#this director needs an emmy

[jessmalia]

And yet, you toil still in service to men. Your father, your husband, your son. You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?

House of the Dragon (2022–) "The green Council" 1.09 | "Regent" 2.05

[nicholasalexanderchavezdimes]

Creative Differences:

Summary: You’re a rookie actress being cast in a romantic comedy with Nicholas but things come to a head when he seems a little less than thrilled about it.

You were sat at a big table with your management team. Your leg was bouncing up and down frantically, you had been anticipating this call back for a week and it felt like hell on earth. You thought you had done exceptionally well, the audition was lengthy but nothing you hadn’t been able to handle before.

You picked at your nails as you sat with your team, knowing if you didn’t get this film role you’d have to officially call it quits ( a promise you had made to your dad once your roles had slowed down.)

You were just starting to lose hope that your phone would ring when suddenly it started to, loudly echoing in the half-empty room.

Your manager Rose smiled at you with a wink as she quickly picked up the line. Rose was more of a mother figure to you than your own, and when you counted your blessings you always counted Rose twice.

You felt your entire body warm with hopefulness as she placed the phone on speaker.

“Hello? May I speak with Y/N Y/L/N’s head management advisor?”

“Yes! This is Rose!” She brushed her thick curly hair away from her face, using her fingers to tuck her frizzy curls behind her ears.

“We would like to move forward with the casting process…”

James went into lengthy detail that felt like a blur after you heard you would be moving forward with the casting process. The tears wouldn’t stop flowing, knowing this would be the push you needed to make this career work.

••••

You sat in a casting director's chair to wait for Nicholas, you had made it to set earlier than intended but you wanted to make sure you had a zero chance of being late.

You had never met Nicholas in person but were familiar with his work, which only made you insanely full of nerves. This was your first movie and it was a romantic comedy, Nicholas wasn’t exactly hard to pretend to be attracted to so you figured this would be easy.

He was also quite literally off the heels of his biggest break yet, and you knew working beside an Emmy winner in a movie would be a great look for your resume.

Nicholas was admittedly very easy on the eyes, standing six foot one, and appearing to garner the attention of the room as soon as he walked into it. His laugh filled the room, and the corner of his eyes crinkled as he cracked jokes with everyone.

It was clear that he was the star of the show, and he knew it. He carried himself with a lot of confidence, but it didn’t come off as cocky which surprised you a bit.

He graciously walked right over to you, which left you speechless as he extended his hand to you. “Hi, I’m Nicholas! Nice to meet you!” He smiled with his eyes as they practically sparkled against the set lights.

You swallowed the lump in your throat, standing to eagerly shake his hand. “I’m y/n! We have a chemistry read today!” You weren’t doing the best job at keeping your excitement well hidden but he found it endearing.

“Yes, we do!” A chuckle escaped him. “Is this your first film?” He eyed you up and down, noticing your nervous tics immediately. You had been drumming your fingers against your thighs since you stood up.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” You giggled, feeling your face grow warm.

“Not at all” he replied sarcastically with a big grin before leading you to set with him.

You had wondered if he was always this charming, or if it was a facade for the sake of a chemistry read but you shook off the feeling immediately.

The two of you practiced lines from an intense scene together, you eventually had to sit in his lap and make it seem convincingly natural although he was still a stranger.

He was good at improvising and you followed his lead as the board of directors and casting simply gave the two of you a nod signaling you were just about done with the chemistry read.

As soon as the two of you broke away from one another Nicholas had a different demeanor than he did just an hour and a half earlier. He seemed almost slightly frustrated or annoyed, but you couldn’t pinpoint why he would be.

“Alright! We’re going to break for lunch and we will call you both back for a final read!” A very tall thin woman named Natalia winked at the two of you before quickly walking away.

“Hey, Nicholas-“ you turned to him nervous that you had overstepped but he was quick to disappear, and you wouldn’t quite admit it out loud but you were slightly disappointed.

You walked over to the craft table hoping to see him there but were only met with disappointment as you grabbed a turkey croissant and an apple juice.

You walked outside on the lot, the sun was out and you wanted to take advantage of that as you chose an empty table to sit by yourself at a table before you noticed him.

Nicholas was sitting at a table across from the casting directors shaking his head in annoyance before you noticed someone beside him lightly nudge him at your presence.

He was waving his hands around, talking with them when you realized what he was going on about. It didn’t take you long to realize what was going on, and when the two of you finally made eye contact it felt like a stab in the chest.

You quickly picked up your lunch, before rushing to leave, the pit of your stomach ached knowing what was happening.

“Go fix that! Now!” A casting director spoke through gritted teeth toward Nicholas.

You didn’t have the slightest idea but this film had already been delayed twice, and if you didn’t take the job it would be stopped altogether.

“How are we supposed to play lovers when it’s clear he doesn’t want that?” You thought to yourself as you felt warm tears rolling down your cheeks. Your phone started to ring, and your dad’s first name appeared against the screen. He always had the worst timing but you knew deep down that you couldn’t avoid him forever.

You were just about to answer your phone when you heard Nicholas calling out to you. You felt defeated, not wanting to face him but stopping in your tracks anyway as he approached you.

“Can I just explain? Please?I know what that looked like and I’m sorry. I just need a chance to explain.” He was frantic but you couldn’t tell if it was authentic or not. He seemed like he was being honest earlier and that quickly changed.

Nicholas was a fantastic actor, you’d give him that.

You turned to him, mascara-stained cheeks and all. Your phone was still in your hand, your dad’s name scrolling across it.

“Do you need to get that?” He swallowed, feeling a wave of guilt in his stomach at the sight of making you cry.

“No. It’s just my asshole of a father.” You didn’t mean to say it but you were full of emotions and Nicholas wasn’t helping, considering he was the primary source.

“Care to share?” His eyes softened at the sight of you. He wouldn’t say it to you just yet but that chemistry read felt a little more real to him than he’d admit in this very moment.

“Not until you tell me what your problem is.” You wiped your face as best as you could before sitting against the brick wall beside you. You weren’t normally this emotional but something about him made you that way.

Maybe it was just the embarrassment talking.

“Okay, fine. It’s going to make me sound like a diva.” He joked although you didn’t find the humor in it as your face was deadpan and waiting for him to say more.

“I think you’re great! I think the chemistry read was too but-“ he sat beside you, nervous that you’d scoot away and was pleasantly surprised when you didn’t.

“This would be your first film right? Do you know exactly what that entails?” He knew once the words came out of his mouth he’d regret it.

“Are you being serious? You don’t want to work with me because I’m a “rookie?” You scoffed, annoyed at him for forgetting he once was too, and not that long ago.

“I never said that! I never said I don’t want to work with you!” His voice was high-pitched now, oddly defensive.

“I said I was concerned you wouldn’t be able to handle the long days. We have sixteen-hour days sometimes y/n! It’s a lot different than television shows with multiple episodes!” When the last part came out of his mouth, his face turned rosy as he realized what he had just admitted.

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, you realized he was familiar with your work too. A small smile crept across your face before you replied.

“I promise you nobody wants this more than I do.” You sighed, showing him the text message that had come through from your dad as the two of you had been talking.

Nicholas scanned through your dad’s essay of a text message, focusing on the words “has been” and how your dad wanted nothing more than for you to come work for his high-class firm instead of wasting time.

“Well, you’re right! He’s an asshole!” Nicholas made an uneasy face as he handed you your phone back, silently thanking his family in his head for being so supportive.

“Takes one to know one” You shrugged knowing he’d only let it slide because he deserved it.

“That’s fair. I may have misjudged you a little” he admitted before standing up and offering you his hand to get up from off the wall.

“A little?” You had your arms folded against your chest, still frustrated at the way today had panned out.

“Let me make it up to you? I’m a really good rom-com boyfriend- promise!” He smiled, hoping you’d agree to stay as he still offered his hand.

You took his hand, nodding in response as you let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Can we start over?” He poked his bottom lip out at you for dramatic effect making you smile a little.

“Yes, I’d like that. But Nicky and yes that’s your new nickname. You owe me!” You smiled before continuing to talk to him. “You should probably know that before we go back out there. You have lettuce in your teeth.” You giggled as he gasped and checked his teeth using the phone that was in his pocket.

“The whole time?” He was rosy red again, blushing with embarrassment.

“It’s really the only reason I forgive you. I couldn’t focus on anything else you said. ” You teased making him let out a boisterous chuckle that let you both know that things would be just fine.

[nixotene]

Kind of in awe over how similar the actors for tua seem to be to their characters (in interviews at least) so take this with a grain of salt. I just think it’s cool how the casting directors seemed to find the perfect actors to play the roles, both looks and personality wise.

Master list of details I’ve found they share with their characters ig lol

Luther/Tom: loves working out and apparently does his learning while working out (cut to scene of Luther doing push-ups while reading). He’s a big softy and loves bringing the group together. He’s always there to boost his fellow actors self esteem.

Diego/David: Acts big and boisterous but is actually very invested in how others perceive him. Wants to be seen as the cool macho one but (not so) secretly has a heart of gold. He also seems to be the one they’re most likely to lovingly bully. Also dated Ritu (Lila’s actress) but kept the relationship as hidden as possible.

Ritu/Lila: she laughs to hide her true emotions. She overall tries hard to hide her true emotions. Again, secretly dated David and were only found out by fans through their families. Hate to say this one but seemed to break up due to events of s4 (just speculation as they stopped following each other/deleted photos off their socials a little before the season came out which likely means issues while filming it).

Allison/Emmy: cares a lot about her self image. Is a famous actor. I mean, they all are but like she really holds herself as one in interviews. She has a very refined actor way of answering questions while still allowing herself to be fun. Honestly hard to tell if she’s like Allison because I can’t tell how she’s like off screen, which is a good thing. She does often refer to the others in sibling/family terms which is so sweet.

