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Last Updated: April 18, 2023, 17:31 IST

Athiya Shetty pens a birthday note for husband KL Rahul.

Athiya Shetty got married her long-time boyfriend KL Rahul on January 23, 2023.

After dating KL Rahul for many years, Athiya Shetty tied the knot with him in January. On his birthday, the actress shared a bunch of dreamy photos and penned a heartwarming note which read, “Happiest birthday to my biggest blessing ”

Earlier in the day, Suniel Shetty had also penned a special post for his son-in-law. Sharing an unseen picture from his daughter Athiya and KL’s wedding, he wrote, “Blessed to have you in our lives… Happy birthday baba.”

Even Athiya Shetty’s brother Ahan Shetty wrote a heartfelt birthday note for his brother-in-law. On his Instagram Story, Ahan shared a photo wherein the duo sported white and black outfits and posed for the camera. “Happy birthday brother KL Rahul.” he wrote.

KL Rahul and Athiya tied the knot on January 23 this year at Suniel’s farmhouse in Khandala. It was an intimate wedding affair with only close friends and family members in attendance.

KL Rahul is currently leading the IPL team Lucknow Super Giants. Suniel Shetty had earlier told the media that the couple might host a lavish wedding reception post IPL.

Read all the Latest Movies News and Entertainment News here

Aditi Giri

Aditi Giri, Senior Sub-Editor at News18. She is a Bollywood and Biryani enthusiast. She loves talking to your favourite BTown celebrities, and brings …Read More

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Last Updated: April 18, 2023, 17:31 ISTAthiya

Latest News

Leading indie sales agent Finecut has picked up international rights to “In Our Day” by idiosyncratic South Korean director Hong Sang-soo. The film is set as the closing title of the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar of the Cannes festival.

Hong, who works on low budgets, controls much of the production process and makes repeated use of a small pool of actors, is one of the most prolific feature directors in the world. This is already his second feature this year. His earlier, “In Water” played in the Encounters section at Berlin in February

His films are known for their minimalist style, a focus on female characters, serial chance encounters and oblique references to the media industry. On paper, “In Our Day” fits exactly in that groove.

Finecut pitches the synopsis as: “A woman in her early 40s, is temporarily living at the home of a friend, who is raising a cat. Another person, a man in his 70s living alone, had his cat die of old age. Today each of them had a visitor — a woman in her 20s for the woman, and a man in his 30s for the old man. Both visitors came with serious questions to ask. The woman answered them rather briefly while standing up, while the old man ended up giving longer answers in an extended conversation. Both of them had ramyun for lunch in front of their guests, and coincidentally enough, they both added hot pepper paste to their ramyun. It’s not a very common thing to add hot pepper paste to ramyun.…”


Its cast includes Ki Joobong (“Kill Boksoon,” “Daemuga,” “Hotel by the River”) and Hong regular Kim Minhee (“The Novelist’s Film,” “The Woman Who Ran,” “On The Beach At Night Alone”).

Although his works divide critics, Hong and his frenetic output appear to have been rehabilitated among selectors (and juries) at the major European festivals.

Hong’s 2020 “The Woman Who Ran” earned Berlin’s silver bear for best director. His 2021 film “Introduction” won another silver bear for best screenplay at that year’s delayed festival. His other film of 2021, “In Front of Your Face” played in competition in the July 2021 edition of the Cannes festival, but came away empty-handed. In 2022, Hong had “The Novelist’s Film” in Berlin and “Walk Up” in Toronto and San Sebastian.

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Leading indie sales agent Finecut has picked

MCU

In a recent interview, Haley Lu Richardson addressed her experience auditioning for Marvel and not being cast in superhero roles.

Over the years, Richardson has compiled a broad resume ranging from Disney Channel’s Shake It Up to The Edge of Seventeen, as well as 2016’s Split, and most recently, 2022’s White Lotus. 

Back in 2021, the actress almost added Batgirl to her resume; and while she ultimately didn’t land the now-axed Warner Bros. DCU film, she recently discussed her experience auditioning for a Marvel role as well. 

Haley Lu Richardson Almost Joined the Marvel Universe

On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, actress Haley Lu Richardson opened up about auditioning for superhero films, including a role within the Marvel universe. 

After Josh Horowitz noted how she was considered for Batgirl, he went on to ask if that was her first superhero audition to which Richardson admitted “No, I’ve done quite a few:”

“No, I’ve done quite a few and they’re just so much, you know what I mean?”

When asked if she’s ever had to get into costume, the actress brought up her Marvel audition, describing the experience as a “big screen test” with “real cameras there” and “hair, and makeup, and stuff,” indicating that this was for a significant role:

“I’ve never gotten to do that. I did test do like a big screen test for a Marvel character, and there was like real cameras there, and they did our hair, and makeup, and stuff. But they just directed us in what kind of street clothes to wear, like what colors and stuff. We didn’t actually get in a superhero costume.”

But even more revealing was her admitting how “overwhelming” her Marvel audition was as it required a major commitment when “you haven’t even seen a script:”

“But yeah, it’s just so overwhelming, because you’re just committing to something, and you haven’t even seen a script.”

Josh Horowitz confirmed this actuality, explaining how actors sign on “for the next five movies:”

“Right, well, people don’t know like you sign literally like, ’Yeah, I’m in for the next five movies, if you so choose to take me.’”

But according to Richardson, “it’s not even just five movies” anymore, and even though it’s “exciting” it’s also “a lot:”

“Yeah, and now it’s not even just five movies. It’s like seven years of literally whatever they want you for, which, you know… there’s something that’s so exciting about that if you meet… because hopefully you get to meet the director, and the producers that would be making it, and you get to you look up, and read all the comics on the character… So there’s something that’s really exciting if you feel like all the other things align. It’s something that you could just like trust and throw yourself into. But it is a lot.”

Circling back on Batgirl which ultimately went to Leslie Grace, Horowitz questioned whether that role was the one she felt “most excited about” at the time.

Richardson confirmed that it was, especially since “JK Simmons being my dad would have been pretty cool:”

“Yeah. And yeah, JK Simmons being my dad would have been pretty cool. Yeah, ‘Batgirl,’ I mean… it was pretty iconic. But yeah, I was very excited, but you know.”

After Horowitz pointed out there will be more opportunities and joked about how studios just might make “one or two more superhero movies,” the actress, also teasing, said, “I think they might make a couple more, yeah. They seem to do pretty well.”

An Actor’s Take On Marvel and DC Auditions

Even though it’s no secret that Haley Lu Richardson was on the shortlist for Batgirl, she didn’t confirm which Marvel character she screen-tested for.

While it could’ve been for the MCU, it’s equally possible her audition was for the former X-Men franchise, or possibly Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

Regardless, it was still fascinating to learn an actor’s perspective of a Marvel audition and their screen testing process, as well as how the multi-project commitment can be “overwhelming.” 

Along the lines of Batgirl, it was equally interesting to learn how interested Richardson was in the role, even after the film was notoriously canceled by the studio.

But as Josh Horowitz said, neither Batgirl nor Richardson’s mysterious Marvel audition is likely to be her last. 

Not only are comic book studios churning out more projects in the coming years, but more than one of those studios already has Haley Lu Richardson’s number. 

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DCU

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard gave long-time Trekkers something we never thought we’d see again. The starship Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation, fully restored to her classic ’80s/’90s look, flying once more. Somehow, the producers of Picard and Paramount+ were able to keep this one a secret from the public. Because when the crew set foot on that old bridge once again, fans on social media went wild. No one saw it coming. Now that the Enterprise has returned, Paramount+ has revealed a new Picard digital billboard in New York City, showcasing the old girl’s glorious comeback.

Seeing that really cool 3D effect, it really looks like the Enterprise (a much tinier Enterprise) just flew into Times Square and docked. The fans on the street went nuts seeing the iconic ship again, and you can hear folks shouting “D! D! D!” in reference to the TNG Enterprise’s corresponding registry letter. If you really look carefully, you can also see a fan shoot up their hand and do the Vulcan salute. Another fan can be heard shouting “Everybody remember, the D is the fat one!” This was a fun fan callback to episode one of Picard season three, where someone said no one wants toy models of the TNG Enterprise, and calls that ship “the fat one.”

The Enterpise-D returns, in this amazing 3D billboard in New York advertising Picard season 3.
Paramount+

With only one episode of Star Trek: Picard left to go, we likely only have one more ride left with the Enterprise-D. Will she save the Earth from another Borg invasion? Probably. But what happens to her afterward? Will she have more adventures? Will she go back to the Starfleet Museum? That seems the more likely scenario here. Whatever happens, here’s hoping that the Picard finale is not the last time we board this Enterprise. So much work went into recreating that set, it would be a shame if we don’t see it at least a few more times. As Spock might say, it would be highly illogical.

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The penultimate episode of

Comics

Estimates actually paint a more positive picture.

Bloomberg anticipates that the PSVR2 sold between 270k and 300k units from launch through the end of March, which would actually make it the fastest selling wired headset ever released. In fact, it took PSVR five months to reach 915,000 units, while PSVR2 may have managed a third of that in one.

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Estimates actually paint a more positive picture.

Festivals

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight has announced the selection for its 55th edition, running May 17 to 26.

The once renegade Cannes parallel section – launched in 1969 and overseen ever since by the French Directors Guild (Société des Réalisateurs de Films) – will present 20 features and 10 shorts this year. Scroll down for the full list.

The selection is the inaugural line-up of incoming Delegate General Julien Rejl, who was announced as predecessor Paolo Moretti’s replacement last June.

This edition also marks the section’s first outing under the new French name of Quinzaine des Cinéastes.

The name change from Quinzaine des Réalisateurs was announced back in June as a move to make its French-language banner title more gender-inclusive. This year, seven of the 21 filmmakers in the 20-title feature selection are women.

Rejl and his new selection team have pulled together an eclectic line-up mixing confirmed directors, buzzed-about newcomers and a handful of off-the-radar titles.

French actor and director Cédric Kahn’s The Goldman Case opens the selection. The drama revolves around the 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman, a real-life, left-wing revolutionary who was convicted of several armed robberies and then mysteriously murdered.

In Our Day (c) Joenwonsa Film Co.

