Two of the biggest questions ahead of the 2023 Met Gala are “will Rihanna be there?” and “what will she wear?” Thanks to her statement looks like the unforgettable yellow Guo Pei gown in 2015 and the time she came as a Margiela-ified pope in 2018, Rihanna is an undeniable fan favorite. We don’t yet know the answer to those questions, but the superstar did emerge in New York City this weekend wearing a look that was bang on-theme.
Instagram/@badgalriri
Instagram/@badgalriri
This year’s Met Gala honors the late designer Karl Lagerfeld. A-listers on the red carpet are being encouraged to dress “in honor of Karl,” and inside, guests will get a first glimpse at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” exploring his work at fashion houses such as Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, and more. Spotted leaving a restaurant last night, Rihanna just so happened to be wearing pieces from Chanel’s fall 1994 collection, designed by Lagerfeld himself. She wore Chanel’s cropped faux-fur jacket (in black and white, Lagerfeld’s signature combo!) and kitschy “CC” logo sunglasses, which can be yours for over $3,400 on 1stDibs.
Rihanna punctuated the vintage Chanel pieces with a fuzzy white Coperni dress, strappy Amina Muaddi heels, and a custom faux fur hat by Benny Andallo—the kitschy milliner who has designed toppers for FKA Twigs and Rihanna before. But it’s those covetable ’90s Chanel pieces that couldn’t be more Met Gala-ready. Is this her hint that she’ll show up on those iconic Met steps tomorrow? Only time will tell.
Isn’t it boring to binge-watch swoon-worthy romantic storylines all the time? Well, get ready to shake things up with K-dramas that dare to be different. From spine-chilling horror tales to heart-pumping action, these shows prove that there’s more to Korean television than just romance.
Whether one is in the mood for a mind-bending psychological thriller like Mouse or a heartwarming family drama like Reply 1988. These K-dramas will take you on a wild ride that won’t be forgotten soon. Get comfy and prepare to enter a new world of K-drama that is anything but ordinary!
10 Taxi Driver (2021)
SBS TV
Kim Do-gi is a former Special Forces officer who works as a taxi driver for Rainbow Taxi Company. However, the taxi company is not an ordinary taxi service. It also provides a unique service to its clients by avenging the victims of injustices who cannot find just through legal systems. Kim Do-gi is aided by a group of talented individuals, including a hacker, a former police officer, and a lawyer, who help him in his quest to deliver justice to the victims.
Overall, it is a well-crafted and thrilling drama that tackles important themes like justice, revenge, and redemption in an entertaining way. This show is a must-watch for fans of crime dramas or anyone who loves this genre.
9 The World of the Married (2020)
JTBC
This drama revolves around the story of a successful doctor named Ji Sun-woo, who has everything in life, including a happy family and a flourishing career. However, her seemingly perfect life is turned upside down. She discovers that her husband, Lee Tae-ho, is having an affair with another woman.
As Ji Sun-woo uncovers more secrets and lies about her husband, her life starts to spiral out of control, and finds herself fighting to keep her family and her sanity intact. The show also features multidimensional characters, who are flawed and realistic, making them relatable to the viewers. The series is known for its intense storyline, exceptional acting performances, and stunning cinematography. The World of the Married is an emotional rollercoaster that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats with its gripping plot.
8 Move to Heaven (2021)
Netflix
Following the story of a young man named Geu-ru, who has Asperger’s syndrome, a developmental disorder that affects his social interactions and communication skills. Geu-ru’s father, who used to run a trauma cleaning business, passes away, leaving him under the care of his estranged uncle, Sang-gu. Sang-gu, who is a former convict and has a troubled past, reluctantly takes on the responsibility of raising Geu-ru and taking over the family business. It involves cleaning up the homes of people who have passed away and organizing their belonging for their loved ones.
The series sheds light on the often-overlooked work of trauma cleaning and the importance of empathy toward those who have suffered a loss. The heartwarming and touching storyline, tugs at the hearts of the viewers, making them feel all sorts of emotions.
Based on the webtoon of the same name, Sweet Home is a horror thriller series that follows the story of Cha Hyun-su, a high school student. He moves into a rundown apartment complex after the tragic death of his family. Soon, a mysterious virus starts to spread through the complex, causing residents to turn into monsters with supernatural powers. With no way out and no help from the outside world, the remaining survivors band together to fight for their lives and find a way to stop the virus from spreading.
The show features intense action, as the characters fight for survival against monstrous creatures. With season two on the way, the viewers are extremely excited to get on the rollercoaster ride once again.
6 Hospital Playlist (2020)
tvN
Directed by Shin Won-ho, the story follows the lives of five doctors who have been friends since they entered medical school together. The series takes place in a hospital, where the main characters work as doctors and perform surgeries. Throughout the series, focus on the personal and professional lives of the main characters is portrayed, who are all unique in their own ways. Each episode features the daily lives of the doctors, including their interaction with patients, and their personal struggles.
5 Mouse (2021)
tvN
A series of gruesome murders takes place in a small town. Jeong Ba-reum, a kind-hearted police officer, investigates the murders with his fellow officers. With the investigation progressing, Jung Bae-rum starts to realize that the killer might be closer to him than he thought.
As the series unfolds, he discovers a dark secret from his own past. Themes like nature vs nurture, identity, and the consequences of scientific experimentation are explored. The dark and suspenseful atmosphere, with graphic depictions of violence, gets the audience on the edge of their seats.
The Penthouse displays the lives of wealthy families who reside in a luxurious apartment complex called Hera Palace. The plot primarily revolves around three women: Shim Su-ryeon, Cheon Seo-jin, and Oh Yoon-hee. They are all the mothers of students at the prestigious Cheong-ah Arts School.
The intense competition with conflicts as they fight for power and status in society is nail-biting for the viewers. Often resorting to extreme measures to secure their positions, like murder. The drama has gained popularity all over South Korea for its intense plot twists and cliffhangers.
3 The Glory (2022)
Netflix
Starring the award-winning Song Hye-Kyo as Moon Dong-eun, The Glory is a no-kill revenge-thriller that shows a dark side to school bullying and what happens to the victims after. As a result of the torture, Dong-eun drops out of high school and dedicates herself to seeking revenge upon her tormentors, no matter what it takes.
The depiction of bullying and revenge is realistic enough to make the audience shiver in fear. With the gripping, unnerving plot which offers catharsis to its viewers, The Glory jumped up the popularity bar both nationally and internationally.
2 Reply 1988 (2015)
tvN
In the neighborhood of Ssangmun-dong reside five friends whose lives are depicted along with their families. The show is set in the year 1988 and explores the daily struggles, joys, and challenges faced by the characters as they navigate their adolescence to adulthood. Known for its heartwarming storytelling and nostalgic portrayal of life in Korea during that era grabs the undivided attention of the spectators. Shows like this are never tiring to binge-watch, be it for the first time or the second.
1 Kingdom (2019)
Netflix
Set in the Joseon Dynasty era, the story follows the Crown Prince Lee Change, who investigates a mysterious plague that is spreading throughout the country. This plague turns the people into violent and bloodthirsty zombies. The Crown Prince becomes embroiled in a political power struggle with the Haewon Cho clan. They are trying to conceal the spread of the disease and maintain their control over the throne.
The drama features intense action and suspense as the Crown Prince fights to protect his people from the zombies. The stunning visuals and blend of genres make it a must-watch for K-drama fans.
The Tony Awards is moving the first part of the ceremony to the free ad-supported streaming service Pluto.
In recent years, this part of the ceremony, which traditionally features creative awards, has streamed on Paramount+, the paid streaming service under Paramount Global. By moving to the free service, the Tony Awards can potentially reach a wider audience, while promoting Paramount Global’s newer offering, Pluto.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Pluto TV to kick off this year’s Tony Awards celebration,” said Jack Sussman, executive vp, specials, music, live events and alternative programming at CBS. “This cross-company partnership allows us to utilize the breadth of the Paramount Global family to bring the best of Broadway into homes of more viewers than ever before.”
“We’re excited to spotlight this live, exclusive preshow event for Broadway’s biggest night,” said Jeff Grossman, evp of content and business operations for Paramount Streaming. “Our partnership with CBS continues to bring even more programming from across the Paramount ecosystem to Pluto TV audiences for free.”
The Tony Awards: Act One will air from 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. ET/ 3:30-5:00 p.m. PT, with free access on smart TVs, streaming devices, mobile apps or online by going to Pluto TV and clicking on the Pluto TV Celebrity channel. This will be followed by the main awards presentation and ceremony, which is set to air on CBS, from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. ET/5 p.m.- 8 p.m. PT and also stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
The host and exact programming for The Tony Awards: Act One has not yet been named. Last year, this part of the ceremony was hosted by Darren Criss and Julianne Hough.
The televised ceremony was split in two for the first time in fall 2021, when the pandemic-delayed ceremony for the 2019-2020 awards was held. At the time, Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom Jr. split hosting duties for the four-hour event, with the first two hours, streaming on Paramount+, containing the bulk of the awards. The following two hours celebrated the return to Broadway, after theaters had been closed during the pandemic, and presented the biggest awards.
The move to Pluto comes as FAST streaming services gain in popularity and become an important complement to many networks existing paid streaming services. In September, Paramount’s Pluto TV became the first free, ad-supported platform to crack the Nielsen Gauge, reaching 1 percent of all TV viewership in the U.S. for the month. Its competitor, the Fox-owned Tubi, also cracked the gauge in February 2023.
When Queen Elizabeth died in September, Carl Hulme happened to be in England – the perfect spot to scoop up commemorative fine bone china, tea towels and canvas bags to stock his Blimeys British Store and Gift Shop in Essex, Ont.
Most of it sold by the time goods marking King Charles’May 6 coronation were arriving at his shop about 30 kilometres from the Windsor-Detroit border.
But with the new sovereign’s popularity lower than his mother’s and recent royals drama stirring up calls for Commonwealth countries to reject the monarchy, Hulme and others were uncertain there would be much of a market for King Charles memorabilia in Canada.
“With the queen, most of us grew up with her. That’s the only monarch that we ever knew and so with the passing of the queen, it kind of brought an end to an era, so I wasn’t sure,” Hulme said.
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His doubts have since been dashed as Victoria Eggs cups and saucers with a coronation motif and Emma Bridgewater mugs celebrating the King’s reign have sold at a steady clip at Blimeys.
Canadians cool to King Charles III: poll
Elsewhere in Canada and online, one can find Charles- and coronation-themed coins, stamps, Nespresso coffee pods, McVitie’s biscuit tins, Royal Scot Crystal decanters and dresses, pyjamas, pillows, socks, makeup bags and crown-topped teddy bears from Marks & Spencer.
Joanne McNeish, a Toronto Metropolitan University professor specializing in marketing, suspects the array of products will delight Canadian monarchists, royalists, memorabilia collectors and many who just want something to mark a historical moment.
“People love a big event and the closer to the event, the more the idea of having something to remember it will ramp up, so within Canada… I definitely think there’s an appetite,” she said.
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Rita and Carl Hulme stand with King Charles merchandise at Blimeys British Store and Gift Shop in Essex, Ont. on Sunday, April 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nicole Osborne.
She suspects most of that interest will come from older shoppers, who have more of an attachment to anything historical, but said Gen Z is becoming increasingly fond of nostalgic items too.
She estimates collectors of memorabilia or people who pick items up now in hopes of selling them for a profit years later will only make up five per cent of buyers.
Between celebrations, memorabilia, books and tourism, the Centre for Retail Research in Norfolk, England estimates more than US$1.4 billion ($2.3 billion) will be spent on the coronation by U.K. consumers.
The centre’s director, Joshua Bamfield, estimated “overseas enthusiasts” will generate US$79 million ($132 million) in sales.
“Most of this will be U.S., of course, but I would have thought that spending by Canadians on coronation merchandise would be around US$8 million ($13 million) naturally,” he wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.
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“Canadians will come as tourists to see and engage in the coronation, but I would not have thought the Canadian delegation would be greater than 2,000 to 3,000.”
The Road to the Coronation
It’s hard for McNeish to predict how strong Canadian sales tied to the King’s coronation will be or how it will compare to interest in memorabilia tied to his mother, Queen Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth took the throne in 1953, many watched the spectacle on newly-purchased televisions and commemorative tchotchkes might have seemed inappropriate.
Since then, television has lost its novelty with the dawn of livestreaming anywhere and on any device and it’s seldom that a big event is not turned into a marketing opportunity that is milked for profit.
But the queen’s death stirred up fond sentiments for many who saw her as a grandmother-like figure.
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“The queen was different in that the queen was finite and there was a coming to an end,” McNeish said.
“When people are going to die or even after their deaths, there tends to be a bigger explosion in acquiring something (linked to them).”
The queen remains the most popular royal with 80 per cent of British respondents to YouGov polling completed in the first quarter of the year having a positive opinion of her.
She is followed by her daughter, Princess Anne, then her grandson William, the Prince of Wales and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales.
A tale of two stones: From the Koh-i-Noor to the Cullinan diamonds for Camilla’s coronation crown
King Charles is the fifth most popular royal, with 55 per cent of people surveyed saying they have a positive opinion of him.
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The breakdown of his marriage to the late Princess Diana and her assertions that his second wife, Queen Consort Camilla, was to blame spurred much of the public dislike of the King. His son, Prince Harry, who recently departed royal life, levelling mistreatment allegations at his family, did not help the King’s appeal.
However, Hulme said consumers are sympathetic to the King.
“The majority are buying because they feel that Charles has been somewhat put in such a bad light by Harry and (Duchess of Sussex) Meghan. They feel they want to support him in some way.”
While Little Taste of Home, a British and Irish shop near Calgary had yet to receive its order of King Charles spoons, cups, mugs and plates by mid-April, patrons had been asking about when they’d arrive for weeks.
“It’s a lot of people that are from England who want to do what they can at this side of the pond for celebrating his coronation,” said worker Diane Dennis.
“Then, there’s a few people who collect things just because it’s once in a lifetime.”
Asked whether the royal drama was putting off shoppers at the New Horizon Mall store, she added, “Oh, no, no, definitely not.”
In late March, more than 1,000 technology leaders, researchers and other pundits working in and around artificial intelligence signed an open letter warning that A.I. technologies present “profound risks to society and humanity.”
The group, which included Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and the owner of Twitter, urged A.I. labs to halt development of their most powerful systems for six months so that they could better understand the dangers behind the technology.
“Powerful A.I. systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” the letter said.
The letter, which now has over 27,000 signatures, was brief. Its language was broad. And some of the names behind the letter seemed to have a conflicting relationship with A.I. Mr. Musk, for example, is building his own A.I. start-up, and he is one of the primary donors to the organization that wrote the letter.
But the letter represented a growing concern among A.I. experts that the latest systems, most notably GPT-4, the technology introduced by the San Francisco start-up OpenAI, could cause harm to society. They believed future systems will be even more dangerous.
Some of the risks have arrived. Others will not for months or years. Still others are purely hypothetical.
“Our ability to understand what could go wrong with very powerful A.I. systems is very weak,” said Yoshua Bengio, a professor and A.I. researcher at the University of Montreal. “So we need to be very careful.”
Why Are They Worried?
Dr. Bengio is perhaps the most important person to have signed the letter.
Working with two other academics — Geoffrey Hinton, until recently a researcher at Google, and Yann LeCun, now chief A.I. scientist at Meta, the owner of Facebook — Dr. Bengio spent the past four decades developing the technology that drives systems like GPT-4. In 2018, the researchers received the Turing Award, often called “the Nobel Prize of computing,” for their work on neural networks.
A neural network is a mathematical system that learns skills by analyzing data. About five years ago, companies like Google, Microsoft and OpenAI began building neural networks that learned from huge amounts of digital text called large language models, or L.L.M.s.
By pinpointing patterns in that text, L.L.M.s learn to generate text on their own, including blog posts, poems and computer programs. They can even carry on a conversation.
This technology can help computer programmers, writers and other workers generate ideas and do things more quickly. But Dr. Bengio and other experts also warned that L.L.M.s can learn unwanted and unexpected behaviors.
These systems can generate untruthful, biased and otherwise toxic information. Systems like GPT-4 get facts wrong and make up information, a phenomenon called “hallucination.”
Companies are working on these problems. But experts like Dr. Bengio worry that as researchers make these systems more powerful, they will introduce new risks.
Short-Term Risk: Disinformation
Because these systems deliver information with what seems like complete confidence, it can be a struggle to separate truth from fiction when using them. Experts are concerned that people will rely on these systems for medical advice, emotional support and the raw information they use to make decisions.
“There is no guarantee that these systems will be correct on any task you give them,” said Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor of computer science at Arizona State University.
Experts are also worried that people will misuse these systems to spread disinformation. Because they can converse in humanlike ways, they can be surprisingly persuasive.
“We now have systems that can interact with us through natural language, and we can’t distinguish the real from the fake,” Dr. Bengio said.
Medium-Term Risk: Job Loss
Experts are worried that the new A.I. could be job killers. Right now, technologies like GPT-4 tend to complement human workers. But OpenAI acknowledges that they could replace some workers, including people who moderate content on the internet.
They cannot yet duplicate the work of lawyers, accountants or doctors. But they could replace paralegals, personal assistants and translators.
A paper written by OpenAI researchers estimated that 80 percent of the U.S. work force could have at least 10 percent of their work tasks affected by L.L.M.s and that 19 percent of workers might see at least 50 percent of their tasks impacted.
“There is an indication that rote jobs will go away,” said Oren Etzioni, the founding chief executive of the Allen Institute for AI, a research lab in Seattle.
Long-Term Risk: Loss of Control
Some people who signed the letter also believe artificial intelligence could slip outside our control or destroy humanity. But many experts say that’s wildly overblown.
The letter was written by a group from the Future of Life Institute, an organization dedicated to exploring existential risks to humanity. They warn that because A.I. systems often learn unexpected behavior from the vast amounts of data they analyze, they could pose serious, unexpected problems.
They worry that as companies plug L.L.M.s into other internet services, these systems could gain unanticipated powers because they could write their own computer code. They say developers will create new risks if they allow powerful A.I. systems to run their own code.
“If you look at a straightforward extrapolation of where we are now to three years from now, things are pretty weird,” said Anthony Aguirre, a theoretical cosmologist and physicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz and co-founder of the Future of Life Institute.
“If you take a less probable scenario — where things really take off, where there is no real governance, where these systems turn out to be more powerful than we thought they would be — then things get really, really crazy,” he said.
Dr. Etzioni said talk of existential risk was hypothetical. But he said other risks — most notably disinformation — were no longer speculation.
”Now we have some real problems,” he said. “They are bona fide. They require some responsible reaction. They may require regulation and legislation.”
The Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon-fronted drama series will return for a fourth season on Apple TV+. The early renewal comes ahead of the premiere of season three later this fall.
Deadline understands that although Aniston and Witherspoon’s contracts were up at the end of season three, Apple is in talks with the pair, who also exec produce, and they are expected to sign on as they also work out scheduling. We hear there’s also an option for a season five.
The second season, which aired at the end of 2021, closed with the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging through UBA.
Jon Hamm, Stephen Fry, Tig Notaro and Nicole Beharie are among the new faces joining season three.
The series also stars Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Bel Powley, Desean Terry, Janina Gavankar, Tom Irwin and Marcia Gay Harden.
The show also has a new showrunner after Pieces of Her exec producer Charlotte Stoudt replaced Kerry Ehrin in that role. It is directed and exec produced by Mimi Leder. Media Res, Hello Sunshine and Echo Films produces with Michael Ellenberg, Kristin Hahn and Lauren Neustadter also exec producing.
Anupam Kher met Kirron Kher when she was already a star.
Anupam Kher had met Kirron Kher for the first time when she was already married to someone.
After Uunchai, Kartikeya 2 and The Kashmir Files, Anupam Kher will be seen in Anurag Basu’s film Metro In Dino, an addition to the film-maker’s critically acclaimed film Life In A Metro. While the shooting for the same has been going on at a steady pace, the actor recalled in a recent interview his meeting with Kirron Kher when the veteran actress was already married to her first husband and was quite popular. On the contrary, Kher was just a simple ‘village boy’.
Retracing his footsteps to the very first meeting, Anupam Kher told ANI, “She was a star already then. She was doing theatres, she was working in movies. She is an MA first class first. I met her in Chandigarh. I was a simple village boy. Apparently, there was no connection between us. She was married then and had Sikandar (Kher).”
He further added, “We used to be best of friends and we did theatres together. Later when she had problems in marriage, I was ditched by the person I was going with, and then things started to change. But we always remain best friends first.”
Kirron was previously married to businessman Gautam Berry. Kirron and Gautam were blessed with a child, Sikandar. Their marriage didn’t last long and they got divorced. Sikandar was four years old when Anupam and Kirron married each other. Anupam greeted him with open arms and treated him as if he were his child. He does, however, miss having his child. Kirron and Anupam attempted to have a child together. They even sought medical assistance, but nothing worked out.
Anupam had earlier discussed this pain of his life. During an interview, he said that his stepson Sikander was only four years old when he came into his life. Anupam said that he has great love and respect for him and is his friend. “What my father was to me, I am to him. But to say that I don’t miss having a child of my own will be a lie because I do and that has nothing to do with him. I do sometimes miss the joy of seeing your child grow up and being your extension,” confessed Anupam Kher.
Kirron Kher told Firstpost in 2013 about her love story with Anupam, and how they began as close friends and were married to different people. She said they both were close friends, and they knew everything about each other, “right down to which girl he planned to ‘patao.’” According to Kirron, it was a friendship that they both shared and there was not any kind of attraction. They continued to be good friends and even acted in plays together.
She went on to say that when she moved to Bombay and married Gautam Berry, the marriage “just wasn’t happening.” Anupam Kher’s marriage with actress Madhumalti Kapoor was also facing problems at the time. She remembered the exact moment when the two of them felt something. It all started when they were travelling to Calcutta for Nadira Babbar’s play. There, one incident happened which Kirron feels was the beginning of their love story.
“He turned to look at me as he was leaving the room, and something happened between us. He knocked on my door a short while later and said, ‘I want to talk to you.’ I think I have fallen in love with you, he continued. The chemistry exploded and there was this enormous, intense change all of a sudden. I wed him after getting a divorce.” Despite having many hurdles, the couple has stuck together for over 3 decades.
Yatamanyu is a multi-disciplinary Journalist & Photographer who dabbles in Films, Poetry, Music, Politics, Pop-Culture and everything in between. …Read More
The Argentina-Chile coproduction “The Punishment,” directed by Matias Bize, was named best feature over the weekend at the close of the Beijing International Film Festival.
Mexico’s Lila Avilés won the Tiantan Award for best director for her film “Totem.” Antonia Zegers and Line Renaud shared the best actress award for “The Punishment” and “Driving Madeleine,” respectively.
The best actor award went to Xin Baiqing for Chinese movie “The Shadowless Tower.” The film, which premiered in February in Berlin, was the numerical winner. With the best screenplay, music, cinematography and artistic contribution awards, it won a total of five prizes.
