resounding “No.” Despite the fan’s alleged misbehaviour, Arijit remained polite when addressing the fan. check out the video that is going viral on the internet:
The video quickly went viral on social media. While many commended the ‘Gerua’ singer for his composed reaction, others criticised the fan’s behaviour. One fan wrote, “An artist performs with their passion and heart for every single fan of him non-stop 4 hours…. Please enjoy the music and enjoy yourselves listening to it…but be polite. This is literally heart breaking from yesterday’s concert Please respect ” Another wrote, “Arijit always say that my first priority is singing, if u will disturb me i will not perform.”
Since his debut, Arijit Singh has captured the hearts of millions and has become one of the most prominent names in the music industry.
Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3is now officially in theaters and Marvel fans will know that this is a momentous occasion as it is the final film in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise for director James Gunn. Those involved in the product gave their final thoughts to Disney today regarding the grand finale of this epic space adventure.
Photo: Marvel
“This has been over 10 years in the making and these films are so uniquely James Gunn—his voice, his writing, his directing, his love for animals, his comedy, his drama, his specific tone,” says Chris Pratt (who plays Peter Quill aka Star-Lord) regarding the trilogy. “I’m so grateful that he has been our maestro for all three films.”
11 years ago I had a meeting with Marvel Studios about the possibility of doing a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I remember driving home & thinking I didn’t want to make a movie LIKE Star Wars, but a movie that made people FEEL like Star Wars made me feel as a kid. Outlandish… pic.twitter.com/xiCnJOTf7c
As of going to print, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 currently has an 80% approval rating and is “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. You can check out their breakdown of all of the reviews here.
Photo: CNET.com
Guardians Director James Gunn talked a bit about his process when making the films saying,
“There were a lot of things that I guessed, and there were a lot of things I didn’t know, but I knew that the core of the story, for me, was Rocket and his story: where he came from, and who he was. It was very important for me to tell that story.”
11 years ago I had a meeting with Marvel Studios about the possibility of doing a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I remember driving home & thinking I didn’t want to make a movie LIKE Star Wars, but a movie that made people FEEL like Star Wars made me feel as a kid. Outlandish… pic.twitter.com/xiCnJOTf7c
We don’t want to give too much away about the third Guardians of the Galaxy film but we will say that it is Rocket’s story that drives much of the narrative in the film. When the movie opens, the Guardians are settling into life on Knowhere before their lives are upended when Rocket’s turbulent past comes back to haunt them.
We can also tell you that one of the baddies in this film is a mad scientist known as The High Evolutionary. He is played by Chukwudi Iwuji. The High Evolutionary sees Rocket as his property and wants to take back what is rightfully his! With that in mind, it’s up to the Guardians to protect Rocket’s life at all costs.
With the focus on Rocket, Gunn felt well-positioned to round out the trilogy by taking some risks in Vol 3. The director said, The central character, in a way, is Rocket, and Rocket’s the one I feel close to. The first film is the story of the mother, the second film is the story of the father, and this film is the story of the self.” Gunn adds, “So it’s innately more intimate because of that.”
Zoe Saldana, who has played Gamora in all three films said that Gunn excels at weaving together action and emotion. The actress said, “What makes James a special storyteller is that he finds genuine, universal, common emotions and conflicts, and he utilizes them and sets them on a universe-type of the tapestry. We’re all still able to relate to it because we all feel sort of like underdogs sometimes. We all hurt when we are neglected, rejected, or treated unfairly.” Saldaña continues,. “But we all are capable of feeling a great level of compassion for each other, so he creates this beautiful story with all of these universal feelings.”
Gunn built upon Saldana’s statement saying, “When you go back to the first movie, you see that tonal shifts have been a part of this franchise from the very beginning. It was really important to me that the films were fluid tonally. The humor is incredibly important, but I also didn’t want to undercut any emotion with a joke. So, it was important for me to allow the humor and the characters to be funny, because they are funny characters and get into funny situations, but also to allow the emotion to really play out and not be ashamed of that emotion.”
In addition to Star-Lord and Gamora, fan favorites including Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillian), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) are joined by Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and Maria Bkalova as Cosmo. Praff talked about what it’s like to have the crew together one last time saying, “It’s really special to be reunited with the Guardians family for Vol. 3,” Pratt says. “It’s rare to have a rapport like we have, and for as many years as we’ve put in the trenches together, we’re still very much a family. What makes it different this time around is we know it’s coming to an end, so I think each of us is processing that in their own way…”
Image: Marvel
As with the other Guardians films viewers can expect an exciting, comedic, and emotional ride according to Pratt, “It’s wild, it’s extraordinary, it pushes the boundaries, it’s fun and funny. It focuses on uniqueness and heart and compassion, and imagination, music, humor, vibrant colors, beautiful imagery, and ingenious alternate universes. It’s the final installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy [trilogy] and wraps it up in a way that really only James could.”
You check out a recent trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 – In Theaters NOW!
Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for further Marvel-related news and updates. We’ll be coming to you LIVE! from the the theme parks each and every week.
Have you heard the news? MickeyTravels just earned the incredible distinction of being a Diamond Earmarked Agency!
Whether it’s a visit to the theme parks, a Disney cruise, a stay at Aulani in Hawaii, or the trip of a lifetime with Adventures by Disney, I can’t wait to help you plan your vacation utilizing all of our incredible concierge-level services. This includes discount monitoring, itinerary planning, flexible booking and so much more. Best of all my services are 100% FREE!
The world of DC has been alight this week so far since James Gunn made the big announcement on Twitter of the first chapter of new projects slated for the DCU’s revamped timeline. Officially titled “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters,” Gunn revealed a staggering lineup of new series and films that will all serve as the starting point for his vision and even noted that what’s announced so far is only a part of what Chapter One has in store. A select number of those projects will head straight to HBO Max, and one of those series in particular that is catching a lot of attention is Waller.
As the title suggests, DC comic character Amanda Waller is now confirmed to have her own spinoff series, with award-winning actress Viola Davis reprising her role as the iron-fisted, temperamental civil servant. The series will apparently take place in the same universe as fellow DC spinoff Peacemaker (2022), which saw Davis’ Waller make a surprise cameo. The events of Waller will fall right in between seasons one and two of Peacemaker, picking up from where she was exposed by none other than her daughter as the mastermind behind the agendas of both the Suicide Squad and Task Force X. With her secrets and subterfuge now public knowledge, Waller will no doubt have to find a way to pull herself out of the hole she’s falling into. Given her ruthless reputation, it’s likely that her daughter Leota won’t exactly be free of consequences.
Viola Davis has previously expressed her enthusiasm about returning to the DC universe, given her love for comics, the fantasy behind them, and especially having the opportunity to play a strong character like Amanda Waller.
“I traded comic books as a kid so all of that appeals to me. When you dream about being an actor as a kid, that’s what you dream about. That’s like play acting: being the superhero, getting the gun; it plays into that fantasy.”
No release date has been set yet for the Waller series, but it will premiere on HBO Max alongside a few other of Gunn’s projects, as seen in the official, comic-style promo below. It will be helmed by Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol), who both have ample experience adapting comics to screen.
The character of Amanda Waller made her first big-screen appearance in David Ayer’s initial rendition of Suicide Squad (2016), cast by none other than Viola Davis, who played the role immaculately, to the point that some fans felt she was the true villain of the film rather than the Joker or Enchantress. Davis would go on to reprise her role in James Gunn’s reboot of the same movie, The Suicide Squad (2021), and later makes a cameo appearance in both Black Adam (2022) and the spinoff series Peacemaker (2022). Now set to have her own series, Waller is about to make the fearsome impact in the DC universe that she rightfully deserves.
For those unfamiliar with her character before those films, Amanda Waller originated in DC Comics back in 1986. Described as both an antagonist and an ally, Waller is a ruthless, high-ranking government official who uses all manner of guile, intimidation, and her political connections to achieve her goals, no matter the cost. She oversees research into metahumans, which led to her forming semi-secret, government-led groups of jailed supervillains such as the Suicide Squad, Task Force X, and ARGUS to complete unique, dangerous missions in exchange for amnesty. She is a force to be reckoned with, and Viola Davis will undoubtedly continue to portray her character in a fantastically insidious fashion.
HBO’s The Last of Us is one of the company’s most streamed shows ever.
According to Warner Bros Discovery’s recent financial results, the show reached over 30 million users on HBO Max. It’s also the most-watched show in Europe and Latin America for the service.
It’s worth noting that the HBO Max service isn’t available in the UK, where the show is broadcast by Sky, meaning the overall numbers are likely much larger.
HBO’s The Last of Us – Episode 9 preview
The only shows to receive higher viewership on the platform are the seventh and eighth seasons of Game of Thrones.
“It will be a while,” she said when asked when the second season might air. “I think we’ll probably shoot at the end of this year, beginning of next. And then it’s a long, it’s like a year filming, so it will be probably the end of 2024, early 2025.”
The first season of the show will be released physically this summer.
All nine episodes will be released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on July 18.
The 4K Ultra HD version will be priced at $50 / £40, the Blu-ray will be $45 / £30 and the DVD will be $40 / £25.
