Zack Sharf Digital News Director Just over a month after The New Yorker published a story in which it was revealed that Hasan Minhaj embellished some of his stand-up routines, the comedian has responded in a 20-minute video in which he calls the The New Yorker’s exposé “needlessly misleading.” “With everything that’s happening in the world, I’m aware even talking about this now feels so trivial,” Minhaj says in the video. “But being accused of ‘faking racism’ is not trivial. It’s very serious, and it demands an explanation…To everyone who read that article, I want to answer the biggest question that’s probably on your mind: Is Hasan Minhaj secretly a psycho? Underneath all that pomp, is Hasan Minhaj just a con artist who uses fake racism and Islamophobia to advance his career? Because after reading that article, I would also think that.” “I just want to say to anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by my stand-up, I am sorry,” he continues.
Guillermo del Toro’s Axed ‘Star Wars’ Movie Was ‘The Rise and Fall of Jabba the Hutt’: I Was ‘Super Happy,’ but ‘It’s Not My Property, Not My Money’
09.10.2023 - 14:45 / variety.com
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Guillermo del Toro sent “Star Wars” fans into a tizzy in late September when he confirmed on social media that he was once planning a trip to a galaxy far, far, away as the director of a “Star Wars” movie. The Oscar winner provided no further details at the time, but he’s now confirmed to Collider’s Steven Weintraub that his axed “Star Wars” movie centered on Jabba the Hutt. Considering del Toro’s love of monsters, it’s hardly a surprise he’d pick Jabba as the focal point for his own “Star Wars” movie.
“We had the rise and fall of Jabba the Hutt, so I was super happy,” del Toro said. “We were doing a lot of stuff, and then it’s not my property, it’s not my money, and then it’s one of those 30 screenplays that goes away. Sometimes I’m bitter, sometimes I’m not.
I always turn to my team and say, ‘Good practice, guys. Good practice. We designed a great world.
We designed great stuff. We learned.’” “You can never be ungrateful with life,” he later added about his “Star Wars” film being axed. “Whatever life sends you, there’s something to be learned from it.
So, you know, I trust the universe, I do. When something doesn’t happen, I go, ‘Why?’ I try to have a dialogue with myself. ‘Why didn’t it happen?’ And the more you swim upstream with the universe, the less you’re gonna realize where you’re going.” David S.
Goyer, the screenwriter best known for penning superhero movies such as “Batman Begins,” “Man of Steel” and more, first revealed the existence of del Toro’s scrapped “Star Wars” movie on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. He said that “a lot of cool art work” was produced for it. “I wrote an un-produced ‘Star Wars’ movie that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct.
James Gandolfini Would Say ‘I F—ing Suck’ Out Loud and ‘Question Himself’ on ‘Sopranos’ Set, Recalls Jamie-Lynn Sigler: ‘I Appreciated That’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director James Gandolfini‘s performance as Tony Soprano on HBO’s “The Sopranos” is often cited as some of the best acting in TV history, but co-star Jamie-Lynn Sigler recently revealed that Gandolfini often questioned himself on the set of the Emmy-winning drama series. Sigler played Tony’s daughter, Meadow, on the show, which ran for six seasons and 86 episodes between 1999 and 2007. “Jim was the type of scene partner where it felt like he was there and his only intention was to make me as good as I could be,” Sigler recalled on a recent episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s “Inside of You” podcast (via Entertainment Weekly).
‘Reservation Dogs’ Star Devery Jacobs Slams ‘Flower Moon’ for Osage Characters Who Are ‘Underwritten’ and ‘Helpless Victims’: ‘Watching This Was F—ing Hellfire’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Devery Jacobs, the Indigenous actor best known for playing Elora on three seasons of FX and Hulu’s “Reservation Dogs,” took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the “strong feelings” she had about Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” She called out the $200 million Western crime epic for not portraying its Osage characters with “honor or dignity” and for further dehumanizing them by depicting their deaths. The film is based on a true story and centers around the Reign of Terror, a term given to the murders of at least 60 members of the Osage nation in the late 1920s.
Marvel Needs to Make ‘Less Films’ and Bad VFX Has ‘F—ed Up Everything,’ Says Matthew Vaughn: ‘Maybe We Need a Little Bit of Time Off’ From Superhero Films
Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Kingsman” director Matthew Vaughn knows a thing or two about bringing comic books to life on the big screen as the filmmaker behind acclaimed outings such as “Kick-Ass” and “X-Men: First Class.” In a recent interview with ScreenRant, the director shared his thoughts on the current era of comic book movies. He said poor visual effects are negatively impacting superhero movies, while also sharing his belief that Marvel needs to take a “less is more” approach. “I genuinely don’t know what’s happening with the superhero [genre] in the sense that, I do think, maybe we all need a little bit of time off from it,” Vaughn said.