Chinese actor and director Tian Zhuangzhuang collected the best supporting actor award. Mexican, Montserrat Maranon earned the best supporting actress prize.
The ceremony wrapped up a festival at which organizers claimed to have played 1,488 films. International guests included Israel’s Nadav Lapid, Germany’s Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and Thailand’s Pimpaka Towira. Local celebrities in attendance included Zhou Dongyu, lifetime achievement award-winner Zhang Yimou, and Ge You.
SUPPORT FOR VIETNAM PROJECTS
Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures has announced three Asian feature film projects that will each receive $30,000 grants in its Spring 2023 funding round. Additionally, two Asian documentary projects will receive $15,000 each.
Director Duong Dieu Linh’s “Don’t Cry Butterfly,” depicts a woman who has discovered her husband is having an affair and decides to voodoo him back into love, not knowing that her actions may spawn something peculiar at home. Ang Geck Geck’s “Ah Girl” is a story of a seven-year-old girl who must choose between living with her father or her mother when the parents divorce. “Farid,” from Malaysian director Emir Ezwan sees a penniless man befriend a flesh-eating spirit who grants him wealth but makes the man pay a heavy price.
The documentaries are Quang Nong Nhat’s “Baby Jackfruit, Baby Guava” about a conservative mother, a mentally-ill daughter, and a gay son. Thai director Ukrit Sa-nguanhai is preparing “The Itinerant,” a documentary exploring propaganda film operations in Cold War Thailand.
“Vietnam in particular has proved to be a bright spot in the region for cinema. We are in the midst of a Vietnamese New Wave,” said Purin Pictures co-director Aditya Assarat. “Both ‘Don’t Cry Butterfly’ and ‘Baby Jackfruit, Baby Guava’ have a confident personal style that is indicative of the new generation of Vietnamese filmmakers.”
While Kunis admitted to knowing who was cast in the movie, as far as the public knows, there is nothing confirmed as of yet. No official casting announcements have been made, despite the movie being less than two years away, with production expected to begin in early 2024.
Now, a new report suggests one actor has received an offer to be a part of Marvel’s First Family in 2025.
Human Torch Actor Reportedly Revealed
Industry insider Daniel Richtman (DanielRPK) revealed on his Patreon that Marvel Studios reportedly offered the role of Johnny Storm aka Human Torch in 2025’s Fantastic Four to actor Paul Mescal.
Paul Mescal
Known for projects such as Aftersun and Normal People, Mescal is an Oscar and Emmy-nominated actor who would certainly bring star quality to the reboot, especially after his upcoming leading role in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2.
Neither Disney nor Marvel has announced anything officially about Johnny — or any of the team, for that matter — however, so this should be taken as a rumor until more is confirmed.
Marvel
Additionally, Mescal looks young enough to play Johnny — the youngest member of the Fantastic Four. Assuming the movie sticks to the comics, Johnny Storm and Peter Parker are supposed to be the same age, sitting in a middle ground between the Iron Man and Captain America generation of heroes and the Ms. Marvel and America Chavez age group.
Could Official Fantastic 4 News Come Soon?
Marvel
With Mila Kunis confirming she knows who has been cast, Adam Driver rumors continuing to crop up, the movie hitting theaters in less than two years, and now this report about the Human Torch, it feels like some sort of official casting announcement is bound to happen soon.
Perhaps Marvel is waiting until after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 premieres to the general public and gauge reactions to that before deciding when to make an official Fantastic Four reveal?
Or, Marvel could be waiting for a major convention to roll out the casting announcements, as conventions tend to get people’s attention and raise excitement further. This July’s San Diego Comic-Con could be a perfect spot for Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to drop the news upon attendees.
Ultimately, though, until anything official is revealed, fans can continue to speculate about who will play these inevitably critical roles for the future of the MCU.
Fantastic Four releases in theaters on February 14, 2025.
Great characters don’t need origin stories to make them compelling. If they’re already great we obviously have what we need to be fully invested in them and their journey. That’s why giving extra backstory about a captivating character—whether in the form of flashbacks or prequels—often falls flat or worse. Origin stories often taint the special sauce that went into making a character so interesting in the first place. It’s like a chef ruining an already delicious dish by adding a bunch of extra ingredients no one asked for. But this difficult task is exactly what writer-director James Gunn opted to undertake take in his Marvel swan song, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Rocket’s creation and tragic past serve as the anchor of the franchise’s last film, both in terms of plot and emotional weight.
And it works. It absolutely works. Gunn has taken one of the MCU’s most interesting, most entertaining, most heartbreaking characters and made him even better by showing us why Rocket’s always been so angry and afraid. Itwill change how you view everything you’ve seen previously from the MCU’s foul-mouthed, angry, genetically-engineered raccoon. More importantly, though, Rocket’s origin story helped Gunn deliver a moving, darker, more mature action-packed farewell to the Guardians of the Galaxy, with a film that loves its characters as much as its viewers loves them.
If you know the Guardians you know what you’re getting from this film and you get a lot of everything. There are plenty of big, well-done set pieces. This movie does not lack for action. There are also lots of visually interesting locales. Those who have found Marvel’s recent CGI effects lacking won’t have much of anything to complain about this time.
And there’s also lots of humor, lots of bickering, lots of feeling, and lots of pain. This found family’s members all still carry the scars of their pasts with them. They’re still, and always will be, a group of losers. They’ve all lost stuff, and just as it has since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, those losses shape who they are and how they interact with one another.
Marvel Studios
Gunn’s script never forgets that, which is a big reason the movie is so successful. There are so many moments of true pathos you never go long without feeling something real and meaningful. Whether it’s Nebula calling out Drax for his obvious shortcomings, or alternate Gamora brutally recognizing why “Quinn” is so broken, this film knows who these characters are at their core. It’s the type of deep recognition you frequently can only explore this late in a story. Gunn recognizes and takes full advantage of that luxury. And he does so because of how much he adores and respects these characters. This movie feels like a love letter to the Guardians as much as it does a farewell.
In the end that love prevents the movie from going to some interesting places it seemed to be heading towards. Gunn pulls some punches he could have thrown, opting instead for body jabs rather than knockout blows. (Minus one choice that feels right even though it might not be what some wanted to see happen.) That doesn’t undo everything that came before it, though. The journey is far greater than the destination, which feels a little rushed and and not entirely earned.
Fortunately the destination is not an entirely unwelcome place. It’s easy to understand why Gunn ends this trilogy+ way the way he does. And on a micro level, even individual moments you absolutely know are coming land because of how the movie (and the franchise as a whole) builds to them. There are a lot of wholly satisfying payoffs.
Marvel Studios
The film isn’t entirely perfect before the ending, either, but its other issues pale in comparison to everything it does well. That includes how its soundtrack doesn’t live up to previous installments. This tracklist isn’t as coherent as its predecessors. Some songs also don’t resonate the way we’ve come to expect from every Guardians needle drop. And yet, there are still some great numbers employed at perfect times, so it is a mixed bag rather than a constant shortcoming.
Another issue is that while Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock is a logical (if surprising) part of the plot, some will think he’s underutilized while others will think he’s entirely superfluous. I’m with the former because I wanted way more of “the Warlock” in this movie. Poulter more than justifies his casting as one of the few remaining major Marvel Comics characters not already in the MCU. His comedic sensibilities make him a perfect choice for this iteration of the character. He answers a question I didn’t know I wanted someone to ask but am now very happy they did: “What if a literal baby was also one of the most powerful figures in the universe?”
Marvel Studios
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is also a little too relentless. It’s not that it has pacing issues. It’s that the movie is high throttle from start to finish and would have benefitted from a few more quiet moments. It needed a chance to breathe every once in awhile. That will likely be less of an issue on repeated viewings, though, just as it has been with repeat viewings of the equally high-tempo Avengers: Endgame.
What you won’t need multiple viewings to appreciate, though, is the main cast. Every member of the Guardians brings their A-game for the team’s final film. Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Sean Gunn, and Pom Klementieff all shine when the spotlight is on them. (Mantis especially continues to be the best.) And if you don’t absolutely fall in love with Maria Bakalova’s Cosmo the Dog, then you should see a doctor. A really good doctor. However, if you don’t love Linda Cardellini’s soft-spoken, warm, loving otter Lylla, Rocket’s first best friend in life, don’t bother speaking with anyone ever again. Not for your sake, but for theirs.
However, even in a movie this well-acted, Thanos’ daughters stand out. Zoe Saldana is incredible as the alternate Gamora who was never a member of the Guardians. You won’t have any problem remembering this is a different version of the character than the one we knew and loved.
You also won’t have any problem remembering why Zoe Saldana is constantly a big part of huge successful movies. She’s simply a powerhouse in the role of an rage-filled Gamora who finds herself literally out of time and being pushed to live someone else’s life.
Marvel Studios
Meanwhile, Karen Gillan’s Nebula gets to complete one of the MCU’s best arcs with scenes that let us see a side of the angry blue cyborg we never have. The violent villain of the first Guardians film is a huge part of the heart and soul of this film, the Guardians, and the MCU. Gillan’s performance makes that possible and authentic. She conveys so much of her character’s pain with sincerity, whether she’s doing so in small or big ways.
You can’t talk about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 without talking about its main character and his ultimate enemy, the duo whose story drives the entire film. Vol. 3 wouldn’t be such an entertaining and moving conclusion to the Guardians story without the tale of Rocket and his creator, the fantastic Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary. The monster with a god complex genetically engineered Rocket, both his greatest success and most frustrating failure, as part of his effort to create a “perfect society.”
Marvel Studios
The surgical torture that created Rocket—only hinted in previous films—was merely the start of how the High Evolutionary hurt Rocket, who is truly a special being. The film then slowly reveals the rest of their story to great effect. In doing so it delivers a great villain while making a great character even better.
It also shows why Gunn’s decision to cast handsome leading man Bradley Cooper as the voice of a talking trash panda was one of the best decisions in MCU history. He delivers a performance (alongside Sean Gunn who voices the youngest version of Rocket) that is really special and powerful.
Rocket didn’t need a backstory to be great. But fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy who really love these characters will be happy Vol. 3 gave him one. It’s how James Gunn gave the MCU’s best losers a winning farewell.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
After more than three years of litigation, Apple has quietly dropped its lawsuit against Gerard Williams III, a former chip executive the company accused of poaching employees. After over a decade at the company, in 2019, Williams left Apple to co-found Nuvia, a chip design firm later acquired by Qualcomm in 2021. When the tech giant first sued Williams, it accused him of “secretly” starting Nuvia and recruiting talent for his startup while he was still an Apple employee. Williams disputed Apple’s claims and accused the company of spying on his text messages. The case was dismissed, mired in a lot of legalese and multiple court documents.
Apple requested to dismiss the suit against Williams earlier this week. The request does not state the company’s reason for dropping the case, but in March, Apple wanted the recusal of Judge Sunil Kulkarni, because its legal team added lawyers from a company that Judge Kulkarni had previously worked at. So, conflicts of interest, initiated by Apple recruiting more legal firepower. Apple and Qualcomm, Williams’ current employer, did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment.
– Mat Smith
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On Saturday, a federal appeals court in Brazil lifted the country-wide ban on messaging app Telegram. Brazilian authorities wanted the app suspended after Telegram failed to hand over a full set of data on a pair of neo-Nazi groups on the app accused of inciting violence against schools. According to Reuters, judge Flávio Lucas ruled that a complete suspension of the messaging app was “unreasonable” given that thousands of people in Brazil rely on the platform. At the same time, he upheld the daily $200,000 fine on Telegram for failing to provide local authorities with the data they requested. This isn’t the first time Telegram has been briefly banned in Brazil. In 2022, the country’s highest court suspended the app for failing to freeze accounts accused of spreading disinformation ahead of the country’s recent presidential election. Similarly, that ban was lifted just days later.
On paper, the 2023 edition of Sony’s midrange headphones should continue the company’s reputation for solid headphones – and a viable alternative to the pricey flagship WH-1000XM5. The WH-CH720N has the same V1 chip as the M5, which powers both active noise cancellation (ANC) and overall sound quality. There’s also an updated design and a lower price ($130), following another early cut. The noise cancellation does a decent job, but it’s not the best, and you’ll have to make do without automatic pausing. Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option at this price.
What, you don’t remember the 1995 PlayStation game?
After those sweet Super Mario Bros. Movie box office numbers, more companies want a piece. Streaming service Peacock is joining the video game adaptation wars with a live-action comedy based on the PS1-era vehicular warfare simulator Twisted Metal, and it just dropped the first trailer. The franchise arguably reached its pinnacle in 1996 with Twisted Metal 2, but when have clowns and car explosions not been cool?
There wasn’t much plot to the game, but hey, look at ‘Twisted Metal.’
Vampire Survivors
Yes, the addictive hit game Vampire Survivors is getting the animated TV show treatment.. Developer Luca Galante said in a (hopefully) cheeky tone, “The most important thing in Vampire Survivors is the story.” (Note: There really isn’t much of one.) Media company Story Kitchen will partner with Galante (founder of developer poncle), to make the series.
The Razer Blade 16 is one of the most unique laptops we’ve ever seen. It can handle 4K gaming just as well as high-speed 1080p gameplay, thanks to a dual-mode screen. And it’s one of the fastest notebooks around, featuring Intel’s latest CPUs and NVIDIA’s newest GPUs. And notably, it can be configured with an RTX 4090. But it’s noticeably heavier than the Blade 15, and you’ll have to pay at least $3,300 to own one with the dual-mode display. It’s an additional cost that Razer devices didn’t need.
Walmart is using a chatbot from Pactum AI to automatically negotiate some of its supplier deals. The technology saves an average of three percent on contracts and is even preferable to the vendors. Walmart says three out of four suppliers prefer haggling with the AI over a human. Pactum’s system simply asks Walmart to set its budget and requirements, such as discounts and payment terms. It compares a supplier’s demands with trends, commodity values and competitors’ costs. After that, the AI can strike a deal in a matter of days, rather than the weeks or months of conventional talks.
For a movie about a superhero famous for getting to places really fast, The Flashhas had the most circuitous route to the big screen possible, and even now that it’s only a few weeks away it’s still tripping up over its own feet. The marketing for Ezra Miller‘s first solo film as the Scarlet Speedster (plus Michael Keaton’s grand return as Batman) has frequently stumbled as it’s been picked apart by the DC fandom for its reliance on nostalgia and perceived poor CGI.
With the release of a new Japanese trailer, The Flash is doing it all over again, thanks to a curious detail that seemingly spoils the film’s big twist. As pointed out by TheDirect, the following international promo features the same scene contained in the most recent trailer but with one key difference — during a confrontation between the two Barry Allens, the second Barry is shown to have a black tentacle crawling over his shoulder.
The inference is clear, then: Barry #2 is Dark Flash, the mysterious Venom-like villain of the movie who’s only been glimpsed so far in merch. While this is a bit of a huge goof for Warner Bros.’s international marketing team to make, maybe the bigger problem here is that folks are hardly surprised by the spoiler, as many already worked out the twist months ago. As @HailEternal went viral for pointing out:
I mean, it’s not like Keaton’s Bruce Wayne was going to be Dark Flash, right?
John Oliver gleefully mocked Matthew McConaughey’s recent virtual motivational seminar, titled The Art of Livin’, on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight.
McConaughey hosted the free virtual event April 24 that drew a reported 2 million viewers from around the world and featured guests including Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, Marie Forleo and Trent Shelton. It turned out to be the launch of a (not-free) “immersive learning experience” dubbed “Roadtrip: The Highway to More” that costs $397 for viewers who tuned in and is now priced at the non-promotional offer of $497.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, the seminar featured, among other things, McConaughey sharing stories from his memoir, Greenlights, and playing a bongo.
“A couple times, McConaughey took to the drum while he read out comments from viewers spilling their secret shames and desires,” the American-Statesman reported. “He paced back and forth toward the camera, often placing himself in extreme Norma Desmond closeup. His hands gesticulated wildly. He cut through his own chicken-fried fortune cookies with that signature smooth-talk snicker. His eyebrows must have logged enough sky-high miles to get their pilot’s license.”
Of course, Oliver couldn’t let this slip past his radar. On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, the HBO host showed a slip from the seminar, which he noted was five-and-a-half hours long.
In the clip, McConaughey shares a personal story: “In 1999, I’d just had a dream that I was floating down a river naked, wrapped up in anaconda sharks, piranhas and crocodiles. And lined along the ridge of the river, there were thousands of African tribesmen each holding a shield and a spear. And it wasn’t a nightmare. Actually, it was a wet dream.”
Replied Oliver: “Wow! What a twist at the end there.”
Speaking and gesturing as McConaughey did in the video, Oliver continued: “I know my dream might have contained some pretty dicey racial imagery there, but would it help to know that at the end of it, I ejaculated.”
The Last Week Tonight host then summed up his confusion over the whole thing thusly: “I’m not sure what lesson you’re supposed to learn from it other than if you try to do drugs with Matthew McConaughey, you will die.”
Few authors have established as powerful a bond with their fans as Judy Blume. That incredible connection first manifested with the publication of her debut novel for young adults, 1970’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, which shattered taboos by candidly addressing subjects like menstruation and masturbation.
“It was the first time, I think, that an author had written a character that girls could relate to on an internal level, like she was speaking to their internal lives,” said filmmaker Leah Wolchok, co-director and producer of the Prime Video documentary Judy Blume Forever. “She wrote in the first person. And I think readers felt like they were reading their own diary. … Kids just flocked to the book.”
While young readers flocked, some adults swooped – demanding Blume’s books be yanked from shelves. During an appearance at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted virtual event, Wolchok, fellow director-producer Davina Pardo and producer Sara Bernstein discussed the controversy that has attended Blume’s work for more than 50 years.
“Judy today is almost more relevant than [ever. ]… Her books are banned today as much as they were in the ‘80s,” said Bernstein, president of Imagine Documentaries, the unit of Imagine Entertainment that produced the film. “It’s really important, obviously, that young people and all people are given a chance to decide what they want to read.”
Said Pardo: “I keep thinking about this line [Judy] says in the film — it’s an archival clip where she’s fighting back against the sensors and she says, ‘A book cannot harm a child.’ But we know the opposite is true. A book can help a child, a book can save a child. … What’s been so powerful for me in seeing how connected people are to Judy is how much her books have helped them.”
The documentary follows Blume’s remarkable journey from 1950s housewife and mother to becoming one of the bestselling novelists of all time. Her first husband, the film says, only tolerated her writing habit so long as it didn’t interfere with her raising their kids, and he never read any of her books.
“We’ve always thought of it as a sort of feminist coming-of age-story of Judy and then, sort of alongside that, her readers,” Pardo observed. “One of the things we love about Judy’s story is that the coming of age doesn’t end when you get your period. But throughout her life, she was coming of age.”
I will not be writing about that final scene. Nope. You can’t make me do it. Did it make it laugh? Yes. Did it gross me out? Yes. Was it designed to do both and to make me wish “potty humor” wasn’t, well, so funny to begin with? Also yes. And so while we can celebrate this “new intimacy” between Sam and Joel (Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller, total pros making toilet phone call comedy work), I am exempting myself from commenting on it and just sailing right past it.
Dwayne Johnson on why “Black Adam” was the movie he had to make
Mostly because “#2” (get it?) gave us plenty else to discuss. And yes, that includes Susan (Jennifer Mudge), Fred’s fiancée!
Fred (Murray Hill) has long been a no-nonsense kind of guy. From the moment he met Sam in episode one he’s been inimitably himself, never cowering under anyone’s gaze. It makes sense he’d just drop a bombshell like “I’m getting married to a woman I’ve been on and off and in love with for decades” with such casual ease that it would derail an entire poker game. You’d think everyone would be joyous about hearing such news, but then, we all have Sams in our lives who can’t truly soak in the romance. Who’d rather sulk or nitpick or bring all their baggage into any celebratory moment lest they be reminded that good things can indeed happen. Thankfully, she’s balanced out by Joel whose squeals of delight are, in turn, a joy to watch.
Sam and Joel’s different reactions to Fred’s engagement speak to the way they each see the world: Sam may be trying oh so hard to be better at letting others in (Susan violates the NNP rule!) but she’s still mostly a world-weary cynic. Meanwhile, Joel is earnest and sincere, so in touch with his feelings he’s happy to cry in public at a sex shop if the mood strikes. The push and pull between the two structures Somebody Somewhere; and so while Sam was keen to poke holes in Fred’s wedding announcement, Joel was just ecstatic about a romantic happy ending to this quarter century-spanning courtship.
But perhaps we should pause before we try to further examine why Sam may be so uncomfortable with this revelation (though the show rightly makes her hilariously self-aware: “You’re gonna be all sweet to me while I’m being a cunt?” she asks Joel) and focus instead on the subtle way in which Fred and Susan’s relationship is so casually established. Not just the way Fred (and the show) merely plant her right into their poker game but how her arrival comes with a coming-out tale that privileges their bond over any transphobia; Susan chose Fred (“It’s always been Fred,” she notes) and her conviction that she wouldn’t let Fred’s gender identity become a problem with her father was sweet, yes, but also as loud a celebration of their love as anything else she could’ve done.
This is what I mean about Somebody Somewhere operating at a low key register. The show will never feel like an after school special or have anything close to a “very special episode.” Instead, its affirmation of Fred and Joel’s fully lived queer lives is what makes a statement at all. You wonder how long Hill and Hiller have been waiting for this kind of break, for this kind of character who gets to move through the world with confidence and pride and a support network who encourages them to be exactly who they’ve always wanted to be.
Is it all a bit too twee and cloying for our dear old Sam? Possibly. Perhaps even for some viewers. But then you get scenes at sex shops or on the toilet and you remember that this HBO gem makes us take in the sweet with the tart.
But the pièce de resistance of this episode was that school recital. And that one performance in particular. Kudos to Will & Grace scene-stealer Tim Bagley who totally annihilated that “why and what is this happening?!” moment that had Joel and Sam in stitches. Bagley has always excelled at bringing to life these awkward gay men of a certain age who are seemingly unable to read social cues around them. Such deadpan humor is a perfect match for Somebody Somewhere.
Moreover, rather than (merely) make him a punchline, the show has his performance serve as an inspiration of sorts for Sam. There is beauty and there is joy in what this committed man is doing with his life. Or, well, with his free time. Here is someone who relishes doing what he loves (singing, presumably) and cares little how the rest of the world (read: folks like Sam and Joel) see him. After all, he has great support in the shape of Darlene (Barbara Robertson), who similarly is overjoyed at hearing that Sam is ready to pick up where they left off when Sam was in school. She just needs to remember to bring a cassette tape (a detail I love). Whether this is a turning corner for Sam or a mere detour into her life as he learns to live and thrive in Manhattan, Kansas, it may be too soon to tell. But if this means we’re getting plenty more Bridget Everett singing, sign me up for that is a recital (and wedding) I do not want to miss.
