#brady is doing his best ok

[sicc-nasti]

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--------- Lovely second piece I commissioned Iyel on Twitter for. Pleassse check out their art. They're truly stunning. RED VERSION

[mommahughes19-23]

imma tattoo artist - Q.H

@tattoosbymorgs : did some tattoos and then took my best friend to see my man play his favorite game..

tagged : @yfriend @_quinnhughes

location : VAN

_eliaspettersson : dude that dragon is SICK and I wish I didn't hate needles ...

luca.fantilli : next time I see you I wanna get my tiny love dinosaur

↪ tattoosbymorgs : make it happen lu - you know where I am, bring ya self

bboeser : I WANT YOUR JACKET. give it here!!!!

jackhughes : oh. wow. this is neat.

lhughes_06 : I think your friend is confused as to who's jersey she should wear ..

↪ tattoosbymorgs : DONT PRESSURE MY FRIEND YOU BULLY! SHE CAN CHEER FOR WHO EVER SHE WANTS

trevorzegras : wow... thats legit my bestest lil cousin ever PLEASE TATTOO ME ASAP

↪ tattoosbymorgs : first off im 2 years older than you, second off no, I saw you cheat on me with your other artist.❌

bradytkachuk : dang Quinn, talented and pretty, she's a keeper.

↪ tattoosbymorgs : what is that even supposed to mean?

↪ bradytkachuk : just that youre more skilled than young Quinten will ever be

↪ ehtkachuk : BRADY leave her alone

icole28 : best frienddddddd

lindholmelias : my two best friends ugh

zadorov_16 : I MISS YOU SO MUCH ALREADY OMG I WANT TO FREAKING COME HOME

elblue6 : so talented! love you sweetie.

dakotajoshua8 : will u ever tattoo me?

↪ tattoosbymorgs : probably not because you didn't say please

_tylermyers_ : well even tho you didn't wear any canucks gear I guess its fine... 🆘

↪ tattoosbymorgs : I LET MY FRIEND WEAR IT TO GIVE HER AN AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE YOU FUCK😑😑😑

yfriend : the best time ever!!!!!!!!!! @j.tmiller9 MORE FIGHTSSS

emmamatthews : you crazy girl!! miss you!😜

austonmatthews : any luck convincing Quinn to let you tattoo him?

↪ tattoosbymorgs : you know the answer is still no.... why do you have to be so mean to me

lelexdemko : sweetie that is stunning! cant wait to see you next season!!😘

_quinnhughes : i smile just for you baby ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😁😁😁😁😁

↪ tattoosbymorgs : I love you so much omg 💕💕💕💕💕

nilshoglander : this is a lot of pda idk if I can handle it👀

j,tmiller9 : I wanna get a tattoo by you ☺️

↪ tattoosbymorgs : NO. jk if you bring your children I might reconsider 😏

tdemko30 : @_quinnhughes get my number #35 tattooed on you 😁

↪ _quinnhughes : not going to happen bud

ehtkachuk : STUNNING MOMMAAA ❤️❤️❤️❤️

colecaufield : 🙈

_alexturcotte : 🥴

*TURNING THIS INTO A FEW PART SERIES OF QUINN x TATTOO ARTIST!GF*

A.N : HIIIIII - long note bc some stuff happened and idk it got me thinking.

ok so this is basically me just ranting about tattoo related things :)

This girl is (obviously) an actual tattoo artist who does real business and I am a HUGEEEEE believer in giving credit where it is due.... so I believe her name is Mar, ALL WORKS OF ART ABOVE ARE THE ORIGINAL WORKS OF MAR DO NOT STEAL OR CREDIT AS YOUR OWN. below you can find a link to her Pinterest where I am sure you could research more to find her other socials.

even if you dont want to know more about her work I encourage you to just look at some of it regardless because (again im not a tattoo artist just a girl with a few tattoos and an obsession) I believe she is mainly a fine line style artist and while being an artist of any capacity takes talent fine line is its own art. I know she also does some capacity of portrait work (I haven't seen any people just a few pet ones) and those are also a tremendously precise skill set. all in all I just think that people should appreciate the time, work, and effort these artist put into their work.

anywho I just wanted to say I would be honored for her to tattoo me.

tagged : @quinnylouhughesx43 @skylershines @jacktoria4ever @bunbunbl0gs @63kaprizov

[mrs-stans]

Sebastian Stan on His Cristian Mungiu Film, the ‘Brutalist’ Role He Almost Played, Actors on Actors, and Battling for ‘The Apprentice’

The surprise Golden Globe winner tells IndieWire why the industry remains "apprehensive" about his Donald Trump role and about new indie projects with Mungiu and Justin Kurzel.

BY RYAN LATTANZIO

If you don’t watch Marvel movies, then you don’t know Bucky Barnes, which means you only know Sebastian Stan as the also-indie actor behind films like 2024’s “A Different Man” and “The Apprentice.” Both movies have put him in the awards race, and possibly the Oscar running, especially after his grimly funny, pathos-spiked turn as a self-loathing, out-of-options actor with neurofibromatosis in Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man” won him a surprise Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. That night, he was also nominated for Best Actor in a Drama for “The Apprentice,” where he plays a ’70s New York-era Donald Trump.

Had scheduling gone a different path, he would’ve starred in Brady Corbet’s also-Oscar-contending “The Brutalist,” but Stan had plenty on his plate last year and into this one, setting him up for his biggest awards season run yet. His transformative Trump performance in director Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” has been celebrated since the film‘s 2024 Cannes premiere. Top distributors shunned the film until rookie releaser Briarcliff Entertainment got on board in August 2024, billionaire investor Dan Snyder tried to wrangle creative control and block the release, and, eventually, Stan’s peers declined the chance to speak with the American-Romanian actor in Variety’s popular Actors on Actors series, a major platform for awards contenders. Stan has been candid about not finding a sparring partner for the publication’s viral program. Why not? People don’t want to go near a movie about the incumbent president, including American audiences ($4 million domestic).

Speaking with IndieWire over the phone, Stan said that once he went public with why he wasn’t participating in Actors on Actors, “A lot of friends called me and said, ‘Hey let’s go do this together.’ That was obviously very thoughtful and very kind, but for us, Ali, Jeremy [Strong, who plays lawyer Roy Cohn], that was nothing really new.” (Last November, Variety’s editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh told IndieWire, “We invited [Stan] to participate in ‘Actors on Actors,’ the biggest franchise of awards season, but other actors didn’t want to pair with him because they didn’t want to talk about Donald Trump.”)

Stan continued, “We had been facing that kind of a thing since Cannes, whether it had even been photo shoots promoting the film, or certain people that were like, ‘We don’t want to go near this.’ Every interview since Cannes, we’ve been asked, ‘How’s the reception been? Why do you think studios are apprenehsive?’ This is sadly the reality. We have a lot of people who love this film or say they do, but when it comes down to jumping in the fire a little bit … hesitancy is understandable, to some extent.”

While understanding the emotional component around not wanting to see a movie about a leader and convicted felon who is on TV every second of the news day, Stan said, “However, around hesitancy, there’s also a slippery slope toward indifference, and that complements fear. That’s the only distinction we have to keep trying to make. You can rightfully own, ‘Hey, this isn’t for me,’ or ‘I don’t want to go there.’ But in terms of ‘I’m too worried, I’m too scared, I don’t want to get in hot water,’ then it’s like, what’s the next thing that becomes OK to not want to deal with it because it’s uncomfortable? We didn’t understand what was so uncomfortable about the movie.”

“The Apprentice” received mixed reviews at Cannes, though I remember in my festival screening being surrounded by European journalists laughing their heads off because they see Trump as a comic figure. Many Americans do not, and with “The Apprentice,” we don’t yet have the benefit of hindsight because we’re still living in the Trump era.

