Film
Adam McKay Says Will Ferrell Won’t Answer His Emails: “I Fucked Up”
Adam McKay has opened up about his professional break from longtime collaborator Will Ferrell. In a new profile with Vanity Fair, the Oscar-nominated director said, “I fucked up” in replacing Ferrell with John C. Reilly in HBO’s miniseries about the Los Angeles Lakers. He added that now his old friend won’t return his emails. McKay directed Ferrell in a string of comedy classics, including Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. In 2006, the two formed Gary Sanchez Productions, which produced dozens of films and TV series including HBO’s Succession. But in 2019, the partners announced the end of Gary Sanchez Productions, writing in a joint statement, “The two of us will always work together creatively and always be friends. And we recognize w...
Ghislane Maxwell’s Lawyer Compares Jeffrey Epstein to James Bond, Doesn’t Seem to Know Who James Bond Is
On the first day of Ghislane Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial, her lawyer compared accused serial predator Jeffrey Epstein to a “21st century James Bond,” which is undoubtedly one of the strangest interpretations of the James Bond franchise in the history of film criticism. Before his death, which was ruled a suicide, Epstein had been arrested and accused of running a global sex trafficking ring involving adolescent girls. Maxwell was Epstein’s longtime partner and former girlfriend, and she’s standing trial on six counts of exploiting young girls. Prosecutors have alleged that she “assisted, facilitated, and contributed to” Epstein’s crimes. Via the New York Times, the defense contended today that Maxwell is a “scapegoat.” Her lawyer Bobbi C. Sternheim said, “Ever since Eve was accuse...
Early Years of Sesame Street Chronicled in New HBO Doc Street Gang
HBO has unveiled a first look at its upcoming Sesame Street documentary Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street. Watch it below. The film, which is set to premiere December 13th, takes a look at the earliest days of the beloved, long-running children’s television show — from its conception and development to its takeoff as a national treasure — all told through interviews with the artists, educators, and cast members who helped create the magic. “This was an experiment. Children were watching a tremendous amount of television. So why not see if it could educate them?” a number of interviewees explain via confessional. “Our target audience were inner city children. We had struggled with the idea of the setting for the show. I wanted to capture that New York energy because, to the thre...
Yoko Ono Shares Article Claiming Peter Jackson’s Get Back Proves She Didn’t Break Up The Beatles
Yoko Ono has shared an Uproxx article that suggests Peter Jackson’s titanic new documentary Get Back proves she didn’t break up The Beatles. Ever since the Fab Four disbanded in 1970, some fans have laid the blame on John Lennon’s wife Ono. This theory never held up under scrutiny, and it’s been further disproved with the release of Get Back, which shows Paul McCartney micromanaging, George Harrison growing frustrated, and Lennon mentally checking out, all while Ringo Starr smiles gamely in an attempt to keep the recording process for Let It Be from totally falling apart. Uproxx collected viewer reactions on Twitter, with many fans noting that Ono’s in-studio presence was incredibly mild. During the eight-hour documentar...
Matthew McConaughey Will Not Run for Texas Governor
Matthew McConaughey has bowed out of the upcoming Texas gubernatorial election. The 52-year-old actor announced his decision in a video message posted to Instagram on Sunday night. “As a simple kid born in the little town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me that I would one day be considered for political leadership,” McConaughey said. “It’s a humbling and inspiring path to ponder. It is also a path that I’m choosing not to take at this moment.” Instead, McConaughey said he would “continue to work and invest the bounty I have by supporting entrepreneurs, businesses and foundations that I’ve believe are leaders, establishments that I believe are creating pathways for people to succeed in life, organizations that have a mission to serve and build trust while also generating prosperity....
Matthew McConaughey Will Not Run for Texas Governor
Matthew McConaughey has bowed out of the upcoming Texas gubernatorial election. The 52-year-old actor announced his decision in a video message posted to Instagram on Sunday night. “As a simple kid born in the little town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me that I would one day be considered for political leadership,” McConaughey said. “It’s a humbling and inspiring path to ponder. It is also a path that I’m choosing not to take at this moment.” Instead, McConaughey said he would “continue to work and invest the bounty I have by supporting entrepreneurs, businesses and foundations that I’ve believe are leaders, establishments that I believe are creating pathways for people to succeed in life, organizations that have a mission to serve and build trust while also generating prosperity....