Stray observations
Please, no one ever actually make St. Louis sushi, I beg of you! Truly sounds like some creation that blends the worst of hokey highway-adjacent restaurants and horrid TikTok food trends. (In case you’ve forgotten already, the recipe calls for ham wrapped around a pickle and cream cheese. Now excuse me while I go throw up some more.)
I would watch an entire YouTube channel where Sam and Joel traipse through sex shops and comment on any and every product there. (Also, I’ll just be over here figuring out the logistics of the Clone-A-Pussy… the, uh, logistics for those Clone-A-Willy ones feel more, ahem, straight forward, no?)
Oh Tricia… you’ve never been more relatable than when angrily scrolling through an ex-friend’s Instagram and then shitposting from an anonymous account.
My favorite bit from Tricia’s bit at the store is how even while wearing a name tag she was still mistaken for Charity.
Speaking of that bit, I love how we’re seeing Tricia, Sam, and Joel all working. It made me think about how the show is emerging as a welcome portrait of a class of people whose jobs are means to an end and yet whose labor is not centered in the way the show tells their stories. This is no family nor hangout nor workplace comedy. Instead, Somebody Somewhere is toying with a blend of them all, capturing the way friendships, work, and family all intersect and interact in one’s life.
Warner Brothers. A behemoth of Hollywood. The studio was founded by actual brothers — Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack — and was considered a minor moviemaking machine until the historical release of The Jazz Singer. The grandson of the youngest Warner, Gregory Orr, writes and directs an exhaustive examination of “Chief” in Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul. Was critical distance needed to convey this epic true life properly, or does the filmmaker allow audiences to feel close to the subject as well?
Born in 1892, Warner moved with his family to the United States at a very young age. He and his brothers were very enterprising and would eventually start a nickelodeon. Then they made the trek westward to settle in the mecca of the moviemaking industry, Hollywood. As president of the newly formed Warner Brothers, Jack L. Warner was the driving force behind many of their most cherished early titles. However, his hard-nosed approach led him to be feared and/or despised by most employees. This is despite the fact that Warner was always quick with a joke; reportedly, not very good ones, but still. But, of course, nothing lasts forever, and the changing tastes of filmgoers, and society, saw the last movie mogul fall hard.
Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul is a talking heads documentary peppered with photos and archival footage. While there’s something amusing in the idea that the film about a filmmaking titan is rather baseline, stylistically, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching. In fact, Orr jam packs the swiftly paced title with a ton of information, none of it repetitive, so things never get stale.
“…Jack L. Warner was the driving force behind many of [Warner Brothers’] most cherished early titles.”
The impressive line-up of interviewees is the first thing to grab one’s attention. There’s Debbie Reynolds, Shirley Jones, Neal Gabler, and William Orr, to name but a few. Granted, some of these celebrities (and others not named) appear via older interviews or archival footage. Still, their presence here and what they have to say about the man at the center of the narrative is fascinating.
On top of that, the film does an amazing job of drawing parallels. Warner made the likes of James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart stars. The interesting thing is that the actors he gravitated toward all resembled him. Plus, hearing why Warner was so hard on and disliked actors so much adds a complicated layer to the man’s dreams and desires.
If one is a cinephile and adores motion picture history, then Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul is a must-watch. Yes, the style is that of a typical documentary. But the interviewees are brilliant, and the amount of information gleaned is shockingly high. Moreover, Orr has done a bang-up job at exploring his family’s last legacy through the lens of its most formidable and historical figure.
The hammer-and-sickle still flutters proudly over the park-lined thoroughfares in this capital of a country that doesn’t exist. The top of City Hall bears the Soviet star. And the street names — Strada Karl Marx, Strada Yuri Gagarin — hark back to bygone days of Soviet glory.
When you visit Transnistria, the unrecognized breakaway republic carved out of a strip of land between Ukraine and Moldova, the first impression is of a Soviet Union in the smartphone era, a place where couples take selfies near giant Lenin statues, and paeans to Communist leaders hang near billboards advertising “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”
It’s one of the reasons why Transnistria, often portrayed as little more than a Soviet time capsule, has become a popular destination among travel bloggers and adventure tourists. But beneath the Communist kitsch lies a real affinity with Russia among the region’s 300,000 or so people, which up to now has been to their advantage.
Families stroll through one of the many parks in Tiraspol, Transnistria.
(Nabih Bulos / Los Angeles Times)
“People here feel Russian,” said Anatoly Dirun, a Transnistrian political scientist in grandly stodgy Tiraspol. “Not just as a nationality, but as a people who love Russia and want to belong to Russian civilization.”
That loyalty comes from Transnistria’s short history. In 1992, Russian troops helped people here beat back nationalists from next-door Moldova and establish the region as a sort of Rhode Island-sized Russia, run by pro-Moscow Russian speakers, defended by a Russia-funded army and security services, and kept afloat economically by a Russia-style currency and dirt-cheap Russian gas — all of this some 400 miles from the nearest Russian border.
The self-declared Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic’s status as a de facto protectorate of Moscow — including its peaceful, if not totally friendly, modus vivendi with Moldova, which officially regards Transnistria as part of its territory — has largely worked for the last 30 years or so.
Up until Feb. 24, 2022, that is, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Suddenly, being so heavily identified with and reliant on its big brother to the east became a lot more complicated for Transnistria, also known as Trans-Dniester. Since then, the territory — which no country, not even Russia, recognizes — has had to adjust to some uncomfortable new realities, such as increased distrust from its neighbors and a greater dependence than ever on Moldova for its economic survival.
When the war began, suspicions immediately fell on Transnistria as another possible staging ground for invading Russian forces, prompting Ukraine to seal off their shared border. Then, when Moldova’s president condemned the invasion, natural gas supplies from Russia — which were delivered virtually free of charge via a pipeline running through Ukraine and which Transnistria used to produce electricity and iron for export — came under threat.
It was a quadruple whammy for Transnistria’s economy. The territory lost its role as a passageway for legal (and illegal) goods in and out of Ukraine, and no longer had a source of cheap gas. Import costs more than doubled. Visitors, alarmed by what was now considered a geopolitical powder keg, stayed away.
“I survived the war in ’92, so people like me aren’t afraid of conflict, but it’s been difficult for businesses,” said Alexander Kalish, 41, who owns the Back in the U.S.S.R. cafe in the border village of Bender. Since the invasion, his restaurant has drawn in half as many customers as usual.
With Ukrainian ports no longer accessible, all Transnistria’s exports now pass through Moldova, its ostensible adversary, with three-quarters of them either remaining there or going on to the European Union. Since Russia cut the gas supply by up to half, Moldova has been giving its supply of Russian gas virtually free of charge to Transnistria, whose power plants then convert it to electricity to sell back to Moldova at a cheaper price than the Moldovan government can get elsewhere.
The cooperativeness is a far cry from initial fears among some Transnistrians that Moldova would use the war in Ukraine as a pretext to retake their region by force and then merge with Romania to the west. (Ethnic Romanians make up the largest proportion of the Moldovan population.)
“Everyone was predicting war between Transnistria and Moldova. But Transnistria and Moldova have never been so close,” said Alexandru Lesanu, an independent researcher focused on post-Soviet quasi-states. “That’s the paradox of the situation.”
Transnistria has managed to avoid embroiling itself in the Ukraine war, despite the billions of dollars in subsidies it receives from Moscow, the 1,500 Russian peacekeeping troops on its soil and the occasional rumblings from the Kremlin that it will mobilize to protect Russian speakers in the region just as it claims to be doing in Ukraine. A Russian ammunition depot on Transnistria’s edge with Ukraine in the village of Cobasna, said to be Eastern Europe’s largest stockpile, remains untouched.
“Tiraspol authorities are not interested in being involved in this conflict,” said Dirun, the political scientist.
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A visit to Tiraspol shows the war to be a distant concern. On a recent weekend, families enjoyed the early spring sun, some stopping to pick toys from street stalls or heading to a nearby market for pickles and preserved fruit. In one of the capital’s many parks, children coerced parents into giving them a push on rusty swings or going on carnival rides that had seen better days. Russian soldiers, young men in fatigues and masks covering half their faces, stood guard in some places, but overall maintained a low profile.
Some see in the increased economic cooperation with Moldova an opportunity to further push Transnistria into a political settlement that would see the two sides unify. But many here are wary of such ideas, insisting that the issues go beyond economics to thorny matters of identity.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the territory — a 1,600-square-mile enclave of mostly ethnic Russians and Ukrainians on the eastern bank of the Dniester River — opposed Moldova’s attempts to merge with Romania and declared itself a Soviet republic in 1990.
Moldova became independent a year later, and a brief but bloody war ensued, with Russia helping Transnistrians win their separatist bid. Despite lacking international recognition, the territory maintains its own border, currency, passports, pension scheme, national anthem and industrial economy, all underpinned by Russian largesse.
“Everyone respects Russia, and itcouldn’t be otherwise. In 1992, only Russia extended a helping hand,” said Kalish, the cafe owner.
A serving of nostalgia is on the menu at the Back in the U.S.S.R. cafe in Bender, Transnistria.
(Nabih Bulos / Los Angeles Times)
His restaurant, on the second floor of a building near Bender’s downtown district, attests to that appreciation. Inside, customers eat under the gaze of busts of Lenin, posters of Soviet-era movie stars and a jovial bear donning Soviet regalia. The menu offers Soviet comfort food, with sausages, potato salad, soups including borscht and sour cream, and dessert with cherry and sour cream dumplings, all shining under a heat lamp.
Kalish opened the restaurant, he said, because the U.S.S.R. signified a pleasant memory for him and others of his generation.
“If you ask them, they say, ‘I had everything I needed in life.’ The U.S.S.R. was stability,” he said.
Though he didn’t consider Moldovans his enemy, the fact remained that they had a mentality more geared toward Romania, he added.
Thirty years ago, integration with Moldova might have been feasible, but “today, it is impossible — we are different people,” Kalish said. “There’s a whole generation who do not know anyone else except Russia.”
The result of that can be seen in the streets. The Russian tricolor is omnipresent, as is the Cyrillic alphabet. Russian is the lingua franca here. You can even spot the occasional “Z” sign, a reference to the marks painted on Russian materiel ahead of the Ukraine invasion.
For the young, the matter is more complicated. Though they weren’t born during the Soviet era, their education system is based on Russia’s, and many take on Russian passports for ease of travel and employment opportunities. But that means they could be drafted for Moscow’s war effort, said 26-year-old Sergei, who declined to give his last name to avoid reprisals.
“I don’t care about Russia or Putin, but there are people here who do. The problem is that it’s someone like me who would be mobilized if something happens, and I don’t want that,” he said, adding that four of his friends had already moved to Russia for work.
Andrei, a 22-year-old photographer from Bender, went the other direction, moving to Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, a few years ago.
He left Transnistria to avoid army service (which was why he didn’t give his last name), and he appreciates the freedoms he has in Chisinau, which aren’t matched at home. His photographic artwork would never be accepted there.
As a result, he feels caught in limbo — like so much about Transnistria, itself literally an in-between place.
“People in Ukraine can now say, ‘We’re Ukrainians,’ and live in Ukraine. People in Russia can say the same. But in Transnistria? We can’t say who we are,” he said.
Seth Meyers got serious during his “Corrections” Late Night segment and talked about the possible writers strike. The late-night talk show host started off by saying that if he was good at one thing it was writing, “I love writing so much.”
“I am deeply proud of the fact that I get to be a professional writer,” he said before mentioning that if the Writers Guild of America doesn’t reach an agreement by midnight on Monday, May 1, members would go on strike. “If a writers’ strike happens that would shut down production on a great many shows.”
Late-night shows would be the first ones impacted if the writers go on strike. Meyers recalled that he experienced “a very long strike” while he was at Saturday Night Live and “it was really miserable.”
“It doesn’t just affect the writers, it affects all the incredible non-writing staff on these shows,” he added. “And it would really be a miserable thing for people to have to go through, especially considering we’re on the heels of that awful pandemic that affected, not just show business, but all of us.”
Meyers continued, “I’m incredibly grateful that there are negotiators for both sides sitting and talking. I’m incredibly hopeful that they can come to an agreement. I also feel very strongly that what the writers are asking for is not unreasonable. As a proud member of the Guild, I’m very grateful that there is an organization that looks out for the best interests of writers.”
“If you don’t see me here next week, know that it is something that is not done lightly and that I will be heartbroken too and miss you all as well. Let’s just keep our you know what’s and see me when you see me,” he ended.
Apple should be showing off watchOS 10 to the world at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 5, and we’ve got some leaked information ahead of time regarding what to expect from the update.
As per the usually reliable Mark Gurman at Bloomberg (opens in new tab), there’s going to be a “new focus on widgets” in watchOS 10, in what’s described as “one of the biggest software updates since the original version” – so it looks like there’s a major revamp on the way.
You may remember that there were once widgets called Glances on the original Apple Watch from 2015, but they were phased out over time. Now it would seem they’re back, and should be in place by the time the Apple Watch 9 arrives later this year.
Information, at a glance
According to Gurman, the new widgets will combine elements of the old Glances with elements of the widgets that were introduced to the iPhone with iOS 14. The idea is that users can quickly see information without having to launch any actual apps.
That information could cover weather forecasts, activity tracking, stock tickers, calendar appointments and so on. The style of these widgets is apparently going to be similar to the Siri watch face currently available in watchOS 9.
The Digital Crown on the Apple Watch may well be used to launch widgets rather than the home screen in future, Gurman says. He also thinks the new widget-heavy interface will be optional. We’ll find out for sure at WWDC 2023 next month.
Analysis: fixing the apps problem
As Mark Gurman points out in his Power On newsletter, apps haven’t really taken off on the Apple Watch. Users don’t open them, and as a result it’s not worth the time it takes for developers to make them – creating a feedback loop that’s hard to break out of.
Gurman highlights recent statistics showing that the iPhone App Store has 101 million monthly users in Europe, whereas the Apple Watch App Store has less than 1 million in the same region. That’s a giant discrepancy and tells you a lot about how we tend to use smartwatches differently to smartphones.
While the Apple Watch is clearly one of the best smartwatches on the market, most of the time it’s the features built into watchOS itself that are being used, rather than third-party apps. In other words, you’re more likely to use the device to tell the time or track your steps than call yourself an Uber.
With widgets, Apple is acknowledging that while also offering a way for developers to put useful data and updates in front of people – a bit like the Dynamic Island introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
With a very attractive offer from Scandinavian online goliath GoJo to buy their media empire Waystar in play, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Siobhan (Sarah Snook) want to fix their money-bleeding movie studio while preparing to host a shareholder’s presentation at the glamorous location. Will the lame-duck corporate leaders be able (or really want) to sell their investors on not only the merger points, but an ambitious new real estate venture their dad and Waystar’s founder Logan Roy (Brian Cox) was preparing before his sudden death?
The answers involve high drama and copious comic cringe.
Will You Be My Valentine?
The episode opens with a video of Logan against a green screen promoting Waystar Royco’s retirement community, Living+, which he describes as a “real estate brand that can bring the cruise ship experience to dry land.” Offscreen, the director (Episode 6 director Lorene Scafaria) stops him and wants him to sound more excited when he says “I couldn’t be more excited.”
Kendall, Roman, Shiv and P.R. guy Hugo (Fisher Stevens) are watching it on a monitor. Logan loses it when a makeup girl tries to apply touch-up.
“God, you’re f—g useless, the lot a’ yas!” the patriarch yells in the posthumous recording. “You’re as bad as my f—g idiot kids!”
“That’s bull—t,” Hugo says. “Sorry Ken.”
“That’s fine, that’s a Valentines card,” Kendall laughs and shakes his head. “Can we watch it again, actually? Good to see you, Dad.”
Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin in a still from “Succession.”
Following opening credits, Shiv’s in her plane on a runway. She gets a call from GoJo boss Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård); he’s in the private jet next to hers. The weird Swede soon comes on board barefoot, in a black T and gray workout pants. He tells Shiv he’s not thrilled with the Living+ product launch the Roys have planned in Hollywood.
“It was on the calendar, and if we decided to cancel the product launch it would look like we were just minding the shop until you came in,” Shiv explains.
“Well you are, right?” Matsson points out. “I don’t need it. It’s f—n’ land cruises.”
“Living+,” Shiv corrects. Their way of flirting is to argue the definitions again. He tells her the deal is going through with velocity and he really likes lots of it. But he really hates lots, too. He wants someone on the inside who understands that, but also gets him. He means her.
“Maybe I hate you,” Shiv warns.
“You can’t hate me, you don’t know me well enough,” he responds, perhaps honestly.
Shiv suggests she loves her brothers too much to do that. Matsson laughs at that one, tells her they were crazy and totally unprofessional on the mountaintop. He rises, puts his shades on and has to lean over as he shuffles backward through the cabin, since he’s taller than the plane’s ceiling. Matsson blows his “inside girl” kisses. Shiv calls him “outside boy.”
Roman and Ken march into a meeting room at Waystar Studios in L.A. All the executive eggs and Shiv are there. Ken sits in the middle of the table, where Shiv had her phone holding the spot. She grabs it and moves.
Though he’s super-excited about the sale, Ken says he and Rome have some reservations about Matsson.
“Long story short, Matsson exhibited some erratic behavior that made us concerned,” Roman tells the room.
Shiv wants specifics. So does P.R. head Karolina (Dagmara Domińczyk). The B-roll brothers lie about his coherence, and commitment to the deal. “Tweets, drug rumors, 50% in stock; that means we are exposed,” Ken lists reservations about recommending this person to the board.
J. Smith-Cameron and David Rasche in a still from “Succession.”
“OK, it’s a worry,” general counsel Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) acknowledges. “It’s a concern, I think we should monitor it closely. I don’t think it hurts. I mean, he’s a genius. Nobody minds a genius acting weird. His reputation is priced-in.”
Backed by CFO Karl (David Rasche) and ATN news network boss Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), Gerri once again proves no one talks ledge-jumpers down like her. Ken quickly yields to her viewpoint. The execs leave the three siblings in the room. Shiv’s skeptical about what the CEBros just brought up.
“I f—g know you!” she yells at her brothers. “Boys, you’re not good at this. ‘Hey Dad? Shiv spilled chocolate milk in the Range Rover.’” Snook’s eyes shoot daggers and her voice is a Ginzu knife. “Go on, lie to me. Lie to my face.”
“We’re not sure about the deal,” Ken admits. He says they didn’t tell her earlier to protect her.
Shiv wants to know what happened to their plan to buy Pierce together as Rome mumbles something about Matsson talking s—t about Dad. Ken thinks maybe the three of them can keep Waystar Royco and the Pierce media corporation. Roman apologizes again and asks to do the “huggie thing.” Sibs have an awkward, three-way embrace; Shiv leaves for an appointment she “can’t reschedule.” It’s in another room where, alone, she starts to cry. Then her husband Tom and cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) barge in.
“I want to give you a little preview of tonight’s selection …” Greg’s saying, searching for hotties on his phone. Startled to see Shiv, he dissolves the Disgusting Brothers and closes the door behind him, leaving Tom and Shiv in private. Snook locates pitiable vulnerability as Shiv explains to her estranged husband that she’s too busy to process Logan’s loss and her assistant “has sometimes found me somewhere so that I can have a moment to cry.”
“You’re scheduling your grief?” Tom asks. He can’t believe it.
“Just f—k off, yeah?” her father’s daughter tells him. He embraces and comforts her. They seriously kiss.
Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong in a still from “Succession.”
Community Concerns
Kendall and Roman work out their tasks for tomorrow’s presentation, strategize what to do re: Matsson. Talk about incomprehensible! These guys’ business-ish buzzwording is like a pair of twins’ private language. Roman admits the Living+ concept depresses him.
“Do you think it’s the speech written specifically for our late father?” Kendall queries. “Or the fact we’re planning to warehouse the elderly and keep them drunk on content while we suck ‘em dollar dry?”
“I think it’s the ‘90s pitch,” Roman reckons.
Kendall is briefly fixated on “personalized longevity programs” in the prospectus. Roman has to go to a meeting with studio head Joy Palmer (Annabeth Gish). Ken tells him to sprinkle some sugar, lots of strange buzz phrases; he’s relying on them more and making less sense than ever.
Joy greets Rome with cheek kisses in a nice part of the commissary. She expresses condolences and wants to know about the deal with Matsson. Roman uses descriptors like druggy and flakey. She does a hand flutter, he wonders what that was.
“A little Groucho Marks for ya,” she laughingly explains. “Inside cinema.”
Annabeth Gish and Kieran Culkin in a still from “Succession.”
He wants to know who’s getting fired for the “Kalispitron” s—t show. She wants to sidebar that overbudget robot movie disaster, tells him big personalities are involved. Roman sneers he can’t see that happening again. He promises to turn on the money hose if she’s confident she can get the hit machine pumpin’. She is, but wants to discuss ATN’s rightward lean.
“Lots of people are concerned about democratic institutions,” she says, sounding like a producer with a Fox first look deal praying for Disney’s rescue. “We have values here in this creative community.”
“I get it and I love the values,” Roman responds. “It’s an incredibly evolved, ruthlessly segregated city you’ve built on this geological fault here. Let’s get real. I feel like you’re not really listening to me? I’m saying I’m gonna dump a ton of money on you and all we want is to get the hit pump pumpin’.” Then there’s some projection, a bit of self-loathing, her reassuring but choosing the wrong words, and he fires her.
“This is a mistake,” she threatens as he walks out to rising theme music.
In the theater where the investors presentation will be held the next day, Kendall has some ambitious staging ideas. He wants to build a Living+ house on the currently bare stage — “Small, plywood, basic brickwork, nothing crazy. Maybe clouds could appear above the house.
“Don’t say no, Denny,” he tells the stage manager. “Don’t say no.”
“This is for tomorrow?” Denny asks.
“Hollywood though, right?” Kendall answers wrongly. “Here’s the rule: No one can say no. Yes Kendall, thank you Kendall, for the cool new rule.”
Flunkies all thank him. Roman, at the back of the house, adds unenthusiastically “for the cool new rule.”
Bite Me
Hollywood Hills reception for the investors that night. Shiv spots Tom cruising the crowd, sashays over.
“I don’t want to cramp your style,” she tells him. “I’m sure you’re keen to get amongst it.”
“It?” Tom wonders.
“Yeah. The vaginas of the cheerful women who are tall enough to be models.”
He says he’s good. She keeps being suggestive.
“If I was going to say something from the heart, I guess I would say I’m sorry,” he tells his skeptical wife. “Sorry for f—g you up.”
Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen in a still from “Succession.”
Snook cycles puzzled and ironic laugh faces, finally says “You should be so lucky. You hardly scratched the surface. I was f—d up long before I met you.”
She calls him the one after The One. They continue jousting, pause, Shiv asks, “You wanna play bitey?”