“Usually what happens is you look at movies like ‘Nixon’ or the movie ‘Downfall,’ which is about Hitler, [the movies] happen years later. We’ve had time to process our emotions about it, and we’ve had some distance so we can go back and look at what went wrong or what we [believed] at the time,” Stan said. “You don’t have that luxury [with ‘The Apprentice’]. We don’t have the luxury of not dealing with this person.”

Going back to his moment winning the Globe for “A Different Man,” it’s been a mixed blessing for double nominee Stan.

“There was this unbelievable kind of moment at the Globes that I never really thought was ever going to happen, and you have a brief moment of that, and suddenly, anything can flip,” he said of L.A. going into panic mode right after the Globes amid the ongoing wildfires in Southern California. “In terms of Mother Nature… at the end of the day, it really is just people. We’re all in the same boat there. There’s nothing to differentiate or anything. We are all pretty much in the same boat.”

After he’s finished with awards season duties, Stan expects to head to Europe in March to film the new film from Palme d’Or-winning auteur Cristian Mungiu, which brings the “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” filmmaker’s usual moral ambiguity into a real-life case of abuse in Romania. He’ll be reuniting with “A Different Man” star Renate Reinsve for the film, which will shoot in Romanian, English, and Norwegian.

“With all of these smaller indies, I always feel even while I’m on the plane going there, I’m always worried, ‘Is the financing going to come through? It’s on its way,” Stan said. “He’s been up there with me for a few years with filmmakers from Romania where I’ve been calling him trying to find a way to work with him, where I can speak Romanian as well. We finally found this story, which is about a Romanian family who’s moved to Norway and then ends up in this very complicated trial. There’s a system [that] investigates cases if there’s ever been physical abuse in the household between the parents or the kids. They go investigating the family for an incident, and it leads to this trial. It happened before the pandemic, and it became national news. There were a lot of religious communities that came to their side, and it’s really interesting and quite complicated.”

Stan has also been instrumental in shepherding the next film from Australian “The Order” director Justin Kurzel, “Burning Rainbow,” about a true Waco-style FBI standoff that brought down a pro-marijuana campground in Michigan a week before 9/11. He’s attached to star in the story of Tom Crosslin and Rolland Rohm, a gay couple defending their land amid police investigations linked to a Rainbow Farm festival-associated killing and their marijuana plants.

“They were raising a child as well,” Stan said. “They were real activists in some ways, and they were very controversial as well because they were running this Rainbow Farm, which was like the start of this Woodstock-style festival that was bringing all these people together, advocating for legalizing marijuana. It was also such a loving place. They were attracting a lot of attention from local authorities, and a lot of controversies were going on down there. It all happened before 9/11, so there are many people who don’t know this story. But I’ve known about it for six years or something. I’ve been tracking it through different evolutions, and it finally landed with Justin. I was tracking him now for two years to basically give me a chance, and finally, I think we’ve got to go and find all the other people.”

As for “The Brutalist,” Stan was announced to star in Brady Corbet’s Golden Globe Best Picture winner in 2019, but scheduling changes on “The Apprentice” interfered. (“The Brutalist” shot in early 2023; “The Apprentice” didn’t film until that fall after a few false starts.) Stan would’ve played Joe Alwyn’s role, Harry Lee Van Buren, the pompous son of Guy Pearce’s moneyed industrialist who exploits Adrien Brody’s Jewish-Hungarian architect.

“I’m glad that the timing [didn’t work out] … The difficulty of that movie is astounding. What they were able to achieve. Some of us would be attached. I was sort of the last one, but then [Corbet] started to go. Because ‘Apprentice’ kept getting pushed, those two started to overlap at one point. I wasn’t available for it, but having seen the movie, Joe is amazing in it, and I would have been too old by that point anyway. I feel like it worked out for the best. It makes total sense with Guy being his father,” Stan said.

As for how Stan’s indie roles fit into the Marvel orbit, especially as he’ll be seen in “Thunderbolts” this spring again as Bucky Barnes, he said, “If I hadn’t had so many opportunities with Marvel with that character alone and creatively what I got to do, I don’t know if I would have been as driven to go in this other direction as well and try to find things that I’m not always at the top of mind for. I believe, like Brady Corbet, films are a directors’ medium. It is about the filmmaker. We have to trust the filmmakers. The best films to me, in my experiences, were with really strong directors with these strong points of view. It’s been amazing to watch Brady. I was attached to that film for a long time, going back to 2019, so I’ve known of that movie and have known Brady since we were kids auditioning. I would see him at casting calls, him and his mom. Even watching him up there on Sunday felt like I’d been weirdly attached to that story as well.”

[leonardperreault]

Maisie getting really sick and Jack being the best boyfriend takes care of her when she is sick

ok im changing this a little bit because i had this idea on my car ride today and i want to write it so I'm sorry

tw for panic attack and abusive flashbacks

"NO NO NO!" maisie yells flailing her body as the team pt tries to massage her,

"maisie," the pt tries,

"NO DO NOT!" the gymnast yells,

"she needs jack," simone says as she sits up, "this happens sometimes and she needs jack," the veteran then grabs her phone and sends a sos to her teammates boyfriend.

it takes about 15 minutes before the entire hughes family and maisie's family are running into the room,

"mais," jack yells running towards his girlfriend,

"NO!" maisie yells again as she heaves and sobs.

the devils forward flinches back from his girlfriend,

"maisie?" jack says softly, but the girl doesn't even respond.

jack looks back at his and maisies family, tears in his eyes,

"i dont-" he starts.

quinn steps forward,

"i think everyone should go," the defenseman says softly as he looks at simone, who nods.

it takes a moment but soon all who is left in the room is quinn, jack, simone, and maisie.

"maisie?" quinn whispers, noticing how the girl seems to freeze at his voice,

"win?" she asks,

"hi," he says softly, "its me, jacky and simone," he reassures, "is that ok?" he asks,

"drive me home?" maisie asks causing quinn to realize whats going on.

when he was in the program, he and brady would go pick maisie up from practice and drive her home.

most days she was quiet, and quinn assumed it was because she was tired, but now it makes sense,

"yah maiz," he coos as he approaches her, "its me,"

"home?" the girl asks.

quinn takes a deep breath,

"were in paris mais," he whispers, "you're competing in the olympics. its been a long time," maisie looks up eyes unseeing,

"jacky?" she cries. quinn smiles nodding,

"hes here," the eldest hughes reassures, "do you want him?" the girl nods,

"olease,"

[luminouslywriting]

Hiya,

I hope you are doing OK and recuperating after your surgery. Absolutely love our writing! Please could you do headcanons or a one shot for one of the Masters of the Air men and a crippling shy oc. I'm so shy, especially in social situations and this is very self-indulgent. No worries if not :)

Hi sweet Nonny! I appreciate your kindness! My surgery is next week (on the 21st) and I am so grateful for you checking in on me! My requests are open and I seriously love this one 🥰

Cut for length, more under the cut:

Bucky Egan:

-This man can be a lot for people at times, but he also cares more deeply than anyone else

-He’s attentive to social and physical cues for anxiety

-Is a cuddle bug when it comes to you being anxious

-Loves being able to just hold you on his lap or sit with his arm around you in social interactions and is very happy to take over and be the social one

-He loves feeling like he’s taking care of you and loves getting to be gentle and calm with you….it also helps him clear his head

-Definitely knows all the words to your favorite songs and sings them to you when you’re upset

-And he loves bringing you flowers to cheer you up

Gale Cleven:

-Soft energy KING!! This man right here is so understanding and sweet about your shyness and is absolutely your rock

-Is really attentive in public and encourages you to drink water or to take things at your own pace

-Is very physically there for you and a grounding presence in times of anxiousness

-Since Gale doesn’t like being out a lot anyway, he’s more than happy to have a night in with you

-Whispers sweet assurances to you in your ear

-Also very good at talking through how you’re feeling and prefers to be communicative

-Gives the best hugs when you’re anxious

Rosie Rosenthal:

