Links: Banderas, Cho, Parsons, Jones, Holtzmann, and More
Tuesday, July 19, 2016 at 12:42PM TV
Vulture provides an A-Z glossary of all of Stranger Things mad sci-fi referencing from Alien (1979) toVideodrome (1983)
Comics Alliance American Gods, Bryan Fuller's adaptation of the Neil Gaiman book, gets its first logo and a promotional image
EW Impromptu Smash reunion. Katharine McPhee invited Megan Hilty on stage with her Sunday night at a LA jazz club - and yes they sang Smash songs.
Movies
Playbill Fences sets its release date for December 16th
Antagony & Ecstasy looks back at His Girl Friday - the Rosalind Russell role was a male role in the source material.
The Root Leslie Jones of SNL & Ghostbusters fame was hounded by racists on twitter - they're feeling so bold these days thanks to the GOP -- fans rallied behind her
Salon "Free Jillian Holtzmann" on why Sony isn't saying that the most popular new Ghostbuster character is a lesbian
AV Club talks to John Cho about Star Trek, gay sulu, and Asian representation in cinema
The Guardian Antonio Banderas to play Gianni Versace in a biopic. The Versace estate is not pleased calling it "fiction"
Coming Soon Fifty Shades Darker set photos
The Guardian on film franchises with the most episodes: Jungle Jim, Godzilla, and a few more
Awards Daily wonders if the political turmoil will turn the Oscars nostalgic rather than brave (see also 1968 Best Picture winner Oliver!)
Towleroad Twenty year-old actor Ross Lynch is going from Disney Channel fame to serial killing? He'll play Jeffrey Dahmer, pre-murders, as a troubled teen in a new film.
Variety Sigourney Weaver will be honored for her career as this September's San Sebastian film festival
...and Anton Yelchin's parents sent a beautiful message to friends and fans and the industry...
Beautiful. Anton Yelchin's parents thank Hollywood in ad @THR: 'Grateful for your unconditional love of our son' pic.twitter.com/01yn7owcL5
— Janice Min (@janicemin) July 18, 2016
Theater
Playbill Jake Gyllenhaal to headline the revival of Burn This. The original hit production in 87/88, which went from Off-Broadway to Broadway for a year-plus long run, won praise for Eric Roberts (Theater World award), John Malkovich (Drama Desk Nomination) and Joan Allen (Tony win)
NYT Estelle Parsons health scare prompts closing of her new play. Send healing vibes her way. She's a national treasure. If you haven't yet seen Season 2 of Grace & Frankie it closes beautifully with an arc about her guest starring role as "Babe," a larger than life friend of the pair who's throwing herself a big going away party. Parsons has done a lot of work on TV but weirdly despite being a highly esteemed actor with an Oscar win and 5 Tony nominations, she's never received an Emmy nomination.
Miscellania
Huffington Post Jennifer Aniston tears into the media for their obsession with women's bodies and whether or not she's pregnant
Wicked Gay Blog Dolly Parton working on a dance album with a track called "I'm a Wee Bit Gay"
The New Yorker "Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Tells All" a harrowing profile
Logo My Way hosted a contest to redesign the embarassing Trump Pence logo - Love some of these entries
Pajiba on the shitshow that was the RNC's first night with its plagiarized First Lady speech
Reader Comments (17)
Hard to believe Parsons never received a Guest Emmy nom after a decade on Roseanne.
Melania Trump scares the crap out of me
The Leslie Jones Twitter attacks are repulsive.
When you listen to those plagiarized lines from Michelle Obama's speech - about hard work, dignity and respect - you realize that they apply really well to the Obamas (the reason why many people adore them is because they got where they are through hard work, and they treat people with dignity and respect), but they do not apply at all to the Trumps. The person who put that speech together wasn't even thinking when s/he lifted those lines.
Suzanne: Except that forgets the WHY. Look, you don't intentionally lift lines (ANY lines) from across the aisle if you're not kind of trying to sabotage the people you're working for. Look, I know that that Dems have a LOT of issues. But, in a REASONABLY proportioned two-party political system, Mr. Drumpf (Make Donald Drumpf Again!) would be locked at 25-30% right now. (25%-30% for loyalist Democrats, 25-30% for loyalist Republicans, 40-50% for the malleable centre.)
It's extraordinary to witness the very first day of the RNC convention and see the wheels coming off so soon. Frightening and Very, Very Funny at the same time.
And I thought British politics had gone berserk, Veep will look tame if this continues.
Btw. If you want a respite from politics try this article from Pajiba concerning swoon worthy Austen men, and read some of the comments.
http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/ranking-the-men-of-jane-austen-by-swoon-factor.php
LadyEdith- Thanks for the link. Been binging on early seasons of MI-5 (I think it was called Spooks in the UK) and indeed Matthew MacFayden is my fav Darcy too.
Dolly Parton will never get old. I love her no matter what kind of crazy she comes up with.
