Note: This interview was conducted before the actors’ strike began
“Justified” star Timothy Olyphant’s 20-year-old daughter Vivian makes her acting debut in the series revival “Justified: City Primeval,” which premieres Tuesday on FX and hits Hulu on Wednesday.
She plays Raylan Givens’ daughter Willa, who is stuck in Detroit with her father after a judge is murdered. Vivian talked to TheWrap about acting with her dad, why she never watched the original series and why she doesn’t let the “Nepo baby” discourse get to her.
TheWrap: Did you watch the original “Justified” series?
Vivian Olyphant: I never did, but I did visit the set. But, I was eight when the show ended. And by the time I was allowed to watch the show, I think that was a time where I stopped caring about my dad.
“Justified: City Primeval” producer Sarah Timberman, Timothy Olyphant, Vivian Olyphant, Adelaide Clemens and Boyd Holbrook attend the opening night of the 2023 ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. (Hubert Vestil/Getty Images)
And now you care again. Was this role written specifically for you or did you audition for it?
It may seem that way when you watch me, but it wasn’t written for me. I actually auditioned for it. Pretty late I think in the process.
Since Willa is 15, she’s still at the stage of not caring about her dad. And not listening to what he tells her.
Yeah, definitely.
And she’s also trying to play matchmaker for him.
Yeah, definitely, I think after being in the courthouse and watching Aunjanue Ellis’ character, I think that that’s when [Will realizes] that she would be really good for my dad.
Does Willa know what’s better for him than he does? Oh, yeah, definitely.
Can you talk about working with your dad? It was great. I learned a lot from him and I’m glad that this was my first project being on the set with him. It felt really comfortable. And he gave me really great notes. Sometimes it was a little annoying [laughs]. I really did love his notes. I think he was really helpful when on set. It was really fun.
What was one of the notes he gave you?
The first day he really helped calming my nerves because the first scene that we filmed was a walking scene where I was putting this watch up to my ear. I remember after the first take, my dad came over to me and asked, “What does the watch sound like?” I had no idea. He said, “You have to listen to what the ticking sounds like.” So for the next take I actually listened to the sound of the watch.
What did your dad say when you first told him you wanted to be an actress?
I think he always knew I wanted to be an actor since I was younger, because I always loved filming things around the house. I think by the time “Justified” came around he was ready for me to join him.
I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Nepo baby.“How do you feel about that term?
Well, honestly, I’m not paying attention to what people are saying. But it’s definitely normal for kids to be interested in whatever their parents are doing. Either a kid really wants to do what their parents are doing or they want to do the opposite. And watching my dad and visiting his sets, I just knew that this was something I really wanted to do.
Ridley Scott allegedly has his actors interacting with live animals on the set of “Gladiator 2” — something PETA has become aware of, and which it’s urging the production to halt.
The animal rights org fired off a handful of letters over the past few days — all obtained by TMZ — and they’re aimed at the director and his big-ticket cast … Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal and others.
In the correspondence to Ridley, PETA says it’s received whistleblower complaints alleging he’s using both horses and macaque monkeys on set while shooting in Malta … including a claim at least one of the horses recently collapsed. PETA is presuming the alleged collapse is due to extreme temperatures on the Mediterranean island.
It says, “Scorching summer heat and oppressive costumes are a dangerous mix for horses, who are naturally skittish animals, prone to flight and injury, and vulnerable to the stresses of a film set. The film and TV industries have a past riddled with on-set horse injuries and even deaths. We sincerely hope Gladiator 2 avoids adding another death to that list.”
PETA also lists the dangers of working with live macaques, saying they’re unpredictable and can hurt humans. They also say these monkeys are often ripped from their mothers at a young age for these types of film settings … calling their alleged use unethical.
Despite the SAG-AFTRA strike, PETA says it’s heard rumors “Gladiator 2” is continuing production this week, and asks Ridley to leave live animals out of it completely, suggesting he use CGI animals instead.
We’ve reached out to Ridley, Paramount, and the production company behind ‘G2’ … so far, no word back.
BTW, we’re told a similar letter was fired off to all the actors attached to ‘Gladiator 2.’
In addition to the lead stars … others like Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, Lior Raz, Joseph Quinn, Derek Jacobi, Matt Lucas, Peter Mensah, Mike Parish, and Chi Lewis-Parry were implored by PETA to Ridley and relay the org’s concerns. It’s unclear if any of them received or read the letter.
It is rumoured that her consecutive flops Radhe Shyam, Acharya, Cirkus, Beast, and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, have left her without any new offers.
Pooja Hegde has been facing a rough patch in her career of late, after delivering a series of flops. Despite her involvement in both Tollywood and pan-India projects, none of her movies have turned out to be a hit. Pooja Hegde, who was once regarded as a promising actress, is now facing a challenging phase. It is rumoured that her consecutive flops like Radhe Shyam, Acharya, Cirkus, Beast, and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan have left her without any new offers at hand. Currently, she only has her previously signed projects.
Pooja was a part of several promising films in Bollywood. Towards the end of 2022, she was featured in the movie Cirkus. Directed by Rohit Shetty and featuring Ranveer Singh, the film performed poorly at the box office. Subsequently, she appeared in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ka Jaan alongside Salman Khan, which also resulted in disappointment for her. What’s the way ahead for her?
She is currently doing many films in Telugu, as well as Tamil and Hindi languages. Regardless of the flops, she is paying attention to her fitness and diet, the videos which she keeps sharing on social media often. She reportedly has some good projects in hand, despite the flops.
Pooja Hegde had high hopes for her upcoming Mahesh Babu-Trivikram Srinivas film Guntur Kaaram. She was also excited to collaborate with Trivikram for the third time with this film. Recently, reports came out that suggested Pooja is no longer a part of the film and the makers have replaced her with Sreeleela. It was also reported that Meenakshi Chowdhary too will play the female lead in this film.
After this report, many are of the view that Tollywood is maintaining a distance from Pooja Hegde. This might not be entirely true as there are rumours that she may soon collaborate with Sai Dharam Tej. The details of this film remain under wraps. Earlier, it was said that she is going to appear in Jana Gana Mana with Vijay Deverakonda; but now, this movie has been shelved due to losses incurred from Vijay’s previous film Liger.
To regain her star status in the film industry, she has to at least give one hit. Now, only time will tell whether Pooja Hegde restores her position as a bankable actress.
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In Secret Invasion Episode 4, a book written by Priscilla Fury named Decoding the Superhuman Gene inside Varra and Nick Fury’s home can be seen in the background of Varra’s home.
Disney+
The Superhuman Gene in the book could refer to the X-Gene of the mutants. In Marvel Comics, the X-Gene is what causes mutants to develop superhuman abilities that manifest at puberty.
Disney+
It appears that the book discusses the X-Gene, hinting that the public is now aware of mutants.
In the Ms. Marvel finale, Matt Lintz’s Bruno Carrelli was shocked when he discovered Kamala’s genetic anomaly. This meant that the X-Gene implications were not uncovered then.
Given that Secret Invasion is set in the “present-day MCU,”it’s possible that major facets of the government, including a significant portion of the public, have a general idea that there’s a genetic anomaly amiss.
How This Secret Invasion Reveal Leads to X-Men Reboot
It is unknown why Priscilla Fury decided to write a book about the superhuman gene, considering that she’s secretly a Skrull. It’s possible that Gravik ordered Priscilla to conduct some research about the X-Gene, potentially as their first attempt in their Super Skrulls upgrade/experiment.
There’s a chance that the superhuman gene research didn’t live up to the expectations of Gravik and the Skrulls. As a result, Priscilla could’ve used this book as a way to distract the general public about the X-Gene from the impending Skrull threat.
On the flip side, Priscilla may have created the book so that her research about the gene will be documented and not put to waste.
This book about the superhuman gene could lead to massive ramifications across the MCU, potentially leading to a possible conflict between humans and mutants down the line.
In Marvel Comics, there are several anti-mutant groups, such as the Human Council and the Orchis, and this book could give birth to the live-action iterations of the said organizations.
Moreover, the discovery of the X-Gene could also alert the Avengers, prompting the team to address the next steps like researching if mutants are a threat.
Back in the ’90s, the animated action-adventure series Gargoyles ruled weekday afternoon TV. Produced by Disney for the iconic Disney Afternoon block of shows, for years folks have wondered when the beloved series would get some kind of revival, reboot, or continuation. Well, according to a report in the Belfast Telegraph, director Kenneth Branagh has signed on to bring a Gargoyles movie to the big screen. Branagh has a long relationship with Disney prior to this. He directed the 2015 live-action Cinderella, and before that, the original Thor film in 2011.
Disney has not issued an official statement on the news. However, Nerdist reached out to a Disney spokesperson who shared there is no truth to the claims. Sorry, folks.
Disney
The original Gargoyles cartoon ran for three seasons and 78 episodes, from 1994 to 1997. Not based on any comic or game, but an original concept, Gargoyles was spearheaded by writer Michael Reaves and future Young Justice showrunner Greg Weisman. It centered on a group of 10th century Scottish gargoyles, naturally, who get petrified in stone for 1,000 years. Eventually, they find a home in the New York City skyscrapers, where they finally awaken and become the city’s protectors. Actor Keith David lent his memorable voice to the lead Gargoyle Goliath. Also, many Star Trek cast members, from The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and even Nichelle Nichols lent their voices to the show.
Disney did make other attempts over the years to revive Gargoyles. The show’s original writers once wrote a script adapting the show’s first five episodes. And in the last several years, even Jordan Peele came up with a Gargoyles script. Sadly, one that never got any traction. Whether this Branagh version ends up being true or not, we still would love to have a Gargoyles movie out in the world.
The excitement for EA Sports FC 24 went from zero to 100 real quick. Honestly, you have to ask yourself, how is it possible that a few videos, cutscenes, and some fresh gameplay can make you want a game like you’ve never played one of its titles in the series before?
There’s plenty to unfold from the big premiere that took place on Thursday. However, we’re here for one thing, and one thing only. That is, to find out what all will be included with an FC 24 pre-order purchase.
In this post, I’ll be listing all of the pre-order bonuses, you’ll get with the Standard Edition and the Ultimate Edition, and what is the cutoff date for pre-order purchases.
All Pre-Order Bonuses Included with FC24 Purchases
EA Sports FC 24 Edition
Pre-Order Bonuses
Price
Valid Until Date
Standard Edition
– Includes EA Sports FC 24 the Game, Cover Star Loan Player Item (10 Matches), – 2 Ambassador Loan Player Pick Items (Pick 1 Male and 1 Female for five matches), – Unlocked PlayStyles Slots in Clubs, – Additional Player Personality Points in Player Career Mode, – You’ll receive a 5-Star Coach available for hire in Manager Career Mode, and – If you play FC 24 by November 1, you’ll earn Founder Status.
– PS4/5 & Xbox X|S & Xbox One $79.99 – PC (EA App & Steam): $69.99 – Nintendo Switch: $59.99
September 22
Ultimate Edition
– Untradeable UEFA Champions League or UEFA Women’s Champions League Ultimate – Team Hero Item (Available November 27), – Up to 7 Days Early Access (Players can start playing on September 22), – 4600 FC Points, – Access to a Nike Campaign in Ultimate Team (Begins September 22), – Nike Ultimate Team Campaign Loan Player Item (24 matches), – Nike & EA Sports FC Ultimate Team Kit, – Untradeable Team of the Week 1 Ultimate Team Player Item, and – Includes all Standard Edition incentives.
– PS4/5 & Xbox X|S & Xbox One $109.99 – PC (EA App, Steam) $99.99
September 22
That’s all for EA Sports FC 24 and what’s included when you pre-order and purchase the game ahead of the official release date. For more on FC 24 and what to expect, you can read: What’s New in FC 24 Ultimate Team?
About the Author
Ashley Anthony
Ashley has been writing content for the web for seven years and counting. He has recently entered the realm of video game journalism with Prima Games but is no novice to gaming. While there is time to kick back and relax, Ashley’s trying to hit the winning run in on MLB, score a last-minute goal in FIFA or is busy killing a sinister boss in some RPG title.
Movie stars Zhou Xun and Jelly Lin head the cast of “Imperfect Victim,” a new mainland Chinese drama series that focuses on workplace sexual harassment and leads to a rape trial.
Zhou (“Cloud Atlas,” “The Silent War,” “Painted Skin”) plays a lawyer who steps in to represent the character played by Lin (“The Mermaid”), who alleges assault by her boss at work. He is portrayed by TV veteran Liu Yijun (“Nirvana in Fire,” “The Pretender”). The case becomes complicated and Zhou’s character is forced to question her own ethics.
The show is highly topical, given the slowly building #MeToo movement in China. This is being fuelled by numerous instances of sexual discrimination, sexual assault and outright violence towards women, many instances of which have gone viral on Chinese social media before being deleted by censors.
Zhou Xun in “Imperfect Victim.” Courtesy of iQiyi.
The first episode of “Imperfect Victim,” for instance, includes a section on the culture of heavy after-hours drinking with employers and clients and the pressures on junior staff to participate. This is a scenario which in the real world has led to multiple sexual misunderstandings and court cases where the woman was too inebriated to fend off unwanted approaches.
Largely presented from a female perspective, the show is directed by Yang Yang (“A Dream of Splendor”) from a screenplay by Ren Bao Ru and Gao Xuan. The supporting cast includes Chen Shu, Elaine Zhong and Angel Dong.
The show, which runs to 29 45-minute episodes, is credited as an iQiyi original and plays in China and some of the territories covered by the streamer’s international operations. These include Singapore and Thailand. Variety understands that the show is simultaneously available in China on BTV and Dragon TV.
iQiyi said that it uploaded the first four episodes from Monday, to encourage binge viewing. Thereafter, it will release two additional episodes per day in the early evening.