-Literally a hype king and always down for whatever you’re feeling. Whether you’re anxious or want to try something out, he’ll be right by your side. -Is super tender and patient with you, especially when you’re taking the time to try and express yourself

-Does his own research about anxiety and might propose helpful ideas for how to make life easier for you

-Loves the quiet moments when it’s just the two of you and you’re able to be open

-Forehead kisses when you’re anxious

-Literally just wants to hug you and make sure you never cry ever

John Brady:

-A patient listener who quietly reassures you that he’s always going to be there for you

-He’s fairly quiet and chill himself, AND he’s very attentive. Because he’s a giver, he’s going to constantly be looking for things to brighten you up or help ease your anxiety. -Probably the type to get into meditations for anxiety to help you with positive affirmations

-He likes going out just fine but if he knows that you’re not, this man is PREPARED to hunker down and just give you some loving. -Discovers that music and rhythm really help when you’re anxious and he’s always prepared to step in with his instruments or with a steady beat that you can count. -Also a massive cuddles and loves being able to hold you….he treasures this time

-Always takes the time to tell you how brave you are and how proud he is of you and how much he loves you

[amiserableseriesofevents]

To celebrate one week since the ending of Such Stuff, here are some headcanons about the future that awaits our boys 🥰✨

Such stuff future headcanons 🎭

They make it work, obviously. It takes a while for things to go smoothly, they fight some more, but they both do their best to find solutions and in the end it pays off. John learns to speak up when things are bothering him without fearing a negative reaction from Gale, and Gale learns to ask questions and not to assume he knows everything that goes through John's mind.

Gale doesn't become a full-time professional actor but he keeps acting with amateur groups and sometimes he joins the Hundredth's productions in smaller roles and John always brings him flowers at the stage door, even if he was acting too.

It's ok, though: at some point he realizes he actually likes teaching and once he's not a substitute teacher anymore he likes it even more!

Gale also runs the drama club at school, and every year there's a different actor from the Hundredth working with him to teach the kids. They put on a show that goes live for one night at the Abbotts at the end of the school year, and soon the other schools in the area want the same kind of extracurricular. Bonus: Tabitha does actually become an actress!

Marge becomes the Hundredth's official costume designer and even when she moves on to bigger clients she still takes time to design things for them for (almost) free. And after a long on again-off again stage, she and Rosie actually do get together for good and become the Girlboss/Malewife duo that was missing from the group.

John's career takes off after the Tempest, he remains in the Bloody Hundredth but also participates in productions of bigger companies. He ends up winning different awards, most importantly a Tony, and dedicates every single one to “his partner, his Buck”, and later to “his husband, his Buck.”

John and Alex act together in something at some point and Gale risks having a stroke because he didn't know he could fangirl so much.

Gale and John start thinking about moving in together around a year after the Tempest, but Gale feels guilty because he doesn't want to leave Benny with the burden of a rent too high/a house too big for a single person. What he doesn't know is that Benny is hesitating about moving in with Brady for the exact same reason; luckily for them Bucky and Brady figure it out and make the other two talk about it.

They end up finding flats in the same building, one on top of the other, which is great so Meatball can have all his four dads with him.

Benny and Gale still have lunch together at their diner on Sundays, once a month without exceptions.

When Bucky's mom and/or sisters come visit they always want to see Brady too and bring food and other stuff for both their boys.

John tries reconnecting with his father but since he still disapproves of his career he decides to cut him loose. It hurts him a whole lot, and Gale does his best to comfort him because he knows exactly what it's like.

Three years after they first met Gale decides that he wants to ask John to marry him. He goes at great lengths to plan the perfect proposal because he knows John would like something big and extravagant; he chooses the Abbotts as the perfect spot, prepares a picnic to eat on stage and vows everyone else to secrecy.

Still, the proposal doesn't go as planned because John can't keep his mouth shut (we'll see this moment in the future, I promise). But they still get engaged and they'll have a funny story to tell their guests!

John's vows at the wedding are super elaborate with quotes from good ol' Will Shakespeare, math puns, and whatnot, but he gets so emotional that he starts tearing up so his sniffles the whole time he reads them. Gale affectionately gives him shit about it after the wedding but in that moment he is so incredibly happy he feels like crying too.

Gale wouldn't mind taking John's last name after the wedding but he suggests to hyphenate them so Gale won't lose part of himself, and Gale accepts.

Benny and Brady adopt a little girl from the foster system, it's Brady's idea because he wants do be for someone else what Bucky's family has been for him. The girl instantly becomes the mascot for the Hundredth as everyone loves her, and auntie Marge makes her beautiful dresses.

The question of having kids or not creates a little bit of tension between the Bucks because they both want them but John fears Gale doesn't because of his father, and Gale fears John doesn't because of his career. They both talk about it with their sleep deprived ex roommates and they force them to fucking get it together.

They end up adopting a kid too, a few years later than their friends, when John's career is at a point where he can take some time off without risking losing too much money and opportunities. It's a little girl and her name's Viola, like the main character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, so they take it as a sign from fate.

She becomes the Hundredth's second mascotte, and best friend/cousin to little Amelia DeMarco. When they're a little older they put on mini plays for their families, because of course theatre is a big part of their upbringing! They like to watch their dads act and the Abbotts is basically their second home. The Colonel pretends to be annoyed by it but they're his uttermost delight.

John doesn't die at 45 in this universe but he still has a health scare around that age, like a worrying bout of tachycardia right when he's working on a new project. He only goes to the doctor because Gale pushes him, he's convinced it's gonna be nothing but the doctor tells him he's actually at risk of heart conditions.

Gale immediately puts him on a healthier diet and starts worrying immensely about him, always checking where John is and what he's doing, until one day he fully has a panic attack because he can't reach him (John's simply rehearsing) and it's John turn to drive him to the hospital.

They talk about it because they can't keep goin on like this. John promises to take a break after this new show is over, then he'll talk to the doctors about a pacemaker or something. Gale makes him install an app on his watch so he can monitor his heartbeat remotely, and with the help of his friends and daughter tries to keep his anxiety in check.

They have a pretty ugly fight when John tries to launch himself into another project after this one, Gale accusing him of not caring about himself or their family.

Their friends help them riconciliate, and Crosby saves the day asking John to help him write and direct a new play; it's less stressing on the body than acting, and John finds out he's actually pretty good at that too. They win some prizes, but after the run is over John goes back to acting.

He doesn't present it as an ultimatum to Gale, he even tells him he'll quit if that would make him feel better, but Gale knows what theatre means to John and by now he's learned how to cope with his anxiety so he gives him his blessing. And oh boy, John shows him well how thankful he is for that...

That's it for now, but more may come in the future!

[mercurygray]

I wish you would write a fic.... that little side spaghetti dish of Fred and a baby AU because it's a LOOK ok Juno xx

Oh, go ahead, twist my arm. (For those of you just joining the program, it's a follow up to this piece.)

What if they didn't know him when he arrived?

It was a short enough ride from the base to the train station, and maybe after the places he'd been he should be able to sleep through it like most of the other fellows were doing, but John Brady couldn't sleep, not when he didn't know what would be waiting for him.

She said she'd be there, John. And she will be. Fred doesn't say things she doesn't mean.

But eighteen months could make a lot of changes. He wasn't the same person he'd been in England, and she wouldn't be the same woman, either. He'd looked in the mirror when he'd washed his hands and the face that looked back at him hardly seemed to belong to him. That station will be filled with soldiers. She won't know which one is me.

There were a hundred things that could have gone wrong, between his last letter home and today. She could have missed her own train, or they might have changed the timetable, or she might not have been able to get the day off of work.

The bus stopped, and one by one, the sleepers awakened, rubbing their eyes and adjusting their caps, grabbing duffels and overcoats and saying farewell to their travel companions. John stood up, the strap of his bag heavy in his hand.

The station was full of families, waiting expectantly in their best coats and hats, tearful mothers and smiling wives, and he realized, belatedly, that he should have asked for the color of her coat.

"John! John Brady!"

