‘Fire Island’ Director on the Film’s All-LGBTQ Cast: ‘We Know That the Depth of Talent Exists’
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Producing the “MTV Movie & TV Awards” is no easy task, but executive producers Vanessa Whitewolf and Wendy Plaut have plans in place to keep it moving like a well-oiled machine. The two MTV execs sat down with TheWrap and broke down how a team of 800 people “pulling double-duty” works to ensure a smooth show consisting of two distinct yet equally important ceremonies.
The pop culture awards show has offered television enthusiasts and movie fanatics fun celebrity fare and antics for the past three decades. This year, the show has added another ceremony — focused on highlighting unscripted reality series — that will be airing its second installment back-to-back on Sunday.
“Those are two pretty clearly defined lanes … that kind of helps us really define what the two shows are, but [we] still want it to fall under the ‘Movie & TV Awards’ umbrella, which is all about the fans,” Whitewolf said. “It’s all about fandoms. It’s all about bringing the biggest and the best, and the stars and the shows and the movies that we know our audience really loves. And that’s how we find the throughline.”
That means highlighting the most popular works in TV and film with traditional categories like Best Show or Movie, along with MTV-specific and “irreverent” nods like Best Hero or Villain. New categories also include Best Reality Return, along with scripted nominations for “Here for the Hookup,” which came about after the producers gauged that a prominent and “fun” theme for this year’s eligible shows was sex, with dominant series like HBO’s “Euphoria” and “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” as well as Netflix’s breakout “Never Have I Ever.”
“Luckily for us, there is no shortage of unbelievable, exciting content out there, whether it be from the scripted world or the unscripted world, and we just really like to have our finger on the pulse of what is popping for the audience,” Plaut told TheWrap.
While the scripted ceremony will be airing live from Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar at 8 p.m. ET/PT, the “MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted” ceremony — which was re-taped Wednesday — will premiere immediately after, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The former will be hosted by Vanessa Hudgens, who was brought back after hosting 2020’s “Greatest of All Time” special; the latter will feature “The Bachelor” star Tayshia Adams.
“This show kind of gives us a little bit of the best of both worlds, where we’ve got our live show where we know it’s totally unpredictable, anything can happen,” Whitewolf said. “We’re gonna have a huge amount of excitement in the room and make sure that that’s really big for the audience who’s watching it on their screens, but then you have unscripted, where we’re gonna have a couple hundred reality stars in the room together.”
Both Plaut and Whitewolf said they approach coordinating the shows as fans first, having grown up watching the ceremony. For them, it’s about getting together in a room buzzing with excitement and celebrating the media that helped audiences get through the pandemic and beyond.
As with all in-person Hollywood festivities, the executives have had to be more “nimble and flexible,” accommodating for talent who may not be able to fly in as a result of COVID-related restrictions. Whitewolf and Plaut approach the presenters and honorees list with the same amount of precision, putting together a “carefully curated” group of stars.
“I think we really try and take a look at who are the celebrities — whether they are household names or up-and-coming — that really mean something to our audience,” Plaut said of this year’s presenters list, which includes Chris Evans, Lana Condor, Nicole Richie, Awkwafina and more.
The same is true with the recipients of the tentpole awards — such as the Comedic Genius Award going to Jack Black and Bethenny Frankel’s Reality Royalty Award. Whitewolf added that a “small core team of creative executives” ensures that the year’s recipient “really fits the criteria and embodies that award.”
Altogether, Whitewolf was adamant that the Movie & TV Awards offer viewers something more than a strait-laced, prestige awards show “because that’s kind of the antithesis of what we’ve always tried to do. It’s more about celebrating the people and the moments and the properties that really resonate with the audience.”
“MTV Movie & TV Awards” airs Sunday, June 5 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and “MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted” airs immediately after at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Producing the “MTV Movie & TV Awards”
It’s always a pleasure when we get the opportunity to chat with Kristoffer Polaha.
He’s a very busy man with a role in the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion film and Lifetime’s Buried in Barstow, in which he stars with Angie Harmon.
We talked with Kristoffer about those projects and the short film he recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Kristoffer is taking full advantage of the world opening up again. The last time we talked, he shared how much he managed to accomplish during the COVID lockdowns, and now he’s getting out there promoting that work.
We talked just before Cannes, and Kristoffer couldn’t hide his excitement about his film.
“A little film that I directed, called “The Work of Art,” was one of eight films selected at Cannes do the impact of emerging filmmakers showcase; we were chosen to be a part of this festival,” he said.
“I’m really excited about how it turned out. And again, that was all happy byproduct of the pandemic and the quarantine,” Kristoffer said. He worked closely with his editor to get the film right where they wanted it. “We took it from 23 minutes, all the way down to 17 lean, tight minutes, so beautiful.”
He described it as an anti-suicide film with a beautiful message resulting from a teen and her uncle discussing life.
As a father himself, Kristoffer knows a thing or two about such talks. He realized when he was cast on Life Unexpected how powerful the experience was with his work.
“I think that being a father has really been a huge additive for me as an actor because it’s given me a special power that I think a lot of other actors don’t know how to bring to the table unless they are fathers.
“So with Brittany on Life Unexpected, there was a really cool father-daughter relationship because I had young sons, and I knew how to deal with kids. And I think with Sylvie [Maris, his collaborator on A Work of Art], I was able to talk to her and nurture her as a director because I’ve been talking to my kids for so long and know how to.”
Kristoffer is a proud father, and with one of his sons going to Berkley School of Music for a week and another acting in New York City this July, he’s got a lot to make him proud.
You can find him talking about his family frequently on his Instagram account, and he shared his excitement about his son’s acting gig there. Kristoffer said his son was bitten by the acting bug years ago, but he wanted him to have a life before taking anything too seriously.
“He’s gotta wait and have a life and grow as a person and a human being first — get interesting. And then he could act if he has something to get back. But in the meantime, I want him to like really train, so he’s been extremely productive.
His son, a sophomore, was cast as the lead in a play with a senior girl, a two-person show about a little girl who needed a liver transplant, and the boy who shows up at her school. While working on a project together, the boy tells her about seeing a little boy die on the basketball court that day, and they discuss how something like that should make you feel.
“And then, all of a sudden, he finds out that she needs a liver transplant, and he’s the boy who’s died. And it’s like this weird, sort of existential, transcendental, and it’s really beautiful.”
Kristoffer said his son became an actor in the course doing that play, which had an emotional impact that made grown men sob. “He went from wanting to do it and wondering if he could and wondering if it is something that he has the chops for to actually possessing a gift and being able to drop in and get out of the way to tell a really amazing story and have an audience react.”
“And so he wants to do it. But I told him, ‘Listen, you gotta learn how to edit. You gotta learn how to direct and how to do all of it.’ So he’s just taken his time with it.”
The entertainment business has changed significantly since Kris broke into acting 21 years ago, when there was a continuum of great actors from Charlie Chaplin to Cary Grant to Marlon Brando to Robert De Niro to Johnny Depp.
“And if you were lucky enough to get pumped up into that line, then you’d have this really robust, wonderful career,” he said. The same went for directors, but that way of Hollywood progression has finally been disrupted.
“I think it finally got democratized where anybody from anywhere, if you’ve got something to say, and you can say creatively enough, you have a shot at getting your stories told.”
Kristoffer learned a lot about filmmaking with A Work of Art when he did so much himself as a director, producer, and actor. “It was really kind of awesome to see who I needed, what the collaboration really looks like, what’s essential and what’s not essential” because he can transfer that knowledge to all of his other work.
Kristoffer got involved with Buried in Barstow because he worked with director Howard Deutch on Life Unexpected and Ringer. “He’s just a mensch. And he’s somebody who’s been in my life ever since we worked together the first time.
“I remember meeting his daughter Zoe when she was like a freshman in high school or something. And he’s the guy who’s like, ‘Come over to my house, have lunch, we’re going to talk. We’re going to do this.’
“We tried to get a project off the ground together when I had a whole deal at CVS years ago. And he called me and said, ‘I’ve got this role for you. Are you interested?’ And I read the script. I said, ‘Absolutely. I didn’t need to. I would love to work with you again.’ And it happened.
“When Mystery 101 was scheduled to shoot in November, we were ready to go for number eight, and something at Hallmark switched, and they pushed it to January, and suddenly, they have this window and Buried in Barstow hopped right into it.”
Buried in Barstow gives Kristoffer and Angie Harmon darker roles to tackle than viewers may expect.
“Angie plays this mama bear to such an awesome degree,” Kristoffer said. “And to support her, especially as a producer, I mean, this is really her show. So it’s something that she brought to the table, so helping somebody realize a dream like that is awesome.
“It’s fun. And to play a guy you don’t know where he’s coming from and you don’t know what his deal is like, all of that, it was an exciting job to do.”
There are several twists and turns in Buried in Barstow that, with lessor actors, might have been easy to spot. But you grow so attached to the characters so quickly that you’re immersed in their stories, which provides ample room for the unexpected.
Kristoffer and Angie, as Elliott and Jane, have a palpable chemistry that steams up the screen and gives Kristoffer the opportunity to disrobe, right down to his derriere, which may or may not make it into the final version of the film!
“Yeah, there’s a lot of actors who take a lot of pride in their bodies and work out all the time. I’m not that guy,” Kristoffer laughed. “I’ve always spent far more energy on my craft than my abs. So, whenever I have to take my shirt off, I’m always, frankly, insecure.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, man, I hope I don’t look like a dad.’ But it’s okay. I think that’s really sexy. So maybe I’ll shift public opinion. Hopefully, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get enough to take my shirt off. I don’t know.”
Don’t be alarmed when the movie ends on a cliffhanger because everyone is on board and ready to jump into more material.
“I know that there was a writer hired in January. And I heard dates bandied about for late summer, but I don’t know anything. There’s no like, tickets, or anything by yet for our final destination.
“But I know that there is interest in telling at least four stories in total, and maybe more depending on the audience reaction. And I think all of us involved are in for the long haul. I would love to keep telling these stories because I think our story is just getting started.
“Firstly, my character and her character are definitely just getting started. So there’s a lot more territory to explore and story to be told. It seems like they could both bring out something in each other that might get them in trouble but might also steer them in a different direction,” he said.
Kristoffer is in awe of the incredible team they had working on Buried in Barstow.
“Howie Deutsch, he’s a big deal. He has directed amazing movies. And he brought together a team, like our gaffer, or like our lead light hanger, works on all of Oliver Stones films, our Director of Photography, went around the world with YouTube, did well at home, and has this incredible resume of feature films.
“And I think, the way that the market is, the industry, you’ve got a lot of people who had huge, long, big careers in cinema, and now they’ve decided to do television because television, like with streaming and this ‘golden age of television,’ where really there are no boundaries anymore between film and television.”
They filmed on a real, functional, working barbecue place, and Kristoffer remembers walking into it for a scene with Angie that was lit with pinks and purples so beautifully. “It was like being on a movie set, like a real big-budget movie set. You expect television films to be a little quicker, a little cheaper, a little dirtier, just running down our nine scenes in a one-day shot.
“But it was a different attitude with this, and we’re still breakneck pace. We’re still getting a lot of stuff done during the day, but we were taking our time with really beautiful shots. And, I think, tell a story that’s surprising. So I think, aesthetically, a part of what you are seeing and feeling is just that it was shot so beautifully.”
Kristoffer also has Jurassic World: Dominion coming out this month. “You know what? That’s gonna be a fun movie to be a part of. I can’t wait to see people’s reactions to that. It’s going to be cool.”
But if you want to know more about Ryan Huntley, Kristoffer’s character, you’re going to have to see the movie.
“If I told you who I was, it would ruin a storyline. You’d be like, ‘Oh, I knew that,’ and all your readers will know. So, unfortunately, I’m bound to an NDA.”
But he did share a little bit to whet our appetites. “It’s a smaller role. But it’s this cool little part that plays an integral role.
“In the movie, it’s the old guard. So it’s all of the Jurassic Park actors like Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. And they’ve got one storyline. And then there’s the Jurassic World cast, which is Bryce Howard and Chris Pratt. They’ve got a storyline. And then those storylines intersect. If it’s a five-act movie, in the fourth act, they intersect.
“And so my character is a part of Chris Pratt’s storyline. So I have up into the intersection, you see me at the beginning of the film up into the intersection. And yeah, what I will say is that we shot it during the pandemic.
“And I think I spoke to you about that and my family; they got to live with me in London while we filmed it. And it was just a really cool experience. It was a really fun, like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Kristoffer and Pratt have a lot in common, from their families to their charity work, with Kris calling him an “incredible human being” and “so much fun.”
It wasn’t only the movie stars on set that were impressive. Kristoffer also had wonderful things to say about Colin Trevorrow and his direction on a set with so many special effects.
“Watching him function on set and just have $250 million at his disposal, which is so weird because you sit there and special effects technology is so advanced now that you’re not looking at tennis balls, you’re not looking at a green screen. You’re just looking into space.
“And he’s like, ‘Okay, now react. There’s a dinosaur coming at you,’ and you’re like, ‘Well, where is it?’ ‘Fourteen feet high,’ ‘Yeah, that looks great.’ ‘Okay, now you’re like, it’s wonder, it’s fear, now smile,’ with you kind of reacting to nothingness. And so I give a lot of credit to the people who have done that a lot.”
“I think it’s gonna be the biggest movie in the history movies, in my humble opinion. I think the world is ready to get back into theaters. And I think that the box office is going to prove that.”
When it comes to summer blockbusters, Kristoffer is personally looking forward to Elvis because he worked with Austin Butler on Life Unexpected. “He’s come a long way. That’s a really exciting step for him,” he said.
As always, Kristoffer and his family are working together to help change the world, and they ran a 6K for World Vision on May 21st.
Kristoffer is also sitting on the board of a grant tank called the Jensen Project. “We are talking about human trafficking and the sex trade industry. And we’re trying to put caps on legalizing prostitution.
“And it’s a really interesting conversation about abuse, about spousal abuse, about sex trafficking, about pornography, and women’s rights, frankly, and we’re helping women, and I say, we, there’s a board. A woman named Janet Jensen, made a lot of money in her lifetime and has dedicated her time to giving it away to grants.
“And so far, she gives anywhere between $2 to $4 million away a year. And the grants are for people who were trafficked. Like, if you were a young woman who was trafficked, this was a really heavy thing, and it’s dark horrible stuff. But if you were groomed into the sex trade as a little girl, then oftentimes you’re not registered; you don’t have any identity.
“Whether you were a young girl, and you had a credit card or a driver’s license, they steal that information, ruin your credit. And so when the women are kind of kicked out on the other side of the sex trade industry, they’re oftentimes without any credit, without any identity.
“And they end up becoming prostitutes because there is no other way; they are just stuck. It’s basically a slave trade. And there are more slaves on the planet today than there were back in 1865, during the Civil War; it’s a real thing, and no one’s really talking about it.
“What the Jensen Project is doing is trying to highlight very small and grassroots organizations. But incredible things are being done. There’s this thing, an organization called The NOCSE, the National Outreach Center for Sexual Exploitation, I believe, that is pursuing places like Twitter and Google and Amazon.”
Kristoffer noted that catfishing children could ruin their lives forever. It happens when someone poses as a child and gets other children to send them photos with nudity. He relayed one specific story about a young boy who got caught up with a grown man pretending to be a little girl.
“They sent material back and forth to each other, and it really was a grown man. And he’s using all that material and sort of blackmailing the kid. The kid finally, on his own, kind of pulled out of the whole situation, and was like, ‘Oh, my Gosh, I thought it was done.’
“And then what happened was, this predator then downloaded all those images onto Twitter. And his classmates saw it, and he, a high school student, went to school. And Twitter wouldn’t take it down.
“They showed information that he was underage when it was taken, and it was not consensual, but then no one would take it down and there’s a fair amount of front of the FBI, and the FBI got involved and Twitter removed it.
“But there are so many cases of young people — men and women — who are making stupid choices that are now affecting them for the rest of their lives because we live in a different world. And Amazon or Etsy? They sell sex dolls right next door to party favors.”
Kristoffer says they’re not trying to say none of this should exist but that “it just needs to exist within its proper place; it shouldn’t be readily available. And it certainly shouldn’t be a big business for people, which it is right now. And there’s got to be more. So we’re just trying to pull awareness. So that’s the Jensen Project in a nutshell.”
Kristoffer worries that the wrong people are on the hook for the sex trade, especially since the first group to really capitalize on the freedom of the internet was the porn industry, which is normally flying under the radar.
“But if you’re in Louisiana and you’re a prostitute, you’re the one getting arrested, not the Johns. So there have to be legal ramifications for both ends of that transaction. So I think that’s what we’re trying to look at, like, how do you just make it tougher to buy another human being?”
