Sitting down to watch Into the Woods at Dr Phillips Center did not come with a particular expectation like some Broadway tours may offer. While the direct-from-Broadway production had the promise to deliver an impeccable night of theater, the classic fairy tales were waiting to tell a different story to the audience. Even if the real stories might be a little grim, those cautionary tales might have more relevant meaning than people realize.
For musical lovers, a Stephen Sondheim musical has certain qualities. Even if there are moments where the lyrics are quickly sung, the meaning behind those words is never overlooked. With a simple turn of a phrase, the audience can see the familiar in a different light.
With this production of Into the Woods, the sparse stage is not about the grandeur of those classic fairy tales. It is a reminder that the happily ever after is about the person, not the opulent palace, the pot of gold, or another form of status. Even if that wish might come true, how it was achieved and how it is lived might not be sunshine and rainbows.
In this story, four classic fairy tales are woven together by the Baker and his wife’s quest. Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack and the Beanstalk are familiar faces and plots but seen in a different light. Although many people appreciate that the classic tales are not quite “family” friendly in their original form, this cautionary tale brings a touch of that darkness while having a few laughs in the process.
As the Baker and his wife seek the four items to lift their childless curse, the choices that they make along that path may not always be what they seem. Even though the hypnotic melody lures the audience into the dark path, the lyrics serve as a reminder that the woods may not be what they seem.
Montego Glover Credit: Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade
The performances by this Broadway touring company are exquisitely delivered. Given the minimal set, their expressiveness is another element that adds to the show’s depth. The slight turn of the hand is just as important as the emotional delivery of a phrase.
Although her character might be the witch, Montego Glover steals the show with her conniving ways. Even though there is much manipulation by her character and outstanding dramatic singing moments, the subtly shines through in every note. Everyone is captured by the spell of her mesmerizing moments.
As Little Red Riding Hood, Katy Geraghty pushes away the character’s sweeter characteristics with inflection and determination. Her character might be small in stature, but she is a huge presence. Often the person who says what everyone only dares to murmur gives the audience the laughter break that they crave.
Stephanie J. Block, Sebastian Arcelus, and Katy Geraghty Credit: Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade
The Baker and his Wife, played by Sebastian Arcelus and Stephanie J. Block, laid the foundation of the cautionary tale. While the Woods might be intriguing, being seduced by its darkness can lead to dire consequences. As the Baker’s Wife succumbs to temptation, she realizes that dreams might be tempting but they are not always worth the sacrifice.
While there are many serious moments throughout the musical, the whimsy that people expect from the fairy tale is never far from view. It is impossible not to fall in love with Milky White, who is brought to life by Puppeteer Kennedy Kanagawa.
Aymee Garcia, Cole Thompson, and Kennedy Kanagawa Credit: Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade
The two princes are the cards that everyone loves to love and hate. Cinderella’s prince might have one of the best lines about his “charming” persona yet flawed character. These two royal brothers are not the version that people might see at another Orlando locale.
Overall, Into the Woods is a spectacular night of musical theater. Even if a few of those notes might have people wondering if they have stepped onto Fleet Street, this Sondheim musical has more light than darkness. Even though stepping into the woods might seem like the ultimate adventure, staying on the path could lead to great fulfillment.
Into the Woods plays Dat r. Phillips Center in Orlando through June 11. This multiple award-nominated touring production features several of the Broadway cast members. Additional dates can be found online.
Perspective is one of the building blocks of cinema. It’s often thought of as a visual tool, but it doesn’t stop there. The audience is forfeiting both their visual and auditory senses and it’s the filmmakers’ job to take them on a journey using both images and sound.
In sound world, we aren’t simply creating the literal reality of where a character is currently located; we’re using sound to give a sense of the emotional situation using the naturalistic elements of that location. It’s the process of creating an experience wherein the audience steps into the subjectivity of a character—and to create that, it isn’t always as simple as “see a dog, hear a dog.” The cut is what the audience sees and the sonic-perspective is what they feel.
Case in point: take a stressful scene, one where our hero screams out loud from angst and frustration. In an objective version of the sequence, since we would hear the character screaming in real life, then we would naturally think about hearing the scream in the sound mix. But another approach might be to follow the emotion of the character.
Sometimes in moments of extreme stress we project energy out and lose focus of our auditory experience. Choosing to not hear the scream creates a very different, but very visceral and internal, experience of that same moment.
Brad Pitt lets loose a scream in ‘Seven’ (1995, dir. David Fincher)
Another example of this approach is to use the naturalism of our world to highlight a perspective shift that can still feel viscerally subjective, but appear more naturalistic. Imagine a moment where we start on a close-up to a man who starts to have a medical issue. We hear his breathing close to us and feel his growing panic, breath growing more and more labored. Hard cut to a wide shot, showing he’s actually in the middle of a big crowd on a busy street—auditorily all we now hear is the manic bustling of the crowd and whoosh of cars passing by. We can no longer hear him. We see him fall to the ground silently, nobody notices. By having his sound be overwhelmed by the crowd, we create a sense of isolation that mirrors his own.
Moments are all contextual. As sound professionals, we choose to highlight them differently based on the story and what perspective we want the audience to adopt, as well as the sonic-perspective that creates the correct feeling in the audience.
Auditory POV on display in ‘Sound of Metal’ (2019, dir. Darius Marder)
One way to think more sonically while writing is to try to imagine your scene with as little dialog as possible. You can also talk to your sound designer in pre-production and discuss what’s goes through their head when reading the script—where might sonic cues be helpful to show-not-tell, or where might you be better served by planting the source of a sound onscreen so you are able to establish the world of the script and aren’t solely relying on an offscreen sound source we never see. This isn’t limited to sound design either, it’s also something you could loop your composer and music supervisor into, too.
Which all brings us to Bong Joon-ho’s The Host. We put together a video dissecting a key sequence in the film and going through the many ways he uses the cinematic medium to create a dynamic experience that plays with both subjectivity and objectivity. Watch it below:
About the author: Thomas Ouziel is the Supervising Sound Editor at MelodyGun Sound Studios in Hollywood. His credits include the survival film Arctic starring Mads Mikkelsen, Tribeca-winning documentary The Cave of Addelum and the Film Independent Spirit Award nominated Test Pattern.
Film Independent promotes unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work. To become a Member of Film Independent, just click here. To support us with a donation, click here.
The chief of a remote First Nation in northern Manitoba is proposing a national class action lawsuit against the federal government for failing to address the housing crisis in Indigenous communities.
Chief Elvin Flett, of St. Theresa Point First Nation, is seeking $5 billion in compensation, as well as an order that the federal government comply with its obligation to provide adequate housing on First Nations.
In a news release, the community says there are nearly 470 families that need homes, but Ottawa provided funding to build 20 two-bedroom units last year.
About 25 per cent of the homes in St. Theresa Point are condemned due to severe decay and rotting while others require major repairs.
Sherri Shepherd, 56, was so proud of her son Jeffrey Jr., 18, when she sent him off to his high school prom with his date. The daytime talk show host shared pictures of her teenage son in his suit and tie before he left the house for the prom in Manhattan on June 10. Sherri proudly posed in the house with Jeffrey Jr., who has special needs. Alongside the footage, Sherri revealed in her caption that she got emotional during the milestone moment. “‘Mom why are you crying? It’s just my prom!’ Watching my son put a corsage on his date’s wrist and helping her into the car… whew I think I did alright! #promnight,” Sherri wrote.
Sherri and her ex-husband Jeffrey Tarpley‘s son looked so handsome for his prom. Jeffrey Jr. wore a black suit with a blue tie and a matching kerchief. In one photo, Sherri smiled at the camera as she pinned a flower on her son’s suit jacket. She also brushed Jeffrey Jr.’s hair in the bathroom as he got ready for the big night. Sherri had on a pink shirt with white cargo pants in the photos.
The Sherrihost welcomed her son in April 2005, four years after she married Jeffrey Jr.’s father. Sherri and Jeffrey’s only child together was born with special needs. “He’s got developmental delays,” Sherri told Peoplein 2018. “I know that God created this little boy, who’s so yummy and special, and I have to accept him just in his little imperfect perfections. He’s perfectly imperfect in every way.”
Sherri Shepherd and her son Jeffrey Jr. (Photo: Mediapunch/Shutterstock)
After Sherri and Jeffrey divorced in 2009, they engaged in a dramatic custody battle in 2014. Jeffrey filed a petition at the time for temporary physical custody of Jeffrey Jr, claiming Sherri was neglecting him because of her hectic schedule. However, a judge ultimately ruled in Sherri’s favor, and she’s been a loving parent to her son ever since. For example, Sherri opened up in 2022 about how moving to NYC for her talk show would affect Jeffrey Jr.
“It has been hard for me letting him jump because I want to protect him from everything that could hurt him,” she wrote alongside a snap of the mother/son duo. “But as he says goodbye to me and walks to the A train to Queens with his friends to see the Mets play, I say a prayer to the One who created him that as he spreads his wings, God will be there to catch him,” Sherri added. “This world is cruel but I know that God knows Jeffrey much better than me and I am trusting that within the parameters of his ‘special needs’, he will thrive.”
Sherri has a second son, Lamar Jr., 8, with her second ex-husband, writer Lamar Sally. Lamar Jr. was conceived using Sally’s sperm and a donor egg, so Sherri technically isn’t biologically related to the child. Lamar Jr. has been raised by his father, and Sherri has never met him, according to People.
The Federal Trade Commission plans to seek a restraining order to block Microsoft from closing its $69 billion purchase of the gaming company Activision Blizzard, the latest regulatory hurdle for the largest deal in the tech company’s history.
The agency plans to file for the order in Northern California District Court, according to a person familiar with the agency’s plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive legal matter. The move will bring the federal government and Microsoft’s months-long battle over the deal to federal court; the FTC last year filed a lawsuit challenging the deal through an internal administrative process.
The filing is a gamble for antitrust enforcers, who have recently suffered a series of blows in the courts to their efforts to restrain the power of large technology companies. Earlier this year, a judge in the same district ruled against the agency when it attempted to block Facebook parent company Meta from acquiring the virtual reality company Within.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said he welcomed “the opportunity to present our case in federal court.” The deal is critical to the company’s ambitions in gaming, and it would give the Xbox maker control of popular titles including “Call of Duty.”
“We believe accelerating the legal process in the U.S. will ultimately bring more choice and competition to the market,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
EXCLUSIVE: We have your first look at 20 Days in Mariupol, the award-winning film that documents Russia’s brutal assault on the Ukrainian port city.
Ukrainian journalist, photographer and novelist Mstyslav Chernov directed the film, which earned the audience award for World Cinema Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Earlier this month, 20 Days in Mariupol was named Best Film in the Docu/Ukraine section of the Docudays UA Documentary Human Rights Film Festival in Kyiv. It also won the audience award at Docudays.
Chernov, working for the AP with field producer Vasilisa Stepanenko and photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, entered Mariupol hours before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. He captured shocking images of Russian troops targeting civilians, killing children, the elderly and thousands of others. Among the atrocities was the Russian bombing of a maternity hospital.
“The siege of Mariupol itself lasted 86 days,” Chernov told Deadline at Sundance. “These [first] 20 days are very symbolic. Mariupol itself as a city is very symbolic — it’s very symbolic for Russia and was important strategically for Russia to take. And it’s symbolic for Ukraine because it’s a symbol of resistance. The city was holding out for 86 days without any help, and an estimate of 25,000 people died, but the number could be more.”
For their work documenting the siege of Mariupol, Chernov, Stepanenko, Maloletka and Lori Hinnant won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service reporting.
20 Days in Mariupol is set to open on July 14 at Film Forum in New York City. A week later, the film opens at the Laemmle Monica in Santa Monica, Calif., and at the Roxie in San Francisco, expanding nationally thereafter in select cities.
The film shows the challenge Chernov faced trying to upload the footage and still photos he and his colleagues were taking, so that the world would see what Russian President Vladimir Putin had wrought. Sometimes he could use a satellite phone; other times a Ukrainian military official would guide him to one of the very few places in Mariupol still with an internet connection – a tiny island within the citywide WiFi dead zone.
“During the siege, we’ve been able to send only a tiny fraction of what I filmed. Yes, those were the most important shots. But usually, the international audience sees these images for a brief moment, for 30 seconds or a minute [as part of a news story],” Chernov told Deadline. “So there is no way for them to know more or to go deeper. And this film is an attempt to give more context on not only journalists’ work, but most importantly on the stories of these people.”
It was like the episode in Succession when Logan Roy dies: The news arrived on everyone’s phones simultaneously. It interrupted business meetings and casual gatherings, and disrupted students taking exams and end-of-season play-off games. It arrives in our offices, in our homes, while we were waiting in the checkout line of the supermarket. “Berlusconi is dead.”
It was an arresting moment in everyone’s life, all over the country. Everyone’s first reaction was the same: Are you sure? Students living abroad called their parents to check: Is it true?
No one believed it was possible, world-builders just don’t die. Who saw him, who was with him? Who can confirm? The doctors. The hospital confirmed. Yes, Silvio Berlusconi is dead.
He was 86 years old. He was suffering from leukemia. He leaves behind a very large family, confidants and caregivers in enormous numbers, a substantial number of widows, five children, none of them equal to their father, with the possible exception of the firstborn, Marina, but she is a woman this our patriarchal and male-oriented nation.
He leaves behind a political party, Forza Italia [Come on Italy], a name that itself is an exhortation not to give up, which is now destined to vanish without him. He leaves a right-wing government he helped create, a country that deep down resembles him, and a left-wing now devoid of its main enemy.
He leaves behind an unparalleled business empire built from nothing: He was the son of a clerk and a housewife. In 2021 Forbes estimated his personal wealth at $7.3 billion.
Vladimir Putin was among the first to offer condolences: “I lost a friend.” But Berlusconi’s film company, Medusa, also produced two Italian Oscar winners from two of Italy’s great left-wing directors: Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty, and Gabriele Salvatores’ Mediterraneo. So whose nemesis was he, exactly?
He was a four-time prime minister of Italy, running the country from 1994 to 2011 with three interruptions. The longest-serving prime minister in the history of the Italian Republic.
He was a defendant in more than 20 court cases, was convicted of tax fraud, and was consequently debarred as a senator. As soon as he could run for office again, in 2019, he was re-elected. Just a few months ago he ran for President of Italy and was very disappointed he did not win.
He often joked if he could, he would have run for Pope. But he didn’t have the qualifications. He first entered politics at 58 with a now-famous video in which he proclaimed: “Italy is the country I love.” He’d made a company great, he claimed and pledged to do the same for the country.
Over the next two decades, he transformed the history of Italy, and not only Italy. In the thirty years prior to entering politics, Berlusconi to changed TV, he changed cinema, soccer, and the rules of business itself. It all began with a small local TV station. With the help of the left, specifically the Socialist Party, he had a law written especially for him to allow him to compete with public, state-owned TV.
That was the beginning, in the late 1970s, of commercial TV, Italian style. It was game shows and half-naked women. It created a collective culture, a shared source of reference, that became the measure of all things. A culture of performance, of entertainment. Above all, of seduction. He wrote the script.
In 1986 Berlusconi bought AC Milan. Having a top-flight soccer team, and leading it to tremendous success [AC Milan won the European Cup in 1990] made Berlusconi enormously popular. Running a commercial TV network, and then, with Medusa, a film production company, gave him the ability to generate a world of images.
He’s even become a part of the language. There’s an adjective: berlusconism. A rare honor.
He was always very likable, he loved to sing Neapolitan songs and tell jokes — he’d begun his career working as an entertainer on cruise ships — and he loved his women. He showered them with money and honors in exchange for favors. He also brought them into politics, generating a template still in use today. Many of them were very young, some were the subject of scandals, a few of criminal trials.
He was an arch-Italian, a stereotype and the dream of any ordinary Italian who wanted to make it big. A great Italian songwriter, Giorgio Gaber, used to say: “I don’t fear Berlusconi in itself, I fear Berlusconi in myself.” He was a man who spoke not to the mind but to the gut. He was accused, and in some cases convicted, of crimes that go to the core of our people: Not paying taxes, making deals with criminals to get along, bribing the powerful, buying with money that which normally cannot be bought, including people.
They called him “the professor.” He had a degree in business law. He started by founding an advertising agency. He had received the honor of Knight of the Republic, then he had to give it back. He was unscrupulous, visionary, committed many misdemeanors, and certainly many serious crimes as well. He made a great many a lot of money and was the misfortune of as many or more.
And, of course, he made a fortune for himself. He understood where the world was going before almost anyone else did, and turned that vision into profit. He made the world into what he wanted it to be.
Everyone had to deal with him, everyone tried to eliminate him. He had an obsession with physical health, with appearance: Generations of doctors tended to his preservation. Some guaranteed he would live to be 120. He underwent painful procedures in the attempt.
His fable ended as it began: With a video. In his first, in the mid-1990s, he had all his hair and said he would make his country great. His country believed him. In his last, made a few weeks ago, the hair that was lost in the meantime had been implanted again. He said: I am still here, I am still your leader, you will have no one but me.
But he was very sick, visibly at the end. It was cruel, having him make what many people called a funereal video. It was, many people said, those rapacious women, those women who had always seduced him, him the Great Seducer, who in the end decided for him.
He had one final marriage, last year, but it was just pretense: A ceremony with no legal value. His five legitimate children, fearing an attack on his estate, made sure of that. But, as with Logan Roy, disposition and the drive, the hunger, for success is not something you can inherit. His unscrupulousness, his ability to remain in the saddle whatever happened. His cynicism, his insight. Berlusconi is dead and all of us: Friends and enemies, relatives and strangers, are left orphans.
There will be a TV series, not so soon but certainly soon. A Succession that will tell of the man who visited Putin in his dacha and had dinner with Trump. The man who invited political opponents and TV contestants to his villa, offering them more money if they would come over to his side. Not all went with him, but some did.
There will be a state funeral in the Milan cathedral, in his city. The old President of Italy, the one he wanted to be but was not, will pay tribute to him. It’s the end of a long era. The end of a seemingly endless TV series for which there can be no possible sequel. It ends here, to the sorrow and the relief o many. There will be another era, another script, yet to be written. This one is finished. Berlusconi is dead.
Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Abhay Deol at Karan Deol’s Roka ceremony.(Picture Credits: Viral Bhayani)
Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Abhay Deol were papped at Karan Deol’s Roka ceremony.
Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Abhay Deol have each established themselves in the entertainment industry on their own. While Sunny Deol has several action entertainers under his belt, Bobby Deol has played both romantic and thrilling characters. As for Abhay Deol, he is known to ooze versatility through unconventional roles that he picks. Thus, it’s only natural that the internet will go buzzing when the three of them are spotted together.
On Monday, a paparazzo handle on Instagram shared a clip from Karan Deol’s Roka where Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Abhay Deol posed together for the shutterbugs. To everyone’s delight, the trio were arms in arms throughout. Sunny Deol has donned a black shirt and blue denim jeans. Bobby Deol looked dapper in white shirt and black trousers. Abhay wore a black T-shirt, black pants and a jacket.
Several fans were happy to see the actor and brothers in the same frame. Many of them painted the comment section with heart and fire emoji. One of the fans hinted, “The trio look the best together!!”
Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol are both sons of the legendary actor Dharmendra. On the other hand Abhay Deol is the nephew of Dharmendra. He was born to Ajit Singh Deol and Usha Deol.
Interestingly, 2023 is an eventful year for the Deol brothers. Sunny Deol will be bringing the much-awaited sequel of his blockbuster film Gadar. Apart from that, he has Baap, Soorya, Apne 2, Lahore 1947 and Maharana Pratap in the pipeline. Bobby Deol will be starring alongside Ranbir Kapoor in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal. Besides that, he also has Telugu film Hari Hara Veera Mallu in his kitty. Abhay Deol was recently seen in the hit Netflix series Trial By Fire, a harrowing account of Upahar Fire Tragedy. It was based on the book Trial by Fire: The Tragic Tale of the Uphaar Fire Tragedy penned by Neelam Krishnamoorthy and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy.
Yatamanyu is a multi-disciplinary Journalist & Photographer who dabbles in Films, Poetry, Music, Politics, Pop-Culture and everything in between. …Read More
Capping more than two years of turmoil and transformation, the Golden Globe Awards are officially under new management. And the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., at least on paper, is no more.
The California attorney general has signed off on billionaire businessman and investor Todd Boehly’s plan to dissolve the embattled HFPA — the tiny, improbably powerful group of international entertainment journalists that has handed out the Globes for 80 years — and convert the nonprofit’s 95 members into employees of a for-profit enterprise.
Under the deal announced Monday, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, the Golden Globes’ assets have been acquired by Boehly’s private equity firm, Eldridge Industries, along with Dick Clark Productions, which has long produced the awards and which is owned by Penske Media in partnership with Eldridge. Dick Clark Productions and its partners will oversee the awards telecast and look for other ways to extend the Globes across the globe. The proceeds from the deal, along with the existing resources of the HFPA, will transition into a newly formed nonprofit Golden Globe Foundation that will oversee the group’s philanthropic and charitable giving
“We are excited to close on this much anticipated member-approved transaction and transition from a member-led organization to a commercial enterprise,” Helen Hoehne, formerly HFPA’s president, said in a statement Monday.
“Today marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Golden Globes,” said Boehly, who serves as chairman of Eldridge. “My partners at DCP and I are grateful to Helen and team for their commitment to the successful implementation of a robust approach to governance, the expansion of the diverse and international voting body, implementing a professional, safe and accountable environment, and trusting new ownership with a new direction for the Globes.”
Speaking with The Times in December, Boehly — who has served as the organization’s interim chief executive since October 2021 — said that reconstituting as a for-profit entity would help professionalize a group that has been dogged for decades by scandals, in-fighting and questions of legitimacy. Among other issues, HFPA members’ demands for exclusive access to talent were a frequent source of tension within the industry, even as stars continued to court the group.
“How do you make people accountable?” Boehly asked. “Well, you transition the organization from a not-for-profit with no accountability and bad governance to an organization where there is employee-based accountability.”
Boehly first proposed his plan to remake the organization nearly two years ago, as the HFPA was reeling in the wake of a February 2021 Times investigation that exposed a lack of diversity in its membership and raised concerns about its ethics and financial practices. The Times probe revealed that the nonprofit made millions of dollars in payments to its own members for committee work and other tasks in potential violation of IRS guidelines.
The investigation — particularly the revelation that the group had no Black members — sparked an uproar in Hollywood, prompting the HFPA to undertake sweeping reforms and ultimately leading NBC to pull the show off the air for 2022. The group overhauled its bylaws and has more than tripled its ranks, recruiting scores of new nonmember international voters in an effort to boost its diversity and credibility. The Globes total voting body now numbers more than 310 journalists. (The newly added voters will not be paid employees.)
Trying to restore the awards’ luster and mend ruptured relations with Hollywood, the Globes returned to the air in January, with A-listers like Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg and Rihanna once again strutting the red carpet. Ratings were down, however, with the telecast attracting an average of 6.25 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. In 2019, the show drew nearly 19 million viewers.
Under the association’s new incarnation, its employees will receive an annual salary of $75,000 for their work. Their responsibilities will include screening films and TV series submitted for Golden Globe consideration, participating in the voting process for nominations and winners, creating content for the organization’s website and managing materials related to the awards show and the group’s history.
After a period of fierce internal debate, Boehly’s plan was approved in July by the group’s members. The new employment contract includes a “walk-away” clause, according to a copy reviewed by The Times, that would allow members to terminate their association with the group and receive $225,000 as severance. It is uncertain how many current members may choose to exercise this option.
Eldridge Industries also owns stakes in several other businesses linked to the Globes, including the trade publications the Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The Eldridge portfolio also includes a minority stake in the independent film company A24, whose movies received 10 nominations at the most recent Golden Globes.
Some current and former HFPA members, as well as some in the wider awards ecosystem, have questioned whether the Globes — which have been routinely mocked even from their own stage — will have greater credibility as a for-profit enterprise, particularly given its owner’s potential conflicts of interest. Speaking with The Times last year, one former member who declined to be named for fear of retaliation said the move would “take away the last shred of legitimacy. They are now a commercial venture … opaque, even less trustworthy.”
Boehly has brushed aside criticisms that Globes employees — unlike, say, film or TV academy members who hand out the Oscars and Emmys, respectively — will be essentially paid awards voters.
“I wouldn’t call them paid voters,” Boehly told The Times last year, noting that voting would constitute only part of employees’ role in the organization. “I don’t know why a paid journalist can’t also vote on something. Where’s the rule that says that?”
Even as the Golden Globes embarks on this new chapter, its future remains uncertain.
In bringing the Globes back, NBC — which has aired the show since 1996 — committed to just a one-year trial. Boehly has spoken of his desire to expand the Globes brand to international markets. Next year’s Globes, the 81st, is slated to air Jan. 7. But it remains to be seen whether the show will air on NBC, another TV network or a streaming platform.
Speaking with The Times in December, Boehly was sanguine about the road ahead.
“Distribution systems are now global — now we have Netflix and Apple and Amazon,” he said. “We have the opportunity to leverage those distribution systems with a brand that has 80 years of equity. I’m pretty excited about what that could look like, as long as there’s good governance and good alignment.”
Times staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report
Following last month’s announcement that Disney would begin culling shows from both Disney+ and Hulu, fans have worried about the future of their favorite streaming series.
While Disney has mostly limited these removals to Disney+ original series, some favorite shows such as “Willow”, “Big Shot” and “The Mysterious Benedict Society” were among the removed programs.
Photo: DIsney+
Although these original series may not have been as popular as Disney had hoped for, they still amassed legions of fans, who took to social media to voice their displeasure.
Perhaps more surprising than these limited series removals, was Disney’s willingness to axe shows related to the ever-popular Marvel Studios.
Marvel’s “Hero Project” and “Marvel’s 616” have both been taken off of Disney+. Both series were among the first Marvel content released on the platform.
Photo: Marvel
“Marvel’s Hero Project” debuted with the rest of Disney+ on November 12, 2019. The series showcased real-life kids making a difference in their communities. These everyday heroes were even given their own Marvel comic book.
“Marvel’s 616” on the other hand was an eight-episode antholog series that dropped in November 2020. The show explored various Marvel-related topics including characters, creators, and fans.
Photo: Disney+
While removing content from Disney+ may make good business sense, it is surprising that the company would remove any shows related to Marvel. The comic book franchise, along with Star Wars has been the major draw of Disney+ since its inception.
Photo: Marvel
While it is possible that the shows return to streaming at some point, for now at least, there is nowhere to view removed content such as Marvel’s 616 and Hero Project.
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There’s no denying that one of the biggest movie franchises out there is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since the first MCU movie came out in 2008, bringing popular Marvel superheroes to life on the big screen, it’s been a roaring success. Even over a decade later, it’s still going strong and has plans to continue into the future with Marvel Phase 5 and 6. As long as they have an audience, which seems likely given its popularity and material to turn into movies, of which there is a lot they have yet to touch, then they should be able to continue for a long time to come.
Update June 12, 2023: The article has been updated to reflect the latest MCU films released in Phase 5.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Though the franchise is, at its core, made of movies, they have begun to branch out into TV shows on Disney+ with Phase 4, filming the ideas that may not be movie-worthy or may need more time than a movie offers to fully flesh out. These may be stories using old heroes we know or brand-new ones that haven’t been seen in live-action before but still tie into the MCU as a whole.
While many of the MCU movies can work as stand-alone films without needing to see them all, as the franchise has grown so large with so many entries per year, it can become overwhelming to keep track of everything. If, for some reason, you haven’t seen all the movies, or you just want to refresh yourself on what’s happened before the next show or movie comes out, take a look at this list to help guide you. The MCU chronology is long and complicated, but this list will organize it by simply putting all of them in order.
Every Marvel Movie In Chronological Order
Captain America: The First Avenger
Paramount Pictures
Captain America: The First Avengeris set in the middle of WWII when America was just getting involved. The movie follows sickly Steve Rogers as he tries to find a way into the army. When given the chance to try an experimental super-soldier serum, he becomes not only one of the best soldiers in the army but the world’s first superhero as he fights against the Nazi science division known as Hydra. While released three years after Iron Man kicked off the MCU in 2008, The First Avenger takes place sixty years before Tony Stark becomes Iron Man and acts as an origin story of sorts for the entire universe.
Captain Marvel
Disney / Marvel Studios
Captain Marvel takes place several decades after Captain America disappears, with a new hero crashing to Earth in 1995. Carol Danvers was in the middle of fighting off the shape-shifting alien Skrull when she found herself on Earth, quickly discovering she used to have a life there that she doesn’t remember. With the help of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., she finds herself as the only one capable of protecting Earth from the otherworldly threat and looming war, but which side is the bad one? While released in 2019 and a part of Phase Three in the MCU, the film’s setting places it early in the chronology of Marvel movies in order and explains how Nick Fury lost his eye and that Carol Danvers was the inspiration for The Avengers Initiative.
Iron Man
Paramount Pictures
Iron Manbrings the MCU back to the present, where, in 2010 (originally 2008 at the time of its release but retconned with later films), rich weapons dealer Tony Stark is kidnaped by terrorists and is forced to build them weapons. Instead, he uses the parts they bring to build a metal suit to escape. He decides to no longer manufacture weapons after discovering they were ending up in the wrong hands and instead begins focusing on refining the suit into something more powerful, hoping to protect the world instead of damaging it. In a post-credits scene, Nick Fury informs Stark of the Avengers Initiative, indicating that the franchise was going to get a lot bigger.
Iron Man 2
Paramount Pictures
After successfully designing the suit and becoming the hero known as Iron Man, Iron Man 2 shows everyone rushing to try and copy Stark’s suit with minimal success. Stark, however, is having his own problems, as the arc reactor in his chest is slowly poisoning him. As he believes he’s going to die soon, he tries to find a way to pass on his legacy safely, while the secret of the arc reactor is closer to being revealed than he realized.Iron Man 2 takes place six months after the events of Iron Man and kicks off what in the MCU is called “Fury’s Big Week” as the events of the movie overlap with two more MCU Phase 1 films: Thor and The Incredible Hulk.
Thor
Paramount Pictures
Before Thor, Agent Coulson left Stark’s side to go investigate an unidentified object in the middle of New Mexico which places the events of Thor happening right towards the end of Iron Man 2. What he finds there is an immovable hammer that belongs to the disgraced god of thunder, Thor. Thor was cast out from Asgard after causing war and now must live among humans in the town nearby where he and his hammer landed and prove himself worthy. However, life won’t stay as peaceful as it seems, for his brother Loki is after the throne and will stop at nothing in an attempt to get it.
The Incredible Hulk
Universal Pictures
Bruce Banner takes part in an experiment from the same WWII-era super-soldier projects as Captain America, in The Incredible Hulk. The experiment fails, turning Banner into the giant green Hulk when he’s angry; he goes on the run from the military, not wanting to be a tool of destruction. The government catches up to him though, but when the similarly mutated Abomination goes on a rampage in Harlem, the Hulk is released to stop it. Tony Stark appears at the end, spreading Nick Fury’s message that a team of superheroes is being put together.
The MCU’s black sheep, The Incredible Hulk was the second MCU film released after Iron Man, but chronologically takes place at the same time as Thor and towards the end of Iron Man 2 as the Hulk attack on the college campus is shown on the television screen when Tony Stark meets Nick Fury.
After falling into a dark abyss at the end of Thor, Loki returns in TheAvengers, seeking a new place to rule after his plans for Asgard are foiled and decides on Earth. Stealing the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D., he intends to start a war and take over the world.
Only an elite team of heroes could stand a chance to recover the Tesseract and save the planet, and Nick Fury brings together Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow together to form the iconic team: The Avengers. The movie ends with the heroes going their separate ways, setting up their own solo films while a new threat emerges from the shadows with the appearance of Thanos, setting the stage for the Infinity Saga.
Iron Man 3
Marvel Studios Disney
After saving the world from Loki and the Chitauri invasion, Iron Man 3shows that the battle affected Stark more than he would like to admit. Due to his near-death experience, he now has PTSD, and in trying to cope with it starts to drive a wedge between himself and Pepper Potts.
However, reality knocks on his door when his house is blown up by a terrorist group, and he finds that danger is far from over for him, forcing him to figure out what this group is up to and how to stop them. Iron Man 3 takes place the Christmas following The Avengers, so about six to seven months later, in December 2012. Back To Top
Thor: The Dark World
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
A new threat awaits Asgard in Thor: The Dark World. Jane Foster, the renowned human scientist, accidentally discovers one of the Infinity Stones, and it possesses her. This stone was highly sought after among the Dark Elves and was thought to be lost to the war, along with the extinction of the elves. However, neither prove to be true, as Thor must find a way to protect Jane and his people from both threats. He might even need to ask his brother for help.
Thor: The Dark World reveals that Thor’s stop on Earth in The Avengers was part of a larger campaign across the Nine Realms to maintain order after Loki destroyed the Bifrost. Future MCU films firmly place Thor: The Dark World as taking place in 2013.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel Studios Disney
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Rogers is struggling to catch up with the world around him after being frozen for nearly 70 years. He works as an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. after the battle of New York and quickly discovers that his past is not completely behind him, for HYRDA infiltrated the organization long ago and is about to reveal themselves to take over the world. As familiar faces resurface, including Bucky Barnes, an old and presumed dead friend of his, he must find out how to stop Hydra again before it’s too late.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Marvel Studios Disney
Guardians of the Galaxy offers a brief break from what’s happening on Earth, as it focuses on the cosmic side of the MCU and delves more into the Infinity Stones, and further establishes Thanos, the main villain of the Infinity Saga. Set in the year 2014, the movie introduces audiences to Peter Quill, who was kidnaped by aliens at a young age and became a Ravager.
Quill finds and steals an Infinity Stone with the intention of selling it for a lot of money but soon finds out it’s not worth the trouble it brings, and Thanos sends Ronan to retrieve it. Teaming up with a couple of misfits, including Gamora (Thanos’ daughter), Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Drax, they must stop Ronan before he can destroy an entire planet with the stone.
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2
Marvel Studios Disney
Set a few months after the events of the first film Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2sees the team is still working together but is struggling to work as a unit. Now acting like a mercenary group, they narrowly escape their last employer after angering them with the help of Quill’s previously absent father, Ego. Ego is not all he seems to be, however, as he brings them to his real self, a planet, and they soon discover he had underlying intentions for rescuing them.
The movie introduces Mantis to the MCU, as well as further develops former Guardians of the Galaxy villains Nebula and Yondu into making them full-blown heroes. By the end of the film, the team is more than a collection of criminals but a true family.
The Avengers team up once again in Avengers: Age of Ultron, initially trying to destroy the rest of the hidden Hydra cells that were out in the world. While reclaiming Loki’s scepter, the powerful Wanda Maximoff, one of Hydra’s experiments, makes Stark hallucinate his worst fear and spurs on what could be his worst decision yet. Thinking the scepter was the key to creating a powerful AI program that could protect the world, he accidentally created their newest threat: Ultron. Now they must find a way to stop him before he can destroy life as they know it.
Avengers: Age of Ultron takes place in 2015, a year after Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The movie also is an important film as it sets up major developments in three different MCU films: Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Thor: Ragnarök.
Ant-Man
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
On the other side of America, Ant-Man shows what is happening on the West Coast in California. Hank Pym, the inventor of the Ant-Man suit, recruits Scott Lang, a recently released convicted criminal, to don the shrinking suit in his place. His old student is close to rediscovering the shrinking tech Pym kept hidden, knowing it would be deadly in the wrong hands.
Lang must help stop him before the tech becomes widespread. Ant-Man takes place shortly after Avengers: Age of Ultron, as references to Sokovia falling out of the sky and the Avengers moving into their new facility are referenced.
Captain America: Civil War
Marvel Studios
Captain America: Civil Warstarts with the world wanting a restriction to be put on heroes, forcing them to be within the rules of the law after their collateral damage has grown to colossal sizes. Stark is willing to sign the accords, but Rogers has no intention of doing so. After the signing was supposedly bombed by Barnes, who had vanished after Hydra fell apart, Rogers can’t help himself and goes after him outside the accords with a small team, forcing Stark to then go after Rogers for breaking them.