Yellowstone is finally ready for primetime, and all it took was the complete and utter shutdown of Hollywood.
Kevin Costner’s attorney would like to inform you the star is not a jerk
Taylor Sheridan’s hit ranch-based soap opera is coming to CBS for a two-hour block on Sunday nights, taking the Equalizertimeslot. The jump to the network is a long time coming, considering the show originated on the Paramount Network, streamed on Peacock, and survived the Paramount+ rebrand to become one of the most watched and least discussed shows on TV. All this before the show’s endless spate of spin-offs launched, its star quit, and Sheridan decided to call the whole thing off after this upcoming fifth season—worry not: a sequel series was already announced. The saga of Yellowstone’s broadcast history will, no doubt, be what the spin-off “2023” will revolve around.
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have ground showbusiness to a halt. Unable to make a deal with striking writers and performers because asking for a fair wage and a lack of algorithmically-generated television shows is “disturbing” and “disruptive” behavior, studios and networks must now sell cable subscribers on a pretty dismal 2023–24 fall lineup. Networks like CBS and ABC have leveraged their reality and game shows that don’t fall under the jurisdiction of either guild to any fill holes—hence why something called FBI True, a true crime docuseries produced under the FBI branding for Paramount+, is coming to CBS this fall.
Yellowstone will be joined by other streaming shows, like the David Borenaz-led SEAL Team, which originated on CBS before jumping to Paramount+. Unfortunately for followers of the Goodiverse, SEAL Team airs Thursday nights instead of the upcoming Good Wife/Fight spin-off Elsbeth. CBS will supplement airing reruns of these shows by bringing the U.K. version of Ghosts stateside, where the network hopes it will attract fans of the American Ghosts.
Of course, all this will be bolstered by sports, game shows, and union-free reality shows like Big Brother, The Amazing Race, and Survivor. The fast-paced Bingo competition Lotería Loca will take the spot intended for The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola. Raid The Cage, a remake of an Israeli gameshow, will air Fridays instead of Fire Country. Finally, and most bafflingly, a reality adaptation of the Josh Duhamel comedy Buddy Games, a 2020 movie eaten alive by the pandemic that must’ve done serious numbers on streaming, will slot in for So Help Me Todd before Blue Bloods reruns gently rock viewers to sleep.
The full schedule is below, and boy, is it bleak:
Monday 8 p.m. EST: Lotería Loca 9 p.m. EST: NCIS 10 p.m. EST: “Paramount+ Original TBA” (Deadline has their money on Evil going here—though NCIS: Hawai’iwas initially intended to take that slot)
Tuesday 8 p.m. EST: Big Brother 9 p.m. EST: FBI True 10 p.m. EST: FBI
Wednesday 8 p.m. EST: Survivor 9:30 p.m. EST: The Amazing Race
Thursday(early fall) 8 p.m. EST: Big Brother 9 p.m. EST: Buddy Games 10 p.m. EST: The Challenge: USA
(Late fall) 8 p.m. EST: Young Sheldon 8:30 p.m. EST: Ghosts 9 p.m. EST: GHosts(U.K.) 10 p.m. EST: SEAL Team
Friday 8 p.m. EST: The Price Is Right At Night/Let’s Make A Deal Primetime 9 p.m. Raid The Cage 10 p.m. Blue Bloods Classics
Saturday 8 p.m. EST: Sports! 10 p.m. EST: 48 Hours
Sunday(Football singleheader) 7 p.m. EST: 60 Minutes 8 p.m. EST: Yellowstone 9 p.m. EST Yellowstone 10 p.m. EST: Big Brother
(Football doubleheader) 7 p.m. EST: Sports! 7:30 pm EST: 60 Minutes 9 p.m. EST: Yellowstone 10 p.m. EST: Big Brother
Nordstrom’s annual Anniversary Sale might as well be called the Nordstrom perfume sale, considering it’s one of the best places to pick up a signature scent (or try out plenty of new ones) for way less than retail. In the mood for a fresh summer fragrance? Hoping to pick up the likes of Gucci, Jo Malone, Chloé, Diptyque, and Tory Burch for a few bucks off? Stocking up on perfume gift sets? You’re in luck. The Nordstrom Anniversary beauty deals are some of the best they’ve ever been, but the blowout event wraps on August 6, when prices snap back to normal, so don’t drag your feet.
Some standouts include a sampler pack of Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s most popular (and yes, most expensive) bottles like Baccarat Rouge 540, which is $50 off, and other designer fragrances that’ll look stunning on your nightstand. These limited-time markdowns are the crème de la crème of the Nordstrom perfume sale—make sure you snap them up while they’re still in stock.
There are far too many incredible perfume markdowns to cover here, but we’ll give it a shot. Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s loaded discovery set has a scent for every mood, including the TikTok-approved Baccarat Rouge 540 that’s incredibly popular right now. Tons of luxury houses are also up for grabs on the cheap: Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Maison Margiela, and plenty more. And now’s your chance to pick up high-end fragrance brands like Diptyque and Jo Malone for just about the lowest prices you’ll ever see. Time to get spritzing!
Nordstrom Anniversary Sale 2023 Body Fragrance Deals
Perfume isn’t the only type of fragrance on sale at Nordstrom—there are plenty of scented personal care items, too. Make like Kate Middleton and pick up extra-large hand washes from Jo Malone, one of her go-to brands. Elsewhere, Donna Karan’s luxurious, floral body lotion is over half off, and Diptyque’s rosy shower foam (plus a matching perfume) is heavily discounted.
Nordstrom Anniversary Sale 2023 Home Fragrance Deals
Finally, you’re not done with the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale without at least perusing the retailer’s home fragrance selection. High-end candles from Voluspa, Apotheke, and Diptyque are on (rare) sale, with scents like eucalyptus & white sage, sea salt grapefruit, and mimosa. And there’s one more Jo Malone pick for the road: two lime basil & mandarin reed diffusers for a bathroom or home office that smells better than it ever has before.
ABC has been teasing Bachelor Nation with this spinoff for years, calling for fans to nominate their parents, grandparents or other older singles for the chance to find love on TV in their golden years. Finally we know who that first lucky leading man is, as Gerry Turner was introduced as the first lead of The Golden Bachelor on Good Morning America. However, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the show and how the 71-year-old’s season will compare to his 20-something counterparts on The Bachelor/Bachelorette.
Below are the questions I still have about the new ABC spinoff, but first, let’s discuss what we do know about Gerry Turner and his forthcoming reality TV journey.
Who Is Gerry Turner, The First Golden Bachelor?
Gerry Turner — a 71-year-old grandfather from Indiana — has been tapped as the first man to lead ABC’s new Bachelor spinoff, The Golden Bachelor. There were questions ahead of the announcement about how old ABC considered the “seniors” they were looking for, and many also wondered if it would be a celebrity or familiar face to Bachelor Nation. Turner is neither of those, but rather, a widower, having been married to his high school sweetheart Toni for 43 years before she died in 2017. His two daughters encouraged their dad to apply to the show, and Turner said Toni’s “up there rooting” for him:
I have her picture on a dresser in my closet. Every morning I give her the nod, ‘So what do you think about this?’ For a while it was like I was having a hard time figuring out if she would be OK. But we always told each other, when one of us goes, we want the other one to be happy. She’s up there rooting [for me]. She’s saying, ‘Yeah Gerry, do this.’
These are the kinds of stories that make me excited about The Golden Bachelor, because the cast is bringing in a whole lifetime of love, loss and life experience. I also love that Turner has the support of his family, and I wonder if they will be more involved in the process than we typically see.
(Image credit: ABC)
What Is The Premise Of The Spinoff?
There haven’t been a whole lot of details released about the format of The Golden Bachelor and how it will differ from the franchise’s flagship dating show; however, it’s safe to assume the show will follow the same general format. Gerry Turner will go on dates — both of the group variety and one-on-ones — and then hand out roses to the women he wants to keep around.
Over the weeks, the number of women the Golden Bachelor is dating will get smaller and smaller, and with Gerry Turner saying he “wouldn’t discount” doing a wedding special at the end of his season, it looks like the goal of the spinoff is to end with a proposal. But here’s what I’m still curious about …
Who Will Gerry Turner Be Dating?
Just as there were questions about how old The Golden Bachelor lead would be, lots of Bachelor Nation fans are curious about the ages of the women he’ll be dating. Will they, like the star of the show, be septuagenarians? I am personally hoping they pair Gerry Turner with women with similar life experience — which is to say NOT women young enough that we might expect to see them on The Bachelor proper. As for what he’s looking for, Turner told GMA:
I’d love it if I found a partner who was high energy, someone who’s fairly competitive, that they enjoy sports. Someone that maybe plays pickleball, someone that maybe plays golf.
The specific age range of the cast isn’t necessarily important, but I’d like to see people who can at least understand where he is in life as a widower with grown children. According to ABC, the women arriving at Bachelor Mansion will have a “lifetime of experience, living through love, loss, and laughter, hoping for a spark that ignites a future full of endless possibilities.”
Will The Golden Bachelor Feature More Diversity Than Its Predecessors?
I’d be lying if I said I had any hope that The Golden Bachelor would not cast a white man as its lead. In 27 seasons of The Bachelor, only one Black man has led a season, and Charity Lawson on the current iteration of The Bachelorette is only the fourth Black woman in 20 seasons to hold the position. To that point, Gerry Turner looks eerily similar to some of the past Bachelors 40 years his junior.
However, I am slightly more optimistic that we’ll see some diversity amongst the rest of the cast. Body diversity has been missing from the franchise as much as racial diversity, and I’m hopeful The Golden Bachelor can continue to evolve in what the subjects of the franchise’s love stories look like.
Will They All Live Together? What Kind Of Dates Will They Go On?
The women on The Golden Bachelor’s inaugural season may well be 50 years older than the contestants we’re accustomed to seeing on The Bachelor/Bachelorette. Are the producers really going to make the whole cast bunk together in Bachelor Mansion? Obviously a co-habitating situation would be more ideal for filming purposes, but I’d sure be campaigning for separate hotel rooms if I were cast for the show.
Furthermore, what kind of dates should we expect to see? Things like the fancy dinners or going out on a boat are options that could carry over from other Bachelor seasons, and the lead himself offered some good ideas by throwing out pickleball and golf. But what about things like the song-writing challenge we saw recently on The Bachelorette? Are the women going to be made to roast each other? (That sure would be something.) Obviously we can count out tackle football, and probably several other dates we’ve seen, like rock-climbing and bungee jumping.
Will There Be Fantasy Suites?
Here’s a big one: Fantasy Suites. I don’t even know where to start with all of my questions. How much does America want to know about Gerry Turner’s sex life? How much will Turner feel comfortable revealing? Will he wait until the end of his journey to consummate his relationships? Will his daughters and granddaughters have to watch him invite three separate women to forgo their individual rooms? Will he pull a Zach Shallcross and issue a “no-sex” mandate?
If you weren’t interested in The Golden Bachelor before, tell me you’re not curious to tune in and get the answers to these questions.
There’s certainly still a lot we don’t know about The Golden Bachelor’s maiden voyage, but Gerry Turner appears to be quite the charmer, and I’m looking forward to watching his journey to fall in love again, whatever that journey may hold. All of our questions will be answered when the spinoff premieres this fall, and in the meantime, tune into The Bachelorette at 9 p.m. ET Mondays on ABC, or stream it the next day with a Hulu subscription.
Fox News’ Jesse Watters called out his mom for her liberal politics a few weeks back, but on Monday he let her get back at him, sort of, with some advice for how to keep his job that, essentially, was a request that he stop working for Fox News.
Watters recently inherited the time slot previously occupied by “Tucker Carlson Tonight” — AKA what the New York Times called “the most racist show in the history of Cable News” — and for his first episode he invited his mother to call in. And her advice? In addition to basically begging him not to turn into Tucker Carlson, she urged him to “do no harm,” and asked that he suggest Fox News “take less interest… in other people’s bodies.”
“How have you enjoyed the show so far?” Watters asked after letting viewers know she had called in.
“I have enjoyed the show. I want to say congratulations to you honeybun, we are proud of you and your accomplishments, and you’ve worked so hard. Now let’s aim to have you keep your job. And to that end, I do have some suggestions,” Wattters’ mom said.
“Do not tumble into any conspiracy rabbit Hole. We do not want to lose you and we want no lawsuits,” the continued, obviously alluding to Carlson, who just last week managed to provoke yet another defamation lawsuit against Fox News, despite having been fired months ago.
“In keeping with the Hippocratic Oath,” Watters’ mom continued, “do no harm. We need you to be kind and respectful. You yourself mentioned that humble is a stretch, so I get that. Use your voice responsibly to promote conversation that maintains a narrative thread.”
Then Watters’ mom got to the advice that, as we mentioned, might as well have been to quit his job: “There has been enough Biden bashing, and the laptop is old. Perhaps you can suggest that your people take less interest, for example, in other people’s bodies and talk about that.”
Ok Then!
Jesse Watters’ mom (who is a Democrat) calls in to weigh in on his first night in his 8 pm show:
“Do not fall into any conspiracy rabbitholes. We do not want to lose you. … There really has been enough Biden-bashing and [Hunter’s] laptop is old.” pic.twitter.com/Nn8udb83sr
Back in June, Watters made his mom famous when he complained that she doesn’t believe the conspiracy theories about Joe Biden that he believes, which he then used as a jumping off point to complain about American media’s purported biases. You read more about that here, if you want.
