UPDATE (5/22/2023): Deadline reported that, despite Marvel’s Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda being earmarked for removal from Disney+ as part of the streamer’s content purge, it will remain on the service.
ORIGINAL: As a part of Disney+’s first round of content cuts, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever special Marvel’s Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever is being removed from the service.
Voices Rising, originally announced back in January, was a three-episode series looking behind the scenes at the music and overall audio soundscape of the hit 2022 film.
As described by Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler, the docu-series was meant to show audiences that “soundtracks like this just don’t happen” and put a face to the many people that make the Black Panther audio experience what it is:
“Soundtracks like this just don’t happen anymore. With the high percentage of these songs that are embedded in the movie, and to this level of cultural specificity.”
Voices Rising is currently available exclusively on Disney+, with no physical release or streaming contingency in place for when it leaves the service.
The Danger of Content Pulling
It is not an original point to say these types of content purges set a dangerous precedent, but it’s an important one nonetheless.
Sure, removing Voices Rising (along with a number of others) will save Disney some money; however, it means that the work of a lot of creatives is now gone, locked away along with Disney’s other tax write-offs.
Once this Black Panther 2 special is off Disney+, it is gone. There is no (legal) way to stream, purchase, rent, or download the Wakandan docu-series. And that is dangerous.
This whole strategy feels like a great way to burn bridges with creatives in Hollywood on Disney’s part.
Voices Rising was clearly a passion project from Black Panther director Ryan Coogler and composer Ludwig Göransson. And if/when Marvel Studios wants to do a Black Panther 3, this could be a point against coming back for a threequel for Coogler and Göransson.
For now, Marvel’s Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever is streaming on Disney+, with the docu-series being removed on Friday, May 26.
The annual Fangoria Chainsaw Awards were held on Sunday evening, and a big win was earned by Mia Goth. For her role in Pearl, the Ti West-directed prequel to the popular slasher movie X, Goth won the award for Best Lead Performance. It’s a big win for Goth, who has quickly emerged as a fan favorite in the horror genre, having garnered great acclaim with her performances in both of those films, among others.
Goth overcame several other deserving nominees, making the win that much more impressive. The other nominees included Anna Dip for Nanny; Isabelle Fuhrman for Orphan: First Kill; Rebecca Hall for Resurrection; Daniel Kaluuya for Nope; Amber Midthunder for Prey; Maika Monroe for Watcher; Keke Palmer for Nope; Josh Ruben for A Wounded Fawn; and Taylor Russell for Bones and All.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Goth was also up for a writing nomination alongside West, as the two co-wrote Pearl. C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson won that one for The Black Phone. Other nominees included Zach Cregger for Barbarian; Jordan Peele for Nope; and Seth Reiss and Will Tracy for The Menu.
As for the other big acting award, the Best Supporting Performance award, that golden chainsaw went to Madeleine McGraw for The Black Phone. She overcame her own co-star Ethan Hawke, as well as Jamie Clayton for Hellraiser; Justin Long for Barbarian; Jenna Ortega for Scream; Mark Rylance for Bones and All; Rachel Sennott for Bodies Bodies Bodies; Brittany Snow for X; Kristen Stewart for Crimes of the Future; and Steven Yeun for Nope.
West was also up for Best Director for X. Jordan Peele won the award for Nope. The other nominees there were Zach Cregger for Barbarian; David Cronenberg for Crimes of the Future; and Chloe Okuno for Watcher. X and Pearl were both also up for Best Wide Release Movie, which went to The Black Phone, with other nominees there including Barbarian and Nope.
Mia Goth Will Return in the X and Pearl Sequel MaXXXine
A24
West and Goth are not finished yet with telling the story that began with X and Pearl. Production has started on a third installment of the trilogy which has been titled MaXXXine. It picks up after the events of X with Goth’s Maxine moving out to Hollywood in the 1980s, hoping to find a new path in life by way of a show business career. A first look at Goth alongside co-star Halsey has been revealed, seen in the image above.
Goth won’t be surprised about Goth’s award win at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. He previously heaped heavy praise onto her performance, noting how she more than deserved to be nominated for an Oscar. But with Goth still on the rise in Hollywood, where she’ll literally be in her next movie, perhaps it’s just a matter of time before the acclaimed performer manages to get an Academy Award nomination as well.
MaXXXine does not yet have a release date. For more about the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, you can visit the official website.
“The time has come for soldiers to march into the third map of Isonzo’s free Caporetto expansion! Conquer the infamous and long-awaited Monte Grappa now on PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.” – Focus Entertainment and BlackMill Games.
Let a showrunner guide you on what a writer needs to do on set.
One of the tenements of the current writer’s strike is how TV budgets have basically removed writers’ ability to go to set. It’s one of the core foundations of writing, and it’s what makes television shows better.
Don’t believe me? Succession has three writers on set for every episode.
But what does a writer actually do on set? And how should they do what they do?
Well, now there’s an entire document directing writers with the ins and outs of what happens on set and what they should do. We have a hero showrunner to thank for it.
Eliza Clark was the Showrunner/EP of Y: The Last Man on FX. She recently took to Twitter to send out an amazing document that’s eight pages of advice for what a writer’s job is on set. It’s so important and a must-read for any aspiring writer and really anyone who wants to work in TV.
Here is a link to a google drive of How To Be A Writer On Set. This was written specifically for the writers of Y THE LAST MAN but it applies to other shows. I hope it makes clear how important writers are on set. https://t.co/yGueI6rpQj
The document covers script changes, table reads, meetings, hair and makeup, locations, and concepts, it’s a plethora of things that writers will be involved with or will lead as a TV episode goes into production.
I can’t thank Eliza Clark enough for making this available to everyone.
Read it. Study it. It’s an amazing resource that I am going to print out and take with me.
Oscar-winning actor, and pro-Ukraine activist, Sean Penn has signed on to star in the Ukrainian war film War Through the Eyes of Animals.
The feature is a nine-part anthology, directed by nine Ukrainian filmmakers, that tells the story of the war in Ukraine through the perspectives of various animals caught up in the conflict. Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, the acclaimed Ukrainian director of The Tribe (2014) will direct the ninth and final segment, which will star Penn as an American sound engineer who inadvertently becomes a witness to the outbreak of war when, on February 24, 2022, Russian forces invade.
Filming of the segment is scheduled to take place in Ukraine and Los Angeles during the summer of 2023.
Penn has been an outspoken supporter of Ukraine since the start of the war. The two-time Oscar winner was in Ukraine shooting a documentary for Vice Studios when the war broke out. The film, co-directed with Aaron Kaufman, was initially intended as a tongue-in-cheek look at the comic actor turned-president Volodymyr Zelensky. Instead, it became Superpower, a depiction of Zelensky’s heroic wartime leadership. When the film premiered at the Berlin film festival this year, Penn used the opportunity to call on Western governments to provide greater military support for Ukraine.
The poster for ‘War Through The Eyes Of Animals’
“I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of this film. It is a great honor for me to collaborate with the incredible actor and outstanding person, and one of Ukraine’s greatest friends, Sean Penn,” said Myroslav. “He was with us during the attack on the 24th of February and deeply explores the war and Ukraine in his documentary film. His support is invaluable to us and cannot be overstated.”
War Through the Eyes of Animals is being produced by Ukrainian production outfits SOTA Cinema Group and Kleos Art, with Oleg Kokhan and Oleksiy Makukhin serving as producers.
“All the stories in our film anthology are based on real events,” noted Kokhan, “and it is crucial for us that artists of Sean Penn’s caliber not only acknowledge the terrifying reality we depict but also contribute their voices. This underscores the relevance of the film’s ecocide theme in Ukraine. Every bullet, every rocket fragment, and every drop of polluted fuel that contaminates our land represents a slow-acting chemical weapon that devastates our ecosystem. Sean Penn has witnessed firsthand the situation in Ukraine, making it unnecessary to convince him of the theme’s importance. He belongs to the select group of stars who wholeheartedly support causes they believe in and are ready to take action.”
War Through the Eyes of Animals is set for release in the winter of 2023-2024.
For the first time in weeks, Barry feels like Barry again. Leaning on the comedy more than the drama, despite what the introductory images will have you believe, Barry returns to a relatively more accessible mode in this penultimate installment. And by accessible, we mean we’re presented with bloody-seeping boxes containing the decapitated heads of Four Ultimate Bad Ass Killers (FUBAK) within the first 10 minutes.
Paula Newsome on “CSI: Vegas” and kissing Henry Winkler
Okay, so Barry being a comedy still means a minute-long montage of Barry tearfully bidding farewell to the world he destroyed as he takes one last look at the pastures from hell, purgatory beach, and his son John. Moss is there, too, rattling rusty tools on a steel tray and telling Barry that he’s amputated his arms and legs off, and—following on the harrowing tales of Barry’s fourth season—for at least 30 seconds, we believe it. The show has been so relentlessly unsympathetic toward its characters, so invested in taking this story to that absolute limits; why shouldn’t Barry spend the last two episodes as an amputee? If any show could pull it off, it’s Barry. Thankfully, the show’s comedic sensibilities won out, and it cuts, instead, to a delightful shot of Barry with V.R. goggles on, shifting awkwardly in the chair he’s tied to. The stupid idiot still has his limbs.
“a nice meal” conjures that season one Barry magic, where waiting for the punchline sometimes puts butterflies in your stomach. Acting like he and his cast are doing it for the last time, because they are, Hader gives his principles a chance to shine. Fuches, NoHo Hank, and Cousineau drop the act and return to their core characters, with Anthony Carrigan taking NoHo Hank out for one last spin. Meanwhile Sarah Goldberg, who might be the most underappreciated actor on television, gets one last shot to do the right thing.
Hollywood does weird things to people. The allure of stardom, a brush with immortality, and the chance to work with Daniel Day-Lewis from My Left Foot blend into a green juice of narcissism, and sadly, Gene Cousineau still wants a taste. Despite launching a blog that’s getting some positive comments, Cousineau takes a meeting with an agent (Nate Corrdry), who promises major stars for the “Barry Berkman Story.” The random, too-good-to-be-true phone calls are enough for Cousineau to change his tune from “Warner Bros. is being such a dickhead for attempting to profit off my dead girlfriend” to “this would be a great way to get Janice’s story out there.” Hader and Winkler aren’t keen on redeeming Cousineau. He’s been given an out at every turn, and as soon as someone appeals to his ego, he caves.
It doesn’t take long for Cousineau to crack. All it takes is the right phone call. The same is true for NoHo Hank, who still has Raven’s “NoHo Hourglass” comment on his mind as he stares at his bronze Cristobal, pining for better days. But like Cousineau’s phone call, as soon as his assistant informs him that FUBAK is ready, he switches gears in classically Barry fashion.
As great as the show has been this season, there’s a persistent feeling that the darkness and dread is overtaking the show’s humor. The series has consistently played with both, but as the show wraps up, it found its characters’ breaking points in very upsetting places. So after enduring the Raven’s gauntlet of pain the last few weeks, this handful of scenes of NoHo Hank stepping on rakes was a breath of fresh air. Beginning with his meeting of FUBAK, Carrigan is in the pocket, playing each introduction like a horny manchild opening Christmas presents. But his enthusiasm for FUBAK is matched with the disappointment of receiving their heads in return. (Hank observing the four boxes, with the perfect amount of blood seeping out of the bottom, and declaring, “It’s their heads,” was one of the biggest laughs of the night). Hank pivots, choosing the much simpler plan of blowing up The Raven’s house.
Stephen Root’s The Raven née Fuches also plays the hits in one of those Barry group scenes in which everyone treats murder as the world’s most mundane thing. After dispensing with and decapitating FUBAK, Raven hosts a house meeting between his new family and his new gang to discuss some interpersonal issues arising from the beheadings mentioned above. The way each gangster tosses out suggestions, like taking the ladies out for a nice meal (if timed correctly) or watching Fast & Furious 6, is so casual and seemingly productive, with Raven’s family staring back blankly. Barry has always deployed murder with such a degree of nonchalance, with characters rarely treating the situation with the gravity it deserves. Fuches makes such an empathetic aside when he says, “Me saying it, and you seeing it: two different things?” (which could be applied to Cousineau, too), but he’s not dealing with the thing in front of him. The violence on Barry is a fact of life, and is treated with the everydayness of leaving the toilet seat up.
Sarah GoldbergPhoto: Merrick Morton (HBO)
Barry’s casual usage of therapy language reflects a culture more attuned to that verbiage and television’s obsession with it. It inverts how Tony processes therapy on The Sopranos. When Tony tells Silvio about his anxiety, it shows weakness and ignorance. He never totally understands the sessions and struggles to implement Dr. Melfi’s lessons—mostly because following her advice would mean stop being a mob boss. But for the gangsters on Barry, showing vulnerability is a strength. These guys have a more expansive vocabulary—some are probably in therapy themselves—but it’s the same result as Tony. They’re still cutting off poor Todd’s head. Nevertheless, saying it and seeing it are two different things, and Raven’s family will need to see change rather than just hearing about it.
After name-checking Wile E. Coyote a few scenes earlier, Hank pays the reference off in the episode’s centerpiece. Perched from a cliffside facing Raven’s nest, Hank fires a missle at the compound and whiffs in spectacular fashion, lamenting at only bringing one missile (they were worried about the budget). The ordeal ends in a symphony of Looney Tunes slapstick, with Hader’s camera panning through a perfect unbroken take of Hank’s car careening down the mountain pass as Raven’s flock of blood artists fire at their canvas. While dancing away to avoid gunfire, Hank calls Raven, begs for a ceasfire, and tumbles off the side of a mountain, staying on the line the whole way down. This episode was filled with NoHo nonsense™—as if they were saving the best for last.
As Raven and Hank talk terms, the Last Temptation of Gene Cousineau plays out in the park. Denying himself one last chance at redemption by picking poor Sally up from the airport, Cousineau grabs his loveliest umbrella and meets an agent. In any situation, Cousineau can be counted on to act selfishly, so when he hears of Mark Wahlberg’s interest, he folds immediately, going out of his way to vouch for Barry if it means getting Wahlberg. “We have one problem with Mark, though,” the agent says. “He doesn’t want to play a cop killer, and seeing as this Berkman guy killed your girlfriend, that’s a no-go.” “Look, Barry is a very complicated guy,” Gene says. “But a sympathetic soul. He loves my character so much, it made him do stupid things, like killing my girlfriend[…]He was so desperate to have a father figure.” Even with the agent’s reminder of her murder and the verbal confirmation from himself, Cousineau is willing to sell out Janice for another chance at fame or respect or whatever. Of course, all of it is fake. The agent was a honeypot sent by Moss to find out why Barry gave him $250,000 because of Moss’ position. The way Moss sees it: Janice found the drug money in Cousineau’s theater, and he paid Barry to kill her because she was on to him. Hollywood does weird things to people.
Seeing as Cousineau was busy waving bye-bye to his integrity, he left Sally exposed outside his house. As she pounds on his front door and edges on another mental breakdown, she spots a cop and briefly considers turning herself in. What other choice does she have? Barry is bleeding out in Moss’ kitchen after he cut himself during a way-too-easy escape. However, just before she surrenders, she sees Shane, the guy she killed, and his bleeding eyeball. Whether it’s active guilt or some unprocessed trauma that gives her pause, telling the cop would make the killing real, and her sudden realization of responsibility for his death causes her to falter. As she turns to John, a group of bald Chechens leads him into a black SUV. In the episode’s closing minutes, Barry, who once again was pretty much missing from the whole episode, gets his final mission: rescue Sally—and maybe exonerate Gene Cousineau?
Without seeing the final episode, it’s impossible to say how much of this classic Barry tone will make it to the finale. But, considering all the ravens coming home to roost, it does feel like we’re heading toward a gutting (in more ways than one) finale. So amid all the plate stacking of “a nice meal,” it lives up to its name. As the gangster suggested, the episode feels like we’re getting a welcome diversion from the pain and misery, like we were taken for a nice meal while four dudes had their heads cut off. For a show that’s never cared much what the audience thinks of it, “a nice meal” plays to the rafters, giving us one last reminder that Barry is a comedy.
Stray observations
Henry Winkler’s dismissive “yeah” after Tom’s “you’re showing them to the be whores that they are.” Melamed and Winkler were put on this Earth to be scene partners.
There were several beautifully blocked scenes in this episode, including Cousineau’s conversation in the park with the agent, Hank surveying the heads, and the confrontation in the hotel room. It’s clean work that balances the humor and horror gently, never pushing you too far one way or the other. The camera’s distance gives it an objective, non-judgemental viewpoint, which really pays off in the distance in that fantastic NoHo Hank one-shot. The camera barely moves, never zooms, and captures this hilarious wide shot where Hank can jump out of the car and fall off a mountain, and we can hear every “oh” and “ow” and “ee” on the way down. It is undeniably stylish and never knocks you over the head with its style.
“Hey, don’t downplay your accomplishments, that’s still a shitload of coups, Todd.”
Cousineau’s umbrella (on a sunny Los Angeles day no less) is another example of this show’s strength: accessorizing.
“Are you telling that Daniel can’t get a movie made?” Hollywood, eight years from now, is somehow even more depressing than it is today.
I love how Winkler raises his hand after he says, “Daniel will know exactly what to do with my character.” He’s going to be hands-off with this.
Why did it seem so easy for Barry to escape Moss’ garage? I assumed it would be like when Ramsay Bolton kept letting Theon Grayjoy loose on Game Of Thrones, but then Barry passed out. Was Moss really over Barry as soon as the $250,000 came into the picture?
It’s so easy to forget that Hank and Sally have never met. Both play the scene beautifully, with Carrigan in awe of this woman, who has no clue who he is. It must be disappointing for Goldberg to go four seasons without a scene opposite fun NoHo Hank.
I’ve always wondered if Sally actively knows she killed Shane. While she was in shock, Barry yelled, “I did this” at her until she repeated it. The way that plays out, it seems like it works and that Barry has done something like that before. So I wonder whether her seeing Shane is active repression or guilt. Anyway, maybe they’ll answer that in the final episode.
Who knows how long it’s been since Sally’s last vision of Shane?
Disney is removing over 50 original series and films from its streaming services, Disney+ and Hulu. The company has been experiencing a decline in subscribers for several years now and is clearing out content with few views. Disney, along with several other companies, is trying to shift its selections to more popular titles that entice new subscribers and keep current members cinematically satisfied.
