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This interview with “Avatar: The Way of Water” costume designer Deborah L. Scott first appeared in a special section of the Below-the-Line issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

With a movie as effects and animation heavy as “Avatar: The Way of Water,” it’s easy to assume that physical costumes weren’t actually constructed. Instead, you can imagine, they were drawn on a tablet and fed to the wizards at Weta FX, who would make the clothes appear fully realized in the finished film. But that wasn’t the case. Instead, the film’s advanced technology necessitated that everything be created IRL.

“We built everything,” said costume designer Deborah L. Scott, a veteran of “Titanic” and the first “Avatar.” “We built every single Na’vi garment, every bracelet, every necklace. Because the technology is so good at capturing the image and the texture of these pieces, you can’t draw it in the computer and expect it to have the three-dimensional life it has. Give them a real piece of fabric so the computer can scan every rough spot, every worn spot, especially when you get into the very complicated Na’vi pieces which are hand-woven and beaded and bespoke. You can’t hand-draw a macramé knot and read it.”

For “Avatar: The Way of Water,” one new group Scott designed for was the Recombinants, bad Marines from the first movie who are now resurrected in avatar bodies. Aspects of their stylized, soldierly look included their tactical gear, the shade of camouflage they were wearing (Scott moved away from the more digital look of the first film’s camo after the U.S. army abandoned it) and the patches and insignias they wear on their vests. (“Deja-Blue,” a patch slogan riffing on how the Marines were back in blue Na’vi bodies, was an idea that sprang from Stephen Lang, who plays the villainous Quaritch.) And she also created a version of some of the pieces that could be worn while the actors were shooting their performance-capture footage, adding to the authenticity.

“Jim is a real believer that your clothing dictates your movement,” Scott said. “Whenever possible, we would take parts of a flack vest and build it around (the performance-capture) markers. They make you move differently, they make you bend over differently. You can see them hold onto the straps or hook their thumbs in. It’s hard to fake it, and Jim doesn’t fake anything.”

There is also the issue of water, both in designing the look of the new reef tribe (“they use their environment to create their clothing, that’s where you see the shells and coral and the sea grass,” Scott said) and figuring out how costumes would interact with the water.

“That started to inform the design early on because Jim being Jim, there’s no cheating,” Scott said. “I would never put the real things in the water but we would build replicas. We would make them all white because when we would film underwater it was easier to see the shape and the color. We did exhaustive tests. All of these things informed the digital artists to get it to look real.”

Read more from the Below-the-Line issue here.

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Avatar The Way of Water magazine cover Below the Line issue

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This interview with “Avatar: The Way of

Awards

Edward Berger caused a splash in 2015 with the sleeper-hit TV series Deutschland ’83, a slow-build spy drama set in the deep freeze of the cold war. This year he went even further back into Germany’s history for All Quiet on the Western Front, a brutal retelling of Erich Maria Remarque’s First World War novel, first published in 1929. Many years in limbo, including a period of time with Daniel Radcliffe attached, the project received an adrenaline shot when Berger came on board to take the novel back to its German roots. The harrowing Netflix production has captivated audiences all over the world with the story of rookie soldier Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), and has a strong shot at the International Oscar, having made the 15-title shortlist while opening up four further possibilities for music and craft.

DEADLINE: This project has been gestating for a long time. When did you first hear about it?

EDWARD BERGER: Just before the Berlin Film Festival in 2020, so, by now, it’s almost three years ago. Malte Grunert, the producer, called me and said, “What would you think if I could get the rights?” I thought, “What a great idea. It’s just been sitting there. Let’s do it!” So, the initial instinct was that it was a really good idea, but, of course, I wanted to go home and talk about it. I’m always riddled with doubt about what the next film should be, so I talk through it at the dinner table. Normally, the moment I bring up my next project, my kids disappear. They think, “Oh, it’s so boring.” But this time, my daughter heard the title and she whipped around and said, “All Quiet on the Western Front? You absolutely have to do it. It’s the book that’s touched me most. I cried three times. I just read it in school.”

DEADLINE: How old are your kids?

BERGER: She was 17 at the time. She’s now 20. I thought, “If a book still has such an impact on a 17-year-old girl something like 90 years after its publication…” — and it’s a war novel, it’s not really meant to entertain a 17-year-old girl — “there must be some relevance left to it.” And then I read the script and I felt it was a great basis to add to. What I wanted to bring to it is the German perspective… It was written by two British writers, and had been in development [for many years]. I actually don’t know much about that story, what happened before. I didn’t research it. I didn’t care, really. But the reason, I assume, why it had never been made was because it had always been an English-language script. Now, there’s already an existing English-language adaptation that is very famous and very good [directed by Lewis Milestone, 1930], so I imagine people would have been saying, “Why would we need to make this again?” For me, the big reason to make it again was to go back to the German novel and make a German film out of it. Which is something that no English or American filmmaker can theoretically do because they don’t have that heritage.

Edward Berger, center, on the set of All Quiet on the Western Front.

Reiner Bajo/Netflix

DEADLINE: What did the scriptwriting process involve?

BERGER: I took the British script that existed and imbued it with that sense that I just talked about, while taking things from the novel, taking things from research, and taking things from inside of me. There were also certain poetic elements that we added. For example, the scarf. Individual little things like that which make the characters dear to us, in a way. But mostly, there’s also an attitude in the novel that I tried to imbue into the rewrite of the script, and also into the filming. The attitude, or the style of the novel, is almost like a journalist describing — in a fairly unemotional, factual way — what’s happening to these kids. And as a reader, because he doesn’t dictate to you what you’re supposed to feel, you bring your own interpretations and you feel all the more, I think. We tried to do that a little bit, but the novel is also very brutal and visceral.

The north star during the rewriting and during the planning of the movie was always the novel, which has a really interesting reportage feeling. We tried to find a mixture of styles, and first of all we tried to hit that tone by saying, “Let’s grab the audience by the collar and drag them through the mud, make them feel that they are there. Make it a really subjective, visceral experience.” But it’s a hard balance to strike. At the same time, you have to stay five inches further back to get this kind of observational style, and maybe not use music that emotionalizes or sentimentalizes but which almost destroys the images and finds the guttural noise that is in Paul’s stomach and makes you feel it too.

But in terms of the scale of the film, I think a lot of it came in the writing, from that final script. James Friend, the cameraman, and I just sat down with it and asked each other, “What kind of shot would [this written scene] equate to?” There are scenes that are going to need a wide shot, and suddenly the scene feels big. But it needs to feel big, because the people in the story are, in a way, very small. They’re pawns. And so you need, sometimes, to get the feeling that you’re getting lost in the utter chaos that is all around you.

DEADLINE: Some of it does look completely miserable. Was it really as grim as it looks, or is that the magic of the movies?

BERGER: No, it was pretty miserable. We shot an hour outside of Prague in spring, and the biggest fear of the shoot, for me, was the looming summer. I really wanted to finish before May, and we just about made it. We filmed into May, but these were mostly summer scenes at the beginning of the film, when they’re leaving their town, and so forth. So, the weather there was fine to be getting warmer, but I really wanted this dreary winter feeling. And so, yes, it was very cold. It was very rainy. It was very muddy. Sometimes the prop person came to me at night and showed me his fitness band, saying, “I ran a half marathon today,” just running back and forth in the mud. It was very strenuous, very demanding, for everyone.

DEADLINE: How did you cast the film? Where did you find the boys, and what were you looking for?

BERGER: Well, I really believe in casting and spending a long time trying to find the right people. Not only actors, but also locations and crew. It’s about putting people together. Casting and spending a lot of time on prep really guides the film and guides the camera. A lot of the work you do on set actually is done already in casting, if you pick the right people: you might think, “Well, that person interprets this character the way I see it,” or, “This person is so surprising. They’ve brought something new.” [For the soldiers], it was important that you hadn’t seen these actors before. They’re so iconic, these roles, that it was important that you should meet them with a certain innocence, that you don’t go, “Oh, I’ve seen them in Harry Potter…”. I needed a new actor, a new face, to associate with Paul Bäumer. It’s such an iconic literary role. So that was important to me.

Felix Kammerer, who plays Paul Bäumer, had never been in front of a camera before. This was his first movie, and we found him in a theater in Vienna, because the producer’s wife works there. It’s the Burgtheater in Vienna, the pre-eminent theater in Europe, I would say. A very old institution. He usually plays small parts there, but he’s such a wonderful actor we invited him for casting maybe four or five times. The second time, we put a uniform on him, because he’s also very elegant — he can dance really well — so I wanted to ground him a bit more. As soon had the boots and the uniform on, he walked differently. And just from each casting, he started inhabiting this role more and more. By the fifth time or so, we knew this was the guy, even if he had never done it before.

Some of the [other cast] are known, like Daniel Brühl or Albrecht Schuch, who plays Kat, but they’re also the more experienced characters. Those were the two guys that I had in my mind while writing, but the others were all supposed to be very new, fresh actors.

DEADLINE: Did they have to do any kind of boot camp?

BERGER: Yes. They did, for a week or two. You have to learn how to salute and do these military things that none of us know how to do. So, there was a military advisor, and the stunt men put them through a physical boot camp so that they could get fit and wouldn’t hurt themselves when running across the field. Then there was the armorer, who taught them how to shoot and throw grenades. It was interesting when everyone came to set, especially the kids… I mean, I call them “the kids” but they were in their early 20s. We did a costume test, and that was the first time they had their uniforms on. They were very excited making this movie, this adventure we were about to embark on. They would soon find out that it was going to be a lot of really hard work.

DEADLINE: That must have been good for the film, surely?

BERGER: It was. I saw in their faces the same innocence that the kids have in the beginning of the film, going off to war back then. I thought, “That’s what it must have felt like to them.” Going away from their parents for the first time, into a foreign country, they treated it as an adventure. They were excited about it and very, very early on they found out that it was just … horror.

Felix Kammerer

Felix Kammerer in All Quiet on the Western Front.

Reiner Bajo/Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

DEADLINE: How old was Felix when you shot the movie?

BERGER: Felix was about 23 or 24 when we made the film. He’s older than Paul Bäumer, who’s 18 in the movie. But I also cast a lot of 18-year-olds, and I felt like, “Well they’re just kids.” They’re almost too innocent. But at 24 you’ve been away from home for a little bit. You’ve had your first disappointments, maybe. There’s something in your eyes, a certain wisdom, that you’ve learned. So, Felix was exactly the right age to play both ends: to play the young, innocent kid who wants to go into this adventure, and the guy who’s aged before his time, who’s jaded and whose emotions are gone. You need to be able to play both those ends, and Felix was exactly at that right age.

DEADLINE: How do you approach violence in a film like this? How do you know how much is too much and how much is not enough?

BERGER: Well, the book is very violent. It’s really brutal. That’s, again, kind of the north star: to say, “OK, what can I read and what can I translate onto film?” I felt it had to be pretty brutal, because anything that feels sort of glossed over would be untruthful and therefore propaganda, kind of glorifying it. And so I wanted to make it a physical, visceral experience, putting the audience right into it. Which includes violence.

But what’s enough and what’s not enough? That’s so subjective. It’s just about having an inner compass, where you say, “Well, I don’t want to see this anymore.” But sometimes that can be good. Sometimes you need to be able to turn away from a movie, to be repulsed by it. I don’t want you to watch the whole movie and just go, “OK.” [He shrugs] You need to be physically attacked by the violence. You need to feel the impact of the violence. I mean, I’m assuming that some people do turn away, and I think that’s a fair reaction. I would turn away myself. Obviously, I’m numbed by [this movie now], because I’ve seen it so many times, but if I saw this in another movie, I would probably look away … Sometimes in movies when I see harsh violence, there’s a certain level where I can’t look anymore, and I like that. I want to be in shock of what’s happening on screen. So I’m trying to hit that spot. Whether I succeed or not, I don’t know. It’s probably different for everyone.

DEADLINE: The scene where Felix kills a French soldier is very difficult to watch, because there’s so many layers to it. First, he doesn’t see that he’s been programmed to kill, and then he realizes that he doesn’t want to kill … And then he tries to undo this terrible thing that he’s done.

BERGER: “Programmed to kill” is a great way of putting it. And then he suddenly realizes, “Why am I doing this? This guy’s just like me.” In that scene, I don’t think it’s so much the violence, because the scene isn’t really that violent. It’s just relentless. It doesn’t let you go. That’s part of a film like this that I think is important: a relentlessness that just keeps you, and that comes from not editing anything out. This scene is actually sort of shot in real time. He jumps in, stabs the guy, crawls away, realizes he’s still alive, tries to get out of the crater, gets shot, crawls back, tries to shut him up, tries to give him water, and we witness every second of it. For scenes like this, I like cutting in real time and not cutting a single step out. If the actor needs to take five steps to get to the guy, it’s got to be five steps. In other films, in other scenes, you might go, “Well let’s take one step and then cut to a close up and shorten the walk just to speed up the scene.” We didn’t do that in this scene. We just kept you there for every second of it. That gives the impression of relentlessness, where you feel you’re physically attacked. To me, it’s important to keep you there and not let you go.

That scene, by the way, was three pages long in the script, and, usually, a page is a minute. I’d rehearsed it before the shoot, in a rehearsal room, and then we rehearsed it on set. It was 10 minutes long, and we’d only scheduled a day and a half. The AD came to me and said, “Can you simplify this? Because if you shoot it like this, it’ll take three or four days.”

All Quiet on the Western Front

On the set of All Quiet on the Western Front.

Reiner Bajo/Netflix

DEADLINE: What did you do?

BERGER: I just ignored him because my daughter had singled out that scene. She said to me, “That scene in the crater when he kills the Frenchman is so hard to read.” It’s hard to read because you witness every second of it. And I knew I had to get this scene right in order not to disappoint her. And so we did, in the end, spend three days on it. It was very hard for everyone to achieve it, but it was really important to get every single step of it.

DEADLINE: The pacing of the film is interesting, because you often cut back from the frontline to show us what’s happening behind the scenes. Is that something you put in to break up the violence?

BERGER: It came from several impulses. First of all, I felt Remarque didn’t have this perspective. He wrote this novel in the ’20s. He didn’t know yet that there was going to be a Second World War. And so, as a modern audience, we have the perspective that the First World War was just the beginning of things, that there would be even bigger terrors ahead. And the story of Matthias Erzberger, Daniel Brühl’s character, is a reflection of that. Basically, the Prussian military said, “Let’s send a politician to appease the French.” But what they actually wanted to do was not take the blame themselves, because they wanted to save face. And after the signing of the Armistice, they turned around and said, “The politicians betrayed us. They stabbed us in the back. We would’ve won the war, had they not signed it away.” And they used this later. First of all, nationalists assassinated Erzberger in 1921, because they blamed him for the loss of the war. Then Hitler used it, and the Nazis used it, and the military used it to create the legend that they were betrayed, and that they now had the right to start another war. It’s a perpetually repeated lie that then became the truth in many people’s minds and started another world war. We wanted to shed a light on that.

But, also, you’re right: it’s a good contrast. The central battle scene is probably over half an hour, I assume. I don’t know how long; I’ve never timed it. Maybe 40 minutes, the whole stretch. That’s pretty long. At some point, you’re just numb and it just has no effect, so the film very much became about creating contrasts. Behind the scenes; on the frontline. Quiet; noise. Dark; light. Peace; war. Nature; destruction. Those contrasts became important. And so the behind-the-scenes moments, the pacing of them and the quietness, just are really important breathers so that we can then go back to hell. Otherwise, you’d just switch off.

DEADLINE: Are you going to become the go-to guy for German history now?

BERGER: I don’t think so, no. I mean, I’m planning a movie in English now that I’m shooting in Italy in January, so I’m going to steer away from German history for a little while.

Director magazine Baz Luhrmann

Read the digital edition of Deadline’s Oscar Director magazine here.

DEADLINE: What can you say about your new project?

BERGER: I’m shooting a movie in Rome called Conclave with Ralph Fiennes. It’s about, basically, a spiritual journey of doubt, which Ralph Fiennes’ character has, but also about the election of a Pope. That journey of doubt attracted me, and also the fact that it’s an interesting story about vying for power and the power games that go on behind the scenes.

DEADLINE: What kind of setting? Is it modern day?

BERGER: Yeah, it’s now.

DEADLINE: And how did that go down at the dinner table?

BERGER: [Laughs] I don’t think I asked them about that one!

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Edward Berger caused a splash in 2015

Music

In late 2020, when the Kyiv club known simply as ∄ launched its in-house record label Standard Deviation, the Ukrainian capital was home to one of the world’s most celebrated club scenes. Today, living in the shadow of Russia’s war on the country, it has evolved. Despite an 11 p.m. curfew this summer, some revelers were making time for dancing during daylight hours; others—such as the ravers-turned-activists of the volunteer organization Repair Together—were reorganizing cleanup and rebuilding projects in villages that had come under Russian shelling. 

Celebrating ∄’s third anniversary, From Ukraine, For Ukraine is Standard Deviation’s first release in nine months; the 20-track compilation brings together international artists like Detroit’s DJ Stingray and the Shanghai/Taipei producer Tzusing with Ukrainian fixtures like Katarina Gryvul. Much like her February 2022 album Tysha—the last thing the label put out before the invasion—her song “Ocean” feels torn between stately and disruptive moods. Her choral harmonies have a liturgical air, yet they are run through digital processing so fierce that it practically shreds them. An underlying bed of string synths conveys a neo-classical grandeur that’s battered by bruising metallic rumbling, like a chamber ensemble soldiering on inside the buckling hull of a damaged submarine. It’s the sort of gothic ambient pop you might have expected to find on 4AD in 1985—think Cocteau Twins or This Mortal Coil—updated with 21st-century sound design and hard-earned pathos.

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In late 2020, when the Kyiv club

Docs

Jasmín Mara López is a Mexican-American filmmaker living between Los Angeles and New Orleans. Born in the U.S. with familial roots in México, her childhood was affected by issues experienced on both sides of the U.S.- México border. This instilled in her a strong passion for immigrant rights, youth empowerment, and social change. Jasmín founded Project Luz, workshops which taught Mexican youth to document stories from within their community. Her audio documentary Deadly Divide: Migrant Death on the Border received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Excellence in Journalism Award. Most recently, she directed and produced Silent Beauty, a personal documentary about her family’s history with child sexual abuse. Silent Beauty had its world premiere at Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival, and its U.S. premiere at BlackStar Film Festival. It was awarded Best Documentary Feature at Urbanworld Film Festival, and Best Cinematography Feature at the New Orleans Film Festival. Jasmín has garnered support for her work from New Orleans Film Society, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Black Public Media, Southern Documentary Fund, Sundance Institute, International Documentary Association, Latino Public Broadcasting, ITVS, Firelight Media, Creative Capital, and others. She is a current fellow of The Gotham and HBO Documentary Films’ Documentary Development Initiative.