Klaus/Robert: always saying the most unhinged and out there things. Constantly barefoot. He’s the glue that seems to hold them together and always knows how to make light of a situation through use of his quirky humour. I don’t know how watching the final scene together would have gone without him. Also appears to be a drug connoisseur.

Five/Aidan: very quiet until he needs to say something. He seems to very much be an old soul in a kids body. I remember in an interview on how they handled shooting the final scene and he mentioned he didn’t cry until he was alone in his trailer because he takes awhile to process things like that. He just seems like a very thoughtful person.

Ben/Justin: kinda sassy but in the way that you just love him more. The others (especially David) seem to love to bug him constantly. I love this bc Ben and Diego do seem to have been close before Ben died. He enjoys his alone time and solitude. He is soft spoken yet sassy. Honestly feels like he acts like a mix between umbrella Ben and sparrow Ben which I love.

Viktor/Elliot: he’s pretty introverted and doesn’t speak much unless prompted. Just overall a sweetheart that doesn’t want any trouble. He’s also a writer. Also tramsgemder

[mrs-stans]

@nytimes: The actors Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong think their new movie about Donald Trump is a tragedy, not a mockery. The film, “The Apprentice,” is a fictionalized look at the Machiavellian bond between a young Trump (Stan) and the lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn (Strong). It could be an awards season player for Stan, best known as the Marvel supersoldier Bucky Barnes, and for Strong, the Emmy-winning “Succession” actor who recently took home a Tony for “An Enemy of the People.” But what was it like to dig so deep into Trump’s life? “We need to stop talking about him like he’s a being from outer space,” @imsebastianstan said. “He’s been made on this planet like the rest of us.” “There is a version of this you can read as the becoming of a monster,” the film’s director, Ali Abbasi, added. “There’s also another version, which is this human tragedy.” “I 100 percent see it as a human tragedy, the way that I saw ‘Succession’ as a tragedy of late-stage capitalism,” Strong said. Kyle Buchanan, the awards season columnist for The New York Times, sat down with Stan, Strong and Abbasi to talk about making “The Apprentice” and portraying Trump in today’s world. Tap the link in our bio to read the full conversation and to read our review of the film. Photos by @geordiewood

[prettyshon10]

TOWL EP. 4

SPOILERS

- Poured some wine for this one; let’s go

- Whose house is this? It’s nice (was that a roomba I saw?)

- Yes, thunder! Set the atmosphere!

- I will never skip these opening credits

- The body is giviiiiing! Danaiiii!

- That man is lusting—omg, he see’s the scar!

- It’s literally takes me twice as long as the episodes’ run time ‘cause I keep pausing and rewinding, but can you blame me? I’m trying to take EVERYTHING in; I’m tryna savor

- “You’ve become a bit of a creative writer these days. That note? In the getaway boat? Poetry.”

- She’s MAD mad, y’all!

- “Children”! She said “children”! He caught that!

- Only 7 minutes in and this ep has me in a chokehold; Imma need more wine

- I knew it wasn’t gonna be that easy; sorry to y’all theories

- THEY ARE ACTING!!!! ACTING!!! The mannerisms—the cracked voices raised in anger! The fact that NOBODY on the TWD cast bagged an Emmy is so freakin CRIMINAL!!!

- Yo! Automated Voice! SHUT UP!

- She ain’t giving you that thing, sir.

- “What did they do to you?” The angst is angsting.

- “Do you still love me?” STOOOOOOP! I’m done! 😭Cut the show—

- Now the sun’s coming out from behind the storm clouds…

- Round three of “They won’t come after us if we’re “dead””, huh?

- I’m totally sure Jadis would not believe they’re dead. They’re Rick and Michonne. She knows better.

- Shout out to my subscription plan—I love not sitting through commercials!

- Sis is really whacking him over head with the “what about the kids?!” approach

- The black woman in her is leaping out and I love it; baby said “deuces, then.”

- Don’t tell me she’s waiting for him to follow her…

- And he wants to!!! The tropes are troping!

- My wine is gone and I’m not even halfway into the episode. I’m gonna throw myself out the window, I swear…

- I hear a chopper; no no no no no

- Not her sassing him 😂 I love snarky Michonne

- “The only time I feel safe is when I’m with you.”

- Even at their most divided, they’re a forced to be reckoned with. Look at them fight together!

- Not him getting blood on her face! Rick, she’s pissed enough as it is!

- Automated Voice, I’m not doing this with you, again!

- The way she grounds him back to reality in the midst of his panic. How very “sun’s getting real low” of them. ❤️

- Inject this entire scene into my veins

- Bathed in the golden glow of this light; it’s the little things

- RJ really does look just like Rick. Shout out to the casting director. Man’s genes said “you’re gonna carry a lightly melanated clone, and that’s final!”

- This show is literally fan service done the RIGHT WAY; other shows takes notes

- Not the roomba sneaking a peak! Caught my boy off guard—he was ready to fight

- Finally, he’s asking about the mark

- “Carl. They took Carl.” Excuse me?!

- “I can’t live without you. Without you, I die.”

- Andrew Lincoln wants me deceased: confirmed. This is a personal attack, I’m sure of it

- Oh lord, not the Carl drawing…

- I just…😫😭

- Elevator make out! One thing about my faves, they’re gonna get it in anytime, any place! And walker killing is an aphrodisiac!

- In the car, too! 😂

- Things are totally gonna go left; only question is how

- Wait, it’s over?!

[jbaileyfansite]

Vanity Fair Interview for the Hollywood Issue (2024)

In the last 13 months or so, Jonathan Bailey has carried on a secret gay love affair in McCarthy-era Washington, performed cunnilingus in a Regency England manor, rendered teenage boys speechless with a pop-philosophy lecture, and danced through life in a prince’s bedazzled breeches. This coming summer, he’s fleeing dinosaurs.

That would be in, respectively: Fellow Travelers, Bridgerton, Heartstopper, Wicked, and Jurassic World Rebirth. But even if he’s just pretended to do all those things, it’s understandable why Bailey is, right now, pinking his nose at a villa in Puglia.

“It is just so dreamy to be able to chill out,” he says via Zoom. “The cortisol levels have depleted.”

Playing Fiyero in Wicked was a dream come true for Bailey, who at one point in our conversation fantasizes about going to a Broadway rave with his castmates—he refers to Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as simply “the girls”—and dancing to techno remixes of Wicked tracks, like “Defying Gravity,” under pulsating green lasers.

After filming the two-part movie with the girls, he’s nabbed an Emmy nod for Fellow Travelers and started a charity, the Shameless Fund, to uplift the LGBTQ+ community he’s proud to be a part of.

We’re thrilled to have Bailey as part of our 2025 Hollywood Issue. Here, he shares his thoughts on being a change agent in Hollywood, how he chooses roles, and the secret talent that he wishes he’d kept a secret.

Vanity Fair: What a run! How are you feeling?

Jonathan Bailey: I’m very much enjoying my holiday. But the girls started rehearsing Wicked, what, two and a half years ago? I think people assume that I haven’t had any breaks, but I have. Also, we had the strike right in the middle. What was crazy is going from Fellow Travelers to Wicked, just insane.

The Wicked movie is so close to the stage show that if you’re a big fan, you’re not going to be like, “Well, I can’t believe they…” It hews so closely, how could you complain there? But that flip. Are you a secret tumbler?

I remember I’d flown back from Canada and then I was filming Bridgerton. I met the girls then, and they were well and truly underway. I remember going to the dressing rooms, and theirs were pink and green and were just spilling into the hallway. And mine was just an interrogation room with nothing.

But I did spend the whole day with [choreographer] Chris Scott and went from Chris Scott to see [musical writer] Stephen Schwartz, and it was just, for me, boot camp days. You just lean on the amazing choreographers and obviously [director] Jon M. Chu’s vision. So when it came to the beginning of “Dancing Through Life,” I felt like it had to be sort of a flair and sort of performative, but hopefully in a way that was just with abandon and not arrogance. I did gymnastics growing up and I did dancing. I was the only boy within a whatever-mile radius. And because I was a boy and I was dancing, whenever the Royal Shakespeare Company wanted to cast someone, they called. It was dancing that got me into acting. And in dance school—not school, but a hobby club—they had acrobatics, which I was obsessed with. So I had, and still do have, a very bendy back, as shown in Wicked.

I’m a big fan of Heartstopper, the books and then the show; I loved the comic. Was that something that you sought out, or they were like, “Hey, we need someone who’s so handsome that he sends multiple people into a crisis”?

I sort of wedged myself into that part. I was so moved by the series and also the graphic novel.

And, of course, doing Bridgerton—it’s funny what comes with doing a lot of press, and suddenly there’s a lot that people want to know about you, and there’s a lot that’s asked of you that, obviously, in any other industry, you wouldn’t have to talk about. So I was hyperaware of the complexities and nuances of how I felt about myself being a gay man, let alone a gay actor, and suddenly finding success in playing a straight part and talking about that. Heartstopper seems to allow people to feel catharsis and to feel a sort of melancholic sort of nostalgia for what could have been. I was feeling all of those things anyway. And [executive producer] Patrick Walters is really good friends with Josh Cole, who produced Crashing, so it is all a bit of a small world.

I love the cast. I think they’re brilliant. I remember seeing all of them speak to their own experiences and being like, My God, they’re so erudite and grounded and thoughtful and kind and compassionate in their answers. I would be really proud of myself if I could be a part of that as my younger self. Everyone above the age of 40 should be forced to watch it.

Do you think that Hollywood is more open to risk than it used to be? So many of these projects wouldn’t have existed 10 years ago.

Yeah. And with huge budgets and [the] trusting of Universal and Donna Langley and Peter Cramer, obviously they just got the right people, with Marc Platt, and they took their time. That’s the common denominator between these things: Fellow Travelers took 10 years to percolate and run its way in his genius, genial brain, and then four years to commission. Wicked, I think they’ve been trying to make a film of it for over 10 years. With Jurassic as well, this time they’re going back to David Koepp, the original writer of the original film, and Gareth [Edwards] is shooting on film.