The latest titles announced to be leaving Disney+ are Big Shot, Willow, Turner & Hooch, Just Beyond, Diary of a Future President, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
Disney is also pulling Y: The Last Man, Dollface, Maggie, Pistol, The Hot Zone, and Little Demon from Hulu’s content library.
The purge begins on Friday, May 26th with over 50 titles. The full list was posted yesterday, though this is subject to change as more titles are added or others – such as the documentary Howard – are reassessed:
Disney+ Series
America the Beautiful
Among the Stars
Be Our Chef
The Big Fib
Big Shot
Diary of a Future President
Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings
Earth to Ned
Encore!
Foodtastic
It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer
Just Beyond
The Making of Willow
Marvel’s MPower
Marvel’s Project Hero
Marvel’s Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever
Throughout his career, James Mangold has adopted the old-school filmmaking style of American auteurs that invigorated the movie landscape, like Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Mann and Sidney Lumet. Barreling toward 30 years in the industry, Mangold has worn many different hats in Hollywood, serving as a director, writer and producer.
To celebrate the world premiere of Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” at the Cannes Film Festival, Variety ranks all of Mangold’s directorial efforts so far.
It all began with his directorial and screenwriting debut “Heavy” (1995), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize, later screening at Cannes. His independent drama, which explores the loneliness of an overweight cook whose life is changed after meeting a waitress at his mother’s tavern, was inspired by one of Mangold’s classmates — and first displayed the filmmaker’s signature gritty style.
Mangold has since forayed into the superhero world with the Hugh Jackman-starring prequel film “The Wolverine,” and more prominently with “Logan,” the first superhero movie nominated for adapted screenplay. Action vehicles have also been his forte, as we witnessed with the best picture-nominated “Ford v Ferrari,” which won Academy Awards for film editing and sound editing. In addition, Mangold’s 2007 film “3:10 to Yuma,” a remake of the 1957 Western, gave Hollywood and audiences hope that remaking the classics isn’t always a bad thing.
Just before Jackman slipped into the role of Wolverine, he starred in Mangold’s fresh 1999 rom-com “Kate and Leopold,” which nabbed the actor his first Golden Globe nom for lead actor (comedy or musical).
Of course, a great filmmaker is not without his fair share of Oscar snubs. When Mangold brought the story of country singers Johnny and June Cash to the screen in “Walk the Line” (2005), his take resonated with both critics and audiences. Stars Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon secured Oscar noms (with the latter taking home the best actress prize), but Mangold, and the film, came up short in one of the final years of the Academy nominating only five movies for best picture.
Mangold has become known for putting actors in unexpected roles and extracting surprising, affecting performances, as seen with Sylvester Stallone in “Cop Land” (1997).
Next up for the filmmaker is a “Star Wars” prequel film titled “Dawn of the Jedi,” which is set 25,000 years before “A New Hope” and will focus on the discovery of the force. He’s also helming the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” with Timothée Chalamet starring as the legendary folk singer.
Read Variety’s ranking of Mangold’s movies below, along with the best scene from each selection.
Will there be a more heartbreaking image in this season of Somebody Somewherethan Sam (Bridget Everett) picking at her eggs Benny alone at her kitchen table? I’d wager no, but then I worry I’ll have to admit defeat in a few weeks when this devastatingly real show finds another way to break my heart in the most mundane way possible. I could spend the entire recap talking about that image, a Hopper-esque portrait of solace and solitude that turns Sam’s kitchen into an isolating space where you can tell she’s rarely felt this uncomfortable in her own home.
Judy Garland’s previously missing Wizard of Oz dress to be auctioned off
The image (and Everett’s performance; what she does with silent gestures this episode is nothing short of extraordinary) resonates precisely because we’ve all either been there or have seen that: when someone we love refuses even to engage. They close themselves so successfully that more than anger, you feel a kind of tightness in your chest for the pain they’re inflicting on themselves. Sam, twice betrayed (by her BFF Joel and her sister Tricia), has resolved to shut down. It’s both a defensive and aggressive move, for nothing has wounded Joel more than being told to take his windbreaker and leave.
So how did we get here? Well, we could say the entire season so far has been leading up to this when Sam’s shorthand of “NMB NMP” (not my business, not my problem, which gives the episode its title) becomes a foreshadowed warning. Maybe we should all have seen it coming when the episode began with a rousing rendition of Laura Branigan’s iconic “Gloria”; why else would Somebody Somewhere kick us off with such giddiness if not to then put us through the wringer?
Knee-deep in wedding prep, Joel and Sam get to toast Fred as they all get measured for what I can only hope are fabulous suits they’ll wear to the wedding. And it’s there that Sam utters her NMB NMP mantra when Joel evades details about why he can’t join her later to help with a baking endeavor Sam knows she’ll ruin by herself. We know, of course, that this is Joel keeping Brad and that budding relationship to himself. It’s out of an abundance of caution, but also clearly because he’s unsure how Sam will take him or it.
And so, Sam is left to her own devices to make Tricia a “funeral cake” (like their mom used to make) to celebrate her sister’s 47th birthday. As an amateur baker myself, nothing gives me more anxiety than watching non-bakers attempting anything that requires even the slightest of baking prowess (yes, I did get “how do you fold the cheese?” vibes; did you?). I agree with Sam that sometimes it’s hard to get butter to be “room temperature” (who has the time to remember to let it out to thaw hours in advance?) I almost had to hit pause and let out a shrieking yelp when she added (I mean SPRAYED!) “vegetable oil” to her bowl. During that baking fiasco, she calls Joel and gets to see him outright fibbing about getting a book about birds from the library (likely story, Joel!), but she won’t know just how much she’s been lied to until much later. Once she’s already so raw that it will feel like the last straw.
Because once Sam arrives at Tricia’s with a “shitty-looking cake” (their words, not mine!) and the two sisters seem to finally be in sync, a bombshell of a revelation unravels whatever progress they two may have made since Tricia unceremoniously left her cheating husband behind. Alas, whatever fun the two may have been having as Sam seduced Tricia’s fancy new fridge as they picked at Sam’s monstrosity of a cake came crashing down when word came out that Holly, their late sister, had kept her cancer diagnosis for close to a year before telling Sam. What I loved about that disclosure was how casually it happened, almost by happenstance. It made its impact all the more severe, with Sam losing, at that moment, the sister she thought she was bonding with at the same time that she was losing Holly (and her memory) again.
Mary Catherine Garrison in Somebody Somewhere Photo: Sandy Morris/HBO
True to the bruising fights siblings have, neither sister minced words when lashing out against the other, with Tricia perhaps best capturing Sam’s sensibility and thus cutting her more deeply than she anticipated: “I’m so sick of giving a shit about you!” she tells Sam after accurately reading the way Sam is constantly finding reasons to push people away and never letting small things remain small. It’s a line that accurately describes what happens next when, while waiting for Joel the next day for breakfast, she learns he’d had a date with Mr. Schrader the day before.
Would Sam have reacted differently, more kindly, perhaps, had she not had that blow up with Tricia? It’s unclear. But the grief and loss she’d been staving off for months and which had now been picked over was perhaps too much for her to take when learning her best friend had (like Tricia) been lying to her. It’s a blow that’s hard to ignore, but you wish Sam would be kinder. To Joel and Tricia, obviously. But also to herself. Her heart is big, her love perhaps all too overwhelming. Yet you keep wanting her to make that love land softer, with less of an edge. It’s what Joel’s been inadvertently trying to teach her and which I worry will now nudge Sam further into herself, convinced that these two instances are self-fulfilling prophecies of what it means to live and love in the world. Namely, all the wrong lessons this sensitive artist of a soul should be learning. Sigh.
This is what brilliant television can do, beautifully show us at our ugliest and (hopefully) get us to recognize nevertheless the way forward, if not for our characters, then at least for ourselves.
Stray Observations
This episode was directed by Lennon Parham, whom Veepfans should recognize as Karen Collins, Selina’s wishy-washy friend who never could give the Veep-turned-POTUS a solid answer to even the most inane questions. Proof, as it were, that the gifts of comedy are plenty to wring out hard-earned truths in drama.
Charity Cases would be a perfect name for Tricia’s business.
Given that Sam already violated her “No Barbra, no Judy, no Branigan,” I am now wishing she’d take on songs by those other two iconic divas in the episodes to come.
The entire Brad/Joel date was delightful, but the one small moment that stood out to me was the way Brad reached to hold Joel’s hand when the two finally kissed.
You gotta hand it to Tricia, “Show Some Emotion” is a great song to drunkenly tag your former BFF on an Instagram pic of a “Lying Cunt” pillow.
“I guess rumors aren’t the only thing she’s been spreading” is a solid burn, and we agree with Tricia that it was wasted on someone who didn’t immediately cackle at it.
I can’t be the only one who’s now itching to make (properly!) a funeral cake, right?
Love makes the world go round! Ashlee Simpsonand Evan Rosswasted no time starting their lives together after their relationship turned romantic in 2013.
Less than a month later, the twosome confirmed their relationship. They were engaged by January 2014 and tied the knot that August. Simpson gave birth to daughter Jagger in 2015.
“I’ve been wrong a long majority of my life,” Ross told Entertainment Tonight after their baby girl was born. “The biggest thing in this world is in love. I’m so in love. I love my daughter, I love my wife. She’s given me the best gift in the world. I’m very lucky.”
Simpson was previously married to Pete Wentz. The exes, who filed for divorce in 2011 after less than three years of marriage, share son Bronx. The couple and the Fall Out Boy rocker have been open about the importance of maintaining a healthy coparenting relationship over the years.
“I think it’s important to listen and to give people balance,” Wentz told Us in October 2019, noting that Simpson is a “great mom.”
“He specifically came to my house to come have a chat and be like, ‘Yo, I wanted to see what you thought about it. Is everything good?’ He knew that I’d be, like, ‘Oh! All right, cool,’” Cabrera revealed in July 2019. “She ended up marrying one of my best friends. How it all happened? Who knows. … L.A. and us all as artists and singers and actors and entertainers essentially, it’s a very small family. Obviously, everybody knows everybody, for the most part. And me and Ashlee were always really, really close. Like, our breakup was pretty … pretty, pretty smooth — other than a couple of things. But we remained friends, like, very shortly after we broke up, and then remained friends from that point on. And we were always cool.”
“Even in the time that we’re working, we look at times where we can make sure we can get away and take trips with the family,” he told Us in February 2019. “We take [the kids] with us. I feel like that’s how I grew up. My mom, [Diana Ross], used to take me everywhere. … We’d be running around doing the whole thing, so I feel like, why not?”
This article contains spoilers for the “NCIS: Los Angeles” series finale.
“NCIS: Los Angeles” showrunner R. Scott Gemmill’s goal with the series finale on Sunday, May 21 was to give the characters of the long-running CBS procedural as happy an ending as possible.
“It really was about trying to find a way to wrap up the series that would leave the fans feeling hopeful for the future of all our characters. And so we gave everyone what we figured was their version of happily ever after… at least for the time being,” he told TheWrap in a recent interview.
To that end, in the final episode, Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Anna (Bar Paly) tie the knot in an impromptu ceremony attended by the rest of the team — except for Hetty (Linda Hunt), who sends a congratulatory note.
Anna (Bar Paly) and Callen (Chris O’Donnell) have an impromptu wedding on the series finale of “NCIS” (Sonja Flemming/CBS)
Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) finds a promising Alzheimer’s study for his father Raymond (Richard Gant), Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) tells Marty Deeks (Eric Christan Olsen) that she’s pregnant and Devin Rountree’s (Caleb Castille) legal case against the LAPD is satisfactorily settled.
“We really knew we had to go through each character and figure out what would be best for them, what place would be the happiest for them once we say goodbye,” Gemmill said.
However, the series leaves one storyline open, with Sam and Callen being summoned by Hetty for a “side project” in Morocco. When they get there, they instead find Nell (Renée Felice Smith), Nate (Peter Cambor) and Vostanik Sabatino (Erik Palladino), who need their help to rescue Hetty, who, as Nell put it, “got herself into a bit of a pickle.” Nell asks, “Are you ready for your next adventure?” and, of course, they are indeed.
TheWrap: How hard is it to wrap up such a long-running show and try to tie up all the loose ends? R. Scott Gemmill: It’s very difficult to be honest. You know, there’s a lot of emotion involved because you live with these characters for so long and and then try to put them to bed after all that time. Not really easy, but hopefully we did a good job.
You decided to leave things open with Hetty, sending Sam and Callen on another adventure to go save her. Why did you go that route? It just seemed like that was a storyline that we needed to resolve. And what better way than to go and send a rescue team?
What would you say set “LA” off from the other “NCIS” series? I think the real difference was probably the familial nature of the show. Everyone was there to have fun. Even though we took on some serious cases, at the end of the day, it’s really a family that enjoys working and playing together. And that’s true behind the scenes and I think that translates onto the screen. I think you can feel that when you watch the show that we’re having fun while we’re doing it.
The show never really got that dark. Was that a conscious choice? We did some darker episodes. For me, what I thought the show did best was that when you tuned in you knew you were gonna have an hour of escapism. It wasn’t gonna leave you stressed out or worse than when you turned it on. I find some of the darker shows are so dark that it’s stressful, and our show is the exact opposite. We have some laughs and some good times, see a little fun action and then that you can get back to your life. But I always thought our show was this sort of hopeful escape.
You’ve gone 14 years with very little changes to the cast line-up. How rare is that? Yeah, a lot of shows may run 12 years or so. But by that time you get there, [you may have] replaced the entire cast. We’ve added some people, but we have our main four so I think that this shows you how much everyone enjoyed working on the show and then working together.
What’s next for you? Do you have something lined up or are you taking time off? A little bit of both. I had some things I was working on before the [WGA] strike came, so everything’s on hold while we, hopefully, resolve this. So at the moment, I’m taking a forced vacation, which is a vacation nonetheless.
Are you staying in touch with the cast and crew? Oh yeah. I was just talking to Lance, my props guy, yesterday, and I talked to Eric Christian Olsen this morning. A lot of us are friends outside of the show. It’s inevitable when you work with someone for 14 years. We’ll all be together. And there’s a good chance we’ll be working together [again]. There are other projects we’ve been kicking around. And Hollywood is a small town at the end of the day.
Deeks’ line about “teamwork makes the dreamwork” kind of sums up the show. Yeah, it’s been a real family, as much behind as in front of the camera. It’s bittersweet. All of us are so grateful that we had so much time together, but it is tough saying goodbye to everyone.
The series finale of “NCIS: LA” airs Sunday, May 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, followed by “A Salute to NCIS: Los Angeles” special hosted by Kevin Frazier, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Logan Roy is finally laid to rest in the penultimate episode of “Succession,” aptly titled “Church and State.” The right-wing media mogul’s funeral also unearths the best evidence yet as to which of his three youngest children – Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Siobhan (Sarah Snook) or Roman (Kieran Culkin) – has truly inherited the ruthless businessman’s poison. On the day after their family-owned ATN news network dubiously declared Republican fascist Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) president-elect, the siblings struggle to control their sense of loss while trying not to lose total control of their larger conglomerate, Waystar Royco, to Swedish internet mogul Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). As a result, they support and screw each other like never before.
Questionable Accounts
The morning after election night. Shiv’s watching an ATN report about Democratic candidate Daniel Jimenez asking for certification to be prevented until all absentee ballots that were burned in the swing state of Wisconsin are counted. Meanwhile, there are demonstrations nationwide, including outside ATN’s Manhattan office.
At his high-rise pad, Roman smirks as he watches the same report. He’s dressed in long sleeves and tie for a change, rehearsing the eulogy he’s been chosen to deliver later that day. He recites boilerplate praise of his father mixed with ironic self-affirmations whenever he looks in a mirror, along with characteristic, vulgar crowing about selecting the next president. Ken calls from his limo. Looking out at protesters carrying gas cans, the older Roy worries that Mencken is heating up rhetoric that could be bad for their business.
“Don’t be a pussy, dude,” Roman tells him. “What? You don’t like these f—n’ ratings? It’s discord, Man! Discord makes my dick hoard.”
Ken’s ex-wife Rava calls him as he drives past businesses boarding up windows. She’s worried about unrest in the city and is taking their kids upstate instead to Logan’s funeral. Ken hangs up and orders his driver to get to Rava’s building in three minutes.
Shiv’s flossing her teeth while Lukas Matsson’s on the phone. She tells him it’s a good day to release the news about his GoJo internet empire’s bad subscription numbers in South Asia, since it will be buried amid all the election brouhaha. He’s hesitant.
“Like, if you have a little dicky, maybe you don’t go to the nudist beach?” he says, continuing the episode’s fascination with male genitalia.
“Lukas, a tsunami just came and washed everything away, no one’s checking the dicks,” Shiv replies while putting on earrings. “Seriously, I know this. Do it! Get ‘em out!”
Matsson smiles at her forcefulness, and worries what to do about Mencken, whose campaign promised Shiv’s brothers he’d sabotage the deal to buy Waystar in return for ATN’s favorable election night coverage.
Kendall’s limo blocks the Mercedes SUV Rava’s putting their children into. He’s livid she’s taking them out of town instead of to their grandfather’s funeral and calls her fears hysterical.
“You’re too online!” he accuses. “You’ve lost context. Everything is fine. DO NOT F—K WITH ME TODAY!” His daughter Sophie won’t unlock the car door at Ken’s request. He accuses Rava of using this as a pretext to hurt him, and threatens to get a court order to stop her from leaving the city. He tells her he’ll block her car with his body. Her driver goes around his half-hearted effort.
In his ATN office, Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) is complaining to his cousin-in-law Greg (Nicholas Braun) about a newspaper double truck that breaks down the previous night’s events at the network.
“Who gave them the timeline?” the network boss asks.
“Well, A lot of people know,” Greg explains. “A lot of people don’t want to go to The Hague for war crimes.”
Tom complains that he didn’t get enough play in the paper’s graphics.
“This diminishes my role,” he grouses. “I’m tarred with the Mencken brush so I may as well get my goodies, right? There’s no point in joining the party unless you get your little dacha.”
Greg’s impatient, feels the need to grieve, and wants to head out to the funeral. Tom says he does too; he’s the front right casket wheelman, after all. But he has too many post-election fires to put out. He tells Greg to go, save him a good seat, remind the Mencken team Tom swung the election for him.