By the end of the movie, The Avengers are disbanded, and many of the characters are set to go off on their own solo adventures. Captain America: Civil War lays the groundwork for the stories told in Black Widow, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Black Widow
Marvel Studios Disney
In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff eludes the US government after becoming wanted for helping Captain America escape and finds a safe house she plans to hide in for as long as she has to. However, her plans are interrupted when her sister, recently freed of the current Black Widow program’s mind control, tries to get help to free the other Widows. Together they must face the past if they have any hope of taking down the Red Room.
While the first film in Marvel Phase 4, Black Widow, gave the character closure after her death in Avengers: Endgame while also using her solo film to bring everything full circle from where audiences would see her in Avengers: Infinity War.
Black Panther begins shortly after the events of Captain America: Civil War. T’Challa’s father died when the signing of the accords was bombed, passing the mantle of king onto him. Now as both the king and Black Panther, T’Challa must learn how to be a leader as his people debate whether to remain hidden or to open up and try to help people around the world. The appearance of an outsider in the kingdom who wants to turn the world into a Wakandan Empire and has a claim to the throne makes it even more difficult.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Marvel Studios Sony
Two months after Spider-Man’s first appearance in Civil War on team Iron Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming gives a look into what life is like at home for Peter Parker. While he waits on a response from Stark, hoping to be called to help stop an Avengers-level threat, he cleans up the streets of his neighborhood and discovers a high-tech weapons dealer in the process. As the homecoming dance approaches and Parker struggles with balancing hero work and school, he must make a choice between looking into the weapons dealers more or focusing on his schooling.
Doctor Strange
Marvel Studios Disney
Renowned surgeon Doctor Stephen Strange is in a bad car accident at the beginning of Doctor Strange that ruins his hands and his career. Desperate for any kind of cure to stop his hands from shaking and return to his job, he finds himself entering the strange world of magic under the teachings of the Ancient One. However, one of her previous students is currently seeking more power, and Strange accidentally finds himself in the middle of a fight to save the world.
Thor: Ragnarök
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Following Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor went across the cosmos to uncover more about the Infinity Stones but found the Nine Realms in chaos, setting up his return home in Thor: Ragnarok. After he began having nightmares of Asgard’s destruction. Loki had taken over the throne of Asgard disguised as Odin without Thor’s knowledge. When Loki’s found out, Thor takes him to find where he left Odin, but they discover he’s dying and was the only thing holding back their deranged sister Hela, who will stop at nothing to gain power over everyone.
Thor crash lands on the Planet Skaar and must find a way off, and luckily encounters a fabled Valkyrie and his old friend, The Hulk, who has been in his Hulk form for two whole years. The trio, along with Loki, must find a way to save Asgard before it is too late. The movie’s mid-credit scene directly sets up the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War.Back To Top
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Marvel Studios Disney
In Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scott Lang is nearing the end of his house arrest after helping Captain America in Civil War. However, as Pym and his daughter Hope try to figure out the secrets of the quantum realm, he gets caught up in their work once again as he holds the secret to finding Hope’s mother. Now he must avoid being caught out of the house while a new villain tries to steal their gate into the quantum realm.
While Thor: Ragnarök ends right before the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War and the Ant-Man and the Wasp mid-credit scene features the results of the snap, the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp are happening shortly before Avengers: Infinity War.
Avengers: Infinity War
Marvel Studios Disney
Avengers: Infinity War finally brings Thanos into play as he tries to collect all the Infinity Stones and bring balance to the universe by destroying half of all life. With the Infinity Stones spread across space, including a few on Earth, a large hero team-up commences, from the Avengers to the Guardians of the Galaxy and solo heroes like Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and the entire nation of Wakanda to stop Thanos from getting the stones at all costs. Avengers: Infinity War ends with a massive universe-altering change, as Thanos completes his quest and snaps away half the life in the universe.
Avengers: Endgame
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Though the battle was close, in Avengers: Endgame, the remaining heroes who weren’t snapped away by Thanos (in The Blip) are struggling to deal with their loss. It seems there is no way to bring back those who have vanished until Scott Lang appears five years later, though it had only felt like a few minutes to him. Believing the quantum realm was the secret to time travel, the remaining heroes reunite to try and collect the stones from across time to bring everyone back.
Avengers: Endgame begins in 2018, shortly after the Snap, with the majority of the movie taking place in 2023. Much has changed for the MCU, and by the end of the film, the franchise is in a drastically different place with some classic heroes gone but an exciting new future ahead.
Eternals
Marvel Studios
In the Eternals, a special group of aliens comes to Earth in the early days of civilization to help protect the people from another alien species, the deviants. They help human civilizations flourish as they kill off the deviants but are sure not to get too involved as they guide humanity through the years.
However, living in present-day London, they realize they’ve only helped the humans grow to bring about the destruction of Earth and that the deviants aren’t gone after all. They must make a choice between completing their task or stopping it to save the humans. Eternals main plot is kicked off shortly after the Blip, with the massive amount of life returning, causing the emergence of a Celestial to speed up.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Marvel Studios Disney
A new hero enters the mix in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Shang-Chi had been living peacefully in America before his father, the head of the terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings, finds him again. After discovering his father is delusional, believing his dead wife is still around and being kept from him, Shang-Chi teams up with his sister to warn the village their mother was from and help protect them from the evil their father was about to unleash.
By the end of the movie, Shang-Chi is recruited by the Avengers, including Wong, Bruce Banner, and Captain Marvel, who informs him that he is now part of a larger universe and to be prepared.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Sony Pictures
Spider-Man: Far From Home shows Peter Parker at the end of the school year after being brought back by the Avengers. This places Spider-Man: Far From Home about seven to eight months after Avengers: Endgame, and despite being released directly after, the film would chronologically follow Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (as well as Disney+ series like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier).
As he and the other classmates who were gone finish out the school year again, they decide to take a class trip to Europe, which Peter intends to fully enjoy and forget about being a hero for once. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. gets involved when they think he is the only person who can help them with the growing threat of the Elementals destroying the world.
In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Parker is dealing with the fact that his secret identity was unwillingly revealed, flipping his whole world upside down. The movie picks up immediately after Spider-Man: Far From Home, and a quick montage, in the beginning jumps the film from the end of summer to the holiday season.
Struggling with the new attention, he seeks the help of Doctor Strange to make everyone forget he’s Spider-Man. The spell goes wrong, however, and the multiverse is revealed to them as other Spider-Man villains appear in his universe and begin to attack.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Marvel Studios Disney
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness takes place after Spider-Man: No Way Home as the magical sorcerer references the multiverse issues with Spider-Man. The movie follows Doctor Strange trying to protect America Chavez, a young girl with the power to travel the multiverse, from former Avenger turned enemy Wanda Maximoff who has now embraced her destiny as the Scarlet Witch. Strange travels to the multiverse to protect the young girl and learns how to let go of his own wants and desires.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Thor: Love and Thunder picks up a couple of years after Avengers: Endgame with Thor working alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy, however, when it appears gods are being killed off across the galaxy, Thor goes to investigate. During his travels, he discovers that his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster has been given his powers thanks to his hammer Mjolnir which has reforged for Jane.
Jane Foster is dying of cancer, and the more she uses the hammer, the quicker her cancer spreads. Thor, Jane, Valkyrie, and Korg must travel to stop the villainous Gorr the God Butcher, all while bringing Thor and Jane’s love story to a fitting end that began all the way back in 2011’s Thor.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Marvel Studios Disney
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in the year 2024 with the reveal that King T’Challa has died. The film then jumps forward one year later to show how Wakanda has been adjusting without its king or Black Panther. When the underwater civilization of Talokan makes their presence known to Wakanda, and their ruler Namor threatens Wakanda if they do not help him, Princess Shuri must find a way to adopt the mantle of Black Panther and protect her people from a war with another advanced civilization.
Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania
Marvel Studios Disney
Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania kicked off Phase 5 of the MCU and takes place in 2026, with Scott Lang gaining a higher profile as a public superhero after most of the original Avengers have retired or died. Scott has published his memories but still works in the ice cream parlor. After a public reading of his memories, Scott gets a call to bail out his daughter after she is arrested in an illegal protest.
The whole gang reunites in the Pym household for dinner, and Scott finds out his daughter has been working on building quantum technology with Hank Pym. After being accidentally sent to the quantum realm, Janet reveals she had a fling with Kang the Conqueror, who presented himself as a dimensional traveler but was actually exiled by other Kang variants from the multiverse. Scott must join forces with the inhabitants of the quantum realm to defeat Kang and get back home.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3
Marvel Studios Disney
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3marks the end of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set in 2026, a whole twelve years after the Guardians of the Galaxy first resembled in the MCU timeline. It notably takes place a bit of time after Thor: Love and Thunder as Groot has grown past his Teen Groot form. The film focuses on Rocket’s origin at the hands of the High Evolutionary.
The film wrapped up many plotlines, including Peter Quill and the 2014 Gamora variants relationship following the events of Avengers: Endgame, and put many of the Guardians’ storylines to a close while putting many on a new trajectory. It’s an emotional ride that ends this team lineup, leaving a new one in place.
It’s been quite a day for Reddit. Thousands of communities have temporarily closed shop to protest changes the company is making to its API, which is impacting several third-party apps. On top of that, the platform suffered a “major outage” across its desktop and mobile websites, as well as the mobile apps.
“We’re aware of problems loading content and are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible,” read a message on the Reddit status page as of 10:58AM ET. By 11:30AM, the site was loading again. “We’re observing improvements across the site and expect issue to recover for most users. We will continue to closely monitor the situation,” an update posted at 11:47AM read.
“A significant number of subreddits shifting to private caused some expected stability issues, and we’ve been working on resolving the anticipated issue,” Reddit told Engadget in a statement.
A bot was tracking all of the subreddits that were going private as part of the protests. As you might expect, the bot was out of commission while Reddit was down, but it’s up and running again.
Reddit said in April that it would start charging for access to its API, which third-party developers have used in thousands of apps that tie into the platform, such as moderation tools. While the primary target of the API changes may have been companies that are scraping Reddit for content to train language learning models for generative AI systems, the move has been a significant blow for those making third-party clients that many redditors prefer to the company’s own website or apps.
One of the most prominent third-party clients, Apollo, is shutting down at the end of this month as a result of the API changes. The app’s creator, Christian Selig, claimed that he would have to pay $20 million per year to keep operating Apollo as is. RIF, another widely used third-party Reddit app, will close on June 30th as well.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman defended the API changes in an AMA that took place before subreddits went private in protest. He said the new policy was part of an effort to make Reddit profitable. “Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use,” he wrote. “Some apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync have decided this pricing doesn’t work for their businesses and will close before pricing goes into effect.”
A look at Apple’s new flagship Mac to see what it could do for you.
As someone who learned how to edit video on an old nondescript laptop that whirred like a blender anytime it fired up Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, I can tell you while the computer doesn’t make the edit, but it can certainly help quite a bit. Of course, when there’s a will there’s a way, and any aspiring filmmaker or video editor should try to make the best out of their editing tools and resources.
However, if you do have the funds to invest in a top-of-the-line machine to power your high-end video editing workflows and career, then you might want to check out the new M2 Ultra Mac Pro.
Announced by Apple as one of the highlights of WWDC, the M2 Ultra Mac Pro does indeed look powerful and promising—although its existence is also quite perplexing to some Mac fans who wonder how it compares to the M2 Ultra Mac Studio. Still, let’s take a look at this new M2 Ultra Mac Pro and explore how it could be a good option for you and your video editing needs.
Introducing the M2 Ultra Mac Pro
From Apple’s press release, this new Mac Pro promises that “mind-blowing performance now comes standard.” A bold statement indeed, but when you start to look at some of the specs and features for this new Mac Pro it certainly fits the bill for a new flagship for the beloved tech brand.
Plus, with the new M2 Ultra chip powering the whole show, it really is at the forefront of Apple’s (or really any brand’s) latest technology. As we cover more in-depth in our write-up on this new M2 Ultra chip in particular, any Apple product equipped with this chip is going to blow any previous version out of the water—and even in some cases by two-fold when compared to the M2 Max.
Simply put, this M2 Ultra Mac Pro is Apple’s most powerful CPU ever. Its GPU with its massive amount of unified memory does things other GPUs simply can’t, and it has the Media Engine with seven Afterburner cards built-in to handle any workflows for video or other work.
But Why Does the M2 Ultra Mac Pro Exist?
However, as many Apple fans and YouTube reviewers have pointed out—as is the case with the video above from GregsGadgets—there are a lot of questions as to why this new Mac Pro exists at all, especially when a comparable build-out can be achieved with the M2 Ultra Mac Studio for a much cheaper price.
The best explanation might simply be that Apple wants to have a Mac Pro as its flagship desktop, and this M2 Ultra Mac Pro represents pretty much everything they have to offer today, yet still with room to add to it for later upgrades of course.
The M2 Ultra powered Mac Pro promises to be quite a video editing workhorse.Credit: Apple
Pricing and Availability
Still, this M2 Ultra Mac Pro is going to be a popular option for video editors and all types of creative artists despite its criticism and possibly shortcomings simply because it’s a familiar brand name and a true workhorse.
Designed to scale up with Apple silicon, the M2 Ultra brings a huge boost to app performance and capability to this new Mac Pro. With thousands of apps optimized to unlock the full power of Apple silicon, you can expect to render effects to composite 8K scenes faster than ever before.
Here are some of the featured specs as well as a look at the pricing and availability:
24-core CPU runs up to 1.8x faster than a 28‑core Intel-based Mac Pro
Up to 76-core GPU with up to 3.4x faster graphics performance
800GB/s memory bandwidth
Up to 192GB of unified memory
Up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes video playback
Support for up to eight displays
Price: $6,999
The M2 Ultra Mac Pro is available starting on June 13th, 2023.
What are your thoughts on this new flagship Mac Pro though? Let us know your feelings in the comments below.
It’s been well over six years since Joseph Fiennes appeared as Michael Jackson in a controversial never-to-be-air episode of the British fantasy series Urban Myths, and he still has regrets.
In an interview with UK’s The Guardian yesterday, Fiennes said the 2016 Urban Myths episode was “a wrong decision.”
“Absolutely,” Fiennes said. “And I’m one part of that — there are producers, broadcasters, writers, directors, all involved in these decisions. But you know, it came at a time where there was a movement and a shift and that was good, and it was, you know, a bad call. A bad mistake.”
The actor added that people were “absolutely right to be upset.”
In the never-aired episode, Fiennes played Michael Jackson to Brian Cox’s Marlon Brando and Stockard Channing’s Elizabeth Taylor. The surreal storyline had the trio of friends on a road trip from New York to Los Angeles in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
At the time, Jackson’s daughter Paris expressed her displeasure. “I’m so incredibly offended by it,” she tweeted, “as I’m sure plenty of people are as well, and it honestly makes me want to vomit.”
Also in the Guardian interview, Fiennes, who starred in the 1998 Miramax hit Shakespeare in Love, says he was bullied by disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, and that the situation was so bad that the actor turned down the producer’s offer of a five-picture deal.
Fiennes, who currently is starring in the play Dear England at the National Theatre in London, recalls that he was summoned to meet with Weinstein, who offered the deal by warning that turning it down would be “very bad” for his career.
“It was a bullying tactic that didn’t sit well,” Fiennes says in the interview. “The way he explained it was a shock to me. But I suddenly sat in the room very present, and happy and strong in myself to say, you know what, I’m not beholden to that. I’m stepping away.”
Fiennes says he has no regrets over that decision. “I was out of the [Miramax] family. But I was very happy not to be in the family.”
The winning time era continues into a new decade, thanks to the historic rise of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The second season of HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” kicks off with the Lakers winning the 1980 Finals. John C. Reilly returns as coach Jerry Buss, who led Earvin “Magic” Johnson (Quincy Isaiah), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes), and the rest of the L.A. Lakers to glory.
In Season 2, “Winning Time” continues to explore the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers. This season hones in on the period just after the Finals in 1980 through 1984, culminating in the first professional rematch of the era’s greatest stars: Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. The future of sports is purple and gold. New decade. New season.
Adrien Brody, Jason Clarke, Gaby Hoffmann, Jason Segel, and Hadley Robinson reprise their respective roles, with DeVaughn Nixon, Solomon Hughes, Tamera Tomakili, Brett Cullen, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Spencer Garrett, Molly Gordon, Joey Brooks, Delante Desouza, Jimel Atkins, Austin Aaron, McCabe Slye, Thomas Mann, Gillian Jacobs, Michael Chiklis, and Rob Morgan rounding out the ensemble cast.
“Winning Time” is executive produced by Adam McKay and Kevin Messick for Hyperobject Industries. Co-creator Max Borenstein serves as executive producer and showrunner with co-creator Jim Hecht. Scott Stephens, Rodney Barnes, Jason Shuman, and director Salli Richardson-Whitfield additionally executive produce.
Lead star Reilly stood by the controversial depiction of the Lakers’ era, saying in a Vulture interview last year, “The overall plot is based on historical fact, but we do fill in a lot of blanks. I knew it would be difficult for the people involved in this story to see their lives depicted in a semi-fictional way. But that doesn’t mean this story shouldn’t be told.”
IndieWire critic Ben Travers praised the first season in his review last year, writing, “For sports fans (especially Lakers devotees), the 10-episode first season’s unapologetically biased depiction of building a dynasty through near-catastrophic obsession should carry weight. For everyone else, it still puts on a show.”
“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” Season 2 premieres August 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. Check out the trailer below.
Top Chef has lost one of its favorites. Host Padma Lakshmi has left the cooking competition series after 17 years. She will not be seen in season 21 of the series, which was picked up by Bravo in May.
Her last appearance on the Bravo series was in the Top Chef World All-Stars season, which ended last week. She revealed she was leaving the series to fans last week.
This is not the last viewers will see of Lakshmi. She currently appears on Taste the Nation on Hulu. That series returned for its second season in May. The streaming service has not officially announced a renewal for season three, but it will likely continue.
Lakshmi revealed the following about her decision to leave Top Chef at this time in an interview with the Los Angeles Times:
“There were a whole lot of complex factors that went into this decision. The biggest one is “Taste the Nation,” which consumes me in the best way, intellectually, spiritually, creatively, and I just want to keep making it. Other than writing my memoir and editing the anthology [of travel essays], it has been the most gratifying work of my life. I love both shows for very different reasons, and I’m very, very lucky to have two hit shows on TV at the same time. That’s like lightning in a bottle — I felt like, how could I give that up? You know, because Hollywood likes to keep you nice and scared.