IDA: It is a pleasure to speak to you Jasmin, would you mind telling us a little about yourself? How did you start your Documentary career?

Jasmín Mara López: Thank you! I come from a family of documentarians, though not in the traditional sense. I believe my documentary career was cultivated by my grandmothers. They were my first mentors in storytelling. My grandmother, Maria, spent most of her life as a housewife and would sometimes record the sounds of our home: our parakeets, cooking, conversations, and singing. I never asked her why she did it, but I learned to appreciate the practice, and still have those recordings today. In my mid-20’s, I ran around town with a group of photojournalists while living in San Francisco. I invited them to join Project Luz–storytelling workshops for youth in my family’s hometowns: Ejido Hermosillo and Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico. The students we worked with inspired me to become a journalist. Él Tecolote Newspaper in San Francisco offered me my first internship. And then I began to refine my craft in audio/radio storytelling. Several years later, I decided to move to New Orleans to be with my nephews and it’s there that I decided to make films. I started with Silent Beauty, and the New Orleans Film Society was the first to support me in that dream. 

IDA: Congratulations on Silent Beauty! I was blown away by the film when I had the pleasure of watching it in NOFF this year. Please tell us a little bit about the film and your process of making it.

JML: Silent Beauty is a seven-year exploration of my family’s trauma, a vehicle that allowed me to face some of my greatest fears, and ultimately, found the beauty in all of us. It’s a project with many collaborators and supporters behind it. While not everyone lived my experience, so many held me, my family, and the vision for this work carefully. They shared their knowledge and encouraged me to keep going. I will never forget that. 

I first pitched the film at the New Orleans Film Festival in 2016. I was terrified of going on stage before an industry I was new to, but my friends Annie, Weenta, and Liz sat in the audience believing in me, and that’s all I needed at that moment. I didn’t win, but the judges and fellow filmmakers came up to me afterwards and encouraged me to continue on my path, to tell this story, and I did. 

I would soon meet Bron Moyi, a fellow survivor, who I believe I was meant to meet and significantly changed the journey for me.  I didn’t know how to work with collaborators in film. In fact, I was afraid to. But Bron made it easy, he helped me to see my abilities by inspiring more. We  explored together as creative collaborators and survivors. We spent a year working together before we met our editor, Sarah Garrahan.  Three years later, we premiered a work of love at Hot Docs.

IDA: Silent Beauty is an immensely brave and personal film. What changed for you while making the film? 

JML: I grew, in many ways. This film was a part of my healing process. I’m not the same person I was when I started this. I’m now a filmmaker, and someone who believes in her abilities. As a child that grew up in a working-class immigrant community, these paths were just dreams that you’d eventually have to let go of. These paths were for wealthy white people. I believed that for a very long time, and in many ways it’s still true in Hollywood, barriers exist, but I’m doing my best to break through them for the BIPOC storytellers to come.

IDA: You were also one this year’s IDA Sarowitz Project Completion Fund grantees. Would you tell us a little bit about your experience as a grantee?

JML: This grant was such a gift! It allowed me to complete aspects of the film that I didn’t know how I’d move past, and I was able to travel and engage with audiences and survivors in the U.S., Mexico, Ireland, and Italy.

IDA: What are you working on right now? Anything you would like to share with our members?

JML: I’m developing a film with my cousin Papi that looks at many things, including our family trauma, the incarceration of youth of color–it’s a continuation of my family’s story, our body of work, and a way to heal my family’s legacy. I also just became a fellow of The Gotham and HBO Documentary Films’ Documentary Development Initiative. I’m so excited to look within and tell the stories that matter to my communities, stories that I’m connected to.

IDA: Lastly, do you have any advice for emerging artists and filmmakers who are working on personal stories and projects?

JML: Do the work to care for yourself and your protagonists. Ask questions until you figure out what that means. Trust your process and hold your vision tight. Many in the industry will try to steer you in their directions, what they deem is right, but it is you who understands. They often don’t share these experiences with you, yet they are taking these stories from you. You are the storyteller. You are the artist. Finally, always talk to a lawyer before signing away your rights. I didn’t fully understand what I was doing in the beginning, I was just happy to have funds to make the work I knew would encourage positive change in people’s lives, but I didn’t think about my own sustainability as an artist.

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Jasmín Mara López

Global

Peel Regional Police say a woman is dead and three others are injured after a two-vehicle crash in Brampton on Monday night.

Emergency crews were called to Torbram Road and Balmoral Avenue at around 7;30 p.m. for reports of a collision.

Police said there were two vehicles and four people involved.

Two men were taken to a trauma centre in serious but non-life threatening injuries, police said.

A woman was taken to a local hospital in serious but non-life threatening condition as well. police added.

Another woman lost vital signs while en route to hospital, police said. She was pronounced dead.

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The intersection was closed for the investigation as police gather evidence.

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The images of Selena Gomez and her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber’s new wife, Hailey Bieber, have gone viral, and the singer would like to play them down.

In a recent interview, the actress stated that the photographs taken of her at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures the previous month were nothing to worry about. While promoting her next documentary for Apple TV+ called My Mind and Me, Gomez told Vulture that it is not even a thing.

The public display of affection between the Only Murders in the Building actor, age 30, and the model, age 25, at the star-studded event in Los Angeles on October 15 sent fans into a frenzy. Even the photographer, Tyrell Hampton, who posted his comments on Instagram about the plot twist, stated that he was shocked by the couple’s pleasant show.

The spontaneous get-together took place just a few weeks after Hailey had stated on the Call Her Daddy podcast that there was no friction between her and Gomez, who had dated Justin, 28, on and off from 2010 until 2018.

It’s all respect; she responded in September when she was asked to clarify that she and the former Disney Channel star had communicated.

All that matters is love. There is nothing that each of us owes anyone else other than respect. I have a lot of respect for her, and I don’t believe either of us has any expectations of the other. She has my respect.

Continuing, the ex-Drop the Mic co-host lauded her spouse for “clos[ing] a chapter” with Gomez before the couple got engaged in July 2018 and secretly married two months later.

She claimed it was OK if the Baby singer’s fans wished he had ended up with someone else because they had their own lives to live. Of course, you can have as many hopes for it as you like, but the reality is that it is not the case.

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Tech

This interview with “Avatar: The Way of Water” editor Stephen Rivkin first appeared as part of a special section in the Below-the-Line issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

Wrestling the 192-minute runtime of “The Way of Water” to the ground was a Herculean task that required a small army of editors and a process unique to the Avatar ecosystem. “As we did on the first ‘Avatar,’ the work is divided by necessity because of the complexity of the filmmaking process,” Stephen Rivkin, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the first film, said.

“Editors will take scenes all the way (from) reviewing dailies of the performance capture with Jim and building a performance-based edit to building what we call loads, which are files for sections of each scene that will be processed in our internal labs and readied for virtual photography. And then the photography phase, where we work with shots that Jim creates that will make up the final edit of a scene.”

Unlike typical editors who come in after a film has been shot, Rivkin and the rest of the editors were there from the beginning. “Like the first film, this film was a mosaic of scenes in various stages of production and post-production,” he said. The “performance-based edit,” for example, does not look anything like the finished film will look. It consists largely of actors whose motion-captured performances will be turned into digital characters. The editors would work on scenes months, sometimes years after the actors have captured the scenes.

“There are no more limitations on actors hitting their marks or saying their lines,” Rivkin said. “It frees up Jim to explore whatever he wants to do.”

Once scenes are mostly finalized, they are sent to Weta FX, where animators and technicians work on the shots, sometimes for years, readying them for the final film. When the sequences eventually come back to Rivkin, it’s like looking at an entirely different project. “Seeing these original performances that we put together years ago come back to life in the fully rendered faces and eyes, it’s amazing to see the evolution from capture to final render,” Rivkin said.

When asked if there was a particularly challenging sequence, Rivkin said that “every sequence is at the highest level of difficulty.” But one aspect of “Avatar: The Way of Water” proved troublesome.

“The integration of live-action characters with virtual characters was something that added an extra layer of challenge to this project,” he said, referring to characters played by Edie Falco and Jack Champion. “All the live-action characters that were in scenes with virtual characters were captured as virtual characters first. We could design a sequence with proxies of those characters and that would be the blueprint for going back and shooting the live-action. It was a very complicated process.”

Read more of the Below the Line issue here.

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Photo by Jeff Vespa for TheWrap

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This interview with “Avatar: The Way of

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This interview with the “Avatar: The Way of Water” production designers first appeared in the Below-the-Line Issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

On paper, the production design of “Avatar: The Way of Water” seems as if it would be an enormous undertaking. But as soon as he starts talking about the particular challenges of the job, production designer Ben Procter upped the ante.

“It’s not a production-design job where you’re designing a film,” he said. “This is a bigger project. It’s designing an entire universe. It’s making a real world that is coherent and makes sense that is rooted in real science and real engineering.”

That world-building began on the first film, but it increased exponentially on “The Way of Water,” which explores huge new areas on the planet Pandora. “We had to create a guidebook for the ecosystem,” supervising art director Aashrita Kamath said. “The script might have a description of a creature, but in terms of the ecosystem, we had to figure out which creatures played nicely together and which ones didn’t.”

Set decorator Vanessa Cole said she delivered 63 sets to the production, ranging from vehicles to laboratories to sets that had been used in the first film. “We fabricated an awful lot of furniture and contacted scientists and laboratories in New Zealand to put some facts and credibility behind them,” she said. “But there were legacy pieces we refurbished as well. It was nice to bring the past into the present.”

Most of the designs were CG oriented, existing only virtually and being added after the actors had done their work on motion-capture stages. But production designer Dylan Cole points proudly to the home where Jake Sully and his family stay in the Metkayina village, home to a tribe that lives in woven, hammock-like structures by the sea.

“It’s one of the coolest things we made, and we actually built it as a one-sixth scale miniature,” he said. “It was a research exercise as much as anything, but it was scanned by Weta FX for the final model. And it was legit woven. We had amazing New Zealand weavers doing traditional techniques to work on that thing.” 

Avatar: The Way of Water
20th Century Pictures

Considerably less organic was the Sea Dragon, the huge armored ship that an expedition from a dying Earth uses to hunt down Sully and attack the Metkayina people. “It was the absolute hardest, largest problem to solve,” Procter said. “It’s gotta look menacing, so it kind of feels like a manta ray.

“But then you have 60 different story points that involve geographical relationships and eyelines. As you can guess, the tactical and logistical details were unbelievably difficult to figure out.”

Read more from the Below-the-Line issue here.

TheWrap magazine below the line issue cover
Avatar The Way of Water magazine cover Below the Line issue

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This interview with the “Avatar: The Way

Entertaintment

Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu plays chic French boss Sylvie Grateau, the nemesis of Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), in Netflix’s “Emily in Paris.” With sophisticated outfits and a Machiavellian management style, she nearly steals the show. In real life, Leroy-Beaulieu emanates the same strength and determination as Sylvie, but she can usually be found on her scooter zipping around Paris in biker boots (albeit chic ones). While “Emily in Paris” has propelled her to global fame, Leroy-Beaulieu is a veteran of French film and TV, having worked with renowned filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, Coline Serreau and Philippe Le Guay, as well as Andrzej Wajda, James Ivory and Robert Altman. Audiences also know her from another hit Netflix series, “Call My Agent!,” in which she had a recurring role. The actor is turning 60 next year, but she’s never been busier or more popular.

How did you land this part in “Emily in Paris”? 

One day, Juliette Ménager, the casting director, called me and said, “I have a role. You’re too old for it because it’s for an actress who is between 35 and 40, but do you want to read it anyway?” I read it and told Juliette, “I know Sylvie Grateau. I know her by heart!” My mother worked in the fashion industry [at Dior] so I got to meet many women like Sylvie. I thought it’d be stupid to not give it a try, even if the story was built around a younger character. I did a first casting call and didn’t hear back for a month and a half. When I got the callback, I almost fell off my chair. I didn’t think I’d make it.

How familiar were you with Darren Star’s work? 

I knew of his work, but I think I had only seen one season of “Sex and the City.” What struck me is the way Darren has created such powerful female characters. There are very few people like him who can write female roles with such sharpness. I’m very grateful, not just because he offered me this role but also because working with Darren has taught me many things, including about myself.

Your character can be viciously mean.

She’s more vulnerable than mean! It’s like Darren. When you meet him for the first time, he’s very cold, but in fact he’s like many people who are highly sensitive: He protects himself. In a way, Darren and Sylvie have a lot in common. She’s not a saint either — she has dark sides and I have a blast playing them all the way.

The show was really despised in France — and seen as anti-French when it launched. Did you ever feel like a traitor?

 I’m not at all a traitor — on the contrary! I’m like Asterix [of the comic book “Asterix & Obelix”] from the village of indomitable Gallic warriors. I’m telling the Americans that they won’t get me. I’m fighting the invader! What we see in Season 1 seems like a caricature, but it’s the first impression that foreigners have of France and Paris: Rude people who don’t have a sense of humor. Then, when people get to know us, they see our other facets that are prettier and more endearing.

Sylvie’s character arc is one of the show’s most developed.

As soon as I started reading this part I got a sense that she was very rigid and repressed in the way she behaved and moved, as if she was hiding something. And that’s what we find out in Season 2: She came to Paris from the beach town of Saint-Tropez to get a career and had to toughen up to face the Parisian scene. By the start of Season 3, she’s understood that she can work with Emily and has freed herself from her American bosses. I didn’t expect my character to evolve so much and I’m very pleasantly surprised!

Sylvie wears a lot of revealing outfits, especially in Season 3. How does it help you get into character? 

It gives me the arrogance of Sylvie. The fact that she’s overexposing her body and wearing very uncomfortable shoes give her that arrogance. It’s all the things she’s had to do to thrive in the Parisian scene.

Did you get inspired by any other actresses for this role? 

I mainly looked at actresses from the golden era of Hollywood, like Bette Davis, but also Joan Crawford. And I’ve always been fascinated by Barbra Streisand’s acting, seeing her fierce energy. She’s like a warrior.  

You also play Monique Ritz in “The Crown.” Isn’t it a role similar to Sylvie’s?

Monique Ritz is a Sylvie. She’s one of these women who is not afraid of adversity. I was so honored to have this small part in this show. The writing of Peter Morgan is insanely good.

Things you didn’t know about Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu

Age: 59
Hometown: Paris
Director’s delight: Her father, Philippe Leroy, was an actor, and she speaks five languages.
Early days: She earned a César nomination for best female newcomer for the 1985 French comedy blockbuster “Three Men and a Cradle.”

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Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu plays chic French boss Sylvie

Movies

Grab a jacket or a blanket before you watch Netflix’s engrossing “The Pale Blue Eye.” I don’t care if you’re already in a warm place. You could be on the surface of the sun and still feel chilly watching it.

Set during an unrelenting winter in upstate New York in 1830, this frosty movie with snowy vistas, flickering candles and howling winds will get your teeth chattering. Even lovers romping in bed are fully clothed. The only thing to get the blood moving here is a spot of murder.

Actually, it’s no mere killing that brings Augustus Landor, a retired New York City police constable with superior sleuthing skills, to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on this winter in question. Yes, a cadet has died on campus, found hanging from a tree. But someone has also harvested his heart.

To crack the case, Landor, played with trademark taciturn intensity by Christian Bale sporting impressive facial hair, enlists the help of one of the cadets, who is an odd sort of military man. This is when things get weirder: The cadet is future famous macabre poet Edgar Allan Poe, who really did spend time at West Point, though not as an undercover detective.

West Point, 1830. A world-weary detective is hired to discreetly investigate the gruesome murder of a cadet. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case — a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe.

“The man you’re looking for is a poet,” Poe says, acted by an equally intense Harry Melling, who once played the bad guy Dudley Dursley in the “Harry Potter” franchise. Poe recognizes that a heart is just a muscle, but its symbolic value is crucial to cracking the case.

The title comes from a line in Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and the source of this movie is a novel of the same name by Louis Bayard. Director and screenwriter Scott Cooper builds tension with a series of seemingly unconnected clues — a note fragment, a military jacket missing a decoration, some animals disemboweled.

This is a film wonderfully grounded in its time and space, where you hear creaking wooden floorboards and owls hooting and darkness cloaks everything. You feel the 1830s and the greasy, unkempt hair and heavy woolen uniforms. At one point, apparently not cold enough, we visit an ice house.

The R-rated whodunit takes an unfortunate turn into the occult as our two heroes — a gruff, tragic-stricken detective and a romantic, hyper-intellectual poet — uncover each other’s secrets. Poe falls for a classmate’s sister — he gives his heart, get it? — and may be letting love blind him. But perhaps the detective is not telling us all we should know, either.

Aside from all the cold drama by pale people, there’s also a little meta twist. We learn that the leaders of the military academy want the detective to solve this quickly because they’re catching heat from Congress. Look closely and see if you catch Pennsylvania Sen.-elect John Fetterman and his wife in cameos in a tavern. Much of the filming was done in their state.

There are also some talented folks in the cast that you might miss — Robert Duvall plays an expert in the occult, Gillian Anderson is a haughty matriarch, and Charlotte Gainsbourg plays a love interest for Landor. The ability to deploy this level of talent so quietly is almost cheeky.

The film has a few odd jumps and seemingly comes to a fiery conclusion — finally some warmth, good God — but it’s a false ending. A much better one awaits, one that’s unexpected and very, very satisfying. Stay to the end — as long as you’re bundled up.

“The Pale Blue Eye,” a Netflix release, is rated R for “some violent content and bloody images.” Running time: 130 minutes. Three stars out of four.

___

MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Online: https://www.netflix.com/title/81444818

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Grab a jacket or a blanket before

Film

Recently, I asked the BuzzFeed community to share an interesting fact they learned from a documentary or docuseries this year (be it dramatised or true-to-life). Here are some of the best responses…

4.

I Love You, You Hate Me

5.

The Great Fire: In Real Time

7.

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

8.

Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage

12.