Amazon UK already has all three formats up for pre-order, along with a £50 Steelbook 4K UHD version. It’s not yet known if the steelbook is exclusive to Amazon, or whether it will also be available in North America.
At NAB 2023, we put Sennheiser on the spot, and they delivered.
If you haven’t seen our NAB 2023 coverage, you can find all that here. If you don’t know what NAB even is, well, let’s have a chat about signal interference.
The National Association of Broadcasters (or NAB) puts on a trade show every year that brings practically all the world’s video and audio (and video and audio accessories) manufacturers into one place.
As you can imagine, that crams a whole lot of WiFi, radio, cellphone, and Bluetooth signals into one space. So what does that have to do with Sennheiser?
Getting Our Audio To Work
Covering such an event is hard work. The more mobile you are, the better you can run around the massive convention center and the more interviews you can get. This year, our team attempted to get wireless audio to work, as having a mic attached to the camera via an XLR cable just wasn’t safe.
We purchased two options—The MW-1 from Lekato and the XSW-D XLR from Sennheiser. Both of these XLR wireless transmitters worked like a dream during testing. So how did they fare on the show floor?
The XSW-D XLR wireless transmitter and receiver.Credit: Sennheiser
They didn’t. Remember all those signals crammed into one space? They caused so much interference that none of the audio was usable, and we had to go back to our tried and true (and a bit unsafe) audio option. The good ‘ol XLR cable. Since our audio was going into the camera and immediately up to the cloud using Frame.io, we couldn’t sync audio in post. It had to be baked in.
So that’s how we shot our first two days. Running around the convention center floor wired to the camera. Until we got to the Sennheiser booth, that is.
The Sennheiser Booth
At the Sennheiser booth, the company introduced and previewed some really cool stuff. You can read about it here and here. Here’s the video of our booth visit.
In the end, our host Raafi Rivero told Chris Phillips about our interference issues and put him on the spot. Could he solve our problem? Well, turns out he could.
The Sennheiser EW-DP 835
After a quick swap, our team shot the rest of the booth interview using the Sennheiser EW-DP 835 wireless mic. Not only did it work, but it provided a noticeable quality bump in audio.
But this was at the Sennheiser booth. We wanted to test the wireless mic all around the convention center, and Sennheiser gave us the EW-DP 835 to shoot with on Day 3.
The entire EW-DP seriesCredit: Sennheiser
And let me tell you, no matter where we went, the Sennheiser EW-DP 835 worked without any issues. It didn’t matter if we were between DJI, Aputure, and Hollyland, swimming in the mix of wireless video and radio signals. The EW-DP 835 delivered clean audio. Not once did we lose our audio.
For $699 for the handheld mic unit, having such a dependable tool, especially in a place like the Las Vegas Convention Center during one of the biggest tech trade shows, is a steal.
The Sennheiser EW-DP 835 is available now in three different frequency bands. There’s also a body pack version if you need that LAV-style workflow. In addition, a plug-on transmitter will be added to the series in October 2023. With +48V phantom power on board, the EW-DP SKP will be able to turn any wired XLR microphone into wireless. The plug-on transmitter features a locking 3.5 mm mic input for lavaliers – making it a really versatile audio tool.
Is this something you want in your kit? Let us know in the comments!
The following contains spoilers for “Barry” Season 4 Episode 5.
Midway through its final season, “Barry” jumps forward in time eight years to find Barry (Bill Hader) and Sally (Sarah Goldberg) living on the run in the middle of nowhere with their son John. But while Barry is pretty pleased with their isolation, Sally finds herself in a “total hellscape of her own making,” Goldberg told TheWrap.
In this future, Sally is working as a waitress named Emily. But she’s also putting on a performance – each day she puts on a wig, fake nails and ties it all off with an overdone Southern accent. All of which is entirely unnecessary.
“I was really excited about that episode,” Goldberg said in an April interview. “I’ve been asking Bill since Season 1 Episode 1, ‘Can we please go like full Gena Rowlands ‘Woman Under the Influence’ opening night? Can we go all the way down to the darkness?’ So he did good on his promise.”
Goldberg relished the opportunity to find Sally in a completely different world.
“I think that with the time jump the idea was we’re in a different world, they have a very different existence,” she said. “So when I got the script, I was sort of like biting my hand. I was very surprised by it and excited, and it’s a real treat as an actor to get to do something like that.”
The actress said she loved the idea that Sally was finding pleasure in this performance as Emily, even though it was entirely unnecessary.
“I mean, it’s a total pivot from anything you’ve seen Sally do before. It’s a full physical transformation with the wig and nails and the accent, and I think it’s so bleak,” she said. “We did have a nice time making it and for Sally, I think she’s trapped in this total hellscape of her own making in a way. But within that, I think she’s out there giving the performance of her career as Emily the waitress. There’s no reason for her to be putting on that accent and this character at this stage in their getaway and yet she’s committed. That’s the last little piece of her from her prior life that we can see. No one’s watching, but she wants to give her Meryl Streep performance (laughs).”
Goldberg called it a “wild ride” but also a great example of how dynamic the tone of “Barry” can be that an episode like this one fits within the narrative.
“It felt like we were in a different show, but in a really exciting way. I’m always impressed with the elasticity of this tone of what the show can hold,” she said. “I hope the audience goes with us, but it felt like we’re taking a big swing. It was good fun, it was very twisted.”
As for Sally’s headspace from Hader’s perspective — who wrote and directed this episode — the showrunner said it’s rooted in a scene from earlier in the season where Sally shows her mom her show “Joplin.”
“I always thought it was interesting that when they watch ‘Joplin’ her mother says, ‘You don’t have a kid, you’re not married, what are you talking about?’ I think making ‘Joplin’ was always this version of Sally of what her life could have been,” Hader told TheWrap. “And now she kind of feels like she deserves that life. But the reason she stays, and I thought it was very important, is that moment when there’s a knock on the door and it’s like, ‘Thank God Barry’s here.’ Their bond is as fugitives. That’s their biggest bond. They’re amazing at the fugitive business. They’re terrible parents. But she’s living his dream. It’s a nightmare for her, but I think there’s a part of her that feels like, maybe this is what I deserve.”
“A Man Called Otto” was produced by Playtone, SF Studios, 2DUX², Artistic Films and Columbia Pictures with a budget of $50m. With it’s initial release on December 28th 2022 it made approximately $103.84m at the Box Office.
It took about an hour of speeches saluting Viola Davis during the Film at Lincoln Center’s 48th annual Chaplin Gala before someone addressed the elephant in the room.
The statement was met with enthusiastic applause from an audience comprised of Lincoln Center donors, industry colleagues, and plenty of acting students from Davis’ alma mater, Juilliard. It was an explicit callout to the biggest Oscar snub to cast a shadow over last year’s awards season, and contextualized a celebration that made up for the missed opportunity.
Davis’ performance as an African war general seemed like a shoo-in for the Best Actress category after the Sony release grossed close to $100 million following its successful launch on the fall circuit, yet Davis was shut out of the category, while the movie itself garnered zero nominations — an outcome that led to questions about whether the Academy had truly addressed its diversity problems in the wake of #OscarsSoWhite.
At a dinner following the ceremony, where board members shelled out as much as $100,000 per table for the fundraising event, Chastain — who has two months left in the Broadway production of “A Doll’s House” — was still reeling about the exclusion. “Someone had to say it,” she told IndieWire. “I mean, come on. Not a single Oscar nomination for that movie? There had to be some Academy members in that room, right?”
Indeed there were. The crowd ranged from CAA heavyweight Kevin Huvane to prolific documentarian Roger Ross Williams, as well as several other notable actors and filmmakers who took the stage during the ceremony to praise Davis, only the third EGOT winner to receive the Chaplin tribute Mike Nichols and Audrey Hepburn. Notwithstanding Davis’ 2016 Oscar win for “Fences,” the event made the case that the 57-year-old actress’ talent has often been under-appreciated — and in some cases, the highlight of otherwise forgettable movies. For every “Widows” or “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” there are lesser-known gigs such as “Troop Zero” and “Lila & Eve” where she still manages to stand out.
“Widows” filmmaker Steven McQueen acknowledged as much in his speech. “Watching these clips on the screen is like watching Mike Tyson knockouts,” he said. “It’s Viola and someone else listening. You see someone who is truth. It’s scary and revealing.”
While “Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood didn’t address the recent snub in the explicit terms of her editorial earlier this year, she spoke to the cultural impact of the performance. “The number of audiences who have shared that this film and her performance as Nanisca has literally changed their lives is stunning and inspiring,” Prince-Bythewood said. “It’s why we have fought so hard to allow Black female characters to show their mess.”
She also heralded Davis’ “insane work ethic,” a notion echoed by Meryl Streep, who recalled working with Davis on John Patrick Shanley’s 2008 “Doubt,” Davis’s onscreen breakout that resulted in her first Oscar nomination. Streep recalled her frustrations when Shanley kept asking for more takes of the scene in which Davis, as the mother of a child at a Catholic school who may have been abused by its priest, pushes back on allegations from Streep’s nun. “I said, ‘You’re killing this actor,’” Streep recalled. “I know an Oscar performance when I see one.”