Last year, my grandmother died. She practically raised me. A week after, I had to go and film “Taste the Nation,” which was honestly the best thing because it kept my mind occupied. It’s OK because it’s one week out on the road and then one week off, where I’m working to set up the next week but at least I get to sleep at home with my kid. We went away for a week for spring break; we had two weeks away in August. And then, bang, I was on the set of “Top Chef” from mid-August until October. So I was on the road from February to October. And I was exhausted. I just want to enjoy my life a little bit.
That’s not to say I don’t want to do more projects. But I also don’t want to eat like I do on “Top Chef” anymore. I’m the only one on the show that eats every single thing. I did it for a long time, and I don’t think that is sustainable for me.”
The Tony Awards 2023 have wrapped honoring the best in theatre. Held at the United Palace in Washington Heights in New York City, the night shined as the stars turned up to receive their awards.
Some of the winners of the night included Sean Hayes taking the trophy for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for his role on Good Night, Oscar and Victoria Clark taking the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical award for her work on Kimberly Akimbo.
Other winners of the night included Kimberly Akimbo as the Best Musical, J. Harrison Ghee from Some Like It Hot was awarded with the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical with Prima Facie’s Jodie Comer taking Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.
Scroll through the gallery for photos from the winners at The Tonys.
Last night, the Tony Awards finally took heed of the diverse talent on Broadway, awarding non-binary performers for the first time in the awards’ history. J. Harrison Ghee, who won the award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Some Like It Hot, and Alex Newell, who won the award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Shucked, both identify as non-binary; Newell uses he/she/they pronouns, while Ghee uses they/them.
Here’s how “Cocaine Bear,” “The Quiet Girl,” and more of this week’s new releases stack up
Newell and Ghee are the first two openly non-binary people that the Tonys have awarded for acting; last year, Six composer and writer Toby Marlow became the first non-binary Tony winner. Newell and Ghee each addressed the monumental achievement in their respective acceptance speeches.
“Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer, nonbinary, fat, Black little baby from Massachusetts,” Newell, who accepted their award first, shared. “And to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I’m going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to.” They were met with an ovation.
In Ghee’s speech, they specifically highlighted their mother and the lessons she instilled in Ghee growing up that still guide them today.
“My mother raised me to understand that my gifts that God gave me were not about me. To use them to be effective in the world, to help somebody else’s journey,” Ghee said. “So thank you for teaching me how to live, how to love, how to give. For every trans, non-binary, gender nonconforming human who ever was told you couldn’t be, you couldn’t be seen, this is for you.”
Despite last night’s progress, the Tony Awards still haven’t taken it a step further in the way that the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the Gotham Awards, and more have by digressing from gendered categories altogether. Both Ghee and Newell ran in actor-specific categories (although Newell has previously opined: “Acting is my craft. I am an actor… Actor is a genderless word.”)
The Emmys have also not made that transition. Prominent television actors like Yellowjackets’ Liv Hewson have eschewed campaigning for a nomination given the lack of a category they can confidently align with; Hewson shared in April, “I can’t submit myself for this because there’s no space for me.” As Ghee and Newell made clear last night, the queer talent that propels the entertainment industry is undeniable, and creating proper space to laud it should be a priority.
A passionate friendship spanning a turbulent decade marked by two unlikely uprisings forms the emotional heart of “Between Revolutions,” Romanian filmmaker Vlad Petri’s powerful hybrid documentary that plays this week at the Transilvania Film Festival.
Using extensive archival footage, Petri’s sophomore feature depicts the intense bond forged between two young women studying medicine in Bucharest in the 1970s. When political turmoil begins to sweep across Iran, their lives are drawn apart, as the Iranian-born Zahra is forced to return home, leaving her Romanian friend Maria behind.
Over the next decade, the two women maintain their connection through a series of letters, chronicling their struggles as women fighting for a voice while their respective countries move in divergent directions.
Since premiering in the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum strand, where it won the FIPRESCI Award, the film has enjoyed an extended festival run, including stops at CPH:DOX, Zagreb Doc, Krakow and Sydney. After presenting the film to Romanian audiences in Transilvania, Petri will head to the U.K., where “Between Revolutions” will play at Sheffield Doc/Fest. The film is produced by Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan for Manifest Film. CAT&Docs is handling world sales.
“Between Revolutions” was inspired by Petri’s conversations with his own mother, who studied medicine in the Romanian city of Cluj in the 1970s, often with classmates from the Middle East. During the Cold War, Romania forged strategic partnerships with countries that were part of the non-aligned movement, welcoming foreign students in exchange for economic and infrastructure projects that involved workers and engineers from the Eastern European nation.
For Petri, this arrangement revealed an unlikely paradox, as students from the Middle East — barred entry into the U.S. and Western Europe — came to see strongman Nicolae Ceaușescu’s repressive Romania as nevertheless representative of the West. That seeming contradiction struck a chord. “Being an Eastern European, I deal with these questions: where is East, where is West?” he said. “These notions really interest me.”
Petri was born in 1979, the year that Iranians rose up to depose the Shah, and turned 10 when his own countrymen cast out the iron-fisted Ceaușescu — events that he described as “earthquakes” for their respective societies. “They wanted a better life. They wanted another kind of society,” he said. “I was interested to see how their hopes transformed into something else — into disillusion most of the time.”
The narrative arc of “Between Revolutions” unfolds as a series of letters between Maria and Zahra, a fictional reimagining of the friendships Petri’s mother had with many of her former classmates. They were written by Romanian poet and author Lavinia Braniște, drawing on the poetry of two iconic feminist writers of the 20th century, Romania’s Nina Cassian and Iran’s Forugh Farrokhzad.
Their stories were also based on extensive research into the daily lives of people in Romania and Iran during the revolutions, including both public archives and private collections of letters, photographs and other material. Many details were drawn from reports by the Romanian secret police. Most of the images were scanned from 16mm and 35mm film stock and are being seen for the first time.
The arresting footage from that era gives “Between Revolutions” a specific texture, making it an indelible snapshot of a certain time and place. In the wake of the Islamic Revolution, Iran was soon on its way to becoming a conservative, closed-off society, while Romania began opening up to the unfettered, cowboy capitalism of the post-communist era after the fall of Ceaușescu. “You never know what these revolutions will turn into,” Petri said.
“Between Revolutions” uses extensive archival footage, most of it never seen before.
Courtesy of CAT&Docs
The underlying friction that drove both countries to revolt, however, continues to be borne out by current events.
“I think Romania still deals with the past,” said Petri. “But as we get further and further from the revolution, I think everyone sees that as an important moment — it was ‘moment zero’ for opening to a new society, with all the hardships arriving with capitalism.”
In Iran, meanwhile, the hopes of the revolution were quickly dashed, as the Islamic regime’s hard rightward turn gradually closed the country off to the rest of the world. The anger of the Iranian people has time and again flared up, most recently with the ongoing rebellion prompted by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
“There were some hopes. There were reformist presidents. But it’s becoming more and more closed, and the conservatives have a lot of power,” said Petri. “I think young people really want something else, and we saw that with the protest last year.”
The past, however, is in constant dialogue with the present, as “Between Revolutions” makes clear. One of the film’s more striking scenes captures a protest of Iranian women after the revolution, as thousands marched through the streets of Tehran, chanting, “Down with conservatives!” Petri recalled recently showing the scene to his Iranian collaborators and friends.
“That piece, for them, looks so contemporary,” he said. “They say, ‘We cannot believe this was in ’79. It’s really what is going on today.’”
First comes (secret) wedding, then comes (public) baby bump debut! Nearly three years after exchanging vows, Uzo Aduba and Robert Sweeting are preparing to expand their family.
Aduba and Sweeting wed in September 2020, announcing their union on their first anniversary. The In Treatment star took to social media to share a selfie from their wedding in September 2021, kicking off the post with a quote from the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally: “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
She continued: “For some of us, it can feel like we spend our whole lives waiting for our special someone. My heart, my love — I’m so happy my life started last year with you. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. ❤️”
The couple subsequently jetted off to Tulum, Mexico, to mark their anniversary.
“Some much needed restoration, recovery, and relaxation,” she captioned a series of snaps via Instagram at the time. “So thankful to get away and celebrate Robert and my anniversary with a couple of our favorite humans. ?”
“We were just taking the year to ourselves to enjoy the time and have some quiet time together, and then we were having our anniversary come up,” Aduba explained on Live With Kelly and Ryan in November 2021, adding that “a lot of Amazon and Etsy gets you through” planning a wedding amid the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She concluded: “[We did it] quietly and with a small group, of course — our most loved and closest family and friends. It was awesome.”
Aduba and Sweeting continued to share small glimpses into their relationship via social media, with the filmmaker referring to the actress as “my world” on Valentine’s Day in February 2022 and calling her his “best half” on their second anniversary that September.
In June 2023, Aduba revealed that she is pregnant with the twosome’s first child. After rocking a baby bump on the Tonys red carpet with Sweeting by her side, the performer gushed about the “blessing.”
“My husband Robert and I are so happy to enter this next chapter together as parents. I am beyond excited,” she wrote via Instagram. “I get to be someone’s Mommy! I know as the three of us continue to grow, our only, ONLY goal will be to love you, little one. My goodness. Look what God has done.”
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Scroll through for more on Aduba and Sweeting’s relationship:
Thousands of Reddit discussion forums have “gone dark” — temporarily closing their virtual doors — for what’s planned as a two-day protest over the company’s move to charge third-party apps for API access to the site.
More than 6,500 subreddits as of Monday morning have gone dark, according to Reddark, a site that’s tracking the shutdowns. Those joining in the blackout include some of the most popular subreddits on the site, including r/funny, r/science, r/gaming, r/aww, r/Music, r/todayilearned and r/pics.
“/r/Funny has gone private as part of the coordinated protest against Reddit’s exorbitant new API pricing,” says a notice on the forum’s landing page. “This community has shut down and will not grant access requests during the protest.”
What kicked off the backlash: On April 18, Reddit announced it would start charging for access to its application programming interface (API) for third parties that “additional capabilities, higher usage limits, and broader usage rights.” The new pricing is supposed to go into effect July 1, 2023. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, in a post Friday, acknowledged “frustration” among many moderators about the policy change. But, he said, “Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use.”
Some app developers say they’ll be forced to shut down because of Reddit’s move to monetize API access. Christian Selig, developer of Reddit client app Apollo, said Reddit’s new pricing would cost him as much as $20 million per year — and that therefore Apollo expects to shut down on June 30.
The moderators and users who are protesting Reddit’s decision to charge for API access say the change will have an adverse impact on their communities.
“Reddit relies on volunteer moderators to keep its platform welcoming and free of objectionable material. It also relies on uncompensated contributors to populate its numerous communities with content,” says a post on r/Jokes (which hasn’t gone dark itself) about the blackout. The API decision “promises to adversely impact both groups: Without effective tools (which Reddit has frequently promised and then failed to deliver), moderators cannot combat spammers, bad actors or the entities who enable either, and without the freedom to choose how and where they access Reddit, many contributors will simply leave… The very elements which differentiate Reddit – the foundations that draw its audience – will be eliminated, reducing the site to another dead cog in the Ennui Engine.”
According to the notice on r/Jokes, “We implore Reddit to listen to its moderators, its contributors, and its everyday users; to the people whose activity has allowed the platform to exist at all: Do not sacrifice long-term viability for the sake of a short-lived illusion. Do not tacitly enable bad actors by working against your volunteers. Do not posture for your looming IPO while giving no thought to what may come afterward.”
Fox News turned up on the heat on Tucker Carlson, sending the ousted host a cease-and-desist letter a day before he was expected to address the indictment of Donald Trump in his third episode, according to a Monday report by Axios.
Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Carlson lawyer Harmeet Dhillon corroborated the action, tweeting: “My friend and client Tucker Carlson will not be silenced – by the far left or by Fox News,” and told Axios that Fox is “now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election.”
Carlson is under contract and is still being paid through 2025 by Fox News, which believes Carlson’s DIY Twitter show falls under its noncompete. The erstwhile “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host and his lawyers say Twitter is not a Fox News competitor, and that he has a fundamental First Amendment right to give his opinions on social media.
During his second appearance at France’s iconic Le Mans 24-hour race, Michael Fassbender crashed the Porsche 911 he was driving on Sunday, cutting short his stint behind the wheel. Fassbender was not injured according to local media and was able to get the car back to the pits before it was officially retired, Eurosport reported.
The two-time Oscar nominee was racing as part of Germany’s Proton Competition team and had about 15 minutes left in his six-hour slot before slamming into a barricade at the “Porsche Curves” part of the racetrack.
Following the accident, Proton Competition tweeted: “We are gutted! Car #911 is no longer running the Le Mans 24 race…. Fassbender lost control of the car and went into the barrier with no chances to repair the damage… Le Mans was [not] kind to us this year!”
This was Fassbender’s second time participating in the endurance race. He previously made his debut last year, also with Proton. In 2021, he scored his first podium, finishing second at Portimão, and in 2022 took a third place in Le Castellet. Before his first Le Mans, he told Top Gear, “I’m never going to be a professional racing driver, but I’m super passionate about it, it means so much to me. And I want to reach my full potential.”
Other actors to have participated in the Le Mans race in the past have included Paul Newman and Patrick Dempsey.
Here’s video of the crash posted by the official Le Mans Twitter account:
This year marked the 100th anniversary of the race with Ferrari AF Corse taking the trophy.
WANNABE: Reckonings With the Pop Culture That Shapes Me, by Aisha Harris
Being a Black critic in a time of exceptional art made by Black people has immense rewards and myriad risks. “Wannabe,” the debut essay collection from Aisha Harris, a co-host of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour,” is at its best when engaging with those risks and the thorny questions of her profession. In what ways does identity inform a critic’s work? And should it?
Harris can laugh about the demands of endorsing positive representations of Blackness, no matter how trite (“When encountering Black art out in the wild, be on the lookout for Black Girl Magic, Black Love, Black Excellence and the direct involvement of Common and/or John Legend”). She cheekily pushes Issa Rae’s now-famous awards show proclamation — “I’m rooting for everybody Black” — to its most absurd extent: “It’s only right we take her at her literal word and support all Black artists and art, no matter how questionable, incompetent or just plain offensive they might be.”
But when a podcast listener chastises Harris for finding the Will Smith movie “King Richard” middling, she roars back. “I don’t want to ‘just be happy’ about ‘King Richard,’” she insists. “I want interiority and surprise and characters who feel as though they have a reason to exist beyond retelling history.”
It’s complicated, though. Harris recounts conflictedness about being disappointed by “A Wrinkle in Time,” which was directed by Ava DuVernay, whose film career was firmly on the rise. Harris, who wrote movie reviews for Slate and is a former editor at The New York Times, worried that a lukewarm piece could mean it would “be decades before another studio handed a movie of this stature to a woman of color.” Looking back, she arrived at a place that was “true to my own reactions to the movie without being scathing.”
“Wannabe” is a blend of memoir and cultural analysis, framed as “reckonings with the pop culture that shapes me.” Harris flaunts a wide range of references, moving easily between decades and arenas. She makes smart use of Roger Ebert on Fellini, revisits “Key & Peele” sketches and dissects bell hooks’s analysis of the experimental film hero Stan Brakhage.
The book is especially effective when its author leans on her personal experience. Harris grew up in Connecticut, in “predominantly white and suburban circles,” and she tenderly illustrates the trials of growing up “The Black Friend” in white environments.
“These Black Friends,” Harris offers, “were a reminder of my isolation and the fact that I often felt as if I was a blip on the radar of the many white peers I attempted to befriend.”
Harris braids her personal pain with incisive critiques of the trope and its limitations, constructing internal monologues for famous pop culture examples, like Gabrielle Union’s Katie in “She’s All That”and Lamorne Morris’s Winston in “New Girl.”
She deftly connects the rise of the personal brand and the toxic cultures of online fandom (“The overpersonalization of pop culture begets acrimony and pathological obsession”); confronts her decision to not have kids through the prism of “The Brady Bunch” and Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up”;and quotes from her own LiveJournal about a hurtful memory involving an oft-forgotten scene in Tina Fey’s “Mean Girls.”
Still, for all its range, “Wannabe” contains occasions that demand more rigorous engagement. Contending with Dave Chappelle’s thorny legacy is limited to an aside: “While I recognize that present-day Dave Chappelle suffers from transphobic diarrhea of the mouth,” Harris writes, “I cannot pretend as though some of his old jokes no longer slap.” (She goes on to quote several of them.)
And the recency of the pop references in “Wannabe” is both a strength and a weakness, and risks dating the book.
The groundbreaking success of Disney’s “Encanto”and the multiple Oscar winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is likely to matter for a long time; Warner Bros. Discovery’s cancellation of the “Batgirl” film or the Harper’s letter on “Justice and Open Debate” might lose potency for the reader not engaged with the mostly-online #discourse.
But enlisting movies and TV to explain the world is Harris’s expertise, arriving at “inadvertent self-formation by way of popular culture.” For readers already inclined to read culture to understand themselves, “Wannabe” is a compelling affirmation that they’re looking in the right place.
Elamin Abdelmahmoud is a podcaster and the author of “Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces,” a New York Times Notable Book in 2022.
WANNABE: Reckonings With the Pop Culture That Shapes Me | By Aisha Harris | 280 pp. | HarperOne | $29.99
Italy’s Fremantle-owned Lux Vide production powerhouse is expanding its in-house studio capacity, unveiling a large new soundstage on Monday at its facilities in Formello outside Rome which will become a major new European physical production hub.
Plans are underway for a total of seven state-of-the-art stages, plus a new post-production facility to be in place at Formello by year’s end creating a sprawling Lux Video studio area on more than 6,500 square meters of space (2,5 square miles) including the backlot.
Lux Vide’s new Teatro 5 measuring more than 1150 square meters (more than 12,000 square feet) was inaugurated with Italy’s deputy culture minister Lucia Bergonzoni and other local authorities on hand alongside Lux CEO Luca Bernabei, Andrea Scrosati, Fremantle’s group COO and CEO continental Europe, and Lux’s honorary president Matilde Bernabei.
The studios will be used mainly by Lux Vide and Fremantle sister companies, which comprise Wildside and The Apartment in Italy. But they will also be offered for rental to external companies.