White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch

13.

The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari

Did any of these surprise you? What did YOU learn from a documentary, docuseries, or docudrama this year? Let us know in the comments!

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TV

Cavill will exit the show after the upcoming season, with Liam Hemsworth taking over his role.

When Season 3 of “The Witcher” premieres sometime next year, it will effectively act as the final chapter of the show’s first act, with series star Henry Cavill departing the series, with the lead character of Geralt of Rivia recast with Liam Hemsworth beginning in the fourth season. Since the announcement, fans have wondered how the show will handle the transition, but showrunner Lauren Hissrich is confidant that Season 3 will be a fitting goodbye to the Netflix series’ first star.

“Geralt’s big turn is about giving up neutrality and doing anything that he has to do to get to Ciri [Freya Allan],” Hissrich said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “And to me, it’s the most heroic sendoff that we could have, even though it wasn’t written to be that.”

Although she didn’t discuss Hemsworth’s interpretation of the character, Hissrich further told EW that Season 4 will see Geralt take on a new goal, with the changes of the character helping to mirror the change in actors.

Related

Related

“Geralt has a new mission in mind when we come back to him in season 4. He’s a slightly different Geralt than we expected,” Hissrich said. “Now, by the way, that’s an understatement.”

Cavill was announced to be leaving “The Witcher” after the upcoming third season in October. At the time, the actor was expected to reprise his role as DC comic book hero Superman in a new film, following his cameo appearance in the end credits of “Black Adam” starring Dwayne Johnson. Since then, however, a new Superman movie set in the character’s younger days has been announced, and Cavill confirmed he would be not be playing the character in the immediate future. Since then, the actor has lined up a new project, starring in and executive producing an Amazon series based on popular tabletop game “Warhammer 40,000.”

Although “The Witcher” Season 3 won’t premiere until next year, the series recently received a spinoff prequel limited series “Blood Origin,” starring Minnie Driver and Michelle Yeoh. Driver recently addressed the exit of Cavill in an interview with EW, saying the character could function in the same way that “Doctor Who” does, with new characters taking on the part.

“We come from this tradition of ‘Doctor Who’ where the Doctor regenerates,” Driver said. “I think we need to look at it far more like it’s amazing. It’s an amazing person, it’s an amazing character, and we should have different people playing it.”

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Cavill will exit the show after the

What to Watch


The extraordinary saga of Lyra and Will has finally come to an end.


On His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 7, the Kingdom of Heaven comes to Asriel’s Republic, and a great battle ensues.


This finale was an epic of war and love that gave us much-needed, satisfying closure.


Asriel finally admitted he was wrong and realized he would not live to see his glory but had to do it for Lyra.


Mrs. Coulter also knew she would never see her daughter again but understood the part she had to play in the endgame.

Marisa & Asriel - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 7


The juxtaposition of Mrs. Coulter and Asriel in their meetings with Metatron was so telling of both their characters.

I have devoted my entire life to science and the pursuit of truth. I swore blind that prophecies are merely stories concocted to control the credulous, and yet, here I stand, unable to avoid the prophetic truth in front of me.

Lord Asriel


Asriel kept calling for a fight with so much impotent male rage when Metatron was far more interested in the mystery of the woman he couldn’t read.


Ruth Wilson’s Mrs. Coulter had a magnificent final episode. Once again, she harnessed her power over the specters and used it for good this time. Marisa then used her amazing abilities of suppression to deceive Metatron.


This led them all to their end, as she helped Asriel follow through with his plan to throw Metatron into the abyss while the golden monkey set off the detonators.

Mrs. Coulter on the edge - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 7


Mrs. Coulter knew he wouldn’t be able to do it on his own, though Asriel initially thought he could. Throughout that final exchange with Metatron, Mrs. Coulter played her emotions so close to her chest that it was hard to know, even as a viewer, what she was up to!


She even fooled “God” himself! No wonder he offered to make her an angel.

You wish to serve no one but yourself. You are a cesspit of moral filth.

Metatron


The sacrifice of Lyra’s two parents was heartbreaking, but it felt right. Both have been so horrible to her — it was their only way to redemption.


For Asriel, it was a way to prove that he meant what he said and was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, with no chance at glory.


For Mrs. Coulter, it was one last opportunity to do one act of motherly kindness and prove that she loved her daughter more than life or the possibility of immortality. The Mrs. Coulter of Season 1 might have made a different choice.

Asriel's Speech - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 7


The plunge into the abyss was perfect, vicious, and moving, one last act of teamwork from Asriel and Marisa, with Stelmaria delivering the final push that sent them over the edge. As the beautiful snow leopard dissolved, Asriel passed on.


On the surface, Mrs. Coulter’s daemon reached out to Lyra but disintegrated before they could touch.


It was tragic but fitting. Some deeds are unforgivable, and the monkey was part of Mrs. Coulter and everything terrible she ever did, despite her last act of heroism.

Your love for Lyra is your salvation, and your downfall.

Xaphania


This was the closest thing Lyra got to a reunion with her parents (not that she wanted one). Though, through Ogunwe, she learned that Asriel was proud of her, which was more confusing to her than anything.


That Lyra turned into such a moral young woman despite her parentage speaks to her strength of character, and Asriel should have seen that sooner.

The Intention Craft - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 7


Though Ogunwe’s role was never more than supporting, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was impeccable casting and delivered solid and honest moments at every turn. His reunion with his daughters was a nice button for the character.


All the battle sequences were well done, exciting, and action-packed, with an appropriately monumental scope for some scenes and the more human side of the soldiers on the ground being haunted and possessed.


Alex Hassell has an otherworldliness that suited the small but significant role of Metatron well.


The reveal of the Authority in his crystal cell was an anticlimax that was over too quickly, but it played that way in the book as well.


You have to laugh at how flippant Lyra was about watching the senile, decrepit, irrelevant God disintegrate in front of her. “Can we go now?” The girl was just so done.

Inside the cube - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 7


One of the great themes of the whole series rang loud and clear here, with Asriel’s impassioned speech — do not let the promise of Heaven prevent you from living your fullest life on Earth. Submission to religion will only lead to suffering, and there is no Heavenly reward.


Death is not something to fear if you have lived well, for our atoms will return to the world when we die to exist in new life.

Today is our chance. It is our chance to tell him that our lives are beautiful and precious, and that we should be allowed to experience all they have to offer without the fear of retribution.

Lord Asriel


This idea also played a crucial part on His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8. There was much-needed joy, brightness, and divine feminine energy — perfect for the awakening of Eve.


Episode 8 was a fitting denouement. The grand fantasy epic fell away, leaving us with an intimate portrayal of two trauma-bonded teens who finally had the space and freedom to be themselves together and realize that they were deeply in love.

Love is never small to those who discover it for the first time.

Xaphania


Dafne Keen and Amir Wilson finally got to play and have fun together. It was the most real thing in this magical world and the chemistry between them was so perfectly awkward and sweet.

Will & Lyra - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8


Keen got the big emotional moments and playing “Eve,” was the one who made the moves. Wilson exuded a gentle warmth throughout the whole thing. His was a more stoic love.


These two have grown so wondrously alongside each other within these roles. In his love for Lyra, Will was free and open to the goodness of the world — the way he said “Hello” when first meeting Atal was proof of that.


It can be easy to dismiss teenagers in love, as they all believe theirs is the greatest love of all in the history of the universe.


Lyra and Will are not two ordinary teenagers. They have literally been to Hell and back together. They lost their souls but still had each other. No one could ever touch the bond they have.

Mary's revelation - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8


Dr. Mary Malone has always been my favorite character (not just because we share a name) but because of how she approaches life and her time with the mulefa.


Simone Kirby is such a subtle, natural actor. Her portrayal of Dr. Mary Malone was everything it needed to be, the honest serpent telling the children the truth about the beauty of love.

I just couldn’t bear the idea of living without feeling that alive. And I thought, “Will anyone be better off if I just go back to the hotel and say my prayers and promise never to fall into temptation again?” And the answer came back — No. No one will. And I realized there was no one there to reward me for being a good girl and no one there to punish me for being wicked. There was no one. And it was liberating.

Dr. Mary Malone


Her goodbye with Atal was perfect (the seeds!), and her joy at seeing her daemon, the Alpine chough, was transcendent.


Mary being a lesbian was another change from the book I didn’t know I needed, but it brought her impact to another level.


It tied in with the gay angels Baruch and Balthamos — and how lovely to have Kobna Holdbrook-Smith back in this episode, but we’ll get to him in a moment.

Father Gomez arrives - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8


The church shuns so many LGBTQ+ folks, so to have this message stated plainly, by an angel no less, that desire is human, and love is the closest we get to divinity.

Desire is not sin. Love takes a million forms, each of them beautiful. Each of them worthy. You who judge — just afraid.

Balthamos


There was such relief and validation for Mary to meet Xaphania then, an angel, who didn’t care whether Mary believed in God or not, only that she had done well in being honest about love with Will and Lyra.


Clearly, Father Gomez didn’t get the memo that his superior was dead. His quest added some tension to the proceedings, injecting danger into this perfect Eden.


His confrontation with Balthamos was a bittersweet ending for them both. Father Gomez finally heard — from the source — that he was wrong, that he had devoted his life to a lie.


Balthamos, at last, had a chance to fulfill his promise to his beloved Baruch by saving Lyra’s life.

Serafina - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8


Chipo Chung as Xaphania and Ruta Gedmintas as Serafina Pekkala also provided grounding energy and support to Mary, the daemons, and eventually Will and Lyra.


They all know this is a terrible sacrifice that Will, Lyra, Pan, and Kirjava must experience for the sake of the multiverse (Xaphania even got in a sneaky COVID allusion).

The love of Eve shall heal the earth, and all the worlds shall feel it. Nature will be restored. Hope will spark in darkness, as innocence turns to experience. All will be in harmony once more.

Serafina Pekkala


Just like Adam and Eve, they are cast out of Eden, but they will carry their love with them forever.


At least Lyra will always have Serafina, and Will will always have Mary as a friend — and finally, after so long, Will is reunited with his mother.

Pine Marten Pantalaimon - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 7


Kirjava was a little off-looking but cute enough. It took so long for the daemons to return to Will and Lyra, but how beautiful was their reunion?


Remember when Father Gomez mentioned it’s forbidden to touch another’s daemon? And then these two, so in love, just pet each other’s daemons. That’s how intimate their bond is, and what a lovely way to portray this. 


It’s in the books, but seeing it on screen was magical. And Pan finally settled as a pine marten, the shape he was Lyra left him on the jetty in His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 4.


The ending was beautiful and heartbreaking — the choice for Lyra and Will to return to the botanic garden annually, on Midsummer’s Day, to sit “together.” I don’t know about any of you other book readers out there, but it was exactly as I had pictured it in my head.


What is there even left to say? This was a sublime ending. In terms of adaptations of source material, maintaining the same kind of feel and magic of the original, His Dark Materials has succeeded on just about every front.

Xaphania - His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8


Not everything from the books made it in, of course — it’s a different medium, and even eight hours per book isn’t really enough for these dense and rich stories.


Above all, though, Pullman’s world translated so well, with much of his evocative prose making it into the dialogue.

When we do find each other again, no one will be able to tear us apart. We’ll be joined so tightly, every atom of me and every atom of you. When they use our atoms to make new lives, they’ll have to take two — one for you, and one for me. We’ll be in the flowers and in the sunbeams. We’ll be joined so tight.

Lyra


Is it perfect? No. But it’s damned close. Nearly all the choices of alterations from the book improved and enhanced the storytelling here. As far as fantasy series go, few can compare.


I look forward to re-watching this series with my child when he is old enough, and again and again over the years, as I will re-read Pullman’s gorgeous books. What a gift this story is to the world.


How did you feel about the ending? Did you sob through the final hour as I did? Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments.

Mary Littlejohn is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

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The extraordinary saga of Lyra and Will

Awards

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages are Davis’ assessment of the current standings of the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any film or performance. Like any organization or body that votes, each individual category is fluid and subject to change. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

LAST UPDATED: Dec. 22, 2022

2023 Oscars Predictions: Best Animated Short

Image from “Save Ralph”
Humane Society

CATEGORY COMMENTARY: Always difficult to gauge how the reveal of the short film categories will go. In best animated short, the Academy’s announcement has given new and uplifting buzz surrounding “New Moon,” a beautiful collaboration between recent Emmy winner Colman Domingo (guest actor in a drama for “Euphoria”) and his husband Raul Domingo. The couple both serve as writers and producers on the project, while Raul also directs alongside Jérémie Balais and Jeffig Le Bars. Colman is the storyteller of the journey of Jay Jay and his mother Edie as their inner dreams are illuminated by the moon in their West Philadelphia backyard.

Coming off Riz Ahmed winning live action short last year after being nominated for “Sound of Metal” (2020), stars are utilizing the shorter forms of cinema to explore their creativity behind the camera. One of the finest Afro-Latinos in the game, Colman Domingo has kept one foot in the director’s chair throughout his career, whether it’s on TV with AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead” or most notably in the theater with over a dozen credits for various plays, “New Moon” could offer the bridge to a new level of filmmaking for the artist.

But it’s not all about Domingo from the Oscars shortlist, with The Animation Showcase nabbing four of the 15 spots with “Black Slides,” “The Flying Sailor,” “My Year of Dicks” and “Steakhouse.”

Notable studios and productions are also angling for attention such as Apple with “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” with the voice talents of Idris Elba and Tom Hollander and BlueTongue Films with “Save Ralph” featuring the voices of Oscar-winner Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”), George Lopez and Ricky Gervais.

See the latest film predictions, in all 23 categories, in one place on Variety’s Oscars Collective. To see the ranked predictions for each individual category, visit Variety’s Oscars Hub.

See the 2022-2023 Awards Season calendar for all key dates and timelines.

ALL AWARDS CONTENDERS AND RANKINGS:

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”
BBC/Bad Robot

And The Predicted Nominees Are:
Rank Name Director(s) Distributor(s)
1 “New Moon” Jérémie Balais, Raul Domingo, Jeffig Le Bars Edith Productions
An imaginative surrealist journey of young Jay Jay and his mother Edie as their inner city dreams are illuminated by the new moon a in a backyard in West Philadelphia.
2 “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” Peter Baynton Apple TV+
Follows a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse, as they create an unexpected friendship and travel together in the boy’s search for home.
3 “Save Ralph” Spencer Susser Blue-Tongue Films
Ralph, a bunny being interviewed for a documentary, goes through his daily routine as a “tester” in a lab.
4 “The Flying Sailor” Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby The Animation Showcase
Inspired by true events, the highly anticipated new film by Oscar-nominated duo Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis is a meditation on a sailor’s unexpected voyage.
5 “My Year of Dicks” Sara Gunnarsdóttir The Animation Showcase
Pam tries very hard to lose her virginity and always searches for “the one”. She’s not alone, her best friends are with her.
Next in Line
6 “More Than I Want to Remember” Amy Bench MTV Documentary Films
One night at her home in southeastern Congo, 14-year-old Mugeni awakes to the sounds of bombs. As her family scatters to the surrounding forests to save themselves, Mugeni finds herself completely alone. From there, she sets out on a remarkable solo journey across the globe, determined to reunite with her lost loved ones and lift up the Banyamulenge people.
7 “It’s Nice in Here” Robert-Jonathan Koeyers SND Films
A fragmented portrait of a moment seen through the subjective memories of a young Black girl, Imani, and a rookie police officer, David, who both have different recollections of the same fateful moment that will alter their lives forever.
8 “An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It” Lachlan Pendragon Griffith Film School
A young office worker uncovers the flaws in his stop-motion universe with the help of a mysterious talking ostrich.
9 “Sierra” Sander Joon The Criterion Channel
A father and his son are losing the race. To win, the boy turns himself into a car tyre. Sierra looks at toxic masculinity through dark irony, while pulling us into the surreal car racing world.
10 “The Debutante” Elizabeth Hobbs Animate Projects Limited
A spirited young woman persuades a hyena from London Zoo to take her place at a dinner dance being held in her honour.
Also In Contention
— “Black Slide” Uri Lotan The Animation Showcase
— “The Garbage Man” Laura Gonçalves Bando à Parte
— “Ice Merchants” João Gonzalez Curtas Metragens CRL / Agência – Portuguese Short Film Agency
— “Passenger” Juan Pablo Zaramella JPZtudio
— “Steakhouse” Spela Cadez The Animation Showcase

2023 Academy Awards Predictions

BEST PICTURE | DIRECTOR | ACTOR | ACTRESS | SUPPORTING ACTOR | SUPPORTING ACTRESS | ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY | ADAPTED SCREENPLAY | ANIMATED FEATURE | PRODUCTION DESIGN | CINEMATOGRAPHY | COSTUME DESIGN | FILM EDITING | MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING | SOUND | VISUAL EFFECTS | ORIGINAL SCORE | ORIGINAL SONG | DOCUMENTARY FEATURE | INTERNATIONAL FEATURE | ANIMATED SHORT | DOCUMENTARY SHORT | LIVE ACTION SHORT

The 95th Oscars ceremony will be held at the Dolby Theatre and televised live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, 2022.

2022 category winner: “The Windshield Wiper” (The Animation Showcase) – Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sánchez

About Variety Awards Circuit:

Variety’s unmatched coverage gives its readership unbeatable exposure in print and online and provides inside reports on all the contenders in this year’s awards season races. In addition to predictions, the section includes — Awards Circuit Column, a weekly analysis dissecting the trends and contenders in the race; Awards Circuit Podcast, a weekly series featuring interviews with the top contenders in the awards race and an expert roundtable discussion with Variety’s leading editors and columnists; Awards Circuit Predictions Video Series, a deep dive into specific categories, led by the leading pundits.

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Pete Davidson Dave Chappelle in concert, New York, USA - 12 Aug 2017


Chase Sui Wonders, Pete Davidson Toronto Maple Leafs v New York Rangers, NHL match, Madison Square Garden, New York, USA - 15 Dec 2022


Chase Sui Wonders, Pete Davidson Toronto Maple Leafs v New York Rangers, NHL match, Madison Square Garden, New York, USA - 15 Dec 2022

Image Credit: Michael Simon/Shutterstock

Pete Davidson isn’t wasting time feeling bad after rumors that he’s already split from Emily Ratajkowski, 31. The Saturday Night Live alum, 29, made the very best of the holidays by hanging out courtside with his sister Casey Davidson, 25, on Christmas at Madison Square Garden. In pics, Pete was his usual, casual self for the Knicks game in a black hoodie, graphic tee, and jeans paired with black sneakers. He also wore a wide smile and a pair of sunglasses. Younger sister Casey rocked a cozy button up sweater, leather pants, gold hoop earrings, and classic Converse sneakers for the fun family outing. In another pic, they were seen sitting alongside The Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley and Natalie Kuckenburg.

