Christy Carlson Romano, the former Disney Channel star known for voicing the title role in “Kim Possible” and playing Ren Stevens in “Even Stevens,” has launched PodCo, a podcast network that will focus on rewatches hosted by the stars of popular TV series. The company’s initial slate includes rewatch podcasts about Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place,” Nickelodeon’s “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” and NBC and the WB’s “Brotherly Love,” all launching in February. PodCo is also currently in production on a podcast about Disney Channel’s “Even Stevens.”
“Wizards of Waverly Pod” will be hosted by “Wizards of Waverly Place” stars Jennifer Stone, who played Harper Finkle, and David DeLuise, who played Jerry Russo. The podcast premieres on Feb. 6, with episodes debuting weekly on Mondays and featuring guests including multiple appearances from Selena Gomez, who led the series as Alex Russo.
“Ned’s Declassified Podcast Survival Guide” will be hosted by the trio of stars who led the original series: Devon Werkheiser, who played Ned Bigby, Lindsey Shaw, who played Jennifer “Moze” Mosely, and Daniel Curtis Lee, who played Simon “Cookie” Nelson-Cook. Episodes will release on Wednesdays beginning on Feb. 15.
“The Brotherly Love Podcast” will launch on Feb. 24. Hosted by brothers Joey, Matt and Andy Lawrence, episodes will debut weekly on Fridays.
“Even More Stevens” will be hosted by Romano alongside Nick Spano, who played Donnie Stevens, and Steven Anthony Lawrence, who played Bernard “Beans” Aranguren. It will launch on March 2 with new episodes on Thursdays.
Also among the PodCo slate is a Broadway-themed podcast with details yet to come. The company, with a studio in downtown Los Angeles and plans to expand to Burbank, is led by Romano as partner and her husband Brendan Rooney (“The Vulnerable Podcast,” “I Hear Voices Podcast”) as founder and CEO.
Big day today on the site for both of us. For you the reading/listening audience to finally find out how Zach’s season ends. And for me, not having to get bombarded with “When are you gonna find out about Zach’s finale” emails. Whew. Glad we are done with that. It’s on today’s podcast, it’s in this column for those that don’t listen to podcasts, it’ll be on my IG feed and it’ll be on my IG stories today. And not only that, I’ve got your info on what happened in London that I alluded to a couple weeks ago that something happened which caused them to have only one 1-on-1 date (Gabi’s) then no other dates in London. That gets answered as well along with who gets the group date rose tonight and when the “Women Tell All” tapes this season. Which lines up with info I heard last week regarding this season ending and “Bachelorette” beginning filming. I find out at some point every season. Sometimes it’s earlier, sometimes it’s later. I never know when I’m gonna find out the ending. Well it’s here today, so we can all rejoice and be glad. Or something like that.
You can listen to today’s podcast on a number of platforms, but you can also tune in by clicking the player below:
So this is the biggest spoiler update I’ve had since back when I gave you the original spoilers up to the final 3 back on Nov. 15th, and then since I updated a few things when the season started. I’ve got some more info for you so here you go:
-As you know the final 3 are Ariel, Kaity, and Gabi. That’s all you had up to this point. Ariel was eliminated at the overnight date rose ceremony, so your final 2 are Kaity and Gabi.
–Zach is engaged to Kaity Biggar.
-Yes, I’m well aware that an Instagram account posted two months ago that Zach was engaged to Gabi. Here’s what I can tell you: I trust my sources just like I assume they trust their sources. It’s now up to you the public to decide who you choose to believe. Personally, I’ll bet on myself. Nothing I can say is going to sway you one way or another. I don’t reveal my sources or how I get any info. But with another spoiler out there for 2 months that’s opposite of mine, now we can officially say one of us is dead wrong. Gonna make for a great finale night I tell ya’.
-I didn’t post my spoiler today because it was the opposite of what was out there and I’m just trying to be different. I’m trying to be right. Always am. That’s why I never addressed it for the last 2 months when asked (until “Reader Emails” last week), because there was no need to. I post the spoilers when I hear from my sources that I believe to be true. Got some info this past weekend I felt comfortable enough running with, so I did. I guess we’ll see who’s right come mid-March when this season is done airing. Can’t wait.
-As for London, I said a couple weeks ago that Gabi had the only 1-on-1 in London and that there were no other dates, but I didn’t know why. Well now I do. Zach got COVID in London, hence the rest of the dates having to be cancelled, and the rose ceremony in London was done over Zoom. Which is pretty funny when you think about it. I don’t know if any of the other women got COVID. I assume he was making out with Gabi on their date the day before he tested positive, so, maybe she got it too. I’m not sure. Wasn’t told either way. I just know Zach did, production had to be shut down for the rest of the time there, and they did the rose ceremony over Zoom. But we do know when they moved on to Estonia, Zach immediately had a 1-on-1 with Charity, so it doesn’t look like COVID knocked him out too long.
-Charity gets the group date rose tonight after the football date.
-The “Women Tell All” tapes Fri., Feb. 24th in LA, which is on track to when they always record it – that last Friday in February. That further solidifies to me what I heard last week, that this season will end airing like all Bachelor seasons do in mid-March, with “Bachelorette” beginning filming later that week, around the weekend of March 17th.
DJ Khaled and Jay-Z closed out the 2023 Grammys with a dramatic performance of “God Did,” but the two rappers went home from the awards show empty-handed as both lost all of the awards for which they were nominated. Khaled went into the show with six nods while Jay-Z had five.
Similarly, past Grammy darlings Taylor Swift and Adele each only won one award despite multiple nominations.
While Swift is the only solo female artist to win three album of the year Grammys, she failed to collect another key big four award, losing the much sought-after song of the year prize for the 10-minute version of “All Too Well.” However, the music video for that won an award during the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony, but Swift wasn’t there to collect what would be her one award of the night.
Still Swift had a couple of moments during the live show, including a fun exchange with host Trevor Noah. Adele also got some airtime during the CBS telecast, including some time onstage to accept her only award of the night, for best pop solo performance, losing out on album, record and song of the year nods as well as three other awards. The last time Adele and Beyoncé faced off in the top categories, in 2017, Adele emerged triumphant.
This year, it was the best of times and the worst of times for Beyoncé. She broke the record for most wins in Grammy history and won four awards Sunday night, but she lost the other five awards for which she was nominated and continued her decade-plus streak of losing in the album, record and song of the year categories.
Indeed, it was in the big four categories where some of the night’s biggest surprises occurred. Bonnie Raitt and Lizzo were unexpected picks for song and record of the year, and both looked visibly shocked to win. And Samara Joy winning best new artist was also a surprise.
The top three awards going to people other than Beyoncé and Swift had fans of both artists upset on social media Sunday night. And Bad Bunny, who also has a vocal fan base, and was somewhat snubbed with the Grammy nominations, has some disappointed supporters after only winning one award and failing to win the top prize of album of the year, where his Un Verano Sin Ti was the first Latin album to be nominated in the category.
Drake’s win, in the Premiere Ceremony, was surprising as the rapper didn’t even submit his latest album for Grammys consideration. He won for his featured role on Future’s best melodic rap performance winner “Wait for U.” The award was the only win for Future, who had six Grammy nominations.
Long before people were letting go of a cold snap, audiences were mesmerized by well-known characters and their stories before anyone strolled down the yellow brick road. While iconic Broadway stars will forever be tied to the iconic characters of Elphaba and Glinda, it is the bond between those two characters which brings Wicked the musical lovers back to the theater time and again.
Since 2003, audiences have seen Glinda float onto the stage in her bubble and watched Elphaba defy gravity on her broom. Although many people know the story and can sing every word, the musical is more than a note of the familiar that draws people back into the theater. It is a celebration of female friendship, both at its highs and lows.
Currently, Wicked the Musical is on a national tour. While there have been many productions over the year, the familiar sometimes allows the audience to dig a little deeper into the characters and their portrayals. It is time to notice a turn of a phrase or the subtly of a moment. When it comes to how Elphaba and Glinda evolve their relationship, it allows them to celebrate their own inner strength.
National Touring Company of Wicked, photo provided by Dr. Phillips Center
While the arc of the musical has a traditional trope of girls who dislike each other finding a common bond and friendship, it is more than just the mean girl transformation. Neither character loses sight of their own personality. From bubbly Glinda to introspective Elphaba, each character’s personality shines, more importantly, she is strengthened by having another support her.
In the current Wicked the Musical touring production, presently playing at Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando, Elphaba is played by Lissa deGuzman. While deGuzman carefully belts those iconic numbers, it is the moments of insecurity where her range soars. The audience empathizes with her frustrations, longs for her moment of realization, and cheers when she goes against the easy path.
When deGuzman combines talents with Jennafer Newberry, Glinda, the audience looks to that evolving relationship as a metaphor for their own personal journey. Different people can and should find commonality. As some of the lyrics reference, flying in tandem, there are no boundaries in the journey.
National Touring Company of Wicked, photo provided by Dr. Phillips Center
Contrasting the Elphaba character, Newberry’s Glinda hits comic relief with perfect timing. Although she glitters in all her grandeur, the portrayal does not gloss over the insecurities that Glinda faces. As she realizes the real accomplishment is not standing in adoration but having a true friend in her corner, those moments are when the “good” becomes great.
While fans of the iconic Broadway musical will always have their favorite, Glinda or Elphaba, the reality is that each character is nothing without the other. In a world where female relations can tear others down instead of building them up, this story is more than imploring people to see beyond the easy labels and categories. It is looking at those around you to see how they are a positive influence on life’s journey.
Although some dream of being popular or imagine what it could be like to defy gravity, life is more grounded in the little moments of magic. Call it karma, good deeds reaping what they sow, or just life, the reality is that people make every day fuller, even if that day has some missteps along the way. For those who want to see the good, there will be a greener pasture waiting at the end of that road.
Wicked The Musical is currently playing at Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando. It will continue onto other cities. In addition, the show plays on Broadway and in London.
The list of celebrities turning 30 in 2023 is wide-ranging and a little bit surprising, including boy band A-listers Zayn Malik and Suga, funnyman Pete Davidson, soccer stars Harry Kane and Paulo Dybala, and amorphous “internet celebrities” KSI and Joji. One glaring omission, however, is Film Independent’s Artist Development program—which since 1993 has been promoting unique, independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work through initiatives like the Fi Screenwriting, Producing, Documentary and Episodic Labs, Global Media Makers, Fast Track and (of course) Project Involve.
As one of Hollywood’s most highly regarded diversity and inclusion initiatives, the launch of each year’s new cohort is always an occasion for liberal overuse of the party-popper emoji. Today, the PI ranks add 30 new faces as the program—a free, nine-month program for writers, directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, animators, programmers and entertainment execs from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds—announces its Class of 2023.
Project Involve alumni include Andrew Ahn (Fire Island), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Linda Yvette Chávez, Marvin Lemus and Aaliyah Williams (Gentefied), Effie T. Brown (The Inspection), Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and Justin Simien (Dear White People).
“We’re elated to welcome the 2023 Project Involve Fellows and with this amazingly talented cohort of filmmakers begin our fourth decade of cultivating groundbreaking and inclusive storytellers. Project Involve has reached another milestone and the program will continue to build community and provide a platform for our stories to be told for many decades to come” said Francisco Velasquez, Associate Director, Project Involve.
Each year, the program will include the production of several Project Involve short films, to be created by the Fellows in collaboration with one another—shorts coming to a festival lineup, streaming platform or screening near you!
This year also marks the renewal of Project Involve’s partnership with the great LAIKA Studios, selecting five new filmmakers to take part in and expanded two-year stop-motion animation track. Each of these five participants will likewise receive a cash stipend in recognition of their commitment to the program.
The PI 2023 cohort commences with a fellow, Omer Ben-Shachar, being awarded the inaugural Cayton-Goldrich Family Foundation Fellowship. Additional donor-named fellowships to be awarded include Amazon Studios Film Fellowship, Los Angeles Media Fund Fellowship, Participant Fellowship and Sony Pictures Entertainment Fellowship. Each Fellowship provides essential program support to Project Involve and includes a $10,000 unrestricted cash grant for a selected filmmaker participating in the program. In addition, for the fifth year, the Panavision Fellowship will provide an outstanding cinematographer in the program with a camera rental package valued at $60,000 for use on a future project produced in the U.S.
Grouped by track, this year’s Project Involve Fellows are…
ANIMATORS
Sydney Mills (LAIKA Fellow)
Sydney Mills is a Los Angeles based animator, visual artist and storyteller. Originally from Texas, Mills attended the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated with a BFA in Film/Animation/Video. She has worked in production on animated shows such as Futurama and Disenchanted, and additionally has produced visual media for concert events including Lollapalooza Music Festival. Her stop-motion short film Chicken has been featured in a handful of festivals; the documentation of its progress earned her a growing online following. Mills aims to focus on female-driven stories and push the boundaries of the medium of stop-motion animation.
Olivia Valdez (LAIKA Fellow)
Olivia Valdez is a stop-motion animator and filmmaker from Florida. After achieving her Bachelor’s at New York University, Olivia attended BAU, Barcelona School of Design for her Master’s in stop-motion. While there she and two others made their first short film, The Weight of It (2021). In December 2022, Olivia completed her solo directorial debut in her stop-motion short, The Test. She and her team fabricated and animated the film out of her parent’s garage. Olivia hopes one day her name will be thee reference for stop-motion horror.
CINEMATOGRAPHERS
Kim Cohen
Kim Cohen is a Los Angeles based cinematographer. Originally from the Chicagoland Area, she is an ambitious storyteller who has shot numerous short films, music videos for Grammy Nominated songwriters, commercials, documentaries and branded content pieces. In 2022, she shot two short films, Skip To The End and Happy4U, both of which have been recognized as official selections in local film festivals. She aims to support her community by sharing her passion for filmmaking and remaining curious in all of her pursuits.
Wenting Fisher
Wenting Fisher is a visual storyteller specializing in cinematography and directing. She earned her MFA from the Ohio University School of Film and has spent years training in painting and calligraphy. This multi-discipline upbringing shapes her lighting and composition philosophy in cinematography. Finding and developing an effective and impactful cinema language is her passion and forte when working with directors. Her MFA thesis film as director and writer, Empty Skies, was a Student Academy Awards Finalist. She is a member of the BAFTA Newcomers Program and a mentee in the ASC Vision Mentorship Program.
Lakmé Iyengar (LAIKA Fellow)
Originally from Australia, Lakmé Iyengar is a cinematographer based in Los Angeles. She completed her MFA in Cinematography at the American Film Institute, where she further refined her visual storytelling and collaborative skills. Her films have screened at Los Angeles International Film Festival, AFI Fest and London Lift-Off Film Festival. She also entered the world of stop-motion cinematography with Warner Bros.’ web series Black Adam Toy Box Adventures. She is passionate about working with likeminded individuals and exploring stories that focus on minority experiences. Lakmé is currently a mentee as part of the ASC Vision Mentorship program 22-23.
Kris Kouke
Kris Kouke is a Brooklyn-based cinematographer hailing from O’ahu, HawaiʻI, where they were born and raised. Since earning their MFA and the Graduate Fellowship for Cinematography at NYU, Kouke’s aim for truthful and meaningful connections in front of and behind the lens has guided their work. Currently working on a docuseries, Kouke’s work has premiered at festivals worldwide and featured on HBO Max, the Smithsonian National Museum, Vice i-D and Vevo. Notably, –Ship: A Visual Poem, took home the Sundance Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction (’20). Their latest work Rest Stop premieres at this year’s Sundance.
Elisa Souza
Elisa Souza is a Brazilian cinematographer currently based in Los Angeles, and recently graduated from the prestigious American Film Institute. In Brazil, she shot several films which have collected prizes in both national and international festivals. Her debut in features came with the documentary Crackland, shot in São Paulo, Vancouver, New York, Zurich and Oslo. The film premiered at the 44th Mostra, the biggest film festival in Brazil, and got distribution through O2 Play. Souza has also worked in camera crews for shorts, features and television series, including Desires of the Flesh, screened at Sundance in 2019.
DIRECTORS
Omer Ben-Shachar
Omer Ben-Shachar, an LA based writer/director born and raised in Israel, won a 2019 Student Academy Award for his film Tree #3. The film also won top prizes at UrbanWorld, Palm Springs and HollyShorts, among others. An AFI Conservatory alum, Ben-Shachar participated in the 2020 Warner Bros. Directors’ Workshop, the 2020 ViacomCBS Directors Program and the 2022 BAFTA Newcomers Program. Ben-Shachar directed music videos, which have featured in Rolling Stone, Billboard and Nowness; nominated for a Cannes Lions YDA Award and selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. In 2020, he was named to Forbes Israel’s 30 Under 30 list.