Dwayne Johnson Gifts Navy Vet His Custom Truck
Dwayne Johnson turned the attention back to a very special fan during a recent screening of his Netflix movie Red Notice. “I invited fans to a special theater screening of Red Notice and I wanted to do something cool for all of them,” Johnson wrote on social media. “I also wanted to do something BIG… something MASSIVE… something unforgettable for one fan. My original idea was to give away the Porsche Taycan, that I drive in the movie, Red Notice. So we reached out to Porsche, but they said no. But I still said, yes. I’ll do one better. I’ll give away my personal custom [Ford F-150] truck as the gift. My baby.” The lucky fan in question was a Navy veteran and personal trainer named Oscar, who in addition to taking care of his 75-year-old mother, also volunteers as a leader at his churc...
R.I.P. Stephen Sondheim, Iconic Broadway Composer Dead at 91
Stephen Sondheim, the American composer and lyricist known for hit Broadway musicals such as West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, has died. He was 91. Richard Pappas, Sondheim’s lawyer and friend, announced the death on Friday (November 26th) via the New York Times. Sondheim died at his Roxbury, Connecticut home early Friday, with Pappas noting that the death was “sudden.” The evening prior, Sondheim had celebrated Thanksgiving with friends. Advertisement Related Video Sondheim was born on March 22nd, 1930 in New York City, and grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and on a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, following his parents’ divorce. He has said his interest in theatre began when he saw the Broadway musi...
R.I.P. Stephen Sondheim, Iconic Broadway Composer Dead at 91
Stephen Sondheim, the American composer and lyricist known for hit Broadway musicals such as West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, has died. He was 91. Richard Pappas, Sondheim’s lawyer and friend, announced the death on Friday (November 26th) via the New York Times. Sondheim died at his Roxbury, Connecticut home early Friday, with Pappas noting that the death was “sudden.” The evening prior, Sondheim had celebrated Thanksgiving with friends. Advertisement Related Video Sondheim was born on March 22nd, 1930 in New York City, and grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and on a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, following his parents’ divorce. He has said his interest in theatre began when he saw the Broadway musi...
Paul Thomas Anderson Unveils Licorice Pizza Soundtrack with New Jonny Greenwood Song: Stream
Get ready to devour some Licorice Pizza: The original soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson’s new coming-of-age film has arrived today via Republic. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. Boasting an impressive roster including Sonny & Cher, David Bowie, and more, the Licorice Pizza soundtrack acts as a time machine to the movie’s ’70s SoCal setting. Of course, there’s also one contemporary contribution from Anderson’s frequent collaborator, Johnny Greenwood. Beloved highlights from the Licorice Pizza soundtrack include The Doors’ “Peace Frog,” Taj Mahal’s “Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day,” and Nina Simone’s “July Tree.” At 20 tracks total, there’s plenty to immerse yourself in the film’s setting. Greenwood’s song is appropriately titled “Licorice Pizza,” and marks the fifth t...
Jared Leto’s House of Gucci Method Acting Involved “Snorting Lines of Arrabbiata Sauce”
Jared Leto is a proud method actor who often goes to bizarre and uncomfortable lengths to portray a particular role. In preparing for Requiem for a Dream, Leto lived on the streets with a group of heroin addicts and went as far as to shoot up water. He gained nearly 70 pounds in order to play Mark David Chapman in Chapter 27, and after being cast as the Joker in Suicide Squad he tormented his fellow cast members by mailing them live rats and bullets. For his latest role, Leto portrays fashion designer and business magnate Paolo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci. In an interview with i-D, Leto detailed how he got into character, which involved “snorting lines of arrabbiata sauce.” “I did it all. I was snorting lines of arrabbiata sauce by the middle of this movie. I had olive oil for b...
Producer Adapting Rape Memoir Realizes Story Doesn’t Make Sense, Helps Clear Man’s Name
Timothy Mucciante was executive producing a film adaptation of Lucky, Alice Sebold’s 1999 memoir about being beaten and raped in 1981, when he noticed several issues with the subsequent trial that led to the conviction of Anthony J. Broadwater. Mucciante became so convinced that an injustice had occurred that he dropped out of the movie this past June, hired a private investigator, and turned over the findings to Broadwater’s lawyer. On Monday, as the New York Times reports, Broadwater was finally exonerated of the crime. Broadwater, now 61, was only 20 years old at the time of his arrest. He had returned home to Syracuse, New York from a stint in the Marines to spend time with his ill father. Throughout the trial, his father’s health worsened, and he died shortly after...