Kendall and Roman join Shiv in a black stretch Cadillac. Awkward silence. Ken mutters “It’s a great f—n’ day.” Rava and their mother are discussed. Shiv hems and haws, finally tells her brothers she’s pregnant.
“Is it mine?” Roman asks with his trademark crassness and exquisite timing. Shiv has to confirm to Ken that the baby is Tom’s. Rome makes a crack about her weight. She thanks him for “good stuff.”
“You know I’m not gonna stop with the joke things,” he semi-apologizes, then gets really perverse. She calls him disgusting. He won’t stop. Ken requests peace among the siblings for today. A funeral truce is agreed upon. Masked protesters pound on the Caddy’s windows. It pulls up down the cordoned-off block from the church. Roman and Shiv walk away. Ken tells his waiting assistant Jess (Juliana Canfield) to make an appointment with family lawyers so he can take custody of the kids away from Rava.
HBO
Checking his phone calendar, he sees Jess has scheduled a meet with him. He badgers her into reluctantly telling him she wants to move on.
“Is this about Mencken?” Ken asks.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it for awhile,” Jess, who had a come-to-Jesus moment with Greg about what ATN was doing to democracy the night before, lies.
Ken calls her, then everybody, f—g dumb, puts his protective sunglasses back on.
“Nice timing, Jess. Lovely day to tell me, really thoughtful,” he sneers after making her tell him.
I’m Your Wheelman
As they head into the church, P.R. guy Hugo (Fisher Stevens) tells Ken that GoJo’s bad South Asian numbers have slipped out. In the vestibule, Shiv is telling eldest brother Connor (Alan Ruck) that the eulogy he suddenly wants to deliver is long and hard to follow. Con’s playwright wife Willa (Justine Lupe) explains that it’s formally inventive. Shiv cautions that it will leave them open to legal action.
Roman tells Kendall, “I think it’s great that Mencken’s a racist and he won’t let a dirty foreigner buy the company, but we still need to get the board and brass rallying around the old orphans here, don’t you think?”
Roman then notes that their stepmother Marcia (Hiam Abbas) looks chic in her Navy pantsuit and big-bowed Robin Hood hat, suggests he’d like to have sex with her on Dad’s coffin.
Greg pedals a CitiBike through the clogged streets toward the church.
Rome approaches Waystar COO Frank (Peter Friedman), says this puts any previous conflicts they’ve had in perspective.
“Sure,” Frank stone-faces back. “Life is short. We should all love one another.”
Mencken enters the church with his Secret Service detail. Greg comes in panting behind him, asks Roman for an intro to the “president-elect.”
“I’m amongst the crowning committee, so . . .” Greg’s logic goes. Roman puts him on Ewan Watch instead; if his grandfather (James Cromwell) tries to speak at his despised brother’s funeral, Greg’s job is to stop him.
The Waystar Eggs are huddling. Frank notes Logan is really gone. General counsel Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) asks “How much of you is glad?” CFO Karl (David Rasche) notes “We had our fights, OK? But I miss him.” “Stockholm syndrome,” Gerri says. “Crossed with a little bit of China syndrome.”
“Well, here she comes,” Shiv tells Ken as their mother, minor English aristocrat Caroline (Harriet Walter), enters with her latest husband, Peter (Pip Torrens). “Thought I could hear the sound of dalmatians howling. We freezing her out or . . ?”
“One down, maybe be nice,” Ken suggests. “In case she drops dead of a broken heart? Or not having a heart?”
Caroline approaches her children. She looks down at Shiv’s belly.
“Oh. Are you OK?” Mom asks.
“Yes.”
“Blimey!”
“I know.”
More one-word exchanges ensue. Caroline suggests going into this later.
“I have to be careful with the information I give you because you might use it against me,” Shiv declares. Roman joins, cheek-kisses Caroline. Peter hugs all the kids, says it’s so sad.
“Daddy’s here!” he creepily smiles. “Sorry for your loss.”
“Well, he spoke of you often,” Shiv ominously informs Peter. “One of his favorites.”
Matsson arrives with his Swedes. Shiv walks over to them.
“So, all the numbers pieces are starting to come out,” she acknowledges. “No significant blowback, right?”
Not so far. Gold star for the red devil, Matsson tells his advisor, then asks her if the handsome Nazi is going to win. “And would that be bad for a tall, blond, white guy?”
Shiv draws Matsson away from the other Swedes to broach the idea of offering Mecken an American CEO if he buys Waystar. She herself would be an excellent choice for the position. Matsson makes an arc out from his belly with his hand, asks her if she’s pregnant.
“Yeah, well y’know, she’s one of those hard bitches, right?” Shiv replies. “She’s gonna do what, 36 hours of maternity leave? Be emailing through her vanity Caesarean. The poor kid will never see her.”
Matsson laughs, is still concerned Mencken and Shiv are very “hatey-hatey” with each other. She’s confident she can get him to like her.
“Can you intro?” Matsson continues.
“I can do f—g anything,” she says. “My dad just died.”
Roman announces the arrival of Logan’s casket. Caroline asks Kerry (Zoe Winters) to come and sit with her. Kerry introduces her friend, a lawyer.
“I felt there might be some issue in terms of entry,” Logan’s last mistress explains.
“Sweet,” Caroline says as she walks Kerry down the aisle. She then pulls a woman named Sally Ann out of her pew, takes her to meet Marcia. “Sally Ann was my Kerry, so to speak,” spaketh Caroline. “It’s all water under the bridge now.” She then deposits Sally Ann, herself, Kerry and Marcia in the front pew. “God, Logan would hate this!” Caroline says with glee.
“At least he won’t be grinding his teeth tonight,” Marcia says. Seeing Kerry is about to burst into tears, Marcia places a reassuring hand on the younger woman’s.
Greg calls Tom to get his ass down there. “Greg, there are fires in Baltimore!” a frazzled Tom yells back from ATN. “Darwin might resign, online is peaking. I’ll get there as fast as I can. And tell them it was me!” He hangs up while Greg is asking about front right. Greg informs Shiv and Matsson Tom’s not coming, insinuates he’d like to be the replacement wheel man. Peter offers his services. Shiv says no to stepdad, yes to cousin.
The casket is placed on a roller, covered with an embroidered shroud. Greg and his grandfather take positions at its front. Frank and Karl are the rear bearers. The four siblings walk behind the coffin. Roman looks the most troubled.
(In)Famous Last Words
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The procession stops before the altar and everyone takes their seats. Following the cleric’s invocation, Ewan (James Cromwell) marches toward the altar. Greg and Shiv try to stop him. They can’t.
Wearing a turtleneck and a worn, blue-checkered sport coat, Ewan begins by asking out loud “What sort of people would stop a brother speaking for the sake of a share price?”
But then Logan’s leftist older brother speaks with sympathy of when they were lads evacuated from Scotland to Canada during World War II. Their Atlantic passage was harrowing, Logan was an ill child, their baby sister died, Logan felt unnecessarily guilty about it. It’s riveting, even warmly nostalgic in a dark way. Then Ewan chokes out:
“I loved him, I suppose. And I suppose some of you did too, in whatever way he would let us and we could manage. But I can’t help but say he has wrought the most terrible things. He was a man who has, here and there, drawn in the edges of the world, now and then darkened the skies a little, closed men’s hearts, fed that dark flame in men. The hard, mean, hard-relenting flame that keeps their hearths warm while another grows cold, their grain stashed while another goes hungry. And even has the temerity to tell that hard, funny – yes, funny, but hard – joke about the man in the cold. You can get a little high, a little mighty when you’re warm. Oh yes, he gave away a few million of his billions, but he was not a generous man. He was mean and he made but a mean estimation of the world. And he fed a certain kind of meagerness in men. Perhaps he had to because he had a meagerness about him. And maybe I do about me too, I don’t know. I try. I try. I don’t know when, but sometime he decided not to try anymore and it was a terrible shame. Godspeed, My Brother, And God bless.”
Cut to Roman, frozen in shock. “Yeah yeah yeah,” Ken whispers to him. “You OK? You’re gonna say the other side, yeah? That’s not everything, right?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m good,” Roman lies. “I might hit on Marcia on the way out.” He rises, walks to the aisle. Frank asks, “You OK, Son?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rome continues prevaricating. “I’m not your son.”
At the podium, Roman fiddles with note cards, squeaks out “My – my father, Logan Roy . . . He was a great man in the true, uh, true sense of the word . . .” With a sob, he glances at the coffin, signals for his siblings to come to the altar. He meets them at the stage edge and breaks down. “Is he in there?” Roman asks his siblings, pointing at the coffin. “Can we get him out?” Ken holds one of his arms, Shiv rubs the other, tell him it’s OK.
Cut to Gerri, concerned but exactly why we can’t tell.
Shiv tells Ken he’s got to say the other side. Connor hands him a pen. Matsson and Mencken look on with interest. The Eggs all look down. From the podium, Ken asks the audience for a second, scribbles a bit, wipes his nose. Then launches:
“I don’t know how much I know, but I knew my father. I’ve said it and it is true, what I’ve said and my uncle said. My father was a brute. He was, he was tough, but also he built and he acted. There are many people out there who will always tell you no and there always are a thousand reasons not to act, but he was never one of those. He had a vitality, a force that could hurt and it did, but my God the sheer – I mean, look at it, the lives and the livings and the things that he made. And the money! Yeah, the money. The lifeblood, the oxygen of this wonderful civilization we have built from the mud. The money, the corpuscles of life gushing around this nation, this world, filling men and women all around with desire, quickening the ambition to own and make and trade and profit and build and improve. I mean, great geysers of life, he willed; of buildings he made stand, of ships, steel hulls, amusements, newspapers, shows and films and life. Bloody, complicated life. He made life happen. He made me and my three siblings. And yes, he had a terrible force to him and a fierce ambition that could push you to the side. But he was only that human thing, the will to be and to be seen and to do. And now people might want to tend and prune the memory of him, to denigrate that force, that magnificent, awful force of him. But my God, I hope it’s in me, because if we can’t match his vim then God knows the future will be sluggish and gray. And there wasn’t a room – from the grandest state room where his advice was sought to the lowest house where his news played – where he couldn’t walk and wasn’t comfortable. He was comfortable with this world and he knew it. He knew it and he liked it. And I say amen to that.”
The church bursts into applause, except for Ewan. Shiv walks up to the podium as Kendall sits next to an apologizing Roman, who adds “That was good.”
Shiv thanks Rome and Ken, promises the crowd they’ll be moving on soon. She talks about playing outside Logan’s office and how he’d be terrifying when he came out. Woozy handheld camerawork matches her stream-of-consciousness remarks.
“He kept us outside, but he kept everyone outside,” she notes. “But when he let you in, when the sun shone, it was warm, yeah, really it was warm in the light. But it was hard to be his daughter. Oh, he was hard on women. He couldn’t fit a whole woman in his head, but he did OK. You did OK, Dad. We’re all here and we’re doing OK, we’re doing OK. So goodbye, my dear, dear world of a father.”
The undertakers lift the casket off the cart, set it down in front of Shiv, Kendall and a weeping Roman, remove the shroud and carry it out of the church. Ken shakes hands, especially Mencken’s, as the kids follow them out.
“That was perfect, Ken,” the would-be president tells him as the crowd departs. Ken asks to talk later. Hugo whispers to Ken about Shiv being floated as GoJo Waystar’s CEO.
When Stalin Met Liberace
The cortege makes its way down a wide-open Fifth Avenue, arrives at a cemetery without incident. Ken is startled by the brutalist yet gaudy monumentality of the mausoleum the black vehicles pull up before.
“He got it on a deal,” Connor explains about Logan’s purchase. “He was really pleased. It was a dotcom pet supply guy who built it, I believe.”
“Was he in a bidding war with Stalin and Liberace?” Shiv asks. Later, she coins the term “Catfood Ozymandias.”
Connor notes it probably cost $5 mil altogether. “But that’s forever.” Ken and Shiv agree it was a good deal, her adding “It’s also a tax write-off because it’s technically a residence.”
Roman can’t bring himself to join his siblings inside, where they notice there are enough vaults for all of them.
“I’d have to talk to Willa,” Connor says. “I was crazy for cryogenics but yeah, I wouldn’t say no to a top bunk. You?”
“I dunno,” Ken answers. “I had trouble finishing a scotch with him.”
“He made me breathe funny,” Roman says from the doorway.
After a few words from the priest outside, the casket is taken into the edifice.
“I’m intrigued to see how he gets out of this one,” Shiv cracks.
“It’s too much!” a sniffling Roman declares as he runs to a car.
The camera swirls around Shiv’s concerned face as she walks over to Frank and Karl.
“Dad wasn’t really . . . . Um, how bad was Dad?” she asks them.
“He was a salty dog,” Frank says in a reassuring tone. “He was. But he was a good egg.”
“What you saw was what you got,” Karl adds.
Shiv smiles at them through her skepticism. At a car, Marcia tells her, “I loved him very much, I miss him very much. He broke my heart and he broke your hearts too.”
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Ken tells Hugo to brief media on background that the Matsson acquisition doesn’t have support of key family members and the board is souring on the deal.
“You know, Hugo, life isn’t nice, it’s contingent. People who say they love you will also f—k you. So this is an explicit plan to f—k the deal, me rule the world. And you can come but it won’t be a collaboration, OK? You’ll be my dog. But the scraps from the table will be millions. Millions. Happy?”
Hugo: “Woof woof.”
What Isn’t F—ed Up?
Unloading outside the St. Regis for the reception, mourners are startled by firecrackers-or-gunshots. Inside, Ken tries to recruit Logan’s former bodyguard Colin, then goes over to shake Mencken’s hand.
“Congratulations pending a grueling jurisdictional knife fight,” media whore tells fascist. Ken wants to share thoughts, now that ATN’s helped Mencken out.
“Oh,” the candidate responds. “I thought you were the sound system. Now you want to choose the track.” Ken wants to know when Mencken will express regulatory concerns about GoJo. The pol says he’ll try to help. Not the answer Ken wanted. Greg interrupts. Roman butts in, tells Greg to f—k off. Mencken says “Hey hey hey, it’s the Grim Weeper. Tiny Tears! Just kidding. You good?” Connor wants to grab five, talk Slovenia travel budget.
“What if I said to you: Pan-Hapsburg, American-led, EU alternative,” Connor babbles. “What would you say to me?”
Shiv jumps in, telling Mencken she’s the presidential extraction team. He walks away with her. Ken whispers to Rome, “You know about Supermom’s plan?”
Shiv, Mencken and Matsson discuss political/economic philosophies with food and sex metaphors. Then Red and Blond ask Gray what would make him comfortable about a GoJo Waystar.
“Whatever our frictions, there was an ideological sympathy with your dad,” Mencken tells Shiv.
“My dad had deep ocean currents swirling in his gut,” Shiv responds. “But on specifics, I think he was about money, winning and gossip.”
Matsson tries to explain GoJo’s significance – even he can’t understand his b.s. – then slithers into suggesting an American CEO would actually run things. Mencken looks at Shiv.
“I thought you hated me.”
“My dad was flexible and I’m flexible. I know how things go.”
“And you would be very glad, right, to see him win,” Matsson tells Shiv.
“My feelings are irrelevant. Our audience loves Jeryd so – I respect our audience.”
“And I love your audience,” Mencken finishes.
Crowds roar in the streets as Tom enters the event. He tells Shiv it’s getting a bit “Tiananmeny out there.”
“You would never have dared not to come to his funeral when he was alive,” Shiv accuses her husband.
“The thing about your dad is he’s lost quite a lot of influence over the past few days,” Tom lobs back. He and Shiv both take champagne flutes from a passing waiter. The pregnant woman defiantly drinks. There’s tentative talk about whether she’ll keep the baby and why it took so long to tell him the news.
“Because it seemed so sad, Tom, and we were in a honeymoon phase . . . “
“Yeah. Taking the potential dad for a test drive.”
“Oh f—k you.”
Caroline swoops in to congratulate the happy couple. “Well, if it wasn’t such a total f—n’ disaster, it would be a dream come true,” Tom tells his mother-in-law.
“Oh, I’m sure it will be wonderful,” she says with chirpy English obliviousness. “Are you all right?” she asks Shiv. “I mean, it’s hard.”
“I’m not going to see it,” Shiv says, pointing back and forth between them. “I’m just going to do it the family way. I mean, they don’t grow up emotionally stunted, do they?”
“I shouldn’t think so. What do you think?”
Mother and daughter share a laugh.
When Caroline leaves, Tom apologizes to Shiv for not attending the funeral ceremonies, blaming it yet again on not enough sleep. She says it’s fine. Then he tells her he was the first one with Logan in the plane when he died, so he did say goodbye to him. Shiv sends her sniffling, exhausted husband home to sleep and hide out for a while. She gets a call from Matsson, who’s in his car. It’s a yes.
“Great,” the potential American CEO tells him. “Let’s make it a meatball burger.”
Ken approaches Roman, claiming he needs his help against Lukas and Shiv. Roman’s too shot to plot at the moment.
“That’s because you f—d it,” Ken blurts. “It’s OK. It happens. You thought you were Dad, tried to Dad it, totally f—d it.”
“Jesus Christ, man. Take it easy. I didn’t f—k it.”
“Yeah. You f—d it with Gerri . . .”
Roman insists that if Mencken tries to welch on their deal to block the GoJo purchase, they can hurt him with ATN. Ken says Mencken has their penis in his hands and it should be vice versa. Then he says they have to get real and fight Shiv at the board. He has a plan but needs Rome’s help, unhelpfully adding, “OK Dude, You f—d it, but it’s all right.”
Roman marches out of the room, past the Eggs. Karl’s talking about a viral video, presumably of Rome breaking down at the funeral. On the street, Rome walks past his limo. There are sirens, swirling police lights, people with protest signs running. He stops at street barriers, yells “F—k you” to hundreds of retreating demonstrators. He jumps the barrier, curses people as they pass by and body him in the middle of the street. Roman gets knocked down and trampled as riot cops approach. He fights a protester who tries to help him up. Finally upright, he stumbles away with the rest of the crowd, his penile tumescence an unknown factor.