Ragini Bhasin
Ragini Bhasin is a filmmaker from India, currently residing in Los Angeles. A graduate of Chapman University, her films Ghazaal and Las Escondidas have played various Oscar-qualifying festivals, featured in the Wrap’s Short Film Festival, and been distributed by the German ARTE channel in Europe, ShortsTV, Argo Channel and PBS. She is also the recipient of the Meredith Macrae Memorial Award by WIF, the Maya Deren Short Film Innovation Prize by Femme Filmmakers, BAFTA Newcomers Program, Starlight Media’s Star Collective Program, an Alliance for Women In Media Mentee 2021 and the winner of the CAPE x Janet Yang Productions’ Short Film Challenge 2022.
Adriane McCray
Adriane McCray is a filmmaker, wandering native Texan and University of Pennsylvania graduate. After supporting various writers, filmmakers and video artists, Adriane began writing and directing films of her own. Her latest, Child Runaways, premiered at SXSW in 2022 and debuted virtually on “Short of the Week.” She’s currently developing feature film, State Champs Eat Free, a 2021 AFF Drama Semifinalist and 2022 AFS Grant Awardee. As a television staff writer, she’s contributing to an upcoming Apple+ series.
Kristina Thomas
Filmmaker Kristina Thomas first showed her potential on the documentary side of filmmaking by winning $50,000 to direct a TV pilot in New Orleans, Louisiana for MTV/Endemol. Thomas’s comedy short, House of Balls, based on her time playing women’s dodgeball, screened at numerous festivals throughout the US and Canada; winning her actress Mariah Robinson Best Actor at the Alt Film Festival. Her proof-of-concept short, Worth It, will have its world premiere at the Toronto Black Film Festival. Recently, Kristina finished her mentorship with Amy Aniobi’s TRIBE Fellowship, Women in Film Directors Mentorship and currently staffed on the CBS drama FBI: International.
Felipe Vargas
Felipe Vargas is a Director in the realm of boldly original, heartfelt stories with a genre twist. Born in Colombia, Vargas’ work is inspired by Latin American mythologies and magical realism. Vargas is attached to helm a feature for Paramount based on a Hispanic folktale. He’s directed a fantasy project for Disney Channel and music video for San Holo. Vargas is also Pilot Writer on fantasy-adventure series Lotería for Norman Lear, Sony and Amazon. Vargas’ short film, Milk Teeth, was awarded a Student DGA and Imagen Award. Vargas was named one of Variety’s Latino Creators to Watch.
Sunyin Zhang
Sunyin Zhang is a Chinese filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her short film, Wild Seed, presented by Nowness China, won the Marlyn Mason Award Grand Prize in Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, Best Cinematography in a Short Award in Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, Alison Doerner Award for Women Pioneers in Filmmaking, nominated for International Shorts Program Best Short Film in DokuFest, screened at Film Independent Project Involve Showcase and was selected by over 15 OSCAR qualified and BAFTA qualified Film Festivals. Zhang received her MFA in Film Directing Program from CalArts in 2020.
EDITORS
Randi Atkins
Randi Atkins discovered her passion for storytelling through editing in high school and has been committed to the craft ever since. The ability to influence how an audience feels, to provide escapism or to inform through editing continues to inspire her. As an editor, her work has shown at festivals such as Newport Beach, Saint Louis International Film Festival, LA Shorts International Fest, Holly Shorts and more. She was awarded Best Editing at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase for her work on the short film, Waiting To Die In Bayside Queens.
Tiffany Lin (LAIKA Fellow)
Tiffany Lin is a Taiwanese-American editor and filmmaker from the Bay Area. A 2020 USC graduate with a BFA in film production and Minor in animation, she has worked across live action, animation and virtual reality. Festivals including the Student Academy Awards, the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival and more have recognized her work. She was also a SXSW 2022 featured speaker. Lin is a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild and an assistant editor on Royal Crackers, a new Adult Swim show at Titmouse. She aspires to tell emotionally honest stories from unconventional perspectives.
Sarah Smith
Sarah Smith is an award-winning filmmaker and television producer. She’s edited three narrative feature films, including Armless, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and two feature length documentaries, including Prophets of Change, following Israeli and Palestinian musicians as they wage war for peace. In addition, she’s edited numerous short-form projects including documentary, scripted, music video and sizzle reels. As a director (and editor) her short film, Black Hat, was an official selection of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and won the 2019 Iris Prize. Smith is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Luodawei Xiao
Luodawei Xiao is a film editor from mainland, China. He came to the US in 2018 to pursue a Masters degree in film editing at the American Film Institute. His AFI thesis film, We Were Meant To, has been selected by Sundance Film Festival. His other short film, A Black Saturday, has been selected by Slamdance Film Festival. Both films will premiere in 2023.
Luqi Zhao
Luqi Zhao is an editor/assistant editor based in Los Angeles. She graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a major in Film Studies in 2016. In 2019, Luqi graduated from the Editing Program at the AFI Conservatory. She has edited two feature films and one feature documentary, along with 10+ shorts. Some of her works are well received among many international film festivals. For example: San Sebastián International Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, Santa Monica Independent Film Festival, Tokyo International Short Film Festival and New York Shorts International Film Festival.
EXECUTIVES
Jesus Garcia
Jesus Garcia grew up in the San Fernando Valley, with a knack for projects about grief, body horror and anti-coming-of-age characters. He currently works for Epic Magazine, a subsidiary of Vox Media, where he gets to reverse engineer IP for creatives and elevate distinct voices for Film & TV adaptation. Most recently, he helped find up-and-coming writers and directors for Little America on Apple TV+, and is excited to help shape the next wave of thought-provoking filmmakers.
Joyce Liu-Countryman
Joyce’s producing slate centers intersectional and underrepresented identities. Her award-winning films have screened at festivals worldwide, including the Los Angeles Film Festival, Outfest, Bentonville, NALIP Media Summit, Skinsfest and Los Angeles Asian Pacific American, and stream on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Her original videos for Disney and Pixar’s diversity and inclusion initiatives have garnered over 22 million unique views and she will next co-executive produce the AAPI adult animation comedy Becoming Eddie at Sony Pictures Television, alongside Ken Jeong. She’s a Film Independent Creative Executive Fellow, Women in Film Mentee and a producing alumna of AFI.
Jasmine Rivas
Born to Belizean parents, Jasmine was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. As a child, television was her introduction to the world and love for storytelling. Jasmine graduated with a degree in Biology but knew she always wanted to be in the entertainment industry. The opportunities she thought were arbitrary and would hold her back would only foster a unique set of abilities in which people seemed to find value. Currently, Jasmine is a Creative Assistant at Netflix on the Documentary Series team. Rivas is particularly interested in highlighting representation within the entertainment industry.
PRODUCERS
Karine Benaria
Karine Benzaria is an American producer whose production experience includes Apple TV’s Hello Tomorrow, Amazon’s Emmy-nominated Jack Ryan and Netflix’s The OA. Influenced by her French-Colombian upbringing in the suburbs, she is drawn to characters that defy their traditional environments. In that vein, she most recently produced the 2022 SXSW-nominated film Clare and 2023 SXSW-nominated Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola. Alongside Julia Kennelly and Daisy Zhou, she co-founded production company Dream City in 2017. There, she produced Marcy Learns Something New, a winner of Vimeo Staff’s Best Pick of the Year. Between productions, she is developing a television series.
Pinar Binay
Pinar Binay, originally from a small town in Western Turkey, is a creative producer based in Los Angeles. A recent graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts with triple Minors in producing, business and art history, she produced 25+ short films and worked with acclaimed independent producers in New York City, such as Oscar Boyson and Trudie Styler, and industry-leading managers of Entertainment 360 right after graduation. As a producer, she advocates for genre stories with a twist and diverse creators. Coming from an immigrant background, she aspires to find the most authentic stories in innovatively told histories.
K.D. Chalk
K.D. Chalk is a North Carolina born, LA-based, multi-hyphenate committed to advocating for Womxn and Black people through the cinematic lens. Chalk’s producing credits include: FabulousnessNess (Finalist – Funny or Die Make’em LAFF), Sealed (Best Experimental Short Film- LA Reel Film Festival), The Openers (Best Short Film- Broad Humor Festival), and Farewell (Best First Feature- Bentonville Film Festival). She is a 2022 Mentee with Women in Film. The ABFF Star Project winner can also be seen as a series regular in the Apple+ pilot Habata. Chalk is currently producing and directing the short film, Survived By.
Nicole Crespo
Nicole Crespo is a Latinx Creative and Line Producer originally from Miami and based in Los Angeles. She has produced shorts that have screened worldwide and is a NALIP Producers Pipeline Fellow and produced on two seasons of the Disney Launchpad Program. Her recent shorts include The Last of The Chupacabras (dir. Jessica Mendez Siqueiros), Countdown (dir. Justin Dec) and Project CC (dir. Cashmere Jasmine). She is also a founder of the commercial production company Jumping Girl Productions, which has a niche in producing for fashion and beauty clients including Burberry, L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Hugo Boss and others.
Katherine Martinez DeLeon (LAIKA Fellow)
Katherine Martinez De Leon is an LA-based writer/producer with a focus in animation. In college, she studied diverse storytelling and completed a Masters in producing. She has since worked for the Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, MGM and the Jim Henson Company. Over the last year, she worked with Stage 32 as a development consultant for animated projects, where she helped to develop multiple projects and set up some writers with pitches at major studios. Along with developing her own projects, she currently works at Netflix in feature animation and is a mentor for Women in Animation.
Yuky Shen
Yuky Shen is a Shanghai-born, LA-based producer. She graduated from American Film Institute and produced six narrative shorts, ranging from WWII drama to Kimchi western. Her thesis film, Magdalena, has won Golden Tadpole at Cameraimage and Best Student Film at Beverly Hills Film Festival, and was officially selected in HollyShorts, RIFF and CAA Moebius showcase. For Shen, filmmaking is a way of fighting. She is committed to tell diverse stories about people whose voices are silenced, ignored or distorted. She believes that movies have the power to touch people, make them ruminate and thus make a change in real life.
Donovan Tolledo
Donovan Tolledo is a writer and producer born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Manila and Chicago. He recently received his MFA in creative producing from Columbia University. His work there has won multiple grants and screened at Newfest. His thesis short, Fat Lip, received support from Panavision New Filmmakers Program, was a National Board of Review nominee and is currently on the festival circuit. The feature-length script for Fat Lip landed him the 2022 Outfest Screenwriting Lab Fellowship. As a filmmaker, he focuses on stories about marginalized and migrant people, exploring racial inequity and sexual identity through cinema.
PROGRAMMER
Imani Davis
Imani Davis is a writer, producer and a film programmer at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles. A recent LA transplant from Chicago, she is passionate about building community and believes that film has the power to educate and engage the masses. Davis earned her Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies at The Ohio State University and a Master’s of Leadership in Creative Enterprises at Northwestern University. She has produced short films, web series and indie feature films, as well as programmed independent repertory screening series around the city of Chicago, and curated a digital platform for local filmmakers.
WRITERS
A. Cooper
Cooper is a screenwriter based in Los Angeles. She recently graduated with an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. She writes character- and female-driven stories across genre and medium, with the intention of participating in the conversation around identity and the human condition. In 2021 she created an animated short, as well as created and ran the room for an animated series. In 2022, she was a Staff Writer on Netflix’s Family Reunion.
Terrance Daye
Terrance Daye is an award-winning poet and filmmaker from Long Island, New York. His creative work reimagines everyday Black life as a complex and nuanced spectacle. Daye received his Bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and his Master’s in Fine Arts in filmmaking at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. His film—Ship: A Visual Poem was awarded a Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. His highly anticipated animated short film, Pritty, is in development. Daye is a Sundance Episodic Labs alum and currently a writer on the upcoming Netflix series Forever.
Nate Gualtieri
Nate Gualtieri (he/they) is a transmasculine writer raised in the suburbs of Boston and now based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the USC screenwriting program, he most recently worked as a staff writer on the upcoming Berlanti/CW series Gotham Knights. They are also credited with writing Desire Lines, a semi-scripted documentary feature currently in production. His original feature script, All-American Boy, was a semifinalist for the 2021 Outfest Screenwriting Lab, while their latest short film, Piercing, premiered at Outfest 2022. Showcasing both the tender and toxic sides of masculinity, his writing often centers badly behaved trans men.
Vee Saieh
Vee Saieh has spent her life between worlds—as a Colombian immigrant, a nonbinary person, and a bad Catholic with an esoteric flair. As a drama and genre writer, she blends her passion for the unknown with the stark realities of life to tell stories of ghosts, queerness and broken people and their one shot at redemption. Saieh’s work has received Sloan grants from the Tribeca Film Institute and Film Independent. More recently, she was nominated for a Best of NFMLA Award. Saieh has an MFA in Screenwriting from USC.
Belinda Tang
Belinda Huijuan Tang is from San Jose, California. She is the author of A Map for the Missing, long-listed for the 2022 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she was a Truman Capote Fellow and recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. She holds a BA from Stanford University in Economics and was a work-study fellow at the Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She lived in China from 2016 to 2018. While there, received an MA from Peking University in Beijing. Her screenwriting was recently a Semi-finalist in The Script Lab Screenplay Contest.
Tyler Young
Tyler Young, aka Girl Tyler, is a former news producer turned comedy writer. The South Carolina native earned her BA in Mass Communication from Winthrop University. In 2022 she wrote and directed her first short film, Dying Laughing. Young’s screenplay Body Count was an Academy Nicholl screenwriting quarterfinalist. She is a former Gotham Film & Media Institute TV Series fellow. Young has produced historical and social justice documentaries for VICE, Prime Video, BET and PBS. Her credits include the Emmy and Peabody-nominated documentary film Downing of a Flag. Young produced Gaps, a short presented by Queen Latifah’s Queen Collective.
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Midway through the winter, I’m starting to get a feeling that we may see a resurgence in guitar rock in 2023. Or is that just wishful thinking?
1. Sierra Pilot, Adrenaline Phantom Pains (RPM Promotion) Recommended If You Like: Canadian guitar rock
Is it just me or are we experiencing a renewed interest in 90s-era guitar rock? f we are, then Toronto/Kitchener-Waterloo’s Sierra Pilot is well-positioned to take advantage of that. With a new album coming in April, they’re following a track created by that decade’s bands (think Big Wreck, Econoline Crush, Headstones), they’re fellow travelers with Crown Lands, Monster Truck, and The Blue Stones. It could be a good summer for them.
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2. SYML, Believer The Day My Father Died (Nettwerk) RIYL: Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses
SYML, headed by Seattle’s Brian Fennel (ex of the indie band Barcelona) has just released his second album which, as you might guess from the title, deals with the death of his adoptive father. Writing music to cope with death is something that started with his very first song which came after a schoolmate died when he was 18. The method seems to work because he’s already got overall 1.5 billion streams overall. And if you’re wondering, SYML is Welsh for “simple.”
3. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Ultimate Hammer Land of Sleeper (Missing Piece Group Records) RIYL: Songs with big, BIG riffs.
I like this British group. A lot. They’re a psych-y, garage-y, metal-y band that pushes what the original Black Sabbath did, adds in some Motorhead, and pushes things further down the road toward the apocalypse. “Shouting themes of essential dread,” is how they describe it. They’ll be at Wise Hall in Vancouver on March 26 and at the Garrison in Toronto on March 29. It could get loud.
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4. The Scarlett Opera, Big City Thing Single (SB Projects/Republic Records) RIYL: Songs with an uplifting vibe
My people in SoCal tell me that this is one of the hottest bands in LA right now. Originally from somewhere in rural Pennsylvania, this five-piece (originally known as Petra until last year) is fronted by singer and lyricist Luka Bazulka. According to him, he offers “an escape into the throes of love, lust, glamour, and passion. This particular song has hints of Primal Scream, Lorde, and Scissor Sisters. An album is in the works.
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5. Wilderado, Surefire Single (C3) RIYL: Indie Americana
This one has been around for a while. First appearing in the pre-pandemic days of 2019—and after the California wildfires destroyed The Misty Shrub, their home and rehearsal space in Latigo Canyon—the song kind of languished until things returned to some semblance of normal. The four-piece have since returned to their original home base of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and have been touring ever since. If you want to go deeper, this song was inspired by a poem by Tabitha King (Stephen’s daughter) and tells the story of a bear’s awakening after a winter of hibernation.