Shanley insisted they come back the following week for additional shoots, which was when Davis delivered the devastating performance that wound up in the movie. “The greatest artists have a gift for conveying what it is to be human,” Streep said. “It’s just undeniable and it can’t be stopped by lack of opportunity.”
The event doubled as a soft launch for what could end up being Davis’ next Oscar campaign for her turn as Michael Jordan’s mother Deloris in “Air,” a movie that didn’t appear in any of the montages from Davis’ work but received a standalone clip towards the end of the show. The scene finds Deloris pressing for Matt Damon’s Nike executive to accept a deal that promises her son will receive indefinite revenues from Air Jordan sales, though it doubles as an argument for pay equity that Davis has pressed for across the industry.
Amazon expects big numbers for the movie when it lands on the streaming service in May following its wide theatrical release, as it inches toward $50 million box office in North America. However, “Air” director Ben Affleck and others associated with the performance did not attend the gala, as the studio is likely to wait until later this year to unleash more advocacy for that performance.
In her own speech concluding the ceremony, Davis hewed to the bigger picture of her career, striking the same rousing note of her memoir “Finding Me,” which came out last year. “The biggest regret of the dying is never becoming your ideal self,” she said. “I do believe that we’re thrust into a world where we don’t fit in. A lot of people sell a bill of goods along the way — that if you get some awards, you mean something. … You swim through all the bad, filthy swill until you come to the really, really stark conclusion that you want to leave this Earth becoming who you know deep within I’m supposed to be. That transcends status.”
North Vancouver Fire crews, BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) and North Shore Rescue (NSR) worked together to rescue a man suffering from a heart attack on the Grouse Grind Sunday afternoon.
12 firefighters along with a doctor went up the popular trail around 5 p.m. to reach the man and provide first aid, according to Scott Ferguson, an assistant chief with the District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services.
Vancouver marathon participants push to the finish line for a good cause
“We had two engines and a rescue crew. Four people on each truck, as well as BCEHS paramedics and NSR personnel on scene, Ferguson told Global News.
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“It does take a lot to bring someone down. It’s especially difficult when they’re in medical distress and we’re trying to care for them as we’re coming down the trail.”
The man was taken to hospital is critical condition, BCEHS said in a statement.
First responders have not confirmed the age or condition of the man following his rescue.
The actor, 60, earned the golden popcorn on the Sunday, May 7, awards show for his role in Top Gun: Maverick, so it was only fitting that he accepted while piloting an aircraft.
“Hi everyone, thank you so much for this award,” he shared while speaking into his aviation headset. “I make these films for you. I love you, I love entertaining you! To know how much you enjoy it, how much you appreciate it, there’s just no better feeling.”
Tom CruiseScott Garfield/Paramount Pictures
He concluded by promoting his other action franchise, Mission Impossible. The seventh installment in the franchise is due in theaters on July 12.
“I hope you enjoy Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1. It should be coming out in July. It is a wild ride,” Cruise said. “You have a wonderful summer, thank you again for letting me entertain you; It is an absolute privilege. See you at the movies!”
Top Gun: Maverick, which hit theaters in May 2022, is among the few films that have won both the golden popcorn at the MTV Movie & TV Awards and the Oscar at the Academy Awards. The action movie, a sequel to 1986’s Top Gun, won Best Sound at the prestigious ceremony in March and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Film Editing. and Best Visual Effects.
Though Cruise clearly had an elaborate plan to accept the award virtually, other stars were more low-key after MTV canceled the in-person event at the last minute. On Thursday, May 4, host Drew Barrymore dropped out to support the writers strike. The red carpet was called off the following day amid the Writers Guild of America’s calls to picket the show at Santa Barbara Hangar in California. On Saturday, May 6, the network announced that the MTV Movie & TV Awards would be pre-taped.
Ultimately, the show included a few comedic segments Barrymore pre-taped, retrospective clips from past years and acceptance speeches that were filmed in advance. Pedro Pascal accepted three awards for The Last of Us. Bella Ramsey, Joseph Quinn and Barrymore also filmed virtual thank you speeches, and many of them gave shout-outs to support the writers strike.
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Jennifer Coolidge nodded to screenwriters while accepting the Comedic Genius award from home. “Almost all great comedy starts with great writers, and I just think that as a proud member of SAG, I stand here before you tonight side-by-side with my sisters and brothers in the WGA that are fighting right now. Fighting for the rights of artists everywhere,” Coolidge, 61, said.
In March, Vox Media unveiled the latest splashy addition to its growing network of podcast creators: Esther Perel, whose show, Where Should We Begin?, has only further burnished her reputation as one of the best-known couples’ therapists around the world.
In attracting Perel, Vox Media beat out competitors like Spotify, which previously had an exclusive deal with the psychotherapist beginning in 2019 via Gimlet Media. The deal has also shown that Vox Media’s podcast ambitions extend beyond the digital media company’s brand of publications, which include New York magazine and The Verge, and into a realm that appeals to more than just “tech and [media] industry nerds,” as one executive put it.
This Friday, Vox Media is making its debut on Podtrac, the industry measurement tool that releases monthly rankings of the top 20 publishers and podcasts in the U.S. With a total of 59 active shows — compared to the 809 of leading publisher iHeartMedia — Vox Media has landed as the No. 10 publisher in the U.S. with more than 5.9 million unique monthly audience members and 33.3 million unique monthly downloads and streams during the month of April.
For the full year of 2023, Vox Media is forecasting that its podcast network will reach more than 500 million — or half a billion — total global downloads, according to Ray Chao, Vox Media’s svp and gm of audio and digital video. (To note: In February, Penske Media, the owner of The Hollywood Reporter, made a minority stake investment in Vox Media.)
The audience figures, which Vox Media is releasing for the first time, represent a measured approach to growth for the media brand’s podcasting business, which began in 2011 with the launch of Vox’s first podcast but didn’t become formalized until 2017 with the debut of the standalone Vox Media Podcast Network. Since then, the network has gone on to acquire companies like Preet Bharara’s Cafe Studios and Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer’s Criminal Productions, as well as attract talent like Perel, former NPR host Sam Sanders and tech journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher — the latter of whom left The New York Times last year to host a new podcast, On With Kara Swisher, for Vox Media.
“Growing things correctly, it can come off sometimes as cautious or really smart, right? And so I think we were aggressive in investing in [podcasts] and, at the same time, not nuts — everyone doesn’t get a podcast, that kind of thing,” Swisher told THR.
That isn’t to say Vox Media as a whole has isolated itself from the turbulence of digital media’s advertising reliance, as the company laid off 7 percent of its staff at the start of the year in response to “the challenging economic environment,” as Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff described it at the time. But the media company’s more sober approach to podcasting comes as a stark contrast to the so-called “dumb money” era of podcasting, when companies like Spotify plopped down hundreds of millions for talent deals and acquisitions that compelled other buyers to up the ante to compete. Though Vox Media made its share of deals, including for Cafe Studios and Criminal Productions, the company’s top podcast executives say the audio business has remained profitable during a cooler market due to Vox Media’s focus on building infrastructure like an in-house advertising and marketing team and on diversifying revenue outside of advertising alone, such as with podcast subscriptions and live events with podcast talent.
“We’re in podcasting and audio for the long term, so we’re not thinking about this in terms of this boom-and-bust cycle,” Chao said. “I don’t think we’ve felt that volatility in the same way that other companies have felt. Of course, we’re not immune to a lot of those challenges, but this is a moment that will pass and we will get through it, and we’re really proud of the foundation we built.”
With that structure in place, the company can now pitch its franchise-building capabilities to top talent seeking opportunities across formats. “We’re not just an audio company,” Chao said. “What we want to do is build a big media franchise, and so we’re not limited by the medium to say, ‘Hey, we’re only gonna support you in the audio world.”
In the case of Perel, the franchise pitch absolutely worked. “We always wanted a partner that would come to the table with creative ideas that maybe we hadn’t thought of ourselves, and so we were looking for an organization that would surprise us and also have the infrastructure to scale what we had been doing,” Courtney Hamilton, who oversees special projects (including podcasts) for Perel’s team, said. Now at home with Vox Media, Perel will switch her seasonal podcast into a weekly, “always-on” show with bonus content via an Apple Podcasts subscription beginning this summer. Perel will maintain ownership of the Where Should We Begin? IP and continue working with the production company Magnificent Noise, while Vox Media handles ad sales and distribution. Though Hamilton demurred when asked if an Esther Perel conference or event is on the horizon, she pointed to Vox Media’s bona fides in live events and said that “everything’s on the table to discuss.”
Nishat Kurwa, Vox Media’s svp and executive producer of audio, said the company’s strengths also lie in supporting talent as their interests change, rather than keeping them confined to their proven lane of success. “A show may start in a niche topic or category, but then the host’s aspirations may change and they want to move into something much broader,” Kurwa said. “We’re there to support that. Naturally, that’s going to mean a slightly different audience, and so we think we can work with them as their aspirations change and grow.”