Pete and Casey Davidson
Pete Davidson and his sister Casey at Madison Square Garden on Dec 25, 2022. (Michael Simon/Shutterstock )

The sighting comes after rumors that Pete was on a track to a serious relationship with model Emily — only to see it fizzle out as quickly as it started. In fact, Pete and Emily were also seen courtside at a Knicks game last month in November. However, a source told HollywoodLife after the mom of one was spotted kissing artist Jack Greer that it isn’t “exclusive.”

“Emily is exploring single life, but it has no reflection on her connection with Pete,” the insider told HL EXCLUSIVELY for a December 24 report. “She thinks he’s great, she just isn’t available for a commitment right now. They’re still talking, it’s just not exclusive.”

Pete and Casey Davidson
Michael Simon/Shutterstock

As for that undeniable chemistry, the source explained that Emily is still fresh out of her marriage to Sebastian Bear-McClard, from whom she split in July. “They have great chemistry and he finds her insanely attractive, but he also knows that she just got out of a serious marriage,” the source continued. “Emily is a free soul and he respects that. Regardless of who else she sees, he is down to spend time with her. He doesn’t want to put too much pressure on her, so he is leaving the ball in her court.”

In addition to Jack, Emily has been seen hanging out in New York with DJ Orazio Rispo. Pete and reality TV icon Kim Kardashian, 42, went their separate ways in August after a highly publicized 9-month relationship.

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View gallery Image Credit: Michael Simon/Shutterstock Pete Davidson isn’t

Tech

Netflix, after years of insisting it wouldn’t dive into the advertising business, threw its hat into the ring last month with the launch of an ad-supported plan, priced 30% less than its previous least-expensive package.

But at least initially, independent research suggests Netflix’s Basic With Ads plan is getting a relatively cool reception. In November, about 9% of Netflix’s U.S. subscriber sign-ups were for the $6.99/month ad-supported package, making it the least popular among its plan options, according to an analysis released this week by research firm Antenna. By comparison, when HBO Max launched its ad-supported option in June 2021, 15% of the streamer’s U.S. sign-ups that month were for HBO Max With Ads.

In addition, Antenna found that 0.2% of existing HBO Max’s U.S. subscribers switched to the ad-supported plan in June 2021, compared with 0.1% for existing Netflix users in November 2022. The firm noted that HBO Max With Ads plan did pick up steam, accounting for up to nearly one-third of sign-ups in its first year, and that today about 21% of HBO Max subscribers are on the ad-supported plan.

Why is Netflix’s ad tier seemingly having a slow liftoff? One reason could be that the plan has several notable restrictions compared with Netflix’s ad-free offerings. Netflix Basic With Ads excludes some popular TV series and movies, including “House of Cards,” “New Girl” and “The Good Place,” for which Netflix does not currently have rights to serve advertising. (Netflix says 5%-10% of total titles are unavailable in the ad tier, depending on market.) In addition, subscribers on the ad-supported plan, which serves up about 4-5 minutes of commercials per hour of content, can’t download titles for offline viewing. The service also is limited to a single 720p HD stream at a time (as is the case for Netflix Basic without ads).

According to Netflix, Antenna’s data is not accurate, although Netflix did not provide its own sign-up figures for the ad plan. The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2022 results on Jan. 19.

“It’s still very early days for our ad-supported tier and we’re pleased with its launch and engagement, as well as the eagerness of advertisers to partner with Netflix,” a Netflix rep said in a statement. The company has not issued guidance on how many subs it expects to take the ad tier, but the company told investors that Netflix Basic With Ads will not represent a “material” contribution to Q4 earnings.

Antenna’s estimates are based on data from “a variety of data-collection partners” derived from online purchase receipts; credit, debit and banking data; and “bill-scrape data.”

In another indication Netflix’s ad tier may be underperforming, the company fell short on viewership guarantees it made to ad buyers in the first few weeks (in some cases delivering around 80% of targets) and has issued refunds to some clients, trade publication Digiday reported last week, citing anonymous ad-agency execs. Netflix declined to comment on the report.

Netflix Basic With Ads launched in the U.S. on Nov. 3 at $6.99 per month (30% less than the the regular Basic plan without ads, at $9.99 per month). The ad-supported package is available in 12 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.

Wall Street analysts generally have continued to be upbeat on the long-term potential for Netflix’s ad plan. Cowen’s John Blackledge, in a Dec. 9 research note, identified Netflix as the firm’s top large-cap stock pick for 2023, citing the ad-supported launch as a key growth driver. “We view NFLX as the best ‘recession play’ in our coverage universe if macro conditions worsen, particularly as the ad tier is attractive for value-conscious consumers,” Blackledge wrote.

Alongside the advertising-supported service, Blackledge cited Netflix’s paid sharing solution — aimed at users who share their accounts passwords — as likely to boost revenue per member. Netflix has estimated that passwords are being shared in violation of its rules with more than 100 million non-paying households worldwide. In early 2023, Netflix plans to roll out “a thoughtful approach to monetize account sharing,” the company said in its Q3 shareholder letter, which will let password-sharers create sub-accounts (to add “Extra Members”) if they want to pay for family or friends.

There remains strong consumer demand for less expensive, ad-supported streaming plans. According to survey conducted last month by Hub Entertainment Research, 57% of U.S. consumers said they would rather watch ads and pay $4-$5 less per month for a streaming service, a level of interest that has remained relatively stable over the past year.

Meanwhile, according to the Hub study, 24% of current Netflix subscribers and 35% of current subs to Disney+ — which bowed its own tier with ads on Dec. 8 — expect to switch to the new ad-supported options. The data is from Hub’s “TV Advertising: Fact vs. Fiction” study, which surveyed 3,001 U.S. consumers aged 14-74 in November 2022 who watch at least one hour of TV per week.

“Consumers have demonstrated that, with the right pricing and packaging, they will opt-in to ad-supported video services,” Antenna CEO Jonathan Carson wrote in a blog post on its research. What remains to be seen is whether Netflix’s ad play gains momentum next year — or whether the streamer will modify the package to boost its uptake.

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings, at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit last month, conceded that “I wish we had flipped a few years earlier” on introducing an ad-supported service. But, he added optmistically, “we’ll catch up and in a couple of years we won’t remember when we started it.”

VIP+ Analysis: Hurdles Now, Payoff Later for Netflix Ad Tier

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Video

Starz released a teaser trailer for Season 7 of Outlander, and there’s much drama yet ahead for Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) and her beloved Jamie (Sam Heughan) when the show returns next summer.

Outlander‘s seventh season will pick up after the events of the Season 6 finale, which saw Claire (Caitriona Balfe) arrested by Richard Brown (Chris Larkin) for the murder of Malva Christie (Jessica Reynolds) and for being a witch.

The folks from Fraser’s Landing, led by Malva’s father Tom (Mark Lewis Jones), believe Claire ended Malva’s life following the descedent’s allegations that Jamie impregnated her while they were embroiled in a steamy affair. Malva and Jamie were not having an affair; however, the former was hooking up with other local young men—a fact Claire did not share publicly for whatever reason.

As Claire prepares to go to trial this season, things look quite worrying. In a snippet from the teaser, Claire is being fitted for a noose followed by a nudge forward teasing her possible demise. Fans will no doubt be holding their breath while waiting to see how it all plays out next season but it’s important to note that both Claire and Jamie have found their way out of even stickier situations in the past. So here’s to hoping it all works out in the end as per usual.

The voice-over between Claire and Jamie in the trailer is quite sweet, as is to be expected from the Frasers.

“I had a dream, there was light all around you,” Jamie tells Claire in the video. “It wasn’t a candelight or a firelight. And I thought, ‘Now, that must be what electric light is like.’”

Claire replies, “But how can you recognize something you’ve never seen in real life?”

He adds, “I dream of the past, why would I not dream of the future?”

Can fans dare to dream of a future where both Claire and Jamie travel to present day? It’s the holidays after all, a perfect time to make a wish.

Watch the teaser in full above.

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Entertaintment

It has been a rough year for breakups in Hollywood!

While there were plenty of new couples and rekindled relationships throughout 2022 (such as Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin), there were also a bunch of romances that came to an end. This includes Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen, Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde, Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet, and so many more relationships. But what can we say? Not every love story (or breakup) has a happy ending — and some of these splits were very messy to say the least!

Related: All The Adorable Celeb Babies Born In 2022

Look back at all of the celebrity couples who have gone to splitsville over the past year below.

The Biggest Celebrity Splits Of 2022!

The Biggest Celebrity Splits Of 2022!

The Biggest Celebrity Splits Of 2022!

The Biggest Celebrity Splits Of 2022!

The Biggest Celebrity Splits Of 2022!

[Image via MEGA/WENN, WENN/Avalon]

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“The chemistry was palpable in Season 1, and then Season 2 played off of it so well. Every glance, the way they spoke to each other, the way they looked at each other, the way they physically moved *around* each other was just…perfect. They were oozing chemistry in every scene they were in, and the transition of Ava from presumed straight to bi felt so natural. Her chemistry with Beatrice was largely to thank for that, I think. They shared a kiss to seal the deal, but you could tell from Episode 1, without anyone saying a thing out loud, that they were perfect together.”

—skaboom

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Film

Longtime readers of Arrow in the Head will probably remember the article series The Test of Time. Now The Test of Time has been revived as a video series, and you can check out the new episode in the embed above! Christmas Day has come and gone, but the holiday festivities continue with this episode, as the film we’re looking at is the 1980 holiday horror cult classic Christmas Evil (watch it HERE)!

Written and directed by Lewis Jackson, Christmas Evil has the following synopsis:

As a boy, he saw mommy making love to Santa Claus. As an adult, he is a crazed killer who has kept a list of all the girls who have been good, and a list of all the girls who have been bad. It’s Christmas time, and all the bad girls are in trouble. A man dressed as Santa Claus is stalking the streets, brutally murdering innocent girls. Who’s to say if the kindly old gent, whose knee your daughter sits upon, is a maniacal murderer?

Brandon Maggart, Gus Salud, Jeffrey DeMunn, Wally Moran, Dianne Hull, Joe Jamrog, Peter Neuman, Mark Chamberlin, Scott McKay, Peter Friedman, Burt Kleiner, Patricia Richardson, Raymond J. Barry, Mark Margolis, Rutanya Alda, Michael Klingher, and Colleen Zenk star.

The Test of Time series has the following description: We all have certain movies we love. Movies we respect without question because of either tradition, childhood love, or because they’ve always been classics. However, as time keeps ticking, do those classics still hold up? Do they remain must-see? So… the point of this series is to determine how a film holds up for a modern horror audience, to see if it stands the Test of Time.

This episode of The Test of Time was Written by Andrew Hatfield, Narrated by Niki Minter, Edited by Mike Conway, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

What do you think of Christmas Evil? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The first episode of The Test of Time can be seen below, along with a sample episode of one of the other shows we have on the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel. To see more, click over to the channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

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[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OAgsCPHE2I[/embed] Longtime readers of Arrow in the Head

TV

You know it’s serious when Victoria Beckham, who once told the world she refused to smile out of dedication to the fashion community, is wearing, of all garments, a sweatshirt.

And not just any sweatshirt! The kind of customizable thing you might find on Etsy or RedBubble, with a font that’s dangerously close to the Disney Adult typeface. But it was all in the name of love.

“All I want for Christmas is David Beckham” reads the designer’s white hoodie, which she posed in on Instagram. True to her roots, Victoria smized with her mouth closed, while her soccer star husband—in a Santa hat, no less—grinned and embraced her. Check out their black dog in the corner, smiling for the camera! Aww.

“I got what I wanted this Christmas ♥️,” the mom of four wrote online. God, even the comments section on this ‘gram is chic: “Merry Christmas to you and your family ❤️❤️❤️,” wrote Marc Jacobs.

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In a previous post, Posh Spice showed off the custom loungewear the rest of the family wore for Christmas: not sweatshirts, but white silk pajamas with their names embroidered on the pockets.

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What to Watch


By Josh Sorokach

Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? is an absolute blast. Now streaming on Netflix, this fascinating four-part docuseries explores the legendary tale of a college student who tried to use Pepsi Points to purchase a jet. From the now infamous commercial that stated you could turn 7,000,000 Pepsi Points into a Harrier fighter jet to the David vs. Goliath court battle that followed, Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? is an irreverent look back at this bizarre footnote from the mid-’90s “cola wars.”

Photo: Netflix

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By Josh Sorokach Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? is an

Awards

“This holiday season, Ukraine celebrates the festive tale of how an arrogant terrorist’s special military operation was thwarted by a scrappy underdog,” reads the video’s opening text.

Every December, classic 1988 action movie “Die Hard” is the subject of numerous debates and memes about its status (or lack thereof) as a Christmas film. This year, though, the Ukraine government is celebrating the film’s story for a very different reason.

In a tweet from the Defense of Ukraine Twitter account released Monday, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine released an edited trailer for the Bruce Willis film, comparing the plot of the movie to this year’s invasion of the country from the Russian army. Set to “Carol of the Bells” from Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych and Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “Let it Snow,” the video cuts scenes from the film, which stars Bruce Willis as New York detective John McClane as he attempts to save hostages of a German terrorist takeover led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), with text describing the plot.

“This Christmas, Ukraine celebrates the festive story of how an arrogant terrorist’s special military operation was thwarted by a scrappy underdog,” the text that opens the video reads. “It was the perfect plan with nothing left to chance, until it all went wrong. The war you never wanted is the one you can’t afford to lose. This Christmas, the age-old story of David & Goliath hits close to home.”

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The video also features footage from modern day Ukraine, including video of a Christmas tree lit with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, and an explosion that occurred during military efforts. The video also edits some scenes from the film to reference the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, including altering a dead terrorist’s shirt that says “I now have a machine gun Ho-Ho-Ho” to replace “machine gun” with “HIMARS,” referring to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System being used in the war efforts.

Another edit juxtaposes Rickman’s quote from the film “I read about them in Time Magazine,” with the cover of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Person of the Year issue.

In their caption of the tweet that accompanied the video, the Defense of Ukraine account wrote: “An underdog who wins against the bad guys. This is the kind of story we all enjoy. Dedicated to all the die hards on the front line. Ukraine will win!.” The tweet ended with “Yippe Ki-Yay…!,” referencing Willis’ most famous line in the film.

Watch the Ukraine government’s video below.

Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.

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"This holiday season, Ukraine celebrates the festive

Docs

While R. Kelly is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, Lifetime has announced the conclusion of its revelatory docuseries, “Surviving R. Kelly: The Final Chapter.” The two-part special will premiere on Jan. 2 and 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.

The episodes examine the aftermath of the disgraced R&B singer’s crimes as he faces multiple federal and state trials. “While millions have read the headlines, the final chapter connects the shocking fine print with unspeakable details never shared with the public, culminating in the verdict heard around the world,” the press release reads.

The first night of the special will follow Azriel Clary‘s court testimonial, where she reveals how she was instructed to lie for R. Kelly’s interview with Gayle King and shares details of her abuse on the witness stand. Clary was just 17 years old when she became Kelly’s live-in girlfriend. She and Kelly’s other girlfriend, Joycelyn Savage, often spoke publicly in the singer’s defense, even as accusations of sexual abuse against him multiplied in the wake of the first Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly” in 2019. The Clary family will also detail the intimidation tactics used to corner them by R. Kelly supporters while legal experts and journalists provide insight into the racketeering charges against Kelly.

Additionally, the first night of “The Final Chapter” will touch on the aftermath of the gun threat at the 2018 premiere screening of the documentary, for which Kelly’s former manager was convicted. Night two will focus on Jane Doe #1 and, for the first time, a group of John Does who take the stand as new survivors emerge. The series concludes with survivors sharing their victim impact statements as they hear the final verdict against Kelly.

Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in June after a jury found him guilty of racketeering related to the sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping and forced labor. Three months ago, a Chicago federal jury found Kelly guilty of six counts of sexual exploitation and enticement of a minor, and he will face sentencing in February. Kelly is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago.

“Surviving R. Kelly: The Final Chapter” is executive produced by Joel Karsberg of Kreativ Inc., a creative working pod with Bunim Murray Productions, Tamra Simmons, Jesse Daniels, and Maria Pepin, and Brie Miranda Bryant from Lifetime.

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While R. Kelly is currently serving a

Global

Shoppers at Orchard Park Shopping Center in Kelowna, B.C., had a scare Monday after they were evacuated due to an unknown smell in the food court area.

Kelowna Fire Department crews were dispatched around 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon for reports of people with burning eyes, sore throats and coughing.

When officers arrived, they reported numerous people outside the mall with security.

Orchard Park security staff had already evacuated the food court before the fire department arrived.


Click to play video: 'Gas leak at West Kelowna, B.C. condo displaces residents'


Gas leak at West Kelowna, B.C. condo displaces residents


Once fire crews were at the scene, they determined that it was possible someone had discharged bear or pepper spray.

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Kelowna RCMP was notified of the incident and there were no reports or requests for medical aid needed at the scene.

Ventilation fans were set up to clear the air in the area and after it was ventilated, customers were allowed to re-enter the mall.

Fire crews responded with two engines and a command vehicle with nine personnel.

&copy 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Christmas pajamas, baking sweet treats and decorating

Tech

TikTok has added a feature to its For You page that will give users a brief explanation of why a video was recommended on their feeds.

In a blog post shared on Tuesday, TikTok said that while “technical models” power its recommendation system, the company is paring down some of those details into easily digestible reasons, such as user interactions (videos a user watches, likes, shares, comments on and/or searches for), accounts that the user follows, content recently posted in a user’s region and content that is popular in that region.

“This feature is one of many ways we’re working to bring meaningful transparency to the people who use our platform, and builds on a number of steps we’ve taken towards that goal,” the blog post said. “Looking ahead, we’ll continue to expand this feature to bring more granularity and transparency to content recommendations.”

The latest feature comes after TikTok has faced renewed scrutiny in Congress, with the Senate most recently passing a bill on Dec. 14 that would ban the social media platform from government-issued devices. (The bill would still allow federal employees to download the app for investigative and research purposes on government devices.)