I’m going to crack on with the work and I’m just incredibly excited for opportunities. I do think that as long as the work is good, anyone should be able to do the job. And I think that’s what’s changed. I obviously did not imagine myself in this sort of career, so that must be a sign of progress.

Do you get recognized out and about a lot? You’re in all these properties now that have such intense fan bases.

It’s funny—obviously, you do get recognized, but the Bridgerton of it all is really interesting, because it’s one thing to be on a show that is national, but I feel like I was more recognized outside of the UK than in the UK. It takes time to adjust to, it really does. It’s not an easy thing, but it also is amazing.

Do you have any secret talents? You already said that flipping is your party trick.

Yeah, I think that, and I was going to say dexterous toes…

What do you do with them?

…. but I would regret that, so I didn’t say it.

But then you did. What can you do with them that makes you so sure they’re dexterous?

Nothing about this goes well...I just remember entertaining my sisters by being able to pick things up with my toes, but like a monkey. But we probably don’t need to put that in writing.

Physical therapists, I’m sure, hail you.

I did ballet for ages, and I’ve only as an adult found out I’ve got very flat feet. Doing Fiyero, I learned that. And the physio one day walked in because my knees were twanging, and across the room he went, “You got flat feet.”

Your big secret: flat feet.

Yeah, that’s my party trick as well.

Revealed. Do you consider yourself to be a rule follower or a rule breaker? Are you afraid of getting in trouble?

I’m not a rule breaker, I just don’t really adhere. Do you know what I mean? If someone says, don’t do that, I won’t not do it. Probably people would always have said I was probably quite naughty.

You have a philanthropy, the Shameless Fund. Can you tell me about what inspired you to start that?

I’ve always found it is impossible to talk about this without sounding like an asshole, but it’s something that I do think about: opportunities for other people. And I also see where there’s an abundance of energy, whether that be money or creative, that could be siphoned off into other areas.

With the Shameless Fund particularly, there were certain commercial opportunities that were coming my way that I just wasn’t interested in because they just didn’t feel right, or I didn’t want to be stepping into [them]. I’m hoping next year we’re going to start giving out grants, in 2025.

Whom will the grants be going to?

Well, we’ve got three that we are certain on, nonprofits and charities that work internationally and locally in the UK for areas of the LGBT+ community, to educate and elevate. Hopefully, we’ll get to a point where we can offer smaller nonprofits a platform.

The three weeks after Bridgerton came out, there were so many requests from charities that I found it so upsetting and distressing because I wanted to do all of them. “Can you come to this thing, or can you speak, or can you send a shoe, or could you send a bag? Could you sign a script?” So this is also a way where you can work with multiple groups, become a bit of a patron.

Is there anyone who you feel reached back and helped you along in your career too?

Theater directors massively. Ian McKellen was wildly amazing, and I did King Lear with him. He was one of the first people to come to see me when I did Cock on the West End, and we went for a drink afterwards. He was so clear about how it might play out, and should it play out that way, what to be excited about and what to be aware of. I couldn’t wish for a better role model.

Source

[brian-in-finance]

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•••••

•••••

WHAT THE STARS ARE SAYING

Check out why so many famed actors use Backstage

Trusted since 1960

Founded in 1960, Backstage has a storied history of serving the entertainment industry. For over 60 years Backstage has served as a casting resource and news source for actors, performers, directors, producers, agents, and casting directors.

Over that time, Backstage Magazine has also appeared on numerous TV shows, such as “Mad Men,” “Entourage,” “Glee,” “Oprah,” NBC's “Today” show, Comedy Central's “@Midnight”, NY1's “On Stage,” and “Saturday Night Live,” as well as multiple mentions on shows like “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” “Girls,” and appearances in films such as “13 Going on 30,” the Farrelly brothers' “Stuck on You” and Spike Lee's “Girl 6,” and even a mention in Woody Allen's short-story collection “Mere Anarchy” and Augusten Burroughs' novel “Sellevision” – and Backstage has received accolades from multiple Academy Award-, Emmy-, and Tony-winning actors and directors. (Plus, the hit musical “The Last Five Years” even includes Backstage in its lyrics: “Here's a headshot guy and a new Backstage / Where you're right for something on every page.”)

CAITRÍONA BALFE

ACTRESS

"I still get Backstage emails 'cause I still subscribe to Backstage. [Backstage is) kind of the Bible in the beginning, which is amazing. Samuel French and Backstage go hand in hand, you know? You go there for your plays when you're in classes, and then you get your Backstage."

Backstage 1

•••••

Brian’s Note: The following story originally appeared in April 2015. Most recent update is December 2020.

The Gorgeous Determination of Caitríona Balfe

Caitríona Balfe is on the move. That's been true most of her adult life— especially the 10 years she was modeling for Victoria's Secret, Dolce & Gabbana, and others—but as she sits on the rooftop patio of a West Hollywood hotel in mid-March, she mentions that she's pulling up stakes from Los Angeles.

"It just feels silly to have an empty place for 10 months until I figure out what I'm doing with my life," the Irish-born actor says. "I've rented the same place for the last four years and now I have to give it up." Her apartment is being razed to put in condos, but her departure from L.A. is extra poignant considering this is the city where Balfe journeyed when she decided to put aside that successful modeling career and focus on the vocation she'd always wanted: acting.

Photo: Luc-Richard Elie

"I've moved so much since I was 18," she says. "I mean, l've lived so many places. New York, I lived in for almost eight years [while modeling], and that's been the longest of anywhere since I left Ireland. But L.A. is where I came and said, 'OK, this is what I wanna do with my life.' "

She refuses to think of her move as a permanent one, though. "I'll be back," she declares, "but it feels really sad. My little apartment, it's got so many memories."

Balfe's sadness is no doubt mitigated by the fact that part of her need to move is due to the precipitous rise in her fortunes. She'll soon be flying to Scotland to shoot the second season of "Outlander," which returns to Starz April 4 to conclude Season 1.

When last we saw Balfe's Claire, the resourceful British nurse who comes home after World War |I only to be inexplicably teleported into the 18th-century Highlands, she was half-naked with a knife to her breast. Don't worry: Claire will get out of that scrape, but more perils await-to say nothing of the emerging multi-era romantic triangle developing between her, the Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), and her 20th-century husband, Frank Randall (Tobias Menzies), who wonders where she's gone.

Based on the much-beloved Diana Gabaldon novels and developed for television by "Battlestar Galactica" rebooter Ronald D. Moore, "Outlander" is an ostensibly lush period-piece-within-a-period-piece drama that's consistently richer and thornier than its romance-novel trappings suggest. And much of the credit goes to Balfe, who had managed small parts in films such as “Super 8” and “Now You See Me” before landing the central role in this adaptation.

In person, Balfe is far less imposing than the steely Claire, who has to weather the dangers of being a woman in sexist, violent Scotland in the 1740s. Cast late in the preproduction of “Outlander”—Moore has mentioned in interviews how hard it was to find the right Claire—she didn’t have time to consider what the role would do to her life. “I’m so bad on social media," she confesses on this warm afternoon, nestled underneath a cabana. "I had set up an account on Twitter maybe a year or so before I got this job and had, I thought, a lot of followers — 250 or something, and most of them are my friends. Within about a month or two, it was thousands of people — and my phone, I didn't know how to turn off the alerts, so it was just going all the time. That was the beginning of the awareness."

Growing up in the small Irish community of Monaghan, Balfe had considered acting from an early age. ("I was devastated that I wasn't a child actor," she says, smiling. But after traveling to Dublin to study theater, she changed course once she received an offer to model. It wasn't a secret passion of hers, but who turns down a trip to Paris? "My parents felt that I should finish college," Balfe recalls, "but l'm slightly headstrong, so l took their advice and I completely ignored it."

Over the next decade, she lived in France, Italy, Germany, and Japan, her modeling inexperience hardly a detriment. "You'd be amazed how little information or training goes into it," she says. "When I first arrived in Paris, I was told to take a bus to the office. I left my suitcase — I barely spoke any French — and someone took me across the street, helped me buy a Carte Orange. They printed out five addresses that I had to go to that day, and then they sent me off." She still remembers at 18 riding the subway alongside 16-year-old aspiring Russian models, who knew no French or English, homesick and sobbing their eyes out. "That was just the way it was," says Balfe. "You become pretty tough. When I went to Japan, it was similar: They would drive you to their castings, but the minute you got a job, it would be like, 'Here's an address, here's a map. Good luck.' They don't have signposts in English in Japan, so the map and the address are not always very helpful."

Hear Balfe recount her early misadventures in modeling and you can't help but think of Claire, who's equally thrown to the wolves once she arrives in the 18th century amid people wary of the English in general and assertive women in particular. "Honestly, l've been in so many situations in my life where you just are completely displaced," Balfe says. “You have to adapt very quickly and figure it out. I definitely think that informs Claire a lot. It helped me understand her."

Did moving to Paris at such a young age teach Balfe that she can cope in any circumstance? "I think I didn't really realize that until many years later," she replies. "I have a great knack of not thinking about things and just going for it. You learn the hard way sometimes that you're able to get through, but sometimes it's quite tough when you're in a situation where you don't know anyone and you're trying to find your way around cities. But if an opportunity presents itself and it seems like a good idea, l'm just like, 'OK, let's do it, then I'll figure it out.'”

The decision to reconnect with her acting ambitions was conducted just as boldly. Ready to quit modeling, she moved to Los Angeles because a writer she was dating lived there. He was the only person she knew, but she had read a Vanity Fair interview with Amy Adams in which she said she trained with Warner Loughlin. "I could walk to that place from my ex-boyfriend's house," she says, "so l was like, 'Well, I'm gonna go there because I can't really drive. I started from scratch. I didn't have any managers, I didn't know any agents, I hadn't acted in almost a decade." But she just kept taking classes, moving from Loughlin to the studios of Sanford Meisner and Judith Weston. "I think when I first got here, I had a nice little air of delusion: 'It's gonna work out,'" she says with a laugh. “You just don't know how."