But even as Vox Media may take on a broader scope of topics, moving away from its roots in the media and tech sphere, creators who spoke with THR said the company is doing so while maintaining its reputation for quality. “We weren’t going to align ourselves with or be associated with or be taken over by some entity — not to disparage anyone — but some entity that didn’t share our commitment to excellence,” Bharara, whose Cafe Studios has now been under the Vox Media umbrella for two years, said. “I wanted to be at a place where the leadership was strong, the commitment to value and values was strong. And of all the people we spoke to, … Vox Media was number one.”
Episode 5 starts after an 8 year time jump, Barry and Sally have escaped Los Angeles for a life cut off from their families and the ghosts of their past. We don’t know where they are but they no longer go as Barry and Sally, rather Clark and Emily and they have a son named John (Zachary Golinger), who doesnt know who they really are.
The previous episode of Barry saw the characters still reeling from Barry’s escape, episode 4 delivered a heavy blow to the show and the fandom, with the murder of Christobal, bringing Hank and Christobal’s story to an end, but marking the beginning of a new chapter for Hank as the Kingpin of the Chechen crime family in LA. This was probably the most violent episode we’ve seen so far. We also saw Fuches being beaten up by the prison guards for information on Barry. Jim Moss hot on the trail, searching for Barry. Meanwhile Cousineau who was isolated at his cabin had accidentally shot his son Leo, thinking it was Barry. After finding out he had escaped from prison, Sally heads home to find Barry there, and without a word, she leaves with him. The most important thing to remember is that the end of the episode sees a young boy who we soon learn is Barry and Sally’s son.
This episode mainly follows their life and routine as we see how the once hitman and actress have now adapted to life in hiding. According to Hader this was one of his favorite episodes of the season.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BARRY SEASON 4 EPISODE 5
As the episode starts, Barry or Clark takes John to apologize to their neighbor who he had hit because he was made fun of for not knowing what Call Of Duty was. Clark explains that their house is video game free, he pushes John to say “I hope we can be together next time in harmony.” Despite Barry trying his best to make sure his son does not end up like him, it would appear he still has violent tendencies like Barry. Barry homeschools his son and uses principles he learns from people like Lincoln who he has recently started idolizing to teach his son.
Courtesy of HBO
Sally or Emily, has a job and a new look, we see her getting ready, putting on a brunette wig and heading out to Lynette’s Country Diner where she works as a waitress. Things at the Diner move fast as they go from serving coffee to her fellow waiter needing pills to Emily stealing money from the register, and finally Bevel, a cook at the Diner hitting on her. At home, Sally is obsessed with Natalie’s hit TV show Just Desserts, which is on its last season. As she watches her former assistant get the fame and glory that should have been hers she continuously drinks glass after glass of wine.
Barry truly has become a changed man, he is trying to live by Lincoln’s principles of pragmatism, optimism, and compromise. After making up with his neighbor the two talk about baseball, but fter Barry finds the baseball mitt his neighbor gave John, Barry makes him watch videos of children getting hit with baseballs and running into fences on YouTube, which results in John having nightmares, he runs into his parents room saying “I don’t want to get killed by a baseball” and Sally ends up sleeping in his bed, but Sally wasnt too happy about that. She seems completely detached from her own son. Living in the middle of nowhere, with only one paycheck coming in, they weren’t exactly living a life of luxury. Eating undercooked potpies or cereal for dinner, no money for a heater or comforter for their son. For Barry it’s not the material that matters, it’s what’s right there.
While on another YouTube binge Barry learns of all the “messed up shit Lincoln did” from a channel called Heroes Exposed. He seems to
Courtesy of HBO
cling on to the character of Lincoln because if he could change and become “Honest Abe,” maybe there’s hope for him.
Meanwhile while watching another one of Natalie’s interviews, Sally decides she needs a way to let out all her anger. The next day, she sees Bevel at work and hatches a plan. The two have a drink together and she talks to him about his life and a recent job his brother pulled robbing a bank, where people died. What he didn’t realize was Sally was testing him. Sally heads to the bathroom and he follows. She starts by giving him a taste so he would let his guard down, but then she starts choking him, he accidentally pulls her wig off. She makes him keep her secret, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. So she has him fired by telling their boss he was stealing money from him.
When John finds an old medal box of Barry’s from his time in the Marines, (which Barry most likely planted) Barry takes the opportunity to not just tell his son he was in the Marines, but rewrite history a bit. As you may remember what originally happened to get Barry discharged from the Marines was, well a little insane. After his friends Albert was shot in the face, he charged into someone’s house and shot them, basically he got away with murder, like Mr Cousinea said. But in the version that Barry tells his son, after Albert got shot, Barry who was a medic in his story, saved Albert’s life.
When their doorbell rings, Barry’s worst fears are realized, he immediately tells Sally and John to go hide in the bathtub. There was no one outside though, we simple hear a group of people laughing, they had been died dong ditched. In that moment we see Sally cling on to her son as they hide in the tub, while Barry remains outside with a pistol fiercly protecting his family.
Courtesy of HBO
We then go from Barry or Clay’s empty land to a Warner Bros building, where apparently Gene Cousineau who has been missing for the past 8 year is. But the people from Warner Bros can’t seem to be sure if it’s him. Except it is. Long haired and worn out, Mr Cousinea had heard that a Barry biopic was being made and he says to an executive at Warner Bros “You’re going to want to talk to me.”
Sally suddenly receives a Google alert for the name “Barry Berkman”, she screams “Barry”! There on her phone is an article that reads “Gene Cousineau Resurfaces – May Consultant on Barry Berkman Biopic” in that moment we see him immediately switch from Clay back to Barry, “I’m gonna have to kill Cousineau” says Barry as the episode ends.
With all the dreams Barry had in the previous episodes, most assumed that the ending of episode 4 was a dream too. The fact that it was an 8 year time jump was a huge surprise. We see such great performances from both Sarah Goldberg and Bill Hader. Sarah channeling a much darker side of Sally, and Bill channeling his paternal side to portray the emotion and heart we saw in this episode.
This episode was a bit slower compared to the rest of the season so far, and slower than all the other episodes of Barry in general, with less action and comedy and more deeply rooted in family and emotion. For Hader this was a welcome change of pace. In an interview with The Wrap Hader said “There are certain moments in the show where I’ve just kind of gone off and written it quickly,” Hader said, referencing the “ronny/lily” episode from Season 2 and the motorcycle chase from Season 3. “It was nice to do something that felt completely different from anything we’d done in the show so far, and that’s important to keep it fresh and interesting for the story but also for yourself. It’s definitely an episode that I understand if people are like, ‘What the f–k was that?,’ but it’s my favorite. That and the finale are my two favorite episodes.” That ending is going to lead into an exciting new chapter of Barry.
“Barry” Season 4 airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO and on HBO Max
Drew Barrymore may not have hosted the MTV Movie and TV Awards, but she still had a presence Sunday night. The clip-heavy awards show featured several prerecorded skits starring Barrymore doing everything from dancing in “Wednesday” to reprising her role in “Never Been Kissed.”
Barrymore was originally slated to host the MTV Movie and TV Awards but dropped out of the event last Thursday, two days after the beginning of the WGA strike. At the time, the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show” said she pulled out of the event “in solidarity with the strike.” MTV likely planned to accompany Barrymore’s hosting duties with a batch of sketches that put the beloved stars into some of the biggest shows and movies of the past year. But watching the clips sans-Barrymore-as-host was still fun.
The awards show started with a throwback. Donning her iconic “Never Been Kissed” dress, Barrymore charmed her way through such recent hits as Parker Finn’s horror movie “Smile,” Jordan Peele’s sci-fi Western “Nope,” Netflix and Tim Burton’s “Wednesday,” Mike White and HBO’s “The White Lotus,” Gerard Johnstone’s horror comedy “M3GAN,” Joseph Kosinski blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” and Elizabeth Banks’ stranger-than-fiction “Cocaine Bear.” And before you ask, yes — of course Barrymore did the “Wednesday” and “M3GAN” dances.
She then appeared in the “Barbie” trailer, correcting a major casting oversight. Barrymore pretended to be an unofficial “Skipper.” If you’re unaware, Skipper was Barbie’s first sister, who appeared in 1964. Barrymore doesn’t just respect the WGA; she respects Barbie lore.
She then returned to “Wednesday” to dance some more. As Jenna Ortega stared on in shock, Barrymore twirled in the rain and was eventually struck by lightning.
That’s not all. Barrymore also won an award herself for Best Host of her talk show. During her speech, she made a point to thank her show’s writers.
It’s all part of the MTV Movie and TV Awards intentionally clip-heavy awards show. Originally, the network planned for Barrymore to host its live awards show, which would air after red carpet arrivals. But in the wake of the writers’ strike, MTV was forced to quickly change the format of the program that’s been around since 1992.
While more and more presenters and nominees dropped out of the awards show out of respect to the strike and the WGA protested the event, the red carpet was canceled. The live element of the show was canceled as the event pivoted to heavily feature clips from past ceremonies. The nominees from each category were called and the winner accepted their award via a prerecorded message.