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from Episode 4 of “The Last of Us,” now streaming on HBO Max.
When “The Last of Us” co-creator Craig Mazin pitched a role in the series to Melanie Lynskey, he started with a bang: “He called me and said, ‘I would love for you to play a war criminal,’” Lynskey recalls.
When audiences first meet Lynskey’s rebel faction leader Kathleen in Episode 4, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are passing through Kansas City on their cross-country road trip — and have already gotten into a scuffle with her followers there.
She’s in the midst of a tense interrogation with her family doctor (John Getz), desperately seeking the location of her target, Henry, who played a role in the death of her brother. “It’s such a well-written scene. The whole show is so well written! It’s perfect. There’s nothing that you look at, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I feel like I should ask if I can pitch a change,’” Lynskey gushes to Variety.
While the conversation between Kathleen and the doctor begins calmly, she quickly becomes frustrated and points a gun at the doctor’s head. She’s interrupted briefly to evaluate the bodies of some fallen allies, who viewers know were taken down by Joel and Ellie — but Kathleen believes they were more of Henry’s victims. She returns to the holding cell and wordlessly pulls the trigger.
“John Getz is such an amazing actor, and just was so beautiful and broken in the jail cells,” Lynskey recalls. “That was the hardest part: not completely falling apart and just trying to maintain the shred of toughness that would allow her to do it. And I think at the end of the day, she is always just looking at the bigger picture: ‘What does this mean? What is this going to tell people about who I am?’ And she’s quite vicious.”
The scene evokes what Mazin described in his original pitch. “He basically said, ‘Imagine if you were Jesus’ sister. Your brother was the greatest man, who was just so wonderful to everybody, who you loved and revered, and then he was brutally murdered. And you’re just this ordinary person who knows that they’re not that great of a person, who has to then step into this role and is sort of consumed with wanting to adventure.’”
Lynskey doesn’t believe that hardened exterior was always part of Kathleen. “If the world had remained as it was, she would probably be a high school teacher who’s complaining about the kids all the time … but she’s forced into this position that she’s quite good at, for the worst reasons.”
The character is a new creation for the series, which presented Lynskey with a unique challenge. “I know how committed the fandom is. People can be like, ‘That doesn’t look like the person I imagined!’ So I was grateful to not have that. I guess there’s a different level of scrutiny where people are like, ‘We don’t need this character. We played the game without this character. Why is she here?’ But also, none of that is my responsibility. I’m there because I trust Craig. And Neil [Druckmann] is also so brilliant, and was the creator of the game, and he’s on board and signing off on every decision.”
Kathleen may not immediately appear to have what it takes to pilot an uprising, but that’s just where Lynskey hopes to subvert expectations — both for audiences and for Kathleen herself. “She discovers that she doesn’t have a ton of humanity. She’s able to do things that are quite brutal without really batting an eyelash. And I think that that’s quite a scary thing for her to understand about herself, but also kind of an exciting thing.”
“It’s interesting when there’s this huge group of people who’ve mobilized to overthrow the government, and there’s been this violent coup…and then you see who’s in charge of it,” Lynskey says. “And she’s just like, ‘Oh, hi.’ I wanted her to be kind of delicate. I wanted it to be surprising.”
This isn’t Lynskey’s first time portraying someone forced to harden under extreme circumstances. In “Yellowjackets,” for which she was received an Emmy nomination last year, her Shauna must survive when her soccer team’s plane crashes in the forest. So which character is tougher? “It’s very hard to weigh out which is worse: stranded in the wilderness or living through this awful thing. Probably Kathleen. I mean, the world has ended. That’s a lot to deal with.”
Hackers are exploiting a known vulnerability in VMware’s ESXi servers on a huge scale, targeting endpoints (opens in new tab) across Europe and North America, government officials and company spokespeople have confirmed.
Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) has warned businesses using these VMware products to update their devices immediately, and thus stay safe from the ongoing cybercrime campaign.
ANSA (a major Italian news agency) further said that besides servers in Italy, hackers also targeted those located in France, Finland, the United States, and Canada.
500 victims and counting
Reports have claimed “dozens” of organizations in Italy were affected by the campaign. The agency says companies were warned to take action “to avoid being locked out of their systems”, suggesting that the attackers were using the vulnerability in ransomware campaigns.
Across the Atlantic, US cybersecurity officials were analyzing the incoming reports:
“CISA is working with our public and private sector partners to assess the impacts of these reported incidents and providing assistance where needed,” Reuters (opens in new tab) cited the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
A VMware spokesperson said the hackers were abusing a flaw that was discovered in early 2021, and patched in February of that year. The company also urged its customers to apply the patch immediately.
A separate report published by The Stack (opens in new tab) claims more than 500 companies have so far been affected by the campaign and indeed, it was a ransomware attack. Businesses in France are allegedly worst-hit. The country’s national government computer security incident response team, CERT-FR, says the attack is semi-automated, targeting servers vulnerable to CVE-2021-21974.
The flaw is described as an OpenSLP HeapOverflow vulnerability, allowing threat actors to execute code remotely.
So far, we don’t know which ransomware group initiated the attack and which encryptor is being deployed, but reports are saying that roughly 20 servers get hit every hour.
Over 40 contractors for YouTube Music are going on strike — a first at Google, according to the Alphabet Workers Union (or AWU). The action is in response to an order to return to in-person work next week, something that many of the workers say they can’t do. They’re demanding a return-to-work policy that’s “fair, flexible, and does not threaten the safety and livelihoods of workers,” according to an AWU press release.
The workers are part of the YouTube Music Content Operations team via Cognizant, a subcontractor for Alphabet, Google and YouTube’s parent company. Their jobs are to “ensure music content is available and approved” for the platform, according to a prior press release from the AWU.
The objections to the return to office plan stem from pay and availability. According to the AWU, the contractors are paid as little as $19 an hour, making it difficult to afford the relocation, travel, or childcare costs that they didn’t have to pay when working remotely, instead of at an office in Austin, TX.
An unnamed spokesperson for Cognizant told Engadget that the return to office policy had been “communicated to [the workers] repeatedly since December 2021,” and that they had taken the positions “with the understanding that they were accepting in-office positions, and that the team would work together at a physical location based in Austin.” Google would not provide an on-the-record comment for this story, but the company has told the National Labor Relations board that it does not see the workers as its employees, according to Bloomberg.
The contractors are currently attempting to unionize with the AWU, which filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to represent the contractors in October. Last week, the AWU filed an unfair labor practice charge against Alphabet and Cognizant, claiming that the return to office was being used to “interfere with the fair voting conditions mandated by federal law,” as Sam Regan, one of the workers put it in a press release.
There have been previous organized labor actions at Google. In 2018, tens of thousands of workers walked out to protest how Google handled sexual harassment, spurred on by reports that it had paid Android co-founder Andy Rubin $90 million in severance after he was accused of sexual assault. And in 2022, a group of Cognizant contractors working on Google Maps were able to get their return-to-office pushed back after threatening to strike.
The Instagram model who had one of her 38J breast implants pop is having her mental health questioned online … but she says she’s not ill and views plastic surgery as a hobby.
The Canadian model, who goes by Mary Magdalene on social media, tells us she started getting plastic surgeries at 18 and after 12 years and a ton of procedures, she says she started feeling like her plastic transformation was her own way of being an adrenaline junkie.
Mary says she’s just like anyone who gets super into extreme sports … but instead of climbing bigger mountains or jumping from higher heights, she went bigger and bigger with her injections … from her lips, to her butt and, of course, her boobs.
Instagram / @1800leavemaryalone
As we reported … Mary says she’s going to change to a more “natural” look after one of her 11-pound boob implants popped, leaving her with a uni-boob and a bunch of tattooed skin.
Mary says her out-of-this-world surgeries brought her happiness over the years, but adds her feelings have changed and now she’s going to change her appearance. In fact, she says if her implant didn’t pop, she would have gone even bigger with her next procedure and doubled her already massive 38J cup size.
The IG model says she’s going to do her next breast procedure in Brussels, and she’s going under the knife twice for a breast reduction that will set her back nearly $33,000 … and bring her breast implants down from 5,000 cc to 700cc.
TMZ.com
Mary says she had a spiritual awakening after the incident, with her come-to-Jesus moment aided in part by some mind-altering substances … and she wants to move away from what she sees as her current “bimbo” look.
And, get this … Mary tells us she’s going to save the excess skin cut off during her breast reduction surgery and save it in a jar … as a reminder of what she’s been through.
The Fashion On “That ’90s Show” Is Pretty Spot-On — Let’s See Which Outfits You Would Wear Now
If you were old enough during the ’90s (or alive at all), there are probably a lot of clothes on That ’90s Show that seemed familiar.
You might even have remembered seeing specific items of clothing from the show back in the day.
But as we’ve seen over the years, fashion is cyclical, and a lot of millennials and members of Gen Z are wearing the styles that were popular back in the ’90s.
What about you? Would you wear any of these ’90s-inspired outfits from That ’90s Show?
Clockwise from left: Mary J. Blige (VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images), Luke Combs (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images), Lizzo (Kevin Winter/The Recording Academy/Getty Images), 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop (JC Olivera/WireImage/Getty Images), Steve Lacy (VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Sometime in recent memory, the Grammys decided they’d rather have their annual telecast be a musical revue than an awards ceremony. Sure, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science still hands out plenty of trophies but they’re often doled out offstage, usually in the hours before the curtain lifts on the show itself. Host Trevor Noah gave the game away in the first moments of the program when he mentioned the performers before the awards themselves: those live performances are the reasons why viewers tune into the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
The awards did make some news. Beyonce now is the all-time Grammy winner with 32 trophies, a record she achieved without taking home the coveted Album of the Year award, which unexpectedly went to Harry Styles. Viola Davis became an EGOT when the audiobook of her memoir Finding Me earned her the Grammy for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling. But these headlines were drowned out by the performances given at Crypto.com Arena, performances that illustrated that the Grammys still have the ability to stage memorable moments. Here’s our ranking of every performance from music’s big night from worst to best.
The 65th Grammy Awards turned back the clock (specifically the one hanging around Flavor Flav’s neck) on Sunday, amassing dozens of hip-hop icons to celebrate the genre’s 50th anniversary.
LL Cool J, a two-time Grammy winner and seven-time nominee, took the stage first to present the special performance.
The tribute’s all-star lineup included: Big Boi, Busta Rhymes with Spliff Star, De La Soul, DJ Drama, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Future, GloRilla, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Mele Mel and Scorpio/Ethiopian King, Ice-T, Lil Baby, The Lox, Method Man, Missy Elliott, Nelly, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Questlove, Rahiem, Rakim, The Roots, Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella, Scarface, Swizz Beatz, and Too $hort.
Watch clips of the hip-hop tribute below, which will be replaced by official video if/when it becomes available:
That Hip-Hop tribute just now is the best thing the #GRAMMYs have put out in YEARS — and that is not an exaggeration.pic.twitter.com/dVOIIxtKOf
And this was just one of several buzzy performances at this year’s Grammys. Other big names taking the stage include: Bad Bunny, Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, DJ Khaled, Fridayy, Harry Styles, Jay-Z, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Kim Petras, Lil Wayne, Lizzo, Luke Combs, Mary J. Blige, Maverick City Music, Mick Fleetwood, Quavo, Rick Ross, Sam Smith, Sheryl Crow, Smokey Robinson, Steve Lazy and Stevie Wonder.
Hit PLAY on the video above to watch the Grammys’ all-star tribute to hip-hop, then grade it in our poll below and drop a comment with your full review.
Dr. Jill Biden was in the house tonight at the 65th annual Grammy Awards, but the real first lady on the live CBS telecast clearly was Beyoncé.
Taking home two awards before the downtown L.A. show started on the small screen and Paramount+, and then Best R&B song with “Cuff It” and Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for Renaissance during the broadcast itself, Queen Bey is now literally the Queen of the Recording Academy with 32 career wins — more than any artist in Grammy history.
You rarely see someone as phlegmatic as Beyoncé miss a beat, but even she did when got up to accept her record-breaking trophy as the crowd of Grammy winners past, present and likely future and thousands of fans in the arena went wild for the undisputed GOAT.
RELATED: The Grammys GOAT: Beyoncé Becomes All-Time Champion With 32nd Career Win
A bet that almost no one wanted to wager against all week leading up to Music’s Big Night, the hype of Beyoncé’s barrier-breaking victory, along with Harry Styles’ Album of the Year award, were but two of many elements giving the more the nearly four-hour show some real drama on and off stage,
Taking it to the dancer-filled stage in the round with 2023 winner Bad Bunny and the first fully in-person show in three years, from the get-go, the Trevor Noah-hosted show even had Taylor Swift busting a genuine move in her front-row seat. Turning the often soulless and undoubtedly soon-to-be-renamed Crypto.com Arena partially into a dinner club, the show executive produced by Raj Kapoor Ben Winston and Jesse Collins succeeded as a mainly hit-filled mixtape of top-tier live performances (Lizzo, Styles), pre-recorded advocating fan roundtables, White House residents, tributes, scandal-teasing fashions (we see you JLo, Mr. Styles), superstar presenters, a Vladimir Horowitz shout-out from Billy Crystal and more.
To quote past Grammy winner Crystal tonight out of context, the third time proved a charm for past and present host Noah with a show that hit almost all the right notes.
Almost.
Yes, there was the comedown of Bonnie Raitt’s Song of the Year win near the end that felt very 1989 Jethro Tull when it should have been Metallica — or in this case Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, Beyoncé or several other nominees, if you know what I mean.
There was the insulting lack of closing captioning by CBS under Bad Bunny’s Spanish performance and award acceptance. There was also that lame Madonna segment where she had to implore the crowd to make “some noise” for her controversary routine that seemed so old-fashioned. There was the gibberish of that fantasy video from Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. Then there were the disrespectfully lame few caught on camera who distinctly didn’t applaud when Dr. Biden came onstage to present the Grammys’ inaugural Social Change Award to Iranian artist Shervin Hajipour for his song “Baraye” and then Song of the Year. Sure. Beyoncé, Adele and Swift were in the audience but did not perform Sunday, and the show was just too damn long.
Yes, there was all that, but unlike most other awards shows, there still was more than enough superstar superpower to go around at the 2023 Grammys. That, along with records that people actually listen to actually winning, for the most part, was in no small part why the vast majority of the fairly fast-paced show was fun to watch and dance to.
Spilling out “Trump wanting to learn Spanish,” Chinese spy balloon and actually funny Renaissance jokes from the red-carpeted arena floor — plus a Jay-Z quip that floundered and an Adele and Dwayne Johnson meet-up that went by too fast — former Daily Show host Noah sauntered among the illustrious nominees and legends at the start to figuratively set the stage as a hype-man deluxe – which is sort of what an award show host should do. Of course, all of that almost paled next to the wonderfully glacéd intro of Brandi Carlile’s hard-rockin’ “Broken Horses” performance by her daughters and wife Catherine Shepherd – which added an intimate feel to the shindig
There was also some non- Beyoncé history to celebrate in a historical fashion.
Later devilishly taking the stage to perform “Unholy,” Stan Smith and Kim Petras won the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their tune about halfway through the show. That victory saw the German singer become the first transgender woman to claim the award at the Grammys.
Then hip-hop took the spotlight, and I don’t just mean Lamar’s well-deserved win for Best Rap Album.
Dr. Dre
First, a tuxedoed Dr. Dre accepted the inaugural Global Impact Award named after the N.W.A, producer supreme and Beats founder himself.
Then, to paraphrase JFK, the Grammys hasn’t seen so many icons together as were onstage for the hip-hope 50th anniversary celebration since Beyoncé and Jay-Z were last in attendance together. Seriously, kicked off by the equally iconic and Kangol-wearing LL Cool J with a street-level backbeat musical backing and curation by The Roots’ Questlove and Black Though, the backstory of the beats that rule the world was center stage.
Grammys salute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop
The onstage array of Big Boi, the slaying Busta Rhymes with Spliff Star, De La Soul, DJ Drama, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee Missy Elliott, Future, GloRilla, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel & Scorpio/Ethiopian King, Ice-T, Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, The Lox, Method Man, Nelly, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Rahiem, the demigod Rakim, the remaining members of the trailblazing Run-D.M.C, Salt-N-Pepa and Spinderella, Scarface, Swizz Beatz and Too $hort, plus LL Cool J himself, was glorious.
