#for all the amazing work olivia is doing portraying her there are times where i feel like the writers are trying to tear her down

[secretsofthewilde]

Maybe in the time between the next season the writers will remember to actually respect Alicent as a character and give her some good consistent writing

[definitelynotsipandshare]

It’s valid to feel let down that you spent time and money on someone who excuses such behavior.

Doja Cat has so many controversies to her name it’s ridiculous. She hosted a party with P Diddy, she wore a Sam Hyde tshirt, then when called out just cropped it slightly and reuploaded it, when women came forward with allegations about her ex, she attacked them, she attacked her own fans, she bullies people online, she engaged in race play and stripped for incels. It’s very clear which side of the political scale she is on.

I don’t want to hear the excuse that she is a ‘troll’ because that’s invalid. It always starts with the excuse of ‘trolling’. Is Nick Fuentes just a troll? Where do we draw the line? 

Joe posting about Kamala was purely his teams side of trying to keep him popular amongst his fans, when his actions of excusing such behavior by being in the company of Doja say otherwise. The company you keep is a huge reflection on you as a person. He didn’t even post about elections in his own country. He is obviously right wing leaning and doesn’t have progressive views about sexual assault, women or racism or is indifferent to it, I’m not sure whats worse. 

The man portrayed to us 2 years ago is a very different man before us today. He shows constant distaste for Eddie and Stranger Things, he cancels cons last minute only to be photographed wandering the streets of London, he talks about liking his privacy but engaged in staged paparazzi photos both on his own and with Doja. He’s rude to his fans, but they still show up at cons to spend money on him which is weird to me. If he dislikes his stranger things fans, how will he cope with Marvel fans? 

It feels like we’ve been duped into supporting someone who I would never have spent time, effort or money on having known his views. You cannot date someone and not agree with them politically and morally - that isn’t opinion, it’s a fact. 

He said she’s really funny, is it funny when she attacks women? Spoke about fucking a school shooter? Made homophobic or racist remarks? Stripped for incels? Attacked her own fanbase? I’m trying to find where the funny is here. 

He spoke about taking Olivia Colemans advice, not losing himself and setting down good roots but his actions show the complete opposite. He came across as grounded and someone more interested in the craft than the celebrity which he’s now shown is a lie. 

We’re now going to be subjected to constant paparazzi photos, whereas actors like Josh O Connor manage to actually maintain their private life because he genuinely wants too. Everything to do with his name is now linked to Doja. Even gladiator is now linked back to her. It’s crazy. This will stay with him forever, his own premiere being overshadowed is madness. 

It’s valid to feel let down by someone, I don’t care that he’s dating, I really don’t. If it had been someone like Lupita who is amazing and does so much work for organizations and causes I would’ve been so happy for him. It’s more the true colors showing that is upsetting. 

The amount of people that have left his fandom is an indicator given such low engagement and discussions about his red carpet presence, and his loss of millions on social media.

Oh and he 100% is the Joe Quinn that signed that letter demanding release of hostages. He took part in the fundraiser to save face because Luna asked him. Don’t be so naive.

is this a draft that you send all the blogs or did you write all of it with the stream of consciousness?

[letterboxd]

Love Thy Neighbor.

With her nineteenth-century American romance, The World to Come—starring Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby—screening now, director Mona Fastvold talks to Ella Kemp about the need to create images, striving for ASMR storytelling, and just how much we owe Terrence Malick.

“We’ve seen a lot of movies during this time period in America about what the husbands were out doing… but they had wives who are at home, living their completely separate lives. What were they up to?” —Mona Fastvold

In the American Northeast in the nineteenth century, life for farmers’ wives is physical, lonely, subject to both the extremes of weather and their husbands’ moods. When Abigail (Katherine Waterston) and Tallie (Vanessa Kirby) become neighbors in The World To Come, their lives become infinitely more bearable.

What unfolds is a careful study of the ways affection and understanding can bloom in the most unlikely places. Based on Jim Shepard’s short story of the same name, Mona Fastvold’s desperately romantic film starts where Abigail’s diary also begins: with a new year, and new neighbors. Through lyrical voice-over and closely drawn scenes, Abigail tells of how, in the wake of unimaginable loss, her life is cracked wide open by the arrival of effervescent, free-spirited Tallie. She speaks of grief and exhaustion, but also of astonishment and joy.

Katherine Waterston as Abigail and Vanessa Kirby as Tallie in ‘The World to Come’. / Photo by Vlad Cioplea

It’s a story felt through whispers as much as kisses, framed by the blustery winds of the East-Coast frontier—and by the spectre of their husbands (Casey Affleck as the downcast Dyer, Christopher Abbott as the jealous, disturbing Finney) finding out about their new love. Fastvold gives each character just enough attention to let the relationships that matter most rise up all on their own. She does so with words, poetry that somehow feels alive, and with music—specifically, a stunningly passionate clarinet soundtrack.

The World to Come won the Queer Lion at Venice last August (where it miraculously had an in-person premiere), and won many more hearts at Sundance in January. It’s Fastvold’s second film as director, after 2014’s The Sleepwalker, which also starred Christopher Abbott, and was co-written by Fastvold’s partner (and Vox Lux director) Brady Corbet.

What did you feel when reading Jim’s story for the first time? Mona Fastvold: It was a home I wanted to move into. It was this feeling of thinking, ‘This belongs in my universe, and I belong in this universe.’ And I all of a sudden had a few images that I felt a very strong need to create. The first thing that I felt really compelled to do was creating this physical expression of joy after the first kiss. I had this image of Katherine in this wide shot, completely open and just exposed. And I was really compelled to shoot her in the snow by the grave as well.

I also wanted to frame her being tied to the house with a rope, working her way through the snowstorm. There was a lot of amazing text and maybe fewer images in the script, because it’s written by these two really wonderful writers and authors of novels, not so much screenplays. So it’s not a very technical screenplay, and there were a lot of things left to me to work out, which I enjoyed. But the foundation was this really good text.

Mona Fastvold on the set of ‘The World to Come’. / Photo by Toni Salabasev

The text is so striking, in the way it’s so verbose but never feels stiff. How did you keep the words intact while bringing these emotions to life? I cast some really good actors, so that helps! Then when you’re working with this kind of text, it’s not really a text that you can improvise or play around as much, you really just need to honor it. For me it’s really about finding the movement that will support the beats of the text. I like the edit to be motivated by a gesture, something that says, “I want you to look at this”. I’m trying to make the rhythm more exciting. Ping-ponging back and forth is less exciting to me.

When rehearsing, we’d create movement either physically, or find changes through long pauses already in the text, and then upon finding those organic beats I’d figure out with my DP how we can stay in one take for as long as possible, until we find that moment which motivates a change. I never like there to be a camera movement just for there to be something cool visually. And there’s all this subtext in the text, all these messages Abigail and Tallie are trying to send to each other. When are you being direct? When are you being understood? When are you not?

Particularly in recent years, we’ve been fortunate to have a number of films that reframe period pieces about forbidden lesbian romances. Why do you think we keep coming back to this kind of story? A lot of people feel compelled to say these stories have always been there, and to claim that part of history. It’s not modern, it’s not a new thing, but it’s just that these stories have not been told much. Especially a love story that takes place among farmers. We know a little bit about upper-class stories from some literature, but not that much from that time period. So part of the appeal for me was to say: this is a part of history. Even though it’s not a story about Napoleon, this story about these two quiet, introverted women is still worth exploring. And we’ve seen a lot of movies during this time period in America about what the husbands were out doing. I’ve grown up watching these movies, but they had wives who are at home, living their completely separate lives. What were they up to?

Finney (Christopher Abbott) reads Tallie’s mail. / Photo by Vlad Cioplea

You mention the husbands—I felt watching this film that it was set in a very different world to the likes of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which a lot of people loved precisely because of how few men were in the film. But here the husbands play a really important part within the story about these two women, helping to convey their frustration and limitations, without taking over. All characters in a story deserve equal counts of love and attention from the writers, directors and actors. It was incredibly important to portray the men with as much nuance as Abigail and Tallie. It makes for a more interesting story for them, that their relationships with their partners are complex—they’re not just these male archetypes who are terrible and awful. Dyer was an interesting character, in that he’s striving to understand even though he doesn’t quite. And he had different ambitions as well, but this is the situation he’s in, and he’s chosen a practical partner who he respects, and I guess loves and cares for. But they’re running a farm together, they’re business partners as well and depend on each other for survival. When he says “I’ll die without you” it’s quite literal, in a way. I wanted to break these characters open and make them more difficult to deal with, for themselves and for the women as well.

Your picture includes a beautiful, and really unexpected score by Daniel Blumberg—particularly in the use of the clarinet, which feels like its own kind of narrative. Can you talk me through the process of weaving that into the story? I brought in Daniel even when I was developing the script and working on casting early on. I kept listening to ‘Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet’ by Igor Stravinsky, and somehow the instrument felt really connected to Katherine’s voice-over. It was important that the voice-over was not slammed on top at the end. It’s there, I hope, to have a bit of an ASMR effect where you feel it draws you really close to Abigail in a hypnotic way. That you feel like you get this intimate experience of that character by having access to her life even if it doesn’t explain things too much.

So we wanted to have the score speaking to the voice-over, which we recorded long before we started shooting as well. We would play it on set and Daniel would come in and play music there. So constantly being in dialogue between the text being read and the music being played was an important part of the process.

It’s time for some Life in Film questions. What is your favorite ‘forbidden love’ story? A film I really love, which inspired The World to Come, is Olivia. It’s from 1951 and it’s directed by Jacqueline Audry, and it was one of the first lesbian on-screen kisses ever captured. It’s a great movie directed by a female director when that wasn’t so much of a thing. It was an important trailblazer for this film.

Marie-Claire Olivia and Simone Simon in Jacqueline Audry’s ‘Olivia’ (1951).

What’s your favourite “Dear Diary” movie, the one that best uses a confessional voice-over? Terrence Malick pretty much cornered that market with some beautiful, beautiful attempts at that. We definitely have to pay our respects! Particularly Days of Heaven is pretty amazing. The voice-over work there is extraordinary.

What is your go-to comfort movie? It’s funny because I was asked that a while ago and normally I would just be like, “Anything Nancy Meyers makes is just so lovely”. She makes these films that are just like candy. But during the pandemic, it’s just too hard to watch these cozy movies, because it just makes you feel depressed. So right now, the film I’ve watched the most in my lifetime is Eyes Wide Shut. I also find it to be a Christmas movie… If it’s on anywhere, I’ll always leave it on, or just watch a little piece of it.

What should Letterboxd members watch after The World to Come? First of all they should watch Olivia if they haven’t seen it, and then the other day I watched Martin Eden—it’s an incredible movie. So beautifully made.

What is the one film that first made you want to be a filmmaker? I grew up watching a lot of movies. My family are cinephiles and I’ve always loved films. I grew up on a steady diet of Ingmar Bergman’s films during my teenage years, and Tarkovsky too. Seeing those films made a really big impression me. But what really inspired me in many ways was seeing Claire Denis’ films. The way she approaches storytelling is so intuitive. It’s so exciting. That resonated with me, and later on I recognized some of that in Lucrecia Martel as well. I just love how she handles time and logic and character.

Related content

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Follow Bleecker Street on Letterboxd

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‘The World to Come’ is currently in select US theaters, and will be available on demand from March 2, via Bleecker Street.

[morgansdeb]

☕️ alex leaving jo for izzie

*sighs* Okay, so I have several thoughts about this, but I don’t know if I’m going to do a good job at articulating them properly. This is going to be long.

So, this is probably my most unpopular opinion of all time... I don’t like Alex Karev. I never have. I think he’s annoying, a bully, and quite frankly, he did a lot of terrible things that the fandom doesn’t really address. I mean, when I finished Grey’s and I went online to see if others disliked Alex, I was disappointed that I found very few people that agreed with me. This fandom LOVES this guy, and I’m just here in my little corner like “nope, he sucks.”

I think the thing that bugs me the most is the hypocrisy in the fandom when it comes to Izzie vs Alex.