Korean director Hong Sangsoo will close the section with In Our Day.

Little has been announced about the project until now which stars Kim Minhee as a woman in her early 40s, who is temporarily living at the home of a friend, who is raising a cat, and Ki Joobong as a man in his 70s living alone, whose cat has died of old age.

According to the enigmatic synopsis, both characters receive a visitor, a woman in her 20s for the woman, and a man in his 30s for the old man, and eat ramyun noodles with hot pepper paste as they talk.

Hong has previously premiered most of his films in the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection and was in Berlin’s Encounters section this year with In Water.

Other big hitters in the line-up include Oscar-winning director Michel Gondry with The Book of Solutions. The French-language comedy-drama – starring Pierre Niney as a filmmaker dealing with a creative block – is the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director’s first feature in seven years.

Gondry previously screened in Directors’ Fortnight in 2012, with The We And The I, having made his Cannes debut in Official Selection in 2001 with Human Nature.

The selection also includes a trio of films by U.S. indie directors: Sean Price Williams’s The Sweet East, Joanna Arnow’s The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed and Weston Razooli’s Riddle Of Fire.

The Sweet East is the debut feature of cinematographer Sean Price Williams, whose many Director of Photography credits include the Safdie Brothers’ Good Time and Heaven Knows What as well as Abel Ferrara’s Zeros And Ones.

The road movie, written by Nick Pinkerton, is described as a picaresque journey through contemporary America by a young woman who is granted access to the strange sects and cults proliferating in the country.

Brooklyn-based actress and filmmaker Arnow’s The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed follows the life of a woman as her life slips away in a long-term casual BDSM relationship and a low-level corporate job. 

Executive produced by Sean Baker, the film was supported by Berlinale Script Station, Gotham Week 2021 and When East Meets West at the project stage. Arnow won Berlinale Silver Bear in 2015 for her short film Bad at Dancing.

Riddle Of Fire is Los Angeles-based filmmaker Razooli’s debut feature after shorts Anaxia and Jolly Boy Friday.

There is a strong Asian presence with films from China, India, Pakistan and Vietnam making the cut.

From China, Geng Zihan’s debut film A Song Sung Blue is a coming-of-age tale about a teenager who is sent to live with her chaotic father for the summer after her mother goes to Africa on a medical posting.

Indian director Kanu Behl, whose 2014 film Butterfly (Titli) played in Un Certain Regard, will present his new film Agra, exploring the sexual dynamics within a multi-generational family living together in the same cramped home.

Vietnamese director Pham Thien An’s debut feature Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell follows a careless man who returns to his rural home and reluctantly starts a search for his long-lost brother during which he makes a discovery that questions his faith.

The selection also features the Pakistani Urdu-language horror film In Flames by Zarrar Kahn, for which XYZ Films is handling North American sales rights.

The Karachi-set film follows a mother and daughter, living a precarious existence following the death of the family patriarch, who fall prey to evil forces.

Other highlights include cult French experimental director Bertrand Mandico’s new work She Is Connan, inspired by Robert E. Howard’s 1930s character, but played by actresses at different stages of the character’s life.

There will also be a Special Screening for late Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira’s 1993 Abraham’s Valley, to fete the 30th anniversary of its screening in Directors’ Fortnight.

The Madame Bovary-inspired drama starred Leonor Silveira as a young woman, dissatisfied with her marriage to an older doctor and takes several lovers. This year’s Directors’ Fortnight poster pays tribute to the work.

As previously announced, Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé will receive the section Carrosse d’Or honorary award.

Directors’ Fortnight 2023 Feature Selection

Abraham’s Valley (Val Abraão)
Dir. Manoel de Oliveira – SPECIAL SCREENING

The Goldman Case (Le Procès Goldman) OPENING FILM
Dir. Cédric Kahn

Agra (India)
Dir. Kanu Behl

The Other Laurens (Fr)
Dir.de Claude Schmitz

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell * (Viet-Sing-Fr)
Dir. Thien An Pham

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (Switz-Ger-Geo)Dir. Elene Naveriani

Grace * (Blazh)
Dir. Ilya Povolotsky

She is Conann (Bel-Fr-Lux)
Dir. Bertrand Mandico

Creatura (Sp)Dir. Elena Martín Gimeno

Déserts (Mor-Fr-Ger-Bel)
Dir. Faouzi Bensaïdi

In Flames * (Can-Pak)
Dir. Zarrar Kahn

Légua (Port-Fr-It)
Dir. Filipa Reis & João Miller Guerra

The Book of Solutions (Fr)
Dir. Michel Gondry

Mambar Pierrette
Dir. Rosine Mbakam

Riddle Of Fire * (US)
Dir. Weston Razooli

The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed * (US)
Dir. Joanna Arnow

The Sweet East (US)
Dir. Sean Price Williams

A Prince (Fr)
Dir. Pierre Creton

A Song Sung Blue * (China)
Dir. Zihan Geng

In Our Day (S Kor)
Dir. Hong Sangsoo CLOSING FILM

Short Films

The House Is on Fire, Might as Well Get Warm
Dir. Mouloud Aït Liotna 

A Storm Inside
Dir. Clément Pérot

The Birthday Party
Dir. Francesco Sossai

 I Saw the Face of the Devil
Dir. Julia Kowalski

Lemon Tree
Dir. Rachel Walden

Margarethe 89
Dir. Lucas Malbrun

Mast-Del
Dir. Maryam Tafakory

Oyu
Dir. Atsushi Hirai

The Red Sea Make Me Wanna Cry
Dir. Faris Alrjoob

Talking to the River
Dir. Yue Pan

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Cannes Directors’ Fortnight has announced the selection

Film


Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has picked up international rights to “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” by first-time feature director Pham Thien An. The film will have its global premiere next month in the Directors Fortnight section of the Cannes film festival.

Pham Thien An previously made short films “The Mute” in 2018 and the one-take “Stay Awake, Be Ready” in 2019. Both enjoyed a busy festival career, with “Stay Awake” earning the Illy Prize in Cannes followed by additional awards at the Palm Springs, Busan, Kyiv and Flickerfest events.

“Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” follows the emotional journey of Thien, who is entrusted with the responsibility of delivering his sister-in-law’s body to their hometown after a tragic motorcycle accident in Saigon. Amidst this heartbreaking task, Thien also takes care of his nephew, Dao, a five-year-old survivor of the accident. As they traverse the mystical landscapes of rural Vietnam, Thien embarks on a quest to find his long-lost brother and reunite him with Dao, a journey that ultimately leads him to question his faith.

“We found ourselves deeply engaged with the story, its characters, and the cinematography which was truly beautiful. We are incredibly honored to represent Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” said Sébastien Chesneau, Cercamon CEO. “This film is a testament to the power of storytelling to transcend cultural boundaries and captivate audiences with its compelling narrative and stunning visuals.”

“Sébastien and his team noticed right away the intricate, ambitious craftsmanship employed in the placement of the camera, the blocking of actors, the meticulous set design and the occasional spontaneous surprises that make our director and film so special,” said producer Jeremy Chua. “We are proud to present a young and unique voice for Southeast Asian cinema under his bold label.”

The film is produced by Vietnam’s JK Film and Singapore’s Potocol in coproduction with France’s Deuxième Ligne Films and Spain’s Fasten Films. It was supported by the Singapore Film Commission, Purin Pictures, Normandie Images and the Hubert Bals Script & Development Scheme. It was also presented at Cannes Focus COPRO’ in 2019 and the Locarno Open Doors Hub in 2020, where it was awarded a grant for development support from Visions Sud Est.

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Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has picked up

TV

“The Traitors,” the reality game show that sees contestants holed up in a castle working to eliminate one another in order to claim a grand prize, became one of last winter’s break-out hits when it dropped on BBC One.

But it nearly didn’t get commissioned. Syeda Irtizaali, BBC editor for unscripted, revealed when someone first suggested she take a look at the Dutch version (titled “De Verraders” and repped by All3Media International) she wasn’t convinced. “I think it’s a pretty difficult show to sell on paper,” Irtizaali said during a panel discussion about the format at MipTV on Tuesday morning. She said it was a contact at NBC (with whom the BBC has a creative partnership) that told her about it, saying. “’There’s people being murdered, they’re wearing hoodies. Watch it, I think you’ll like it.’”

“I was like, ‘No,’” Irtizaali laughed. “So for a while, I was like, ‘This is not for us.’ And then of course, as soon as I saw it, the Dutch version, we knew this is the show that we wanted to get. We were looking for a show for BBC One, a big reality show. We knew that this was the one. And I think the mise en scene, the hoodies, the flames, everything was part of the joy of that. And I think for us, we just had to really lean into the campery of that, the campness. We were very tongue in cheek about it […] we just went for it. And it’s been amazing for the BBC.”

The BBC’s version did tweak the original Dutch format a bit, namely by eschewing celebrities for civilians. “I knew for us it would have to be real people,” she said. “And that was because we wanted to make it feel like it was a broad range of viewers that will be able to watch it and we knew it wouldn’t really work with celebrities for us.”

Another change was culling two contestants in the first 10 minutes of episode one. “I think [that] was the moment that the public sat up and took notice and just went, ‘Oh, this isn’t what we expected to see on the BBC.’ And from then on in it we just played with it. Because I think because everything’s out there, the format, the game plays, the brutality, it’s all on the screen, nothing else is going on behind the scenes. So it’s all up front. So it’s not cruel. It’s just a brutal game.”

Such has been the popularity of the show in the U.K., Irtizaali revealed 17,000 people had applied to take part in the second season.

Also speaking on the panel was Celine Cauderlier, head of creation and development at Studio 89/M6, who oversaw a French version of the series. The key to its success, she said, is that “it’s not a TV show you’re producing, it’s a game you’re filming, and [that] works so well.” With the French version featuring celebrities, it also brings “authenticity” to the celebrity gameshow genre. “We see celebrities cry, we see celebrities like we’ve never seen them before,” she said. “Then of course, the whole the castle device – that was so different visually, from what you’re used to seeing on TV.”

The U.S. version of the show, which is broadcast on Peacock, has already been renewed for a second season.

