A big collection of provocative links for you since we haven't had a hot second to look around the web lately...
I had this cover on my wall for at least a couple of years.
This Week's Must Read
• Vanity Fair an oral history of the very first "Hollywood Cover." Love love love this. Especially that you get a full spectrum of non-prudish feeling about the lingerie. Yes, yes, it was sexist and a double standard that the women were like this and the next year the men were fully clothed. On the other hand, can we stop being so sex-negative about people looking sexy or showing skin? It seems we're over correcting of late and everyone is always shaming people for enjoying the sight of human bodies. There is nothing inherently demeaning about being naked or dressing in sexy clothing... unless you don't want to be doing it ! There would be nothing wrong with having a group of men on a magazine cover like this if they were also willing. Linda Fiorentino reveals she volunteered to go topless and Sarah Jessica Parker considered the shoot empowering. Of course not everyone was as comfortable. Sandra Bullock says...
I knew I did not want to be in my underwear. I was like ‘Dear God, give me the longest thing that’s left.’ My little outfit was really tight, it was like one long Spanx. I was a rebel from the ankles down.
Haha. I had forgotten that she was the only one who was barefoot. But even she recalls the day with some fondness, adding...
The fact that we were the first is pretty badass. It was nice to have connections with women when we were so isolated from each other. The only time we saw each other was when we were at the same audition. Now in our industry you can sense that things have gotten safer and calmer. You don’t feel so nervous stepping into a room with other women. Now you see them make beelines for each other to connect. And we were there when it all started on the cover of a magazine, that day, that time.
Randomness
• Vanity Fair 25 most influential movie scenes. Our friend Katey worked on this one right before her maternity leave and she's very proud of it so check it out.
• Zimbio Brie Larson shares new action footage from Captain Marvel
• Playbill Rising star Corey Hawkins (who was so great in his cameo in BlacKkKlansman last year) joins the cast of the film version of In the Heights. Let's hope this means he can sing?
• Awards Daily the state of the Best Picture race. Interesting piece but I think Sasha, like everyone, is very short-sighted when they assume Netflix is ONLY a force for good. As soon as you have all the power, you almost always do ill. Right now, in February 2019, people view Netflix as artist friendly, a place where directors are given carte blanche and thus a force for good in the cinema. But that cannot STAY true. It never does when money is involved. And Netflix has already proven with their business strategies and licensing and bending of the rules, that they are very anti-cinema outside of their own interests. Right now their interests happen to be the respect of working with prestigious directors and winning Oscars but this won't last forever once they've conquered that mountain, it might not even last much longer than 2019 if Roma sweeps and they have nothing else to prove and every filmmaker hoping to sign with them (who they surely won't treat as well as Cuarón who had something new to offer them.)
Superbowl Stuff
• i09 The new Avengers: Endgame commercial that aired during the Superbowl. Looks like the surviving superheroes need some therapy.
• Adweek best 5 ads from Superbowl Sunday
• Vulture ranks the halftime shows of the Superbowl over the past 26 years. This reads like a convincing ranking but in truth we rarely watch (I think I've seen 3 of these in full? I usually only see a few clips later) so perhaps you'll have a different reaction?
The World Is Terrible
• Vanity Fair Allison Janney admits to being heartbroken that she's not being asked to present Best Supporting Actor this year, as is tradition.
• TFE... in case you missed our rant about all the terrible decisions the Oscars have been making of late.
• GQ the horrific racist/homophobic actor on Jussee Smollett (Empire) in Chicago
• Independent Liam Neeson is in hot water for this interview in which he reveals disturbing racist fantasy from his past while trying to get serious about the content of his new movie Cold Pursuit. Surely this was not the right place for it. A more appropriate place might have been a therapist office and not a junket... and also, while you're there maybe work through why you keep agreeing to star in all these violent fantasies. Careers of talented actors were not meant to be this one dimensional, Liam. How many violent vengeance fantasies has he made now since Taken (2008)? It seems there's at least one every year.
• Good Morning America Naturally since that interview was published, he's had to address it publicly to try and quell the outrage. I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand I think NOT addressing your inner demons is very unhealthy so the public climate around dealing with toxic thought patterns is sometimes toxic itself -- how can people ever evolve or become better people if they can't admit to flaws, even severe hateful ones? I can't speak to racism as a white person but I know that I'd much rather, for instance, see people publicly admit to their homophobia and work through it than see people not dealing with it at all. But again... maybe do it in therapy or with friends or peers or even through your art... just probably not with journalists!
Happy News
• Playbill Colman Domingo (currently onscreen in If Beale Street Could Talk) will be one of the honorees this year at Vineyard Theatre's annual gala
• Variety Madonna will be honored at the 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards for her dedication to the LGBTQ community. Great choice. She has been such an advocate for queer people, looooong before it was socially easy and cool to be that. She surely lost fans over it at the beginning.