Lux’s new expanded studio facilities, which tapped into Italy’s tax credit incentives for production, involved a more than €6 million ($6.4 million) investment. The studios employs on average 250 people a day, according to a statement.
The new studio, like all Lux Vide soundstages, is built according to an eco-friendly protocol so that roughy 40% of the energy requirements will be generated through solar electricity panels, while the facility will use electric vehicles to make for more sustainable productions.
“I congratulate Lux Vide for this new important project that has been a great public and private demonstration by sharing the same strategic vision, and working side by side to achieve a common goal: the strengthening of the TV & film industry, being an engine for cultural and economic growth of our country, as well as its attractiveness on an international scale,” said Italy’s deputy culture minister Bergonzoni during the inauguration.
Lux Vide CEO Bernabei noted that “Businesses, like production companies, day after day, need a ‘factory’. My hope is that Studio 5 can be the place where the ideas of our creatives can take shape and substance.”
Fremantle’s Scrosati pointed out that “Lux Vide’s qualities include combining craftsmanship with an international industrial model” and called Lux “An ambitious company that, from today, has a new ‘home’ where cutting-edge and competitive equipment and technologies will be at the service of creativity.”
Spider-Punk stands as one of the more memorable web-slingers introduced in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but new artwork shows how different his striking aesthetic could’ve been.
Rejected Spider-Punk Designs for Across the Spider-Verse
Sony
In Across the Spider-Verse, Hobie Brown’s style, which is often surrounded by flickering cutouts, is as layered and chaotic as he is.
Now, thanks to Spider-Verse concept artist Jesús Alonso Iglesias, fans have an idea of what Spider-Punk could’ve looked like and which ideas for his signature style were ultimately rejected.
On Twitter, Iglesias shared “some of my early first takes” on Hobie Brown which he first tackled “in 2019.”
“Ok let’s do this one more time. My name is Hobbie Brown an I’m Spider-Punk. But I better start from the beginning back in 2019. These are some of my early first takes on this character before he became the one many of you have already seen”
This first piece of concept art of shows Hobie with a different style of mohawk, ripped jeans, and a full jacket instead of a vest.
Sony
The next sketch shows early ideas for the character without sleeves and spikes atop his mask instead of fluorescent-hued hair.
Sony
In addition to continuing to experiment with hair versus spikes, Iglesias also shows different ideas for Hobie’s mask, his Spider logo, and a slightly more British and/or vintage take for his pants.
Sony
This next piece offers a first look at a design for the back of Hobie’s vest and a blue webbing design instead of black.
Sony
In an additional Tweet, Iglesias posted another batch of designs saying:
“Even before I knew he was black (Ouch, sorry!)”
Due to the abundance of plaid, this concept appears to be a ’90s grunge-inspired Spider-Punk.
Sony
The design below labeled “B” continues the plaid theme with a plaid webbing design of his suit.
However, design “C” may be the biggest stand-out given his mask and color palette strongly resemble that of Miles.
Sony
Iglesias’ next grouping of concepts highlights ideas for Spider-Punk’s movements and how he would be seen playing his signature guitar.
Sony
At this point, it looks like Iglesias and the Spider-Verse team somewhat honed Hobie’s look while still experimenting with a few details.
Sony
In Iglesias’ final Tweet, he talked of collaborating with artist Evan Monteiro, explaining, “This is what came out” while still noting they would still “need a few more changes:”
“Years later since my first designs of Spider-punk I went back to the character & work on the amazin drawings by @evan_monteiro and this is what came out The path was there (and the logo!) but still would need a few more changes.…”
In this final collection of concepts, Spider-Punk looks much more like his final design in Across the Spider-Verse, particularly in terms of his hair.
Sony
This next piece shows more of his hair design, as well as how he looks with the mask and without.
Sony
Finally, this last concept provides a look at the character’s possible style of movement, as well as an idea for paint splatters to seemingly represent motion.
Sony
Only the Start of Spider-Punk in the Spider-Verse?
Sony Pictures’Spider-Verse films are cinematic love letters to Spider-Man comics and comic book artists.
In telling a Multiverse story, the film’s creators embraced different art styles and designs to distinguish each individual webhead and their respective worlds.
Spider-Punk is one of the best examples of this artistic undertaking. And, it’s fascinating to see a sampling of Jesús Iglesias’ efforts in developing this web-slinging standout, as well as what could’ve been on-screen.
Given how integral Hobie Brown proved to be in Across the Spider-Verse, hopes are high for him to return in Beyond the Spider-Verse come 2024.
If so, fans will get to see more of Iglesias and his fellow artists’ work, and maybe even Hobie’s own unique world.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is playing in theaters now.
Reports indicate that, unfortunately for consumers, Netflix’s long-anticipated password-sharing crackdown is working. According to data from research company Antenna, which we saw via Variety, sign-ups for new Netflix accounts are at a four-year high. And this comes directly as a consequence of the company’s efforts to curb password sharing. The increase in subscriptions has an even higher spike than the subscription increase Netflix saw during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. We guess many people sharing accounts still want to access Netflix.
Netflix
According to Antenna, since Netflix began its US password-sharing crackdown in earnest on May 23, subscriptions have skyrocketed. Netflix’s average daily sign-ups increased 102% (over the last 60-day days) from May 25 to May 28. And average daily sign-ups hit 73,000. That is indeed astronomical. Antenna reveals that Netflix hasn’t seen numbers this high since January 2019.
Of course, cancellations also increased as a result of Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown. However, the rate of cancellations was less than the rate of new subscriptions, leaving Netflix the winner. Although, there is a natural cap to this increase as well. At some point, all the Netflix sign-ups that will happen as a result of the password-sharing crackdown will happen. And then growth may cease. However, Netflix previously estimated that 30 million households in the US and Canada share passwords. Perhaps some households even share with multiple people. So, there are many new subscriptions to come.
Netflix
In the event you are sharing passwords, Netflix will let you know you had better pay up or expect not to be able to use the account any longer. Subscribers who have been sharing Netflix accounts can either transfer their accounts to a whole new Netflix subscription or add an extra member for $7.99/month. We’re just crossing our fingers that other streamers aren’t inspired by Netflix to have their own password-sharing crackdowns.
Capcom has launched a new website celebrating the company’s 40th anniversary.
June 11 marked 40 years since the company was established, so to mark the occasion the new Capcom Town website was created.
Billed by Capcom as “the ultimate digital tourist destination”, Capcom Town will be updated regularly with new features.
At launch, the site already includes a number of areas, including a Retro Games section, a Museum, a ‘Merch Factory’ where players can download Capcom-themed Twitter icons and pages dedicated to Capcom’s CEO and COO, giving history on the company.
The Museum section features over 500 pieces of artwork, design documents and video and music selections from a number of Capcom series including Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Ace Attorney and Ghosts ‘n Goblins.
The Retro Games section, meanwhile, lets users play a selection of Capcom games, either using their keyboard or plugging in a controller.
The games available at the moment are:
Final Fight (SNES)
Mega Man (NES)
Mega Man 2 (NES)
Mega Man X (SNES)
Street Fighter II (SNES)
Each game can be played in their western (NES/SNES) or Japanese (Famicom / Super Famicom) versions.
A new Capcom Showcase event will take place later today at 3pm PT / 6pm ET / 11pm BST.
Capcom says the presentation will include such titles as Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Exoprimal and Dragon’s Dogma 2.
According to Capcom, the show will last for approximately 36 minutes and feature some games which “aren’t suitable for children”.
“We look forward to sharing new information about Capcom’s upcoming releases and future titles with our fans around the world,” the company said.
EXCLUSIVE: Ron Dyens, the founding CEO of Paris-based company Sacrebleu Productions, has built a reputation as one of Europe’s most original and prolific producers of independent animated features over the course of nearly 25 years.
Its new animated feature Sirocco And The Kingdom Of Air Streamsopened the festival on Sunday evening (June 11) and is among 11 animated features in the running for its Cristal prize.
The company is also present in the short film competition with 1942-set Maurice’s Bar by Israeli filmmakers Tzor Edery & Tom Prezman about the memories of a former drag queen around one of Paris’s first queer bars.
Outside the film program, Sacrebleu will participate in the Works in Progress section with Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow. The Latvian director’s second feature after breakout debut Away, it revolves around a loner cat forced to share a small boat with a group of other animals after a terrible flood.
The company will present a further two projects: VR work The Pond by Lucas Leonarduzzi and Antoine Morieres (in the MIFA Pitches section) and Wesley Rodrigues’s Bird Kingdom, which has been selected for Annecy’s Residency program.
Sirocco And The Kingdom Of Air is the first solo animated feature of Benoît Chieux, after a number of award-winning shorts and the joint work Aunt Hilda!, which played in the Berlinale’s Generation Kplus section in 2014.
Based on an original story developed by Chieux with screenwriter Alain Gagnol (who was Oscar nominated for A Cat In Paris), it follows the adventures of two young sisters who get trapped in the pages of a children’s book and its fantastical Kingdom of the Winds.
The $4.1 million (€4.9 million), 2D animation work is a co-production led by Sacrebleu with partners Take Five (Belgium) and Ciel De Paris (France). Haut et Court will release the film in France on December 13. Kinology is handing international sales.
Dyens founded Sacrebleu Productions in 1999. For its first 15 years of existence the company focused mainly on short format works, producing more than 50 in total including award winners Barking Island, Madagascar, A Journey Diary, Tram and Man On The Chair.
The company broke into feature animation in 2016 with Rémi Chayé’s Long Way North, which it followed with Aga’s House, Marona’s Fantastic Tale and My Sunny Maad. Its features credits also include the documentary Free Radicals, A History Of Experimental Cinema and live action drama Dark Heart Of The Forest.
Deadline talked to Dyens about Sacrebleu’s journey to date and its future animation slate.
DEADLINE: How did you break into film?
RON DYENS: The starting point is that I love art. There are a lot of artists in my family, and I studied plastic arts. I also wrote and painted too. One day a producer suggested I turn a play I’d written into a short film. I knew nothing about cinema, so I learned on the job. My first short was a terrible flop but the second one was a success, showing a at raft of festivals and achieving 30 sales deals. These first shorts were live action, but it all began there.
DEADLINE: How did you move into animation?
DYENS: I reconnected with the graphic art that had surrounded me since I was child and I started getting into animation before it became as big as it is today. It was around the time that Annecy was growing too. Something that was important for me from the beginning was the focus on the writing. That wasn’t very common at the time. People were more interested in making beautiful films with wonderful images, but there was not much attention on the storytelling.
DEADLINE: Having started out as a filmmaker, you moved into producing. What do you like about producing?
DYENS: My approach is more American than French. I see myself as an artistic producer. I try to add value though a focus on the writing and dramaturgy. I see myself as being at the service of the auteur and the story. I’m not there to steal their ideas but rather to make them coherent to the audience to create a story that touches the spectator.
Through my work with short films, I understand the challenge of creating a work that stands out. There are around 3,000 short films produced in France each year and just 20 go on to circulate worldwide.
DEADLINE: What is the magic ingredient that makes a work standout?
DYENS: I have an arborescent way of thinking. I make lots of different connections in my head when I read a project which I immediately send back to the director.
Then I wait and see how the director reacts. I want to understand whether the director really understands their subject and characters. I dig and it’s not always comfortable. If a director is willing to dig deeper that’s a good sign. I can be very demanding and this has lost me directors in the past. I don’t mind, but it’s better if this happens earlier rather than later, which is why I push hard at the beginning.
Animation is a long journey. It’s a bit like a marriage. There will be a highs and lows, but the end game is to bring a baby into the world together. The filmmaker is the mother, the one who suffers. I am the one holding their hand.
Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds
Sacrebleu
DEADLINE: How did you get involved in Sirocco And The Kingdom Of Air Streams?
DYENS: It’s a bit of an unusual trajectory. I saw a trailer at Cartoon Movie. There was already a producer attached. I went to see Benoît and told him I really liked the trailer and story, and was interested in getting involved, even as a co-producer. Benoît liked the idea and told me to speak to the producer, who then decided they didn’t want to do the film any more so I took over the film with Benoît attached.
We did two short films together so we could get to know one another, to test our ability to collaborate. To use the marriage metaphor again, you need to spend some time together before you tie the knot. It worked out well and one of the short films was nominated at the Césars (Midnight’s Garden).
When it came to the feature, Benoît took a very different approach from the other animations I’ve worked on. Screenwriter Alain Guignol wrote the screenplay from his images, rather than the other way around.
DEADLINE: What were the starting elements?
DYENS: The wind, the two young girls, the mother and Selma, the singer, although she wasn’t a singer in the beginning. It all came together in a kind of ping pong match fashion with me acting as the umpire. The idea from the beginning was to create an arthouse film with commercial potential that was accessible to a larger public. However, we didn’t get any support from the broadcasters and also missed out on [CNC] Advance on Receipts funding so the budget wasn’t as big as we hoped. It was complicated.
DEADLINE: Do you have plans for a sequel or other spin-off products like a graphic novel?
DYENS: There are a lot of ideas. We recently presented a transmedia project at Cartoon Next in Marseille involving the creation of a Sirocco universe and we’re publishing a family book with publisher Acte Sud to coincide with the release of the film in December. We’re also in talks to develop a Sirocco video game as well as with broadcasters on a potential TV series, although they’re waiting to see how the film does before committing.
DEADLINE: Can you talk a bit about Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow which you are going to present as a Work in Progress?
Dyens: We’ve just started production and we’ll show some new images. It’s a film co-produced between Latvia, France and Belgium. We found the most money in France and we’re doing nearly all the work in a studio in Marseille. It’s a very exciting project. There are high expectations for the film. There’s no dialogue, it’s unclassifiable and very spiritual. It makes me think of the work of Carl Theodor Dreyer.
DEADLINE: How did you get involved in the film?
DYENS: After I saw Away, I told Gints Zilbalodis I wanted to be involved in his next film. He sent me the elements for this new film and I immediately signed up. Gints was also keen to work with a team. He made his first film all alone at the age of 24 but no-one really does that in animation. He’s pleased to have found people who want to work with him on this.
DEADLINE: You’re presenting another project called Bird Kingdom by Wesley Rodrigues at Annecy. Can you give a few more details?
DYENS: It’s a co-production with Brazil. It’s a magnificent project. For me, it’s a mix of Sam Peckinpah, Kleber Mendonça, Alejandro Jodorowsky. It’s a very violent film about the Brazilian Far West told through birds. It follows in the region’s great tradition of magic realism. It’s about the interconnection between humans and their environment. The key characters are able to transform into animals and then come back as human beings. There’s a lot of mythology around this.
DEADLINE: Given the rising popularity of animation, is it getting easier or harder to finance independent animated features out of France and Europe?
DYENS: When there were one or two features a year, it was easier to finance. The culture offering has expanded in recent years, across series, cinema and video games, but the time dedicated to culture has not. It’s very difficult to make something that stands out. The Americans are strong in that. They always think on a worldwide basis rather than just domestically.
DEADLINE: Where do you produce the animation? Do you ever outsource work to places like India?
DYENS: We try to do everything in France, even if it ends up being more costly. We have a lot of good schools here and the standard of the work is very high. It also depends on where we have co-production partners. On Sirocco, some of the work was also done in Belgium.
DEADLINE: What are your thoughts around Artificial Intelligence and the impact it could have on animation?
DYENS: It’s hard to answer that one as we’re at the beginning but in general terms I think it will have as big an impact on the world as the industrial revolution. In relation to your question, I think it will have a bigger impact on everything related to VR experiences. It’s going to enable us to enter into a parallel universe and give us exactly what we want. That’s terrifying.
We’re presenting a VR project at Annecy this year [The Pond]. We think VR is going to become more and more important as it becomes associated with A.I. to create worlds catering to people’s desires and ideas of pleasure. The power of AI will substitute us. It’s going to know that you want to be taken to the beach before you’ve even indicated that’s what you want to do, or even thought it, because it knows you so well. This project won’t involve AI but we want to understand the techniques of making a VR work to prepare for the future.
DEADLINE: Is this Sacrebleu’s first VR project?
DYENS: No, we have another Mono No Ware by Boris Labbé, which we just started production on but we have yet to complete a VR project.
DEADLINE: Annecy Artistic Director Marcel Jean has said he can see the influence of Japanese Manga more and more in European animation. Do you agree?
DYENS: Yes, most certainly. With the platforms there’s more porosity, interpenetration between different cultures. Another factor is that we’re seeing more animations aimed at adolescents and adults [in Europe].
This is nothing new in Asia, where everyone reads Manga from childhood to adulthood. You see Japanese businessmen reading Manga on the train. In the West, we grow-up on cartoons shown to us by our parents which we then reject as adolescents because we want to be adults.
The Japanese are really strong in producing young adult content linked to childhood questions. They understand how to make these transition films. While when we try to make these sorts of films in the West, we talk about more adult themes, like conflict and war. That’s changing though.
DEADLINE: Do you think people can see your mark on the animation features you produce?
DYENS: There is now is a certain expectation about films by Sacrebleu. Festivals like Cannes and Berlin receive a lot animation films, but I think when it’s a Sacrebleu film they pay attention. People expect a certain level of quality when they see our label. It’s taken a long time to get to this point.
ANNECY — In major news for Mexican animation as it comes under the spotlight at Annecy, director Sofia Carrillo (“The Sad House,” “Cerulia”) is teaming with “Roma” producer Nicolas Celis and ‘Dance of the 41’ writer Monika Revilla to make “Insectario,” which bids fair to become one of the first stop motion features from Mexico.
Targeting family audiences, and written by Revilla, “Insectario” is set up at Celis’ Pimienta Films.
Carrillo, who worked on the Mexican second unit on “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” based out of Guadalajara’s El Taller del Chucho, told Variety that “Insectario” will build on the same aesthetic universe of “Cerulia” using the same puppets and sometimes the same sets.
“To a certain extent, ‘Insectario’ is a prolongation of the world of ‘Cerulia,’ but with an independent story which stands by itself,” she said.
In “Cerulia,” Carrillo’s crowning triumph which made her one of the most sought-after directors in Mexico, a little girl plays in her grandparents’ house, then revisits it years later when they are deceased and the house is up for sale.
Returning, her childhood memories are still literally alive in the house, part of a world of animals and pets which is dying out in urban existence, as the short recounts in the case of the girl’s family, gaining a larger bigger-world resonance, rising to a new thought-provoking level.
