The Linkling

• Interview Awesome oddball auteur Miranda July interviews director Cary Joji Fukunaga about his latest, No Time To Die
• Variety good length piece from Peter DeBruge about the when and how of movie theaters reopening and what that might mean
• /Film Netflix wins a bidding war for a new Melissa McCarthy drama, The Starling from director Ted Melfi (Hidden Figures, St Vincent). Damn, shoulda included it in those Oscar predix we just made
• MNPP Good morning. Here are photos of Paul Newman in tighty whities

Film festival news, Julia Child doc sale, There Will Be Blood snarkiness, John Cameron Mitchell's birthday and more after the jump...

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The New Classics - Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Michael Cusumano's series on the great films of the 21st century through the lens of a single scene.

Scene: Wig in a Box
I distinctly remember the arrival of the poster for Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the art-house movie theater I worked at during the Summer of 2001.  The poster is dominated by the image of John Cameron Mitchell’s gender-defying punk rocker aggressively belting out a song, a swirl of glittering make-up and tendrils of blonde wig. More than attention-grabbing, it was attention demanding. I eagerly anticipated the film as I watched the trailer several dozen times during my shifts. As a straight, cisgender man from the suburbs with a lackluster wardrobe, I assumed that it was most definitely a movie Not. For. Me. but as an insatiable movie-devouring college student, I was nevertheless excited for what looked like a wildly inventive, low-budget extravaganza.

And while I was correct about the creativity on display, I was wrong about feeling excluded by the film. Despite sharing zero details with the protagonist’s turbulent life story, it hit me personally in a way I wasn’t ready for...

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Aidy Bryant in "Shrill"

By Spencer Coile 

Aidy Bryant has been stealing scenes left and right for years now. From a brief stint on Girls, to a supporting role in The Big Sick, to her notable (and Emmy nominated) work on Saturday Night Live, Bryant has been diligently carving out a space for her voice to be heard. Fortunately for long-time fans, 2019 is the year where she has fully paid her dues and doesn't have to steal the scenes anymore since they're centered on her.  

Shrill, on Hulu today, is the adaptation of Lindy West’s memoir of the same name. Following timid journalist Annie (Bryant), the series explores what it means to be a plus-size woman living in a world that has excluded them from the cultural conversation...

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Soundtracking: "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"

by Chris Feil

Perhaps you missed that John Cameron Mitchell finally returned to the punk rock scene this past weekend with How to Talk to Girls at Parties, and honestly - what gives? Regardless of this Neil Gaiman adaptation’s quality, has everyone faded from the afterglow of Hedwig and the Angry Inch so quickly? (Mitchell's promise that the film is joining The Criterion Collection later this year should fix that.)

Mitchell has given us one of the most unique musicals of the past quarter century, so any return to musical adjacency (National Anthem or otherwise) deserves our attention. Or maybe the distinctive qualities of Hedwig make comparisons - its weathered reductive comparisons to every recent rock musical you can think of - a losing battle...

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How to Wait for "How to Talk to Girls..."

by Chris Feil

It's been so long since the first much salivated over set photos of Nicole Kidman as a spiky haired punch in How to Talk to Girls at Parties, that she's had an entire awards run and career resurgence in the meantime! The John Cameron Mitchell adaptation of Neil Gaiman's short story got a quiet esponse when it debuted in last year's Cannes (outside the competition) and there hasn't been much news since. But now there's a trailer...

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