Moving even the stoic Jay-Z to smile in the crowd, the repeatedly bleeped-out hip-hop 50th medley also was an exercise in relevance and reverence. A relic in many respects for the past decade or so, the Grammys and the Recording Academy took far too long to give the world’s most popular music genre its true due.
That wasn’t the case tonight.
In looking back to hip-hop’s roots and its present form with Jay-Z outside the arena at the very end of the show doing an elaborate beggar’s banquet version of DJ Khaled’s nominated “God Did” with the man himself, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend and Fridayy, the Grammys finally got it right. Having delivered the showstopping 75th Tony Awards back in June last year with powerhouse host Ariana DeBose, CBS is on a bit of a trophy ceremony roll with tonight’s show.
For once, Music’s Biggest Night was a case of believing most of the hype.
It’s a lesson and a strategy that the Oscars might want to consider for next month’s 95th Academy Awards – let’s hope so, with or without Beyoncé in the house.
F for Fake, the last feature-length film that Orson Welles would complete before his death in 1985, is a rollicking and mischievous ode to fakery, trickery and deception that receives a brand new Blu-ray release on October 21 courtesy of The Criterion Collection. This one-of-a-kind collaboration between Welles and French documentary filmmaker Francois Reichenbach is equal parts cinéma vérité and trompe l’oeil, but certain to delight and confound viewers in equal measure.
Today, F for Fake could be classified as a melange of nonfiction content and deliberately misleading “mockumentary” vignettes that combine to toy with viewer expectations within the framework of a visual essay. However, at the time of its original release, audiences had never really seen anything like it, and would have been at a loss to easily summarize the experience or explain its unique structure. Indeed, as film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum observes in an essay that accompanies the Criterion release, noted film historian Lotte Eisner emerged flummoxed from an advance preview screening in 1973 and declared, “It isn’t even a film.”
The origins of this unusual exercise in misdirection and cinematic sleight of hand were forged in a fateful meeting between Welles and Reichenbach, who had approached the mythic auteur about providing narration for existing documentary footage of infamous art forger Elmyr de Hory. A seasoned painter himself and a contemporary of Modigliani and Matisse, de Hory was living in Ibiza at the time and basking in a glow of notoriety that arrived with the publication of a biography titled Fake! in 1969. In both the book and in Reichenbach’s footage, author Clifford Irving offers no shortage of amusing anecdotes detailing de Hory’s long criminal history of fakery. And yet Irving would in turn be exposed as a fake himself after swindling McGraw-Hill out of a six-figure advance for an autobiography of Howard Hughes that was purported to be authored in the reclusive tycoon’s handwriting. Although forensic experts had declared the autobiography to be genuine, it came to light that the manuscript was in fact manufactured by several of Irving’s artist and writer acquaintances and based on previously published examples of Hughes’ handwriting.
Art forger Elmyr de Hory, featured in Orson Welles’ F for Fake. Courtesy of The Criterion Collection
After Reichenbach treated Welles to a private work-in-progress screening of the project, the auteur instead proposed to incorporate the footage into a larger, more expansive pastiche on the subject of phonies, forgers and fakes. The subject of manipulated reality is course perfect fodder for Welles, who entered the public consciousness by pulling the wool over the ears of a nation of radio listeners with his dramatization of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds.
Incorporating new footage directed by Welles and co-written by his longtime collaborator Oja Kodar, the filmmaker revels in his reputation as a “charlatan” and positions himself as a comrade of Reichenbach’s deceitful subjects. He is still the youthful magician who amazes passersby at the Gare du Austerlitz with flights of illusory fancy, having lost none of his propensity for showmanship and spectacle.
Welles’ fascination with the obfuscation of truth is naturally front and center in this very personal film, although F for Fake also provides viewers with a wonderful document of his later years. The filmmaker’s obsessions and infamous epicurean enthusiasms are on full display, especially in one memorable set piece that unfolds at the Parisian restaurant La Méditerranée, well known as his home away from home during a self-imposed exile in Europe during the ’60s and ’70s.
Orson Welles in front of La Mediterranee. Courtesy of The Criterion Collection
Welles really outdoes himself with the highly inspired montage of F for Fake, which is bursting at the seams with rapid-fire edits, ironic optical effects and freeze frames that lend dramatic import to the proceedings. To wit, much of the movie unfolds in the editing room itself, with cinematographer Gary Graver observing Welles at work on a Moviola editing machine as the movie segues out of Reichenbach’s 16mm workprint and match cuts to a gorgeous 35mm blow-up of the same material. On a commentary track that is included on the Criterion release, Graver observes many instances of edits that are “so quick that the negative cutters couldn’t find edge numbers.” In keeping with the overriding theme of sleight of hand, the title of the film never actually appears on screen. Instead, Welles is seen in silhouette scrawling a question mark upon a still frame of stock footage from, appropriately enough, the 1956 science-fiction cheapie Earth vs the Flying Saucers.
From a technical standpoint, Criterion’s new release of F for Fake shines in every way, with a new high-definition telecine transfer of an archival 35mm interpositive that also sports an uncompressed monaural soundtrack, both of which serve as considerable upgrades from the already excellent 2005 DVD edition. This new release, thankfully, retains all of the supplements and extras from the original DVD edition, including the aforementioned audio commentary in which both Graver and Kodar generously share their own wistful recollections of Welles and his freewheeling production process.
The multitude of special features helps bring the supporting players into clearer focus. In the feature-length 1995 documentary Orson Welles: The One-Man Band, Kodor serves as a guide to the many unfinished projects that Welles dabbled with during his final years. Most illuminating is the inclusion of some edited footage from the unfinished narrative feature The Other Side of the Wind, featuring John Huston and Welles stalwart Peter Bogdanovich. Also included is the 1997 documentary featurette Almost True: The Noble Art of Forgery, which is a more by-the-numbers study of Elmyr de Hory and the release of his forgeries into galleries and upon museum walls around the world, and which provides a more nuanced portrait of its subject as both an unrepentant grifter and a charismatic bon vivant. Rounding out the special features is a nine-minute theatrical trailer for F for Fake, which is comprised of an assortment of original footage that Welles created specifically for distributor Seven Gables but was never used, as well as a 60 Minutes segment from 2000 featuring Clifford Irving and Mike Wallace recounting a 1972 interview in which the author refuted accusations of fraud related to his soon-to-be-published autobiography of Howard Hughes.
All in all, The Criterion Collection delivers another smashing release with its new Blu-ray edition of F for Fake, which provides both a fascinating study in the malleability of the nonfiction form as well as a boisterous portrait of Welles in his sunset years.
Courtesy of The Criterion Collection
Josh Slates is an independent producer and director based in Baltimore. He is also a film critic and field producer for The Signal, a weekly arts and culture program produced by WYPR Radio.
Taipei-based international sales company Distribution Workshop will be selling Lunar New Year hit Hidden Blade, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Wong Ching-po’s highly-anticipated new film, The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon, at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.
Directed by Cheng Er, Hidden Blade is a spy thriller set in Shanghai during the Second World War, and also stars Wang Yibo (Born To Fly) and Zhou Xun (Our Time Will Come).
The $45m production has so far grossed $116.6M since its release over the Lunar New Year holidays on January 22, according to figures from Artisan Gateway.
The film is the third installment in the “China Victory Trilogy” produced by Beijing-based Bona Film Group, following Chinese Doctors and The Battle At Lake Changjin. Cheng Er is known for crime dramas such as Lethal Hostage (2012) and The Wasted Times (2016).
The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon is produced by Lee Lieh, one of Taiwan’s biggest producers with credits including Detention and Monga. Golden Horse Award winner Ethan Juan (Monga) heads the cast along with Ben Yuen (Tracey), Chen Yi-wen (A Sun) and Gingle Wang (Detention).
The story follows a fugitive who has been in hiding for four years since seeking revenge at the funeral of a gang leader. He plans to turn himself in, as he’s been diagnosed with cancer and only has six months to live, until he discovers that he’s only the third most-wanted criminal on the police station bulletin board. He then decides to wipe out the top two most-wanted criminals so he can die with top honours.
The film is aiming to release in the second half of 2023. Wong Ching-po is known for stylish crime thrillers such as Once Upon A Time In Shanghai (2014) and Mob Sister (2005).
Distribution Workshop is also handing sales on Taiwanese filmmaker Chan Ching-lin’s Coo-Coo 043, which won best film at last year’s Golden Horse Awards, and horror film Antikalpa, directed by Philip Shih and starring Guan Zhi Huang and Regina Lei.
In the words of Jemele Hill, “That damn @Questlove is a genius” because the tribute he curated to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip hop brought the house down at the 2023 Grammys. Artist after artist came out in an all star lineup for the performance honoring the genre, cycling through hit after hit. Even LL Cool J jumped into the mix after introducing the medley.
Cameras clung to Jay-Z in the audience, who did not contain his joy at the rotation of rappers and performers who played parts in the performance. Many tweeted that this was one of the best things the Grammys has done.
And if you’re wondering how you can get all those songs into a playlist, we can help.
Here are all the artists and songs featured in the Grammys hip hop tribute:
“Flash to the Beat” by Grandmaster Flash with Barshon, Rahiem, Melle Mel and Scorpio
“The Message” by Grandmaster Flash with Barshon, Rahiem, Melle Mel and Scorpio
“King of Rock” by Run-DMC
“I Can’t Live Without My Radio” by LL Cool J
“Rock the Bells” by LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff
“My Mic Sounds Nice” by Salt-N-Pepa
“Eric B. Is President” by Rakim
“Rebel Without a Pause” by Flavor Flav and Chuck D
“El Shabazz (Skit)” by Black Thought and LL Cool J
“Buddy” by De La Soul
“Mind Playing Tricks on Me” by Scarface
“New Jack Hustler (Nino’s Theme)” by Ice-T
“U.N.I.T.Y.” by Queen Latifah
“Method Man” by Wu-Tang Clan and Method Man
“ATLiens” –by OutKast’s Big Boi
“Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” by Busta Rhymes
And Beyoncé becomes the winningest Grammy artist of all time
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: Queen Latifah performs onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Samara Joy, a 23-year-old jazz singer from the Bronx, New York, won best new artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday night. There were 10 artists nominated in the category, including Anitta, Omar Apollo, Muni Long and Latto.
Olivia Rodrigo, who won the award in the category at last year’s show, presented the award, describing it as “an award that has gone to heroes of mine, from The Beatles to Billie Eilish. … It will always be a shining moment in my life.”
Upon hearing her name as winner, Joy was visibly surprised and excited; when accepting the award on stage, she acknowledged the talent in the room, thanking everyone for their contributions to the music industry, saying “all of you are so inspiring to me.”
“I’ve been singing all my life. … Thank you so much for this honor, thank you to everyone who has listened to me and supported me,” Joy said, adding: “To be here because of who I am … to be here by just being myself, by just being who I was born as, I’m so thankful.”
The singer, who was born into a musical family, also thanked her grandparents and her father; her paternal grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, were founders of Philadelphia gospel group The Savettes.
Joy wore a red leather dress and a braided updo to accept her award Sunday night.
Rust has become the movie, worthy of spawning its own movie. That statement is not intended to make light of all that has transpired. In fact, this tragedy would do well to usher in much needed change. A senseless death should be catalyst enough to protect future artists from such wretched ends, but this is not the first time that a cast/crew member has been fatally injured on set.
Artists Beware
When it was announced on Thursday January 19, 2023, that producer/actor Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed would be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, research was necessary to gain much needed understanding and perspective. After sifting through countless articles, scrutinizing police interrogation videos, and reviewing guild laws and union safety guidelines, there is one unexpected and startling conclusion: artist beware.
Doubt and Debate
The cast and crew on any film set are never far from an actor who may be expected to pick up a prop, portray a killer, point that prop (in this case a gun) at another human being and pull the trigger. Never should such thoughts enter into the mind of an actor; “Is this prop safe? If I do my job here, is someone going to get hurt?”
The debate rages on. Is it the actor’s responsibility to check props for safety, or is it the people who are hired to gather, maintain, distribute, inventory and train others in the use of these props; are they ultimately responsible? When it comes to firearms, is another layer of security needed beyond what an armorer is required to do? Is it the responsibility of the producers to ensure safety measures are executed by people who are knowledgeable and experienced enough to do so? Is the promise of on set safety under the watchful eye of the first assistant director? There is doubt and debate. There should be zero doubt, there should be zero room for debate.
Alec Baldwin-Courtesy New York Times
Some industries are held to a higher standard because they involve public safety. The airline industry is a perfect example, healthcare is another. These industries delve deep into things like process, procedure and transparency. They know about the bureaucratic and laborious efforts required to implement relentlessly stringent protocols for safety.
Why do these things risk failure? An absence of ownership, a lack of dogged persistence, and the ever-present desire to cut costs.
An Industry in Need of Scrutiny
Any film or television set can post roles and responsibilities, can pay homage to a set of safety protocols published by their union or make claims that the rules are well known by all. These are just words. It’s not about the knowing, it’s about the doing. It’s about the process of adherence, and the deliberate documentation of action steps taken to certify compliance. It’s about an undeniable standard that is the same for every project. In an industry where no two sets are alike, or no two actors carry the same level of knowledge, experience, training and personal deportment, and no two projects have the same schedule or budget, safety cannot ebb and flow with these differences.
The entertainment industry is rife with inadequacy. If you want to be an actor you can go to film school, but you don’t have to. There are many actors who have no formal training. If you are in the trades however, an electrician for example, your path to employment is governed first by the statutory body that dictates the minimum of educational and training requirements in order to be licensed. By comparison, an armorer has no such licensing agency. The state attorney general’s office requires nothing more than a fingerprint-based background check to ensure the applicant is not a felon. And once this is done, the armorer is issued an entertainment firearms permit (EFP). An EFP does not ensure proof of competency or a minimum of formal education or training.
To further complicate matters, the International Alliance of Theatrical State Employees (IATSE), the union behind the entertainment industry, is made up of more than 360 locals, organized by geographic region and craft jurisdictions, which are independent, non-profit, autonomous entities. If I search a local IATSE site (local 52, Astoria, NY, for example) for the basic job description of an armorer, it lists the following requirements: “No particular educational background is required. Following directions and being reliable are essential.”
Many armorers have military and/or law-enforcement backgrounds and have found a niche in the entertainment industry that makes effective use of the depth and breath of their knowledge, experience and specialized skill set. This, however, is not an enforced standard.
How Could This Be?
For a job whose task it is to ensure on set safety regarding all things weaponry, there is no basic formal educational standard. And even if a particular local in one state requires more education than another, it is not universal. Skill for an armorer is typically obtained through internships and on the job training. If you compare two armorers from different backgrounds, different locals, different states and whose “educational” path is wildly different, how is the bastion of safety being served? When life hangs in the balance, obedience to a higher standard must be the call to action.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) publishes guidelines and recommendations for safety that are in no way intended to be considered binding law or industry regulations. They state that as an individual cast or crew member, you have the right to protect yourself. Everyone has the right to speak up, the right to demand a stunt double, the right to stop production if they feel unsafe and to stand in solidarity with other cast and crew members, should any of them feel unsafe. However, what that does not mean, is that an actor is responsible for on set weapons safety.
The Producers
There has been much speculation regarding the responsibility of producers on a film project. Definitions range. Some tout that the role of producer oversees and facilitates all aspects of production, while other definitions are unmistakably superficial. In these instances, producers are defined as financial backers and creative contributors. In some instances, the title of producer is nothing more than a ceremonial label bestowed upon an actor to entice their participation. So while these titles, and the people who bear them, would inevitably find themselves near the top of any film production’s hierarchy chart, not all of them are expected, or even able, to exert any influence over the day-to-day operations.
On Rust, there are four types of producers listed in IMDB;
Producers; Alec Baldwin, Matt DelPiano, Nathan Klingher, Anjul Nigam, Ryan Donnell Smth, Ryan Winterstern,
Executive Producers being Tyler Gould, Matthew Helderman, Matthew Hutchins, Luke Taylor,
Co-Producer: Kc Brandenstein,
Line Producer: Gabrielle Pickle.
As Alec Baldwin is the most recognizable of all production staff, his celebrity seems to have, in the prejudicial eyes of some, burdened him with omnipotent responsibility for everything. In an interview between New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, Special Prosecutor Andrea Reeb and Judge Jeanine Pirro in a Fox News Flash published on January 19, 2023, Reeb has been quoted as saying; “We believe Baldwin, as a producer, knows everything that goes on, on the set, and so, yeah, there was a lot of problems, there were a couple of accidental discharges, there were a lot of safety concerns that were brought to the attention of management and he did nothing about it. So this was a loose and reckless scene where safety was compromised just to save money.”