“Insectario,” Carrillo said, asks as its premise: What would happen if all the insects in the world come to life? It tells the story of an entomologist’s assistant who must free all the insects in the world which are trapped in an insectarium.
“This film is somehow an homage to Wladyslaw Starewicz, one of the founding fathers of stop motion,” said Carrillo. “More than a century has gone by since Starewicz’s 1912 short ‘The Cameraman’s Vengeance.’ Nowadays, insects are disappearing at a vertiginous rate, giving the act of reanimating them another layer of meaning,” she added, noting that the word “insectarium” means a collection of insects which may be dead or alive: “Our film unfolds in the ambiguity of the term, in the land of animation.”
Revilla’s interest in “Insectario,” shared by Carrillo, is “to talk about insects from the point of view of nostalgia, of how they are disappearing,” she said.
“I remember my childhood was full of insects. At school, we tried to rescue catalinas, because they brought good luck; monarch butterflies would come to my garden on their migration. Now insects have disappeared from my life,” added Revilla whose writing credits also take in episodes of “The House of Flowers” and “Someone Has to Die.”
“Insectario” has a classic narrative three-act structure but is “also a subversive genre blender, part heist movie, part dystopia-set tale, as well as incorporating Sofía’s nostalgic aesthetics and sense of subconscious fears,” Revilla added.
“I have wanted for years to work with Sofia and it is so exciting to bring together the expertise of all three of us to make a film which is highly powerful, high quality and for a global audience,” said Celis. “I sense that this film will position Sofía as the quality of her work merits and she will have the freedom to do what she wants,” he added.
“It’s so moving to work with Monika and Nico. They are brilliant and I’m blown away by how positive they are about my work,” said Carrillo.
For a recent shopping excursion in Rome, the 26-year-old Euphoria star scaled things back in a casual grey minidress and brown leather loafers, marking one of her most replicable looks to date—though that Louis Vuitton pumpkin tote bag would run you $3,750. In the photos, which can be seen here, Zendaya walks from a black SUV into the Bulgari store wearing a vintage-wash muscle tank dress with a cheeky slit on either side that further accentuates the actor’s naturally long legs. As for her beauty look, Zendaya kept things simple with a bit of eyeliner and her hair pulled into a low messy bun.
According to The Daily Mail, this outing took place the day after Zendaya attended the opening of the Bulgari Hotel Roma on June 8. The actor arrived at the event wearing a glitzy Valentino suit and striking mesh top after losing her first option in transit. According to British Vogue, Zendaya told her Instagram followers that she and her “image architect” Law Roach only had an hour to piece the look together. “When in doubt…a @maisonvalentino suit :),” she wrote.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Zendaya attend the Bulgari Hotel Roma opening event on June 08, 2023.
Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images
For jewelry, the Bulgari ambassador was decked out with striking silver and diamond earrings and rings, which she hopefully was able to take home with her. But hey, maybe that’s what her shopping trip was for!
Actors J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell have made history at this year’s Tony Awards, becoming the first openly nonbinary performers to win acting prizes. Ghee won lead actor (musical) for their performance as Jerry/Daphne in Casey Nicholaw’s “Some Like It Hot,” while Newell walked away with the featured actor (musical) statuette for their role as Lulu in Jack O’Brien’s “Shucked.”
J. Harrison Ghee in SOME LIKE IT HOT. Photo credit: Marc J. Franklin
Marc J. Franklin
“My mother raised me to understand that the gifts God gave me were not about me,” Ghee said. “To use them to be effective in the world. For every trans, nonbinary, gender non-conforming human — whoever was told they couldn’t be, couldn’t be seen, this is for you. ‘Some Like It Hot’ and that ain’t bad.”
In an interview with Variety, Ghee spoke about their decision to submit as lead actor at the Tonys and for this year’s Primetime Emmys for their performance in Fox’s anthology series “Accused.” “It’s not a gendered profession to me, and I was grateful to be asked for consideration on where I wanted to be viewed,” said Ghee. “Making that decision wasn’t hard on my spirit. It was just to be confident and intentional about my work and meeting the moment.”
“Thank you for seeing me Broadway,” Newell said. “I should not be up here as a queer, non-binary, fat, Black, little baby from Massachusetts. And to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I’m going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
In an interview with Variety, Newell explained why they opted to compete in the supporting actor category.
“I went based off the English language,” Newell said. “Everyone who does acting is an actor. That is genderless,” she says, wearing a slouchy sweater and ripped jeans in their dressing room at the Nederlander Theater before a recent performance.
With music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally and a book by Robert Horn, “Shucked” opened on April 4 at the Nederlander Theatre.
Ask Noel Gallagher how the material from his excellent new album Council Skies is going over live so far on his U.S. tour with Garbage, and you’ll get an answer only he would dare to give: “Terrible,” he says, blaming crowds who haven’t absorbed the album yet (like all of his post-Oasis work, it’s credited to Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds). “I’m starting off with five new ones. People should have bought the fucking album, then, shouldn’t they? So they’re gonna stand there with their mouths open thinking, ‘What the fuck is this?’ I should advise them to go to their preferred streaming service.”
That’s how Gallagher’s interview in the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now begins, and he keeps up the same level of frankness and hilarity throughout. Some highlights follow; for the whole episode, go here to the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above.
He wants fans to accept that he’s not a kid anymore. “I would assume Oasis fans would like me to rewrite Definitely Maybe forevermore, but you are not really stretching yourself as an artist then,” he says. “I’d give one of my children to rewrite that album and have it be as good and as vital and as relevant. But it’s not gonna fucking happen. And thank God it happened once … I’m 56, right? Let me be 56. You know, I’m not fucking 27 anymore. I was 27 once and I fucking changed people’s lives! You can’t carry on doing it.”
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He says his brother, Liam Gallagher, isn’t being honest when he claims to want to reform Oasis — and hasn’t made the call he recently dared him to make. “I’ve accepted now that this is never gonna go away.” Noel says. “I’ve put it out there that if Liam really wants to do it, he should fucking call me, and he hasn’t called me, so I’m just assuming that he doesn’t want it either. Well, I know for a fact he doesn’t want it either, but he likes to paint this picture of, you know, this little fucking guy who’s sitting with his suitcase packed by the door, you know, like the little fucking cat from fucking Shrek, you know, the little fucking Spanish cat with these big fucking teary eyes. ‘I’m [gonna] go and do it now for you fans. I love you’. It’s like, well, fucking call me then. And he hasn’t called me. And until he does, it’s fucking going nowhere.”
He says the new song “Easy Now” is one of the most Oasis-like songs he’s written since the band’s breakup. “I’ve only persevered with this one because it was so good,” he says, explaining that he usually avoids songs that remind him of his old band. “All the rest of them that I’ve kind of shied away from, as soon as I hit a chorus, I just go, ‘Nah, there’s no point in me putting it out and then a load of people going, well, just sounds like shit Oasis.’ When I was writing this song and I got to the chorus, I was like, oh, actually, this one’s pretty good.”
Gallagher is intensely, perhaps irrationally, opposed to the use of co-writers. “I never loved the Beach Boys,” he says. “I was watching a documentary once and I was like, hang on a minute. Who the fuck’s this Van Dyke Parks? Oh, he’s the lyricist? It’s like, what? Brian Wilson didn’t even write the lyrics? Well, what the fuck? Why is he revered as a great songwriter? And, um, Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran and all the rest of them, I’m sorry. Once you employ outside people … they’re solo artists. How can he be a solo artist if there’s someone else [co-]writing the fucking songs for you?” But how is it different than collaborating with a bandmate? “If you are writing songs with a guy, be in a band with that fucking guy!”
That said, he has, um, co-written three songs with the Black Keys for their next album. “We did a week in the studio in London and wrote three songs,” he says. “And I’ve gotta tell you, they’re fucking amazing.”
He jokes that his war of words with the 1975’s Matty Healy is responsible for Healy’s recent reported breakup with Taylor Swift. “Taylor has obviously said, ‘Now look, keep your fucking nose out of that Gallagher business, or we are fucking through,’” he says. “And he couldn’t help it. And Swifty, God bless her, said, ‘I can’t deal with this shit because once he’s done with you, he is gonna come after me and I’m not fucking having it. So, I’m sorry, Matty, you gotta go.’”
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He wrote enough music for two more albums during the pandemic. “There is an acoustic album as well, which is very, very stripped back, and which I started recording recently,” he says. “And then there’s, a very heavily guitar-based, stadium-rock album.”
Listen to the full interview for much, much more, including the inspirations behind Council Skies, a look back at the cocaine madness of Be Here Now, and the writing of “Wonderwall.”
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Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out six years’ worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth, career-spanning interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Questlove, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, Gary Clark Jr., and many others. Plus, there are dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone’s critics and reporters.
Matt Drummond started his film career as a visual effects artist. That shines through in his third film as both writer and director, The Secret Kingdom. The fantasy adventure sports the greatest computer-generated images yet seen in an independent production. The armored pangolins are stunning, the crazy lemur feels real, and the dragon is magnificent to behold. Is the story Drummond conjured as magical as his visuals?
Peter (Sam Everingham), who is 12 years old, and his younger sister Verity (Alyla Browne) have just moved to a new town with their parents. Verity’s outspoken ad brash, full of spirit and energy. Peter is much quieter, seemingly afraid of everything. This comes to a head at a local shop, where the mysterious owner knows things she couldn’t possibly. Here, Peter buys a trinket, believing he broke it.
“…they will fulfill the prophecy and stop The Shroud…”
That night, the trinket unveils a hidden world beneath the floorboards the siblings fall through on their bed. They land in a cave tunnel system patrolled by talking pangolins. Soon enough, Peter and Verity learn their coming was foretold and that they will fulfill the prophecy and stop The Shroud (Gabrielle Chan), an evil shadow creature bent on taking over this fantastical world. Verity is up for the adventure, but the ever-fearful Peter is unsure what to do. Nonetheless, he becomes swept into a world beyond his imagination, accompanied by his sister and the loyal pangolin guide Pling (Darius Williams).
The Secret Kingdom is filled with dazzling visuals. The cinematography is lush, matching the fantasy feel of this new land and the creatures the CGI brings to life. The lighting is also stellar, especially on the pangolins, the dragon, and a funny two-headed turtle, all of who are created by effects. In the caves, the torchlight bounces light and shadow across the soldiers very believably. When Peter and Verity first encounter the empathetic dragon, who winds up being an essential ally, how it interacts with the landscape and humans is as realistic as possible. Seriously, there are not enough words to discuss the impressiveness of the visuals, especially the CGI.
As far as the story is concerned, it is another prophecy-based adventure. There are few surprises, and several sequences prove predictable. But Drummond makes some inventive choices, especially in his world-building. The pangolins know directions by songs, and Pling’s constant use of them to figure out where to go is amusing from beginning to end. Plus, the use of games throughout is pretty clever.
Italy‘s controversial former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has died aged 86 after being admitted to hospital with leukaemia last week.
The billionaire businessman created Italy’s largest media company before transforming the country’s political landscape – while fending off multiple legal and sex scandals. His spokesman confirmed his death this morning.
Berlusconi – famed for his notorious ‘bunga bunga’ sex parties and previously owning Italian football club AC Milan – had been suffering from leukaemia ‘for some time’ and had recently developed a lung infection.
The tycoon was admitted to San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Friday for what aides said were pre-planned tests related to his leukaemia.
Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition, and although he himself did not have a role in government, his death is likely to destabilise Italian politics in the coming months.
Italy ‘s controversial former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has died aged 86 after being admitted to hospital with leukaemia last week. Pictured: Berlusconi and his 33-year-old partner Marta Fascina, who is a Forza Italia MP
The billionaire businessman created Italy’s largest media company before transforming the country’s political landscape – while fending off multiple legal and sex scandals. His spokesman confirmed his death this morning. Pictured: The last known photo of Berlusconi, taken as he left the San Raffaele hospital after a 45-day of hospitalisation, in Milan, May 19
Berlusconi (pictured in October) had been suffering from leukaemia ‘for some time’ and had recently developed a lung infection. He was admitted to San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Friday for what aides said were pre-planned tests related to his leukaemia
Pictured: Members of the media work outside San Raffaele hospital where former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi died in Milan, Italy, June 12
His business empire also faces an uncertain future. He never publicly indicated who would take full charge of his MFE company following his death, even though his eldest daughter Marina is expected to play a prominent role.
Timeline: The key dates of Silvio Berlusconi’s life and career
Here are the key dates in the life and career of Italy’s scandal-tainted former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose death was announced on Monday:
1961: Starts his real estate career, building residential districts on the outskirts of Milan.
1978: Founds the Fininvest holding company, comprising media, financial services, publishing and, from 1986 to 2017, the Milan AC football club.
1994: Creates the ‘Forza Italia’ (Go Italy) movement, which wins legislative elections, giving him his first stint as prime minister from May to December.
1996: Goes on trial for the first time on corruption charges and is sentenced to 16 months in prison for false accounting, but acquitted on appeal.
2001: Starts a second stint as prime minister after his right-wing alliance wins the general election, serving for five years.
2008: After a new electoral win, returns as prime minister until 2011, resigning in the midst of a national financial crisis that risks bringing down the entire eurozone.
2013: Sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud through his Mediaset media empire, and is stripped of his seat in the Senate. The sentence is commuted to one year of community service, which he serves in a home for Alzheimer’s patients.
2015: Acquitted on appeal after a 2013 conviction for paying for sex with a teenage prostitute and abuse of power in the ‘Rubygate’ or ‘bunga bunga’ affair.
2019: Wins a seat in the European Parliament, becoming the assembly’s oldest MEP at age 82.
2020: Spends 11 days in hospital with Covid-19, calling the experience ‘perhaps the most difficult ordeal’ of his life.
2022: Campaigns behind the scenes to become Italy’s president but withdraws before voting begins in parliament. In September’s general election he wins a seat in the Senate, making a triumphant return to politics.
February 2023: The ‘bunga bunga’ sex scandal comes to an end when an Italian court acquits him of charges.
April 5, 2023: Admitted to intensive care at a Milan hospital for heart problems. The next day, doctors announce he is suffering from leukaemia and a lung infection.
May 19: Discharged from hospital after more than six weeks of treatment, saying, ‘I won again’.
June 9: Hospitalised for what his doctors say are ‘routine checks’ related to his leukaemia.
June 12: Dies at San Raffaele hospital in Milan.
Two members of the Italian government mourned his passing, with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini calling him in a statement ‘a great man and a great Italian.’
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto wrote on Twitter that Berlusconi’s death amounted to the end of an era. ‘I loved him very much. Farewell Silvio,’ Crosetto said.
Berlusconi was prime minister for three spells, running from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011.
His health markedly deteriorated in recent years, with open-heart surgery in 2016 and numerous hospital admissions since contracting Covid-19 three years ago.
The former PM – who was in a relationship with 33-year-old Forza Italia MP Marta Fascina – was discharged from hospital last month after treatment for a lung infection linked to a Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (CML).
He was admitted to intensive care in April in the cardiac unit of the San Raffaele hospital after suffering from breathing problems.
While there, Berlusconi, the leader of the Right-wing Forza Italia party, was diagnosed with a lung infection and CML – a rare blood cancer characterised by high numbers of white blood cells.
He was discharged on May 19 after 45 days in hospital.
Berlusconi had previously overcome prostate cancer, which he described as ‘a nightmare lasting months’.
But it was his battle with Covid in 2020 which he described as the ‘most dangerous challenge’ of his life.
The three-time prime minister of Italy, who was embroiled in several scandals – most notably around his ‘bunga bunga’ parties – was admitted to hospital with a minor heart problem after fainting in 2006, and underwent heart surgery in a US hospital in January 2007.
The former AC Milan owner, who also had major heart surgery in 2016 to replace an aortic valve, has had a pacemaker for several years.
He was hospitalised again for a reported urinary tract infection in January 2022.
Despite being diagnosed with leukaemia, he was active in politics to the end as a senator and partner in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government.
The larger-than-life character, who once compared himself to Jesus, was Italy’s longest serving premier but was also plagued by scandal.
Berlusconi also wielded huge influence through his television and newspaper interests – he effectively invented commercial TV in Italy – his ownership of AC Milan football club, and his sheer wealth, as Italy’s richest person for a decade.
Long before Donald Trump parlayed his business success into a White House bid, Berlusconi charmed millions of Italians by presenting himself as a self-made man who enjoyed life and spoke his mind, even to the extent of insulting fellow leaders.
To his critics, however, the right-winger was a tax-evading playboy who used his vast media empire to further his political career, and then exploited his power to protect his business interests.
He spent much of his life embroiled in legal action, and the cases around his notorious ‘Bunga Bunga’ sex parties, attended by young girls including underage escorts, were only wrapped up in February 2023.
Despite remaining president of his Forza Italia party, a junior partner in Meloni’s coalition, he had largely retired from public view in recent months.
G20 leaders (from left) US President Barack Obama, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pose for a family photo during the G20 summit at the ExCel centre, in east London, on April 2, 2009
Pictured: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Miss Italia 2008 Miriam Leone
His friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin put him at odds with Ms Meloni, a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
Who will take over Berlusconi’s business empire?
Berlusconi never publicly indicated who should lead his business empire after his death.
The future of his business interests will likely depend on how he has chosen to distribute his 61% stake in family holding company Fininvest between his five children from two marriages. His eldest daughter Marina is expected to play a prominent role.
THE ELDEST HEIRS
The eldest, Marina (born August 1966) and Pier Silvio (April 1969) have both been directly involved in running Berlusconi’s companies since soon after their father made his entry into Italian politics in the early 1990s.
Marina, who chairs Fininvest, has been overseeing publisher Mondadori while Pier Silvio has been in charge of the TV business which has long been the jewel in the family’s crown.
THREE YOUNGER CHILDREN
Barbara (July 1984), Eleonora (May 1986) and Luigi (September 1988), the children Berlusconi had with his second wife, have not had any such high-profile executive roles in the management of their father’s businesses.
Luigi assumed the task of representing his side of the family at Fininvest, where he is a board member, on the back of his focus on finance and wealth management.
SILVIO AS ‘THE GLUE’
People close to the family described Silvio Berlusconi as ‘the glue’ who kept his children united, despite their age range and differing attitudes and ambitions.
The big question is whether family unity can be maintained after Berlusconi’s departure and what impact that might have on the future of the TV business on which Berlusconi built his fortunes.