And then came "Outlander." By email, Moore admits that he didn't know Balfe's work until her audition tape came unsolicited to his office from her agent. Once she was chosen for Claire, he made it clear how demanding the job would be. “I told her in our first meeting that this was going to be an even bigger responsibility and workload than the normal TV lead," he writes. "Because the story was being told from Claire's point of view, Cait was going to be in every scene, every day for months, which is an extraordinary amount of work, far beyond what most actors are ever asked to do."

Moore's warning didn't faze Balfe. Writes Moore, "After she met with the president of Starz... and it was clear that she was going to land the role, I walked her to the elevator and just before the doors closed on her, I said 'Your life is about to change forever,' and she gave me a grin that was both thrilled and slightly nervous. I never saw her hesitate after that."

She's never hesitated before. As Balfe prepares to say goodbye to L.A. (for now, she thinks back to her early days in the city, trying to convince casting directors that she was more than just a model. "I went on many, many, many, many auditions that were Hot Girl No. 2 — you wanna shoot yourself," she says, laughing. "But, you know, I'm very lucky that l was even getting those auditions in the beginning. And it toughens you up. At least for me, to have that fuel to prove people wrong—it definitely spurs me on and makes me wanna work harder." Then she smiles conspiratorially. "And shove it to them."

Backstage 2

Remember… I told her in our first meeting that this was going to be an even bigger responsibility and workload than the normal TV lead. — Ronald D Moore

[e-vay]

Terribly sorry, but what did you win an Emmy for? I'd like to know so's I can track it down and maybe watch it.

Oh haha no need to apologize. I work for an Arizona television station and so I'm the art director for 2 news channels, a sports network and a lifestyle show. I don't know that any of the shows we make would be of interest to any of y'all.

One of the awards was for a series that one of our reporters did for our newscasts that featured 'bucket list' things to do in Arizona. It's broken into 3-parts but if anyone wants to check it out, it's here:

[x] [x] [x]

(Fun fact, my husband designed the shirt April's wearing in those)

The second award was for a special Halloween episode of our lifestyle show. Unfortunately, our lifestyle show isn't available online which makes me very sad because the Halloween special was so much fun. We all worked so hard on it from costumes to props to special effects, even the entire episode was in black and white!

Thanks for asking!

[flutterbyoz]

This is going to be a pretty long post but I found that once I started I couldn't stop! Hopefully it all makes some kind of sense

I miss Richonne everyday, they still fill so much of my headspace and though it's been a few months since The Ones Who Live episode 6, I think I miss them now more than ever.

Though I would love a TOWL season 2, more Richonne is always a good thing, there are a 2 things that I think are important if/when we see them again and a couple of things I'd like to see happen.

1. Andy, Danai and Scott come back because they want to and because they feel they have the perfect story to tell.

We know they will only come back for a story that feels right and necessary to tell and I love that! I love the fact that not only do they care about giving us amazing stories but they also care about the characters having a story that needs to be told rather than just coming back just for the sake of it.

I also love how it's a team thing with the three of them. Andy and Scott waited for Danai to be free to do S1 and Andy has made it pretty clear he'll do it if Danai does and if the story comes from her and/or Scott. The friendship, trust, respect, care and love that exists between the three of them is something I adore ❤️ I've said it before but the friendship between Andy and Danai especially is one of my favourite things, it's easy to see that it's genuine and not just put on for promo or anything else. There is a real connection between them and they trust each other completely and Andy knows she can write a story worthy of being told.

2. Andy, Danai and Scott need to have full creative control.

AMC knows by now that this trio can deliver. They know they can create an amazing story, they can bring in the viewers, generate the hype, the engagement and earn glowing reviews, they can bring in new viewers and bring back those who left. They know this creative team can produce high quality TV, revive a franchise and deliver an episode and performances worthy of Emmy buzz. I don't doubt that if/when Andy, Danai and Scott wish to tell more stories, AMC will greenlight it without a second thought.

As well as greenlighting a second season or even another 6 episode series, AMC need to give full creative control to the trio. They've more than proven they know what they're doing so just let them do what they do best. Set them free to produce another incredible show because you know, when Andy, Danai and Scott get together they create magic. They know what they're doing, they what works for the characters and for the fans.

I've seen some discussion lately about whether what fans want should be high priority when it comes to writing a show. Now, while I understand and believe that the wants of the fans are important, after all you do need to create a show that fans are going to want to watch, engage with and keep watching, you also need to keep the story true to the characters and their journeys. Sometimes what the fans want doesn't align with what we know about the characters and/or their relationship and it's not really right to forgo a characters story/journey just because some fans don't like it.

Luckily for us, what Andy, Danai and Scott want for Richonne is also what so many of us want too, it also makes sense and is true to the characters. They know these characters and their relationship like no one else and they love them just like we do and when they write and create a show they aren't just writing for the fans, they are doing what's right for Rick and Michonne too.

Again, I have no doubt that AMC will jump at the chance to have them back again and I'm also very hopeful that, just as with S1, they will give them full control over everything. They need it as they've shown that what they do works.

3. Michael Slovis back as director

Not only did Danai write the perfect episode with 'What We' but Michael Slovis also did an incredible job directing it. He just seemed to understand these characters and Andy and Danai so well, he got them on a level that other writers/directors didn't appear to on the flagship show. I also read somewhere that it was his idea to put in the kiss in the car at the end, showing how, now they were together and on the same page again, they simply couldn't keep their hands off each other and I love that!

If we do get more Richonne, I'd love for him to come back and direct and if he and Danai could work together again on an episode she wrote then that would be awesome! They make a great team, along with Andy of course, and they delivered one of the best episodes this franchise has ever seen.

Now, as for what I'd like to see in a possible season 2 or another mini series there is quite a lot but the two that I'd most like are:

1. Domestic Richonne and Grimes family time

After everything they've all been through, this beautiful family deserve to enjoy some 'normal' family time. I'd love to see Richonne and their kids at home, cooking dinner, playing games, enjoying family fun days, I'd love to see Rick and RJ bonding, Rick and Judith bonding, Michonne and the kids reconnecting and Rick and Michonne enjoying married life.

I know many people would love to see them have another baby and I totally get why and it wouldn't surprise me after TOWL to be honest but I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, it would be lovely to have another little Grimes to add to the family, maybe a little girl who is her mothers twin but her personality is all her dad. Rick missed out on so much with RJ and seeing him get to dote on a pregnant Michonne and witness the birth of his child would be amazing.

However, on the other hand I think just letting them stay as a family of 4 may be the best thing. Adding a pregnancy into the mix could stir up some old wounds for Michonne and there are risks involved, it's also one more thing to worry about and Rick's already overprotectiveness would go into overdrive. So while another baby Grimes would be lovely I'm very happy with how they are now but if they could find a way to include a pregnancy/baby into the story then I certainly wouldn't be against it.

I just want more of the Grimes being a family, being happy and feeling loved. We always have to keep in mind that this is The Walking Dead and it's not going to be sunshine and rainbows all the time. With Andy saying something along the lines of he'd like to take it back to the horror roots, we know there will be some level of peril and threat but with Andy and Danai in charge, I know we can trust them to do right by these characters.

2. Michonne's trauma

This is something I've seen brought up a few times recently and it's something I've been thinking about for a while too. It's quite a difficult thing and doesn't really fit into the happy family time I've mentioned but I think it's important to address.

For obvious reasons, TOWL S1 was mostly about Rick's trauma and PTSD, I have no issues with that, I liked the way it was addressed, how Michonne helped him through it and brought him home. However, I think some people seem to forget that Michonne is carrying a lot of trauma herself and apart from a brief mention in TOWL, it has largely been overlooked.

Michonne had a lot to deal with on the flagship show, not only did she lose the love of her life but she also had a daughter to raise alone, a baby on the way, Judith was kidnapped and she herself was attacked and branded while pregnant. Due to not feeling safe she cut herself off and lost trust in a lot of people and friendships seemed to drop off. She also went through hell trying to get to Rick and it all left her with some heavy trauma that really needs to be addressed.

In a possible future story I'd like to see this trauma get brought to the forefront, Ricks PTSD will still be a factor and seeing him try to adjust back to a 'normal' life may see it rear its head again. We all know Michonne is Rick's rock, she'll be with him every step of the way and will be his shelter from the storm but I would also like to see Rick do the same for her.

Everyone knows how much Rick adores his wife, there is no question that he loves her more than life itself but I still don't know whether he knows the full extent of what she went through while he was gone. It may be a conscious decision on Michonne's part to keep some things back from him, at least until they got home but I think he needs to know. Michonne needs his support, she needs to be able to get out everything she's been bottling up so he can be her rock just like she is his.

Not only do they need time to reconnect with their kids but they also need time to reconnect as a couple and though I know Rick regrets what he did and said to Michonne in TOWL, it still hurt her deeply. There was a lot of effort on Rick's part to make up for that and I know Michonne doesn't hold it against him but they need time to heal together and I'd really like to see that explored in any future story.

If you've managed to reach the end then thank you! I know this was a very long post and I didn't intend for it to be so but here we are.

If we do get more Grimes adventures, I think there will be some sort of time jump and depending on what that looks like we could be looking at slightly different versions of what I mentioned above. I do think we'll get some family time, romantic Richonne moments and obviously some danger thrown in, but I do wonder if Michonne's trauma will be brought up at all. With Danai almost certainly having a big part in writing any future story, I like to think she would address it and she would definitely do it justice.

With the DVD saying season 1, Andy saying there is an infinite chance it could happen again if Danai and Scott are writing it, and the fact Danai is very secretive when asked about the future of Richonne I do think something will happen at some point. What that will be and when I have no idea but to me, Andy and Danai strike me as the kind of people to be honest and straightforward with the fans and would say outright if there was no more.