Best One-Liner:
After the debacle of the uncertain election night ATN called for Mencken, the network’s likely future owner Matsson schooled Shiv in how the rest of the world views American politics:
“You’ve had a democracy for, like, 50 years. Not, unless you don’t count Black people, which is kind of a bad habit. I’m just saying, you are nearly as mature a democracy as Botswana.”
Stray Observations:
Sure, it’s old hat to cut to audience reactions whenever somebody’s making a significant speech. But director Mark Mylod and camera operators Gregor Tavenner, Ethan Borsuk, Beka Venezia and Sarah Natoli show exactly how to do it right throughout Ewan, Roman, Kendall and Shiv’s eulogies. They capture the character-conscious feelings of every listener they single out at each pertinent point of the wrought recitations.
So Roman, the guy we thought was most his father’s son, turns out to be the clan’s biggest softie. Though it’s been foreshadowed for most of the season, his grief caught up to him at the worst possible time for the “tough bastard’s” ambitions. Part of me still wants to think, though, that he was just as torn up by his uncle upstaging him with a better speech as by his father’s death finally hitting home. While that all gives Kieran Culkin his biggest acting moments yet, it’s perhaps more impressive how Jeremy Strong ricochets from idiot to monster to God’s honest hero and back again multiple times in this episode, keeping every note consistent with Kendall’s weird personality and, thereby, eminently buyable.
May 15, 2023: Did he charm her dad with self-effacing jokes? Healy is in with Papa Swift, a huge endorsement. After making friends with her friends, Healy was spotted at one of Taylor’s Philly concerts hanging out with none other than Scott Swift, as captured by a fan in the crowd.
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May 18, 2023: A source tells The Daily Mail that Alywn feels “feels slighted and is distraught” over his ex-girlfriend’s “budding relationship.”
According to the source, Alwyn is not happy she moved on from their relationship so soon, especially with someone she collaborated with while still dating Alwyn. “Joe was aware that Taylor and Matt were making music together and collaborating. She told him that they had become friends and he trusted her,” the source said, though they denied the relationships overlapped.
May 19, 2023: A source tells The Messenger that Swift and Healy “have been inseparable” since reconnecting through mutual friends. “Things moved very quickly and she was swept off her feet,” the source said, adding that Healy has met Swift’s family and “fits right in as if they have been dating for years.”
May 20, 2023: Just before singing “Question…?” during her performance at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Swift gave a rare update on how she’s been feeling. “Oh my gosh, this is insane,” she said. “I kinda just feel like telling you, I don’t know, I’ve just never been this happy in my life in all aspects of my life ever before.”
She continued, “I don’t know, it’s not just the tour. I just sort of feel like my life feels like it finally makes sense. So, I thought I’d play this song, which brings me a lot of happy memories.”
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All aspects of her life…Not just the tour… Hey, Taylor, can I ask you a question?
Nayanthara will be next seen in Atlee’s Jawaan opposite Shah Rukh Khan.
Nayanthara also runs a skincare company and a production house as well.
South Indian actress Nayanthara is considered one of the most popular stars in the industry. She has been working for a long time and has had an illustrious career. She has been a part of various hit films like Netrikann, Godfather, Iru Mugan, Gold, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, etc. Apart from work, the actress has also developed a keen interest in various businesses. According to reports, the Godfather actress has entered the film theatre business and has bought a property in Chennai.
Reportedly, the leading actress, along with her husband, Vignesh Shivan, has bought the old building of Agasthiya Theatres in northern Chennai under their production company, Rowdy Pictures.
Agastya Theatre was owned by Devi Theatre Group and had been functional in north Chennai since 1967. It has screened films of various superstars in the Tamil film industry, like MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Ajith Kumar, and Thalapathy Vijay. However, the screen theatre suffered a huge loss as it was shut down after the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 after functioning for almost 53 years.
Nayanthara and her husband have decided to renovate the theatre and convert it into a two-screen facility, reports say. Both screens together can accommodate over 1,000 people at once.
In 2021, Nayanthara also started a skincare company with her business partner and friend. The lip balm company claims to be the first company in India with almost 100 variants of lip balm. Along with that, she also owns a production house with her husband, and they have produced some successful films like Koozhangal, Netrikann, and Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kaadhal. They started producing films in 2021, and reportedly, the company has a net worth of over Rs 50 crore.
Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan got married in June 2022 in Mahabalipuram. After a few months, the couple announced the birth of their twins through surrogacy.
On the work front, she was last seen in the Tamil film Connect. She will be next seen opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Atlee’s Hindi film Jawaan, which is releasing on September 7th. It has also been found that the actress will also be starring in Lady Superstar 75 and The Test, which will be her first film with R Madhavan.
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That trend was abandoned in June 2021 when Loki moved its weekly releases to Wednesdays, and that schedule has largely held ever since.
Marvel Changes Release Strategy for Loki Season 2
Marvel
During Disney’s 2023 Upfront event, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed Loki Season 2 will premiere on October 6, which curiously signals a major departure from the MCU’s previous Disney+ release strategy.
Strangely enough, this release date has the Tom Hiddleston-led season premiering its first episode on a Friday, despite the fact Disney+ traditionally debuts new episodes of its Marvel, Star Wars, and other original series on Wednesdays.
In a similar fashion, Loki Season 2’s premiere date of Friday, October 6 falls on the Columbus Day holiday weekend, indicating the shift was made in the hopes of capitalizing on the masses being off work and at home watching TV.
If Loki follows the pattern set by Obi-Wan Kenobi, the show will return to Wednesday releases after the premiere for the remainder of the season, placing Episode 2 on Wednesday, October 11.
Marvel Studios already announced that its next show after Loki Season 2, Echo,will debut its entire six-episode season in historic fashion on Wednesday, November 29, suggesting the shift to a Friday premiere will be a one-off.
The plan to return to Wednesdays is particularly apparent given a Friday release day all through the season would place the sixth and final episode on November 10, the same day The Marvels hits theaters, and it’s unlikely Marvel Studios would want to risk either drawing attention from the other.
Why Is Loki Season 2 Premiering on a Friday?
At a rate of one episode per week, Loki ought to conclude its six-episode run with an epic finale on November 8, assuming it hops back to Wednesdays. Although this would leave a comfortable three-week window ahead of the November 29 premiere of Echo, it also places the finale just two days apart from The Marvels.
When Obi-Wan Kenobi made its move to the Memorial Day holiday weekend, it also switched up its format to a two-episode premiere. Perhaps Marvel Studios could do something similar with Loki Season 2 to give viewers more content to watch on that holiday and also distance the finale from The Marvels by a week.
A two-episode premiere wouldn’t be out of character for the MCU, as the studio previously dropped two episodes of both WandaVision and Hawkeye on their respective debut days. However, those announcements of double installment premieres came close to release, so fans shouldn’t expect any news on the matter until around September if it was to happen at all.
If ever you needed to know how influential Hideaki Anno is in Japan, look no further. The creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion and its many reboots has more recently ushered in a new, unprecedented collaboration from some of Japan’s most popular cultural icons. Following the success of Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s Shin Godzilla in 2016, he produced and wrote Shin Ultraman and wrote, produced, and directed Shin Kamen Rider. The three of them, along with EVA Unit 1, the iconic main mech from Evangelion, formed the Shin Japan Heroes Project with Bandai.
Now the most ridiculous mashup you could imagine is here, which we first saw on Gizmodo. All four come together like a Megazord to fight a giant alien threat. Even though, chiefly, three of them are already giant sized and one of them is a tiny dude on a motorcycle. I… I haven’t the words.
That’s right; not only is this weird and silly, it’s also a toy advert. This tells you how much money Japan puts into toy advertisements in 2023. At any rate, seeing Godzilla fold open into a torso is breathtakingly strange. For most of the transformation sequence I was thinking “What is Kamen Rider going to do?” Then the Cyclone (his motorcycle) turns into the mecha’s head, and the man himself sits atop it might some kind of cybernetic Paul Atreides. Delightfully ridiculous.
The toy is a premium Bandai number, which will retail for 23,100 Yen. Don’t mortgage your house; that’s only about $170 US.
Meta could turn to Magic Leap for help to stay ahead of Apple and other new entrants in the soon-to-be crowded AR space. According to the , the two companies are in talks to sign a multi-year IP licensing and manufacturing pact. Details on the negotiations are few, but according to the outlet’s sources, a potential partnership is not expected to produce a jointly developed headset. Instead, a deal could see Magic Leap provide Meta with access to some of its optical tech. The partnership could also see the startup assist with manufacturing Meta devices, thereby allowing the tech giant to produce more of its VR headsets domestically at a time when there’s more pressure for US companies to lessen their dependence on China.
Meta did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. Magic Leap told the Financial Times partnerships were becoming a“significant line of business and growing opportunity for Magic Leap.” Additionally, in a blog post titled “,” CEO Peggy Johnson said late last year the company had “received an incredible amount of interest from across the industry to license our IP and utilize our patented manufacturing process to produce optics for others seeking to launch their own mixed-reality technology.”
The timing of the report is notable for a couple of reasons. Meta is under pressure from investors to show something for all the money it has spent pursuing CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for the future of computing. The company does not expect to make a profit from all of its metaverse projects for another few years. At the same time, it is on its Reality Labs division. Separately, Apple is widely expected to enter the AR headset market next month when the company holds its WWDC developer conference.
Godard speaks! Again. Quite rightly there’s a lot of hoopla about the world premiere of a 20-minute trailer the late cinema legend Jean-Luc Godard made for a feature film that will never exist: Phoney Wars.
Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux explained Sunday at a special screening of the work that Godard extensively researched trailers as well as films.
The Phoney Wars trailer footage is a series of collages on what appears to be photographic paper, and the topic explored is Charles Plisnier, a Belgian surrealist and poet who was expelled from the Communist party in 1937 for, as Godard puts it, “Trotskyist deviancy.”
The festival noted that the work “will remain as the ultimate gesture of cinema.”
A curiosity, if you will, that will be wheeled out at film seminars in Paris, London and New York, for all of us to wonder what might have been had Godard been able to make the actual feature film.
There’s text from Godard in the footage that gives us a hint: “To no longer trust the billions of diktats of the alphabet to give back freedom to the incessant metamorphoses and metaphors of a true language by returning to the places of past shoots while taking into account the present stories.”
But good on the festival for screening it on a large canvas, particularly as Godard likened cinema to painting.
The billing is: A Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello and Vixens production, in co-production with L’Atelier.
But I was more interested in Florence Platarets’ one-hour documentary Godard by Godard that preceded Phoney Wars.
Here was the cinema giant recalling how his mother warned him that filmmaking “was a dangerous world.” And then there’s Godard proclaiming that “cinema’s biggest enemy is television.”
My favorite moment was Godard informing American TV chat show host Dick Cavett that “I do cinema: I don’t do films,” while also pronouncing that “cinema is the opposite of culture.”
Then there’s Francois Truffaut’s famous declaration that Godard’s 1960 Breathless is the best first film since Orson Welles made Citizen Kane. That statement probably still holds. Others will surely argue otherwise, but I’ll stand with Truffaut.
Interesting to see the Godard homage the same weekend as I caught two films by American cinema artists.
First up was Martin Scorsese’s mammoth Killers of the Flowers Moon, a movie just short of a masterpiece, which reminds us how America was founded on blood and bullets — and sheer, utter greed.
The talent involved in this work is remarkable but did it need to be 3 hours and 26 minutes long?
That said, I could have sat longer and watched Lily Gladstone’s portrayal of a woman, a member of the Osage tribe, being stripped of her health and wealth by predators, on a loop. Such was its power. And Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are at the top of their games. I wanted justice for her!
(L to R) Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro on the red carpet in Cannes
Gisela Schober/Getty Images
After the world premiere screening the cast, creatives and top Apple executives trooped off to Chateau De la Crois-des-Gardes for dinner, signature cocktails, fine wines and Telmont Reserve champagne from a vineyard that’s 50 percent owned by DiCaprio.
I wasn’t there, by the way. I’m definitely second or third tier when it comes to Apple. I think they like to punish if one has pissed them off. I was invited to some sort of Apple soirée on Sunday but I was busy.
Actually, I couldn’t have made the grade one Apple bash on Saturday because I, very happily, went to see the Todd Haynes film May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore — both electrifying — and Charles Melton, who is a name to watch. I mean, he’s so good in this movie about an actor (Portman) who travels to Georgia to find out the “truth” about a woman she’s about to portray in a TV movie.
(L-R) Julianne Moore, Charles Melton and Natalie Portman on Sunday
Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images
I’m not going to give the storyline away here because I want you to experience how it unfolded for me.
After the film I walked in the soaking rain to the after-party at Magnum Beach. For the record, I did not partake in a chocolate-dipped ice cream with nuts and hundreds and thousands.
Haynes told me that he had such a pleasurable experience making the film that he didn’t want the shoot to end. “That doesn’t always happen,” he confided.
Haynes and Christine Vachon, his longtime producing friend, introduced me to Melton (Bad Boys for Life) who’s clearly having the time of his life being in Cannes with this film.
(L-R) Christine Vachon, Charles Melton and Todd Haynes
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
We’ll be hearing a lot about him in coming months — and Lily Gladstone, too.
During Fox’s appearance on the ABC talk show, the Back to the Future alum was asked by Goldberg if he had any regrets about acting roles he had walked away from in the past.
“There was a chance to work with you that I missed,” Fox said. “They talked to me about Ghost early on. I said, ‘It’ll never work.’ I said, ‘Whoopi is great but it’ll never work.’”
Fox continued, “And then it was great, and huge and I’m a f***ing idiot.”
Goldberg added, “Well, you know what? There’s still time. So, yeah, we’ll find something to do now.”
Ghost is a 1990 romantic fantasy film directed by Jerry Zucker and written by Bruce Joel Rubin. The movie starred Goldberg, Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze. The main story centers around Sam, played by Swayze, who’s ghost returns to save his girlfriend Molly (Moore) from the person who killed him. Goldberg played psychic Oda Mae Brown who facilitates the communication between Sam and Molly.
Goldberg won an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in the film. Ghost went on to also win an Academy Award for Best Screenplay.
Watch Fox’s interview on The View in the video posted below.
Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched NCIS: Los Angeles’ series finale, so be warned!
Wowzers! We knew some big moments were coming to NCIS: Los Angeles’ final episode ever, and fans got to watch it all go down as “New Beginnings Part 2” closed out the previous week’s cliffhanger and started parceling out its happy endings. As Daniela Ruah teased ahead of the finale without actually saying it, the episode delivered a city hall wedding for Callen and Anna, some huge pregnancy news for Deeks and Kensi, and an update on Linda Hunt’s long-absent Hetty. But while it was great to see some familiar faces returning to close things out in the final sequence, there was still something pretty huge missing: Ms. Henrietta Lange herself!
I know I’m not the only one who hoped NCIS: L.A. would find a way to get the fan-beloved Linda Hunt back on the show in person for its swan song, especially to see Callen tying the knot, albeit in a more subdued capacity. Even if it was just via a Zoom call or whatever, to have her physical presence around would have been aces, considering she’s been absent from the broadcast drama since the Season 13 premiere. Granted, I fully understand that it’s difficult for the actress to commit to such things, despite the showrunner’s attempts to bring her back for Season 14, whether it be due to physical ailments or other issues. So it’s not for nothing that the series finale DOES feature some voiceover narration from the actress, even if she wasn’t around for an in-person appearance.
What’s more, that voiceover work is what sets up the final scene, which itself sets up the idea that these characters will continue working together for years to come, as opposed to some TV finales that frustratingly pull characters apart to go off in different directions.
How NCIS: Los Angeles’ Finale Updated Hetty’s Story
Following Callen and Anna’s wedding, a mysterious courier showed up with an envelope for Chris O’Donnell’s character, whose wax seal featured some familiar initials. (Though Sam ran off to ask the guy a question, he mysteriously disappeared! Sort of.) As it turns out, even though Hetty isn’t in close contact these days, she somehow still knew about the impromptu wedding taking place, and managed to set up both the newlywed couple’s honeymoon and a new mission for the dynamic duo. Here’s what her congratulatory letter said:
Dear Agent Callen,
Congratulations on your wedding. I am so very happy for you and Anna. I only wish I could have been there to celebrate such a glorious occasion with all of you. Most people think I never had a family of my own, but I beg to differ. I have been blessed with the greatest family one could ever have wished for…and so have you.
As always, Hetty
P.S. I have arranged for you and Anna to have my place in Mykanos for your honeymoon. Stay as long as you like.
I’m sure Callen and Anna were more than excited about the concept of having a sweet ass spot in Greece to go celebrate their nuptials without job stress to worry about. Though they better hope Anna’s dad doesn’t find out its location, lest he try and take a pair of dates out there, with one of them possibly being Deeks’ mom.
The envelope also contained some plane tickets and a secondary note that didn’t even let Callen soak in the post-wedding bliss before having him wonder about his next task around the world. Here’s what her second message said, sans voiceover.
I’ve also sent along two plane tickets to for you and Sam in the event that you may have a couple days beforehand to help me with a small side project.
Naturally, the episode ended with Sam and Callen making that trip to Morocco to see what the side project was, only to touch base again with a trio of familiar faces.
NCIS: Los Angeles’s Series Finale Brought Back Nate, Sabatino, And Nell
For the briefest of moments, it seemed like the CBS drama was actually going to deliver a big Linda Hunt appearance whenever LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell’s characters showed up in Morocco. (Even though it seemed patently ridiculous for Callen to “recognize” Hetty from behind.) Instead, though, he found Renée Felice Smith’s Nell, who was there to bring the pair into their next adventure. Smith left NCIS: Los Angeles in the Season 12 finale, which also happened to include one of Hunt’s final appearances.
And lo and behold, that adventure happened to also include returns from Erik Palladino, marking his 21st appearance as Vostanik Sabatino, and Peter Cambor’s Nate Getz. Neither was super-duper surprising to see here, as Sabatino showed up once already this season, for Episode 1411, while Nate appeared in two Season 13 episodes, which where his first since Season 8. Still, it’s always great to see them, and they had a bright and bushy-eyed new recruit with them that beared a not-so-coincidental resemblance to Callen himself. The circle of life, as it were.
While fans no doubt would have loved to see Barrett Foa’s Eric Beale back alongside Nell, it wasn’t meant to be. Whenever Callen asked about him, she gave this simple and on-point update:
He is giving a TED talk in Singapore.
A billionaire is gonna billionaire, amirite? Am I, though? I don’t actually know any billionaires.