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“The Traitors,” the reality game show that

What to Watch

by Trevor Kimball,

(Photo by: ABC/Raymond Liu)

John and his friends’ journeys will continue into the 2023-24 television season. The Rookie has been renewed for a sixth year on ABC. The fifth season finale airs on May 2nd.

A police drama series, The Rookie TV show stars Nathan Fillion, Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, Melissa O’Neil, Eric Winter, Mekia Cox, Shawn Ashmore, and Tru Valentino. Lisseth Chavez recurs. John Nolan (Fillion) is a middle-aged divorced man from Pennsylvania who owns a construction company. He decides to give up his old life to pursue a new career as a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. He graduates from the Police Academy, is the oldest rookie on the force, and eventually becomes a training officer. He works with Sergeant Wade Grey (Jones), Detective Angela Lopez (Diaz), training officers Nyla Harper (Cox) and Tim Bradford (Winter), fellow rookie Lucy Chen (O’Neil), and the station’s newest rookie, Aaron Thorsen (Valentino).

The fifth season of The Rookie is averaging a 0.43 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 3.86 million viewers. Compared to season four, that’s up by 20% in the demo and up by 21% in viewership in the live+same day ratings (including DVR playback through 3:00 AM). In the live+7 day ratings, the show picks up about 70% more viewers thanks to delayed viewing.

The Rookie is currently ABC’s second-highest-rated show in total viewers and is one of a few series on the Alphabet network to see its ratings rise year-over-year. The numbers immediately increased when The Rookie moved from Sundays to Tuesday nights.

The renewal was announced via social media:

There’s been no official word on the fate of The Rookie: Feds spin-off yet, but word is that it’s expected to be renewed for a second season.

What do you think? Have you kept up with The Rookie TV show on ABC? Are you glad this police drama has been renewed for a sixth season?

Check out our ABC status sheet to track the alphabet network’s new series pickups, renewals, and cancellations. You can find lists of cancelled shows here.

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by Trevor Kimball, April 17, 2023(Photo by:

Awards

Tulsa King stars Jay Will, Garrett Hedlund and Max Casella were at Deadline’s Contenders TV event on Sunday to discuss their Paramount+ show and its lead Sylvester Stallone.

The show follows prominent mafia don Dwight Manfredi (Stallone), who upon his release from prison after 25 years, finds that his empire has been dismantled and he must start anew. Despite the setback, Manfredi sets up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and finds new henchmen to help grow his new criminal organization.

Will’s Tyson, is one of the first characters Dwight connects with once he settles in Oklahoma, eventually becoming his confidant and business partner. On the panel, Will explained what drew him to play a role in the sprawling Taylor Sheridan television universe.

“It was honestly the level of relatability,” Will said. “Tyson reminds me of not only myself but also a lot of young Black men who grew up in the neighborhoods that I come from who aren’t really on this side or that side but more in between. I think his relationship with his father not really wanting him to get too deep into the mob lifestyle but at the same time wanting him to make a name for himself and wanting him to find his own independence [is relatable].”

RELATED:  Deadline Studio At Contenders Television 2023 – Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Dominique Fishback, Riley Keough, Natasha Lyonne & More

The actor also praised his working relationship with his co-star Stallone for keeping him realistic and grounded in the various scenes they had to portray together. “[He] made it easy for me to just do my own thing and be myself. There were a couple of times where he knew that I would do things that weren’t of my personal nature, and he would be like, ‘Yo, come on,’ whenever I would force or push [myself in a way that didn’t fit the scenario]. He could see right through it. And people like that, you always want to keep them close.”

RELATED: The Contenders TV – Deadline’s Full Coverage

Check back Tuesday for the panel video.

Deadline Contenders Television is sponsored by: Apple TV+, Coverfly, Eyepetizer, Final Draft, Los Siete Misterios, Michter’s, and Village Roadshow Entertainment. Partners include: Four Seasons Resort Maui, The American Pavilion, Julia Wong Designs and Pampring.

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Tulsa King stars Jay Will, Garrett Hedlund

Music

James McAvoy
Photo: Jamie McCarthy (Getty Images)

Few things are less scary than the one sentence premise of a horror movie/thriller that the studio doesn’t want to spoil. Case in point: Blumhouse and Universal’s American remake of Danish film Speak No Evil (a.k.a. Gaesterne), which a Hollywood Reporter story says “centers on a family that takes a dream holiday to an idyllic country house, only to have the vacation turn into a psychological nightmare.” That could mean anything! And it could describe so many existing movies!

Merle Dandridge on “The Last Of Us,” “Station 19,” and more

But that’s beside the point, which is that Christian Tafdrup’s Speak No Evil is getting an American remake from Blumhouse and Universal. James Watkins, who previously made The Woman In Black (a movie about a man visiting a house in the country who later experiences a psychological nightmare), will direct. James McAvoy, star of Split (in which a man… sort of takes women on a vacation that ends up being a psychological nightmare), will star in this, though The Hollywood Reporter doesn’t say if he’s part of the family or part of the psychological nightmare.

For those who haven’t seen the original film and don’t care about some light spoilers, the great A.A. Dowd once wrote that Speak No Evil involves a “hellish weekend of intensifying social discomfort” rather than wall-to-wall horror scares, saying it “offers a pointed tweak to the motives of The Strangers and an exaggerated lesson on the consequences of holding your tongue.” (Spoiler alert: Heh heh.) There’s a family with a kid, a slightly weird family with a slightly weird kid, and it plays with the classic horror/thriller trope of the audience asking why the characters don’t just run away the second things start to take a turn.

The American Speak No Evil is set to come out on August 9, 2024.

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James McAvoyPhoto: Jamie McCarthy (Getty Images)Few things

Docs

Lola Quivoron’s Rodeo utterly defies expectations. The director’s kinetic, visceral, unconventional drama is not a sports movie, although it takes place in the world of dirt biking. Quivoron and Antonia Buresi didn’t write an underdog story, nor a rags-to-riches tale either. It is, first and foremost, a blistering character study, raw in its power and realism, its beats as unpredictable as its protagonist. I’d say buckle up, but dirt bikes don’t have seat belts.

Rodeo is about Julia (Julie Ledru), a young misfit with questionable morals and ambitions. She’s obsessed with dirt bikes, stealing them from unsuspecting eBay sellers. “I was born with a bike between my legs,” she tells one of them before taking off, sticking out her middle finger as she flees. Though Julia seems to care little about money, her family, or anything else but bikes for that matter, she does harbor an ambition: the ultimate heist, Fast & Furious-style.

Soon Julia joins a group of male bikers who work for the mysterious Domino (Sébastien Schroeder), an incarcerated criminal. They steal, renovate, and resell bikes in a garage that, for some, functions as a part-time home. Among this oddball “family” is Kaïs (Yannnnis Lafki), who becomes a mentor of sorts to Julia, despite the reluctance of his brothers to let this borderline feral young woman join their tightly-knit circle. She ends up utilizing her thieving skills for Domino, who sends her on a multitude of dangerous tasks.

Julia visits home, where her brother assists in her scams, while her mother has long since disowned her. The “matriarch” of the gang, Ophélie (Antonia Buresi), turns out to be Domino’s beaten-down wife, following his orders, and running his business when he can’t. A touching bond gradually develops between Julia and Kaïs. This all leads to a grim, enigmatic gut punch of a finale.

“…Julia joins a group of male bikers who work for the mysterious Domino…”

As Rodeo revolves around bikers, the few scenes depicting them in action are astounding. Cinematographer Raphaël Vandenbussche’s camera captures the extended wheelies, the bikers’ exaltation, the speed, and the exhilaration of living life on the edge with verve. Quivoron is equally adept at accentuating things without hammering them into the viewer’s head: the sexism prevalent among an all-male clique (“Ride or go sit with the chicks and wait your turn,” Julia is told early on); Domino’s ironclad grip over his wife and children, despite being stuck in jail.

The filmmaker never condemns or discriminates. She simply portrays the trials and tribulations of the working class through a very specific lens. She demonstrates how poverty and hardship can lead to misguided obsessions and dreams. Money has ceased to mean much to Julia; the anticipation of the next adrenaline rush keeps her going.

With unkempt hair and a rascally smile, Ledru is a force of nature, prone to outbursts of violent anger, both outwardly confident and deeply insecure. “I go by Unknown,” she replies drily when asked her name. When a young man rudely tells her to move, she “blows him out like a birthday candle.” It’s a screen-scorching performance from a newcomer who’s bound to be gracing magazine covers soon.

You’ve never quite seen a film like Rodeo before. A fervent mix of action, pathos, and socially-conscious commentary, its cinematic tires will leave thick skid marks in your head.

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Lola Quivoron’s Rodeo utterly defies expectations. The director’s kinetic,

Global

OTTAWA — The Ontario government is telling the country’s top court the disclosure of ministerial mandate letters would reveal the substance of deliberations of the premier and his cabinet — breaching a key tenet of Westminster-style government.

In a written brief filed with the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario attorney general says cabinet confidentiality, candour and solidarity are fundamental to a system where responsible ministers collectively decide government policy.

The court is set to hear oral arguments today concerning Ontario’s attempt to block the release of 23 letters Premier Doug Ford wrote to cabinet ministers shortly after his Progressive Conservative government took office five years ago.

The cabinet office refused the CBC’s freedom-of-information request for the letters, citing a cabinet privilege exemption in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The CBC appealed to the Ontario information and privacy commissioner, who ordered release of the letters to the public broadcaster.

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A divisional court dismissed the attorney general’s application for judicial review, and the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the decision.

That prompted Ontario to take its case to the Supreme Court.

The province’s information and privacy commissioner had found no evidence the records in question were tabled at a cabinet meeting, weighed the reasons for a particular course of action, or spelled out the views or ideas of cabinet members.

As a result, the commissioner found the cabinet office had not shown the letters would reveal the substance of cabinet deliberations.

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In its submission to the Supreme Court, the Ontario attorney general says the commissioner’s narrow and restrictive interpretation of “substance of deliberations” is an “unwarranted incursion” into the functioning of cabinet.

In its own written brief, the commissioner asks the top court to consider whether the decision to order disclosure bears the “hallmarks of reasonableness in terms of justification, transparency and intelligibility, particularly in light of the history of the proceedings, the evidence and submissions presented, and the established case law that went unchallenged.”

