#no like leave the actors alone

[romancearc]

can we stop talking about Luke's personal life it is getting weird and uncomfortable

[gunsatthaphan]

something very lgbt is gonna transpire in that scene I know it 👁️

[beif0ngs]

at this point, i'm just in awe at how they f*cked up a live action adaptation of ATLA twice... TWICE 🤦

[ingravinoveritas]

How did u feel with the age gap question was it pr or do u really think he meant it and this was the truth

This is referring to the question asked on The Assembly last night. I'll post the clip here, for those who haven't seen it yet:

A lot of what I felt while watching this was touched on in this incredibly thoughtful post from @body-face-words, so I encourage folks to give that a read. But I think for me, when it comes to Michael's answer, it's not a matter of whether he lied or told the truth. It's that his response was sweet, but it was also a version of the truth that sounded convincing because it needed to, because this was not a time or place where he could say what he actually felt.

I'm really not sure what people expected him to say, in all honesty, as he was never going to say anything that would make him or Anna look bad, and especially not anything that could potentially negatively impact the kids, so he instead gave a very perfect PR answer. This again does not come as a surprise because we know Michael has scripted his answers about AL/their relationship in the past, but I noticed how careful he was in his response, which seems to contrast with how off-the-cuff he normally is when discussing every other subject. Part of what so many of us love about Michael is how unfiltered he is and always has been, with the exception of how much he filters and edits himself when talking about Anna.

It also seemed like, at least from my perspective, that Michael answered the question without answering the question. What the girl asked wasn't so much about the age gap, but about AL being five years older than Michael's daughter Lily, and it would've been a perfect opportunity for him to mention her, or how the relationship with AL affected his and Lily's relationship. He could've talked about the falling out he had with her (and Kate) in 2019 once AL's existence/pregnancy came to light, and what has happened in the years since, or how Lily now gets along with Anna/her half-sisters. But instead Michael deflected from all of that and talked about everything while saying nothing at the same time.

It was also the things Michael didn't say that stood out as much as the things he did. In the entire answer to the question, Michael never once used the word "love." Prior to the show airing, I saw a lot of people online confident that he would say that he loves Anna, but he never did. He never praised her, never talked about the things he loves about her, or how glad he is to be with her. He never once mentioned her by name. The pivot and focus was on the kids, and there was a clear distinction made between how happy he is to have the family he does, rather than to be in the relationship that he is in. Michael's use of the phrase "very happy" was also identical to the wording of a comment AL wrote on Instagram the other day, which added to the whole "reinforcing a public narrative" feeling of his response.

I think what struck me most of all, though, was how somber and heavyhearted Michael sounded while saying how happy he is. It reminded me of the song "I Am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel, where the upbeat and cheerful music contrasts starkly with the fraught, angry lyrics. There was no sparkle in Michael's eyes when he said it, no enthusiasm for what he was saying (which is particularly jarring when we know Michael has the capacity for incredible enthusiasm), and his face never lit up while he was talking.

There was one specific moment (which is also highlighted in the body language post) where he seemed to visibly wince and the micro-expressions were in overdrive, and it immediately made me think of a moment from Good Omens:

Time and again, I have seen fans talk about Michael's micro-expressions as an actor and how he uses them to such devastating effect (especially in the role of Aziraphale). And while these two moments are not completely identical, the idea of ignoring how Michael uses those same micro-expressions in real life makes no sense to me at all. In this instance, what we're seeing could be either because he has put so much of himself into Aziraphale that we can now recognize those "Michael" moments...or it could be because in both clips he is performing, albeit for different reasons.

The difference between Michael when he is doing this vs. when he is being genuinely himself is made even more apparent by the question immediately following this one. Unprompted, he brings up David, and the change in his expression and demeanor is swift and dramatic:

Having the mention of David happen so soon after the AL question seemed to highlight so many things. I can't help but feel that David is a security blanket for Michael, something he hides behind when he is feeling anxious or sad or overwhelmed. I wondered if perhaps he was even already thinking of David while answering the AL question, which would explain why he named him so readily--as if his mind needed to drift to someplace else just to finish answering that question.