On Tuesday, lawmakers also put forward a $1.7 trillion spending bill that would require the White House Office of Management and Budget “to develop standards and guidelines for executive agencies requiring the removal” of TikTok from government-issued devices within 60 days.

“We’re disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices — a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests — rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review,” a spokesperson for TikTok said.

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Video

Talking about an album inspired by “Stick Season,” the transition between fall and winter in Noah Kahan’s native Vermont, while on the 40-somethingth floor of a hotel in Midtown Manhattan is an unexpected pairing, but it’s as fitting a setting as any for a “Live From My Den” session with this folk-inspired singer-songwriter who’s also had a parallel career as a mainstream hitmaker, and who’s lived in both places.

He moved back to Vermont when the pandemic hit, and much of the album was created there. “I wanted to bring people to Vermont in the music,” he says, “so I looked at artists that created a great sense of place and can paint a picture of their homes. I listened to artists like Sam Fender and Phoebe Bridgers and Gregory Allen Isakov who can transport you somewhere with their songwriting. I was trying to figure out how they did that, and what made them so uniquely special at doing it, and it all came down to the storytelling and being willing to be personal and specific. So I started to try to take that kind of leap of faith and start writing about what was happening in my life.”

The album is both a love letter to his home state and a return to his folk origins, and also reflects the sense of isolation many of us felt during the pandemic, but also an uplift in the beauty of nature and a sense of home. Hear songs from the album and more about its story below.

With support from Fujifilm, Artists Den has created another season of ‘Live From My Den’ using FUJIFILM X Series and GFX System cameras and lenses, while focusing on ways we can continue to enhance an educational experience for young photographers and filmmakers during production. This season, they’re sharing three content stories focused on mentorship, craftsmanship, and the technological benefits that the partnership provided students in various locations around the world. To read about their stories and see their images, please visit Students of Storytelling.

Furthermore, each episode of “Live From My Den” highlights a local charity organization important to the artist, promoted via donation links and targeted messaging. As we work through the complexities of living in a post-pandemic world, Artists Den and partners are excited to give back to the community through Delivering Good, an organization uniting retailers, manufacturers, foundations, and individuals to support people affected by poverty and natural disasters and aiding global efforts in Ukraine and Afghanistan. For more information, or to make a donation, please visit Delivering Good.

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Talking about an album inspired by “Stick

Movies

Last Updated: October 10, 2020, 15:18 IST

Ginny Weds Sunny

Ditector: Puneet Khanna

Cast: Vikrant Massey, Yami Gautam, Ayesha Raza Mishra

Ginny Weds Sunny is a film which would do really well if it were made in the ‘90s. We were used to being fed male entitlement as romantic. We would always root for the ‘bechara’ hero, the underdog who would make all these efforts to impress the heroine, and then get angry when she didn’t reciprocate. However, in 2020, we’ve watched this film way too many times and we’re tired.

Sunny is the nice guy who never gets girls. His family loves cracking jokes at his expense. He wants to marry anyone to open his restaurant. His father consults a matchmaker, who is also the mother of Sunny’s childhood crush Ginny.

Ginny is the ‘modern gal’ who wants to ‘do’ love marriage, insults a prospect on his face and is confused about her ex. Matchmaker loves to interfere and hence grooms Sunny to be a prospective match for her own daughter.

Sunny embarks on his journey to win back his ‘unattainable’ old crush and changes his entire routine to, well, make her like him back. With Ginny’s mom’s help he follows her around, invites himself into her friend circle and even on a trip to Mussoorie. There he tells her that he wants to marry her and then gets angry when the ex comes back in the picture. Remember, Ginny till now hasn’t really shown interest in him romantically.

To be fair, Ginny isn’t like Preeti from Kabir Singh. She has agency and a voice. But to portray her as such, the writers use such cliched tools, she feels like a caricature of the urban Indian girl.

The film is a mess after this point. There is a term called secondhand embarrassment, and I have felt it multiple times while watching the films. Both Ginny and Sunny are insufferable, but the supporting characters too are a lot. All of them are based on Punjabi cliches and speak in punchlines. The parents of the couple are the ones scheming and interfering but love to pretend like they’re always right. Only if I could get paid everytime they said, “Iss generation ki yahi problem hai.”

Read: Halahal Movie Review

Read: Serious Men Movie Review

Vikrant Massey is such a great actor, has always been, so it was particularly disheartening to see him play this annoying brat. Yami, on the other hand, does her best with what she has got. There is one very heartwarming scene in the film: Yami’s character Ginny breaks down after having ‘prasad’ from Gurudwara Bangla Saheb as it tastes exactly like the one made by her late father. Yami is really convincing in this particular scene.

Ayesha Raza literally carries the film in most of the scenes she is in. She is witty and charming and had a lot of potential, only if her character was written better! Without spoiling much, there is a cameo by Isha Talwar and she brings a much-needed depth to the film. She could’ve been brought in much earlier in the film.

Ginny and Sunny is fun, it has great songs and an overall upbeat vibe. But that is mostly about it. If there is nothing else to watch this weekend, go for this one. Watch it for the great outfits Yami Gautam wears. There is not much the film has to offer, but can be a stress-free escape from the horrible world we are living in right now.

Rating: 1.5/5

Read all the Latest News and Breaking News here

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Last Updated: October 10, 2020, 15:18 ISTGinny

Film

Inside Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Secret ‘Glass Onion’ Cameo as the ‘Hourly Dong’ (Exclusive) | Entertainment Tonight

































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TV

AMC+ has announced its slate of programming for the month of January.

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches premieres January 8. Based on  the best-selling trilogy, Lives of the Mayfair Witches, the eight-episode series focuses on an intuitive young neurosurgeon, Rowan (Alexandra Daddario), who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations.

Frozen Plant II debuts January 28. The Emmy-winning series returns to the Arctic and Antarctic to observe the amazing species that thrive there. But, going further than the first season, it also explores life beyond the Poles – witnessing the wildlife dramas that play out in the world’s coldest regions: our high mountains, frozen deserts, snowbound forests, and ice-cold oceans. The docuseries is narrated by Sir David Attenborough with music by Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers.

Vesper premieres January 6. Set after the collapse of the Earth’s ecosystem, the sci-fi thriller follows Vesper (Raffiella Chapman, The Theory of Everything), a headstrong 13-year-old girl who uses her survival skills to subsist in the remnants of a strange and dangerous world with her ailing father, Darius (Richard Brake, Game of Thrones). When Vesper finds a mysterious woman, Camellia (Rosy McEwen, The Alienist), alone and disoriented after an aerial crash, she agrees to help find her missing companion in exchange for safe passage to the Citadel. Vesper soon discovers that her brutal neighbor, Jonas (Eddie Marsan, Sherlock Holmes), is searching for Camellia, who is harboring a secret which could change all of their lives forever. Forced into a dangerous adventure, Vesper must rely on her wits and bio-hacking abilities to unlock the key to an alternate future.

January 5

Clean Sweep Season 1

January 6

Vesper

Graham Norton Show

January 8

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches

January 12

One Lane Bridge Season 3

Chucky Season 1

January 13

Pretty Problems

January 19

Sorry About the Demon

January 20

Old Man

January 26

The Lair

January 26

The Lair

January 28

Frozen Planet II

 

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AMC+ has announced its slate of programming

What to Watch

A24

Coming out of the pandemic, 2022 turned out to be a great year for cinema!

It began with a new take on the Dark Knight from Matt Reeves‘ ‘The Batman,’ followed by the surprise hit ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once,’ then the summer blockbuster sequel ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ and finishing off with James Cameron‘s long-awaited ‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’ its truly been an amazing year for movies.

With the year quickly coming to a close, Moviefone has assembled its list of the 22 best movies of 2022.

Let’s begin and Happy New Year!

Margot Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy in 'Babylon' from Paramount Pictures.

Paramount Pictures

From Damien Chazelle, “Babylon’ is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

Babylon
Tom Hanks in 'A Man Called Otto' from Sony Pictures.

Sony Pictures

Actually opening in limited release on December 30th, 2022 and directed by Marc Foster, the movie follows the story of Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks), a grumpy widower who is very set in his ways. When a lively young family moves in next door, he meets his match in quick-witted and very pregnant Marisol, (Mariana Treviño) leading to an unlikely friendship that will turn his world upside-down.

A Man Called Otto

A Man Called Otto

“Fall in love with the grumpiest man in America.”

Showtimes & Tickets

The story of Otto Anderson, a grumpy widower who is very set in his ways. When a lively young family moves in next door, he meets his match in quick-witted and very… Read the Plot

Director Guillermo del Toro on the set of Netflix's 'Pinocchio.'

Netflix

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of the wooden marionette (Gregory Mann) who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto (David Bradley). This whimsical, stop-motion film directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

19. ‘Elvis‘ (2022)

Austin Butler as Elvis in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama 'Elvis,' a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Warner Bros.

Directed by Baz Luhrmann, the film tells the life story of Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) as seen through the complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks).

Elvis
Brian Tyree Henry and Jennifer Lawrence in 'Causeway,' premiering November 4, 2022 on Apple TV+.

Apple TV+

A US soldier (Jennifer Lawrence) suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home in New Orleans. When she meets local mechanic James (Brian Tyree Henry), the pair begin to forge an unexpected bond.

Causeway

Causeway

“Begin again.”

69

R1 hr 36 minNov 4th, 2022

Apple TV Plus logo
(L to R) Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams), Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano), Natalie Fabelman (Keeley Karsten), Reggie Fabelman (Julia Butters) and Lisa Fabelman (Sophia Kopera) in 'The Fabelmans,' co-written, produced and directed by Steven Spielberg.

Universal Pictures

Directed by Steven Spielberg and based on his own life story, the movie is set in post-World War II era Arizona and follows young Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), who aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth. Also starring Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch.

The Fabelmans
Lashana Lynch, Viola Davis, Shelia Atim, Sisipho Mbopa, Lone Motsomi, Chioma Umeala in 'The Woman King.'

Sony Pictures

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, ‘The Woman King’ tells the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen.

Inspired by true events, the film follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca (Oscar-winner Viola Davis) as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life. Some things are worth fighting for!

The Woman King
Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Janelle Monáe, and Daniel Craig in 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.'

Netflix

Directed by Rian Johnson, world-famous detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) heads to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery surrounding a tech billionaire (Edward Norton) and his eclectic crew of friends (including Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista).

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Jeffrey Wright and Robert Pattinson

Warner Bros.

Directed by Matt Reeves, ‘The Batman,’ stars Robert Pattinson in the dual role of Gotham City’s vigilante detective and his alter ego, reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne. Also starring Paul Dano as Riddler, Colin Farrell as Penguin, Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon.

The Batman

The Batman

“Unmask the truth.”

77

PG-132 hr 57 minMar 4th, 2022

13. ‘Living‘ (2022)

Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus' 'Living.'

Lionsgate UK

‘Living’ is the story of an ordinary man (Bill Nighy), reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the eleventh hour makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful – into one he can say has been lived to the full.

Living

Living

“It’s never too late to start again.”

PG-131 hr 42 minNov 4th, 2022

LIVING is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the eleventh hour makes a supreme effort to turn… Read the Plot

12. ‘Prey‘ (2022)

Dane DiLiegro as the Predator and Amber Midthunder as Naru in 20th Century Studios' 'Prey.'

20th Century Studios

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg and part of the ‘Predator‘ franchise, when danger threatens her camp, the fierce and highly skilled Comanche warrior Naru (Amber Midthunder) sets out to protect her people. But the prey she stalks turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal.

Prey

Prey

“They hunt to live. It lives to hunt.”

80

R1 hr 40 minAug 5th, 2022

Hulu logo
Neytiri and Jake Sully in 20th Century Studios' 'Avatar: The Way of Water.'

20th Century Studios

Directed by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and set more than a decade after the events of ‘Avatar,’ the film tells the story of the Sully family (Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.

Avatar: The Way of Water
Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba

Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

Directed by George Miller, the film follows Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton), an academic content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.

This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past, and eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.

Three Thousand Years of Longing
Aubrey Plaza in 'Emily the Criminal.'

Roadside Attractions

Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi).

Faced with a series of dead-end job interviews, Emily soon finds herself seduced by the quick cash and illicit thrills of black-market capitalism, and increasingly interested in her mentor Youcef. Together, they hatch a plan to bring their business to the next level in Los Angeles.

Emily the Criminal
Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in 'Top Gun: Maverick'

Paramount Pictures

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.

When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”

Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.

Top Gun: Maverick
Alexander Skarsgård in 'The Northman.'

Focus Features

Directed by Robert Eggers, the film follows Prince Amleth, who on the verge of becoming a man witnesses his father (Ethan Hawke) brutally murdered by his uncle (Claes Bang), who kidnaps the boy’s mother (Nicole Kidman). Two decades later, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) is now a Viking who’s on a mission to save his mother, kill his uncle and avenge his father.

The Northman
The cast of 'The Menu.'

20th Century Studios

A couple travels (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

The Menu

The Menu

“Painstakingly prepared. Brilliantly executed.”

72

R1 hr 47 minNov 18th, 2022

Showtimes & Tickets

A couple travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises. Read the Plot

Olivia Colman in 'Empire of Light.'

20th Century Studios

Directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes, the film is a love story set in and around an old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s starring Oscar-winner Olivia Colman, Oscar-winner Colin Firth, and Micheal Ward.

Empire of Light
Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) in 'She Said.'

Universal Studios

New York Times reporters Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.

She Said
(L to R) Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet in director Luca Guadagnino's 'Bones and All.'

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, the film tells the story of first love between Maren (Taylor Russell), a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee (Timothée Chalamet), an intense and disenfranchised drifter. What follows is a liberating road odyssey of two young people coming into their own, searching for identity and chasing beauty in a perilous world that cannot abide who they are.

Bones and All
Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell in the film 'The Banshees of Inisherin.'

20th Century Studios

Directed by Martin McDonagh and set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, the film follows lifelong friends Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship.

A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and troubled young islander Dominic (Barry Keoghan), endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer. But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.

The Banshees of Inisherin
Michelle Yeoh in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once.'

A24

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes, and must tap into the Multiverse in order to save the world.  Also starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan and James Hong.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

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A24Coming out of the pandemic, 2022 turned

Awards

13 years after Avatar broke records, James Cameron is back and his franchise is bigger, bolder and wetter than ever. The director and his team break down their massive undertaking.

As soon as James Cameron finished work on the first Avatar movie in 2009, he gathered his department heads, told them they’d remain on the payroll for an additional two months and asked them to prepare a white paper on what they’d need if there was ever a sequel. “And then we went off to a resort for three days and sat at a big round table and worked out the problem of how to make this better,” Cameron said. The result, 13 years later, is Avatar: The Way of Water, which takes the spectacle of that first movie and kicks it to another level. 

That new level is both exterior, with vast new regions of the planet Pandora, and interior, exploring the family life of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former Marine who has left his human body to become one of the Na’vi, the occupants of the lush planet lusted after by war-mongering Earthlings who nearly destroyed their own planet. While the three-hour film is astonishing visually, it’s also a grounded story of a father whose kids are in their awkward teenage years, even if those teens happen to be seven or eight feet tall and blue. 

“One of the big points coming out of that retreat was getting more nuanced performances, more empathy for these characters,” producer Jon Landau said. Cameron added, “It’s a more emotional film in general. The motion capture didn’t change that much, but what we did with those facial images—introducing AI and machine deep learning into the equation so that what the actors did was what you got at the end with as little human invention as possible—was super important.”

Exploring these characters, he added, was the reason to do another Avatar—and to do the third film, which has already been shot, and the fourth and fifth, which are written and designed and will be made if The Way of Water proves to be a financially successful followup to the top-grossing movie of all time. “The reason to come back wasn’t the extraordinary financial success of the first film,” he said. “In fact, that’s almost a disincentive. The incentive to do it is that we had this great team of artists and this great cast of actors, and everybody trusted everybody.”

In this special section, more than a dozen of Cameron’s collaborators talk about their second journey to Pandora. —SP

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13 years after Avatar broke records, James

Tech

We have more OnePlus 11 news to bring you: OnePlus has announced that the flagship phone will actually make its debut on Wednesday, January 4 in China, and official photos of the handset in two different colors have been pushed out as well.

This all comes from Chinese social network Weibo (opens in new tab) (via Engadget (opens in new tab)), emphasizing that this is likely to be a launch event that is pretty extensively regionalized. That said, it’s going to be the same phone wherever in the world you buy it.

As we previously reported, a global OnePlus launch event has been scheduled for Tuesday, February 7, where we’ll no doubt hear more about international availability and pricing – even if everything else about the phone will already have been revealed.

Specs appeal

OnePlus hasn’t been shy about sharing specs, features and promo images for the OnePlus 11 on its Weibo page (opens in new tab). In fact there’s not going to be a whole lot left to reveal at the official launch events that are coming in January and February.

As expected, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset from Qualcomm will be running the show, while the memory configuration options are going to start from 12GB – that starting point is up from 8GB with the OnePlus 10 Pro that was launched earlier this year.

As for the look of the phone, the official images match the leaked renders that have previously emerged. OnePlus says that it’s a “black hole-inspired aesthetic design” (according to Google Translate), with a large rear camera module cut-out.

Analysis: 2023 in phones starts here

If you count the January 4 launch event in China as an official unveiling, the OnePlus 11 is going to be the first flagship phone out of the blocks in 2023. There’s some value in being first, but it also means other manufacturers have got longer to refine and develop their handsets before launching them.

According to the latest rumors, we’re going to see Samsung reveal the Galaxy S23 family of phones on February 1, which is a Wednesday. There will be three high-end handsets on show: the Galaxy S23, the Galaxy S23 Plus, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The Google Pixel 8 is expected to follow along in October, as that’s when the Pixel smartphones normally make an appearance. Before that though, we might well see a foldable phone and a mid-range Pixel 7a from Google.

Taking on the Android flagships will be the iPhone 15. If Apple sticks to its usual schedule, we’ll see several iPhone 15 models make an appearance at some point during September, and we’ve already heard that the camera is in line for a substantial upgrade, and that some models in the range could come with solid-state buttons.

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We have more OnePlus 11 news to

Video

22 of the top 40 films on home viewing this week were Christmas-themed, with “Violent Night” topping Vudu, iTunes, and Google Play charts.