He doesn’t know what that is. She explains the rules. They link exposed arms, dig teeth into one another. She taunts through her teeth “Is that all you’ve got?” He clamps down harder. She pulls away cussing. Tom wins!
“You OK?” he asks.
“Yeah,” she smiles seductively. “Tom Wambsgans, finally made me feel something.”
Back at the studio, Kendall runs his Living+ pitch by Roman and Greg.
“Unbelievable growth. Price rocket. Drive the price, we make the deal impossible.”
“So all you need is unbelievable growth,” Greg blunders.
“All right, Dr. Sarcasm,” Roman sarcastically says. “Did we tell you to squeak?”
Ken thinks that they can get a tech figure valuation on Living+.
“Can I just say, I think it’s hard to make houses seem like tech because we’ve had houses for a while now,” Greg, auditioning for the role of Captain Obvious, observes.
“This is the killer app,” Ken’s on a Ken roll. “Maximize your physical potential. Live, well, not forever. But if not forever, live more forever.” They make Greg, who they now call Pitchbot, say “It’s kind of dope” like a robot.
“Oh my God, you’re fired,” Roman says to him. “But we don’t have the numbers, right?” he says to Ken.
“We’ll have the numbers,” Ken imagines. “I guess the sweet spot will be right after they get f—g delicious and just before they get f—g stupid.”
Greg robots away. Rome tells Ken he likes it, he’s not crazy about dying.
“I know, it’s bull—t,” Ken agrees. “It’s very un-Dad.”
They’re talking about ways to improve death from one size fits all when a concerned Gerri comes in. “Roman, I wanna talk to you,” she says sternly, and not in the manner he gets off on. In a conference room, she wants to know what happened with Joy, who’s not picking up and has outside counsel.
“I fired her. So?”
“Roman, you absolutely cannot fire a studio executive without speaking to legal and HR and having someone else present in case …”
“Right, right. Except I can because I did.”
She’s worried about litigation, ridicule, how to frame an apology. He tells Gerri to work on the mop-up.
“Joy has a lot of relationships and a lot of friends,” Gerri says, now furiously pointing. “And you are a weak monarch in a dangerous interregnum, and I think you need to reconsider.”
“This is something Dad would have done,” Roman responds.
“Well, maybe. But you’re not your dad,” Gerri steps over the line. Focus pulls into closer shots of each of them. Roman complains that her behavior toward him and using the f-word frequently feels disrespectful.
“I need you to believe that I am as good as my dad. Can you do that?”
More zoom-in on Gerri, making a variety of faces.
“Say it or believe it?” she finally asks.
“You don’t treat me with sufficient respect and that’s a problem,” Rome whines/threatens. “Maybe I’ll fire you too.”
She mentions she’s not on Matsson’s kill list. He doesn’t care. She goes oh no, you’re not going to win against the money.
“Your dad knew,” she insists. “Tech is coming. We are over, make your accommodations.”
Roman lists why Gerri’s not good at her job and should be fired. “Shall we get started on the paperwork?”
Hissing under her breath, Gerri says “I am good at my job.”
Outside the room Kendall, huddled with accountants, asks Roman to drop in at the reception for them because “I’ve got the big eye on, Bro. I can see everything.”
Roman mutters he thinks they should let Joy go.
Ken thinks a minute, then: “That’s baller for me. Let’s put an end to Joy.”
Roman adds he fired Gerri. Similar nonplussed then supportive Ken reaction.
“I mean, look at you!” Ken tells him with a power-drunk laugh. “Who are you gonna fire next? Fire Frank? Fire Karl? F—n’ eat Greg? You can fire me, man! You’re on fire!”
Roman’s concerned that it feels a bit big. Kendall, in Donald Trump Jr.-style speed jive, details how it can all be spun to their advantage.
In a bedroom at the party house, Shiv and Tom adjust their clothes. They tell each other “nice.” She asks if he’s all-in on Matsson.
Lounging on the bed like an odalisque, Tom answers “Yeah, I guess. I mean, your brothers hate me and you hate me and you’ll fire me. So yeah.”
She mentions she has a connection with Matsson. He rises and laughs at her.
“Oh, because you want to suck him off, you think that I must want to f—k him?” she lobs. “Think we’re all going to live together in a big ol’ Matsson house, f—g each other and singing Matsson songs?”
“Still keeping all your options open, Honey,” Tom says as he moves in on Shiv. “You should be careful with that.”
“Wow. Truth bombs! From the phony man.”
His forehead touching hers, Tom says softly “I think I want you. I think I would like this back.”
She pulls away, skeptical.
“Well then you shouldn’t have betrayed me. Phony.”
He sits on the bed. Confesses he’s thought about money all his life. How he loves it, felt compartmented, caught between her and Logan.
“If you think that’s shallow, why don’t you throw out all of your stuff for love?” Tom challenges Shiv.
“Throw out you necklaces and your jewels for a date at a three-star Italian. Come and live with me in a trailer park. Yeah? Are you coming?”
She sits next to him. Makes a too-serious face. “Wow. I’d follow you anywhere for love, Tom Wambsgans.”
A pause, then they both crack up.
In a mixing booth, Greg browbeats a sound engineer into changing Logan’s words on the Living + promotional video from “a significant boost” to “double the earnings.” Elsewhere on the lot, Kendall asks a hesitant accountant “What if we doubled that? It needs to be super credible, Pete. It’s gotta be credible. New products and services, machine learning on the marketing plus repackaging health data to third parties; easily, easily grow that.”
“Can I talk to Karl?” Pete begs.
“If it feels scary, it’s because the potential is scary, Pete,” Ken confidently assures. He eventually bullies Pete into total agreement with him.
Matthew Macfadyen in a still from “Succession.”
Living in the Dream Factory
Next morning. Shiv and Tom in a studio office. She greets “Lukas, Sweety” on her laptop, tells him they’ll be pushing Living+.
“I don’t like real estate,” Matsson sighs. “It’s not scalable and I don’t want the hassle of unwinding. Is there any way you can stop it?”
Shiv can’t. He suggests a bomb threat. She says she’s not about to start dropping stage weights on people’s heads. He chuckles on the other end.
Kendall in a black sweatshirt enters the theater. There’s much construction onstage. He’s told they couldn’t achieve everything. Roman watches with pity from a seat in the auditorium.
“This won’t be just it, will it?” he asks, referring to the basic plywood facades. Lights and something thrown over it are promised. Ken wants to see the “clouds.” A pitiful fog spray from overhead doesn’t do the trick.
Ken asks Roman about the script he’s reading. Rome wants to know where the numbers came from. Ken points to his own head. He assures his brother Pete has it. Shiv comes in, tells Roman she’s worried about the big numbers.
“He’s got that gleam in his eye,” she says of Ken. “Jesus Christ, Rome, this is not good. You’re out of control, he’s out of control, this is going down [points at stage]. Should we pull the plug on today?” “It’s going to be fine,” Roman, unconvinced himself, offers. “It’s a decent play, I think.”
“Yeah, sure,” says Shiv. “Made-up numbers and shooting to the moon and imaginary clouds. Dude, c’mon.”
“Yeah, it’s high risk. But we have to back it.”
“You know he could do anything up there, and then you’re a part of it. He has harebrained schemes. I love him but he cracks under pressure and I think we should protect him. We should stop this.”
Kieran Culkin in a still from “Succession.”
Investors arrive. There’s a big “Doderick and Friends” standee in the lobby; it’s for Waystar’s favorite cartoon dog’s upcoming movie.
In a dressing room, Kendall’s wearing a specially made flight jacket for the launch. He has one for Roman, too.
“Heads up, I’ve gone even bigger in Colorado. The numbers get crazy good,” Ken tells his brother, cackling nervously. “It’s enough to make you lose your faith in capitalism. Like, you can say anything.” “I’ll bet,” Roman mutters, then suggests postponing.
Ken gets all sad, plops in a chair. “This … This is the idea, though. You think it’s nuts?”
“No, no. I mean, pitching f—g playhouses and living forever and doubling up the f—g numbers …”
“It’s big swing time,” Kendall insists, a human bobblehead. “We have to!”
Roman says it’s Ken’s vision, he’s concerned he might mess it up. Translation: I’m bailing. Ken is called onstage. Roman tells him to break that leg.
Karl walks with Ken through a hallway to the stage. He’s concerned more tweaks have been made in his arena and wants a quick peek at the script’s numbers. Ken tries to blow him off. The older man reads him the riot act.
“If you try to f—k up [Logan’s] deal or if you try to stand up numbers that I am not comfortable with, I swear to God …”
A suddenly self-possessed Ken tells Karl to take it easy. “CEO. CFO.”
“What?” Karl shoots back. “You’re going to fire a chief financial officer a week in? Your dad just gone? You’d be f—g toast! You have my dick in your hand, Ken, but I’ve got yours in mine. So let’s get real. If you say something that I don’t like up there, or make me look foolish, I’ll f—n’ squeal.”
Ken smiles, pats Karl’s arm and walks away. Karl voices a sincere-sounding “Good luck to ya, Buddy.” Karl sits offstage with Frank and Gerri.
Ken walks onstage to over-orchestrated rap music, raises a fist and claps at the applauding audience of shareholders. There’s a big center video screen with smaller ones on each side behind him. He opens rambling too long about big shoes. In a viewing suite, Roman (not wearing a flight jacket) repeats “Big shoes. Big hat. Big nervous breakdown.”
Ken talks to the teleprompter. In the viewing suite, Tom criticizes “Don’t talk to the teleprompter, Amateur!” Ken thanks the whole Waystar family for their support over these tough few days. “It means a lot, Isn’t that right, Dad?”
Logan appears on the center screen.
Loud “Nos!” reverberate through the viewing suite. “This is new, this is all new!” a flustered Karolina says, shuffling disregarded script pages.
Logan’s digital ghost tells Ken “Let’s get on with it.”
“Strangest double act ever,” COO Frank (Peter Friedman) observes.
“F—g amateur hour,” Gerri reviews. “Wake me up when it’s over.”
“I don’t know if I can watch this,” a clearly disturbed Shiv protests.
“She said while watching the f—k out of it and getting turned on,” Roman snaps at her. “I can hear how wet you are. It’s gross!”
Greg tells Tom, “You don’t have to worry about your speech. You just go on and mop up all the blood.” Ken launches into the Living + pitch. It sounds eerily like the Storyliving By Disney concept, but if all those rumors about Walt getting cryogenically frozen were real. The promises of peace of mind, fun and forever sound appealing. Hugo tells Karolina “This is good! Yours?” Whether she wrote it or not, she nods.
Matsson calls Shiv. “I don’t like it. Can you stop it?’
Oh what? You don’t want to make prison camps for grannies?” she replies. “Yeah, he’s riding the bats—t unicycle, but maybe someone could put a stick in the spokes?”
Ken then runs the doctored video of Logan saying he’s convinced Living+ can double the earnings of Waystar’s parks division.
Back in the viewing suite, Shiv mentions that’s not f—g cool.
“It’s really well-edited,” Greg praises.
Ken rhetorically asks if extending life is doable. Worth it?
“Well, if you ask me would I take an extra year right now with my dad, say the unsaid, that would be priceless.” He turns to the screen. “Yeah, I mis you. Dad. I love you, Dad.”
He waves as the screen goes blank. The crowd eats it up.
Karolina tells Roman people online are liking it. Hugo lets out an “Oh f—k!” Lukas has tweeted “Doderick Macht Frei” with a deepfake of the cartoon dog upthumbing a Living+ logo under the gate to Auschwitz.
“That’s a very nasty joke, right?” Roman asks.
“It’s a Holocaust joke,” Shiv says with all the distaste inside her registering on her face.
“We might need to strategize,” Karolina says, auditioning for the role of Captain Obvious.
Ken, not informed in time, starts the audience Q&A. First question: How do you feel about Lukas’ tweet? Ken takes out his phone and looks at it.
“Well, I’m not gonna fave it. You all know we’re looking at a deal with Lukas, and I have so much time and respect for what he’s built. Now, personally, I wouldn’t have said that. And apologies, sincere apologies, for any offense caused. Y’know, he’s, uh, very European. And if and when we complete the deal and he gets into the incredible opportunity this product presents, I think he’ll be tweeting something different.” Shiv on the phone to Matsson: “Maybe you’re giving this too much attention than it deserves? Just back off, huh?”
Everyone agrees Kendall is handling the curveball well on stage. He even moves a discussion of social media’s flaws to an argument why Living+ is like but better than SM. It’s in the real world. He finally gets a message to cut the Q&A. Gets a warm sendoff from the crowd as Tom prepares to come out and talk about ATN.
“How am I supposed to follow this?” Tom complains to Greg. “He’s promised them eternal life!”
Ken enters the viewing suite to cheers and applause. Stock price is rising. Matsson deleted the tweet. Karl points at Ken, “I know special and he’s special.”
Roman walks out. In his limo, he calls up another doctored video of Logan on his phone.
“I want to make what I think is a fairly historic announcement,” Dead Dad says. “I’m convinced that Roman Roy has a micro dick and always gets it wrong.” He repeatedly plays it.
On their ride from the studio, Shiv tells Tom, “If we’re thinking of hosting, I can’t get into any of our s—t. If this is OK with you, it has to be strictly party and strategy.
“Strictly, entirely,” Tom agrees. “I can’t help it if I find strategy sexy, though. I do.”
Shiv smiles out the window, turns her head to give him a stern look.
Alone, Ken floats in the Pacific off Malibu.
Best One-Liners:
Ken’s main pitch for Living+ sounds ridiculous, but it’s so well-structured and shrewdly delivered you’d feel bad not to fall for it:
“Our brand-turboed Living+ real estate communities are going to guarantee three absolute essentials. One: Total peace of mind. Discreet community protection and enhanced home monitoring. You’ll have your keys but, yeah, you won’t need ‘em. Crime-free, hassle-free and respectful. Two: Fun. Fun is what we’re all about at Waystar, by a lot of metrics the leading entertainment brand in the world. So, hyper local news, movie-themed events, advanced screenings, ATN debate and discussions, multimedia events from cooking to premium access sports. We’re talkin’ integrated everyday character IP life enhancement. Maybe a director will swing by with a rough cut; stars certainly will. Movies, shows, rides, experiences to enjoy at home or with the family – who will not want to stop visiting. We can even tell them you’re out if you need a break.
“We think that security plus entertainment is a pretty unbeatable offer, right? Well, one more thing. How about if I told you it was all going to last forever? Well, I can’t. I can’t, not quite yet, we’re not there yet. But our central, extraordinary offer is health and happiness. Because here’s what makes this amazing new product almost irresistible: Our incredible links with tech and pharmaceutical companies, which mean privileged access to life enhancement and extension therapies that right now are the preserve of tech billionaires. But we’re going to deliver them at home, at scale, targeted and supported.”
Stray Observations:
Kendall and Roman keep moving up by screwing up. It’s clear in this episode that they know nothing about how show business works, but in their arrogant process expose some of the conventional knowledge that is preventing old media from moving forward. Their emotionally overwrought negotiations with Matsson resulted in a better offer than anyone imagined in the previous episode, and now Kendall’s reality-challenged Living+ pitch earns an ecstatic reception. This is all bound to blow up in their faces by the end of the season, right? Right?
So, um, about that baby … Looks like Shiv’s on a collision course back to Tom. But if he ever finds out she’s pregnant, will he respond to it with the love he kinda sorta sincerely expressed in this episode, or as an element of the career calculation he also copped to?
It would be poetic if all that Matsson ended up buying of Waystar was the IP rights to Doderick.
Meanwhile, Season 3 is set to debut this fall. Witherspoon and Aniston are executive producers, with Mimi Leder directing and executive producing, and Charlotte Stoudt acting as showrunner and executive producer for Season 3. “The Morning Show” is produced by the Media Res, Hello Sunshine and Echo Films.
Aniston announced Season 3 had wrapped filming on Feb. 9 via an Instagram post which, in the wake of the renewal news, prophetically promised that there was “so much more to come.”
Season 3 will introduce new cast members Jon Hamm and Nicole Beharie, as well as the return of stars such as Julianna Margulies, Tig Notaro, Stephen Fry and Natalie Morales.
“We thrive and it’s quite — dare I say it — easy,” she said. “It’s such a pleasant set to be on. We love to communicate. We love to work stuff out, and we don’t just shove stuff under the rug. There’s no stone left unturned in a creative decision. We all put our heads together. There’s something so wonderful about trusting in your co-workers to know that if five people tell you look sick, then I’m gonna lay down, I’m gonna put my sword down on this one.”
The show has been an awards player for Apple TV+ as well, winning an Emmy, SAG award and Critics’ Choice award.
Underscoring the musical’s darker bits, deBessonet said, like the fear and loneliness the orphaned Oliver experiences, was a matter of subtraction rather than addition. Without elaborate sets or showstopping production numbers there are fewer elements competing to divert the audience’s attention from the words of the actors.
But neither did the production need to amp up the grim with foreboding lighting or a fog machine, she said — the darkness is already inherent in Dickens’s text, and in Bart’s book, score and lyrics.
“We’re trying to have those words be heard with the belief that the complexity is in the lyric itself,” she said.
One example, she said, is the titular tune “Oliver!,” a song familiar to many, even those who haven’t seen the show, for its high-spirited chorus.
“It’s this really bouncy song,” deBessonet said, “but the actual lyrics are:
There’s a dark, thin, winding stairway
Without any banister
Which we’ll throw him down and feed him on cockroaches
Served in a canister.
The show does preserve many of the musical’s more lighthearted elements. Every song from the original Broadway production remains, including bouncy numbers like “I’d Do Anything” and “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two.” The dreamlike sequence “Food, Glorious Food,” with its visions of sausages and mustards, jelly and custard. And 20 additional performers, all New York City public school students, will join the company onstage for “Consider Yourself,” the boys’ full-voiced embrace of Oliver into their ranks — the first true family he has known.
“The show is incredibly challenging — the domestic violence, the treatment of children at that time in general is truly harrowing,” deBessonet said. “And yet there’s this buoyant joy about these numbers.”
New data from Parrot Analytics reveals the top 10 “most in-demand superhero movies” in 2023 so far in the United States, a ranking which includes major films from both Marvel and DC.
So, what superhero movies were audiences most interested in and shared the most excitement for?
Most Popular Superhero Movies (2023 Data)
TheWrap revealed a chart from Parrot Analytics mapping out the 10 “most in-demand superhero movies” in the United States between January 1 and April 23, 2023.
According to Parrot Analytics, “in-demand” refers to a conglomeration of excitement, engagement, and popularity. It is measured with sources such as “search engines, wikis … fan and critic rating sites, … blogs and micro-blogging sites, social media platforms … open streaming platforms,” among others.
Essentially, the data is comparing each superhero movie’s hype, excitement, popularity and level of interaction, and comparing it to the average over a given time period.
Below are the findings…
10.) Shazam! Fury of the Gods
DC
In 10th place for U.S. demand this year so far comes the box-office disappointment that was Shazam! Fury of the Gods, with a demand 29.27 times the average. It seems despite its relatively poor box-office performance, the film was highly anticipated, and liked by plenty.
The 2023 Shazam! sequel starring Zachary Levi focused on the family dynamics of the aptly named Shazam Family, telling a heartfelt story of teamwork and sacrifice. The first Shazam-centric film performed fairly well at the box office back in 2019, and it seems enough fans were vocal enough about their passion for the franchise that the underperforming sequel made the 2023 U.S. top 10.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is available for digital rent or purchase on platforms like Apple TV, and will be available to stream on Max when the service launches on May 23.
9.) Joker
DC
2019’s Joker takes the ninth place spot on the list, coming in at a demand 31.44 times the average. The Oscar-winning film inspired by the iconic Batman villain was a huge hit after release, speaking to both comics fans and standard moviegoers alike.
Not only has Joker remained in the modern cultural zeitgeist because of the memes it inspired, but also likely due to its sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, releasing in October 2024. Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) will be joined by Lady Gaga (Harley Quinn) in Joker 2, potentially expanding interest in the sequel to Lady Gaga fans who are now watching the original movie.
It seems that fans — old and new — may be getting started on their preparation for the Elseworlds sequel early, if not just watching the award-winning film for its own sake, landing Joker a spot in this top 10 list.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League ranks eighth on the list of in-demand superhero movies in the United States so far this year, with demand 31.95 times the average. The film was dubbed the “Snyder Cut” by fans desperate to have the original Justice League (directed by Joss Whedon) re-released as envisioned by Zack Snyder, something that eventually did happen in March of 2021.
This four-hour-and-one-minute-long re-release is much beloved, with the SnyderVerse it takes place within being the subject of an April convention event. Beyond this popularity, the film has gotten a significant amount of extra affection and attention since the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran to reboot the DCU.
Die-hard SnyderVerse fans have continued to not only watch the Snyder Cut more than two years after its release, but to push for the story’s (and the SnyderVerse’s) continuation heavily on social media with “#SellSnyderVersetoNetflix.”
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is available to stream on HBO Max.
7.) Deadpool
20th Century
Deadpool continues to be a fan-favorite superhero film, as is evident with its seventh place ranking, with demand 33.1 times the average, seven years after releasing. Audiences fell in love with Ryan Reynolds‘ portrayal of the “merc with a mouth” in the movie, after being disappointed with the character in the infamousX-Men Origins: Wolverine.
After a beloved sequel, Marvel announced that 2024’s Deadpool 3 will not only feature Reynolds as Deadpool, but will also reunite him with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The hype surrounding this reveal was massive, likely contributing to Deadpool‘s high demand in 2023.
Funny, self-referential, and unafraid to take risks, Deadpool continues to delight and, at times, disturb, and audiences continue to react positively to it.
The culmination of the MCU’s Infinity Saga, Avengers: Endgame takes sixth place for demand this year so far, 33.15 times the average. Since its 2019 release, Endgame has been used as the bar MCU films are compared against — positive reviews of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, for instance, noted how it compares to the fourth Avengers film.
Featuring almost every character in the MCU when it released, Endgame has almost become essential viewing for any hero’s character arc — be it a conclusion, continuation or beginning of one.
Until the current Multiverse Saga gets its inevitable Endgame-like event, this cultural phenomenon will likely stay on people’s minds, regardless of if they are Marvel fans, appreciate what the movie represents, or even hate it.
Avengers: Endgame is available to stream on Disney+.
5.) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comes in at fifth place, the halfway point of the top 10 list, with demand 35.31 times the average. The Oscar-winning Multiverse story about developing your identity in the face of legacy and expectations was a huge hit when it released in 2018, and its highly anticipated sequel — Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — debuts this June.
Like other entries on the list, the hype for the sequel is likely a contributor to the movie’s 2023 demand — especially given the delays that extended the wait for the already-anticipated movie.
Further, Spider-Verse can appeal to anyone, Spider-Man fan or superhero naysayer, thanks to its universally recognizable coming-of-age theme and compelling story.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is available to stream on Fubo.