Whatever happens, we've been truly blessed by Richonne and Andy & Danai. I've never seen two actors more committed to their characters, more in tune with and supportive of their relationship and their fans and have such a supportive, caring, respectful and loving friendship off screen. The Walking Dead really struck gold with these two and would be lucky to have them back again.

[vintagetvstars]

Betty White Vs. Eartha Kitt

Propaganda

Betty White - (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls, Life With Elizabeth) - I mean - does she really need an introduction? It's Betty White, people! The First Lady Of Television! What *hasn't* she done? She had an incredible career (in fact, she earned the Guinness World Record for the longest TV career by a female entertainer *twice*!) with an infinite list of successes - she won seven Emmys, three SAG awards, and even a Grammy. I personally know her best for her spectacular portrayal of Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, but she's played so many great characters in her long career. A lesser known but marvelously charming role is that of the titular character in Life With Elizabeth, a 1950s sitcom which she also co-produced at the age of *28*! She was also a great advocate for a number of causes - animal welfare, gay rights (she used to accompany her friend Liberace to events to help him avoid being outed as gay), and racial equality: she famously hired Arthur Duncan, a Black tap dancer, on one of her shows, and when threatened with going off-air if he wasn't fired, she just declared "He stays, live with it." She's the whole package - amazing actress (and comedienne and producer!), kind and hilarious, and of course - beautiful! Just look at her - that smile! Those eyes! That charm!! Watch her in action if you can (they're too long to link here, but entire episodes of Life With Elizabeth are on youtube!), but honestly - her pictures alone are enough to make me swoon!

Eartha Kitt - (Batman) - No text propaganda

Master Poll List of the Hot Vintage TV Ladies Bracket

Additional propaganda below the cut

Betty White:

Have you seen her?? Look me in the eyes and tell me that Betty White's smile doesn't have the power to turn anyone's heart to mush. She looks adorable one moment, and can come up with the most out of pocket lines the next (all while still looking innocent about it). People know her best as Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, of course, where she played the show's most naive character. But reportedly, Betty was actually the cleverest person on set. She didn't even have to learn her lines; reading the script once was enough for her, and she'd be able to remember any additional changes throughout the week without a problem. Which is pretty amazing if you ask me! Anyway, Betty is an icon. Her television career spanned seven (7!!!) decades, covering basically the entire tournament's time period (and then some!). She *almost* turned 100 and her outliving other celebrities was a Tumblr meme for ages. She had her own talkshow in the 1950s, for which she hired a female director, and had an African-American tap dancer (Arthur Duncan) as a regular cast member. When faced with criticism for the latter and the threat of being boycotted, Betty responded with "I'm sorry. Live with it" and gave Duncan *more* airtime. She was also the first woman to ever produce a sitcom (Life with Elizabeth) in which she played the lead, and looked absolutely stunning doing it. All in all: Betty was a badass, had a heart of gold, and she's absolutely stunning!

I think I might cry at how pretty she is honestly

that SMILE!!!

she's even pretty when she's not smiling... ahh...

some soft butch realness

[cas-kingdom]

NCIS gang with your OC, watching a horror movie for Abby's bday? <3

It was Abby’s idea, of course. No one else would have opted for a horror movie marathon the moment the sky got dark – in fact, Ducky had requested they change it to an ‘80s English comedy night – but it was Abby’s birthday, and so it was Abby’s choice. Horror movie marathon, it was.

Gibbs had offered to host the little party – Emmie said it was for the sole purpose that he could run down to his basement if he got too scared, to which he’d aimed a light head slap, and she’d ducked expertly out of the way.

So, four NCIS agents, two medical examiners, a forensic specialist, and a teenage girl sat, cramped but cosy, in Gibbs’s living room, surrounded by about twenty blankets and pillows, at least three bowls of popcorn (one of which Tony was keeping safely guarded in his arms), closed curtains plunging them into utter darkness, and a flashlight on the floor in suspiciously close grabbing distance from Gibbs, who had, as expected, protested very audibly against the turning off of all lights.

There weren’t enough seats for everyone, but Tony and McGee didn’t care about the bean bags they’d been assigned. Emmie was squished between a practically bouncing Abby, and Ziva, who, after about twenty minutes into the movie, fell promptly asleep against the side of the sofa. Ducky and Palmer were on the two-seater, while Gibbs sat rigidly in his armchair.

The movie was The Blair Witch Project. Abby was ecstatic, reciting lines the moment the movie started and tugging at Emmie’s arm when a ‘good bit’ was about to come up, which usually meant she needed to cover her eyes. Tony and McGee were fixed on the screen, the former giggling like he was watching a romcom while the latter seeming interested solely in the particulars of the film’s special effects. Ducky occasionally spouted the odd horror movie fact, and Palmer…well. He was just happy to be there.

And Ziva was asleep, so Ziva didn’t care what was going on.

Emmie rarely watched horrors. There was the odd time Abby managed to rope her into one on one of their routine sleepovers, but they tended to be more…placid. Ones she could cope better with, at least. Gibbs, meanwhile, rarely watched movies, let alone horrors, and every time Emmie glanced over, just to see if there was anyone else in the room who was actually as terrified as her, he looked about ready to bolt.

“Oooh, Em, this is a good bit!” Abby said for the tenth time, shaking Emmie’s arm.

Emmie promptly pulled the blanket up to her chin.

“Ha, McGee, that’s you after a night out,” Tony quipped with an immature giggle, pointing a finger at the screen.

“Hilarious, Tony.”

“I do believe that the director of an ‘80’s horror was once charged with murder because one particular scene was so well—"

Even Ducky stopped mid-sentence as the room filled with the eerie sound of kids’ voices coming from the TV.

“Oh…” Tony shuffled backwards on his beanbag. “Oh, God…”

Abby grinned in pure excitement, her eyes fixed on the screen.

McGee’s face contorted into something almost painful.

Palmer was looking anywhere but the screen.

Gibbs pressed himself further back into his chair, hand mere inches away from covering his eyes.

Ziva snored.

And Emmie…

The moment the kids’ voices got louder, she let loose an adamant “nope” and shook herself free of Abby to execute her escape. Clambering ungracefully over Ziva, who somehow stayed asleep, she jumped none-too-gently from her sofa to her dad’s. Gibbs, in need of support as much as his daughter, didn’t spout much more than an oof at the sudden weight before wrapping Emmie in his arms and conveniently hiding his face behind hers.

“Good lord,” Ducky said as the scene continued.

“Uh, I need the restroom.” And that was McGee gone.

“Wait for me!” Palmer quickly followed.

Abby rolled her eyes. “You’re all a bunch of babies.”

Ziva blearily cracked her eyes open. “Babies? How—lovely,” she slurred before promptly returning to sleep.

NCIS Masterpost

[ratherembarrassing]

Geeta Patel on helming House Of The Dragon’s slow-burning season finale

The director discusses pulling off Alicent and Rhaenyra’s reunion, those Game Of Thrones nods, and more

House Of The Dragon closes its second season without big battles or dragons setting cities ablaze. Despite that lack of action, “The Queen Who Ever Was” still feels monumental because of the charged reunion of Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) that promises to turn the tides when HBO’s drama returns in 2026.  

Their conversation isn’t in the source material Fire & Blood, and it’s not the only creative liberty HOTD takes in the finale. Another big swing comes in the form of Daemon (Matt Smith), whose latest haphazard vision features a cameo from a Targaryen family member and two major Game Of Thrones characters. Clearly, the Ryan Condal-created adaptation is attempting to pave a unique path for itself

To do so, the show entrusted Geeta Patel to bring these key moments to life. The director had previously helmed two other HOTD installments, along with episodes of Ahsoka, The Great, Dead To Me, Superstore, and The Mindy Project. This year, she also produced and directed Hulu’s true-crime drama Under The Bridge, which earned series star Lily Gladstone an Emmy nomination. 

The A.V. Club spoke to Patel about how she framed Rhaenyra and Alicent’s big talk, why Daemon’s visions were her favorite part of the episode, and going back to her roots with projects like UTB. 

The A.V. Club: When did you find out you would direct the season-two finale? What did you want to achieve in the episode? 

Geeta Patel: Ryan called me after I had finished working on my season-one episode “The Lord Of The Tides.” I wanted to do a good job on it so I was just happy that he was happy enough to invite me back. It was a very nice surprise to do the finale. After that, I got all the episodes, read them, and saw what needed to happen, which was that we needed it to feel like a big rising action moment. I challenged myself to bookend the season premiere, so I went back and watched that the theme of it was sacrifice for duty. So I kept looking for opportunities to come full circle on that theme in the finale. It’s all in the writing because [episode writer] Sara Hess and Ryan had already spent probably a year making sure of it. So it’s just my process of understanding and finding my way through it visually. I also just wanted to make sure that the scene between Alicent and Rhaenyra was building off of the scene in episode three, which I also directed, I don’t think coincidentally. Maybe that was Ryan’s intention that we were all working together again. 

AVC: You directed the only two scenes that Olivia and Emma share in the season. Their conversation in the finale carries way more emotional weight. What did you all want to evoke with their interaction here?

GP: We wanted to feel as if there was that sacrifice made for duty and that Rhaenyra is pressing Alicent against the wall to do what she’s never done before, which is to take action. What’s interesting is that these two women were friends to begin with, and then it became an eye-for-an-eye type of relationship. Now there is so much pain behind them that this scene is a wrestling match with pain and forgiveness. They both were telling themselves, “I’ve moved on. I can’t feel anything.” But all we saw was emotion. All we saw were these two friends who still loved each other and yet had gotten a divorce. And you ask yourself, Why are they both in this room again? 

It’s because they couldn’t stay away from each other. Yes, we can reason that it’s because of the kingdom and the realm. But when they come together, they are young girls again. Both actors together become a little juvenile and innocent with their facial expressions, like Olivia biting her nails again. Emma contours their face like a child with exaggeration. That made it grounded and real. My hat is off to Sara, whose writing brought so much humanity to the scene. It was like watching a great film with two people who’ve taken this long journey together. It could have been boring, but the writing made it nail-biting and heartfelt. 

