Your weekly horoscope is here. Solar eclipses, Taurus season, and Mercury retrograde, oh my! This is your final and best chance to truly let go of that one thing impeding your progress, moving on, or trailblazing. Really, throw it into the metaphorical eclipse tunnel, and finalize it already. From Friday, you know the drill, triple-check everything, and don’t assume. When in doubt, ask clarifying questions so we don’t have to change your name to Miss Understood! From Thursday, focus on quality, and align your decisions with core values. Slow down, and smell the flowers.
Read on to discover your weekly horoscope and what’s in store for your sign during the week of April 16 through April 22, 2023.
Aries
Aries, your birthday season ends with plenty of drama as a 2nd new moon in your sign is accompanied by a solar eclipse. Employ a take-no-prisoners approach as you exit the building and slam that door behind you. This is your chance to close a chapter and walk away from something holding power over you. That could be an outlook, how you show up in groups, friendships, alliances you’ve grown out of, or the myriad patriarchy serves. Aries, ignite your luck authentically representing yourself, keep the flame burning with an entrepreneurial spirit, and wear your pioneer heart on your sleeve.
Taurus
Happy birthday, it’s your season, Taurus! Thursday hosts a solar eclipse just hours before the sun enters your sign. So get plenty of rest up to Thursday, and tune in with quick moments of meditation on a felt sense, like the feeling in your tummy or heart. From here, it’s time to shine, so send out your invites and organize friends and family to join you in your favorite things; let’s celebrate you. Mercury is back to its usual tricks through your season, kicking off a three-week retrograde in your sign from Friday. Embrace reflection and subsequent course correction around your idea of self, outlook, or direction. Tweak how you represent yourself for how you want others to perceive you. That could be your greeting style, elevator pitch, or a sharp new look.
After securing her first Oscar nomination, Ana de Armas is a first-time Saturday Night Live host to promote her upcoming action-romance Apple film Ghosted. Earlier this week, de Armas’ frequent co-star Chris Evans discussed his aversion to the “terrifying” prospect of hosting considering himself “not a funny person.” In contrast to his trepidation, de Armas proves to be an enthusiastic and versatile host committing to characters and situations.
Comedian Chris Redd is attacked
Best sketch of the night
Album Recording Session – SNL
A simple concept Yng Spicy, a new rapper, in search of a “sexy and cool” producer tag for his new record, turns into comedy with a series of misunderstandings. A fragile male ego in search of affirmation from a duo of hot women, played by de Armas and Ego Nwodim, the rapper becomes frustrated as they question his intelligence and cleanliness. The duo continues to deflate all the fantasies he wants to project in a hilarious reversal of hip-hop bravado. Each new setup manages to top the last like when the ladies are asked for something sexy and return with a narrative about the realities of delivering a pregnancy. The final dark twist into floating accusations of drugging and sexual impropriety gives the sketch just enough edge.
Worst sketch of the night
Matt Schatt Game Show – SNL
Set in another game show scenario, “Matt Schatt Game Show” as de Armas’ first sketch is a cause for alarm. A lazy sketch that simply fixates on de Armas’ beauty feels superficial and one-note. Fortunately, the remaining sketches allowed de Armas to show greater range. Completely reliant on the discrepancy of attractiveness of the couple, the sketch does not give anyone much to do at all. Perhaps it is best to get this sketch out of the way early in the show, but it sparks a fear that the entire episode would fixate on one aspect of de Armas’ persona.
Not a phone This tablet has a beautiful 10.1″ HD screen, 32GB of memory, and can be used for social media, streaming services, and even for some work and games.
Most uncomfortable sketch of the night
Dog Acting School Commercial – SNL
Sometimes everything going wrong in a sketch is hilarious. Other times, everything going wrong is just uncomfortable. “Dog Acting School” is the latter. It’s a shame because de Armas and Chloe Fineman look like an interesting duo. However, the problem arises when the dogs enter the sketch. In showbusiness, they say never work with animals or kids and this sketch proves why. The dogs were fairly uncooperative and the attempts to get them in position felt like something bad could happen at any moment. Instead of any comedy, the real tension was if someone was going to drop a dog or not.
Right idea, wrong execution of the night
Lisa from Temecula: Wedding – SNL
The original “Lisa from Temecula” became a surprise hit for SNL, so it makes sense to bring her character back. In recent years, SNL has drifted away from recurring characters. Part of that reasoning may have to do with the fear of being redundant. However, in this case it’s not the character, but the setting that is tired. Nwodim still delivers a hilarious performance, but the uninspired switch from a restaurant to a wedding dinner wears quickly. The sketch tries to hit a lot of the same beats from the original, which while funny fail to create anything new. The lesson here would be to continue with Lisa from Temecula, but put her in new and different situations. What would Lisa from Temecula be like in an office meeting, in court, or on an airplane?
MVP of the night: Ego Nwodim
First Warm Day of the Year Red Carpet Cold Open – SNL
Featured in four sketches tonight, Ego Nwodim continues to be one of the best performers on the show. Her presence continues to dominate whenever she is on screen. It is first proven with her excellent portrayal of a lady trying to find someone in the park, even interrupting the classic start to the show. Her skeptical delivery in “Album Recording Session,” anchors the sketch. She provides most of the punchlines for “American Girls,” and it would have been even better with more of her character. Finally, she earns the season’s first recurring character with Lisa from Temcula. The sketch itself is a little too repetitive, but Nwodim’s performance transcends the stale setting and continues to break her sketch partners.
Stray observations:
How are all the SNL wigs so much better than the wig Ana de Armas is wearing in Ghosted?
The fake nipples in “Matt Schatt Game Show” were impressive.
“American Girl Doll Movie Trailer” is a great idea, but it would have been better if they had leaned more into the idea of a prestige drama movie trailer. It has so much potential and was reminiscent of the “Disney Housewives” sketch.
Twenty years after leaving her medical career, a housewife returns as a first-year resident — struggling to find her footing in a job full of surprises.
Certificate:Suitable for ages 15 and up
Year: 2023
Duration: 16 Episodes
Audio: Korean – Audio Description, Korean [Original]
Subtitles: Arabic, English, Filipino, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
The road to HBO’s Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark began during the pandemic, when the comedian began to share his grief with fans via instagram. The longtime comedian and podcaster was broadsided with the sudden death of his girlfriend, Lynn Shelton, and he needed a place to vent.
“It was a way to stay in touch with some sort of audience or community,” Maron recalled during Saturday’s Contenders TV event. “One hundred to 1,000 would watch every day as I moved through breakfast and grief. It was crazy.”
Eventually, Maron developed two years of material that addressed aging, antisemitism and, most important, grief. “It’s not talked about enough,” he said of grief, which he began to talk about in small venues. “Everybody is going to experience it at some point. Grief is always going to be there.”
And now, Maron calls From Bleak to Dark — his first HBO comedy special, which was filmed in front of a live audience at New York City’s Town Hall — his best work ever.
“It’s really tricky to make that stuff work,” Maron said. “It’s the most full piece of work I’ve ever done and the most grounded. Despite the topic matter, it’s the funniest I’ve ever been.”
That’s not to say he didn’t have moments when talking about his late girlfriend was extremely difficult. The writer/director died in 2020.
“I’m talking about losing someone. It wasn’t funny,” Maron recalled when he was first workshopping parts of the special in smaller venues. “It became a support group situation. I would get choked up. How do you balance a joke about visiting her body the night she passed? When working on some of this stuff, it was still very emotional. I had to find that balance.”
“I’m not an arena act,” Maron said. “There’s no way I’ll be that guy. I’m not even sure I got into it to be an entertainer. I [use it] to get to your own personal truth. It was about being seen and making people think about things even differently. It’s a noble profession.”
The supergroup took a stand and showed solidarity while performing songs from their recent album The Record
Boygenius didn’t hold back during their first show together in five years. The supergroup — made up of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker — took the stage at Coachella on Saturday night and immediately charmed the crowd by coming out to “The Boys Are Back in Town,” something that’s become an ongoing joke since they announced they were going on tour.
They were playful throughout the performance, tackling each other during “Salt in the Wound” and cracking jokes. However, their set was also a moment to take a stand: Baker took a few seconds after introducing the band to speak up for trans rights. “I want to say before we keep going, I don’t know if you’ve been checking the news and seeing the tomfoolery that’s going on in Florida, Missouri, and so many other places, but trans lives matter, trans kids matter,” she said. “We’re going to fight it, and we’re going to win.”
Bridgers piped in shortly after, adding, “And abortion rocks, and fuck Ron DeSantis.”
Trending
Boygenius was recently featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. In a wide-ranging interview, they spoke about their close-knit friendship, their inspirations, and working on The Record. The album hit at Number Four on the Billboard 200 when it came out in April, making it the highest-charting entry for any of the members.
In their cover interview, the group talked about getting ready to hit the road together and shared that they were looking forward to touring as friends. “I play to thousands of people a night, and sometimes I’m mentally in a really bad place,” Bridgers says. “It’s so hard to relate to people. Except for those guys. Being with them makes it so much less dark.”
After Zac Efron was spotted on the set of his upcoming film The Iron Claw as Kevin Von Erich, fans expressed strong opinions on social media.
In the photographs that were made public, the former star of High School Musical wore a brown wig with short bangs and wavy hair that extended straight over his ears. He also sported a tight gray cut-off crew neck tank, ripped denim shorts, and, most obviously, a brown wig.
After the photo went viral, fans on Twitter had a field day making comparisons between him and the Shrek antagonist Lord Farquaad, a figure with short black hair with bangs and was diminutive in stature.
One of Efron’s fans remarked that he “looks like if Lord Farquaad hit the weight room,” referring to the muscular development that the actor underwent to more accurately portray his wrestling role.
Someone suggested changing it to the 21st century while still referring to Lord Farquaad. Another user joked, “I see Lord Farquaad has been keeping up with his workouts.” According to a tweet from a user, Zac Efron will not be playing the role of Lord Farquaad’s lost brother.
The good lord Farquaad has been getting his glow on! An additional voice was heard. Someone else made a joke about the stereotypical appearance of a lady living in Brooklyn, New York City, and compared it to the offspring of a relationship between a Brooklyn art girl and Lord Farquaad from the movie Shrek.
One more enthusiast said that the character “actually looks like lord Farquaad on steroids.” On the other hand, Efron didn’t seem to be too disturbed by the resemblance, and he hasn’t commented on the social media hysteria either.
In September of last year, the actor from Neighbors addressed a rumor that had been spreading about one of his physical characteristics, namely his jaw.
In the cold open for the latest “SNL,” the long-running NBC show basically channels how we’re all feeling when it depicted “the first warm day of the year,” as an event that basically brought out every lunatic in New York.
In the clip, Bowen Yang and Heidi Gardener played reporters talking to people out in the park and treating the whole thing like an awards show red carpet. And if we’re being honest, yes, that’s how it feels IRL..
Or as Gardener’s character set the scene, “it’s mid-April here in New York City, and the temperature hit 90 degrees this week, a full two months ahead of schedule. And while that may be terrifying on a climate level, the warm weather can only mean one thing all the. Crazies and weirdos are headed to the Central Park and we’re expecting to see some iconic park people today.”
Yang’s reporter added to it with “The mood here is electric. The smell of halal food and horse manures in the air, as I see. Yes. I think it’s him an absolute icon of the park. It’s an older man doing an aggressive power.”
The older man, played by Mikey Day, explained his outfit thus: “I’m wearing the tightest spandex shirt of all time. Uh, little shorts and a weird heart rate monitor strapped my arm. Iconic.”
Next up, Gardner’s reporter was “starstruck right now as I am joined by not one but two perverts who came to the park to pleasure themselves.”