There she was, in Alice blue, and suddenly he couldn't see, his eyes filled with tears and nothing like he'd rehearsed it. He dropped his duffel, unable to move, and Fred was moving quick enough for the both of them and then she was with him and his arms were blindly, awkwardly around her. "Fred."

"What, did you think I was going to leave you here all alone?" Fred chided with a smile, her voice warm in his ear.

"Was afraid you wouldn't recognize me," he admitted, still hugging her close. Fred! Here! Not a dream and not a ghost, only the thing he had longed for.

"It would take a lot longer than that to forget your face," she said, and he could hear the tears in her own voice. "But this one doesn't know you just yet," she offered, pulling away just a little so the child in her arms could look up, confused by the sudden emotion and her mother's apparent distress. The little face turned, all red cheeks and curious eyes, pressing back into the familiar confines of her mother's coat, and John felt the tears start up again. She's so big! "Do you want to smile for Daddy, Aggie?" Fred asked, glancing into the child's bright blue eyes, and Brady could feel his own eyes tearing up at the sound of Daddy and Aggie and Fred's gentle child-sized question, recognizing the gaze as a perfect little copy of his own. This is mine! This is my daughter!

"Hello, Agnes Grace," he said, smiling through his tears, stroking the child's bewildered cheek. "You're more beautiful than your mom said."

[bropunzeling]

I wish you would write a fic about ship of your choice hiding their relationship, and then the relationship reveal - voluntary or involuntary!

ok but this is soooooo matthew/quinn coded. my friends have led me down this rabbit hole and they're so right to do so. being into your best friend's brother is just so!!!! it is very!!!!

anyway i think this would be one where like, two years back (summer of The Trade and brady's engagement) quinn comes to spend time with brady and that naturally leads to him spending time with matthew bc brady is busy being almost/actually engaged and matthew is There. and maybe quinn had a tiny miniscule crush on matthew back in high school but wasn't ever gonna do anything about it bc (a) best friend's brother (b) like matthew would ever. except now it seems kinda like matthew would? maybe? and it leads to them falling into bed together, a bit of matthew distracting himself from thoughts of the future but also they are both young and hot and game, and the sneaking around is fun and sexy when it's temporary.

smash cut to this summer. they have continued the sneaking around. they definitely fucked after brady's wedding. they have done some stuff the few times either one was in town. there's some texting. some independent hanging out. matthew drunk calls quinn after he wins the cup. quinn sober calls matthew when he wins the norris. they both go to 4 nations. the sex is hot and also weirdly tender and quinn is forced to confront that maybe this isn't just weird hot sneaking around anymore. they're both going to the olympics and obviously he's happy to do that and to spend time with brady and to have olympics sex with matthew but also he kind of wants to go walk along the seine and let matthew touch the small of his back.

and maybe they're on the verge of figuring out what this is -- that it could be something more than what it's been; that maybe it already is something more and they're only now catching up -- when brady walks in on them :)

[therealslimshakespeare]

What do you have in store for Ida and Rosie’s story? Because they are the only pairing who aren’t at the POW camp.

Aha!! This is gonna be a long answer, hence why I let your ask molder away as I worked on a reply, thanks for your patience.

I can’t wait to weave this whole thing, and it’s honestly the only postwar story I’m at all sure about in this universe so far. Let’s just say it’s a hella slow burn. Even after getting married. Because they do marry. Rather soon. But they are a bit of a buddy cop duo. Romantic love -at least for Ida- comes later.

I think it’s safe to assume that dear Ida was present when Rosie first introduced himself to the Bucks, told his underwear story and generally made a magnificent entry. Now, one must consider two things with this:

1. Rosie’s regret over what the hell he was thinking telling that story would be compounded by telling it in front of a female officer

2. Ida might have always been a stiff spined stickler before her trauma and the Stalag, but she did have a sense of humor. I like to think she found him funny, plus, with the Bucks beginning to fray a little in their own morale, flagging in offering encouragement to the newbies, I think Ida would be the sort to fill that role, best she can. Surprisingly, Rosenthal, Nash, Pappy, they’re not the sorta men to resent a woman giving them a pep m-up chat.

Now, keep in mind it’s three missions later and she’s been downed so there was not really a connection made there. Although I love to think that some night in the Stalag when everyone is bored and playing ask games with each other, one of the questions is:

“Who was the last person ya danced with?”

And Bucky gets to tell about Paulina and Gale gets chafed about choosing Meatball over Maureen and Brady bemoans having been so stuck on the bandstand playing sax instead of taking his chances and then when it’s Ida’s turn she’s just: “it was one of the new ones, the ‘egg frying on the instrument panel,’ guy.”

This is met with a chorus of “Rosenthal???”

“Told me to call him Rosie.” Ida shrugs. “He had some fun moves.”

Anyways. That’s a far off thing by April of ‘45.

SPOILERS ABOUT ESCAPE:

….

when Ida get away with Gale and makes it back first of anyone to England? Best believe she is beyond distracted with worry for her girls. Who’s there to meet her and welcome her and Cleven to Thorpe? Crosby of course -and Rosie. Malnourished, ptsd riddled and burdened with responsibility for her girls, Ida isn’t exactly the sparkly female Colonel that Rosenthal remembers meeting and dancing with.

In fact, that first initial interaction goes a bit sourly. She needs a nap, he awkwardly needs a deposition on her treatment. It’s a little rough, ok?

But the longer she is back at Thorpe, reunited with her few girls still there who were never downed, she learns how well their new Lt. Colonel -Rosenthal- has looked after them, fought to resend the grounding orders after Ida went down, generally been a good bean.

Also, due to being her superior now and having been given the legal burden of collecting information and evidence on the girls treatment by the Germans, Rosenthal and Ida start spending time, a lotta time, together.

There’s Jeep chauffeuring, Coffee Breaks and Mercy Runs where he goads her into buzzing the tower for the first time in her life -“of course I haven’t done it before, Rosenthal. One of you cats do it and it’s cute, I do it and I’m fired. No, I don’t mean discharged, I mean plainly fired.”

And then there’s the depositions, eventually full of her having to dictate shit that she’s never vocalized since it happened to her. Somehow, Rosie makes the whole thing easier than she ever expected. Not to say it’s easy. Although if you asked his female secretary, she’d say the one more visibly affected by it was the male lawyer, not the half catatonic victim spewing a rote litany of horror.

One time, his grip on his pencil gets so tight that it snaps. Ida replaces it. His quiet rage for her is about the best closure she’s felt so far. And that thread of such shared knowledge between them and them alone, even if it was in professional context? -That’s Intimacy. Far more than kisses or rings.

A righteous vengeance duo? Yes please, they’re a force to be reckoned with as the war winds down.

Before long Ida is asking Croz, “Was Rosenthal always that pretty?”

Harry is cackling over it, “Yeah.” He goads her, “But he is more confident now.”

“Confidence.” Ida repeats, trying to convince herself, “Yeah, that would be it.”

The thing of it is, Ida was unsure or marriage before her brutal treatment in captivity. Now? And after her military experience? She’s very sure she could never be a wife. Not even of a smart and secure man like Robert Rosenthal. Men just expect certain things and dynamics from their wives and Ida has never been sure she had that in her. Now she’s positive. And she’s too proud to marry only to then “turn a blind eye” as he finds what she lacks in women elsewhere.

Rosie? His argument is that what they’ve already built these last months, it’s what he wants. Marrying her is to keep that. If that’s all they ever have that’s enough, he couldn’t stand to lose it.

A chaste honeymoon on the way to Nuremberg to go fuck up a bunch of Nazis for the second time in their young lives? You betcha.

[pinksiames]

John Egan didn’t have a staring problem.