Kristoffer continued, “I’m from Nevada, and Nevada is famous for legalizing prostitution. And there’s a huge movement right now with a trend to legalize prostitution in 50 states. And there’s the argument of, ‘My body, My choice,’ which is true. And that argument is valid, 100%. But what people aren’t aware of is what prostitution is really like.
“It’s a really sad, dirty game. And once you get locked into that and the moral ramifications — I mean, it’s a really big conversation that isn’t just about, ‘My body. My choice.’ It’s about, ‘Yeah, but did you have a choice when you were 13? Did you have a choice when you were a young person and groomed into the industry by these predators?’
“It’s a really dark industry. And I know, for the state of Nevada, they’re being sued right now because what seems to be a freedom is actually a far more complicated issue. I don’t know; it’s a big undertaking. So I’m interested in seeing where it goes.
“And we’re such a small part, but we’re about to ramp up, getting attention for the Jensen Project and try to throw some coins at it to make a difference.”
It sounded to me like a perfect opportunity to work with Lifetime again on a future project, and Kristoffer said that part of his role in the Jensen Project is to “help them craft narrative because they need to tell stories that show all sides of the issue, like, what does it look like for our young men who are trapped in lust, and they don’t know how to love anymore because they’ve objectified and sort of ruined themselves.”
Kristoffer said it’s so dark and difficult to discuss, but he’s already used the Polaha Chautauqua to highlight some stories. “I dedicated April to sexual abuse awareness month. And I did three shows where women just came on and told their stories.
“And it’s amazing how many women have either been molested or raped or abused on some level. And whether it was that, they were babysitting, and the dad that they trusted was like, ‘I’ll give you a ride home,’ or, even worse, family. It’s amazing how many people it’s affected.
“It’s amazing, the emotional and spiritual snares that come along with that kind of experience, where there’s shame, and there’s guilt, and you feel like it’s your fault, even years later. And how it transcends generations because these women become either ultra-protective of their kids or history possibly repeats itself.
“So having women come on and tell their stories was amazing. And the whole point of a mind-boggling jigsaw is how do you tell your story? How do you get your story out there?
“How do you take a narrative that doesn’t really belong to you and take possession over it and find strength in it and, ultimately, power and the ability to prevent it from happening again and arming other people with a positive story that you’ve risen from the ashes?”
“And you’re able to do this with your life, and you’re able to turn one thing into another thing for good. It’s real stuff, and Janet Jensen herself, the one that is in charge of the project, has an awful story, and she turned all that rage and shame into this really powerful foundation. And again, we’re just getting millions of dollars every year to fight this.”
It’s easy to throw your support behind someone like Kristoffer Polaha, and we’re here to follow him wherever he may lead. Be sure to follow him on Instagram with The Polaha Chautaqua, A Work of Art, and on his personal feed.
Jurassic World: Dominion is released in theaters on June 9, 2022, and Buried in Barstow premieres on Lifetime tonight at 8/7.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.
It's always a pleasure when we get
Jimmy Kimmel has sadly been here before. Many times, as a matter of fact. As he approaches his 20th anniversary in late night, the late night host has been at the helm of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” long enough to address several national tragedies over the year. In some ways, it only gets harder, particularly after another shooting massacre leaves 19 young children and two adults murdered in an elementary school.
“There is a certain amount of pessimism that infects you, when you’ve talked about this multiple times,” he tells Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast. “Because the first time you think, ‘what I’m saying seems to make sense. It’s pretty much what everyone else is thinking. Maybe this will get through to somebody. Maybe there’ll be a handful of Republican senators, Congresspeople who go hey, This is nuts. We can’t this can’t keep happening.’
“But then it doesn’t. And it’s somewhat shocking. And then it happens again. And then it happens again,” he says. “And it happens when you’re on break, and you’re not even on television. And at a certain point, you feel like, what am I screaming into the void here? People agree, and yet we’re still not getting anything done. In fact, we’re taking steps backwards in so many different areas, not just this one. But what are you gonna do, give up? And what are you going to talk about, the NBA Playoffs? You can’t. You have to talk about what is on everyone’s mind. And I have a hard time with it. It’s very difficult for me, it’s hard for me to get through it. But I don’t feel like I have any choice.”
On this edition of the Variety Awards Circuit podcast, we talk to Kimmel about how his voice has provided some conscience to a nation that’s in a really bad place right now. But we also talk about his return to the studio after double bouts of COVID-19, as well as his April Fool’s Day stunt with Jimmy Fallon, his upcoming trip to Brooklyn and, of course, producing a third edition of “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” with Norman Lear. Listen below!
When Kimmel agreed to talk to the Awards Circuit Podcast, it was before the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, and the murder of 19 children and two teachers via an assault rifle. So we had to talk about it, and Kimmel was gracious in walking through his process in having to address such a horrific event on what should be a fun, light-hearted talk show. It’s a burden, but Kimmel has risen to the occasion time and time again. We talked about Kimmel’s monologue, and how he tried to appeal to the humanity that he hopes is still inside the elected officials who still let these things happen.
Later, we talked about Kimmel’s recent April Fool’s prank, in which he swapped studios for a night with “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon. It’s a classic radio-style bit, something that he helped “Kevin & Bean” do one year with Power 106’s Baka Boys.
“I thought it’d be funny to do with Jimmy Fallon because so many people confuse us,” he says. “I think I pitched this like four or five years ago. But for whatever reason, COVID being two of the big reasons, it didn’t work out. This year, I was like, we have to do this because April Fool’s Day is falling on a weekend next year. And we did get it done. And it was amazing that as many people who knew about it, it didn’t get out. It really is surprising that it didn’t.”
What did he learn from hosting “The Tonight Show”? “Jimmy had some really good shelves under his desk at the ‘Tonight Show,’” he says. “And so I had to build me a couple of shelves under my desk. I don’t know why we never thought of shelves, but it’s really been a major improvement in the show!”
Kimmel also talks about “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” and in particular, getting Kevin Hart to play Arnold on the show’s “Diff’rent Strokes” remake. “He immediately got how funny it was,” Kimmel says.
As for the future of the show — Kimmel’s contract with ABC is up next year — he says he’s still thinking it all through. “I wish I knew I was gonna do,” he says. “I have moments where I go, ‘I cannot do this anymore.’ And I have moments where I go, ‘what am I gonna do with my life if I’m not doing this anymore?’ It’s a very complicated thing. And there are practical considerations, and there are family and friend considerations and co worker considerations. And eventually, I am going to have to stop doing this. I’m not going to do this forever. I would not be honest at all if I said that I have decided one way or the other. I’m thinking about it a lot, though.”
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, produced by Michael Schneider, is your one-stop listen for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much, much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post every Thursday and Friday.
Jimmy Kimmel has sadly been here before.
Shakira and her longtime partner Gerard Piqué are separating after 11 years together.
The Colombian singer and the Spanish soccer player shared the news in a joint statement on June 4. “We regret to confirm that we are separating,” Shakira and Piqué wrote, per People. “We ask for privacy at this moment for the well-being of our children, who are our maximum priority. Thank you in advance for your understanding and respect.”
Shakira and Piqué met on the set of her music video for “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” which was the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Shakira confirmed their relationship in March 2011 by sharing a photo with Piqué on Facebook. “Les presento a mi sol,” she captioned the image in Spanish, which translates to “I present to you my sunshine.”
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In January 2013, the couple welcomed their first son, Milan, who is now nine years old. “We are happy to announce the birth of Milan Piqué Mebarak, son of Shakira Mebarak and Gerard Piqué, born Jan. 22nd at 9:36 p.m. in Barcelona, Spain,” the couple announced on Shakira’s website at the time, according to People. “The name Milan (pronounced MEE-lahn), means dear, loving and gracious in Slavic; in Ancient Roman, eager and laborious; and in Sanskrit, unification. Just like his father, baby Milan became a member of FC Barcelona at birth.”
Almost precisely two years later, they announced the birth of their second son, Sasha, in 2015. “We are happy to announce the birth of Sasha Piqué Mebarak, son of Shakira Mebarak and Gerard Piqué, born January 29 at 9:54 pm, in Barcelona,” they shared on her website. “The name Sasha is of Greek and Russian descent and means ‘defender of mankind’ and ‘warrior.’”
Shakira and her longtime partner Gerard Piqué
Nina Simone singing in Ronnie Scott club 1983. Image shot 1983. Exact date unknown. Contributor: Janine Wiedel Photolibrary/ Alamy Stock Photo.
How It Feels to Be Free has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Documentary (Television).
How It Feels To Be Free tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American female entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.
Jamila Wignot, director of Ailey, was also nominated in the category of Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Motion Picture).
Recognized as the nation’s preeminent multicultural awards show from an African American perspective, the NAACP Image Awards celebrates the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts and those who promote social justice through their creative work.
The virtual ceremonies will recognize winners in more than 60 non-televised award categories in the fields of television and streaming, music, literature, film, and activism. The two categories for which American Masters is nominated will be presented virtually on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, at 8:00 PM ET.
The 53rd NAACP Image Awards will present the marquee winners live on BET Saturday, February 26, 2022, at 8:00 PM ET.
Nina Simone singing in Ronnie Scott club
A former Quebec finance minister is adding his name to the list of prominent Liberals who aren’t running in the fall provincial election.
Carlos Leitao told Radio-Canada he won’t vie for a third term in the western Montreal riding he’s represented since 2014.
Leitao was finance minister in Philippe Couillard’s government from 2014 to 2018, and also served as Treasury Board president from 2016 to 2017.
READ MORE: Jean Charest says he signed up enough Conservative members to win
He told Radio-Canada today that he’d always planned to serve only two terms and was ready to retire from active political life.
Leitao adds his name to a long list of Liberal heavyweights who aren’t running, including former cabinet ministers Pierre Arcand, Christine St-Pierre and Hélène David.
Polls show the Quebec Liberal party at their lowest level of support since 2018, and suggest the party could be at risk of losing some of its previously safe seats come October.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
By Staff The Canadian Press Posted June 4, 2022 4:03
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Aron Piper, 25, is on everyone’s radar after two eye-catching videos of him made their way around the internet! The actor was first seen dancing the night away at a nightclub in Madrid, Spain with Dua Lipa, in a video taken on June 3, and then, just hours later, he was making out with FKA Twigs in a video she posted to TikTok. It’s unclear if the latter video was for a music video or the capturing of a real life new romance, but either way, it definitely got a lot of attention!
Dua Lipa and Arón Piper dancing together at a club in Madrid, Spain last night. pic.twitter.com/7gcnC3AMKu
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 4, 2022
In the kissing video, the singers had their arms around each other while standing on a beach. He was shirtless and wore only blue shorts while she rocked a blue bikini. Her song “Killer” played over the clip, leaving many to speculate if the post was a teaser for an upcoming project.
@fkatwigs ?
So, who is Aron? Check out five facts about him and his background below!
Aron, who was born in Berlin, Germany, has appeared in features dating back to 2004. Some of them include Derecho a soñar in 2019, The Mess You Leave Behind in 2020, and Elite from 2018 until 2021. Two Spanish films, including Fatum and Sayen are both in post production.
The talented star can speak both German and Spanish as well as English. He reportedly learned the languages because of the nationality of his family. His father is German and his mother is Spanish.
In addition to acting, Aron has a love of music and released a song called “London Calling” in 2022. He also appears to be gearing up for a European tour to perform his music, according to his website.
From a blue and gold Versace tracksuit to patterned outfits from GCDS, he knows how to rock a confident pose and shows them off in regular posts. The comments he receives prove he’s getting attention from fans all over the world who are impressed by his fashion choices. “Handsome,” many call him on a regular basis.
Jessica Goicoechea was the lady in question when it came to Aron’s love life. She is from Barcelona and has been spotted with him in the past. The two potential lovebirds also appeared to show up in a kissing photo together, but neither have ever confirmed they are or have been in a relationship.
View gallery Image Credit: Earl Gibson III/David Fisher/Shutterstock
Note: This article contains spoilers for “Stranger Things 4” Volume 1.
For a majority of “Stranger Things” Season 4 Volume 1, Jamie Campbell Bower is tasked with introducing viewers to not one, but two deeply unnerving characters.
There’s Peter Ballard, the friendly orderly at Hawkins Lab who, despite seemingly trying to help Eleven, has a disconcerting quality about him that is hard to place. And then there’s Vecna, the monster that is terrorizing Hawkins from the Upside Down. The fact that they are the same person, which is a major plot twist in Episode 7, has to both remain a mystery and also make complete sense as soon as it’s revealed. It was a challenge that Bower knew immediately he wanted to face.
“That’s why hopefully [Peter] comes across as slightly jarring and slightly disconcerting, where you’re like, ‘Oh, on the outside, he seems to be being nice but there’s something off about this person.’ Because there is,” Bower told TheWrap during a recent interview.
In the week since the first part of the explosive fourth installment dropped on Netflix, Bower has finally been able to discuss playing such a massive role: that of Season 4’s central villain. It was “terrifying” he admitted, to give the character over to the fans after having kept it under wraps for so long. But, after having been a part of so many major franchises from “Twilight” to “Harry Potter,” Bower said he was ultimately not surprised that audiences welcomed him to “Stranger Things” with open arms.
“It’s a pleasure and a joy to be a part of the show and to be a contributing part of that world,” he said.
Below, Bower details more about his experience diving into the world of “Stranger Things,” as well as what songs would help him escape the very villain he portrays.
You’re no stranger to being a part of major franchises with very passionate fan bases. What has it been like to be welcomed into the “Stranger Things” fandom? Is there anything that’s struck you about this show and these fans, specifically?
Wow. I mean, one of the great things about this show I think is its demographic is so broad. So I have friends who are in their 40s who adore the show and their children, who are like eight and nine, love the show as well. That’s really beautiful. There comes a sort of universality with it. From what I’ve experienced thus far, this is a very kind, funny, dedicated fan base. It’s a pleasure and a joy to be a part of the show and to be a contributing part of that world. There’s a lot of hilarity. I’ve got memes of Vecna — from before people knew [it was me] — of like Vecna arriving at the Met Gala, which just made me f—ing howl. It was the funniest thing.
How does it feel to finally be able to talk about the full scope of your role this season?
It feels terrifying. Cathartic and terrifying at the same time, if that’s possible. It really is a joy to be able to talk about it now. I’ve said this before, but we do the work in a bubble. And we don’t think about anything other than what we’re doing. And then all of a sudden, we get to hand it over. And it’s scary. That’s scary sometimes.
So, obviously the Peter/001/Vecna connection shocked me. But I was even more floored when I learned that Vecna was actually you, with practical effects. How did you react when you learned that was the plan?
I knew that from the beginning. I was all in. I was sold. I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds amazing.’ Duncan Jarman, who works with Barry [Gower], who sculpted this amazing character, I’ve worked with Duncan before and Barry’s obviously a genius. So I just was very sure that this was going to be brilliant. I remember the test day for Vecna. Everyone was quite nervous as to whether or not this would all work when we got on camera. Would it be good? And thankfully it was, and there was this collective sigh of relief, I think. But I was never like ‘Oh no. Seven and a half hours in makeup? Absolutely not doing that. Get someone else in.’ It sounded like a joy. It sounded like a challenge.
How do you think having you and having Vecna on set helped elevate those scenes?
Well, we’re interacting rather than standing in front of a tennis ball on a stick or, you know, a cardboard cutout of something. There comes a truth and a reality to the performance and the fear, and the terror is amped up, cecause this is a real person. It’s a real being. I just think it just brought more terror to the show.
Vecna is already pretty scary. But, Peter is also really unnerving, even before you know there’s a connection. You couldn’t give too much away too soon, but it also made total sense when everything clicked into place. How did you balance that?
I both tracked backwards and tracked forwards at the same time to where we first meet Henry. And I got there at roughly the same time. So, I was learning, building the backstory at the same time as knowing where he ends up and then it was about, ‘Okay, well, I can’t show her what I’m thinking. So I need to blanket this with a nicer, gentler veneer.’ That’s why hopefully it comes across as slightly jarring and slightly disconcerting, where you’re like, ‘Oh, on the outside, he seems to be being nice but there’s something off about this person.’ Because there is. It’s there. That’s the predominant goal. I just sort of had to mask it. Be nice. Everything’s fine. Please don’t see what I’m trying to f—ing do.
Especially since you’re also a musician, I have to ask — is there a song that would save you from Vecna and the mind layer?
You’re the third person to ask me that, and I’ve now backed myself into a corner where I have to answer the same way every time. There are two. If I’m being normal and grounded and centered and intelligent, I’m going to say the Placebo cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” I love Placebo, and I love that song. So those two worlds combining, I love that. My naughty answer, my crazy Jamie answer would be “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus.