AVC: At some points, they’re close and face-to-face, while at other times, Alicent is moving around almost manically while explaining herself. What was your directive to the actors? 

GP: It’s a very collaborative experience. When we work on a scene like this, we’ve had rehearsals beforehand where we talked about the point of the scene. I mean Ryan, Sara, Emma, Olivia, and myself. What we came to is that the shift in the scene is when Rhaenyra says, “A son for a son” and then Alicent agrees. That’s what we’re building to, so if we think about that tone-wise, we’re already at a 10. 

The truth is also when we started the rehearsal, Emma and Olivia are such talented actors, they ran through it and started walking, and I was just watching. There is something to be said about allowing the performers to just be the characters. I do this quite a bit as a director. I say, “Okay, go ahead, do whatever you want to do.” I check that one moment that we know is about the shift and make adjustments along the way, some of which are technical because we want to make sure we can make the day if we have too many camera moves. I also thought it was lovely that at one point, there was a silence between them, so I asked them to keep that and exaggerate it if they felt it was right. I just said, “Don’t worry, keep going; we’ll keep rolling.” So those moments were beautiful and came from the two actors and me experimenting within the parameters set out. 

AVC: What was it like to prep with Ryan and Sara for this critical scene? 

GP: Ryan and Sara are extraordinary in that they’re very easy to approach. One of the things I love about the show is we got all the episodes before we started shooting, so I would write all my notes and questions, mainly questions at that point. So much of what Ryan and Sara want for the show is between the lines. For example, in the first season when I did episode eight, it was about linear analysis between Rhaenyra and Alicent in that episode. I remember thinking even back then that they never say what they’re feeling, but it’s intentional. That’s a great part about Ryan’s vision for HOTD, and that’s why it’s so exciting to work on it because it feels very real even in a world with dragons in them. 

I asked them questions, but it was not for them to change the script. Instead, it’s for me to understand what’s intentionally not on the page. And then from there, we start molding the scenes together. I’m constantly checking in with them about what I’m thinking. I push their buttons and say, “No, no, but what about this?” Sometimes they’ll say things like, “No, you’re wrong” or “Okay, sure, let’s try it.” So, at that point, I’m trying to serve them and challenge their vision in a way. 

As we start shooting, we usually have rehearsals for the bigger scenes, and Ryan, Sara, or one of the writers would come to help us understand what the writers intended. A lot of times, what we found in the finale rehearsals is there’s something we needed [to set up] for season three, so it had to be this way. It’s valuable to have the writers there with you the whole time because they know more than we do. Or sometimes there’s a change to another episode, right? So then they’ll make sure that we check that. A lot of things in this episode had to do with the tone of the characters since we were introducing a few new ones. 

AVC: I presume one of the questions was about Daemon’s visions of things like Rhaenyra on the throne, him in the water, the Night King, and Daenerys. What went through your mind as you read it in the script about how you’d execute it? 

GP: In the script, it was exactly like that: a list of the moments in his vision, almost like bullet points. Ryan and Sara wanted it to feel fragmented. So my first question to them was [about] what they want out of it in terms of story because it’s such a visual moment. And they particularly didn’t want it to be too literal. So they wanted me to run with it. Their main point to me was that this vision has to change Daemon’s point of view. It has to tell him Rhaenyra belongs on the throne, and everything he’s been doing this season or thinking about how his wife is putting him down and he’ll never work for her isn’t true. He needs to see that he’s part of something bigger than him, which was a huge undertaking. [It was] a huge challenge for me that definitely had some sleepless nights involved because Daemon is inherently someone who only thinks about himself. He is not someone who learns lessons easily. So we needed this to be powerful, and yet there are no words in it until the very, very end. 

I sat down with the storyboard artist, took everything they told me, and started filling in the blanks of what I thought we needed to get to what they were saying, finding transitions visually between them to give it an organic feel. Ryan wanted the tone of this scene to feel like something specific to HOTD and unlike anything you’ve seen in fantasy television before, or even in Game Of Thrones. So I spent some time looking to give it that treatment. I was quite honored. That was one of my favorite moments in my career as a TV director, to give this my voice and put it together with the storyboard artists. Once we came up with it, I presented it to them. I’ll never forget that day.

AVC: What was it like to put Matt Smith and Phia Saban in a scene? We rarely see Daemon and Heleana together.

GP: It was fun to put them together, and I think they both enjoyed it too. It’s magical because Matt had been playing in this different dimension in season two.  For Daemon, it’s exciting to find someone who shares his powers. Phia has always played this person who is lost in her universe, and now there’s someone else in it. So it’s random, but it also makes sense. 

AVC: One of the new faces you introduce is Admiral Sharako Lohar, played by Abigail Thorn, who was originally a male character in the book. Her scenes with Tyland Lannister bring a degree of comic relief. Was it refreshing to have this aspect in the finale?

GP: What’s great about Sara is she also has a comedy background, and it comes across in her effervescent writing. As a director, I’m trying to take her writing and make sure that everything I’m doing with it works together along with lighting, blocking, and tone. The second film I made, Meet The Patels starring my brother Ravi, is about my family, and it’s a comedy. What I learned while working with him was that a lot of comedy came from improvisation, feeling very comfortable, and having the space to play. As I started directing TV comedies, I would constantly work with the actors in that way and try to support them and give them space to do many takes. I know sometimes people say, “Oh, this great director can get a scene in two takes.” That’s fine, but I do love pushing the actors to take advantage of their talents. So many actors might say, “I can’t improv,” and I look at them and reassure them and say, “I’ve got you; if it’s not good, I’ll throw it away.” 

So when it came to this finale, it was the same thing. I would say [to Abigail and Jefferson Hall], “Go ahead, let’s do this” and later move to, “Okay, now forget everything I said and do whatever you want.” It’s like an exercise in theater, and these are excellent performers. Matt Smith particularly also loves to play, as does Emma, and when they do, every take is different. As for Abigail, when the audition process started, I think Ryan knew she was the one. She was so great to work with. If you look at the Lohar scenes, you don’t know much about her background. Abigail and I wanted to make sure that her character felt very lived-in and had history. I wanted to give her all the tools she needed so that when she said something, it was coming from a deep, authentic place. We spent a few weeks on and off training, and she would improv moments of Lohar’s history. We had one of our esteemed dialect coaches play against her. We played out her childhood, who her mother, father, and sister might be, where her pain comes from, and everything leading up to this episode. It helped shape her voice, the way she moved, and her tonality.

AVC: The finale ends with a montage revealing where every character stands. It’s a big season-three setup. Were you nervous about pulling that off?

GP: With the final montage, my biggest fear was it would be boring because it’s so many images. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t, as a director, treating everything similarly. We wanted the montage to have rising stakes for the impending war. When you have that many images, we need to keep up the pulse of the sequence. So the first thing I did was to ask myself if I could break it into three acts and what the shift point would be so it doesn’t all feel monotonous. The big thing I settled on was a sacrifice, which is Aegon. His placement had to come at the two-third mark. I had hoped it would give the montage its shape and sustain it. It also tells a story because, in the previous scene, Rhaenyra says to Alicent that she hasn’t sacrificed anything, and they decide it’s going to be a son for a son. The montage is to show everyone’s going to war, but Aegon has now left. So the stakes have changed. What’s going to happen now? It’s an interesting way to leave the season. 

AVC: This year also saw the release of Hulu’s Under The Bridge, which you directed and executive produced. What drew you to it? What was it like to bring personal experience along with your expertise to this undertaking? 

GP: Yeah, so I’ve been looking to do a pilot for a few years. There are exciting episodes like House Of The Dragon, of course, but I’ve been wanting to direct a pilot. When I read the script for Under The Bridge, about an Indian girl in Canada who was bullied and killed, I couldn’t stop crying. I was bullied around the same age of 14 for being Indian, and that still stays with me. It’s shaped me. I know UTB is a true story, and I felt so bad that it happened. At the time early on, the project was small and no big stars were attached to it yet. There wasn’t a lot of money for this project. While developing it, it was about what angle and perspective to take, and when that was done, I got the job of directing the pilot. 

The next thing was to make sure the performances felt real and that we were doing Reena Virk justice. I particularly had four young actors who hadn’t done much yet simply because of their ages; they were 12 to 15. None of them had done anything that resembled UTB’s tone, which was going to be very 8 Mile and Fish Tank. In a method similar to HOTD, I spent a few weeks and weekends workshopping the characters with the actors. We improvised their histories. It was very hard for the girls, and it was hard for me to watch. We also worked on their voices. Vritika Gupta, if you hear talk, it’s very sweet. When she’s playing Reena, her voice goes down. UTB was a labor of love. Again, I had a collaborative showrunner and studio. I said to them in the beginning that I can deliver a show that’s just like something you’ve seen before, or I can deliver what you want, but you’ve got to give me time to work with these talented actors. 

AVC: As someone who’s directed big-budget dramas, TV comedies, and gritty documentaries, how do you think playing in different genres has developed your skillset? What do you want to work on next? 

GP: I grew up going to India almost every year of my life, and I’ve constantly recognized a clash of cultures. So I’ve always wanted to work on topics of civil and social justice through my work, which is how I started in the documentary space. But then I realized quickly that doing it was preaching to the choir because a lot of liberals were watching the movies made by me, a liberal. So when I entered the entertainment industry, I planned to hone my skills and come back to doing those kinds of things and expanding my audience. I want to make a difference. So it’s been eight years that I’ve been trying to hone it. The three episodes of HOTD feel like the Olympics for me. It’s what I’ve wanted to do for years along with the comedies. 