The pervs then proceeded to explain their new techniques, which involved a fake arm. (Gross.)
This was followed by a woman learning to roller blade, because, as she put it, “what better place than on a crowded pathway filled with thousands of people?”
After that, it was two “park employees who do not care about their job.” Of course the sketch breezed through more of this, and it was all pretty delightful. For instance, “a grown man with a drone who’s alone and you won’t be filming girls,” and some legitimately insane people.
We particularly enjoyed “It’s “wealthy woman and child,” who explained “And I gotta ask, what’s the plan today? Well, I’m taking Riley here to the playground where “I’ll step into an immediate panic if I lose sight of him for even one second.”
All in all, it was a nice break from the usual politically charged cold open gags and a nice way to kick off the start of warm weather. As we said, you can watch it above.
So the big news in Hollywood the last couple of week is that the “Super Mario Bros.” movie is a gigantic hit. However, during the “Weekend Update” segment of this week’s episode of NBC’s “SNL,” one particularly iconic Mario adjacent character dropped in to explain why he’s barely in the film.
That would be Funky Kong, Donkey Kong’s cousin and really good pal who first appeared in 1994’s Donkey Kong country. And since it was played by reigning “SNL” MVP Kenan Thompson, the sketch was an absolute delight.
“The New Mario Brothers movie is a huge hit and many fans. Were hoping for an appearance from one of the coolest characters in the Mario Universe Funky Kong. So here to talk about it is funky Kong,” “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost said as he set the gag up.
After a few pleasantries during which it was established that Funky Kong shows up in the background of, apparently, a single scene, Jost asked, “So you’re just in the background. What happened?”
“Man, they cut me out. I guess Funky Kong is too real. They don’t wanna hear what I got to say. And they sure as hell don’t wanna watch me work,” Thompson’s Funky said.
Thompson’s Funky Kong complained that he “thought I was gonna be all over this movie that just made $500 million, 600, but this is how much you get to see of me,” showing the barely-there moment in question.
Asked why, Thompson’s Funky Kong theorized: “Funky don’t throw no barrels. Funky Kong spends his day cruising in. Dropping off packages of the sticky, and I spend my nights with a glass of banana rum in a bed full of toads.”
“Right. And now are toads male or female?” asked Jost.
“Funky. Don’t know. Funky. Don’t ask,” he said.
After Jost said it’s a shame Funky wasn’t in the movie, and noted that Donkey Kong was a major character, Thompson’s Funky Kong replied, “Oh yeah, man. Donkey Kong is all up in it, but they ain’t even use Monkey Kong.
“Who’s Monkey Kong?” asked Jost.
“He’s a Donkey,” Thompson joked.
Continuing to explain why he wasn’t in the movie, Thompson’s Funky Kong said, “Because I was in my trailer drumming on booty cheeks, like bongos in the mini game. I was in there like, Booty cheeks, titty meat, booty cheeks, titty meat.”
The Thompson and Jost read from what they said was the “Super Mario Bros.” movie script containing Funky Kong’s cut scenes. Mainly, this involved normal “Super Mario Bros.” scenarios, and Funky Kong being very sexual. Then the bit ended with Funky Kong insisting that he’s had sex with Jost’s mom.
During her opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, the Cuban-born actress recalled working with the Raging Bull actor one day on set while filming her first movie in the U.S., Hands of Stone.
“He told me, ‘I may be going to Cuba soon. If I do, I’ll say hello to your family,’” she said. “He even asked me for their phone number.”
The Blonde star said she actually completely forgot to give the GoodFellas actor the number, but “then one day, out of the blue, I get a phone call from my dad.”
She explained to the SNL audience that her father was “hysterical” and that she asked what was wrong, but his answer what not what she was expecting. de Armas said her father told her, “Robert De Niro just came to visit me at work.”
She was shocked by his response but thought it was such a kind gesture from De Niro. She added, “I’ve been so fortunate to work with so many supportive actors.”
The Knives Out actress, who received her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Netflix’s Blonde, made her SNL hosting debut Saturday night following what she called a “magical year.” She said her father would be “so proud of me and he would be proud to see me today standing on this stage.”
Depending on how you interpret the movie, Asami is a real piece of work. She makes Shigeharu, a widower, think she’s the perfect woman for him, and after he falls in love with her, decides he doesn’t love her enough and uses him as a stand-in for all the men who have wronged her in the past. She drugs and tortures him, even going after his son so there’s no competition for his affection.
I’m not going to defend the act of literally auditioning women to find a new wife, but Shigeharu definitely didn’t deserve what Asami put him through.
Say you’re a casual “movies and streaming shows only” Star Wars lover who just heard “Grand Admiral Thrawn” mentioned by the Shadow Council in Chapter 23 of The Mandalorian, “The Spies.” Or, maybe you heard about Lars Mikkelsen playing him in the upcoming Ahsoka series, announced at Star Wars Celebration. So you might be wondering just who the heck that character even is. We are here to explain just who Thrawn is, and also why he’s the Grand Admiral is perhaps the franchise’s most resilient survivor.
Thrawn Origins
From 1984 to 1990, there was almost no new Star Wars product. Lucasfilm essentially hit pause on the franchise while George Lucas focused on movies like Willow and Indiana Jones. There were no toys, no new video games, nada. Even Marvel Comics’ long-running Star Wars series ended in 1986. But absence makes the heart grow fonder. By the early ’90s, the kids and teens who had grown up with the trilogy began to demand more. Although the prequels were nearly a decade away, Lucasfilm obliged them with new stories in the form of novels, comic books, and video games. This lot eventually became known as “the Expanded Universe.”
Lucasfilm
In 1991, the first of these stories would arrive with the novel Heir to the Empire. Timothy Zahn’s novel picked up five years after the events of Return of the Jedi and focused on the original trilogy heroes, Luke, Leia, and Han. Vader and the Emperor were long dead, but a new threat emerged from the depths of the galaxy: Imperial warlord Grand Admiral Thrawn. A military genius, Thrawn reorganized the remaining Imperial fleet into a true threat to the New Republic. Fans became instantly intrigued by this blue-skinned, red-eyed alien on the book cover. Who was that imposing looking guy?
Zahn’s trilogy (continued in Dark Force Rising and The Last Command) described Thrawn as a member of the Chiss species. Because of his brilliant tactical mind, the Emperor allowed him to become one of the only non-human characters to serve in the Imperial Navy. Unlike Vader and other Imperials we saw in the films, Thrawn actually valued his officers and inspired loyalty among them. He believed that if his subordinates did their jobs well, they could expect to be rewarded… and not Force-choked. He was also a lover of art and culture, something the previous Imperials showed no interest in at all.
Lucasfilm
Thrawn died at the end of that extremely popular trilogy, but that wasn’t really the end of his legacy. The Hand of Thrawnduology of novels, also written by Zahn, teased his resurrection. The books, comic, and games of the era elevated the Grand Admiral to iconic Star Wars villain status. In fact, many fans didn’t view him as a villain at all, but more of a complicated antihero. It was really hard to totally hate Thrawn, even at his worst. And if you did hate him, you still kind of had to respect him.
From Legends to Canon
Lucasfilm
With Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012 came a whole new era for the Star Wars saga. The past 20 years of novels, comics, and video games known as the Expanded Universe became non-canonical, and were rebranded as “Legends.” Still, the folks at Lucasfilm said that some elements of those Legends stories could work their way into the new canon. The first of these was the introduction of the character of Thrawn as the primary antagonist of the animated series Star Wars: Rebels in 2016. The Grand Admiral would make life miserable for the crew of The Ghost in seasons three and four, set a few years prior to A New Hope.
Lucasfilm
Not only did Thrawn finally spring to life in animated form, voiced by the great Lars Mikkelsen, but Zahn returned to his creation during this time. He penned several new in-canon novels focused on the character: Star Wars: Thrawn, Thrawn: Alliances, Thrawn: Treason, and the Thrawn Ascendency trilogy, which finished in 2021. These books were essentially a detailed origin story for the character.
Thrawn Lives
Lucasfilm
So why won’t Thrawn ever die? Hundreds of other characters from the Legends era have been jettisoned out of the airlock, but the big blue meanie just refuses to go down. Plenty other cool characters never made the transition, and many were combined into new characters altogether. Kylo Ren, for example, is a mix of Han and Leia’s son Jacen Solo and Luke’s son Ben Skywalker from Legends. But Thrawn has survived virtually intact. We think this is due to his being symbolic of so many years of great Star Wars storytelling. As arguably the best villain created post-Return of the Jedi, he has a special place in fans’ hearts. So we, along with the creators who grew up reading about him, just can’t let him go.
Thrawn doesn’t have any blood ties or romantic relations with any of the original movie characters. So it was easy enough to lift him whole cloth into the new canon without big changes to his character. It would be a lot more complicated to bring in a character like the Jedi warrior Mara Jade into canon for example, due to her romantic relationship with Luke Skywalker in the Legends novels. If you remove her marriage to Luke, is she really the same Mara? With Thrawn, there really isn’t much you have to change about him, as we saw from his Rebels appearances.
A Grand Future for the Grand Admiral
Lucasfilm
When we last saw Thrawn in continuity in the series finale of Rebels, the Jedi padawan Ezra Bridger takes him and his fleet into the depths of Unknown Space (where they’d sit out the events of the original trilogy). The Unknown Regions of the galaxy are not mapped; thus, they are very hard to navigate, much less find your way home from. For years, we didn’t know what became of Thrawn and Ezra out there. But we’re about to find out.
Lucasfilm
As the recent trailer for Ahsoka confirmed, Thrawn made it out there into the farthest reaches of the galaxy, and survived. He’ll be played in live-action by Lars Mikkelsen, who voiced him on Rebels. The Grand Admiral seems to have two dark Jedi with him, similar to how Thrawn had an alliance with the dark Jedi Jorus C’baoth in the novels. We also saw the Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth from Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian, confirming that she too serves Thrawn.
The Mandalorian takes place five years post-Return of the Jedi, just like the original Thrawn Trilogy of novels. In both stories, there is a fledgling New Republic fending off pesky Imperial remnants in the Outer Rim. In both cases, this is the perfect scenario for someone like Thrawn to reemerge out of the Unknown Regions to whip this Imperial Remnant into shape, and become a true threat again. Moff Gideon doesn’t even seem to think Thrawn is more than a myth anymore in Chapter 23 of The Mandalorian. But we suspect he’s about to discover differently.
Lucasfilm
In the old Legends canon, Thrawn’s reemergence after the death of the Emperor was a sort of warm-up act for Palpatine’s eventual return in Dark Horse Comics’ Dark Empire saga. Those stories took place about a year after the Zahn trilogy. It saw Palpatine reemerge in a new clone body to take control of his Empire once more. He also wanted Leia and Han’s (still unborn) child as a new host for his Dark Side energy. Sound familiar?
Could we be seeing something similar play out in canon on The Mandalorian and Ahsoka timeline? It would make sense for this to be the plot of Dave Filoni’s upcoming film. Since Thrawn’s last known location was the Unknown Regions, it’s possible that he was let in on the Emperor’s eventual return we saw in The Rise of Skywalker, which we know happens 25 years later. It’s also quite possible that his return to known space involves laying the groundwork for the rise of the First Order.
Of course, this is all just speculation. But it would be fitting if Thrawn’s live-action introduction mirrored his original conception on the printed page, over 30 years ago. One thing is certain, however. You don’t introduce such a huge character from the lore without massive plans in the making. Thrawn is coming, folks. And the galaxy had best beware.
You can preorder Pikmin 4 for just $49 from Super Shop (normally $60). Pikmin 4 preorders are already discounted to $55 on Super Shop, but using the GameSpot exclusive promo code GMSPTPIK at checkout drops the price down to $49.