Investigation thus far has revealed that the only producer credit found associated with Alec Baldwin is one of creative producer. So jurisprudence would demand, why is Alec Baldwin the only producer under fire here?
Points of Failure
Whether the outcome of this tragedy points to a producer, an actor or a crew member, it is bigger then that. It is a system failure. A system is a set of processes designed to achieve a certain result. As long as processes and procedures are working properly, the system runs smoothly. When processes are outdated, flawed, and lack adherence or ownership, it leads to system breakdown. Production sets are complex systems. The only way a complex system can experience catastrophic collapse, as was the case on Rust, is through multiple, simultaneous points of failure.
The Anatomy of a Scapegoat
All system failures require a scapegoat. This one seems to be Alex Baldwin.
Following the success of the premiere of “That 90’s Show” which released on Netflix on January 19th 2023, the streaming service has announced a 16-episode season two order for hit comedy series.
Season one was an immediate hit, reaching Netflix’s Top 10 English TV list in 35 countries, with more than 41 million hours viewed.
“All of us at That ‘90s Show were beyond excited by the warm, enthusiastic response to our first season. We can’t wait to return to Point Place for another summer of laughs and surprises. Hello 1996!” said Gregg Mettler, Co-Creator/Showrunner/Executive Producer
The official synopsis for season 1 reads:
Courtesy of Netflix
It’s 1995 and Leia Forman is desperate for some adventure in her life or at least a best friend who isn’t her dad. When she arrives in Point Place to visit her grandparents, Red and Kitty, Leia finds what she’s looking for right next door when she meets the dynamic and rebellious Gwen. With the help of Gwen’s friends, including her lovable brother Nate, his smart, laser-focused girlfriend Nikki, the sarcastic and insightful Ozzie, and the charming Jay, Leia realizes adventure could happen there just like it did for her parents all those years ago. Excited to reinvent herself, she convinces her parents to let her stay for the summer. With a basement full of teens again, Kitty is happy the Forman house is now a home for a new generation and Red is, well…Red.
“We here in Point Place realize you have many options for entertainment and we’re thrilled you chose us. We look forward to entertaining you for years to come. Buh-bye!” said Bonnie & Terry Turner, Co-Creators & Executive Producers
That ‘90s Show stars Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, Callie Haverda, Ashley Aufderheide, Mace Coronel, Maxwell Donovan, Reyn Doi, and Sam Morelos. Also returning to Point Place are creators Bonnie and Terry Turner – this time with their daughter Lindsey Turner – showrunner/executive producer Gregg Mettler, and executive producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner. Joining the show are executive producers Jessica Goldstein, Chrissy Pietrosh and Mandy Summers.
Based on: That ‘70s Show Created by Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner & Mark Brazill. This show attracts fans of the original show as well as a whole new audience.
“We owe the fans, old and new, for taking the trip with us in the first season – and we can’t wait to be there with them in the second season.”” said Lindsey Turner, Co-Creator & Executive Producer
Kurtwood Smith as Red A classic never goes out of style. When the new kids bring out the old Red, the spring in Red’s step puts a spring in Kitty’s too!
Debra Jo Rupp as Kitty A whole new world opens to Kitty with the new generation and she is right at home. It has never been cooler to be Kitty.
Callie Haverda as Leia Forman Smart like her mom, awkward like her dad, Leia is craving adventure. She’s just not quite sure where or how to start. Until she discovers a best friend in the most unlikely of places: next door to her grandparents’ house in Point Place.
Ashley Aufderheide as Gwen Life gets more interesting for Leia when she meets this Riot Grrrl. Equal parts loyalty, rebellion and heart, Gwen is a dynamic powerhouse and the unofficial leader of the new generation of Point Place kids.
Maxwell Acee Donovan as Nate When you first meet Nate he seems like a big, dumb jock… but he’s actually not that athletic. Nate has a huge heart and it’s hard to tell who he loves more: his girlfriend, his best friend, or his beat-up, old van.
Mace Coronel as Jay Jay is charming and flirty – at least, he tries. It doesn’t always come out right. He considers himself a deep thinker, nobody else does.
Reyn Doi as Ozzie Everyone loves them some Ozzie. He’s insightful, sarcastic and has perspective beyond his years. Ozzie is gay and impatient with the world for not being as accepting as his friends.
Sam Morelos as Nikki Nikki is focused, smart, and driven. She approaches maintaining her GPA with the same energy an MMA fighter brings to a cage match. She can truly relax when she’s with her boyfriend, Nate and his friends, even though sometimes she’s not laughing with them, she’s laughing at them.
Andrea Anders as Sherri This single mom to Nate and Gwen is warm and breezily blunt. She rolls through life in a state of “pretty sure” – pretty sure the kids ate, pretty sure there’s gas in the car… When Leia makes friends with her kids, Sherri makes friends with Red and Kitty, and their coffee, and their couch, and their advice.
“We’re thrilled that the incredibly funny stories from Point Place, Wisconsin continue to resonate around the world, no matter the decade,” said Tracey Pakosta, Netflix Vice President of Comedy Series.
Cast: Vidya Balan, Jisshu Sengupta, Sanya Malhotra, Amit Sadh
Directer: Anu Menon
Too often in the film “Shakuntala Devi”, which stars Vidya Balan as the genius mathematician who was dubbed The Human Computer, one will hear someone ask: “How does she do it?” That question comes up unfailingly each time she dazzles a new audience with her brilliance, seldom taking a second glance at the blackboard before confidently rattling off the correct answer to a complicated sum, or offering eight and nine-digit responses to cube root problems quicker than the fastest computer.
It is no spoiler to reveal that that question remains unanswered even at the end of the film, despite efforts both by Shakuntala Devi herself, and others, to determine what it is about numbers that turns a switch on inside her.
The film, directed by Anu Menon, is an attempt to understand how Shakuntala’s love for maths, and the glory that accompanied it, informed every aspect of her life, and especially strained her relationship with her daughter.
The clue lies in her early years, as a young girl growing up in Bangalore in the 30s and 40s, robbed of a normal childhood, her brilliance exploited to provide a livelihood for her family, and leaving fissures that will run deep. The screenplay, by Menon and Nayanika Mahtani, moves back and forth over the years like a highlights reel of their subject’s life. Shakuntala’s arrival in London, her fame on the international circuit, a whirlwind romance and subsequent marriage to charming Calcutta bureaucrat Paritosh Banerji (Jisshu Sengupta), and the birth of their daughter Anupama.
Vidya brings a full-bodied feistiness to Shakuntala, and the film stays on course while it’s focused on her love affair with numbers. There’s a real thrill in watching her decimate seemingly impossible calculations with ease and unmistakable swag. But the fractured relationship with her grown-up daughter (Sanya Malhotra) yields some of the film’s dullest scenes. Resentful of her mother’s selfish, stubborn nature Anupama is constantly in battle mode, even with her loving husband (Amit Sadh). It’s all doubly exhausting on account of the pointless back-and-forth structure of the narrative; you’re left to rely on the ladies’ distracting hairstyles to figure out the timeline.
What the film leaves you with are some meaningful questions. About career, parenting, ambition, and why we judge women more harshly than men when it comes to their outlook on these matters. Shakuntala Devi was an extraordinary woman who insisted on living life on her own terms. She made it to the Guinness Book of Records, wrote a bunch of books herself, including one on homosexuality, and was a successful astrologer. Vidya Balan embodies her tireless spirit in a robust performance that is the best thing in this otherwise inconsistent film.
The conflict between Shakuntala and her daughter is resolved most simplistically…which is not to say it isn’t a real conflict. But a film about a woman who possessed so much flair could’ve done with some flair in its telling.
Rajeev Masand is the Entertainment Editor of CNN-IBN. An avid film buff, and critic, Masand also hosts the popular To Catch a Star on CNN-IBN. …Read More
Though she acts all tough and badass, cursing and diminishing the threat of the infected, Ellie is still very much a child, one that plays around with the gun she picked up at Bill’s and makes “pew pew” noises. While on the road, she picks up a new distraction in the form of a book of puns, which she reads throughout the whole episode. These make up the best parts of this week’s episode with Ellie trying to make the cynical and serious Joel laugh, while he tries his best not to let her notice that he is actually finding the jokes funny.
The big thematic point of the episode is to, well, do what every single zombie story has done ever, from “Night of the Living Dead” to “The Walking Dead” — that humans are the true monsters (shocking, I know!). As smart and precocious as Ellie is, she is still rather naive when it comes to the real horrors of the world, acting surprised when Joel warns her not of infected, but of raiders that will do worse things to them than killing.
Unsurprisingly, Joel is proven right the moment they arrive in Pittsburgh and see the QZ in ruins with FEDRA nowhere in sight, and are immediately ambushed. Joel gets pinned down by one of the raiders, and Ellie sees no choice but to pick up the gun she found at Bill’s and shoot him. Though she doesn’t kill him, she still panics, before Joel finishes the job. He later apologizes for failing at protecting her and forcing her to harm someone, which no kid should ever do. Ellie confesses this was not her first time hurting someone, but refuses to say more.
I’ve watched The Way Home Season 1 Episode 4 twice, and both times, I’m as overcome as Kat when she sees her father and brother for the first time.
Would getting the opportunity to peer through the window of your life change you? We’re about to find out.
How would the moments you remember change with a new perspective?
And how would knowing that you had been there to witness them affect your memories?
There is so much to unpack about Kat’s visit to the past and how it changes the story going forward that I don’t even know where to start.
We need to start slow leading up to all that Kat’s traveling means to her and the show.
Now that Kat has joined Alice on the time-traveling adventure, you have to wonder if they’ll share what they know with Del. Del is struggling more than either her daughter or granddaughter, and she could benefit from being let in on that secret.
Kat has been so angry at Del for letting go of her memories, but we’ve seen that Del just processes things differently.
Although she appeared to let go of Jacob, she held firmly to his favorite bear, decided to keep the boat, and couldn’t bear the thought of losing Ol’ Miss because Colton gifted Ol’ Miss’s mama to her.
Colton gave me Ol’ Miss as a gift. After he died, I sold the herd. It was just way too much work for me to do by myself. So, he is the last descendant, the last trace, of what Colton and I did here. I couldn’t lose Ol’ Miss. I couldn’t bear for one more thing to change here. Oh, thank you, Elliot.
Del
Had Kat and Alice not shown up, Del might not have had the same reactions. Their arrival uncovered things as viscerally as if she had gone back in time.
As Kat’s world is opening up past and present with Elliot, Brady, and Andy, I’d love to know what Del thought of Brady.
It wouldn’t be surprising if she didn’t think much of him, maybe even blaming him for taking Kat away. If Brady hadn’t been in Kat’s life, maybe she would have stuck around so that Del and Kat had a chance to heal their tragic pain.
Del has a real soft spot for Elliot. He’s always been there for her. It means a lot that she’s urging him to play the long game with Kat. It proves how much she loves her daughter that she’d approve of her connecting with a soul as sweet as Elliot’s.
Maybe Del doesn’t need to revisit the past in the same way as Kat and Alice to heal. What do you think? Would it be cathartic to go there or more pain than she could bear to lose them all over again?
It’s done wonders for Alice. She’s recognized how much life has changed her mom, and she even sees Brady in a new, if not necessarily accurate, light.
Elliot: So, what do you think of your dad? Alice: I can’t process it, Elliot. He’s, is this what he’s like? He’s a jerk! Elliot: Just think, you’re not even a twinkle in his eyes yet.
Teen girls have often been attracted to boys filled with bravado. A small-town girl being fascinated with a worldly boy is a story as old as time. As Alice said herself, Brady is a good and kind man in the future. Still, that doesn’t make it any easier for Alice to see him bragging, dissing small-town life, or ordering wine with a fake ID.
Now that we know Nick’s family owned the town theater, how long will it be before she visits the theater and runs into him as an adult?
Nick: Wow. You look incredible, like an Aerosmith music video. Alice: Dream on.
Losing a girl he liked as much as he liked Alice would have been very hard, especially since he probably didn’t get to say goodbye. Those interactions can impact you for the rest of your life, silly as they sometimes seem.
Now, onto the Kat of it all.
It’s impossible to imagine how overwhelming it would be to experience what she’s experiencing, but Chyler Leigh knocked those scenes out of the park. She played it just right, being less surprised to be back in time than she was to see and then interact with her dead father.
There couldn’t have been a dry eye in the house. Even if you weren’t brought to tears, they got a little moist, right?
Her trip to the past for the first time Brady visited Port Haven obviously has significance, but we won’t know how much until we see how she handles his visit in the present.
Alice looked at her parents’ date with a bit of disdain and incredulity, but Kat saw it with pleasure. She holds those memories dear, and they didn’t disappoint.
She was most shocked to discover that Elliot had known about Alice all that time without telling her. Evan Williams has it all worked out in his mind why Elliot held that secret so tightly, but it’s still shocking that he managed it.
With what he knew about time, why didn’t he become a quantum physicist instead of a teacher? Maybe he studied it. Did he study the pond for clues as to its magical properties? Did he research local history to get an indication if others in the Landry family ever left for significant periods of time?
Kat’s initial reaction when she saw Elliot was to be angry for keeping the secret, but after Del thanked him for everything, Kat did too. She also saw at the movie theater how disappointed Elliot was that Kat was so into Brady.
If she didn’t know how Elliot felt about her before, she must know now. How will that impact her just as Brady returns and she’s started something — whatever that something is — with Andy?
There she is! The makeout queen of the lobster social.
Del
She’s got the beginning of her relationship with Brady fresh in her mind, so how will that affect his visit? Alice already began questioning him about the past. Did he really return to see Alice, or did her inquiry kick up dust about Kat for him, too?
It’s fantastic that Kat’s first thought after her initial adventure was how it could help her reconnect with Alice. Wanting to be best friends was probably too much to ask, but knowing they have had that experience before means everything.
If it was me who traveled through time to my youth, I’d be reconsidering every aspect of my life. It worked for Peggy in Peggy Sue Got Married. Seeing things in a different light alters everything and washes away your jaded outlook and cynicism that creeps in as you grow older.
Before we go, I have to ask. Do tourists visiting coastal towns really not understand a lobster? I would have smacked Rita had she tried taking mine away. She can have it after I’ve sucked the life out of every nook and cranny.
That scene shook me to my lobster and crab-loving core! Nobody touches my seafood. Nobody! Haha!
With “What’s My Age Again,” The Way Home has become must-see TV.
The prospect of how the past influences your present is ripe for storytelling possibilities. This is only the first season, and the hope is there will be more.
Let your imagination run wild, and share your thoughts with me in the comments below.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.
CBS is heading to the skies this weekend to promote Sunday’s Grammys. The Eye network partnered with the Recording Academy last night to produce two unannounced drone light shows on Friday night above the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Another show will take place on Saturday night at 7 p.m. PT over the Los Angeles Trade Tech College, just South of the 110/10 interchange in Downtown Los Angeles.
According to CBS, the 13 minute-long shows feature 400 drones using colorful lights in the night sky to display key lyrics from the Grammy-nominated releases in the album of the year category. (As seen in the video below, that included songs by Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Lizzo, Beyoncé, Adele and Kendrick Lamar). Rotating musical images also included the Grammys gramophone.
The network said the drones are operated by one pilot and the displays are 400 feet high and 530 feet wide, which made them viewable for many miles.
“What we really we wanted to create something that would be a spectacle, and the team came up with what we think is a really cool idea,” said CBS president and chief marketing officer Mike Benson. “The thing that you can do the technology now with drones, where you can actually group them together and fly them in formation, is pretty spectacular.”
Benson says he hopes CBS caught folks a bit by surprise on Friday night, and that it might live on through social media. “Where social social media really allows you to scale things is in areas where there’s a large population,” he said. “A few people capture it and put it out there. And if it looks cool, they share it. Then it scales globally for us. And so that’s why we’re always looking for the types of things that people want to capture and share.
“We want people to be able to connect what we’re doing directly to the music and the artists and the Grammys,” Benson added. “We think the way we’re executing that will make it happen.”
The 65th Grammy Awards, hosted by Trevor Noah, airs live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, on CBS and streamed live on Paramount+.
Introduced by Billy Crystal — who gave a shoutout to his legendary producer uncle, Milt Gabler — Wonder took the stage. Backed by the group WanMor, he took the crowd through the Temptations’ “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” Robinson then joined the stage for “Tears of a Clown,” which he co-wrote with Wonder and Hank Cosby in 1967.