After threatening to quit his musical career if he lost the case, Ed Sheeran was, to say the least, highly relieved Thursday (May 4) when a federal jury ruled that his song “Thinking Out Loud” (co-written with Amy Wadge) doesn’t infringe on the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” But the entire community of professional songwriters was also watching the case closely, and with no small degree of trepidation. “If this case had turned out differently, it would have completely changed the landscape,” says James “JHart” Abrahart, who’s written songs for Justin Bieber, Usher, Camila Cabello, and Måneskin.
In the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, songwriters Jenna Andrews (who co-wrote BTS’ “Butter” and “Permission to Dance,” and has written for Noah Cyrus and Jennifer Lopez), and Jamie Hartman (who’s written for the Backstreet Boys, Lewis Capaldi, Jennifer Hudson, and Calvin Harris), along with JHart, discuss the Sheeran lawsuit’s potential ramifications, the limits of musical originality in pop music, the continuing fallout from the “Blurred Lines” case (in which Robin Thicke’s song — written by Pharrell Williams — was found to have infringed on Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up,” based solely on groove and vibe) and more.
Find the episode here at the podcast provider of your choice, go directly to Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above.
In the episode, the songwriters say they were particularly horrified by the argument that the song’s chord progression alone was protected by copyright — it was impossible for them to imagine that such basic elements of music could be kept off limits. “There’s only so many chords that you can use,” Andrews says.
“Ed and Amy had a new thought over a traditional arrangement,” says Hartman. “Coming up with an original lyric and an original melody is new. That’s the brief. That’s what you have to do daily as a professional writer.”
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A verdict against Sheeran would’ve had a powerful chilling effect, the writers say — but at the same time, the “Blurred Lines” case and other recent rulings have already left songwriters and artists feeling paranoid, which means nascent songs frequently get scrapped before anyone hears them. “It’s always kind of frustrating when someone’s like, ‘Oh, this reminds you of something,’” says Andrews. “And sometimes they can’t even name the song, but they’re so nervous that they’re stepping on something that they’re just like, let’s go to something else.”
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“I have a couple colleagues who have been to court,” says JHart. “And one of them specifically, it’s really affected them. They’re really sort of scared in rooms and it feels triggering for them. And it’s just stifling for people. I’ve seen how it affects people, obviously financially as well, but just being able to be free and be creative.”
Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone‘s weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out six years’ worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth, career-spanning interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Questlove, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, Gary Clark Jr., and many others. Plus, there are dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone’s critics and reporters.
Tom Cruise made a video appearance at King Charles III’s coronation concert to deliver a message to the British monarch.
“Pilot to pilot, Your Majesty,” the veteran action star said, “you can be my wingman any time.”
Cruise is known for his high-flying portrayal of United States Navy fighter pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the “Top Gun” franchise. Like Charles, who served in the Royal Air Force, he is also a trained pilot in real life.
Cruise was among several celebrities who participated in the concert at Windsor Castle following the coronation at Westminster Abbey. Performers at the event included Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, the Royal Ballet, Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls, opera singer Andrea Bocelli and British band Take That.
Other artists — such as Harry Styles, Elton John, Ed Sheeran and the Spice Girls — reportedly turned down invitations to perform at the concert, citing scheduling conflicts and other reasons.
According to the Associated Press, Richie brought Charles and Queen Camilla to their feet with his performance of the 1983 classic “All Night Long,” while Perry sang her empowerment anthem “Roar” during the extravaganza.
On Saturday, British police arrested a number of anti-monarchy demonstrators protesting Charles’ coronation. The protesters held signs and wore shirts with the rallying cry “not my king” while demonstrating during the royal procession.
“It was a completely peaceful demonstration,” anti-monarchy activist Harry Stratton told the Associated Press.
“It feels like something out of a police state because we still don’t know why anyone’s been arrested, and we still don’t know where they’re taking our people. Britain’s meant to be a democracy, but Charles isn’t treating it like one.”
Agent Maria Hill reporting for duty! In the latest episode of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Cobie Smulders reprises her long-time role as Agent Hill, stopping by to help “guide” super-genius Lunella Lafayette (aka Moon Girl) — and it makes her feel like a “really cool mom.”
As Smulders explains in a new behind-the-scenes video, which you can watch above, animation had such a huge impact on her life and her hope is that “kids just get inspired by watching the show.”
“The idea that we get to see another strong, powerful, young woman leading this story is very exciting,” she explains.
In the latest episode, “OMG Issue #1,” Lunella uncovers the history of the Original Moon Girl as she struggles to thwart a powerful villain’s plan to use her portal for evil.
Speaking to a crowd of fans at the Q&A session following the screening of Zack Snyder’s Justice Leagueat the Zack Snyder Full Circle Event in Pasadena, California, Batman star Ben Affleck reflected on his work with the director in the DCEU.
He looked at all of the actors that Snyder had cast in his movies and the work they’d done since, crediting Snyder for being so “intuitive” as a filmmaker:
“As you look at all these actors who Zack cast and how good they are and what they’ve gone on to do, it’s a testament to Zack’s taste. And his taste is very, as he says, intuitive. I don’t know if you can learn it or teach it. He has a feeling if he is, sort of, being like a filmmaker with a point of view is.”
The Batman star praised Snyder for not worrying about “a bunch of other thoughts or opinions” from outside sources along with the director’s ability to stand strong with his decisions:
“As soon as he sees that thing that bounces off him, it’s very wonderful to work with someone who’s not clouded by a bunch of other thoughts or opinions or ‘What are they gonna say? What are they gonna do? How many followers do they have?’ Whatever it is, immediately, and listen, he has an opinion, and he has a strong one.”
Snyder was always one to give his actors the bottom line about their performances, with Affleck liking the way that there weren’t “15 auditions and do a whole circus” involved with the process:
“And that’s kind of what you want as an actor, very much, whether it’s good or bad. ‘Are we doing this or are we doing that? You want me for the movie or you don’t?’ You know what I mean? Both are fine, I just want to know, let’s not do 15 auditions and do a whole circus.”
To close, Affleck highlighted the way that Snyder works off of his instincts and how he’s “decisive and absolutely self-assured” of the decisions he makes, knowing that he trusts everything that his director does with his movies:
“And that’s one of the beautiful things about Zack and his process is that he is worked by instinct and decisive and absolutely self-assured of that, and it’s a very calming thing to have in a director, to go ‘OK, he knows where we’re going, so I’m gonna follow him.'”
Will Ben Affleck Work With Zack Snyder Again?
Ben Affleck’s relationship with Zack Snyder has been well-detailed over the years, with Affleck admitting on numerous occasions that Snyder helped to bring him out of a dark place that he’d been to with his experience as Batman.
Affleck has also never been one to hold back on sharing his experience with the DCEU, even the negative parts of being part of the franchise, with Snyder being one of his biggest supporters through the whole journey.
The actor is likely to end his time with DC in The Flash a couple of years after Snyder’s own exit, with the chances being quite low that the pair will ever reunite under the DC umbrella.
Whether they team up again in other movies is anybody’s guess, but with Snyder working diligently to push out new material, Affleck may look to take on another role in a non-DC project for Snyder someday.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League, along with Snyder’s other DC movies, are available to stream on HBO Max.
On Wednesday, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard Merger due to its implications for cloud gaming. Along with fundamentally changing the future of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, the document released alongside this decision has revealed quite a few details about the increasing financial demands behind AAA games.
In a massive report on the decision, the CMA revealed that some major publishers report their AAA franchises can cost over $1 billion to make.
According to the report, AAA games that are greenlit now with potential releases in 2024 or 2025 typically receive development budgets of $200 million or higher — Call of Duty has already surpassed $300 million in development costs alone, and the next Grand Theft Auto title will likely require a development budget of $250 million or more. When considering marketing costs, this number can jump to over $1 billion across a franchise, with one large studio reporting that a major franchise’s development cost $660 million and marketing cost nearly $550 million.
These costs demonstrate a significant increase from five years ago, when most AAA games had budgets between $50 and $150 million.
The CMA’s ruling, citing a report by market intelligence group IDG, also revealed details about the increasing development demands for new Call of Duty titles.
“We have to make so much content for Call of Duty that we can’t even lean on one lead studio anymore,” Activision was quoted as saying in the report. “Now we need almost 1.5 lead studios for each annual CoD. That kind of bandwidth pressure is forcing us to use outsourcers more and more. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard: The Story So Far
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
This article was amended after publication to specify $1 billion over a franchise, rather than a single game.
The strike has begun, Insiders. The industrial action, the first in the U.S. since 2007-08, dominated news coverage in film and TV this week but there’s been plenty more going around the world. Jesse Whittock here to take you through. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter here.
Strike, Camera, Action!
Queen Charlotte
Netflix
Shows of solidarity: The moment is upon us. Following several weeks of failed negotiations, the WGA is striking for the first time in 15 years over issues including compensation and streaming residuals, mini-rooms, late-night streaming shows and pensions. As writers across the U.S. hit the picket lines, attention here at Deadline International has been focused on the ripple effects being felt globally. Multiple writers unions around the world were swift in their shows of support. Australian, Canadian and UK guilds have already urged their own writers to down tools and refuse to work on U.S. projects, while bodies from the likes of Israel, Ireland and France have all publicly backed the WGA, with more reaction likely over the weekend. Our international roundup, which we are updating, can be found here.