Saving $11 on your Pikmin 4 preorder at Super Shop is a great deal, but there is one caveat: unlike preorders from some other retailers, you won’t receive your order on release day (July 21). Luckily, Super Shop offers fast and free shipping, and all orders will be shipped on launch day–so you won’t have to wait very long to start playing.
If you know you won’t be able to wait an extra day or two, our Pikmin 4 preorder guide details all the ways you can buy your copy of the game before launch. Of course, you’ll have to pay full price, but that extra cash may be worth it to some.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
Hollywood stars and filmmakers joined for a weekend of celebrating film legacies and the impact they have had on cinema at the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival.
To kick off the festival at the Los Angeles’ TCL Chinese Theatre, The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and Hollywood Legion Theater at Post 43, Angie Dickinson chatted with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz on opening night Thursday about Rio Bravo, her role as Feathers and starring opposite John Wayne and Dean Martin.
When talking about what it was like working with director Howard Hawks, Dickinson said, “He was a man of few words,” and while filming, he told her and the crew to “just relax, and he and I sat there, talking about nothing. It was just to relax me and get me to the point that he wanted me to be for the scene.”
Directors Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson also took part in a panel Thursday with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to talk about the importance of preserving films that are at risk of deteriorating. The Fabelmans director said their efforts have rescued more than 990 films after they “all joined [Martin Scorsese] to go around to all the studios to get them to try to finance this rescue operation to save our cultural heritage.”
(L-R) Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson speak onstage during the opening night gala and world premiere of the 4k restoration of ‘Rio Bravo’ during the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival
Charley Gallay/Getty Images for TCM
Day one ended with the premiere screening of the 4K restoration of Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959), in partnership with The Film Foundation, which was started by Scorsese, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros.
On Friday, TCM host Mankiewicz joined special guests George Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh for a screening of their film Ocean’s Eleven (2001). Before the showing, the actor and director talked about how the film came to be and Clooney said at the time, “Steven had this idea of trying to infuse all of this sort of independent film stuff that all of these young filmmakers were learning back into the studio system. … It was going to kind of get back to things they were doing in like 1964 to 1975, bringing that kind of style and feeling back to storytelling inside the studio system.”
George Clooney and Ben Mankiewicz speak onstage at the screening of ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ during the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival
Later, Ricki Lake took part in a panel to discuss working with Divine on Hairspray (1988) and why John Waters is such a special filmmaker. Amid the film’s success in the wake of Divine’s passing, Lake said, “To think what his career would have done after Hairspray, I still haven’t gotten over it.” It was such a bittersweet moment for her, adding, “I was suddenly this big star and I was having all my dreams come true and it was just attached to this tragic piece of it as well.”
(L-R) Managing Director of TCMFF Mark (L-R) Managing Director of TCMFF Mark Wynns, Ricki Lake and Mario Cantone attend the screening of ‘Hairspray’ during the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival
Presley Ann/Getty Images for TCM
Director and screenwriter Alexander Payne was also joined by writer and director George Stevens Jr., the son of Penny Serenade director George Stevens, for the world premiere restoration of Penny Serenade (1941).
(L-R) George Stevens Jr., Alexander Payne, and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz attend the screening of ‘Penny Serenade’ during the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival
Charley Gallay/Getty Images for TCM
Other films featured during day two of the festival included a 60th anniversary poolside screening of Beach Party (1963) with TCM host Dave Karger and special guest Frankie Avalon, as well as a 50th anniversary showing of American Graffiti (1973) with actors Richard Dreyfuss and Candy Clark.
The 14th annual TCM Classic Film Festival, which is celebrating film legacies, including a spotlight on the legacy of Warner Bros. to celebrate the studios’ 100th anniversary, ends Sunday. Find videos of the festival’s panels and events here.
Universal is on a string of hits so far in 2023 and hoping to continue the trend is the new Nicholas Cage movie Renfield where he’ll be playing a blood-sucking vampire. The movie opens in theaters worldwide in mid-April 2023, but will it come to Netflix? The answer is likely yes, but when depends on where you reside.
Nicolas Cage, who has starred in big titles like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Pig in recent years, headlines the new movie based on the legendary Transylvanian vampire alongside his assistant, played by Nicholas Hoult.
Starring alongside Cage and Hoult in the horror-comedy includes talents like Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
The movie begins its theatrical run starting from April 14th, 2023.
When will Renfield be on Netflix in the United States?
Unlike Universal’s animation slate which splits its first window between Peacock and Netflix, the Universal live-action slate does not include Netflix.
With that said, in 2021, Netflix did announce that it would receive UEFG, but further down the line. If we look back at the announcement, it states:
“As part of the deal, Netflix will also license rights to the full Animated and Live Action slate from UFEG about 4 years after release as well as rights to select titles from Universal’s vast movie library.”
That means while Netflix US will stream Renfield, it won’t be for around four years. Yes, that means it won’t be streaming until 2027 at the earliest. Bummer.
Until then, the first window rights for Renfield will be split. Like the animation titles that come to Netflix, Peacock will receive the movie first for a number of months, head to Prime Video for a period and then return to Peacock.
When will Renfield be on Netflix Internationally?
A handful of regions do receive Universal movies on a swift basis. Those are Netflix Australia, Netflix Belgium, and Netflix South Korea. You can expect the movie to drop around nine months after the theatrical window, placing it towards the end of 2023.
Netflix in the United Kingdom still receives new Universal movies on a regular basis but not until around two years after its initial theatrical debut. Case in point, 2021’s Nobody just hit Netflix UK at the week of publishing this article. That’d place Renfield on Netflix UK in 2025.
Finally, at this point, Netflix Canada seems to be getting Universal movies around three years after their initial theatrical run.
Of course, all of this information is subject to change, but for the most part, if you’re waiting to watch Renfield on Netflix, you’ll need to wait.
“The Idol,” the controversial HBO series set to star pop sensation Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, grows nearer. And after the announcement that the series would premiere out of competition at next month’s Cannes Film Festival, The Weeknd has started previewing music from the show, performing a new track (“Double Fantasy”) at Coachella last night and on his Instagram two days ago (where he can be seen working on the orchestra intro for the song). Ready or not, “The Idol” is coming.
The Weeknd wasn’t even on the bill for Coachella but popped in during Metro Boomin’s set on Friday. Mike Dean, the influential record producer (who also has a role on “The Idol”), was also on hand to play saxophone on “Double Fantasy,” which is the first substantial new Weeknd music (outside of his track for “Avatar: The Way of Water”) since he released his brilliant album “Dawn F.M.” in January 2022.
Last year, the Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia co-headlined at the last minute when original headlining performer Kanye West dropped out. At the time, it was announced that production on “The Idol” had paused so that The Weeknd could do Coachella, but it was later revealed that the show was going through a complete creative overhaul even though, it was rumored, 80% of the show had already been shot. Director and executive producer Amy Seimetz left the project.
Last month, a bombshell report in Rolling Stone (titled ‘The Idol’: How HBO’s Next ‘Euphoria’ Became Twisted ‘Torture Porn’) said that originally the show was more focused on the female perspective (the lead is played by Lily Rose-Depp), who comes under the sway of a powerful pop star and cult leader (played by Tesfaye) but that Tesfaye and producer Sam Levinson moved away from the narrative of a young girl gaining her autonomy against impossible odds to a more straightforward romantic narrative. Of course, this meant favoring outrageous sex and a ton of nudity. The first teaser trailer for the show, which was released a whopping eight months ago, described it as “The sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood.” (HBO denied the claims.)
With the Cannes announcement and Tesfaye’s tease of “Vol. 1” of the soundtrack album coming soon, there will hopefully be an announcement of when the series will actually, you know, air. During the big Warner Bros. Discovery press conference this week, where they debuted new footage from upcoming HBO series like “True Detective: Night Country” and “The Sympathizer,” “The Idol” wasn’t mentioned or teased. This might have to do with the company’s reposition of HBO Max as simply Max in a bid to distance itself from some of the more explicit implications of HBO. But it still seemed like a strange omission, especially if it’s so close to being out in the world. But hey, The Weeknd giveth and The Weeknd taketh away.
If you’ve always had your head in the clouds, now is your chance to reach new heights.
The Kelowna Flying Club has taken over the KF Centre for Excellence for a one-day event on Saturday to help hundreds of aspiring pilots or anyone who has ever been curious about the career can learn more about how they can be approved for take off.
“Acquiring your pilot’s licence changes you, I can’t define it beyond that, it’s an activity that you do where you are solely in control of your fate,” said Kelowna Flying Club board member, David Lindsey.
Under one roof, there are information seminars and booths, as well a set up where kids can fuel their imagination by taking a seat in the cockpit of a flying simulator, where kids can see what it would be like to fly around Kelowna at the Air Cadets booth.
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Air Cadet graduate and now instructor, David Rojas is one of the many speakers at the events in hopes of inspiring more people to sign up.
“I joined the Air Cadets because my grandpa was a pilot in the airforce, and all my life I grew up seeing airplanes and really wanted to get in the air,” said Rojas.
“I joined Air Cadets got my licence, went through the process and I love every second of it that’s why I’m here now as an instructor and pilot, to help youth get their licence and do the same thing I did.”
At the Okanagan College booth for the Commercial Aviation Diploma Program, application booklets and information about the program are being handed out.
“There’s no better time to become a pilot, the job opportunities are fantastic,” said Scott Campbell, Southern Interior Flight Centre.
Next up for the Kelowna Flying Club, members will partner with the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association’s Discover Aviation program this fall. For a day when kids can discover the thrill of aviation by getting a ride in a small plane.
Taylor Swift has been giving her stans exactly what they want on The Eras tour and she topped herself in Tampa on Friday night. Not only did she perform her song “The Great War” from her latest album Midnightsfor the first time in concert, but she did it with the help of her frequent collaborator by her side. And the songstress welcomed National bandmember Aaron Dessner onstage with an incredible introduction.
?| “It’s a long walk, you gotta keep going.” Taylor Swift to Aaron Dessner, on the length of the Eras Tour catwalk. pic.twitter.com/M665cmokoS
— hailey heard tgw and yoyok live (@nobodynoswift) April 15, 2023
“He’s so incredibly brilliant, we’ve made so much music together over the years, and we are so lucky tonight Tampa Bay, Florida cause Aaron Dessner is here!” Taylor announced to the audience, as seen in the clip above. When it took a few moments for Aaron to cross the gigantic stage to meet Taylor, she told the crowd to continue cheering. “It’s a long walk, you gotta keep going,” she quipped.
Shortly after the incredible performance, Aaron reportedly took to Twitter to share his excitement over it, and even quoted another Taylor song. In a fan repost of Aaron’s reported tweet, the message read, “Playing the Great War for the first time in Tampa…Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine getting to play a song for 80,000 people on acoustic guitar with @taylorswift.”
Along with the surprise duet, Taylor announced a change to a rule she made about never performing the same song twice during her acoustic portion of the Eras tour. “Basically, when I started the tour, I said, ‘In the acoustic section, I am never repeating a song. I’m never doing songs more than once,’” Taylor told the Tampa audience, per Just Jared. “But now I’m like, ‘Ugh, there are so many songs I want to do more than once. So, I’m making a little caveat to the rule, which is that if [a song] is on Midnights, I can do it however many times I want because Midnights is, like, the most accurate picture of my life to date,” Taylor added.
The rule may be going into effect immediately, as Taylor not only debuted “The Great War” from Midnights, but she also wowed the crowd with a rendition of “You’re On Your Own, Kid.” As fans likely want Taylor to perform those songs repeatedly, the rule change was much needed and definitely welcomed.