While audiences won’t have any more full-length episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles to dig through, we can always hope that CBS and the applicable producers might one day figure out a way to bring some of the L.A. team into one of the other series, whether it be for another three-way crossover or for something smaller in scope. In the meantime, all 14 seasons are available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription.
“The Last of Us” could have just been the story of two people moving through a fundamentally changed world. Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are the main figures in both the original game series and this TV adaptation from co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. But the backbone of both versions are those individuals who that pair of travelers meet along their treacherous journey. The “Last of Us” guest stars come in all forms across nine episodes, from family members thought lost to predatory zealots to strangers finding their own best chances to stay alive.
For the people behind some of those characters, those roles were more than just a job. Lamar Johnson took the audience through the world of Harry, a conflicted resident of what’s left of Kansas City, someone just trying to provide for his little brother Sam (Keivonn Woodard). A pair of flashback-heavy episodes set the stage for two other key players. As one half of a decades-long look at life and love spent in the aftermath of tragedy, Murray Bartlett brought patience and warmth to Frank. And when the attention turns to a key part in Ellie’s story, Storm Reid was there to help show Riley’s one last night of an important bond.
IndieWire spoke with all three about what stood out from their time on the show, and the various elements of that experience they’ll shepherd with them going forward in their careers and lives.
Exploring an Expansive Set
One thing that came up over the course of these conversations was the attention to detail that came with “The Last of Us.” Bartlett and episode co-star Nick Offerman were just two of many performers who arrived to set and were instantly reminded of what they were stepping into.
“We were all under Covid protocols, but we could wander around, masked. We had the freedom to explore and imagine what that would have been like if the other 150 people on set weren’t there,” Bartlett said. “I hadn’t really given a thought to ‘How big is this show?’ So when we arrived to that set, where they’d built a neighborhood, I think Nick and I were both like, ‘[cringing sound] Shit, we better not mess this up. There’s a there’s a lot of resources in this.’ Fortunately, they were really determined to not let the beautiful human stories in this show get lost in this incredible world that they created physically. But it was amazing to be able to wander around in this quite vast bunker town that Bill had created.”
Ellie and Riley’s night largely takes place inside the remains of a working mall. Not having to work quite as much from scratch, Reid said that working inside something that was surprisingly close to the real thing certainly made the process more intuitive.
“Of course some of the set scenes we did on stage, but I think it helped that we were in an actual abandoned mall in Canada. I had never experienced being in an abandoned mall. It really laid the ground for what those scenes felt and looked like. Being in that environment, we had the opportunity and all the space to play and find different things,” Reid said. “Each part of the set was so different than the other. You have the arcade, the Halloween store, even when they’re in the the food court and the taco place. I think it was very realistic for the time and especially for the world that the characters are inhabiting, but it didn’t feel foreign or fake in any way.”
Few actors on “The Last of Us” had as daunting a task as Johnson, who had to deliver one of the game’s most heartbreaking moments, a sequence without many words that has to convey all the tragedy and sadness of losing a loved one in the blink of an eye. For all the psychological weight of that morning in the motel, Johnson said that he benefited from being in a practical production environment where so many of the small touches helped to inform his part in it.
“There were stains in the carpets. It felt so lived-in. Even the doorknobs were rusted over. The walls, the ceiling, every single corner, the furniture, the choice of lamps and lighting. Details in that room really brought me to the space that we were in,” Johnson said. “The practicality of everything was there for us. They had prop guns but they also had real ones too, in case I want to feel the weight of the gun. They had all these different things available to us that really were conducive to our performance and helped us get to the places that that we needed to be.”
That spirit of immersiveness and exploration carried over into the off days, too. Amidst the physical and mental prep work for some of these challenging sequences, being on location did offer the chance for decompressing in one of Canada’s biggest cities. Balancing the weight of being ready for those sets and taking some personal time became a key part of the overall process.
“I would do a lot of work in my apartment as well, so my apartment was even attached to some of the work. An opportunity to just remove myself from those spaces, sit down and maybe do some people watching was a big thing for me,” Johnson said. “I’d go out for dinner with myself and maybe have a glass of wine. Just enjoy some time outside of set and put myself in a different space, a different environment. There was a restaurant called A1 in Calgary that was really good and I used to go to a lot.”
“My mom and I are big on exploring wherever we are in the world, when it’s safe to do so,” Reid said. “So on the weekends, we enjoyed trying new restaurants. One weekend we went to the spa and walked around the city. I always love having a balance of enjoying my time, but also resting. I’m big on sleep. Once I got my rest I was ready to go out and explore.”
Getting Across Big Ideas
Each episode demanded attention to some particular key sequences, which all wrestled with profound ideas in their own way. Reid’s episode culminated in a scene after an attack, where both Ellie and Riley assume that their deaths are imminent. Embracing the fact that there was room for hope, even in the bleakest of endings, became an anchoring part of Reid’s experience.
“The scene just being so poetic and so beautiful, but so heartbreaking at the same time, to be able to let audiences have their own interpretation of what happens in those final moments with Ellie and Riley I think is is really cool,” Reid said. “Obviously we end up knowing what happens. But to be able to just have that gentle closing where they’re just in each other’s embrace I think leaves some peace with the audience rather than just emotionally wrecking everybody. I think everybody was already there at that point.”
Johnson spent a majority of his time alongside Woodard, which included some scenes with Harry and Sam talking about death in plain terms. Rather than see that as a burden for each of them, those particularly deep scripted conversations and moments led to a chance for the two to connect.
“Keivonn did such a great job of grasping that idea,” Johnson said. “I don’t think it really took too much for him to understand the circumstance and what’s happening. He took cues from me. There’d be moments where we’d be talking, and we have a scene that we’re doing and it’s quite weighty and he would also see me need time to process and get into the mental space that I needed to. If he saw me in a quiet moment, he would also take that quiet moment with himself.”
The long, long time that Frank and Bill spend together meant that so many of the simplest actions and decisions suddenly carried years, even decades, of weight behind it. Maybe the sweetest scene in the episode finds the two of them tasting a strawberry for the first time after the post-outbreak panic. Bringing that special feeling to the banal and ordinary left a little impression that continued on after filming.
“The beautiful thing about playing that scene of, ‘What if these things weren’t available?’ when you have the chance to suspend disbelief and really taste a strawberry for the first time, it’s extraordinary,” Bartlett said. “There’s such great lessons in this episode and this show about that kind of perspective and really appreciating things. I’m not saying that every strawberry I eat from now on is going to be this orgasmic experience. But it definitely gives me pause.”
The Viewings
Murray Bartlett in “The Last of Us”Liane Hentscher/HBO
If acting is about sharing stories, sometimes that extends to how you take in the finished product. Even though watching yourself on screen can be a complicated, sometimes even fraught, process, there was enough in the show to let their work speak for itself.
“I watched with my family. I didn’t really say too much prior to everyone watching the episode. They got quite emotional, especially at the end there,” Johnson said. “To have my family there and watch me in the show, to have this arc that I did with with these characters, it was really special.”
“I was patiently waiting. I was watching every episode Sunday night or Monday night,” Reid said. “I didn’t know what to expect. And I don’t typically love watching myself on screen, but I was gathered around my family, my friends, my team, so I felt super-duper comfortable. It was probably the most comfortable I’ve felt watching myself in a really, really long time. So I enjoyed every bit of it.”
“I usually start to watch something that I’ve done. Sometimes I continue. And sometimes I’m like, ‘Okay, it’s better that I don’t watch this.’ But I got really involved in this story. You know, it’s probably the only thing that I’ve watched that I’ve been in where I cried. And it wasn’t because of me, it was because I just think it’s such a beautiful story. I cried every time I read the script, and it was very emotional to make the show. So it brought all of that stuff back.”
What Comes Next
Part of the breadth of the “The Last of Us” is that its guest stars are all at different points in the trajectory of their careers. It’s offered some a chance to burst into people’s consciousness. For others, it’s a continuation of stellar recent work. In Reid’s case, it was a reminder of what lasting impact this work can have.
“I try to be a part of intentional projects and be as purposeful as possible. Even though ‘The Last of Us’ would be considered a genre piece, we are talking about things that are important. And more importantly, we are depicting lives of people that are real. It’s authentic,” Reid said. “To be able to be a representative of those stories and representatives for young women, young black women, young black queer women, is an honor and something that I’m always going to be forever grateful for.”
One thing that added to Johnson’s time on the show is that he got to see everyone else see the finish line, too. His scenes were part of the last days of filming for the whole crew, the culmination of a years-long process for so many of the people involved.
“Being a part of this show, to have an opportunity to be a part of something so special, maybe it really set me up for disappointment in the future because it was just so special. But at the same time, it made me want to continue to challenge myself. I believe on the other side of challenge is growth, and I always want to continue to grow through my career as an artist. I want to work on things that maybe I might not have thought about stepping into, working with people that I’m inspired by,” Johnson said.
Sometimes there are stories of performers getting to take a memento with them from set after filming wraps: a stray prop, a random bit of set design. In the case of these three, all seemed perfectly content with the idea that they didn’t need any physical reminders. All the positive emotions from their experiences are locked safely away in memories.
That said, Bartlett did get one last taste of something that Frank would definitely appreciate.
“Craig did send Nick and I, as a sort of a wrap gift, an incredible bottle of Beaujolais that should be paired with rabbit. So that was pretty, pretty extraordinary. And great drinking,” Bartlett said.
“The Last of Us” is now available to stream on HBO Max.
Dave Grohl and company promised a “few surprises” during the livestream, and they delivered as Freese was formally introduced in a humorous clip where Foo Fighters are solicited by potential A-list drummers — like Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee and Tool’s Danny Carey — before it was ultimately revealed that the seat behind the kit belonged to Freese.
The addition of Freese — an in-demand session and live drummer who has had lengthy tenures with everyone from Guns N’ Roses and Nine Inch Nails to Paramore and Devo — was long-anticipated by fans, especially after Freese, without explanation, canceled his summer shows backing the Offspring and Danny Elfman.
Freese was also among the all-star drummers to perform with Foo Fighters during their Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts in 2022, leading to speculation that he was among the frontrunners to replace Hawkins full-time.
Trending
In addition to welcoming Freese to their lineup, Foo Fighters’ free “Preparing Music for Concerts” livestream — recorded at the band’s 606 Studios — also introduced fans to new music from the band’s upcoming LP But Here We Are, which arrives June 2 and represents “the first chapter of the band’s new life.”
Foo Fighters’ summer tour — spanning North America and Europe — kicks off May 24 in Gilford, New Hampshire and includes stops at festivals like Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Ohana, Riot Fest and Austin City Limits.
The Peterborough Petes clinched the 2023 Ontario Hockey League championship with a 2-1 victory over the London Knights on Sunday night at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
All three goals came in the second half of the game as Owen Willmore of the Knights and Londoner Michael Simpson made sure no goals came easy.
Willmore made 20 saves for London in the opening period and 30 saves through 40 minutes and 34 overall.
Simpson made 36 saves on the night and was awarded the “99” Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the OHL playoffs.
Petes winger Avery Hayes finally broke the scoreless tie at 13:33 of the second period as the Petes blocked a London clearing attempt and Tucker Robertson got the puck to Hayes. The overage forward put a backhand into the Knight net to make it 1-0 and that’s the way the score stayed into the final 20 minutes.
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London’s Max McCue tied the game when Logan Mailloux dumped the puck into the Peterborough zone and Connor Federkow quickly got it to the front of the next where Max McCue buried a shot into the back of the Petes net with 12:01 left in the game.
Petes defenceman Donovan McCoy took a pass from his partner Cam Gauvreau and wristed a shot into the slot that was deflected by Tucker Robertson and found its way in.
The Knights pushed for the equalizer over the final eight minutes and 50 seconds but big saves from Simpson kept it rom happening and Peterborough celebrated the tenth league championship in their franchises’s history.
The Petes will now head for the 2023 Memorial Cup in Kamloops, B.C. They will play their first game on Day 2 of the tournament against the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts.
Tkachuk in elite company
Matthew Tkachuk’s second consecutive overtime winner has the Florida Panthers ahead 2-0 in the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference final and gave the former Knight the keys to quite the quartet in hockey history.
Tkachuk now has three OT winners in the playoffs to tie another former Knight, Corey Perry, Maurice Richard and Mel Hill of the 1939 Boston Bruins as the only players ever to record three overtime-winning goals in a single Stanley Cup playoff year.
It’s 9 a.m. on Thursday morning, but Emma Chamberlain has already been up for three hours. Clad in an all-gray Thom Browne set, she perches on a deep-seated sofa, surrounded by tall posters of images from her newly unveiled campaign with Canon. In one, she poses in a red carpet-ready gown, a camera in hand; in another, she films herself sipping tea in a vaguely Parisian setup that calls back to her vlogs. She explains that she probably could have woken up later than she did, but she wanted to have some of her morning to herself before her busy press day.
Six years after her YouTube videos catapulted her into meteoric internet stardom, Chamberlain is now a 21-year-old bona fide Gen Z it girl — one with a busy schedule that reflects the diversity of her interests and the versatility of her talents. Stardom in the social media age extends far beyond follower count. Chamberlain’s 16 million followers on Instagram and 12 million subscribers on YouTube first launched her into the public eye, and her ability to organically create viral moments (see: her muttered “Love ya” to Jack Harlow at the 2022 Met Gala) keeps her name in the temporal stream of online chatter surrounding enormous cultural moments. Though her videos now come every few months, her Spotify exclusive podcast “Anything Goes” exhibits the charisma that made her famous, giving her an outlet to discuss a slew of topics that range from minimalism to sex to trends and culture. Then there’s her entrepreneurial side: Her company Chamberlain Coffee proffers fun, brightly packaged products as an extension of her own identity as an avid consumer of caffeine.
But while all of these ventures form a veritable media empire that stands impressive on its own, it’s Chamberlain’s taste that sets her apart from other creators as a trendsetter. Her eye for design and keen sense of style influence every aspect of her creative output, from her Architectural Digest home tour to her Coachella fashion looks to even the B-roll of her vlogs.
Chamberlain says that she looks for balance and dimension when trying to capture the perfect shot for a video. “I love the most simple, symmetrical Wes Anderson type of shot where it’s just a beautiful, clean, relaxing image that almost looks like a photo,” she says. But when she’s traveling with her father, painter Michael Chamberlain, she often has him film B-roll. “He’s all about composition and making a shot feel almost like a painting.”
The behind-the-scenes of attaining a good shot, though, can often be an exercise in innovative problem-solving. “I’ve gone through 15 of [these cameras],” Chamberlain says. “I’ve thrown them off buildings on accident, like shattered everywhere.” Then she retracts, but just a little: “That was an exaggeration. But I literally shattered them, they’ve fallen off a ledge. I remember one time I set up my camera on one of the handheld tripods on my balcony, and it fell probably six feet.” Various filming anecdotes follow: She’s made tripods out of books. She’s set her cameras in precarious nooks and crannies. She’s risked embarrassment by trying to get good shots in public places like the grocery store. “Then people walk by and they look at the camera and they’re like, ‘What the fuck is that?’ Which is valid.”
“I’ve done it all,” she proclaims.
There’s a scrappiness to her process that’s characteristic to all creators, a quality that hasn’t changed even with her ascent — and yet scrappiness alone does not create a sustainable career. In 2018, as Chamberlain hit 1 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, she was having conversations behind the scenes with agents, ready to build a team. She credits her parents with being key protective voices in the process. “Unfortunately, there’s a lot of taking advantage of young people,” she says, noting that because the infrastructure of the creator economy is still fairly new, most people who have a viral moment often don’t have any guidance in figuring out how to leverage their followings to the next level. “The experience you would need to do it perfectly is not possible to have, because there’s no other industry like it — unless your parents were in it before you, but that’s not usually the case.”
One of the biggest red flag moments she faced was when a manager told her directly, “If you don’t sign with me, you’re done.”
“It can be scary when you have people saying that type of stuff to you,” she says. To enter an emerging industry in which there are still few precedents on the path to success is a daunting task, and finding a good team who helps creators scale their careers can be difficult. The key to finding hers, Chamberlain says, was patience. “It’s possible to find people who want to be on your team, want to help you grow this as a business, but also care about your well-being first,” she says. “It’s totally possible to find, but it does take time.”
One of the first pieces to fall into place was finding her agent. “Ali [Berman] is a fucking rock star,” she says. “What’s great about finding that first puzzle piece is that then the other puzzle pieces fill in. If you like your point agent, your point manager, they’ll know an amazing publicist, they’ll know an amazing lawyer…and so then the team can easily build out from there through that person’s connections.”
Chamberlain’s team operates within the larger infrastructure of the “traditional” entertainment industry, in which Chamberlain occupies a unique space. She interviews celebrities like the Kardashians at the Met Gala, makes appearances at the buzziest parties and sits front row at fashion week events. But when asked about her relationship to the industry itself, Chamberlain states that becoming more involved with the traditional entertainment space isn’t as exciting to her. “I really enjoy being able to get my hands dirty,” she says, “like getting in there and doing it myself and telling a story myself.” She also expresses an apprehension to trying to break into a different path: “I think at times it can be easy to say, ‘OK, well, I have X amount of followers here, so I can go and do this.’ But to me, I would never want to do that unless I felt like I had truly worked hard enough to get there.”
She adds, “I feel like with podcasting, that was something I worked really hard at and I did a lot of research on and really worked on getting good at so that I could feel like I was adding something to that space in a way. But with something like movies, I don’t really have anything to add there right now.”
In the meantime, though, she’ll make appearances where it makes sense for her. She’s a guest judge in an episode of Netflix’s “Next in Fashion” Season 2; she’ll appear in an episode of Lil Dicky’s FXX show “Dave” titled “Met Gala.” She will loan out her affable je ne sais quoi to companies like Canon, whose cameras she’s used since the very beginning, and as the role of the digital creator evolves, her career, nonpareil, will likely serve as the blueprint for others — one that she herself never had.