Yeah he had been caught ogling the girls back in England a little too long, and had given enough sharp glares that got him into trouble enough times to hopefully learn a lesson he’ll never remember. But he wouldn’t say it was a problem. It wasn’t weird to him that he had his best friend's face memorized, from the long, blonde lashes that complimented his baby blues to the moles and freckles that speckled across his tan cheeks. It wasn’t strange that he knew the full expanse of his body, strong shoulders that melted into soft pecs and grabble waist, how he arched his back a certain way in the shower, warm water drops rippling down curves of muscle. It’s not even out of the blue how he knew how Bucks slender but lean legs shaped themselves, crossing at the knee so elegant and dainty that some people could get the wrong impression just with a simple glance.

That’s about how Gale looked right now. John went and picked him up in their little Jeep, legs crossed so neatly at the knee, hands resting on top of his thighs, driving them and a few of the other men into town and to the local Pub they had quickly become regulars at. And like usual Gale was in his passenger seat, having Bucky drive him around like his chauffeur.

It’s not like he didn’t mind, he actually preferred it. It was, in his minds eye, an act of love. A small way to show the younger man that he cared about him. But it didn’t stop him from teasing him.

“I’m thinking about getting a sticker to put on your seat that says ‘this seat is reserved for Gale “passenger princess” Buck Cleven.” He smirked, earning him a light shove of his shoulder and pink flaring across Gales cheeks.

Tonight was no different than the others. John, Curt and Brady were busy getting drunk, but knowing them it was going to be a while before they reached the level of drunkness they wanted. Gale was sat at the bar, ginger beer in hand as he watched his boys make fools of themselves with the women around them. Bucky kept a trained eye out for his best friend despite the current copper headed woman that was velcroed to his side, who’s name he had already forgotten. If at a glance the blonde almost looked sad, distant. Like he was lost in thought. Bucky just simply couldn’t have his buck dwelling on such grim things. He said a few words that got him separated from the woman, sauntering over back to the bar.

“What’s got that pretty little head of yours all riled up about hm?” He asked, leaning on his side against the worn oak.

Gale just shook his head, resting his chin in his palm as his gaze shifted downward. “It’s nothing important. Just thinking.” He replied.

“Well it’s gotta be somewhat important if it’s got you lookin like a kicked puppy Buck.” He sighed, a large hand gently resting on a plush cheek. Gales eyes quickly darted up to John’s, that same familiar shade of pink flushing itself across tan skin. “I know your not a drinker but maybe just one to loosen you up ok? You look absolutely miserable.” He joked half heartedly. Giving his cheeks a pinch before pulling his hand back, his palm suddenly feeling empty.

He could see the thoughts tumbling around in gales head, trying to decide whether or not to take John up on his offer. He swore off drinking or anything like it. He didn’t want to turn into the man his daddy was, beatin on Gale when he lost his bets. But he wasn’t like his daddy. He was a good man. With a good woman waiting for him at home. Even if it was a lavender relationship. What was the harm in one drink?

“Fine, but only one. I don’t think my body could take more than one. I don’t think it could even take half a drink.” Gale said, leaning his elbows and chest against the bar. God Bucky needed to get his staring in check before someone pointed it out. He ordered for Gale, a dark brew English beer that wasn’t as good as the ones in the states but it was better than nothing. Sliding it over he watched buck do a sniff test, his nose scrunching adorably in disgust.

“God it smells like piss, and you enjoy drinking it?” He asked, holding the glass up to John’s eye level.

“It’s not the taste or smell that makes it good, it’s how it makes you feel. That’s what’s so great about it. You drink enough to forget it also tastes like piss because your floating in the clouds. No go on, take a drink. If you gotta plug your nose do it.” Bucky encouraged, his eyes locked on Gales plump lips as they touched the rim. How his throat looked swallowing the drink down. He took some pretty decent gulps before setting it down finally, sucking in heavy breaths trying to catch it back.

“God that tasted like shit. I can’t believe this is what yall get excited for everytime we come into town.” He groaned. And then it hit him. That nice fuzzy feeling in his brain, the sudden heaviness of his limbs. Knew he was a lightweight but by god he didn’t know it was this bad.

Um here’s my very shitty wip of a fic I’m trying to get through with writers block

[instructionsnotincluded]

True North

Lovely banner by @lady-cheeky

Chapter XXIII

Excerpt:

Rose motioned for the lighter back and Frank slid it across the table, Rose stashing it back into her purse. “After I decide who I want to talk to.” Rose rested an elbow on the table, voice lowering slightly now that Bucky was far enough away, “Ok—so who do we like and who do we not like?”

“Everyone’s very nice,” Frank exhaled a stream of smoke, eyes flickering across the pub to see if she recognized any of the men. She spotted Buck walking towards Bucky, the two best friends greeting each other, Buck’s hand slapping Bucky’s shoulder, “Buck’s taken.”

“The blonde?”

Frank nodded. 

“I should have guessed that one.” Rose eyed the man beside Bucky, “He looks like he’s taken. Is he married, then?”

“Not yet,” Frank shook her head, “but from what I’ve heard, I don't think he’s far off from it.”

“Noted.” Rose nodded. “Who else?” “Uh…” Frank tapped the edge of her cigarette against the ashtray on the table, eyes running across more of the men, “Brady’s in the corner over there. I’m told he can play the piano, but I’m not sure if he’s attached or not.”

“Long fingers, then. That’s nice—check for Brady.” Rose nodded, eyeing the pilot at one of the tables in the far corner, “Who’s with him?”

“I have no idea,” Frank shook her head, not at all recognizing the shorter man with him, a single, thin curl falling across his forehead, “I haven’t met him.”

“Probably not a pilot, then.” Rose pivoted, eyes sweeping the bar, “Where’s Amelia’s guy? What’s his name again? Has she completely shattered his hope?”

“DeMarco,” Frank craned her neck, trying to spot the familiar face, “Benny—but I don’t see him anywhere…Bucky says he’s pretty smitten with her, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not here. Last time I spoke with him, I told him not to give up.”

“Poor thing,” Rose made a face, “I’m not sure she’ll change her mind…”

“I think if he gives her space, but lets her know he’s still around, she might,” Frank lifted a shoulder. At Rose’s flat look Frank chuckled softly, taking a lengthy drag from her cigarette, “Or, you know…maybe not…”

[sieglinde-freud]

so the way endings in awakening work is a bit off if you have the gay mod because it reads single people normally, but married people have the man’s ending read, and then his wife just. attached. and so that alters which ending you see for both of them. unfortunately, that means if i have f/f pairs, which most of them were, i dont get to see any because none of them were read. and at least with the second gen, i did almost entirely f/f pairs, which dont show up, or m/m pairs, which had nothing written, so. everyone please give it up for gerome and cynthia, the only second gen ending i got to see!

😭😭 good for them!!! anyways unorganized final thoughts under cut so i dont have to make a whole other post for it

awakening lunatic sucks! but project thabes makes it suck a little less. in all honesty i had a lot of fun, awakenings a good game to revisit, and finding a way to make it challenging while being able to use my favorite units (awakening second gen) ever was awesome. normally having all 13 (or 14 in this case, with both morgans) would break the game, but lunatic kept the enemies strong, so it didnt matter what my units had. i actually got overwhelmed a lot 😭 HUGE difficulty jump between hard and lunatic all i’m saying. and then the games like “hey now u have lunatic+ if that interests you” NOOOOO THANKS.

anyways. here are my top three guys according to the medal thingies at the end

im so proud of them :3 of all the kids really but yeah these three were huge standouts. virion actually got a change in the mod where one of his subclasses was swapped for myrmidon, so yarne got to inherit astra which was actually insane? it procced ALL THE TIME so. that was crazy. chrom!inigo and fred!cynthia are always good thats not new but they were really clutch in the last few chapters. i had them both hopping around classes for most of the game bc thabes redoes skill progression so. IT TOOK CYNTHIA SO LONG TO LEARN LUNA. ITS FROM WYVERN LORD. GOD. she went through a LOT of classes yall dont even know. also honorable mention to marc and morgan, the best rallybots ever, and dancer lucina, who was outserving everyone she was in a scene with. my girl.