When Izzie left the show, because Katherine Heigl left the show, she became the evil bitch who abandoned Alex, that horrible ungrateful woman who didn’t stay by her husband’s side despite all he did for her. We know the reason Izzie’s exit from the show was so poorly handled was because of Shonda’s issue with Katherine not submitting herself for an Emmy for season 4 (which tbh, I can’t blame her? She was right when she said the material she received that season wasn’t Emmy-worthy, especially in comparison to Izzie’s storylines in the previous two seasons, which were actually heart-wrenching and better developed), so I genuinely don’t get where people’s beef with Izzie comes from. She was written that way because of issues behind the scenes.

And if I’m honest here... people forget that when Izzie left the first time, she was under a lot of emotional distress. She was BATTLING CANCER, JUST LOST HER FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND GOT FIRED FROM THE HOSPITAL!!!! Sorry for yelling, but this fandom doesn’t have any consideration for Izzie’s feelings. Webber fired her in a stone-cold way and heavily implied Alex helped him with that decision. So of course Izzie left. She was traumatized!! And then SHE CAME BACK. She came back and wanted to make things right with Alex, but he told her TO LEAVE. He was the one who did that. So what was Izzie supposed to do? Stay in a hospital where she has to work with a man who told her “I love you so much I almost hate you” (wtf was that line)? Yeah, I can’t blame her for leaving.

People always wanna talk about how Izzie is selfish when she donated 8 million dollars to open a free clinic, was the only resident who bothered to teach the interns (while Alex complained about working on the clinic and said the interns were stupid, lmao, what a guy), donated money to pay for a girl’s back surgery, decorated the house for Christmas and made socks for Meredith and George (and Doc!!), tried to be nice to the doctors from Mercy-West (and ended up getting called a bitch for it :///) and was overall a happy, sweet person who cared about her patients and her friends. Izzie was amazing, why are you all so mean to her?? Because she left Alex’s annoying ass?? If that man was my husband, I’d leave him too, lmao

ANYWAY... so yeah, Alex ain’t shit to me. The first thing he did when he met Izzie was tell her she wouldn’t last as a surgeon, then sexually harassed by hanging pictures of Izzie’s modeling days all over the locker room, cheated on her with Olivia, made fun of her relationship with Denny, called her a stupid bitch and stole one of her surgeries, made her cancer all about himself, didn’t comfort her after George died (seriously, this was so fucked up and nobody ever talks about it. Alex was so jealous of Izzie’s love for George and he showed it all the time)... that man was not “the perfect husband”. He’s lucky Izzie gave him the time of day after the stunt he pulled in the locker room. She was the only one of the interns who gave him a chance, when Meredith, Cristina, and George wanted nothing to do with him (and who could blame them).

He also bullied the hell out of George and April, especially April. People defend this by saying “oh, but everyone bullied April!!” (that isn’t a solid defense, btw), and while the other characters were annoying for that (I love Cristina, but her treatment of April was so awful, same with Meredith, Lexie, and even Jackson was a dick to her at times), Alex always took things to an extreme level. When they’re in the on-call room and are about to have sex, Alex starts yelling at her and saying all that gross stuff about not wanting to hold her virgin hand, and then we see April choking on her own tears at Cristina’s house and Alex never apologized to her for that, he just continued to bully her. He ALMOST KILLED Andrew, and I know that he beat him up because he thought he was assaulting Jo, but he didn’t even try to make things right with him?? He could have killed him or ruin his entire career, but the show had Alex be portrayed as the victim and the other characters didn’t seem to be bothered by what he did?? How did Bailey appoint him as temporary chief when he had a record??

Okay, so this turned into an anti-Alex rant more than anything else, but all this needed to be said. I know he became a better doctor and everything, but he never clicked as a character for me. His friendship with Meredith seemed forced (Cristina was gone, so Meredith needed to hold on to someone, right??), and it was very shitty how it took Meredith TWO YEARS to respect Jo as Alex’s girlfriend and Alex just let Meredith treat her like crap?? Never change, Karev. I don’t care about his friendship with Arizona, either.

So... this guy left Jo. He cheated on her, lied to her, and then left her in a letter. And the fandom is like “okay, but Alex didn’t do it!!! The writers ruined him!!!”, oh, wow, so when Izzie leaves Alex she’s a bitch, but when Alex leaves Jo, it was the writers??? Alex should be the most hated character on the show because what he did was horrible, but the fandom gives him a pass. Y’all hate Izzie, but this guy is okay in your eyes???

Another unpopular opinion, but I don’t like Jo either. She’s boring to me; I don’t care about her storylines (I find them quite repetitive), and I never cared about her relationship with Alex (they had zero chemistry to me). So no, I don’t care that they’re over. I do wish Alex had taken her with him, lmao.

I hate that they made Alex and Izzie end up together because now EVERYONE is blaming Izzie for Alex’s exit. “She hid the children from him!!!” Alex SIGNED his rights away and told Izzie she could do whatever she wanted with his sperm. It’s not Izzie’s fault Alex decided he now wanted to be a dad to those kids. Why does Izzie get all the blame for all of this? Alex is a grown man who made a choice. We also never saw them reunite on screen, so we have no idea what they spoke about. Maybe Alex didn’t even tell her he was married. I mean, he had no problem lying to his wife about where he was, so who’s to say he didn’t lie to Izzie, too?

I know, I KNOW that Alex leaving Jo like that is bad writing. But the only reason I care is because I hate that this storyline made my favorite character the target of fandom hypocrisy and hate. But to be honest, Alex got a better ending than most. George, Lexie, Mark, and Derek died horrible and painful deaths. Callie and April also had shitty exists. The ONLY one who had an exit worthy of her character was Cristina (not counting Addison because she went to have her own spin off).

I don’t know if I have anything else to add, tbh. If you hate Izzie but love Alex, you’re a hypocrite.

Oh, and George and Izzie forever <333

[korra-the-red-lion]

Supergirl 6x6: Prom Again!

Okay so like...I forgot to post this. It’s being sitting in my drafts since Wednesday and I meant to post it and totally forgot, hahaha :P. Anyway, let’s see how this Chyler directed episode faired. SPOILERS AHEAD:

Nia, darling, holy cow. She looked stunning in her dress this episode, and this episode was really all about Nia. I know some people were disappointed in the lack of Danver sisters moments, but this episode was about Nia and her growth, so I didn’t mind it as much as I thought.

The Brainia dance scene on the ship was really cute, I loved it.

I don’t know how to describe the way that Eliza Helm portrayed Cat so perfectly, but she managed it with stellar grace. If they want to do a spin-off mini series, I sure hecking hope she returns.

Same for Izabela (Kara) and Olivia (Alex). I’m gonna miss these two actresses. They did such an amazing job for all the Midvale episodes and the flashbacks. It’s been a pleasure to watch them.

I know some people felt they were whatever or filler-ish, but I liked the silly blue aliens. It just was a fun campy Supergirl episode with some one-time villains, and it worked really well for me.

I loved the scene where the alien is looking for Kara, then Brainy sneaks up behind him and Kara’s red eyes are just poking through the bush. It just looked neat.

The Danver sister van conversation was perfect. It’s those bonding moments I love to see, and am sorely going to miss once this show ends. Maybe it stumbled along the way, but the relationship and love between Kara and Alex has been the core of the show, and when it’s done like this, it’s perfect.

Kara’s dress was very strange to me. I think it would have looked better if it didn’t have sleeves. Anyone else feel this way?

Dude. The Pink Cougar was Cat. I totally forgot that was her thing because it’s been so long since I’ve watched s1 and s2. But as soon as Nia said “the pink cougar is Cat!” I immediately thought of the statue that was featured in the middle of the damned office. Okay, you got me this time Supergirl writers. That was clever writing.

Also, Cat called Kenny “Kendall Lee” had me rolling. That was too great. Loved it. Loved the pep talk too. It’s not Cat Grant unless there is some sass involved in a pep talk.

Nia and Brainy going back in time to fix the timeline they messed up? Sara and the Legends would be proud, haha.

Nia somehow inspiring Kara and Cat in a single day only to be inspired by them later is so funny and such a nice thing to see. We love to see women supporting women.

SO, Kara is going to NCU. She was willing to give Kenny up for her dream. I liked Kenny well enough, but I also think that Kara has matured so much since her high school days, and I can’t see him coming back to be her final LI. Prove me wrong, writers.

Brainia kiss, woo!

“You’re not meant to suppress the bad emotions, you’re simply meant to endure them, so you can appreciate the good ones when they come.” I loved this line. It really captures how far Brainy has come since he was first introduced. No more little boxes for him.

That’s it for this week. Overall, another really fun episode with some great directional skills showcased by Chyler. I can’t wait for the tedious Phantom Zone storyline to be over on Tuesday. Let’s bring back our Supergirl now!

[laularlau8]

Don’t expect Gillian Anderson, 52, to enter the political arena anytime soon.

She may fill the shoes of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, aka The Iron Lady, for Season 4 of The Crown , but she has no doubt what kind of prime minister she’d make.

“Oh, I’d be a horrible prime minister. I’ve got such a bad memory, I’d give everything to everybody, and I wouldn’t be very diplomatic,” she laughs. “In trying to save the world I’d make tons of mistakes in the process. I don’t envy anybody that role, prime minister or president. It’s a thankless, thankless role, and particularly in this day and age where the new leaders around the world have inherited such a mess.”

Anderson is in London via Zoom, where she lives with her three children (from two previous relationships). It’s late at night and her significant other, The Crown showrunner Peter Morgan, wanders by with a can of Coke for Anderson. “He’s helping me stay awake,” she smiles.

She says of her Thatcher transformation, who she plays from 1979 to 1990, “There were many discussions about wig colour, lots of trial and error with make-up, and a fat suit. It would take over an hour-and-a-half just for the hair and the glue that goes on around the wig. And then came the make-up.

“She also had a very particular way of walking,” she says. “It was daunting. You hope you’re on the right track, and I have to admit, it’s a bit freaky. But it wasn’t as if suddenly they do me up and it’s, ‘Oh, there she is!’ in the mirror. It was a long process but I think in the end we ended up with something that feels Thatcheresque.”

A polarising figure, Thatcher was the first female British Prime Minister – as despised as she was beloved. “She’s an historic and iconic character and people love to hate her and hate to love her and the chances of getting it wrong were so great,” Anderson says. Evidently though, the actor had nothing to fear as early reviews would attest she’s done her best work.

In The Crown, we witness Thatcher’s contentious relationship with Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman), which couldn’t be more different from Anderson and Colman’s relationship. “It was difficult to focus sometimes when Olivia and I were together in the same room, because we like to chat,” she laughs. “Olivia is much better than I am at snapping into character after one’s been chatting away.”

Thatcher appointed only one female cabinet member during her 11 years in power. Given her position, and her feminist stance, she could have helped other women climb the political ladder of success.

“She was a self-made woman and it’s hard to know why she wasn’t more active in terms of electing or surrounding herself with women,” Anderson says.

“I’ve got many women friends who are very powerful, and while I wouldn’t necessarily classify myself as powerful, I have a very strong personality,” she laughs.

Speaking of female leaders, Anderson says: “I met Julia Gillard. She was amazing to listen to and she was specifically talking about women leaders and the impact of women leaders. It was really interesting.”

Anderson is twice divorced and has been in a relationship with Peter Morgan since 2016.

“It was Vanessa Kirby (who played Princess Margaret in The Crown, Season 1 and 2) who kept saying to me, ‘You have to meet Pete.’ I kept saying, ‘No, he’s too posh, he’s too fancy, too smart and I’m a goofball. I’m an idiot,’” she laughs. “But actually, he’s funny and quirky and goofy.”

Best known for her role as Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files, which ran from 1993 to 2002, and then again for a six-episode season in 2017, Anderson has also appeared in The Fall, Hannibal, American Gods, and currently stars in the Netflix comedy, Sex Education.

She famously had a difficult relationship with Hollywood and never enjoyed her celebrity. She grew up in both the United States as well as London, but she always felt more comfortable in England.

“Everything that we’ve seen about Hollywood in films portrayed over last few decades is somewhat based in truth. And at the various times of my life, I’ve really struggled with that aspect of it. And I certainly found coming to London quieter, more manageable, more grounded, more honest. And that was the kind of world that I wanted to be in.”

Anderson was hounded by the tabloids during the height of The X-Files’ popularity.

“Back then, becoming so famous so young and seeing the worst part of what the industry can be like, I had a real struggle with it. I really hated it. It was like, ‘Get me the f**k out of here!’” She left for London and remained there. “I had a complicated relationship with the business in LA and I didn’t want it to be at the forefront of my every waking thought. People were dumbfounded that I left.” She pauses. “But let’s just clarify, as far as working in it, I haven’t left Hollywood yet.”

Sex Education is shot in England and Wales, and she took on the role in part so she’d be closer to her children.

“First and foremost, my kids matter to me. And usually, before I take on anything, I will be very transparent about what it means to hire me in terms of me needing to be available for my kids, and so that is very important.”

Anderson has a daughter, Piper, 26, from her first marriage to X-Files assistant art director, Clyde Klotz. She also has two sons: Oscar, 13, and Felix, 12 from her relationship with businessman Mark Griffiths.

“As far as my career, I feel like I’m just getting started. It doesn’t feel like I’m at the end of something at all. I feel really fulfilled with the work I’ve been doing lately, with Sex Ed, and The Crown.”

She is enjoying the hilarity and outrageousness of Sex Education.

“It’s been a godsend,” she says. “So, I’m afraid, I’m still going to be acting for a little while yet.”

[karazor--el]

Supergirl's Nicole Maines Is the Trans Hero the World Needs

Trans actress Nicole Maines is seeking justice on Supergirl.

The CW’s Supergirl is showcasing the power of the press, says Nicole Maines, who plays reporter Nia Nal (a.k.a. Dreamer). “This is really a season about portraying journalists as superheroes,” she explains. “When we have a president who’s trying to vilify journalists, then you guys really are heroes.”

When the show’s creative team was planning the fifth season, Maines says they wanted create an enemy “that the Super Friends couldn’t necessarily fight with their fists or with heat vision.” The show’s writers found their adversary in the leader of a human supremacist group who’s “fanning the flames of hatred and bigotry in National City.” Even after he’s imprisoned, the city continues to be ravaged with problems. “How do you fight fear? “ Maines asks. “How do you fight ignorance and hatred and bigotry? That’s not something you can punch.”

The parallels are all too real given the constant attacks on immigrants, reporters, and trans people like Maines. At 21, the actress has already had a life of fighting the kind of bigotry she tackles on TV.

In 2007, Maines first challenged her elementary school over bathroom access. The case went to the Maine Supreme Court, which ruled in 2014 that denying a trans student access to a bathroom that matched their gender identity was unconstitutional. Since then, she’s advocated for LGBTQ rights, appearing in the HBO documentary The Trans List and in the book Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family. At 17, Glamour named her Woman of the Year. She’s also received honors from HRC and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

These days, her acting career is taking center stage on a show that could not be more relevant. Her screen work is reminiscent of Wonder Woman’s Lynda Carter — who is, ironically, now Maines’s costar on Supergirl, playing U.S. President Olivia Marsdin.

The show delivers plenty of timely issues, including immigration. Maines, who accepted the role before she even knew the storyline, says, “I knew that I was going to play a trans woman and I knew I was going to play a reporter and I knew I was going to play a superhero.” Once she found out about how they were going to draw a parallel to America today, she knew this was “a story that needs to be told.”

“This is what we need in a superhero show,” says Maines. “We have a show about… otherworldly refugees coming to Earth, coming to National City. What would that look like? It would look like you know a lot of people saying aliens are coming to take our jobs, they’re dangerous. The exact same conversation we’re having with immigrants today... How do you make sense of it all? How do you combat people’s fears?”

Without a doubt, Supergirl is attempting to challenge the hearts and minds of its viewers. “I think superheroes are a great way to talk about these issues because superheroes are a huge staple in American culture and something everybody’s familiar with,” Maines says, adding that by using superheroes to talk about things like xenophobia or homophobia, it can make such topics more approachable in real life. The camp aspect of it all keeps it light.

“I am not reading my news app and crying and freaking out,” admits Maines, “At least I’m seeing this through Supergirl. At least that’s how I cope with it.”

Using fantasy as a tool to talk about political issues isn’t new. Films like Iron Man, Captain America, and Superman have managed it successfully — using historical enemies, like Nazis, and even setting the time amid the backdrop of the Cold War. Superheroes have always existed at the intersection of culture and politics, but Maines says it hasn’t always resonated with everyone, especially radical right-wingers who’d rather take politics out of superhero movies. “People are only upset about it now because, for the first time, they are on the other side of it,” she explains. “The enemy is potentially at home. It’s not overseas, it’s not someone you can point at.”

Playing Nia makes Maines an even bigger role model as well, and she feels that love on social media. While she feels enormous pressure being the first trans superhero, Maines admits it’s easier because she’s not the first trans character on TV.

“We are exiting the era of television where trans characters feel a need to explain themselves,” she says. “Where all trans characters are the trans characters and that their role on the show is to educate other characters…[and] the audience about what it means to be trans. I don’t have to be necessarily the trans superhero. I can be a superhero who is trans.”

“What an amazing trajectory to know in 50 years we can go from being a completely isolated community and being thrown in jail for wearing the wrong article of clothing to being on television in a super-suit, and being seen by everyone,” she adds. “Not just people in our community but people outside of our community, people across the country, across the world are seeing us.”

Maines hopes that Hollywood will now be more open to cast trans actors in trans-specific roles, mainly because of the effects it has off-screen.

“One of the arguments that I see is, ‘Well it’s acting, it’s pretending.’ Well yes, but you also have to take into account how that is reading to someone sitting on their couch watching — someone who has never seen a trans person before. If you cast a man and put him in a dress and say this is what ‘trans’ looks like, well then that’s where we get the whole ‘men in dresses’ argument. That’s why I feel it is so important, because we are actively combating that narrative that trans people are somehow pretending or playing dress-up.”

While she thinks equal opportunity for gay actors, for example, should be a consideration, the rest of the arguments aren’t the same. “No one is going around saying that gay people are straight people pretending to be gay to get into gay functions. No one is saying that. There’s not that harmful narrative reinforced [when compared to the trans narrative].”

Though Maines is quickly racing to the top of the Hollywood A-list, she can’t help but be anxious, especially since she’s now part of an industry with so much rejection. That’s why she’s choosing to “stop, smell the roses,” and “be very, very happy, be very thankful.”

Of course, that includes finding love. At 21, Maines is “single as a Pringle,” she jokes, and the men she meets in Vancouver (where Supergirl is filmed) are often outdoor adventurers.

“I feel like all the guys in Vancouver are like, ‘Let’s work out, let’s go skiing!’ And I’m like, ‘Let’s not.’ After a 16-hour day, the last thing I want to think about is working out. I’m going to sit on my couch in my sweatpants eating ice cream and…rewatching The Office.”

Her family back in Maine have been a great support, especially in helping cut through red tape so she could continue her hormone treatment while filming abroad. She jokes about the difficulty of working with insurance in the U.S., living in Canada part of the year, and no longer being able to have her mom mail hormones across the border to her on set. “Look at me smuggling estrogen across the border,” the baby-faced Maines quips. “I am the face of crime.”

Maines’s new vampire movie, Bit, premiers soon. “It’s freaking great,” Maines boasts. “I play a transgender girl from Oregon who visits her brother who is an actor in Los Angeles, and she falls in with a gang of intersectional feminist vampires in Los Angeles — and it is amazing.”

Hollywood clearly has a new superstar on the rise. And to whoever is casting the new Avatar: The Last Airbender reboot, Maines says she’s waiting for their call. Oh, and she’s game to do a Star Wars flick too.

“Superhero and Jedi,” says the young starlet, exposing her inner geek girl. “Those are where the goalposts are.”

The Advocate Magazine.

[stopforamoment]

Pernicious Passion: Part Five

Please check out the Pernicious Passion MASTERLIST for the complete list of writers and artists who inspired this series!    Bastien Lykel belongs to Pixelberry, and Kara is a real-life talented PB writer. Events in this fic are purely fictional because this is just a fun spoof!

Author’s Note and Summary: Thank you to @strangerofbraidwood for the crack fic edit that she created for my birthday! In this chapter Bastien and Kara get into a fight, and she doesn’t fight fair. Some of the Tumblr fan fic writers get thrown under the bus . . .  Shameless plug for @strangerofbraidwood who is a talented wlw fanfic writer. She is in the process of writing fan fics that include EVERY female LI in the Choices universe (and female characters who should have been LI!). Please check out her MASTERLIST. You won’t regret it! 💕  

Cordonians Gone Wild is the creation of @ao719 @cocomaxley @leelee10898  and @speedyoperarascalparty   

There are links to other artists and their works within this chapter. Thank you everyone for being a part of this!

Part Five (1,270 Words)

  Bastien was naked when she walked into the room.

Edit created by the hilarious and talented @strangerofbraidwood

No one had ever seen a pixelated character without underwear before, and the bright light blinded her. She heard rumors from fan fics like @jovialyouthmusic Protect and Serve series and @bobasheebaby NSFW ABC list that Bastien was well-endowed. Dammit! Why do the fan fic writers have control over the size of his penis and I can’t even see it? Go figure @strangerofbraidwood a wlw writer, would have the guts to create this edit. She doesn’t even like dicks, yet she did this for other members of the fandom. My god, how many other readers have I ignored and offended? “Apple Cobbler, my eyes are up here.” Kara’s face was already flushed, but her cheeks grew even warmer when she realized Bas caught her staring. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you’re so . . . amazing.” “But Kara. That’s just it. I’m not amazing. At least not the way Pixelberry portrays me. It’s the fandom who made me amazing. I owe it all to them, and I owe it to them to make sure I’m in more scenes. Even if it’s just to give them a little backstory of Jackson training me. A flashback to me eating dinner with the Walker family. Hell, @stopforamoment made it clear that she would pay over 100 diamonds just for a brief flashback of me eating chocolate chip cookies with Drake and Savannah while they watch TV.” “But Bas, demographics show that our younger readers aren’t interested in older men.” “Really, Kara? Tell that to @mfackenthal. She’s president of my fan club. And believe me. In the Tumblr world, she has clout. In fact, I think I’m going to DM her now to request an interview on the Mfackenthal Show.” Kara lunged for the phone. “Bas, no! Please! Give me time to fix this! You’re right. You are developing a strong following. More people are coming around. But it’s not enough.” Bastien sighed. “Kara, you’ve been using me. Controlling me. Keeping me tucked away for yourself. But that isn’t fair to the fandom. Even if people aren’t romantically interested in me, they want to know more about how things were like at the palace when Drake, Liam, and Olivia were growing up there. They want to know more about Queen Eleanor. If it’s true I had a crush on her . . . or even more.” “But Bas, where will you go if Pixelberry doesn’t want you anymore? Stay with me. I’ll keep you safe. I’m the only one who truly loves you.” Bastien shook his head. “No, Kara. This isn’t love. It’s infatuation. As crazy as the Tumblr fans get with their in-fighting over pixelated characters, and the glitches with suspended accounts and tags not working, it’s the only place where my character can truly grow. You’ve stunted me, Kara. And I think it’s time I work with @mfackental to get the best exposure for my character. I’m so sorry Kara. I wish it didn’t have to end like this.” “Bas, the Tumblr world isn’t sunshine and roses. There’s anon hate and pornbots. Legit accounts that get suspended while the writer waits MONTHS for resolution from the Tumblr team. It’s brutal--even for your character. Do you know that @cordoniansgonewild have you chasing after four strong, amazing women? No one can outsmart them, Bas. Not you. Not even their husbands. Queen Anitah has stolen the royal jet from right under your nose. They’ve drugged you and drawn penises on your face while you were unconscious. They’re ruthless, Bas. Please.” Bastien shook his head. “It’s all in good fun, and the focus is on the women. I’m fine with that because I love strong women.” Kara caught the faraway look in his eyes and she felt her stomach clench. “You’re thinking of Oliva, aren’t you?” Dammit @bobasheebaby and @stopforamoment for starting the whole Baslivia movement! The bright light between Bastien’s legs was getting noticeably brighter as he thought about his favorite Baslivia fan fic moments. @tornbetween2loves for giving him those steamy scenes with Olivia in her Shifting Focus series. When they were playing pool and she distracted him by slipping off her red thong, purposely bending over to give him a show. And then she used the thong to pull back her hair. The scent was intoxicating. And that time when she showed up wearing a trench coat and fedora. Fuck. @stopforamoment still can’t get that picture out of her head, it was so hot. And those fucking backseam stockings Olivia was wearing. He thought the bright light between his legs would explode with a show of fireworks. Kara’s eyes narrowed. “What about @emceesynonymroll and her Finding Riley series? You had a sex dream about your Queen right in front of her, and you had to play it off as a nightmare. Then you quickly rolled over, hoping you wouldn’t need a manual release.” The light between Bastien’s legs started to dim. “Kara, you aren’t fighting fair.” But Kara was only getting started. “And @stopforamoment and that slow burn from hell with over 96 chapters before you even got a real kiss on the lips? How many times did you have to masturbate because Rinda was so clueless about your feelings for her, or how sexually attracted you were to her.” Bastien’s jaw twitched. “Tria was worth it.” “What about @bobasheebaby?” Now a warm smile played across his lips. “Yes. She’s one of my favorites. She has so many series about me, and I’m allowed to explore my full potential with her. My sexual orientation. Multiple partners. My kinks. And I am more than just a guard with her. I can also be a mobster. A father. She understands me better than anyone else, and she’s sacrificed so much for me as she argues with her evil muse.”

Kara scoffed. “Really, Bas? Do you know what her Mistress of Evil muse has been up to?”

Bastien shook his head slowly. The ending of When Fairytales Break almost broke him. “No, Kara. It’s how that story needed to end. But I have so many other happy moments with Olivia. Olivia and Caleb. Harlow. Beth. Liza. Even Christy. And that Bastien NSFW ABC list she created with some help from @stopforamoment? They went through so many pairs of panties as they wrote it for me and the fandom.” The light between his legs began flashing uncontrollably as he thought of those panties.

It was a blinding strobe light, and Kara knew she needed to control it before she had an epileptic seizure. “But what about her latest Evil Liam series Be Careful What You Wish For?”

Bastien’s face paled and his strobe muted to weak flare ups. “That fic focuses on MC Rebecca’s love for Drake, and how Liam is getting in the way of their happiness.”

“Yes, but . . .”  Kara’s voice lowered as she prepared to deliver the fatal blow.

“No! No plot spoilers, Kara! I haven’t finished the most recent chapter yet!”

CHAPTER SIX

[brandi-the-fine-girl]

76th Golden Globe Awards Predictions

Let’s be real here.  The Golden Globes are the biggest joke of Hollywood (right after the Emmy’s that is).  Remember when they nominated The Tourist in the Comedy/Musical category?  Or when they gave the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress to Jennifer Lawrence instead of Lupita Nyong’o?  Or when Get Out was nominated in Comedy/Musical (even though, yes, it was a dark comedy at times)?

So it comes as no surprise that this year’s list of nominees follows the same path.  The Golden Globes are the biggest wild card of all award shows and the Hollywood Foreign Press loves to throw curveballs.  With that said, here are my predictions for the 76th Golden Globe Awards.

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Will win:  A Star Is Born

Should win:  A Star Is Born

Dark Horse:  Black Panther

Look, I loved Black Panther.  And the fact that it has gained this much momentum during award season is a victory for Marvel Studios.  But I’m expecting a sweep for A Star Is Born.  Now, that doesn’t mean ASIB will maintain this momentum for the rest of award season.  The HFPA likes to play favorites and I’m sure ASIB will be this year’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (which won four Golden Globes last year).  But a win for Black Panther would be huge and make it a bigger contender for the Oscars.

Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical

Will win:  Green Book

Should win:  Crazy Rich Asians

Dark Horse:  Mary Poppins Returns

The Comedy/Musical category is always the oddball category (see above about The Tourist and Get Out).  And it’s typically the category where anyone can win.  I’m going to go with Green Book since it won the People’s Choice at TIFF this year but with a diverse voting roster (it is the Hollywood FOREIGN Press after all), I wouldn’t count out Crazy Rich Asians.

Best Director

Will win: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

Should win:  Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

Dark Horse:  Adam McKay, Vice

For me, I believe this is the only category A Star Is Born will not win.  Cuaron’s beautifully stunning and heartbreaking semi-autobiographical film was featured on Obama’s list of films he saw in 2018.  Bradley Cooper’s first directorial feature is a stunning accomplishment but it doesn’t match Cuaron’s ability to paint the anguish and loss in Roma.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Will win: Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born

Should win:  Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

Dark Horse:  John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman

With a possible loss in the Directing category, Bradley will most like scoop up the Actor in a Drama award.  Sure, his character was doomed from the start and it makes for a great challenge for an actor like Bradley.  But Rami’s complete transformation into Freddie Mercury has me convinced he should win.  Don’t count out John David Washington in BlacKkKlansman though.  He’s new to the scene as an actor (he is Denzel Washington’s son) but his performance is definitely one to look out for.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Will win:  Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born

Should win:  Glenn Close, The Wife

Dark Horse:  Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Once again, I’m predicting a sweep for A Star Is Born but I don’t think Lady Gaga will snag two Oscars come Oscar night (that is, if she is nominated for songwriting and Best Actress).  Glenn Close is well overdue for some awards love and it seems like her time might come.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical

Will win:  Christian Bale, Vice

Should win:  Christian Bale, Vice

Dark Horse:  Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns

It’s hard for me to choose anyone else when Christian Bale is in a category.  This is the man that got rail thin for his roles in The Machinist and The Fighter (the latter of which he did win Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars) and bulked up for Batman Begins (gaining 100 pounds) almost six months after filming The Machinist.  His transformation into the notorious Dick Cheney seems like typical awards bait to me.  But let’s not count out the lovable Lin-Manuel Miranda.  The man works hard on stage and screen.  I’d love to see a win for him

Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical

Will win:  Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Should win:  Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians

Dark Horse:  Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns

The category is such a wild card for me.  I’m sure by the end of 2019, everyone will know who Olivia Colman is.  From the little bit I’ve seen of The Favourite, she’s amazing.  However, I do think Constance Wu is more deserving of the accolades.  This category could really go to anyone and with the lovable Emily Blunt also nominated, it could possibly go to the legendary Mary Poppins herself.

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

Will win:  Mahershala Ali, Green Book

Should win:  Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy

Dark Horse:  Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman

Look, before you rip me to shreds, here me out.  I have loved Mahershala Ali since he was on House of Cards and he was painfully robbed in 2017 when the HFPA gave Best Supporting Actor to Aaron Taylor-Johnson instead of Mahershala.  It feels like Mahershala deserves the accolades as a “sorry we gave it to someone else and then you ended up winning the Oscar anyways.”  However, I just watched Beautiful Boy last night and Timothée kills it.  I’m not some crazy fangirl.  I just know a good performance when I see one.  Let’s not count out Adam Driver, though, who knocks it out of the park in BlacKkKlansman.

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Will win: Amy Adams, Vice

Should win:  Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Dark Horse:  Claire Foy, First Man

Since Amy Adams most likely won’t win for Best Actress in Mini Series (more on that later), I’m hoping this is where she gets her due.  The woman is long overdue for the awards love (a lot like Glenn Close).  She’s basically the female Leonardo DiCaprio, if you must.  The fact that Regina King did not nab a SAG Award nomination for If Beale Street Could Talk is a little ominous (side note: the acting branch is the largest branch of the Academy and a lack of SAG nomination is very telling).  I like to hope that she can pick up a Globe as recognition for her stunning work.  To me, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone split the vote so my Dark Horse goes to Claire Foy.  I wouldn’t be surprised if HFPA voters’ obsession with her throws us a curveball in this category.

Best Screenplay

Will win:  Adam McKay, Vice

Should win:  Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

Dark Horse:  Bryan Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Green Book

This is usually a difficult category considering the Oscars split the Screenplay category into Adapted and Original.  The HFPA likes to play it safe by awarding previous winners and nominees so I’m going with Adam McKay who won the Oscar for The Big Short.  Alfonso Cuaron is equally deserving if Best Director doesn’t go his way.  But come Oscar time, I’m expecting a win for Green Book.

Best Original Score

Will win:  Alexandre Desplat, Isle of Dogs

Should win:  Ludwig Goransson, Black Panther

Dark Horse:  Marco Beltrami, A Quiet Place

Alexandre Desplat won last year for The Shape of Water (a well-deserved win if I do say so myself) but I feel Ludwig Goransson may have a chance here.

Best Original Song

Will win:  “Shallow”

Should win:  “Shallow” or “All The Stars”

Dark Horse:  “Girl in the Movies”

Probably the easiest category of the evening.  You can’t turn on any radio station without hearing “Shallow.”  And rightfully so.  The dynamic between Bradley and Gaga is mesmerizing and Gaga’s high note is the most memorable part of it.  However, I wouldn’t mind some recognition to “All The Stars.”  Personally, I feel like “Pray For Me” is the better song but let’s give some love to Kendrick and SZA if we can.

Best Animated Feature Film

Will win: The Incredibles 2

Should win:  The Incredibles 2

Dark Horse:  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

I mean, no contest, this one goes to The Incredibles 2.  Very rarely does Pixar lose an award (exceptions go to Cars 2 and Monsters University) but if it does, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse might take it.

Best Foreign Language Film

Will win:  Roma

Should win:  Roma

Dark Horse:  Girl

Again, no contest, Roma.  But Girl could take it since it won the Caméra d’Or and the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018.  Unfortunately, the film did not make the short list for the Best Foreign Language Film category for this year’s Oscars so maybe it may get its due here.

Best Television Series - Drama

Will win:  The Americans

Should win:  The Americans

Dark Horse:  Pose

After six seasons, The Americans ended on a high note.  It felt painfully under-appreciated at the Emmys this year, so maybe this is where it will get its due.  However, don’t overlook Pose since everything Ryan Murphy touches turns to awards gold.

Best Television Series - Comedy/Musical

Will win:  Barry

Should win:  Barry

Dark Horse:  Kidding

After winning big at the Emmys, I’m predicting some major love for Barry.  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is last year’s winner which may hinder Barry’s chances but the HFPA does tend to choose different winners every year.

Best Actor in a Television Series - Drama

Will win:  Matthew Rhys, The Americans

Should win:  Matthew Rhys, The Americans

Dark Horse:  Richard Madden, Bodyguard

After scooping up an Emmy, Matthew Rhys will probably continue his awards sweep with a Golden Globe.  Billy Porter may give him a run for his money in Pose (he was also wonderful in American Horror Story: Apocalypse).  If we want a shocker, the HFPA could go with Richard Madden in Bodyguard.  Good looks aside, Madden portrays a former British Army sergeant with PTSD fantastically.  It is unclear if Bodyguard has been greenlit for a second season but a Globes win might cement that status.

Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama

Will win: Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Should win:  Keri Russell, The Americans

Dark Horse:  Julia Roberts, Homecoming

One half of our emcees for the evening, expect Sandra Oh to pick up a Globe as well.  Keri Russell was horribly robbed at the Emmys so she is more deserving for her final season of The Americans.  America’s Sweetheart Julia Roberts is a threat to these two with the inaugural season of her Amazon Prime series Homecoming.  Here’s where you can possibly expect a big shocker but I’m still sticking with Ms. Christina Yang herself.

Best Actor in a Television Series - Comedy/Musical

Will win:  Bill Hader, Barry

Should win:  Bill Hader, Barry

Dark Horse:  Jim Carrey, Kidding

I’ve always had a soft spot for Bill Hader since he was on Saturday Night Live.  Starring as a former Marine-turned hitman-turned aspiring actor is the most Bill Hader thing that Bill Hader could possibly do.  Jim Carrey has been placing himself more in the comedy/drama (aka “dramedy”) category as of recent years so don’t count him out in this race.

Best Actress in a Television Series - Comedy/Musical

Will win:  Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Should win:  Alison Brie, GLOW

Dark Horse:  Kristen Bell, The Good Place

Rachel Brosnahan could possibly be a repeat winner here.  Season two of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is getting just as great reviews as season one did (if not as great, then better).  Personally, I feel Alison Brie deserves it but Candice Bergen may come through with the win as well.  However, this Kristen Bell’s first-ever Golden Globe nomination so she could very well take it.

Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film

Will win:  Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Should win:  Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Dark Horse:  Hugh Grant, A Very English Scandal

We’ve come a long way since A Very Potter Musical, haven’t we?  Darren Criss’s portrayal as Versace’s murderer Andrew Cunanan is one of the best performances I’ve seen in recent years.  The creepy smile underneath his hand as he sees the news that Versace has been killed makes him a lock for this category.

Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film

Will win:  Laura Dern, The Tale

Should win:  Amy Adams, Sharp Objects

Dark Horse:  Regina King, Seven Seconds

Like I said above, I’m hoping Amy Adams will get her due in the Best Supporting Actress category because it seems like she won’t get it here.  Laura Dern is a favorite of the HFPA so she most likely will win.  Amy Adams is the more deserving here but if things don’t work out for Best Supporting Actress, I’m hoping the HFPA does a flip-flop gives it to her here.  Regina King won the Emmy for Seven Seconds but she seems like a long shot here.

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film

Will win:  Henry Winkler, Barry

Should win:  Edgar Ramirez, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Dark Horse:  Kieran Culkin, Succession

It’s always been odd to me that the Golden Globes don’t split their supporting television categories.  Sure, it makes for great competition but it’s also incredibly unfair.  I’m going with Henry Winkler in Barry (who was well overdue for that Emmy) but Edgar Ramirez definitely should be the winner in my eyes.  Kieran Culkin (the only nominee for HBO’s Succession) could pull a surprise win here.

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film

Will win:  Penélope Cruz, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Should win: Penélope Cruz, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story OR Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects OR Thandie Newton, Westworld

Dark Horse:  Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale

This is, quite possibly, the most competitive category of the entire award show.  And, yet again, another reason why it’s absurd that the Golden Globes don’t split their supporting television categories.  Alex Borstein and Thandie Newton both have the upper hand in this category since they both won Emmys in the supporting actress categories in comedy and drama, respectively. But their recent Emmy wins could cancel them out, making way for either Penélope Cruz or Patricia Clarkson to nab the award.  I’m going with Penélope though since she was robbed of the Emmy.  I am hoping for an Emmy win for Patricia Clarkson come September.

Best Miniseries or Television Film

Will win:  The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Should win:  The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Dark Horse:  A Very English Scandal

Riveting from start to finish with stunning performances from the cast, Versace is a lock.  In any other year, I’d give it to Sharp Objects but the show also lagged a bit.  If I hadn’t read the book, I might have been bored.  The series was more of a performance piece for the actors instead of being a masterpiece as a whole.  Versace has it all.  And, of course, it’s another Ryan Murphy masterpiece.  

Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh host the 76th Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, January 6 at 8 pm EST/5:00 pm PST.

[boglog]

HILL HOUSE NOTES !!

Objectively speaking, I like the show as a weird crossover between Transparent and American Horror Story but there are always some cons :/ One thing I will say is that I find it hard to review horror bc I'm too busy swimming in cortisol to notice plot holes but I watched the scary scenes w subtitles and no audio and that will have to do!!!

Cons:

The diologue is occasionally awful.

Scratch that it's terrible and the more the show goes on the more it nears Grey's Anatomy levels of nauseating

Firstly, there are way too many name drops esp when there are only two characters in the room, sometimes even one sentence after another, it's exhausting.

i.e. 'Stay right here, honey. I'm going to talk to the police now sweetie, I'll be right back.' // 'You eat people, Steve. You are a parasite, Steve.'

Second of all, 'Don't do that ever again. Don't do that. Where were you? I thought the house thingy got you.' kids don't talk like this. I know irl children tend to imitate the adults around them but the sheer amount of stock cliches these child actors are required to say is incredible

And honestly overall there's too much talking period. There are dozens of scenes where a character monologues for almost five minutes!!!!

I loved mind doppelgänger Leigh's speech but really let's tally it up: we've got Mrs Dudley's monologue, Olivia monologues a few times, Theo's monologue, Luke 2 or three monologues, one from Shirley, Hugh is not much of a talker so thank god they were consistent. And of course a lot of these are important to the story and even close to entertaining (see also: Nell yelling at Steve) but it's way too much and anything actually significant is diluted in this deluge of info-dump-y speeches

Why god??? Why?

Like this is television not radio but I guess it's another case of Forced Diegesis when summarising w flashbacks would actually be way easier on my psyche but Tacky for these Kinematic Auteurs

I would've liked a more in depth exploration of Olivia and her childhood experiences of paranormal tragedy to give us a better context for her morally grey slip into an evil mother

Still somewhat peeved at how, bc of supernatural instinct, we can justify Theo and CPS taking a child away from her home. Obviously the show can't waste so much time on what's only supposed to be a quick detour into Theo's character and it works within the world of the show given that the guy did confess but portrayals of police, first responders, social workers, ad nauseum making snap descisions like that is Not Good for people's real world perception of their rights. Just sayin.

Maybe a scene where Steve and Hugh apologise for being garbage humans or something idk that would've been nice

This show has many layers and interpretations which could either skew towards clever ambiguity or clumsy indescision and while I'm leaning toward the former, I will say it does go a little all over the place for me.

Are the Crains' superpowers genetic, from their mother? Did it come from the house? Why is the house was so vindictive? What does it want? Or is it more symbolic of the emptiness inside the characters? Why is Olivia decidedly an over controlling mother but Nell is an innocent? Is really the only thing Steve had to do to save his marriage was reverse the vasectomy? Nell died of her own paradoxical haunting that began when she was six so was the cause ultimately a sadness within herself before the house of strictly the house's pull?

Like it's v unclear (probably deliberately) wether or not the story was Psychosis All Along or it was the house's vendetta or bc the Crains specifically are a supernatural mutant family

We never find out what Nell does for a living and I'm curious

Finally: it's really white sometimes. Like. Painfully white. Granted, the Crains come close to my favourite kind of white person, the quirky dysfunctional family of adult children scattered all over the country who only reunite at their dead sister's funeral. Still, the POC tally up to two love interests (one of which DIES), one cop, one naïve widow, and one poor daughter-less foster parent. One could argue only a middle class white family would stay in a haunted house for so long ://

Pros

The show juggles seven characters and two plots flawlessly. Each character is recognisable w a distinct personality after about only two episodes, the nonlinear structure as we alternate between the present day frame story and the main plot in flashbacks before ultimately converging when the family reunites at the house for the last time is not only clear but parses its information in way that's not only not confusing but strengthens the tension and dread. Even while they show the flashbacks' ending (w Olivia and later Nell's death) as well as the epilogue, the build up still feels entirely justified. This is peak plotting right there.

Furthermore, Nell's ghost still manages to be in the spotlight with some jumpscares even after we know who she is

My soul pretty much left my body when Nell's ghost attempts to bond w her sisters via screaming as they argue in the car

A quintessential microcosm of the show's representation of time and memory is Nell's final speech: whimsically disjointed at first, poignant and clear by the end

It's a horror show that is completely dedicated to its characters (and I'm sure some of you already know my love of dysfunctional families) and centres around human themes of connection, mourning, and trauma and the necessity of vulnerability and letting go in order to live a full life. That's very rare in horror where we usually get gratuitous gore with a small spattering of sentimental scenes to further the gore.

Olivia's Forever House served as an excellent symbol for her need to control, the house's monicker implying her fear of change.

An incomplete but not bad portrayal of trauma, a decent addition to the topical and ever-expanding mental illness discourse

Also ft. meta commentary on writers

In the beginning, Olivia really was portrayed as a concerned mother who was always trying to be considerate of her children's emotional well-being despite her occasional snaps. One has to wonder wether her slip into an irrational need to control might reflect society's paradoxically oppressive expectations of motherhood: to have absolute control of your children while also being a benevolent saviour to them 24/7. I mean in all fairness to Olivia, she was working and raising 5 kids. I'd lose my marbles too.

Or maybe I'm giving the creators too much credit and they were only angling for an Other Mother thing. I like this Foucaultian nihilism though so we're gonna go w that.

The show's acknowledgment of Useless Dad and Entitled Eldest Son syndrome.

Spat my tea when doppelgänger Leigh ripped Steve a new one, and since she's a representation of his psyche maybe that means that Steve himself has gained some self awareness. (He should still... apologise to his family....)

I mean they were really spot-on with how birth order family drama goes.

Human portrayal of a lesbian as an adult and a child! As tumblr user Lesbeet said, this is very rare and deftly done!

Theo doing literally anything

Shirl is p adorable

Theo and Shirl: the comedy duo we absolutely need in our lives

Arthur and Nell's romance is joining Up's prologue in the golden vault of world's greatest ten minute love montages. (Both of which ended in tragédie. ☹️)

Shirl's AU dream sequence, which unlike the others, presents us with an extramarital faux pas that we were not previously aware of, manages to seem totally appropriate for her character

The set and costume design are perfect for the primordial fear of the unknown aesthetic the show was going for. Fairy flappers! Gothic stairwells! Punk rock leather gloves! A McMansion that doubles as a funeral home! Motels! A curvilinear LA mansion! The absolutely insane brutalist million dollar rehab centre! Oh boy!!!

Accurate mortician portrayal: they really do gotta wire the corpses' mouths shut. Those damn chatty dead people.

Tldr:

Diologue is lengthy and cheesy while the characters are Too White. The rare portrayals of POC and how social services work were lacklustre. 👎

The show's incredible ambition and dedication to its characters and themes of trauma, dysfunctional family relationships, and the consequences of coping via trying to control your life is amazing. Theo, especially, is amazing. It's a very goth show with clinically depressed ghosts.👍

[oosteven-universe]

Mary Shelley Monster Hunter #4

Mary Shelley Monster Hunter #4 Aftershock Comics 2019 Written by Adam Glass & Olivia Cuartero-Briggs Illustrated by Hayden Sherman Lettered by Sal Cipriano     Mary and her cohorts cover up a murder, but for the crime, Adam must die. Victoria attempts to end Adam's life but fails, driving him, heartbroken, off into the woods. But when female members of Victoria's house staff start going missing, Mary discovers that Adam has done the unthinkable to heal his shattered heart.     Okay this is that singular issue when things begin to change for this group of characters. Last issue we saw Adam kill Harriet as she came barging in and making demands on her husband while throwing insults at Mary. This was the moment that introduced the group to how dangerous Adam is and now they must deal with the aftermath. From day one I have been impressed with how this is being written and structured. Adam is the king of Alternate History and I'll stand behind that in any way I have to. With Olivia the two are in the process of creating another epic masterpiece for Aftershock.     This has an incredible pacing to it that incorporates the story & plot development and character development in some spectacular ways. This series of unfortunate events that they've encountered one after the other that led them to Victoria's front door, probably orchestrated by Victoria as well, has set the stage for what is to become of this small group of friends and lovers. It is also one of the most fascinatingly mundane start to such an auspicious story. The characterisation that we're seeing is beyond amazing and you can see the very moment that those we knew no longer exist and in their place is someone that we want to see explored further.     This includes Adam as well. He is the wild card in all this and as Victoria and her lady servant are the ones who are supposed to deal with him after he has taken a human life. There is always that event which occurs that is the catalyst which changes everything and the creation becomes a monster. In Penny Dreadful it was the first creation which turned out to be the problem child. In the history of Frankenstein there was only one really, well until he wanted a bride. So to see them with their creation and to see his blind obedience turned into something else is both fascinating and horrifying at the same time.     While I like Hayden's work on the interiors and this style of his that has more of an ambiguous feel to it, I really miss that fine attention to detail. Having said that he really does infuse the book with a style that leaves a lot to the readers' imagination and fits into a horror genre extremely well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show us a talented eye for storytelling. I will say that we don't see what makes Adam Adam was a bit of a disappointment but at least it looks like he has a hairy butt. The way he utilises the backgrounds here is also a joyous thing to see as it really enhances the moments beautifully. The colour work is really well done in my opinion. The green tones throughout and how the various hues are utilised is actually quite creepy and beautiful. Also the splashes of red throughout leave quite the impact. ​     There are few things that evoke the feel of horror like Frankenstein's monster and the trick however is not to make it come off as a joke or like something we've seen before. So that we see him naked a lot, where's his penis?, with all the stitching representing different pieces is gorgeously done and his loyalty to his master is outstandingly well portrayed. There is a reason we see Adam doing so much work through Aftershock and it's because he gets to unleash this amazing creativity that is his mind and bring everyone else along for the ride.

[candicanesunited]

The Women Of Arrowverse Get Honest About Pushing For Inclusion In The Industry — And In The Fandom 

You all play roles that mean a lot to an entire audience, but it's especially impactful for young women to see their interests and passions portrayed on screen by strong role models. When was the first time you realized how important your character is to viewers in terms of representation? Candice Patton (Iris West, The Flash): The Flash has been around for many, many decades, and Iris has been there since day one as a white, red-headed woman. For me to be cast was groundbreaking for so many young women of color seeing themselves as ingenues. My experience in the business so far has been [portraying] a lot of best friends, sidekicks — I think that’s where a lot of people of color find themselves. And my casting, for me and I know for so many girls watching, it was a nod to this idea that black women especially are beautiful and are desirable. We also can be the love interest, we can be desired by the superhero, the main character, which is something that we don’t see very often.

read more below and here. 

Patton: I think it’s great — the diversity in the superhero genre — that we’ve seen over the last five years even, but it’s one thing to just hire diverse talent; it’s another thing to write for them and fully flesh those characters out. Because fans no longer want to see a [checked box], you then have to also write for them and develop them and make them fully rounded characters that they can identify with.

What has the fan response been to your casting and how has that affected you? Patton: It’s been mixed. I think the people who were really excited about me being cast as Iris West have been excited since day one and they’re still excited, and they’re still fighting to see more character development. But in the beginning it was hard for a lot of people to imagine a black woman playing Barry Allen’s future wife, and people were very vocal about it. Comic book fans are very passionate, and a lot of them had no problem speaking out about their dislike of my casting, and you still see it today. It’s getting better as the years go by, but we still see the reticence of people embracing these actors playing these characters.

Patton: I naturally have pretty thick skin; I think that helps. I also have a great support system around me, people that remind me of what’s actually important. The internet is a cesspool for people who want to voice their frustrations and anger and a lot of it, I’ve realized, has nothing to do with me, and I can’t take on other people’s anger. A lot of it comes from me being genuinely sad for people who have embraced the internet as a place to bully people.

There are a lot of tough topics that you are tackling on Shethority — all conversations that women need to have and should feel safe having. Was there ever a topic that you shied away from discussing at first? Patton: All of those topics have been, to some degree in some way, difficult for me to want to talk about. Caity and I especially, just in our friendship, her being a white woman and me being a black female, we have very different experiences in life and so when we would talk about certain issues like race and body image and pay equality, it was difficult to have those conversations just between the two of us. That’s what we want for Shethority: the conversations may be hard, but they have to be had.

Since the launch of the #MeToo movement, have you felt or seen changes on set and within the industry or within the fandom? What does that look like? Patton: [The #MeToo and Time’s Up movements] have given me more confidence to go to the writers and the producers and say, "We need more agency for these characters." I love that Iris West is the love interest. I think we did a great job in casting a black woman as the love interest to this superhero, but now let’s give her a job. It’s important for the lead female character not only to have a job, but for that job to mean something to the overall story that we’re telling each week, so that we see her value on screen. That’s so important for the young girls who watch the show to understand, to not only seek out a partner in life, but have a passion in life.

Another really important conversation for women to be having right now, in a way of empowering each other, is equal pay. Are women within the community having frank conversations about compensation? Patton: We discovered that we as women have been conditioned to not talk about money with each other. And it’s a scary conversation to have. We realized the more that we break down those fears and those barriers, the more movement we can make with pay equality. Even with our male counterparts, it’s so important to have these conversations. The more that we don’t talk to each other, the more that we keep information away from each other, the harder it’s going to be for our fight to get equal pay.

Would you want to see an all-female Arrowverse crossover event? Patton: For so long our cast was just two women, [myself and Danielle Panabaker]. My question was always like, "When are we getting more women?" We’d go through another season and we’d add a male. And then the next season, we’d add another male. We’re going into Season 5, we just added two women of color [Jessica Parker Kennedy and Danielle Nicolet] on our show as series regulars, bringing our number of female regulars on the show up to four, which is amazing. I mean, if you would have said that to my 14-year-old self, there’s no way I would have believed you. We’re doing scenes now with three black women in a room, plus Jesse L. Martin, sometimes Keiynan Lonsdale who plays Wally West, my brother — there’s just so many more people of color on the show. And it’s just so much more reflective of the world that I live in everyday, which makes me really excited for where we’re headed in the next couple of seasons.

What do you love about this industry and the fandom? Patton: There’s so much humor and fun involved in fandoms. Fans for me are just fun. They give me a sense of humor in my life, even on the most stressful days at work, on set, working 14 hours, I can log onto my Twitter and have a really fun, funny banter with my fans.

This roundtable has been edited and condensed for clarity. Additional reporting by Olivia Truffaut-Wong.

[notallbloodmages]

Michael and I finally finished watching The Haunting of Hill House and...damn. Grief is really like that. (spoilers below the cut I guess along with what I thought/liked. Also cw- HOHH is about sui/cide and grief)

Not having anything to do with the story or characters, I am always very into stories where we see what each character is doing at the same time. That shit is perfect. A whole episode dedicated to each person is my absolute jam.

As a survivor of a family member’s suicide, the amount of denial and anger seemed so real and surprisingly well-written. They didn’t try to glorify it or make it pretty. They let linger the fact that Nell was dead because of how empty she felt. And Olivia was dead because she was being told she was just tired instead of being sent to get help sooner. They didn’t act like either of them died as a martyr, or for some grandiose fantastic revenge.  It was hard and shocking and vivid. The suicide didn’t make everyone’s faults or feuds disappear into thin air - it’s clear that there was still a lot of talking and working things out.  People start to come together as a result of shared trauma, but they don’t just drop history behind them.

I loved Theo in particular.  Having such strong empathy for anyone is incredibly difficult.  The way she used her sensitivities to help children going through trauma was such a good show of her growth.  I appreciate that she also took Steve’s book money to help her achieve that dream.  I understand why what Steve did was horrible- and it was -but I agree with Theo that you can take “blood money” and do something good with it.  There was no “this character is just greedy” trope. Steve seemed like he was that trope, but he was just in extreme denial and ended up taking it way too far.

Speaking of Steve, I’m so glad he revealed his vasectomy. I was rolling my eyes just thinking of another “we’re fighting because we found out the woman is infertile and they’re going to fall apart now” interaction. Infertility can make a woman feel broken. But it seems like the media’s insistence to only portray this side of it (ex. Black Widow comparing herself to a monster that one time) is a huge part of that.

All of the ghosts were so neat. I would actually have loved to see more snippets of their lives. I would have loved the Dudleys to get a whole episode showing their history with the house instead of the 5 minute monologue from Mr. Dudley in the basement. Especially because I feel like it would have made sense for that monologue to include Abigail’s existence? At least her name? Olivia at least knew they had a child, but never asked for their name. I get that they were protective, but having the others keep an eye out for her would have solved a couple things. The whole situation and ending would have been just as sad and hard-hitting without Abigail getting poisoned by Olivia. Hugh could have taken three hours to call the police because of, I don’t know, a broken phone line or just driving his kids to safety first. Mr. and Mrs. Dudley also seemed way too calm about keeping it a secret.

Having Mrs. Dudley buried in the floor boards was kinda weird, too. If Abigail was buried in the garden and Poppy probably died in an asylum, but their ghosts were still there, why bury a body in the floor? What if burning the house would have caused all of the ghosts to no longer be tortured and no one else would ever get hurt? Or, what if the ghosts corrupt Abigail’s and her mom’s ghosts? Who will take care of Hill House now, since the Crains probably won’t? And what about after the Crains?

I wanna know about Ghost Grandma and how she called Poppy a liar. I wanna know why William Hill's ghost was a floating jerk with a hat, while his wife is out there wearing flapper gear chatting with Olivia. Also can we just have some angry ghosts instead of “insane people died so now they’re making you go insane” ghosts? Poppy might have been considered insane when she died, but she might have just been A Normal Woman in reality because back in her day, every woman was “insane” if a man didn’t like what she was doing. “Insanity” was a diagnosis for hundreds of things, and for nothing, not nearly long enough ago.

I really really did enjoy it! I have some thoughts and questions, like any story should leave you with, but I loved it! I loved feeling sad and it was an oddly nice way to revisit my own grief while watching. Mrs. Dudley asking if there was “anything worse than losing a child” will now go with Theoden saying that “no parent should bury their child” in my collection of quotes that make me cry.

Theo revealing how touching Nell’s body made her feel, or not feel, was so emotional. Seriously all of the actors were fucking amazing.

[bbclesmis]

Sydney Morning Herald: Lily Collins on outshining dad Phil and her new blockbuster role

Lily Collins is in a good place right now, the best place, perhaps, in her quietly glittering career. The British-American actor, 29, has the sort of resumé – movie star, fashion icon, proper published author – that might make her an object of envy were she not so grounded, so very relatable. But it's her forthcoming, wildly praised role as Fantine, that oh-so-tragic young factory worker, in a six-part BBC adaptation of Victor Hugo's famed 1862 novel, Les Misérables, that looks set to send her stratospheric.

"It's a role I've been preparing for all my life," says Lily, hazel eyes dancing under big, beautiful brows. "I mean, I read the book at school" – that's Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles – "but if I had known I was going to play Fantine one day, I would definitely have paid more attention!"

“It’s the things that make you different that end up making you unique.”

She gives a smile. "Fantine drives the story at the beginning and her essence and memory continue throughout the series. To me she represents everlasting hope in times of darkness, no matter what the time period."

There have been several versions of Les Misérables, of course, the most famous being the musical that is still playing on Broadway and in London's West End, and the similarly sung-through 2012 movie starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, with Anne Hathaway as Fantine.

A sweet-natured grisette (young, working-class Frenchwoman), Fantine's seduction by an older student, the charming cad Felix (Johnny Flynn in the BBC series), results in her falling pregnant and struggling to survive as a single mother. Conned by her child's carers, destitute and desperate, she falls on hard times. Fantine is an iconic character, and one that miniseries director Tom Shankland encouraged Lily to make her own.

"Tom told me to forget every other Les Mis I'd seen and just go back to the writing," says Lily of this song-free version, scripted by Andrew Davies (who wrote the US version of House of Cards) and is delivered in plain-spoken, vowel-dropped English despite the epic backdrop of 19th-century France (or Belgium masquerading as France) at a time of civil unrest.

"We were encouraged to bring a fresh take, to breathe life into a song lyric and make it an episode," she continues in her soft American twang. "Not everybody loves musicals. So where Fantine has a line in one of her songs that mentions her falling in love, now we get to see how it happened."

Lily is here at BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) in central London for the premiere of Les Misérables, the cast of which includes David Oyelowo, Dominic West and Olivia Colman. It's raining outside, but Lily – standing reed-slim in an ultra-tight sparkling minidress ("It's going to be tricky for me to sit down") – oozes the sunniness of California, where she has been based since the age of five, having moved there from England following her parents' divorce. The daughter of former Genesis drummer (and later singer) Phil Collins and his American second wife, Jill Tavelman, Lily might easily have fast-tracked her ascent by trading on her surname.

She hasn't, which makes her success all the sweeter. "I am super proud of my dad," she has said of her hit-maker father, who has five children by his three ex-wives (and who recently toured Australia). "But I wanted to do it on my own. People assume it's easier when you have that name but if you're the kind of person who doesn't want to use it, it's a lot harder."

Nevertheless, from her first on-screen appearance, aged two, in a BBC series called Growing Pains, Lily's rise seems to have been remarkably smooth. Performing is in her blood, after all: as a young girl she'd watch old Hollywood films, many featuring her maternal grandmother Jane Hale, a ballerina and actress, then dress up to mimic her favourite characters.

She attended the Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, taking part in musical theatre productions. She was also a teen columnist for UK magazine Elle Girl, and a socialite whose alabaster beauty caught the eye of Chanel, which dressed her in a gown for a debutante ball that featured in the reality TV show The Hills.

By 2008, Lily was in demand as a model and brand ambassador (she is currently the face of French beauty brand Lancôme) and making a name as a red-carpet correspondent and children's TV presenter. A year later, she featured as a minor character in the American teen drama series 90210 and made her film debut as Sandra Bullock's daughter in the Oscar-nominated The Blind Side.

The scripts started tumbling in, and Lily dropped out of studying broadcast journalism to take supporting roles in an action film and a thriller. In 2012, she starred in Mirror Mirror as a sword-wielding Snow White opposite Julia Roberts' evil queen.

"So Fantine is not the first time I've played a literary character with opinions," grins Lily, who lobbied for a second audition for Snow White after being unhappy with her first try-out, duly clinching the part.

"I wanted to do it on my own. People assume it's easier when you have that name but if you're the kind of person who doesn't want to use it, it's a lot harder."

There's also been sci-fi (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), throwback romantic-comedy drama (Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply, which got her a Golden Globe nomination), and the CGI-enhanced Okja, in which she played a young animal activist intent on saving her best (four-legged) friend.

And there was a lead role in the controversial anorexia drama To the Bone. It divided critics but Lily has insisted that it helped her understand her own teenage battle with eating disorders, which she detailed in her 2017 memoir, Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me.

"It's very rare you get the opportunity to wear shoes you once wore with a different perspective on things," she told Vanity Fair. "This was an amazing opportunity to gain knowledge, and helped me let go a lot."

As did the writing of Unfiltered. Divulging personal information in print is one thing. Doing so when you have a famous dad and 13 million Instagram followers is another. Lily – who wrote every word herself – says she found the process liberating.

"I decided to write the book because I kept reading what people were posting on social media and thinking, 'You're so brave,' " she says. "It was a really difficult thing for me to do, but the feedback I got made it way more rewarding than I expected."

Boyfriends' names were changed in an essay on dating (if rumoured exes Zac Efron and Chris Evans are in there, she's not saying). Silliness is praised as attractive; those eyebrows, which she plucked to thin lines at school, are reclaimed and championed in all their bushy glory. And in an open letter to her father, Lily tells the 67-year-old that she "forgives" him for "not being the dad I expected", and notes the impact that her parents' famously messy divorce had on her teenage years: "I accept and honour the sadness and anger I felt towards the things you did or didn't do," she writes.

Today she'd prefer not to discuss specifics, though offers You'll Be in My Heart from the 1999 Disney animated film Tarzan when asked to choose her favourite Phil Collins song: "He wrote it as a lullaby to me as a kid," she says, re-routing the conversation to Unfiltered and the main reason she set fingers to laptop: to make young people feel less alone. The sentiment dovetails with Lily's advocacy work for charities including Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying organisation, and the GO Campaign, which raises funds for orphans and vulnerable children.

"Open communication with teenagers is something I'm very passionate about," she says. "Speaking about insecurities and being honest about what you are going through is vital. One young woman asked me, 'But what if you know you're born different, if your quirks and interests aren't the norm? When you're a green apple when everyone else is a red one?'

"I said, 'Well, I've always loved green apples! It's the things that make you different that end up making you unique.' " She pauses for a beat. "So many kids have these deep, thoughtful questions. It doesn't matter what political, religious, sexual-orientation background you come from, we all go through the same insecurities and realising this fact is the beauty of communications."

"It's very rare you get the opportunity to wear shoes you once wore with a different perspective on things"

Additionally, by setting her own example – by putting it all out there in Unfiltered – Lily was able to let go of personal baggage, which in turn allowed her to go deeper into her characters. Forthcoming appearances include two extremes: Edith Bratt, beloved wife and muse of English writer J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, in the biopic Tolkien, and Liz Kendall, longtime girlfriend of infamous American serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

"I'd just finished filming that when I jumped on a plane and flew to Brussels in winter to start Les Mis," says Lily. "My state of mind was already very dark, so when I found we were working backwards, that the end of Fantine's life was being filmed on day two of shooting, I used this weird head space to help me lean into her character."

Lily portrays Fantine, a fallen woman who sells her hair, then her teeth, then her body to earn money for her daughter, with a deft mix of steeliness, sassiness and grace. Much of the filming took place in sub-zero conditions; one memorable scene sees a shivering Fantine being physically hurled across cobblestones by police inspector Javert: "David [Oyelowo] got a bit carried away, and there were real bruises afterwards," says Lily with a grimace. "I thought, 'Well she's physically in pain, let's keep going.'

"I've never shot anything out of sequence like that but I'm so grateful because when we returned in the summer, knowing where we ended up, I got to amp up the romance. I wanted people to empathise with her as much as possible."

She flashes a smile. "Empathy," she says, "is everything."

Les Misérables premieres on BBC First on Foxtel and Fetch from March 10 at 8.30pm.

This article appears in Sunday Life magazine within the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Age on sale February 17.

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/lily-collins-on-outshining-dad-phil-and-her-new-blockbuster-role-20190213-p50xf1.html

[ewh111]

2018 Annual List of Favorite Film Experiences

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope you’ve been having a great holiday season. It’s been another fun year in film, television, and streaming. It felt like a particularly good year for diverse voices, visions, casts, and storytelling. While I still feel like I’m catching up on year-end releases, here’s my annual list of the ones that have entertained, moved me, provoked thoughts, or just plain stuck with me the most with their story-telling and artistry (In no particular order).

All the best for a wonderful 2019!

Cheers, Ed

Indelible (But VERY Different) Cinematic Experiences

Roma—I wasn’t sure what the hype was about for the first hour which leisurely unfolds before you, but it’s just the build-up as Alfonso Cuaron’s beautiful and powerful film slowly draws you in, and then suddenly grabs you with unexpected emotional impact. An intimate, yet sweeping story of a maid who holds together a crumbling family as her own life combusts. Based on the director’s own life and the woman who raised him, Roma is a complex multi-layered domestic/social/political drama with some truly haunting and indelible sequences. Some may be challenged by the pacing and seeming lack of narrative. Be patient and stick with it; it’s worth it.

Sorry to Bother You—Audacious, original first film and new vision from rapper/hip hop musician Boots Riley starring a terrific Lakeith Stanfield as down on his luck young man who gets a job as a telemarketer and advised by veteran caller Danny Glover to use his “white voice” to become a power caller. The story then takes a twisted wackadoodle turn that truly defies description. This bold and outrageous absurdist social satire/surreal anti-capitalist black comedy also stars an excellent Armie Hammer in a bizzaro role.

A Full House of Documentaries: A Pair of Giants of Our Time and Three of a Kind

Won’t You Be My Neighbor—Celebrating a true hero, it’s a warm and loving look at this pioneer of children’s television who became a role model of kindness and compassion for generations. Little did I realize when watching him as a child the bold and courageous manner in which he addressed the social issues of the day. And it is worthwhile to see the full six-minute video of Fred Rogers Senate testimony that saved funding for public television: https://youtu.be/fKy7ljRr0AA.

RBG—An inspirational telling of the brilliant legal mind who shaped America’s legal landscape on gender equality and women’s rights and became a pop culture icon. 

Three Identical Strangers—Fascinating documentary that starts as a “can’t believe it’s true” tale of separated-at-birth triplets who miraculously find each other as young adults, and then takes a very dark turn as the layers of the story are revealed, raising some real ethical questions about research and the debate about nature vs. nurture.

Additional Docu-series to watch: The Staircase (a gripping and powerful docu-series that is an intimate and detailed look at our criminal justice system as seen through the eyes of a man accused of murder who claims the death of his wife was an accident); The Fourth Estate (a fascinating behind the scenes look at the NY Times and their reporters as they cover the beginning of the Trump administration).

Historical Dramedies

The Death of Stalin—Dark and bitingly funny, this relevant political satire by Armando Iannucci of Veep portrays the intrigue surrounding the flock of sycophantic bureaucrats who vie to become the next Soviet leader after the sudden stroke and death of Stalin. A masterful historical farce with a great cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Palin, and Jason Isaacs. And it’s worth noting that the most absurd moments actually did take place (e.g., a rerun concert just to make a recording for Stalin; the alcoholic and meglomaniacal son of Stalin who lost the entire national hockey team by ordering their flight into a snowstorm and then replacing the dead players in hopes his dad wouldn’t notice).

The Favourite—While I decidedly did not care for filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’s much acclaimed The Lobster, this is a much more accessible outing. A highly original period/costume piece with an amazing trio of performances from Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone, The Favourite is a dark and wickedly humorous look at the conniving palace intrigue, love triangles, and back-stabbing world of Queen Anne’s court, complete with fops, duck races, pigeon shooting, and rabbits that rule the roost. 

Vice—Not your typical biopic. From the man who brought you The Big Short, Adam McKay delivers an entertaining dark dramedy. Christian Bale wholly transforms into the enigmatic Dick Cheney in this boldly told tale (including a faux Shakespearean pillow talk bit and a mid-film happily-ever-after credit sequence) of a ne'er do well who becomes the most powerful man in the world, all “in the service of the people.” With a very strong supporting cast of Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush, and Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld.

BlacKkKlansman—Director Spke Lee and the producers of Get Out deliver the unbelievably true buddy-cop tale from the 1970s of a black man who goes undercover to infiltrate the KKK by phone while his white Jewish partner stands in for him in face-to-face meetings. Told in a funny and entertaining manner, it’s one of Spike Lee’s best film in years, though it’s unfortunate how little the racial issues have changed over time.

Odes to Stan Lee and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Black Panther—This is not just another Marvel superhero movie. This is what every origin story should be: a totally immersive world is created with a sophisticated and impressively well-told story, balancing big themes, character development, action, mythology, and strong messaging, including female empowerment. Black Panther is perhaps the best (and most political without being heavy-handed) entry in the MCU while leaving a very large cultural footprint on Hollywood.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse—I really didn’t think we needed another entry into the Spidey world, but this one was truly fantastic, perhaps the best of the bunch. With visually stunning animation unlike anything I’ve seen before, it’s the most trippy, inclusive, and soulful Spider-Man ever, and the one most true to its comic book roots.

More Fantastic Animation, Stop Motion, and CGI

Isle of Dogs–I am an unabashed fan of Wes Anderson, and here he creates a masterful stop motion universe, much more sophisticated and intricate than his last one, the wonderful Fantastic Mr. Fox. Taking place in a fictional dystopian Japan, he creates yet another Andersonian obsessively detailed world, infused with Japanese culture and canines. On the surface, it’s a simple story of a boy seeking his pet dog in a world where dogs have been banished to a trash-filled island, but it works on so many other levels, existential and political. A great cast of voices infuse each character with individuality and nuanced personalities, including Brian Cranston, Edward Norton, and Bill Murray. 

Ready Player One—An unexpectedly wild and entertaining journey, this Spielberg film that takes place in a dystopian future steeped in the nostalgia of the 1980s (video games, movies, music) where its citizens find salvation and escape in a virtual world called the OASIS. The central story of a teen in a whirlwind contest seeking control of the OASIS is a visually stunning and thrilling ride combining live action and CGI that is thoroughly satisfying (though I feel I need to go back to take in all the pop culture references that whirl by).  

Incredibles 2–Well worth the wait after 14 years. Just what you would hope for in summer film. Well-developed characters, action, and story with amazing animation and a terrifically snazzy Michael Giacchino soundtrack.

Other Enjoyable Film Experiences Worth Mentioning

22 July, A Quiet Place, Beautiful Boy, Boy Erased, Crazy Rich Asians, Eighth Grade, Green Book, Love, Simon, Mary Poppins Returns, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Paddington 2, The Price of Everything, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Science Fair, Searching, The Hate U Give, Tully, Victoria & Abdul

In the Queue

A Star Is Born, Burning, Cold War, First Man, First Reformed, Free Solo, The Frontrunner, If Beale Street Could Talk, Shoplifters

Binge-Worthy Television

The Americans, Barry, Succession

For the Foodie Set

Fat Salt Acid Heat, Ugly Delicious

Favorite Theater Experience

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child--if you’re a HP fan, it’s like being reunited with old friends. Great story and incredible stagecraft. 

Trailers

Black Panther: https://youtu.be/xjDjIWPwcPU

BlacKkKlansman: https://youtu.be/0vWHEuhEuno

Incredibles 2: https://youtu.be/i5qOzqD9Rms

Isle of Dogs: https://youtu.be/dt__kig8PVU

RBG: https://youtu.be/biIRlcQqmOc

Ready Player One: https://youtu.be/cSp1dM2Vj48

Roma: https://youtu.be/6BS27ngZtxg

Sorry to Bother You: https://youtu.be/PQKiRpiVRQM

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: https://youtu.be/g4Hbz2jLxvQ

The Death of Stalin: https://youtu.be/kPpXFnHoC-0

The Favourite: https://youtu.be/SYb-wkehT1g

Three Identical Strangers: https://youtu.be/c-OF0OaK3o0

Vice: https://youtu.be/jO3GsRQO0dM

Won’t You Be My Neighbor: https://youtu.be/FhwktRDG_aQ

[allfandomxreader]

The Interview

Pairings: Joe Keery x Reader Words: 2,146 sorry Request: I absolutely loved the Joe Keery x reader one you made. Could you do a similar one where joe is still dating Maika but somehow starts to fall for the reader? I love all your imagines, you’re so talented! xx Summary: You portray the new character Olivia Henderson in season three of Stranger Things. You and Joe go on a Jimmy Fallon interview together to talk about the recent season together. Part: 1/5 Warnings: Joe likes the reader but is dating Maika, so if you consider that cheating. A/N: I absolutely loved writing this, it's probably one of my favorite fics I’ve written, so I hope I did your request justice! I cut this into two parts because there’s just so much more I want to do with it. (Also I have no idea how interviews work so if this is really inaccurate, I’m so sorry.

Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5

Your foot bounces as nerves run through your leg. You watch the TV backstage as Jimmy tells jokes to his audience. You stand beside your co-star, Joe, preparing to walk in front of the boisterous crowd. Joe playfully bumps your shoulder with his own, a smile tugging at his lips. “Relax,” He maneuvers himself behind you and begins to rub your shoulders, Joe’s touch calmed you down immediately -much to your dismay. “You’re going to do great, okay?” He reassures, “And if you panic just know I’m right there next to you. Jimmy’s interviews are always the best, he makes you feel right at home. There’s nothing to be worried about, I promise.” You nod along with Joe’s words. You can do this, you’re Y/N Y/L/N.

“Without further ado, everybody, Joe Keery and Y/N Y/L/N from Stranger Things season three!” People in the audience screech as you step onto the stage to meet the host. You and Joe quickly shake hands with Jimmy and situate yourself onto the couch as Jimmy gets comfortable behind his desk. “Welcome, welcome!”

“Thank you so much for having us!” You gush towards the man and the crowd cheers, you wave slightly to the crowd as their voices die down. “Ah, I’m so nervous, this is my first night show, I feel like the pressure is on.” You mention, Jimmy lets out a loud laugh and the crowd mimics his actions.

“Well I am honored to be your first host,” Jimmy grins towards you before jumping right on into the interview, “So Stranger Things 3 aired on Netflix about a month ago, correct?” You and Joe nod to answer his question. “Y/N, you’re the newest member of the cast this season, would you mind telling us about your character and her background? I believe it was mentioned here and there but just to make sure everyone is familiar with you.”

“Of course!” You cheer, your nerves subside as you begin to speak, “My character was Olivia Henderson, she is Dustin’s cousin who lived in New York. Her father was re-marrying a woman  who Olivia wasn’t fond of and she just wanted to escape for the summer, so that’s how she ended up in Hawkins.” You explain the backstory of your character like the back of your hand.

“Your first scene as Olivia was really badass. You came into town on this really cool motorcycle -here I’ve got a little picture of it,” Jimmy pulls out a card off his desk to show the audience a picture of the blue and white Suzuki Katana motorcycle. “When you get to Dustin’s your wheels skidded and dirt was kicked up, how was filming this scene for you?” Jimmy questions.

“This was a surprisingly terrifying scene, it was the big reveal of my character so I had to make it look super cool. I’ve never driven a motorcycle or had the need to be a total badass so the scene was really stressful for me.” Jimmy nods along as you relive your first moments on set as Olivia.

“The first two seasons there was a small love triangle happening between Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan. This season, however, Olivia and Steve form a really strong romance,” Joe smiles at the beginning of Jimmy’s question, “In the show it’s obvious that the two of you have a really authentic connection, would you say that’s true as well off camera or is it all for the show?” Joe chuckles as he opens his mouth to answer.

“Y/N and I quickly became really good friends, and I would say by the second week of filming we were already best friends.” You nod along in agreement, “Originally, Olivia was supposed to fall for Billy Hargrove but when Matt and Ross saw how well we got along together they completely changed the whole thing.” Jimmy’s eyes widen in shock at Joe’s reveal.

“I believe that was a good call,” Joe and you glance at each other flashing cheesy smiles before listening to Jimmy’s next question. “The two of you had an episode basically all to yourselves called, The Disappearances. This is when you traveled to nearby cities to ask about the disappearances of more kids and you actually come head-to-head with a new villain in season three. Can you tell us a little bit about this?”

“That was probably my favorite week to shoot,” Joe admits sheepishly and you hum in agreement, “It becomes clear that these missing children are being taken to the Upside Down and Steve and Olivia just want to figure out how to save them. So, them being them they follow all the clues and find a way into the Upside Down once again. It was a really cool episode because it expanded the whole show even further than season two did. There were wicked effects and the Upside Down was even creepier and all around just really cool.” Joe explains.

“Yeah, I can agree with that. Besides all of the creepy stuff, it was also where Olivia really opens up to Steve and you get to know her more as a character and you begin to feel really feel connected to her.” You smile to your co-star as you expand his idea.

“The Disappearances is where Steve and Olivia’s feelings start to grow for one another, you can really tell the exact moments where Steve falls for her and vice versa.” Joe couldn’t tell if he was still talking about the characters or how he really felt towards you.

“The kissing scene in that episode was probably one of my favorite scenes of the three seasons. I’ll pull it up on the screen for the audience to see,” The room goes dark as you and Joe flash onto the large screen behind your seats, your attention averts from the host and onto the moving picture.

Your heart hammered in your chest as you screamed your lines to Joe, “Would you just thank me for being there and saving your ass? Without me, that thing would’ve killed you!”

“I knew what I was doing, Olivia. I’ve fought off that thing before and from the looks of it, I’ll do it again. I don’t need you to save me, I can save myself.” Joe strided towards you and stopped inches away from your face, his breathing is heavy due to his angry character. Joe’s eyes softened as they stared at the fake bruise from where Olivia hit her head. “You’re hurt,” He whispered, taking your head in his hands.

“Don’t worry about it.” You whimpered. Joe’s cologne wafted into your nose, your eyes flutter shut savoring the moment you know won’t happen off camera.

“What you did was stupid,” Joe admitted without yelling.

“Well next time, remind me to leave you there to die,” Joe’s lips were on yours almost as soon as the words tumbled out. He kissed you so hard it made you woozy, you never wanted to stop. He pulled away moments later, your eyes both searched one another’s.

“What was that for?” You whisper.

“Don’t ever make me worry about you like that again.”

The audience erupts with clapping as the scene comes to an end. Your cheeks burn witnessing the scene once again but this time next to Joe. You’ve made it your mission for him to never know how you felt towards him, the last thing you wanted was to get in the way of him and Maika.

“Wow,” Jimmy speaks as if he’s at a loss for words, “I just can’t get over the acting in that scene, as well as throughout the whole season from you, Y/N. You really brought an amazing personality to Olivia, it’s stellar.” Jimmy gushes making your cheeks grow even warmer.

“Thank you so much!” You beam, “I’ll have to agree with you, I think that was my favorite scene as well. It was just so surreal and full of unidentified feelings. Olivia thought she had proven herself to Steve and deserved to be thanked, while Steve just wanted to impress the girl he had been swooning over for awhile, and when it didn’t work out that way he discouraged which led to anger. Throughout that whole scene, the emotion just became so intense and the only thing that seemed right in the end was to kiss. I think it was a very special and raw moment Steve and Olivia shared together.” Joe’s heart flourished at your rambling, he wished that you felt that way about him and not just your characters. The crowd -and Jimmy included- clapped at your thoughtful take on the scene.

“While we’re on the topic of romance, Joe, we know you are still with the beautiful Maika Monroe, correct?” Jimmy averts the conversation to Joe as the clapping subsides.

“That is correct,” Joe glances at you a ping of sadness grows inside of him, being brought back to reality. He watches as your eyes find the floor and your smile falters. He’s spent so much time with you in the past year he knew every single one of your expressions, and this one wasn’t good.

“Y/N, how about you? Is there a lucky man out there?” You laugh at his question, awkwardness suddenly engulfing you.

“I’m currently not seeing anyone at the moment,” A loud cheer comes from a man in the audience causing the room to burst with laughter, “I will admit I’ve liked someone for a long time, but other than that my love life is pretty much non-existent.” You know you should’ve just left Jimmy’s question at just a simple ‘no’ but for whatever reason, your mouth kept moving.

Joe’s eyes fall to the ground just like yours did seconds before. He wasn’t fond of hearing you talk of another man, you’ve never mentioned this mystery guy in the months he’s known you. He was shocked that you admitted something on live television before you admitted it to him.

“Due to Olivia and Steve’s relationship, there’s been a whole bunch of memes going around on social media about you being the ‘mom of the party’. Have you seen any of these?” Jimmy asks.

“I have not,” Your eyebrows raise at the new information.

“Well, today is your lucky day!” You giggle at Jimmy’s excitement as he directs his attention back to the screen. A picture of all the kids hugging you flashes onto the screen as Jimmy reads the caption “Single dad, Steve Harrington finally brought home a woman worthy enough of his children’s approval.” You cackle along with the audience at the photo before Jimmy changes it to another one. “The best moms of Stranger Things 3,” A picture of Claudia Henderson, Karen Wheeler, You, and Mrs. Saintclair are in a collage, you chuckle as the screen goes dark once more.

“I can already tell, tonight I’m just going to google Olivia Henderson memes and stay up until three in the morning.” The audience laughs at your joke.

“Step up your game, I’ve been doing that for months now.” Joe playfully shoves your shoulder for the second time of the night as the crowd's laughter dies down.

“Well, I’ll bring our interview to a close with this last question. Did you get really close to anyone else on set besides your best friend Joe here?” Jimmy questions.

“I did! I hung out with Natalia a lot. We’d sometimes go out for brunch and on our off days we’d go explore and do really fun touristy stuff,” You explain with a smile. “I also got really close with Sadie and Millie, they’d come into my room after filming and complain about all the boys with me and we’d do really fun girlie stuff together like mani-pedis or makeup. We’d just have a really great time together.” You smile at the fond memories you had with your co-stars in the months prior.

“Watching Y/N get really close to everyone on set was wonderful. I knew she would have no problem fitting in but when we first met I could tell she was a little nervous and befriending everyone really made her blossom in a way and really be herself which was great to see.” Joe smiles fondly towards you and gives your hand a slight pat. Your skin tingles where he touched even after he removes his hand.

“That’s really great you guys,” Jimmy smiles one last time at the two of you before directing his attention to the people sitting in rows before you. “That is all the time we have for this interview, give it up one last time for Joe Keery and Y/N Y/L/N!” The crowd goes wild as you wave farewells to them as you exit the stage as a commercial break takes over Jimmy’s show.