SLIMMING DOWN
In recent years Fininvest liquidated assets which it deemed no longer strategic, from European soccer champions AC Milan to stakes in biotech firm Molmed and Italian merchant bank Mediobanca
The family holding company has confirmed its commitment to its TV business MediaforEurope, supporting plans to grow in Europe to resist the U.S. streaming giants through M&A deals.
But it remains to be seen if this ambition will be sustained after the death of the founder.
On his 86th birthday, while the war raged, Mr Putin sent Mr Berlusconi best wishes and vodka, and the Italian boasted he returned the favour by sending back Italian wine.
He suffered increasing health problems – although he maintained his pride in his appearance, always smartly dressed, his slicked-back hair never showing the slightest trace of grey.
But as Mr Berlusconi aged, some derided his perpetual tan, hair transplants and live-in girlfriends who were decades younger. For many years, however, Mr Berlusconi seemed untouchable despite the personal scandals.
Berlusconi burst onto the political scene in the early 1990s, after building up a media and real estate business, where he was viewed as a breath of fresh air after a period of corruption and scandal.
Pitching himself as a modern Italian success story, and backed by his TV stations and newspapers, he secured his first election victory in 1994 with his new movement, Forza Italia (Go Italy!), named after a football chant.
He lasted as prime minister for only nine months, but bounced back with another election win in 2001 after a populist campaign promising jobs and economic growth, signing a ‘Contract with Italians’ live on television.
He served until 2006, and returned again as prime minister between 2008 and 2011, making him the longest-serving premier in Italy’s post-war history.
He was forced to quit as debt-laden Italy – the eurozone’s third largest economy – came under intense pressure during the financial crisis.
The tenure of the man dubbed ‘Il Cavaliere’ (The Knight) divided Italians, as much as over his policies – including his controversial decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq – as his entire approach to life.
To admirers, the three-time premier was a capable and charismatic statesman who sought to elevate Italy on the world stage.
To critics, he was a populist who threatened to undermine democracy by wielding political power as a tool to enrich himself and his businesses.
Throughout his time in office, prosecutors snapped at his heels, even as his supporters in parliament passed laws to shield him and his allies.
Criminal cases were launched but ended in dismissals when statutes of limitations ran out in Italy’s slow-moving justice system, or he was victorious on appeal.
Investigations targeted the tycoon’s steamy so-called ‘bunga bunga’ parties involving young women and minors, or his businesses, which included the football team AC Milan, the country’s three biggest private TV networks, magazines and a daily newspaper, and advertising and film companies.
Only one probe led to a conviction – a tax fraud case stemming from a sale of movie rights in his business empire.
The conviction was upheld in 2013 by Italy’s top criminal court, but he was spared prison because of his age, 76, and was ordered to do community service by assisting Alzheimer’s patients.
He still was stripped of his senate seat and banned from running or holding public office for six years, under anti-corruption laws.
Matteo Salvini, leader of League, Silvio Berlusconi, leader of Forza Italia, Giorgia Meloni leader of Brothers of Italy, attend the closing rally of the Center right coalition, on September 22
His friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin put him at odds with Ms Meloni, a staunch supporter of Ukraine. On his 86th birthday, while the war raged, Mr Putin sent Mr Berlusconi best wishes and vodka, and the Italian boasted he returned the favour by sending back Italian wine. Pictured: The pair are seen together in 2010
He suffered personal humiliations as well.
WHAT IS CHRONIC MYELOMONOCYTIC LEUKAEMIA?
Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML) is a rare type of blood cancer, where there are too many monocytes in the blood and bone marrow.
Monocytes are a type of white blood cell.
In CMML the bone marrow produces abnormal monocytes. They are not fully developed and can¿t work normally.
These abnormal blood cells either stay in the bone marrow or are destroyed before they get into the bloodstream.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has included CMML in a group of blood cancers called myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic disorders.
Mr Berlusconi lost his standing as Italy’s richest man, although his sprawling media holdings and luxury property still left him a billionaire several times over.
In 2013, guests at one of his parties included an under-age Moroccan dancer whom prosecutors alleged had sex with Mr Berlusconi in exchange for cash and jewellery.
After a trial spiced by lurid details, a Milan court initially convicted Mr Berlusconi of paying for sex with a minor and using his office to try to cover it up. Both denied having sex with each other, and he was eventually acquitted.
The Catholic Church, at times sympathetic to his conservative politics, was scandalised by his antics, and his wife of nearly 20 years divorced him. But Mr Berlusconi was unapologetic, declaring: ‘I’m no saint.’
Mr Berlusconi insisted that voters were impressed by his brashness.
‘The majority of Italians in their hearts would like to be like me and see themselves in me and in how I behave,’ he said in 2009, during his third and final stint as premier.
He boasted of his libido and entertained friends and world leaders at his villas. At one party, newspapers reported the women were dressed as ‘little Santas’. At another, photos showed topless women and a naked man lounging poolside.
An unrepentant Mr Berlusconi said in 2010: ‘I love life! I love women!’
Despite the multiple court cases – he claimed in 2021 he had gone through 86 trials – he never spent any time behind bars and successfully appealed convictions for fraud and corruption early in his political career.
He was also long suspected of links to the mafia, but strongly denied it.
Despite the multiple court cases – he claimed in 2021 he had gone through 86 trials – Berlusconi never spent any time behind bars and successfully appealed convictions for fraud and corruption early in his political career
From owning AC Milian to ‘bunga bunga’ parties: Who was Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former Prime Minister?
Berlusconi was born in 1936 in Milan to a bank employee father and a housewife mother. He went on to father five children, all involved in the running of his business empire.
As a young man, he was quick to realise his talents as an entertainer.
A huge fan of Nat King Cole, he played double bass in a band and made club audiences laugh with jokes during breaks from his law studies at the University of Milan.
As a student, he worked briefly as a cruise ship singer before launching a lucrative career in the booming construction sector in his 20s, which delivered his first fortune.
These funds were used to build a vast conglomerate spanning shops, cinemas, publishers, newspapers and cable television, where he broke new ground with commercial programmes filled with scantily clad women.
Crucially for his public persona, his empire also included football, one of Italy’s great passions.
As well as providing money for AC Milan, he regularly delivered dressing room and training ground pep talks during a period in which the club became one of the world’s most celebrated and trophied success stories.
Silvio Berlusconi, President of AC Milan, lifts the Champions League trophy with his team after they won the European Cup against Benfica in 1990, in Vienna, Austria
Five of AC Milan’s seven European Cup/Champions League triumphs were achieved under Berlusconi’s 31-year ownership.
He sold the club in 2017 after years of lacklustre performances, and in 2018 bought Monza, then in Italy’s third tier.
On the world stage, Berlusconi was known for his friendships with the likes of Libya’s Moamer Kadhafi and Russian President Vladimir Putin – the latter of whom he controversially defended following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
He had no time for traditional diplomacy, once likening a German European MP to a Nazi and describing US President Barack Obama as ‘suntanned’.
His image was further tarnished when lurid details emerged of his sex parties at his villa near Milan with its private disco, during a hugely embarrassing trial involving a 17-year-old nightclub dancer.
Berlusconi was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2013 for paying for sex with Karima El-Mahroug, known as ‘Ruby the Heart Stealer’ – but this was later overturned after the judge said there was reasonable doubt that he knew she was underage.
He then stood accused of bribing witnesses to lie about his parties, which he always insisted were elegant dinners. He was acquitted in three related trials.
A relationship with another teenager led to the end of his second marriage with former actress Veronica Lario, who left him in 2009 over his ‘cavorting with minors’.
In March 2022, he held a bizarre fake wedding with his girlfriend Marta Fascina, then 32.
Flamboyant Italian media mogul and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who made headlines with media deals, his partying ways, sex scandals, and corruption allegations alike, has died at the age of 86. Italian media outlets and the BBC reported the news.
According to local media reports, he died at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. A cause of death wasn’t immediately detailed.
The tycoon made a name for himself as the controlling shareholder of media conglomerate Mediaset. He first came to political office in 1994 and led four governments until 2011. He is Italy’s longest-serving prime minister since World War II.
In April, he was treated for a lung infection linked to a previous case of chronic leukemia. In 2020, he spent time in a hospital after contracting COVID-19. In 1997, Berlusconi successfully battled prostate cancer, including by surgery. In 2006, Berlusconi had heart tests after fainting during a speech. A few weeks later he received a pacemaker at a U.S. hospital. He also has had bowel surgery and suffered an inflammatory eye condition in the past.
The former prime minister and controlling shareholder of Mediaset formed the center-right party Forza Italia more than 25 years ago. The party has steadily lost popularity with voters in recent years as Berlusconi battled legal problems linked to his media business and his famed ’’bunga bunga parties.” After being convicted of tax fraud in 2013, he had to surrender his Senate seat. He is currently a lawmaker in the European Parliament.
When Stuart Braithwaite was approached to score Apple TV+‘s crime drama Black Bird alongside the other members of his Scottish post-rock band Mogwai, his instinct was to seek a less than “obvious” way of approaching this true story, which was admittedly “insane,” tapping into its darkness while at the same time seeking other dimensions.
“I think this came from your guys’ side, as well,” Braithwaite recalls in conversation with Black Bird‘s showrunner Dennis Lehane in today’s episode of The Process. “Some of the really dark stuff, there would almost be a kind of lightness to the music, because we don’t need to be told that this is grim. We can see what’s happening, which I like.”
Displaying, in Braithwaite’s mind, “the full range” of Mogwai’s capabilities, the score for Black Bird would be heavily informed by bandmember Barry Burns and the “weird” sounds he’d bring out of a set of synthesizers, with the whole band playing on the title theme and numerous key sections.
“I think it kind of swings a lot from maximalism to minimalism, doesn’t it? I think a lot of it’s very, very subtle with gentle pianos or keys, and then a lot of it is a sort of simmering wall of noise, especially a lot in the prisons,” says Braithwaite. “[It’s] almost to match the stress going on in the whole situation. So, a lot of that is just incredibly loud and guitars and feedback, and hitting guitars with violin bows.”
Based on James Keenes’ autobiographical book In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption, Black Bird watches as the former high school football hero, played by Taron Egerton, takes on an assignment for the FBI in order to cut short a sentence in minimum-security prison during the 1990s. His task? To enter a maximum-security prison and befriend the suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), such that he’s able to elicit a confession and find out where the bodies of his victims are buried.
When Braithwaite first discussed the series with Lehane, the renowned author of such novels adapted for the screen as Mystic River and Shutter Island, who has also worked on shows like The Outsider, he connected with the drive on Lehane’s part to tell this story without depicting Hall’s violent acts. “To take away any kind of titillation or even glorification of that was really important to you, and to honor the women, but also to examine how someone’s life can go so wrong and all these things,” says the composer. “I also really loved how humanized Larry’s portrayal was…I was talking to my wife about this earlier because we were watching it again…and we were just talking about…how important it is that people are seen as more than just one thing. Because the world isn’t black and white. There’s a lot of gray there.”
One of the biggest challenges for Mogwai in their work on the series, per Braithwaite, was just to “write music that equaled the quality of the show, of the acting and of the story.” The other was the perfecting of the show’s main title theme, which went through many iterations. “I always laugh about Oliver Stone’s Doors movie where they sat down and write ‘Light My Fire’ in 20 seconds. It was the exact opposite of that,” shares the artist. “Like, we busted our ass, tried that and tried that and tried that, and then we got there, and I’m really, really proud of how it turned out.”
In conversation with Lehane on The Process, Braithwaite discusses Mogwai’s “very freeform” creative process; how the band got into film scoring around 15 years ago after being approached for a doc on French soccer star Zinedine Zidane; having his sanity “saved during the [Covid] lockdown” by this kind of work, with touring suddenly an impossibility; learning to “work really fast” on the composing side, even if work with his band can be “really glacial” in pace; how Black Bird‘s main theme and its choral part for the daughter of bandmember Burns came about; the “really cool, conscientious, interesting people” he got to work with on the series; and the projects the band is taking on next.
Lehane speaks to connecting with Mogwai’s work via Michael Mann’s Miami Vice and his admiration of the group’s work on Prime Video’s globe-traversing crime drama ZeroZeroZero; Black Bird as a story “about a climb towards hope” that “keeps upping the ante” until “there’s no room to breathe”; the moment, listening to Black Bird‘s source material as an audiobook, that showed him the kind of “emotional impact” he would go for with the show; choosing “violence of the mind” over displays of physical brutality; the show’s examination of masculinity; Hauser’s dexterous work in capturing both the charm and monstrosity of Larry Hall; and more.
View the full conversation between Lehane and Braithwaite above.
Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media-mogul-turned politician who defined a three-decade-long era in postwar Italy during which TV spin, tainting allegations of corruption and sex scandals were pervasive — but who also achieved unprecedented political stability in the country — has died. He was 86.
Berlusconi died at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, according to Italian media reports.
After building a fortune by launching Italian private TV with his Mediaset empire, Berlusconi entered politics in 1993, was elected prime minister in 1994, and went on to serve as the country’s premier three times, not consecutively, becoming the longest serving democratically elected Italian leader. He was ousted from parliament in 2013 following a tax fraud conviction.
Berlusconi’s construction company Edilnord built a modernistic complex on Milan’s outskirts, named Milano 2, which he outfitted with an internal cable TV station, called Telemilano. Launched in 1978, Telemilano became the seed of Berlusconi’s creation of Italy’s first national private TV network, a feat he accomplished by buying up local stations on which he simultaneously broadcast the same programming. In doing so, Berlusconi circumvented a ban on nationwide broadcasting, creating a de facto national network that gradually broke the monopoly held by mammoth pubcaster RAI.
To feed his channels Berlusconi started importing American shows such as “Dallas,” “Baywatch” and “The Smurfs,” and subsequently bought the rights to massive numbers of U.S. movies in volume deals with the Hollywood studios. In later years these deals were probed on tax evasion charges that caused his ouster from parliament.
Telemilano grew into Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster. Berlusconi’s holding company Fininvest also subsequently acquired daily newspaper Il Giornale, the AC Milan football club, film company Medusa, and Mondadori, Italy’s top publisher.
In 1985 national legislation introduced by then prime minister Bettino Craxi, a longtime Berlusconi friend and ally, regularized Mediaset’s position.
Berlusconi threw his hat in the political ring in 1993, as Italy’s widespread so-called Clean Hands corruption scandal was sweeping away the political establishment under which he had flourished. He established his own political party, Forza Italia — Go Italy — named after a chant used by Italian football fans. Using his TV networks and Fininvest’s marketing machine, he campaigned as a self-made-businessman far removed from politics-as-usual who could fix the country’s problems and won. He was elected prime minister in March 1994, forming a coalition with the right-wing National Alliance and Northern League.
His first government collapsed just seven months later, when the Northern League pulled out. But by 2001 Berlusconi was back in power with the same coalition partners, at the head of what became Italy’s longest-serving postwar government until 2006, when he was defeated. He returned as premier as leader of the renamed PDL party in 2008 but was forced to resign in 2011, at the height of the Eurozone debt crisis, after he lost his parliamentary majority.
Throughout his time on Italy’s political proscenium, Berlusconi had to contend constantly with legal issues connected to his business dealings. He was accused of embezzlement, tax fraud, false accounting and attempting to bribe a judge. He always denied wrongdoing and complained that he was a victim of political political persecution by leftist magistrates. In 2009 Berlusconi estimated that over a period of 20 years he had made 2,500 court appearances in 106 trials, at a legal cost of more than $200 million.
His governments passed reforms shortening the statute of limitations for fraud, but part of a 2010 law granting him and other senior ministers temporary immunity was struck down by the Constitutional Court.
Berlusconi was acquitted numerous times, had convictions overturned or saw them expire under the statute of limitations, becoming known as the “Teflon Don.”
But in November 2013 he was voted out of parliament by the Italian Senate, following his conviction earlier that year in August for tax fraud in a case pertaining to Hollywood movie deals done by Mediaset.
The case that got Berlusconi kicked out of the Senate stemmed from multimillion-dollar movie rights deals done by Mediaset during the 1990s with Hollywood studios, including Paramount and Fox, through offshore companies at inflated prices, allegedly to evade taxes and create a slush fund.
In August 2013 his final appeal was turned down by Italy’s highest court, which reduced the prison sentence to house arrest or community service due to Berlusconi’s age.
As Berlusconi increasingly dominated Italy’s political scene, his influence became huge over pubcaster RAI, which from the mid-’90s onwards ran neck and neck in the ratings with Mediaset. His government appointed RAI’s top management, a blatant conflict of interest. Meanwhile, Mediaset’s Medusa film production and distribution arm became the country’s top film player and prompted RAI to also set up a theatrical distribution unit, creating a so-called duopoly that comprised both TV and film, over which Berlusconi held sway.
For the populist mogul-turned pol, Mediaset and any other media outlet were political weapons. In Berlusconi’s hands, journalism became just spin. Filmmakers who could find financing outside the duopoly fought back with movies such as Nanni Moretti’s prophetic “The Caiman,” in 2006, in which Berlusconi, played by Moretti himself, is seen setting the Milan courthouse on fire after being convicted. The film’s allegorical title refers to a South American alligator.
Alongside Berlusconi’s political and legal vicissitudes, there were always reports in the Italian press about his plastic surgeries and private life. These culminated in his conviction in 2013 for paying for sex with an under-age prostitute, 17-year-old Karima “Ruby” El Mahroug, who had attended one of what later became his world famous “bunga bunga” parties. However, in July 2014, an appeals court overturned Berlusconi’s conviction in this infamous case.
In May 2009 Berlusconi’s second wife, actress Veronica Lario, said she was divorcing him after he was photographed at the 18th birthday party of an aspiring Neapolitan model, Noemi Letizia.
From 2014 onwards Berlusconi was steadily pushed to the political sidelines, as young Italian center-left premier Matteo Renzi gained consensus. As Berlusconi’s political star faded, Mediaset also lost some luster, but remained a top media player in Italy and Spain. Besides being remembered as a “media-political Frankenstein,” as American journalist Alexander Stille put it in his book “The Sack of Rome,” Berlusconi will also be remembered for his bad jokes, including one in which he called Barack Obama “suntanned.” In the run-up to the 2008 general election, which he won, Berlusconi told an attractive young female voter who questioned his economic record that the best way of climbing out of poverty was to marry a millionaire, “like my son.”