like ok serving cunt on the back of the god youre about to kill? get it girl!

anyways so for second gen pairs i did: lucina/f!morgan, owain/m!morgan, inigo/laurent, yarne/brady, severa/kjelle, nah/noire, and cynthia/gerome and you know what. i think i have a great taste. a lot of these were born from being unable to do other pairings but thats ok. i liked how it turned out. though i was gonna do nah/noire anyways because they were actually like. an insane duo. honestly im surprised noire didnt get a medal thing bc i feel like her nostanking with nah backing her up got me out of so much shit. maybe its because i didnt see her ending… oh. oh wait thats probably it. well. anyways.

i think awakening is not a properly balanced game, nor are the maps made for a difficulty like this. towards the end game especially, the maps are just. flat. most of them anyways, and they just become really repetitive and bland and boring. and despite this being the game with the tactician character of all the time, they dont really allow you flexible strategies, because if youre not pair up stat stacking, you will die! and that sucks. mid game is alright, but the last arc is really weak and kinda dampered my whole experience. im glad i did it, but i wouldnt actually reccomend it to anyone unless you like to play like that (which is totally fine! its just not my thing). definitely requires some solid planning as well. all in all, not the worst fire emblem ive played but… well. im not doing it again. ok anyways heres inigo mouthing off at grima

[bitterrobin]

21, 23, 10 for choose vioelnce

10. worst part of fanon -- see I could go specific on this and say: Tim gets whumped so hard that I barely see anything positive of his canon in fics and everyone else around him are made out to suck, and Jason gets put on a pedestal because he serves as an easy counter to Bruce's philosophy and while thats cool he also gets whumped to hell and back. I could say Dick gets utterly fucked over by other fans because they're so willing to overlook his canon traumas in service of emotional/narrative fodder for their favs and Damian will never get to grow up in fandom's eyes because they still think of him as a spoiled psychopath who should've never been born. I could rant about how female characters don't exist to them because misogyny and a fixation on male trauma and that Bruce is never understood. He's either an unnaturally good and kind father who advocates for therapy and acts like a robot reading a parenting manual OR he's the worst abuser and manipulator, so bad that if a kid says they love him they're actually getting Stockholm'd. But all of these claims fall under the same umbrellas. The truth is the worst part of fanon does this: it obsesses over labels and trauma and the right side of an argument like it'll get their favorite character a good grade in "most traumatized abused child vigilante in DC" AND so actively refuses to engage in the source material that those characters they work so hard for aren't even the comic character anymore. Every time I read a fic or a meta that falls under these, I get really confused. That isn't Tim Drake thats Timely Rake. That isn't Dick Grayson thats Ricky Whitedaughter. That isn't Jason Todd thats Jackson Rod. That isn't Damian Wayne thats literally Damien from The Omen. That isn't Bruce Wayne thats his evil twin Brick Water. Unfortunately theres no fixing it because taste and interpretations are subjective, and I think the entire fandom would go down in flames kicking and screaming before we ever tweak popular fanon ideas to be a little more accurate.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped -- i'm going to get crucified for this but everyone slotting into a perfect family dynamic where everyone loves each other and if anything bad happens, a sibling will fix it for them. I'm not exempt from enjoying fluff fics, its how I got into the actual fic/tumblr side of the fandom, but all of these characters have such a depth of history to them that fluff starts to feel like a disservice imo. Bruce and Dick's relationship can be complicated, they aren't just father and son - they're brothers and best friends and partners and (unhealthily) emotionally depend on each other. Bruce and Jason's relationship can be about the father and son who drift apart and maybe never reconcile, they don't have to be constantly around each other and "forgive" each other when all they do is disagree and thats ok. Bruce and Tim can be a complicated tale of hero worship, mentor/mentee and father and son dynamics because for so long Bruce wasn't Tim's dad and that was fine. Thats what makes it more interesting to explore later when Jack dies and Tim gets adopted. Bruce and Cassandra can be dark mirrors to each other, their dynamic as shown in Batgirl was not entirely wholesome. Bruce has expectations of Cassandra he doesn't have of anyone else because he sees himself in her. (Also Barbara is Cassandra's mother figure not just her older sister). Bruce and Damian can be loving and they can be constantly drifting apart and getting close. Canonically, Bruce had little interest and time in being Damian's father the first years of Damian being a character. Thats ok, and we can explore Damian's feelings with that without cramming Dick into the father slot. Dick doesn't have to be Damian's dad, they can be brothers and partners. All of these people existed in different facets of time and space. They shouldn't all be living under the same roof like the Brady Bunch, its just too much. No one has to fill the father role when Bruce isn't, and Bruce is not a perfect nuclear father either. None of the siblings are perfect children or siblings either. None of them are even normal, and I think rivalries and grudges and hatred and jealousy and clashing parenthoods and perspectives are always more interesting than everyone being cardboard cutouts that spout therapy-speak at the right time.

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to -- im not really a shipping type person, tbh. if there are ships I hate because they do a disservice to both characters in that ship (jayroy, jaykory, damijon, damirae) then I'd definitely say I haven't come around to them. I guess I will say I actively hate on damijon less than I used to and come to accept it as an inevitability, but the same cannot be said for specific kinds of damijon fans.

[mrs-stans]

The Actors Roundtable: The fear factor behind great art

By Elena Nelson Howe

Photography by Christina House

Once an actor finds his name popping up in Oscar conversations, he’s pretty much arrived in the industry, right? Actually, no, not necessarily, says Jeremy Strong, who plays unscrupulous lawyer and Donald Trump mentor Roy Cohn to much acclaim in “The Apprentice.”

“There’s a thing called ‘arrival fallacy,’ which is that the horizon is just always receding. You don’t arrive. I mean, I’ve never felt like I’ve arrived. It’s just a search, and you’re on the frontier of uncertainty and doubt, and taking risks.”

“And then the bottom falls out, and you keep looking,” adds Adrien Brody, who plays the Holocaust survivor and visionary architect at the heart of Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist.”

“That frontier just keeps moving,” Strong agrees.

Even now, with this season’s breakout performances and glowing reviews, a conversation among several actors shows they share the same fears and doubts as the rest of us.

Tune in to Spectrum News 1, where this conversation will air on Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. and will repeat throughout the month.

“I don’t think I ever looked at the next job and went, ‘All right, it’s coming and here we go.’ I think it’s always just the terror of, ‘OK, I got the job. Am I going to ruin it?’ The fear of, ‘I’m wrong for it,’” says Kieran Culkin, who stars in the affecting “A Real Pain” with the film’s writer-director, Jesse Eisenberg.

These three actors — along with Peter Sarsgaard, who stars in “September 5,” about the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics; Colman Domingo, who plays an incarcerated man who discovers the transformative power of art in “Sing Sing”; and Sebastian Stan, who not only plays the future president in “The Apprentice” with Strong but also stars in “A Different Man,” a cautionary story of inner discovery — got together last month for The Envelope Actors Roundtable moderated by Spectrum News 1 host Kelvin Washington. They shared their thoughts on auditioning, responding to fear and the hard truths of the world around us.

Actors Colman Domingo, from left, Peter Sarsgaard, Adrien Brody, seated, Kieran Culkin, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong.

These excerpts from that conversation have been edited for length and clarity.

It’s a journey. It’s a process. So how do you approach auditions?

Sebastian Stan: The best advice I ever got was from Israel Hicks, who was the theater head at Rutgers, where I went to school. And he always said, “You’ve got to just bring the day with you to the audition.” Whatever’s happening up to walking in that door just ... like maybe you spilled coffee on you, or you got a bad phone call, or whatever. You just bring in the truth of that day.

Peter Sarsgaard: But for me, every day that I had an audition that I cared about was a day of high anxiety. And so I only did well in the auditions where it was extremely high stakes. I couldn’t deny what I was feeling. I would’ve looked like a psychopath. I had to let it out. And so the jobs ... I remember doing auditions sometimes where I would be bizarrely emotional in a scene that was not emotional. Because I f— wanted it.