True impact: We’ve also spent the week figuring out the impact of the strike on the non-U.S. landscape, with a deep dive looking at the UK. Rushed scripts, confusion and blacklisting threats is what we found, with sources saying that they are still digesting what is taking place. Many are still working out whether their shows will be affected, with question marks surrounding streamer shows that have been commissioned outside the U.S., or the big U.S. series being filmed in the UK. House of the Dragon Season 2 is pushing on for now, as is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2. “It’s very complicated,” said a high-profile UK scribe. “If you’re a UK writer working on a U.S. show under WGA jurisdiction you can’t continue until this is resolved. The Guild has been firm about this.” John McVay, CEO of indie trade body Pact, sought to downplay the situation and pointed to a broader scripted slowdown. “Moving on from the boom is good because people were working back-to-back, getting burned out and wage rates were through the roof,” he added. We will be keeping our eyes trained on what comes next. And to read Deadline’s round-the-clock coverage so far, click here.
Cannes: The Jury’s Out
Ruben Östlund; Clockwise from Top left – Julia Ducournau, Damián Szifron, Rungano Nyoni, Denis Ménochet, Maryam Touzani, Atiq Rahimi, Brie Larson, Paul Dano
The great eight: With 11 days to go until its kick-off on May 16, Cannes Film Festival announcements have been falling thick and fast. One key missing element was who would be serving on the main Competition jury alongside its previously announced president Ruben Östlund. The festival finally dropped the news this week and the two-time Palme d’Or winner is in good company. He will be joined by a Cannes first-timer, Captain Marvel star Brie Larson, as well as Croisette habitués Moroccan director Maryam Touzani, French actor Denis Ménochet, British-Zambian screenwriter and director Rungano Nyoni, American actor and director Paul Dano, Afghan writer and filmmaker Atiq Rahimi, Argentinian director and screenwriter Damián Szifrón and French director Julia Ducournau, who is only the second woman to win the Palme d’Or over 76 editions of the festival. There are 21 films in the running for the Palme d’Or this year, which will be announced at the closing ceremony on May 27.
Iran stops Rasoulof: Cannes also announced the jury for the Un Certain Regard line-up this week but one member who should have been on the press release was absent. It emerged that dissident Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof had been invited to participate but was barred from leaving Iran. The festival had hoped to secure the filmmaker’s attendance following his temporary release from Tehran’s Evin jail in February due to ill health, following a seven-month stint at the notoriously tough facility. The director, who has long been in the crosshairs of his country’s draconian Islamic Republic government for his hard-hitting work critiquing Iranian society under its rule, has a long history with Cannes. His films Manuscripts Don’t Burn and A Man of Integrity world premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2013 and 2017, winning the Fipresci and best film prizes respectively. It remains to be seen whether the winds of change blowing through Iran with the Woman Life Freedom protest will bring greater freedom for its filmmakers in the future.
Charles On Coronation Street
Charles will be crowned tomorrow (May 6)
Alastair Grant – WPA Pool/Getty Images
“I just can’t wait to be king…”: Love it or hate it, the British monarchy remains the world’s leading real-life soap opera. Tomorrow, the latest chapter in the royal story will be written as King Charles III is officially sworn in as monarch, following the passing of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last year. Though the royals have spent years trying to modernize their brand, the King’s Coronation will be nothing but old-school regal pageantry — think oversized crowns, ceremonial staffs and biblical readings. Millions – maybe billions – will tune in. I’ve run down how the countries are covering the $125M+ proceedings here — many major terrestrial channels are clearing large parts of their Saturday schedules to make way for the event, with news analysis coverage before and after. International news channels will blanket cover. However, it will probably come as little surprise that the King’s big day won’t be carried on major networks in Russia.
Like buses: One such major event is a huge technical broadcasting feat, so it’s quite the stress when two come along at once. Next week, the UK hosts the Eurovision Song Contest, as last year’s winners Ukraine can’t hold it due to the ongoing war. Max spoke with the BBC live event execs who are juggling both the Coronation and Eurovision, along with next Sunday’s BAFTA TV Awards. It’s the biggest undertaking of its kind for the BBC in a decade, execs told Max, when then London Olympics and Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations ran during summer 2012. “This is what you get into TV for,” said a fired-up BBC unscripted boss Kate Phillips. We’ll have more details on UK and U.S. coverage tomorrow, along with links to live streams of the coverage on Deadline.com, so make sure to check back in.
‘MasterChef Australia’ Rocked
Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for AFI
RIP Jock Zonfrillo:MasterChef Australia has been one of the highest-rating shows on TV down under for many years and a top international seller, so it’s always a big deal when a new season comes around on Network Ten. However, tragedy struck just before the 15th run began on May 1, as the news emerged judge Jock Zonfrillo had passed away. The energetic Scotland-born celebrity chef and broadcaster was just 46 and leaves behind a wife and young children. “Keep this proud Scot in your hearts,” urged his family in a message confirming his passing. Ten and producer Endemol Shine Australia then delayed the cooking competition’s season launch to this coming Sunday (May 7), with his family’s blessing (shooting wrapped last month). Zonfrillo had joined MasterChef Australia in 2019, along with former winner Andy Allen and food critic Melissa Leong. The trio replaced three long-time judges and were under huge pressure to keep ratings up — and became a resounding success. While Zonfrillo at times had a difficult past, his death has shocked friends, family and fans to the core, and left MasterChef Australia without a key component to its recent success.
Baz Had A Dream
Judy Craymer and the original West End cast of ‘Mamma Mia!’ (L-R) Louise Plowright, Siobhan McCarthy and Jenny Galloway
Alex Lake/Catherine Ashworth
Cramer versus Cramer: Our roving International Editor-At-Large Baz Bamigboye has known Judy Cramer, the creator and driving force behind West End super show Mamma Mia!, for decades. With an ITV talent show expanding her ABBA-inspired universe, the two pals sat down to talk about how times have changed, the chances of the show returning to Broadway and (whisper it) the growing likelihood of a third Mamma Mia! movie. “It’s in its earliest stages,” revealed Cramer. The challenge is how she can magic up a way of getting the previous films’ favorite characters — hi, Meryl Streep’s Donna Sheridan and Cher’s vivacious Ruby — back together. Besides the news nuggets, Cramer recalled when legendary Universal chairwoman Donna Langley took a pilgrimage to London to see the show and close a ground-breaking deal with Cramer’s Littlestar. Shimmy your way over to the full piece here.
The Essentials
Carey Mulligan, Tom Basden & Tim Key
Michael Buckner for Deadline/Zoe Barling/Getty
?️ Hot One: Carrey Mulligan, Tom Basden and Tim Key are set to star in comedy One For the Money, as Andreas revealed.
?️ Another One: Sheridan Smith and Celine Buckens will appear as sisters in Paramount+ UK drama The Castaways.
?️ Hotter: Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan will make his directorial debut with Red Chillies Entertainment series Stardom.
?️ One more: Mad Men‘s Christina Hendrix will lead the Cannes-bound psychological thriller Reckoner.
? Exiting: Long-serving Starz international programming chief Jeff Cooke, as I revealed Tuesday.
?️ Signed up: Tunisian-Egyptian actress Hend Sabry, for representation at CAA, as Andreas revealed.
? Done deal: The UK’s Pinewood Group bought the Toronto production facility that bears its name.
? Another deal: Canada’s Crave renewed its multi-year licensing agreement with Warner Bros Discovery for the likes of Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. Max with the scoop.
? Musical number: This week’s Global Breakout was Dutch entertainment format Don’t Stop the Music.
? Abracadabra!: British magician Dynamo is making his latest Sky series, Dynamo: Mind Over Magic. Jake with this one.
?️ Honored: Michael Douglas will receive an honorary Palme D’Or in Cannes.
While reflecting on Kate Middleton’s recent style shift, British Vogue’s Sarah Harris called out one welcome change in particular: “She has embraced bolder colors: cue the Alexander McQueen red power suit she wore to unveil her ‘Shaping Us’ campaign, the cobalt-blue Catherine Walker coat dress for Easter this year, and the vivid blue 1995 vintage Chanel boucle blazer she wore to Coach Core’s 10th-anniversary celebrations.”
It’s fitting, then, that the Princess of Wales chose to re-wear said Alexander McQueen red power suit to the Coronation Concert on 7 May, accessorizing it with a necklace and earrings from Van Cleef & Arpels’ Alhambra Collection. The jewelry set has become something of a favorite for the Princess, who has been spotted in it everywhere from the BAFTAs to the Bahamas.
Getty Images
As for the rest of the Wales family? Prince William and Prince George wore coordinating blue suits and ties—about as close as the heirs to the throne will ever get to festival dressing—while Princess Charlotte sported a dress by Self-Portrait, one of her mother’s favourite designers. In fact, Kate Middleton wore a royal-blue dress courtesy of Han Chong’s label to greet foreign dignitaries at Buckingham Palace on Friday evening.