Now it’s time for me to switch gears. I want to bring more South Asians to the screen. I am working specifically on stories like that, which have my voice, having now learned whatever I have. I have an entirely Gujarati language film I wrote because everything doesn’t have to be in English anymore. You can make shows and films from other backgrounds. I don’t mean a Hindi-language Bollywood film, but something even more different. I mean, we watched and loved Squid Games, right? So I’m going back to my roots to explore these topics of race and gender. I also want to make things that are classics that I could watch over and over again like When Harry Met Sally. 

[mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea]

X-Men 2 fans: First Look at Nightcrawler and Stryker as brothers in Glenrothan

Brian Cox‘s feature directorial debut “Glenrothan” — billed as his “love letter to Scotland” — has wrapped production, with a first look revealed showing the “Succession” star alongside Alan Cumming in a room full of whisky barrels.

Alongside revealing a first look from the feature, Protagonist Pictures has come aboard for worldwide sales and is set to screen exclusive footage for buyers at the upcoming American Film Market.

Lionsgate, which co-developed the project with London based studio Nevision, has taken U.K. rights on the family drama, which shot in Scotland.

In “Glenrothan,” Donal (Cumming) reluctantly returns to the Scottish Highlands after 35 years in Chicago to make amends with his estranged older brother, Sandy (Cox). Sandy needs Donal to take over the family’s whisky distillery or he will be forced to sell and give up on the family’s legacy. But their reunion forces the brothers to confront the past and the real reason Donal left Glenrothan. Shirley Henderson (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “See How They Run”) and Alexandra Shipp (“Barbie,” “Anyone But You”) also star in the film.

“Glenrothan” is produced by Cox, Neil Zeiger, Crystine Zhang (“Prisoner’s Daughter,” “Lee”), Phin Glynn (“Argentina 1985,” “Kill The Jockey”), Nic Crum (“Book of Love”), James Cabourne and Vladimir Zemtsov (“Club Zero”). The film is co-produced by Nevision and Blazing Griffin Pictures in association with Screen Scotland, Oval-5, Gold Rush Pictures, Head Gear, Infinity Hill and Lionsgate.

“’Glenrothan’ is a poignant, funny and powerful story about the universal themes of family and heritage, set against the stunning backdrops of Scotland and steeped in the world of whisky,” said Protagonist CEO Dave Bishop. “Brian is an undeniable talent, both behind and in front of the camera, and is joined by the exceptional Alan Cumming — as such we are delighted to introduce buyers to this special film when we debut exclusive footage at the upcoming AFM.”

Neil Zeiger, lead producer added: “I have thoroughly enjoyed helping bring ‘Glenrothan,’ Brian’s ‘love letter to Scotland’, to the screen. Working with our incredible cast led by Alan, Shirley and Alexandra, Brian directed the film brilliantly. A universal story, wonderful performances and stunning images define the film. I am confident Glenrothan will compel and captivate audiences wherever in the world they are.”

Protagonist’s current slate includes the Venice, TIFF and San Sebastian selection “Kill the Jockey,” directed by Luis Ortega and recently selected as Argentina’s feature film contender for the 2025 Academy Awards; Samir Oliveros’ TIFF title, “The Luckiest Man in America,” starring Emmy and Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser; the genre-bending comedy “Sister Midnight,” which recently screened at the London Film Festival and was nominated for Cannes’ Camera D’Or; and from directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, the political horror-comedy “Rumours,” which debuted at Cannes before going on to screen at Toronto, San Sebastian, New York and London Film Festivals.

[dwreader]

A Meal to Remember by @iwtvfanevents

Part 2: I am suddenly Megan Ellison, a wealthy lesbian, my father is a billionaire who has allowed me to start my own production company to make films I want to see. Money is no object. Here are the fics I would adapt and who I would hire (bully into) directing.

1. Reformation by verseau - first of all, I would pay $1 billion to acquire the rights outcompeting Amazon, Netflix and Apple and I would make Betsy adapt the screenplay. I maintain this must be cinematic because Ldpdl’s hole needs to be experienced in 70mm imax AND I would not allow any countries to censor like they did to Florence’s boobs. This would be like an Eternal Sunshine/Blue Valentine/Two for the Road type romantic dramedy that jumps back and forth in time to show the couple’s struggles and progression, and the non-linear storytelling means it automatically becomes an Oscar frontrunner. I would try to hire Barry Jenkins first but he is occupied with The Lion King 2 at Disney so then I would go to Mia Hansen-Love to direct. Beyoncé does the soundtrack. I didn’t even have to ask her she just wanted to.

2. Part of Your World by weathermood - I will imprison Mr. Monsterfucker himself Guillermo Del Toro until he agrees to direct this film like I am Kathy Bates in Misery. He will read it and then be like okay I agree you don’t need to kidnap me I will make this movie. We are going full Avatar 2 level budget to make sure underwater scenes are believable cause I won’t tolerate bad Aquaman CGI. The budget balloons to $400m but that’s okay cause it makes $2.7b worldwide and there’s 2 sequels greenlit immediately cause the world wants to see Louis get pregnant.

3. A Potentiality for Corruption by vampdf - Guillermo is occupied with Part of Your World and its sequels now so I turn to Robert Eggers to help bring to life this gothic horror romance. It’s 3 hours long. Parts of it are in black and white and there’s aspect ratio changes that confuse and unsettle the audience. We debut at Cannes. We get a 47 minute standing ovation but also some walkouts and fainting in the crowd because some vanilla viewers couldn’t handle the ending, which is controversial but has everyone talking.

4. Cord of Communion by themasterletters- this has now become a #1 nyt best selling novel so we have a built in audience and they want it to be a tv show cause of its length and we can’t skip out on any important points. Every streamer wants it but I choose HBO cause of the prestige factor and I’m an Emmy whore. It becomes Sunday night essential viewing replacing Succession it’s like if The Idol was actually good. I hire many talented directors such as Raine Allen Miller (Rye Lane), Francis Lee (God’s Own Country), Gina Prince Bythewood (Beyond the Lights) and I make Rolin Jones be my showrunner. We sweep the Emmys. The episode where Lestat fires Louis becomes the new Red Wedding traumatizing millions.

5. Pieta by baberainbow - When iwtv the amc show ends, I hire Paul Verhoeven to direct a standalone sequel film based on this fic. It’s as insane as you could ever imagine. The Catholic Church is mad at us. It’s condemned by the Vatican and the anti-feminization police. They’re protesting outside our premiere like they did to Benedetta. It doesn’t matter cause it just makes the film an even bigger hit.

6. Hand to God by boltcutters - first I pay Ziska $1 billion to finish writing this. Then I go back in time to 1933 first to make Hollywood not adopt the Hays Code so we can have gay and interracial stuff in movies and then to 1946 so Howard Hawks can direct this Danlou version of The Big Sleep.

PSA: some of my links aren’t working cause I’m on my phone (on vaca) so please forgive me but y’all know where these fics are don’t lie!!!

[mrs-stans]

Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong Say Their Trump Movie Is a Tragedy, Not a Mockery

The “Apprentice” stars and the director Ali Abbasi say their film is a “humanistic” treatment of the former president and his mentor, Roy Cohn.

By Kyle Buchanan

It’s natural to feel nervous before presenting your movie at a major film festival. But in late August, when the director Ali Abbasi boarded a flight to the Telluride Film Festival, he wasn’t even sure if his new movie “The Apprentice” — a fictionalized look at the Machiavellian bond between the young Donald J. Trump (Sebastian Stan) and the lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) — would be permitted to play there at all.

“It was really crazy what happened, and I spared Jeremy and Sebastian some of it, but it is a demoralizing feeling,” Abbasi admitted during a recent video call with his two stars. The former president had been threatening legal action against “The Apprentice” since its May debut at the Cannes Film Festival, which chilled distributor interest in the movie for months and made it a controversial prospect for any subsequent festival willing to show it.

“If a movie comes out and people think it’s bad or it’s flawed, you can deal with that,” Abbasi said. “But when it goes into a safe box indefinitely, that was heavy.”

In the end, Trump failed to follow through on his threats, Telluride played the movie without incident and “The Apprentice” ultimately found a distributor in Briarcliff Entertainment, which will release the film on Friday. Still, Strong was perturbed by how many major studios were unwilling to take on the film and potentially incur the presidential candidate’s wrath.

“You think that things could be banned in North Korea or Russia or certain places, but you don’t think that will ever happen here,” Strong said. “It’s a real dark harbinger that it even nearly happened.”

Written by Gabriel Sherman, “The Apprentice” begins with Trump in his 20s as he toils under his real-estate magnate father and aspires to become a momentous figure in his own right. Still, Trump’s ambition exceeds his ability until he meets the savvy Cohn, who takes the young man under his wing and imparts ruthless rules for success that will eventually launch Trump onto the highest stage imaginable.

“The Apprentice” could be an awards-season player for Stan, best known as the Marvel super-soldier Bucky Barnes, and for Strong, the Emmy-winning “Succession” actor who recently took home a Tony for “An Enemy of the People.” But will the politically charged fervor around the movie help or hurt their bids?

“Here’s the crazy thing: I don’t think this movie is controversial,” Abbasi said. “It’s retelling information that is freely and readily available everywhere, and it’s fact-checked and triple-checked. So my big question is, what is the problem?”

Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.

At the beginning of the film, Sebastian, you play Trump as much more soft-spoken and abashed than we’re used to seeing him.

SEBASTIAN STAN Go rewatch Netflix’s [docuseries] “An American Dream,” look at all the early footage of him standing in front of a committee with a giant yellow ’70s tie and trying to find the right words to express himself. Watch him in the courtroom when he’s with Roy waiting to get the tax abatement: You’re seeing a starry-eyed kid who’s doing his best to keep his chin up and feign confidence. We need to stop talking about him like he’s a being from outer space. He’s been made on this planet like the rest of us.

ALI ABBASI There is a version of this you can read as the becoming of a monster. There’s also another version, which is this human tragedy: Were there other possibilities for these people if their whole world was not reduced to winning and taking?