Berlusconi was born in Milan into a middle-class family. His father worked in a bank, his mother was a housewife. He started his amazing career by selling vacuum cleaners and crooning in nightclubs and on cruise ships. In 1961 he got a law degree and set up construction company Edilnord.
Berlusconi is survived by five children: Marina, who is executive chairman of Fininvest and chairman of Mondadori; Pier Silvio, who is CEO of Mediaset; Barbara, who is a member of the board of Fininvest and A.C. Milan; Eleonora, also a board members of those two companies; and Luigi, who works in finance.
Donald Trump Used Air Movie Monologue Without Consent
Donald Trump jacked a monologue from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s latest film, Air — and they weren’t having it.
On Saturday, Trump’s campaign posted a video on his Truth social network that stole a monologue by Matt edited over scenes of Trump’s political reign, ending with a donation screen and the infamous “Make America Great Again” slogan, Deadline reported.
The monologue was Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, a Nike marketing executive, who described what it means to attain greatness. The biographical drama tells the story of NBA legend Michael Jordan and the creation of the “Air Jordan” sneaker campaign in the ’80s.
Unfortunately for Trump’s campaign, the director and star of the movie, Ben Affleck, and his costar Matt’s production company, Artists Equity, didn’t appreciate the use of their film’s message. They immediately issued a statement to condemn the video.
“We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to, and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement or for any other use,” the statement began.
“Specifically in terms of any and all rights available to us under US copyright and intellectual property law, we hereby, expressly give notice that in the case of any use of material from Air by the Trump campaign where approval or consent is required, we do not grant such consent.”
Maybe next time, Mr. Trump should get permission before putting himself in the same league as Michael Jordan.
A new update revealed when Sony Pictures is reportedly planning on releasing the upcoming third Venomsolo movie.
After being greenlit in April 2022, Venom 3 is making steady progress toward its eventual theatrical release, with Kelly Marcel leading the way as the director after writing the first two movies in the series.
Variety revealed that Sony Pictures is planning for Venom 3, the third movie in Tom Hardy’s symbiotic Sony trilogy,to release in October 2024.
Venom franchise Newcomer Juno Temple, who joins the cast after her impressive three-season run on Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso, revealed that filming is set to start “very, very soon” and that she’s “thrilled about” it.
With Tom Hardy and Juno Temple reportedly joining up with Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also has his own experience with Marvel after playing Baron Mordo in the MCU, many are wondering what Venom 3 will have in store for this anti-hero.
Once more details on Temple and Ejiofor’s roles are revealed, which could come as production kicks off this summer, fans should be able to get more of an idea of what this unlikely pair will have to tackle in their third solo movie.
This also comes as Sony looks to make waves with other solo outings like Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web in the year before Venom 3, although it remains to be seen how fans react to those new additions to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
The untitled Venom 3 is now rumored to debut in theaters in October 2024.
The Flash may make Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s villain story even more tragic and inescapable. Jason Momoa’s first solo adventure as Arthur Curry surpassed expectations, with the movie going on to gross $1.149 billion at the worldwide box office. That made 2018’s Aquaman become not only the highest-grossing DCEU film by a comfortable margin, with second place going to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with $872.7 million, but also the biggest win for DC at the box office ever. Based on that, it will be interesting to see if Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s story proves itself as gripping as the first film’s did.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
One important aspect of that story will be impacted by the events of Ezra Miller’s The Flash movie. In The Flash, Miller’s Barry Allen goes back in time to save his mother’s life, which leads to a multiverse-wide adventure for the speedster. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn said that The Flash resets the DCEU, with the new DC Universe taking its place. If that does happen, then Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which releases six months after The Flash, could already be a part of the new DC Universe. That means The Flash will likely lead to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s villain story being even more brutal.
The Flash Can Make Black Manta’s Origin Story More Tragic
The Flash rebooting the DC Universe leads to Aquaman and Black Manta’s connection being stronger than it was in the first movie, with the two characters being “destined nemesis,” as the villain, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, will be back to serve as the main antagonist of the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. With The Flash rebooting the DCEU into the new DC Universe, Aquaman and Black Manta would be rivals in two separate universes, showing the level of hatred that matchup conveys. The universe reset could also lead to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom making Black Manta’s story more tragic.
Director James Wan revealed that Aquaman 2 made changes to accommodate the DC Universe’s shifts since Gunn and Peter Safran arrived. Perhaps one of those changes will lead to Black Manta’s origin story becoming even more tragic. The first version of the character’s origin included a young Black Manta being kidnapped by pirates and becoming a slave. One day, the child saw Aquaman swim by the pirates’ ship and tried to call for help, only for the hero to not notice him, which led to Black Manta holding a lifelong grudge that he would pursue after killing his captors.
The Flash Can Make Black Manta’s DC Movies Story Even Closer To The Comics
Aquaman brought to life a version of Black Manta’s more recent origin story from DC Comics’ New 52 continuity. To follow up on that, The Flash could lead to a change in the timeline to allow Black Manta’s origin story to be closer to the comics and differentiate the DCEU and the new DC Universe. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom could reveal that the timeline changed to allow a version of the story of Black Manta being hired by a scientist to take Arthur Curry’s blood to prove he was an Atlantean to happen.
Then, it could be shown that the death of Black Manta’s father in the first film was due to the villain having accidentally killed Aquaman’s father, Tom Curry, when trying to take a sample. This would be a shocking twist, and it would help set Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom apart from the DCEU while bringing back Black Manta and Aquaman’s rivalry.
CD Projekt Red has shared the first major look at Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, the DLC expansion that’s now slated to release on September 26.
Revealed at Xbox Games Showcase with an announcement by Keanu Reeves, who will reprise his role as Johnny Silverhand in the expansion, the trailer shows off more action-packed missions throughout an entirely new area of the game’s futuristic Night City.
As described in a press release from CD Projekt Red, the expansion follows V on a mission to save the President of the New United States of America, who has landed in the dangerous district of Dogtown after her orbital shuttle was shot down.
The press release describes it as a “deep dive into an intricate story of espionage and political intrigue which connects the highest echelons of power with the brutal world of black-market mercenaries” where the player’s only goal is survival.
Phantom Liberty marks the debut of Idris Elba’s Cyberpunk character, which was revealed last December. Elba’s Solomon Reed will help players “fulfill an impossible mission of espionage and survival”.
The expansion will also introduce new quests, gigs, vehicles, tech, cyberware, weapons, and a new Relic skill tree.
CD Projekt Red announced Phantom Liberty last September, along with the reveal that the DLC was only coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, leaving the PS4 and Xbox One versions behind.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Xbox Games Showcase 2023 Trailer
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
Three days after a barbarous playground attack left the lakeside town in grief and shock, and in an amphitheater facing the public park where the tragedy occurred, the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival inaugurated this year’s edition with a show of solidarity and communal defiance.
“In response to barbarity, this festival will hold up creativity and artistic perspective,” said event organizer Dominique Puthod as he addressed the lively crowd. “You will bring color and wonder to the eyes of young and old alike, on bruised and battered paper, as a tribute to life.”
“The best response to this tragedy is to live even more forcefully and more intensely,” added Annecy mayor François Astorg. “With this conviction art and culture celebrates life, and enables us to change the world to make it a better place.”
With those rousing words, the animation showcase kicked off what promises to be a banner edition, boasting record attendance numbers, a substantial studio presence, and a spotlight on Mexico’s animation industry.
Annecy lost little time honoring both transatlantic delegations, preceding the screening of opening film “Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams” with the charming, black-and-white short “Kikiriki” from Mexican animator Ram Tamez (“The Beast”), followed by the world premiere of the Disney’s “Once Upon A Studio,” from directors Dan Abraham and Trent Correy.
A passion project, started on the fly in anticipation of the Mouse House’s centenary this year, the nine-minute short brings more than four hundred characters back to life, throwing hand-drawn, CG and live action characters into a dizzy mix as they collectively buzz around the Roy E. Disney animation building on the Disney studio lot, causing gentle comic mayhem and leading towards a sentimental close set to the studio’s most emblematic song.
Of course, the short begins with an icon of a different sort, focusing on veteran animator Burny Mattinson (who passed away this February, just shy of his 70th anniversary with the studio – making his association longer than Walt Disney was alive, director Trent Correy pointed out onstage). “Boy, if these walls could talk,” says the legendary animator in his final screen role.
Ben Croll
Soon enough, the walls very much do, as Mickey and Minnie spring loose from hanged photos, rousing Tiana from “The Princess and the Frog,” Peter Pan and Wendy too, Moana, Maui, and Merlin, alongside Elsa and Goofy and Winnie the Pooh. Oh and about four hundred more – with “Zootopia” fan favorite Flash Slothmore drawing the screening’s two biggest laughs.
The creative team brought back more than 40 original voice actors, matching them with commensurate behind the scenes talent. Disney stalwart Eric Goldberg – who acted as lead animator on the Genie in “Aladdin” and co-helmed “Pocahontas” – headed hand-drawn animation for the short, while “Raya and the Last Dragon” supervising animator Andrew Feliciano oversaw CG.
“This is a love letter to the medium, to Disney animation, and really a thank you to anyone in the audience that’s ever connected with a film over the last hundred years,” said director Dan Abraham.
Future plans are as of yet hazy for the centenary short, though one should safely assume some form of wider broadcast or distribution before the anniversary year is out. But in Annecy on Sunday night, those gathered in the amphitheater-turned-haven could count themselves among the happy few to see the short first-hand. And in a city still reeling, it was a happy night indeed.
Transformers: Rise Of The BeastsPhoto: Paramount Pictures
As Bumblebee might say with his radio-talking in a very on-the-nose needle drop ahead of the big fight scene, “don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years.” Yes, in a domestic box office upset, Transformers: Rise Of The Beastshas taken out Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verseafter a heated battle for top spot of the weekend box office. The Transformers movie—the seventh live-action film in the series—out-debuted the last two films in that franchise, the pretty good Bumblebee ($21 million)and the horrible The Last Knight ($44 million), with $60 million. That was enough to barely beat Across The Spider-Verse, made $55 million in its second week and already has a total of $225 million. (It won this week, but Paramount will be throwing a parade if Rise Of The Beasts can meet that total.)
Sam Raimi on finding his place in the MCU
Speaking of things just barely beating other things: The Little Mermaid’s total after three weeks is just a few million ahead of Across The Spider-Verse, and it only added $22 million to that total this week (still a lot, but it’s all relative). Finishing out the top five are Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 ($7 million this week, $335 million after six weeks) and The Boogeyman($6 million this week, $24 million after two).
The bottom half of the top 10 doesn’t have any newcomers, but it does have Fast Xand The Super Mario Bros. Movie, both of which you can rent at home now and both of which made fairly good money despite that (Fast X made $5 million in its fourth week, Mario made $2 million in its 10th week). After that we have About My Father, The Machine, and Past Lives (in a small rollout with only 26 screens).
Broadway actress Denée Benton compared Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to a Ku Klux Klan leader during Sunday’s Tony Awards.
Benton took the stage during the live broadcast on CBS and Paramount+ to present the Excellence in Theatre Education Award from Carnegie Mellon University. Jason Zembuch Young of South Plantation High School in Plantation, Florida, is the 2023 recipient of the award.
In her remarks, Benton noted that she is not only a CMU alum but also hails from from Florida.
“Earlier tonight, CMU and the Tony Awards presented the 2023 Excellence in Theatre Education Award. And while I am certain that the current Grand Wizard — I’m sorry, excuse me, governor — of my home state of Florida…,” she said, as the audience applauded. “I am sure that he will changing the name of this following town immediately. We were honored to present this award to the truly incredible and life-changing Jason Zembuch Young, enhancing the lives at students at South Plantation High School in Plantation, Florida.”
“Grand Wizard” is an apparent reference to the white supremacy group Ku Klux Klan, which previously bestowed that title upon its leader.
DeSantis, who announced his presidential bid last month, has not yet commented publicly on on his social media channels. He’s running on the Republican ticket, where his opponents include former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis, has made many moves since taking office in 2019 that have been met with opposition and controversy from civil rights advocates, including signing the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He retaliated against the Walt Disney Co. when the company criticized the bill by eliminating the special tax district around Walt Disney World and seizing control of the district’s governing body.
Benton has appeared in Broadway shows including Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Hamilton and Into the Woods. She also has TV credits including Lifetime’s Unreal and HBO’s The Gilded Age.
Her comments were made without a writer assist as this year’s Tony Awards ceremony took place amid the ongoing writers strike after organizers struck a deal with the WGA to proceed without a script as a concession to the guild, which promised not to picket the event.
When you start too high, you risk having nowhere to go, but on the flip side, there is nowhere to go up.
The Idol Season 1 did not have the best premiere, but on The Idol Season 1 Episode 2, the show delivered a signature Sam Levinson hour where every minute, word, and act felt calculated.
Another significant day had arrived, and while many people were counting on it to go well, no one rode herself harder than Jocelyn.
We finally learned why Joss took that break for nearly a year, and it was sad to see a girl so lost without her mother.
I miss my mom
Jocelyn
Much was unknown about Joss’ mom, but based on how much Jocelyn missed her, she must have been a good mom. She was Joss’ support system in a world that would seek to break her.
Events on The Idol Season 1 Episode 1 primarily took place at Jocelyn’s house, taking us through a typical day of a pop star looking to make a grand comeback.
This hour’s next setting was a music video set where a lot was happening so fast; if you blinked, you could have missed some of the most important details.
This particular scene made the show feel like something from Sam Levinson. He has a way of getting the most out of a setting like he did on Euphoria Season 2 Episode 1. While it was not on the same scale, it was eerily similar.
Before getting to the music video set, Joss had tried to get her team behind the idea of using the new version of World Class Sinner, but it backfired on her quite badly. That was not a better version of the original, but she didn’t deserve such harsh critique.
However, it was understandable why Nikki went hard on her. Nikki is a Suit. And like most Suits, she has almost zero appreciation for art or the work that goes into making it.
Nikki: You guys are enabling her. There’s obviously something a bit off. Not all oars are in the water– D: The girl’s mother died Nikki: So, my mother’s dead. Is your mother alive? D: You are somethin’ else. Nikki: People die.
Everything for her is seen through zeros-shaped glasses; the more zeros, the better.
Jocelyn had been pumping out mediocre pop hits before her mother had the audacity to get cancer (it’s not me, I felt like that was what Nikki thought), and since that wheel was working just fine, there was no need to improve it.
Might the song have been better if they’d cut out most of the breathing and moaning? Sure. Even Tedros knew it wasn’t ready.
I like all the breathing in it.
Leia
The Idol Season 1 revealed that having been in the industry for a really long time, Jocelyn had a rough idea of how she was viewed, mainly by Nikki.
She had one shot with World Class Sinner, or she was done. She had to bring her A-game, even if it meant literally breaking her joints. She numbed herself through the pain, but one can only push the human body so far.
As she tried to nail down the takes, a lot was also happening around her.
For starters, The Suit was making her move. She was looking for the next big thing if Joss didn’t work out.
Joss didn’t know what could happen if she was not deemed productive enough. I had a feeling her mother handled that side of the business to make sure that no one made moves against her little girl but with her gone, who could stop Nikki?
She was ready to sign Dayanne so fast it was unnerving, actually.
The world was also watching that set through Vanity Fair.
In her way, Talia broke into the inner circle, and a conversation with Xander revealed that he was also a singer and dancer but nowhere at Jocelyn’s level.
Xander: This has been the last five years of my life. I’m in hell. Talia: I mean, you could always go back to singing and dancing. Xander: My big moment? Three episodes?
It begged the question of whether he was also using her, hoping to become famous by association.
Chaim was becoming more restless with every passing minute because, as a manager, all he saw was an investment that hadn’t been making the returns he anticipated. He, too, was ready to jump ship.
Joss tried to explain herself to Talia, knowing how much power she carried with that little notebook and a pen. She was the one who would introduce Joss back to the world again.
One can never guess what these Vanity Fair articles will look like, but they have the power to destroy a career.
She witnessed Jocelyn’s struggle firsthand, and that could go either way. She could write a sympathetic piece and have the world rally around Joss or destroy Joss by claiming she was past her prime and couldn’t handle the pressure.
It must be nerve-wracking to have someone hold such power over your life.
Joss’ team was not the strongest, and a chain is as strong as its weakest link. A weak team leaves a way for bad players to slither through.
Tedros was a bad player, and it was visible on The Idol Season 1 Episode 1 how much he needed whatever he was working towards with Joss to succeed.
He had no limits and could go as far as he wanted. While Joss’ team controlled her, Tedros owned his people.
He manipulated their entire life to the extent of training them how to be sexually appealing by literally shocking them into submission. Was that the price Izaak had to pay to be “seen”?
Chloe couldn’t go for a swim without getting his okay. He had crossed their personal boundaries on sex and nudity such that Chloe thought it was normal to just walk around butt naked in a stranger’s house.
It was no secret that Jocelyn’s sexual appetites were twisted, and Tedros preyed on that. It was one of his tools of control.
Chloe voyeuristically watched everything go down; it didn’t seem new. It was like it had happened to her, and she’d been taught to like it. Through sex, a lot of gassing up, and a plan, Tedros had found a way into Joss’ world.
Joss and her friends ending up in his club were not by coincidence. Dayanne had taken them there intentionally.
Dayanne: So, is she a better fuck than me? Tedros: Baby, nobody’s a better fuck than you. Dayanne: You didn’t tell me it was a setup. Tedros: A setup? Dayanne: You said it would be good for the club.
Chloe began to play that song as if on cue; Izaak keeping Leia busy, among others, were not random acts. It was all planned.
It didn’t seem like Joss stood a chance. Leia and D seemed the most attentive to her needs, but there were people more powerful than they were in Joss’ team. It didn’t appear like there was much they could do.
“Double Fantasy” was a significant upgrade from the series premiere. It did a great job peeling back the layers and filling in some missing pieces, strengthening The Idol as an HBO product.
What did you think? What will Talia’s piece look like?
Did you like Joss, Leia, and Izaak singing together?
Join the conversation in the comments section.
Denis Kimathi is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He has watched more dramas and comedies than he cares to remember. Catch him on social media obsessing over [excellent] past, current, and upcoming shows or going off about the politics of representation on TV. Follow him on Twitter.
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