The CBC is also urging the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal.

The broadcaster argues that Ontario is inviting the top court to “decide this case afresh _ and to do so largely based on arguments, positions, and authorities that were never even put before the (information and privacy commissioner).”

&copy 2023 The Canadian Press

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OTTAWA — The Ontario government is telling

Trending

“Extra’s” Rachel Lindsay caught up with Bill Hader at the premiere of the fourth and final season of “Barry.”

He spoke about directing this season, if fans will be satisfied with the ending, and the “bittersweet” last day of filming. Bill also dished on recently finding out that he and Carol Burnett are distant cousins — which she discovered while appearing on “Finding Your Roots”!

Opening up about how the show has changed his life, Hader said, “I never was the lead of anything before, and I’ve never written or directed anything before.”

As for directing the entire final season, Bill told Rachel, “I love directing. I’d love to keep doing that. I really enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun.”

The final day of filming, however, was tough.

“It was bittersweet,” Bill shared. “It was very sad. That’s the hardest part of this is saying goodbye to everybody you worked with and how much you’ve loved them.”

He’s not sure how fans will react to Season 4, saying, “I have no clue.”

Bill also recalled how Burnett reached out to him to reveal they’re family. “She emailed and said… ‘Oh, we’re related.’ And I was like… ‘What?’ So yeah, it was really cool.”

Now, after years of planning, producing and filming “Barry,” Bill is ready for more peace and quiet.

Rachel pointed out, “You said you have not had a vacation in 10 years,” asking, “Where are you going?”

He confessed, “I don’t know. I need to figure something out. I’m talking to people. I’m asking around… I’m taking a poll, because I don’t even know how it works. I’m like, ‘Yes, please, I need a vacation.’”

“Barry” airs Sundays on HBO.

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Tech

Microsoft is still banking on a industrial technological revolution that’s set to fundamentally change sectors like manufacturing and healthcare, and it reckons mixed reality is at the forefront.

Remote collaboration, 3D visualization, and AI-based predictions are some of the things that are set to change how we work, and Microsoft hopes that its Hololens 2 headset can still play a role.

The mixed reality headset, which the company launched prior to the pandemic, is finally getting a software update in the form of Windows 11, several months after the computer-focused operating system launched.

Windows 11 for Hololens 2

Previously limited to a variant of Windows 10, the free upgrade is hoped to bring numerous security benefits and new features along with continued support for monthly security servicing updates.

Some up-and-coming tools are also making their way into the OS in preview format ahead of a full release, including Edge WebView2 control.

Users can head to Settings > Update & Security > Check for Updates to migrate to Windows 11, however the company describes the update as “optional” and encourages users to remain on Windows 10 “if they prefer” – a totally different approach compared with the desktop OS which the company has been pushing since its launch.

On the whole, development of the headset has been pretty slow with numerous challenges faced along the way. Earlier this year, the US Congress approved funding to develop an improved Hololens for the US Army after concerns about usability, while plans for Microsoft to create a third generation were reportedly halted ahead of layoffs and financial cutbacks that affected the project’s workers.

That said, despite the sudden success in artificial intelligence kickstarted by the launch of ChatGPT, companies like Meta continue to be devoted to mixed reality. As a result, Microsoft’s continued work could land it in pole position if and when headsets finally have their age.

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Microsoft is still banking on a industrial

Entertaintment


By Josh Sorokach

The final season of Barry is pure television magic. The emotional beats and existential melancholy are obviously riveting, but what I’m going to miss the most (outside of the revelatory performances) is the show’s distinct, magnetic brand of offbeat hilarity. The first two episodes of Season 4 are a perfect reminder of the show’s unique sense of humor (Noho Hank and Cristobal’s almost perfectly coordinated sales pitch at Dave & Buster’s, “Is he still mad at me?”), which always feels natural without undercutting the dramatic severity of the story. Barry has always been a masterclass at blending complex emotions with silly, sophisticated comedy. The final season is at an exceptional coda to an expertly told story.

Photo: HBO

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By Josh Sorokach The final season of Barry is

MCU

Actor Matthew Macfadyen, who appears on HBO’s smash hit Succession, will seemingly have a major role to play in Deadpool 3.

Deadpool 3 has really been shaping up. Due out in 2024, the film’s cast list not only includes Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth but also features a much-publicized comeback for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.

Also among the cast is Matthew Macfadyen who was reported to have joined the Marvel threequel last month.

Large Deadpool 3 Role Teased for Matthew Macfadyen

Succession

Speaking to etalk CTV (via the program’s TikTok account) Ryan Reynolds spoke about Matthew Macfadyen’s casting in Deadpool 3, lauding him as one of the best actors working today:

Reynolds: “I am always rooting for him because he was one of the best actors out there. I mean, no joke.”

Reynolds further praised his soon-to-be co-star, noting how Macfadyen is able to thrive in duplicitous roles:

etalkCTV: “I mean, we hate him in ‘Succession.’”

Reynolds: “Maybe? I love him in ‘Succession.’ I can embrace a guy who straddles the line of villain and hero. And martyr. And many other things.”

Reynolds also highlighted how Macfadyen will be on-set “each and every day” during the production of Deadpool 3, essentially confirming that the actor will have a major part in the movie:

Reynolds: “I think Matthew Macfayden is probably one of the most interesting actors working today. And the fact that he’s going to be on our ‘Deadpool’ set each and every day is kind of nerve-wracking for me. I’ll be starstruck.”

Who Will Matthew Macfayden Play in Deadpool 3?

It’s clear that Ryan Reynolds is extremely impressed with Macfadyen’s talents.

Taking into account the already mentioned Reynolds, Jackman, and Macfadyen, plus the fact that the majority of the main supporting cast from the first two Deadpool movies are returning as well, Deadpool 3 will have a multitude of familiar faces.

Indeed, Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Karan Soni (Dopinder), and Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) are all back for the third film. Additionally, Stefan Kapicic will again voice Colossus. 

Mobius M. Mobius and Miss Minutes from Marvel Studios’ Loki are also heavily rumored to crop up, along with Emma Corrin of The Crown fame joining the team.

It may not be clear who Matthew Macfadyen is playing, but suffice it to say, Deadpool 3’s cast is pretty stacked! 

And as for the film’s story, not much is known. It’ll feature a (perhaps begrudging) team-up between Wade and Logan though, providing plenty of fourth-wall-breaking comedy material for Wilson to work off of throughout the movie, especially after both characters duked it out in 2009’s reviled X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Marvel Studios’ Deadpool 3 will hit theaters on November 8, 2024, and will serve as the last film in the MCU’s Phase 5.

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DCU

Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Titans season 4.The twist of Titans season 4’s mid-season premiere paints a kindly picture of Lex Luthor, but it seems likely that it’s all according to a sinister plan to win the heroes’ trust. Despite only appearing in one episode of Titans season 4, Lex Luthor has been a major influence on the first half of the season’s storyline. It was his efforts to uncover the Temple of Azarath that led to the rise of the Church of Blood. It was also Luthor’s guidance that led to Superboy’s sudden change in character.

Lex Luthor continued to steer the story of Titans season 4’s second half, having planted a journal containing everything he had learned about the Church of Blood within the Temple of Azarath itself. He also left behind a letter for Superboy, instructing him to stop the Church of Blood’s leader Mother Mayhem at any cost. While these actions seemed to corroborate Luthor’s claims of wanting to make up for his wicked ways and develop a relationship with the young clone he created using his and Superman’s DNA, there is ample reason to doubt his word.


Titans Is Trying To Make Lex Luthor Seem Reasonable

Luthor was uncharacteristically helpful and forthcoming with information in Titans season 4, episode 7, “Caul’s Folly.” The letter Luthor left for Conner Kent was straightforward in instructing him to give the book he left behind regarding the Church of Blood and the prophecy of Trigon’s return to Nightwing. Granting that Luthor’s tone in the letter was snarky, saying that Nightwing “claims to be a master detective, so let him detect,” it was still atypical of Lex Luthor to openly admit that anyone might be more skilled than him at anything.

The fact that Lex Luthor made a contingency plan in case he failed is also out of character. While Luthor is a master strategist, he is also incredibly arrogant and prone to hubris, with most of his defeats coming about because of his own stubborn nature and refusal to admit weakness. It seems unlikely that the revelation of his own mortality brought on by his diagnosis of advanced Kryptonite poisoning led Luthor to reassess his life and start thinking of how to fight the Church of Blood in the event of his death.

Lex Luthor Could Be Playing Both The Titans & Mother Mayhem

Superboy Reads Lex Luthor's Letter In Titans Season 4

Taking into account Luthor’s infamous lack of humility and history of failing to plan for failure, it seems impossible that his planting the journal and letter in the Temple of Azarath is not part of some larger scheme. While Luthor might agree to help the heroes on occasion, he will only do so if it benefits him somehow. Given Luthor’s death in Titans’ season 4 premiere, it seems likely that Luthor foresaw how things would end with Mother Mayhem and took steps to arrange his own resurrection.

Luthor began investigating the Temple of Azarath, hoping he might find some way to use it to prolong his life or cure his condition. He spoke of his research briefly with Superboy, saying that “death may no longer be the foe I once thought it to be.” Luthor also warned Superboy that Mother Mayhem “may have… even darker ideas than I do,” just before her magic killed him.

Ironically, it was Mother Mayhem’s efforts to kill Superboy that pushed him to start becoming the son that Lex Luthor hoped he might be. Beyond shaving his head in imitation of his biological father, Superboy began to behave in a more secretive manner and became more dependent upon his considerable intellect than his Kryptonian powers. This led some to theorize that Lex Luthor had taken over Superboy’s body or was somehow subtly influencing his behavior. It was also suggested that Mother Mayhem’s grudge against Lex was an act, and that he had contracted her to magically resurrect him somehow.

While all these suggestions are merely theories, they all seem equally plausible. The one common element is the idea that Lex Luthor’s death came about too easily and that he has to be manipulating someone, somehow, into helping him cheat death. The means is immaterial, as it cannot be denied that if there is anyone who can scheme their way out of the afterlife with a convoluted plan that involves pitting their enemies against one another and finding a way to come out on top, it is definitely Lex Luthor.