VINCENT MUST DIE Section: Critics’ Week Director: Stéphan Castang Screenwriter: Matthieu Naert Logline: Random strangers have suddenly started attacking Vincent with murderous intent. His life as an unremarkable man is overturned, and as things spiral violently out of control, he is forced to flee and change his life completely… Panelists: Stéphan Castang, Karim Leklou and Vimala Pons Sales Agent: Goodfellas Premiered: Friday May 19, Miramar Theatre Key Quote: “I immediately wanted to do this story when I read it, because I immediately felt that this this scenario was written by somebody who had a lot of neuroses. And I have a lot of neuroses myself. So I liked it a lot. And also, I saw that there was a lot of room for a great premise of cinema because I could mix genres” – Stéphan Castang
Click above to see the video.
The 2023 Cannes Film Festival runs May 16-27. Follow Deadline’s complete coverage of the deals and doings on the Croisette here.
“I hate them,” Reznor said of his label in a 1991 interview with the Boston Globe. “I thought maybe we’d prove ourselves and they’d leave us alone, but it’s turned into, ‘OK, you’ve sold this many records, but you could sell—well, add a 0 to it—if you use this producer or do this house mix.’ What are you talking about!? That’s the mentality I’m dealing with.” Deep in the music industry, moving units, and amassing fans, Reznor found out that a shitty boss was a shitty boss no matter what kind of job you had.
Nothing seemed to motivate him so much as an adversary. Instead of combing down the bristles on his music, Reznor took it darker. After Lollapalooza wrapped, he set out on a second, secret tour, recording songs under aliases at studios across the country with the full-band, guitar-heavy sound he’d honed onstage. He sluiced the bile he’d been fermenting into tighter, hotter, toothier songs than he’d ever written before. The thin layer of arch coolness that protected Pretty Hate Machine flaked away, leaving a raw, festering core. He collected this burst of work under the name Broken, and put it out as a six-song EP (with two hidden bonus tracks—a cheeky cover of an early Adam and the Ants song, “Physical,” and a fleshing-out of a track Reznor had recorded with the industrial supergroup Pigface, “Suck”). It served as a kiss-off to TVT as he ditched them for Jimmy Iovine’s new label, Interscope, and launched his own incubator imprint, Nothing.
Broken amplified the elements that sucked listeners into NIN’s chaotic live shows, hoisting the guitars in the mix and deepening the beats with a smattering of acoustic drums. Reznor went nastier, figuring he might shake the specter of pop success. Instead of derailing, he only gained momentum. In October of 1992, Broken debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart while Pretty Hate Machine hung around at No. 173, three years after its release. In 1993, the Recording Academy awarded NIN’s first Grammy, in the Best Metal Performance category, to the single “Wish.” (Three years later, their mud-covered Woodstock ’94 performance of “Happiness in Slavery” would score a trophy in the same category; NIN hasn’t bagged a Grammy since.) The deeper Reznor dug, the deeper the world burrowed. At the daybreak of the ’90s, his misery was a lightning-hot commodity.
But Broken didn’t just moan. Alongside the inflammatory anger and paralyzing dejection, Reznor kept his keen ear for pleasure. He found the erotic charge in surrendering to the fullness of your pain, the frisson in the place where suffering obliterates the ego. Sex—real sex, the improvisational, scriptless, scary kind, not just the mechanical performance of studied acts—works the same way. It storms you until all the “you” washes away. With Broken, in the grind of “Last” and the shrieks of “Gave Up,” Reznor split new layers of skin into a thundering eroticism. These songs would pave the way for “Closer,” the brutally romantic single off of NIN’s 1994 watershed The Downward Spiral, an album that would, in fact, flow abundantly through radio and MTV alike.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow. Written by Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Reviewed at the Cannes Film Festival; October theatrical release. 206 minutes. STC
CANNES, France—The rapacious “wolves” don’t need to hide in Martin Scorsese’s new crime epic, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which just world-premiered to much applause at the Cannes Film Festival.
Everybody knows the wolves are out there. You can spot them in their three-piece suits or just about any garb favoured by white men, especially the greedy male occupants of Fairfax, Oklahoma, the 1920s boom town where “Killers” is situated.
By fraud, marriage or murder, whichever is faster, the curs are out to get their claws and paws on “Osage money.” That’s the abundant cash amassed by members of the nearby Osage Nation through a stroke of good fortune. The scrubland they were exiled to, in what seemed at first to be another bad deal the U.S. government made with Indigenous inhabitants, turned out to be awash in precious oil.
The Osage people suddenly have the most wealth per capita on Earth and they’re as eager to spend it as the whites are to take it, often at gunpoint or through other violent means.
The scene is set for another great yarn from Scorsese, whose fascination with American history, crime and easy money has been demonstrated for decades in films like “Goodfellas,” “The Irishman” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Sprawling across the screen for 206 minutes, “Killers” tests our patience but more than earns its keep as a prestige film sure to figure prominently in the next Oscar race. The film is as gorgeous to look at and listen to as it is distressing to contemplate. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto supplies the fluid images and rocker Robbie Robertson handles the percussive score.
“Killers” brings together for the first time in a Scorsese film Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, two of the director’s favourite actors. Both are at the top of their game and are sure to be remembered at awards time.
The movie also boasts the golden presence of Lily Gladstone and Canada’s Tattoo Cardinal, who play two of the many Osage characters drawn from tragic real life.
Somewhere between dozens and hundreds of Osage people were shot, bombed or poisoned before the U.S. government finally stepped in to stop the crime wave, via agents of J. Edgar Hoover’s nascent FBI. Scorsese and his co-screenwriter Eric Roth adapted the script from David Grann’s award-winning 2017 book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.”
What makes the film particularly tragic is the transparency of evil intentions it presents. Only the most token and insincere respect is paid to the Osage, a deeply spiritual tribe, because most of the whites plainly don’t consider them worthy of basic humanity. Osage money is handled by white “guardians” and justice is a joke. As someone says, “You’ve got a better chance of convicting a guy for kicking a dog than killing an Indian.”
Unlike the book, which unfolds as a mystery the FBI needs to solve, the film unmasks its villains right from the get-go. The alpha male wolf of the Fairfax pack is De Niro’s Bill Hale, a bespectacled cattle rancher who goes by the titles of Uncle, Reverend or King. He prefers the latter moniker since he knows all and sees all.
Hale considers himself a true friend of the Osage — he’s even learned their language — yet he’s the mastermind behind many of the evil schemes against them.
One such plan involves his dim-witted nephew, Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), a newly returned overseas war veteran who aims to get himself some of that Osage moolah. He woos and marries Mollie (Gladstone), one of the four daughters of Lizzie (Cardinal), a matriarch who knows exactly what the whites want from her daughters.
Mollie does, too — she calls Ernest a “coyote” — but she also believes he loves her, which maybe he does. DiCaprio has taken on a real challenge with this role, because Ernest has few redeeming qualities, least of all in the looks department. His weathered skin and slicked-down hair make Ernest look a good 10 years older than DiCaprio’s 48 years.
Mollie, on the other hand, is positively radiant, even when fighting the diabetes that threatens to kill her. The complications of her disease make one of the most compelling sub-narratives of the story.
FBI investigators don’t arrive until the two-hour mark in the film. They’re led by Tom White (Jesse Plemons), a former Texas Ranger who has been personally selected for the job by Hoover. (White has a much greater presence in the book.) Scorsese and Roth wisely decided that the Osage deserved the spotlight more than the FBI.
This is a story of historic injustice and inhumanity, resonating with current wrongs, that more people need to know about — it’s not just a Wild West fairy tale.
Scorsese tips to that reality with a live radio production, seen near the end of the film, which is set for an October theatrical release. The writer/director himself plays a broadcaster seeking a wider audience for a story many Americans would prefer to forget.
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David Zaslav was met with boos and jeers while delivering a commencement address Sunday at Boston University amid the Hollywood writers’ strike.
In videos circulating on social media, graduating students and protesters can be heard chanting, “pay your writers,” and heckling the president of Warner Bros. Discovery as he speaks about lessons he learned throughout his career. A photo of an airplane flying over the ceremony with a banner that read, “David Zaslav — Pay your writers,” was also circulating online.
Outside Nickerson Field, where the graduation was held, demonstrators carried picket signs that read, “F*!# Zaslav! Solidarity with the writers.” Inside the stadium, graduates held up posters that read, “Who wrote your speech? Chat-GPT?” and “Ew, David” — a reference to the Emmy-winning sitcom “Schitt’s Creek.” At least one student had “BU students support Writers Guild of America,” on their graduation cap.
In addition to serving as the university’s commencement speaker, Zaslav received an honorary degree. The film executive studied law at Boston University in the 1980s before rising through the ranks at NBCUniversal and Discovery.
“I am grateful to my alma mater, Boston University, for inviting me to be part of today’s commencement and for giving me an honorary degree,” Zaslav said on Sunday in a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times. “As I have often said, I am immensely supportive of writers and hope the strike is resolved soon and in a way that they feel recognizes their value.”
This isn’t the first time Zaslav has faced public scrutiny. Last fall, the mogul came under fire for how he handled the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which resulted in mass layoffs and the abrupt termination of several projects. Among the casualties was the Warner Bros. and DC Studios film “Batgirl,” which had already cost an estimated $90 million to make.
Amid mounting criticism, Zaslav doubled down on the studio’s controversial decisions to scrap upcoming titles such as “Batgirl” and remove existing content from its streaming platform.
“Let me be clear,” Zaslav said in November. “We did not get rid of any show that was helping us.”
Six months later, the writers’ strike commenced after contract negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers stalled. The WGA is demanding better pay, residuals for streaming content and higher contributions to the union’s health and pension plan for its members.
At least one Warner Bros. Discovery property, HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” has continued filming through the work stoppage after stockpiling scripts ahead of the strike. Hit series like Netflix’s “Stranger Things” have halted production until the conflict is resolved.
Times staff writer Meg James and the Associated Presscontributed to this report.
The first trailer for Across the Spider-Verse showed Miles’ Spider-Man taking blows from Miguel O’Hara, only for the next trailer to have the hits keep coming, showing audiences that the action hadn’t lost any of its visceral punch and may have become more intense.
Sony Pictures Animation confirmed that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Man will be “PG for frenetic sequences of animated action violence, some language and thematic elements.”
The rating is almost identical to Into the Spider-Verse, except it was rated for “mild” language, not “some” language like the sequel. But it’s unclear if that means the language used in the animated feature will be any harsher or not than its predecessor.
While an F-bomb seems unlikely, it’ll be interesting if that difference between “mild” or “some” language will have any actual significance on the amount of cussing used in the sequel. Not much was present in the original film, if at all, since Miles only said “crap” once, Fisk said “hell” one time, and even Aunt May got in a “damn.”
But it’d be unsurprising if the colder, harsher, and more prone to violence Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara, couldn’t be allotted some cusses here or there with a “damn” or “hell.” It’d be one way to show how different he is from the other Spiders, especially since he’s even OK with killing in the comics.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be released in theaters on June 2.
If The Flash theories regarding the movie’s secret villain are proven true, the film is going to have a significant challenge thanks to The Flash television show starring Grant Gustin.
Throughout the movie’s marketing, the true villain has been kept hidden. However, the movie could have a hard time distinguishing its villain if it’s indeed one that’s been developed on the small screen over the last nine years.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Currently, the trailers for The Flash have kept their focus on a new version of General Zod’s Kryptonian invasion, created by Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen who will inadvertently alter reality with a collision of timelines after he tries to save his murdered mother in the past. However, Zod is seen primarily facing Sasha Calle’s Supergirl rather than Barry or the alternate Barry Allen he joins forces with. As such, several theories have suggested that the true villain of The Flash movie could be a version of the Reverse-Flash, Barry Allen’s arch-rival who’s been an ongoing threat in the CW show since 2014.
Reverse-Flash Has A Big Challenge Competing With The Flash Show’s Villain
If Reverse-Flash is indeed in Ezra Miller’s Flash movie, the question will be whether this new version will live up to the precedent set by the popular TV show starring Grant Gustin. The Flash vs. Reverse-Flash rivalry has been an ongoing narrative that’s lasted almost a decade on the small screen. It’s covered so much ground in terms of both story and emotion, having multiple layers and stories across several seasons. As such, Reverse-Flash is inarguably the show’s best villain. It’s going to be very hard to top what’s already been seen on the CW.
Played simultaneously by Tom Cavanagh and Matt Letscher, the motivations of the CW’s Reverse-Flash mirror the comics: Barry Allen must suffer for robbing Eobard Thawne of his chance to be a hero in the future. As such, Thawne became the Reverse-Flash, tapping into a darker version of the Speed Force to race back in time and tamper with Barry’s life, including becoming his mentor to craft a worthy opponent. He’s also the one who killed Barry’s mother and framed his father, motivating Barry’s own damaging time-travel exploits which the CW adapted from the comics’ Flashpoint storyline (and the movie is likely following suit).
How Reverse-Flash Could Be Very Different In The Flash Movie Compared To The Show
Seeing as how Ezra Miller’s Barry will also go back in time to try and save his mother and clear his father’s name, the odds are strong that the Reverse-Flash is The Flash movie’s secret villain. Thankfully, the theories that the second Barry Allen may become corrupted into the classic rival would certainly make the role unique from the CW’s version. This alternate Barry would be a dark mirror to the original Allen, a stronger and quite compelling interpretation of the name Reverse-Flash.
Likewise, the emotional resonance surrounding the concept of a Dark Barry being responsible for The Flash losing his parents would be huge. Either way, comparisons will undoubtedly abound no matter what version of the Reverse-Flash is present in The Flash movie. Here’s hoping he’ll be distinct enough when the movie opens in theaters on June 16th.
AEW: Fight Forever will reportedly release in June.
According to Fightful Select, an official announcement is expected next week, with AEW expected to announce that the game will release on June 27, which would coincide with AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2, which will take place two days prior on June 25.
It’s also been suggested that the announcement has been delayed due to the prominence and inclusion of AEW wrestler CM Punk (real name Phil Brooks), whose off-screen issues with AEW have seemingly upended several AEW-related announcements which are planned to feature the return of Punk.
Earlier this year there were conflicting statements from THQ Nordic‘s global senior community manager and AEW president Tony Khan regarding the game’s status.
After being shown a tweet saying, “the AEW Fight Forever video game is basically ready”, THQ’s Per Hollenbo replied: “I mean, if you want an unfinished game, sure, we could release now.”
He added: “The game is doing really well and is getting there, but not 100% yet, so yeah, just another rumour on Twitter I fear.”
When followers started to wonder why some were claiming it was ready, Hollenbo explained: “There are tons of things to take into consideration when developing a game – submission, QA, loca[lisation], ratings, optimization, polish, coding and much more.
“So even if a game looks finished to some people, if it missed one of those steps it isn’t finished or ready to release.”
In February, Omega – who has played a large part in bringing the game to life – claimed it had been delayed further because some of the game’s content “had to be scaled back” to meet the desired ESRB rating of Teen.
The story template of “Homecoming” is a standard one: Years after an unexplained trauma, a family returns to the place they once called home, where hidden truths come to light and bitter conflicts arise over the course of one seemingly idyllic summer. Yet for all the secrets and lies that shape the narrative of Catherine Corsini’s straightforwardly told but consistently intriguing new film, its most interesting tensions often emerge from things its characters already know, even if they haven’t acknowledged them out loud. For Black single parent Khédidja (Aïssatou Diallo Sagna), arriving at the Corsican birthplace of her children after 15 years away, disinterring a buried past throws her maternal insecurities into sharp relief; for her teenage daughters Jessica (Suzy Bemba) and Farah (Esther Gohourou), what revelations the trip yields only underline their respective senses of not-belonging in their own small family.
This is complex, delicate material, simmering with subtext that occasionally boils over into vocal anguish regarding the prejudice and condescension faced on a daily basis by Black women in French society — and it’s handled, on screen at least, with tact and compassion by Corsini, a director at her best when her social interests coincide with a knack for robust, old-fashioned melodrama. It would be remiss not to mention, however, that “Homecoming” has been dogged by allegations of inappropriate behavior on set, and inadequate care of its excellent underage actors, in particular while shooting an intimate scene that has since been cut from the final film. (No formal complaints have been filed.) Attendant controversy may curb the international distribution prospects of this otherwise accessible, affecting Cannes competition entry.
The film begins in a state of palpably sweaty-palmed panic, as a hyperventilating Khédidja sits in the back of a speeding taxi on a winding coastal road in Corsica, flanked by three-year-old Jessica and infant Farah. We don’t know where she’s heading so urgently, and can’t hear the phone call that sends her into an even nervier emotional state — before we jump ahead 15 years, as she and her teenage girls more calmly board a ferry back to the Mediterranean island. Now based in the Paris banlieues, hard-up Khédidja has taken a summer job as a nanny for a wealthy, white vacationing family; while their mother works, studious Jessica and rebellious Farah intend to hit the beaches and explore the shared birthplace they can’t remember.
This is their first visit since the death of their white Corsican father all those years ago: Jessica is curious to fill in absent childhood memories, while Farah is more snidely indifferent to the whole endeavor. That difference is the fault line on which family relations later more drastically crack. Constantly chided by her mother and older sister for her unruly behavior and nihilistic outlook, Farah feels increasingly alienated from them; what she doesn’t know is that straight-A student Jessica, who has ambitious career plans, privately wonders if she must leave her underprivileged family behind to succeed. A taste of another life is offered her by Gaia (Lomane de Dietrich), the louche eldest daughter of Khédidja’s employer (Denis Podalydès, wittily sending up the notionally liberal but disconnected elite); an immediate bond swiftly evolves into a romance that takes the demure, sexually inexperienced Jessica off guard.
Khédidja, meanwhile, reunites with her late husband’s best friend Marc-Andria (Cédric Appietto), while avoiding the in-laws from whom she’s rather ruthlessly estranged herself and her children; Farah, with her elders distracted, slides into hash-dealing and a brittle love-hate courtship with a jockish local lifeguard. If Corsini and Naïla Guiguet’s script takes some contrived measures to abrasively braid these three diverging paths back together — this a film where a password-free laptop opens immediately onto an intimately confessional diary — the thematic end justifies the means. Gradually, the girls realize that their ongoing struggle with their mixed-race identity and half-erased lineage isn’t as far removed from their mother’s youthful experience as they once assumed.