What kind of world is it where online bigots attack a lovely lady like Leslie Jones. This makes me so sad. She makes a film to make people feel good. This is what she gets back. Things are getting worse.
I have a lot of respect for Anton Yelchin's parents for the beautiful message they sent. At a time when no one would blame them for retreating from the world and staying to themselves to deal with their grief, it takes some real class to reach out to his fans and friends in the industry with such words. The same cannot be said, however, for the fucking racist assholes who attacked Leslie Jones through Twitter! These dick-less, shit for brains, man-children need to grow the fuck up and get a life. Also, the people at Twitter need to get off of their asses and actually do something to prevent people from spewing such hate!
I apologize for the language.
@Pam - Matthew MacFayden is my favourite Darcy as well, because of the walk through the mist, dance scene, and the hand flex. Colin Firth has great hair and looks great wet, but he just doesn't have MacFayden's voice. (a voice he uses to great effect on Spooks/MI-5)
Was disappointed that Greg Wise and Jeremy Northam didn't make the list though.
Which just goes to prove that an Austen Listicle can be a fun way to waste some time. cheers.
Get well soon miss Parsons. She was so lovely and heartbreaking in Grace and Frankie. Shame that she's not nommed for an Emmy.
Fuck those people Lesdoggg, you are AMAZING!!!
Antonio Banderas deserves more of our respect, including an Oscar nom.
Smash is an original cast album still in search of a musical. Why has a full production not yet taken place?
I feel like 2016 has shaped up to be the type of year during which Fences could have benefited from a late summer release.
Bullying is usually the default reaction of insecure, fragile straight white men when anyone from a disadvantaged or minority group finds the success they think should be inherently theirs because they're straight, white, and male. And Twitter's lackadaisical response to Leslie Jones's harassment should have every user appalled.
All of those Leslie Jones bullies can go to Hell!! C'mon, all she did was make a movie meant to make people happy and there is absolutely no reason for her to get this type of discrimination. #LoveforLeslieJ
Love the site, but please don't turn overly political as this season ramps up. You haven't in the past (I've followed for years), but it's one of the reasons I refuse to visit AwardsDaily anymore (and haven't for nearly two years now) -- the other being that I felt Sasha's contributors were incredibly condescending to dissenting opinions (which is never the vibe at The Film Experience). I like to keep my politics and entertainment as separated as possible.
Of course, it's your site, but that's just my two cents. Keep up the great work, though!
(Quite frankly, although it makes me sound stodgy, Twitter is the one of the worst things that has ever happened to our society in the past several decades, but I feel like I'd need to write a college thesis to fully explain my thoughts on it.)
JHR -- i don't have any plans of getting more political than i already am. (i also don't like entertainment sites that become so political that they lose their focus. I won't name names but there's one site i used to absolutely adore that is too strident and angry for me to deal with lately even though I sympathisize with their politics)
But that said, it's wrong not to speak out when you see terrible injustice in the world, even if it hurts the feelings of some conservatives who are maybe not bad people but just more conservative in their political thinking. The truth is I think the US would be much better off if we had two viable parties (since we have a two party system and echo chambers aren't healthy) but Republicans who don't support racism really need to look at their party and strategize about how to turn that ship around because it is a hellhole of racism and sexism right now and any votes for the GOP support those awful messages, no matter how well intentioned individual Republicans might be.
I grew up in a staunchly Republican home and probably voted Republican in my first election (i dont remember) because that's the way I was raised... but that party has descended into utter insanity. It's a dark time and I dont know how America rights the ship.
EVERYONE -- Twitter has finally suspended the account of the ringleader of harassment in Leslie's case which is that gay conservative from Breitbart i can't remember his name, Milo something?
From Buzzfeednews:
"Milo Yiannopoulos, who currently serves as Breitbart.com’s tech editor, has made a living as a provocateur, continually inflaming tensions between progressive branches of the internet focused on identity politics and the fervently anti-PC segment that constantly trolls it.
For years, Yiannopoulous has used Twitter not only to voice his controversial opinions, but to direct his legion of followers (388,042 at the time of this writing) toward his opponents."
Let's hope this is just the start of some real action towards ending twitter abuse & hate speech.
Social Media is here to stay, we need to find ways to express ourselves with politeness and tolerance instead of like a Lord of the Flies mob.
Bravo Jen 4 a very empowering, inspiring & enlightening essay. No to tabloid journalism.
John Cho’s response to Sulu being gay in the new film was so much more thoughtful and well-considered than Pegg’s. I’ve not seen the film yet, but I’d be surprised if Sulu’s husband – or, indeed, Sulu himself – has much of a role to play. The first two films of the reboot were so unfriendly to the diverse universe that Star Trek has cultivated for years, instead focusing on the two white men at its centre, so I don’t hold out much hope for the third film to suddenly become a new haven for well-written and diverse characters. Sorry, it’s just that Simon Pegg’s ‘Isn’t that tokenism?’ comment struck me as glib and patronising, whereas Cho has clearly thought it through and offers a response that’s considerate to Takei and to fans’ concerns.