JEREMY STRONG I 100 percent see it as a human tragedy, the way that I saw “Succession” as a tragedy of late-stage capitalism. With that show, we were at a party at Adam McKay’s house [he was a producer on “Succession”] the night of the election in 2016, and we had our first table read [the next] morning. Then Trump was elected, and that changed the whole container of the show and the way it spoke to the country. There’s an idea I think about a lot that applies to both of those things, something that Jung said: “Where love is absent, power fills the vacuum.”

What’s exciting about this movie is that it touches the third rail of all of these things, which not a lot of work frankly does these days. The world is on fire, and it feels like a lot of our business veers more and more toward laundry-folding content and things that are relatively safe.

Some people, sight unseen, have accused the film of “humanizing” Trump. What’s your response to that?

STRONG It’s a humanistic interrogation and investigation of these people. Ali is not making “The Great Dictator” — it’s not a farce, it’s not a cartoon. We’re trying to hold a mirror up to this world and these individuals and try to understand how we got here.

“I don’t think this movie is controversial,” the director Ali Abbasi said. “It’s retelling information that is freely and readily available everywhere.”

ABBASI I think it’s a dangerous thing to start thinking, “Oh, you humanize someone too much.” Why would that ever be a problem?

With independent films, there’s always a risk that the work will never be widely seen. This is an unusual case where a high-profile indie was in danger of never being seen at all.

ABBASI During the summer when people were saying there’s a chance this is not going to be shown, I was angry. I thought, “Oh, they’re going to rip me off, they’re going to sell it and not give me money.” I could not believe it, honestly, and I kept asking different people, “How is this possible?” I come from Iran and I’m used to dictators and authoritarian governments, but I always thought whatever fault there is with American society, freedom of speech is not one of the problems.

STRONG We live in such a binary time. There’s such black-and-white thinking and a real failure to contain complexities or dualities, and I think that’s part of what has gotten us into trouble societally.

Though the movie is coming out just weeks before the presidential election, it’s been in development for years.

ABBASI We tried to make the movie many times and it fell through. I remember the time after Jan. 6, it was like looking at a stock market crash the day after: Everyone was like, “No thank you, no thank you.” Finally, when Jeremy came on board, you could actually start to see the movie in its whole.

STRONG At no point was the intention to release this in the middle of an election. This wasn’t purpose-built for that. There was never a plan to make this a political act or a hand grenade to be dropped in the middle of the election. It is, I think, incredibly fortuitous timing that it can come out at a moment where it has the potential to illuminate something about the inner workings of this man, but it stands alone as a film.

Sebastian, what did your friends and family say when you told them you were playing Trump?

STAN Pretty sure my mom said, “At least you get to shave.” But I asked a lot of people about it, actually. A C.E.O. of a studio told me not to do it because I was going to alienate half the country, and a casting director who I respect very much said, “We don’t need another Trump movie, you’re never going to get any applause for it.” And then there were other people saying, “Are you going to be worried about your safety?” But for some reason every time somebody said, “Don’t do it,” it made me want to do it more.

“We need to stop talking about him like he’s a being from outer space” Stan said of Trump. “He’s been made on this planet like the rest of us.”

Cohn takes on Trump as his protégé, but the movie hints that there’s a sexual undercurrent to the older man’s interest, too.

ABBASI If you look at who was Roy’s type, it was young, tall, blond guys. I mean, Donald Trump was basically his type. Now, does it mean that was the reason they met and developed a relationship? Not solely, not necessarily. Jeremy’s going to shoot me down now, but it felt like he was someone who was turned on by the idea of impossible love a little bit, and Donald, in a way, was an impossible love.

“We’re trying to hold a mirror up to this world and these individuals and try to understand how we got here,” said Strong, left.

STRONG I don’t disagree with Ali on that, although I was interested in exploring what I felt was a rather chaste, platonic form of love that exists between men, which is friendship. But what did he see in him? Roy cultivated influence. It allowed him to feel elevated above the crowd, and he saw something in Donald that mirrored himself. There’s also that idea that when a student is ready, a teacher appears. They just happen to meet in this moment in time where he [Cohn] could sort of be Iago and blow poison into his ear.

Ali, when the film debuted at Cannes and Trump threatened to file a lawsuit, you said, “Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people. They don’t talk about his success rate, though.” You appeared unbothered, but how did you really feel?

ABBASI I learned a lesson when I did “Holy Spider,” my last movie. I knew that it was going to be controversial and sit badly with the Iranian government, then a teaser came out and the speaker of the Parliament said he thinks it is blasphemy. You realize that you are dealing with forces that are so much bigger than you as a human being or as an artist, but what can I do? Am I going to take the next flight, go and talk to the speaker of the Parliament and say, “No, I’m not blasphemous”?

In that way, we are sort of riding on the back of the dragon whether we like it or not. The other part is, I think a lot of what is happening right now is a knee-jerk reaction of people who have not watched the movie yet. For me, this conversation becomes real when the movie comes out, when people actually have seen it, when Mr. Trump has seen it. I would be super interested to know what he thinks either way. He might learn something. I’m not saying it in a condescending way, but he might.

Though the timing of this release is fraught, what are the good things about it coming out so close to the election?

ABBASI For me, this would be as relevant in December or next January as it is now. In that way, I don’t think we need the election to make us relevant, but am I not excited about us being in an interaction with the back of the dragon? I would lie to you if I wasn’t.

STRONG It’s mandatory viewing for any sentient beings right now who care about what’s happening in this country, and I think it offers vital insight, which could move the needle in a real way. In this moment where we’re surrounded by rhetoric of hate and divisiveness, I think art has a place and film has a place.

STAN I worry that people are desperate for answers and for guidance. They want to be told how to feel, they want to be told what’s right and what’s wrong. This whole discomfort with the film only reflects why it’s important: It isn’t just what you’re learning about Trump, it’s also what you’re learning about yourself from Trump.

I worry that we’re not going deeper anymore with how we approach things. We’re just reading Wikipedia pages. If that’s what you’re going to do, then you’ll just float among the rest of the ghosts of Christmas past. But the rest of us, at least, are going to try and get to the bottom of some things.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

American Riviera Orchard sounds like the name a 14-year-old would use in a fanfic. Or give a horse.

My work involves looking at companies and I’ve looked at hundreds. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like ARO and I’ve come across Harry Potter-named companies and companies with “Top Secret” in the name. American Riviera on its own would have actually been a lovely name imo.

I checked on the California Business Search and American Riviera Orchard, LLC was incorporated in California on 28 February 2024. I was expecting it to be registered in California but incorporated in another state like Delaware, where company disclosure requirements are much more limited. (Very common for Californian-headquartered businesses to be incorporated elsewhere for this reason).

About Goop: Gwyneth Paltrow reportedly owns only around 30% of Goop, which is very normal even for non-celebrity companies. I would expect Meghan to also have below 50% ownership in AOR if she does it right. A lot of the successful celebrity entities / business ventures like that of Reese Witherspoon have the celebrity at the front-end and experienced executives and directors at the back-end (both important roles, not meant as a put-down comment - RW is a very underestimated kick-ass business woman).

I’m not surprised that the likes of Meghan got backing for a venture like this. I think the massive catch for her investors will be whether she can make a return on their investments. It seems to me while Goop’s… questionable items get news coverage, there is actually a range of different offerings like Goop Kitchen that has made it go past a merch-fest. (But my knowledge of Goop is limited - blessedly.) I can’t see Meghan matching that sustainable growth and variation based on her history. And the ability to take massive criticism and lawsuits like GW / Goop.

My celebrity knowledge is severely lacking, but I believe GP still has that Hollywood sparkle, despite having a reputation. It seems like Goop is supported by the stars, which then trickles down? If so, AOR will be Meghan’s ultimate test of her love-bombing Hollywood. She cannot get to Goop status off of the sugars alone. If she doesn’t get Goop status, she will need to strike a deal with the likes of Walmart / Target to really make money off of it. Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty seems to be a successful, non-luxury line like that?

Sorry for the essay, I saw “new company” and my brain immediately went “I’m so ready for this!”.

This is honestly super interesting, anon! Thanks for sharing! (And everyone can write an essay any time...god knows I put you through it sometimes!)

What's surprising about your research is that the registration was done just a couple of weeks ago. All the PR that I've seen has talked about how this has been in the works for over a year. If that's true, then why wasn't the registration done earlier?

You do it hit on the head with Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop. Gwyneth has real Hollywood bona fides - she has an Oscar, an Emmy, two SAGs; she's in Marvel; and she's a legit Hollywood nepo baby (mother is an award-winning actress, father is a director/producer) - and that rubs off a lot. As silly as Goop is and as much as everyone jokes about how out of touch it is, it's actually a real juggernaut in the luxury space that Gwyneth occupies. Goop serves a purpose and fills a necessary gap in the market - luxury wellness.

Just like Reese Witherspoon. Her brand serves a purpose and addresses a gap in the marketplace - classic Americana with a feminine twist and female-driven entertainment. It's purposeful. It's different. Not everyone can do a book club but she did, and it's wildly successful.

Meghan's American Riviera Orchard is just another in a long line of luxury wellness/lifestyle brands trying to copy Goop's success. Like Blake Lively. She launched her wellness brand, Preserve, in 2014 but it was just a Goop copy with nothing unique or different. It didn't fill a gap or offer a service, and it floundered, shutting down after less than a year. That's what I see happening with Meghan. There's nothing unique about about American Riviera Orchard that sets it apart from every other lifestyle brand and company. Meghan will be lucky if she can keep this going for at least a year.

But she isn't helping herself with that name. American Riviera Orchard. It's a mouthful, and it's such a mouthful that people will abbreviate it and however the abbreviate it, Meghan will hate it. It sounds like something one of the knockoff Kennedy family members would do to try and reclaim the JFK/Jackie/RFK aura, maybe the one who's married to StarLord.

IMO, Meghan should just lean into the wino allegations and buy a vineyard to make wine. It'd be very Brad and Angelina of her and the Sussex Squad would keep her in business year after year.