A terrific trio of performances go some way toward making the film’s more neatly schematic plotting feel organically, messily human. (Ditto DP Jeanne Lapoirie’s unfussy compositions and crisp high-summer lighting.) Sagna, a nursing assistant who took her first acting role in Corsini’s 2021 hospital drama “The Divide” — and won a César for her pains — proves that was no flukish casting coup. Quietly watchful and tightly wound as a mother losing control not just of her children but their awareness of the world around them, she lends the film an anchoring but unsentimental warmth, while largely ceding the spotlight to Bemba and Gohourou: the former stoic but tremulously vulnerable as a good girl finally staking out her own individual wants, the latter (previously seen in Maïmouna Doucouré’s “Cuties”) a riveting lit fuse of turbulent anger and confusion, too easily dismissed by her family as stupidity.
Such judgments land especially harshly in a world where too many strangers assume the worst of them. Corsini’s film often bluntly identifies and addresses the racism these women have weathered so habitually that it threatens to twist and snarl into self-loathing, but it also deftly signals the micro-aggressions they can’t directly combat: a gushing compliment from a white benefactor that tilts into patronizing insult, or a stranger’s neck-craning stare from a balcony. Invisible, unspoken lines of acceptance and rejection are drawn throughout “Homecoming,” sometimes within the family unit: There’s no place like home, if you can only figure out where that is.
“Fast & Furious 10” (aka “Fast X”) drove off with the top prize at the South Korean box office on its opening weekend.
It earned $4.99 million between Friday and Saturday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). And over its full five-day run, from a Wednesday opening, it earned $6.76 million. Kobis showed the film claiming a 48% market share.
The speedy start for “Fast X” was enough to depose “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” which had ridden atop the Korean chart for the two previous weekends. In its third weekend on release “GOTG 3” earned $3.04 million, a 48% week-on-week decline, giving it a cumulative of $26.9 million after 19 days on release in Korea. That is the fourth highest total for any film that has played in Korean cinemas this year.
Making it a top three for Hollywood, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” held on to third place – albeit a long way behind – in Korea over the weekend. It earned $722,000 for a cumulative of $16.3 million.
“Crayon Shin-chan: Mononoke Ninja Chimpuden,” the Japanese anime which debuted in Korea two weeks earlier, fell to fourth place. It earned $523,000 for a three-weekend total of $4.52 million.
“Suzume,” the year’s top film in Korea, took fifth place over the latest weekend. It earned $294,000 for a cumulative of $42.3 million since release on March 8.
The top-ranked Korean film was sixth placed “This is the President.” It earned $131,000 on its second weekend on release for a cumulative total of $771,000 since release on May 10.
Previous Cannes festival winner “Triangle of Sadness” opened with $98,000 between Friday and Sunday and $188,000 over its opening five days.
“The First Slam Dunk,” still ranking as the second highest grossing film of the year, is still in the top ten chart. It earned $120,000 for a total of $36.9 million.
Korean film, “Dream” occupied ninth spot. (Korean charts based on admissions show it in seventh.) It picked up $87,000 from the latest weekend, for a running total of $8.07 million since release on April 26. “John Wick: Chapter 4” continued its vengeful ways. It earned $78,000 over the weekend and now has accumulated $15 million in Korea. That total makes it the sixth biggest film of the year to date.
The nationwide weekend total box office was $10.4 million. That was the fourth successive weekend with a total over $10 million and gives May a rosier outlook than the first four months of the year.
Warning: Spoilers for “Succession” Season 4, Episode 9 follow below.
Sunday’s episode of “Succession” saw the long-awaited funeral of Logan Roy following episode 3’s shocking twist, and among those in attendance to mourn the Waystar Royco chairman’s death was Logan’s second wife Caroline Collingwood (Harriet Walter).
Walter spoke with TheWrap about returning for the HBO drama’s final season, learning about Logan’s death during a costume fitting, keeping that shocking twist a secret while filming episode 9 and why her character is intimidated by Shiv (Sarah Snook). Check out the TheWrap’s full interview with Walter below.
How much of the storyline for this season did Jesse Armstrong lay out for the cast before filming? What was your reaction to learning about Logan’s death? I didn’t get much heads up. Now I don’t know whether the close family get much more of a sort of “This is what your line is gonna be” and “This is what’s gonna happen.” I get the impression that even they don’t find out stuff until quite late on. But I knew there was no point asking, I knew I could trust Jesse [Armstrong] and the team was going to work on something fantastic.
I thought how do you build on the success of that? You know, each season getting richer and richer, where can it go? What can happen next? A bit of you goes, “Well, obviously Logan’s got to die, or does he or will he?” It’s sort of in the back of your head. But I managed to forget that because when I went to New York for my costume fitting, without having read a script, I certainly didn’t know what had to happen between the end of Season 3 and where I was going to come in in episode nine, I didn’t know any of that plot and I walked into a room full of railings of black clothes and I said, “Did somebody die?” That was my first words. And he said, “Yes, the big one,” and I was really quite upset because he’s such a giant and he leaves a giant vortex where he should be. But the skill and the brilliance is that people have carried on filling that space in a riveting way. So you’ve had four episodes before he actually gets buried. Keeping that going, that’s pretty astonishing.
Harriet Walter as Caroline Collingwood in Succession episode 9 (Macall Polay/HBO)
How has Caroline’s relationship with Kendall, Roman and Shiv evolved over the course of the series? Well, in a funny way, it hasn’t, has it? I mean, in a funny way, they’re stuck in a certain loop in that area of their lives. So I don’t feel they’ve developed that much because they have attempts occasionally to talk things out, as that scene with Shiv there is an attempt to talk things out, but when things are too painful and you’re not in the habit of talking about them, then there’s a stop point at which you go, “I can’t go here any longer” and you flip it out and I think Caroline is really hopeless at any intimate conversation. She just doesn’t want to go there.
I argue in my head that that’s because she never learned that from her parents. If anybody knows anything about a certain kind of British upper middle class, it’s not done to talk about your emotions, it’s not done to examine yourself in any way that’s considered to be self-indulgent and so she has that ambivalence about those things because I think she’d like to be closer to her children. Every time you meet her for the first time in an episode, she’s so wanting and then it goes very wrong very quickly but she starts off kind of wanting to be.
I think part of our problem and I said this to Jesse at one point, I think she wants to be their sister rather than their parent. She wants to smoke dope with them behind in the boat house, she’s not really a grown up. I think that’s what’s in my head because I’m basing her on several people. My age group is the age group that grew up with the Stones and the Beatles. And the first time that young people were calling the shots and setting the style and it was our world. We inherited it. We made the rules and so we think of ourselves as the ever-youthful youth movement and the idea that we would get gray hair, I mean, you look at Mick Jagger, he’s still a young guy, and his whole posturing as a young guy compared to what you think of an old man is, so it’s that kind of mentality.
I think there’s a sense of it’s too late now with our children but I think she has an affection for them very much. I think she’s frightened of Shiv for some reason, I think she’s nervous of Shiv, I think she’s more perceptive and more detailed in how she thinks than the other two.
But it’s funny because I breeze into the series just like [Caroline] does and you have this very quick bonding. You’re not really intrinsic or vital in some ways and you can feel that as an actor, you feel I’m not really part of this thing. But then there’s another bit where you say “They’re my kids.” So it’s a strange sort of parallel universe where you’re part of it but not quite part of it.
What were the biggest challenges of filming episode nine? What was the experience like getting to actually attend Logan’s funeral in person? There was the whole deal that everyone had to go through of sort of keeping it under wraps that Logan had died because there was lots of street interest in New York. When you start shooting something, obviously, people will recognize it, they knew what we were shooting, trying to keep that profile down and trying to keep from all the sort of crowd who were there as invited guests at the funeral, they tried to keep them out of the picture and say it was somebody else’s funeral. But it became very obvious that it had to be that and also because people were eulogizing about Logan.
So you couldn’t really keep that down and that’s a whole new thing that’s come into filming that you have to be so protective of the story, not because it’s sort of top secret material but because you don’t want to spoil it for people, you don’t want to tell people the results of the match before they’ve watched it. So it’s as simple as that. So it can look like you’re being frightfully secretive and mysterious, but actually, it’s just that you’re just trying to protect people from disappointment. So that was that experience and we were sort of keeping our heads down. It’s the first time I’ve ever shot in New York, which was a bit exciting for me, the Streets of Fifth Avenue. There I was in a movie, that was a little quite exciting.
What was it like getting to work closely with Sarah Snook on this episode and learning about Shiv’s pregnancy? There’s another little bit that was cut, a tiny little moment when she’s on FaceTime with Caroline in Episode 4 and she was trying to tell her mom that she’s pregnant, that she can’t make it. And it becomes about “I’m very sad your dad’s died” and I had a little window of opportunity to show that. I was genuinely sad about that because I don’t want her to be a complete feelingless monster that’s boring. I don’t believe in people like that and I think if you were ever married to someone and you had three children with them and they die, you have a certain pocket of your memory that’s treasured and I was going there really, the good days and feeling a certain sort of attempt to be there for my children.
She doesn’t have much maternal instinct. Shiv isn’t showing very much but “Uh, uh, uh, I think you might be…” there’s that going on and it’s all in the church, this very important event. So she can’t really get into that. So she cracks her usual jokes about her silly husband going around with his autograph book trying to me all the senators and things. And that’s her way of dealing with things.
And then she sees this wonderful opportunity to get all the mistresses and wives together, put them in a single pew and that’s so mischievous and so her, but underlying it there is a real message when she says it’s all water under the bridge. Now we can all be friends. What the f–k? So there’s a bit of that. So I think it’s sort of very in-character that she does that.
What has it been like working on one of the biggest drama series of our time and returning for the final season? It’s been fantastic. I really didn’t realize that anything could get that big because I suppose when I was growing up and even up until the last 15 years, I suppose things didn’t go so viral and so global. But having said that I don’t know what the actual viewing figures are and I know that you have to add in all the times people repeat things and watch again and all that. But when I was doing something like “Inspector Morse” back in the day, it would have 17 million viewers or 20 million viewers and now when people say, “Oh ‘Downton Abbey’s gone crazy viral, they’ve got 10 million viewers.” You know, that’s half of what we used to get. So the audience is making more noise but may maybe in smaller pockets for all I know. But they’re certainly making their feelings felt and I love it.
I am both a fan of the series and in it and that’s a brilliant place to be. I don’t get the scripts of anything I’m not in so I can watch as an audience member with the same jaw hanging down in astonishment up to a point. I know some things but I tend to get to know things quite late in the day, and then I kind of breeze in and visit and have a very light load and go away. And for that light amount of work, I’ve got quite a lot of work out of it, attention out of it. Different things have come my way because of it and that’s extraordinary.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is finally heading to Netflix as part of the streamer’s schedule for May 22-28.
On Thursday, May 25, Netflix will release FUBAR, an upcoming action comedy series starring Terminator star Schwarzenegger. This time, he will portray a CIA spy called Luke Brunner. On the verge of retirement, things turn wrong on his last mission when he discovers his daughter is also an undercover CIA spy. At 75, Schwarzenegger is one of the most beloved Hollywood action-movie stars, with plenty of roles in action-packed films under his belt, including Conan the Barbarian, Predator, Commando, Total Recall, and more. His latest on-screen appearance dates back to 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate, but he worked as a voice actor in Superhero Kindergarten and Little Demon in the meantime.
The cast includes Monica Barbaro, Milan Carter, Gabriel Luna, Fortune Feimster, Travis Van Winkle, Fabiana Udenio, Barbara Eve Harris, Aparna Brielle, Andy Buckley, and Jay Baruchel.
As always, Netflix will drop all eight installments in the series for fans to binge-watch them. The upcoming series is created and executive produced by Nick Santora. The list of executive producers features Schwarzenegger, Adam Higgs, Scott Sullivan, Holly Dale, and Bill Bost, with Skydance’s David Ellison and Dana Goldberg. FUBAR is produced by Skydance Television.
Netflix Schedule May 22-28 | New TV & Movie Additions
Monday, May 22
The Batman: Seasons 1-5
The Boss Baby
The Creature Cases: Chapter 3 — NETFLIX FAMILY
Tuesday, May 23
All American: Season 5
MerPeople — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
Victim/Suspect — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer — NETFLIX COMEDY
Wednesday, May 24
Hard Feelings — NETFLIX FILM
Mother’s Day — NETFLIX FILM
Rhythm + Flow France: Season 2 — NETFLIX SERIES (new episodes)
Priyanka Chopra Jonas revisited the racist backlash prompted by her NFL theme song a decade ago in this week’s episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” saying, “All of it hits — criticism, the fact that my job requires me to be dissected.”
Chopra Jonas’ “In My City,” which was produced by RedOne and featured will.i.am, became the opening theme song for the 2013 of NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football. Following the song’s use on the network, she noted that some NFL fans expressed less than positive responses on Twitter as they commented on the singer’s South Asia roots.
“NFL Network got a lot of tweets and stuff. Or, you know, things saying, ‘Who’s she? Who’s this person? And why should she be on American TV’ and like, ‘Football should be an American person.’ It was just like, very confusing, because I’m, I was just an artist with a song that they liked,” Chopra Jonas told Wallace.
When reflecting back on her hit song that landed her the NFL gig — which Wallace insisted was not “so bad” before rolling the clip — Chopra Jonas couldn’t help but note “I was so young.”
After Wallace asked Chopra Jonas if the racist comments had adversely impacted her or if they didn’t “hit her” since she had already been in the industry for some time, the “Citadel” star responded, “No, it hits you every time,” she said. “All of it hits — criticism, the fact that my job requires me to be dissected, and you know, microscopely. Everything I say, my home, my family, everything is looked at.”
While Chopra Jonas admits that “of course” the backlash was hurtful, she is extremely aware that criticism is “the nature of the beast,” and with 23 years of experience in the entertainment industry under her belt, she doesn’t expect the nature of the job to change, instead saying “you’ve got to start protecting yourself.”
“I’m someone who does wear blinders … [and] I believe in letting my work speak for itself,” she said. “The best shut down to people like that, who said that I didn’t belong, is to belong. And today, I have the number one series in the world [‘Citadel’], and I’m sitting here talking to Chris Wallace, so who won?”
Chopra Jonas has recently made some hits on both the big screen and the small with the romantic comedy “Love Again,” in which Chopra Jonas stars opposite “Outlander” star Sam Heughan, as well as Prime Video’s “Citadel,” in which Chopra Jonas plays the mysterious and skilled spy Nadia, starring alongside Richard Madden and Stanley Tucci in the action thriller series.
Watch Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ entire interview with Chris Wallace in the video at the top.
Instagram is working again after being down upwards of 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon.
A Meta spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter that the outage was the result of a technical issue and apologized for the problem.
“Earlier today, a technical issue caused some people to have trouble accessing Instagram,” the spokesperson said. “We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we’re sorry for any disruption this has caused.”
Users had taken to Twitter and other platforms on Sunday afternoon to note that Meta Platform Inc.’s social media app had stopped functioning. It appeared to have gone down sometime around 3 p.m. PT.
“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing Instagram,” a Meta spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter earlier, before the issue was resolved. “We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
On Twitter, “#instagramdown,” “My Instagram,” “Y’all Instagram,” “My IG” and “Y’all IG” were trending as a result of the problem. Downdetector.com, which monitors online outages in real time, shows that people began reporting the problem around 3 p.m. PT on Sunday, with users being were met with messages like “Couldn’t load posts,” “Couldn’t refresh feed” and “We’re sorry, but something went wrong. Please try again” when visiting the app.
“The app’s utterly broken this time, my feed won’t refresh at all at neither of my accounts,” one user wrote at Downdetector.com.
The app appeared to start working again, at least for some, around 4:30 p.m. PT.
“THANK GOD,” one user wrote at Downdetector.com.
Updated 4:37 p.m. Sunday, May 21: Noted that Instagram was working again for some users.
Updated 4:50 p.m. Sunday, May 21: Added the Meta statement.
Updated 5:29 p.m. Sunday, May 21: Added second Meta statement that the issue was resolved.
Newly-hired Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino might have a new text-based social media competitor to deal with soon, but the Elon Musk successor says she’s up for the challenge.
In response to a story from the tech news site TechCrunch that reported a “Twitter Clone” would be coming from Instagram and its parent company Meta this summer, Yaccarino tweeted simply, “Game on!”
Meta did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The rumored app will be stand-alone, but partially integrated with Instagram, TechCrunch reported, based on an email shared with a select group of creators that the site viewed. The report also said the new platform’s users will keep their Instagram verification and handle, and all of their followers will receive a notification to follow them on the still-unnamed app.
The “Twitter Clone” could launch as soon as this summer, according to the report.
Many Twitter users have been waiting for a microblogging alternative for quite some time. Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company last year, complaints have been heard about the site from across the political spectrum for a variety of reasons, whether it be a rise in hate speech on the platform, the implementation of Twitter Blue, or, most recently, Musk’s hiring of Yaccarino as his successor as CEO. Right-wing users disapproved of Yaccarino due to her liberal viewpoints and her association with the World Economic Forum, a global lobbying organization for multinational companies.
In her first tweets since her hiring, Yaccarino said she is aiming to build “Twitter 2.0” when she officially starts her work as CEO in a few weeks. Musk said in his announcement of Yaccarino’s appointment she would also be heading up his yet-to-be-explained “X” platform, a concept he described as “the everything app” back in October.
Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!
My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.
“It’s been a minute,” the “Flowers” singer, 30, said of her multiyear hiatus during herBritish Vogue cover story, which was published on Thursday, May 18. “After the last [arena] show I did, I kind of looked at it as more of a question. And I can’t. Not only ‘can’t’ because can’t is your capability, but my desire.”
She added: “Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfillment other than my own? And, you know what…”
Cyrus — who last headlined a concert tour in 2014 — revealed that she wasn’t sure if she could hit the road in the foreseeable future. The former child star even noted that the “traditional” cycle of recording an album, going on tours and releasing strategic collaborations “hold little interest” anymore as she’d rather produce works of substance.
Miley Cyrus performs during the Tik Tok Tailgate party prior to Super Bowl LV in Tampa on February 7, 2021.John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock (
“I wouldn’t erase my story or want it to be erased,” Cyrus told British Vogue. “Having an interesting life makes for interesting storytelling.”
She continued: “One thing I wouldn’t want this story to become is a complaint of being a woman in the industry. I don’t need this to be a women’s empowerment story. I wear my empowerment at all times. I don’t need to profess it.”
