The Incredible Linking Man

• The Cut "I'm rooting for the Lannisters" fun piece on Game of Thrones (which I still read about on occasion even though I haven't watched since season 2)
• /Film Guillermo del Toro's official tequila looks like it's from one of his movies
• Vulture every Charlize Theron performance ranked. Interesting list though I quibble with the order (as they seem to equate the quality of the movies with the quality of her performance and Theron is precisely the star she is because she is often able to be good even in terrible pictures). Also Young Adult should be #1

• Playbill all star cast lined up for Steve Martin's next Broadway show (after his musical Bright Star), this one's a comedy called Meteor Shower
• Browbeat the internet goes wild for old Russ Tamblyn dancing clip from 1956
• Tracking Board Nicole Kidman is in talks to headline a crime thriller called Destroyer directed by Karyn Kusama. Kusama is promising that though it's a genre film it's also "a beautiful character study of an incredible female"
• Variety we were wondering when Ruth Negga would start lining up big roles after Loving. She'll star opposite Brad Pitt in the sci-fi movie Ad Astra
• Awards Daily This is Us has lost one of its Emmy nominations, costume design.
• The Wrap this piece about Marvel's plans for Spider-Man got a lot of internet pass-around but it really doesn't tell you much other than they're going to make Spidey a thing in all the crossover movies

Two pieces about criticism/discussion of racial politics in movies/theaters right now

• American Theater a thoughtful piece on the counterproductive assault on Broadway's Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. (We haven't yet heard if the show is actually closing following it's poorly handled casting changes but it might... but the producers were apparently considering it)
• Birth Movies Death a very navel gazing piece about being an ally and trying to navigate pop culture criticism in the current political climate and intersectional age

Exit Video
Handsome talented Aaron Tveit is taking on the classic role of Bobby in another production of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece (one of them, at least) Company. This one starts in a couple of days in Massachusetts so go if you live near there and report back. Here he is rehearsing...

YNMS: Mother!

Jason from MNPP here with our first look at the trailer for Darren Aronofsky's Mother!, or as it's known around these parts That New Michelle Pfeiffer Movie! The exclamation point in the actual title definitely stands for "That New Michelle Pfeiffer Movie!" at least. It's been seven full years since Black Swan came out (I am pretending Noah didn't happen at this point, but perhaps I'll reassess it in another decade) and this feels, at first glance, like similar territory for the director. Watch:

So Jennifer Lawrence is happily partnered with Javier Bardem until Ed Harris and Michelle show up, at which point the walls begin to crumble and swarms of looky-loos come hustling out of the forest? I mean isn't that what happens whenever Michelle shows up somewhere? Let's "Yes No Maybe So" this sucker (and watch me have trouble coming up with the latter two!) after the break...

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Doc Corner: 'Machines'

Rahul Jain’s Machines is definitely a case of quality over quantity. At only 70 minutes long, you would hope it is. This often medatative experience is a glimpse inside the little-seen world of the Indian textile industry, albeit one that never hides the grim realities. It makes stunning use of Rodrigo Trejo Villanueva’s camera, which captures images of striking colour explosions juxtaposed against the soot and the decay of a factory in India’s Gujarat region where workers stave off sleep across 12-hour shifts for $3 a day.

Machines’ title referring to both the steel and metal machines that hum and rattle throughout the confined factory as well as the human machines who operate them, working like wind-up toys performing the same robotic, repetitive movements over and over and over again. We see the detail that goes into producing the fabrics that clothe one billion people including the almost rhythmic process of production where colours are produced by hand and patterns are printed with uniform sameness. The eye can’t look away from an endlessly watchable parade of shots in which reels and ribbons of fabrics of all colours (including one stunning shot of a marigold fabric that is so divine I gasped) are spun out of elaborate contraptions that we might associate more with a printing press for a newspaper.

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Introducing: The Supporting Actresses of 1963

Don't freak out but the Smackdown returns in exactly one week after endless delays (if you'd like to vote, details are at the bottom of the post). This time we're looking at 1963 but before we introduce our panel, or start tinkering around with '63 hijinx, let's look at how 2 of the 5 nominated characters are introduced in their films. 

First up... a stone-faced nun eyeing Sidney Poitier's muscles...

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Blanchett as Lucille Ball is Finally A Go!

Chris here. Remember a few years back when we first got word that Cate Blanchett was itching to play legend Lucille Ball? Well, the film is now happening thanks to getting picked up by Amazon and set on the fast track.

Lucy And Desi will follow the twenty year marriage of the notoriously embattled couple over the start of their Desilu Productions and I Love Lucy. The script comes from Aaron Sorkin, so expect reems of snappy dialogue and perhaps some timely contextualization - just imagine the drama of Blanchett delivering Sorkinese. No word on a director yet but it wouldn't surprise if those reigns become Sorkin's as well, with his Jessica Chastain-led directorial Molly's Game coming this fall.

Just as exciting as the prospect of Blanchett making a redheaded return to the screen is who might also fill Desi Arnaz's shoes and the rest of the legendary ensemble. Amazon is looking to get major stars for the roles of Desi, Vivian Vance and William Frawley (Ethel and Fred of the show for the unfamiliar - which if you are, how dare you!). Thus far Javier Bardem is the only name being mentioned, but I'd wager he's not quite a fit. How would you cast the rest of the I Love Lucy quartet?