Superboy’s Story Is Setting Up Lex Luthor As Titans’ Final Villain

Split Image: Brother Blood; Lex Luthor; Superboy in Titans

The greatest piece of evidence that Lex will return to be the final villain of Titans season 4 lies in Superboy’s storyline. The events of Titans season 4 have seen Conner Kent struggling with his identity and seeking a connection with both of his biological fathers. After Lex’s death, Conner begins to look into what sort of man Lex Luthor was outside the public record of his criminal acts, hoping to find some evidence of Luthor being a misunderstood genius.

This leads Superboy to seek out Lex’s former bodyguard Mercy Graves in Titans season 4, episode 7, “Caul’s Folly.” While Conner nominally looks for her to learn what countermeasures Luthor had begun preparing to fight Mother Mayhem before his death, Superboy also asks Mercy about what sort of man Luthor was. Mercy’s report is a glowing one, praising Luthor for “his ability to see people’s potential and harness it for his own gain.” Not only does this acknowledge Lex’s manipulative nature regarding his treatment of the Titans, but it seems to foreshadow his finding a way to win in the current battle between the Titans and the Church of Blood.

It is clear that Mercy believed her former boss had intended to use Superboy and the Titans for his own ends in some fashion. Precisely what those ends are beyond saving Luthor’s life remains unclear, but Mercy’s opinions count for much. As Lex Luthor’s right hand, she knew him better than anybody, presuming she is not directly involved in Luthor’s plan to fight against Mother Mayhem and the Church of Blood.

The unspoken implication in Superboy’s story is that Conner fears his own selfish impulses are born of Lex Luthor’s influence upon him. Thus, Superboy begins to emulate and idealize Luthor, seeking that familial connection to something he lacks, having been born without parents. The irony is that the Titans are the family Conner seeks, and they’ve been waiting for him throughout Titans.

Titans season 4 continues on Thursdays on HBO Max.

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Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Titans

Comics

Niantic, which is perhaps most known for developing Pokémon Go, is working on an augmented reality version of Monster Hunter for Android and iOS devices. The company has teamed up with Capcom to create what it calls a “real-world hunting action RPG” entitled Monster Hunter Now. Similar to Pokemon Go and Niantic’s other titles, including the now-defunct Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, players will have to walk around with their phones to find monsters to battle. They can also team up with friends and strangers and use the materials they gather to craft weapons and armor. 

According to Polygon, Niantic and Capcom have revealed at a press briefing that the game will be free to play, with in-app purchases. It will feature simplified combat comparable to Pokémon Go’s and will have players swiping and tapping on their phone screens. Players can fight battles one-handed in portrait mode, but they can also battle monsters in landscape mode if they want to replicate the Monster Hunter experience they’re used to on PCs and consoles. 

While the franchise is known for challenging players with battles that could last for more than five minutes, though, the maximum battle time for the mobile game will only be 75 seconds. Sakae Osumi, a Niantic senior producer at its Tokyo studio where the game is being developed, said the company wants to encapsulate Monster Hunter’s fun battles within a shorter window of time. Long, drawn-out battles aren’t ideal for mobile games where you’re supposed to walk around anyway. That said, Monster Hunter Now will come with a feature that will allow players to tag monsters they encounter with a paintball so that they could battle them at home, either on their own or with friends. Their Palico companions could automatically tag monsters, as well, even if the app isn’t open. 

Niantic is now accepting sign-ups for the game’s closed beta testing, which will begin on April 25th. If all goes well, and testing is a success, Monster Hunter Now will officially launch sometime in September this year. 

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Niantic, which is perhaps most known for

Festivals

A sneak peek at Adobe’s new AI art generator.

You can try to run, you can try to hide, but whether you like it or not, generative AI is here to stay. The only real question now is do you plan to work with generative AI as a way to optimize your creativity and workflows, or do you want to be left behind?

As we’ve seen so far from NAB 2023, AI is indeed one of the biggest trends here in Vegas. As we’ve covered already, Adobe is certainly bringing a lot to the table to explore different AI tools and features.

However, by far the most exciting tool Adobe has unveiled is the first Adobe Firefly model. Let’s take a sneak peek at this AI art generator and how you’ll be able to use everyday language to generate extraordinary new content which has a beta version available today.

The Promises of Generative AI

Alright, before you click the link to dive into trying this new AI art generator yourself, let’s go over a little bit about what Adobe Firefly is and what it promises to do for the industry. Sure, there’s a lot to consider and be both excited and concerned about with generative AI.

And to be perfectly frank, for all of those of us who have worked in filmmaking and video editing for years, the idea of an AI program doing any sort of legwork for us is a bit scary and hard to comprehend to a level.

But as we’ve seen with Midjourney and ChatGPT, this bold new world of generative AI is coming whether we like it or not. Yet, despite many of these AI technologies being out for a bit now, it doesn’t quite appear that any of these AI techs are mass-replacing creators. Instead, it’s aiding those in the creative space.

Adobe FireflyCredit: Adobe

Generative AI and the Creative Cloud

With that being said, let’s take a look at Adobe’s Beta model for Firefly and how this AI art generator is planned to be integrated into the Creative Cloud.

For just a bit more context though, it’s worth mentioning that Adobe has had AI-driven features in the Creative Cloud and different apps for over 10 years now with their AI and machine learning framework Adobe Sensei. You’ve seen these AI-powered features in Premiere Pro and After Effects with Auto Reframe, Remix, and Content Aware Fill for several years now.

However, Adobe is looking to usher in a major evolution of AI-driven creativity and productivity with Adobe Firefly, their new family of creative generative AI models which will begin with image generation and text effects.

Trained on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content, and public domain content, this new Adobe Firefly beta is designed to generate unique content which Adobe users can for commercial or personal projects in different Adobe apps (like Premiere Pro and After Effects) here in the near future.

How Adobe Firefly Will Change Video Editing

As video continues to change and heads towards more short-form content for bite-sized consumption, there are certainly some elements of this generative AI movement that could indeed drastically help workflows and creative development.

And that’s the crux of the promise with Adobe Firefly, and how it could become a useful tool for content creators looking to streamline their processes and work quicker, smarter, and, ultimately, more creatively.

From Adobe’s NAB presentation, here are some of the ways they see Firefly working with video editing in particular:

  • Text-to-color enhancements: Change color schemes, time of day, or even the seasons in already-recorded videos, instantly altering the mood and setting to evoke a specific tone and feel. With a simple prompt like “Make this scene feel warm and inviting,” the time between imagination and the final product can all but disappear.
  • Advanced music and sound effects: Creators can easily generate royalty-free custom sounds and music to reflect a certain feeling or scene for both temporary and final tracks.
  • Stunning fonts, text effects, graphics, and logos: With a few simple words and in a matter of minutes, creators can generate subtitles, logos, title cards, and custom contextual animations.
  • Powerful script and B-roll capabilities: Creators can dramatically accelerate pre-production, production, and post-production workflows using AI analysis of script-to-text to automatically create storyboards and previsualizations, as well as recommending B-roll clips for rough or final cuts.
  • Creative assistants and co-pilots: With personalized generative AI-powered “how-to’s,” users can master new skills and accelerate processes from initial vision to creation and editing.

Adobe estimates that they expect to start introducing new generative AI features for video, audio, animation, and motion graphics sometime later this year. If you’re excited to dive in and check things out, you can sign up for the beta of Adobe Firefly and even join the conversation on Discord.

What are your thoughts about Adobe Firefly and generative AI for video? Let us know in the comments below.     

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A sneak peek at Adobe's new

Film

Welcome, viewers around the world, to fight night on Perry Mason. The main event: a brutal, overdue grudge match between compadres, drinking buddies, colleagues, and, ultimately, two unkempt nudniks who love each other so much that they’d rather throw down in an absolute slobberknocker than work together. Perry and Pete have been itching for a fight all season—heck, they’ve probably wanted to pop each other for a solid decade—and “Chapter Fifteen” delivers. But not without a quick reminder of the friendship these two share as the episode opens in media res with a shot of Perry and Pete, washed ashore, as the mustachioed newsboy-cap enthusiast reaches for a smoke only to discover a soggy cig. Has there ever been a more perfect image of these two? It’s hard to be friends with Perry Mason. There’s nothing but heartbreak, hard times, and water-logged cigarettes. Though, occasionally, he wins a case, too.

Matthew Rhys on “Perry Mason” and “The Americans”

“To victory,” Milligan cheers as he offers Pete a glass of cognac given to Milligan’s ancestor by friggin’ Napoleon. As he chokes on his taste of the good life, Pete tells Milligan that he’s wasting his fancy drink on a small-town schmo like Pete. Nevertheless, Milligan’s plan worked. The judge will admit the gun as evidence and will not declare a mistrial. This gives Perry some leeway, though not much. Thankfully, Pete’s already having second thoughts as he lives off the fat of the land he acquired by selling out a friend.

Relegated to guest star, Shea Whigham, a clutch player in any show’s dugout, hung around the periphery this year. Nevertheless, he’s been a joy in every episode he appears. Playing for the opposite side, Pete struck a deal with the devil to keep food on the table as the powerful play the powerless against each other. He’s the reverse of Paul, who never benefited from Pete’s privilege but grew fed up with working for the police after one payoff. To paraphrase Charlie Bucket, I bet all that gold makes the cognac taste terrible. Pete chokes it down but decides he must come clean with Perry.

After a season of wrestling and boxing, we finally get some honest fisticuffs between friends. Pete appropriately asks Perry to meet him at a lonely concrete bridge, where he spills the beans, blaming his former partner for making it too easy to break into the safe. The argument quickly comes to blows, with Perry doing as Anita recommended, working the body before focusing on the head. Letting out the aggression breaks the tension, and after the bell rings (i.e., Pete barfs), Pete’s ready to let bygones be bygones. However, Perry is all but done; he’s prepared to be disbarred and thrown in jail. Pete hands his old friend a cigarette and some encouragement because this is when Perry’s at his best. “If I can piece together some fucking bizarre evidence,” says Perry, “I could possibly take down some of the biggest names in this city.” Pete’s raring to go: “So let’s do it.”