“I never need to be a master at the craft of tricking an audience,” the “Midnight Sky” musician told the magazine when asked about the song’s similarities to her breakup. “It will set itself on fire all by itself. … I wrote it in a really different way. The chorus was originally: ‘I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand, but I can’t love me better than you can.’ It used to be more, like, 1950s. The saddest song. Like: ‘Sure, I can be my own lover, but you’re so much better.’ The song is a little fake it till you make it, which I’m a big fan of.”
Helmut Berger, a handsome Austrian movie star who was best known for appearing in three feature films by the Italian neorealist director Luchino Visconti, his lover for a dozen years, died on Thursday at his home in Salzburg. He was 78.
His death was announced by his agent, Helmut Werner, who did not give a cause.
“Many years ago,” Mr. Werner said in a statement, “Helmut Berger told me, ‘I have lived three lives. And in four languages! Je ne regrette rien.’”
Mr. Berger was studying Italian in Perugia in 1964 when a friend introduced him to Mr. Visconti, who was on location directing a film that starred Claudia Cardinale.
“I was there watching, I was fascinated,” he told the website Europe of Cultures in 1988. “I wanted to see how they shot a film.”
They began a relationship soon after that, personal as well as professional. Mr. Visconticast Mr. Berger in “The Damned” (1969), the story of a German steel family, inspired by the Krupps, in the early years of the Third Reich.
As Martin, the grandson of the family’s patriarch, Mr. Berger imitates Marlene Dietrich in full costume during a party for his grandfather, which ends with word of a fire at the Reichstag. Martin later molests younger relatives and rapes his mother (Ingrid Thulin).
Ann Guarino, reviewing the movie for The Daily News of New York, said Mr. Berger personified the “outright perversion” of Nazism. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that Mr. Berger “gives, I think, the performance of the year.” He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for most promising male newcomer.
Mr. Berger said that working with Mr. Visconti was like being onstage.
“You don’t do 10-minute, five-minute takes but whole scenes, sometimes 20 minutes long,” he told The Los Angeles Times in 1970. “He uses three cameras so you never know which one is on you. You get really into it, the whole atmosphere. He doesn’t limit you, he wants you to be free.”
Mr. Berger appeared in two more feature films directed by Mr. Visconti: “Ludwig” (1973), in which he played the mad 19th-century king of Bavaria, for which he won a David di Donatello Award, the Italian equivalent of the Oscar; and “Conversation Piece” (1974), which starred Burt Lancaster as an art historian living quietly in Rome whose life is changed by several people, including a pushy marchesa and her gigolo lover, played by Mr. Berger.
“But were you dating model Marisa Berenson at the time?” the magazine’s interviewer asked.
“Of course, I’m bisexual,” he said. “This is not a problem.”
Mr. Berger fell into a deep depression after Mr. Visconti’s death in 1976.
“At first I drank a lot, gluckgluckgluck, and then the pills came,” he told Gala. “My housekeeper wasn’t supposed to come until 5 p.m. but happened to drop by at 10 a.m. and saved me.”
Helmut Berger was born Helmut Steinberger on May 29, 1944, in Bad Ischl, Austria. His parents, Hedwig and Franz Steinberger, ran a hotel.
Fleeing his father, who he said was brutal to him, Helmut moved first to England and then to Italy, where he made his film debut in “The Witches” (1967), an anthology movie consisting of five stories, each made by a different director. He played a hotel page in the segment directed by Mr. Visconti.
After a few other films, including “The Damned,” Mr. Berger was cast in the title role of Massimo Dallamano’s “Dorian Gray” (1970), which billed itself as a “modern allegory” based on Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” set in sexy present-day London. He was one of a reported 500 actors who auditioned.
Mr. Berger “gives a trance-like performance, looking simply beautiful — if you like the type,” Ms. Guarino wrote.
He continued to work, mostly in Europe, until a few years ago. He notably played the sickly son of a rich Jewish family facing Fascism in Italy in Vittorio De Sica’s “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis” (1970), which won the Oscar for best foreign-language film, and the playboy who seduces Elizabeth Taylor’s character after she undergoes cosmetic surgery in “Ash Wednesday” (1973).
He also portrayed the millionaire boyfriend of Fallon Carrington (Pamela Sue Martin) on “Dynasty,” the prime-time soap, in a story arc from 1983 to 1984, and the Vatican’s chief accountant, who tries to swindle Michael Corleone, in “The Godfather III” (1990).
Information about survivors was not immediately available.
Mr. Berger was known for his jet-setting lifestyle, for being photographed by Andy Warhol, for being linked to women like Bianca Jagger, and for being called “the most beautiful man in the world” in the German media.
But when Gala interviewed him after the publication of the book “Helmut Berger: A Life in Pictures,” he said he was no longer seeking his earlier life’s social hustle and bustle.
“I’ve experienced everything,” he said. “I don’t feel like Helmut Berger, either; I’m not him. It’s a stage name. My name is Helmut Steinberger. And that’s what I’ll be until I’m dead.”
Instagram has stopped working, as users worldwide took to other social media platforms on May 21 to complain that they can’t log in or use the photo app.
“My Instagram,” “Y’all Instagram” and “My IG” were all quickly trending topics on Twitter after users realized the platform was down. Soon after, “#instagramdown” became the dominant trend.
Instagram has yet to comment through the company’s official Twitter accounts.
Downdetector.com, a website that tracks app outages, shows that user reports of Instagram outages started spiking at 3:09 pm PT and have risen steadily since.
Twitter also became flooded with pop culture memes about users’ fear of missing out.
Instagram parent company Meta recently announced a rollout of their “Meta Verified” subscription service, which gives paid users of Instagram and Facebook a verified blue check-mark.
“Good morning and new product announcement: this week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support,” Meta chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said when announcing the new program. “This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services. Meta Verified starts at $11.99 / month on web or $14.99 / month on iOS. We’ll be rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week and more countries soon.”
Majors made his MCU debut in the Multiversal streaming series, popping up as the villainous Kang the Conqueror, a name that is seemingly set to become the next big bad of the franchise.
A lot seems to be resting on the Kang actors’ shoulders, but it looks as though it may not have always been that way.
A Major Change to Phase 6 of the MCU
Marvel
According to a new report, Phase 5 & 6 of the MCU was not always as Kang-focused as currently looks to be.
Speaking on The Ringer’s The Big Picturepodcast, writer and author of the upcoming MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios book Joanna Robinson claimed that she heard “it was not the plan to make Kang the center of everything” in the latter phases of the Multiverse Saga, but after Marvel Studios brass saw “the dailies from [Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania] and after [Jonathan Majors’] performance in Loki” that they decided to focus on the actor and his Kang character more heavily:
“I was told by someone who works for Marvel, it was not the plan to make Kang the center of everything until they saw the dailies from ‘Quantumania’ and after his performance in ‘Loki,’ which was so strong they were like, ‘This is it. This is our way forward. We’ve lost our varsity hero team, but let’s set up around this guy Kang and this performer that so many people are reacting to.'”
Robinson is a reputable senior writer for Vanity Fair who has written pieces including a cover story regarding the history of Marvel Studios that led to her authoring of the upcoming MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, demonstrating her acute awareness of the inner workings of the company.
The writer added that she would argue Marvel has “never hung so much of a franchise on one actor” as they have on Jonathan Majors, which puts the studio in a hard place given the actor’s recent legal troubles:
“I don’t think you or I are very interested in saying what Marvel should or shouldn’t do going forward, but we know this is a huge problem for them that they are facing and grappling with right now. And what’s unprecedented in this for Marvel is, I would argue they have never hung so much of a franchise on one actor, as they tried to hang it on Jonathan Majors after his ‘Loki’’performance and his ‘Ant-Man: Quantumania’ performance.”
Robinson mentioned that she believes Marvel’s “unusual position” is largely because of “hang[ing] this much on one person in the way that they [have]:”
“I would argue more than Downey as Iron Man, more than Brolin as Thanos, that hanging everything on this guys is then going to pop up in all of their properties leading up to something called ‘The Kang Dynasty’ has put them in a very unusual position. They don’t usually hang this much on one person in the way that they did here.”
The big question remains if Majors will be recast, seeing as Phase 6 is so Kang-centric, to which Robinson noted “[she’s heard] conflicting stories:”
“And that has put them in the bind. We do not know what they are going to do. I’ve hear conflicting stories about they are going to replace him, they’re not even considering replacing him etc etc. But it’s just one more thing.”
Kang Was Not Always the Plan
With such a major focus having been put on Jonathan Majors and his Multiversal Marvel villain, this is the first indication that he was not initially going to have as much of the Phase 6 spotlight as it looks like he is supposed to (at least with plans as they currently stand).
But what could that original Phase 6 plan have looked like?
Well, the most likely answer was Marvel Studios simply did not have a plan. Not to say they were completely directionless after the Infinity Saga came to a close, with the idea of Multiversal storytelling feeling like a natural next step for the franchise.
The early days of the post-Endgame MCU included some time to work on smaller character stories, giving the Marvel Studios’ creative team breathing room before they had to lock down on a concrete direction.
And then after seeing Majors’ Loki performance and some early footage from Quantumania, it would make sense they would want to invest as heavily as they did.
Ever since taking over as the co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, James Gunn has been in a constant battle against the internet, doing his best to debunk any false rumors and stories that surface. But it seems Gunn is getting a bit tired of it all, and this past Saturday, he took to Twitter to address how he will be handling things going forward.
“I’m getting barraged with bullshit DC rumors this morning. I’ll just reiterate the general rule not to believe anything unless it comes from me or Peter. But, unless it’s especially egregious, I’m going to slow down on calling shit out. (Sorry, I know, it’s one of my favorite traditions). There are three reasons for this: 1) Some people are making up lies to get attention from me or to get clicks & I don’t want to encourage that. 2) I’ve read a hundred rumors this morning. ONE of them is half-true. So I don’t want to be used as a way for people to throw nonsense at the wall until something sticks. 3) I’m storyboarding Superman Legacy and don’t have time! Have a great day!“
Recently, a bunch of casting rumors for Superman: Legacy came out, but rumors are all that they were as Gunn hasn’t started any major casting for the upcoming film centered on the Man of Steel. These rumors included David Corenswet as a possible front runner for the role of Clark Kent/Superman, Nicholas Hoult as a front runner for Superman’s arch nemesis Lex Luthor, and Rachel Brosnahan, Samara Weaving, Emma Mackey, and Phoebe Dynevor as front runners for Lois Lane. But that’s not all. It was recently rumored that Superman: Legacy would include a myriad of DC heroes, potentially including Michael Holt/Mr. Terrific. This rumor took form after Gunn repeatedly teased Mr. Terrific and his superhero team, The Terrifics, on social media, leading many to speculate that the character may appear. But no confirmation has occurred.
Stay tuned to DC Comics News for all the Superman: Legacy and other DC Studios news as it comes out.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a couple of item dupe methods making the grounds recently. With these, you can amass a lot of materials and armaments. Still, there exists an even faster technique. Here’s our guide to help you with the Shield Surf exploit for a very easy Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom item dupe method.
How to do the Shield Surf item dupe method in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom item dupe method that’s more well-known is the one involving arrow attachments, dropping your bow, and having to press the pause button twice rather quickly. This can be a hit-or-miss for some folks, and definitely a cause of frustration for others. Thankfully, there’s a quick and easy method that’s just been discovered.
While we can’t say who was the first player to have discovered this method, we did find a video courtesy of YouTuber PieBen.
Never run out of Silver Lynel materials ever again.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom item dupe method using Shield Surf
Here’s what you need for the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom item dupe method using Shield Surf:
Equip a shield, of course.
Have an item that you want to make copies of (at least one).
Have a different item that you only have one of. Let’s call this “Solo Item” as a reference.
Make sure the item you want to dupe is at the bottom/last slot in your materials inventory. You can do this by dropping all of that item, then picking them back up. Beware, however, since having more than 20 items cluttered on the ground will cause some of them to disappear.
When you’re ready, go and Shield Surf. This is done by holding ZL, pressing X to jump, then pressing A.
In the middle of your Shield Surf animation, open your materials inventory. Then, hold “Solo Item” in your hand, plus the actual item that you want to duplicate.
When you land on the ground, the items will be dropped. However, if you check your inventory, the original stuff you had earlier is still there.
Shield Surf, then open your inventory. Hold the solo item, then the actual stuff you want to dupe.
This is currently the fastest item dupe method in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You no longer need to worry about dropping bows or pausing/unpausing rapidly. Likewise, you can obtain multiple copies in a single action.
Still, there are some caveats. Here are some tips to consider:
As mentioned earlier, having too many items cluttering the ground will cause some to disappear. Make sure you pick up the ones you duped to avoid mishaps.
If you want to speed things up a bit, avoid picking up the “Solo Item/s” that you’re using for this trick until you’re done with your “duping batch.” Otherwise, you’d have to drop the duped material over and over to force it back to the bottom of the inventory tab.
Shields will lose durability when you Shield Surf. You might want to equip throwaway decayed variants to avoid wasting the ones you need for combat. Alternatively, just Fuse two Hylian Shields together.
This exploit works on almost all materials. Here are some examples:
Diamonds and other gems can be sold for a lot of rupees.
Large Zonaite can be converted into Large Crystallized Charges for your Energy Cell upgrades.
Although you can’t do this for Zonaite Devices (they’re part of a separate inventory tab), the dupe works on Large Zonaite Charges. You can then place these in Device Dispensers to get the tool you want.
Silver Lynel materials and other enemy drops can be Fused onto weapons or shields.
Star Fragments and other rare resources are necessary for upgrades.
Avoid: Insects, fairies, and lizards – They will fly or scurry away.
In any case, there might be other Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom item dupe methods just waiting to be discovered.
There are numerous mechanics and facets to learn in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. For more information, you can visit our guides hub.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
If you’re like me, you are paying for like a dozen different streaming services, and it’s getting kind of tiresome. It takes a lot of effort to switch services on and off. You have to keep track of what you’re watching and when, and then make sure you’re right about what service carries the shows you watch most frequently.
How is this the modern reality? I thought this was all supposed to be easier.
Well, now major streamers are considering bundling themselves… sort of like cable.
Yeah cable, that thing you paid for with hundreds of channels that we were told streaming would replace.
You don’t have to take my word for it. David Zaslav spoke to the MoffettNathanson Technology, Media & Telecom Conference this week and talked about the idea of bundling.
He said:
“For me, it seems very clear that if we were to package this great product that we have with others, if we were to wake up tomorrow and in each market if we’re the No. 1, 2 or 3 product, if we were marketed with two or three [streamers] for a specific price, it would be great for consumers and would probably reduce churn. We’d both be marketing one product and it would provide a meaningful consumer experience. Not just on price but that ‘OK, I now have a bigger package of content that’s broader.’”
So, what’s Zaslav’s plan to make it broader? Go back to the consumer.
He expanded on his ideas, saying, “One of the challenges in the business right now is the difficulty for a consumer in aggregating the content that they love, entertainment, nonfiction, content, sports content. Everyone’s googling where is it? How do I get it?” Zaslav said. “It’s not rational and it’s not really sustainable because it’s not a good consumer experience, not sustainable because there are a lot of people in this business that are just losing too much money.”
Streaming has been tricky. a lot of these massive undertakings cost a lot of money to become profitable. They’re chasing subscribers and content, but making money is an issue. Still, the industry they’re in is highly profitable.
“It takes time. This industry is changing so quickly. Saying I’m gonna take two years and then I’m gonna emerge with a new set of assets for two-and-a-half years, who knows what the world looks like,” he said. “So I think there’s a lot of risk from a regulatory or even a time [perspective], but there should be a consolidation. And I think it’s more likely to have to happen in the repackaging and marketing of products together. That’s what really I think makes sense. We have to as an industry reach that point.”
Still, a lot comes back to what consumers can and will pay for platforms. And Zaslav knows this is the biggest issue facing people.
Cable TV got too expensive at the end, and streaming is getting there now.
Cable seemed to have an endless supply of movies and TV shows that changed frequently. How many times have you scrolled through streamers and not found anything to watch?
Zaslav said, “The streaming services doubled or tripled the offering of what they were doing and then they reduced price. People are paying a lot less for content now than they were. If there were 50 million people that like premium five years ago on basic cable, they’re paying a lot more money for HBO, Showtime, Starz, Epix, Encore than they are right now for these streaming services and the investment in content is three or four times.
“That will all work out but the key for us is how do we create a product that people love and how do we get more people feeling nourished and loving that product?” he said. “I think we’re really on to something with what we have and once you have that the ability to either raise price or provide sport and other product that they either spend more money on or that further enriches their experience on the platform. That’s a winner.”
These are lofty ideas, but, in my opinion, it’s just taking us back to cable.
I mean, most of these streaming platforms have commercials now too.
Did we just go full circle?
“Whether we do it this year or in three years, I think eventually something like that will happen. If we don’t do it to ourselves, I think it’ll be done to us,” he said. “It’ll be Amazon that does it, it’ll be Apple that does it, it’ll be Roku that does it. They’re already starting to do it. And it makes sense. A lot of people will go to some of those platforms as an easier curation of finding what they like.”
Vroom vroom! Vrrrrrrr screeech honk! Those are car noises in honor of Fast X, the Xth entry in the soon(?) to be ending(?) fan-favorite film franchise that is ostensibly about cars. In its debut, the movie made $67 million, which is just a little bit under the debut of F9 a couple of years ago. That put it well ahead of second place’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, but in its third week, that movie is still no slouch. It made $31 million for a total of $266 million. (Also, Vin Diesel is in both of them!)
A Quiet Place: Part II’s Millicent Simmonds thinks she’d be a goner if aliens attacked
The rest of the domestic box office chart is almost identical to what it’s been for a little while now, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie($9.8 million, total of $549 million, and it’s now available to rent at home), Book Club: The Next Chapter($3 million, $13 million after two weeks), and Evil Dead Rise($2.3 million, $64 million after five weeks) rounding out the top five.
In the bottom five (of the top 10), we have Der Babo Yeega (as Scott Adkins says it) in John Wick: Chapter 4 ($185 after nine weeks), Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret ($18 million after four weeks), Hypnotic ($4 million after two weeks, ouch), Love Again ($5 million after three weeks, ouch), and finally Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves ($92 million after eight weeks). That movie has really been hanging around, making money for months, possibly because it’s just waiting for Jarnathan to show up. Jarnathan was kind of important to the whole plan….