There was no telling the impact Taylor Swift would have with the Eras Tour. It’s not just with tickets or fandom, though.
Rather, the Eras Tour has changed one aspect of going to a concert a lot of us never thought of and that’s our outfits. I remember when I used to go to a Jonas Brothers concert and I’d just grab a Jonas Brothers t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
However, if you’re headed to a concert, The Eras Tour, or otherwise, you’re not going to be picking up what you’ve been reaching for in the past. Now, things have changed for those attending a concert and it’s all about your look.
While not everyone adheres to these rules, there are so many pictures and videos that prove just how much concert fashion has changed since the start of the Eras Tour.
The Eras Tour has changed concert fashion in the best way.
Of course, not everyone has to get dressed up for a concert. Some people are just there to enjoy their favorite artists. However, others are using it as a way to show up and show out which is amazing. If you’re going by the Eras Tour, there are plenty of options to tackle.
With Taylor Swift in particular, people have been recreating looks from her album covers, past performances, or even, candid photos. While it isn’t always going to be an exact match, you’re able to find something similar. Of course, fans at the concert will always recognize what you’re going for and be excited.
The Eras Tour proved you don’t always need to recreate Taylor’s look but rather be inspired by something else. Maybe you love a certain era and decided to dress like that as some people are dressing in pastel dresses for Lover while others are wearing purple for Speak Now. Either way, it’s something fun to showcase your love for a particular album.
Outfits aren’t the only fashion trend coming out of the Eras Tour. Friendship bracelets are now becoming a mainstay at concerts. I’ve seen people in various Facebook groups for concerts talking about friendship bracelets. It’s so awesome to see people embracing this trend and deciding to do it for other artists.
Of course, we can’t deny the impact of Taylor Swift herself. I don’t know about you but I think it’s so amazing to see how passionate Taylor’s fans are. There is so much hype around the Eras Tour and Taylor’s performance which is deserved. The concert outfits are just a small piece of magic Taylor Swift has given her fans.
Ultimately, I’m excited to see how other concerts end up looking due to the Eras Tour. As someone who is going to see the Jonas Brothers in September, I’m curious how fans will be dressed. Of course, that’s for another post but we can’t deny the Eras Tour has forever changed what concert fashion looks like.
TNT Sports will present the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Heineken Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. In addition, the Olympic Games Paris 2024, grand slam tennis tournaments, including the Australian Open and Roland-Garros and cycling grand tours, including the Tour de France, will be available.
Discovery+ is the U.K. home for TNT Sports. It will be available under a premium plan, priced at £29.99 ($39.25) per month, which is the same price as was previously charged for a BT sport monthly Pass. In the U.K., TNT Sports is available across all major TV platforms including BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media. Existing BT Sport customers are able to access TNT Sports without needing to take any further action. In Ireland, TNT Sports is available via Sky, Now, Virgin Media and Vodafone.
Celebrity presenters include Laura Woods, Reshmin Chowdhury, Lynsey Hipgrave and Jules Breach, while soccer pundits on the service include Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, Joe Cole, Rachel Brown-Finnis, Owen Hargreaves, Steve McManaman, Joleon Lescott, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes and Robbie Savage.
Tuesday also sees the launch of TNTSports.co.uk.
Andrew Georgiou, board member of the joint venture and president and managing director, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, said: “TNT Sports goes live with a new and contemporary brand, a fabulous new and exciting line-up of talent, great value for viewers as well as flexible ways to buy and watch. From today, fans can watch TNT Sports in the same places they enjoyed BT Sport and without any interruption to their access. In addition, with TNT Sports now on Discovery+ in the U.K. we can begin to deliver a simple and even more compelling offer that appeals to the whole household, combining more live sport together with entertainment. We believe this is an exceptional value proposition for fans offering a compelling combination of sport and entertainment that is unique to Discovery+.”
Cole Sprouse and Dylan Sprouse have been captivating audiences since they were babies — and they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
The Italian-born brothers have been acting since the early ‘90s, earning their big break with 1999’s Big Daddy. While they were each in the movie, they split the role of Julian.
It wasn’t until Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody that Dylan and Cole started to branch off and play separate roles. The duo shot to superstardom for their portrayal of twin brothers Zack and Cody from 2005 to 2008.
The show’s success was not lost on the actors, with Dylan later attributing much of his and Cole’s growth as individuals to the series.
“A lot had happened in our lives that was difficult then and this show, in a way, saved us. 1000 years of gratitude to all involved,” Dylan wrote via Instagram in March 2020 in celebration of the 15-year anniversary of the show.
The My Fake Boyfriend actor, who was only 11 years old when the series began, added: “I love you all and I’m glad this show can still give families the nostalgia they once had when watching it. I’ll keep those memories forever.”
Cole, for his part, echoed his brother’s sentiments about the Disney show in May 2021, confessing that it’s his not-so-guilty pleasure when drinking.
“When I’m drunk or feeling really narcissistic, yeah [I put it on],” he said during an episode of Vogue’s “73 Questions” at the time. “I don’t really like to watch anything I do. So, I try to stay away from it.”
The Riverdale star added: “I know it sounds cheesy [but] I still have a really deep fondness for The Suite Life.” He recalled, “When I graduated middle school, the crew threw a big graduation. I cried on screen.”
The siblings, who took a break from Hollywood to go to college, have yet to reunite for a project since their Disney Channel days. Dylan, however, hasn’t ruled out an onscreen comeback with Cole.
“It’s more likely that I will write something for us to work in together, rather than someone approach us,” the beermaker exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2020. “Twin movies are never good! That’s just the universal truth I think the universe has given to us, and so if we can find the right thing then, yeah.”
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Scroll down to relive the Sprouse twins’ ups and downs over the years:
When talks between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down last week, leading to Hollywood’s first double strike since 1960, the guild says there was still a wide gulf between what it wanted and what studios were willing to give.
In a memo sent to members on Monday night, the authenticity of which has been confirmed by TheWrap, SAG-AFTRA leaders said that things got to the point of a strike because AMPTP negotiators, “from day one,” would not “meaningfully engage on the most critical issues.”
In a statement released shortly after the SAG-AFTRA memo became public, APMTP called the guild “disingenuous at best” for its description of those differences, and said it “continues to mischaracterize the negotiations.”
AMPTP also implied in its statement that the offers described in the SAG-AFTRA memo were outdated, claiming it made “proposals offered verbally” to the guild on the final day of negotiations before the strike.
According to SAG-AFTRA, AMPTP negotiators “intentionally dragged their feet” and “subjected us to repeated stonewalling and delays” during talks.
“We moved on some things,” the memo said, “but from day one they wouldn’t meaningfully engage on the most critical issues.”
Along with a summary, the memo included a comprehensive breakdown of guild proposals and the counteroffers made by AMPTP. You can read the full memo here, but among the disagreements it describes:
A requested 11% general wage increase in the first year, and 4% in the second and third years to deal with inflation was countered with 5% in the first year, 4% in the second and 3.2% in the third, the guild says.
A proposed a revenue sharing scheme on streaming services to offset residuals losses was flatly rejected by AMPTP.
AMPTP agreed to provide hair and makeup specialists trained for diverse hair types and skin tones, but only for principle performers.
And of course, the memo mentions previously discussed attempt by studios — according to SAG-AFTRA — to be allowed to use AI to scan background actors and use their likenesses in perpetuity while paying them only once.
“SAG-AFTRA continues to mischaracterize the negotiations with AMPTP,” AMPTP said in its own statement. “Not only does its press release deliberately distort the offers made by AMPTP, it also fails to include the proposals offered verbally to SAG-AFTRA leadership on July 12.”
AMPTP said it offered “$1 billion in wage increases, pension & health contributions and residual increases and includes first-of-their-kind protections over its three-year term, including expressly with respect to AI,” though it did not refute SAG-AFTRA’s description of AI-related proposals in specific terms.
AMPTP’s statement also included, as a rebuttal of SAG-AFTRA complaints about the studios’ new proposed deal, quotes made by guild leaders in 2020 about the now-expired previous deal. “The AMPTP’s goal from day one has been to come to a mutually beneficial agreement with SAG-AFTRA. A strike is not the outcome we wanted. For SAG-AFTRA to assert that we have not been responsive to the needs of its membership is disingenuous at best,” AMPTP added.
AMPTP’s statement didn’t include a detailed breakdown of proposals like SAG-AFTRA’s memo, but it did summarize them in brief bullet points. Among them were “the highest percentage increase in minimums in 35 years, 76% increase in High Budget SVOD foreign residuals, substantial increases in pension and health contribution caps,” and “Groundbreaking AI proposal which protects performers’ digital likenesses, including a requirement for performer’s consent for the creation and use of digital replicas or for digital alterations of a performance.”
Focus Features on Monday unveiled the first trailer for The Holdovers, a dramedy marking the first reteam of Paul Giamatti with filmmaker Alexander Payne since the 2004 Oscar winner Sideways. Also starring newcomer Dominic Sessa and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, the film is set to hit theaters in New York and Los Angeles on October 27, expanding to further states on November 3rd before going nationwide on November 10th.
The Holdovers is the eighth feature from two-time Oscar winner Payne, who, in addition to the wine-tasting drama Sideways, is known for Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, The Descendants, Nebraska and Downsizing. The ’70s-set film written by Whiskey Cavalier creator David Hemingson takes as its focus Paul Hunham (Giamatti), a curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — the damaged, brainy troublemaker Angus (Sessa) — and with the school’s head cook (Randolph), who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
“Do you think I want to be babysitting you?” Paul asks Angus in the trailer, which is quick to set up hostilities between the two. “No, I was praying your mother would pick up the phone or your father would arrive in a helicopter or a flying saucer.”
As Paul’s awareness of what’s going on inside the troubled youth grows, it’s Randolph’s head cook Mary who becomes the teacher’s conscience, imploring him to deal with the teenager with more compassion and tact. “You don’t tell a boy that’s been left behind at Christmas that nobody wants him,” she says. “What’s wrong with you?”
When Paul catches up with Angus later on, he looks to connect with the boy he’d previously looked at as a lost cause. “I find the world a bitter and complicated place, and it seems to feel the same way about me,” he says. “I think you and I have this in common.”
The Holdovers sold to Focus out of last year’s Toronto Film Festival for around $30M, which repped a record for the festival. Mark Johnson, Bill Block and Hemingson produced the film, with Andrew Golov, Thom Zadra and Chris Stinson serving as exec producers. Carrie Preston, Tate Donovan and Gillian Vigman are among those rounding out the cast.
Other titles to come this fall from Focus, which most recently released Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City and the Julie Cohen doc Every Body on the lives of intersex people, include My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (September 8) and Ethan Coen’sDrive-Away Dolls (September 22). View the trailer for The Holdovers by clicking above.
Disagreements over a wide array of issues — from wage increases to a revenue-sharing plan for streaming platformsto meal break penalty increases — split Hollywood companies and performers’ union SAG-AFTRA in their negotiations that collapsed on July 12.
Meanwhile, some progress was made during the five weeks of negotiations on issues including schedule breaks, compensation for the translation of scripts and some self-taped audition restrictions, SAG-AFTRA claimed in a message to members on Monday that included an extensive chart of their proposals and the companies’ alleged responses. Though the message was frequently light on specifics about SAG-AFTRA’s proposals and the AMPTP’s responses, it did paint a portait of two sides that remain very far apart from a deal.
The AMPTP, meanwhile, said in a statement that SAG-AFTRA continues to “mischaracterize” the two parties’ discussions. “Not only does its press release deliberately distort the offers made by AMPTP, it also fails to include the proposals offered verbally to SAG-AFTRA leadership on July 12,” the Alliance said. According to the group, which represents studios and streamers in negotiations, its July 12 offer to the union is valued at over $1 billion in wage improvements, residual increases and pension and health contributions.
When it comes to general minimum rate increases, the union was seeking to implement 11 percent wage boost in the first year of the new contract, 4 percent in the second year and 4 percent in the third year during their 2023 TV/theatrical negotiations. The studios and streamers maintained they would only offer 5, 4 and 3.5 percent in the three years of the agreement, SAG-AFTRA claimed, which are the same rate increases that the Directors Guild of America agreed to in its 2023 contract, ratified in June. (In its statement on Monday, the AMPTP called its offer the “highest percentage increase in minimums in 35 years.”) As another means of increasing member compensation, the union additionally proposed that casts take a cut of subscriber revenue “generated when their performances are exhibited on streaming platforms,” which the AMPTP outright rejected, per the labor group.
On another key issue, that of regulating generative artificial intelligence, SAG-AFTRA was vague about its proposals and the AMPTP’s responses. The union was seeking to “establish a comprehensive set of provisions to protect human-created work and require informed consent and fair compensation when a ‘digital replica’ is made of a performer, or when their voice, likeness, or performance will be substantially changed using AI.” The AMPTP, the union claimed, “failed to address many vital concerns, leaving principal performers and background actors vulnerable to having most of their work replaced by digital replicas.”
The AMPTP, meanwhile, called its offer on the rapidly changing technology “groundbreaking” and said it “protects performers’ digital likenesses, including a requirement for performer’s consent for the creation and use of digital replicas or for digital alterations of a performance.”
Other notable disagreements flagged by the union in Monday’s message pertained to increasing “span” figures (SAG-AFTRA said the companies’ suggestion was “inadequate”) and boosting long-stagnant pension and health plan contribution “caps” that limit how much of a members’ earnings can be calculated towards contributions to the union’s benefits plans (the studios countered with “insufficient increases,” the union said; the AMPTP said its proposed increases were “substantial”). The two likewise couldn’t agree on the size of relocation allowances, for when a performer works in a state or country outside where they live, that meal break penalties should be increased or that performance-capture work can be covered by a SAG-AFTRA contract.