Dwayne Johnson Says Paris Museum’s Botched Wax Figure Needs ‘Important Details’ Updated: ‘Starting With My Skin Color’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Dwayne Johnson announced on Instagram that he is reaching out to the Musée Grévin in Paris after it unveiled a botched wax figure of the A-list Hollywood star. Fans reacted in horror earlier this month at the museum’s light-skinned wax figure of Johnson, complete with a suburban dad kind of outfit that Johnson is almost never seen in. The wax figure drew instant comparisons to Mr.
Christopher Nolan: Taylor Swift Skipped Studios for ‘Eras Tour’ Release and Is Showing Them How ‘Incredibly Valuable’ Movie Theaters Are
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Taylor Swift‘s concert movie blockbuster “The Eras Tour” got a shout out from none other than Christopher Nolan during a recent City University of New York event in which the director and his producer and wife Emma Thomas were interviewed by author Kai Bird. It was Bird’s book “American Prometheus” that Nolan adapted into “Oppenheimer,” which is the highest-grossing biopic in film history with $942 million at the worldwide box office. The CUNY discussion took place Oct.
Gwyneth Paltrow Rejects ‘Nepo Baby’ Term Because ‘There’s Nothing Wrong With Doing What Your Parents Do’: It’s an ‘Ugly Moniker’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Gwyneth Paltrow briefly entered the “nepo baby” discourse in January when she commented on an Instagram post of Hailee Bieber wearing a shirt with the moniker on it and wrote: “I might need a few of these.” Now Paltrow, the daughter of actor Blythe Danner and director/producer Bruce Paltrow who is an Oscar winner in her own right, entered the discourse more forcefully by telling Bustle the term “nepo baby” is an “ugly moniker.” “Now there’s this whole nepo baby culture, and judgment that exists around kids of famous people,” Paltrow said when her 19-year-old daughter Apple got brought up. “She’s really just a student, and she’s been very…She just wants to be a kid and be at school and learn.
Oprah: ‘They Were Only Offering $35,000’ to Star in ‘The Color Purple,’ and It’s the ‘Best $35,000 I Ever Earned’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director The upcoming release of “The Color Purple” musical film marks a full circle moment for Oprah Winfrey, who is producing the new adaptation 38 years after playing Sofia in Steven Spielberg’s take on Alice Walker’s seminal novel. Oprah earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actress, and now “The Color Purple” musical could earn her another one as a producer if it lands a best picture nomination. Oprah produced the film along with Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones.
Ridley Scott Watched the New ‘Alien’ Movie and Said ‘It’s F—ing Great,’ Says Director Fede Álvarez: I Was ‘Terrified’ Waiting For His Reaction
Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Don’t Breathe” and “Evil Dead” director Fede Álvarez is reviving the “Alien” franchise next year with the release of a new sequel (reportedly titled “Alien: Romulus“), which he co-wrote with Rodo Sayagues. The film will tell a new story within the “Alien” universe after the film franchise came to a halt following Ridley Scott‘s prequel films “Prometheus” (2012) and “Alien: Covenant” (2017). The latter’s middling box office ended Scott’s run.
Martin Scorsese’s Axed ‘Flower Moon’ Script Was Over 200 Pages Long and ‘Was Going to Take Four-and-a-Half Hours Just to Read’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director The version of “Killers of the Flower Moon” that is opening in theaters this weekend is far different from the “Killers of the Flower Moon” that director Martin Scorsese first attempted to bring to the big screen. Originally, Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth planned to more faithfully adapt David Grann’s 2017 book of the same name and wrote a script from the perspective of the FBI agents who investigated a string of murders among the Osage Nation in the 1920s. Scorsese recently told BFI’s Sight & Sound magazine that this first script “was going to take four-and-a-half hours just to read it.” “Our script was over two hundred pages,” he also confirmed to The New Yorker about the original “Flower Moon” screenplay.
‘Love Actually’ Director Regrets Film’s Weight Jokes, Which ‘Aren’t Funny’ Anymore: ‘I Was Behind the Curve…I Was Unobservant’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Love Actually” writer-director Richard Curtis admitted at the Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival (via Today) that he regrets the many weight-centric jokes he wrote into his 2003 Christmas classic. The character Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) is often mocked for her weight throughout the film, with her dad calling her “plumpy,” a colleague noting she has “huge thighs” and her love interest (Hugh Grant) saying “God, you weigh a lot” after she jumps into his arms.
Britney Spears Speaks Out on ‘Crossroads’ Method Acting Being ‘Messed Up,’ Losing Out on ‘The Notebook’ and Being a ‘Child Robot’ During Conservatorship
Zack Sharf Digital News Director With Britney Spears‘ highly-anticipated memoir “The Woman in Me” gearing up for its Oct. 24 publication date, People magazine is running several excerpts from the book in which the music icon opens up about her conservatorship, acting career and more. Reflecting on her 2002 movie “Crossroads,” Spears noted “the experience wasn’t easy for me” as she unknowingly went Method for the role.