Jeremy Strong: I had a manager once who told me, “You know, you seem desperate. That’s why you’re not getting it: You seem desperate.” And I said, “I am desperate.” This is like we’re fighting for our lives trying to do this thing.

Sarsgaard: It feels like that sometimes.

Strong: ... and you really want to work. It does feel miraculous when you get the chance to work.

Adrien Brody: I booked a movie when I was 14, which was one of the first things I went out for. And my dad took me to the audition, and he told me, “Go in there like you already have it. You’re just showing them how you’re going to do it. Don’t go in there asking for the job.”

Kieran Culkin: I think I was told in my first audition almost the opposite, which was like —

Brody: Go and beg them.

Culkin: — It was like, “You’re going into something that’s not yours so you don’t have to feel, so [acts stressed].” You said your first audition was something you booked?

Brody: And then it was 17 years of not getting work.

I knew I had to invite in tenderness and a grace that he maintained while he was on the inside.

— Colman Domingo

From auditions to current performances, Colman, you play John “Divine G” Whitfield, a man who was wrongfully incarcerated in “Sing Sing,” and the real guy is also executive producer. What’s that experience like, trying to showcase his journey while he’s there and a part of this film?

Colman Domingo: You have to honor the spirit of the person but also liberate yourself from a portrayal of them. I feel like even when I met him, I downloaded information. I didn’t ask him anything, because I’m not that person who wants to pry into someone’s life or say, “How was it for you in the inside?,” all that stuff. We just got to know each other like we get to know anyone, you know what I mean? The most banal, simple things.

And there were two things about him: when I found out that he considered himself sort of a jailhouse lawyer and how he was always in the law library, and he was advocating for others for good food, for his own liberation eventually, but also even — when he founded this theater company there — Rehabilitation Through the Arts. And all these inmates were finding that thing that was so sorely needed in this dangerous place: a place to unpack, to be tender, to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Grown men going to places that they may have never been allowed to experience or be, especially Black and brown men in particular. I knew I had to invite in tenderness and a grace that he maintained while he was on the inside.

“I can see how past suffering informs insight and informs a kind of creative fervor and the need to leave something indelible behind,” Adrien Brody says of “The Brutalist” and his own family history.

Kieran, you were working with Jesse Eisenberg, who’s also the screenwriter and director. Which version was easier to work with, Jesse the actor or Jesse the director?

Culkin: He was great at all of those things. I mean, going into it, he wrote a beautiful script. And I knew him to be a great actor. I didn’t know what he was going to be like as a director. But that was the first time I’ve worked with an actor that also directed. Have you guys done that yet? It’s tough. That is like, Day 1, him doing a scene with you as your partner, and then they go, “Cut,” and then go, “Here’s how you can do it better.” And I’m sitting here going like, “Oh, you’re going to judge me? Because I got f— notes for you too. I know how you can do it better too.” And then the defenses go up and all that. But he was fantastic. And it was only his second film [as writer-director].

“I felt like I understood him right away and understood this dynamic right away,” Kieran Culkin says of his “A Real Pain” character’s relationship to his cousin, played by Jesse Eisenberg. (Searchlight Pictures)

I think we can all relate to your character, Benji. It’s almost one of those, “I love him because he’s crazy. But he also drives me crazy because he’s crazy.” What part of that resonated with you?

Culkin: When I read it, I found the guy to be really surprising and really just ... I felt like I understood him right away and understood this dynamic right away. But then 20 pages in, he would say something completely surprising. And I went, “Oh, this guy, almost in spite of you, if you asked him a question, he’s going to give you something you’re not going to expect.”

And I loved it. So I just went, “I’m not going to prepare at all.” I didn’t read it again for a year. And then right before we did it, I read it once. I would not want to know what the scene we were doing was until I was walking to set that day, which would give Jesse a lot of anxiety. I’d be like, “What are we shooting today?” And he’s like, “You’re kidding. You have a whole speech.”

Brody: You should work with Ken Loach. I did a movie with him, and he would give us half the scene. And so you wouldn’t know what the end of that scene was because he was working with predominantly nonactors. And then so whoever the catalyst was in the scene got that section. And this person would fall down, and you didn’t know if that person just —

Culkin: Tripped or that was the scene? I want to do that. I want to work with that person.

Sarsgaard: I auditioned for him, and it was like, “All right, let’s just improvise.” And I’m like, “Well, give me a ... Where do I begin?” “Just do something.” And I found it incredibly difficult. For me, the reason I do it is the story. So I don’t need to know what I’m going to do in the scene, but I’m driving the story?

“It’s like game day. They’re just in it. They just went 22 straight hours of just doing it,” Peter Sarsgaard says of the team covering the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics, the story of his film, “September 5.”

Strong: Peter and I had to do a thing yesterday called Fearless Performances. And we didn’t have time to say it, but I woke up this morning thinking it’s such a misnomer because there’s so much fear involved, at least for me. [To Culkin] I was thinking about a conversation we had when you were thinking about doing Jesse’s movie. You were on the precipice of it. It felt like a big risk and something you hadn’t done. And what I love about what we all get to do is attempt to do something that you don’t know that you can do. I’m working in sort of Bruce Springsteen world right now, and he said something in his autobiography, that “the experience that you have, the exhilaration of it and the depth of it is directly proportional to the void that you’re dancing over.” And so I find that that equation works.

Stan: I think all of it is fear now. For me, literally, if I’m thinking I can’t do it, [it] is maybe the biggest sign that I should be trying to do something. It’s so easy to fall into these little tricks, what’s worked before, and you just do it again. So, especially with these last two for me, it was so paralyzing at times that I was almost driven by it.

I think all of it is fear now. For me, literally, if I’m thinking I can’t do it, [it] is maybe the biggest sign that I should be trying to do something.

— Sebastian Stan

Playing Donald Trump, was that fear? He’s been the president, he’s going to be the president again. What were the challenges or your mind-set going into that?

Stan: Well, I mean, this is such a collaboration. It’s the director, it’s who are your partners. It’s this whole thing about trust and being able to go there with somebody. But then, there’s something about when you get older and you want to feel like you’re part of a meaningful work. You’re adding to a conversation, reflecting these times that we’re in no matter how uncomfortable they are.

“The movie is sort of about this relationship in a sense, a love story,” Jeremy Strong says of Roy Cohn and Donald Trump in “The Apprentice.” (Pief Weyman/Apprentice Productions)

Strong: The movie is sort of about this relationship in a sense, a love story. This sort of dark chrysalis that created the Donald Trump that we know today. What joined them together, I think, were kind of dark affinities. They were both these outsiders from the boroughs with tremendous life force and ambition with a shared, I think, lack of scruple or ethical core, for whom winning was the only moral measure.

It’s been strange to talk about this movie as a movie right now, because it’s about a very living danger, and I look at what’s happening in this country right now, and I think you can trace so much of it back to the influence of Roy Cohn and his ideology, and his nihilism, and his sort of gospel of hatred and divisiveness. That’s the political side. The creative side was really fulfilling. Roles like this are kind of a holy grail for an actor, where there’s a degree of difficulty, and you want to try to transform, and you want it also to be alive and not just mimetic and all those things.

“You have to honor the spirit of the person but also liberate yourself from a portrayal of them,” Colman Domingo says of playing a real person in “Sing Sing.”

Some of these films, there is a historical gravity to them. Adrien, with “The Brutalist,” your character comes to America after the genocide but then realizes it’s difficult to succeed here. Where did you go to channel this character?

Brody: Well, my mother is a Hungarian immigrant and an artist, a New York photographer. And she’s also someone who has kind of guided me in my understanding of art and the yearning to leave behind something that is meaningful and brings more light than darkness to this world. She and her parents fled war-torn Budapest in 1956 on the back of a truck, under a bed of corn, as they were shooting flares and trying to basically shoot down people fleeing the Soviet occupation.