For the finale, Stapleton joined for “Higher Ground,” sporting a cowboy hat with a turquoise stone. They jammed towards the end, with Stapleton shredding on guitar, as everyone from Shania Twain to Chris Martin danced in the audience.
The performance capped off a big Grammy weekend for Robinson, who was honored as a 2023 MusiCares Person of the Year, along with Motown founder Berry Gordy. The pair were fêted with a special tribute concert on Friday, Feb. 3, which featured performances from John Legend, the Isley Brothers, Michael McDonald, Brandi Carlile, Dionne Warwick, Sheryl Crow, Chloe x Halle, and more.
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Robinson also recently announced his first album of all new material since 2009, Gasms (yes, seriously), which is set to arrive April 28. The singer has shared one song from the album so far, “If We Don’t Have Each Other.”
As for Stapleton, he was nominated for just one Grammy this year, Best Country Song for “I’ll Love You Till the Day I Die,” a collaboration with Willie Nelson. Wonder, meanwhile, has 25 total Grammys to his name; his last one came in 2007 for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for a rendition of “For Once in My Life” with Tony Bennett.
It has been a long road for Cameroon’s Cyrielle Raingou, the director of documentary “Le Spectre de Boko Haram,” about children growing up surrounded by terrorist organization Boko Haram, winner of the Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam’s Tiger Award.
“Life can be crazy, no?,” she tells Variety after her win.
Initially following a different protagonist, Raingou decided to scrap the entire project in order to, she says, tell the story she wanted to tell.
“Le Spectre de Boko Haram”
Courtesy of IFFR
“It was very, very hard. I dedicated three years of my life to that and spent all my development funds. But it just wasn’t right! I was really depressed at that moment. Still, I knew I had to stick to that decision.”
In “Le Spectre de Boko Haram,” Raingou shows daily life that goes on despite constant threat, hidden away in the nearby mountains. The film was produced by Dieudonné Alaka and Veronique Holley for Tara Group and Label Vidéo.
“It’s like having all these beautiful apples, knowing that one is rotten. That’s how it feels over there. Everything seems perfect – for one day. But then you hear gunshots, explosions. These people stay, because it’s also their way of resistance. Of saying: ‘This place belongs to me and you won’t drive me away.’”
Raingou decided to focus on children this time around, eager to hear their stories. Falta is dealing with the loss of her father, brothers Ibrahim and Mohamed miss their parents and slowly open up about what happened to them.
“Children don’t have a filter,” she notes.
“They will tell you how they see things and everything comes straight from the heart. When I talked to adults, it was different. There were many complaints and explanations.”
Also because, she notes, local people have grown wary of documentary filmmakers.
“Whenever there are cameras in Africa, they are there to point out misery and poverty. I grew up in a little village [in the same region] and assumed that everything beautiful and inspiring would come from the outside. From the Western world,” she says.
“Conflicts, UNICEF – these were the images from Africa I grew up with. You don’t want to live in a place like that, so I studied, I was the best at everything. My family wasn’t rich, so this was my chance to get out.”
Now, she lives in Paris.
“I want foreign filmmakers to think about that. You might be coming to Africa with the best intentions, but by repeating [these images] you are destroying people’s imagination and dreams.”
Raingou wanted to show joy in her film, not just fear, family bonds and tenderness.
“I want people to see the whole picture,” she says.
“When I met Falta’s mother, for example, she was still grieving. But every time she talked about her husband, there was light in her eyes. She told her daughter how they met, how he would walk her home. She never shared it before because it’s a taboo to talk about your relationship. But also because no one asked.”
In her next project, fiction film “I’m Coming for You,” Raingou will focus solely on women, on a young mother who survives by trading with Boko Haram terrorists. Once exposed, and banished from her village, she loses her baby as well.
“It will be wilder. I am creating a community where women are supporting each other,” she says.
“She embarks on a journey to find her child and that’s when she meets them, fighting against Boko Haram and the domination of men.” While still in early stages, it already won Raingou Munich Film Up!’s Kirch Foundation Award last year.
Still, as she reveals, she is not quite ready to move on from “Le Spectre de Boko Haram,” desperate to find two young protagonists who are now missing.
“I don’t have a choice! I am still involved in their lives; it didn’t just stop after I finished shooting. We want to find these boys, also because they need a family, they need education. No, we are not done and we will never be done,” she stresses.
“I promised Falta’s mother I will pay for her kids’ studies. I am who I am today because I had that chance. My mission isn’t over.”
For over 25 years, Elizabeth Popowich has been at the centre of hundreds of cases for the Regina Police Service. As a member of the communications team, Popowich was a constant through social media, press releases and speaking at community events.
Popowich is officially retiring from her position, and while she was not directly responding to crimes, she was the one to report them.
Global News sat down with Popowich to reflect on her time with Regina Police, as well as look at how policing has changed over the last three decades.
Q: How you are feeling about retiring? This must be a bittersweet moment.
A: You know, bittersweet is really the perfect word for it because I’m ready to retire. I haven’t made a big deal out of it, but I tell people that I actually am a senior citizen so I can retire. And I’ve come to the end of 25 years with the Regina police service and so it seems like the right time.
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But I am really going to miss the people and the work and the connections in the community because over the years I’ve gotten to do so many things and so many events out in the community that I’ve forged some really lovely friendships there that I know will continue.”
Q: And what are some of the moments or events from your career that will stick with you?
A: “You know, it’s tough because the conclusion of an investigation, again, the word bittersweet comes to mind because you can say that we’ve solved it. Someone is charged and will be held accountable in the courts. But you always know that it began with something tragic and traumatic. And so you always have mixed feelings about it.
I would say that some of the things that really stand out for me are probably the cases that are still unsolved because we would like nothing more than to be able to give answers to the families of victims or the families of someone who is missing.”
Q: How do you reflect on your over 25-year career here?
A: “The Regina police service has given me amazing opportunities to learn about my own privilege and how I might take steps to make the world more equitable. One of our former chiefs, Cal Johnston, used to say that ‘the goal is always to have a community where all people live well together.’ And I know that that’s not the reality right now. And so, we all have a lot of work to do as a society. And I give credit to this place for teaching me that.”
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Province, Sask. NDP trade barbs five years after Moe takes office
Shania Twain has been on a roll lately and her latest look for the 2023 Grammy Awards was absolutely gorgeous. The 57-year-old slayed the red carpet when she wore a black and white polka dot suit with black sequins, a matching witch hat, and bright red hair.
Shania Twain at the 2023 Grammy Awards. (CBS)
Shania’s suit featured a fitted blazer with a plunging black corset top underneath that revealed ample cleavage. She tucked the corset into a pair of tight, high-waisted silk trousers with super wide legs. Shania accessorized with a matching, tall witch hat and bright red long hair with front bangs. A bold red lip and a diamond choker necklace tied her quirky look together.
Shania has been rocking a slew of fabulous outfits lately to promote her new album, Queen of Me. Just the other day she graced the cover of InStyle magazine when she rocked a black gown with a massive sculptural skirt and a corset bodice that had a plunging neckline.
One of our favorite photos from the shoot pictured Shania wearing a bright orange Diesel dress that zipped down the entire front and she chose to go braless underneath, revealing ample cleavage. She styled the dress with skintight white Diesel boots and Sophie Buhai rings.
Another one of our favorite photos pictured Shania in a completely see-through nude David Koma mini dress that revealed her underwear beneath the thin skirt. On top of the mini dress, she rocked a leather Luar jacket and she topped her look off with over-the-knee metallic Tamara Mellon boots and Sophie Buhai earrings.
At a Waffle House in Georgia, the customer is not always right.
The fast-food restaurant was inundated last month with orders for a waffle sandwich that wasn’t on the menu — but was on TikTok. According to videos on TikTok, Waffle House posted handwritten signs pleading with customers to stop ordering a special combo they had seen on social media: “Order from the menu,” one sign read. “We are not making anything you saw on TikTok!!”
After TikTok exploded with Waffle House menu hacks, this store refused to make off-menu items. (Video: Bryant Xavier Crawford via TikTok)
Two weeks earlier, @shantellxoxo posted a TikTok video about how she had satisfied a pregnancy craving by ordering a Texas bacon melt with waffles instead of bread. The combination was so amazing that it could only be described using expletives. Her video got more than 6.3 million views, and TikTok users soon overwhelmed their local Waffle Houses with requests for the sandwich, which costs about $20.
This happens often: People post online about their favorite items or custom orders at chain restaurants. These food reviews can spread quickly, leading to overwhelmed employees, chaos at fast-food establishments and ingredient shortages.
Njeri Boss, vice president of public relations at Waffle House, said the Norcross, Ga., company wants to take care of its customers and did not instruct workers to deny orders for the waffle sandwich. The TikTok creator @shantellxoxo did not respond to requests for comment.
Some chain restaurants have figured out how to deal with these social media boosts. But for unprepared companies, going viral can cause more pain than profit. Here’s how several brands have dealt with it.
Alexis Frost, who’s 38 and based in San Jose, sparked the craze for quesadillas with steak and fajita veggies inside, dipped in Chipotle vinaigrette mixed with sour cream. The idea came from a follower of hers who was a Chipotle employee.Keith Lee, then a popular TikTok food reviewer, gave it a rare “ten out of ten.” A new TikTok food trend was born.
Frost, whose video has about 1.9 million views, said the way the Chipotle worker had suggested the dish convinced her to try it. “They said it would taste like a Philly cheesesteak,” she noted. “And it really does.”
This became an issue for some Chipotle locations when the orders kept workers from their usual pace, according to Chris Brandt, the company’s chief marketing officer. A Chipotle service manager who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution said increased demand for items like fajita veggies and vinaigrette, which require a lot of prep time, makes overworked employees’ jobs even harder.
One of the latest menu hacks seen on TikTok is a steak and fajita quesadilla from Chipotle. (Video: Alexis Frost via TikTok)
Chipotle initially told workers to be selective about complying with orders for the $12.55 fajita quesadilla. Some stores began to deny the dish, putting out signs that read: “Protein and cheese only on quesadilla!”
Chandler, the fast-food author, notes that while social media trends offerthe potential for increased revenue, they can cause problems. “Service has slowed down, in part because people have started modifying their orders. So we’re looking at a context where fast food is becoming less fast,” Chandler said.
“Our employees are one to accommodate the guest,” Brandt said. “They have a can-do attitude toward everything, and we kind of need to protect them from themselves a little bit.”
The company hired Lee and Frost in January to record an official TikTok notifying customers to stop ordering the dish. However, it will officially be available in March.
TikTok’s impact doesn’t stop at secret menus — it can drive demand for regular menu items, too. Danielle Zaslavsky had a small following on TikTok, where she posted about travel and fashion. In September, she posted a video raving about Joe and the Juice’s $10.20 “tunacado” sandwich, which reached more than 1.6 million views and vastly grew her following.
“When I shared [the video], the intention was not to blow it up, but just the pure enjoyment of a good tuna sandwich that I like and eat multiple times a week,” Zaslavsky said in an email.
TikTok influencer Danielle Zaslavsky makes a Tunacado sandwich at Joe and the Juice. (Video: Danielle Zaslavsky via TikTok)
This video had tangible results for Joe and the Juice, a coffee and juice bar. “We could see a clear carry-over to the sales of our tunacado,” said the company’s global brand and communications director, Kasper Garnell, who noted that in the months after Zaslavsky first posted about the sandwich, sales of the item rose 58 percent.
On the downside, it was hard to keep up with orders. “We were literally running out of ingredients to put in our tunacado,” Garnell said. “We had a couple weeks of tuna shortage … and there were key stores that had doubled or tripled the sale in tuna sandwiches.”
Garnell noted that Joe and the Juice now understands the value of content spreading organically.
After her initial video, the company invited Zaslavsky to film a TikTok video where she made a sandwich with a Joe and the Juice team member at a company kitchen in New York. Since then, former Joe and the Juice workers have leaked the recipe on TikTok.
Momofuku chili oil and tinned fish
Zaslavsky’s influence didn’t stop there. She has another popular video of her eating her favorite snack: a corn crisp cracker topped with one smoked mussel and chili crunch sauce drizzled on top.With more than 2.2 million views and endless videos of TikTokers re-creating the eccentric snack, the ingredients — Momofuku chili sauce,Craize corn chips and canned seafood from Patagonia Provisions and Scout — are now in demand.
Patagonia Provisions, an extension of Patagonia that sells tinned seafoods, said demand for their $8 tins of smoked mussels increased threefold since Zaslavsky posted the TikTok.“We sold out of smoked mussels online within two weeks of the video being posted,” said Jessica Davis, a spokesperson for Patagonia Provisions. Patagonia Provisions decided not to rush to meet rising demand, Davis added, because doing so would have an adverse environmental impact.
Scout, another tinned fish brand available at Whole Foods, reported that after the initial video in November, canned mussel sales more than doubled.
TikTok influencer Danielle Zaslavsky tries Patagonia Provisions with a dash of Momofuku’s chili crunch. (Video: Danielle Zaslavsky via TikTok)
The week after Zaslavsky’s video, Momofuku reported a 30 percent spike in sales of its products at Whole Foods, where Zaslavsky had directed her followers to find the $13 chili crunch, said Ryan Healy, Momofuku’s brand and marketing vice president.
“It’s not the way we set out to do this, but she’s bringing more people into our world,” Healy said.
Healy said Momofuku was thrilled to see the product being used in ways the company never anticipated. Consumers have started Facebook groups for their favorite ways to eat Momofuku’s chili sauce, including spreading it on ice cream and topping salads with the crunch mixed with brown sugar and mustard.
“We see [TikTok trends] as a positive thing and hopefully broaden people’s minds — to help change the way people eat and eat more adventurously,” Healy said.
EXCLUSIVE: In the snowy expanses of Montana’s Big Sky Country, dozens of Indigenous young women and girls have gone missing in the past decade. Yet hardly anything has been done about it.
The new documentary series Murder in Big Horn, premiering on Showtime today, exposes a deeply disturbing set of circumstances where “arrests are rare in these cases and convictions virtually non-existent. When grieving Native families press law enforcement for answers, they are met with either indifference or silence.”
The three-part series is co-directed by Razelle Benally, an Oglala Lakota/Diné filmmaker, and Matthew Galkin. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this month. Benally spoke with Deadline in Park City, noting, “I myself had always felt so strongly about this issue, being a Native girl growing into a Native woman, this fear of being stolen, disappearing or being murdered has always been my reality. And I have always included an element of social justice in my work. So, to be part of directing this documentary series was just an extension of something I was already doing as a director and filmmaker.”
We’ve got your first look at a clip from the series above. The excerpt reveals that one of the main factors complicating investigation of missing or murdered women is the tangle of jurisdictions over Indigenous communities, ranging from federal agencies to tribal authorities.
“For a crime that’s committed on tribal lands, federal law enforcement – the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs – have jurisdiction,” attorney Mary Kathryn Nagle explains in the clip. “BIA law officers would be the ones who would show up immediately at a crime scene and then FBI would be called in. But the BIA cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians when they commit crimes on tribal lands. And, so, when we live on our tribal lands in our homes our own government cannot protect us from basically any crime committed by a non-Indian.”
The series is produced by Razelle Benally, Ivan MacDonald and Ivy MacDonald. Executive producers are Matthew Galkin and Vinnie Malhotra. The director of photography is Jeff Hutchens; the series is edited by David Mehlman and Fanny Lee. Laura Ortman composed the music.
British costume designer Sandy Powell will be honoured at this year’s BAFTA Film Awards with a Fellowship – the arts charity’s highest honour, and the first time it has gone to a costume designer.
Powell – who has three Oscars to her name for Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator and The Young Victoria – will be presented with the accolade at the ceremony taking place in London on Sunday February 19, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film.
She has been mastering her craft for more than three decades, with her body of work also including: The Favourite, Interview with a Vampire,The Crying Game, Mary Poppins Returns, Cinderella, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman and Velvet Goldmine.
Powell received her first BAFTA and Oscar nominations for Orlando, going on to win three BAFTA Awards for Best Costume Design from five nominations.
As part of her Fellowship, she will work with upcoming costume designers through BAFTA’s talent programme.
On receiving her Fellowship, Powell says:
“I am hugely flattered to receive the BAFTA Fellowship and especially proud to be the first Costume Designer. I am lucky in that I love what I do and have been extremely fortunate to have collaborated with some of the most talented and inspirational people in the industry both behind and in front of the camera. I look forward to many more years to come.”
