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Renowned (and Tony nominated) for The Mystery of Edwin Drood and for "breaking down" in Falsettos, and for playing Liza Minnelli in the Hugh Jackman musical The Boy From Oz, theater star Stephanie J. Block is about to add another iconic character to her repertoire: Cher. The Cher Show, which will be penned by Jersey Boys writer Rick Elice, will tell the story of pop singer and Academy Award winning actress throughout her career...
• The Undefeated an amazing longread about the careers of several non-household name black actors from 1990s television series • Coming Soon Ansel Elgort in talks to play fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen in an original screen musical composed by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked). The huge success of La La Land and Greatest Showman is already taking effect which is nice because we were worried it wouldn't. • /Film Kristen Wiig in talks to play the villain Cheetah in Wonder Woman 2. Looooove this idea
• MNPP Armie Hammer getting his chest waxed. Nooooo • The Guardian Casting for Quentin Tarantino's Charles Manson movie has begun. Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are officially returning to the director's filmography. Margot Robbie might be joining them. • Coming Soon Have any of you read the Witchers series of fantasy books? It's being adapted to Netflix series with several characters confirmed • NPR profiles the three awesome Octogenarians up for Oscar this year: James Ivory, Agnes Varda, and Christopher Plummer • TFE ...and in case you missed it, we just interviewed James Ivory • Variety Chris Hemsworth may star in a Men in Black spinoff because no franchises die anymore • Into Film inspired by Lady Bird, a list of 10 other great debut films by female directors.
Stage (Pssst. Tony Season is almost upon us) • W Magazine Lee Pace sorta comes out... in that tortured 'I won't say it, but I'm saying it' Jodie Foster kinda way in this interview about taking on the Joe Pitt role in the revival of Angels in America • Theater Mania Harry Connick Jr is now in rehearsals for the debut of a new musical based on Best Picture winner The Sting. It's going to premiere at New Jersey's Papermill Playhouse (which is a great place to see shows) • Show-Score A list of all the current NYC stage shows offering lottery tickets (i.e. cheap seats for lucky winners) not that I want to give myself competition as I'm already losing Angels in America and Frozen daily. But these lotteries do actually send people to shows every single day who couldn't afford it otherwise. I only ever enter sporadically (if I remember / am dying to see a show / friends visiting NYC etc) and I've won thrice over the years and seen West Side Story, Wicked, and Kinky Boots quite cheaply. Though I suspect it's harder to win now that all the lotteries are online instead of in person (i.e. less commitment to enter so way more competition).
Exit Video Christine Baranski talks about filming Mamma Mia 2 and does a really bad Cher impression!
John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.
#9 — Karen Silkwood, a real-life chemical technician turned labor union activist and whistleblower.
“Karen Silkwood has come to stand for so many things to so many people that I had to start all over again in trying to play her as a person, not a symbol. I really don't think we can know much about people after they're not there to tell us. All their real, real secrets die with them. At the end of this whole experience of making this movie, I thought about those minutes before Karen's car went off the road, and I missed her.” — Meryl Streep, 1983
MATTHEW: Meryl Streep appears in every scene and what feels like nearly every shot of Silkwood, which marked the first but certainly not the last time that the actress would play a real person. Streep’s career was technically still in its early stages when Silkwood’s cameras began rolling in Texas in 1982, but it was already replete with shelves of awards and a peerless level of respectability that prompted co-star Cher to crack this gem about first meeting Streep: “I thought it was going to be like having an audience with the Pope”
On Saturday night, a descendant of Aphrodite herself decided to manifest amongst us mortals in the form of a Twitter user who leaked the first trailer for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the upcoming sequel to the hit musical (and yes, my most anticipated movie of 2018).
The trailer was only up for around twelve hours (a blissful twelve hours!) before it was taken down. Expect a formal release of it soon, but until then, let’s put into use incognito screenshots and see what the trailer revealed about the movie. [Potential spoilers for the plot of Mamma Mia! 2 after the jump!]
Okay last Globe conversation frenzy for a bit with SAG nominations happening tomorrow. We'll save a few truly silly questions about the Globes until the Golden Globe week hits but for now the rest of our informal polling of friends and TFE contributors now that you've read the Big Sick / All the Money / Snubs responses (you read that, right?). Join the conversation in the comments won't you?
Five questions and special guests answering them after the jump starting with this one. What's the "surprise" you don't think is surprising at all?
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 at 5:20PM ;)