There were some areas where they reached early tentative agreements, however (which are still subject to change when the two parties go back to the bargaining table). On self-taped auditions, one major area of concern for the union, which maintains that these kinds of tryouts place undue burden on performers, the union says the studios and streamers “tentatively agreed to some but not all necessary regulations,” including a compromise on turnaround times, but without a real means of enforcement. The parties likewise agreed that actors should not be required to translate scripts without compensation and that both sides should “conform to the minimum payments that performers must receive before their employers can invoke the various ‘schedules’ under which members lose entitlement to additional payments such as weekly overtime.”
In its statement, the AMPTP additionally said it further offered the union a 76 percent increase in high-budget foreign streaming residuals and a 58 percent increase in wages for guest star roles on high-budget streaming projects. The studios and streamers offered to establish terms and conditions for high-budget AVOD projects and fixed residuals for stunt coordinators on television and high-budget streaming projects, the group added. (SAG-AFTRA has said these residuals would be “calculated as if they only worked one day” even if stunt coordinators worked for longer.)
SAG-AFTRA called a strike to start July 14 after its film and television contract expired and it and the AMPTP did not reach a deal on a new three-year pact. After five weeks of negotiation, major studios and streamers offered a deal that was “insulting,” claimed SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher on Thursday. “It came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads. We had no choice,” she said. The AMPTP, on the other hand, has said that the union had rejected a favorable package offer and “regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry.”
Though SAG-AFTRA initially signaled to members that negotiations had been “extremely productive” in June, the tone took a turn in the days leading up to the contract package’s expiration. The union began preparing major PR firms and hundreds of agents for a strike, and the AMPTP requested assistance from the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service. SAG-AFTRA agreed to bring in the service, present at talks on Wednesday, but did not allow an extension of discussions, saying it was wary of a “cynical ploy” on the part of companies.
Starting July 14, SAG-AFTRA members have been picketing studio lots and corporate sites in Los Angeles and New York while major productions — including Deadpool 3, Mission Impossible 8 and Venom 3 — have shut down or been delayed without their performers. The AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA have not yet publicly released a date when they will return to the bargaining table.
The actors’ strike has hit the brakes on the hot pink convertible that is the “Barbie” film’s press tour.
Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and other stars of Greta Gerwig’s forthcoming movie inspired by the doll are unlikely to appear on pink carpets until further notice in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union. That means the parade of neon fashion led by Ms. Robbie has probably come to an end.
Ms. Robbie, who was styled by Andrew Mukamal, had her pick of designers throughout the press tour, from vintage Versace to Vivienne Westwood. But several of the actress’s best looks took inspiration from Barbie’s clothing archive, including a black-and-white-striped swimsuit the doll wore when it was introduced in 1959, a prim skirt suit from the ’80s and a swirly minidress Barbie wore in the ’90s.
Those outfits, seen here alongside the Barbie clothes that inspired them, struck the exact right balance between kitschy and chic. “It’s not subtle,” Ms. Robbie said in an interview with People, “but it’s very fun!”
Enchanted Evening
At the “Barbie” premiere in London, Ms. Robbie wore a Vivienne Westwood gown accented by a white tulle stole and a three-strand pearl necklace. The look recreated the glamorous get-up of the “Enchanted Evening” Barbie introduced in 1960.
Day to Night
The “Day to Night” Barbie doll, released in 1985, was ready for work and play. Its transitional wardrobe inspired what Ms. Robbie wore at the Seoul premiere: a Versace pencil skirt and blazer, which morphed into a sequined pink bodice and tulle skirt.
Original Barbie
In Sydney, Ms. Robbie wore a Hervé Léger bandage dress that paid tribute to the black-and-white one-piece swimsuit worn by the original Barbie. The actress, like the doll, completed her look with white sunglasses and black open-toe shoes.
Solo in the Spotlight
The strapless, sequined mermaid gown Ms. Robbie wore to the film’s Los Angeles premiere was a custom Schiaparelli recreation of the dress for the “Solo in the Spotlight” Barbie, a doll released in 1960.
Totally Hair
In an abstract Pucci minidress, hot pink Manolo Blahnik heels and long, crimped blond locks, Ms. Robbie channeled the style of “Totally Hair” Barbie, introduced in 1992, at a photo call in Mexico City.
Earring Magic
Balmain made the pink leather minidress Ms. Robbie wore to the film’s Mexico City premiere. The look took inspiration from “Earring Magic” Barbie, released in 1992, down to its low-slung belt and chunky earrings.
Pink & Fabulous
At a press appearance in Los Angeles, Ms. Robbie wore a custom Valentino halter dress that referenced the “Pink & Fabulous” Barbie, a doll introduced in 2015.
Sparkling Pink
The bedazzled three-piece Moschino set that Ms. Robbie wore in Seoul was an updated version of the skirt suit worn by the “Sparkling Pink” Barbie, released in 1964.
‘Barbie’: The Movie
Of all Ms. Robbie’s Barbie-inspired outfits, the most meta might have been the pink-and-white gingham set she wore at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. The look referenced a dress Ms. Robbie wears in the “Barbie” trailer and the frock made for a new Barbie doll based on Ms. Robbie’s likeness.
Elizabeth Paton, Emmett Lindner and Callie Holtermann contributed research.
It appears that Stanley Tucci holds the key to Robert Downey Jr.’s heart.
The “Oppenheimer” star, 58, enjoyed the fruits of Tucci’s labor at Casa Tucci, where he was fed a several-course meal that included penne with peas and the seafood dish cod alla Livornese, which Tucci describes as cod in a fresh tomato sauce with capers, onions, green olives, black olives, basil and “a little bit of garlic.”
Downey posted a montage of the evening on Instagram, which showed the “Devil Wears Prada” star wearing an apron as he stirred the dish, a very satiated Downey enjoying each bite, Tucci’s impressive collection of Le Creuset all-clad Dutch ovens, and Downey thanking Tucci by planting a wet one on his cheek.
Tucci mouths, “Aw, I’m so happy,” and the two stars embrace — all to the appropriately selected Frank Sinatra tune “When You’re Smiling.”
The “Iron Man” star praised Tucci’s wife, Felicity Blunt, for her hospitality, writing in the caption, “Dinner [at] Casa Tucci – Truly a gem of a fella, & Felicity made me feel like family. Check out [Stanley Tucci] in ‘Searching for Italy.’”
How did Tucci and Downey come to feed each other pasta, you ask? Well, Downey stars with Emily Blunt in “Oppenheimer,” which opens Friday, and Blunt is the sister of the literary agent Felicity Blunt. The latter met Tucci at the premiere of “Devil Wears Prada,” which he appeared in alongside the former. So, really, it all makes perfect sense.
Tucci shared his own video on Instagram, saying he was actually cooking for a party of 12 and describing the ingredients needed to make the cod alla Livornese. Fans in the comments sections of both stars’ videos were naturally overwhelmed with FOMO.
“Not sure who is luckier. Stanley getting to hang with Robert, or Robert getting to hang with Stanley?” Don Emery wrote.
Claire Fuller commented, “Oh to be a guest at Stanley’s dinner party.”
Tucci and Downey “at the same dinner table. I would be in heaven,” added Christine Chiocsky Haddad.
And Apollonia Kotero joked that her invite must have been left in the mail.
Tucci became an internet cooking sensation during the COVID-19 lockdown when a thirst-inducing video of the “Searching for Italy” star demonstrating how to make a negroni went viral.
There’s even an ad for the Online Closeup Magic University from Ant-Man and The Wasp and what appears to be a “Redwing” delivery service, a possible nod to Falcon’s Redwing.
Disney
But perhaps the most surprising Easter egg of all was a billboard for Margaret’s Frozen Chimichangas, a reference to Deadpool’s famous favorite snack and comic book catchphrase.
The allusion to Margaret also seems to be another sly reference to a location in the Deadpool franchise, that being Weasel’s bar, Sister Margaret’s School for Wayward Girls.
Given Deadpool and Deadpool 2‘s R-ratings, it may surprising to see a reference to the character inside a Disney Park and in advance of his Marvel Studios crossover.
But what’s even more surprising is that this Rogers: The Musical billboard isn’t even the first time.
However, while the file showcases his signature symbol and lists him as “active,” it also reads “Do Not Affiliate,” with an additional comment saying “No Thanks.”
With hype building for the Deadpool threequel and its Multiversal cast, it will be interesting to see if Disney sticks to Deadpool Easter eggs only or decides to bring the character into the parks.
The latter could be a controversial move given the park’s family-friendly focus. However, if Disney intends to integrate Deadpool regardless, the first sign will likely be at Avengers Campus where new MCU characters traditionally appear on the day of a film or Disney+ series release.
While the larger-than-expected cast of superheroes for James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy is surprising, it shouldn’t be met with concern by fans. Part of the rebooted DCU as envisioned by new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, Superman: Legacy is set to be the first official movie for a new interconnected universe of DC heroes. Additionally, Gunn has already proven initial concerns over the larger cast wrong.
Set to release in 2025, Superman: Legacy is being written and directed by James Gunn himself. David Corenswet has been cast as a new Kal-El/Clark Kent while Rachel Brosnahan has been cast opposite Corenswet as Daily Plant reporter Lois Lane. Surprisingly, a new wave of casting announcements has recently been made confirming appearances from several other DC heroes in the new movie, though Gunn’s preexisting track record means it shouldn’t be a problem for the first official DCU movie and the debut of its new Man of Steel.
Superman: Legacy’s Cast Size Is Potentially Concerning
Traditionally, overfilling a solo superhero film with other heroes and/or villains is a classic problem to be wary of. Keeping that in mind, quite a few other DC heroes have already been cast in Superman: Legacy despite still being 2 years out. Nathan Fillion has been cast as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced has been cast as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi has been cast as Mister Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan will be playing Metamorpho. As such, there are clearly going to be established heroes in the new DCU for Superman to interact with in Legacy beyond the characters he interacts with as Clark Kent at the Daily Planet.
Understandably, the initial reaction to be concerned is justifiable even though Superman: Legacy is meant to be the start of a brand-new DCU. While it’s been pitched as a fresh start for DC’s cinematic universe and its beloved heroes, Superman should still be front and center in his own movie. However, looking back proves that James Gunn will likely be able to achieve a solid and entertaining balance between the movie’s supplemental heroes and the true star with the titular Kryptonian.
James Gunn Has A Proven History With Ensemble Superhero Casts
It’s no secret that James Gunn is quite familiar with larger ensemble casts of superheroes. The evidence can be found in both the MCU with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and The Suicide Squadin the concluding DCEU. Giving each character time to shine, having multiple superheroes in the same movie is far from new territory for the writer/director/studio head. He’s already proven on several counts that he knows how to maintain a strong balance.
To that end, it’s highly doubtful that Gardner’s Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, and Metamorpho will all have equivalent roles with Corenswet’s Kal-El in Superman: Legacy. Unlike the Guardians or the Suicide Squad who all needed their own moments with shared protagonist roles in their respective movies, Superman: Legacy implies that Superman will be the sole protagonist where superheroes are concerned. Gunn has already confirmed that the existence of these other heroes will serve to highlight Superman’s world, just as characters like Perry White and Jimmy Olsen will be part of Kal-El’s world as Clark Kent.
Superman: Legacy Is Still A Clark Kent & Lois Lane Story
It stands to reason that all the DC heroes who’ve recently been cast for Superman: Legacy will be secondary parts, most likely having smaller roles or cameo appearances in the upcoming DCU movie. For all intents and purposes, these heroes could all be part of a team whom Superman briefly meets at one point. They can confirm that he’s not alone in the DCU while also fulfilling Gunn’s promise that there won’t be a lot of origin stories for the new cinematic universe by featuring already-established heroes.
To that end, Gunn himself has also confirmed that Superman: Legacy will still be a Superman story and won’t be a big team-up right off the bat. Posting on Threads, Gunn reiterated on social media that “the primary story most definitely revolves around Superman and Lois“. If his prior success with large ensemble superhero films wasn’t reassurance enough, it’s nice that Gunn certainly seems committed to telling a story that will explore Kal-El’s relationship with Lois Lane (while also operating within his two respective worlds as both Clark Kent and Superman). The extra DC superheroes should prove to be a benefit to Superman: Legacy(and shouldn’t be a concern).
A strike can be a scary time for creatives. No one is sure when it will end, and you can live off savings for only so long. But in Hollywood, many people are used to this kind of instability.
As a writer, I’ve always held a bunch of side jobs to make sure I can gather income, and I have had my fair share of lean years.
But one thing I have been thinking about, especially lately, is how we don’t have to wait on Hollywood to be fixed to work on projects. If you can work truly independently, you could be making stuff right now.
This idea has become popular lately, with actor Mark Ruffalo outlining how it would be done.
Ruffalo shared a Deadline article and wrote a thread on Twitter about how we could use this time to change Hollywood.
His first follow-up Tweet reads, “One sure way to strengthen our hand right now is to become very supportive & friendly to all independent projects immediately. Push every SAG-AFTRA member to join the ones that get SAG-AFTRA (WGA) WAIVERS immediately. The studios have no competition—this will change that.”
So how do we build competition for studios? Well, we have to make projects without them.
He advocated for a profit-sharing model where creatives share in successes. The basic idea is to get independent financiers or to raise money to make your projects. Right now, you can attract SAG-AFTRA talent to be a part of it, you just need to clear SAG-AFTRA waivers.