4.) The Batman
DC
The 2022 reboot of the World’s Greatest Detective, The Batman, is ranked fourth, with demand 47.63 times the average. Starring Robert Pattinson, the film took a new approach to Bruce Wayne‘s character, forgoing the classic playboy for an isolated and seemingly depressed man learning to trust in others.
A sequel was officially confirmed in 2023, with both films being classified as Elseworlds stories in Gunn and Safran’s rebooted DCU. This was unsurprising to fans, given the box-office and critical successes of The Batman, with all of these factors being likely contributors to the movie’s continued demand.
Still fresh from its release just over a year ago, The Batman made waves in the superhero movie fan community, and will likely stay a favorite for a long time still.
Regardless, the conversations surrounding this film and what it indicates for Marvel’s future are likely why it ranks so high, despite its more negative reception.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is available for digital purchase on platforms such as Apple TV, and will be available to stream on Disney+ on May 17.
Bringing in characters from several different franchises, including the aforementioned Spider-Man reboots, the MCU as a whole, the Venom movies and Daredevil, Spider-Man: No Way Home was filled-to-the-brim with scenes and references to watch over and over again.
Given all this, along with a compelling story, emotional performances, and funny script, it is no surprise that Spider-Man: No Way Home ranks so highly, even more than a year after releasing.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is available to stream on Starz and DIRECTV.
1.) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Marvel Studios
In first place as the most in-demand superhero movie in the United States in 2023 so far is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with demand 66.68 times the average. With a successful release in late 2022 and an Oscar win for costume design, the Black Panther sequel has certainly been fresh on fans’ minds.
The final film of the MCU’s Phase 4, Wakanda Forever was both a hit with fans and a financial success, while also being the first addition to the MCU on Disney+ this year. Additionally, it was the follow-up to arguably one of Marvel’s most successful films to date.
As such, it has definitely been a major player in the superhero movie community, contributing to the high demand reported.
Further, the film is an emotional tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who played T’challa in the MCU before passing away in 2020. With its recognition toward the beloved actor, this film will likely hold a special place in fans’ hearts for years to come.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is available to stream on Disney+.
How Might This List Change By 2024?
This top 10 list only accounts for the demand recorded in the United States from January 1 to April 23, 2023. As such, this data may look very different in another six months.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been a highly anticipated addition to the MCU, and with its generally positive reactions so far, could be a contender for the next list. Further, it could increase demand for the already-successful first Guardians of the Galaxy film.
Additionally, on DC’s end, The Flash is hitting theaters in June, and will have major implications on the future of the franchise. Seemingly a soft — but not complete — reboot for DC, The Flash will undoubtedly get much attention after its release.
Regardless, there are plenty of superhero movies — both on this list and otherwise — to discuss and enjoy while fans wait.
The Superman prequel series Smallvillehas the best live-action iteration of Lex Luthor by far. Smallville debuted in 2001, telling the story of how Tom Welling’s Clark Kent discovered his Kryptonian origins and came to terms with his powers. As Clark’s story progressed towards his destiny as Superman, so did the story of his future arch nemesis. Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex Luthor was entangled with Welling’s Clark from the very first episode of Smallville, with the series telling the tragic tale of friends-turned-enemies.
Rosenbaum’s long tenure on Smallville, seven of the series’ ten seasons, helped the actor cement his legacy as the greatest live-action Lex Luthor to this point. Superman is the epitome of what it means to be a superhero, not only based on the characters’ powers but his acute humanity, despite not being human himself. The character has spawned several different movies and TV shows over the years, with some of the best talent in Hollywood taking a stab at the character. Wherever Superman went, Luthor followed. Due to that, there have been many live-action Lex Luthor actors, but none gave a performance as remarkable as Rosenbaum in Smallville.
Gene Hackman, one of the most iconic actors of all-time, was the first to properly bring Lex Luthor to life in live-action on a feature film. Before Hackman, actor Lyle Talbot played a one-dimensional mad scientist version of the villain on the 1950’s Atom Man vs. Superman, which was one of the Superman film serials of the time. Hackman then took over Luthor for the Superman movie franchise, appearing in three out of four movies. Lex was the first villain Christopher Reeve’s Superman went up against in 1978’s Superman. Hackman’s Luthor was a much more rounded character than Atom Man vs. Superman‘s take.
Although the actor brought a gravitas to the role, Hackman’s Luthor was in many ways a far cry from the character’s comic book roots. The movie version of Lex substituted his technological schemes for a fixation with real estate. Hackman’s Luthor was also far more comedic than the calm and collected persona Lex is usually known for, but the actor’s outstanding performance allowed him to retain Lex’s menacing side when needed. Hackman appeared as Lex Luthor in Superman, Superman II, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Although he was not the most comic book-accurate version of Lex, Hackman’s Luthor stands as an iconic version of the villain.
Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Was More Riddler Than Luthor
While visually Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor did not really resemble the Superman villain’s signature bald look and stern persona, it was the actor’s performance as the character in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that really showed how different he was from the Lex Luthor known in the comics. Eisenberg’s turn as a younger Lex Luthor was far more energetic and manic than the muted personality the Superman villain is usually portrayed to have. The actor delivered a great villain performance by showing Lex’s brilliance, although his talents appeared more tailored to play the Batman villain Riddler rather than Luthor, which has become a common conception.
The modern tech genius take on Lex Luthor, with a talkative persona to boot, received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and audiences alike. It did not help Eisenberg’s case that the movie he appeared in as Luthor, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, was ill-received to the point of sending the entire DCEU into disarray. The actor’s performance might be an acquired taste when it comes to live-action Lex Luthor actors, but Eisenberg’s brief role as Lex in a Justice League post-credits scene teased a more comic book-accurate Luthor could be coming in the future; however, DC chose to move away from director Zack Snyder’s plans.
Michael Rosenbaum Added Depth To Lex Luthor In Smallville
Rosenbaum in Smallville is the best live-action portrayal of Lex Luthor. The actor had seven seasons to develop the most nuanced version of the character in live-action. Smallville‘s Lex Luthor was a tragic character, starting out as a young man with no real friends and a demanding father that rarely showed him affection. Lex’s upbringing would play a huge part in his transformation into a villain throughout the series, as the character would not take lightly to Clark constantly lying to him in order to maintain his powers a secret. John Glover’s Lionel Luthor, Lex’s father, had several scenes opposite Rosenbaum’s Lex that helped shape up his dark future.
Lex and Clark were best friends for quite some time in Smallville, with their friendship starting after the future Superman saved Lex from drowning. Rosenbaum’s long tenure on Smallville added depth to Lex Luthor, allowing the audience to see different sides to the character rather than just Superman’s arch nemesis. Rosenbaum’s tour de force performance, accompanied by great writing that included some of the best Luthor dialogue in any media, made the audience sympathize with the character. It became difficult to see Lex go down his destined villain path after such a long time in the light, and Rosenbaum made sure the audience felt the hurt.
Zachary Levi Almost Played Lex Luthor In Smallville
While Rosenbaum’s title as the best live-action Lex Luthor could be attributed to the time the actor had to develop the character, seven seasons, it was ultimately the actor’s ability to easily switch between warm and friendly into cold and evil that led to his performance becoming applauded by many. Rosenbaum’s career-defining performance as Lex Luthor can be compared to Heath Ledger’s iconic performance as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Despite Joaquin Phoenix’s Best Actor Oscar win for the title role in 2019’s Joker, Ledger continues to be regarded as the best live-action version of the Batman villain.
As does Ledger with the Joker, Rosenbaum remains the top live-action Lex Luthor, despite other actors taking on the role since he ended his tenure in Smallville. What many people do not know is that Smallville‘s Lex Luthor could have been played by Shazam! actor Zachary Levi rather than Rosenbaum. Recently, Levi opened up about losing the Smallville Lex Luthor role. The actor got really close to getting the part, going as far in the casting process as to audition for the executives at the network and Smallville pilot director David Nutter. Ultimately, the part went to Rosenbaum, with Levi eventually getting another DC role in the form of Shazam.
Levi recently came under fire after Shazam! Fury of the Gods bombed at the box office. Levi’s performance in the Shazam! sequel became a focal point of criticism surrounding the movie, with DC fans saying Levi was too childish as Shazam while Asher Angel acted more serious as Billy Batson, his child counterpart. Judging from Levi’s more comedic-leaning talents, it is hard to imagine what the actor’s take on Luthor would have been like, but it likely would not have gone in the same direction as Rosenbaum’s did in Smallville. In the end, the correct choice was made, and Smallville gained the best live-action portrayal of Lex Luthor in Rosenbaum.
The Super Mario Bros. movie will reportedly cross the $1Billion dollar mark at the box office this weekend.
According to box office tracking site Box Office Mojo, estimates suggest that the film, which is in its fourth week of release, will cross the mark by the time that tallies for this weekend’s earnings have been collected.
The film, which is a co-production between Illumination (Minions, Despicable Me) and Nintendo, is the biggest film of 2023, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania coming in second and John Wick: Chapter 4 in third for movies released in 2023.
Overall, the second-highest-grossing film of the year is currently Avatar: The Way of Water. However, that was first released in late 2022.
A huge factor affecting this weekend’s box office is the film’s release in Nintendo’s native Japan, which only received the movie on April 28, almost a month after the international release.
Speaking to Japanese press ahead of the movie’s debut in Nintendo’s home country, Mario creator Miyamoto discussed its performance and the reception from critics, which he acknowledged had been mixed.
“I did have a level of expectations that this movie would also do well [like the Super Nintendo World theme park], but I was very surprised that it went beyond what I could have imagined when it finally came out,” he said, translated by VGC contributor Robert Sephazon.
“You need some luck to achieve this level of success for a film,” he added. “While many foreign critics have given the movie relatively low ratings, I think that also contributed to the movie’s notoriety and buzz.
“I’d be happy if viewers could say that the definition of what a movie is has changed because of this film. That just shows how lucky we were.”
Among professional critics, it currently has a 58% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It appears to be doing notably better with movie-goers, however, with over 10,000 verified reviews on the site delivering a current average score of 96%.
“The Super Mario Bros Movie may not take any major risks, but it’s a faithful adaptation of the games and will appeal to children and fans of the series alike,” our critic wrote.
Malaysian social drama “Abang Adik” was named best film and winner of the Golden Mulberry prize on Sunday at the Far East Film Festival in Italy’s Udine.
The film is a story of two undocumented and orphaned men, who may or may not be real brothers, but who lift each other up. The film’s director Jin Ong collected the White Mulberry prize for best debut feature and “Abang Adik” added a third prize decided by the festival’s season pass holders.
Second place on the podium went to South Korea with Chang Hang-jun’s “Rebound,” while third place went to “Yudo,” by Japan’s Suzuki Masayuki.
Other prizes included a Mulberry for best screenplay which went to “Day Off” by Taiwanese director Fu Tien-Yu and the prize from the readers of MYmovieswhich went to Janchivdorj Sengedorj’s Mongolian comedy “The Sales Girl.”
Festival organizers report that the 25th edition of the FEFF brought in more than 60,000 spectators and 1,600 accredited guests, to watch 78 titles from 14 countries – including nine world premieres.
“These are very positive results. We feel it’s essential to invite (Italian regional and cultural funding) institutions to reflect,” said the FEFF’s co- directors, Sabrina Baracetti and Thomas Bertacche.
“We believe that given the long journey it has taken to get where it is today, the festival deserves to continue seeing its potential for growth bear fruit. Are public bodies ready to support the FEFF with more funding, transforming it into a genuine hub that connects the East and the West? Will the future of the FEFF continue to be that of a major international film festival. Can its network of over twenty-year-long relationships be developed into something more wide-ranging?”
Illumination’s animated film stands at $1 billion worldwide, while “The Eight Mountains” provided a rare specialized bright spot.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Universal) is projected to gross another $40 million in its fourth weekend, an achievement held only “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Black Panther” in 2018.
That puts Illumination’s animated film at $1.022 billion worldwide and $490 million domestic. If it hits $650 million domestic — now possible — it will surpass any cartoon feature this century. (“Shrek 2” and “Incredibles 2” reached $600 million adjusted).
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Disney) opening next weekend will end Mario’s #1 streak, but “SMB” should stay strong for weeks to come. It could surpass “Maverick” ($719 million) — an even more impressive feat when it lacks a concentration premium tickets and sells many more lower-priced children’s priced tickets.
“Evil Dead Rise”
Though at a lower gross and hold, “Evil Dead Rise” (Warner Bros. Discovery) at #2 with $12.5 million, adds to the positive news. Its 50 percent second-week drop was low end for a genre film. Even better, its $44.6 million take (it will easily pass $60 million) comes from a budget reported under $20 million.
Related
Related
The weekend box office totaled around $99 million, but the two major entrants disappointed. “Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret” (Lionsgate) managed only $6.8 million despite stellar reviews, residual interest in Judy Blume’s classic novels, and an A Cinemascore.
Why this weak? 81 percent of the audience was female, 81 percent was over 25, and 77 percent was white. Those kinds of numbers make it hard to reach anything close to $10 million. This economical $30 million production is the kind of title that needs to work for a healthy theater industry.
“Big George Foreman” failed to make the top 10 with only $3 million. It looked like a winner: Produced by Affirm Films, a faith-based production unit with a strong record of major returns for lower investment, it had the benefit of the Foreman name. It was sports-related like recent successes “Creed III” and “Air,” and Sony usually sees positive results from original titles. This appears to be Affirm’s costliest title (over $30 million reported), and for once its formula of fusing religious themes into mainstream releases failed.
Three films with more limited releases opened in the top 1o. A premium-screen reissue of “Return of the Jedi” (Disney) placed fifth with $4.7 million in only 475 theaters. That places the third title in the initial “Star Wars” trilogy at an adjusted total of around $865 million.
“Sisu”
“Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two” (FDN), an expensive Indian sequel, placed #8 with over $3.6 million in 600 theaters. “Sisu,” a Finnish World War II film picked up by Lionsgate after its Toronto festival showing, did a decent $3.25 million in 1,006 theaters.
Despite two strong titles at the top, three other holdovers maintained drops under 30 percent, led by #4 “John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate), down 14 percent. “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” (Paramount), off 25 percent and “Air” (MGM), down 27 percent, also continue to show strength.
Overall business continues its strong comparisons to last year and 2019. Grosses were up 46 percent from last year, with year to date maintaining a 37 percent improvement. That’s terrific four months into 2023, but don’t expected that pace to keep up. (Last year took off in May). Despite a horrific 24 percent comparison to the same 2019 weekend (“Avengers: Endgame” debuted), the four-week rolling average still is at 102 percent.
“The Eight Mountains” (Sideshow/Janus) was a bright spot in a mostly bleak specialized environment. The Italian Cannes Jury Prize co-winner did a strong $36,000 in two New York theaters for the distributor’s best per-theater opening so far (ahead of “Drive My Car” and “EO”).
Equally acclaimed “R.M.N.” (IFC), another Cannes competition title last year, had a different result. It only grossed $5,800 in two New York locations. Better results were seen from two new Abramorama releases. “32 Sounds,” a Sundance-premiered documentary on aural power, had an above average debut of $9,224 at New York’s Film Forum. Oliver Stone’s documentary “Nuclear Now” (Abramorama) in two New York/Los Angeles theaters did better (just under $10,000 in two theaters) ahead of a 300-theater nationwide one-day showing Monday.
Both films are post-Oscars; neither was submitted by their countries in the antiquated Oscar International category. The awards attention boosted to some subtitled modest successes like “EO” and “Close” (A24).
“Polite Society”
Parisa Taghizadeh
Focus, with the fallback of early PVOD and later Peacock showings enhancing revenue potential, opened another Sundance 2023 title to a sub-$1,000 PTA. British comedy “Polite Society” managed $800,000 in 927 theaters.
Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid” more than doubled its theaters to drop nearly 50 percent and fell short of the top 10 with about $1.4 million. It stands at $5.6 million.
Of note among specialized titles: No film with more than four weeks of play reported a gross. Even in the current challenged environment, that is exceptional.
The Top 10
1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal) Week 4; Last weekend #1
$6,800,000 in 3,343 theaters; PTA: $2,034; Cumulative: $6,800,000
4. John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) Week 6; Last weekend #4
$5,000,000 (-14%) in 2,481 (-204) theaters; PTA: $2,015; Cumulative: $176,155,000
5. Return of the Jedi (Disney) REISSUE
$ 4,694,000 in 475 theaters; PTA: $988; Cumulative: (adjusted) $865,000,000
6. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount) Week 5; Last weekend #6
$4,100,000 (-25%) in 2,709 (-251) theaters; PTA: $1,513; Cumulative: $88,160,000
7. Air (MGM) Week 4; Last weekend #5
$4,001,000 (-27%) in 2,402 (-421) theaters; PTA: $1,666; Cumulative: $47,627,000
8. Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two (FDN) NEW – Est. budget: $32 million
$3,645,000 in 600 theaters; PTA: $6,076; Cumulative: $3,645,000
9. The Covenant (MGM) Week 2; Last weekend #3
$3,615,000 (-43%) in 2,631 (+20) theaters; PTA: $1,374; Cumulative: $12,294,000
10. Sisu (Lionsgate) NEW – Metacritic: 68; Est. budget: $7 million
$3,250,000 in 1,006 theaters; PTA: $3,230; Cumulative: $3,250,000
Other specialized titles
Films (limited, expansions of limited, as well as awards-oriented releases) are listed by week in release, starting with those opened this week; after the first two weeks, only films with grosses over $5,000 are listed.
The Eight Mountains (Sideshow/Janus) NEW – Metacritic: 81; Festivals include: Cannes 2022, Sundance 2023
$36,000 in 2 theaters; PTA: $18,000
Polite Society (Focus) NEW – Metacritic: 75; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2023
$800,000 in 927 theaters; PTA: $858
32 Sounds (Abramorama) NEW – Metacritic: 85; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2022
$9,224 in 1 theater; PTA: $9,224
R.M.N. (IFC) NEW – Metacritic: 81; Festivals include: Cannes, Toronto, New York 2022
$5,800 in 2 theaters; PTA: $2,900
Nuclear Now (Abramorama) NEW – Metacritic: ; Festivals include: Venice 2022
$9,814 in 2 theaters; PTA: $4,907
Chevalier (Searchlight) Week 2
$625,000 in 1,281 (+6) theaters; PTA: $488; Cumulative: $2,778,000
Somewhere in Queens (Roadside Attractions) Week 2
$321,215 in 499 (-103) theaters; PTA: $644; Cumulative: $1,304,000
Other People’s Children (Music Box) Week 2
$14,895 in 7 (+4) theaters; PTA: $2,128; Cumulative: $35,007
Carmen (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 2
$10,122 in 11 (+9) in theaters; PTA: $920; Cumulative: $27,044
Beau Is Afraid (A24) Week 3
$1,433,000 in 2,125 (+1,153 theaters; PTA: $674; Cumulative: $5,641,000
Suzume (Sony) Week 3
$535,000 in 440 (-1,730) theaters; Cumulative: $9,754,000
Wild Life (Picturehouse) Week 3
$56,318 in 13 (-1) theaters; Cumulative: $208,648
Showing Up (A24) Week 4
$78,590 in 115 (+30) theaters; Cumulative: $552,271
Joyland (Oscilloscope) Week 4
$33,510 in 30 (+22) theaters; Cumulative: $134,298
While discussing immigration to the U.S., Oliver showcased an interview with Joe Biden on Telemundo talking about asylum seekers. At one point in the clip, Biden says he can only imagine having a family member deported and adds, “To me, it’s all about family, beginning, middle and end.”
Oliver then joked, “Yeah, it’s all about family, beginning, middle and end… whatever the f**k that means. A pretty empty phrase from a presidential candidate but, to be honest, a pretty good tagline for Fast X.”
“It’s only mildly less comprehensible than, ‘The end of the road begins,’” Oliver continued.
Last week, Oliver suggested a new slogan for the HBOMax rebrand that is now called Max and set to include programming from Discovery.
“Hey, do you like HBO but want ads, the Property Brothers but also don’t like HBO… Max! There’s entertainment in watching a company die!” Oliver joked.
At the close of Last Week Tonight, Oliver said he had challenged a plumbing company called Radiant that makes parodies of movies to promote their services. Oliver tasked the Texan company to parody Magnolia, the 1999 film by Paul Thomas Anderson.
Radiant accepted the challenge and was able to recreate many moments from the film and adapt including the frog shower, which was now a toilet shower, and the Aimee Mann song that the cast sings at one point.
“There are more easter eggs in this ad than in a ten-episode Marvel TV show,” Oliver said.
Oliver noted the many easter eggs found throughout the parody, including the thermostat set to ninety-nine degrees, which was the year the film was released as well as when the plumbing company was founded.
Two mischievous yet lovable five-year-old twins and their friends enjoy daily life and new discoveries with the residents of their Malaysian village.
Certificate:Suitable for all ages
Year: 2021
Duration: 9 Seasons
Available Seasons: Season 5 (14 Ep), Season 6 (14 Ep), Season 7 (14 Ep), Season 8 (14 Ep), Season 9 (14 Ep), Season 10 (14 Ep), Season 11 (14 Ep), Season 12 (14 Ep), Season 13 (14 Ep), Season 14 (14 Ep), Season 15 (14 Ep)
Audio: English, Malay [Original]
Subtitles: English, Malay, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Status: Returning Series”Upin&Ipin” is a TV show produced by Les’ Copaque Production. The show was originally broadcast on Nickelodeon (United States), YouTube, 8TV (Malaysia), TV9 (Malaysia), MNCTV (Indonesia), Astro Prima (Malaysia), Nickelodeon India (India), RTM2 (Malaysia), Hungama (India), Astro Ceria (Malaysia), Disney Channel (India), MediaCorp Channel Suria (Singapore) and Disney+ Hotstar (Malaysia) and premiered on September 14th 2007. So far there have been 16 seasons (comprising of 290 episodes) of “Upin&Ipin”. The most recent episode aired on January 5th 2019 and more seasons are expected in the future.
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Jessica Chastain and Okieriete Onaodowan in A Doll’s House on Broadway. Photo credit: Emilio Madrid
Emilio Madrid
Weekly Commentary: In terms of sheer numbers, the lineup of play revivals this season was relatively sparse – but every single one of them could legitimately claim a place in what is likely to be a category of four unless a tie expands the list.
Two starry strong-sellers seem assured to get the nod: “The Piano Lesson,” with Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Brooks headlining a beloved August Wilson play, and “A Doll’s House,” with Jessica Chastain commanding the stage in a stripped-down take on the Ibsen classic (also in the Emmy conversation). Also likely to claim a spot is “Topdog/Underdog,” the critically lauded production with Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II duking it out in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer winner.
The last show to open before the eligibility cutoff, “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window,” comes in hot, riding the buzz the production cultivated in its run earlier this spring at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The production brings a little-seen Lorraine Hansberry play to Broadway, with Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan lending star power.