The Princess’ fashion choices have run the gamut from haute couture to high street over the course of the Coronation celebrations. Having attended the formal service in Westminster Abbey in a custom Alexander McQueen gown of ivory crepe embroidered with roses, thistles, daffodils and shamrocks, Middleton turned to some of her off-duty style staples to greet the crowds during the Coronation Big Lunch celebrations in Windsor this afternoon, pairing a classic sky-blue blazer by Reiss with cigarette trousers and her trusty Veja Esplar sneakers. How long until Princess Charlotte is spotted in the kids’ version of the queen-in-waiting’s favorite trainers?
Spunky teenager Amy is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she and her grandfather are threatened with the loss of their horse ranch.
Certificate:Suitable for ages 12 and up
Year: 2022
Duration: 10 Seasons
Available Seasons: Season 7 (18 Ep), Season 8 (18 Ep), Season 9 (18 Ep), Season 10 (18 Ep), Season 11 (18 Ep), Season 12 (11 Ep), Season 13 (10 Ep), Season 14 (10 Ep), Season 15 (10 Ep), Season 16 (15 Ep)
Audio: English [Original], Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese
Subtitles: Arabic, English, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Status: Returning Series”Heartland” is a TV show produced by SEVEN24 Films. The show was originally broadcast on CBC Television (Canada) and premiered on October 14th 2007. So far there have been 16 seasons (comprising of 249 episodes) of “Heartland”. The most recent episode aired on February 5th 2023 and more seasons are expected in the future.
Critics took aim at Twitter on Sunday after graphic, bloody images spread on the platform from Saturday’s mass shooting at a Texas outlet mall that resulted in nine deaths, including the gunman.
“This family does not deserve to see the dead relatives spread across Twitter for everybody to see,” veteran journalist Pat Holloway told the New York Times.
According to Reuters, a graphic 10-second video from the scene showed dead bodies, including that of at least one young child, circulated on Twitter. The news wire reached out to Twitter for comment.
“In past shootings, social media sites have worked to take down links to such graphic images,” Reuters reported Sunday evening. “An emailed request for comment to Twitter, which no longer has a communications team, returned an automated reply with a poop emoji.”
Another image showed a man, shot, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. “The #AR15shooting resulted. So @GovAbbott and @tedcruz can get money from the @NRA ,” tweeted retired serviceman Russell Honore.
TheWrap has chosen not to share these images.
The site’s lack of content moderation staff had previously been considered a drawback for users and major advertisers who feared very little would be done by the platform in combating hate speech and misinformation. In response, Musk announced he’d create a content moderation council.
There are some who believe that images that graphically depict the reality of terrible events should have a place in public discourse, there’s disagreement on whether social media sites like Twitter and its users should be the arbiters of such imagery versus traditional media and groups who follow rules of conduct in their decision making.
“I understand where people on social media are coming from who want to circulate these images in the hopes that it will make a change,” UCLA professor Sarah T. Roberts, who focuses on content moderation, told the Times. “But unfortunately, social media as a business is not set up to support that. What it’s set up to do is to profit from the circulation of these images.”
With an impending wedding in the air, it would make sense that love would worm itself into the fabric of Somebody Somewhere. Not that it’s been absent. It was Sam’s love for her sister that first brought her back to Manhattan. And it is the affection she feels for her family (no matter how vexing those relationships may be) that keeps her there. Moreover, no matter how uncomfortable it may make her, it’s also clear that Joel cares for her quite a bit. He loooves her, as he needles her often. She clearly also has a soft spot for that blindingly optimistic BFF she’s made. But romance has, for the most part, been an elusive theme. Until now.
Alec Baldwin and “Rust” producers reach a settlement
It begins with an awkward moment as Sam starts back up again with her singing lessons with her old school teacher (Barbara Robertson) decades later. She’s called to sing something she loves. Perhaps even a love song. It’s a simple request but it hits a chord. Sam gets pensive and even gets a tad emotional once she sings a few bars of “That’s All” (“I can only give you love that lasts forever”). Sure, she’s there to hone her voice so she can perform at Fred’s wedding but there’s something about these professions of love that make her uncomfortable. That’s only made worse by yet another throwaway line once they begin working on Sam’s breath at a later lesson: The feeling of getting to master her breath is, she’s told, “like the first time falling in love.”
Talk about a sore subject. It’s only later that Sam confesses to Joel that such a harmless line cut right through her because, well, she’s never been in love. It’s an admission she tries to brush off as a defensive posture. Why would anyone, let alone she, want to fall in love when it so clearly comes with so much pain, so much disappointment? “Why would I do that to myself?” she asks Joel. The Sondheim fan in me almost wished the show had gone full Company here, as Sam likely needs a dose of “Being Alive.” Then again, Joel’s grinning wide-eyed outlook on the world was enough to soften Sam enough (eventually!) to admit that maybe she should grapple with those feelings rather than push them away forcefully.
She should learn a thing or two from Joel who may well be in his very own rom-com. For our beloved Brad (Tim Bagley) made a welcome return and got to have a lovely meet-cute with Joel as the latter waited out for Sam’s lesson to be over and agonized over his own assignment for Fred’s wedding. (Will Fred want a religious kind of wedding, even as Joel is still struggling with how to return to the church after those lies he had to own up to last season?) Hiller and Bagley are a wonderful comedic duo, each of their twee awkwardness making their dynamic feel unlike any other queer flirting you’re likely to encounter anywhere else on American television—followed, of course, by talk of a boner and pleats, because that’s the kind of show we’re in.
The other show we’re in is a dysfunctional family dramedy, and it’s a testament to Somebody Somewhere that even in dealing with particularly painful topics like Mary Jo’s behavioral issues and the stress they cause her daughters, the show never becomes dour nor weighed down by such dark moments. That moment when Tricia and Sam are told her mother’s going to be transferred to Wichita where she’ll get the help she needs is heartbreaking because it begs the question of how much can you love and care for someone who so obviously doesn’t want either (from you, at least)? Mary Jo is still “vicious,” as her daughters note, and yet there’s no question of what her two daughters will do. Here is love as sacrifice, a feeling familiar to many of us watching.
No wonder Sam can get so bogged down when she has to assess her life, especially her romantic life. Everything around her can feel like a chore (even hanging out with Joel, who won’t let her just stare at the wall in peace). What kind of room could she make for anyone else? The season did begin with a rule of NNP (“no new people”) and now, between Brad and Susan, can we expect someone else to show up for Sam?
Then again, maybe Somebody Somewhere is setting up a broader conflict between the two central BFFs that’s borne out of Sam’s rigid idea of what her (love) life can be. How long can Joel keep up his sunny smile in light of Sam’s constant smirk-turn-frown? Can Sam really keep up with his positivity? Does he have enough patience to keep bringing her up from her burrowed depths of depression? Can Joel win her over into his optimism or will he eventually cave at her indomitable sense of cynicism?
Stray observations
Do we think it’s spelled “Tricia’pon a Star”? Unsurprisingly, Tricia is pretty great at this whole event design planning thing and was unsurprisingly attentive and empathetic to what Fred and Susan wanted as they came over to figure out what kind of table setting they’ll best enjoy at their wedding. (Also, of course Susan and Tricia would hit it off!)
Speaking of Tricia, I may have to borrow “That is so drama, can you just not?” as a valid response when I have no time for whatever is taking place in front of me.
Speaking of Tricia Part 2, I truly laughed out loud when she asked, “Who is Amy Sedaris?” (which, really, is what Amy herself would’ve wanted).
More Tricia and Sam bonding, please. First it was drinks at home and now it’s drinks by the car. What’s next?
Because of its unassuming and low-key vibe, one may get the sense that Somebody Somewhere is more focused on dialogue and chemistry than any stylistic preoccupations. That’s a needless dichotomy and I wanted to make sure to highlight one aspect of the show that risks being unheralded: its costume design. It may not be flashy nor eye-catching in a traditional way. But understood as wholly helping flesh out who people like Joel and Sam are—and, ironically, how much or little they actually care about their own appearance, not to mention the way they clearly work on a given budget to achieve their everyday wear—what Tasha Goldthwait is doing is quite remarkable. Sam’s oversized shirts, Joel’s shorts, even Tricia’s beige aesthetic, give us a window into a world of big box stores where things like “style” and “fashion” feel like foreign words. Still, the show keeps forcing us to avoid judging books by their covers. (See: Brad and his tote bag!)
In case you were wondering, Joel’s busy reading Dearie: The Remarkable Life Of Julia Child because of course he is.
I drive a Volkswagen Golf. I’m about as far-removed as one can be from Southern truck culture. Still, I can always appreciate the allure of the South (particularly the dripping humidity of Louisiana) as a setting for films. As distant as I am from that singular cultural identity, it must seem even more alien to German filmmaker Bastian Günther. His film One of These Days, which had its premiere way back at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival, is a commentary on American materialist culture in the most non-European of locales.
Kyle Parson (Joe Cole) is dead broke. At home, he’s got a baby with his young wife Maria (Callie Hernandez). Our first glimpse of Kyle features him dropping a basket of fries into a deep fryer, only to receive a call informing him that his name has been drawn from a raffle to determine the winner of a brand-new, full-size pickup. Naturally, he desperately needs this vehicle to support his family, the only catch being that a dozen or so other contestants’ names were also drawn. In order to win the truck, the contestants must compete to see who can keep their hands on the vehicle the longest — rain or shine, day and night.