Something tells me that Volume 2 won’t be the last time we see Vecna. Can you give us any hints about what’s in store?
In Volume 2 or beyond Volume 2?
Let’s say a little bit of both.
In Volume 2, you will see mass character development, understanding of the world, understanding of a lot of things. There’s a lot more to come and a lot more questions are answered. Eleven and Henry have a history. We’ll go with that. And beyond that, I couldn’t possibly say.
Note: This article contains spoilers for “Stranger
YouTube will now highlight the “most replayed” parts of videos in its web player and mobile apps. The feature was previously available as an experiment for YouTube Premium subscribers but is launching for all users today.
You’ll be able to identify the most popular parts of a video from a graph that appears behind its progress bar. Says YouTube: “If the graph is high, then that part of the video has been replayed often. You can use the graph to quickly find and watch those moments.”
Pretty simple! But, it’s interesting to think how this might split the attention of viewers — or, indeed, steer the work of creators, giving them yet another signal to identify exactly what viewers want to see (an aspect of the platform that some YouTubers say creates unwanted pressure).
The company is announcing the feature as part of a package of updates — some new, some not — that essentially work to splice up longer videos into more manageable and accessible chunks. These include a new way to loop parts of videos that launched last year but hadn’t formally been announced (more on that here), and an upcoming test for Premium subscribers that will let users “seek to the exact moment in a video that you want to watch” (though YouTube is not offering any more detail on how that works right now). These work alongside YouTube’s “chapters” feature, which also let creators break videos into chunks.
YouTube has established itself as the home of long-form video on the web, so it’s interesting to see the company trying to have its cake and eat it in this way. Yes, it’s got long-form video nailed, but now you can chop that video up into small, bite-size packages, or hone in on the most watchable clips! What else is a platform to do with TikTok on the horizon.
YouTube will now highlight the
ATX festival-goers were treated to the first episode of the upcoming CW series, Walker spinoff prequel Walker Independence on Saturday morning ahead of a panel with executive producer Jared Padalecki and stars Kat McNamara, Matt Barr, and Justin Johnson-Cortez.
The Walker prequel, written by Seamus Fahey based on a story by him and Anna Fricke, and directed by Larry Teng, is set in the late 1800s. It follows an affluent Bostonian named Abby Walker (Kat McNamara), whose husband is murdered in front of her while on their trek out West. Consumed by a need for vengeance, Abby crosses paths with Hoyt Rawlins (Matt Barr). The pair soon find themselves in Independence, Texas, where they encounter a diverse and eclectic cohort of citizens hiding from their demons and chasing their dreams, all while becoming agents of change themselves.
“Seamus wanted ya’ll to know what inspired an original story for Walker and the answer is that he always wanted to do a western,” Padalecki said. “The first TV spec script he ever wrote was a western and when he wrote for Walker, he created then subsequently killed a character named Hoyt Rawlings and everyone was mad at him, me included. He talked to Anna Fricke who runs Walker about doing a spinoff prequel, and this was in January of 2021 when they were having these discussions. We were watching a rough cut of the Walker episode where Hoyt dies and that’s when [Seamus] realized that was part of the way in to see the first generation of not just Walkers, but other characters that are part of the series.”
McNamara spoke to Deadline after the panel about why playing badass Abby, a woman who is making a future for herself in a new town with the help of a diverse group of strangers.
“Something that drew me to this project is the fact that Abby is not your traditional woman in the West. She has the strong grit that you often see in these female characters but [the writers] don’t shy away from putting her through the wringer as well,” she shared. “She has a huge range of vulnerability and strength throughout this whole story. And there’s a lot more to be discovered about her.”
In the pilot, Abby, a Boston woman who is educated and in society, easily finds allies in newcomers like Calian (Johnson-Cortez) of the Apache tribe, burlesque dancer Kate (Katie Findlay), and Kai (Lawrence Kao), who is originally from China. McNamara confirmed the show will dive into Abby’s past that formed the woman she is at present.
“Her past is something that I’ve spoken with Seamus about a little bit but I don’t have much I can share yet. But this is what’s so beautiful about Abby, you get to see her relationship with Liam at the beginning and that they have a marriage that’s more of a partnership than the traditional husband and wife of the 1870s and there is something different about her from the start,” McNamara said. “She has this tenacity and this timeless independence for lack of a better word, that speaks of a different era and she is willing to question the status quo. There’s a reason she left Boston. There’s a reason she and Liam want to create a life of their own and they want to create a town of their own making and have their own justice and really start fresh in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, they don’t get to do so together, but Abby certainly is not going to be stopped by tragedy.”
ATX festival-goers were treated to the first
![Is Johnny Depp In Beetlejuice 2? [MINI]](https://timewarnerent.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Is-Johnny-Depp-In-Beetlejuice-2-MINI-1200x600.jpg)
Johnny Depp’s name appears on search engine results for Beetlejuice 2 – sparking speculation that he will appear in the long-awaited sequel.
Rumors are circulating regarding Johnny Depp’s involvement in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2. Tim Burton’s horror-comedy Beetlejuice remains beloved since its release in 1988, marking Burton’s second feature-length film. The film also serves as his last film before partnering with Johnny Depp in 1990 with Edward Scissorhands. If the rumors are true, Beetlejuice 2 would be Depp’s ninth collaboration with Burton.
However, Beetlejuice 2’s past is checkered with numerous attempts to resurrect the “ghost with the most” for the big screen. Originally formed under the title of Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian with Jonathan Gems as the writer in 1990, the sequel continues to fail to materialize decades later. Currently, Seth Grahame-Smith is attached to write and produce the Beetlejuice sequel, and with the confirmations of both Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton’s return to the project, Beetlejuice 2 finally looks on course to see the light of day.
On the Beetlejuice 2 Google cast sheet, Johnny Depp’s name is listed alongside Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, both of whom are reprising their original roles for the Beetlejuice sequel. While there isn’t an official announcement, Twitter and Reddit users continue to speculate about Depp’s involvement with long-time collaborator Tim Burton. Nevertheless, there isn’t a role attached to him to date, and the current Beetlejuice 2 IMDb page doesn’t list his name among the cast. However, Depp is known to cameo in films, such as his small role in the 21 Jump Street film and in Kevin Smith’s Tusk – meaning a Beetlejuice 2 appearance cannot be ruled out given Depp’s and Burton’s successful history together. As someone who isn’t shy to put on prosthetics and hide his appearance, the possibilities for Depp’s role in Beetlejuice 2 are endless, especially when the film takes place in the Netherworld.
While their last collaboration together, Alice Through the Looking Glass, bombed at the box office, it can still be argued that Depp is at his best when working with Burton. Even if all their collaborations aren’t as successful as Edward Scissorhands or Sweeney Todd, which marks Depp’s third Best Actor Academy Award nomination, Burton understands Depp’s acting style. While also considering Depp’s Fantastic Beasts 2 box office failure, he is certainly due for a hit film. Depp’s smaller independent films, such as City of Lies and The Professor, have failed to properly showcase Depp’s quirky talents in recent years.
Beetlejuice 2‘s IMDb page provides further updates for the film, that include the release year of 2025 and a synopsis that describes Beetlejuice’s character as “homeless in the Netherworld.” This synopsis also describes roles for Will Arnett as the Jersey Devil and Stranger Things‘ David Harbour as a struggling real estate agent, although their names do not appear on the Google cast sheet for Beetlejuice 2 like Depp’s. And while Beetlejuice 2 itself is yet to be officially confirmed, this in-depth IMDb synopsis nevertheless at last offers a potential storyline for the sequel – although whether the film will feature Burton’s long-time collaborator, Johnny Depp, remains to be seen at this time.
This week, there are an infinite number of possible opinions for us to have on Everything Everywhere All at Once (spoilers: 31:39 – 1:07:54), so this review is meaningless. We also discuss a couple of Richard Linklater films after a message from Woody brings to light a controversial Letterboxd rating. Other topics include the IMDB top 250 movies list, Better Call Saul, Spencer & Jackass 4.5.
Music:
Intro – This Is A Life by Son Lux, Mitski & David Byrne
Outro – Clair de Lune (Pied au Piano) by Son Lux & Chris Pattishall
This week, there are an infinite number
The Daniels’ “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a critical darling and a bona fide indie blockbuster, but the film has attracted almost as much attention for the casting choices it didn’t make as the ones that it did. Much has been made of the fact that Michelle Yeoh’s character was originally written for Jackie Chan, with co-director Daniel Scheinert joking that “at first we were like, ‘action movie, going to star a dude.’”
But, as the writing process progressed, Scheinert and partner Daniel Kwan ended up retooling the script and making Evelyn the film’s protagonist, opening the door for Yeoh to carry the film.
“We were having trouble figuring out the casting for the father figure, and one of us started wondering what happens if we take Michelle’s character and flop it and she becomes the protagonist,” Kwan said. “And the film just opened up in a completely different way.”
But, as it turns out, Evelyn was not the only character that could have been gender flipped. In a new interview with the New York Times, Joel Kim Booster revealed that he was considered for the role of Joy, which ultimately went to Stephanie Wang. Booster, who is currently making the press rounds for his new Hulu comed “Fire Island,” said that he was the only male actor who read for the role of the universe-hopping gay child.
“I went in for it and there was just me and a million girls, and I was like, ‘What is going on?’” Booster said.
Booster did not get the role, but he is not sweating the missed opportunity. “Fire Island” has debuted to strong reviews, and is being held up as a landmark portrayal of the gay Asian community.
“So much of our entertainment is made wanting to erase,” Booster said in an interview with IndieWire’s Jude Dry. “I think there’s room for escapism and there’s room for fantasy. But there is stuff that comes up when you are Asian and you are dating a white guy. It was important to me to reflect the reality of what it is to be a gay man of color in the movie.”
“Fire Island” is now streaming on Hulu.
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The actor was considered for the role
Priah Ferguson, Stranger Things
Tina Rowden/Netflix
Netflix’s Daily Top 10 TV Shows list for Friday, June 3 is almost exactly the same as it was yesterday. It’s once again topped by Stranger Things Season 4, which is well on its way toward becoming Netflix’s biggest release ever. When the next weekly Global Top 10 list comes out, we’ll probably find out it was watched for somewhere around 400 million hours next week. No. 2 is All American, the CW’s teen drama that just had its most recent season added to Netflix. No. 3 is The Lincoln Lawyer, a parent-friendly legal drama from creator David E. Kelley. The only change on the list from yesterday is Cocomelon overtaking Boss Baby: Back in the Crib for the No. 7 spot.
But the fact that people watch a show doesn’t always mean it’s good. We break down the entire Netflix Top 10 TV Shows list and help you figure out what’s actually good and which shows are not. We do the same for Netflix’s Top 10 movies, as well as Netflix’s overall Top 10 list. We also have recommendations for the best movies on Netflix and the best TV shows on Netflix.
Find Out Where to Stream Anything with TV Guide’s Search Engine for Streaming Shows
Based on Netflix’s Top 10 TV Shows for Friday, June 3
For fans of: Stranger Things | Is it good?: It’s so fun
Now that the kids are older, Season 4 of Netflix’s ’80s-style sci-fi megahit embraces full-on horror in a way it hasn’t done before (the biggest influence on this season is A Nightmare on Elm Street). It also goes supersized with the episode runtimes, which leads to some bloat. It’s not the best season of the show, but it’s still one of the most entertaining shows on TV. (Yesterday’s rank: 1)
For fans of: Sports, high school, the city of Los Angeles | Is it good?: It’s a solid teen drama adults can enjoy too
The very popular CW high school sports drama, which was inspired by former NFL player Spencer Paysinger’s life, follows Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), an aspiring football star balancing ambition and everyday teenage drama as he moves from his neighborhood to become MVP at a new school in Beverly Hills. Its fourth season just hit Netflix. (Yesterday’s rank: 2)
For fans of: Network dramas made for streaming | Is it good?: It’s peak dad TV
Netflix doesn’t do a lot of network-style dramas (yet, but expect a lot more of them), so this legal drama from prolific writer-producer David E. Kelley stands out. Long before he became the Big Little Lies guy, Kelley dominated the lawyers-on-TV space with L.A. Law, The Practice, Ally McBeal, and Boston Legal, among others. This is his return to the genre. The Lincoln Lawyer is based on a bestselling novel series by Michael Connelly, who also created Det. Harry Bosch, and follows Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), a Los Angeles defense attorney who doesn’t like defending guilty people, but does like using his Lincoln Navigator as his office. He was previously played by Matthew McConaughey in the well-liked 2011 movie of the same name. (Yesterday’s rank: 3)
For fans of: The color blue, money laundering | Is it good?: It is the perfect show for people who love this type of show
Jason Bateman plays a normal-seeming guy who moves his family to the Ozarks after he gets in too deep with a money laundering scheme and a drug cartel. It’s Netflix’s blue-tinted answer to Breaking Bad, and the second half of the final season is here. Will the Byrdes finally get their wings clipped? (Yesterday’s rank: 4)
For fans of: Tough grandpas, Gran Torino | Is it good?: It’s gripping
In this Spanish drama, a grizzled war veteran sets out to protect his granddaughter after she becomes involved with the local drug cartel. (Yesterday’s rank: 5)
For fans of: Turtle power | Is it good?: It’s one of the better Ninja Turtles things
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is maybe the most-rebooted franchise in Hollywood history. It feels like every other year we get a new take on the turtle boys that’s barely any different from every other version. This is the 2012 Nickelodeon computer-animated version with Sean Astin as the voice of Raphael (the red one). Ninja Turtles is a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” though, because this is a fun show for kids with a cool animation style. (Yesterday’s rank: 6)
For fans of: Mashed vegetables, pacifiers | Is it good?: For babies, sure
Colorful objects, preschool songs, and big-headed babies make this catnip for toddlers and younger kids who get screentime. (Yesterday’s rank: 8)
For fans of: Babies who are bosses | Is it good?: You probably have to be a kid to enjoy this one
Teach your kid about white collar crime with this series about adult Ted Templeton reverting back to his alternate Boss Baby persona after he’s framed (!) for embezzlement (!!). To hide out, he goes to live with his brother and poses as one of his children! I can’t believe that’s what this show is about. (Yesterday’s rank: 7)
Here’s what’s worth watching in Netflix’s overall Top 10 (movies and TV shows)
For fans of: People being stuck in one place with no way of getting out, but in a fun way | Is it good?: It’s not as good as it was in Season 1
It kind of feels like The Circle just premiered its third season, but in any case, it’s already back for a fourth. Netflix’s competition series follows contestants who are confined to their own rooms in an apartment complex and can only communicate with each other over social media. There’s tons of catfishing, tons of poorly kept secrets, and tons of cheesy hashtags. Also, Baby Spice and Scary Spice are competing under their own catfish profile this season. Sure, why not? (Yesterday’s rank: 9)
For fans of: Dating shows that actually make you feel good | Is it good?: It’s heartwarming and moving
Love on the Spectrum, the Australian Netflix series about dating on the autism spectrum, has come to America. Love on the Spectrum U.S. follows singles who are looking for love as they step into the dating pool. Experts and their families are on hand to offer help and advice, but, refreshingly, the perspectives of people with autism are the focus here. (Yesterday’s rank: 10)
Monica Aldama, Cheer
NetflixPriah Ferguson,
The latest classic movie to be reimagined as a prestige TV show is “American Gigolo,” Paul Schrader’s 1980 thriller about a male escort accused of murder. While many cinephiles are looking forward to seeing what Showtime can do with the material, Paul Schrader is not one of them. The director recently took to his always-colorful Facebook page to disavow the series and emphasize that he has no involvement with it.
“After the Showtime trailer appeared online I’ve been asked if I am involved,” Schrader wrote. “The answser (sic) is No.”
Schrader revealed that has long been opposed to updating his most iconic films, as he feels that they are products of specific eras and only make sense in the contexts in which they were made.
“Some years ago I received a call from Paramount asking about remaking ‘American Gigolo’ as a series,” he wrote. “I replied that I thought it was a terrible idea–times had changed, internet porn had redefined male sex work, viruses, etc. I couldn’t imagine Julian Kay working a Hen Party. (Scorsese and I had fought off similar attempts to redo ‘Taxi Driver’ for years.) I thought that was the end of it.”
But that was not the end of it, according to Schrader, who says he was not even asked to be involved with the series that was eventually produced.
“Then came another call saying Jerry Bruckheimer and Paramount had the rights to redo AG without my consent. I said I would think about how such a show could be structured,” he wrote. “No, the caller explained, they did not want my involvement. Here were my options: (1) take $50G and not be involved (2) take $0 and not be involved (3) threaten an expensive and futile lawsuit and not be involved. I took the $50G.”