Jane Millichip, BAFTA’s CEO, says:
“Sandy Powell is not only a great designer, she is a great storyteller. Her costumes are mesmerising in their beauty, but they also interpret narrative brilliantly and provide the infrastructure for character. For more than three decades, Sandy has raised awareness for the craft of costume design in film and provided a spotlight for designers in the act of filmmaking. We look forward to honouring Sandy’s work this month at our EE BAFTA Film Awards and to working with her over the next year to inspire the next generation of costume designers and storytellers.”
Fresh reports claim that Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani will be getting married on February 7 instead of February 6. Kit Harington and Rose Leslie had welcomed their first baby in January 2021.
Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani are in Jaisalmer to get married. While it was first reported that the couple was marrying on February 6, Monday, in the regal ceremony, it is now being reported that the couple is getting married on February 7. Kiara and Sidharth are yet to comment on the reports.
Game of Thrones stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie are about to become a family of four. Harington, 36, announced that he and his wife, 35, are expecting their second child together – over two years after the birth of their son.
Ever since Rakhi Sawant made her relationship official with her husband Adil Khan Durrani, their tumultuous relationship has been hitting the headlines. The actress, earlier this week, levelled some severe accusations against Adil. The 44-year-old had claimed that her ‘marriage is in danger’ as her husband was involved in an extramarital affair. And on Saturday night, her husband reacted with a message of his own.Adil took to Instagram on Saturday night to share his reaction to Rakhi Sawant’s cheating allegations. He accused her of mistreating him too.
Shah Rukh Khan’s first co-star Renuka Shahane is on her way to watch Pathaan. Interestingly, her actor-husband Ashutosh Rana shared the screen with SRK in the film and played the role of Col Luthra. The actress shared a photo with Rana and wrote that she is going to watch Pathaan and King Khan had the most adorable response to it as usual.
Jennifer Lawrence will be seen in the film Murder Mystery 2 with Adam Sandler and the trailer was released earlier this week. While the clip was full of humour and mystery, what attracted desi fans, even more, was Jennifer wearing a Manish Malhotra lehenga. The actress donned an ivory lehenga from Manish’s Mijwan collection. Now, the ace designer took to social media to express his feelings about the same.
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Marco Rubio’s “Biden doesn’t know what he’s doing” balloon of hot air got popped Sunday when “This Week” host Jonathan Karl told him that former President Donald Trump let a Chinese spy balloon fly over the U.S. three times during his administration and did nothing.
Karl set up the exchange with the Republican senator from Florida saying that President Biden ordered the massive balloon shot down based on the advice of the military – when it was over the ocean rather than overpopulated land. Although Rubio agreed that “shooting something out of the sky that is the size of three buses and it lands on the wrong place,” falling debris could have “hurt, harmed or killed people” on the ground, he went on to criticize Biden for not telling the American people what they were dealing with.
“If that was the case, then I think it really would have been helpful for the President of the United States to get on national television and explain to the American people, ‘This is what we’re dealing with, this is what I’m going to do about it, and this is why I haven’t done it yet,’” Rubio said. “None of that happened. And I don’t know why. I don’t know why they waited so long to tell people about this if they knew the trajectory it was on since last week.”
Karl let Rubio complete his thought and then spoke up, nonchalantly informing Rubio that what he is criticizing Biden for doing, Trump did three times during his administration.
“This happened three times under the previous president,” Karl said. “Obviously, there were no public notifications there.”
You can watch the entire exchange in the clip above.
To get you up to speed, Wednesday, defense officials in the U.S. and Canada announced that what appeared to be a surveillance balloon the size of three busses originating from China had been spotted floating in the stratosphere 31 miles above Montana and far above commercial air traffic. It was said to contain some kind of “technology bay,” meaning it had electronic equipment of some kind.
Wednesday, President Biden order it to be shot down but doing so was delayed until it was over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina to ensure no one on the ground was hurt.
“Rust” director Joel Souza has been named as one of the 44 witnesses selected by prosecutors for the involuntary manslaughter trial against the film’s actor-producer Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in connection to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Souza was wounded in the incident that accidentally killed Hutchins when a gun being held by Baldwin discharged. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have each been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, the first charge carrying a maximum prison sentence of 18 months while the second charge, which has a firearm enhancement and requires prosecutors to prove guilt beyond criminal negligence, carries a maximum of five years in prison. Prosecutors are giving a future jury the option to decide which count they wish to focus on in deliberations.
Along with detectives and FBI forensics experts who have investigated the incident, the witness list, which can be read here, also includes “Rust” script supervisor Maime Mitchell, who was present when Hutchins and Souza were shot; Sarah Zachry, the production’s prop master; and Seth Kenney, the armorer mentor who recommended Gutierrez-Reed to be armorer for “Rust” and who supplied firearms for the production.
Also on the witness list is Lane Luper, a first camera assistant on the production who, among several other crew members, resigned in protest the day before Hutchins’ death. In an email to “Rust” producers announcing his resignation, Luper denounced the lax safety measures during shooting, saying that there had been three accidental firearm discharges.
One witness who is not testifying is first assistant director David Halls, who according to witness testimony to law enforcement was the one who handed Baldwin the gun and said that it was a “cold gun,” meaning that it was not loaded with live rounds. Halls struck a plea agreement with prosecutors to avoid further charges that remains sealed.
Preliminary hearings for the trial are set to be held on February 24. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed, who have denied all wrongdoing through their legal representatives, are expected to appear via videoconferencing.
The weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day are for watching rom-coms and holiday-themed sitcom episodes. This year, we’re in for a treat with Abbott Elementary‘s “Valentine’s Day” episode airing February 8. And what better way to prepare than by revisiting another beloved workplace mockumentary’s take on the holiday? Head to Peacock or bust out the DVD box sets and treat yourself to The Office Season 2, Episode 16, “Valentine’s Day” to see Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration (Robert R. Shafer) shower Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) with gifts; Roy (David Denman) royally screw things up with Pam (Jenna Fischer); and Michael (Steve Carell) head to New York to meet David Wallace (Andy Buckley). One of the series’ most underrated episodes, “Valentine’s Day” gifts several fan-favorite quotes, Michael’s big Sbarro scene, Dwight’s (Rainn Wilson) bobblehead, a Charles Esten cameo, and Ryan’s (BJ Novak) glorious “I hooked up with her on February 13th” meme. What’s not to love?
Pedro Pascal joined yet another iconic franchise in this “Saturday Night Live” parody sketch.
The massive success of “The Last of Us” seems to have definitively settled the debate about turning acclaimed video games into movies and TV shows. While many game adaptations have failed in the past — and plenty will inevitably fail in the future — Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, and the entire “Last of Us” creative team have proved that it’s possible to succeed in the formerly cursed subgenre.
So what video game is next in line for the prestige HBO drama treatment? If “Saturday Night Live” gets its way, it’ll be “Mario Kart.” In a parody sketch starring this week’s host Pedro Pascal, the sketch show imagined a post-apocalyptic take on the beloved racing game.
Pascal plays a grizzled version of the iconic Italian plumber, who is tasked with smuggling Princess Peach (Chloe Fineman) to Rainbow Road through the dangerous wasteland once known as the Mushroom Kingdom. “Karting out here isn’t a game. If we’re going to make it, we’re going to need all the help we can get,” Pascal says before enlisting the help of Luigi, who warns them about massive sentient fungi known as Goombas.
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Once the crew is assembled, they set off on their harrowing journey with the villainous Bowser trailing close behind. The world has little in common with the colorful racetracks from the Nintendo games, as the producers of “The Last of Us” have brought all of the show’s signature stylistic elements to the fictional series. “All of your favorite wacky racers are reimagined as complex, dramatic HBO characters,” the trailer’s narrator boasts as he reveals that both Yoshi and Toad are bisexual in the fictional series.
The trailer teases many of the obstacles that Mario and Peach will face along the way, including murderous plants and turtle shells and his own battle with drug abuse. But despite all of the danger, the two unlikely friends have no choice but to keep going.
“What if we crash?” Peach asks Mario, who responds that “A little guy with a cloud comes and uses a fishing pole to put you back on the road.”
“WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn” dissects the company that soared on the charisma of its co-founder Adam Neumann until its bubble burst. Filmmaker Jed Rothstein (“The China Hustle”) interviews WeWork insiders and journalists to tell a story of financial chicanery that fits alongside recent documentaries on the Fyre festival and Theranos.
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis said Sunday he is planning to visit India next year and is studying a possible trip to Mongolia later in 2023 in what would be a first for a pope.
Francis outlined his upcoming travel schedule during his flight back to Rome from South Sudan.
He confirmed that he would be in Lisbon, Portugal for World Youth Day the first week of August and would participate in a Sept. 23 meeting of Mediterranean bishops in Marseille, France.
He said there was “the possibility” that he would fly from Marseille to Mongolia, which would be a first for a pope.
Looking further ahead, Francis said he thought he would visit India in 2024, after plans for a trip in 2017 fell apart.
Francis spoke to reporters after a six-day visit to Congo and South Sudan, where he was joined in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields.
The Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian leaders made a novel joint visit to push South Sudan’s political leaders to make progress on implementing a stalled 2018 peace accord that ended a civil war following the country’s 2011 independence from Sudan.
Welby and Greenshields joined Francis aboard the papal plane back and took part in his airborne news conference, during which they were asked if they would be willing to join Francis on future trips too.
Welby said he would be “delighted to” if it might be helpful, joking that the papal plane was “the best airline I’ve ever flown on.”
Greenshields also was keen but noted his mandate ends in May.
In a nod to the nearly all-male Vatican delegation that accompanies Francis on his foreign trips, Greenshields pointed out that he would be replaced by “a very capable woman” as moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rev. Sally Foster-Fulton, an American. The Church of Scotland has had ordained female ministers since the 1960s.
“She would be delighted to do the same thing,” he said.
The Vatican delegation, made up mostly of cardinals and bishops, traditionally only includes one woman: a protocol expert in the Vatican secretariat of state. On this trip, Francis also invited as his personal guest a Congolese nun.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
“Ima boss ass bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch?? #FYC,” Lizzo captioned a compilation of photos via Instagram from her red carpet debut with Wright in June 2022. The social media post included snaps of the couple smiling at a “For Your Consideration” event in Los Angeles.
Long before the “Cuz I Love You” singer’s official debut with her boyfriend, Lizzo was candid about how a heartbreak changed her perspective on her future. “It’s different now,” the rapper, whose real name is Melissa Jefferson, shared during an interview with The Sunday Times in March 2020. “Like, my relationship with my family, I’m working on that. I open myself up to friendships. I open myself up to the idea of children, which is big for me, because my albums are my babies.¿
At the time, the Grammy winner recalled being certain she would have “no children” and “only two friends” before the split. “As f–ked up as it sounds, I needed that heartbreak experience. I’m not sad, because I use the pain so constructively. The pain is human experience,” she explained while discussing her romantic history.
One year later, the Michigan native sparked dating rumors after she was spotted packing on the PDA with Wright. The duo continued to enjoy outings and were photographed grabbing dinner together throughout the year.
Lizzo later joked about the fan speculation when it comes to her love life during a monologue on Saturday Night Live. “They think I’m collecting members of One Direction like Infinity Stones,” the “Juice” singer quipped in April 2022, referring to assumptions that she was “dating every little white boy in Hollywood.”
The Hustlers actress added: “I even heard a rumor that I’m pregnant with Chris Evans‘ baby. … It could [have started with] the TikTok I did where I said, ‘I’m pregnant with Chris Evans’ baby.’ Y’all, it’s called manifesting.”
That same month, Lizzo revealed that there was someone special in her life. “If you have the right person, no, not at all. [Fame is] not even a factor,” she shared during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, confirming her relationship status to host Andy Cohen. “It should be mutually supportive no matter what that person does.”
The “Good As Hell” singer also hinted that her boyfriend showed his support during her SNL hosting gig. “You get the scoop, don’t you?” she replied after being asked if her boyfriend was backstage at the taping.
Two months later, Lizzo and Wright made their relationship Instagram official.
Scroll down to relive Lizzo’s low-key romance with Wright:
Jason Derulo and The Black Keys are set to headline the third annual NFL TikTok Tailgate livestream on the short-form video app on Sunday, Feb. 12, prior to Super Bowl LVII.
In addition to the music performances, the livestream (at @NFL on TikTok) will feature NFL special guests and TikTok creators, as well as gameday predictions, commentary and more. Portions of Derulo’s and the Black Keys’ performances will be televised during Fox’s Super Bowl LVII Pregame Show.
The NFL TikTok Tailgate, taking place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., will be hosted by celebrity couple Allison Rochell (@allisonkuch) and Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Isaac Rochell (@isaacrochell). Guests slated to make appearances include comedian and YouTube creator Liza Koshy (@lizzza), media personality Josh Richards (@joshrichards), stylist Carla Rockmore (@carlarockmore), creator couple Noelle Agcaoili (@noelleagcaoili) and Tyler Cefola (@tycefola), and more.
“Can’t wait to be a part of the TikTok Tailgate and put on an incredible show. It’s the countdown! Let’s go!” Derulo said in a statement. The Black Keys commented, “Words can’t express how honored and excited we are to have been asked by the NFL to join the Super Bowl festivities and perform at the TikTok Tailgate party. As longtime football fans, we couldn’t think of a better way to kick off Super Bowl Sunday. See you in Arizona.”
Derulo was early to jump on the TikTok train — and now has more than 57 million follows on the app. Derulo has had several songs trend on the platform, including “Swalla (ft. Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign),” which has over 5.2 million videos created using it. The Black Keys, hailing from Akron, Ohio, have just over 20,000 TikTok followers, where they have posted updates on new music, tour dates and ticket giveaways.
Alice Englert, writer and director of Sundance title “Bad Behaviour,” was accompanied by stars Ben Whishaw and Jennifer Connelly in the Variety Studio presented by Audible for an intimate look into the making of her first feature film.
“I did want it to be unhinged; I wanted it to go slightly off the rails,” Englert said, reflecting on her initial vision for the feature. “I wanted the kind of narrative that Lucy thought she was in to blow up, and then the rest of the story to kind of take place in the wreckage and the ruins.”
“Bad Behaviour” sees Lucy (Connelly), a former child actress, join her guru Elon Bello (Whishaw) at a reclusive mountain retreat, where she is forced to engage in mother/daughter role-playing exercises with a young influencer. The introspective experience kicks Lucy’s antics into full gear as she struggles to repress the dissatisfaction she feels in her relationship with her own daughter.
“She really is so convinced that she’s behaving in a way that is so different from the way she actually is behaving — like the world doesn’t meet her the way she perceives herself,” Connelly said of her character. “For me, what made all of her hideous behavior tolerable is the thing that she actually wants most is to be a good mom, to escape the legacy of what she learned from her mom and to love her daughter.”
Prior to her behind-the-screen debut, Englert took acting roles in projects like the Starz series “Dangerous Liaisons” and 2021’s “The Power of the Dog.” In “Bad Behaviour,” the director plays Lucy’s daughter, a stunt performer named Dylan. Englert says her past experience as a performer allowed her to bring a fresh perspective and renewed vitality to the craft of filmmaking and screenwriting.
“The stage directions are the funniest stage directions I’ve ever read in my life,” Whishaw said, admiring Englert’s work. “It was so vivid on the page.”
“Bad Behaviour” premiered on Jan. 21 at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for a grand jury prize.
The Grammys are similar to the Oscars in at least one respect this year — it’s a real contest in most of, if not all of the top fields. The question that’s shifted most lately is: Contest between whom? Last fall, Variety published a story raising the possibility that the 2023 awards could be a fight to the finish between Adele and Beyoncé, just as in 2017. But, speaking of “As It Was,” the sands seem to have shifted to where it’s now more widely seen as a contest between Beyoncé and Harry Styles in the three all-genre categories where all three artists are nominated — record of the year, song of the year and album of the year.
That’s not to say that Adele couldn’t still pull it off in one of those three top categories or even manage a sweep; she may remain a quiet favorite, especially among the older voters who used to serve as the silent majority (and now, with efforts to diversify and young-ify the Recording Academy, may be a strong, silent minority). But the tea leaves, and the conversations with real voters, lead us to believe that Styles has finally shed any boy-band stigma, come up from behind and gotten enough support to at least split top categories with Beyoncé. Adele, while hugely respected, is seen by many as having been sufficiently rewarded already — while neither Styles nor Beyoncé has ever won for record or album of the year. That’s especially remarkable in Beyoncé’s case: This year, she could shatter the record for the most Grammy wins of all time while never winning in one of the top four categories if we turn out to be wrong and she is again shut out in those.