Her fans are also likely to continue sending love and support to the Grammy winner after it was reported that she split with longtime boyfriendJoe Alwyn just a week ago. As she joked to the audience on the first night of the Tampa shows, “We have a lot to catch up on.”
Nima Momeni, the tech entrepreneur accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee, made a brief appearance in a San Francisco courtroom Friday, his first since being arrested for Lee’s killing in early April.
Momeni, 38, is being held without bail after his arraignment Friday was delayed until April 25 when his defense attorney, Paula Canny, returns from vacation.
Lee, 43, was a prominent tech executive in Silicon Valley whose death was mourned by other industry heavyweights. His killing was also been seized on by conservative figures and tech leaders, including Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who framed Lee’s death as the result of past progressive prosecutors and policies like bail reform, which they claim are responsible for rising crime, violence and homelessness. In reality, Momeni and Lee knew each other, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said Thursday. Scott did not give more details on their relationship.
Momeni, an entrepreneur and tech consultant who lived just outside of San Francisco in nearby Emeryville, Calif., spent the last 15 years living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to property and public records.
At the time of Lee’s killing, Momemi listed himself in hisLinkedIn profile as the owner of Expand IT, a tech support and consulting business based in his Emeryville live-work space, since 2010. Expand IT’s website has since been taken offline and calls to the company seeking comment on Momeni’s role went unanswered Saturday. His previously listed employment onLinkedIn includes a string of IT support and consultancy roles around northernCalifornia.
Little else appears in Momeni’s public record apart from several misdemeanor charges from more than a decade ago. In 2011, he was charged in Alameda County, Calif., with allegedly selling a switchblade knife and driving with a suspended license, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Hepleaded no contest to the driving offense and the knife charge was dismissed. He also faced aDWI charge in 2004, according to the Chronicle.
Neighbors and past associates described Momeni as helpful and warm, according to the Chronicle.
“I was completely taken aback when I read his name in the news this morning,” Akash Sawhney, who met Momeni in 2015 while working for the tech start-up Outward, told the Chronicle. “It didn’t seem in character with what he’s accused of doing — at least in my interactions with him.”
Momeni listed several schools in his education history, but did not specify an area of study.
What charges is Momeni facing?
Momeni was arrested at his Emeryville live-work space early Thursday and faces a murder charge, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. Momeni also faces a sentencing enhancement of using a deadly weapon, a kitchen knife, to commit the crime.
If convicted, Momeni could face between 26 years to life in prison. While the death penalty is still technically legal in California for crimes such as murder, death sentences are uncommon, especially after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced a moratorium on the death penalty in 2019.
Where was Momeni the night Lee was killed?
Prosecutors have portrayed Lee’s killing as premeditated, relying on security camera footage, text messages and the nature of the weapon used to make their case against Momeni. The two men met up in the early morning hours of April 4 after Lee had allegedly been drinking earlier that evening with Momeni’s younger sister, Khazar Elyassnia, according to court records.
Investigators have not detailed how Momeni and Lee were acquainted, but indicated Lee and Elyassnia were friendly. An unnamed witness cited in court documents who was with Lee and Elyassnia the night of the killing described her as “married but the relationship had possibly been in jeopardy.” The witness indicated that Lee and Elyassnia were connected but that it was unclear whether their relationship was romantic. Lee had recently relocated to Florida but returned to San Francisco often to visit his two children.
In a nine-page motion filed Friday, prosecutors allege Momeni drove Lee to a “dark and secluded area in the opposite direction of [Lee’s] hotel.” Security footage appears to show the men exiting the vehicle before Momeni appears to stab Lee, prosecutors say.
Prosecutors also indicated Momeni was upset that night. A witness said Momeni had questioned whether his sister was “doing drugs or anything inappropriate.” Lee assured Momeninothing inappropriate happened, according to court documents.
Elyassnia later texted Lee that night to check on him and thanked him for handling the situation “with class,” according to court records.
“Just wanted to make sure yourdoing ok,” she wrote. “Cause I know nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you.”
Prosecutors underscored Momeni’s alleged use of a kitchen knife to kill Lee as further evidence of a “planned and deliberate attack.” Unlike a pocket knife or weapon someone might regularly carry, taking a knife from home would require advanced planning, prosecutors say.
What’s next for Momeni?
Momeni will remain in jail until his new arraignment on April 25.
Scott Canny, the brother of Momeni’s lawyer, appeared in his sister’s place on Friday and told reporters that Momeni “has friends and family here in support” of him. Momeni’s sister, Elyassnia, was among his relatives who came to court Friday.
Attempts to reach Momeni’s relatives on Saturday were not successful.
“The facts of what occurred, or didn’t occur, will come out over time,” Canny told reporters.
Veteran British actor Murray Melvin who’s best known for his role in “The Phantom of the Opera,” “A Taste of Honey” and the “Doctor Who” spin-off “Torchwood,” died April 14 at St Thomas’ hospital in London. He was 90.
London-based creative director Kerry Kyriacos Michael made the announcement on Twitter and said Melvin died after taking a bad fall in December “from which he never fully recovered.”
“He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him,” Michael wrote.
He had a fall in December, from which he never fully recovered. He died at St Thomas’ Hospital on Friday, 14th April, aged 90. He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him.
— Kerry Kyriacos Michael MBE (@1KerryMichael) April 15, 2023
Melvin got his start in a 1957 production of “Macbeth” at the Theatre Royal in Stratford and rose to fame in 1961 as Geoffrey, the gay art student, in Shelagh Delaney’s “A Taste of Honey.” He later went on to star in films such as “Alfie” with Michael Caine, “Start the Revolution Without Me” starring Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland, “The Boy Friend” starring Twiggy, Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” starring Ryan O’Neal, “Princess Caraboo” starring Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline and Joel Schumacher’s “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Although he starred in dozens of television shows in Britain — including the first episode of the series “The Avengers” in 1960 — Melvin most recently he was seen in the “Doctor Who” spin-off, “Torchwood.”
In addition, Melvin wrote two books, “The Art of Theatre Workshop” and “The Theatre Royal, A History of the Building” and won a BAFTA for the Most Promising Newcomer and Canne Film Festival Best Actor award for his role in “A Taste of Honey.”
The prequel series from the mind of George R. R. Martin is based on a series of novellas centered around the future Lord Commander of the Kingsguard named Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire known as Egg. Many fans have referred to this series as “Dunk & Egg” but Martin shared on his blog why he opted for a different title.
“The working title will be A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. Whether that will be the final title, I can’t say for sure… beyond saying that no, it won’t be called Takes of Dunk & Egg or The Adventures of Dunk & Egg or Dunk & Egg,” Martin wrote on his latest blog post.
Martin continued, “I love Dunk and I love Egg, and I know that fans refer to my novellas as ‘the Dunk & Egg stories,’ sure, but there are millions of people out there who do not know the stories and the title needs to intrigue them too. If you don’t know the characters, Dunk & Egg sounds like a sitcom. Laverne & Shirley. Abbott & Costello. Beavis & Butthead. So, no. We want ‘knight’ in the title. Knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories.”
The author said that HBO gave the show a full series order and the script for the first episode of the spinoff has already been written. Martin is not sure about how many episodes the first season of the prequel series will consist of but said that “most likely” it would be six episodes “though that is not set in stone.”
Martin also clarified that the development of the adaptations of his books takes time and said that back in 2016 he pitched the premium network two ideas, “the Dance of the Dragons, which in due time became House of the Dragon… and Dunk & Egg. That was seven years ago. (I can hardly believe it myself). The lesson there is that development takes time.”
“I see all these stories on the net about other spinoffs being killed or abandoned… no idea where they get this stuff… and it just makes me shake my head,” he added. “The Nymeria show is still in development. So is the Sea Snake show. Just had a great week on that one, working with writers. And there are others, both live-action and animated.”
When Kartik Aaryan seemingly confirmed his relationship with Sara Ali Khan. (Photo: Instagram)
Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan were reportedly dating while filming their 2020 movie, Love Aaj Kal.
Kartik Aaryan is one of the most loved and handsome hunks in Bollywood. Also being one of the most good-looking and eligible bachelors in tinsel town, time and again he gets linked up with his female co-stars. Having said that, an old video of the actor has gone viral on social media, where he said that he liked his Love Aaj Kal co-star Sara Ali Khan and would friend-zone his Shehzada co-star Kriti Sanon.
It was back in 2019 when Kartik made an appearance on Kareena Kapoor Khan’s talk show. During the show, the actress played a fun round with Kartik of ‘Like, Block and Friendzone’. She gave him three options of the leading actresses and his co-stars in Bollywood and he had to choose according to the options. While Kartik admitted to liking Sara Ali Khan, the actor said he would block Nushrratt Bharuccha. Lastly, he added that he would friend-zoned Kriti Sanon.
Kartik and Sara were allegedly dating at that time while filming Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal. While the duo never confirmed their relationship, it was the talk of the town back then. Reportedly, just weeks before the release of their film, the duo split up. The reason for their break up is still unknown and both unfollowed each other on Instagram too.
In the 7th season of Koffee With Karan, Karan Johar reminded Sara that she manifested her relationship with Kartik Aaryan, to which she said ‘Yes’, seemingly confirming that she had dated the Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 actor in the past. “Last time you were on this couch, you made a public announcement that you wanted to date Kartik Aaryan and that did happen,” said Karan.
However, back in 2022, in an interview with Film Companion, Kartik Aaryan shared that he has been single for the past 1.25 years when asked about his dating life. “Mai pichle sava saal se single hoon, baaki mujhe kuch nahi pataa (I have been single since the past 1.25 years, I don’t know about anything else),” he had shared.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Kartik Aaryan will next be seen in Satyaprem Ki Katha and Hansal Mehta’s Captain India. He also has Anurag Basu’s Aashiqui 3 in his pipeline. Sara Ali Khan on the other hand will be soon seen in Mission Eagle with Tiger Shroff.
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
John Iacovelli, the Emmy-winning prolific scenic designer for stage and screen, whose ability to balance poetics with pragmatism made him a beloved and invaluable collaborator for Los Angeles theater artists for many decades, died Friday after a long battle with cancer, his family told The Times. He was 64.
His range was limitless, moving effortlessly on stage from lavish musical spectacle to Beckettian minimalism, on screen from the space opera of “Babylon 5” to the instantly recognizable reality of “Lincoln Heights.” Theater was his true love and the dream factory Iacovelli operated seemed to run around the clock, but precision was never sacrificed by speed of production.
“John worked scenic miracles on Los Angeles stages throughout his long and distinguished career,” said Times theater critic Charles McNulty. “His fertile imagination and practical know-how could endow any work from the repertoire with just the right amount of whimsy, lyricism and realism.”
“His death represents an incalculable loss for L.A.’s theater community,” McNulty added. “He was a pillar of the scene here, a beloved and trusted counselor to fellow artists, an amiably enlightening interlocutor with critics and an impish presence who embodied theater’s Dionysian spirit.”
Iacovelli worked with budgets big, medium and small, conjuring from the resources at hand the scenic magic required to transport an audience to the aesthetic world of the play or musical. But he was, first and foremost, a practical man of the theater.
As he told the Times’ Mary McNamara in 2020, “In the end, the set is there to serve the actors. … It is a machine for action.”
In a career spanning more than 40 years, Iacovelli designed sets for at least 300 stage productions: for national tours, internationally, on Broadway, large regional theaters and every cramped, dusty 99-seat houses in and around L.A. He moved seamlessly between the stage and Hollywood, working on films including “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “Ruby in Paradise,” and TV series including “Babylon 5,” “Resurrection Blvd.” and “Ed.” He earned an Emmy for the stage production of “Peter Pan” he had designed, which played on A&E.