The upcoming Showtime series stars Jon Bernthal as Julian Kaye, the male escort role made famous by Richard Gere in Schrader’s film. Gretchen Mol, Rosie O’Donnell, Lizzie Brocheré, Gabriel LaBelle, Leland Orser, and Wayne Brady also star. Schrader had praise and well-wishes for the cast, even if he doesn’t plan to tune in.
“I haven’t seen the trailer. I’m a great fan of John Bernthal and wish Gretchen Mol the best,” he wrote. “I don’t plan to watch the Showtime series. I don’t think I could be objective about it and, even if I could, it’s too much agita.”
While he won’t be watching “American Gigolo,” Schrader has plenty to keep him busy, as he is currently hard at work on his next directorial outing, “Master Gardener” starring Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver.
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Schrader says he was paid $50,000 for
Beth Orton sings “Weather Alive,” the title track off her first album in six years, like she’s summoning a spirit. Her voice sounds broken and determined, cresting in a chorus that flows with the emotional cadence of an old soul song: “Almost makes me want to cry/The weather’s so beautiful outside,” she sings, blending the words together to communicate their message with her delivery alone. Her accompanists—jazz musicians Alabaster dePlume, Tom Skinner, Shahzad Ismaily, and Tom Herbert—follow her lead, setting the mood with a slow-burning drone, textured with Talk Talk’s dying-fire sparks of electric guitar and the swelling smoke rings of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks. As the music rises against the ragged pulse of her vocals, the English artist, nearly 30 years into her career, constructs an entirely new landscape for her songwriting—a wide-open space that grows stranger and more beautiful the further inside she leads us.
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Beth Orton sings “Weather Alive,” the title
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home.
Two years since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis by police officers, the documentary Police on Trial—produced by FRONTLINE in partnership with Star Tribune and CAAM—explores this “pivotal event in the history of race and policing in America.” Directed by Mike Shum and produced by Shum and Marcia Robiou, the documentary follows George Floyd’s murder and Derek Chauvin’s subsequent conviction, and continues to highlight the ongoing demand for police accountability and reform. If you missed the film’s PBS premiere last night, you can still watch on the PBS website.
June is Pride Month, and we had to spotlight one of our favorite documentaries on family, grief, and an artist’s relationship with these while negotiating their queerness. Angelo Madsen Minax’s North By Current, which won the IDA Documentary Award for Best Writing, aired in November last year but is still streaming on PBS. This isn’t just Pride Month viewing but essential viewing for every month and every season.
June 2022 also marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, and in celebration of the long and hard battle to push for equal rights in education and athletics, ESPN’s W. Studios has launched W. Studios Fifty/50 Shorts Presented by Google. The lineup includes Allison Glock and Kate T. Parker’s Home Field, Shayla Harris’ Let Noor Run, Bethany Mollenkof’s The Rule of Sedona Prince, Elizabeth Lo’s Girls Got Game, and Bonni Cohen’s Make a Splash. The series premieres tonight, June 1, and will be available on ESPN’s YouTube page.
A new documentary on Joe Papp, champion of the arts and the founder of New York’s The Public Theater, Free Shakespeare in the Park and producer of groundbreaking plays like Hair, A Chorus Line and for colored girls…., is all set to premiere on PBS’ American Masters on Friday, June 3. Directed and produced by Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen, Joe Papp in Five Acts, pays homage to the late impresario, but also explores the importance of inclusive and accessible arts in the country today.
“Parenthood is a protracted form of unrequited love,” writes Fabrice Robinet on filmmaker Louise Monlaü, whose documentary for The New Yorker, Rocío and Me, is now streaming. The film centers a mother-daughter pair, both named Rocío, as they navigate cycles of caregiving and parenthood vis-a-vis the daughter’s journey with Down Syndrome and a team of synchronized swimmers with Down syndrome called the Sirenas Especiales.
AAPI Heritage Month may be over, but at IDA, we celebrate the work and lives of Asian American filmmakers throughout the year. As do the folks at Criterion Channel. Head over to their website and check out their fantastic retrospective of the works of filmmaker Christine Choy— “Documentaries by Christine Choy.” The lineup includes From Spikes to Spindles, Inside Women Inside, Bittersweet Survival, Mississippi Triangle, and Homes Apart: Korea.
Screen Time is
PERMET, Albania — Albania’s parliament elected its top military official as the country’s new president on Saturday after no candidates were nominated in three rounds of voting.
Gen.-Maj. Bajram Begaj won the post after the 140-seat Parliament voted 78 in favor, four against and one abstained.
The governing left-wing Socialist Party nominated and voted for Begaj, 55, after failing to reach a compromise with the opposition on a candidate to replace President Ilir Meta, and no independent candidate was nominated.
PERMET, Albania — Albania’s parliament elected its
A paw-fect royal affair! Prince William, Duchess Kate, Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British royal family have the opportunity to meet a variety of individuals at the public outings. Though, some of their special guests are a lot cuter and furrier.
“Who do you think Alfie, the therapy dog preferred?” the official Kensington Palace Twitter account wrote in January 2022, alongside photos of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge taking turns holding the cockapoo.
The royal couple — who wed in April 2011 — made a surprise appearance at Clitheroe Community Hospital in Lancashire, England, where they met with local medical professionals who worked across the rural community in response to the coronavirus pandemic. To assist in their efforts, the NHS Charities created a staff wellbeing room to promote mental health with space to play with their two therapy dogs: Jasper and Alfie.
The University of St Andrews alums — who received a pet canine in January 2021 from her brother, James Middleton — have frequently met all sorts of animals during their joint outings.
Several months later, Will and Kate — who share children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — visited baby goats during a March 2022 St. David’s Day outing at Pant Farm in Wales.
“Understanding about the importance of the agricultural industry to people in rural communities,” the pair’s official Instagram Story captioned a farm photo of the couple petting the goats. “Working with local businesses, promoting local produce and sustainable practices you can really see how farms like this are the lifeblood of the community.”
The long-reigning monarch, who is a doting dog parent to her many corgis, also has had the chance to meet many animals through her public appearances.
Elizabeth and Prince Philip, who died in April 2021 at age 99, previously opened the Centre for Elephant Care at Whipsnade Zoo in England where they had the opportunity to meet the mammals during the April 2017 visit. They also were able to feed the elephants a banana treat during the outing.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, for their part, met a koala during their first tour as a married couple in October 2018. The California residents — who stepped back from their position as senior royals in 2020 — stopped by the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, where they met the cub and her two babies who were named for the Archewell cofounders. The duo were also introduced to a short-legged echidna called Lynx.
“We are incredibly honored to have had The Duke and Duchess of Sussex open our brand new state-of-the-art Institute of Science & Learning today,” the facility tweeted at the time. “This facility really is a game-changer for research and conservation, offering never-before seen learning opportunities for students.”
Scroll below to see the British royals meeting animals through the years:
A paw-fect royal affair! Prince William, Duchess
As “Top Gun: Maverick” shattered box-office records over Memorial Day weekend, the original “Top Gun” soared to the top of the U.S. streaming charts this week.
Paramount Pictures’ 1986 “Top Gun,” starring a 23-year-old Tom Cruise as hotshot Navy pilot Maverick, was the most popular streaming title for the week of May 26-June 1, according to consumer data released by Reelgood. In addition, the movie is currently No. 1 on Apple’s iTunes movie charts in the U.S.
The original “Top Gun,” which also stars Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer and Anthony Edwards, is streaming on Paramount+. Note that the movie rolled off Netflix as of June 1 — when it became available on Amazon’s Prime Video. As of Friday, “Top Gun” stood at the No. 4 spot on Prime Video’s Top 10 titles in the U.S., following original series “Night Sky,” “Outer Range” and “The Boys.”
The hype surrounding the critically acclaimed “Top Gun: Maverick” sequel clearly drove interest in “Top Gun” — even though many reviewers hated the original flyboy flick. The 1986 movie has a 57% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with 97% for the “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Following “Top Gun,” Disney+’s much-anticipated Star Wars series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” starring Ewan McGregor came in at the No. 2 spot in the first week of release. That was ahead of Netflix’s “Stranger Things 4” at No. 3, which the streamer said had the biggest opening weekend ever for an English-language series on its platform.
Reelgood’s rankings are based on anonymized first-party data from its base of about 5 million users in the U.S., tracking how they interact with movies and TV shows on the platform.
Here’s the full top 10 from Reelgood for the week:
As “Top Gun: Maverick” shattered box-office records
L’Rain was invited by Abbey Road Studios and Pitchfork to record a session around her performance at the inaugural Pitchfork Music Festival London. This session was recorded in celebration of Abbey Road Studios 90th Anniversary and the inaugural Pitchfork Music Festival London.
L’Rain was invited by Abbey Road Studios
When Sterling K. Brown won lead actor in a drama series for play- ing Randall Pearson on the first season of NBC’s “This Is Us” at the 2017 Emmys, it marked his second win and the show’s first. Though Brown’s impassioned acceptance speech was cut off by Fox in a now infamous attempt to move along the awards show, Brown’s spirits remained high and for a few more minutes, “This Is Us” remained a contender for best drama.
“Oprah announced the big award. And there was some talk that we had a shot at it,” creator Dan Fogelman tells Variety. “She kind of opened the envelope and squealed a little bit — and we knew that she liked our show — and she said, ‘The Emmy goes to…’ And she said the ‘Th,’ and it was ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ I always joked that during the time that the ‘Th’ came out of Oprah’s mouth, I think my heart actually stopped, and I felt like I was going to throw up.”
Fogelman had not been to the Emmys before that night, but the unexpected acclaim for “This Is Us” would see him and his team return multiple times for the show’s to-date 38 nominations and four wins. “Sterling winning at the beginning, those times were so overwhelming and a source of pride for everybody — the entire cast, the entire crew,” Fogelman says. “But anybody who said they saw it all coming would be completely lying.”
Now, it’s all coming to an end. “This Is Us” aired its series finale May 24, making this fall’s Emmys the final year in which the broad- cast drama is eligible. But whether or not it takes home more noms, or potentially its first and only best drama win, is largely going to be up to the TV Academy’s reaction to how the show concluded its Pearson family saga.
“He didn’t play it safe,” says 20th Television president Karey Burke, who was “weeping” in her office the first time she saw the “This Is Us” trailer, at the time working as the chief of Freeform. “I think it will go down in history as one of the greatest final seasons and one of the greatest final episodes in broadcast history, I really do.
“Having seen many of them and been involved with some, I can say this will stand with those,” she adds. “I think he really delivered and honored this family. And it felt deeply consistent with everything he had set up from the beginning.”
Six seasons of tearjerking has given “This Is Us” a bad rap among circles that see it as an overly dramatic series that exists simply to make you cry. But that’s a critical chord that doesn’t sit right with Brown.
“There’s this idea sometimes that, ‘Is it too sentimental? It is being manipulative, or what have you?’” Brown says. “And to that, I say, our show is an opportunity to lighten your load. It invites people who may be going through very real things, whether it’s personal ailment, family, divorce. Whatever the situation is, you’ll see, ‘Oh, these people are going through it, too. I’m not weird or strange or bad or flawed, just human. And I get a chance to feel that, release it and hopefully, walk through life a little bit lighter.’ So, I hope those folks who are overly critical recognize there’s actually a point to it, that it resonates with people for a reason and it’s not something that’s manipulative for the sake of manipulation.”
Pearson family members Brown, Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia and Chrissy Metz have all received Emmy noms during the show’s first five seasons, as have several supporting actors and guest stars, but Justin Hartley has repeatedly been snubbed — as have the “This Is Us” writers.
“It’s shocking to me the writing hasn’t been acknowledged,”says Lisa Katz, NBCUniversal’s head of scripted content. “Part of it is that they make it look easy. And when you think about the fact that they’ve told this very complicated story over multiple timelines and 18 episodes a year for six seasons, it’s mind-blowing to me that it hasn’t been acknowledged. The only thing I can think of is that people take for granted how hard it is to have a show [whose] stories are so poignant, the way they tie the themes together and how the past informs the present and how every decision is so thoughtful and deliberate. I just think it’s storytelling at the highest level and it’s honestly baffling to me.”
But the ebb and flow of accolades hasn’t stopped the “This Is Us” team from making this for them — the fans.
“We’re like the little network show that could and did, and continues to really, truly, deeply affect people,” Metz says. “And that really is the gift and the reward and the accolade. We’re making a piece of art that’s going to change the course of someone’s life.”
As the star who has played a 16-year-old girl, an 80-some- thing woman on her death bed and everything in between, Moore has likely the most unique example among the cast of how much “This Is Us” has changed their lives.
“I remember reading the script thinking, ‘No, I can’t possibly put my heart on the line again for a show and it doesn’t move forward,’” says Moore. “But once I understood the breadth of what this show could potentially be, I was like, ‘OK, I will throw my name in the ring and whatever I need to do to be a part of this project, I will do’ — obviously not understand- ing what the story was really going to be laying out on the line. In the pilot, my character is just a small cog in the wheel, and this very pivotal, monumental, life-changing thing happens for the life of this family and obviously the life of this couple and this woman. But I obviously had no idea that we would be here today.”
“The show transcended this whole idea of, there are the streamers and then there’s broad- casters” Hartley says. “Like, no, no, there’s good TV and there’s really fucking great TV. And we were really fucking great.”
The use of the F-bomb is one of only a handful of things that Fogelman had to give up to make “This Is Us” broadcast-friendly, along with nudity and violence — a sacrifice he was more than willing to make.
“There were seven fucks, I think, in the pilot for ‘This Is Us,’ which were not crucial to that pilot,” he says. “So, I took them out because I felt it could live successfully on network television and play to a mass audience, but also, hope- fully, be high quality. There’s no reason something can’t be as wonderful on network TV.
“I am a believer in the medium and the sheer amount of people it can reach. And this show has taught me a network television audience will go with you if you do something artfully. I think they can be underestimated and the storytelling and the structure of ‘This Is Us’ asks people to watch with intent. I think that the audience is ready for stuff like that. The medium needs to continue to evolve. But I do believe, strongly, that in a couple of years, you will be asking the question to the next guy or gal, ‘How does it feel to be the first broadcast thing that’s been getting a lot of awards attention since ‘This Is Us’? Because I think there’s more of them out there.”
When Sterling K. Brown won lead actor
WARNING: spoilers for Downton Abbey: A New Era are in discussion. If you haven’t seen the film yet, you may want to refrain from reading any further.
One of the questions that’s accompanied the release of each Downton Abbey movie is whether or not Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess would be taking her final bow. With the end of 2019’s first motion picture giving Violet Crawley a terminal diagnosis, a ticking clock was set into motion for that eventual heartbreaking moment Peacock subscribers are probably still expecting. However, some fans think that Smith’s character should have died during the original six season run, and creator Julian Fellowes has addressed those feelings.
Speaking with USA Today (opens in new tab) on behalf of Downton Abbey: A New Era’s recent release, Fellowes was asked about this notion expressed by fans of the ITV hit drama. Quite frankly, and with a nod towards the events that did transpire in this year’s cinematic sequel, he laid out his reasoning for waiting until the movies as follows:
I don’t think we ever did [consider it]. We didn’t seem to have covered the sufficient number of years yet. Maggie comes across as a very strong character (in the show), so I didn’t feel any reason for it before. But it did feel right this time.
Character death is a very serious matter for Julian Fellowes, as he previously explained how he wrote deaths into Downton Abbey’s TV run. Apparently, he and the rest of the team behind the hit series didn’t see it as prudent to kill the Dowager
Countess off during those storylines. Considering how much of a crown jewel Maggie Smith was in the Downton cast, that’s another factor that probably kept Violet Crawley alive and well for as long as she was.
Of course, the ending to Downton Abbey: A New Era changed that, with Violet passing peacefully at the Downton estate. Surrounded by friends and family, her final moments were bittersweet, and even included a hint of her usual comedic timing. Who else would tell their weeping maid, “Stop that noise at once! I can’t hear myself die?” Further explaining why director Simon Curtis’ current theatrical entry into Downton canon was the time to send Violet Crawley to the great beyond, Julian Fellowes elaborated thusly:
When we did the first movie, we didn’t know there’d be a second one. Nevertheless, having laid the groundwork for it in the first film, we couldn’t have shirked it in the second. Assuming Violet was 77 at the beginning (of the TV series), she’s now in her 90s. And I think that’s enough, really.
Though fans and creatives alike would probably want to keep inviting Maggie Smith back to star in Downton Abbey sequels, it appears her character has run her course. While Julian Fellowes is reluctant to make any definitive judgements on whether the Dowager Countess’ story is complete, it’s a fair assumption that Dame Smith will not be back for any further theatrical adventures. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Violet Crawley’s death will have meant something, and it gives him time to beef up classic characters once again, just in time for a potential Downton Abbey 3.