Obviously, you have to keep budgets low unless you find some mad millionaire to bankroll things at a higher level, but creating things you’re then able to sell to distributors or release yourself has always been the dream.
This is not an option for everyone, but if you have lower-budget projects already written or ready now, this is the time to put out feelers to see if any of these talented people who are suddenly available want to jump in and make something.
Southbox Adds Former ICM Exec Chandler Heinz Laun and Finance Industry Veteran Jonathan Hecht to Leadership Team to Help Navigate Company’s Aggressive Growth
The team in Cannes
Chandler Heinz, Jonathan Hecht and Jon Gosier
Southbox Entertainment, a film and TV production company founded by investor Jon Gosier, has secured a $25 million partnership with sister company FilmHedge to greenlight scripted series and feature films. The company is in the process of raising an additional $55 million from private investors for a $80 million “first money” fund.
The company is also expanding its leadership team, bringing on former ICM executive Chandler Heinz Laun as Chief of Staff at Southbox Entertainment and financial services industry veteran Jonathan Hecht as Managing Partner at Southbox Entertainment and Partner at its parent company Southbox Capital.
“Generous tax incentives, an incredible talent pool, and world-class studio facilities make Atlanta ideal for production,” said Jon Gosier, founder and CEO of Southbox Entertainment and partner companies Southbox Capital and FilmHedge. “Southbox and FilmHedge are in a stage of tremendous growth as the global demand for content surges. I’m thrilled to welcome Chandler and Jonathan to the team to help lead the organizations as we expand our foothold in the entertainment industry.”
Southbox Entertainment is one of few companies greenlighting projects from Georgia and is capable of fully self financing productions through its own fund and partnerships with debt financier FilmHedge.
“Hollywood has long viewed Atlanta as the underdog. Yet, in the past 10 years, Atlanta has become the epicenter of the entertainment industry. There’s a certain rebellious spirit to being part of the film community of the South. We aren’t supposed to be here, yet here we are. Now more productions happen in Atlanta annually than New York and Los Angeles combined,” Gosier added.
Southbox Entertainment is committed to financing meaningful and impactful content that engages and inspires audiences everywhere. The company finances internal productions as well as independently financed projects. Both Southbox and FilmHedge finance series and features with budgets between $5 million and $35 million, which tend to be independent productions highly sought for acquisition by distributors and studios.
“Film and TV is an undervalued and undercapitalized asset class,” according to Gosier. “By changing the way money works in the industry, notably by leveraging tech innovations to democratize funding, we can reach a new class of emerging producers in addition to those who are well-established.”
About Southbox Entertainment
Southbox is a motion picture and television finance company based out of Atlanta, Georgia. It is currently raising its ‘first-money’ fund for producers working on stories of all types and operates an internal content arm that develops original scripted content.
Peacock is the latest streaming platform to get a price hike, and the first for the NBCUniversal service since launching in summer 2020.
The studio said existing Peacock subscribers will see the price for the Premium service rise by $1 a month to $5.99, starting on August 17. And the Premium Plus tier — which offers viewers mostly no ads, episode downloads and live, local NBC channels — will increase by $2 monthly to $11.99.
The price hike, which will also impact new customers, follows Peacock subscriber figures hitting nearly 22 million in the first three months of 2023, up 60 percent year-over-year. NBCUniversal said the price change will allow “Peacock to continue to invest in the best user experience and the highest-quality content while remaining competitive in the marketplace.”
The studio noted that, since its launch, Peacock has added over 80,000 hours of content, including exclusive movies from Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, new NBC and Bravo episodes launching the day after going to air on linear channels, streaming channels from Hallmark and Reelz, and daily morning news from CNBC and MSNBC.
Against that content offering, NBCUniversal has seen Peacock’s start-up losses continue amid a recent industrywide focus on efforts to boost profitability. Even with the price change, NBCUniversal has forecast 2023 will represent peak losses — about $3 billion — for Peacock as the Comcast division transitions to streaming.
Paramount Global also raised the monthly subscriptionprice for its rebranded streaming service Paramount+ with Showtime in the third quarter of 2023 after Paramount+ posted strong subscriber gains thanks to such hit content as Top Gun: Maverick. The cost of the advertising-free premium streaming plan rose from $9.99 per month for Paramount+ to $11.99 for Paramount+ with Showtime.
And Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled a monthly price hike for Max to $15.99 per month. That followed services such as Disney+, Netflix, Apple TV+ and Amazon’s Prime Video raising their monthly prices by $2 to $3, signaling the end of a honeymoon period when entertainment companies, fully aware of the competitive streaming landscape in front of them, were willing to price their streamers low to attract subscribers.
The Belfast Telegraph, Branagh’s hometown newspaper, recently reported that the Thor director would helm a feature film based on Disney‘s Gargoyles. The story has since been picked up by other outlets. On Twitter, a fan asked Weisman what he thought about the news. The creator replied, “I’m thinking … that it’s flat-out not true.” Weisman also retweeted a post dismissing the news as “not real.”
Disney’s Gargoyles originally aired for three seasons from 1994 to 1997. The first two seasons aired on first-run syndication. The third and final season aired on ABC starting in 1996 following Disney’s acquisition of the network. The animated series was a moderate success during its initial run, though has gone on to amass a dedicated cult following in the years since. The Gargoyles franchise has also expanded into other mediums, such as comic books and video games.
Previous talk of a Gargoyles movie
Notably, there have been murmurs of a potential big-screen adaptation of Gargoyles for many years now. In mid 2011, Disney tapped G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra screenwriters David Elliot and Paul Lovett to pen the script for a Gargoyles feature film. Acclaimed filmmaker Jordan Peele later pitched his own film treatment to the studio in 2018. However, neither version ultimately came to fruition.
Weisman discussed Peele’s unproduced Gargoyles movie pitch during an interview with ComingSoon in 2022. “The fact that he gave a damn about Gargoyles, knew what it was, knew who I am, was tremendously gratifying,” the creator said. “Nothing really came of it, unfortunately, but I can’t say I wasn’t thrilled by it. It was neat.”
All three seasons of Gargoyles are currently streaming on Disney+.
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The new Audible free trial offer includes one audiobook download that you can keep, even after your free trial is over. A bonus: Amazon Prime members get two free downloads with their trial (sign-up for Amazon Prime here).
You can also take 30% off any additional titles you want to download, plus access any member-only deals that go live during your month-long free trial. Listen to everything online or through the Audible app for your phone or tablet.
The current Audible deal gets you 30 days of free access to their Premium Plus tier (Audible’s best subscription plan). The price goes up to $14.95 a month afterwards or you can cancel before your free trial is over without being charged. There is no promo code required to claim this deal online.
Audible has quickly become one of the leading entertainment sites online, with a number of Hollywood stars partnering with the company to launch exclusive content. Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s The Light Podcast launched in March and was the first Audible Original project from her and President Barack Obama’s Higher Ground production company. Viola Davis also recently signed an exclusive multi-project deal with Audible, to create both scripted and unscripted original audio programming for the site.
Tom CruisePhoto: James Gourley (Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
As we all know by now, Tom Cruise may be able to drive a motorcycle off a cliff and climb the Burj Khalifa, but he cannot convince a studio executive to consider making less than $27 million a year.
Johnny Knoxville on shrooms, stunts, and “The Prank Panel”
Cruise reportedly lobbied the AMPTP on several issues, urging the assortment of studio representatives to listen to the guild’s positions on A.I. guardrails and stunt performers. He also asked the guild to consider allowing performers to participate in promotional campaigns for upcoming projects, which Hollywood Reporter sources described as “uncomfortable.” According to Deadline, his interest in promotion had nothing to do with Mission: Impossible, as that film’s rollout ended ahead of the strike. Instead, he was concerned about the post-vaccine return-to-theaters initiative that he’s been instrumental in promoting and argued that actor promotion matters to box office results—which eagle-eyed readers might recall as being the point of the strike.
“We are being victimized by a very greedy entity,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said upon the strike’s announcement. “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right, when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”
Does the success of a film hinge on the audience’s ability to understand the subject matter? As viewers, we enter into an unwritten contract with the film we’re watching. We know it might be necessary to suspend our expectations of reality or grapple with concepts that may otherwise be impossible.
However, for films that are based on true events, there seems to be a need for a certain amount of exposition. Too much and the film becomes obtuse. Too little and viewers won’t understand the basics of what’s happening.
Real Events Need Real Explanations
There are various genres where a grounding in the fundamentals is necessary for viewers to understand the plot. Casino-based films are a case in point. Take the movie 21. The film dramatized the real-life story of blackjack players from MIT. They were math experts with the ability to track patterns and get an edge over the casino. The early part of the film sees Micky Rosa explain the basics of blackjack to Ben.
This doesn’t take up much time in the film. Indeed, the card values in blackjack and the game’s fundamentals are simple to explain. However, they’re essential to the plot because, without understanding the basics, you can’t develop a potentially profitable blackjack strategy. As noted by experts, “calculating hand values is central to getting the most out of the game.” That’s because, at its core, blackjack is a game of odds. You’re assessing your hand’s chances of winning based on the dealer’s card (that you can see). Therefore, for 21 to make sense as a film, the director had to insert a short sequence explaining the basics.
The same strategy is used in Jurassic Park. We all have a general understanding of dinosaurs, but the nuances of DNA sequencing are less familiar. That’s where Mr. DNA comes in (see video above). The animated character appears during a presentation shown to Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and chaotician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) when they first take a tour of Jurassic Park.
We assume they understand the basics of DNA but, as an audience, we need some education. Only once we know this can we start to see why the concept of Jurassic Park is possible and, from there, why things start to go horrifically wrong as the film progresses.
Context Matters as Much as Exposition
These movies did well at the box office. 21 grossed $159.8 million, while Jurassic Park made almost $1 billion ($978.1 million, to be exact). This suggests exposition is important. Movies with little exposition, such as Hereditary which grossed $82 million, suggest this is the case. However, we can counter this with examples of movies with very little in the way of exposition, such as A Quiet Place (see video below). It’s not until the very end of the film that we find out why sound is dangerous. That film grossed $314 million and has an audience score of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Therefore, it’s not a clearcut case. What we can do is distinguish between the types of film that require clear exposition and those that don’t. 21 was based on true events so knowing the basics of blackjack is non-negotiable. With exposition, we’d just be watching people playing cards without knowing why. It’s the same story as Jurassic Park. Although it’s not real, the plot is plausible. Thus, we need some foundation to work from.
A Quiet Place is based on suspense. It’s a sci-fi thriller, so keeping us in the dark is part of the process. Telling us too much too soon would render it predictable. Context matters. We can all agree that too much exposition pulls out of the fantasy. It makes a movie feel stilted and unrealistic. However, if we don’t get any exposition in certain contexts, deciphering the plot becomes impossible. So, while success might not hinge on the right amount of exposition, it’s a dramatic technique that can’t be overlooked.
Parents are speaking out about their daycare being unavailable for weeks due to the ongoing strike at Capilano University.
“I know financially for us and others, finding child care and being able to go to work has the been the biggest struggle,” parent Robin Norris told Global News.
MoveUp Local 378, which represents about 350 unionized inside workers at the university, started job action in May after talks with the university collapsed over the issue of having remote work added to their collective agreement. The Capilano Faculty Association joined the strike in solidarity on June 6, halting classes at the school’s campuses.
However, mediation did not result in an agreement and the university said on July 13 that it has requested a report from the mediator to confirm areas of agreement and outline outstanding issues, if any.
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Due to the strike, the on-campus daycare has not been open and available for parents.
It is a $10-a-day facility, but Norris said some parents have had to hire additional child care for around $25 an hour just so they are able to go to work.
“I know many child care runs minimum 25 bucks an hour, so at times eight hours, that’s $200,” he said. “So many people have now taken on upwards of $5,500 since the start of the strike. There’s 70 families there. So that’s approaching $400,000 in terms of, you know, an overall impact to the local families on the North Shore.”
Norris added that he and his wife have also taken time off work to care for their child, but overall they have had to pay about $5,000 more in child care since the start of the strike versus if the daycare had been open.
Low wages leading to daycare staffing crisis in B.C.
He said they were given one day’s notice that a strike could be looming.
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“It’s definitely been a struggle,” Norris said, “and been an impact on us and others in terms of quality of life and other factors as well.”
In addition, he said the summer camps at the university in which they enrolled their two older children were also cancelled so they had no care for their three children.
“I think the full scope of this impact and how long we could sustain it is unknown at this point.”
B.C. daycares struggle with severe staffing shortages
Sharon Gregson, the provincial spokesperson for the successful $10-a-day child care campaign working with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., told Global News said this situation is not good for anyone involved.
She said this increase in cost to find other child care options illustrates just how important the $10-a-day program is.
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“It confirms what we’ve been hearing since 2018 when $10-a-day child care sites were first launched. That it is life-changing for families,” she said.
“It is something that is now the standard that everybody who’s got young children wants and needs to be able to access. It is fundamental to families, being able to participate in studies or in the workforce. It is now the standard for child care affordability.”
In a statement, Christy Slusarenko, MoveUP6’s vice-president of combined units said the university administration refused their offer for binding mediation, which would have ended the strike quickly.
“Our members want to be back at work providing service for the campus community, including vital childcare services, but we need a fair deal that respects our members and the work they do,” she said.
“The university administration needs to come back to the bargaining table and get a deal done instead of trying to attack workers who are standing up for their rights.”
Powell River daycare operator left in limbo by immigration backlog
In a statement to Global News, Capilano University said it is working to resolve the strike and get employees back to work.
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“CapU sympathizes with the hardships faced by parents of the Children’s Centre as a result of the strike,” the statement read.