While theaters have “Avatar: The Way of Water” bringing in most of the revenue, two films that had recent successful theatrical runs dominate home viewing revenue this Christmas. “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” was an immediate #1 at Netflix (it had a one-week preview in theaters a month ago). “Violent Night” with an evil Santa (Universal/$19.99), still #5 in theaters, tops Vudu (ranking by revenue) and iTunes and Google Play (calculating by transactions).

Otherwise, 22 of the 40 positions on the three VOD plus Netflix top ten charts we cover are Christmas-set or themed. And with these included, films released before 2022 constitute 23 of the 40 slots. Making all charts are “The Grinch” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (Universal), with “Elf,” “Christmas Vacation,” “The Polar Express” (Warner Bros. Discovery), and “Die Hard” (Disney) making two each. All cost $3.99 to rent.

With the old titles and more recent ones mostly discounted, that means total revenue from these platforms might be someone impeded. A year ago at this time, “No Time to Die,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” and “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City” all were thriving with $19.99 prices.

Related

Related

There are other recent PVOD offerings. “Prey for the Devil” (Lionsgate/$19.99) is #5 at Vudu, but no other top ten listings. The most significant absence by far is “The Fabelmans” (Universal). In its second week out for home play, it dropped off both of its initial top ten rankings last week. Vudu only lists ten, but its absence there on a chart that favors higher-priced films is noticeable. iTunes has it at #16, Google Play at #25.

Though the film has been a box office disappointment (it crossed the $10 million mark this weekend, far below expectations for what remains a strong Oscar contender), the early release over the holidays was thought to give it a chance to rebound. It still might this week as older viewers settle in with immediate Christmas commitments over.

One factor in its way, and competing with everything else, is “Glass Onion.” Netflix likely will release some numbers this week, with anything less than the most initial viewing ever for an original movie unlikely. One sign of its appeal is that its predecessor “Knives Out” (Lionsgate/$3.99) is on two VOD charts, as high as #3 at iTunes.

“Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount/$2.99) is the other title to make all three VOD charts. Parallel to its streaming debut on Paramount +, its price was cut, with it in the top six of all charts, #3 at Google Play.

“Matilda the Musical”

DAN SMITH/NETFLIX

Netflix has four Christmas titles in its top ten, all older films. Apart from “Glass Onion,” its top three are new entries. #2 is “The Invitation,” once again a recent Sony release streaming here. #3 is their original “Matilda: The Musical.” It was released initially by the streamer in the U.K./Ireland, where it grossed over $19 million, very strong (with token domestic showings earlier as well). Of note is that Working Title was one of its production companies, with veteran producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner involved (among their many credits was “Les Miserables”).

Despite more elevated promotion on the site this week, Alexandro J. Inarritu’s “Bardo” again isn’t on their top ten, with Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” dropping off after several weeks in play.

 

 

iTunes and Google Play rank films daily by number of transactions. These are the listings for December 26. Distributors listed are current rights owners. Prices for all titles are for rental.

iTunes

1. Violent Night (Universal) – $19.99

2. Die Hard (Disney) – $3.99

3. Knives Out (Lionsgate) – $3.99

4. The Grinch (Universal) – $3.99

5. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) – $4.99

6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Universal) – $3.99

7. Elf (WBD) – $3.99

8. Christmas Vacation (WBD) – $3.99

9. The Woman King (Sony) – $5.99

10. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (Universal) – $9.99

 

Google Play

1. Violent Night (Universal) – $19.99

2. The Grinch (Universal) – $3.99

3. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) – $2.99

4. Die Hard (Disney) – $3.99

5. Elf (WBD) – $3.99

6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Universal) – $3.99

7. Black Adam (WBD) – $19.99

8. Christmas Vacation (WBD) – $3.99

9. Knives Out (Lionsgate) – $3.99

10. The Polar Express (WBD) – $3.99

 

Vudu

Vudu ranks by revenue, not transactions, which elevates Premium VOD titles. This list covers  December 19-25

1. Violent Night (Universal) – $19.99

2. Black Adam (WBD) – $19.99

3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Universal) – $3.99

4. The Grinch (Universal) – $3.99

5. Prey for the Devil (Lionsgate) – $19.99

6. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) – $2.99

7. Spider-Man: No Way Home (extended version) – $8.99

8. The Woman King (Sony) – $5.99

9. The Polar Express (WBD) – $3.99

10. Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – $12.99

 

Netflix Movies

Most viewed, current ranking on Netflix’s daily chart on Monday, December 26. Originals include both Netflix-produced and acquired titles it initially presents in the U.S. Netflix publishes its own weekly top 10 on Tuesdays based on time viewed.

1. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix original)

2. The Invitation (2022 theatrical release)

3. Matilda: The Musical  (British Netflix original)

4. The Christmas Chronicles (2018 Netflix original)

5. After Ever Happy (2022 theatrical release)

6. Trolls (2016 theatrical release)

7. A Bad Moms Christmas (2017 theatrical release)

8. Bullet Train (2022 theatrical release)

9. The Christmas Chronicles 2 (2020 Netflix original)

10. White Christmas (1954 theatrical release)

 

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22 of the top 40 films on

Entertaintment

A look at Kim and Kanye’s love story 

2004: First meeting  

Kim and Kanye first met on a music video shoot when the KUWTK star was working as Brandy’s stylist and Kanye was working on a song with the songstress. 

At the time she was still married to Damon Thomas, who she wed in 2000, and Kanye was dating model Alexis Phifer. 

Kanye was dating model Alexis Phifer

Kanye was dating model Alexis Phifer

Speaking about their first meeting on the Keeping Up With The Kardashians 10 year anniversary special, Kim said: ‘I met him I think in 2002 or 2003. He was recording a song with Brandy, and I was her friend…

‘I vividly remember hanging out with him and then they did a video together, so I’d see him a few times…

‘He was asking his friends: ‘Who is this Kim Kardajan?’ He didn’t know what my name was’. 

She later told Vogue Arabia in 2019: ‘This was before you released your first album and you were known as a music producer. I was really shy…

‘You thought I was Brandy’s assistant, which I wasn’t. Ever since you said that, it’s everywhere… like “Kim is Brandy’s assistant.” I was her friend and stylist. [laughs]…

‘I thought you were attractive, nice, very charming, really funny, powerful – I was in awe of you, but I was really shy, quiet, and a little nervous, to be honest.’

Later on that year, Kim split from Damon, who she wed when she was just 19 after eloping. She attributed domestic violence for the split – a claim he has always staunchly denied . 

Kim wrote in the divorce papers: ‘Before we left out home, Damon hit me in the face and cut my lip open.. I fell into the bed frame and banged my knee hard. I was limping when we went skydiving.’

Sealing the deal: West's crush on Kardashian only grew over the years as the rising star began getting photographed next to her boss-turned-friend Paris Hilton; Paris and Kim pictured in 2006

Sealing the deal: West’s crush on Kardashian only grew over the years as the rising star began getting photographed next to her boss-turned-friend Paris Hilton; Paris and Kim pictured in 2006

2006: Heads turned further 

Kanye’s huge crush on Kim only grew over the years as the rising star began getting photographed next to her boss-turned-friend Paris Hilton. 

In an interview with Ryan Seacrest in 2013, Kanye revealed that he truly fell for his future wife after he got a glimpse of a certain photo of her next to her pal Paris in Australia. 

He said: ‘I just knew I wanted her to be my girl for a long time. ‘I remember I saw a picture of her and Paris Hilton, and I remember telling my boy, ‘Have you seen that girl Kim Kardijon?” 

Despite his growing attraction to Kim, Kanye went on to propose to longtime girlfriend Alexis in August of 2006. 

The proposal was slightly more low-key than his eventual proposal to Kim many years later. 

Kanye popped the question to Alexis over a lobster and pasta dinner during a vacation to Capri. 

Tradgedy struck the following year however, when Kanye’s beloved mother Donda passed away.

Following a number of procedures for liposuction, a tummy tuck, and a breast reduction, the following day she experienced a sore throat, pain and tightening in her chest, before collapsing. A friend who was with her called 911 and West was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead in the emergency room.

After her death, Kanye seemed keen to honour her wishes of his marriage as he said of tying the knot to Alexis: ‘I’m just going to go and get married — I’m not going to make a big deal out of it…

‘I wouldn’t get married to prove anything to anyone. It’s for me, for stability in my life, and I’m so happy that I found someone that I really love, that challenges me, that keeps my life interesting, that’s just as crazy as I am.’

Working together: Kanye asks Kim to appear in his infamous hip-hop puppet show Alligator Boots, where she would be playing the part of Star Wars' Princess Leia; Kim and Kanye pictured in 2008

Working together: Kanye asks Kim to appear in his infamous hip-hop puppet show Alligator Boots, where she would be playing the part of Star Wars’ Princess Leia; Kim and Kanye pictured in 2008

2008: A split, Princess Leia and two new loves 

In April, Kanye calls off his year-and-a-half engagement to Phifer, as confirmed by Phifer in a statement to People, in which she said: ‘It’s always sad when things like this end, and we remain friends’. 

Shortly after, Kanye asked Kim to appear in his infamous hip-hop puppet show Alligator Boots, where she would be playing the part of Star Wars’ Princess Leia.

Although the show was rejected by Comedy Central, Kardashian still had fond feelings for the project as she shared behind the scenes pictures from the set of Alligator Boots to social media in 2018.

Kim wrote on her website: ‘We had met before this project (back in 2003), but I would say this is when we first really connected. These pics are SO funny!’ 

At the time of filming Alligator Boots, Kim was in a relationship with New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush, who she started dating in 2007. 

Meanwhile, Kanye became involved with model Amber Rose in September of that year. 

Future couple? In February, Kim and Kanye reunite with one another at the Y-3 show in New York City. Kim attended the show with boyfriend Reggie, while Kanye arrived solo and snagged a seat next to the couple and actress Milla Jovovich

Future couple? In February, Kim and Kanye reunite with one another at the Y-3 show in New York City. Kim attended the show with boyfriend Reggie, while Kanye arrived solo and snagged a seat next to the couple and actress Milla Jovovich

2009: A fashionable meet and a mysterious mention 

In February, Kim and Kanye reunite with one another at the Y-3 show in New York City. Kim attended the show with boyfriend Reggie, while Kanye arrived solo and snagged a seat next to the couple and actress Milla Jovovich.

In April, during his appearance on Keri Hilson’s hit track Knock You Down, appears to reference his looming crush on Kim and his jealousy over her relationship with Reggie. 

He rapped: ‘You were always the cheerleader of my dreams / Seem to only date the head of football teams/…

‘And I was the class clown that always kept you laughing / We were never meant to be, baby we just happened’. 

Kanye and Amber also part ways in July of that year

Kanye and Amber also part ways in July of that year

2010: The end of two love stories 

In March, after three years of dating, Kim and Reggie split up for good. Reports at the time blamed the pressures of fame.

They had briefly split in August 2009 before reuniting, however he was unable to reconcile himself to Kim’s rising star. 

An insider told e! online: ‘They do truly love each other and there’s no bad blood… They’re even open to the idea of reconciling down the road, but need to be apart right now.’

Kanye and Amber also part ways in July of that year. 

Following their split, Amber blamed Kim for the split, saying: ‘Kim is one of the main reasons why me and Kanye are not together. She’s a homewrecker!’ 

In the years after his split from Amber, Kanye has openly criticised the model – most famously saying in a 2015 interview that he had to take ’30 showers’ after dating her and reportedly branding her a ‘prostitute’. 

In December, as Kim filmed the music video for her single Jam (Turn It Up), Kanye was present on set. Famously, Kardashian’s mother Kris Jenner snapped at him for checking out her daughter’s famous derriere by bluntly saying, ‘Don’t be looking at her a**’. 

The songwriter snapped back: ‘I’ve never seen it actually.’ 

In August 2011, Kim and Kris wed during a lavish, televised ceremony in Montecito, CA

In August 2011, Kim and Kris wed during a lavish, televised ceremony in Montecito, CA

2011: A Hump(hries) in the road  

In May 2011, Kim got engaged to her NBA star boyfriend Kris Humphries, who she started dating in October of 2010. 

In August that year, Kim and Kris wed during a lavish, televised ceremony in Montecito, CA. The eye-popping nuptials were attended by 450 guests and cost approximately $10million,

In an explosive twist in the tale, after just 72 days of marriage, Kim filed for divorce on October 31.  

Kim later revealed that she had misgivings about the marriage but felt she must go forward due to surrounding pressures. 

She said: ‘There was all this attention on the wedding, and I thought ‘maybe it was just the pressure of the show giving me this anxiety.’ 

‘The night before, my mom pulled me aside, off camera, and was like, ‘This isn’t it for you,”

‘I felt like, if I pulled out now, everyone’s going to think I just did it for the show. Then afterwards, people were saying, ‘You have to stay married for a year,’ but I physically couldn’t do it. When I made the decision [to divorce], everyone said it was made up for the show. Everyone really wanted to take me down.’ 

Kris said of the split: ”It’s never easy to go through the embarrassment of something like that — with your friends, with your family …. But when it plays out so publicly, in front of the world, it’s a whole other level. It was brutal’.  

During his appearance on Kocktails with Khloe, Kanye revealed to Khloe that he tried to talk Kim out of moving forward with her marriage to Kris.  

Shortly after, rumors began to swirl that Kim had taken her friendship with Kanye to the next level.

Early snap: Kim confirmed her romance with Kanye in June 2012 and they announced they were expecting their first child that December

Early snap: Kim confirmed her romance with Kanye in June 2012 and they announced they were expecting their first child that December

2012: It’s TRUE and there’s a baby

They finally got together eight years after meeting. 

In March, The rumored couple let it be known they were spending time with each other when Kim sat front row at Kanye’s runway show during Paris Fashion Week. 

The following month, after months of rumors and rumblings, Kim and Kanye made their relationship official as they held hands in New York City. 

In May they took things a step further and make their red carpet debut at the Cannes Film Festival during the premiere for the film Cruel Summer. 

In December, the Stronger rapper joyously reveals that his is expecting his first child with Kim during a New Year’s Eve concert in Atlantic City. 

The rapper said ‘stop the music’, then announced ‘make noise for my baby mama right here,’ with a wide smile. Kanye’s announcement prompted a flurry of excited tweets from the audience 

Taking to her official website, Kim also confirmed the pregnancy, writing: ‘It’s true!! Kanye and I are expecting a baby…

‘We feel so blessed and lucky and wish that in addition to both of our families, his mom and my dad could be here to celebrate this special time with us. Looking forward to great new beginnings in 2013 and to starting a family.’ 

2013: A star is born… North West is here and a wedding on the way 

Epic proposal: In October, Kanye made proposal history when he asked Kim for her hand in marriage with a sparkling 15-carat Lorraine Schwartz diamond ring

Epic proposal: In October, Kanye made proposal history when he asked Kim for her hand in marriage with a sparkling 15-carat Lorraine Schwartz diamond ring

On June 15, Kim welcomed their daughter North West. 

Weeks later, the KUWTK star showed off a picture of her and Kanye’s baby girl, while appearing on her mother Kris’ short lived talk show.

In October, Kanye made proposal history when he asked Kim for her hand in marriage with a sparkling 15-carat Lorraine Schwartz diamond ring.

The proposal was a total surprise and went down at the AT&T Park baseball park in San Francisco, which Kanye rented out for the occasion. 

He had arranged for the words ‘PLEEESE MARRY MEEE!!!’ to flash up on the giant scoreboard at the ballpark. 

Despite his bravado, Kanye admitted prior to the proposal he was nervous, saying: ‘I was talking to a cousin, I said, ‘What do you think she’s gonna say?’…

‘I’m not arrogant about love and feelings at all . . . I knew I wanted her to be my girl for a long time

In November, the couple then made headlines around the globe when shortly after their engagement, Kim famously appeared nude while straddling Kanye on a motorbike in his Bound 2 music video.  

2014: The wedding 

In May the following year, the couple tied the knot at the Renaissance fortress in Florence, Italy

In May the following year, the couple tied the knot at the Renaissance fortress in Florence, Italy

In May the following year, the couple tied the knot at  the Renaissance fortress in Florence, Italy. The lavish affair saw 200 people in attendance and Kim walked down the aisle in a stunning Maison Margiela bridal gown.

They were wed under the direction of Rich Wilkerson Jr, a pastor from North Miami. Speaking moments after the ceremony to E! News, Kim’s mum Kris said she was ‘beyond bursting with happiness for Kim, Kanye and baby North’.

‘Such a magical, romantic wedding!’ she added. ‘I feel blessed to have my new son and his family as part of ours.’ And Kanye seemed equally ebullient, with a source telling MailOnline he gave an eight-minute speech to the gathered guests.

‘I just wanna stop the music a second ‘cos my baby’s coming back with a new dress on. Here she is – Kim Kardashian West,’ he said, introducing his bride.

After the ceremony, the guests broke bread together sitting family style on a 70-metre-long marble banquet table – a gift from master craftsman Gualtiero Vannelli who used marble from the Tuscan quarry in Carrara, according to Us Weekly. 

During the ceremony Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli serenaded Kim and Kanye with several of his songs, including Con te Partiro. Among the stars at the nuptials were Steve McQueen, Lala Anthony, Jaden Smith and Joe Francis. 

2015: Saint West 

In December, Kim and Kanye welcomed their second child, son Saint West, on December 5, 2015.

In December, Kim and Kanye welcomed their second child, son Saint West, on December 5, 2015.

In May, in wake of her first wedding anniversary with Kanye, Kim confirmed to Glamour that she was expecting her second child with the Grammy winner. 

‘North has taught me patience. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. And nothing I wouldn’t do for my husband. She’s empowered us to want to be the best parents and the best spouses,’ said the star.

In December, Kim and Kanye welcomed their second child, son Saint West, on December 5, 2015. 

Eager to share her newborn with her massive Instagram following, Kim shared a portrait of Saint to the platform.

Kim later discussed life with two young children, saying of North: ‘I don’t know if it’s because she’s the older sister. I don’t know what it is. I thought it was a phase. She does not like her brother and it’s so hard for me… 

‘She would get so jealous when I would breastfeed and all that kind of stuff. And now, the phase isn’t going away.’ 

Famed and adored for her seeming diva ways, Kim continued to give insight into life with North, saying: ‘She thinks she’s outsmarting me. 