Awards didn’t slow him down a bit: even after winning the 2018 United States Institute of Theatre Technology‘s distinguished achievement award in scene design & technology, he continued working on a seemingly impossible number of projects simultaneously — up to 18 shows a year. “People think I say yes to everything,” he said in a recent podcast. “They don’t know about the shows I turn down.”
All the while he was teaching full-time at UC Davis, where he had developed the design curriculum of the MFA program. “All of my kids are working,” he said of his many students there over the years.
Detail of John Iacovelli’s model set for “Arsenic and Old Lace” at his home studio in Atwater Village.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“John was the most generous theater practitioner I ever knew. And I’ve known him for 40 years,” said director Eli Simon, chancellor’s professor of drama at UC Irvine. “He was in a constant state of creativity and sharing. We were at a show and there were a couple of young scenic designers at the show. [At intermission] he came up to them and said, ‘Okay, after the show, I want you to tell me five things that worked about the scenic design and five things that didn’t. I know what they are, but I’m not going to tell you right now.’ That was John in a nutshell. He was humble and generous and a teacher at heart.”
He retired from teaching in 2019. A diagnosis of lymphoma wasn’t part of his plans, but even that failed to slow him down; he worked without breaking stride throughout his treatment and into his remission. When he learned this year that his cancer had returned, he was deep in the design process for La Mirada Theatre’s “Did You See What Walter Paisley Did Today?”
But if Iacovelli was the platonic ideal of designers in many ways, it must be said that his sets didn’t politely fade into the woodwork: They stood out as exemplars of the form even in the L.A. theater community, which boasts many brilliant set designers (all Iacovelli’s friends).
Playwright Justin Tanner recalled the way Iacovelli’s work transformed a space: “He managed a level of realism that made you forget,” Tanner said, noting he first worked with Iacovelli in 2018 on his play “El Niño” at Rogue Machine. “If you didn’t look at the audience, you felt like you were in a real environment … just the detailing and his artistic eye … it was a combination of fabulous and naturalist.”
Critics took note of the majesty of his set for the 2012 play “The Heiress” at the Pasadena Playhouse. Iacovelli had visited the preserved mansions of New York’s Washington Square Park for inspiration, and many had trouble imagining that any of them could be as beautiful as what he created. Particularly the serene, ethereal blue of the walls, which served as a particularly effective backdrop for the brutal emotional experience that followed.
Sheldon Epps, the former artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse, who first worked with Iacovelli in 1999 on “The Importance of Being Earnest,” remembered Iacovelli as singular in a profession known for individuality.
“I know few people who’ve worked in the theater as long as John did who remained passionate about the art form. So constantly joyous about the act of creating — both his own work and celebrating other people’s work,” Epps said.
Theater enthusiasts recalled delighting in spotting Iacovelli’s work in theaters large and small all over Los Angeles: the way two unremarkable walls in DOMA Theatre’s revival of “Young Frankenstein” opened up to reveal a gloriously ornate mad-scientist laboratory. A foreshortened dining room visible through a glass door at Antaeus Theatre Company’s production of “The Little Foxes” looked like a purely visual component until somehow, late in the play, the entire cast went in and sat around the table.
There was never a gimmick or “tell” that screamed “Iacovelli.” What tipped people off was an authenticity in the details, some ineffable harmony between the actors and their milieu. Iacovelli’s living spaces always looked liveable. “You could move in,” his close friend, actor Alan Mandell, said of his set for “Dance of Death.”
“There are any number of people who owe him a debt of gratitude for the scenic work he did,” Mandell said. “He spoke his mind, clearly and forcefully about the work that he was doing and what he felt you should be doing right or wrong. In a field where disappointment is rampant, he was able to convey his appreciation for your attempt to do something significant. I shall miss him terribly.”
Iacovelli often said he didn’t consider himself an artist. His father, he maintained, was the “real” artist in the family. His father and mother, a government worker, settled in Reno, Nev.. When Iacovelli was 7 or 8, his father built him a puppet theater, to which he often attributed his enduring fascination with scenic design. Iacovelli spent his childhood forming theater troupes with friends; when it was time for college, he applied for and earned a scholarship in scenic design at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. There, he recalled, he was taught that film and TV was “a nasty business.” But when he entered the master’s program at New York University (renamed the Tisch School of the Arts), he was startled and then excited by its all-embracing attitude toward the screen as well as the stage.
Classmate-turned-production-designer Larry Fulton (“The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable”) persuaded Iacovelli to leave New York for L.A., where his career quickly caught fire and he never looked back.
Throughout his life, Iacovelli remained devoted to learning as much as he could about his chosen art form.
“I never knew him to travel anywhere without coming [back] with a new load of books,” Epp said. “To the point where he actually had to extend his home so he could store his art collection and all of his theatrical memorabilia. Going to his house was like going to a theatrical library.”
Iacovelli is survived by sisters Violet Iacovelli, Angaela Iacovelli, Victoria Williams and Dariel Wines; brother Cameron Iacovelli; nephews Ian Van Rensselaer, Skylar Van Rensselaer, David Iacovelli and Spencer Williams; and nieces Melanie Lewis, Sylvia Micheli and Rochelle Iacovelli.
The Batman – Part II fan trailer imagines Barry Keoghan’s Joker as the main villain in Robert Pattinson’s sequel.As James Gunn is building his DC Universe, Matt Reeves is continuing The Batman franchise. After the successful 2022 installment, The Batman – Part II is on its way with Pattinson back as the DC icon. While The Riddler was the main antagonist, Joker also made his debut in the Reeves universe.
While he only had two scenes, Keoghan’s Joker left a major impression on audiences. In Screen Culture‘s The Batman – Part II fan trailer, the Clown Prince of Crime becomes the central foe.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
The Batman – Part II fan trailer takes some obvious inspiration from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. The trailer also incorporates some footage of Batman from the Titans season 1 finale.
According to reports, one of the villains in The Batman – Part II is supposedly going to be Clayface. However, Reeves hasn’t made any definitive plans yet for where Keoghan’s Joker will appear next. The bigger question is whether or not Joker should even be the main baddie in the next film. Having Joker factored into The Batman – Part II would make it feel too similar to The Dark Knight.
It’s also worth noting the sequel would be coming out only a year after Joker: Folie à Deux. Joker has been featured more than any other Batman villain, whether it be in live-action or animation. With all the Batman foes that have yet to get the same spotlight, the sequel should save Joker for later. Instead, Joker could be utilized differently in Reeves’ universe, perhaps through an HBO Max spinoff.
Since the Penguin is getting his own show, HBO Max could do a limited-event Joker series focused on his origin. That would be far more intriguing than him being The Batman – Part II’s main antagonist. Hopefully, as The Batman – Part II starts principal photography this year, more details will emerge soon enough.
Not even a few weeks out until the release of Honkai: Star Rail and the game has already reached over 10,000,000 Preregistrations from players who are excited to play this new game. I don’t think even Hoyoverse was prepared to see just what kind of reception this game would get, but it looks like all their efforts from the past year have paid off!
Honkai: Star Rail has Reached 10,000,000 Preregistrations so Can We Get More Rewards? Pretty Please?
Originally back at the beginning of the year, Hoyoverse raised 5,000,000 pregristrations as the highest tier that players would have to overcome to get the best rewards. At the time, we all thought that this was going to be a fairly hard hurdle to overcome, but in the span of less than a few weeks, the player base proved to be determined to get as much free stuff as possible, achieving that high tier and smacking it to the ground.
However, that didn’t prove to be good enough for those following Hoyoverse. Regardless of whether you came from Honkai Impact, Genshin Impact, or some other overworld anime waifu/husbando game, Honkai: Star Rail has breached some high numbers when it comes to gaining a massive following. All just checking out Twitter for the smallest smidgens of updates and hitting that goal of 5 million preregisters within weeks.
Because low and behold, here we are counting down the days to April 26th and what do we have? News that Honkai: Star Rail surpassed 10,000,000 players hungry for the game’s release. Last month, Hoyoverse mentioned that they had reached 8,000,000 pregisters but the players just couldn’t be halted. Did Hoyoverse just shortcut themselves, thinking that 5,000,000 would be enough and they could coast on that? And why did players continue even though all the rewards were gained?
Can we expect to see more awards come from Hoyoverse due to their ravenous fanbase? They’ve been quite stingy in the past with Genshin Impact Anniversary Rewards, and more lenient with Honkai Impact, and now that they are preparing their freshest product from the oven, will they cater to the player’s devotion?
Quite frankly, we just don’t know yet. It would be well-deserved after seeing Honkai: Star Rail be the most seen and recognized game of this year. Could we gain some more Star Rail Passes to pull for characters? Will they hand out another free character? Might it even possibly be a five-star? While I am remaining realistic in my standards, I do believe that more wishes and another four-star should be gifted out to players when they log in on April 26th.
I can’t wait to see what shenanigans will arise once everyone logs into Honkai: Star Rail on April 26th. If there is any further news about what gifts may be even hinted at from Hoyoverse, we’ll be sure to share the exciting news!
Despite the presence of other taboo themes, Tarantino’s films often lack explicit depictions of sexual intimacy, leaving audiences to wonder why this aspect of human connection is seemingly overlooked in his cinematic universe.
‘Pulp Fiction’Credit: Miramax Films
The filmmaker talked about the lack of nudity and sex in his movies while speaking to reporter Diari ARA. He said, “It’s true, sex is not part of my vision of cinema,”
Tarantino elaborated, saying, “And the truth is that, in real life, it’s a pain to shoot sex scenes, everyone is very tense. And if it was already a bit problematic to do it before, now it is even more so. If there had ever been a sex scene that was essential to the story, I would have, but so far it hasn’t been necessary.”
This is honestly very interesting coming from a guy who seems to have nothing off-limits in his storytelling.
I think before everyone overreacts, Tarantino means that in his films, there hasn’t been a time where sex has advanced the plot. So, this is not a rule across all films that he’s set.
Actor Murray Melvin, whose extensive work in film and on stage was highly respected by his peers, has died from complications from a fall suffered in December. He was 90 and died on April 14, according to Kerry Kyriacos Michael MBE, creative director at Theatro Technis.
Melvin’s body of work included time with Michael Caine and directory Stanley Kubrick. After making his debut in 1957 at the Theatre Royal in Stratford in Macbeth, he went on to appear in such notable films as Alfie(1966), Barry Lyndon (1975) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004).
Born on August 10, 1932 in London, he was also seen on the TV sci-fi drama “Torchwood.”
He made his stage debut in 1957 at the Theatre Royal in Stratford for Macbeth. He then went on to star in films such as Alfie (1966) alongside Michael Caine, Barry Lyndon (1975) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004).
His film resume includes H.M.S Defiant (1962), Sparrows Can’t Sing (1963), Kaleidoscope (1966), Smashing Time (1967), The Devils (1971), Ghost Story (1974), Joseph Andrews (1977), Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1985) and The Lost City of Z (2017).
Along the way, he won the BAFTA film award for Most Promising Newcomer and Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award for his role in A Taste of Honey (1961).
“It’s with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Murray Melvin – actor, director and theatre archivist,” said Kyriacos in a Twitter message. “He had a fall in December, from which he never fully recovered. He died at St Thomas’ Hospital on Friday, 14th April, aged 90. He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him.”
No information on survivors or memorial plans was immediately available.
Following last Sunday’s jaw-dropping “Succession” twist, Cox spent much of the week taking a media victory lap to discuss his five-year run playing media mogul and terrible parent Logan Roy. While he took every opportunity to praise Jesse Armstrong’s writing and explain the lengths he went to keep the twist a secret, the outspoken actor also found time to take a few shots at Trump.
In an interview with Deadline, Cox voiced his thoughts about the similarities between Roy and Trump. While “Succession” proved that Cox can play an aging right-wing demagogue as well as anyone, he said that he doesn’t find Trump nearly as interesting as Roy. The Scottish actor explained why he wouldn’t ever be interested in playing Trump if the opportunity presented itself.