Just as you should never expect to get the last word with the Dowager Countess, much to the chagrin of A New Era castmate Penelope Wilton, don’t assume that anyone’s Downton story is truly over. With the possibility of flashbacks, or more likely prequels that could explore the Dowager Countess’ past, there’s so much more story that could be told.
Downton Abbey: A New Era continues to entertain audiences in theaters, with a potential streaming debut presumed for early July. Again, if you’re a Peacock subscriber, you should keep your subscription up to date. Not only will it be your ticket to seeing this sequel, but at the time of this writing the entire Downton dynasty exists on that platform.
WARNING: spoilers for Downton Abbey: A New
The hotly-anticipated documentary Pennywise: The Story of IT is coming exclusively to the Bloody Disgusting-powered SCREAMBOX streaming service this summer, with Dread Central making the announcement this week that the doc will be opening in select theaters beginning July 8 before releasing on VOD and SCREAMBOX on July 26, 2022!
An in-depth look at the 1990 mini-series based on Stephen King’s novel, the film had its world premiere at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain and its UK premiere at FrightFest last fall before landing stateside for its US premiere at Panic Fest in May.
Pennywise: The Story of IT will play Boston’s Coolidge Corner Theatre on July 8 and the Columbus Theatre in Providence, RI, on July 9 (other theatrical engagements to be confirmed) before releasing on VOD and SCREAMBOX on July 26.
Thirty-plus years after its release, the popular two-part miniseries IT and its infamous villain live on in the minds of horror fans around the world. Pennywise: The Story of IT, which is co-directed by John Campopiano (Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary) and Christopher Griffiths (Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser) and produced by Gary Smart (Dark Ditties Presents), captures not only the spark the IT saga created when it was released but also the lasting impact it has had on an entire generation and the horror genre at large.
Several years in the making, the film features exclusive interviews with many of the cult classic’s key players, from cast members Richard Thomas, Seth Green, and Tim Curry, who portrayed the notorious monster clown Pennywise, to director Tommy Lee Wallace and special effects makeup artist Bart Mixon.
The documentary also boasts a wealth of archival material and never-before-seen footage.
In addition to releasing on VOD platforms such as InDemand, DirecTV, DISH, Apple, Amazon Prime Video, Google, Vudu, and Xbox, Pennywise: The Story of IT will debut on Cinedigm’s horror streaming channel SCREAMBOX as an Original on July 26. SCREAMBOX features a broad mix of content for casual and die-hard horror fans alike. The service is refreshed monthly with content from the Company’s extensive genre library with films and episodes delivering every type of terror imaginable – supernatural, slasher, zombie and beyond. Screambox is available to stream on iOS, Android, Prime Video, YouTube TV, Comcast and screambox.com.
Subscriptions include unlimited movies and shows, with no ads: Month to month pricing is $4.99, while you can get discounted rates at 3 months ($11.99) or one year ($39.99).
Sign up for SCREAMBOX now and get 30 DAYS FREE.
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The post ‘Pennywise: The Story of IT’ Trailer – SCREAMBOX Original Documentary Premieres July 26! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The hotly-anticipated documentary Pennywise: The
We’re just two weeks away from the Good Trouble midseason finale and this week’s episode set up the storylines we’re going to continue to see play out over the last few episodes. Callie and the rest of Kathleen Gale’s team are preparing for a new trial, Alice is still struggling with the diversity in comedy program, and Malika is still navigating her relationships with both Isaac and Dyonte.
So without further ado, let’s just jump into this recap, shall we?
Now that Jerod’s case is behind them, Kathleen Gale’s firm is taking on a murder case. The prosecution team is filled with familiar faces like Mark, Jamie’s supervisor Nicolette, and of course Jamie himself. Mark wants to use Jamie to get to Callie, but Kathleen tells Callie that when “they rattle you, you rattle them right back”.
Since Kathleen’s team was literally just hired after their client fired his last team, Kathleen makes a big scene during the pretrial motion. It looks like the judge isn’t going to fall for her antics, but he ultimately gives her and the rest of her team three days to get everything together.
While all of this is going on, Callie is still trying to figure out why her new boss is being investigated by the FBI. She calls up Ben (!!!!!), who does her a favor and looks into the investigation. After she and Kathleen have a heart-to-heart about their moms, Callie decides to trust her and tells Ben that she doesn’t need anything from him anymore. Meanwhile, Mark tells Jamie that Kathleen is definitely dirty.
Remember earlier this season when I said I wasn’t really feeling Alice’s storyline? Well that’s completely changed because these last couple of episodes have found me super invested in what’s happening with her and her budding comedy career.
The diversity in comedy program’s director is still continuing to have the participants only do sketches filled with racist stereotypes. So they all decide to let loose and go to a stand-up open mic. Alice does a set that really highlights all the of the problems with the workshop. “The people who create these diversity programs think they’re opening doors. And they are… to the 1950s.”
Ruby (more on her in a second) just so happens to be in the audience and hears Alice’s entire set. She says she understands where Alice is coming from, but that those are unfortunately the types of roles available for people of color right now.
Ruby is not the only important person who sees Alice’s set. Her set ends up on Instagram and the program director ends up seeing it. Since one person from the program is set to be cut, Alice is sure that this has sealed her fate. However, the director thinks it’s hilarious and just continues on as if nothing ever happened.
Remember when I said we’d come back to Ruby in a second? Well Ruby wants to hook up with Alice again. But thanks to a sex dream she had about Callie last week, Alice has decided that she wants to be more in control of their relationship, so she blows Ruby off. Alice’s “plan” worked at first because Ruby seemed more interested in her. But ultimately, Ruby decides she’s being too clingy and ends things with Alice for now.
Malika finally decided to go therapy. She’s been through a lot in the last couple of years so it seems like this is only going to be beneficial for her.
This initial session focuses on her confusing feelings for Dyonte. We see the end of last week’s conversation between her and Isaac where she assures him that he’s the only one she wants. However, she tells her therapist straight up that she has feelings for Dyonte. “I want to be close to him,” she confesses. “He makes me happy.”
Her therapist concludes that Malika wants to be in a relationship with both Isaac and Dyonte, but Malika admits that it feels wrong to want that.
“Monogamy is just a social construct,” her therapist tells her. “We’ve been conditioned to value having one significant partner. But for many people, consensual non-monogamy feels more natural for them.”
Malika takes some time and talks it over with her girlfriends, who tell her she needs to be sure she knows what she wants before she talks to Isaac because once she does, “it’s a bell that you cannot unring.”
We then see her back in another therapy session where she tells Isaac that she lied about her feelings for Dyonte because she does want to be with him. But, she also wants to continue dating Isaac. He looks at her like he’s honestly shocked to hear those words coming from her mouth.
Even though we only see Isaac’s shocked reaction, I believe he’s ultimately going to try the poly relationship with Malika and Dyonte. I doubt the show would go this far with this storyline and not actually end up with a poly relationship. Regardless, I don’t think this is the end for Malika and Isaac.
What did you think of the episodes? Let me know in the comments below!
Good Trouble airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Freeform.
We’re just two weeks away from the
“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You kill my father. Prepare to die.” Of all the memorable lines in The Princess Bride, this is the one that everyone quotes ad nauseqm. Why? Because vengeance is a powerful, intense, and incredibly cinematic concept. Robert Eggers’ 2022 film The Northman deeply understands the intense pull of vengeance, and leans ALL THE WAY into it. This wild, woolly Viking epic even gives its lead character, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), a three-sentence mantra that echoes (and one-ups) Montoya’s: “I will avenge you, Father! I will save you, Mother! I will kill you, Fjölnir!”
©Focus Features/Courtesy Everet
By Mark Graham “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.
Tucker Carlson has claimed that President Biden is pushing the European Union to stop buying oil from Russia as “payback” for Trump’s election in 2016.
During a segment on high fuel prices and airline shortages on Friday’s episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the pundit said that Biden has been intentionally raising gas prices as part of a “clampdown on domestic energy” and his “lunatic war against Vladimir Putin.”
“So, back in February, you may remember that Joe Biden pledged to destroy the Russian economy. ‘Let’s make them poor,’” Carlson said, calling the president’s sanctions against Russia “counterproductive.” “Of course, this is in retaliation for installing Donald Trump as president.”
Trump himself has, on multiple occasions, refuted findings that Russia meddled with the 2016 election.
Responding to a clip of Biden saying that prices are not likely to come down “in the near term,” Carlson accused him of “single-handedly prolonging” the war in Ukraine instead of making a “push” for it to end.
Later in the segment, Carlson turned his attention to the delays, cancellations and price increases plaguing airlines. In particular, he took aim at Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom he called on to resign.
Rather than “working feverishly” to fix these issues, Carlson claimed that Buttigieg was too busy working on an “equity agenda,” referring to an initiative to increase the number of female pilots and pilots of color.
“United has announced that 50% of its company’s pilots will be ‘women or people of color’ over the next decade,” Carlson commented. “Why should you care what the color of your pilot is? What does it have to do with anything?”
Claiming that everyone “except the New York Times and the Biden White House” cares about pilots’ skills rather than their race or gender, Carlson repeated his theory that the president is purposely driving up prices for revenge.
“By the way, at the same time, the White House is doing all it can to keep fuel prices high,” he reiterated. “Biden is just pushing the EU to stop buying Russian oil. It’s payback for getting Trump elected, but the effect is to guarantee higher prices on international oil markets, and that means higher prices for you.”
Casting an even wider net, he also said that the Green New Deal “they couldn’t get through Congress” and Buttigieg’s stance on abortion were to blame.
Tucker Carlson has claimed that President Biden
A new Leonard Cohen anthology has been released. The career-spanning Hallelujah & Songs from His Albums includes 17 of Cohen’s most beloved pieces, such as “Suzanne,” “Bird on a Wire,” “I’m Your Man,” “In My Secret Life,” and more. The collection also includes a previously unreleased live performance of “Hallelujah” from the 2008 Glastonbury Festival. Listen to the full LP below.
Hallelujah will receive CD and LP releases this fall. The album is a companion piece to the new documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, which premieres at Tribeca Festival this month, and was also an official selection at 2021 Venice Film Festival and 2021 Telluride Festival. The film includes never-before-seen archival materials from the Cohen Family Trust, including Cohen’s personal notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage, and rare audio recordings and interviews.
Back in March, it was revealed that Cohen’s estate had sold the entirety of his songwriting catalog—roughly 278 songs—to Hipgnosis Songs Fund for an undisclosed sum.
Revisit Jayson Greene’s 2020 Overtones feature “How Leonard Cohen Haunted the Trump Era.”
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A new Leonard Cohen anthology has been
But this isn’t news to anyone. The alarm about the looming climate catastrophe was sounded years ago and has been running on a loop ever since. We blithely watch the fast-approaching brick wall; we are paralyzed like the proverbial deer in the headlights.
This widespread apathy—at first individual and then collective—is what, in large part, motivated me to make the film essay White Noise. Given the scientifically backed understanding of how our actions are undermining our world’s equilibrium and threatening our extinction, how can we, as a species, not revolt against it? Not to mention the inconceivable list of harms that humans have inflicted on the other animals and plants with which we share this living space that is planet Earth.
From a practical standpoint, we need to develop a comprehensive program of action. Indeed, plenty of valiant people in various fields are working to do just that. And while their discourse has become increasingly audible in recent years, it does not seem to have reached the ears of the dominant political class, which does not grasp—or simply does not wish to understand—the gravity of the situation. Like everywhere else, here in Canada our political leaders are incapable of legitimately embodying the kind of change that might save the future and spare individual people from carrying, alone in the isolation of their individuality, the burden of a collapsing world.
We have come to an impasse. Every day, though we try not to close our eyes from fatigue, jadedness, or merely indifference or oversight, drowning as we are in the buzz of pointless distractions and the mechanical motions of everyday life, we march ever closer to a darkening horizon.
What can we do with all this looming over our heads? And, in my specific case (which brings me to the purpose of this post), what can cinema do? Even asking the question sounds ridiculous to my ears. Making a film in these circumstances sometimes feels like Nero fiddling while Rome burns. Even more so since the ability to reflect on the issue by way of an artistic process seems the height of privilege, in contrast to the extremely dire situation in which most people on the planet find themselves. At some point, a more critical debate on this subject will have to be heard. Because contrary to what most people believe, the responsibility for climate change is not borne equally by every person on Earth—far from it. Humanity, in and of itself, did not magically produce this destruction; rather, it was brought about by the inequitable organization of life on Earth, produced by a predatory capitalist system (and its lackeys) that favours some and exploits others. I am referring here to the idea of combining the climate crisis with the class struggle. But that’s another story. Back to the film.
White Noise grew out of these very reflections. That feeling of being at an impasse probably also explains the film’s maximalist and somewhat “punk” style (the movement’s inherent “No Future” viewpoint being not very far away). Its thematic and formal elements (POV shots creating a fragmented, tunnel-vision view akin to a video game, infrared camera shots that transform people into zombies, elements borrowed from the “flicker film” and horror genres) converge on this sense of “no way out,” but also of great anger.
The film is a journey of despair. But it is also one of a yearning for revolution. I am aware that we must not paint everything black. Humanity has the fascinating ability to bounce back from great tragedy. And history shows us that it can also produce the unexpected and unhoped for (a bifurcation, as philosopher Bernard Stiegler would say). I am also aware of the humility necessary when undertaking a film like this. We must remind ourselves that it’s just a movie, after all. Which is not true of our day-to-day lives.
I am reminded of a maxim by Gilles Deleuze:
“There’s no need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons.”
Watch White Noise:
White Noise, Simon Beaulieu, provided by the National Film Board of Canada
A 38-year-old man is dead after being shot on Friday, say police.
The Vernon North Okanagan RCMP says the incident happened just before 6 p.m. along the 5300 block of 25th Avenue, with officers responding to a report of shots fired at a residential building.
“Frontline officers responding to the location found a 38-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds,” said police. “The victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
The detachment’s Serious Crimes Unit is conducting the investigation.
“Preliminary findings of the investigation suggest this to be a targeted incident,” said Vernon RCMP Insp. Blake MacLeod.
“The victim is known to police and we do not believe the safety of the public is at risk.”
MacLeod said anyone who may have witnessed the shooting, or if they have possible dashcam or surveillance footage, is asked to contact the Vernon detachment at 250-545-7171.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
A 38-year-old man is dead after being
Summer Game Fest, the digital-first celebration of studio and independent video games, has revealed its developer and publisher lineup in anticipation of the event next month.
Geoff Keighley will host a live, two-hour world premiere showcase on June 9 at 11 a.m. PT, featuring world premieres, gameplay demos, spotlights on indie games and news from over 30 developers and publishers including 2K, Activision, Epic Games, Xbox, Tribeca Festival, Humble Games, Netflix, PlayStation, Steam, Warner Bros. Games, Sega, Skybound Games, Electronic Arts, Studio MDHR, Capcom and more.
“It’s year three for Summer Game Fest, and I’m excited to be able to bring the community together once again to celebrate everything we love about games,” said Keighley, who also curates the programming.
The event will also feature the exclusively indie showcase, Day of the Devs. Among its offerings will be a look at new IP from London-based development studio ustwo games, known for Monument Valley and Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.
“Last year, we had an unbelievable number of unique and diverse games and this year will be no different,” said Tim Schafer, co-founder of Day of the Devs and founder of Double Fine Productions. “Well, a little different, in that it might be even better. So, probably different, and probably better. Because we’re smarter now and have a lot of folks helping us!”
Summer Game Fest can be streamed on major platforms including YouTube, Twitch, Twitter and Facebook. The showcase will also stream in Imax theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
Summer Game Fest, the digital-first celebration of
Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” jams into theaters June 24. The film’s hype just keeps growing, especially after receiving a 12-minute standing ovation after its premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
With a runtime of 2 hours and 39 minutes, the biopic has received mixed reviews that range from “trainwreck” to “a sharp edit away from being a classic.” According to TIME Magazine’s Stephanie Zacharek, “Luhrmann sees equal value in fact and myth.” The Los Angeles Times’ Justin Chang wrote, “It’s all a bit much, which means it’s just right.”
Audiences will have a chance to find out for themselves later this month, but for now here’s everything we know about “Elvis.”
Besides “The Great Gatsby,” Luhrmann has directed “Australia” (2008), “Moulin Rouge!” (2001), “Romeo + Juliet” (1996) and “Strictly Ballroom” (1992) as well as the Netflix series “The Get Down.” He announced plans to work on the Elvis Presley biopic back in 2014, so this one has been a long time coming.