‘Like, she’ll have a tea party and say, ‘No boys allowed.’ Dad can’t come too then — no boys. And she’ll slam the door on her brother’s face and he’ll just start crying.’ 

2016: Kim’s trauma and trouble in paradise

In 2016, Kim was left traumatised when burglars broke into her Paris apartment during Fashion Week, tied her up and stole $10million of jewellery in October 2016 (pictured before the raid)

In 2016, Kim was left traumatised when burglars broke into her Paris apartment during Fashion Week, tied her up and stole $10million of jewellery in October 2016 (pictured before the raid)

In 2016, Kim was left traumatised when burglars broke into her Paris apartment during Fashion Week, tied her up and stole $10million of jewellery in October 2016. 

In 2018, she finally learning to be ‘okay’ with the horrifying experience because she has ‘learned so much from it’.

The reality star was robbed by five armed men wearing ski masks and clothes with police markings in the ordeal.

At around 3am, the robbers entered the building after the concierge let them in.

Handcuffed and at gunpoint, the concierge led them to the starlet’s flat. 

Kim reportedly ‘begged for her life’ and told the gunmen she had children at home when two of them entered her room and held the gun to her head.

The men stole a jewellery box worth €6 million ($6.7 million/ £5.24 million) and a ring worth €4 million ($4.5 million/ £3.5 million), prompting fears that the valuables were personal ones, and not just jewellery Kim was borrowing for fashion week.

Kim also lost two of her prized smart phones – ones that are likely to contain a great deal of personal information. 

As she recovered from the trauma of the robbery, Kim faced further plight when later that year, the couple were faced with allegations of ‘friction’ due to Kanye’s online behaviour.

After Kanye went on a number of Twitter tangents, insiders said: ‘ What causes friction in the marriage, however, is Kanye’s compulsive tweeting. 

‘Kim can’t stand it. She is all for self-promotion, but doesn’t approve of Twitter drama’. 

Despite this, they denied they were having issues with Kim saying ‘there’s just nothing to really report on’. 

2017: Baby number three

The couple hired a surrogate to carry their third child. It was first reported in July that Kim opted to go the surrogate route due to health complications during her first two pregnancies

The couple hired a surrogate to carry their third child. It was first reported in July that Kim opted to go the surrogate route due to health complications during her first two pregnancies

The couple hired a surrogate to carry their third child. It was first reported in July that Kim opted to go the surrogate route due to health complications during her first two pregnancies.

Kim, who suffered with life threatening placenta accreta when carrying North and Saint, is said to have been referred ‘by an agency’ to find the right surrogate.

TMZ claimed the famous duo paid $45,000 for the surrogate to carry their third child, before revealing the lady in question is an African-American college graduate in her Twenties who has been married for five years with two children. 

‘The entire family is over the moon. Kim had been looking for a surrogate for months until recently when she found the perfect candidate,’ a source told People. 

The singer added: ‘They want everything to be perfect and for the baby to be extremely healthy. 

‘They don’t want any complications and Kim is providing an ideal eating regimen and diet so everyone knows what the baby is consuming before it’s born.’ 

Prior to hiring their surrogate, Kim spoke to her sister Kourtney about the perks of surrogacy, saying: ”If you use a surrogate, nobody has to know the whole time…

‘You could have a baby for a year and nobody would even know.’ 

2018: Chicago is here  

In January, their daughter Chicago was born

In January, their daughter Chicago was born

In January, their daughter Chicago was born. 

Kim delightedly announced the news, confirming in a statement : ‘We’re so in love. Kanye and I are happy to announce the arrival of our healthy, beautiful baby girl’. 

Three days after the birth, Kim revealed that the couple had decided to call their newborn daughter Chicago.

 She shared a picture of the name, captioned with the date and time of the tot’s birth, plus her weight – 7lbs, 6oz.

She shared a post which explains how to pronounce the shortened version of Chicago’s name.

 The informative messages said: ‘And to everyone who thinks it’s literally pronounced as CHI. No. It’s ‘Shy’.’

When grilled on the unusual name: ‘Everyone asks me where we came up with that,’ Kim said about her baby girl, whom she regularly calls ‘Chi.

‘Kanye is originally from Chicago, and the city is really connected to his memory of his mom. So, we went with Chicago.’ 

2019: The brood continues to grow and Sunday Service arrives 

In May, they then welcomed another son Psalm West by a surrogate and later renewed their wedding vows

In May, they then welcomed another son Psalm West by a surrogate and later renewed their wedding vows 

In May,  they then welcomed another son Psalm West by a surrogate and later renewed their wedding vows.

She announced Psalm’s arrival on Mother’s Day with a picture of the baby asleep. 

Kris later explained what the name meant, saying: ‘The inspiration was the Book of Psalms in the Bible. I think it’s just a wonderful way to celebrate how they feel. And he’s such a blessing, so it’s perfect. He’s just adorable.’ 

Kim had spoken earlier about moving on to having four children.

She said: ‘I think that, [for] anyone that has three, I do recommend going for the fourth. You’re already there. You’re so close. It feels so balanced. It feels like there’s a partner for everyone—no one’s left out. Everyone gets along now.’

The biblical name came around the same time as the launch of Kanye’s Sunday Service, in which he delivered his own religious service each Sunday at his home since the beginning of 2019.

The biblical name came around the same time as the launch of Kanye's Sunday Service, in which he delivered his own religious service each Sunday at his home since the beginning of 2019

The biblical name came around the same time as the launch of Kanye’s Sunday Service, in which he delivered his own religious service each Sunday at his home since the beginning of 2019

Kim discussed the services and detailed what they meant to Kanye, saying: ”Kanye started this, I think, just to heal himself. It was a really personal thing, and it was just friends and family…

‘He has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ…

‘For the most part, it’s just a musical ministry. Kanye doesn’t have his 501 [registered non-profit exempt from federal tax] yet to make it an official church, but it is for God and it is a Christian church. It started off healing for him and it’s become something that he really wants to share for everybody else.’ 

Kanye himself spoke about Sunday Service, telling David Letterman: ‘It was really an idea that we had to open up our hearts and make music that we felt was as pure and as positive as possible… 

‘And just do it for an hour every Sunday. And just have somewhere where people can come together and just feel good with their families.’ 

On July 4, Kanye announced he was entering the 2020 presidential race and Kim - as well as Elon Musk - backed him

On July 4, Kanye announced he was entering the 2020 presidential race and Kim – as well as Elon Musk – backed him 

2020: Kanye’s troubles and Kim’s birthday

On July 4, Kanye announced he was entering the 2020 presidential race and Kim – as well as Elon Musk – backed him. 

Later that month, on July 19 he held a campaign rally in South Carolina, wearing a bullet-proof jacket marked ‘security’ and with ‘2020’ shaved into his head. 

In a rambling speech, he revealed he and Kim had considered aborting North and also claimed abolitionist Harriet Tubman ‘never actually freed the slaves’. 

On July 22, he fired off a series of tweets claiming Kim was trying to have him locked up on medical grounds, that he had been ‘trying to get divorced’ since Kim allegedly met rapper Meek Mill at the Waldorf Hotel and called mother-in-law Kris Jenner ‘Kris Jong-Un’. 

Kim subsequently released a statement saying Kanye was suffering a bi-polar episode at the time. It was later revealed he was holing up at his Wyoming ranch and Kim was seen in tears as she visited him,

In October, Kim and Kanye through the stunner an elaborate 40th birthday festivities, which included dinner at candlelight with her nearest and dearest on a private island. 

After the event, Kim shed light on some of the precautions she had everyone take in order to safely celebrate her big day, which included a two week quarantine prior to the party. 

She penned: ’40 and feeling so humbled and blessed. There is not a single day that I take for granted, especially during these times when we are all reminded of the things that truly matter,’ she wrote.

Virtual: Kim Kardashian revealed on Thursday that she received a hologram of her late father Robert from husband Kanye West , in celebration of her 40th birthday

Virtual: Kim Kardashian revealed on Thursday that she received a hologram of her late father Robert from husband Kanye West , in celebration of her 40th birthday 

‘For my birthday this year, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than with some of the people who have helped shaped me into the woman I am today. Before COVID, I don’t think any of us truly appreciated what a simple luxury it was to be able to travel and be together with family and friends in a safe environment…

‘After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time. We danced, rode bikes, swam near whales, kayaked, watched a movie on the beach and so much more.

‘I realize that for most people, this is something that is so far out of reach right now, so in moments like these, I am humbly reminded of how privileged my life is. #thisis40.’

During the trip, she received a hologram of her late father Robert from husband Kanye. 

Famed attorney Robert Kardashian, who tragically passed away from esophageal cancer in July of 2003 at the age of 59, was brought back to virtual life for the unconventional gift, which a number of fans have branded ‘creepy’.

Among the statements made by the virtual incarnation of the late Kardashian patriarch were that his famous daughter was ‘all grown up’, while he also hailed Kanye, 43, as ‘the most genius man in the whole world’.

The two-and-a-half minute video showed the late Kardashian wearing a beige suit jacket layered over a crisp white dress shirt as he seemingly spoke directly to Kim.

‘Happy Birthday Kimberly,’ greeted the hologram. ‘Look at you! You’re 40 and all grown up. You look beautiful just like when you were a little girl. ‘I watch over you and your sisters and brother and the kids everyday. Sometimes I drop hints that I’m around,’ noted hologram Robert, who made reference to something the Kardashians refer to as a ‘big peefee’.

2021: The end

The 41-year old reality star officially filed for divorce from the ‘Jesus Walks’ star in February 2021.

The split followed a rocky year for the couple where they were spotted having ‘crisis’ talks after Kanye accused Kim of trying to ‘lock me up’ and said he wanted to divorce her in a series of rambling Twitter posts while he was said to be in the grips of a bipolar episode. 

Kanye also made a failed run for the White House in 2020 and during his first presidential campaign rally told attendees that Kim had considered aborting daughter North. 

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The second season of the Emmy Award-winning Original series “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” is almost here, and will premiere on Wednesday, February 1st 2023 on Disney+.

From Disney Branded Television, the series is the critically acclaimed revival of Disney’s groundbreaking “The Proud Family.” A season two guest cast featurette spotlighting guest stars Gabrielle Union, Chance the Rapper, Leslie Odom Jr., Holly Robinson Peete, Normani and more, is now available.

 

The series won “Outstanding Casting for An Animated Program” at the inaugural Children’s & Family Emmy Awards.

From creator and executive producer Bruce W. Smith, and executive producer Ralph Farquhar, “The Proud Family” revival picks up the story of its central character, Penny Proud, and her iconic family: parents Oscar and Trudy, twin siblings BeBe and CeCe, and grandmother Suga Mama (and Puff!). By Penny’s side is her loyal crew: Dijonay Jones, LaCienega Boulevardez, Zoey Howzer, Maya Leibowitz-Jenkins and Michael Collins.

The shows synopsis reads, “Penny Proud, a 14-year-old girl and her family, as they navigate their lives in the 2020s. Trudy, Penny’s mom, has new career highs, Oscar, Penny’s dad, has wild dreams, and Penny faces a myriad of challenges while her Suga Mama returns, as does Michael, Dijonay, Zoey, and LaCienega. New kids Maya and KG, who are raised by two dads, try to adapt to life in Smithville.”

Building off the standout success of the series’ debut, season two of “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” continues to tell entertaining and laugh out-loud stories, while highlighting culturally specific experiences of the Black community and addressing universal topics. Various storylines this season include self-worth, interracial dating and Juneteenth.

A full list of the previously announced season two guest stars is below:

Gabrielle Union (“L.A’s Finest”) as Talia Rouge
Singer and producer Chance the Rapper as Darrius St. Vil
Singer and songwriter Normani as Giselle
Leslie Odom Jr. (“Hamilton”) as Kwame
Anthony Anderson (“black-ish”) as Ray Ray
Gymnasts Dominique Dawes, Gabby Douglas and Laurie Hernandez as themselves
Holly Robinson Peete (“21 Jump Street”) as Dr. Lord
Maury Povich (“Maury”) as himself
Storm Reid (“Euphoria”) as Emily
Courtney B. Vance (“Genius”) as Merlin Kelly
Liana Mendoza (“Hey, Mr. Postman!”) as Singing Judge

Kurt Farquhar, the lauded television and film composer, songwriter and producer who wrote and composed “The Proud Family” original theme song and reimagined it for the revival, co-wrote an original song, “You’re Lucky I Let You Love Me,” with Normani, Mariah Meshae and Nkenge Kamau, for the upcoming season. Normani will also provide vocals on several original songs. In addition to Farquhar, who serves as series music composer and songwriter, Ashley Neumeister (“American Soul”) is on board to music supervise the second season.

Extensions for “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” include a cross-category product line of apparel, home, stationery, toys, and collectibles. Fans can listen to music from the series on “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” Official playlist here.

Cast members reprising their roles from the original series and returning for season two are: Kyla Pratt as Penny Proud; Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud; Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud; JoMarie Payton as Suga Mama; Cedric the Entertainer as Uncle Bobby; Karen Malina White as Dijonay Jones, Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey Howzer; Alisa Reyes as LaCienega Boulevardez; Carlos Mencia as Felix Boulevardez; Maria Canals-Barrera as Sunset Boulevardez; Alvaro Gutierrez as Papi; Raquel Lee Bolleau as Nubia Gross; and Marcus T. Paulk as Myron. Recurring voices for the revival include: Keke Palmer as Maya Leibowitz-Jenkins; Billy Porter and Zachary Quinto as Randall and Barry Leibowitz-Jenkins; EJ Johnson as Michael Collins; Asante Blackk as Kareem; Artist “A Boogie” Dubose as Francis “KG” Leibowitz-Jenkins; Bresha Webb as CeCe; Aiden Dodson as BeBe and Carlos Alazraqui as Puff.

In addition to Smith and Farquhar, Calvin Brown, Jr. (“Moesha”) is co-executive producer and story editor, Jan Hirota (“Big Hero 6 The Series”) is producer, Eastwood Wong (“Carmen Sandiego”) is art director, and directors are Latoya Raveneau (“Rise Up, Sing Out”), Rudi Bloss (“DC Super Hero Girls”) and Tara Nicole Whitaker (“Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure”). The series is produced by Disney Television Animation.

Season one of “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” is available on Disney+, and beginning in January 2023, episodes will air weekly on Disney Channel and Disney XD. All seasons of “The Proud Family,” which debuted on Disney Channel in 2001, are also currently available on Disney+.

Twitter: @disneyplus, @theproudfamily
Instagram: @disneyplus, @theproudfamily
Facebook: @disneyplus
Hashtag: #TheProudFamily, #LouderAndProuder, #TheProudFamilyLouderAndProuder

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The second season of the Emmy Award-winning

Movies

Edited By: Yatamanyu Narain

Last Updated: December 27, 2022, 07:37 IST

Shah Rukh Khan in a still from Pathaan teaser.

Shah Rukh Khan shares that when he got the opportunity to star in an action film like Pathaan, he grabbed onto it without blinking an eye.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan has been in the news for a lot of reasons. While some fans can’t stop talking about Shah Rukh Khan’s chiselled physique in the film, others are torn between the first song ‘Besharam Rang’ which featured Deepika Padukone in a certain coloured attire that sparked a nationwide controversy. But come what may, SRK seems to be undeterred and fans have been eagerly waiting for Pathaan’s trailer to drop. Following the hype around his film, Shah Rukh Khan revealed in one of his recent interviews that Siddharth Anand’s movie was a way for him to fulfil his wish to star in an action movie.

As quoted by Indian Express, the Dil Se actor shared, “I have had this big desire to do an action film, ever since I entered the film industry. When we (producer Aditya Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan) started off, he wrote action film for me. I never thought I could do romance or social drama. But one day, he came to me and said, ‘Can we drop this idea, Shah Rukh? I’ve got a love story to do.”

After this discourse, Shah Rukh Khan went on to do Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge which established him as a true-blue romantic hero. However, King Khan further recalled that when Pathaan was offered to him amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he latched on the opportunity even without blinking. Shah Rukh Khan disclosed, “That was years ago. So, this time when he said Pathaan, it was COVID and just a little shooting was allowed. I quickly jumped on it and told my team, ‘Let’s do it before he cancels.’ So, I worked out and built a body. But they didn’t want any of it. They told me, ‘You just do cool action. You are easy.’”

Directed by Siddharth Anand and featuring prominent faces like Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, Pathan would not only mark SRK’s comeback after a four-year long sabbatical but also an extension of YRF’s successful spy universe that already consists of films like Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai and Hrithik Roshan’s War.

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Edited By: Yatamanyu NarainLast Updated: December 27,

Film

4 days ago

If he can change, and they can change, then maybe everybody can change.  No, this isn’t another Christmas Carol adaptation but rather Sylvester Stallone ending the cold war all by himself in Rocky IV.  Join your favourite TransAtlantic podcasting crew – Ian, Liam, and Georgia (Ethan’s programming the robot) as we review perhaps the most 80s film there ever was.  We’re chopping down trees both literal and metaphorical in our 154th episode as we discuss:

  • The lengths that Stallone & Lundgren went to in order to ensure legitimacy in the film
  • Ian hypothesises that a 1972 goodwill ice hockey series may have served as an inspiration for Rocky IV
  • Who’s exactly watching the kid on Christmas Day and why does he have friends over?
  • If this is the least likely Christmas Carol adaptation, who plays the various parts?
  • There’s a debate about cup sizes that has nothing to do with brassieres 
  • Georgia reveals she still doesn’t like boxing films or the character of Rocky specifically
  • We ask whether or not Apollo was written in the wrong way in this film
  • Ian links the world of boxing and pro wrestling in a few different ways but especially a recent dynamic duo in the pro wrestling ranks and how they’ve clearly been inspired by Rocky IV
  • We’ve got some Christmas Carollers who stop by to wish us their very best during the festive season
  • Whether or not Rocky IV is the Best Film Ever

 

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We are extremely thankful to our following Patrons for their most generous support:

  • Rev Bruce
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  • Katie McRae
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Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of ‘Mistake’ by Luckydog.  Catch more from Lex’s new band, The Maids of Honor at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor

Also massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song.  You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/

Timestamps for this episode:

  • 0:00 – Opening Banter
    9:10 – Reflections & Corrections
    14:35 – Shoutouts
    24:30 – Deep Dive
    2:01:30 – Endgame

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4 days agoIf he can change, and

TV

The teaser for the special episodes marking the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, which was released Sunday, not only features David Tennant making his return as the Doctor, but also Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and Neil Patrick Harris as an eccentric and unnamed villain.