To me, this made it abundantly clear that David is Michael's safe place. Here was where we saw Michael's eyes sparkling. Here was where we saw him light up from the inside. And it was David he kept returning to and bringing up during the rest of the show in response to other questions. So if that doesn't speak volumes about where Michael's heart seems to be, I'm not sure what does.

So yes, those are my thoughts on Michael answering the age gap question on The Assembly. As always, this is just my interpretation, but I am glad to hear from my followers with your take as well. Thanks for writing in! x

[hazardpossum]

‘Hes so cute and innocent omg my baby boy’

THAT IS A GROWN ASS MAN WITH A HAIRY COCK AND BALLS

[djungleskogs]

i think analysing oliver’s facial expressions and social media to figure out whether or not he hates one of his coworkers is weird behaviour sorry ! i also think the insistence that the entire 911 cast hates lou and his cameos based on nothing but vibes is weird behaviour too !! it very much feels like a good chunk of the anti-bucktommy section of twitter has a weird parasocial relationship with oliver stark specifically.

also tbh who cares if oliver and lou hate each other they don’t write the show. it would have zero impact on whether bucktommy survives the next two episodes or not. like thank god i use tumblr because every time i open twitter its just people spreading absolute negativity and insisting that everything oliver does is a sign that he hates lou so much and that’s why bucktommy is bones like no wonder he deleted that app. if i were him i would be cursing them out all day every day

[evankinkley]

People hating on Lou like he's not a person who actually interacts with Oliver, Ryan, Kenny, Tim etc in real life. Your behaviour isn't just in his inbox, it's in the 9-1-1 halls and you think your favourites are impressed?

[demadogs]

i love yellowjackets you know i love yellowjackets but i cannot get over how fucking stupid it is that they cast new background actors for the wilderness

[covertblizzard]

jaykyle au where they're theatre kids in the same school but they're not the actors jason's the scriptwriter/director and kyle is the prop manager (i don't know the official terms sorry) and they'd probably do an amazing job on the backstage setting if they could stop arguing for 5 whole seconds about their artistic visions and ideas and how "this would obviously work better this way"

[iamacolor]

it looked fake because IT WAS that's why she's barely touching him and that didn't make sense if it was real, i'm relieved, faith restored let's go

[arianwyn-art]

i really like the atla adaptation. not accepting criticism on my opinion.

also as a reminder you. can’t. queerbait. with. real. people.

[grusinskayas]

when people complain about overacting, especially in 20s-30s films, i'm like that's ok. we can have different opinions and tastes and that's perfectly alright. to each his own, that's not a problem. but also have you tried being happy? have you tried seeing the joy and the beauty in someone who expresses their emotions in a big way onscreen? no? ok.

[folkdevilism]

I'll always have a soft spot for Dishonored 2, but I still occasionally wonder what kind of game we could have gotten if it had been allowed to focus solely on Emily instead of trying to accommodate two playable main characters.

[bitchthefuck1]

"Kieran Culkin couldn't disagree with Jeremy Strong in person he only said he doesn't like when people call actors storytellers in a separate interview, they're literally Kendall and Roman 😭😭😭" first of all can we please not project characters' personal issues/dynamics onto their actors, and secondly, idk how to tell you this but if someone is being vulnerable about something personal that they feel really strongly about, particularly in a group setting, but you happen to disagree with a mostly irrelevant part of how they said it that isn't the primary focus of their point, not immediately nitpicking them about how they personally conceptualize something isn't a sign that you're afraid to contradict them or that you have childhood trauma or whatever, it's literally just reading the room and being polite. That's like common sense, I fear.

[mrmeepsmadmind]

me carrying my big beautiful himbo wife

WTF DONT DROP HER WTF ???????

[montyluvsjasper]

Dear Hollywood people,

Please give Ewan Mitchell more period drama roles, something fluffy and romantic perhaps or a light hearted fantasy.

Sincerely,

A fan who is worried an actor won't work in anything big name again because his break out role was a hated controversial character.

Ps. He's such a good actor let people like him.