Elvis became an icon throughout the fifties, sixties and seventies, finding his roots in Black gospel church music. While the film focuses on his life, it also acknowledges the cultural context of what was happening around Elvis. When Elvis was a young boy, he became heavily inspired by Black church gospel music. A major controversy of the hip-swayer is whether he amplified Blackness through his performance or appropriated it. The Civil Rights movement unfolds in the background of the film.
In a recent interview with GQ, Austin Butler detailed his immersive work into the icon that was Elvis. When filming wrapped in 2021, Butler realized just how much a toll the role took on his body. He was rushed to the hospital early the next morning after he woke up in pain, and later he was diagnosed with a virus that simulates appendicitis, spending a week in bed.
Butler was committed to the musical aspect of “Elvis,” saying, “When I began the process of this, I wanted to get my voice to sound identical to his.” So for Elvis’ early songs, you’ll hear Butler’s voice. But as Elvis gets older and starts recording his more iconic songs, Luhrmann blended Butler’s voice with Presley’s voice, so it becomes a mix of the two.
The biopic will star Austin Butler as The King himself, and Tom Hanks will star alongside Butler as Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager. Both men really went after their roles, with Hanks looking very different in his prosthetic makeup.
“Stranger Things” star Dacre Montgomery is set to play Steve Binder. “The Power of Dog’s” Kodi Smit-McPhee will appear as Jimmi Rogers. Luke Bracey will play Jerry Schilling, and David Wenham will portray Hank Snow. Olivia DeJonge will play Priscilla Presley.
Black musicians like B.B. King (Kevin Harrison Jr.), Little Richard (Alton Mason) and Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Yola), who all influenced Elvis one way or another, will appear in the story.
Original songs and recordings set to appear in the film will not only come from Elvis Aaron Presley himself, but obviously Austin Butler who plays him. Other artists collaborating on the soundtrack include Ann Nesby, Alton Mason, Chris Isaak, Denzel Curry, Doja Cat, Eminem & Ceelo Green, Gary Clark Jr., Jack White, Lenesha Randolph, Jazmine Sullivan, Kacey Musgraves, Kodi-Smit-McPhee, Les Greene, Måneskin, Nardo Wick, Paravi, Pnau, Rufus Thomas, Shonka Dukureh, Stevie Nicks, Swae Lee & Diplo, Tame Impala and Yola.
Doja Cat’s song, “Vegas” now has an accompanying music video, which you can watch here.
After seeing the film, Priscilla posted her review to Instagram:
“I’ve seen Elvis the film, I watched the trailer over a dozen times. But the words I heard from my daughter on how much she loved the film and that Riley will love it too when she sees it brought tears. I relived every moment in this film. It took me a few days to overcome the emotions as it did with Lisa. Beautifully done Baz, Tom, Austin and Olivia.”
Lisa Marie Presley tweeted her praise of the portrayal of her father:
“Baz, your utter genius combined with your love and respect for my father and this project is just so beautiful and so inspiring. I know I’m being repetitive, but I don’t care, Thank you for setting the record straight in such a deeply profound and artistic way.
Love you” ~LMP
Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” jams into theaters June
On Friday, Jennifer Lopez showed off her gym-toned physique as she walked to her work out studio in Los Angeles for some exercise and training. The sporty songstress was wearing a color-coordinated set, with a long-sleeved crop top made out of sweatshirt material and in a pale, seashell pink. Beneath, she wore leggings in a white and pink diamond pattern, a pair of white sneakers, and carried a white leather Gucci purse to match those.
J.Lo had her hair swept up in a pony tail, and wore a gold chain with a circular drop medallion around her neck.
On Sunday, Lopez is receiving recognition at the MTV Movie & TV Awards, People reports, and will be presented with the Generation Award, described in a release as being an award that “celebrates beloved actors whose diverse contributions to both film and television have turned them into household names.”
Other past recipients include Scarlett Johansson, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Chris Pratt, Will Smith, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Wahlberg, Sandra Bullock, Jamie Foxx, Johnny Depp, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Tom Cruise, and Jim Carrey.
The event is being held at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, and Vanessa Hudgens is serving as a host for the hotly anticipated night. Some big name celebrities who will be making an appearance on stage include Chris Evans, Awkwafina and Rebel Wilson. Comedian Jack Black is going to be honored with the Comedic Genius Award, and Snoop Dogg has a performance scheduled. Hudgens previously hosted the MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time in 2020.
Lopez has been receiving a lot of recognition for her work lately. The 52-year-old was given the Icon Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in March, where she said in her acceptance speech, “I’m just getting started.”
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On Friday, Jennifer Lopez showed off her
The Flickchart Texas BBQ Road Trip continues on down the road. Last time, we stationed ourselves in Fort Worth to visit a recent star. Now we head back east to the Big D once more for another sultry BBQ stop.
Lockhart Smokehouse is located in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas. A bit south of downtown, this more suburban run of Dallas is any yuppie’s dream. Sporting a distinct nightlife and plenty of independent fashion stores, flocks of millennials have begun to center here in this trendy subsection of Dallas. Home to several theaters, from art-house cinema to an Art Deco music venue, this district is a place to be.
Its origins were a more humble mixture of warehouses in the 1920s, but by the 1980s it was abandoned. An investor saw the potential within and the historic importance of the area and poured money into revitalization. The investor placed police here rent-free for a year to increase the sense of security, and many businesses followed.
Naturally, this includes food, and this is where Lockhart Smokehouse enters the picture. Their origins are little less chic and more steeped in Texas barbecue history. Founded in 2011, one of the co-founders grandfathers was Edgar Schmidt, the man who put Kreuz Market on the map (more on that in a later entry). Plastered with antique signs, neon, and sports memorabilia, the place supports its own form of rustic Texana. The exposed rafter ceiling is certainly a nice touch, bringing a central Texas style up to the Big D. Lockhart offers all of the Central Texas classics, from sausage to pork chop and, of course, brisket.
I enjoyed a trio of sliced brisket, a jalapeño cheese sausage, and a pork rib. This was accompanied by the traditional white bread and a mustard-based potato salad. The brisket was a delicious morsel with beautifully peppered crispy bark, creating a distinct and tasty bite. It lacked as distinct of a smoke ring as one might want, but that bark made the border bites really strong. The sausage was a highlight as well, with a perfect smoky flavor augmented by melty, spicy cheese. The pork rib was also strong and well-seasoned, but was certainly the weak link of the affair.
I award the brisket 4 slices out of 5, the sausage 4.5 links out of 5, and the pork rib 4 oinks out of 5. I award Lockhart Smokehouse 4.5 smokers out of 5!
Dallas Buyer’s Club is obviously set in Texas and highlights an important part of Texas culture and history. The movie centers around the story of one man’s battle with AIDS and his search for experimental treatment drugs for himself and others afflicted with the disease. It takes place in the 1980s when the AIDS epidemic was underway and anti-homosexual prejudice was running high.
The Dallas setting is epitomized through Matthew McConaughey‘s casting as a rodeo cowboy, the central character of the film and establisher of the titular Dallas Buyer’s Club. The film captures a time when Dallas wasn’t quite as metropolitan yet and was still a hub of old-guard Texas attitudes. This cultural history is important to highlight in cinema, as is the story of this flawed yet still-heroic protagonist.
While this has the hallmarks of Oscar bait, director Jean-Marc Vallée manages to make it more than some bland, feel-good “issue” film. McConaughey plays a well-written lead character, someone who is far from a typical do-gooder. He is a flawed and selfish person who ultimately fights to do the right thing and help others. The film does a great job situating you in the position of someone who learns empathy, largely thanks to his relationship with a transgender woman played Jared Leto in an Oscar-winning performance.
The film excels at helping empathy develop between the characters and between them and the audience. Though Vallée’s directing efforts aren’t exactly awe-striking, it moves along at an agreeable pace and is deeply emotionally affecting. This easily could have descended into schmaltz or suffered from straight-savior complex, but the fantastic performances and script prevent that from occurring.
While Dallas is now known as a rich, bustling metropolis of business, this film highlights a slightly different period of Dallas history while it was still on the cusp on becoming what it is now. Dallas Buyer’s Club shines with its story of empathy and its transformative acting. While not an all-time great film, it is a highly-capable drama and more of what Oscar films should aim for.
Does anyone eat barbecue in the film?
No brisket, no nothing.
Join us again next time for more delicious smoked meats and fantastic Lone Star cinema!
The Flickchart Texas BBQ Road Trip continues
“I know that there’s nothing handsome about me,” Miles Teller told Vogue Italy in 2015.
And in the decade or so that Teller has been a movie star, people have generally agreed.
“He’s a surprisingly ordinary-looking baby-faced guy who charmed his way out of the manatee-infested Confederate backwater of Citrus County, Florida” a Vulture profile reported in 2014. The Guardian described him as “sleepy” looking. To Roger Ebert.com he is simply “not conventionally glamorous.”
Teller’s appearance has been dissected—by the media and by himself—with a ruthlessness that is usually reserved for famous women. Teller has played leading men in two-to-four movies a year since 2013. He has been a Marvel hero, a firefighter, and a staggering number of douche bros—all archetypes associated with good looks. He’s currently starring in The Offer on Paramount Plus in a role that originally went to Armie Hammer. And still, even Miles Teller isn’t sure if Miles Teller is really hot.
“This dude is so ugly! How does he get fucking parts?” Teller said, parroting his haters in an Esquire profile in 2015. “Well, he’s not, like, traditionally handsome, but . . .” Later he told Playboy that he is used to reading tweets comparing his face to “a foot” or to Ted Cruz. At any point in Teller’s decade-plus of stardom, social media images of him have usually been garlanded with inches and feet of comments that add up, essentially, to “…Him?”
That’s changing now. The Miles Teller fandom—people who have had a deep affection and inexplicable animal attraction to Miles Teller for years—are being overwhelmed by panting, mouth-frothing band wagoners. It is a tale of muscles, mustache, and and angst.
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The shift happened this month, with Teller’s role as Lieutenant Bradley Bradshaw, call sign “Rooster,” in Top Gun: Maverick. Picking up more than 30 years after Top Gun, the movie has been a box office sensation and a triumph of military propagandism with a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Alongside the iron cheekbones and jawlines of Tom Cruise, Glen Powell, and John Hamm, Teller has emerged as the movie’s major sex symbol. His gigantic face has taken over timelines and feeds. His mustache, which is the type that would provoke mockery if it was on another man’s face, is inspiring odes in video form. Everyone onscreen looks stellar, with their shining aviator glasses, blockbuster grooming routines, and flattering backdrop of blue sky. But they’re models—perfect, untouchable. Teller, with his ability to crumple in distress or swell with bravado, is the heartthrob.
In a scene that alludes to the original’s iconic volleyball sequence, fighter pilots play football on the beach, nimbly treading the surf glazed in sweat and California sun. It’s a buffet of (mostly) male bodies. Countless fan-made videos feature Teller’s moment in the football scene, his torso ripping in a half-erotic, half-goofy dance. Montages of Teller in Top Gun have gone viral on Tiktok, set to the Oscar winning ballad “Take My Breath Away” from the original movie. Even Teller’s wife, Keleigh Teller, got in on it, making a fan-style video of Teller footage with the caption, “We’re all Team Rooster here…thirst on.”
“I know that there’s nothing handsome about
Trying to summarize or describe this spectacularly zany Tamil mindboggler is a fool’s errand, but I’ll make an attempt: Saravanan (Kalaiyarasan), a young bank employee who also calls himself Freud, wakes up in his apartment in Chennai, in South India, and realizes he has suddenly grown the tail of a horse. Dazed and confused, he wanders around the city avoiding curious stares and trying to seek answers from a “dream interpreter,” a mad mathematician, an astrologer and others. At some point the setting switches to a bucolic village adorned with portraits of the bygone Tamil megastar MGR; at another, the story turns into a murder investigation that draws on Western theorists like Jacques Lacan. Amid all this, Kalaiyarasan walks around with a perpetually confounded face and a pitch-perfect horsetail twitch, and the directors Manoj Leonel Jason and Shyam Sunder play around with psychedelic lights, crazy Dutch angles and dialogue stuffed with riddles and jokes.
It’s utter chaos and yet feels somehow perfectly ordered — like a puzzle that evinces a mysterious, alien logic, but a logic nevertheless. Sunder and Leonel Jason are part of a new generation of young, cinephile Tamil auteurs experimenting inventively with audiovisual form. Much of the joy of “Kuthiraivaal” (horse tail in English) comes from just watching the directors gleefully explore the endless possibilities of the moving image. But like the best of surrealist cinema, the film also evokes, if through mood rather than narrative, a powerful sense of the absurdity of modern life, where the search for meaning feels constant yet pointless.
The dilapidated Argentine housing project that provides the setting for Clarisa Navas’s drama evokes both a dystopia and a utopia. The impoverished barrio of Las Mil in Argentina’s Corrientes province — where Navas herself grew up — looks like a forgotten, forsaken place, with its littered streets and shoddy houses. But running around this ghetto is a band of fearless queer teenagers, who spend their time dancing, playing ball, making art and having sex with infectious abandon. It’s the kind of joyful (if still fraught) vision rarely seen in L.G.B.T.Q. movies or movies about ghettos.
Navas populates her film with memorable characters who feel utterly lived-in. The main arc concerns the lesbian high-school dropout Iris, who has been sent to Las Mil to live with her aunt and two gay cousins. Tall and tough yet awkwardly shy, Iris falls for Renata, a somewhat notorious older woman who has just returned to the neighborhood after a stint abroad. Their budding romance is inflected — though never weighed down or made sordid — by local realities of sex work, H.I.V. and violence. Navas’s magic touch is to render these narratives with a naturalistic, often humorous approach, devoid of judgment or pity. Its grimy, gritty atmospherics notwithstanding, her film is a sweet, even romantic portrait of queer love — a love that proudly defies traditional or prejudiced understandings of kinship and community.
In a small, rural community of the Yoreme, an Indigenous group in Mexico, the young Lucía (Mayrin Buitimea) dreams of becoming a harpist like her father. Custom holds, however, that women cannot play the instrument. In Ana Laura Calderón’s fable-like feature, this simple premise of tradition versus change flowers into a poignant tale of coming-of-age — not just of Lucía, but also of a marginalized community struggling to hold on to its culture while adapting to the times.
Set in an arid, dust-blown village in northern Mexico and featuring local, nonprofessional actors, “Mezquite’s Heart” is a beautiful showcase for the lives and rituals of the Yoreme. As the town prepares for an annual festival — where Lucía, who has secretly been receiving harp lessons from her grandfather, wants to debut her skills — Calderón revels in scenes of vibrant song-and-dance. In the background, larger political and social battles unfold as Lucía’s family confronts racism, debt and increasing pressures to rent their land to corporations. But “Mezquite’s Heart” never tips into ethnography or issue filmmaking: Buoyed by Buitimea’s childlike wonder, and the Yoreme folklore her character so cherishes, the film unfolds as part-portrait, part-parable.
Adapted from Leïla Slimani’s best-selling French novel “Chanson Douce,” Lucie Borleteau’s thriller tells the true-crime story of a psychotic nanny with a beguiling blend of pathos and puzzlement. Louise (Karin Viard), the buttoned-up, middle-aged child-minder at the center of the film, is no Mary Poppins, even if at first she seems like a vision of domestic perfection, sent from the heavens to solve the marital problems of the bougie Parisian couple Myriam (Leïla Bekhti) and Paul (Antoine Reinartz).
If you don’t know Slimani’s book or the events that inspired it, “The Perfect Nanny” will keep you on a tightrope, refusing to give away its secrets until the very end. As the film goes on, Louise’s behavior turns odder and odder, but in subtle, inexplicable ways. Is it creepy that she arrives before dawn — and sips coffee alone in the dark kitchen — or is she just industrious? Is there something slightly maniacal about her neatness? Are her convoluted mind games with the children just weird or signs of something worse? Viard maintains the suspense with a superbly sinister performance, her piercing blue eyes conveying joy, sorrow and danger all at once, lending depth and realism to the film even when it takes some less-than-plausible turns.
Adapted from Scholastique Mukasonga’s semi-autobiographical novel, “Our Lady of the Nile” zeros in on the wave of anti-Tutsi violence that swept through Rwandan schools, universities and churches in 1973, laying the groundwork for the bloody genocide that would rend the country a little over two decades later. The director Atiq Rahimi distills the complexities of that conflict into a lucid yet nuanced melodrama, told with gravity and panache.