“…the contestants must compete to see who can keep their hands on the vehicle the longest…”
The contest is overseen by peppy TV personality Joan (an energetic Carrie Preston who might just steal the show). Fun and optimistic outwardly, Joan’s personal life is a bit more tempestuous as she’s in a secret relationship with a well-known figure in the town. That’s not even mentioning her poorly-hidden depression regarding her daughter, who has flown the coop to go to college in Florida. Unfortunately, her chipper personality is frequently at odds with the misery the contestants are putting themselves through for this truck, though they’re all grateful for her maternal presence.
The setup in One of These Days is compelling. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t coalesce into a cohesive whole. The final quarter is shocking, but it frankly takes too long to get there, and one has to question the wisdom to extend the contest for so long. Günther should have prioritized building the characters’ backstories before plopping them all down around the truck so early on. The competition is a fairly original aspect to build a film around. Still, the novelty wears thin fairly quickly as we become anxious for more time with the characters outside the truck’s context. We definitely needed more of Preston and her character’s background.
The film is an admittedly biting statement on American culture’s unfortunate tendency to equate worth with material wealth and possessions. This is also a thesis we’ve seen plenty of times before, though. The utterly depressing conclusion to the film ultimately feels unsatisfying. If Günther worked to lighten the film’s tone a bit, One of These Days could have been a more memorable exploration of what it means to be an American instead of such a dour one. But giving credit where it’s due, the atmosphere is one that we don’t get enough of. No truck is worth peeing into a urostomy pouch, though.
Like other social media companies, Twitter has once again found itself in a position akin to that of traditional newspaper editors, who wrestle with difficult decisions about how much to show their audiences. Though newspapers and magazines generally spare their readers from truly graphic images, they have made some exceptions, as Jet magazine did in 1955 when it published open-casket images of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was beaten to death in Mississippi, to illustrate the horrors of the Jim Crow-era South.
Unlike newspaper and magazine publishers, however, tech companies like Twitter must enforce their decisions on a huge scale, policing millions of users with a combination of automated systems and human content moderators.
Other tech companies like Facebook’s parent, Meta, and YouTube’s parent, Alphabet, have invested in large teams that reduce the spread of violent images on their platforms. Twitter, on the other hand, has scaled back its content moderation since Mr. Musk bought the site late last October, laying off full-time employees and contractors on the trust and safety teams that manage content moderation. Mr. Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” said last November that he would establish a “content moderation council” that would decide which posts should stay up and which should be taken down. He later reneged on that promise.
Twitter, Alphabet and Meta did not respond to requests for comment.
Graphic content was never completely banned by Twitter, even before Mr. Musk took over. The platform, for instance, has allowed images of people killed or wounded in the war in Ukraine, arguing that they are newsworthy and informative. The company sometimes places warning labels or pop-ups on sensitive content, requiring that users opt in to see the imagery.
While many users clearly spread the images of the massacre, including of the dead attacker, for shock value, others retweeted them to underscore the horrors of gun violence. “The N.R.A.’s America,” one tweet read. “This isn’t going away,” said another. The New York Times is not linking to the social media posts containing the graphic images.
Note: This story contains spoilers from “Succession” Season 4, Episode 7.
Sunday’s episode of “Succession” marked a major turning point in the final season, as the Roy siblings found new leverage in their effort to stop Gojo’s acquisition of WayStar Royco.
In addition to learning about a troubling relationship between Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) and his head of public relations Ebba (Eili Horboe), Episode 7 reveals that Gojo’s subscriber metrics in India have been inflated — a major concern that could prevent the deal from closing.
TheWrap spoke with Skarsgård about the HBO drama’s latest chapter and the “honor” of returning for the final season. Check out the full conversation below.
What is it like to be a key player in the final season one of the biggest drama series of our time? It’s been a real honor. When they called and asked if I wanted to do it I was a huge fan of the show. It was the only show I would watch religiously every week on television and follow. I’ve followed Jesse Armstrong’s career from “Peep Show” to “In the Loop” and just think he’s an extraordinary writer. So to me, this season is just like a spectacular bonus for me. I came on to do this little thing last year, just again, because I was a huge fan of the show. It was supposed to be two but ended up being three episodes and was such a treat for me.
That was kind of it. Even though considering how last season ends, there was a potential opening for some more Matsson this year. But I didn’t really know at all until Jesse [Armstrong] called at the beginning of last year when they were getting ready to start Season 4 and he asked if I had any interest in coming back, and explained a little bit about the storyline; the idea for kind of the structure, the dynamic of the group, what was gonna happen and he mentioned the blood bricks, which got me very excited (laughs). I think years and years from now when I look back on my career, I’m pretty sure it would be one of the highlights.
Are “Succession” fans asking you for blood bricks now? Yeah. I get a lot of blood brick jokes when I’m out in public for sure. (Laughs)
What were the early conversations with Jesse Armstrong about your character, and how much did he tell you about where the Matsson storyline was going? I knew broadly before we started about how Lukas would see an opening, a little rift between the brothers and Shiv. Lukas is a predator, and in that moment he’ll see an opportunity and he’ll pounce. I think that’s been part of his success story, that he can read people and he can feel when he has an opportunity like this where she might be open to this and then he will go in full force. And it works, he got her on his side now. And at this point in this story, he’s also still kind of testing her because he doesn’t know if she’s got what it takes. He has in general quite little respect for all the Roy siblings because he believes that it’s just pure nepotism, they’re here because of the relationship to their father who was a titan. But he’s kind of figuring her out a little bit to see if she’s just like a little nepo baby or does she got what it takes? And with the party scene, Matsson comes in like a hand grenade into this room of gray suits and his philosophy is like it always has been. He just moves fast and he breaks things.
In Sunday’s episode, we learn about Gojo inflating its subscriber metrics in India. What does that mean for the merger? There’s a weird juxtaposition between him being incredibly smart and thoughtful and tech savvy in a way, but also kind of unhinged and reckless and sometimes not very thoughtful. This whole India thing — which could be very, very bad for him — he’s just very optimistic about everything in life and he’s just like “No, we’ll figure it out, it’s fine. We’ll just throw some PR people on it and we’ll sort it out.” Which obviously scares Shiv because she’s like “Well, am I betting on the wrong horse here? Like how bad is this? And does he realize that this could be really f-ing bad?” But he just kind of charges forward.
How would you describe Lukas Matsson’s relationship with Ebba? It’s incredibly inappropriate and masochistic and weird, but she’s got so much leverage. Now, obviously, she is literally sitting on more of his blood than he is. But we also wanted their relationship to be weird because you could go one direction where it’s like, he is just an abusive boss and she f—g hates him and she’s gonna take advantage of this. It’s not that they’re co-dependent but it is f—g weird like he is horrible to her at times. But then she can be really vulnerable and sweet and you see them arguing and then five seconds later they’re like whispering to each other and like holding hands and then they go out partying together and then she’s like maybe I’ll sue him tomorrow and I’ll make a gazillion dollars or maybe I’ll marry him. It’s that kind of relationship and it’s very toxic, but, there’s also complexity to it that I really enjoyed exploring with [Eili Horboe] who plays Ebba.
What has it been like working with Sarah Snook, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin? What lessons have you taken away from working on Succession? I’m pretty sure that when I look back, I will consider this one of the highlights creatively of my career. I don’t remember when I had as much fun on a set. It’s 100% good people, everyone is just genuinely nice and lovely to be around in front of and behind the camera, and their writing is so spectacular that you don’t have to change a single word, which is rare. You don’t have to change a single word but there’s still room for improvisation if you wanna try something, or go on a tangent or play around with it. So you’re filled with this creative freedom and confidence by Jesse and the team, and getting to know the core cast and how they kind of opened their arms and just generously let me and other newer members of the cast in has been, I’m incredibly grateful for that. We’ll be friends forever but I will definitely miss being on the set of “Succession” with these crazy motherf—s.
What was your reaction to Logan’s shocking death in episode 3? I’m just really amazed that Logan’s death was able to be held a secret until it aired, because we shot some big, big sequences with hundreds of extras and where you can hear the dialogue, it’s very clear that Logan is dead. But the fact that it didn’t get out and they were able to keep that a secret until the episode aired was pretty remarkable I would say, because he didn’t have many people know about it.
I found it difficult, I had to bite my tongue a bunch of times between reading the episode and then it airing, but I think it’s quite a remarkable feat that they kept that a secret. I just thought it was spectacular to end the titan of Logan Roy the way Jesse did.
In terms of the narrative, it’s so unconventional, it’s so surprising, which is part of what makes it so genius. And on 99.9% of shows that storyline would definitely end as a cliffhanger, like the last episode of the season and you would see the characters stumble a bit and have a big death scene. The fact that you’ve seen none of that and it happens in a very dramatic way, it was a weird missed phone call eight minutes into the third episode of the season, I think it adds to the confusion and it makes it feel so real because it doesn’t feel dramatized or heightened. It just feels you’re with the siblings as they’re finding out in real-time and the disbelief of it and the confusion of it. There’s something mundane about it, which I find so spectacular. So hats off to Jesse and the writers for that.
– English Audio Description
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