“You know, somebody said, would you ever want to play Donald Trump,” Cox recalled. “And I said, well, no. Because I think it’s such a bad script, the Donald Trump script. But then I look at Donald Trump, and I think, God, he’s so lost. He’s just a lost individual, and he’s so full of shit, and the reason he’s full of shit is that he’s an abused child. He’s really an abused child, Donald Trump. A tragic figure.”
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But while Cox won’t be playing the indicted former president any time soon, he explained that his enthusiasm for playing characters that he finds morally and politically abhorrent hasn’t diminished.
“Even though a lot of these very right-wing individuals are repellant, ironically, from the actor’s point of view, when the actor gets into the skin of these guys, you begin to understand where they’re coming from,” he said.
Passing on the hypothetical opportunity to play Trump shouldn’t set Cox’s career back too much, as he has a busy schedule of projects lined up now that his “Succession” commitments are over. He’s planning to return to the London stage later this year in a West End revival of Eugene O’Neil’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and is set to make his feature directorial debut on the upcoming Scottish drama “Glenrothan.”
Friday, April 8, 2023 ratings — New episodes:Whose Line Is It Anyway?, The Great American Joke Off, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Shark Tank, 20/20, Dateline NBC, and Grand Crew. Sports: WWE Friday Night SmackDown. Reruns: SWAT, Fire Country, Blue Bloods, and Lopez vs. Lopez.
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In the first season of Dark Winds — AMC’s Western noir thriller that follows Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) on a remote outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley — the pandemic made it impossible to shoot on an actual reservation.
Fortunately, that changed in Season 2, which meant that the cast and crew could not only work on actual Navajo land but also rent an old casino that helped out the local tribe and employed local indigenous people in the production.
“It’s important we get it right,” McClarnon said Saturday at Deadline’s Contenders Television awards-season event. “It’s not a documentary. We do our best to get it right, but we always miss something. It’s still a fictional TV show.”
RELATED: The Contenders TV – Deadline’s Full Coverage
Part of the thrill of starring and exec producing the drama is that McClarnon gets to work alongside fellow producers George R.R. Martin and Robert Redford. The series is created by Graham Roland and based on Tony Hillerman’s popular Leaphorn & Chee book series.
“People enjoy the show,” McClarnon said. “I just want people to be entertained. It’s fantastic we are finally getting our own voice, Native peoples. I hope that Dark Winds opens up that door a little bit more.”
It’s the age-old fashion dilemma: what to wear when your husband is performing at Royal Albert Hall? For Sophie Turner, who turned out to support the Jonas Brothers at their London gig on April 14, the answer came in the form of a vintage floral jumpsuit.
The Game of Thrones alum has always been a fan of a one-piece–she famously tied the knot with Joe Jonas in Las Vegas wearing a silky Bevza jumpsuit and gold Loeffler Randall heels–but her look on Friday night felt more Laurel Canyon circa 1966 than Sin City circa 2017.
“You have to coordinate a little!” Turner previously told Vogue of dressing as a couple. “Be that colours or a nod to the accessories.”
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Keeping the outfit from veering into Daisy Jones & The Six cosplay territory? A leather jacket courtesy of Our Legacy that Turner threw on to head out to an afterparty, some Manolo Blahnik Maysale heels, and a Louis Vuitton X Yayoi Kusama Speedy Bag, printed with the Japanese legend’s famous “psychedelic” pumpkins. (Turner has a particular fondness for the French house’s artist collabs; a Jeff Koons Manet Keepall from 2017 also features in her impressive collection.)
In a jewel-encrusted look at the BAFTAs.
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In a sheer caped design for this year’s Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
Getty Images
Sophie Turner’s status as an ambassador for Louis Vuitton – and welcome willingness to take risks on the red carpet – have seen her become one of Hollywood’s more directional dressers over the last few years. Take the bejeweled lace gown she wore to this year’s BAFTAs or the iridescent caped dress she walked the red carpet in before Vanity Fair’s Oscars Party. “[Nicolas Ghesquière] surprises me every season with incredible collections – it’s always so different and daring,” Turner previously told Vogue. “Breathtaking tailoring, with a powerful structure and a bright pop of color.” Long may their collab continue.
This article was originally published inBritish Vogue.
There are only three things that are certain in life: death, taxes and celebrities coupling up at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Since the ever-growing multi-weekend event was cofounded in 1999, A-list couples such as Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, and Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford have headed to the deserts of Indio, California, to bask in the sunlight and take in good music from some of the biggest names in pop, rock, rap, electronic and indie music, among other genres.
Coachella has also been known to spark a new relationship or two, perhaps most notably Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott. The couple embarked on a whirlwind romance after linking up at the festival in April 2017 shortly after her split from Tyga. Within weeks, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum was pregnant with her first child with Scott, a daughter they named Stormi.
“Coachella was one of the stops on his tour,” Jenner would later explain to GQ magazine in her and the rapper’s August 2018 cover story. “So he said, ‘I’m going back on tour — what do we want to do about this?’ Because we obviously liked each other. And I was like, ‘I guess I’m going with you.’”
Another star who always clears her schedule for Coachella is Vanessa Hudgens, who attended fun-filled music sets with her then-boyfriend, Austin Butler, for several years. The pair split after nine years together in January 2020, right before the festival went on a two-year hiatus amid the coronavirus pandemic. Hudgens moved on with athlete Cole Tucker later that year.
When Coachella returned in 2022, Hudgens traveled to the desert with gal pals as her new beau had prior commitments. Tucker played several baseball games as the shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates while the Princess Switch star watched artists such as Justin Bieber,Phoebe Bridgers and Harry Styles.
“I feel like Coachella is such an amazing place to express who you are and what you are into and push the boundaries a little bit,” the High School Musical star raved to Us Weekly in March 2019.
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Scroll down to see the cutest celebrity couples — some of whom are sadly no longer together — who have attended the music festival through the years!
Less than a year after Spotify acquired Heardle, the audio streamer is mothballing the music game.
“Heardle is going away on May 5th,” a message on the service’s website says. “Thanks for playing Heardle, but unfortunately we have to say goodbye.” In the note to Heardle users, Spotify said that if they have statistics they would like to save, “make sure you go to your stats and take a screenshot by May 4th.”
When Spotify announced its deal to buy Heardle in July 2022, the company touted it as “a tool for musical discovery,” saying that playing the game “might just help you to rediscover old tracks you may have thought you’d forgotten, discover amazing new artists, or finally put a title to that wordless melody you’ve had caught in your head forever.”
Given the decision to wind down Heardle, it would appear that the game did not produce the kind of lift in overall listening and engagement that Spotify had been hoping to see. “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to say goodbye to Heardle as we focus our efforts on other features for music discovery,” a Spotify spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The identity of Heardle’s creator has been kept secret. Prior to Spotify’s acquisition of the game, Variety interviewed the “London-based web and app designer” who launched Heardle but did not identify them, citing their wish to remain anonymous.
Spotify hadn’t disclosed what it paid for Heardle. In recent months has been looking at cutting operating costs. In January, Spotify said it was laying off 6% of its employees and announced a senior-executive reorg that included the exit of Dawn Ostroff, chief content and advertising business officer.
Robin Thede is showing no signs of slowing down the rich expansion of the magical reality found in “A Black Lady Sketch Show.”
Picking up from the Season 3 finale, which revealed that Dr. Haddassah had been secretly mind-controlling the women, Season 4 embraces the twist to “constantly reinvent” reality as the comedian and show star and creator introduces characters from prior seasons to one another and disparate storylines intertwine.
“My life and my world are constantly reinventing. It should as we go through life, and so I think allegorically we get to play with that,” Thede told TheWrap ahead of the fourth installment’s April 14 premiere. “What is this world where Dr. Haddassah would be elected president? It’s obviously not the world we live in, but in a parallel universe where all these characters get to play, and where these women get to inhabit these characters. We start to meet the women behind the characters and this mystery starts to unfold.”
While this element enriches the viewing experience for loyal fans as recurring segments — cue Black Lady Courtroom — and characters like Coral Reefs Gang and Chris, Thede encourages newcomers to tune into the fourth chapter even if they haven’t watched the show before.
“There’s two ways to enjoy the show: 1) at the base level, just watching the sketches and enjoying and laughing … and that’s a lot of people take away,” Thede said. “The second level is with rewatches and with connecting sketches from years past and connecting characters and following their storylines… The real reward is, if you have been watching since Season 1, then you’re gonna get all those Easter eggs and understand the continuing storylines.”
With three seasons of the HBO series under her belt, Thede also continues to expand her writers’ room with new and different voices, noting that this season’s broader format makes the installment accessible to a wide variety of viewers.
“We talk about an all-Black women writers’ room, but what that means is that we get to really celebrate the diversity amongst a group that may seem the same, but it’s not,” Thede said. “We’ve got Black women from all sorts of different walks of life and different experiences that bring so many different types of comedy to the table.”
Keep reading to find out which characters fans vied to be brought back and how Thede constructed the music-filled fourth season of “A Black Lady Sketch Show.”
Music has always been an integral part of the show. Can you talk about crafting the music video sketches and how that differs from solely written dialogue?
I think we approach it with the same kind of energy, which is that we want as many jokes as possible in as rapid succession as possible. We have a big musical opening sketch after the cold open this season, which was really fun, because we got to feature all the new cast members with the OGs. So that was a really fun introduction; I think it’s just set the tone for them.
Of course, we have a new opening song [and] credits every year, and I think people are finally getting used to that. The first time we changed the opening credits, they were like, “what, where are the puppets?” We have different paths and it’s a sketch in and of itself, we don’t treat it as something that’s an afterthought. We are very intentional about everything on this show … Black culture is so inextricably linked to music. We use that to create comedic moments that you may not even realize why the music is making you laugh. But we try to use it as ironically — or not ironically — as possible to illicit another level of laughs.
What feedback have you heard from viewers? What do they want to see more of?
I haven’t played Chris in two seasons — people have been hounding me about that — so he is back and better than ever, with a better hairline than ever. They’re also really excited about the new cast members, and they’ve each got their own fan bases, which I love. So I know they’re gonna have a really good time seeing them. Black lady courtroom, oh, my gosh, we didn’t do it last season for the first time, and people were livid. So, it is back, honey … Also the Coral Reefs Gang — we haven’t seen them in two seasons — so Gabrielle Dennis is back and she has a rival, which I’m really excited is Tracee Ellis Ross, who just crushes it. We only write when we know we have a story to tell, and so that’s why some seasons some of the characters don’t come back.
They asked about guest stars — they want to see all their faves on the show. I’m really excited about folks like Debra Wilson and Jackée Harry, who makes a triumphant return to the show, but Debra we had never had on before and I’m really excited to have her and pay homage to these women who paved the way for us to do this.
As we are still slowly going out of the pandemic, what was it like shooting this season with hopefully a bit less restrictions?
[For] Season 2, everybody was double-masked and testing eight times a day, and it was just scary, because it was no vaccine. And then Season 3 people were vaccinated; it was feeling a little better. And then [for] Season 4, now there’s no restrictions on, like, kids or animals or crowds, so we really went for it, and we were able to create pretty much without restriction. Our crew is still unmask, and we still test everyday, but that was just to make sure everyone had peace of mind and was safe and healthy. I think that we’re kind of back to definitely feeling like production normalcy for the most part.
Can you talk about the choice to remain at a six episode-season for Season 4?