The action unfolds at an elite girls’ boarding school run by Catholic missionaries, which becomes a microcosm for the tensions festering in the outside world of adults. Among the institution’s 10 percent quota of Tutsi students are Virginia and Veronica, who are resented by their Hutu classmate Gloriosa, the daughter of a minister. Opening the film with scenes of the girls’ mischiefs, confidences and petty rivalries, and then tracing the corrosive impact of racial animosities, Rahimi unspools a tragic tale of curdled innocence. Ethnic hatred emerges in the film amid a nexus of factors, not least of which is the colonial and patriarchal influence of the cowardly missionaries and a coffee plantation owner, Mr. Fontenaille, who exoticizes the Tutsi girls. As much a document of a past tragedy as a cautionary tale for our present, the film warns of the slippery slope between political opportunism and irreversible violence, whose brunt is often borne by the blameless.
‘Kuthiraivaal’Stream it on Netflix.Trying to summarize or
PLEASE NOTE: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter’s awards columnist Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and strategists, analysis of marketing and campaigns, results of awards that precede the Emmys and the history of the Emmys itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.
*BEST DRAMA SERIES*
Frontrunners
Succession (HBO)
Squid Game (Netflix)
Better Call Saul (AMC)
Ozark (Netflix)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Yellowstone (Paramount)
This Is Us (NBC)
Severance (Apple)
Major Threats
Winning Time (HBO)
Euphoria (HBO)
Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Bridgerton (Netflix)
The Morning Show (Apple)
Pachinko (Apple)
Tokyo Vice (HBO Max)
Killing Eve (BBC America)
Possibilities
Loki (Disney+)
The Gilded Age (HBO)
Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount+)
Evil (CBS)
The Good Fight (Paramount+)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (Showtime)
Law and Order (NBC)
As We See It (Amazon)
*BEST COMEDY SERIES*
Frontrunners
Ted Lasso (Apple)
Hacks (HBO Max)
Barry (HBO)
Atlanta (FX)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
Major Threats
The Great (Hulu)
Reservation Dogs (FX)
The Flight Attendant (HBO Max)
Russian Doll (Netflix)
The Afterparty (Apple)
Emily in Paris (Netflix)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Insecure (HBO)
Pen15 (Hulu)
Better Things (FX)
Schmigadoon (Apple)
Possibilities
The Chair (Netflix)
And Just Like That (HBO Max)
Peacemaker (HBO Max)
Minx (HBO Max)
Julia (HBO Max)
The Other Two (HBO Max)
Black-ish (ABC)
Grace and Frankie (Netflix)
Dave (FXX)
Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max)
Ghosts (CBS)
*BEST LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES*
Frontrunners
The Staircase (HBO Max)
The White Lotus (HBO)
Dopesick (Hulu)
The Dropout (Hulu)
Maid (Netflix)
Major Threats
Inventing Anna (Netflix)
1883 (Paramount+)
Under the Banner of Heaven (FX on Hulu)
Gaslit (Starz)
We Own This City (HBO)
Station Eleven (HBO Max)
Scenes from a Marriage (HBO)
Pam and Tommy (Hulu)
A Very British Scandal (Amazon)
The Girl from Plainville (Hulu)
Moon Knight (Disney+)
Possibilities
WeCrashed (Apple)
The Offer (Paramount+)
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (Apple)
The Pursuit of Love (Amazon)
Impeachment: American Crime Story (FX)
Candy (Hulu)
Midnight Mass (Netflix)
The Essex Serpent (Apple)
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (BritBox)
The Hot Zone: Anthrax (Nat Geo)
Time (BritBox)
*BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES*
Frontrunners
Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game) — podcast
Jeremy Strong (Succession) — podcast
Brian Cox (Succession) — podcast
Jason Bateman (Ozark) — podcast
Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) — podcast
Kevin Costner (Yellowstone)
Major Threats
Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) — podcast
Adam Scott (Severance)
John C. Reilly (Winning Time)
Quincy Isaiah (Winning Time)
Lee Min-Ho (Pachinko)
Gary Oldman (Slow Horses) — podcast
Josh Brolin (Outer Range)
Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us) — podcast
Justin Hartley (This Is Us)
Possibilities
Jeremy Renner (Mayor of Kingstown)
Ansel Elgort (Tokyo Vice)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Man Who Fell to Earth)
Sam Heughan (Outlander)
Tom Hiddleston (Loki) — podcast
Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton)
Morgan Spector (The Gilded Age)
Jamie Dornan (The Tourist) — podcast
Sam Waterston (Law & Order) — podcast
J.K. Simmons (Night Sky)
*BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES*
Frontrunners
Zendaya (Euphoria) — podcast
Mandy Moore (This Is Us) — podcast
Laura Linney (Ozark)
Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone)
Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets)
Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) — podcast
Major Threats
Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) — podcast
Britt Lower (Severance)
Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age)
Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show)
Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show)
Elisabeth Moss (Shining Girls) — podcast
Christine Baranski (The Good Fight)
Juliette Lewis (Yellowjackets)
Simone Ashley (Bridgerton)
Possibilities
Minha Kim (Pachinko)
Nicole Kidman (Nine Perfect Strangers) — podcast
Caitriona Balfe (Outlander) — podcast
Katja Herbers (Evil)
Kristin Scott Thomas (Slow Horses)
Rosamund Pike (The Wheels of Time) — podcast
Imogen Poots (Outer Range)
Elodie Yung (The Cleaning Lady)
Sissy Spacek (Night Sky)
*BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES*
Frontrunners
Kieran Culkin (Succession)
Matthew Macfadyen (Succession)
Nicholas Braun (Succession)
Alan Ruck (Succession)
Oh Young-soo (Squid Game)
Park Hae-soo (Squid Game) — podcast
John Turturro (Severance) — podcast
Christopher Walken (Severance)
Major Threats
Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul)
Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul) — podcast
David Harbour (Stranger Things)
Adrien Brody (Winning Time)
Chris Sullivan (This Is Us)
Cole Hauser (Yellowstone)
Luke Grimes (Yellowstone)
Wes Bentley (Yellowstone)
Gil Birmingham (Yellowstone)
Eric Dane (Euphoria)
Possibilities
Jacob Elordi (Euphoria)
Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
Mark Duplass (The Morning Show)
Steve Carell (The Morning Show) — podcast
Ken Watanabe (Tokyo Vice)
Owen Wilson (Loki)
Mandy Patinkin (The Good Fight)
Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses) — podcast
Rupert Grint (Servant)
Bill Nighy (The Man Who Fell to Earth)
*BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES*
Frontrunners
Jung Ho-yeon (Squid Game) — podcast
Sarah Snook (Succession)
Julia Garner (Ozark) — podcast
J. Cameron Smith (Succession)
Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets)
Patricia Arquette (Severance)
Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria)
Maude Apatow (Euphoria)
Major Threats
Hunter Schafer (Euphoria)
Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul) — podcast
Sadie Sink (Stranger Things)
Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things)
Kelsey Asbille (Yellowstone)
Julianna Margulies (The Morning Show)
Kim Joo-ryung (Squid Game)
Lisa Emery (Ozark)
Chrissy Metz (This Is Us)
Susan Kelechi Watson (This Is Us)
Yuh-Jung Youn (Pachinko)
Possibilities
Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton)
Winona Ryder (Stranger Things)
Sally Field (Winning Time) — podcast
Melissa McCarthy (Nine Perfect Strangers) — podcast
Regina Hall (Nine Perfect Strangers)
Christine Baranski (The Gilded Age)
Denée Benton (The Gilded Age)
Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve)
Sophia Di Martino (Loki)
Audra McDonald (The Good Fight)
*BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES*
Frontrunners
Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso)
Bill Hader (Barry)
Donald Glover (Atlanta)
Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building)
Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)
Nicholas Hoult (The Great)
Anthony Anderson (Black-ish)
Ricky Gervais (After Life) — podcast
Major Threats
Don Cheadle (Black Monday)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Jake Johnson (Minx)
Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows)
Kayvan Novak (What We Do in the Shadows)
Sam Richardson (The Afterparty)
Drew Tarver (The Other Two)
Possibilities
Dave Burd (Dave)
Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye)
John Cena (Peacemaker)
Rhys Darby (Our Flag Means Death)
Keegan-Michael Key (Schmigadoon)
Mike Myers (The Pentaverate) — podcast
Ralph Macchio (Cobra Kai)
William Zabka (Cobra Kai)
*BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES*
Frontrunners
Jean Smart (Hacks)
Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) — podcast
Kaley Cuoco (The Flight Attendant)
Issa Rae (Insecure)
Elle Fanning (The Great) — podcast
Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building)
Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll)
Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary)
Major Threats
Sandra Oh (The Chair) — podcast
Sarah Lancashire (Julia)
Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie) — podcast
Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie) — podcast
Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish) — podcast
Pamela Adlon (Better Things)
Tiffany Haddish (The Afterparty)
Robin Thede (A Black Lady Sketch Show) — podcast
Natasia Demetriou (What We Do in the Shadows)
Possibilities
Rose Byrne (Physical)
Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That)
Maya Erskine (Pen15)
Anna Konkle (Pen15)
Lily Collins (Emily in Paris) — podcast
Hailee Steinfeld (Dickinson) — podcast
Hailee Steinfeld (Hawkeye) — podcast
Cecily Strong (Schmigdaoon)
Amy Schumer (Life and Beth) — podcast
Courteney Cox (Shining Vale) — podcast
*BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES*
Frontrunners
Henry Winkler (Barry) — podcast
Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso)
Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) — podcast
Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live)
Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live) — podcast
Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta)
Anthony Carrigan (Barry)
Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Major Threats
Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso)
Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso)
Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso)
Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso)
LaKeith Stanfield (Atlanta)
Harvey Guillen (What We Do in the Shadows)
David Hyde Pierce (Julia)
Ben Schwartz (The Afterparty)
Ike Barinholtz (The Afterparty)
Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Hacks)
Stephen Root (Barry)
Possibilities
Vincent D’Onofrio (Hawkeye)
Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll)
Taika Waititi (Our Flag Means Death)
Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
Jay Duplass (The Chair)
Michael Zegen (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Pete Davidson (Saturday Night Live)
Lucas Bravo (Emily in Paris)
Lucien Laviscount (Emily in Paris)
Brandon Scott Jones (Ghosts)
*BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES*
Frontrunners
Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso)
Juno Temple (Ted Lasso)
Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) — podcast
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks)
Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)
Yvonne Orji (Insecure)
Sarah Goldberg (Barry)
Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live)
Major Threats
Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live) — podcast
Marin Hinkle (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary)
Janelle James (Abbott Elementary)
Lisa Ann Walter (Abbott Elementary)
Zazie Beetz (Atlanta)
Amy Ryan (Only Murders in the Building)
Rosie Perez (The Flight Attendant)
Jane Lynch (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Molly Shannon (The Other Two)
Zoe Chao (The Afterparty)
Ilana Glazer (The Afterparty)
Phoebe Fox (The Great)
Possibilities
Meg Stalter (Hacks)
Holland Taylor (The Chair)
Florence Pugh (Hawkeye) — podcast
Vera Farmiga (Hawkeye)
Cynthia Nixon (And Just Like That)
Kristin Davis (And Just Like That)
Kristin Chenoweth (Schmigadoon)
Ariana DeBose (Schmigadoon)
Chloe Sevigny (Russian Doll)
Annie Murphy (Russian Doll)
Ashley Park (Emily in Paris)
Zosia Mamet (The Flight Attendant)
*BEST ACTOR IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR TV MOVIE*
Frontrunners
Michael Keaton (Dopesick) — podcast
Colin Firth (The Staircase)
Andrew Garfield (Under the Banner of Heaven) — podcast
Sebastian Stan (Pam and Tommy)
Oscar Isaac (Scenes from a Marriage) — podcast
Major Threats
Sam Elliott (1883) — podcast
Sean Penn (Gaslit)
Ben Foster (The Survivor)
Samuel L. Jackson (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey) — podcast
Paul Bettany (A Very British Scandal)
Jon Bernthal (We Own This City)
Himesh Patel (Station Eleven)
Jared Leto (WeCrashed) — podcast
Miles Teller (The Offer) — podcast
Tom Hiddleston (The Essex Serpent) — podcast
Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight) — podcast
Possibilities
David Thewlis (Landscapers)
Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan: The Movie)
William Jackson Harper (Love Life)
Joshua Jackson (Dr. Death)
Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass)
Ben Whishaw (This Is Going to Hurt)
Will Poulter (Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?)
Stephen Graham (Help)
Finn Wittwrock (American Horror Story: Double Feature)
Sean Bean (Time)
*BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR TV MOVIE*
Frontrunners
Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout) — podcast
Margaret Qualley (Maid) — podcast
Julia Garner (Inventing Anna) — podcast
Julia Roberts (Gaslit) — podcast
Jessica Chastain (Scenes from a Marriage) — podcast
Major Threats
Isabel May (1883) — podcast
Claire Foy (A Very British Scandal) — podcast
Lily James (Pam and Tommy) — podcast
Elle Fanning (The Girl from Plainville) — podcast
Mackenzie Davis (Station Eleven)
Wunmi Mosaku (We Own This City)
Olivia Colman (Landscapers) — podcast
Anne Hathaway (WeCrashed)
Jenna Ortega (The Fallout)
Jessica Biel (Candy) — podcast
Emmy Rossum (Angelyne)
Possibilities
Lily James (The Pursuit of Love) — podcast
Jodie Comer (Help) — podcast
Claire Danes (The Essex Serpent) — podcast
Kate Siegel (Midnight Mass)
Renee Zellweger (The Thing About Pam) — podcast
Beanie Feldstein (Impeachment: American Crime Story)
Sarah Paulson (Impeachment: American Crime Story) — podcast
Adrienne Warren (Women of the Movement)
Lucy Boynton (Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?)
*BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR TV MOVIE*
Frontrunners
Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus)
Peter Sarsgaard (Dopesick)
Michael Stuhlbarg (Dopesick)
Will Poulter (Dopesick)
Naveen Andrews (The Dropout)
Tim McGraw (1883)
Major Threats
Jake Lacy (The White Lotus)
Matthew Goode (The Offer)
Seth Rogen (Pam and Tommy) — podcast
Nick Robinson (Maid)
Wyatt Russell (Under the Banner of Heaven)
Arian Moayed (Inventing Anna)
Anders Holm (Inventing Anna)
Dan Stevens (Gaslit)
Shea Whigham (Gaslit)
Michael Stuhlbarg (The Staircase)
Colton Ryan (The Girl from Plainville)
Possibilities
Sam Waterston (The Dropout) — podcast
William H. Macy (The Dropout)
Christian Slater (Dr. Death)
Kelsey Grammer (Dr. Death)
Ethan Hawke (Moon Knight) — podcast
Glynn Turman (Women of the Movement)
O-T Fagbenle (WeCrashed)
Kyle Marvin (WeCrashed)
Zach Gilford (Midnight Mass)
Dan Fogler (The Offer)
*BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR TV MOVIE*
Frontrunners
Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus)
Andie MacDowell (Maid)
Kaitlyn Dever (Dopesick) — podcast
Connie Britton (The White Lotus)
Toni Collette (The Staircase)
Alexandra Daddario (The White Lotus)
Major Threats
Daisy Edgar-Jones (Under the Banner of Heaven)
Faith Hill (1883)
Betty Gilpin (Gaslit)
Anika Noni Rose (Maid)
Sydney Sweeney (The White Lotus)
Laurie Metcalf (The Dropout)
Rosario Dawson (Dopesick)
Phillipa Soo (Dopesick)
Anna Chlumsky (Inventing Anna)
Dominique Fishback (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey)
Chloe Sevigny (The Girl from Plainville)
Juno Temple (The Offer)
Vicky Krieps (The Survivor)
Matilda Lawler (Station Eleven)
Possibilities
May Calamawy (Moon Knight)
Alexis Floyd (Inventing Anna)
Laverne Cox (Inventing Anna)
Katie Lowes (Inventing Anna)
Taylor Schilling (Pam and Tommy)
Melanie Lynskey (Candy)
America Ferrera (WeCrashed)
AnnaSophia Robb (Dr. Death)
Grace Gummer (Dr. Death)
Edie Falco (Impeachment: American Crime Story)
Margo Martindale (Impeachment: American Crime Story)
*BEST DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SERIES*
Frontrunners
The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)
jeen-yuhs (Netflix)
We Need to Talk About Cosby (Showtime)
The Andy Warhol Diaries (Netflix)
The New York Times Presents: Controlling Britney Spears (FX)
Major Threats
Music Box (HBO)
Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes (HBO)
Not So Pretty (HBO Max)
Welcome to Earth (Nat Geo)
They Call Me Magic (Apple)
McCartney 3, 2, 1 (Hulu)
Our Great National Parks (Netflix)
Prehistoric Planet (Apple)
Possibilities
The Big Conn (Apple)
Sketchbook (Disney+)
NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021 1/2 (HBO)
The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin (HBO Max)
The Invisible Pilot (HBO)
100 Foot Wave (HBO)
*BEST DOCUMENTARY OR NONFICTION SPECIAL*
Frontrunners
Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (CNN)
United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell (CNN)
Vice (Showtime)
Lucy and Desi (Amazon)
Phoenix Rising (HBO)
Major Threats
We Feed People (Nat Geo) — podcast (José Andrés)
Downfall (Netflix)
The Tinder Swindler (Netflix)
Wolfgang (Disney+)
Insecure: The End (HBO)
Sheryl (Showtime)
What Happened, Brittany Murphy? (HBO Max)
Nuclear Family (HBO)
A Man Named Scott (Amazon)
Possibilities
Gaming Wall St. (HBO Max)
Polar Bear (Disney+)
14 Peaks (Netflix)
Murdered and Missing in Montana (HBO)
The Super Bob Einstein Film (HBO)
Beanie Mania (HBO Max)
9/11: Inside the President’s War Room (Apple)
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off (HBO)
Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U (Disney+)
Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles (Disney+)
PLEASE NOTE: This forecast, assembled by The
The day after Johnny Depp‘s high-profile defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard ended, guitarist Jeff Beck revealed the release date for an album he created with the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.
