When Meryl Met Anna... and Other Stories
Friday, November 10, 2017 at 7:00PM Salon Sandra Bullock to play Texas senator Wendy Davis, who famously filibustered an anti-abortion bill for 12 hours. Oscar #2?
Variety interviews actor/playwright Tracy Letts who is really having a good year you must admit. Lady Bird is a hit in theaters and his new play just opened in Chicago
Hollywood Reporter has a good interview with Steven Soderbergh
Instagram Lupita Nyong'o loves her natural hair and is upset with a magazine for airbrushing it away
Variety Replacing Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World is going to cost at least 2.5 million
MNPP Do Dump or Marry: Thor Ragnarok edition
Stage
Deadline this is a surprise the Tony Awards have declared the recent production of "1984" ineligible for prizes. They have not stated why exactly.
Playbill reviews are in for Broadway's new musical The Band's Visit, based on the Ronit Elkabetz film of the same name if you remember that one
Theater Mania photos of Kelli O'Hara and Patrick Wilson rehearsing for Brigadoon. Hope it's swoon-worthy
Playbill Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters fame) joining Kinky Boots on Broadway next year. Damn, I guess I'll have to see it a third time
Harassment Epidemic Updates
AV Club on Hollywood's long overdue moral reckoning
New Yorker Emily Nussbaum has a terrific piece on Louis CK's comedy through the lens of recent allegations
New York Times Louis CK has confessed to the claims against him "These stories are true"
Medium Actor Anthony Edwards has come forward to say he was molested by a producer when he was underage
Guardian Ellen Page has detailed homophobic remarks director Brett Rattner made to her during the production of X-Men: Last Stand
Washington Post showing their utter depravity GOP officials are now citing the bible to justify Roy Moore's sexual assault on an underage girl. And just think, last month they were slamming Hollywood for its depravity with Harvey Weinstein.
Oscar Campaigns Heat Up
Awards Daily Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) to receive Rising Star award at Palm Springs
Variety Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) to receive Vanguard award at Santa Barbara
And cheeky Meryl Streep met with Anna Wintour (who she sent up in her Oscar worthy work in Devil Wears Prada) to promote her new star vehicle The Post
Reader Comments (22)
God and Devil on the land of Prada
Will be a good western!
Wuold be nice if the interview was at least for hafl-hour
The best quality of Louis CK's work was how self-aware his writing was, and his statement today further proves that. It's refreshing, albeit calculated I'm sure, that it took him less than 24 hours to admit to the allegations levied against him while the Weinstein's and Spacey's of the world simply deny, deny, deny. Having said that, I'm not sure he can ever come back from this.
Ellen Page's story sort of made me cry because I just realized that I've never had a person like Anna Paquin in my life when I was younger.
Speaking of Do Dump or Marry, I played the same game but with the guys from Only The Brave. Kitsch, Teller, and Brolin.
She further said that acting in a Woody Allen movie was “the biggest regret of my career”, writing, “I am ashamed I did this. I had yet to find my voice and was not who I am now and felt pressured, because ‘of course you have to say yes to this Woody Allen film’.”
If I ever come across Brett Ratner. I'm going ape-shit on that motherfucker.
“I did a Woody Allen movie and it is the biggest regret of my career,” Page, 30, wrote, referencing the 2012 film To Rome With Love.
“I am ashamed I did this,” she added. “I had yet to find my voice and was not who I am now and felt pressured, because ‘of course you have to say yes to this Woody Allen film.’
Ultimately, however, it is my choice what films I decide to do and I made the wrong choice. I made an awful mistake.”
Republicans are the worst.
Hollywood Devouring Itself - The Revenge of Trump
I think Louie can come back from it in time, if he wants to, though it will be difficult.
But to me, that's not the concern at the moment. I'm concerned about the feigned altruism and the lack of any standard. How is it that Spacey and C.K. have their careers destroyed (for now) but Polanski keeps on working? Why is Weinstein out of the Academy but not Cosby?
In my opinion, I can think critically and see what what C.K. has done is bad, but not as bad as what Cosby has done, etc. I can also separate the art from the person.
But I'm bothered by this sense that Hollywood is all of a sudden doing the right thing for morality's sake. It's BS. They are saving themselves from a PR nightmare. Louis C.K.'s movie was dropped, not because of the right thing to do, but because distribution company Orchard didn't want to deal with the backlash. Same with Netflix and FX. The interesting thing is we have no idea how the public at large would react? Maybe after his statement, the public would forgive Louie and embrace his work? How can we know if we're not given a chance?
But that's a digression. More to the point: Why is there a disparity, and why do some people get punished and banned and all that, and not others? Shouldn't there be some kind of standard here?
