• The Guardian Isabelle Huppert has really outdone herself with her answers in this new Q&A
• Variety Roseanne cancelled at ABC after Roseanne couldn't help herself and went on yet another round of racist remarks. Still, that's quite a move by ABC given the success and profitability of the show (and their past indifference to her statements). Corporations aren't really known for not letting money do the loudest talking.
• Variety interesting buiness related follow up: In the very recent upfronts ABC had basically built its whole Tuesday schedule around Roseanne as ratings savior. What will they do now?
• Slate an oral history of The Muppets
• Coming Soon Uma Thurman to star in Netflix's supernatural drama series Chambers. Let's hope she has better luck than Naomi Watts did with Gypsy.
• Pajiba Let's talk about Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Solo)
Much more after the jump including Jake Shears new song, George Takei exonerated, Interview magazine, Mean Girls album, a Spawn reboot, and what to do when stars disappoint us...
• Towleroad Jake Shears is having a big year. Here's his new video "Creep City"
• Deep Dish Interview magazine folded (*sad*) but here's a fun gallery of old covers. I was so sad as a kid when they stopped having painted covers because it used to set them apart so much from other celebrity rags
• /Film First images from Drew Goddard's Bad Day at the El Royal features Chris Hemsworth showing off his abs. We like it when stars understand their own appeal
• Film School Rejects Zach Snyder is planning to film Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Yeah an Ayn Rand adaptation is what we need right now (*groan*)
• Playbill a deep dive into the Mean Girls original cast album
• Broadway Blog a chart about what happens to musical ticket prices when the show wins the Tony (In other words, get your Band's Visit tickets now)
• Variety Asghar Farhadi will lead the jury at the next Sarajevo Film Festival
• Coming Soon in the age of superheroes, everything will be filmed and/or rebooted. Spawn is coming back with Jamie Foxx taking over the lead role
• Cinema Enthusiast just completed a huge project of watching the movies of 1969
• Cinema Enthusiast and here's her top ten of that year. I haven't heard of so many of these but I have to admit I didn't much care for Funeral Parade of Roses.
Finally, three thought-provoking reads about our ongoing cultural battles related to toxic masculinity and/or inappropriate and sometimes illegal conduct and the like...
• Observer a lengthy piece on the recent already walked-back accusation against George Takei. I weep for Takei that people think so ill of him now and so much damage is already done when he is so clearly such a good guy and a civil rights hero. But in our currrent climate people don't care about collateral damage. Ever the class act, Takei has released a statement that he wishes the man peace and no ill will.
• Into a really interesting piece on shifting feelings about the drag queen Kameron Michaels and the gay community's relationship with masculinity
• Boy Culture Matt on the Arrested Development battles and the Morgan Freeman story. I'm pointing you here because Matt is saying a lot of what I've been feeling about social media outrage about celebrities who've disappointed us and acted horribly but I just don't have the stamina to write because it's so depressing. 'Is there no way to calibrate our outrage?' Jason Bateman is not a Harvey Weinstein for being tone deaf about another actor's behavior, you know? Morgan Freeman is not a Bill Cosby for being creepy! You can be disappointed in someone and want them to suffer appropriate legal problems if they did something illegal but wanting them to lose their entire careers and legacies is... well... it's troubling. Matt didn't go here but for me it points to a lack of broader empathy in our culture which is in "burn it all down" mode for various complicated reasons. But when even progressives and people who want to fight against racism and sexism and homophobia and xenophobia lose their sense of empathy we are going to be in a lot of trouble as a society. It's a slippery slope towards becoming the intolerant prejudiced hateful thing you're fighting against.