“The University is using every available labour relations tool to try and resolve this dispute so that employees come back to work and services people depend on like child care, can resume.”
For the first time since Peacock debuted in 2020, NBCUniversal is hiking the monthly prices on the streaming service.
Starting at midnight ET Monday evening, NBCU will notify existing Peacock customers that their rates will be increasing as of next month. Effective Aug. 17, for existing users on their next billing cycle and immediately for new customers, the price of Peacock Premium (with ads) will increase by $1, to $5.99 per month, and Peacock Premium Plus (which is mostly commercial-free) will rise $2, to $11.99 per month.
In the three years since Peacock’s launch, the platform has added more than 80,000 hours of content, and will reach nearly 100,000 hours total over the coming year, according to NBCU. That includes exclusive pay-1 window movies from Universal Filmed Entertainment Group; NBC and Bravo episodes next-day; streaming channels from Hallmark and Reelz; and daily mornings news from CNBC and MSNBC.
Peacock’s lineup includes more than 5,000 hours of live sports, which NBCU says gives it the most live sports of any direct-to-consumer streaming service in the U.S. Sports content on Peacock includes the FIFA Women’s World Cup (July), Sunday Night Football, an NFL Wild Card Playoff Game (January 2024), Premier League soccer, Big 10 football (beginning fall 2023), Notre Dame football and WWE’s SummerSlam.
Library film and TV titles on Peacock include “Yellowstone,” “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “New Girl,” and the Harry Potter movie series. Peacock’s original series include “Poker Face,” “Mrs. Davis,” “The Continental,” “Bel-Air,” “Dr. Death,” “Based on a True Story” and “Bupkis.”
YouTube is experimenting with a way to help sickos like me watch videos as fast as humanly possible. The test, which YouTube Premium subscribers can opt in to, lets you long-press on the video player to set the playback speed to 2x, according to YouTube’s experiments page (via 9to5Google).
To me, this sounds like a huge upgrade; currently, moving up the playback speed on YouTube can take a few annoying steps. On the mobile app, you need to tap the video, tap the three dots menu, tap playback speed, and then you can pick from the different options. It’s a similar set of steps on the mobile and desktop web. (Though, on desktop, you can use Shift and the less than or greater than keys to speed up or slow things down without digging into the menus.) The new feature seems to take some inspiration from TikTok: if you long-press a TikTok video, the app will bring up a bunch of different options, including a playback speed menu.
YouTube’s test of the long-press is available until August 13th, the experiments page says. I’m not a Premium subscriber, so I can’t test it myself, but I dearly hope that YouTube rolls the feature out to everyone sometime after the experiment ends. (And if anyone at YouTube is reading this, please let me watch videos at something faster than 2x speed.)
Peacock is phasing in the first price hike in its three-year history, which will increase the rate for the streaming service’s Premium tier by $1 a month and that of Premium Plus by $2 a month.
After the increase, the new prices will be $5.99 for Premium and $11.99 for Premium Plus. The latter tier is virtually ad free and also includes access to live, local NBC channels and the ability to download programming. The update will take effect on August 17 for existing subscribers and immediately for new ones.
NBCUniversal parent Comcast will report new figures later this month as part of quarterly earnings, but as of March 31, Peacock had 22 million subscribers. The service has grown more rapidly than most since a strategic shift in 2021 from its free, ad-supported origins toward a focus on paid subscribers. Still, it remains a laggard compared with traditional company-backed rivals Disney+, Max and Paramount+, not to mention pure streamers Netflix and Prime Video. Red ink continues to spill (as for most in the streaming arena), with losses projected by the company to peak at $3 billion this year. Upon launch, execs predicted the service would reach break-even by 2024; last year, they conceded that the move to profitability could take a bit longer than that.
The financials of Peacock are well-known to NBCU’s new overseer, Mike Cavanagh, the Comcast president who was previously chief financial officer. He took responsibility for NBCU three months ago when former CEO Jeff Shell exited the company amid disclosures of an inappropriate relationship with a colleague.
Peacock is certainly not alone in raising streaming prices, with some rivals implementing multiple step-ups in the time it has taken for NBCU to pull that lever for the first time.
Programming on Peacock, both live and on-demand, has continued to expand as NBCU has navigated both a competitive direct-to-consumer field and ongoing viewer migration to streaming and away from linear pay-TV. Original programming took time to gain traction but recent additions to the roster like Poker Face, Mrs. Davis and Bupkis have resonated. Along with onboarding full networks and experiences from WWE, Hallmark and Reelz, the platform has also taken the pay-1 film release window that used to belong to third-party premium cable networks and laid claim to NBCU titles that used to go to Hulu in next-day windows (notably Bravo and NBC fare).
Comcast is negotiating with Disney for an exit to its longtime interest in Hulu. The company still has a one-third stake in the service stemming from NBC’s initial role as a founding partner in it.
Live sports are also part of the lure for Peacock, with Premier League soccer and events like the Olympics and the Women’s World Cup having extensive offerings. NBCU also snared exclusive rights to an NFL playoff game next January.
More recently, the shows Winning Time and Mike have chronicled the journey of famed sportspeople. So, in the spirit of highlighting incredible actors transforming for their roles, here are 19 performers who played actual athletes on screen to uncanny success:
Britney Spears and Will.I.Am will reunite on a new single that’s set to arrive tomorrow (July 18), the Black Eyed Peas member confirmed via social media on Monday.
Will.I.Am shared the news with a video teaser that was posted to his social media with the caption reading “Uh Oh!!!” In the seconds-long clip, the artists’ taglines are heard: “You are now, now rockin’ with Will.i.am and Britney, bitch.”
Meanwhile, Spears is heard singing what is presumably the song’s chorus — “Mind your business, bitch” — over an up-tempo beat. The teaser ends with the announcement that the single arrives tomorrow and Will.I.Am also included the hashtag, “MindyourBusiness.”
The duo has previously worked together on “Big Fat Bass,” a 2011 release that appeared on Spears’ “Femme Fatale” album, and “Scream & Shout,” the lead single from Will.I.Am’s “Willpower” record. The latter was released alongside a music video that gave Spears her first entry into YouTube’s Billion Views Club. Will.i.am also executive-produced Spears’ 2013 album, “Britney Jean.”
This track will be Spears’ first release since she joined Elton John for “Hold Me Closer,” a re-imagined remix of his classic hit “Tiny Dancer.” The track earned Spears her first appearance on the Billboard charts after nearly a decade away.
News of the new single comes on the heels of Spears setting a date and revealing the title of her upcoming, much-buzzed-about memoir “The Woman in Me.” Spears’ book is slated for release on Oct. 24 and will be published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The book is said to tell Spears’ story “on her own terms, at last,” according to the publisher’s announcement.
Spears had been living under a court-ordered conservatorship placed by her father, Jamie Spears, since 2007. Though the singer continued to work, touring and holding a Las Vegas residency, the conservatorship remained in place. Rumors spread among fans that the pop star was being held in the conservatorship against her will, spawning the “#FreeBritney” movement which ultimately led to her release.
We’ve got some exciting news for Guardians of the Galaxyfans! Marvel Studios has just released a trailer announcing that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. will be making its streaming debut on Disney Plus (Disney+) on August 2, 2023.
You can check out the awesome announcement below:
If you didn’t have a chance to see it in theaters, you’ll want to mark your calendars because Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is simply not to be missed. For those unfamiliar, Volume 3 marks the return of our favorite band of misfits are back but there have been some changes! The crew is still coming to terms with the loss of Gamora, and Peter Quill must rally his team around him to defend the universe and protect one of their own. A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.
Photo: Disney
James Gunn returned to direct the third installment of Guardians along with cast members Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter and Maria Bakalova. Kevin Feige produces and Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nikolas Korda, Simon Hatt, and Sara Smith are executive producers.
Readers are encouraged to follow MickeyBlog for further Disney-related news and updates. We’ll be coming to you LIVE! from the theme parks each and every week.
Photo: MickeyTravels
Have you heard the news? MickeyTravels just earned the incredible distinction of being a Diamond Earmarked Agency!
Whether it’s a visit to the theme parks, a Disney cruise, a stay at Aulani in Hawaii, or the trip of a lifetime with Adventures by Disney, I can’t wait to help you plan your vacation utilizing all of our incredible concierge-level services. This injdjdjdcludes discount monitoring, itinerary planning, flexible booking, and more. Best of all my services are 100% FREE!
Max recommended four DC shows to watch as “homework” before Superman: Legacy:
“Never too early to start doing your homework. Dive into these DC Super Heroes on Max.”
This comes after the announced castings for the upcoming DCU reboot movie.
1.) Justice League
Hawkgirl
Main focus: Hawkgirl
Justice League is an animated series from Cartoon Network that is part of the DC Animated Universe. The show’s Justice League consists of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter.
In the series, Shayera Hol aka Hawkgirl is one of the founding members of the team and a former member of the Thanagarian military. The DC heroine’s most prominent storylines from the show are the Thanagarian invasion (where she played an important role on both sides) and her romance plot with John Stewart aka Green Lantern.
The DCU’s version of Hawkgirl is not the same one from the animated series. Instead of the Shayera Hol version, the live-action reboot’s iteration will be Kendra Saunders, set to be played by Isabel Merced.
2.) Justice League Unlimited
Mister Terrific
Main focus: Mister Terrific
Justice League: Unlimited, the successor series to Justice League and the final entry to the expansive DC Animated Universe.
Mister Terrific played an important role in Justice League: Unlimited, serving as the team’s genius inventor and reliable member. Moreover, the DC hero also successfully coordinated the League in several missions, such as Darkseid’s invasion and Wade Elling’s rampage through Metropolis.
In the DCU, Edi Gathegi is lined up to play the live-action version of Mister Terrific.
3.) Young Justice
Metamorpho
Main focus: Metamorpho
While the Young Justice animated series explored the stories of young superheroes, it still managed to highlight other members of the Justice League, such as Metamorpho.
In the show, Metamorpho was loyal to Batman, with him joining the Dark Knight’s team which is composed of former members of the Justice League.
Metamorpho has the ability to alter the shape of his entire body or parts thereof while also being able to transmute his body into different elemental compounds.
Although the Green Lantern: Animated Series primarily focused on Hal Jordan and his partner Kilowog, the Cartoon Network animated series also introduced other Green Lanterns across space, such as Guy Gardner.
In the series, Gardner is an Honor Guard of the Green Lantern Corps. The character’s promotion was the fastest ever for any Lantern in the Corps.
While Gardner and Hal initially butt heads with one another, the pair resolved their differences after defeating the crisis involving three Manhunters.
That tiny webcam on your laptop has probably gotten more use in the last few years than it ever has before. Even if you’re going back into the office for meetings on occasion, chances are frequent video conference calls are a permanent part of your professional life. Once an afterthought, your computer’s webcam has become one of its most important components — and the fact remains that most built-in cameras are not able to provide consistent, high-quality video chat experiences.
This is where external webcams come in. They can do wonders for people who spend most of their working hours on video conferences, and those who picked up a new hobby of streaming on Twitch or YouTube over the past couple of years. But as with most PC accessories, it can be tough to sort through the sea of options out there and find the best webcams for your needs. We get it, so we tested out a bunch of the latest webcams to see which are worth your money and which you can safely skip.
What to look for in a webcam
Resolution and field of view
While some newer computers have 1080p webcams, most built-in cameras have a resolution of 720p, so you’ll want to look for an external webcam that’s better than that. FHD webcams will give you a noticeable bump in video quality; ideally, you’re looking for something that can handle 1080p at 60fps or 30fps. If you’re considering a cheap 720p webcam, make sure to get one that supports at least 30fps (most will) or, even better, 60fps. However, if your primary concern is better picture quality during video calls, 1080p is the way to go.
Some webcams can shoot in 4K, but that’s overkill for most people. Not to mention most video conferencing services like Zoom, Google Meet and Skype don’t even support 4K video. When it comes to streaming, Twitch maxes out at 1080p video, but YouTube added 4K live streaming back in 2016. Ultimately, with 4K webcam shots having such limited use, most people can get by with a solid 1080p camera.
Field of view (FOV) controls how much can fit in the frame when you’re recording. Most webcams I tested had a default field of view of around 78 degrees, which captured me and enough of my background to prove that I really need to organize my home office. On cheaper webcams you’ll usually see narrower fields of view (around 60 degrees), and those aren’t necessarily bad. They won’t show as much of your background, but that also means you won’t be able to squeeze as many friends or family members into frame when you’re having Zoom birthday parties. On the flip side, more expensive webcams may let you adjust the field of view to be even wider than average.
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
Autofocus and other “auto” features
Webcams with autofocus will keep the image quality sharp without much work on your part. You should be able to move around, step back and forth, and remain in focus the whole time. Some standalone webcam models let you manually adjust focus, too, if you have specific needs. Devices with fixed focus are less convenient, but they tend to be more affordable.
In the same vein is auto framing, a feature that some high-end webcams now offer. Similarly to Apple’s Center Stage feature, the camera automatically adjusts to keep you in the center of the frame even as you move around. This used to be a feature only available on the most premium webcams, but now you can find it on sub-$200 devices.
You’ll also see other “auto” features listed in webcam specs, most notably auto light correction. This will adjust the camera’s settings to make up for a dimly lit room. If you don’t have bright lights, or often take calls in places where you can’t control the lighting, this feature will be valuable.
Microphones
Most webcams have built-in microphones that, depending on your setup, might end up being closer to you than your computer’s own mics. Check to see if the model you’re considering has mono or stereo mics, as the latter is better. Some even use noise-reduction technology to keep your voice loud and clear. While audiophiles and streamers will want to invest in a standalone microphone, most others can get by using a webcam’s built-in mic.