Well at least Hollywood is doing SOMETHING now. Too little, too late? Perhaps. But they're doing slightly better than, say... Washington or the Catholic church or... Silicon Valley or... [lists many, many other institutions dominated by men]. SIGH.
Ellen also wrote:
Bill Cosby was known to be predatory. The crimes were his, but many were complicit. Many more chose to look the other way. Harvey was known to be predatory. The crimes were his, but many were complicit. Many more chose to look the other way. We continue to celebrate filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was convicted of drugging and anally raping a young girl and who fled sentencing. A fugitive from justice. I’ve heard the industry decry Weinstein’s behavior and vow to affect meaningful change. But let’s be truthful: the list is long and still protected by the status quo. We have work to do. We cannot look the other way.
I coul speak of somenthing good to all of us?
Never Forget is my favorite original song contender this year!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AYDqCsXiV0
LA PFEIFFER REIGNS!
I’m confused about Ellen’s Woody Allen comment. Is she saying she was harassed or did something unsavory to get that role?
Nathaniel, do you think Ridley Scott has now a chance of being oscar nominated for best director if the film delivers?
The Streep and Wintour video is perfection.
Well Louis CK only admitted his behavior after a story in the NYT. He had been asked about the rumors by members of the press as recently as September, where he denied and said the women were lying. I also saw a tweet somewhere along the lines of, "this is where we are now, that when a man accused by multiple women doesn't call them lying whores, we celebrate". :(
Amanda and Joseph, you are both right that the industry is still filled with hypocrisy. After all, like Netflix has rid itself of Spacey, but has nothing about Danny Masterson who has 4 serious rape accusations being currently dealt with by the LAPD. Polanski also has been accused of raping/ sexually assaulting 5 other women when they were children
And as to separating the art for the artist, particularly when it comes to filmmakers, is that personal life/ views always inform the work. I am an artist, and I know my work is not disconnected from my personal experiences and views. But more important, the celebration of these predators allows them to continue to abuse, as well as sending the message to other predators that it is allowed, as long as people like their output. I've seen a lot of people, especially male fans, including Nathaniel, mourn the legacy of these men's creative work, but I would argue we should instead be mourning all the talented work we will never get to see from the women and men who have been pushed out, scared out, black balled by the industry simply because some dude couldn't keep it in his pants and his hands to himself.
Not to be negative re: the Wintour / Steep interview, but....Wintour is widely known to be cruel and vicious to her supporting staff and other human beings. I don't like mean people - men or women. And, Steep - she knew about Harvey Weinstein just like everyone else. Strikes me as phoney-baloney.
@ Huh. No, she is just saying she regrets working with Allen.
I found Louis CK's apology more self-serving than self-aware, and he didn't really say sorry. He, his fans, and some colleagues worked pretty hard to shut down rumours and publicly disparage others up until very recently. He's been behaving that way for a long time so it isn't just about five women. Admitting it now lessens the likelihood of others coming forward to back up the allegations.
Anthony Edwards account was moving. Goddard issued a denial so I doubt this is the last we've heard of Bryan Singer's friend.
@Joseph
"But to me, that's not the concern at the moment. I'm concerned about the feigned altruism and the lack of any standard. How is it that Spacey and C.K. have their careers destroyed (for now) but Polanski keeps on working? Why is Weinstein out of the Academy but not Cosby?"
Polanski's legal issues occurred at a different time and for whatever 70s cocaine-influenced reason people were willing to go along with the fugitive filmmaker thing with him and after a few movies it just sort of became the status quo. In 2017 I wouldn't exactly say that his career is still booming anyway, his last two movies were in French and for a while now he's been making movies on the dime of European investors rather than real Hollywood money and they're fairly low budget productions to begin with. We tend to talk about "Hollywood" as if the entire entertainment industry is a monolith when really it's a whole lot of different companies who make a lot of different decisions at different times. House of Cards isn't some European art film, it's the cornerstone of a streaming platform with a lot to lose
As for Cosby still being in the Academy thing, that's probably just a function of no one having called for him to be culled from the Academy in the first place when the scandal first erupted. He's not really associated with movies anymore and the fact that he was even in the Academy probably wasn't at the forefront of anybody's mind. Weinstein on the other hand has basically made a career out of Oscar stuff and that left the Academy with a much bigger need to distance themselves from him.
The assumption that Streep knew that Weinstein assaulted women is just wrong. Many people in show business did not know that he entered into private settlements or assaulted women.
Noooooo, not "Brigadoon." Please no, anything but that. God is that musical boring. How about a "Little Children" musical and Wilson has to sing all his songs in just his swimsuit from the movie?