“I met this guy five years ago and we’ve never stopped laughing since,” Beck told a UK audience in Gateshead Thursday night. “We actually made an album. I don’t know how it happened. It will be out in July.” While Depp didn’t mention anything about the verdict, which granted him over $10 million in damages. Beck said, “what a result.”
While jury deliberations were underway in Fairfax, Virginia over the weekend, Depp surprised UK audiences when he joined Beck onstage for covers of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On.”
Along with the announcement, Beck and Depp released one track from the sessions: a 2020 cover of John Lennon’s “Isolation.” “Lennon’s prophetic words are pure poetry,” Depp said during the COVID-19 lockdowns. “The profundity of his lyrics seemed to Jeff and me especially fitting for what’s happening right now.”
The day after Johnny Depp‘s high-profile defamation
June 2, 2022 · 12:01 PM
Coming to PBS’s American Masters tomorrow, Friday, June 3:
JOE PAPP IN FIVE ACTS
Director:
Tracie Holder, Karen Thorsen
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2012
Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Rio, Brisbane, Ashland, San Francisco Jewish, Havana
About:
A portrait of the founder of The Public Theater, who believed in the democratization of theatre for all, spearheading free performances of Shakespeare in the Park and producing groundbreaking plays in his legendary NYC venue.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
June 2, 2022 · 12:01 PM Coming to
China has effectively banned the city’s annual vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre.
China has effectively banned the city's annual
Leighton Meester joined Project Zero and Rothy’s to celebrate World Oceans Day on Malibu Pier.
Leighton Meester joined Project Zero and Rothy's
For more than a decade, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg began and ended each week by meeting together.
The symbolism of the ritual was clear. It was intended to signal that Mr. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, and Ms. Sandberg, the chief operating officer, were in lock step with each other at the top of the company.
But when Ms. Sandberg, 52, said on Wednesday that she would step down from Meta this fall, she crystallized an unspoken change at the tech giant: Mr. Zuckerberg no longer has any clear No. 2.
While Mr. Zuckerberg named Javier Olivan, a longtime executive, to take over Ms. Sandberg’s job when she departs, the importance of the chief operating officer role has diminished at Meta, which was formerly known as Facebook. Mr. Zuckerberg, 38, instead has four executives who have equally large
responsibilities and who answer to and run major decisions by him.
Mr. Zuckerberg made the structural shift because he wanted to consolidate his control over all arms of the company, three people close to him said. While Mr. Zuckerberg has always been the undisputed boss, with a majority of the company’s voting shares, he shared power with Ms. Sandberg when he was a younger businessman and needed help expanding the company. But with more than 18 years of experience under his belt, he wants to exercise all of his power and be identified more clearly as Meta’s sole leader, the people said.
The four top lieutenants are Andrew Bosworth, the chief technology officer; Nick Clegg, the president of global affairs; Chris Cox, the chief product officer; and Mr. Olivan, who was the head of growth, Mr. Zuckerberg said in a Facebook message about Ms. Sandberg’s exit on Wednesday.
Each of the four men has major responsibilities. Mr. Clegg is the public face and ambassador for Meta, while Mr. Bosworth is pushing the company into the immersive world of the so-called metaverse. Mr. Cox oversees Meta’s family of apps — Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook — and Mr. Olivan will be in charge of analytics, infrastructure and growth.
But none of them have as much power as Ms. Sandberg used to, when she effectively ran all of the business operations while Mr. Zuckerberg focused on developing Facebook’s products.
Mr. Zuckerberg alluded to the power shift on Wednesday in his Facebook post. He said he didn’t “plan to replace Sheryl’s role in our existing structure,” adding that Meta “has reached the point where it makes sense for our product and business groups to be more closely integrated, rather than having all the business and operations functions organized separately from our products.”
R.A. Farrokhnia, a professor at Columbia’s Business and Engineering Schools, said the shift in management structure made sense as Meta invested in the metaverse and moved away from the social networking model that Ms. Sandberg built an advertising business for and championed for years.
“Moving in this direction requires a more decentralized — and more traditional — governance structure,” Mr. Farrokhnia said. “You have multiple people coming together where the sum of the parts becomes much larger.”
A spokesman for Meta declined to comment and declined to provide interviews with executives.
For years, Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg had clear-cut responsibilities, which employees often referred to as the “Sandberg side” and “Mark side.” Ms. Sandberg ran the business, policy and legal teams with a lot of autonomy, while Mr. Zuckerberg was responsible for the engineering and product teams.
That began changing in 2020 after Facebook dealt with scandals involving privacy, misinformation and other toxic content on the platform. Mr. Zuckerberg told his teams that he was done apologizing and wanted to focus more time and attention on innovative products that the company was designing.
Since then, Mr. Zuckerberg has assumed more control over public messaging and policy decisions, which Ms. Sandberg used to handle. He also brought in hires with public policy expertise and promoted longtime executives who were loyal to his vision.
Three executives he promoted were Mr. Bosworth and Mr. Cox, who have been at the company for 16 years, and Mr. Olivan, who joined nearly 15 years ago. They were among Mr. Zuckerberg’s earliest recruits, and were instrumental in building the earliest versions of Facebook.
Mr. Olivan, 44, who is known internally as Javi, joined Facebook as head of international growth and rose steadily through the ranks. He is not a household name but oversaw Facebook’s rapid expansion and was closely involved with maintaining the company’s technical infrastructure.
Mr. Bosworth, 40, is seen as an enthusiastic and sometimes brash cheerleader for Mr. Zuckerberg’s vision. In January, he was promoted to be the next chief technology officer. He oversees the virtual and augmented reality labs, which make products like the Quest virtual reality headsets that are at the heart of Mr. Zuckerberg’s push for the metaverse. He and Mr. Zuckerberg are also close friends who vacation together.
Mr. Cox, 39, who became chief product officer in 2005, has often been described by employees as the heart of the company. He left Facebook in March 2019 but returned in June 2020, prompting speculation that Mr. Zuckerberg may have been signaling him as a successor.
During Mr. Cox’s absence, some of his teams were reassigned to report directly to Mr. Zuckerberg or other executives, said two senior Meta employees who have worked with Mr. Cox since his return. They said he had not assumed the type of expansive role he once had with thousands of engineers reporting to him.
Mr. Clegg, 55, joined the company in 2018 after a career in British politics, including a stint as deputy prime minister. Ms. Sandberg hired him to take over handling Facebook’s thorny political issues globally, a task that was once hers. Over time, he has become a kind of de facto head of state for the company, dealing with world governments and advocating for Meta at a regulatory level. In February, he was promoted to president of global affairs, reporting to Mr. Zuckerberg.
At Meta, insiders have long speculated over who a potential successor to Mr. Zuckerberg would be, should he ever leave. Ms. Sandberg’s impending departure has now shortened that list and left no clear answers.
“Over the years, few folks other than Sheryl have emerged as a potential successor to Mark,” said Katie Harbath, a director of public policy at Meta who left the company last year. “It makes sense for Mark to want options for possible successors.”
She added: “It can be risky to only focus on one person.”
For more than a decade, Mark Zuckerberg
Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area, a spinoff of Netflix’s wildly successful Spanish series Money Heist (La Casa de Papel), dropped its official trailer Thursday ahead of its June 24 premiere date.
The original crime drama, created by Alex Pina, went five seasons and centered on a series of heists conducted by an unusual group of robbers. Pina is executive producing the Korean version, which is set against the backdrop of the reunification of North and South Korea and revolves around The Professor (Yoo Ji-tae) who approaches Tokyo (Jun Jong-seo) with a plan to steal 4 trillion won from the Korea Unified Mint. He assembled a top-class group of thieves to pull it off, but chaos ensues as hostages are taken and a joint task force led by South Korean negotiation specialist Seon Woojin (Kim Yunjin) and former North Korean special agent Cha Moohyuk (Kim Seung-o) is formed to stop them.
Kim Hong-sun directs the series, which was first announced in November 2020, is written by Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae and Choe Sung-jun.
Park Hae-Soo, one of the stars of Netflix’s Squid Game, plays Berlin in the series. Squid Game, also Korean language, is Netflix’s most-watched series ever; the final three seasons of Money Heist occupy the three of the top five spots on that list.
The series hails from BH Entertainment and Zium Content.
This is not the only Money Heist project in the works at Netflix. The streamer in November ordered a spinoff of the original Spanish series centered on the popular character Berlin, otherwise known as Andrés de Fonollosa and played by Pedro Alonso. That show is set to launch in 2023.
Check out the Money Heist: Korea trailer above.
Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area,
Many of us were fooled into thinking that Young Eleven on Stranger Things season 4 was CGI. After all, the resemblance was uncanny. It was impossible to attain such accuracy without some CGI but well the Duffer brothers did. They cast a young girl, Martie Blair. And what could stop them from doing that again? It was unwise of us to think that they used CGI for the monster when they mentioned time and again how they loved practical effects and prosthetics. And now it’s revealed that the terrifying humanoid, Vecna isn’t made using CGI at all. It was all Jamir Campbell Bower who portrayed Vecna as well as his human form!
VECNA WASNT CGI?? pic.twitter.com/qLS6EXHNC3
— ming (@earringhoarder) June 2, 2022
How did they create Vecna?
The Duffer brothers loved the work of Barrie Gower for Game of Thrones. He is the mastermind behind the Night King and so they enlisted him. But creating Vecna was more challenging than Night King.
“We’ve been running our company for about 10 years now and we’ve done some quite extensive makeup, but I think that Vecna is definitely the most extensive sized prosthetic makeup we’ve ever done before,” said Bower.
They had to create a full-body cast of Bower and submerge it into a pool, to separate the prosthetics into different parts. Since Bower was going to move around in that suit they didn’t cover the armpits. That offered him more freedom to move around. They added an undercarriage, left his left hand free, and kept his facial prosthetics thin to allow movement. The entire getup would take Bower around 7 hours a day!
ALSO READ: Young Eleven in Stranger Things 4 Is NOT Millie Bobby Brown, but Someone She Directed
Did the Duffer Brothers not use any CGI at all for Vecna in Stranger Things?
They used very minimal CGI. Most of it was practical effects much like how they used to do it in the past. Except for the movements of the vines – it was CGI. Interestingly, even Vecna’s terrifying voice was all Bower himself. Additionally, the Hellscapes where Vecna takes his victims was a mix of both practical effects and CGI.
He had CG on him, but by and large, that was ALL makeup.
Also, the hellscape Max finds herself in was a lil bit CG, a lil bit practical. https://t.co/x23TPAhO55
— THERE’S ~~NO~~SOLUTION~~ (@MokesnotGrey) June 3, 2022
Stranger Things Volume 2 drops on July 1.
The post What Off-Screen Relationship Does Vecna Share With Young Eleven in Stranger Things 4? appeared first on Netflix Junkie.
Many of us were fooled
He was soon promoted to agent, with a salary of $38 a week, before eventually moving to the company’s Los Angeles office, where he specialized in packaging mid-1960s TV series like “Gomer Pyle — USMC” and “That Girl” with the actors, writer and directors represented by William Morris.
But Mr. Shapiro disliked being responsible for so many clients, and so in 1973 he started his own management firm to focus on a few preferred ones. Mr. West, with whom he had worked at William Morris, soon joined him, and they ran Shapiro/West & Associates until Mr. West’s death in 2015.
To push for a sitcom for Mr. Seinfeld, Mr. Shapiro sent numerous letters to Brandon Tartikoff, the president of NBC Entertainment. The nudging eventually led to a meeting with Mr. Tartikoff and other network executives at which Mr. Seinfeld laid down a firm rule.
“Jerry made one thing clear,” Mr. Shapiro told the Television Academy. “He said, ‘I’m not going to play a shoe salesman or an accountant or a father with a job.’ And he came up with the premise of the series, that he would play himself.”
In recent years, Mr. Shapiro produced “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast” (2017), a documentary in which Mr. Reiner talked to nonagenarians like Betty White and Dick Van Dyke, and “The Super Bob Einstein Movie” (2021), about the comic actor and writer known for his ongoing television portrayal of Super Dave Osborne, a hapless parody of a daredevil.
Mr. Shapiro is survived by his former wife, Melody (Sherr) Shapiro, from whom he was divorced; his daughters, Carrie Shapiro Fuentes and Stefanie Shapiro; a son, Danny; five grandchildren; and his brother. His marriage to Diane Barnett ended with her death in 2005.
Mr. Reiner’s son Rob Reiner, the actor and director, said Mr. Shapiro had been a nurturer, professionally and personally.
“He loved my dad, he looked up to him — he was like a father to him,” said Mr. Reiner, whose company, Castle Rock Entertainment, produced “Seinfeld.” “George loved being around my dad, and when he started getting older, he’d come over to the house and walk him around the block. That’s the thing you need to know about George: He took care of everybody.”
He was soon promoted to agent, with
With no major wide releases this weekend, Paramount/Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick” is continuing to dominate the box office with a $25 million grossed on its second Friday in theaters for an incredible estimated $84.5 million second weekend total.
Not only is that just a 33% drop from the Tom Cruise film’s $126.7 million 3-day opening, but it is also higher than the opening weekend of every other film in Cruise’s career, including every “Mission: Impossible” film. With this result, “Top Gun: Maverick” will see its domestic total soar to $290 million by the end of the weekend, already making it the top domestic grosser of Cruise’s career before inflation adjustment.
Fueled by overwhelmingly strong word-of-mouth nationwide, “Top Gun: Maverick” set a new Memorial Day weekend record with its $160.5 million 4-day opening. The film is now showing the same pace as Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” meaning that a $400 million-plus domestic run is now within reach depending on how this sequel performs against upcoming June blockbusters like Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion” and Disney/Pixar’s”Lightyear.”
Overseas, “Jurassic World: Dominion” has begun its international rollout in 15 markets including Korea, Mexico, Brazil and Italy. The capper of the “Jurassic World” trilogy earned $25.9 million on Friday and is set to earn around $50 million this weekend, in line with the two previous “Jurassic” films in like-for-like markets. With a release date in China and serving as a follow-up to two summer blockbusters that grossed over $1 billion worldwide, “Dominion” is expected to have a strong chance at joining “Spider-Man: No Way Home” as only the second film of the COVID era to hit that billion-dollar mark.
With no major wide releases this weekend,
Your favorite animated BFFs, Beavis and Butt-Head, are back to take viewers on a mind-bending journey across time and space in Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe. The film debuts on Paramount+ on June 23.
Creator Mike Judge executive produces the movie, which features the voice talents of Gary Cole, Chris Diamantopoulos, Nat Faxon, Brian Huskey, Chi McBride, Tig Notaro, Stephen Root, Andrea Savage, Martin Starr and Jimmy O. Yang.
The film marks more than a decade since Beavis and Butt-Head’s last on-screen appearance. In the movie, the two troublemakers are asked to join a space shuttle mission in a PR stunt, and things go horribly wrong. Unfortunately, the pair go through a black hole and re-emerge back on Earth in 2022. As a result, they are soon considered persons of interest by the NSA, the governor of Texas and a highly intelligent version of themselves from a parallel universe.
“Beavis and Butt-Head were defining voices of a generation, and to this day, the show is one of the most well-known and beloved animated IPs of all time,” said Chris McCarthy, president/CEO, Paramount Media Networks and MTV Entertainment Studios, in a statement. “Mike Judge has reimagined this dynamic duo in a way that is sure to have both old fans and new ones alike laughing out loud – and we couldn’t be more excited to bring them back into our rapidly expanding arsenal of hit adult animation.”
Paramount+ will also feature a library of over 200 remastered Beavis and Butt-Head episodes to stream exclusively on the platform.
Your favorite animated BFFs, Beavis and Butt-Head,