Design
There aren’t a ton of fascinating breakthroughs when it comes to external webcam design. Most are round or rectangular devices that clip onto a monitor or your laptop screen. Some have the ability to swivel or screw onto a tripod stand and others can simply sit on your desk beside your computer. But unless you really like having people stare up your nose, the latter isn’t ideal. We recommend clipping your webcam to your monitor and ensuring that it’s at or slightly above eye level.
A few webcams go above and beyond by adding hardware extras like built-in lights and lens covers, too. The former can help you stand out in a dark room, while the latter makes it so hackers can’t view you through your webcam without your knowledge.
Price
Most external webcams that are just good enough to be a step up from your computer’s built-in camera cost between $60 and $150. If the webcam has the same resolution as the internal one on your laptop, you should look out for other specs like auto light correction, a wider field of view or an extra-long connecting cable that can provide a step-up in quality or ease of use.
Spending $150 or more means you might get advanced features like 4K resolution, vertical and horizontal recording options, stereo mics, customizable video settings and more. But unless you’re spending hours on video calls each day or streaming multiple times each week, you can settle on a budget webcam and safely skip most of those high-end options.
Best overall: Logitech Brio 500
The Logitech Bio 500 is essentially an upgraded version of the beloved C920s HD Pro. It shoots the same quality of video — up to 1080p 30fps — but it has a wider field of view, an upgraded zoom, improved auto-light correction, a better mic array and a USB-C connecting cable. The biggest difference I noticed in testing the Bio 500 was the improved light correction. My home office can feel very cave-like when the blinds are shut or when it’s raining, but you wouldn’t know it when on a video call with me. Logitech’s RightLight 4 technology does a great job of brightening the whole shot when you’re in a dim or dark environment.
The Bio 500 works with the LogiTune software, which lets you customize camera settings like field of view, autofocus, contrast, brightness and more, plus lets you enable Show Mode and RightSight features. The former lets you present things on your desk just by tilting the camera down while the latter will automatically keep you in frame during calls even if you move around. RightSight works much like Apple’s Center Stage feature does on iOS devices, and most people will likely get more use out of this feature than Show Mode. If you prefer to keep things more consistent (or control how much of your background is visible), you can choose from 90-, 78- or 65-degree field of views instead of enabling RightSight.
Logitech also updated the design of the Bio 500. It’s made of recycled plastic and it comes in three different colors that you can match to other Logitech peripherals. The camera attaches magnetically to its base and it easily swivels from side to side when you need to adjust its position, plus it has a built-in lens cover for extra privacy when you’re not using it. Overall, it has the best mix of essential features and handy extras of any webcam we tested.
But $130 might be a lot for some people to spend on a webcam. We think it’s worth it if you’re primarily a hybrid or remote worker, but there is a cheaper option for those with tight budgets. The Logitech Brio 300 has many of the same core features as the Bio 500: 1080p resolution, auto light correction, a built-in privacy shutter and USB-C connectivity. However, you won’t get HDR support, an adjustable field of view, Show Mode or omnidirectional mics (although it does have a noise-reducing microphone of its own). It’s a pared-down version of the Bio 500 and it’ll only cost you $70.
Runner Up: Anker PowerConf C200
Anker’s cube-like PowerConf C200 webcam has has a lot of the same perks as our top pick, along with a few extras. Setup is equally as easy – just plug it into your computer or docking station and start using it. You can download the AnkerWork software to edit things like brightness, sharpness and contrast ratio, but I just kept all the defaults.
You’re also able to control the camera’s resolution and field of view with this software, too. The C200 webcam defaults to a 2K resolution, but you can bring it down to 1080p, 720p or even 360p if you wish. Same goes for field of view: The default is 95 degrees, but I bumped mine down to 78 degrees to spare my colleagues a wider view of my messy home office.
I was immediately impressed with the C200’s video quality: 2K is likely more than most people need (1080p should do just fine), but the extra sharpness and clarity is a nice touch. The webcam’s autofocus is quite fast, and its larger f/2.0 aperture captures more light so you stay illuminated even in darker settings.
In addition to a built-in lens cover that you can slide closed for privacy, the C200 has dual stereo mics that actually do a good job of capturing your voice loud and clear. You can also choose directional or omnidirectional vocal pickup in the AnkerWork settings, with the latter being better if you have multiple people speaking on your end.
My biggest complaints about the C200 webcam are that it’s a bit cumbersome to adjust its angle when it’s perched on your screen. Unlike most webcams, Anker’s doesn’t have a short neck of sorts that connects the camera to its adjustable base – it’s just one, chunky piece of plastic that I had to use both hands to adjust. Also, the C200 comes with a USB cable that’s much shorter than others. This won’t be a problem if you’re connecting the webcam directly to your laptop, but it’s not as flexible if you have a standing desk converter or a more complicated setup that requires long cables.
Best webcam for streaming: Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra
Razer built the Kiyo Pro Ultra for streaming and that’s immediately apparent as soon as you take the webcam out of the box. It’s huge. Its circular frame measures three inches in diameter and about two inches thick. It follows the design language of other Kiyo webcams, but it’s definitely the biggest of the bunch and that’s probably because Razer stuffed a lot into this peripheral. It has the biggest sensor of any Kiyo webcam (1/1.2 inches to be exact), and the company claims it’s the largest in any webcam, period. The Pro Ultra has a F/1.7 aperture lens as well, which lets in a ton of light and results in a super crisp image. It certainly delivered the best quality image of all the webcams I tested, which isn’t a surprise since it can capture raw 4k/30fps (or 1080p/60fps) footage.
Streamers will not only appreciate the high quality image coming from this cam, but also its HDR support, tasteful background blurring and face-tracking autofocus that swiftly transitions from zeroing-in on their face to whatever object they may be showing off to their viewers. It works with Razer’s Synapse software, too, so you can customize your image to your liking, tweaking things like zoom, pan, tilt, ISO and shutter speed. Just know that Synapse only works on Windows devices, so you’ll be stuck with default settings if you’re on macOS or Linux.
The Kiyo Pro Ultra is compatible with Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) and XSplit, so most streamers will be able to unbox it and get right to producing content. We also appreciate that you can twist the camera’s frame to physically shutter the lens, giving you more privacy when you need it. Undoubtedly, the Kiyo Pro Ultra is one of the most powerful webcams we tried out and it may even be overkill for streamers just starting out (our final pick might be better for those folks), but serious and professional content creators will love the quality video and customization options they get. If you want a similar level of quality and the ability to tweak settings on a Mac, Elgato’s Facecam Pro is a good alternative. It costs the same as the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, can record video at 4K/60fps and its Camera Hub software works on macOS and Windows.
Runner up: Logitech Streamcam
Of all the webcams I tested, I had the most fun using Logitech’s Streamcam. While it’s a bit weird to say I “had fun” with such an innocuous piece of tech, I found the Streamcam to be remarkable in many ways. First and foremost, the video quality is excellent, coming in at a sharp 1080p/60fps. Details in my clothing came through much better and, whether I liked it or not, so did some of the texture on my skin. The Streamcam was also one of the best webcams I tested when it came to color reproduction.
All of those perks remain the same even when you’re shooting in low-light conditions. The Streamcam’s auto-exposure feature made up for the darkness in my office on gloomy days. And it has the best kind of autofocus — the kind that you never notice in action.
The dual omnidirectional mics inside the Logitech Streamcam delivered my voice loud and clear during video calls. If you stream often and find yourself without an external mic, it’s nice to know that you could get by with the Streamcam’s built-in ones in a pinch. The microphones also have noise reduction to keep your voice font and center.
As far as design goes, the Streamcam is a bit larger than your standard cam. It’s a chunky almost-square that can easily be positioned on a monitor or on a tripod, and a unique feature of its design is its ability to shoot either vertically or horizontally. I kept mine in the standard 16:9 format, but some content creators and streamers who post to social media often will like the 9:16 format that’s best for Instagram and TikTok. Logitech also made sure the Streamcam was optimized for OBS, XSplit and Streamlabs, so you can use it directly out of the box for your next live session.
The Golden Apricot Film Festival, now in its twentieth year, always tends to spotlight films from countries in the region which are not likely to get much exposure at other festivals. This, in addition, of course, to a wide selection of other films from around the world and prize winners from top festivals such as Cannes and Venice.
On Bastille Day, July 14th, I caught up with two off-beat Georgian features at the Big red Hall in Kino Moskva.
The first, “Magic Mountain” (by Mariam Chachia and Nik Voigt)was a documentary about a remote Tuberculosis Asylum in the mountains of Eastern Georgia. Director Mariam Chachia, was herself a TB patient here many years ago when, under Soviet domination it was shameful to be burdened with this highly contagious disease, and felt it was finally time to talk about it now.
The edgy cinematography by Irish German collaborator Nik Voigt reveals a bleak white building with stark bare floors and unadorned white walls wherein reside a collection of terminal, or near terminal TB victims who gradually form a tight sub society. Much of the film focuses on their uneasy relations with the hospital staff and the members of the staff itself. Doing their best to keep their charges alive.
Along the way we find out that this building was originally a villa built by the last member of the Russian Romanov dynasty when, on a trip to India, he was told of this “magic mountain” where his own TB could be cured. His cure was achieved there but at the age of 28 he was kiiled in a bicycle accident.
This is hardly an uplifting film emotionally but it focuses on the need to deal with
Unpleasant old memories in an unflinching way. The relatively short running time of 73. Minutes seems twice that long because of the density of the events recounted.
EXCLUSIVE: The Chosen creator Dallas Jenkins has said he is thankful that SAG-AFTRA has granted one of its first interim agreements to season four of his hit faith drama, allowing it to continue filming despite the strike.
Jenkins told us today: “As an independent show with two weeks remaining to film our current season, we appreciate SAG’s recognition that not all productions are the same. We’ve agreed to all the terms of their current interim agreement.”
Utah-shot series The Chosen barely missed a beat, only having to shoot a day or two without cast before filming resumed today. The series includes multiple SAG actors, including star Jonathan Roumie who plays Jesus.
Producers were keen to point out the current season’s indie credentials, emphasising that it is “entirely funded by fans” and that it “currently has no licensing deals”. The show initially airs for free on its own website and app. Previous seasons have been carried by streamers and yesterday the first season of the show had its network premiere on The CW.
Lionsgate has distribution rights to the first three seasons but producers declined to comment whether the indie-major also controls the fourth season, only noting that their Lionsgate deal was not an impediment to getting the interim agreement.
So far, there are only two known productions to have been granted interim agreements: The Chosen and movie Bride Hard. We understand that at least half a dozen others have been given the green light and SAG-AFTRA told Deadline today that “hundreds” have applied. We’re expecting the union to release a preliminary list of approved productions in the next 48 hours.
Interim agreements — or waivers, as many in the industry are calling them — are being granted to “truly independent producers” as long as they are not affiliated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and agree to be bound retroactively to whatever contract terms eventually are achieved with the AMPTP when the strike is settled.
The Chosen certainly has indie roots given it is widely regarded as one of the most successful crowdfunded TV series of all time. According to a Wall Street Journal profile, two years ago viewers had already contributed $40M towards its production. Texas-based indie Out Of Order Studios produces.
The historical drama tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of those who knew him, charting his teachings and ‘miracles’ as he embarks on his ministry to change the world.
As we reported yesterday, being granted an interim agreement is one thing, and hard enough. There are then other hurdles that need to be overcome to get cameras rolling.
In light of Pixar’s losing streak at the box office, Disney CEO Bob Iger recently addressed the studio’s overall difficult situation, with one comment appearing to hint specifically at Lightyear‘s failure. Despite mixed critical reception, the Toy Story spin-off underperformed in theaters, becoming one of the few major flops in Pixar history. Far from being an isolated incident, Lightyear is representative of the animation studio’s current downward trend, which has already been reinforced by the very modest profit grossed by its latest release, Elemental.
Centered around the movie starring the character inspired Toy Story‘s Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans), Lightyear struggled to find its footing among audiences and is by far the weakest link in an otherwise wildly successful franchise. The state of affairs for Pixar’s latest underwhelming projects has been recently discussed by Disney CEO Bob Iger, who provided his take on the legendary company’s downfall. Among his comments on the root causes of Pixar’s issues, one is especially significant for Lightyear‘s future (and beyond).
Bob Iger might have implicitly pointed to poor creative decisions as the ultimate reason for Lightyear‘s fiasco. In an interview with The Wrap, the Disney CEO largely attributed Pixar’s latest commercial fails to the studio’s drive to increase content output for Disney+ and the direct-to-streaming model but openly admitted that there were some “creative misses” as well. Being related to the very quality of the ideas behind the films, this comment stands out among the others and is very likely aimed at Lightyear.
The choice of a Buzz-centered prequel was met with a fair share of skepticism from the start, with the original Toy Story director being critical of Lightyear because of how the character was handled. Moreover, Iger pretty much cannot be referring to other recent releases, as Turning Red, Soul, and Luca all received consistently good reviews despite still being a far cry from Pixar’s golden age. This leaves out Onward and Lightyear, but the latter had a generally worse reception and was the most blatant fail between the two.
Whether because of strategy or creativity issues, Disney is aware that Lightyear was a failed attempt. As much as the box office bomb was essentially unanticipated, the general feeling is that the company knows that the Space Ranger origin story did not meaningfully add to the Toy Story franchise and its premise was simply not strong enough to hold up to the studio’s standards. In this sense, Pixar executive Pete Doctor’s statements about Lightyear‘s flop confirm this perception.