Matthew Rhys

Matthew Rhys
Photo: Merrick Morton

It’s not going to be so easy. When Perry brings Pete to the office, he has to sell the actual people who have been helping all season on bringing Pete back into the fold. Paul didn’t appreciate Pete deceiving him earlier this season, and he’s still paying the price for it. Ozzie Jackson’s probably dead, and Paul’s relationship with Clara is strained at best. So when Perry tells Della and Paul that he’s responsible for the gun fiasco, it looks like Perry has a mutiny on his hands. Throughout all of this, and as we noted in “Chapter Thirteen,” there’s a profound feeling of things clicking into place with Perry Mason, and this scene epitomizes it. Perry asks everyone to calm down and focus on what we know is a crucial moment when the show’s finale begins to materialize, with the answers just exceeding everyone’s grasp. Still, everyone is finally on the same page. The culmination of everything this season is pure energy rocketing these four to the conclusion with a simple question: “What do we know?”

Perry’s right to return to basics, but he’s in even deeper than he thinks. The episode jumps to Lydell at a meeting with Japanese government agents. Camilla overhears Lydell embarrassing himself with horse talk, so she interjects and suggests the agents rethink their shipping arrangements in light of the heat falling on the McCutcheons. Effectively, she cuts Lydell out of the conversation. When Camilla attempts to placate Lydell for stepping over him, Lydell spits venom at her, calling her a “barren spinster,” which feels almost as violent as when he put that guy’s head in an oil derrick.

From one fractured relationship to another, Della heads to Ham’s office for a confrontation. Sure, she wants to know what the prosecution has up its sleeve, but Della’s also concerned for her friend. And for good reason. Ham’s being blackmailed with pictures of himself and another man. Suddenly, all that time with Anita isn’t so innocent as we’re flung back into the not-so-distant past that’s constantly repeating itself. Thinking only of self-preservation, Ham would like to end this case so he can put this threat behind him. Still, if Perry can take down some of the biggest names in the city, maybe Della can save him after all. He’s not the only one with something big on the line. Luisa Gallardo (Onahoua Rodriguez) visits Mateo in jail to inform him that Rafael was accepted into art school. The stakes have never been higher for Mateo, who now has an opportunity to free his brother if he admits to Brooks’ murder. But it’s not like Mateo doesn’t have anything on the outside. He has a wife and daughter.

Paul Raci and Hope Davis

Paul Raci and Hope Davis
Photo: Merrick Morton

And that’s one thing that I loved about this episode. Every revelation raises the interpersonal stakes. But the biggest of all is out to sea. Stripped of his trademark leather jacket, Perry follows Pete aboard one of Lydell’s ships to figure out this whole oily fruit situation. They find a bombshell: Lydell uses fruit ships to export oil to Japan illegally. With the help of Della’s great hire, Marion (Jee Young Han), they realize that Lydell might be involved in some light treason. Lydell is selling oil to the Japanese, which the American government sanctioned in the decade leading to World War II. This, too, heightens Lydell’s scheming because it shows that, perhaps, Brooks was innocent in this venture and that Lydell may have had his son killed.

As we’ve seen all season, doing the right thing is never as easy as we hope. Heck, even Brooks knew that. In a revealing flashback, we learn Brooks was attempting to use the fruit Lydell’s men were tossing overboard. “Focus on your charity,” his father told him. So Brooks tried using the discarded fruit for the soup kitchens, but when the Department of Agriculture got wise to some undeclared produce, the McCutcheons were subpoenaed. Brooks wasn’t worried, though. He wasn’t involved in this oil scheme. Lydell, it appears, had no choice but to take care of the Brooks problem. It’s too late. Della is already at the Department Of Agriculture looking for information on the subpoena before she’s asked to leave and stalked into a parking garage.

During all this, Clara, of all people, becomes Paul’s gumshoe and does some recon on the mysterious blue sedan they’ve been pursuing. Isn’t it nice to see everyone working together again? They tail their mystery car to Beverly Hills, and, posing as a Jehovah’s Witness, Clara follows the owner into her house and watches as she overdoses on heroin. Moments later, her husband and Camilla’s lawyer, Phippsy (Wallace Langham), saunters in, wondering if his wife wants Perino’s for dinner. Sadly, there will be no Perino’s for Phippsy tonight.

Diarra Kilpatrick

Diarra Kilpatrick
Photo: Merrick Morton (HBO)

Perry confronts Lydell at his home, putting himself dangerously close to Lydell’s hunting rifle. The lawyer believes he has everything all shored up until Lydell says he wasn’t the one who wanted Brooks killed. “Then who did?” Perry asks. The episode cuts between Camilla playing her piano and Mateo crying in prison, crumpling up the acceptance letter as his traumatized brother lay below him. Finally, it closes with Camilla answering a call from the man who stalked Della in the parking garage. It looks like Perry Mason has found Brooks’ killer.

Stray observations

  • Title Card Corner: We talked about it up top, but the early reminder of Perry and Pete as a dynamic duo, a gruesome twosome, a Disgusting Brothers, was crucial to this episode. It’s another example of this show clicking together. After a season of ambiguity, this was a reminder that, at its heart, Perry Mason is a show about messy people working together to solve a messy problem.
  • Pete’s post-fight barf was a nice touch.
  • “Clickity clack,” says Pete. Perry is still the horse, and today, he took his dive.
  • Pete opening the door and inviting Paul outside for more fisticuffs was perfectly acted by Whigham. I absolutely love his performance on this show.
  • “Do you want to lose two fights today?”
  • Justin Kirk’s nervous laugh when he hands Della the photos is heartbreaking.
  • As usual, the lighting in the prison was just so precise, creating these hard angles with the dividers at the visiting table. It looked beautiful, but the composition imbued the scene with so much tension. There are straight lines everywhere, but Mateo’s decision is anything but straightforward.
  • Pete calls Coignac “pussy punch,” which is a very Pete Strickland turn of phrase.
  • As Mad Men taught us and Succession recently reinforced: “Every time an old man starts talking about Napoleon, you know they’re going to die.” We’re not so lucky with Milligan yet, but comeupance must be coming, right?
  • I couldn’t help but look up some information on Perino’s, which opened in 1932, making it a new spot for old Phippsy. Perino’s was the kind of Golden Age of Hollywood spot that celebrities would frequent, the type of place Charlie Chaplin ordered pumpernickel cheese toast. I found some lovely photos of the restaurant. Though a kitchen fire destroyed the interior in 1934, burning up the Perino’s Phippsy knew. If you’re curious, here’s the menu circa 1950, which I could read for hours. Old food is so weird.

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Welcome, viewers around the world, to fight

What to Watch

Warning: The following contains spoilers about Season 6, Episode 20 of ABC’s The Good Doctor.

How’s this for a curveball?

During Monday’s episode of The Good Doctor, Shaun got to the bottom of Dr. Glassman’s memory impairment — and we’ll admit, we were genuinely surprised by his findings. After scans ruled out a recurrence of brain cancer, we assumed a dementia diagnosis was nigh. But as Shaun revealed to Lim, his surrogate father is actually dealing with the irreversible side effects of a ministroke — which, coupled with the radiation Glassman underwent for his glioblastoma in Season 2, has created a hole in his brain. “It explains why his memory has been impacted, especially during periods of intense focus involving many sequential steps,” Shaun explained.

The good news is that Glassman is not dying. The bad news is that the renowned brain surgeon is unlikely to operate ever again. How he deals with that should be interesting, to say the least.

Among other notable developments in Season 6’s third-to-last episode…

* After the hospital’s social worker was unable to find a family willing to foster a baby with Turner syndrome, Morgan stepped up and took Eden home. She later told Park that she was stopping her IVF meds because, and we quote, “Eden is what I’ve been waiting for. She’s my daughter.” Should the adoption process prove more challenging than expected — Eden’s birth father is totally gonna show up at some point, right? — perhaps Shaun can put Morgan in touch with Joni DeGroot.

* Losing a beloved patient helped Andrews see that he’s spent most of his life believing that success only comes from constant striving — and now he wants to change. Will that level of inward reflection cause him to throw up his hands and walk away if the board challenges his position as president of St. Bonaventure? We’ll see! In the meantime, Andrews has been given a second chance by Nurse Villanueva.

* The Jordan/Danny/Jared love triangle is no more. By episode’s end, Jordan and Danny had determined that they are “gifts” to each other. They’re still not sure exactly what that means, but we are. They’ll be coupled up by season’s end.

* Lastly, just when it seemed like Jerome was ready to end things with Asher, Dr. Wolke went and confronted his boyfriend in front of all his friends, admitting that he frequently loses sight of what’s important and promising that he’s done taking Jerome for granted.

What did you think of The Good Doctor Season 6, Episode 20: “Blessed”? Sound off in Comments.

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Warning: The following contains spoilers about Season

Awards

Two Ukrainian refugees are getting a toehold in the entertainment industry thanks to a helping hand from Warner Bros.

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Two Ukrainian refugees are getting a toehold

Music

The artist brought roses, candles, and a pianist for Monday’s musical feature

Toosii delivered the mood on Monday’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The singer and rapper performed his hit single “Favorite Song” flanked by roses, candles, purple-tinged smoke, and a pianist.

The song’s opening was swapped by softer vocals, as opposed to the track’s original synthesized verse, and set the tone for the rest of the song as Toosii sang an effortless rendition of the fan favorite. Accompanied by a band and backup vocalist, the artist slipped off the piano top as he sang the chorus, “Need somebody who can make it better/Somebody who can open up those gates/Open up those gates to your heart/Only if you’ll let me.”

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In 2021, Toosii led Rolling Stone‘s Breakthrough 25 chart ranking artists who saw the greatest gains each month in audio streams. Last November, he released Boys Don’t Cry: Men Do and a remix of “Snooze” by SZA. Toosii released his Thank You For Believing mixtape two years ago, a 13-song album that features DaBaby, Latto, and Key Glock.

Last month, Lil Uzi Vert hit the stage at The Tonight Show for a lively performance of his party rock anthem, “Just Wanna Rock.” The week prior, Caroline Polachek showcased her dynamic single, “Welcome to My Island” and played brought out a one-of-a-kind 1980s Gibson Corvus prototype electric guitar for her set.