Oh, that doesn’t have anything to do with me. We are happy to get the six we get — it still takes the better part of a year to make the show because we’re making short films, so new locations, new characters … Imagine your favorite comedy show having to reinvent itself everyday — it’s a big task and it’s a dense show. I know six is never enough. And I love that, right? I love that we keep people wanting more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
“A Black Lady Sketch Show” premieres Fridays on HBO and streams on HBO Max.
The sixth edition of Canneseries, the international festival for premium series, kicked off Friday with the world premiere of the first episode of Apple TV+’s sci-fi show “Silo.” Lead actor and executive producer Rebecca Ferguson, director and executive producer Morten Tyldum, and screenwriter and executive producer Graham Yost walked the pink carpet at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, and spoke about the show on stage, before attending a party at an exclusive beach-side venue.
It was standing room only in the 2,300-seat Louis Lumiere auditorium, where the dress code was described as “creative chic,” as the evening got underway with opening remarks by the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, Canneseries president, Fleur Pellerin, and “Fauda” actor and co-creator Lior Raz, who is the president of the main jury. The ceremony, hosted with aplomb by French comedy actor and writer Camille Chamoux, aired on pay TV service Canal+.
On the pink carpet, before the ceremony started, Tyldum had been asked what it was like seeing “Silo,” which will stream on Apple TV+ from May 5, projected in the Palais during the tech check on Thursday. “There’s nothing like seeing your work on a big screen,” he said. “It looks great. It sounds great, and we are very proud of it. We can’t wait to show it because it is a big, cinematic, intense, fun, thrilling show.”
Later, on stage, Ferguson, Tyldum and Yost were asked how it felt to be at the show’s world premiere “in this legendary theater.” Yost responded: “It felt great until we saw how many people are here.” Ferguson added: “It’s just so uncomfortable all of this.”
Asked about the “ambience on the set” of the show, which is now shooting its second season, Ferguson said: “For me, I was excited to get back to television because of everything that is being made. You know, the conversation on the set of films is always: Who is going into [television]? Who is making it? … the filmmakers and … so for me to be teamed up with these two, with Apple+, it feels phenomenal. I don’t see myself as a producer. I’m a novice, learning from people who know. But it’s a family, it’s phenomenal. That’s why this feels so weird because TV feels so safe, so it’s a juxtaposition, and so wonderful.”
Yost, who wrote the screenplay based on a trilogy of novels by Hugh Howey, was asked how he had known the story “was going to be such good television.” He said: “I just loved that it was really a big mystery story. The last 10,000 people on Earth live in an underground silo. Who built the silo? When? Why? What happened outside that makes it deathly to go outside? So, that intrigued me as a mystery story. And then there is the main character, Juliette (played by Ferguson), who we only meet briefly in what we are about to see. She is just a great main character for the show.”
Among the other VIP guests on the pink carpet and presented on stage were “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” actor Morfydd Clark, who received the Madame Figaro Rising Star Award, and composer and musician Stewart Copeland, who is on the main jury.
Among the cast and crew on “Rings of Power” who Clark thanked in her acceptance speech, she emphasized the contribution of her co-star Charlie Vickers, who “encouraged me, championed me, and supported me, and I am so grateful that I got to do this with him.” She explained that she had brought with her to the ceremony Kate Staddon, her agent, and her sister, Siwan, both of whom had played a major role in her career. She said that Staddon “has been with me since drama school […] and I owe her my entire career.” Referring to her sister, she said: “Every creative decision I make is to do with her, and I was so lucky that we were both raised by parents who sang to us and read to us and made us love stories.”
In a video message from her limo, actor and producer Sarah Michelle Gellar, who will receive the Canal+ Icon Award at the closing ceremony, thanked the festival and Canal+ for the award. “I don’t feel worthy but I am incredibly honored,” she said.
The post-screening celebration took place at Palais Stéphanie Beach on the Croisette, where Ferguson, Tyldum, Yost and the by-invitation-only guests were serenaded by Paris DJ and R&B enthusiast Naomi Clément.
8 TV Shows That Really Did Not Need That Spin-Off, And 8 Shows That Did
It can be tragically bittersweet when you reach a series finale. Mysteries are solved, loose ends are tied, and you’re left wondering what you could possibly watch next to fill the void. Enter the universe of prequels, sequels, and spin-offs. TV is full of them, and they range from total flops to acclaimed award winners.
Much of the television we watch today is inspired by preexisting shows or movies. Sometimes, it’s worthwhile to revive these characters and stories, while other times it’s better to let a good thing rest in peace.
In my opinion, these 8 TV spin-offs don’t quite do their parent series justice…
1.
How I Met Your Father(How I Met Your Mother)
2.
The Winchesters (Supernatural)
3.
Fuller House (Full House)
4.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (Gilmore Girls)
6.
The Rings of Power (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy)
7.
Girl Meets World (Boy Meets World)
8.
That ’90s Show (That ’70s Show)
Spin-offs can be hit or miss, but once in a while, we stumble upon a series that’s almost as good as the original — or better! Here are 8 TV spin-offs that exceeded expectations…
SPOILER ALERT: This post discusses gargantuan plot developments in “Connor’s Wedding,” Season 4, Episode 3 of “Succession,” now streaming on HBO Max.
Jeremy Strong is speaking out for the first time about last week’s shocking “Succession” death. The star, who plays Kendall Roy on the HBO series, was front and center in the episode “Connor’s Wedding,” written by “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong, which featured the demise of family patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox).
“It went through my heart, not in my mind,” Strong told Variety. “What I mean is it went it didn’t go through my mind as much as I found it a heartbreaking thing to read and to experience when we were making it.”
Strong said he was indeed shocked, just like “Succession” fans, by “the suddenness of it, the banality of it the ordinariness of the way these things play out, the inability in a way to have the moment be what you want it to be. The suddenness of these things, and the that irrevocability of these kinds of things happening. The fact of of death, the fact of them, and now we have to contend with that grief and loss in the middle of, you know, a pit viper fight.”
The episode was directed by executive producer Mark Mylod, and centered on both the boat on which Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) and siblings Kendall, Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) are gathered, and the Waystar Royco plane, where Logan was flying with his executive team to Sweden, in order to try to salvage a deal.
Strong spoke to Variety on Saturday at the ninth annual Breakthrough Prize ceremony. The event, held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, honors “the world’s leading scientists whose work fuels modern day scientific achievement.”
Strong and Cox haven’t necessarily seen eye-to-eye when it comes to acting styles — in particular, Strong’s use of method acting. Cox labeled Strong’s style “fucking annoying” in one interview and later vented his thoughts to Variety: “I’m sorry. All that sort of ‘I think, therefore I feel.’ Just do the job. Don’t identify.”
Read Variety’s interview with Mylod about directing “Connor’s Wedding” here. Full details on how the episode went down here. And how the producers kept the storyline from leaking here.
“Succession” Season 4 airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
James Gunn has hit the ground running full tilt at DC Studios since becoming both co-CEO and co-chair alongside Peter Safran, announcing an ambitiously stocked lineup of projects just to start things off in his new DCU. While many of them have since been scheduled and thoroughly covered, per a report from CBR, there are apparently two more projects that Gunn himself admitted have yet to be revealed. Even more compelling is his hint that one of those two projects will be his absolute favorite of the bunch.
Gunn reportedly revealed this new update at a recent press conference where he further discussed all of the studio’s upcoming plans. However, when it came to mentioning his so-called personal “favorite” project, Gunn stressed that he couldn’t even drop a hint about the idea of it. Essentially if he did, the smartest sleuths of the DC fanbase would quickly figure out what it is.
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“There’s one thing I know is my favorite, one of my favorite projects of all of this. And it’s just so totally unique that the idea itself is giving away too much when it may not come out for two or three years. Also, with some other things, it’s kind of a choice. We have a director working on a really fantastic other project that may take him a little more time than some other people.”
So, with at least one project being kept under strict lock and key for now, Gunn continues to cleverly keep fans on their toes about how the remainder of Chapter One: Gods and Monsters will play out.
The Chapter One Timeline So Far
Chapter One of James Gunn’s DC universe is slated to kick off in 2025 with one of the biggest projects of the film portion of the lineup, Superman: Legacy, which will be written by Gunn himself. Following that will be Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which has been confirmed to feature Bruce Wayne’s son Damian, aka Robin. The cohesion of these two films has been leading to early rumors among fans that we could one day possibly get a “Super Sons” movie, based around the sons of Batman and Superman taking up the mantle for their respective fathers. Regardless, next in line will be Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, followed by The Authority and then Swamp Thing. All of these films so far are confirmed.
As for the TV series half of the lineup, we will see an all-new Green Lantern series, appropriately titled Lanterns, that fans can only hope will finally break the perpetual jinx over the character and ease Ryan Reynold’s conscience. After that will be the animated series Creature Commandos, which will see the return of eccentric character Weasel from The Suicide Squad (2021). Waller will of course see the return of Viola Davis as iron-fisted Amanda Waller. Rounding out the series lineup is Booster Gold and the Wonder Woman prequel titled Paradise Lost.
Whether Gunn’s two mystery projects are films or series or both is still under wraps as well, along with where they’ll fall within this established timeline.
SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points of “Suzume,” currently playing in theaters.
Makoto Shinkai’s latest anime feature, “Suzume,” hits American theaters this weekend. The film is set in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake that devastated Japan’s Tohoku region, centering on themes of loss and grief.
Shinkai brings in a talking cat and mobile three-legged chair to help tell the story of a young girl, Suzume, who travels across disaster-stricken Japan in hopes to save the country from its devastation. This leads her to the Ever After, a fantastical realm of souls which Suzume first discovers when she finds a mysterious door and walks through it.
Speaking with Variety through a translator, Shinkai discussed building Suzume’s world and the film’s universal message of disaster and hope.
Where did the idea of “Suzume” begin for you?
I’ve been warming up this project since the Great East Tohoku earthquake of 2011. That earthquake completely reshaped Japan as a country and society. It rewrote part of how I viewed the world, and even though I wasn’t a firsthand victim, I felt the disruption to peaceful daily life, and how life as we knew it was suddenly uprooted because of the events surrounding it.
It also changed my movie-making process. I started to think more about how as humans, we can co-exist in a world with disaster and how we can be displaced at any given moment in time, and how to find hope.
The opening scene shows the title character, Suzume, looking for her mother. Why did you want to begin the film this way?
I knew really early on that I wanted that as the beginning of the film, a young Suzume in this fantastical world walking through the Ever After.
To some of the victims of the 2011 quake, it could be interpreted as a cruel scene because when the quake happened, it caused a tsunami that effectively washed away all the towns along the coast and everything was just leveled. People were walking around this mud looking for their loved ones and coming to terms with what happened. Visually, I tried to imagine what that world would look like had there not been any human intervention, and that was, a grassy overgrown field had sprung up – and that’s what we see Suzume walking through.
The story is about loss, the trauma that comes with that and, ultimately, hope. How did you balance those themes in your storytelling?
In the scene at the end when teenage Suzume gives her younger self the chair, there’s a very cathartic moment where she tells herself, “One day you’re going to grow up, you’re going to fall in love with people and you’re going to fall in love with yourself.”
During that moment, the stars in the background are rotating and we transition from night to day. I wanted that to represent time passing, and so the Ever After is a space where all sense exists simultaneously. Symbolically, it’s about the teenage Suzume giving a younger version of herself all the strength that she needs to be able to push through that, and the hope she feels in that moment.
“Suzume” is a story of loss and the grief that she experiences, but to only have that would have resulted in a heavy and dark film. To offset that, She meets Souta, a chair with three legs. Souta becomes her sidekick and is this comical character.
What was the idea behind Souta being three-legged?
The idea was that the leg was presumably washed away in the tsunami. Suzume ends up finding it, and that, to me, was a metaphor for Suzume’s loss. We see them go on this journey, and despite whatever loss they’re going through, they’re still able to go on this adventure in Japan to ultimately, live a fulfilling life and overcome whatever they’re battling internally.