Based on the one-minute clip, fans can expect plenty of action, monsters and more in the upcoming part of the series, which is set to be released in November 2023. The special episodes will celebrate the anniversary of the show, which was created in 1963 and then revived in 2005, with Tennant, who previously starred in Doctor Who for five years, coming back to TARDIS as the time lord. 

Doctor Who also posted on the show’s Instagram revealing that Jacqueline King and Karl Collins will be returning to reprise their roles as Sylvia Noble and Shaun Temple, respectively, in the special episodes. Ruth Madeley was introduced as Shirley Anne Bingham. 

At the end of the short teaser, Ncuti Gatwa, who is set to star as the 15th Doctor, makes a quick appearance. His character says, “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on here?” — a question that fans would like to know as well, but they’re going to have to wait until the special anniversary episodes premiere next year. 

Earlier in December, a first look was revealed of Gatwa as the next Doctor of the series, as well as his companion Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday. The 14th season is likely to hit screens in 2024. 

Watch the full teaser for the anniversary special below.

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The teaser for the special episodes marking the

What to Watch

The streaming space in general was so packed with new series and movies in 2022 that it was basically impossible to catch everything that the big platforms put out. This time of year is always great for catching up on those must-see projects that you fell behind on or never got around to watching, and Hulu in particular has a sizable selection of things worth checking out — especially for those who find themselves with some time to kill during the holidays.

There’s a very solid chance that you might be one of the millions of new subscribers who signed up for Hulu this year as it became one of the pricier streaming services comparable to rivals Netflix and HBO Max. At $15 per month, Hulu’s standard ad-free subscription isn’t exactly “cheap” per se. But when you actually dig into the service and see all it has to offer, it’s not hard to find more than a few excessively watchable movies and series — the kind perfect to check out as the year draws to a close.

$8

Hulu may be one of the more expensive streaming services, but the wide variety of shows and movies it offers may make it worth the price.

Based on K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca’s book Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders, FX’s Welcome to Chippendales details the wild and often unbelievable life of Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani), a man who built a burlesque empire by catering explicitly to women’s sexual desires. Welcome to Chippendales traces the arc of Bannerjee’s life as he goes from being a modest gas station manager to one of the most infamous businessmen in America — and a felon convicted of a number of crimes like murder-for-hire. In a year that’s been full of series glamorizing the lives of notorious business-minded individuals, Welcome to Chippendales feels like a breath of fresh air for focusing on something other than Silicon Valley types.

Everything in The Bear comes served with a side of stress, but there’s also something strangely comforting about the show’s story of an anxiety-plagued chef trying to whip his family’s beloved restaurant back into shape. Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) isn’t the most likable person or boss as he begins to get used to running The Beef alongside manager Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and chefs Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Marcus (Lionel Boyce), and Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas). But The Bear takes the grating friction that defines all of its characters’ relationships with one another and uses it to home in on what it is about nerve-racking workplaces that can bond people together and push them to grow.

The Tatami Time Machine Blues

In the middle of an unseasonably hot summer, all that Tatami Time Machine Blues’ college-aged protagonist Watashi (Shintaro Asanuma) wants to do is camp out in his dorm room — which happens to be the only unit in the entire building equipped with an air conditioning unit. But after Watashi’s self-centered friend Ozu (Hiroyuki Yoshino) renders the A/C unusable, all of the students’ lives take a turn for the strange — not just because they’re all living on the verge of heat stroke, but because of the strange man who appears in their hallway piloting what appears to be a time machine. Though The Tatami Time Machine Blues’ story is a sequel to author Tomihiko Morimi’s novel The Tatami Galaxy and features a number of similar ideas, the anime’s much more immediately accessible and perfect for weekend binges.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is one of those long-awaited feature-length animated films that feels like it came out forever ago, but it’s actually only been a few months since Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and the rest of  the Belcher family made their big-screen debut. Though a musical seaside murder mystery sounds right up Linda’s (John Roberts) alley, when a dead body’s discovered in the Belchers’ restaurant, it puts the family in a tough spot that Louise (Kristen Schaal), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Tina (Dan Mintz) take it upon themselves to get everyone out of. After years of the Fischoeder family being caught participating in various crimes all across their town in New Jersey, one might think that it wouldn’t take three children to figure out how they’re involved in the latest strange occurrence to rock the Wonder Wharf.

Abbott Elementary  (Season 2)

In its second season, Abbott Elementary has only become even more dynamic and heartwarming as Janine (Quinta Brunson), Ava (Janelle James), Gregory (Tyler James Williams), and all of the other teachers at Abbott settle into another year of molding young minds. For the most part, Abbott’s second season keeps its focus on the school’s student body as a crew of filmmakers continues shadowing Janine and the others while making a documentary about how hard underpaid educators work. But like all the great mockumentary sitcoms of our time, Abbott’s also started delving a bit deeper into its subjects’ personal lives when they’re off the clock, and by doing so, the show’s grown even bigger and bolder.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War

Though the Bleach anime originally came to an end in 2012, its manga counterpart soldiered on for another another four years before concluding in the epic “Thousand-Year Blood War” arc that pitted the entire Soul Society against the extremist Hollow-killers known as the Quincy. Like the manga, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War tells the story of how Ichigo (Masakazu Morita) and his fellow shinigami band together when the Quincy’s extermination of Hollows threatens to destroy both the human world and the realm where spirits dwell. It’s hard to describe how wild it is to see “Thousand-Year Blood War” coming to life this way when it seemed for so long like the arc might not get the anime adaptation it deserved. But longtime fans of the series who’ve been keen to revisit this world are in for something special.

As a trained therapist, The Patient’s Alan Strauss (Steve Carell) has plenty of experience helping people work through all sorts of traumas and dysfunctions that keep them from being able to lead happy, productive lives. Sam Fortner (Domhnall Gleeson), a restaurant inspector and one of Strauss’ patients, knows from firsthand experience just how effective his therapist can be when tasked with unpacking complex personal issues. But when Fortner kidnaps, imprisons, and informs Strauss that he’s a serial killer hoping to work through his killing compulsion, the therapist realizes that he might be in over his head, and on the brink of being another victim.

In This Fool, the world’s a very different place when Luis (Frankie Quiñones) gets out of prison after serving an eight-year-long sentence for getting caught up in the type of petty crime his straight-laced cousin Julio (Chris Estrada) always made a point to steer clear of. Everyone lives on their phones, nobody uses dedicated DVRs, and it’s all a bit much for Luis to take in, which makes him the exactly the sort of person Julio and his colleagues at the Hugs Not Thugs outreach center are meant to help get back on their feet. The more time the cousins spend together, though, the more they realize that while Luis might have made some bad decisions that derailed his life, Julio has let his own coast to an existential halt, and Luis might be the perfect person to help him rediscover what makes him happy.

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Rosaline’s merely a supporting character, but in director Karen Maine’s Rosaline, she’s both the star and a woman on a mission to get even with her two-timing boyfriend. It comes as a devastating shock to Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever) when she discovers that her longtime beau Romeo (Kyle Allen) has been seeing some other girl named Juliet (Isabela Merced), who he seems intent on eloping with despite their families hating each other. If Rosaline weren’t too close to all of the red flags to recognize them for what they are, she might know to run in the opposite direction. But here, she reckons that she might still have a shot with Romeo if she and her nurse (Minnie Driver) can convince Juliet to dump him in favor of sewing her wild oats — a ridiculous plan, but one that feels like exactly the sort of nonsense The Bard himself would have a chuckle at.

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The streaming space in general was so

Awards

French actress Noémie Merlant might have gotten her big break in 2019’s French historical drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire — which recently landed on Sight and Sound’s list of the 100 greatest films of all time — but she’s made waves for her performance in this year’s Tár, in which she plays the personal assistant of Cate Blanchett’s famed conductor Lydia Tár. In fact, Tár is Merlant’s first American production and first English-language film.

Director Todd Field had seen Merlant’s previous films and sent her the script, the actress tells THR. Instantly, Merlant was drawn to Francesca because of her nuanced character. “I needed a couple of times to read it because it’s so complex, even for [English-speaking] people. There are so many details, so I had to read it a couple of times to really understand all of it,” says the actress. “And I loved it. This is so powerful, so intense, because it [forces you to ask] yourself so many questions about things that we all struggle with. And it doesn’t give you a moral answer, but it makes you go through such deep, deep feelings about the dynamic of power and the process of creation.”

Merlant adds: “I fell in love with my character, actually. For me, without saying much or showing much, she’s always in the shadow, and she represents a woman who wants to live from her passion. But right now, she just serves the coffee and she just observes and waits — and maybe waits for nothing.”

While she says she didn’t need to do much preparation for her character because Francesca never actually touches an instrument in the film, creating Francesca as someone who tries to stay in her lane, but also wants to build her career as a conductor, required preparation with Blanchett herself, whom Merlant describes as very forthcoming and helpful in the process.

“She was fantastic,” says Merlant. “We did some rehearsals before shooting. She was really [available to me]. She had a lot of things to do: There was the languages [she had to learn], the orchestra things, the instruments. I don’t know how she did that. But she had time just for our scene to rehearse, to talk about it, to talk about our characters, to find a way to touch each other, because since [our characters have] known each other for a long time in the movie, we needed to find a way to show things like complicity, and at the same time some distance because she doesn’t really want me anymore. And at the same time, there is respect.”

Noémie Merlant as Francesca, the assistant to the title character in Focus Features’ Tár

Courtesy of Focus Features

Although the 34-year-old has more than 40 credits to her name, she says that her time working on Tár taught her a lot about the industry — lessons that she says inspired her to write a new screenplay, which she plans to start shooting next year.

“I learned so much seeing Cate’s process, and Todd, as a director, created this environment on set [that’s] really interesting, and I really loved it,” she says, noting that crafting a film about a creative person has inspired her to respect not just her own ambitions, but also the process of collaboration required to achieve them.

“You have to take a moment to be aware of the others or the respect of all this, and sometimes, I guess, you can lose yourself like Lydia does,” says Merlant. “So maybe, in my head, I’m like, ‘We can do something amazing with no tyranny.’ I remember when I started, a lot of directors were like, ‘You need to be really pushy with the actors to [get] that feeling that you’re looking for.’ But in fact it means that you don’t trust the actor. You don’t need that: You don’t need to be disrespectful to get something interesting for the camera.”

This story first appeared in a December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

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French actress Noémie Merlant might have gotten

Entertaintment, Film

Broker

Broker
Image: Courtesy Neon

Hirokazu Kore-eda has devoted much of his career to waxing lyrical on makeshift family units and the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps resolve of those living on the margins, recurring themes in his signature films Shoplifters and Nobody Knows. He continues exploring these concepts with Broker, though this time in South Korea instead of his native Japan.

If offered spots in the Squid Game, most of the characters in Broker would probably sign up. Song Kang-ho, most memorable as ne’er-do-well types in Parasite and The Host, plays Sang-hyun, a dry cleaner facing steep gambling debts. He also moonlights as a pastor at the Busan Family Church and dabbles in human trafficking with infants left in the church’s baby box. Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won, Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula), an orphan who has grown up to work for the church, serves as Sang-hyun’s accomplice, erasing surveillance footage of the baby box.

So-young (Lee Ji-eun, better known as K-pop superstar IU) leaves her child at the baby box one night during a downpour, only to return the next day seemingly with a change of heart. Dong-soo feigns ignorance of her baby’s whereabouts at first, but ultimately leads her to Sang-hyun for fear that she may contact the authorities. Once she learns of their plan to sell her child, So-young wants in on the action and to ensure he’ll end up in a good home. They all hop into a beat-up van and drive off to meet prospective buyers in Yeongdeok. Meanwhile, two cops in the female youth division (Bae Doona and Lee Joo-young) are hot on the trail and waiting to catch the titular “brokers” in the act.

As with the characters in Shoplifters, Sang-hyun, Dong-soo, So-young, her infant, and Hae-jin (Im Seung-soo), an 8-year-old from the orphanage who stowed away in the van, form a surrogate family that’s quite functional in practice. As they contemplate ways to keep up the charade, there’s tacit acceptance that their happy time together is running out. Hae-jin occasionally provides some comic relief, but he is there mainly to verbalize what So-young’s son can’t express. The subplots are mostly unmemorable, meant as character evidence that these folks are decent deep down in spite of how they act out of desperation.

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Song is dependable in a role he can by now play in his sleep. The more interesting choice is casting IU against type. She can be described as K-pop’s Taylor Swift; in case there’s doubt, just compare the covers of IU’s Palette and Swift’s 1989. Both artists write their own music, dominate the charts, and boast a goody-two-shoes public images. But while Swift’s turns in Cats and Amsterdam don’t seem much of a stretch for her, it’s nearly unfathomable that IU is playing an unwed mother. She’s effective for the most part, though noticeably nonchalant in the scene where So-young’s infant goes missing.

Broker

Broker
Image: Courtesy Neon

Visually, Broker marks a departure for Kore-eda, who works here with a Korean crew instead of frequent collaborators like cinematographers Yutaka Yamazaki and Mikiya Takimoto. The film also looks much better on a small screen, signaling an improved outlook on streaming platforms. Overall, the film has a deliberate pace befitting a road movie.

Though Kore-eda began his career as a documentarian, his positions on social issues are far from neutral. He reveres the resilience of those who have been dealt a bad hand in life, a sentiment that certainly shines through in Broker.

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BrokerImage: Courtesy NeonHirokazu Kore-eda has devoted much

Docs

You can struggle, fight and assemble the very best team in the world. You can get the hottest script and turn it into a film festival darling. But you can throw it all away by being a bad filmmaker. And by that I mean, not only to you need to be a great filmmaker to succeed. Bad Leaders make Bad Filmmakers

At Raindance Film Festival we see filmmakers (and leaders) of every stripe and colour. Here are my ideas of how you can identify and hopefully avoid ,the bad filmmakers qualities that are almost always to do with leadership. I believe it is possible to identify and avoid these qualities making the people you work with in the future more cooperative, productive and creative.

The harm bad leadership causes

I might sound melodramatic. But I’m not.

Working with a tight filmmaking team that isn’t led right can cause some of these outcomes:

  • people quitting
  • finance falling apart
  • nasty ambience on set
  • projects tanking

If these aren’t bad enough, there are a lot more ways that bad filmmakers can destroy their career.

Even one bad apple on a team can ruin a filmmaker’s project. Even if members of your cast and crew don’t quit and walk away, it can be enough to dent morale , destroy creativity, and ruin the culture of the film’s production. These problems don’t always leap out. Rather they can grow and fester unless checked. And if they aren’t checked, the only people who stick with you are the ones who tolerate poor leadership, or, who are simply hanging on as long as they keep the coins coming in.

A bad filmmaker has no excuse for bad leadership.

1. Bad leaders don’t delegate

Everyone working with you wants your wisdom, vision and input. And everyone gives up their daily slice of hours to help you achieve your dream. are you using your time wisely, or not.

As a leader, are you willing to use input, suggestions and ideas from others? Or are you locked into the old adage: ‘If you want to get something done right, you have to do it yourself.’ If you want to raise the morale of your team through the roof, indulge their suggestions and ideas, and see your team’s energy and morale rocket through the roof.

Delegation is a fine art. `Here are a couple of tools I use when considering how to delegate the many and vried tasks at Raindance.

And hen there are important tasks to do, I confer with David Martinez, executive Director, to see who’s time and insight would be best served at each task. I’ve found that trusting the team and benefitting from their innovative ideas means that the entire Raindance social enterprise venture reaps rewards.

a simple delegation tool

2.Bad leaders don’t prioritise.

I’ve worked at companies before I started Raindance, where the company and it’s bosses were everything I didn’t personally believe in. Each day I was there I drowned in an overwhelming sense of inertia.

Filmmaking needs a committed crew where everyone on the team understands that the priorities are, and embeds the company’s objectives as their own. It also depends what stage your project is at, and at what stage your own career is at. A good filmmaker is a good leader. And will be able to rally the team towards common and shared values.

Don’t fall into the temptation of failing to prioritise. Make your strategic priority that of to prioritise!

3.Closed mindedness is a bad leadership trait

The successful people, and this includes filmmakers, of the past hundred years have embraced new ideas and had innovative and exploring minds. Refusing to embrace new ideas will leave you exposed to a path of mediocrity. It’s important to remember that your career is a series of incremental improvements. Embrace the suggestions and ideas from others. And evaluate.

4.You are known by your example

A filmmaker, like the head of any creative startup, has to make the rules. And breaking those rules is one of the quickest and surest ways to break morale. And its not just about breaking with policies you have set up. It’s about leading by example. Practise what you preach as they say.

  • Set a start time, and then get in an hour after the interns
  • Say you care about people’s well-being and then work 24/7
  • Set precise naming conventions and then break it yourself
  • Schedule regular meetings and then cancel last-minute or turn up 15 minutes late time after time

Whatever rules and protocols you set up is up to you.  Remember that your integrity matters more than anything. Make sure your words and actions match up.

5. Poor communication is the hallmark of bad leadership

Hands up from me at Raindance. I used to insist things were done a certain way ‘because I said so.’ It took me a long time to learn how to explain the context of a direction, and to listen to my team. I am also fortunate to be surrounded by a team of people far smarter than I am. And the work I do is far richer because we all share our knowledge and are prepared to listen and learn from each other.

Open your door, your ears and your inbox!

6. Bad leaders crave personal success

It’s a rare filmmaker that completes a project entirely on their own. By its very nature, filmmaking is a collaborative venture. everyone on the team makes important and valuable contributions. A bad leader puts their own success in front of that of their team. It’s true that leaders lead. But when you are th front person of a team it means you can’t chase your own personal glory at the expense of everyone else who has helped you on the way.

How do you ensure your team’s success? Support others. Play to their strengths. Learn their weaknesses. Use the energy of their personal motivations. Their success will be your success,

7: Doesn’t seek feedback or personal improvement

Management and leadership  are two very different skillsets. A good leader keeps building on their skill. One of the hallmarks of a good leader, and filmmaker for that matter, is the ability to ask for feedback. Not inviting feedback means you think you’ve got everything covered. Don’t ask how you did. ask how you can do it better.

Did You Know?

• Members of Raindance support indie film, and enjoy a range of benefits. Join here

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You can struggle, fight and assemble the