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The artist brought roses, candles, and a

Docs

There have been many films exploring the paranormal. There is, in fact, a whole subgenre of horror devoted to tales of paranormal investigation, or ghost hunting, gone wrong. With Darkness Hunting, we are introduced to a team of would-be paranormal investigators looking to fake a ghost-hunting expedition. This semi-farcical take by Adam Sergent is fascinating and provides a new twist I haven’t experienced yet in this kind of film.

As we learn from the get-go, Derek Jenkins (David Rice) does not actually care if they turn up a ghost. Instead, he’s intent on faking a paranormal investigation and doing just enough work in post-production to con a Cable network to pick up his series. So long as he and his team end up in a creepy-looking place, then that’s enough for Derek.

David has two detractors on his film crew. Jennifer Howard (Damita Harris) is the voice of reason which suggests picking this remote location in Kentucky may, in fact, be a perilous idea. As Boyd Alred (Jordan Bryant) and Derek go deeper into the farcical lunacy of attempting to summon a spirit who may or may not live in this abandoned farmhouse, one detail becomes inescapably clear; there is something wicked haunting it. The other detractor is Eli Smith (Wheeler Green). Eli is a local from that part of Kentucky, and he has the full background of the location. There was a witch who lived there. Cultists have frequented it over the years and have sacrificed everything from animals to humans. Or so the lore of the place goes. Both Jennifer and Eli seem very reasonable people, and you wonder if they will survive the ordeal being foreshadowed for Act III.

“…does not actually care if they turn up a ghost. Instead, he’s intent on faking a paranormal investigation…”

Adam Sergent is very wise to break his film into chapters. First, this allows the viewer to prepare for the continuing farcical lunacy and potential danger. Second, the title headings are hilarious. Finally, the third chapter, ‘The F*****g Board,’ is absolutely on point. As Jennifer suggests at the end of the previous chapter, nothing good ever comes from using a Ouija board.

I found both the acting and directing to be solid. This is Sergent’s second feature, and he seems to have a real grasp of both storytelling and coaxing out naturalistic performances from his actors. In order for Darkness Hunting to work and achieve its end of being a good horror-comedy, the actions have got to feel localized to time and place. This film definitely felt like contemporary middle America, and Eli’s quoting of church and biblical wisdom situated it to rural Kentucky. I also enjoyed how production assistant Sarah (Madison Deatherage) plays what would have been the strumpet character most horror films are gleefully prepared to insta-kill. She gets the giggles going with her sex-positive attitude. Further, a selection of vignettes with a tarot card reading Madam Veronica (Chris Olds) is quite delightful.

Darkness Hunting is a pretty good film. While it didn’t possess a lot of belly-bursting laugh-out-loud moments, it did elicit the occasional wry grin and chuckle from me. If you’re looking for a comedic take on ghost hunting, seek it out. It’s sure to be a film you won’t soon forget. Darkness Hunting is a gloriously demented idea for a film.

For screening information, visit the Darkness Hunting official website.

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There have been many films exploring the

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Indian actor Saif Ali Khan has joined N.T. Rama Rao Jr. (aka NTR Jr) in the cast of the RRR star’s next film, known under the working title NTR 30. 

The two actors have already started filming together on the Telugu-language action drama, directed by Koratala Siva, which started shooting in Hyderabad last month. 

In a statement, the film’s producers said the film “will see Saif Ali Khan play a pivotal role alongside NTR Jr. The film promises to be a visual extravaganza, with an exciting storyline and a talented cast.”

NTR 30 marks the first time that NTR Jr and Saif Ali Khan have starred in a film together. Indian actress Janhvi Kapoor also recently joined the cast. The film is produced by Yuvasudha Arts and Nandamuri Kalyan Ram under the banner of NTR Arts. A pan-Indian release is scheduled for April 5, 2024.  

The film is part of a growing trend for major stars from the Hindi, Telugu and Tamil-language film industries to share screen space together to appeal to a wider pan-Indian audience. 

Saif Ali Khan is one of the biggest stars in the Hindi-language film industry, with recent film releases including Vikram Vedha, Bunty Aur Babli 2 and Dil Bechara. He also played the lead role in Netflix Hindi-language web series Sacred Games. 

It was also recently announced that NTR Jr is set to star alongside Hrithik Roshan in Hindi-language action drama War 2, the sequel to the 2019 blockbuster War, which forms part of Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ Spy Universe. 

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Indian actor Saif Ali Khan has joined

Tech

”Barry“ Season 4 Episode 1 debuted to 710,000 viewers for its final season

“Succession” Season 4 has drawn yet another series viewership high with an audience of 2.6 million viewers tuning in for Episode 4 across its linear and HBO Max platforms, according to Nielsen and first-party data.

As fans tuned in to watch the fallout of the drama’s shocking bombshell from Episode 3, viewership jumped 11% above the Season 4 premiere episode, which drew in 2.3 million viewers, while marking a 4% uptick from last week’s episode, which brought in 2.5 million total viewers.

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Video

Megyn Kelly joined the growing chorus of right-wing public figures calling on Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch to apologize for their social media partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney — while throwing in her own bigoted, transphobic messaging to match.

Speaking with Michael Knowles of “The Daily Wire” on Monday’s episode of her eponymous podcast, “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Kelly reasoned that partnering with Mulvaney was a misstep for Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch because promoting a trans woman “celebrated by far-lefties all across the country,” the company put themselves — in their words — in the middle “of a discussion that divides people.”

“This person who’s on their beer can has made a mockery of womanhood and girlhood for literally the past year and has been celebrated by far-lefties all across the country,” Kelly said. “But to see what’s supposed to be a mainstream beer company do it was a bridge too far. That’s why they’re having the reaction they are.”

Elsewhere in the segment, Kelly intentionally misgendered Mulvaney and ridiculed the company’s “embrace of wokeness,” while Knowles added that “by sponsoring Dylan Mulvaney, Budweiser insulted women, but by issuing this statement, they’ve insulted Americans.”

The statement in question came Friday when Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth addressed for the first time the backlash his beer company is facing following its Bud Light ad campaign with Mulvaney earlier this month. The single-post campaign with the superstar trans influencer from April 1 saw Mulvaney showcasing a branded beer can with her face on it and announcing a March Madness contest. To this point, Mulvaney is best known for documenting each day of the first year of her gender transition on TikTok.

Seemingly backtracking the progressive partnership, Whitworth noted that his goal is only to bring people together.

“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” he said in the statement, which he posted to Twitter. “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”

Kelly called the statement a “pathetic, rambling, empty-air sandwich of — I can’t even call it an apology — an attempt to dissuade people from hating his company and him. It was an utter fail.”

“Screw you and your stupid empty platitudes,” Kelly continued. “I read this, I’m like, ‘Oh, your little, market-tested buzzwords on what’s supposed to stir up our patriotism.’ Too late, sir! The buzzwords we we’re looking for: ‘I’m sorry. We screwed up.’”

Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney has been met with major blowback from the brand’s conservative and far-right clientele, with drinkers including Kid Rock decrying the company’s connection with Mulvaney and boycotting the brand altogether. Per a report from the New York Post last week, Anheuser-Busch saw its shares fall since Mulvaney’s sponsored post went viral.

Megyn Kelly Slams DeSantis for Rejecting Interview Because ‘He’s Afraid': ‘Not Gonna Get a Pass, Same as Trump’ (Video)

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Megyn Kelly joined the growing chorus of

Entertaintment

James McAvoy is getting back in business with Blumhouse, the studio behind his M. Night Shyamalan features Split and Glass. The actor is set to star in Speak No Evil, a remake of the Danish psychological horror thriller Gaesterne.

Universal has set a date of Aug. 9, 2024, for the film. The remake hails from filmmaker James Watkins, who will write and direct. He previously helmed Eden Lake and The Woman in Black, as well as an episode of Black Mirror.

The new feature centers on a family that takes a dream holiday to an idyllic country house, only to have the vacation turn into a psychological nightmare.

The script is based on the 2022 original for Gaesterne Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup. Christian Tafdrup directed the original feature, which was nominated for 11 Danish Film Awards, the country’s equivalent to the Oscars.

Blumhouse topper Jason Blum is producing, with executive producers including Ritchie, Christian Tafdrup, Jacob Jarek and Bea Sequeira.

McAvoy became an international star with his role as Professor Charles Xavier in 2011’s X-Men: First Class and its sequels. In 2019, the same year that Glass hit screens, he also appeared in It: Chapter Two and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. On the small screen, he recently starred in HBO’s His Dark Materials and Netflix’s Sandman.

Split, McAvoy’s first collaboration with Blumhouse, allowed the performer to push his acting chops to the limit, with him playing multiple roles as the Horde, a villain with multiple personalities.

McAvoy is repped by UTA, United Agents and Sloane Offer.

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James McAvoy is getting back in business

Movies

Mahie Gill has been in a relationship with Ravi for over a decade.

Years after being in a hush-hush relationship, Mahie Gill has finally revealed that she is married to actor-entrepreneur Ravi Kesar.

Bollywood actress Mahie Gill had kept her marital status under wraps. Years after being in a hush-hush relationship, the actress has finally revealed that she is married to actor-entrepreneur Ravi Kesar. Interestingly, the Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster actress shared screen space with Ravi in her 2019 action web series Fixerr.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the actress has shifted her base to Goa, where she now lives with her husband and her six-year-old daughter, Veronica. While the report claimed that it isn’t certain when the two tied the knot, Mahie and Kesar have been in a relationship for over a decade now. When asked, Mahie confirmed the news to the portal, saying, “I’m married to him.”

Well, this isn’t the first time that Mahie has kept her personal life extremely guarded. Back in 2019, the actress stunned everyone after spilling the beans that she had a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Talking about the same in an interview, Mahie called herself “a very private person” and said that there were some “personal reasons” because of which she didn’t share Veronica’s pictures on her social media. She further added that there are a lot of things that happen in her life about which has never come out in public.

When a Hindi daily back then quizzed Mahie about tying the knot, the actress reportedly said, “Why do I need to get married? I am happy like this (single) and I think one can stay happily unmarried. One can have a family and kids even without marriage. I do not think we need marriage for kids and a family. Marriage is a beautiful thing but whether or not to go for it, is a personal choice.”