On that journey, we see landmarks such as Mount Fuji, but also ruins of destruction. What was behind that juxtaposition?
I wanted to represent and depict Japan and its current state. That includes all the beautiful sights, and the maybe not so beautiful elements. Suzume travels through these different ruins, which, to me, is almost a metaphor for the wounds or scars of the country itself, some of which are a result of natural disasters and some of just human behavior and population decline.
In a new interview released the same day, Cabello revealed that their breakup was the result of shifting priorities. “My priorities have fluctuated and my focus has changed throughout my life,” Cabello told Zane Lowe during an appearance on Apple Music 1’s New Music Daily. “Those years that we were dating, I don’t even feel like, even while I was writing this album, and even still now, I guess, my focus is really on, How can I be a well-rounded person? And apart from my career, my focus wasn’t even on my career.”
She added, “And same thing with those years that we were together. My focus was just, How can I live a happy life and be in a healthy, happy relationship? I was doing therapy a lot. My focus really has shifted. And even now while I’m in promo mode, honestly, if I’m not having fun, what’s the fucking point? I think as I get older, yeah, the priorities shift. And I feel like that was that way for both of us. Because we both started so young too, we’re really learning how to be healthy adults. And that sometimes means not having your number one focus be your career. And that’s okay.”
As for how she’s feeling now? “I love Shawn,” she said, per E! News. “And I feel like there is literally nothing but love for him. And this song is mostly just about like, ‘Okay, how do I make a song that shows the cycles of love, and life, and gives people….’ Whatever it is that’s going on in your life…hopefully, this can make you be like, ‘It is that way now, but things are always taking crazy turns.’”
March 21, 2022: Mendes discussed adjusting to single life in an Instagram video. “You don’t realize when you’re breaking up with someone…you think it’s the right thing to do, you don’t realize all this shit that comes after it,” Mendes said. “Like, who do I call when I’m, like, in a panic attack? Who do I call when I’m, like, fucking on the edge? I think that’s the reality that kind of hit me, it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m on my own now.’ Now I feel like finally, I’m actually on my own, and I hate that. That’s my reality, you know?”
April 1, 2022: While discussing his song “When You’re Gone” during an interview with Extra, Mendes confirmed that he shared the song with Cabello ahead of its release. “Camila and I have always been writers for as long as we’ve known each other, so we understand what that means. And we respect what that means. And there’ll always be transparency between us.”
American Horror Story‘s upcoming 12th season will spin an especially terrifying tale about pregnancy, which is saying a lot for a franchise that has already seen two women give birth to anti-christs.
Details are finally beginning to trickle out about the horror anthology’s next installment, which we now know will be called American Horror Story: Delicate. In true AHS fashion, some reports have yet to be confirmed, but what has been formally announced is already setting Twitter ablaze.
We’re of course referring to the bombshell reveal that the season will be led by none other than Kim Kardashian, a good friend of series co-creator Ryan Murphy, who was apparently impressed with the reality star’s acting chops while watching her 2021 Saturday Night Live hosting gig.
News of Kardashian’s casting was met with mixed responses from fans (and plenty of people who have never seen an episode of this show in their lives), but you might want to buckle up, because her introduction into the AHS universe isn’t the only major swing being taken by the long-running franchise this season.
Read on for a breakdown of everything we know about AHS: Delicate so far, from its potentially polarizing cast to its surprising source material, then drop a comment with your thoughts on Season 12 below.
WHAT: The Plot
Image Credit: Courtesy of Amazon
Unlike previous seasons, American Horror Story: Delicate is based on source material: Danielle Valentine’s forthcoming novel Delicate Condition.
Described as “the feminist update to Rosemary’s Baby we all needed,” the novel — which hits shelves in August — tells the story of a woman who “becomes convinced that a sinister figure is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens.”
In another first, the entire season will be tackled by one writer, Halley Feiffer.
WHO: Kim Kardashian
Image Credit: Courtesy of James Atoa/Everett Collection
Easily the franchise’s most surprising casting move to date, American Horror Story is welcoming Kardashian to its ranks this season.
“Kim is among the biggest and brightest television stars in the world and we are thrilled to welcome her to the AHS family,” series co-creator Ryan Murphy said in a statement. “Emma and I are excited about collaborating with this true force in the culture. Halley Feiffer has written a fun, stylish and ultimately terrifying role especially for Kim, and this season is ambitious and unlike anything we have ever done.”
WHO: Matt Czuchry
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fox
Reports of The Resident star making his American Horror Story debut came just moments after his Fox medical procedural was officially canceled. His casting has yet to be officially confirmed, but what would a new season of AHS be without a little speculation?
WHO: Emma Roberts
Image Credit: Courtesy of Priscilla Grant/Everett Collection
Delicate marks Roberts’ sixth season of American Horror Story, having most recently appeared in 2019’s AHS: 1984.
WHEN: Premiere Date
Image Credit: Instagram screenshot
All we know right now is that American Horror Story: Delicate is slated to premiere sometime this summer.
WHERE: FX/Hulu
Image Credit: Courtesy of FX
New episodes of American Horror Story: Delicate will presumably air Wednesdays on FX, then will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) didn’t hold back her anger at Piers Morgan for what sounded as if he was comparing Jan 6. insurrectionist to expelled (and now reinstated) Black Tennessee State Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson – and Bill Maher backed her all the way.
Porter, Morgan and actor Benjamin McKenzie joined Maher on his weekly show “Overtime” on CNN that follows “Real Time With Bill Maher” on HBO Friday nights. The first question posed from the audience was about the Tennessee representatives that were facing explosion. When Maher noted they used bullhorns, Morgan jumped in and began to compare them to the Capitol rioters. And Porter wasn’t having any of it.
“And [they] interrupted the proceedings which, of course, when that happened on January the 6th in a much larger and more violent way, all the people currently cheering on the two Tennessee legislators were the ones who would have been condemning and castigating what happened,” Morgan said, interrupting Maher’s introduction to the topic.
Porter fired back, “You’re not actually comparing.”
“No, no, I’m not,” Morgan responded in defense.
“You actually did just compare,” she threw back at him.
Morgan took a moment to gather his thoughts and then attempted to explain what he was trying to say.
“No, no. Here is what I’m comparing,” Morgan said. “When you have a mob of protesters, and they’re going into a legislative chamber, whether it’s at the Capitol or whether it’s in Tennessee, the principle is the same. And if you don’t have the same principle response to both of those things, regardless of scale, the principle.”
But Porter wasn’t buying what Morgan was selling and set the record straight on how the two are nowhere near the same.
“Listen, the principle is different,” Porter began. “They were Tennessee legislature — legislators who went into the chamber and admittedly broke the rules of decorum partly because they were being silenced when they wanted to talk following the rules of decorum about gun violence prevention.”
Fired up, she added, “What happened on Jan 6. was a bunch of bats–t, crazy f—kers with guns. Who killed police people! Piers, that’s not the same.”
Morgan went on, trying to make the point that he agreed with what the Tennessee legislators were saying in protest and their position on guns. “I just think, in the end, you’ve got to be consistent about the way you view —,” he started, only for Maher to interrupt him.
“That is a terrible analysis,” Maher said. “Why bring it up? That’s a terrible analogy.”
You can watch the full exchange above and judge for yourself who won the argument.
It might be the first game of the CPL season, but Forge FC and Cavalry FC wasted no time in renewing their hostilities at Tim Hortons Field.
The two sides traded goals twice and yellow cards throughout the game, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
In typical early season Forge fashion, the home team got off to a slow start, with Cavalry drawing first blood in the 36th minute and forward Myer Bevan getting his first of the season from inside the 18 yard box.
The lead didn’t last long, as Forge forward Jordan Hamilton was fouled by Cavalry’s keeper after a long pass into the box. Hamilton converted on the penalty kick in the 41st minute tying up the game before the half ended.
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Three yellow cards, including one to Forge FC’s bench, were handed out in the final five minutes in the half with the two teams showing why they don’t get along very well.
The second half saw the two teams go back and forth before Cavalry’s Mikael Cantave struck a ball from 25 yards out and put in the top left corner of the net, past keeper Triston Henry in the 64th minute.
Sixteen minutes later with Forge FC pressing for the equalizer, Alessandro Hojabrpour crossed it in from the endline across to Noah Jensen to tie it.
Samsung and LG are among a number of tech companies that are quietly making a new push to Hollywood on the potential of LED display tech to replace theater projection systems that have been used since the birth of cinema. It would be a radical change.
A projection system, true to its name, projects images onto the big screen. An LED wall is akin to a sophisticated, massive TV screen, and its use would render the projection booth a thing of the past. At this early stage, major U.S. theater chains are not using the tech.
The companies are hesitant to share many details on their plans — Samsung’s Onyx LED displays for cinema are installed in roughly 100 cinema auditoriums worldwide, including at The Culver Theater in Culver City — but Hollywood insiders have recently seen new demonstrations of the tech, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
“As with any new technology, there are a lot of very positive and some very scary things,” says director and cinematographer Jay Holben, who worked with this tech — categorized in the industry as “direct view” displays — as part of an American Society of Cinematographers-led project to create standardized test material for all types of displays.
Dominic Glynn, senior scientist at Pixar Animation Studios, adds: “We are, generally speaking, very strong supporters of the new creative opportunities that these technologies bring.” Glynn calls such direct view screens “very ambitious and very capable” in areas such as high dynamic range and brightness. (Pixar released Lightyear on one such screen at Houston’s Star Cinema Grill for paying audiences in 2022.)
But there’s still a lot of work to be done, and for Holben and others, a “detrimental” concern is how sound is handled. This is because in traditional cinema, there are speakers directly behind the screen, which is not doable with LED panels. But the biggest issue might be how costs will factor into theater owners’ decisions about whether to adopt this technology.
Holben notes that pricey LEDs also involve “significantly” more power draw and heat output (requiring more air conditioning) compared with projection systems, adding: “They also require a rigging metal structure that isn’t normally present to hold the weight of the screens, which can vibrate with sound. They are all pretty big expenses for theater owners.”
Tech developer Barco, meanwhile, is in the process of introducing its HDR-capable “light steering” laser projection systems to Hollywood, while, at least for now, keeping its LED displays focused on markets such as digital signage. “There are some fundamental properties of LEDs that don’t make them a good match with the cinema market … the price point is the most critical,” says Barco’s Tom Bert, a senior member of the product management team in its Entertainment division. (Similarly, Sony’s CLED technology is currently aimed at other uses, including virtual production and color grading rooms.)
Many Hollywood groups are already working to make LED displays a viable option in cinema. In late 2022, studios consortium Digital Cinema Initiatives released its technical specification for direct view display — effectively a recommended technical blueprint for showing its movies with these new systems.
Several such displays, including tech from Samsung and LG, have since been certified as DCI-compliant. Among the work DCI still hopes to accomplish is creating a spec for a standard Digital Cinema Package (the digital equivalent of a film print) that could be used in LED-based auditoriums without the need to create a separate version of the movie.
Looking ahead, Pixar’s Glynn says the creative opportunities are there to take advantage of the tech, but filmmakers must control their use. “If [direct view displays] gain enough excitement amongst the audiences, there would be a really compelling reason to sort of invite audiences back to the big screen to see something that perhaps they didn’t see first go-round, or they wanna revisit in this, in this new format,” he notes, so long as “we don’t exploit the technology for its own sake. It always has to be in service of the story or complementary to the narrative.”
This will be among the topics addressed Saturday when the NAB Show opens in Las Vegas. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers will present a series of panels that will explore the future of cinema.
A version of this story first appeared in the April 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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