Disney’s attempt to batten down the hatches was not long in coming. Despite Toy Story 4 delivering a satisfying ending to Woody and Buzz’s story, Toy Story 5 has already been announced and is in the works. The intention to continue a successful franchise is not surprising in and of itself, but the timing and the last installment’s ending make it at least a bit suspicious. Other than being an awkward attempt at a redemption arc, this decision is also a big testament to Disney’s awareness of the Lightyear debacle.
Lightyear 2 Isn’t The Only Casualty Of Pixar’s Creative Failure
At this point, it’s clear that Lightyear is not going to get a sequel, which is probably not such an unexpected choice given the movie’s failure. However, Pixar’s failure at delivering a successful Buzz origin story might have much larger implications for Disney’s animation studio as a whole. Lightyear‘s poor critical reception and box office bomb, in fact, set a negative precedent for prequels, spin-offs, and pretty much any story that takes familiar characters out of their usual worlds. While Pixar’s strength has always been finding unique stories around which beloved movies are built, the studio has seemed to have lost its touch in that area in the past few years.
In this respect, Lightyearruled out the chances of many other projects ever being brought to fruition, with Disney showing that it wants to be more selective about the projects it greenlights moving forward. With the latest underwhelming results, Pixar and Disney are not going to want to take other big risks by pursuing similar creative directions. While it is impossible to know whether the future holds greener pastures for the company, the idea that Disney is going to want to play it safe for a while, which is confirmed by Toy Story 5, does not sound like a great prospect.
EXCLUSIVE:SAG-AFTRA is on strike, but not all members of the union won’t be working.
Since the 160,000 strong SAG -AFTRA officially declared on June 14 that it was joining the Writers Guild on the picket lines, the Fran Drescher-run group has been working on granting waivers to indie productions.
“We put the application process up on the first day of the strike,” said SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland today outside Netflix. “And we’ve already got hundreds of applications …we will be responding to all of them,” the union leader added, noting the project can’t have “any AMPTP fingerprints on them” if they hope to be granted an interim agreement a.k.a. waiver.
In fact, with projects like The Chosen already claiming to have been given the greenlight, a preliminary list of approved productions is expected to be made public by SAG-AFTRA later today or tomorrow, I hear.
“We will give as many interim agreements as we can, so long as they are truly independent,” Crabtree-Ireland state on the picket line Monday as the first full week of the union’s latest strike kicked off. “Our staff has to read each and every one to make sure that they are truly independent …we’re working through that as fast as we can,” the National Executive Director went on to say.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Adam Conover and Rep Adam Schiff
Rosy Cordero
Union rules permit provable independent, non-AMPTP productions that desire to film under SAG-AFTRA’s now expired TV/Theatrical Agreements and related contracts could be eligible for an interim agreement to keep filming. Successful applicants for an interim agreement will be bound retroactively to whatever contract terms eventually are achieved with the studios and streamer when a new contract is ultimately reached — whenever that may be.
No interim agreement/waiver is required for productions filming under several of the guild’s lowest budget agreements. Why? Because they are not being struck. Those exemptions include the Short Project Agreement, the Micro Budget Agreement, the Student Film Agreement, and the Independent New Media Agreement.
Having said that, in a tense time in Tinseltown and expecting some to try to abuse the agreements SAG-AFTRA also make clear that their board has “discretion with respect to rules/conditions governing the strike and they have the ability to adjust strike rules as necessary.”
Last week, prominentTwitter Blue accounts began posting screenshots of thousand-dollar payouts they received through the platform’s newly launched ad revenue-sharing program.
The program grants high-engagement Twitter users who’ve paid for verification “a share in ad revenue starting in the replies to their posts.” To qualify, users need to have at least five million impressions on their posts in each of the last three months.
Figures like Andrew Tate, a misogynistic media personality who is currently facing charges of human trafficking in Romania, took home more than $20,000. Other influential right-wing accounts like Ian Miles Cheong, Benny Johnson, and QAnon influencer Jacob Creech netted several thousand. But it’s not all sunshine and checks, a number of prominent conservative accounts are furious that they were excluded from the first round of payments — some even think the system will make the website worse.
The account @Catturd2, an anonymous right-wing shitposter whose real-world identity is concealed by pseudonymous cat, boasts almost two million followers. Previously a Musk sycophant, Catturd has soured on the billionaire in recent months, and wrote on Monday that “most, not all, of the hand-picked Twitter accounts who were given big checks, not because of their ad revenue potential, but for being teacher’s pets are becoming insufferable.”
Catturd complained that he had “tried to figure out how I could get paid at first because of the size of my engagements and the years of work I’ve put in, but now that I see what’s going on, I’m good.”
“I don’t want my account to become a suck-up cringefest,” he added.
Most, not all, of the hand-picked Twitter accounts who were given big checks, not because of their ad revenue potential, but for being teacher’s pets are becoming insufferable.
They used to have accounts that interested me but now it’s just a 24 hour Twitter advertisement on…
In the comments of Catturd’s post, a crowd of verified users complained that they too had not been included in the program. “We didn’t get a check either, and we signed up back in February,” wrote the pro-Trump comedic duo The Hodge Twins, whose shared account has more than two-million followers.
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Dr. Anna Maria Loupis, a Danish medical professional who regularly trafficks in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, wrote to her half a million followers that Twitter “has become so bad and unfair – Paying and boosting some influencers while destroying others.”
Loupus included a screenshot of the website Twitter Shadowban Test, allegedly showing that her account engagement was being artificially restricted by the platform. “If @elonmusk decides to keep his promises of free speech, I’ll start tweeting again,” she wrote.
The Covid vaccine conspiracy group Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, which has accumulated just short of 30,000 followers, wrote that they have “been trapped in a never-ending ‘subscription review’ on Twitter for months.”
“While @elonmusk enjoys raking in our Twitter blue fees, it seems he’s blocking monetization for our movement,” they wrote.
? Urgent update! VSRF & other health freedom organizations have been trapped in a never-ending “subscription review” on Twitter for months. While @elonmusk enjoys raking in our Twitter blue fees, it seems he’s blocking monetization for our movement. Spread the word! https://t.co/kOgVpffAqh
— Vaccine Safety Research Foundation (@VacSafety) July 17, 2023
Turning Point USA personality Drew Hernandez complained that he hadn’t “received a penny and have millions of impressions past 3 months, pay for Twitter Blue, and been activated for Subscriptions.”
The griping from mid-tier influencers who feel jilted by Musk is not unfounded. According to The Washington Post, plenty of creators are privately irked by what they see as Musk playing favorites and arbitrarily granting monetization to accounts he likes. One anonymous former Twitter executive told the Post that the numbers used to calculate an account’s engagement metrics “are totally and completely bogus” and that it “feels like they’re arbitrarily writing checks to people they like, which is not a sustainable creator strategy.”
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“Any kind of content monetization we’ve done in the past was based on a revenue model,” the executive added. “This just feels pulled out of thin air for a specific subset of creators that [Musk] wanted to placate.”
The subject of revenue looms large over Twitter. The company is facing a slew of lawsuits from former employees who claim they are collectively owed millions in severance agreements that Musk never followed through on. On Monday, former employees of Twitter Africa revealed to CNN that the company had “ghosted” them after promising months of severance, and help with relocation expenses and legal fees.
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On top of the lawsuits, Musk publicly confirmed on Saturday that the company is still experiencing “negative cash flow,” citing a “~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.”
“Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” Musk wrote.
Cillian Murphy said during an interview on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast that Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” was made on a relentlessly fast schedule. “We made the movie unbelievably quickly. We made it in 57 days,” the actor revealed. “The pace of that was insane.”
By comparison, Nolan’s World War II survival thriller “Dunkirk” shot for 68 days, and his massive spy movie “Tenet” shot for 96 days. Murphy is front and center in a majority of “Oppenheimer” scenes, making the shorter shooting schedule all the more intense for the actor.
“The sets are huge, but it feels like being on an independent movie,” Murphy added about working with Nolan, which he has been doing for over 20 years now. “There’s just Chris and the cameraman — one camera always, unless there’s some huge, huge set piece — and the boom op and that’s it. There’s no video village, there’s no monitors, nothing. He’s a very analog filmmaker.”
Even though “Oppenheimer” shot for 57 days, which is one of Nolan’s shorter shoots, the film runs three hours and is the longest of the director’s career. The cast and crew lived together in the same hotel during the film’s production, but Murphy never joined his fellow ensemble for dinner due to the intensity of playing the lead role.
“Of course he didn’t want to come and have dinner with us,” Matt Damon recently told People magazine. “He couldn’t. His brain was just too full.”
Emily Blunt reasoned that Murphy did not attend cast dinners because “the sheer volume of what he had to take on and shoulder is so monumental.”
For Murphy, “Oppenheimer” marks the biggest leading role of his film career thus far. That kind of pressure isolated the actor. “You know that when you have those big roles, that responsibility, you feel it’s kind of overwhelming,” he told People.
Nolan and Murphy’s working relationship now includes six movies: Three Batman films, “Inception,” “Dunkirk” and “Oppenheimer.” Notably, the upcoming atomic bomb drama marks Murphy’s first time headlining a Nolan picture in the lead role. He told the Associated Press earlier this year that he “was desperate” to lead a Nolan movie.
“I have always said publicly and privately, to Chris, that if I’m available and you want me to be in a movie, I’m there. I don’t really care about the size of the part,” Murphy said. “But deep down, secretly, I was desperate to play a lead for him.”
“Oppenheimer” opens in theaters July 21 from Universal Pictures.
For the first time since 1960, both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA(then only the SAG) have simultaneously gone on strike. While that’s been commonly expressed to every major outlet, there’s a lot to note of such occurrences. Of course, there are key differences in some of the goals of both; primarily in regards to streaming and AI. However, the conditions leading to such a dual strike to occur have more similarities than one may expect. As such, it’s worth comparing the events of both 2023 and 1960, as it could provide an idea of how this could affect the industry moving forward.
History of the 1960 Strike
While a common place in homes now, television was to 1960 what streaming is to 2023. Being a massive game changer, nearly 45 Million Americans owned a TV in 1960. From an executive perspective, those in Hollywood saw both the threat, and potential in television. This especially as the film industry had been in decline throughout the 1950s, despite a few big hits. This in part was due to the release of many high budget films, which saw little returns, and smaller independent productions, social shifts, and of course, television, providing new competition.
Likewise, writers and actors’ believed residuals should be owed to them if showing their work on television, especially in regards to reruns. Many executives and producers felt the opposite of this. As a result, January 16, 1960 saw the WGA go on strike against the ATFP. SAG, led at the time by Ronald Reagan, followed soon after on March 1. In total, the strikes lasted 21 weeks, ending with huge victories for both unions. SAG would get its new contract on April 18, with the WGA following later until June 12.
SAG would manage to gain residuals for any movies made after 1960, and a one-time payment of $2.25 million for use as a pension and health plan for its members. The WGA meanwhile got a contract which would allow for 4% residual fees for TV reruns, and a 1.2% cut of TV broadcast license fee’s for any movies they wrote, in addition to money used for healthcare and pension.
Looking over all of this, at least in regard to residuals, it’s easy to see the similarities to what is seen today with streaming. Still, there are a few differences.
Background of the 2023 Strike
Compared to residuals of television, streaming residuals for both actors and writers are far, far less. In part as a result of the 2007 strike, subscriber count is how residuals are primarily decided, rather than viewership. In addition, utilizing fewer episodes for streaming shows leads to reducing the amount of residual writers receiving. Another issue writer’s face is streamers drastically cutting down the size of writers’ rooms. These ‘mini-rooms’ make it much harder for up and coming writers to get their foot in the door, as show runners are likely only to focus on getting quality writers, as opposed to those inexperienced. All in all, streaming is simply a bad deal for writers all around.
Of course, actors don’t have it much better. For an original streaming program, residual pay is only available for 90 days after going live. Of course, any residuals that one does receive are often pennies, and in total, may not even make more than a few hundred dollars. Even big name actors are affected by this, as most of their payment goes towards agents, lawyers, managers, etc. For up and coming actors, the payment is often so small, they can barely afford to pay for their homes.
Of course, there is a major difference between the 1960 strike and 2023… technology and AI.
The Threat of AI
Hollywood is a business. The ideal business goal, is to make as much money as possible, while spending as little as possible. AI presents such a frightening opportunity. Of course, it still has some ways to go, but its potential is clear. With programs like ChatGPT and AI Actors, major studios would be all too likely to utilize this tech in place of real people, if only for the fact that money doesn’t need to be spent. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers(AMPTP) has shown little interest in discussions with both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA in this regard. Simply put, rather than these studios cutting cost by reducing their unnecessarily high budgets for films that are more likely to under perform, they’d rather cut jobs and fast track technology as a solution.
In the case of writers, studios could simply generate a script, and only hire writers to clean up a script into something usable. As such, no residuals needed. Likewise, simply using an actor’s digital likeness means no payment needed, as this actor’s likeness would technically be their property. It’s easy to understand why many, both in the industry and consumers, find it a terrible prospect.
What’s Next?
The last time the dual strike occurred, it ended mostly in success for writers and actors. Such a major disruption in the industry was enough to force the hand of producers and executives to meet back for negotiations. Now, the same may just occur. Weeks ago, it was indicated that major studios and producers were going to wait out the WGA until they were desperate, perhaps even losing their homes. With both unions joining forces, and more public support for both writers and actors, it may be enough to force the AMPTP to reconsider negotiations. Only time will tell, but if 1960 is anything to go by, prospects are promising.
For information on both, check out the websites of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA.