Matthew Vaughn Quit ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ After Discovering Plan to Trick Halle Berry With a Fake Storm Script That Would Be Trashed After She Signed On to Return
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Before Matthew Vaughn earned critical acclaim for rebooting the “X-Men” movie franchise with 2011’s “X-Men: First Class,” he was courted to replace Bryan Singer as the director of 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand.” That tentpole served as the third film in the storyline led by Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, but Vaughn recently revealed at New York City Comic-Con (via ScreenRant) that he rejected the offer to direct the sequel after discovering a studio executive’s plan to deceive Halle Berry into reprising her role as Storm. “One of the main reasons I quit ‘X-Men 3,’ and this is a true story,” Vaughn said. “I went to an executive’s office and I saw an ‘X3’ script.
Joel McHale Responds to Chevy Chase Saying He Didn’t ‘Want to Be Surrounded’ by ‘Community’ Cast: ‘No One Was Keeping You There… The Feeling’s Mutual, Bud’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Joel McHale was asked by People magazine to weigh in on Chevy Chase‘s recent diss of “Community,” the NBC sitcom they starred on together as series regulars for four seasons (McHale continued with the show for two additional seasons), to which McHale said: “He stopped hurting my feelings in 2009.” Speaking on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, Chase said “Community” wasn’t “funny enough for me, ultimately,” adding: “I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me.” Asked about his character, millionaire Pierce Hawthorne, Chase added, “I didn’t mind the character.
Jada Pinkett Smith Thought Will Smith Oscars Slap Was a ‘Skit,’ Reveals They Were Separated for Six Years Before That: ‘We’re Still Figuring Out’ Our Marriage
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jada Pinkett Smith is finally ready to talk about the Will Smith Oscars slap, revealing to People magazine that she originally thought it was a skit when Will took to the stage after presenter Chris Rock made a joke about Jada’s bald head. Rock was presenting the Oscar for best documentary feature at the time. It’s the first time Jada has addressed the slap outside of posting an Instagram graphic just after the slap that read: “This is the season for healing.
Patrick Stewart Says Paramount Asked Him to Wear a Wig for ‘Star Trek’ Audition, So He Shipped One From London to the U.S. — Then Execs Saw Him Bald
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Patrick Stewart writes in his new memoir, “Making It So,” that Paramount executives wanted him to audition for the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” with a wig on, which required his then-wife Sheila Falconer to ship a hairpiece from London to Los Angeles. “Right as I was boarding my plane at Heathrow, my London agent called Sheila at home and notified her that the Paramount people had been in touch, asking if I owned a hairpiece, and if I did, could I bring it to the audition?” Stewart writes (via Insider). “Sheila diligently retrieved my ‘audition wig’ from its space in my wardrobe and boxed it up, whereupon a British Airways representative collected it and placed it on a later flight to Los Angeles.” “I do not know if my hairpiece flew first class,” he continues.
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s First ‘Barbie’ Reunion Is an ‘Ocean’s 11’ Prequel, and Its Producer Is Hoping for Even ‘More Projects’ Starring Them
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling‘s combined star power helped power “Barbie” to $1.4 billion in worldwide ticket sales, an all-time high gross for distributor Warner Bros. The studio is clearly hoping to duplicate this success with its upcoming “Ocean’s 11” prequel movie, which is set to reunite Robbie and Gosling on the big screen. The film will be the first “Ocean’s” project since the Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett-led “Ocean’s 8” in 2018.
Ian McKellen Told Patrick Stewart to Reject ‘Star Trek’ Offer and Stay in Theater, Admitted Later He Was Wrong: ‘You Can’t Throw That Away to Do TV. No!’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Patrick Stewart reveals in his new memoir, “Making It So,” that longtime friend and colleague Ian McKellen advised him to turn down “Star Trek” and stay in theater when Stewart was debating whether to make the jump to a major Hollywood franchise (via Insider). Stewart originated the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” starting in 1987. Prior to “Star Trek,” Stewart was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and won a Laurence Olivier Award for starring in a West End production of “Antony and Cleopatra,” among other theater accomplishments.
‘Priscilla’ Budget Was So ‘Low’ That Sofia Coppola Debated Raffling a Jacob Elordi Pickleball Game to ‘Raise Money for One More Day of Shooting’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Sofia Coppola told the Wall Street Journal that her “Priscilla” budget was so “strained” at times that she thought of raffling off a pickleball game with her star Jacob Elordi in order to raise funds for additional shooting days. “Euphoria” alum Elordi plays Elvis Presley in the film opposite Cailee Spaeny in the title role. Spaeny won best actress honors at the Venice Film Festival for her performance.
Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney Movie ‘Will Not Be Odd,’ Mattel CEO Says After Exec Called It an ‘A24-Type’ Film That’s ‘Surrealistic’ and for Adults
Zack Sharf Digital News Director With Mattel Films off to the races thanks to the blockbuster success of “Barbie,” the studio is moving full steam ahead on its upcoming Barney movie produced by Daniel Kaluuya. The project became a subject of fascination for cinephiles after Mattel Films executive Kevin McKeon told The New Yorker in July that the script was similar to an A24 movie and the “surrealistic” films from Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze.