#ghostbusters press tour

[stylestream]

Emily Alyn Lind | Tony Ward Couture gown | Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire New York Premiere | 2024

[onlydylanobrien]

Saturday Night Premiere at TIFF 2024

SATURDAY NIGHT

Jason Reitman CANADIAN PREMIERE United States of America | 2024 | 109m | English

Director Jason Reitman captures the frenzied lead-up to the very first episode of Saturday Night Live as a motley bunch of then-unknown and untrained young comedians prepare to step into a revolutionary spotlight that will change history and make them all stars. It’s the mid-1970s, and a flipbook of Watergate, Vietnam, and rising counterculture make everything old in America feel broken, and everything new feel scary as hell. And now, yet another certainty is about to crack. Because in 90 minutes’ time, live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night.

SATURDAY NIGHT dives headfirst into the frenzied hour-and-a-half before a clutch of unknown, untrained, unruly young comedians took over network television and transformed the culture. Saturday Night Live would go on to become the late-night institution that brought John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and later Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and others to our screens. But tonight, it’s barely contained madness backstage, with Canadian Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle, The Fabelmans, TIFF ’22) desperately trying to channel the chaos towards a vision even he’s not sure of.

On the eve of SNL’s 50th anniversary, it’s a particular pleasure to watch how unlikely it all was at the beginning. Chevy Chase honing the frat boy charm that would make him a movie star. Garrett Morris saying America’s racial quiet part out loud. Belushi a bundle of Id in the corner. Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner holding their own against a tide of comedy testosterone.

Director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) has made certified classics, but he’s never made a film like this. Fuelled by the same anarchic energy that drove the show to air, he orchestrates this tour de force as a glorious circus of talent, ambition, and appetite for risk, with the clock ticking down to showtime.

CAMERON BAILEY

Content advisory: drug use, coarse language

Showtimes

Get Tickets here

Time Zone: CEST Time zone based on your browser time

Tuesday, September 10 Royal Alexandra Theatre Premium 11:00 PM

Wednesday, September 11 Scotiabank Theatre Toronto Press & Industry 3:15 PM

Wednesday, September 11 Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre Premium 9:00 PM

Friday, September 13 Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre 9:00 PM

Saturday, September 14 Scotiabank Theatre Toronto 3:00 PM

[wiseoceans]

sorry to break it to everyone but there is no way finn is 6'1

during the ghostbusters press tour he was a little bit taller than paul rudd (who is 5'9-5'10 according to google)

(angles kinda shit but you get the point)

at most finn is 6'0. but i would say around 5'11.

and to explain that interview w the actor of ted, 2 inches is not that much at all. hes a middle aged man who most likely has back problems (sorry) so because of that, it could appear that they r basically the same height.

(unless finn is actually 6'1 and has severe back issues)

take this with a grain of salt

[copiousloverofcopia]

🦇Happy Halloween Ghesties!👻

I haven't had a chance to write anything new for this year, but I would like to share my Halloween fic from last year that deserves more love!

Commissions are OPEN, please see pinned post for Carrd info!

Candy Wrappers

t's Halloween night at the Abbey, Papa IV/Copia decides to spend it sharing his love of horror films with ghoulette Cumulus and a sister of sin. The 3 decide to watch John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN and pig out on candy while it storms outside.

Also available HERE on AO3!

Read Halloween fluff below the cut!

“Oh Lucifer! He is right behind her isn’t he? I can’t watch.” Cumulus cried, pulling the throw blanket up over her eyes, almost knocking the bowl of candy from Copia’s lap. The thunder roared outside, the lights flickering a bit as the storm rolled on past the Abbey. It was Halloween night and they wouldn’t have many trick or treaters this year it seemed. Copia was determined that they could still have fun. He had put in an old VHS tape of HALLOWEEN from his collection and managed to convince Sister Ren and Cumulus to watch with him. 

“God that mask is so unnerving.” Sister Ren said, grabbing another snickers from the bowl. Copia, nodding his head in agreement as he licked some residual chocolate from his fingertips. If it were up to him they would stay up all night and watch the classics. Poltergeist , The Exorcist , The Omen , so many horror gems he could muster from his collection. 

“I don't see why we couldn’t have just watched Ghostbusters or Beetlejuice.” Cumulus griped. Copia was starting to regret turning it on. It was a well known fact that Cumulus did not handle scary well, being the Abbey’s resident scaredy cat. Despite her Hellish lineage, she would prefer to see people happy and smiling, not so much cut up into little pieces–even if it was all just pretend.  

“Ghuleh, I did ask you if you wanted to watch…” Copia reminded her, she had gotten to this point of her own accord, “...you did say yes.” he said as Sister Ren passed him back the bowl of candy and rolled her eyes. 

“I know it just…It scares me.” Cumulus admitted, a soft smile appearing over Copia’s face. He took her hand in his, her face still barely visible above the line of the blanket. The lights flickered again–the flash of lightning filling the sky outside and the inevitable crash of thunder rumbling the old bones of the Abbey. Cumulus’s heart pounded as she gripped the blanket tighter, storms also not her friend.  

“Then we don't have to watch—” Copia began, pausing the movie. Sister Ren, was becoming aggravated with Cumulus’s whining and the continued stopping and starting of the film.

“Papa! I wanted to watch it though.” she pouted. Copia felt flustered, he didn’t want to upset either of them. All he wanted was to enjoy some relaxation after coming back from the tour and not deal with any more drama. This was proving to be quite the task indeed.  

“It’s ok, I’ll watch.” Cumulus yielded, nestling herself deep into the sofa between the two of them. Before Copia could press play the storms flickered, the lights off and on once more,  the movie restarting with the surge. Copia picked out a piece of candy, after rummaging through the half spent bowl as Cumulus curled next to him, her tail stiffened and tense. The movie continued and Sister Ren felt a sense of guilt pour over her. 

It really isn’t that big of a deal if we can’t watch this particular movie , she thought to herself  and then she remember something—a peace offering   

Hey… Cumulus…” Ren began, tapping the ghoul lightly on the shoulder to gain her attention, Cumulus turning to face her. “I’m sorry—Truly. We can watch Beetlejuice if you really want to and I almost forgot. I got you something.” Ren apologized, pulling a bag of strawberries and cream lollie drops out from behind her and passing them to the ghoulette–Cumulus’s favorite.

“Oh Ren, thank you.” the ghoulette beamed, throwing her arms around the sister, tail wagging behind her–tickling Copia’s nose. 

“Geez Cumulus don’t get too crazy over it, it’s just some candy.” Sister Ren said, Cumulus hugging her a bit too tightly.

“Oh sorry.” Cumulus said letting her go and realizing that Ren did care after all. The lights flickered off again. 

“It may not matter anyways if this storm keeps messing with the power, maybe I should send the boys out to help with the generator.” Copia began, when suddenly the power came back on and the screen lit up with Michael Myers weidling his knife, front and center!  

“Ah!” Cumulus screamed, quickly burying her face in Copia’s shoulder, sending the bowl of what were now wrappers flying into the air like confetti. The 3 of them were in for quite an interesting night indeed.

[eightfifteen]

The ghostbusters press tour... Must... Find... time... to finish TTW

[noahschnappinfs]

Think we are reading too into things but I do believe that millie was told not to interact with Noah publicly where people can see you, to protect her brand her public image. Goes for the rest of the cast implicitly told to only interact on set. Noah does seem happy though right now he’s got his other friends making him enjoy his life, I can’t imagine the guilt he also felt for the cast over his situation. Like Finn receiving Noah hate on his insta comments, Caleb not being able to post a reunion picture without people making it about Noah.

millie mentioned noah explicitly because she felt like it during her damsel press tour so that debunks the whole idea of her team telling her not to interact with/mention noah publicly anyway and finn mentioned him as well during the ghostbusters press tour so yeah there’s no power behind it all telling them to ignore noah.

But yeah it still makes me sad to see the reaction of people and how he might feel guilty bc of the negative reaction his castmates and the show may receive due to this whole thing. It’s specially the fandom making it worse like when they started commenting on caleb’s posts like that.

[cleverhottubmiracle]

In 2021, 46-year-old Kumail Nanjiani famously transformed himself from the soft-bodied uber-nerd he played in Silicon Valley to the super-ripped superhero Kingo from his Marvel movie debut, Eternals. While some actors do intense physical prep for parts only to backslide after shooting wraps, Nanjiani made his gains stick. With a change of physique has come a change of roles, including his more, well, muscular parts as a rebel in the 2022 Star Wars mini-series Obi-Wan Kenobi, strip club pioneer in Welcome to Chippendales (2023), and a Ghostbuster in 2024.In addition to the dramatic roles, Nanjiani has returned to standup comedy—he’s in the midst of a nine-month cross-country run—and is managing a fledgling production company, Winter Coat Films, with his co-founder and wife, the writer-producer Emily Gordon. He has also partnered with the nutrition company Quest. “I want to live for a long time,” he says. “And I want to feel good for a long time.”GQ: It’s the classic question for guys who want to get in shape: Do big muscles solve all your problems?Kumail Nanjiani: Oh, God no. Maybe, maybe, maybe I sleep a little better and I have slightly less anxiety because I’m working out pretty hard. But I’m seeing a therapist more regularly, so it’s hard to know what’s what. [Laughs.] So, no, it doesn’t solve shit.How has your fitness transformation affected you on set and on stage?On set, I don’t think as much. I’ve certainly grown in confidence on set, but I think that’s come from doing more reps—learning more on all aspects of filmmaking and feeling more comfortable. However, I started doing standup again about a year ago, and the last time I did, I looked very different. And so when I started doing standup again, my wife was, like, people’s experience of seeing you on stage is different now. You look different on stage. So even though you don’t see yourself differently, the audience perceives you differently. My standup used to be self-deprecating. I can’t do that as much anymore. It just has to be different. I used to talk about being a nerd—I still talk about being a nerd, but it’s changed the math.You’re on tour now for a few months, but often performing on the weekends. Do you make sure to work out while traveling, or do you just enjoy your time out of the gym and get back to it on Monday?This is so dorky, but I look up the gyms of the hotels I’m going to. I’m quite obsessed with working out now. It helps with anxiety, feeling more grounded, and my energy’s better. And so, I will look at the gym setup. Sometimes that information is hard to find. There’s a website called Hotel Gyms that ranks everything, but it doesn’t give you a ton of detail. But from the pictures, you can sleuth. Like, Oh my God, this place has a leg press machine. So, at home, I can skip legs, because I don’t have a leg press machine at home. I’m traveling Saturday, and I know that the hotel I’m in for the first few days has an amazing gym. So when I plan out my day, even with shooting, I’m figuring out when I can go to the gym.What’s the best hotel gym you’ve visited?Well, the one I’m actually going to now, the Forth Hotel in Atlanta, has a really, really good gym. And the Equinox Hotel in New York, Hudson Yards, is an actual Equinox, so it’s tough to beat.It’s said that if muscles are built in the gym, abs are built in the kitchen. What parts of that rigorous Marvel-prepping diet have you continued?When I first started trying to get in shape five years ago, I noticed how certain foods would make me feel. I didn’t know that. Eating sugar, you have the crash a couple of hours later. Eating gluten, you have a histamine response. To me, that’s been the biggest change. I have a pretty wicked sweet tooth, so I’ll still find room to eat dessert, but I know how it makes me feel afterwards. Days on set are pretty long, and when I’m on tour, I’m landing in a city, doing two shows that night, flying early the next morning to another city, doing another show or two that night. Energy’s so important. I’m finding that cutting out refined sugar has really made my energy more even through the day instead of these peaks and valleys, which I thought were [just part of] being a human. When I’m more thoughtful about what I eat, I certainly feel better, and I have more energy for the work that I need to do.Are there other areas besides sugar where you have shifted your diet?For a long time, I was tracking everything I was eating. But I stopped doing that almost two years ago, because now it’s a feel. I try to maximize protein, and I try to minimize simple sugars. I’m not keto or anything—I eat fruit. So what’s really stayed is the idea of protein content, which is where all the Quest stuff helps: It’s high protein, low carbs. Unless I’m preparing for something specific, if I’m eating high protein and minimizing simple sugars, I’m going to stay on track. Lean meats: chicken, steak. I love going to steak places. I ask, What’s the leanest cut of steak you have? I know that’s not the tastiest, but to me, the difference in taste and experience isn’t that big.So you’re not a Wagyu guy then?Listen, Wagyu tastes amazing. And I’ll do it every now and then, and if someone else gets it, I’ll try a bite. But generally, no, I’m getting a lean cut—a filet.You got married pretty young compared to many Americans. How has your change in your fitness affected your relationship with Emily?Well, at the beginning, she’s just, like, you just feel so different. She’s like, “It’s like hugging the corner of a building.” [Laughs.] But now, we have a gym at our home, and Emily’s started doing serious weight training, too, so that’s been the biggest change. She loves doing it. And the way she looks and feels is very different.Does she feel like the corner of a building as well?[Laughs.] Yes, just a couple of building corners bumping into each other. Sparks. But she really loves it. She saw what I was getting out of it, she got a trainer, and now she does it on her own. She loves it. But beyond that, when you’ve been married 17 years, you change a lot. So much about you changes, obviously. We’ve both changed in so, so many ways. So I think the biggest excitement in being in a relationship this long is how you change and how you change together, right? Because you’re changing as people, so your relationship has to change. There’s never a point where you’re, like, And now the relationship is done. It’s a growing, evolving thing that you need to keep talking about. It’s really about communication. And we just started a production company, so we’re working together more now than we ever have. All this stuff requires constant communication. “Hey, when you said that in the business meeting that we had, it hurt my feelings.” [Laughs.] So that’s the most exciting thing to me about being with her: Watching her change and watching us change together.You’ve described your weight room prep for your Marvel role as “vomit-inducing” and “chasing the pain.” Has that level of intensity changed as you’ve moved past that movie?It ebbs and flows based on my mood. Right now, I’m in a non-hardcore training phase. I just sort of go based on how my body’s feeling and how I’m feeling mentally. I also change up my workouts quite a bit, because you get bored. Right now I’m on a pretty easy split—it’s not a ton of exercises per workout. But honestly, if you have a stressful day or a tough day or a bad day, you feel like I want to work out really, really hard. And it really helps me feel better. It’s one to one. I’ll be in a bad mood, I’ll work out really hard, and I’ll be great. That said, I’m not able to put myself through a vomit-inducing workout. Like you said, I’m not trying to peak. I’m trying to maintain. There’s no reason for me to be buff anymore—it’s just because I like doing the thing, you know?In their 40s, guys start to think about longevity rather than performance. So when you think about training to stay healthy for the rest of your life, how does that change your approach to fitness and diet?I’ve read studies that say stronger muscle is good for longevity—older people break bones and get hurt, and having more muscle mass helps with that. My whole family has a history of cardiovascular issues, and working out helps with that. I take my blood pressure all the time, and at my age, and I can see the difference working out has made. I thought it would hit me at 40, mentally. It didn’t hit me at 40. In your early 40s, you’re like, OK, double that, 80s, a lot of people make it to their 80s. But when you hit 45, you’re like, OK, most people don’t make it to 90. At 45, I was, like, Oh, I’m probably more than halfway through this journey. For a long time, I was scared of opening that door to taking care of my cholesterol or my blood pressure, because it feels so scary—I’ve lost family members to it. Everyone I know in my family is dealing with it, to some degree. My generation is generally healthier; we’re more aware of what we eat, so we’re doing better than the older generation.I want to live! [Laughs.] And I want to live for a long time. And I want to feel good for a long time. Right now, I feel better than I did through most of my 20s and 30s, and I think a lot of that has to do with what I’m eating and what I’m not eating, and how I’m exercising. But also, a lot of psychological stuff: Being more in touch with myself and my emotions, being aware of what I’m feeling and why I’m feeling it, talking to therapists, talking to Emily, talking to friends about stuff that’s scaring me or making me sad. I think all that stuff I’m prioritizing more now.In Real-Life Diet, athletes, celebrities, and other high performers talk about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you. Source link

[norajworld]

In 2021, 46-year-old Kumail Nanjiani famously transformed himself from the soft-bodied uber-nerd he played in Silicon Valley to the super-ripped superhero Kingo from his Marvel movie debut, Eternals. While some actors do intense physical prep for parts only to backslide after shooting wraps, Nanjiani made his gains stick. With a change of physique has come a change of roles, including his more, well, muscular parts as a rebel in the 2022 Star Wars mini-series Obi-Wan Kenobi, strip club pioneer in Welcome to Chippendales (2023), and a Ghostbuster in 2024.In addition to the dramatic roles, Nanjiani has returned to standup comedy—he’s in the midst of a nine-month cross-country run—and is managing a fledgling production company, Winter Coat Films, with his co-founder and wife, the writer-producer Emily Gordon. He has also partnered with the nutrition company Quest. “I want to live for a long time,” he says. “And I want to feel good for a long time.”GQ: It’s the classic question for guys who want to get in shape: Do big muscles solve all your problems?Kumail Nanjiani: Oh, God no. Maybe, maybe, maybe I sleep a little better and I have slightly less anxiety because I’m working out pretty hard. But I’m seeing a therapist more regularly, so it’s hard to know what’s what. [Laughs.] So, no, it doesn’t solve shit.How has your fitness transformation affected you on set and on stage?On set, I don’t think as much. I’ve certainly grown in confidence on set, but I think that’s come from doing more reps—learning more on all aspects of filmmaking and feeling more comfortable. However, I started doing standup again about a year ago, and the last time I did, I looked very different. And so when I started doing standup again, my wife was, like, people’s experience of seeing you on stage is different now. You look different on stage. So even though you don’t see yourself differently, the audience perceives you differently. My standup used to be self-deprecating. I can’t do that as much anymore. It just has to be different. I used to talk about being a nerd—I still talk about being a nerd, but it’s changed the math.You’re on tour now for a few months, but often performing on the weekends. Do you make sure to work out while traveling, or do you just enjoy your time out of the gym and get back to it on Monday?This is so dorky, but I look up the gyms of the hotels I’m going to. I’m quite obsessed with working out now. It helps with anxiety, feeling more grounded, and my energy’s better. And so, I will look at the gym setup. Sometimes that information is hard to find. There’s a website called Hotel Gyms that ranks everything, but it doesn’t give you a ton of detail. But from the pictures, you can sleuth. Like, Oh my God, this place has a leg press machine. So, at home, I can skip legs, because I don’t have a leg press machine at home. I’m traveling Saturday, and I know that the hotel I’m in for the first few days has an amazing gym. So when I plan out my day, even with shooting, I’m figuring out when I can go to the gym.What’s the best hotel gym you’ve visited?Well, the one I’m actually going to now, the Forth Hotel in Atlanta, has a really, really good gym. And the Equinox Hotel in New York, Hudson Yards, is an actual Equinox, so it’s tough to beat.It’s said that if muscles are built in the gym, abs are built in the kitchen. What parts of that rigorous Marvel-prepping diet have you continued?When I first started trying to get in shape five years ago, I noticed how certain foods would make me feel. I didn’t know that. Eating sugar, you have the crash a couple of hours later. Eating gluten, you have a histamine response. To me, that’s been the biggest change. I have a pretty wicked sweet tooth, so I’ll still find room to eat dessert, but I know how it makes me feel afterwards. Days on set are pretty long, and when I’m on tour, I’m landing in a city, doing two shows that night, flying early the next morning to another city, doing another show or two that night. Energy’s so important. I’m finding that cutting out refined sugar has really made my energy more even through the day instead of these peaks and valleys, which I thought were [just part of] being a human. When I’m more thoughtful about what I eat, I certainly feel better, and I have more energy for the work that I need to do.Are there other areas besides sugar where you have shifted your diet?For a long time, I was tracking everything I was eating. But I stopped doing that almost two years ago, because now it’s a feel. I try to maximize protein, and I try to minimize simple sugars. I’m not keto or anything—I eat fruit. So what’s really stayed is the idea of protein content, which is where all the Quest stuff helps: It’s high protein, low carbs. Unless I’m preparing for something specific, if I’m eating high protein and minimizing simple sugars, I’m going to stay on track. Lean meats: chicken, steak. I love going to steak places. I ask, What’s the leanest cut of steak you have? I know that’s not the tastiest, but to me, the difference in taste and experience isn’t that big.So you’re not a Wagyu guy then?Listen, Wagyu tastes amazing. And I’ll do it every now and then, and if someone else gets it, I’ll try a bite. But generally, no, I’m getting a lean cut—a filet.You got married pretty young compared to many Americans. How has your change in your fitness affected your relationship with Emily?Well, at the beginning, she’s just, like, you just feel so different. She’s like, “It’s like hugging the corner of a building.” [Laughs.] But now, we have a gym at our home, and Emily’s started doing serious weight training, too, so that’s been the biggest change. She loves doing it. And the way she looks and feels is very different.Does she feel like the corner of a building as well?[Laughs.] Yes, just a couple of building corners bumping into each other. Sparks. But she really loves it. She saw what I was getting out of it, she got a trainer, and now she does it on her own. She loves it. But beyond that, when you’ve been married 17 years, you change a lot. So much about you changes, obviously. We’ve both changed in so, so many ways. So I think the biggest excitement in being in a relationship this long is how you change and how you change together, right? Because you’re changing as people, so your relationship has to change. There’s never a point where you’re, like, And now the relationship is done. It’s a growing, evolving thing that you need to keep talking about. It’s really about communication. And we just started a production company, so we’re working together more now than we ever have. All this stuff requires constant communication. “Hey, when you said that in the business meeting that we had, it hurt my feelings.” [Laughs.] So that’s the most exciting thing to me about being with her: Watching her change and watching us change together.You’ve described your weight room prep for your Marvel role as “vomit-inducing” and “chasing the pain.” Has that level of intensity changed as you’ve moved past that movie?It ebbs and flows based on my mood. Right now, I’m in a non-hardcore training phase. I just sort of go based on how my body’s feeling and how I’m feeling mentally. I also change up my workouts quite a bit, because you get bored. Right now I’m on a pretty easy split—it’s not a ton of exercises per workout. But honestly, if you have a stressful day or a tough day or a bad day, you feel like I want to work out really, really hard. And it really helps me feel better. It’s one to one. I’ll be in a bad mood, I’ll work out really hard, and I’ll be great. That said, I’m not able to put myself through a vomit-inducing workout. Like you said, I’m not trying to peak. I’m trying to maintain. There’s no reason for me to be buff anymore—it’s just because I like doing the thing, you know?In their 40s, guys start to think about longevity rather than performance. So when you think about training to stay healthy for the rest of your life, how does that change your approach to fitness and diet?I’ve read studies that say stronger muscle is good for longevity—older people break bones and get hurt, and having more muscle mass helps with that. My whole family has a history of cardiovascular issues, and working out helps with that. I take my blood pressure all the time, and at my age, and I can see the difference working out has made. I thought it would hit me at 40, mentally. It didn’t hit me at 40. In your early 40s, you’re like, OK, double that, 80s, a lot of people make it to their 80s. But when you hit 45, you’re like, OK, most people don’t make it to 90. At 45, I was, like, Oh, I’m probably more than halfway through this journey. For a long time, I was scared of opening that door to taking care of my cholesterol or my blood pressure, because it feels so scary—I’ve lost family members to it. Everyone I know in my family is dealing with it, to some degree. My generation is generally healthier; we’re more aware of what we eat, so we’re doing better than the older generation.I want to live! [Laughs.] And I want to live for a long time. And I want to feel good for a long time. Right now, I feel better than I did through most of my 20s and 30s, and I think a lot of that has to do with what I’m eating and what I’m not eating, and how I’m exercising. But also, a lot of psychological stuff: Being more in touch with myself and my emotions, being aware of what I’m feeling and why I’m feeling it, talking to therapists, talking to Emily, talking to friends about stuff that’s scaring me or making me sad. I think all that stuff I’m prioritizing more now.In Real-Life Diet, athletes, celebrities, and other high performers talk about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you. Source link

[ellajme0]

In 2021, 46-year-old Kumail Nanjiani famously transformed himself from the soft-bodied uber-nerd he played in Silicon Valley to the super-ripped superhero Kingo from his Marvel movie debut, Eternals. While some actors do intense physical prep for parts only to backslide after shooting wraps, Nanjiani made his gains stick. With a change of physique has come a change of roles, including his more, well, muscular parts as a rebel in the 2022 Star Wars mini-series Obi-Wan Kenobi, strip club pioneer in Welcome to Chippendales (2023), and a Ghostbuster in 2024.In addition to the dramatic roles, Nanjiani has returned to standup comedy—he’s in the midst of a nine-month cross-country run—and is managing a fledgling production company, Winter Coat Films, with his co-founder and wife, the writer-producer Emily Gordon. He has also partnered with the nutrition company Quest. “I want to live for a long time,” he says. “And I want to feel good for a long time.”GQ: It’s the classic question for guys who want to get in shape: Do big muscles solve all your problems?Kumail Nanjiani: Oh, God no. Maybe, maybe, maybe I sleep a little better and I have slightly less anxiety because I’m working out pretty hard. But I’m seeing a therapist more regularly, so it’s hard to know what’s what. [Laughs.] So, no, it doesn’t solve shit.How has your fitness transformation affected you on set and on stage?On set, I don’t think as much. I’ve certainly grown in confidence on set, but I think that’s come from doing more reps—learning more on all aspects of filmmaking and feeling more comfortable. However, I started doing standup again about a year ago, and the last time I did, I looked very different. And so when I started doing standup again, my wife was, like, people’s experience of seeing you on stage is different now. You look different on stage. So even though you don’t see yourself differently, the audience perceives you differently. My standup used to be self-deprecating. I can’t do that as much anymore. It just has to be different. I used to talk about being a nerd—I still talk about being a nerd, but it’s changed the math.You’re on tour now for a few months, but often performing on the weekends. Do you make sure to work out while traveling, or do you just enjoy your time out of the gym and get back to it on Monday?This is so dorky, but I look up the gyms of the hotels I’m going to. I’m quite obsessed with working out now. It helps with anxiety, feeling more grounded, and my energy’s better. And so, I will look at the gym setup. Sometimes that information is hard to find. There’s a website called Hotel Gyms that ranks everything, but it doesn’t give you a ton of detail. But from the pictures, you can sleuth. Like, Oh my God, this place has a leg press machine. So, at home, I can skip legs, because I don’t have a leg press machine at home. I’m traveling Saturday, and I know that the hotel I’m in for the first few days has an amazing gym. So when I plan out my day, even with shooting, I’m figuring out when I can go to the gym.What’s the best hotel gym you’ve visited?Well, the one I’m actually going to now, the Forth Hotel in Atlanta, has a really, really good gym. And the Equinox Hotel in New York, Hudson Yards, is an actual Equinox, so it’s tough to beat.It’s said that if muscles are built in the gym, abs are built in the kitchen. What parts of that rigorous Marvel-prepping diet have you continued?When I first started trying to get in shape five years ago, I noticed how certain foods would make me feel. I didn’t know that. Eating sugar, you have the crash a couple of hours later. Eating gluten, you have a histamine response. To me, that’s been the biggest change. I have a pretty wicked sweet tooth, so I’ll still find room to eat dessert, but I know how it makes me feel afterwards. Days on set are pretty long, and when I’m on tour, I’m landing in a city, doing two shows that night, flying early the next morning to another city, doing another show or two that night. Energy’s so important. I’m finding that cutting out refined sugar has really made my energy more even through the day instead of these peaks and valleys, which I thought were [just part of] being a human. When I’m more thoughtful about what I eat, I certainly feel better, and I have more energy for the work that I need to do.Are there other areas besides sugar where you have shifted your diet?For a long time, I was tracking everything I was eating. But I stopped doing that almost two years ago, because now it’s a feel. I try to maximize protein, and I try to minimize simple sugars. I’m not keto or anything—I eat fruit. So what’s really stayed is the idea of protein content, which is where all the Quest stuff helps: It’s high protein, low carbs. Unless I’m preparing for something specific, if I’m eating high protein and minimizing simple sugars, I’m going to stay on track. Lean meats: chicken, steak. I love going to steak places. I ask, What’s the leanest cut of steak you have? I know that’s not the tastiest, but to me, the difference in taste and experience isn’t that big.So you’re not a Wagyu guy then?Listen, Wagyu tastes amazing. And I’ll do it every now and then, and if someone else gets it, I’ll try a bite. But generally, no, I’m getting a lean cut—a filet.You got married pretty young compared to many Americans. How has your change in your fitness affected your relationship with Emily?Well, at the beginning, she’s just, like, you just feel so different. She’s like, “It’s like hugging the corner of a building.” [Laughs.] But now, we have a gym at our home, and Emily’s started doing serious weight training, too, so that’s been the biggest change. She loves doing it. And the way she looks and feels is very different.Does she feel like the corner of a building as well?[Laughs.] Yes, just a couple of building corners bumping into each other. Sparks. But she really loves it. She saw what I was getting out of it, she got a trainer, and now she does it on her own. She loves it. But beyond that, when you’ve been married 17 years, you change a lot. So much about you changes, obviously. We’ve both changed in so, so many ways. So I think the biggest excitement in being in a relationship this long is how you change and how you change together, right? Because you’re changing as people, so your relationship has to change. There’s never a point where you’re, like, And now the relationship is done. It’s a growing, evolving thing that you need to keep talking about. It’s really about communication. And we just started a production company, so we’re working together more now than we ever have. All this stuff requires constant communication. “Hey, when you said that in the business meeting that we had, it hurt my feelings.” [Laughs.] So that’s the most exciting thing to me about being with her: Watching her change and watching us change together.You’ve described your weight room prep for your Marvel role as “vomit-inducing” and “chasing the pain.” Has that level of intensity changed as you’ve moved past that movie?It ebbs and flows based on my mood. Right now, I’m in a non-hardcore training phase. I just sort of go based on how my body’s feeling and how I’m feeling mentally. I also change up my workouts quite a bit, because you get bored. Right now I’m on a pretty easy split—it’s not a ton of exercises per workout. But honestly, if you have a stressful day or a tough day or a bad day, you feel like I want to work out really, really hard. And it really helps me feel better. It’s one to one. I’ll be in a bad mood, I’ll work out really hard, and I’ll be great. That said, I’m not able to put myself through a vomit-inducing workout. Like you said, I’m not trying to peak. I’m trying to maintain. There’s no reason for me to be buff anymore—it’s just because I like doing the thing, you know?In their 40s, guys start to think about longevity rather than performance. So when you think about training to stay healthy for the rest of your life, how does that change your approach to fitness and diet?I’ve read studies that say stronger muscle is good for longevity—older people break bones and get hurt, and having more muscle mass helps with that. My whole family has a history of cardiovascular issues, and working out helps with that. I take my blood pressure all the time, and at my age, and I can see the difference working out has made. I thought it would hit me at 40, mentally. It didn’t hit me at 40. In your early 40s, you’re like, OK, double that, 80s, a lot of people make it to their 80s. But when you hit 45, you’re like, OK, most people don’t make it to 90. At 45, I was, like, Oh, I’m probably more than halfway through this journey. For a long time, I was scared of opening that door to taking care of my cholesterol or my blood pressure, because it feels so scary—I’ve lost family members to it. Everyone I know in my family is dealing with it, to some degree. My generation is generally healthier; we’re more aware of what we eat, so we’re doing better than the older generation.I want to live! [Laughs.] And I want to live for a long time. And I want to feel good for a long time. Right now, I feel better than I did through most of my 20s and 30s, and I think a lot of that has to do with what I’m eating and what I’m not eating, and how I’m exercising. But also, a lot of psychological stuff: Being more in touch with myself and my emotions, being aware of what I’m feeling and why I’m feeling it, talking to therapists, talking to Emily, talking to friends about stuff that’s scaring me or making me sad. I think all that stuff I’m prioritizing more now.In Real-Life Diet, athletes, celebrities, and other high performers talk about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you. Source link

[chilimili212]

In 2021, 46-year-old Kumail Nanjiani famously transformed himself from the soft-bodied uber-nerd he played in Silicon Valley to the super-ripped superhero Kingo from his Marvel movie debut, Eternals. While some actors do intense physical prep for parts only to backslide after shooting wraps, Nanjiani made his gains stick. With a change of physique has come a change of roles, including his more, well, muscular parts as a rebel in the 2022 Star Wars mini-series Obi-Wan Kenobi, strip club pioneer in Welcome to Chippendales (2023), and a Ghostbuster in 2024.In addition to the dramatic roles, Nanjiani has returned to standup comedy—he’s in the midst of a nine-month cross-country run—and is managing a fledgling production company, Winter Coat Films, with his co-founder and wife, the writer-producer Emily Gordon. He has also partnered with the nutrition company Quest. “I want to live for a long time,” he says. “And I want to feel good for a long time.”GQ: It’s the classic question for guys who want to get in shape: Do big muscles solve all your problems?Kumail Nanjiani: Oh, God no. Maybe, maybe, maybe I sleep a little better and I have slightly less anxiety because I’m working out pretty hard. But I’m seeing a therapist more regularly, so it’s hard to know what’s what. [Laughs.] So, no, it doesn’t solve shit.How has your fitness transformation affected you on set and on stage?On set, I don’t think as much. I’ve certainly grown in confidence on set, but I think that’s come from doing more reps—learning more on all aspects of filmmaking and feeling more comfortable. However, I started doing standup again about a year ago, and the last time I did, I looked very different. And so when I started doing standup again, my wife was, like, people’s experience of seeing you on stage is different now. You look different on stage. So even though you don’t see yourself differently, the audience perceives you differently. My standup used to be self-deprecating. I can’t do that as much anymore. It just has to be different. I used to talk about being a nerd—I still talk about being a nerd, but it’s changed the math.You’re on tour now for a few months, but often performing on the weekends. Do you make sure to work out while traveling, or do you just enjoy your time out of the gym and get back to it on Monday?This is so dorky, but I look up the gyms of the hotels I’m going to. I’m quite obsessed with working out now. It helps with anxiety, feeling more grounded, and my energy’s better. And so, I will look at the gym setup. Sometimes that information is hard to find. There’s a website called Hotel Gyms that ranks everything, but it doesn’t give you a ton of detail. But from the pictures, you can sleuth. Like, Oh my God, this place has a leg press machine. So, at home, I can skip legs, because I don’t have a leg press machine at home. I’m traveling Saturday, and I know that the hotel I’m in for the first few days has an amazing gym. So when I plan out my day, even with shooting, I’m figuring out when I can go to the gym.What’s the best hotel gym you’ve visited?Well, the one I’m actually going to now, the Forth Hotel in Atlanta, has a really, really good gym. And the Equinox Hotel in New York, Hudson Yards, is an actual Equinox, so it’s tough to beat.It’s said that if muscles are built in the gym, abs are built in the kitchen. What parts of that rigorous Marvel-prepping diet have you continued?When I first started trying to get in shape five years ago, I noticed how certain foods would make me feel. I didn’t know that. Eating sugar, you have the crash a couple of hours later. Eating gluten, you have a histamine response. To me, that’s been the biggest change. I have a pretty wicked sweet tooth, so I’ll still find room to eat dessert, but I know how it makes me feel afterwards. Days on set are pretty long, and when I’m on tour, I’m landing in a city, doing two shows that night, flying early the next morning to another city, doing another show or two that night. Energy’s so important. I’m finding that cutting out refined sugar has really made my energy more even through the day instead of these peaks and valleys, which I thought were [just part of] being a human. When I’m more thoughtful about what I eat, I certainly feel better, and I have more energy for the work that I need to do.Are there other areas besides sugar where you have shifted your diet?For a long time, I was tracking everything I was eating. But I stopped doing that almost two years ago, because now it’s a feel. I try to maximize protein, and I try to minimize simple sugars. I’m not keto or anything—I eat fruit. So what’s really stayed is the idea of protein content, which is where all the Quest stuff helps: It’s high protein, low carbs. Unless I’m preparing for something specific, if I’m eating high protein and minimizing simple sugars, I’m going to stay on track. Lean meats: chicken, steak. I love going to steak places. I ask, What’s the leanest cut of steak you have? I know that’s not the tastiest, but to me, the difference in taste and experience isn’t that big.So you’re not a Wagyu guy then?Listen, Wagyu tastes amazing. And I’ll do it every now and then, and if someone else gets it, I’ll try a bite. But generally, no, I’m getting a lean cut—a filet.You got married pretty young compared to many Americans. How has your change in your fitness affected your relationship with Emily?Well, at the beginning, she’s just, like, you just feel so different. She’s like, “It’s like hugging the corner of a building.” [Laughs.] But now, we have a gym at our home, and Emily’s started doing serious weight training, too, so that’s been the biggest change. She loves doing it. And the way she looks and feels is very different.Does she feel like the corner of a building as well?[Laughs.] Yes, just a couple of building corners bumping into each other. Sparks. But she really loves it. She saw what I was getting out of it, she got a trainer, and now she does it on her own. She loves it. But beyond that, when you’ve been married 17 years, you change a lot. So much about you changes, obviously. We’ve both changed in so, so many ways. So I think the biggest excitement in being in a relationship this long is how you change and how you change together, right? Because you’re changing as people, so your relationship has to change. There’s never a point where you’re, like, And now the relationship is done. It’s a growing, evolving thing that you need to keep talking about. It’s really about communication. And we just started a production company, so we’re working together more now than we ever have. All this stuff requires constant communication. “Hey, when you said that in the business meeting that we had, it hurt my feelings.” [Laughs.] So that’s the most exciting thing to me about being with her: Watching her change and watching us change together.You’ve described your weight room prep for your Marvel role as “vomit-inducing” and “chasing the pain.” Has that level of intensity changed as you’ve moved past that movie?It ebbs and flows based on my mood. Right now, I’m in a non-hardcore training phase. I just sort of go based on how my body’s feeling and how I’m feeling mentally. I also change up my workouts quite a bit, because you get bored. Right now I’m on a pretty easy split—it’s not a ton of exercises per workout. But honestly, if you have a stressful day or a tough day or a bad day, you feel like I want to work out really, really hard. And it really helps me feel better. It’s one to one. I’ll be in a bad mood, I’ll work out really hard, and I’ll be great. That said, I’m not able to put myself through a vomit-inducing workout. Like you said, I’m not trying to peak. I’m trying to maintain. There’s no reason for me to be buff anymore—it’s just because I like doing the thing, you know?In their 40s, guys start to think about longevity rather than performance. So when you think about training to stay healthy for the rest of your life, how does that change your approach to fitness and diet?I’ve read studies that say stronger muscle is good for longevity—older people break bones and get hurt, and having more muscle mass helps with that. My whole family has a history of cardiovascular issues, and working out helps with that. I take my blood pressure all the time, and at my age, and I can see the difference working out has made. I thought it would hit me at 40, mentally. It didn’t hit me at 40. In your early 40s, you’re like, OK, double that, 80s, a lot of people make it to their 80s. But when you hit 45, you’re like, OK, most people don’t make it to 90. At 45, I was, like, Oh, I’m probably more than halfway through this journey. For a long time, I was scared of opening that door to taking care of my cholesterol or my blood pressure, because it feels so scary—I’ve lost family members to it. Everyone I know in my family is dealing with it, to some degree. My generation is generally healthier; we’re more aware of what we eat, so we’re doing better than the older generation.I want to live! [Laughs.] And I want to live for a long time. And I want to feel good for a long time. Right now, I feel better than I did through most of my 20s and 30s, and I think a lot of that has to do with what I’m eating and what I’m not eating, and how I’m exercising. But also, a lot of psychological stuff: Being more in touch with myself and my emotions, being aware of what I’m feeling and why I’m feeling it, talking to therapists, talking to Emily, talking to friends about stuff that’s scaring me or making me sad. I think all that stuff I’m prioritizing more now.In Real-Life Diet, athletes, celebrities, and other high performers talk about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you. Source link

[stylestream]

Kristen Wiig | Jenny Packham dress | Ghostbusters Los Angeles Premiere | 2016

[oliviajoyice21]

In 2021, 46-year-old Kumail Nanjiani famously transformed himself from the soft-bodied uber-nerd he played in Silicon Valley to the super-ripped superhero Kingo from his Marvel movie debut, Eternals. While some actors do intense physical prep for parts only to backslide after shooting wraps, Nanjiani made his gains stick. With a change of physique has come a change of roles, including his more, well, muscular parts as a rebel in the 2022 Star Wars mini-series Obi-Wan Kenobi, strip club pioneer in Welcome to Chippendales (2023), and a Ghostbuster in 2024.In addition to the dramatic roles, Nanjiani has returned to standup comedy—he’s in the midst of a nine-month cross-country run—and is managing a fledgling production company, Winter Coat Films, with his co-founder and wife, the writer-producer Emily Gordon. He has also partnered with the nutrition company Quest. “I want to live for a long time,” he says. “And I want to feel good for a long time.”GQ: It’s the classic question for guys who want to get in shape: Do big muscles solve all your problems?Kumail Nanjiani: Oh, God no. Maybe, maybe, maybe I sleep a little better and I have slightly less anxiety because I’m working out pretty hard. But I’m seeing a therapist more regularly, so it’s hard to know what’s what. [Laughs.] So, no, it doesn’t solve shit.How has your fitness transformation affected you on set and on stage?On set, I don’t think as much. I’ve certainly grown in confidence on set, but I think that’s come from doing more reps—learning more on all aspects of filmmaking and feeling more comfortable. However, I started doing standup again about a year ago, and the last time I did, I looked very different. And so when I started doing standup again, my wife was, like, people’s experience of seeing you on stage is different now. You look different on stage. So even though you don’t see yourself differently, the audience perceives you differently. My standup used to be self-deprecating. I can’t do that as much anymore. It just has to be different. I used to talk about being a nerd—I still talk about being a nerd, but it’s changed the math.You’re on tour now for a few months, but often performing on the weekends. Do you make sure to work out while traveling, or do you just enjoy your time out of the gym and get back to it on Monday?This is so dorky, but I look up the gyms of the hotels I’m going to. I’m quite obsessed with working out now. It helps with anxiety, feeling more grounded, and my energy’s better. And so, I will look at the gym setup. Sometimes that information is hard to find. There’s a website called Hotel Gyms that ranks everything, but it doesn’t give you a ton of detail. But from the pictures, you can sleuth. Like, Oh my God, this place has a leg press machine. So, at home, I can skip legs, because I don’t have a leg press machine at home. I’m traveling Saturday, and I know that the hotel I’m in for the first few days has an amazing gym. So when I plan out my day, even with shooting, I’m figuring out when I can go to the gym.What’s the best hotel gym you’ve visited?Well, the one I’m actually going to now, the Forth Hotel in Atlanta, has a really, really good gym. And the Equinox Hotel in New York, Hudson Yards, is an actual Equinox, so it’s tough to beat.It’s said that if muscles are built in the gym, abs are built in the kitchen. What parts of that rigorous Marvel-prepping diet have you continued?When I first started trying to get in shape five years ago, I noticed how certain foods would make me feel. I didn’t know that. Eating sugar, you have the crash a couple of hours later. Eating gluten, you have a histamine response. To me, that’s been the biggest change. I have a pretty wicked sweet tooth, so I’ll still find room to eat dessert, but I know how it makes me feel afterwards. Days on set are pretty long, and when I’m on tour, I’m landing in a city, doing two shows that night, flying early the next morning to another city, doing another show or two that night. Energy’s so important. I’m finding that cutting out refined sugar has really made my energy more even through the day instead of these peaks and valleys, which I thought were [just part of] being a human. When I’m more thoughtful about what I eat, I certainly feel better, and I have more energy for the work that I need to do.Are there other areas besides sugar where you have shifted your diet?For a long time, I was tracking everything I was eating. But I stopped doing that almost two years ago, because now it’s a feel. I try to maximize protein, and I try to minimize simple sugars. I’m not keto or anything—I eat fruit. So what’s really stayed is the idea of protein content, which is where all the Quest stuff helps: It’s high protein, low carbs. Unless I’m preparing for something specific, if I’m eating high protein and minimizing simple sugars, I’m going to stay on track. Lean meats: chicken, steak. I love going to steak places. I ask, What’s the leanest cut of steak you have? I know that’s not the tastiest, but to me, the difference in taste and experience isn’t that big.So you’re not a Wagyu guy then?Listen, Wagyu tastes amazing. And I’ll do it every now and then, and if someone else gets it, I’ll try a bite. But generally, no, I’m getting a lean cut—a filet.You got married pretty young compared to many Americans. How has your change in your fitness affected your relationship with Emily?Well, at the beginning, she’s just, like, you just feel so different. She’s like, “It’s like hugging the corner of a building.” [Laughs.] But now, we have a gym at our home, and Emily’s started doing serious weight training, too, so that’s been the biggest change. She loves doing it. And the way she looks and feels is very different.Does she feel like the corner of a building as well?[Laughs.] Yes, just a couple of building corners bumping into each other. Sparks. But she really loves it. She saw what I was getting out of it, she got a trainer, and now she does it on her own. She loves it. But beyond that, when you’ve been married 17 years, you change a lot. So much about you changes, obviously. We’ve both changed in so, so many ways. So I think the biggest excitement in being in a relationship this long is how you change and how you change together, right? Because you’re changing as people, so your relationship has to change. There’s never a point where you’re, like, And now the relationship is done. It’s a growing, evolving thing that you need to keep talking about. It’s really about communication. And we just started a production company, so we’re working together more now than we ever have. All this stuff requires constant communication. “Hey, when you said that in the business meeting that we had, it hurt my feelings.” [Laughs.] So that’s the most exciting thing to me about being with her: Watching her change and watching us change together.You’ve described your weight room prep for your Marvel role as “vomit-inducing” and “chasing the pain.” Has that level of intensity changed as you’ve moved past that movie?It ebbs and flows based on my mood. Right now, I’m in a non-hardcore training phase. I just sort of go based on how my body’s feeling and how I’m feeling mentally. I also change up my workouts quite a bit, because you get bored. Right now I’m on a pretty easy split—it’s not a ton of exercises per workout. But honestly, if you have a stressful day or a tough day or a bad day, you feel like I want to work out really, really hard. And it really helps me feel better. It’s one to one. I’ll be in a bad mood, I’ll work out really hard, and I’ll be great. That said, I’m not able to put myself through a vomit-inducing workout. Like you said, I’m not trying to peak. I’m trying to maintain. There’s no reason for me to be buff anymore—it’s just because I like doing the thing, you know?In their 40s, guys start to think about longevity rather than performance. So when you think about training to stay healthy for the rest of your life, how does that change your approach to fitness and diet?I’ve read studies that say stronger muscle is good for longevity—older people break bones and get hurt, and having more muscle mass helps with that. My whole family has a history of cardiovascular issues, and working out helps with that. I take my blood pressure all the time, and at my age, and I can see the difference working out has made. I thought it would hit me at 40, mentally. It didn’t hit me at 40. In your early 40s, you’re like, OK, double that, 80s, a lot of people make it to their 80s. But when you hit 45, you’re like, OK, most people don’t make it to 90. At 45, I was, like, Oh, I’m probably more than halfway through this journey. For a long time, I was scared of opening that door to taking care of my cholesterol or my blood pressure, because it feels so scary—I’ve lost family members to it. Everyone I know in my family is dealing with it, to some degree. My generation is generally healthier; we’re more aware of what we eat, so we’re doing better than the older generation.I want to live! [Laughs.] And I want to live for a long time. And I want to feel good for a long time. Right now, I feel better than I did through most of my 20s and 30s, and I think a lot of that has to do with what I’m eating and what I’m not eating, and how I’m exercising. But also, a lot of psychological stuff: Being more in touch with myself and my emotions, being aware of what I’m feeling and why I’m feeling it, talking to therapists, talking to Emily, talking to friends about stuff that’s scaring me or making me sad. I think all that stuff I’m prioritizing more now.In Real-Life Diet, athletes, celebrities, and other high performers talk about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you. Source link

[castlebyersafterdark]

Heyyy so I’m really curious about when Finn called himself alpha and a wolf? 😂 I don’t think I’ve ever seen that video! Can you post a link to it?? Plssss 🙏🙏

Ooooh I have no idea, I don't think I've posted it here personally? I feel like I watched it on another blog but that could be a lie. Maybe someone sent it here. My memory is wacky. Both great and not great. I know it was during the Ghostbusters press tour to narrow it down. I'd look for it but I don't have the investigative time but, I do know there's people who keep pretty through bookmarks so if anyone has it readily saved 😊

[warningsine]

On Aug. 28, Amandla Stenberg, the lead of the “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte,” posted an eight-and-a-half-minute video to her Instagram Stories about Lucasfilm’s abrupt decision not to pick up the show for a second season just a month after the Season 1 finale streamed on Disney+. 

“It’s not a huge shock for me,” Stenberg said. Since the series was announced in 2020, she continued, “we started experiencing a rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language towards us.” (Stenberg was unavailable to comment for this story.)

In other words, “The Acolyte” was the latest high-profile target of “toxic fandom,” the catchall term for when fan criticism curdles from good-faith dissatisfaction into a relentlessly negative, often bigoted online campaign against either the project or its stars or creative leaders. In a franchise economy increasingly dependent upon established audience devotion to drive the bottom line, the threat of toxic fandoms poisoning that enthusiasm has become a seemingly intractable headache for almost every studio. And it’s only getting worse.

“It comes with the territory, but it’s gotten incredibly loud in the last couple years,” says a veteran marketing executive at a major studio. “People are just out for blood, regardless. They think the purity of the first version will never be replaced, or you’ve done something to upset the canon of a beloved franchise, and they’re going to take you down for doing so.”

Sometimes, toxic fandoms behave reactively. A “House of the Dragon” episode featuring two female characters kissing and an episode of “The Last of Us” focusing on a gay couple were both review bombed — the practice of mobbing sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb with negative user reviews, which gained mainstream attention following the premiere of 2017’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” And an entire YouTube ecosystem is devoted to declaring projects like “The Marvels” and “The Boys” “woke garbage” (among other pungent sobriquets).

Just as frequently, the backlash begins before the project has seen the light of day: a Reddit mega-thread dedicated to outrage over “Bridgerton” casting a Black woman (Masali Baduza) as the love interest for Francesca (Hannah Dodd); social media epithets directed at the actors of color cast as elves and dwarves in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”; death threats aimed at Leslie Jones during the press tour for 2016’s “Ghostbusters.”

Perhaps the greatest irony of this phenomenon is the disproportionate impact these toxic fandoms have relative to their actual number. 

“The vast majority of any fandom are casual fans,” says John Van Citters, VP of Star Trek brand development, who has been with the storied franchise since the 1990s. “The number of people who live and die on their franchises are very, very few, and then those who come after things that they espouse to love with venom are a really, really tiny subset of that already smaller subset of fandom. It’s just much easier to see it now. I don’t know that it’s really that much broader than where things were in 1995 — it’s just that the bullhorn wasn’t there.”

For some, combating that bullhorn amounts to acting as if they can’t hear it. “Particularly when it’s a negative, toxic conversation, we don’t even engage,” says a TV marketing executive. “Like with toxic people, you try to not give it too much oxygen.” One principal concern is that reacting to these kinds of attacks risks alienating fans who are unhappy with creative choices about a franchise but haven’t tipped over into abusive behavior. So a studio may attempt to amplify friendlier voices instead. “We’ll reply to comments that are positive and elevate those things,” says the TV exec.

Still, toxic fandoms have grown so pernicious that they’ve become a fact of life for many — and so powerful that while talent, executives and publicists will privately bemoan the issue, fear of inadvertently triggering another backlash kept several studios from speaking for this story even on background. (As one rep put it, “It’s just a lose-lose.”)

Those who did talk with Variety all agreed that the best defense is to avoid provoking fandoms in the first place. In addition to standard focus group testing, studios will assemble a specialized cluster of superfans to assess possible marketing materials for a major franchise project.

“They’re very vocal,” says the studio exec. “They will just tell us, ‘If you do that, fans are going to retaliate.’” These groups have even led studios to alter the projects: “If it’s early enough and the movie isn’t finished yet, we can make those kinds of changes.”

Several studio insiders say they often put their talent through a social media boot camp; in some cases, when a character is intentionally challenging a franchise’s status quo, studios will, with the actor’s permission, take over their social media accounts entirely. When things get really bad — especially involving threats of violence — security firms will scrub talent information from the internet to protect them from doxxing.

In some particularly egregious cases, a direct response has been necessary. In 2022, after “Obi-Wan Kenobi” actor Moses Ingram denounced the “hundreds” of racist messages sent to her about her role — “There’s nothing anybody can do about this. There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate,” she said — Lucasfilm posted a statement to its Star Wars social media accounts that read, in part, “There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist.” The Star Wars accounts also shared a video of “Obi-Wan” star Ewan McGregor saying the abuse made him “sick to my stomach” and that “if you’re sending her bullying messages, you’re no ‘Star Wars’ fan in my mind.” 

Later that year, the cast of “The Rings of Power” condemned “the relentless racism, threats, harassment, and abuse some of our castmates of color are being subjected to on a daily basis,” and actors from the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy posted photos of themselves wearing clothing featuring the ears of Middle-earth creatures in multiple skin tones underneath the message “you are all welcome here” written in Elvish. Those efforts may have had an effect. In an August interview with Amazon MGM Studios TV chief Vernon Sanders about “The Rings of Power,” the executive said the show hadn’t experienced the same racist hostility in advance of Season 2 that had greeted its 2022 debut. “People have had a chance to actually engage with the show,” he said. “Overwhelmingly, what we’ve seen is that folks who came with an open mind can discuss and debate their favorite things — which takes you out of the place of that ugly conversation that happened with some folks who may have been infused with an agenda that’s separate from the show itself.”

There is one other way to handle toxic fans on the internet: Stay off it. “I’m not online, so I’m protected,” says frequent Marvel star Elizabeth Olsen (“WandaVision”). “Generally, it’s a lot of positive experiences of making kids happy. I ignore the other stuff.”

[brodydalle-archive]

INTERVIEW: MUSICIAN BRODY DALLE, FORMERLY OF THE DISTILLERS AND SPINNERETTE

The newly-solo artist talks Cyndi Lauper, Swedish pancakes and coffee

The newly-solo artist talks Cyndi Lauper, Swedish pancakes and coffee

First record you ever bought Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual.

Last extravagant purchase you made My ‘Stand and Deliver’ studded leather jacket.

First film you saw that really moved you Betty Blue changed my life. I saw the uncut three-hour director’s cut when I was 17. It blew my mind. I saw The Exorcist at my babysitter’s when I was five and then every horror movie in the video store by the time I was eight, which led to seances with Scrabble pieces and a glass upside down.

Last lie you told I told my son Ryder that the Easter bunny hops around and hides chocolate eggs for kids to find and maybe a toy firetruck too.

First movie you ever went on a date to Bowling for Columbine with Joshua [Homme, her husband and lead singer of Queens of the Stone Age]. The whole experience was extremely intense.

Last time you cried On tour in Australia a couple of times – I was overwhelmed and exhausted.

First thing you do when you’ve got time off work Spend time with my kids and my husband, or if I’m on tour, go for a run.

Last great meal you cooked I made my kids Swedish pancakes this morning. It’s my momma-in-law’s recipe but I got ’em down pretty good. They’re freaking delicious. Served with strawberries, bacon and maple syrup.

First crush Bill Murray in Ghostbusters.

Last book you read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.

First great piece of advice you were given My grandmother told me she doesn’t believe the saying ‘You make your bed, you lie in it’. She told me you get out and make it again. I loved that.

Last time you were star struck I don’t.

First thing you’d do if you ran the country Delete Monsanto.

Last meal on earth ��� what would it be? My dad’s spaghetti bolognese. My mum’s salad, chicken wings and sticky date cake. My nanna’s custard.

First song you’ll sing at karaoke Madonna – ‘Holiday’.

Last time you exploited your position to get something I’m not that famous.

First time you realised you were famous When paparazzi took photos of me in London when The Distillers were at the peak of our career.

Last time someone criticised your work Who cares?

First three words your friends would use to describe you My husband said ‘Sexy, badass and stubborn’.

Last time you made an impulse buy and regretted it Yesterday, Ralph Lauren wedges for Coachella, toe crushers.

First concert you ever attended Cyndi Lauper at the Melbourne tennis center. My dad took me – it was incredible.

Last time you bought someone flowers My girlfriend Amaryllis – she had had a bad day and I wanted to cheer her up.

First object you’d save from your burning home Photos.

Last funny thing you saw online Mark Gormley – ‘Without You’.

First job McDonald’s – you can’t wash that smell off your skin.

Last person you fantasised about My husband.

First word you spoke Mum.

Last crime you committed I stole a bunch of chocolate bars from a milk bar in Melbourne years ago.

First song at your (potential) wedding ‘Let’s Dance’ – David Bowie.

Last song at your funeral ‘Sleepwalk’ by Santo and Johnny.

First person you’d thank in an award acceptance speech Brandy Blake.

Last thing you recommended to someone Psychiatric evaluation.

First thing you think of when you wake up in the morning My French press coffee maker.

Last thing you think of before you go to sleep My French press coffee maker.

SOURCE

[beautifulballad]

Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard Wrap 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' Press Tour in London