Best new artist? That’s almost anyone’s guess, although, among the 10 nominees, it’s easy to at least rule out the half of them that even most Grammy voters had never heard. The winds look to favor Maneskin, Omar Apollo, Samara Joy, Anitta or Wet Leg — it may be a real photo finish between those five, though we can’t completely rule out a sixth candidate there, Muni Long.
The final predictions in select Grammy Awards categories are below:
Will Smith, Martin Lawrence reteaming for ‘Bad Boys’ sequel | The Star
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Sony Pictures announced Tuesday that the untitled “Bad Boys” sequel is in early pre-production
By The Associated Press
Wed., Feb. 1, 2023timer1 min. read
NEW YORK—Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are reteaming for a fourth “Bad Boys” movie, in one of Smith’s most high-profile new projects since the slap.
Sony Pictures announced Tuesday that the untitled “Bad Boys” sequel is in early pre-production. In a video posted on Instagram, Smith filmed himself driving to Lawrence’s house. Embracing at the door, Smith exclaims, “It’s about that time!”
Development on the “Bad Boys” sequel, which follows 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life,” was reportedly put on hold after Smith hit Chris Rock at last March’s Academy Awards. But last May, Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman disputed those reports.
“There weren’t any brakes to pump because the car wasn’t moving,” said Rothman. “That was a very unfortunate thing that happened, and I don’t think it’s really my place to comment, except to say that I’ve known Will Smith for many years, and I know him to be a good person. That was an example of a very good person having a very bad moment, in front of the world. I believe his apology and regret is genuine, and I believe in forgiveness and redemption.”
Shortly before the pandemic shuttered theaters, “Bad Boys for Life” was a box-office hit, grossing $426 million worldwide. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is returning for the fourth film, as are “Bad Boys For Life” directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.
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From his early success with “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable” to his mid-2000s dry spell that included “After Earth” and “The Last Airbender,” M. Night Shyamalan’s roller coaster of a career has taken him through every level of Hollywood. The multi-hyphenate has found renewed success in recent years directing mid-budget genre films like “Old” and “Knock at the Cabin,” but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped thinking about some of the bigger projects that he flirted with over the years. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Shyamalan reflected on some of the projects that he came close to directing over the course of his three decade career.
“I loved the book ‘Life of Pi,’ and I was going to make it. But Ang Lee made a beautiful movie from it. That was one that I wished I did,” Shyamalan said. “In between the first two movies I wrote a spec screenplay called ‘Labor of Love,’ and it became a giant bidding war in Hollywood. Fox then bought it, and they fired me as a director because I was a kid. I almost made it many, many times since, but at this point, I probably won’t ever make it.”
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But while every filmmaker has a few lost projects they wish had materialized, Shyamalan isn’t too upset about missing out on those two films. The director explained that he’s happy to have found a creative home at Universal where he can continue to develop original projects, an opportunity that is afforded to increasingly few filmmakers.
“They’ve been very good at letting us do our thing, and they’re just very kind people,” he said of Universal. “They have not shied away from the original movie, which has been to their great benefit. I wish the whole industry would embrace the original movie and bring it back. Once upon a time, the entire industry was geared solely toward original movies. Finding and supporting new voices that can reach large audiences used to be the major thing, and Universal has now made that a mandate.”
Pressman embraced multiple genres, from commercial studio fare to arcane art films. He cared about the movies, not the money.
Ed Pressman was cool. And he had taste. He didn’t care what other people thought of a given project. If he thought it was cool, that was enough. He kept his own counsel; he was quiet. But if he wanted something, he let you know. He was not one to take no for an answer.
This helps to explain how he came to produce some 80 films over the decades. And he had not slowed down in recent years. When Ed and his son Sam came to IndieWire’s Cannes party two years ago, Ed found a quiet corner and worked his phone. Pressman died January 17 of respiratory failure, at age 79.
Look at the friends who showed up to speak at his Memorial at the Paris Theatre in New York last Thursday: Mary Harron, David Byrne, and Eric Bogosian, among others, plus video tributes from David Hare, David Gordon Green, Bill Kramer, Ben Kingsley, Jason Blum, and more (see below).
“He was soft-spoken, thoughtful, unpretentious, and gentlemanly,” said ex-CAA chief Rick Nicita in his video tribute, who first met Pressman on Terrence Malick’s “Badlands” back in 1973. Pressman also backed then-unknown Brian DePalma’s early thriller “Sisters” (1972) , followed two years later by “Phantom of the Paradise.”
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Pressman was expected to follow in the family business at Pressman Toy Corporation, but he took his own course instead, studying philosophy at Stanford.
“He loved a special sort of individual film,” said Irons, who won an Oscar for Barbet Schroeder’s critically hailed “Reversal of Fortune” (1990). “He was a man of honesty you could trust, a rare man in our industry.”
When Abel Ferrara was ready to back down and give up when “Bad Lieutenant” (1992) ran into rough waters, “Ed never backed down,” he said. Ferrara is writing a book that Pressman is definitely in, he added.
Who else but Pressman would put musician David Byrne at the helm of a movie, “True Stories” (1986), written by Stephen Tobolowsky and Beth Henley and set in a small Texas town, starring John Goodman?
Back in the 80s, Ed and his wife Annie would host gatherings at his house in the Hollywood Hills, which boasted a splendid view and incredible art on the walls. They later moved to New York. I mostly hung out with him at Cannes, where he hosted a lunch at the Eden Roc at the Hotel du Cap for the Taviani brothers (“The Night of the Shooting Stars”), threw a party at a chum’s ancient family villa, and turned up every year to either premiere a film (“Bad Lieutenant,” “The King,” “Thank You for Smoking,” “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”) or gather funding for countless others (“The Crow”).
Pressman and Oliver Stone partnered on a number of films including his second feature film “The Hand,” and “Wall Street,” which scored at the box office and won Michael Douglas the Oscar. Stone and Pressman produced Arnold Schwarzenegger action epic “Conan” and the much smaller, but prophetic “Talk Radio,” as well as Kathryn Bigelow’s third feature, “Blue Steel,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis.
Christian Bale worked with Pressman on Harron’s “American Psycho,” and stayed in touch with the producer over the years. “He was an original and sought out other originals,” he said. “He loved vouching for people who were untested. Thank you for the stories.”
In lieu of flowers the Pressman family welcomes donations to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, “in Memory of Edward R. Pressman,” here.
(L to R) Rita Moreno plays Maura, Jane Fonda plays Trish, Sally Field plays Betty, and Lily Tomlin plays Lou in ’80 For Brady’ from Paramount Pictures.
Jane Fonda is Hollywood royalty and a living legend!
The daughter of Henry Fonda, and brother to Peter Fonda, Jane Fonda has been acting professionally since 1960, although she took a break in 1990 and did not return to the silver screen until 2005.
She has won two Academy Awards for Best Actress for her performances in 1971’s ‘Klute’ and 1978’s ‘Coming Home,’ and has appeared in a string of classics like ‘Barbarella,’ ‘On Golden Pond’ and ‘Nine to Five.’
In honor of the new film, Moviefone is counting down the top 25 movies of Jane Fonda’s career, including ’80 for Brady.’
Let’s begin!
Georgia Rule follows a rebellious, uncontrollable teenager (Lindsay Lohan) who is hauled off by her dysfunctional mother (Felicity Huffman) to spend the summer with her grandmother (Fonda). Her journey will lead all three women to revelations of buried family secrets and an understanding that – regardless what happens – the ties that bind can never be broken.
“Mother. Daughter. Grandmother. In this family, attitude doesn’t skip a generation.”
60
R1 hr 53 minMay 11th, 2007
Failed actress Alex Sternbergen (Fonda) wakes up hungover one morning in an apartment she does not recognize, unable to remember the previous evening — and with a dead body in bed next to her. As she tries to piece together the events of the night, Alex cannot totally rely on friends or her estranged husband, Joaquin (Raul Julia), for assistance. Only a single ally, loner ex-policeman Turner Kendall (Jeff Bridges), can help her escape her predicament and find the true killer.
“Last night she drank to forget. Today she woke up to a murder. Is he her last hope or the last man she should trust?”
62
R1 hr 42 minDec 25th, 1986
A former champion rodeo rider (Robert Redford) is reduced to using his saddle skills to promote a breakfast cereal in a gaudy Las Vegas show. When he’s asked to perform with a $12 million horse that he discovers is being doped to remain docile, he flees into the desert astride the beast in an act of defiance. A story-hungry female reporter (Fonda) gives chase.
In the midst of the Great Depression, manipulative emcee Rocky (Gig Young) enlists contestants for a dance marathon offering a $1,500 cash prize. Among them are a failed actress (Susannah York), a middle-aged sailor (Red Buttons), a delusional blonde (Fonda) and a pregnant girl (Bonnie Bedelia).
In the midst of the Great Depression, manipulative emcee Rocky enlists contestants for a dance marathon offering a $1,500 cash prize. Among them are a failed actress,… Read the Plot
Suddenly finding herself in the never-before-seen Land of Luck, the unluckiest person in the world (Eva Noblezada) must unite with the magical creatures there to turn her luck around. Featuring the voices of Fonda, Simon Pegg, and Whoopi Goldberg.
“Sometimes all you need is for everything to go wrong.”
79
G1 hr 45 minAug 4th, 2022
Addie Moore (Fonda) and Louis Waters (Robert Redford), a widow and widower, have lived next to each other for years. The pair have almost no relationship, but that all changes when Addie tries to make a connection with her neighbor.
An illiterate cook (Robert De Niro) at a company cafeteria tries for the attention of a newly widowed woman (Fonda). As they get to know one another, she discovers his inability to read. When he is fired, she takes on trying to teach him to read in her kitchen each night.
When school teacher Harriet Winslow (Fonda) goes to Mexico to teach, she is kidnapped by Gen. Tomas Arroyo (Jimmy Smits) and his revolutionaries. An aging American, Ambrose “Old Gringo” Bierce (Gregory Peck) also in Mexico, befriends Gen. Arroyo and meets Harriet. Bierce is a famous writer, who knowing that he is dying, wishes to keep his identity secret so he can determine his own fate.
Though he likes Arroyo, Bierce tries to provoke the General’s anger whenever possible in an attempt to get himself killed, thus avoiding suffering through his illness. Winslow is intrigued by both Bierce and Arroyo, and the men are in turn attracted to her. She becomes romantically involved with Arroyo. When Winslow learns of Bierce’s true identity (a writer whose work she has loved and respected for years), she is singlemindedly determined to fulfill his dying wish.
At the behest of an old and dear friend Julia (Vanessa Redgrave), playwright Lillian Hellman (Fonda) undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
“The story of two women whose friendship suddenly became a matter of life and death.”
67
PG1 hr 57 minOct 2nd, 1977
Paramount Pictures
Four lifelong friends (Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen) decide that their lives could change by becoming nasty and reading ‘Fifty Shades of Grey‘ in their monthly book club to get inspiration on how to handle sexual pleasure at an elderly age.
Two lifelong friends bond whilst vacationing in a luxury Swiss Alps lodge as they ponder retirement. While Fred (Michael Caine) has no plans to resume his musical career despite the urging of his loving daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz), Mick (Harvey Keitel) is intent on finishing the screenplay for what may be his last important film for his muse Brenda (Fonda). And where will inspiration lead their younger friend Jimmy (Paul Dano), an actor grasping to make sense of his next performance?
In this film based on a Neil Simon play, newlyweds Corie (Fonda), a free spirit, and Paul Bratter (Robert Redford), an uptight lawyer, share a sixth-floor apartment in Greenwich Village. Soon after their marriage, Corie tries to find a companion for her mother, Ethel (Mildred Natwick), who is now alone, and sets up Ethel with neighbor Victor (Charles Boyer). Inappropriate behavior on a double date causes conflict, and the young couple considers divorce.
When an upwardly mobile couple (Fonda and George Segal) find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
A woman (Fonda) seeking revenge for her murdered father (John Marley) hires a famous gunman (Lee Marvin), but he’s very different from what she expects.
“It’s That Way-Out Whopper Of A Funny Western…A She-Bang To End All She-Bangs!”
64
NR1 hr 37 minJun 24th, 1965
New Line Cinema
Office temp Charlotte Cantilini (Jennifer Lopez) thinks she’s found Mr. Right when she starts dating gorgeous surgeon Dr. Kevin Fields (Michael Vartan). But there’s a problem standing in the way of everlasting bliss: Kevin’s overbearing and controlling mother, Viola (Fonda). Fearing she’ll lose her son’s affections forever, Viola decides to break up the happy couple by becoming the world’s worst mother-in-law.
As the brothers and sisters re-examine their shared history and the status of each tattered relationship among those who know and love them best, they reconnect in hysterically funny and emotionally significant ways.
Inspired by the true story of four best friends (Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field) living life to the fullest when they take a wild trip to the 2017 Super Bowl LI to see their hero Tom Brady play.
80 FOR BRADY is inspired by the true story of four best friends living life to the fullest when they take a wild trip to the 2017 Super Bowl LI to see their hero… Read the Plot
A look at the life of Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) who served eight presidents as the White House’s head butler from 1952 to 1986, and had a unique front-row seat as political and racial history was made.
While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells (Fonda) witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret. Also starring Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, and Wilford Brimley.
In the far future, a highly sexual woman (Fonda) is tasked with finding and stopping the evil Durand-Durand (Milo O’Shea). Along the way she encounters various unusual people.
The wife of a Marine (Bruce Dern) serving in Vietnam, Sally Hyde (Fonda) decides to volunteer at a local veterans hospital to occupy her time. There she meets Luke Martin (Jon Voight), a frustrated wheelchair-bound vet who has become disillusioned with the war. Sally and Luke develop a friendship that soon turns into a romance.
Fonda won her second of two Academy Awards for Best Actress for this performance.
“A man who believed in war! A man who believed in nothing! And a woman who believed in both of them!”
71
R2 hr 7 minFeb 15th, 1978
The wife of a Marine serving in Vietnam, Sally Hyde decides to volunteer at a local veterans hospital to occupy her time. There she meets Luke Martin, a frustrated… Read the Plot
For Norman (Henry Fonda) and Ethel Thayer (Katharine Hepburn), this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea (Fonda) arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.
A high-priced call girl (Fonda) is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye (Donald Sutherland) when she is stalked by a psychopath (Charles Cioffi). Fonda won her first of two Academy Awards for Best Actress for her performance.
“You’d never take her for a call girl. You’d never take him for a cop.”
68
R1 hr 54 minJun 25th, 1971
20th Century Fox
Frank Hart (Dabney Coleman) is a pig. He takes advantage in the grossest manner of the women who work with him. When his three assistants (Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton) manage to trap him in his own house they assume control of his department and productivity leaps, but just how long can they keep Hart tied up?
Pedro Pascal and Sarah Paulson have officially accepted their roles as society’s “daddy” and “mommy” respectively. The latter showed up as a surprise guest on “Saturday Night Live” this week, in an effort to help Pascal understand the many fan edit videos made of him.
The sketch starts at a school assembly, in which students are being informed of the latest technology guidelines they must follow, by Pascal’s “Mr. Ben.” Apparently, this particular teacher is the kids’ favorite, and they regularly holler at him through the presentation.
“Thank you — I think,” Mr. Ben says uncomfortably. “And here’s a new rule. As of today, do not make fancams of school staff such as this.”
Naturally, what follows is a slew of TikTok videos lusting after Mr. Ben, not unlike the many videos currently sprawling across the platform for Pascal in real life. (Shaggy’s song “Hey Sexy Lady” sure is having its moment because of them though).
As the students complain about the new mandate, Pascal explains the logic behind it, saying “you have made 1000s of fancams of me, and I’m not sure what they mean. But I know it has to stop.”
Eventually, he presses the students further, trying to understand if the videos are truly good or bad, and the kids explain that the videos are a result of COVID insanity. They also reveal that while Mr. Ben has become “daddy,” someone named Miss Jenny has been dubbed “mommy.”
And out walks Sarah Paulson. With her by his side, Mr. Ben/Pascal is finally ready to accept his fate. They confess that yes, they are in love, and yes, they accept their new titles.
“Fine it’s true,” Paulson says. “He’s daddy, I’m mommy, and we’re all happy family. No crumbs left.”
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