Today's link roundup is for the fabulous women of showbiz...
• In Style Melanie Lynskey (yes, she's everywhere lately) is this month's cover profile
• ET talks to Diane Keaton about The Godfather (though the occassion was her new movie Mack & Rita)
• Coming Soon Margaret Qualley (who is much in demand) and Geraldine Viswanathan (from the Hugh Jackman film Bad Education) have the leading roles in Ethan Coen's first solo movie, which is about a lesbian road trip
More after the jump including Olivia Newton-John, Prey's Amber Midthunder, Cyndi Lauper's next movie-to-musical project, plus Beyonce & Madonna...
• The Hollywood Reporter Sean Bean's recent disparaging comments about intimacy coordinators have prompted a response from his current co-star, Tony winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), speaks to the issue and about her scenes with Bean. She has praise for him as a scene partner but reiterates that she believes in intimacy coordinators as a practice.
• New Yorker Josephine Baker's French stardom and wartime espionage
• Variety an interview with Prey star Amber Midthunder
• Playbill We've been eager for Cyndi Lauper to write another musical post Kinky Boots (because unlike some pop stars doing musicals, she understood the assignment). She'll compose the score for the musical version of 1988 classic Working Girl
• Theater Mania complete casting has been announced for the Broadway revival of 1776, a musical about the tumultuous meetings and compromises around the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Though most of the characters in the show are men the entire cast is comprised only of actors who identify as female, trans, or nonbinary so it should be an interesting fresh spin on early American politics.
Olivia Newton-John Forever
• TFE In case you missed it, my personal career tribute and Olivia memories
• Salon Before it was cool or safe, Olivia Newton-John was an ally to the queer community
• Variety lists 25 essential Olivia Newton-John songs -- eccentric choices but some great blurbs
• /Film Five essential ONJ projects
• CNN has Olivia's "best style moments"
• People Leeza Gibbons recalls her time with Olivia
• A Life of Greatness on this spiritually minded podcast, one of the last interviews Olivia gave (a year ago), she talked about her long battle with cancer
• Today Lots of celebrities have also been paying tribute to the beloved star who was known for being as sweet and kind as her "Sandy" persona suggested.
Finally...
Beyoncé & Madonna have been having a love-fest on the side of the success of the "Break My Soul (The Queen's Remix)" which uses huge chunks of the Madonna classic "Vogue" and chucks out the latter's Old Hollywood obsession and instead lists famous black female singers as well as name-checking Ballroom houses.
The latest evidence of Madonna and Beyoncé actually liking each other (as if it wasn't obvious from photos over the years) was found in Madonna's Instagram stories...
Though we hear at TFE obviously love "contests" between artists (hence the awards obsession) we love it in its own peculiar world way and not as a statement about superiority and inferiority. It's just a fun window towards discussing art is all. We don't actually love that the media and the fans are always pitting stars against each other. So on that note it's always wonderful to see examples of "competing" artists praising each other. You don't have to tear anyone down to lift someone else up!