Waiting in the wings are two other deserving shows: The latest iteration of “Death of a Salesman,” this time with a Black Loman family adding new shadings to the Arthur Miller drama, and “Ohio State Murders,” the influential Adrienne Kennedy play with Tony fave Audra McDonald in the lead.
The Tony Awards eligibility cutoff date for the 2022–23 season is April 27, 2023, for all Broadway productions which meet all other eligibility requirements. The 2023 Tony Awards nominations will be announced on May 2, 2023.
The 76th Annual Tony Awards are scheduled for June 11, 2023, at the United Palace in New York City. It will air on CBS and Paramount+ and be produced by Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss, with the latter also serving as the director.
BEST MUSICAL | BEST PLAY | MUSICAL REVIVAL | PLAY REVIVAL | ACTOR (MUSICAL) | ACTOR (PLAY) | ACTRESS (MUSICAL) | ACTRESS (PLAY) | FEATURED ACTOR (MUSICAL) | FEATURED ACTOR (PLAY) | FEATURED ACTRESS (MUSICAL) | FEATURED ACTRESS (PLAY) | DIRECTOR (MUSICAL) | DIRECTOR (PLAY) | ORIGINAL SCORE | MUSICAL BOOK | CHOREOGRAPHY
About the Tony Awards
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, better known as the Tony Awards, is given out annually by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, recognizing excellence in live Broadway theatre. The ceremony, held annually in New York City, was founded by theatre producer and director Brock Pemberton and is named after Antoinette “Tony” Perry, an actress, producer and theatre director who was co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.
When the anonymous songwriter/producer Ghostwriter777 recently dropped “Heart on My Sleeve,” a song built around the AI-cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd, Universal Music Group moved instantly to remove it from streaming services. But one artist has reacted very differently to the emerging technology. Grimes, whose last album was 2020’s Miss Anthropocene, announced via Twitter on April 23 that anyone can use AI models of her voice “without penalty,” and that she’d split royalties 50/50 with the creator of any successful song doing so. It wasn’t an idle offer; this weekend, she put up an online platform at elf.tech that allows users to post Grimes-infused songs on Spotify and other streaming services under the name GrimesAI-1.
In the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Grimes’ manager, Daouda Leonard, explains their thinking, and goes deep on how artificial intelligence may reshape music. Find the episode here at the podcast provider of your choice, go directly to Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above.
Fundamentally, Leonard says, Grimes sees music as a gift to be shared, not hoarded. “She often says that creativity is a conversation with those who came before us and those who are going to come after us,” he says. “And so the idea is that instead of her attempting to control what is a gift from the universe, she’s like, ‘Well, let me open-source that. Let me allow people to access what the universe gave me as a gift. And if I do that, what are the new experiences that can be created out of that?’”
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Leonard and Grimes also see voice-cloning as akin to fan-fiction or fan-created artwork. “What’s the difference between this and what people have been doing with properties like League of Legends, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etcetera, where they’re making all of this amazing fan art and they’re also monetizing that amazing fan art? That’s a beautiful relationship between the consumer and the fan and the creators of that IP. And so that’s what we’re jumping on. That’s what we’re excited about.”
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Despite that enthusiasm, Leonard accepts Universal’s decision to push for the takedown of the fake Drake/the Weeknd song, and agrees with those who saw that recording as demeaning to the artists and Black music in general. “I agree with them taking it down because it just felt like there was no consent,” he says. “That’s the worst of human behavior coming to haunt us.”
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.
The 12 remaining contestants on season 21 of American Idol perform for their shot at getting in the top 10 during the show’s April 30 episode. Throughout the episode, each artist takes the stage to perform a rock ‘n roll song for America’s votes amidst the first live show of the season. Up first is Tyson Venegas, who sings “For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder. He gets a standing ovation from all three judges, Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry. “For you to step out of the piano and have all of that comfort working the stage, connecting…it was like you weren’t even trying to make the magic happen,” Luke gushes. “Great job.”
Warren Peay, who is newly engaged, is next to perform. He puts his own spin on “House of the Rising Sun” for his rock performance, injecting his soul and raspy voice into the powerful lyrics. His song choice is applauded by the judges, although Lionel and Luke that he might have started the performance with his voice at range that was a bit too low. “I love your voice. It’s like a bottle of grit and you just bring that authenticity,” Katy raves.
Marybeth Byrd performing on ‘Idol.’ (ABC)
The next performance is from Haven Madison. Her dad helps her come up with a partly stripped down arrangement of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer,” and mentor Adam Lambert gives her advice for keeping her individuality while performing a cover song. The judges are blown away by the performance, especially Haven’s newfound confidence. “You’re the next big pop star as far as this performance goes,” Katy says, while Luke calls it her “breakout” performance.
LucyLove takes the stage next after earning the judges’ save last week. Now, she has to prove herself to America with her performance of Lionel’s own song “All Night Long.” Lionel himself is very impressed with what Lucy does onstage. “You did such a great job. You took my song and made it your song. That’s crazy good,” Lionel assures Lucy. Next, Oliver Steele reimagines Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” for his performance. The judges applaud the performance, but urge Oliver to give a little more and dig even deeper in the future.
After his breakthrough performance last week, Colin Stough has some trouble choosing a rock ‘n’ roll song. He winds up going with “Midnight Rider,” and once again impresses the judges, who are also happy to see his growth week after week. After Colin, Marybeth Byrd takes the state with a rendition of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” putting her own country twist on the song. “I love how you made that you. You didn’t overdo anything, you just made it you, and it was great,” Luke tells Marybeth.
Megan Danielle performing after making the top 20. (ABC)
Following a performance from Adam, it’s back to the competition. We Ani is up next with a performance of an Etta James classic, “Something’s Got A Hold On Me.” After she belts out the track, all three of the judges give a standing ovation. “That was how you bring nasty to the table,” Lionel raves. “That’s all I wanted to say. A breakout performance right there.”
The judges’ other pick from last week, Nutsa, is up next. Adam advises her to sing a softer song to show a different side of herself. However, Nutsa is worried she doesn’t have enough time, so she goes with her original choice of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On,” but decides to make it more angelic. Once again, the judges are on their feet. “You can’t change,” Katy tells Nutsa, while also praising her for taking Adam’s advice and rolling with it.
Megan Danielle is next with a performance of “Angel From Montgomery” by Bonnie Raitt. Luke is so emotional by the end of the performance. “What you just did will stand up in any room — any award show I’ve ever been to, that performance will stand up anywhere,” he gushes. Next, Zachariah Smith sings “Don’t Bring Me Down” by Electric Light Orchestra. “You brought the party to the stage,” Lionel tells Zachariah, specifically gushing over his ability to “entertain,” as well as sing.
The final performance of the night is from Iam Tongi. He sings “Bring It On Home To Me.” This was another performance to get a standing ovation from the judges, and the crowd was going crazy afterward. “You are magic,” Katy tells Iam. “You are the one. It’s wild. I can’t even hear myself.” At the end of the night, the top 10 is revealed based on the live vote. The artists moving on to the top 10 are: Warren Peay, We Ani, Iam Tongi, Megan Danielle, Zachariah Smith, Haven Madison, Colin Stough, Oliver Steele, Tyson Venegas and Marybeth Byrd. That means that Nutsa and Lucy Love are eliminated.
Amazon, in the midst of paring back its workforce, topped Wall Street forecasts with better-than-expected revenue growth for the first quarter of 2023.
The company reported Q1 revenue of $127.4 billion, up 9% year over year, improving over a 7% rise in the year-earlier quarter but still off its historical pace of top-line growth. Net income was $3.2 billion, or 31 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $3.8 billion in Q1 2022 (which included a $7.8 billion loss on its stake in electric-vehicle maker Rivian).
Amazon’s Q1 results easily coasted past financial analyst projections. On average, Wall Street expected revenue of $124.55 billion and earnings per share of 21 cents, according to Refinitiv data. Shares of Amazon climbed more than 11% in after-hours trading on the beat.
“There’s a lot to like about how our teams are delivering for customers, particularly amidst an uncertain economy,” CEO Andy Jassy said in announcing the results. “Our Advertising business continues to deliver robust growth, largely due to our ongoing machine learning investments that help customers see relevant information when they engage with us, which in turn delivers unusually strong results for brands.”
Amazon’s ad segment had sales of $9.5 billion, an increase of 21% year over year, beating analyst expectations of 15% growth. “We have a lot of upside” going forward in advertising, Jassy said on the earnings call, saying Amazon is still trying to find the optimal way to deliver ads in video and live sports.
The company’s AWS cloud segment saw sales rise 16% year-over-year to $21.4 billion, while operating income declined 21%, to $5.1 billion.
On the entertainment front, Amazon touted MGM’s release of “Creed III,” directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan, which grossed $100.4 million globally in its opening weekend, marking the biggest U.S. debut for any sports film in history. Prime Video’s original limited series “Daisy Jones & the Six” debuted at No. 1 on the service globally. The streaming service’s additional original films and series launched in Q1 included action comedy “Shotgun Wedding,” starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel; romantic comedy “Somebody I Used to Know,” directed by Dave Franco; comedic thriller “The Consultant,” starring Christoph Waltz; and “Swarm,” from co-creator and executive producer Donald Glover.
Note: The following story contains spoilers from “Succession” Season 4, Episode 6
The latest episode of “Succession” was crowded with standout moments, from the posthumous return of Logan Roy (Brian Cox) to a flirtatious reunion between Tom (Matthew McFadyen) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) to an almost-cringe Investor Day presentation from Kendall (Jeremy Strong).
The episode, titled “Living+,” marks the third time behind the camera for director Lorene Scafaria, who previously directed “Too Much Birthday” in Season 3 and “Honeymoon States” in Season 4. She told TheWrap that working with Cox on the pre-taped videos for Waystar’s Investor Day presentation offered a massive and nerve-wracking opportunity to collaborate with him one last time on the HBO drama series.
“As you can imagine after Episode 3, I didn’t imagine I’d be working with Brian again. And suddenly at the table read there was that opening scene,” she said. “So that was so thrilling to think of the audible gasp for the audience opening on Logan.”
Read on for TheWrap’s full conversation with Scafaria about the episode’s biggest moments, how Strong pitched the idea of the flight jackets himself and why she thinks it’s time for Kieran Culkin to get his due.
What has it been like to be in the director’s chair during the final season of one of the biggest TV shows of all time?
An absolute honor. I’m gobsmacked that I got the opportunity in the first place. It was February 2020 when I did my first interview phone call with Jesse and Mark and certainly didn’t know then that I would even be invited back for Season 4, let alone that it would be the last season and so momentous. I feel so lucky. This is my third episode. They’ve gifted me such wonderful material, and I was lucky enough to do Kendall’s 40th birthday debacle and then had the daunting task of Logan’s wake. But they’ve all been so different and [Episode 6] was just this incredible sort of spectacle, this sprawling movie, but they all focus on the siblings without dad in the room. I’ve just been so lucky to work with these actors and this crew. It’s just been a dream.
How did you approach crafting the episodes this season?
They were all so different. 307 was this wild ride but it was perfectly contained, and 404 was like this intimate ensemble play. There were so many different inspirations, “Clue” and [Ingmar] Bergman and Eugene O’Neill. Just pulling from a lot. But that was its own challenge, just all taking place in one location whereas [Episode 6] had so many different locations that you never saw before. Waystar LA, Waystar Studios. It was such a sprawling little film and it did read like a movie on the page, the scripts come in very long, but there was something else about it that just gave it that vibe. And since it was this LA episode, we just decided to have a little fun with that and lean into that feeling. So that was kind of the approach for this one out of the gate.
What was it like getting to work with Brian Cox on Episode 6?
I love that we’re seeing him in this completely surreal setting, to this strange green screen behind him and the clapper in front of his face feels like a little bit of a wink, you know. And I can say that was the most nervous I’ve ever been on the set of “Succession.” Not just because of course, Brian was back and we had to figure out how to reintroduce him in a fun way, but I had the extra daunting task of acting opposite Brian Cox, even though I was off camera as the director of the promo. I was just sweating down to my waist and brought a change of clothes that day. It was an insane surreal little dream within a dream.
Why did you decide to do that yourself?
I certainly didn’t make the decision. I promise I didn’t cast myself. But at some point Jesse asked if I’d play the role of the director. It might have been the only role I could have been suited for.
Episode 6 is a showcase for Shiv, as she plays both sides between her brothers and Matsson, and as she rekindles her relationship with Tom. How did you approach the Shiv/Tom scenes in this episode?
What a treat. They’re both just so good and the writing is so good. So, I mean it’s all credit to these two actors and what the writers brought to it. The room where Shiv is crying, for her scheduled grief, it’s fascinating to see her go from being so furious with her brothers to these tears of frustration, and I think she’s so lonely. I think she’s plagued by this loneliness, that I don’t know if she would have even known how much she could have missed Tom until being on the outs with her brothers, and not sure where she fits with [Lukas] Mattson and her dad being gone and that creature comfort that kind of takes over.
Tom being that voice on the phone in 403, I think that was so important that he was that calm in the storm for her. And yet here in this room, the way that sex kind of swirls around death, I just wanted to make it kind of sexy, actually kind of remind the audience that there was a connection between these people in the first place and my approach there was just to make sure that she was the one who kissed him.
We certainly did a lot of — as far as blocking and talking and choreography — with it all, even though we wanted to keep it alive. Then to take that energy into this Investor party, this bitey moment, that was just electrifying. They’re like two kids who already kissed under the bleachers, so now here they are just teenagers, and I spoke to them a lot about how when you’re feeling each other out, your body is just kind of twisting around, sometimes you’re facing one way, sometimes you’re facing the other. And then with two people like this, especially with Shiv and what she’s been through, suddenly this expression of love that they have for each other comes out through violence and who can hurt the other one more. And I think for her, once that bite comes down, she kind of recognizes maybe through the trauma of childhood and how she associates feelings of love and suddenly that pain is kind of familiar and it sparks something even more which then of course we take into the post coital conversation between the two of them and their love is messed up, but it’s kind of still love.
So again, I just wanted to keep it sexy and on its feet. You’re feeling the love, but man, are you a little bit suspicious about what this is. And yet Tom is being so honest with her, he’s talking about money. He’s telling her his values almost for the first time, as if it is a surprise. But in a way, it’s this thing that they have in common and it brings them together and it sort of makes him the right man for her. And I mean, they laugh at the end. They’re just so brilliant.
Sarah deserves all the marbles this year. [Shiv] is the most complicated, multifaceted character. The depths that she goes to and then comes back from. I call her the bends because that’s like what she gives me during one scene. It’s just gotten to the bottom of the ocean and resurfaced again. So much is happening behind her eyes.
Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen in a still from “Succession.”
Shiv’s storyline this season has been fascinating since Logan’s death. You directed the scene where she finds out she’s pregnant in Episode 4, which she’s kind of swept under the rug for now. What was your approach to directing such a pivotal, but also really quick moment?
Reading that on the page for the first time, and realizing that this episode was going to have this gigantic reveal. It’s almost like a soap moment. You just want to make sure that everything feels as real as possible. It’s funny, people keep saying ‘Oh, each episode is almost a day.’ These are the craziest 10, 11, 12 days in the Roy family’s lives. But I think that’s exactly how it happens. When it rains, it pours and you often are dealing with way too many things at once.
They say the two things that change you the most are having a child and the death of a parent. So for Shiv to be dealing with both of those things at the same time, that’s just absolute head scramble.
What’s the biggest challenge for you as a director bringing her story from the page to the screen?
I think the biggest challenge in telling Shiv’s story is just keeping all of those things alive. But, I mean, to be completely honest again, with writing this good. Georgia Pritchett and Will Arbery are so brilliant, all the storylines for Shiv up until this point, everything that Sarah brings to it, she’s just so full and so I think the biggest challenge is just keeping all of that in my own head.
But these actors know the characters better than everyone. So that’s not that difficult for me to be honest. My job is halfway there as far as her keeping it a secret and what it means for her within the scenes with Tom, what it means for her when, I mean, you’ve seen other episodes where she’s had to pretend she might do a line of coke. There’s so much that she has to keep in her head while it’s the last thing in the world that she has the time for. In a way, it’s like her womanhood is this constant reminder. I guess I sort of have a feeling like that sometimes. You just don’t think of yourself that way until you’re reminded “All right, I’m a woman.” And so I think this is just a constant reminder.
When we shot her falling in episode 404. As an audience member, you’re reminded like, “oh good God,” you’re just so worried for her in a new way that you never had before, never thought of her as someone that needed to be taken care of or needed anyone else to help take care of her. So I think that’s all swirling in her head.
Episode 6 was also big for Roman as he’s making big decisions like firing Gerri and stepping out of the Investor Day presentation, and then reckoning with his own uncertainty about his actions. What were conversations with Kieran Culkin like as you worked on his scenes?
He’s just so brilliant. I couldn’t root harder for anyone. I just have to say if he walks away from this show and his character without getting his flowers — give that man his flowers, good grief. He’s been a knockout from the beginning, but I think people are really seeing the range this year.
As far as those scenes, we had a lot of different conversations about it. He’s just such a special actor. Going into the scene with the head of Waystar Studios, I think in a way this is where Roman feels like he might be able to add some great ideas. I think he thinks of himself as slightly more creative and thinks this might be a good fit for him. So when he’s undermined in that scene by her saying, “I’m sure you are where you are for a very good reason.” I think that’s just so triggering for him. This is mom, this is dad. These are the years of being ignored, and Kieran brought that intensity along with the pain that you see in the scene with Gerri.
I think when Gerri says “You’re not your dad,” obviously that’s just the straw that breaks the camel’s back. And in a way, I think Roman firing Gerri started — I mean of course it started in 403 when his dad told him to do it. But I think it really was after Roman is just so sad after his father died, he tells Gerri how sad he is and she just walks up out of the room. I think that rejection was incredibly painful for him. So firing Gerri is at once hurting her the way that she hurt him and also filling his dad’s shoes. But as the episode goes on, I think the shoes are just filling with blood.
My favorite scene in the entire episode is the last scene of him in the car listening to the edited video of his dad over and over and just seeing everything flash across his face. He knows it’s funny and then the pain seeps in and then he just holds that phone up to his ear. On the day, and even now, it just makes me ill when I watch it. He just brings so much vulnerability and sensitivity to a character that I don’t think you’d understand him quite so well if you didn’t have such a special actor behind it.
What was it like working with Jeremy Strong on the big Investor Day presentation?
I would follow Jeremy Strong to the ends of the earth. He is so brilliant. We’ve had such fun episodes together. I’ve gotten very lucky with the three episodes that I did that have these very full Kendall arcs in a way, and are maybe a nice little Kendall trilogy on their own actually. So I’ve been lucky to take him from manic states to depressive ones and from depressive states to manic ones. And so this was that same birthday boy has got that gleam in his eye. Just all these grand ideas, all these big manic ideas and the show has had such great history with all the anxiety and tension already built into the idea of Kendall getting up on stage.
But this was certainly a challenge. We had a lot of extras who all had to keep everything a secret. I think they did it because they knew how important they were to the scene. Jeremy thanked them all after and the whole room just cheered for him. It was like he had 300 scene partners.
I do like to treat these very special sequences as much like a stunt as possible. Let Jeremy run the presentation through from beginning to end, including talking with the press. So we just went in with a really solid plan, worked with a wonderful DP, Katelin Arizmendi, for the first time this year and it was a seven-camera day. We had five film cameras and two video cameras.
I think one of the strokes of genius came from Jeremy himself, this flight jacket that I have to give him full credit for — along with, of course, costume designer Michelle Matlin — who I think told an entire story with the placement of that red ATN patch on his arm. On one hand, this jacket is like a fun-loving “Top Gun: Maverick” homage, and on the other it’s this incredibly fascist imagery. It conjures such a dark feeling. So I couldn’t help but encourage that idea.
But I just wanted to show that he’s really alone up there. We had some fun putting three spotlights on him so that there are these moments you see he’s casting these three shadows on the floor behind him that feel like these echoes of his siblings, even though he’s up there all alone. And full credit to the writers who gave Kendall a win for a change. I mean, what could be more surprising than that?
The episode ends on Kendall heading to the beach and jumping into the water. Why did you choose to end the episode on that shot?
It’s funny because the beach scene was not always in the script. It appeared in a draft and then it disappeared, and I must say I was adamant about the beach scene. There were whole days where I was the only person who wanted to shoot it. It was just an absolute logistical nightmare. It was a cold day in mid-October, rough seas but I’m just such a superfan of the show. So I was so excited to see Kendall face up in the water and even though there are dark clouds on the horizon and he’s alone, it’s a victory lap. We’ve seen him face down in the water, we’ve seen him sitting in empty bathtubs, we’ve had this imagery before. But it was just something I felt very strongly had to end the episode. I only wish I could have played the action straight through because Jeremy really dove into those waves rather fearlessly. There’s no stunt double there. We were all holding our gasp.
There’s a very silly, I don’t know what it is. I’m sure it’s like a meme or something. That your feelings on the ocean are similar to your feelings on love and maybe that’s just something corny that I happen to possibly believe in. So I couldn’t help but want to see him actually dive into it for a change.
What are you going to miss the most about working on “Succession”?
I’ve only done three episodes in the last two seasons but I’m gonna miss everything. This doesn’t happen every day. I think people feel how special this show is. I think why the show is so good is because it’s all the best qualities of Jesse Armstrong. He’s a grown-up and he’s sensitive and he’s generous and he’s honest, just an inherently compassionate, brilliant, spiritually advanced person. So every decision is coming from this combination of intelligence and taste, class, humanity, a deep consideration of the human experience. It’s just so elegantly done for something that’s kept so raw and alive, which you have to credit Mark Mylod and obviously the entire crew and the cast, everyone involved. I’m gonna miss everybody, everything. I’ll miss it more than anything.
His family confirmed he passed yesterday in a statement: “With completely shattered hearts and without knowing how we can possibly move through life without him, we are devastated to share that Jock passed away yesterday.
“So many words can describe him, so many stories can be told, but at this time we’re too overwhelmed to put them into words. For those who crossed his path, became his mate, or were lucky enough to be in his family, keep this proud Scot in your hearts when you next have a whisky.”
A new season of MasterChef Australia was due to air this week, but has been postponed.
In a statement, Network 10 and Endemol Shine Australia said: “Network 10 and Endemol Shine Australia are deeply shocked and saddened at the sudden loss of Jock Zonfrillo, a beloved member of the MasterChef Australia family. Jock passed away in Melbourne yesterday. MasterChef Australia will not air this week.”
Zonfrillo joined the MasterChef team as a judge alongside former winner and chef Andy Allen and food critic Melissa Long in 2019 after the exits of Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston. While some were concerned the changes would impact ratings, the show has continued to be one of Australia’s top performing reality competitions and sells internationally.