I witnessed how hard it was for [my grandfather], because his English-language skills were not up to par, it prevented him from getting work. And so that’s a layer of connection, a feeling of knowing the journey and very different from [character László Tóth’s] journey, but there are very many parallels. And his journey of fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe and surviving concentration camps. I can see how past suffering informs insight and informs a kind of creative fervor and the need to leave something indelible behind.

Strong: There’s an intersectionality with these films as stories with real things in our world. I feel like the world is on fire. And there’s a role for storytelling that is so essential in our world right now. And I don’t think there’s another art form that has that connective power, arguably.

Stan: And the idea that in a system like Sing Sing, there’s a level of acceptance of self that’s happening on such a deeper, more profound level than it’s actually happening in the real world. Because I feel like “The Apprentice” and “A Different Man” are so much about identity and self-truth, and the loss of self, and the denial of reality, which is a very real thing that’s happening now. I don’t know if people are interested in the truth or confronting themselves, or wanting to accept themselves. People are more interested in inventing their own version of things.

Peter, talking about the gravity of world events: “September 5” does this in such detail, what was happening there in Munich. What it’s like having to deal with something of that magnitude?

Sarsgaard: Just by talking to the guys involved, I mean, they don’t think about the fact they’re involved in something of that magnitude, because it’s like game day. They’re just in it. They just went 22 straight hours of just doing it, and doing it, and doing it. They pointed a live camera at a balcony, and 700 million people watched that image. It’s a balcony, but it is the potential for violence that is really keeping them there. For some of them, their hearts are pounding because they’re hoping for the survival of the people that are in there. And I think that’s a good many people. But we have to acknowledge this other part of humanity that’s a kind of schadenfreude where we’re lusting for some violence.

The way that at any given moment in our lives, right now, we could pick up our phone, and the most horrendous thing imaginable is going on in the world, and then we can sit and joke with each other, and eat popcorn, and go watch a comedy. I mean, I don’t really have the answer. I think one of the lovely things that my movie does is ask a lot of questions about the way that we consume media, about, “Does a camera tell the truth anymore?” This idea that these guys had new technology, which was a live camera, and the minute the hostage crisis happened, they pointed it.

Well, now why do we have to watch a live crisis situation? Is that news? Is that going to help us understand our society better? Could we learn about it tomorrow? Is it going to help the hostages get freed? Now, obviously with police brutality, stuff like that, I would say wonderful. But to get our daily news, when everyone has a camera in their pocket — first of all, there’s point of view. This frame is not the

truth. The truth is all of it, right? And there’s also AI. There’s a million different reasons why we can’t trust an image anymore.

“It was a very powerless experience ... a terrifying experience. How people pretend you’re totally nonexistent,” Sebastian Stan says of walking in New York City wearing the makeup for the disfigured man he plays in “A Different Man.”

Sebastian, in “A Different Man,” there’s a self-reflection in your character, who has an opportunity to present himself differently. What did you learn about how we view ourselves versus how others view us? And talk about working with Adam Pearson, who has some of these same physical challenges in the film.

Stan: Adam Pearson, who’s a great actor from “Under the Skin,” and he’s got neurofibromatosis, which are these tumors that develop at around 3 or 4 years old. And the biggest gift I was able to receive working on that movie was his mother coming up to me and saying afterward, “I’ve always wished for someone to walk in his shoes. And you were able to do that.” And I was lucky. We had a great prosthetics artist, Mike Marino. And I was able to walk around the city in that, and no one recognized me. And it was a very powerless experience ... a terrifying experience. How people pretend you’re totally nonexistent.

Well, part of why the movie’s special, and I wanted so deeply to be involved with it, is that it talks about this curiosity that we all have. But we haven’t learned about the regular person out there. The regular person has to fight against these narratives that we’ve grown up with in terms of not knowing how to handle that moment. So two things happen: ignorance or judgment. And the filmmaker, who’s disfigured himself, really wanted to bring it out in the open. And for us to go on this journey and get more in touch with how can we approach that in a different way. But on a more relatable basis, it really is about lying to yourself. And once the lie happens, what you have to keep doing to maintain the lie and suppress the truth.

Brody: And they’re so hard to undo.

Stan: And how far we can go to not face that painful moment with ourselves. And that’s what the character endures. By the time [he sees it] it’s too late, his life’s been taken away from him.

Thanks for being here, gentlemen ...

Brody: This has been kind of special. I didn’t know what to anticipate. We’re all kind of really and thematically talking about what’s propelling each of us. And with the exception of you needing f— panic and —

Culkin: I was going to say, we’re all a little bit different.

Brody: But I love that too though. You know what it is? You’re super honest. You are honest with your work.

Culkin: Yeah, thanks.

Brody: Your comedic sensibilities.

Culkin: [To camera] You still rolling on this? Let’s get a nice sound bite.

[leonardperreault]

Oh my gosh, Nora on the jet ski! What did quinn do when they were done on it? Beat Brady to a pulp? lol

quinn grabs his best friend by the arm and drags him off the dock and into the house,

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" quinn yells pushing brady up against the wall, "SHES NOT A DOLL! SHES A HUMAN BEING YOU COULDVE HURT HER!"

"jesus quinn," josh yells running into the house pulling quinn off of brady, "take a breath dude," the senator commands,

"NO HE-" but josh puts a strong hand on the fathers chest,

"stop," josh says staring quinn down.

after a beat quinn relaxes falling into josh's arms,

"she could've gotten hurt," quinn cries,

"shhhh," josh shushes, "shes ok, nothing happened. shes ok,"

[luminouslywriting]

Just adding on to my previous anon about Brady getting into his partner's interests (I hope that's OK; I know you get a million anons), I feel like Bucky would be the same, but times a million. She likes Pilates? Cool, he's bought a Pilates machine and Gale has already put it together. The more niche the interest, the more excited he would be, imo.

Omg you’re so right!! He’s the exact type to try out every hobby under the sun, especially the obscure ones!! I had to do a mini-headcanon list for this one too! And don’t apologize for the asks :) I LOVE getting them! More below the cut! Cut for length haha!

-Bucky Egan is a spontaneous bubble of energy that cannot be contained and this absolutely translates over into your relationship!

-You're into calligraphy? Excellent! He's going to get into it as well and I think he has really pretty handwriting anyway! He'll start writing down your favorite quotes or write you pretty love notes and leave them around the house.

-You like collecting southern music records? GREAT!! He will go on a hunt for some super obscure singers to add to your collection and watch with a grin as you get excited about it.

-You like swing dancing? He is getting INTO it and he's absolutely entering you into a competition the minute he has a free second

-Crocheting? The man's not GOOD at it, but hey! The effort is there and you absolutely end up with the cutest baby blankets for your future kids.

-Scrapbooking? He has one to rival yours and it's all about you because you are his muse, his reason of being, his light, and his life.

-You're handy at mixing drinks? He wants to learn EVERYTHING from you. He loves alcohol and he loves you, so what's not to like about this particular hobby?

-Interested in hairdressing? Try out any styles on him! He's excited to see what you can do! And he's equally as excited to try and cut your hair (he takes it more serious than flying)

-You mention once that you used to play chess? He's finding the nicest chess-set that he can, reading up on the rules, and challenging you to a nightly game that usually ends in some sort of verbal match before sex

-You like journaling? What a coincidence, he's starting a journal solely about YOU and how much he loves you (yes it's your favorite book that exists)

-Flower-pressing? He's gonna go out of his way to find the prettiest flowers and bring them to you to press. And yes, they end up in various picture frames around the house as decor.

-Into astronomy? Babe, he's already hauling a telescope, a book that Gale lent him for stars, and ready to stargaze with you as much as you would like

-You're an ice-skater? He's not the best at it, but he's going to be by your side the entire time, hand held in yours, and a brave face on

-This is all just to say that he's enthusiastic, a hype-man about your hobbies, and literally ready to have fun at any given time with you, no matter the circumstance.