Meanwhile, on the work front, Mahie Gill was last seen in the action crime series Raktanchal 2, wherein she shared screen space with Kranti Prakash Jha, Nikitin Dheer, Soundarya Sharma, Pramod Pathak, Chittranjan Tripathy and Ronjini Chakraborty among others. Apart from this, Mahie also has Brian Stewarts Orphan Train.

Read all the Latest Movies News and Entertainment News here

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Mahie Gill has been in a relationship

Latest News

Ray Romano recently had something nobody loves: a “widowmaker”-related health scare.

The “Everybody Loves Raymond” star revealed Monday that high cholesterol led him toward a close call with a so-called widowmaker heart attack, caused when the heart’s main artery gets nearly or fully blocked.

“I just had to have a stent put in, I had 90% blockage,” Romano told Marc Maron on the latter’s “WTF” podcast as the two discussed aging and diet. “I got kind of lucky that we found it.”

Romano said that although he doesn’t feel 65 in his mind, his body has given him a few notices.

“I had high cholesterol 20 years ago and my guy always told me, ‘Why don’t we start going on the statin,’” Romano said. Statins are a class of lipid-lowering medications used to lower risk of cardiovascular disease and are commonly used to treat high cholesterol.

“Every time, I said ‘Let me do it myself,’ and I would go home and I would eat right, not vegan, but I would eat a little healthier, and get it down a couple ticks,” he continued.

Romano said this method would lower his total cholesterol from approximately 280 to 220 — which is still borderline high, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. “But then I’d go home and think I was hot s—, I got it down already, and I’d start cheating, and cheating, and that was the cycle.”

Still his doctor expressed concern, saying he wanted to treat Romano’s cholesterol more aggressively. He consistently told the comic he would like to see lower numbers.

“Everything else was checking out,” Romano said, revealing he did stress tests and calcium tests, but stayed in that cycle for 15 to 16 years.

Now the “Men of a Certain Age” star is “on the meds” and says his cholesterol dropped right away. “If I could go back 20 years ago, I woulda went on the meds,” he said.

Maron said he also has struggled with cholesterol, saying he exercises constantly and has been experimenting with a vegan lifestyle, hoping to improve his health.

“It’s hard for me to sustain that diet stuff, it was hard,” Romano explained. “Here’s the kicker: So I’m on the meds and it’s got me all down now, so I figure now I can enjoy and eat the food — my sugar level’s up now! I’m pre-diabetic.”

Earlier this month, Romano told ET he had chest pains while directing and starring in “Somewhere in Queens.”

“I called my agent at 1 in the morning because I couldn’t sleep, I go, ‘I can’t do it,’” the comic said. “Because — I’m not joking — I had to go to my cardiologist in New York and get on the treadmill and do a stress test because I was getting chest pains.”

In 2017, Romano and Maron teamed up for the International Myeloma Foundation’s 11th annual Comedy celebration to raise money for the Peter Boyle Research Fund, named in honor of the late actor and Romano’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” co-star who died in 2006 after a four-year battle with myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow plasma cells.

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Ray Romano recently had something nobody

MCU

According to a new interview, one high-level executive at Disney couldn’t sleep after firing James Gunn roughly five years ago.

On July 20, 2018, the man who made the Guardians of the Galaxy as famous as they are today was fired from the highly anticipated third entry. Why?

Well, conservative personalities resurfaced old tweets from the prolific filmmaker, ones which simply made the director look pretty bad. The catch was that these tweets were mostly posted back in 2008 and 2009—the difference of a decade changes nearly everyone.

Eventually, Disney saw that its choice was the wrong one and brought Gunn back on board. As it turns out, the decision had really gotten to one particular person.

The Inconceivable Firing of James Gunn

Marvel

In a new interview with Empire Magazine, director James Gunn and the Guardians of the Galaxy cast spoke about the trying times of the director’s firing back in 2018, while also revealing that the choice never sat well with former Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn, who was the one who decided to fire Gunn in 2018 before ultimately rehiring him in 2019.

Pom Klementieft shared how the whole fiasco “didn’t make sense at all:”

“We couldn’t imagine a third ‘Guardians’ directed by anyone else… It didn’t make sense at all. I mean, James changed my life. I’ll be grateful for him forever.”

Karen Gillan pointed out that the whole Guardians cast talked “and formed a plan:”

“We talked to each other as a cast… and formed a plan. All of us were on the same page: we didn’t really want to do it without him.”

This led to a statement from the whole group supporting Gunn and his future endeavors despite the choice made by Disney.

So what happened for the big decision to be reversed? As Gunn puts it, “it didn’t just go away:”

“What happened was I got fired and it didn’t just go away… Maybe if it just went away, it wouldn’t have been on people’s minds. But the fans didn’t let it go. The press didn’t let it go. The cast didn’t let it go. It made it hard to ignore.”

Gunn went on to say that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was “on [his] side the whole time” and how he’d heard from others that Disney executive Alan Horn “was struggling with it, ethically.”

The filmmaker noted that Horn “is a good man” and that he’d heard the executive “couldn’t sleep at night” after it happened. 

After months of being outside, on March 15 2019, Gunn was reinstated on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Not only that, but he was given the opportunity to tell stories over with rival DC Studios.

Chris Pratt admitted that “it’s wild the way things work out:”

“Honestly, it’s wild the way things work out… It was painful. But it takes serious wisdom to understand in that painful moment what a blessing something can be.”

James Gunn is Living His Best Timeline

While noting how Alan Horn couldn’t sleep might have been hyperbole, the sentiment remains just as strong: firing James Gunn was simply the wrong decision to make. Thankfully, even a massive corporation like Disney was eventually able to see that.

The horrific chain of events really turned out well for Gunn.

Not only did it give him the opportunity to make The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, but his time with Warner Bros. also opened the door to becoming the co-lead of DC Studios itself. Getting to return to the MCU to finish out his Guardians trilogy was the cherry on top.

In a way, things might not have worked out as well for the filmmaker if he hadn’t been briefly fired for eight months by Disney.

While Gunn is hardly the first to be let go due to something like a string of questionable tweets, he is one of only a handful of examples who many felt deserved the redemptive arc he was given.

Because of it, fans can watch his swan song for the Guardians of the Galaxy in just under a month when Vol. 3 releases on May 5.

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DCU

We may not get to see Brendan Fraser as Firefly in Batgirl, but the actor could end up playing another character in the DCU. No stranger to DC-based stories, Fraser has been featured in all four seasons of Doom Patrol as Cliff Steele, aka Robotman, sharing the role with Riley Shanahan. While Shanahan is the one under the suit, Fraser voices the character and physically appears as Cliff in flashback sequences. Recently, it was announced that the show’s current fourth season will be its last, finishing up Fraser’s work in that world.


It’s been well documented how Fraser was also a part of Batgirl, appearing as the villain opposite Javicia Leslie as the titular crime-fighter. That movie had finished filming and was reportedly holding test screenings before it was abruptly canceled, an apparent victim of new programming strategies and cost-cutting measures resulting from the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. New DC Studios co-head Peter Safran has described the film as “not releasable,” standing by the decision to keep Batgirl on the shelf. Fraser’s fans had been lookign forward to seeing him in the film, greatly disappointing many.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

For what it’s worth, the door is open for Fraser to step back into another DC property. Speaking with Variety, the actor says he’s still open to doing more DC projects, clearly not holding any grudges over Batgirl getting axed. With that said, it would depend upon the right role, as it would need to be something that intrigues him. As Fraser said, when asked if he’d do more DC projects:

“Um, maybe… everything is contingent on what it’s about, the role. I mean, the job’s not easy to do, no matter who’s producing it. I just finished up with Doom Patrol, which is also a DC property, and that’s a unique cast. I loved that Riley Shanahan, an actor who wore all the gear, and I could just do the voice. I could do the job in my longjohns at home, because I was in a recording studio, so it was the best day job ever. Apart from that, I’m open to it.”

Related: Brendan Fraser Gives His Side of Batgirl Being Damaging to DC: ‘It Wasn’t Shown in the Best Light’


Fans May Never See Brendan Fraser as Firefly

Warner Bros. Pictures/@lesliegrace

Fraser seems to understand the decision to axe Batgirl, but he has spoken out about how he’s also unhappy that fans won’t get to see the film. The actor recently appeared on The Howard Stern Show and said that he had heard nothing but good things about Batgirl when it was suddenly canceled, though he says he was waiting for the film to be finalized before he personally took a look. He called the film’s cancelation “disappointing” and lamented how “little girls are gonna have to wait longer now before they can see a Batgirl who they can identify that says, ‘Hey she looks just like me too’ in Leslie Grace.”

Meanwhile, Fraser has drawn some high praise with his performance in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. It has earned him an Oscar nomination, and we’ll find out in March if he manages to snag the win.

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We may not get to see Brendan

Comics

Nintendo has won a piracy legal battle with sharehosting website operator Dstorage.

In a statement (via GamesIndustry.biz), the platform holder said the Paris Court of Appeals has ruled that Dstorage was responsible for failing to remove or block access to pirated copies of Nintendo games distributed via its website 1fichier.com.

Backing up a previous verdict by the Paris Judicial Court in May 2021, the Court of Appeals has ordered Dstorage to pay €442,750 ($484,000) to Nintendo in compensation, plus €27,000 to cover legal expenses.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gameplay Demonstration

Dstorage could choose to appeal the decision.

“Nintendo is pleased with the decision of the Paris Court of Appeals, as it again sends a clear message that in refusing to remove or withdraw access to unauthorised copies of video games despite prior notification, sharehosting services such as Dstorage (1fichier) are liable under French law and must remove or block access to such content and may be liable to pay compensation to those rights holders whose intellectual property rights have been infringed,” the platform holder said.

“The Court’s finding of liability against Dstorage is significant not only for Nintendo, but also for the entire games industry. It will prevent sharehosters like 1Fichier from claiming that a prior decision from a court will be needed before pirated content has to be taken down, and additionally the Court decision confirms what rights holders have to give notice of when claiming that notified content infringes copyright or trademark rights.”