The restauranteur was born in Glasgow, Scotland, as Barry Zonfrillo. By 15, he had an apprenticeship in the kitchens of The Tunberry Hotel before working under Marco-Pierre White. He was named head chef at The Tresanston aged 22 in the UK before moving to lead the kitchen at Restaurant 41 in Sydney, Australia, where has previously spent a year working. He opened two restaurants of his own in 2013, one of which, Orana, was named Australia’s Restaurant of the Year by two publications, in 2018 and 2019. Zonfrillo was named Hottest Chef in Australia in 2018 by The Australian newspaper.
Despite his success, Zonfrillo was forced to put both of his restaurants, Orana and Bistro Blackwood, into administration over unpaid debts. In 2002, he deliberately set fire to an apprentice chef, Martin Krammer, who had been worked slowly. He claimed it was a practical joke that went wrong but a judge awarded damages of A$75,000 ($50,000). Zonfrillo declared bankruptcy in 2007 after Krammer issued a creditors’ petition.
He released a memoir, Last Shot in 2021. Former mentor White claimed “almost everything” Zonfrillo had written about him was “untrue,” but Zonfrillo defended the chapters, saying, “This is the story of my life.”
Zonfrillo is survived by wife Lauren Fried and four children.
Johnny Depp and Mark Wahlberg both turned down the chance to join George Clooney in the cast of 2001’s Ocean’s Eleven. Speaking at the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival, Clooney said, “Some very famous people told us to fuck right off. Mark Wahlberg, Johnny Depp. There were others. They regret it now.”
2.
Bill Murray was replaced by Bernie Mac in the Charlie’s Angels sequel Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle because there was a lot of on-set drama with Murray. Director McG claimed that Murray headbutted him, describing it as “square in the head. An inch lower and my nose would have been obliterated.” Murray has vehemently denied this, saying, “That’s complete crap! I don’t know why he made that story up. He has a very active imagination.”
3.
Mark Wahlberg may have passed on Ocean’s Eleven, but he desperately wanted to win the film rights to the Fifty Shades of Grey book series — but was outbid by Universal Pictures and Focus Features. Wahlberg was furious about the missed opportunity, saying at the Hollywood Reporter’s Producers Roundtable, “We were aware of the book from very early on, and we were close to securing the rights, and then we get into this bidding war. … We were so close to having it. That was one of the few times I was going to fire Ari (Emanuel, his agent).”
4.
Eliza Dushku and Jesse Bradford were arrested — and jailed! — while on a trip to Tijuana in the middle of filming the 2000 cheerleading opus Bring It On. Director Peyton Reed told BuzzFeed, “Eliza and Jesse and a couple of the cheerleaders decided to cross the border into Mexico and party, and they ended up in a Mexican jail and had to be bailed out.”
5.
In 2006, a Chinese billionaire named Jon Jiang set out to make a big-budget, Hollywood-style blockbuster called Empires of the Deep — about a human and mermaid who fall in love — but things did not go well…at all. The screenplay went through 40 drafts and 10 screenwriters, actors (like Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci) signed on and then ran for the hills, directors came and went, and — after a troubled shoot — the movie has spent years mired in post-production hell.
6.
Tom Cruise earned $100 million for his work on 2005’s War of the Worlds, a figure that — when adjusted for inflation — is closer to $150 million today. How did he earn so much? By taking a lower salary up front in exchange for a significant portion of the film’s first dollar gross, essentially betting on himself and the film.
7.
Colin Farrell saysMiami Vice was the last film he made while still using drugs and alcohol, and he has no memory of making it. “I couldn’t remember a single frame of doing it. I was at the premiere and didn’t know what was happening next. But it was strange because I was in it.”
8.
Legally Blonde had to dump its original ending after test audiences hated the film’s last five minutes. How did the movie originally end, you ask? Well, it had Reese Witherspoon’s Elle kissing Luke Wilson’s Emmett, then cut to a year in the future where Elle and a now-blonde Vivian (Selma Blair) hand out Blonde Legal Defense Fund pamphlets on campus.
They soon gathered the cast for reshoots, and if you look closely at the new graduation ending and compare it to the rest of the film, you’ll notice Witherspoon’s hair is redder. This is because she was in the middle of shooting another film, The Importance of Being Earnest, when she did the reshoots.
9.
Bill Hader based Officer Slater — the character he played in the 2007 comedy Superbad — on a real-life cop who arrested him when he was a teenager after a prank went wrong. He told Jimmy Kimmel last week that when making the film, he mentioned to Seth Rogan, his co-star and the film’s co-writer, that “I got messed with by a cop with glasses,’ and Seth was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s, like, so lame. I can’t take a cop with glasses seriously!'”
10.
The up-and-coming but largely still unknown actor Kel O’Neill spent weeks playing Eli Sunday in 2007’s There Will Be Blood until he was fired and replaced by Paul Dano.
11.
Russell Crowe is most famous for his Academy Award-winning performance as Maximus, but he recently revealed he almost dropped out of the film because he thought the script “was rubbish, absolute rubbish.”
12.
Speaking of Gladiator, it’s finally getting a sequel next year starring Paul Mescal as Lucius, but in the 2000s, Crowe — despite his character Maximus dying in the original — tried to spearhead a frankly batshit sequel that would follow Maximus as he entered the afterlife.
13.
Chloë Sevigny performed oral sex on costar Vincent Gallo in the climax of the 2003 film TheBrown Bunny. Gallo, who also wrote and directed the movie, told Film Freak Central that he pitched the project to Sevigny (with whom he’d had a previous relationship of sorts) by saying, “Remember that night in Paris when I did that thing to you, but you didn’t do it to me because you weren’t so into it? Well, you might have to do that. On film.”
14.
Director Sam Raimi secretly inserted footage from his 1990 film Darkman (starring Liam Neeson as a burn victim turned superhero) into 2002’s Spider-Man.
15.
Billy Bob Thornton got rip-roaring drunk to film the scene in Bad Santa where his character Willie T. Soke drunkenly melts down at the mall and attacks a decorative Christmas donkey. Thornton told PeopleTV’s Couch Surfing he started his day by drinking three glasses of red wine, a vodka and cranberry juice, and then a few Bud Lights. “By the time I got to that scene there, I barely knew I was in a movie,” he said.
16.
A remake of the ’80s comedy Revenge of the Nerds filmed (briefly) in 2006. Fox Atomic was two weeks into filming the remake with Adam Brody, Jenna Dewan, and Kristin Cavallari when they pulled the plug. Why? Well, it seems two things went wrong — Georgia’s Emory University rescinded their agreement to let the production film on campus after reading the script, and film dailies weren’t impressing Fox Atomic executives.
17.
Ice Cube wrote a script for a fourth Friday film in the 2000s that he said “was the shit,” but Warner Bros. rejected it. The reason? The plot was about Craig and Day-Day going to jail for selling weed (before it was legal). “They were like, ‘Yo, we don’t want Craig and Day-Day in jail…’ I was like, ‘What you mean? This shit is funny.’ Then, after they rejected it, they had all these movies about going to jail.”
18.
Jim Carrey’s character Joel talks a lot about his ex-girlfriend Naomi in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but she’s never seen in the film. The production did, however, shoot scenes with the character — and none other than a pre-Grey’s Anatomy Ellen Pompeo played the role.
19.
And lastly, Robert Pattinson, when called on to simulate masturbating in the 2008 film Little Ashes, felt his efforts weren’t coming off realistic enough, so he went ahead and did the deed on camera. In a 2013 interview with Germany’s Interview magazine, Pattinson explained why he didn’t just simulate the scene, saying, “Try it. I can tell you right now, no chance. It just doesn’t work.”
While attending a Springsteen concert in Barcelona, Spain, over the weekend, the former first lady — tambourine in hand — joined the rock musician onstage for at least one song. In videos posted on social media, Obama can be seen jamming with Springsteen and his band during their performance of “Glory Days.”
After stepping in time and shaking her tambourine alongside her fellow backup singers, Obama shares a brief but sweet moment with Springsteen toward the center of the stage.
Additional footage shows the attorney, “Becoming” author and philanthropist dancing with her husband, former President Obama, in the audience.
According to Reuters, the Obamas and Springsteen recently traveled to Barcelona with filmmaker Steven Spielberg and his wife, actor Kate Capshaw, who also sang a little backup during the concert. The star-studded group of tourists reportedly visited some of the city’s most famous cultural sites, including the Sagrada Família basilica and the Picasso museum, during their trip.
Springsteen performed Friday at Barcelona’s Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium as part of his 2023 world tour, which is coming to San Diego, Inglewood and San Francisco in December.
The Obamas have maintained a close personal and professional relationship with Springsteen since the musician endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008 and again in 2012.
After showing his support on the campaign trail, the “Dancing in the Dark” hitmaker reunited with the trailblazing politician post-presidency to co-host a podcast and publish a book — both titled “Renegades: Born in the USA.” Barack Obama also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Springsteen in 2016.
“Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility. About work, about family, and about America,” Obama wrote in an excerpt from the beginning of the book.
“In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much,” he wrote. “Trying to chronicle the stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America.”
Following the premiere, Feige highlighted one actor in particular who stood out in the new movie.
Kevin Feige Gives Huge Praise to Guardian of the Galaxy
Marvel
During the global press conference for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige gave Dave Bautista (Drax) a special shout-out, calling him “one of the best actors” in Marvel.”
Feige began by highlighting two of the primary cast members absent from the press conference — Zoe Saldana and Bautista — saying that the former “kills it,” and that the latter deserves “particular” mention:
“This cast, which is amazing, and the cast members that aren’t here, and Zoe, who is just such a key to this, and I think kills it. And in particular, Dave Bautista.”
“We watched the movie last night, and we were talking about moments that tear us up, when [Drax] watches… I’m not going to give anything away, but he gives an expression in the movie.”
Feige explained that watching that scene made him think Bautista had evolved into “one of the best actors that [they’ve] ever gotten to work with:”
“I literally am like, not only is Drax one of the best characters in the MCU, written by James, but I think Dave Bautista has become one of the best actors that we’ve ever gotten to work with, and I just want to give that shout out.”
Nathan Fillion, who moderated the discussion, added that Bautista has “turned into an amazing actor,” referencing the Drax performer’s lack of extensive acting background prior to Guardians of the Galaxy:
“I really enjoy when people who are not coming from an acting background … really knock it out of the park. He’s turned into an amazing actor.”
Could Guardians 3 Be Bautista’s Best?
Just under a year before the movie’s debut to the general public, Bautista teased that Guardians 3 could be his last venture as Drax.
There were strong implications that this meant his character would die in the movie, or at least leave the Guardians team by the end of the film.
As such, Feige’s particular praise for him in the newest movie means so much more than just a compliment, as it is highlighting the high note Bautista is ending on with this character.
James Gunn has never been someone to shy away from sharing information and opinions about his upcoming projects, mainly via his Twitter account. However, it seems that during his joint DCU announcement recently with Peter Safran, the pair’s harsh comments about the former DCEU and Zack Snyder’s DC Universe did not go down well with Warner Bros. Discovery executives.
Although fans and the press were hanging on every word as the new rebooted DCU’s plans were unveiled, there were some comments made by Gunn and Safran during the press conference that were not well received by some of the big bosses behind the scenes at WBD. In a report by The Hollywood Reporter, a source claimed that “there’s quite a few ruffled feathers” in the wake of the comments about the cancelled Batgirl movie being “not releaseable” and the old DC management “giving away the IP like they were party favors at any creator who smiled at them.”
There has been a lot of conflict and unrest around the old DCU and the transition it is now undergoing under the control of Gunn and Safran. When WBD bought into the Snyderverse, everything seemed to have a coherent direction under Zack Snyder, but when he was forced to drop out of Justice League things fell apart very quickly from what turned out to be shaky ground anyway. Now there is a new regime in place, and it seems to be one that has no issues in calling out the failings of the franchise’s past.
The New DCU Will Not Begin Until 2025, But There Are A Number of Movies Bridging the Gap
Warner Bros.
The new slate of ten projects, which includes a mix of movies, TV shows, live-action and animated projects, will seemingly not begin rolling out until 2025 in the main, with the reboot of Superman being the first new DCU movie under Gunn and Safran’s grand plan. However, this year will see a number of DC projects arriving after numerous delays, and after only one live-action offering in 2022, fans may be ready for what is being offered.
First up will be Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which will hit cinemas in just over a month on March 17. Having recently released its first full trailer, the promotion of the Zachary Levi-led movie will be ramped up over the coming weeks as the DCEU’s last run attempts to go out with a bang. Following on June 23 is The Flash, the franchise reset that everyone predicted even before the new DC Studios plans were in place. After that comes Blue Beetle, the seemingly unconnected movie that managed to avoid the WDB cull of HBO Max movies and instead secured itself a theatrical release. And finally is Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, with Jason Momoa’s movie seemingly paving the way into the Superman reboot.
What exactly the future holds for any of these characters beyond this year is still unclear, as none of them are featured in the initial run of new DCU projects. However, with rumors that all four characters could continue in their present form at some point, perhaps this year’s movies will be essential DC viewing after all.
A detective simulation is one of the best-suited setups for an immersive sim game, and after a few hours with Shadows of Doubt, out now in Steam Early Access, its execution of the genre’s key mechanics is something you need to see for yourself, especially if you enjoy games like Deus Ex, Thief, and virtually anything from Arkane.
At first glance, the voxel-style detective game might look like the sort of indie you find by the dozens when browsing Steam, but its remarkable freedom of choice and impressive city simulation help it stand out on a crowded digital storefront. It’s obvious the team at ColePowered Games understands the genre, and though the game is still being shaped in its early access period, it’s already become one of my favorite games of 2023.
Shadows of Doubt casts players in the role of a private eye living out of a small apartment and chasing down leads across a rain-soaked neo-noir city. Even before players can get to the point where they wake up in the dark of their bedroom, it’s interesting to find that the city is actually a seemingly infinite number of procedurally generated cities. While a story mode exists to walk players through a particular string of cases through a particular cityscape, there is also a more unpredictable sandbox mode that creates new cities and cases on demand, much like loading a new seed in Minecraft. Detectives themselves are similarly made up on the spot through a combination of player choices on features like skin color and gender, as well as a name generator that can be handcrafted or randomly re-rolled endlessly.
All it’s missing is a moody narration.
For the purposes of this hands-on preview, my detective, Kasa Springs, worked the beat of Charlotte Heights on a tutorialized case called Dead of Night, seeking to solve the apparent murder of a local man found dead in his bathroom from gunshot wounds. After waking in my apartment and learning how to do some of the game’s important actions such as lockpicking, disabling security cameras, and hiding in the dark, I plotted my way to the home of the deceased. On the way, I started to get a feel for the seedy locale. Noir tropes like moody, slow-crawling music and steamy manhole covers decorated Charlotte Heights and gave it the sense of atmosphere I was so hoping for when I first installed the game.
I think a linear detective game could be pretty neat, but Shadows of Doubt is not at all that, and it quickly exceeded my expectations thanks to its malleability. It feels like nearly everything is interactive, and the game really doesn’t care how you go about your work or how you manipulate the experience in your own ways. An early example that opened my eyes to the possibilities was how I stopped to knock on a neighbor’s door on my way to the crime scene. I had no need to do so, but the game let me so I figured I’d mess around. The man wasn’t too receptive to my line of questioning, and really he was right not to be–who was I to wake him up and start demanding answers? When I asked if I could enter his apartment to look around, he told me to screw off, so I entered anyway, at which point he began swinging punches at me, so I did what any rookie gumshoe would do: I retreated like a child and ran back to my own apartment, hiding behind my kitchen door until he gave up and went home. It was a rough first few minutes on the case, but I’d have brighter moments soon.
This early interaction revealed to me how seriously Shadows of Doubt takes its simulation. It feels like the whole world is alive and content to exist on its own unless or until you insert yourself into the routine of a dive bar, a hospital, a family sleeping at home, or wherever else you may end up, like in The Truman Show, when the titular character starts breaking the loops of the actors living among him. Every NPC seems to have a unique name, a residence, and a schedule to follow. This means that, most of the time, accosting random civlilians in their own doorways in the middle of the night is likely going to lead you to nothing but a black eye, but there’s always the slight chance that you might stumble upon the murderer or a key witness long before the evidence points you to them.
Speaking of evidence, when I arrived at the crime scene, I learned how to use the game’s coolest feature–my very own case board, complete with note cards and red strings to connect them. Anything can be added to the case board, be it the murder weapon, an address, a phone number, or a snack you purchased in between witness interviews, and it can be accessed at any time in a menu. Is it likely that a granola bar is relevant to the case? Of course not, but like chatting with NPCs, the game wants you to determine relevance on your own, not hold your hand through discovering the pertinent clues. Sometimes, key pieces of evidence will automatically be linked on the case board, but you can add your own custom links at will, too. You can place and move them however you see fit, eventually creating your own Pepe Silvia moment where names, faces, and facts are sprawled across the board depicting the web of intrigue–or the visualization of your own madness.
I’ve always wanted to plot out my own red strings on a corkboard.
Gallery
As I explored the deceased’s home, I noted the entry wounds on his body, his phone call records, and even got into a locked safe to find out more about him. Inventory space is very limited, at least at first, so I wasn’t sure if I ought to take the unmarked VHS tape with me from his desk, but while I was deciding, a couple of goons tried to bust down his door. Criminals always return to the scene of the crime, and in that moment I could face them, escape through a vent or some other means, or hide. I elected to hide under a desk, then watched from the dark as two–suffice it to say suspects–roamed around the house. The moment seemed set up for confrontation, but after failing to find me after a few minutes, they left, and I was free to keep rummaging through the apartment. It felt like it should’ve been game-breaking, like I circumvented a combat tutorial. Instead, the world adapted to my choice.
You can solve a case whenever you want to simply by heading to the police station and filling out a form that accuses someone of a crime. You’ll write in their name and fill out details such as choosing a murder weapon. There are gamified consequences for getting it wrong, however, like a loss in reputation and money, which you’ll want for purchasing items like healing supplies and bribing people to talk. Therefore, it’s best to run down leads. A crime scene will give you several, and in this case, that included investigating the victim’s last phone calls, his place of work, and his social circle.
I won’t spoil the outcome here, as you should see it for yourself, but I loved that some leads are dead ends. It felt realistic in that way. Kasa Springs is not a superhero, so she has no detective vision that identifies key aspects of the case. I was simply given a city full of good and bad people, and it was up to me to make sense of them all. Whether I uncovered key info by sneaking into a house through an air vent, picking the lock of a business office, or bribing the neighbors to dish out what they know, it was my call, and in the process of my working the case, my once-blank-slate investigation began to come to life. Would I play good cop, bad cop, or swim in shades of gray? It feels like every step you take is your call, and every action has consequences, for better or worse. Keep getting in trouble and your reputation won’t rise and you won’t improve your character. On the other hand, a keen eye for details can save you time from chasing down dead-end leads.
Shadows of Doubt just launched in early access this week, so there are still blemishes to fix, such as a confusing character upgrade system and some messy menus, but the foundational im-lsim elements are on par with the genre greats already. For me, that is incredibly exciting. I can’t wait to turn over more proverbial stones, solve more crimes, and define justice as I see fit in a city that will both shape my character’s career while also reacting to her every move.
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Are you ready for 2023, Scorpio? Your monthly tarotscopes—or tarot horoscopes, a combination of tarot cards and astrology—can help you make the changes necessary for growth, as long as you’re willing to put in the work. Together we can find your best path forward in the year ahead through tarot horoscopes.
Read on to see what’s in store for your sign with your monthly tarot horoscope, Scorpio. And if you’d like more guidance, check out Glamour’s weekly horoscopes or consult the other zodiac signs’ monthly tarotscope.
Meghan Rose is an astrologer, tarot reader, and writer based out of Los Angeles whose work bridges the magical and the material to create real change. Rose acts as a guide for her clients to help them navigate relationships, career, and everything in between. Learn more atthemeghanrose.comand follow her onTiktok,Instagram, andTwitter.
May 2023
Death: My Scorpions, the month of May is going to have you in full blown Phoenix mode and it seems you’ve been ready for this moment all your life. You don’t need to associate with the parts of your past that you’ve outgrown, especially if the issues and blockages you’re still identifying with are no longer present for you. A good example of this: If you have guilt or shame associated with parts of your past, May is the month to drop these feelings and finally allow yourself to transcend into a life full of self-acceptance.
With so many planets entering your seventh house of partnership, love “may” be right around the corner for you too, Scorpio. I see some of you realizing what (or who) you had to wait all of this time for. A romantic partnership, or even a business partnership, is in the cards. So say “yes” to a life of togetherness and support. You deserve this!
April 2023
Six of Pentacles: Scorpio, I see the month of April being all about balance—and no, this doesn’t just mean your bank accounts. There is more to life than just the ins and outs of your finances, and the next few weeks will grant you the opportunity to realize that the more you focus on your problems, the more problems will arise. It may seem a bit counterintuitive, but you have to let go of your grip around what is not working and give it a rest.
Sometimes, the best medicine for a grating issue is to sleep on it. So take a nap, get your eight hours every night, and meditate this month. You will thank yourself later when everything seems like a distant blip. Although the things you are worrying about currently are valid, you have to be honest with yourself about how much of a role you played in ending up where you are. The unfortunate truth is that you might be causing most of your own issues. The fortunate truth is that you have all the power in the world to change your perspective, take action, and fix these things. You can either look at yourself as a victim or see yourself as a capable—and historically successful—victor. You choose, Scorpio.
March 2023
Ace of Swords: My Scorpion, it seems that the world may finally know more about you and your talents this month. You were born with intensity and passion in your heart, and I see March blessing you with several opportunities to come into union with divine counterparts. Whether you are single or not, March could be the month that you take your relationship status to the next level. This could be leaving singledom, moving in with an existing partner, discussing marriage, getting engaged, or having children. There are endless possibilities when it comes to love for you this month.
Jock Zonfrillo, a Scottish TV presenter and former chef, known for his recent role as a judge on “MasterChef Australia,” has died suddenly. He was 46.
Zonfrillo died on April 30 in Melbourne, TV broadcaster Network Ten said in a statement on Monday. No cause of death was disclosed.
“With completely shattered hearts and without knowing how we can possibly move through life without him, we are devastated to share that Jock passed away yesterday,” said Zonfrillo’s family in a statement carried as part of the Network Ten news release. “So many words can describe him, so many stories can be told, but at this time we’re too overwhelmed to put them into words. For those who crossed his path, became his mate, or were lucky enough to be his family, keep this proud Scot in your hearts when you have your next whisky.”
Zonfrillo was born in Glasgow to an Italian father and a Scottish mother and obtained an apprenticeship at The Turnberry Hotel at 15 years of age. By 17 he was working alongside Marco Pierre White at his eponymous Restaurant Marco Pierre White.
After moving to Australia, Zonfrillo opened Bistro Blackwood and Restaurant Orana in Adelaide, with the latter winning significant culinary awards. “In 2019, Jock was named as a judge on MasterChef Australia in which he took great pride in challenging and coaching the contestants and of course inspiring a nation of home cooks,” Network Ten said.
He led a colorful and controversial life. In 2002, he set fire to an apprentice in his restaurant, apparently for working too slowly. Damages were awarded by a court, but he was declared bankrupt in 2007, after failing to pay. Other controversies surrounded his Orana Foundation (intended to preserve historic cooking techniques) and the bankruptcy of the two Adelaide restaurants.
Zonfrillo published a memoir in 2021, “Last Shot.” Shortly after, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper debunked many of its claims and descriptions, including stories of drug use. It quoted White as saying: “Jock is not a bad man. He has a natural intellect and is very nice. The only problem is that almost everything he has written about me is untrue.”
Zonfrillo was married three times and reportedly met his third wife, Lauren Fried, via Twitter.
On Twitter, Zonfrillo described himself as “@Masterchefau judge, dad crypto & NFT metavestor.”
“Jock was known to Australians as a chef, best-selling author, philanthropist and MasterChef judge but he will be best remembered as a loving father, husband, brother and son,” said Network Ten. “Jock’s charisma, wicked sense of humor, generosity, passion and love for food and his family cannot be measured. He will be greatly missed.”
“Jock was an extraordinary man. He was a wonderful colleague and friend, and we feel very privileged to have had him play such an important and impactful role in MasterChef. Despite all his notable professional milestones, nothing brought him more joy or happiness than his family. Our thoughts are with them at this very difficult time,” said Beverley McGarvey, executive VP, Paramount ANZ, the owner of Network Ten.
“We are shocked and extremely saddened by the news of Jock’s passing. Jock was an incredible talent, not just as a renowned chef, but as someone who could bring joy into the homes of people in Australia and around the world in his role as judge on MasterChef Australia,” said Peter Newman, CEO of Endemol Shine Australia, the show’s producer. “On set he was loved by the team and his passion for food and the show was infectious. He was also a brilliant champion for the contestants on MasterChef, always wanting the very best for them.”
Picture: Alloy Entertainment / CBS Television Studios / Warner Bros. Television / Bonanza Productions
The 100 is currently on Netflix in most regions as of the time of publishing, but its days on the service are ultimately numbered as Netflix simply had the first run rights to the show. Some regions are expected to lose the show as soon as May 2023, so here’s a guide to how long The 100 will remain on Netflix where you live.
Based on the book series of the same name by Kass Morgan, The 100 is The CW’s sci-fi show that was on the air between 2014 and 2020 and starred Eliza Taylor, Paige Turco, Thomas McDonell, Eli Goree, and Marie Avgeropoulos.
The show takes place years after a nuclear apocalypse devastated Earth and follows the remaining humans living on a space station called The Ark. When resources start to dwindle, 100 juvenile prisoners are sent to Earth to see if it’s habitable again.
According to Unogs, almost all regions have been streaming The 100 for the last five years at least, with the only major region not to be carrying the show being the United Kingdom. In the UK, the show is currently only available on ITVX.
Netflix Canada, India, and Netherlands are losing The 100 in May 2023
Multiple regions of Netflix are scheduled to lose The 100 as soon as May 21st, 2023.
Why are these regions losing the show faster than other regions? Well, it comes down to how these regions received The 100. In all of the cases above, they received weekly episodes of the seventh and final season in 2020. The removal date, therefore, aligns three years after season 7 began coming to Netflix.
A removal notice on Netflix in these regions states your “last day to watch” is May 20th.
Removal date on The 100
When will Netflix in the United States lose The 100?
In the United States, you’ll be the last to lose The 100 because of the nature of the deal Netflix had with The CW between 2013 and 2019 there.
The deal granted Netflix to the show’s new seasons soon after their season finale, plus keeping the show in full for (around) five years after its addition.
Season 7, as you may remember, was added to Netflix US on October 8th, 2020, meaning the show will remain on Netflix until at least October 2025. Although we can currently confirm that Netflix US is scheduled to lose the show on December 18th, 2025.
For a full schedule of when some of your favorite The CW favorites like Arrow, Riverdale, Jane the Virgin, and more will leave Netflix, visit our removal schedule.
For all other regions, you’ll see The 100 leave Netflix exactly three years after the final season was added. For those in Australia (and most other international regions), the show will leave in May 2024.
Will you miss The 100 when it leaves Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
Note: The Following contains spoilers for “Barry” Season 4, Episode 4
As “Barry” barrels towards its series finale, the HBO series takes a couple of big swings halfway through this final season. Not only does Episode 4 feature the death of a major character from the show, but it ends with a shocking time jump that jolts the story forward eight years into the future, with Barry (Bill Hader) and Sally (Sarah Goldberg) not only living together but seemingly with a son of their own.
The idea for the time jump was born out of Hader’s desire to see what would happen if all of the characters got what they wanted. “Would they be happy? Could they maintain that?” Hader told TheWrap in our latest episodic interview. Read on for plenty of insight into how Cristobal’s death came to be (and the pushback Hader received in the writers room) and the story behind that delightful cameo from “CODA” director Sian Heder.
So you have this idea that Barry’s escaped prison and Jim Moss is going to find him. He’s hot on his trail. Tell me about threading Moss throughout this episode.
A lot of that was in reshoots, to be honest. The initial episode, as shot and written, was just one shot of Jim Moss driving – you can actually see it in the trailer, it’s Jim Moss driving and he looks up at the helicopter. So that was the initial scene, you saw him there and then at the end in front of Sally’s house. When we were cutting it together, I just felt we need to feel like Jim and the police are hot on Barry’s tail, like what are they thinking? So I wrote the scene of Krauss pulling up in front of the house with the cop cars so you know what the cops are thinking which is Berkman could be going to Noho Hank or Cristobal or Sally, and then Moss not promising he won’t kill him so now we know he’s after him too. The other new idea that we did a reshoot of was the Dave and Busters thing, I just said it in the edit, “What if the cops were like, ‘We’ve got to know where he’s headed. Someone told us where the headquarters are?’ and then you just see a bunch of SWAT guys kicking people’s asses at Dave and Buster’s.” The editors thought that was good so we ended up shooting that and that scene of Jim Moss watching Dave and Buster’s. That was all shot in late March.
Let’s talk Hank and Cristobal. You told me to remind you of a note the show’s former editor Kyle Reiter gave you for Episode 4.
Yes, the note he gave me was initially the way this was written and shot was that you just thought Hank was freaking out because Barry escaped, so when he’s acting weirder and weirder you’re going, “OK this is because of Barry.” So then when the sand thing happens, the whole idea was that it was supposed to be like a real shock. Kyle, correctly, said, “I think in the scene with Hank and Batir, I think he needs to say something like, ‘You need to get rid of those guys and join us.’ You’re not tipping it, it actually helps me because when I’m watching Hank in Episode 4 I’m like, “Wait is he freaking out about Barry or is he worried about the Chechens and thinking about joining the Chechens?” So then it becomes this kind of slow feeling when he goes to the sand thing you’re like, “Oh no, something bad’s about to happen.”
Knowing what happens later, Hank is so sad when throwing the party for the gangs. It’s clear he doesn’t want to do this.
Yeah or he’s conflicted about doing it. He doesn’t know if it’s the right thing, privately, but he knows that they’ll get wiped out by the Chechens and he’s never really believed in the sand operation. In Season 2, he believed in a crime utopia where they could all get along. And now, I think because of what happened in Season 3 with him, he’s like, “That’s bullshit.” That’s basically what he says to Cristobal at the end of the episode.
Tell me about putting the whole sequence in the sand room together. It’s really nerve-wracking.
So that is a giant set that Eric Schoonover, the production designer, made of the sand silo and it’s the biggest set that we’ve ever made for the show. It was two stories high and underneath was a contraption that opened up and it’s basically like an hourglass membrane thing that sends those stunt performers underneath, and then at the bottom of the structure there’s a bunch of stunt guys pulling them out of it. We shot everything that you see before they go under fairly quickly, and then we had a technocrane and that set was one where you could take one of the walls out, so we had a technocrane locked off at one angle, and then we literally bolted it down so it wouldn’t move, and then shot the guys going through the membrane. I think we did it twice. I was very nervous because I was just like, “I hope these guys are OK.”
Then they closed up the membrane, they put a Michael Irby-sized box in there and then they covered that in sand. There was someone just watching the camera so the camera doesn’t move, and they were also making sure nobody disturbed the sand between the camera and the hole. So we do all that and put Michael Irby in the box and then his head comes out of a hole in the box and one arm and then they just poured sand around it and patted it in and then they left, and then we found the angle we liked and then unhooked the camera, and then on action you just periscope out the technocrane to do that push-in shot to reveal him.
Then in VFX they just very slightly did a stitch so it’s two shots stitched together, and then the sound on that really helps a ton. Then we go behind Michael and they put like a giant piece of glass in between, so all the sand and Michael are on the other side of some glass and the camera is shooting through the glass to Michael behind him, and then as he sinks the camera goes down with him into darkness. Then of course we got there and we put the glass in and the glass was really dirty (laughs). Everything was so planned to a T on that thing and then the one thing we don’t consider is the glass is dirty.
Was that always the way you saw that sequence playing out in your head?
Yeah, we did do one shot of Hank pulling him out but it looked like something from another show. It looked like an action movie. So when we were in the edit, it was like, “Well can we go from black right to the water being poured on his face?”
Once Cristobal is out, it’s striking that the camera stays low on the ground with him as the Chechens come in and Hank is there.
Yeah, they needed to look really big. You need to be looking up at Hank too, like all these people are bigger than me. It was also 115 degrees outside when we shot that scene. Poor Michael Irby had to be on his knees and then we had those poor stunt guys. They’re laying on blankets and we took the blankets out with VFX because the asphalt was way too hot. Michael Ironside and JB and the other Chechen actors were in those dark suits, and it was just awful.
So tell me about the decision to kill Cristobal. When did that idea arise?
I was in the writers room and I said, “I think Hank has to make some big moves to try to be a tough guy and it ends up getting Cristobal killed,” and we had a lot of different versions of it. I think the writers thought I was saying that Hank would kill Cristobal, like he would shoot him, and I was like, “No he would never shoot him. It’s just that, I think it would get to a place where Hank has gone so far into it with the Chechens and he just assumed that Cristobal would be with him.” The way I said it was like they’re a couple and he bought a giant, crazy expensive house without telling him. Like, “This is our house and you’re gonna have to deal with it.” And Cristobal’s like, “That’s insane, we can’t afford this,” and it’s like “Well, that’s where we’re living and I don’t want to hear it.” And Cristobal would be like, “I don’t think I can be married to you. I don’t know you. That’s insane. Why would you not talk to me about this?”
When I was talking about it in those terms, people started to understand it. So then when Cristobal was like, “You know what? You’re not who I thought you were. I’m really sad. I’m gonna get out of here,” then Hank would be like, “You know too much.” And they went, “Oh, yeah, OK, I see what you’re saying.” I remember in the writers room everyone fought me on it pretty hard, with the exception of Duffy (Boudreau). Because we had talked about it a lot and Duffy was like, “Yeah I get it.” But Liz Sarnoff and Tao Kolade and Emma Barrie especially were just like, “Why? They’re so loved. Why do you wanna do that?” and I was like, “I think he’s gotta go, to make where the season goes, and where I wanted to see Hank go this season, he’s got to make a massive mistake.” And then in my mind, it was kind of like Barry shooting Chris in Season 1 where it’s like here’s the moment where they do something awful and they can’t really come back from it.
That’s what it reminded me of, where it’s just gut-wrenching and heartbreaking.
It’s very heartbreaking because it feels like Hank is trying to be a tough guy. It’s like what Barry says, “Oh, you’re a tough guy now?” and he’s trying to be a tough guy. He says, “In order to do this, you got to make the hard decisions,” and like you want to be a crime lord, now you’re a crime lord. This is what it’s like. You’ve gotta be ruthless in this world to make anything happen. Then he says, “I’m leaving you” and now Hank has to make a hard decision. He tries to backtrack, he tries to placate and it just goes horribly wrong. I think that moment of him saying, “You know too much,” Cristobal I don’t think ever thinks he would kill him.
I was gonna say, do you think Cristobal knows the Chechens would kill him?
Cristobal’s like, “F–k you for even saying that.” Because you have to remember Cristobal is a crime lord and Cristobal’s got a lot of respect for himself, and when Hank says “It took a psychopath to save you from your crazy f—king wife” he’s like, “Alright I’m out. I don’t know you, dude.” So when he hugs him and says “Forget it, Hank. It’s done.” He’s echoing the words that Janice Moss says to Barry at the end of Season 1, it’s almost the exact same words. And we recreated them hugging at the end of Season 3, it bookends that so it’s the exact same shot of him hugging him and then going, “Oh no.”
It’s so heartbreaking because had the stakes not been so high, you get the sense it’s just a fight and then after cooling off, they could have reconciled.
Yeah, but it just keeps building because what he did was so unforgettable. He ruined Cristobal’s dream and now he has Cristobal working with people he doesn’t want to work with and he didn’t even talk to him about it. It’s so crazy disrespectful to Cristobal. And this is what you have to write, you have to go here’s where Hank’s coming from and here’s where Cristobal’s coming from and hopefully you can understand both sides of it, even if one’s totally wrong, morally, you understand where he’s coming from. Hank’s like, “I can’t sit down and tell you ‘Hey, I want to get rid of your dream and the thing you’re working so hard for and so excited about because my family now wants to work with us and if we don’t work with them, they’re gonna kill us all, so we’ve got to get rid of those guys.” He just does it because that’s the new Hank. And he wants to impress the elders. Hank wants that. It’s like Sally and them wanting Hollywood to like them and Barry wanting Cousineau, he wants acceptance. And doing that leads to losing your humanity or something.
Also, the fact that Cristobal almost dies in the sand thing and you see it from his point of view, and Hank still does this. For me, it was important to show what Cristobal went through and how Hank doesn’t even ask him about it. When they’re in that fight, he’s never bringing it up to him, it just shows how dismissive he is about what Cristobal went through. But also that he could have the love of his life in that position and save him and then so quickly be like, “OK let’s put a damper on that because the elders are here. Let’s get in line.”
HBO
What was it like on the day, shooting that?
It was pretty tense. It’s a very sad scene, and I think the actors are just unbelievable in that scene. I remember it was the last thing we shot that day, we shot a bunch of other stuff. Everybody went to lunch, but instead of going to lunch I sat and kind of blocked that whole argument out. I was texting (cinematographer) Carl (Herse), “Are you done eating? Come back to set!” because the thing I got excited about was what if, when they’re walking out, we’ve got the car there and we just do a slow push-in on them kind of like point of view of someone who loves them, who’s giving them space, but they’re going away from us and there’s this hopelessness to it. It makes it feel like such a private moment, and Carl really dug that and our steadicam operator Neil did an amazing job with that because that’s a very hard shot to do.
Everybody was just very respectful, it was kind of the first really, really big death on the show of a character who’s been around for all the seasons. I remember when I was blocking out the shot and explained to Michael Irby where he needed to lay and where the blood needs to be, the crew was incredibly, respectfully quiet. No one was talking.
Anthony Carrigan’s performance on the couch is amazing.
He’s great. Initially, the way it was written the first time, you stayed with Cristobal and he got in the car and then he got shot. When I first told Anthony what was going to happen he was like, “Holy s—t,” and then he goes, “I think Hank’s feeling emotions but he’s trying to bury it, he just doesn’t want to feel it,” and then the minute he said that I went, “Oh that’s what you should be seeing,” so I started rewriting the scene on the phone with Anthony.
You see him literally swallow it down and bury it.
Yeah, now he’s a crime boss. This is a real crime boss. It’s the birth of Hank crime boss, which is interesting when you see what that looks like later in the season.
After it was shot and done, how did the writers feel about Cristobal’s death?
I think they feel pretty good about it. Liz Sarnoff was like, “Holy s—t, what a scene. That’s so intense,” after she saw the cut of it. Everything leading up to it was a reshoot, his dinner with Michael Ironside where he’s like, “We’ll be silent partners” and Cristobal’s just sitting there. The way I originally wrote it, Cristobal was sitting at the table with him but when we did reshoots, Michael Irby was in another show and he had a giant beard he was not allowed to cut. I was lnot going to do a visual effect beard removal, it looks like garbage, so I said let me just rewrite it. So I rewrote it where he had his back to them. But we reshot it so you would know what the Chechens’ plan was and where they stood. And if you pay attention, Michael Ironside says, “As long as you’re good with Hank, you’re good with us,” and then immediately Cristobal leaves Hank so if you do the math you’re like, well he’s not gonna deal with them.
In the writers room there was a question of why can’t Cristobal just leave Hank? I was like, “You really think they’re gonna let him leave? Why would they let him leave?” And no one could give me a good reason why the Chechens would be OK with it. That’s the stuff I see in TV shows and movies that drives me nuts, is that they would let him leave. That’s just being like, “Well it makes sense for the story.” There’s no way that that would happen. And Hank caused all this. He thought he could figure it out and he couldn’t and then he tried to take it back and he couldn’t and he has to live with this decision and it’s going to haunt him forever.
Now let’s talk about something that’s very funny, which is the Sian Heder cameo.
She’s a good actor, and she’s wonderful. So yeah, the whole idea was that Sally tries to be an acting teacher and it doesn’t work, but what if she became an acting coach, which was something we’d always toyed with, even back to Season 2. What if Sally had to be a model’s acting coach, and that would drive her insane? And if that happens, what kind of movie would it be? We threw around a bunch of ideas and then I think we all were just like, “Well, what’s the thing everybody would kill to be on?” And it was a superhero movie. So when we did that, then it became this joke of, based on other friends I’ve talked to who, you know, you do a little prestige movie that wins awards, and then Hollywood opens up the gates for you, and then you you get “Mega Girls 4” (laughs).
Initially, I think Sian was a little skeptical about it, because I think – understandably — she was like, “Oh, is this making fun of ‘CODA?’” and just wanting to be respectful because that’s a great movie. Incidentally, “CODA” was shot by Paula Huidobro, who was the DP on “Barry” in the first two seasons, so we had that connection. So she finally said yes after we sent her a bunch of different versions of the scene that Duffy Boudreau and I wrote to see what she was most comfortable with, because she’s playing herself. I think once she saw what it was, that it was more of a joke of her taking a big Hollywood job and being like, “Oh, man, I hope this doesn’t backfire,” (laughs). Which is true. I don’t think that’s being cruel or anything, that’s just the truth. That just happens.
It happens and some of those movies are really wonderful.
Yeah some of these are really good. I love the Jon Watts “Spider-Man” movies, they’re great. I have so much fun watching those movies. Anytime one of those movies comes out, I go with my kids and watch them and we have a blast.
Yeah I don’t think anyone’s thinking Ryan Coogler sold out with “Black Panther.”
No, “Black Panther” is great. “Wonder Woman,” all those ones. So it’s nothing like that. But it was just like, “Oh, this is a perfect example of something that Sally would kill to be in.” And then it was like, “Well, what’s a fun cameo kind of thing we can get in there as the director, someone that that’s not some big action movie director.” So it had to be someone that made a movie that Sally found really amazing, and she would love “CODA.” We all loved “CODA.” So then I was like, “Oh, then Sally would then turn it into an audition for herself,” and that was really funny to us. I think Sarah is just pretty amazing in that scene. Every time she goes, “Sister, no!” we would start laughing really hard. And the “Money” line is a shout out to Gavin Kleintop, our first AD because he says “money” unironically (laughs).
HBO
Sian is genuinely great there.
We also have Paul McCrane. He’s the guy in “Robocop” who gets hit by the car and melts, so I was freaking out. He’s a great director too, but the reason we cast him is he actually did an amazing read for Fuches. So did Patrick Fischler. We obviously went with Stephen who’s phenomenal, but every season Sherry Thomas our casting director would be like, “Is there a role for Patrick or Paul here?”
His conversation with Sally in the golf cart was great.
That was probably four times as long. Here’s a perfect example of an idea that was bad that we ended up having to edit around (laughs). That thing initially was all locked off, and the whole scene was them on the back of a golf cart, and it went on for like five minutes. I think everybody was kind of looking at me like, “You want to do this?” and I was like, “Yeah, I think it’s gonna work,” (laughs). It had just rained, so as they were driving, it was all splashing and stuff and it was super noisy and it just was not great. So when we got into the edit, Franky Guttman was just like, “You really want this whole thing?” So he and Aly Greer went in and made that cut that you see, you dissolve to her listening and then that whole thing is ADR because they’re driving through water. It was so loud.
And then we have Gene in the cabin, shooting his son.
So that was our very last day of principal photography, all the stuff at Big Bear at the cabin. It went pretty smoothly and then, unfortunately, the son played by Andrew Leeds got COVID. So it was actually kind of sweet, when Henry’s doing his scene where he’s talking to his son in the car, he’s doing that scene with me. I’m sitting behind the steering wheel. Then months later we picked up the shot of Andrew in the car which we shot in front of the Malibu house where Cristobal dies. But the final thing we shot of the whole season for principal photography was the shot of the figure in the doorway and the squibs going off on the door. So we did that, it was like “Three, two, one, POP” and Wade Allen our stunt coordinator fell down and then everybody looked at me like, “Was that good?” and people are crying (laughs). I gave a big speech and we all cried and hugged each other and that was it.
Henry Winkler’s very last take as Gene Cousineau in principal photography was going, “F—k you!” and running away. So the shot of Andrew Leeds having been shot was a set of the porch that we built in March for reshoots.
So then the episode ends with Barry and Sally running away together.
That was Sarah’s very first day of shooting. We had to get rid of that set of Sally’s apartment, so that is Sarah’s first day of shooting Season 4 and that is my second. The first thing we shot of Season 4 was that weird, carpeted room where the FBI are talking to us.
And then, of course, you have the time jump at the end.
Yes, I’ll have more to say about it next week, but I will say I think the time jump for me was something that came from talking about Season 4 and saying, “What would happen if all these characters got what they wanted?” Like, what if they actually could put on another face and play the version themselves that they feel like or what they feel they deserve? Would they be happy or could they maintain that?” And I had always, since Season 1 – and you can see it, Barry has a daydream in Season 1 about him and Sally taking a family portrait with a little boy – I’ve always felt like that’s something that he’s wanted. So what if he got that? So we said, well what if we went eight years into the future and they had a kid? What would that look like?
I think it’s very telling that when the kid opens the fridge all you see is beer, wine and donuts.
Yeah, beer, wine and donuts. That tells you right there what kind of household it is (laughs). Episode 5 and the finale are my two favorite episodes of the season.
A driver is dead following a single-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon in Ancaster, Ont.
Hamilton police say the vehicle left Haig Road, about two kilometres northeast of Wilson Street East and Old Dundas Road, just before 2 p.m. and struck a home.
The 57-year-old driver was transported to St. Joe’s hospital by paramedics where he would be pronounced dead.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing, according to police.
Collision reconstruction detectives are seeking more information on the occurrence and asking anyone with information to reach out Hamilton police or Crime Stoppers.
PSAC strike: No word on working from home for deal with feds
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