Yahoo StylePrince Harry and Meghan Markle Wedding Highlights
Yahoo has compiled the best bits of the royal wedding. Watch the big day as it unfolded.
Yahoo has compiled the best bits of the royal wedding. Watch the big day as it unfolded.
(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Wednesday’s “The Masked Singer.”) Nick Cannon made his official return as “The Masked Singer” host Wednesday after being revealed as the Bulldog in a twist elimination set off by guest host Niecy Nash last week. And his first hour back for Season 5 was the all-important Group A finals, in which Russian Doll, Seashell, Robopine (f.k.a. Porcupine) and Orca went head to head with each other and a new “Wildcard” competitor in hopes of landing a slot alongside the remaining Group B contestants in the Super 8 round. By the end of the night, only four were left standing. Each contestant performed once more in front of panelists Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, Robin Thicke and Nicole Scherzinger, as well as the now-returned Cannon, who was recovering from COVID-19 earlier this season. And once the regulars had gone, it was time for the introduction of surprise competitor Yeti, who sang New Edition’s “If It Isn’t Love.” After everyone had taken the stage, the judges and at-home audience cast their votes for Wednesday’s top Group A contestant, selecting who will move on to compete with Group B’s finalists in the Super 8 round and who would be eliminated. Also Read: Nick Cannon to Return as 'The Masked Singer' Host Next Week They ended up cutting Orca, who had performed Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” He was unmasked to reveal singer Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray. Before Orca’s ousting, the judges had guessed he could be Kelly Slater, Dave Grohl or Billie Joe Armstrong. Last week’s “Masked Singer” episode was the Group B finals, in which contestants Chameleon, Black Swan, Piglet, Crab and “Wildcard” Bulldog duked it out for a Super 8 spot. But the episode saw a twist in that all four of the regulars got to move on, as Nash threw out the votes and chose to eliminate Bulldog, who was unmasked to reveal Cannon. Yes, it was a planned cut, but for the good cause of surprising you with Cannon’s return as host. “The Masked Singer” Season 5 began with 10 scheduled contestants, broken into two groups, with four “Wildcard” competitors joining in total. Also Read: 'The Masked Singer': Here Are the Best Guesses for Crab, Show's 2nd 'Wildcard' Contestant So far, unmasked contestants include Orca, Bulldog, Grandpa Monster (Logan Paul), Raccoon (Danny Trejo), Phoenix (Caitlyn Jenner) and Snail (Kermit the Frog). Next week, Group A and Group B’s remaining contestants — Russian Doll, Seashell, Robopine (f.k.a. Porcupine), Yeti, Chameleon, Black Swan, Piglet and Crab — will take the stage together for the first time in the Super 8 round as they compete to make it one step closer to the finale. Per Fox, “The season five contestants boast a combined 26 Grammy nominations, nine multi-platinum singles, four Academy Award nominations, three Super Bowl appearances, six gold medals and two world records.” “The Masked Singer” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Fox. Read original story ‘The Masked Singer’ Reveals Another Contestant in ‘Wildcard’ Elimination: And the Orca Is… At TheWrap
(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Wednesday’s “The Masked Singer.”) “The Masked Singer” unmasked its latest contestant tonight, revealing that Orca was “singer” Mark McGrath, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the band Sugar Ray. We put quotation marks around “singer” there because McGrath said he puts them around the word as it applies to himself — and he explained why he was “never going to win” the Fox singing competition, despite the fact that he is a “singer.” Also Read: 'Masked Singer' Host Nick Cannon Teases Jenny McCarthy for Guessing Jamie Foxx - AGAIN (Exclusive Video) “I was supposed to do the show and initially I said no way. To be honest with you, it scared the heck out of me because it’s a singing competition,” McGrath told TheWrap. “Now I know you’re saying, ironically, ‘But Mark, you’re a singer?’ Now, I use the word singer in quotation marks, always, when you refer to me. I have a tone, let’s say. You know, Bob Dylan has a tone. Anthony Kiedis has a tone. I’m not comparing myself to them, but there are people who have tones in this business that aren’t technically five-octave Mariah Carey singers.” Eventually, McGrath turned that “no way” into a yes and decided to take a chance on the singing competition. “And then I’m like, how many times in your life do you have a chance to be challenged?” he said. “To scare yourself? And also be in a mask, and you have a chance to have some anonymity and maybe finesse your way a few inches in the show? Now, Mark McGrath was never going to win ‘The Masked Singer,’ not in a million years. It’s a singing competition — world-class singers win it, as they should. But Mark McGrath — and I don’t know why I’m speaking in third person — but I certainly thought I could have a lot of fun. It’s one of my kids’ favorite shows. And like I said, it scares me, it’s a hurdle, it’s a challenge.” Also Read: Nick Cannon to Return as 'The Masked Singer' Host Next Week So McGrath agreed to the whale of a gig and decided not to worry too much about his tone. “My voice, it is what it is. Back when I was recording [Sugar Ray’s] ‘Fly,’ that became our first hit, our producer said to me, ‘Listen Mark, you don’t have that great of a singing voice. You’re musical in your speaking voice. So let’s stay in that margin. If you do, I think we can sell 2 million copies of this single alone,'” McGrath said. “And I’ll be darned, I listened to our producer and then it happened.” Much like other professional singers — sorry, in McGrath’s case, “singer” — who have competed on the show before him, McGrath lobbied to perform one of his own songs while under the mask. And just like those who have tried before him, the producers shot him down. Also Read: 'Masked Singer' Reveals New 'Wildcard' Contestant in Twist Elimination: And the Bulldog Is... “I said please. I begged them to do a Sugar Ray song. I begged them because no one had ever done it before,” McGrath said. “I think Seal wanted to do [his own song when he competed on Season 2], but didn’t get to. But I fought for it. I said, ‘Guys, please, I promise I can fool them. I know it.’ They entertained the idea for a little bit but it slowly went away, along with some of my other bad ideas (laughs).“ “The Masked Singer” airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Fox. Read original story ‘The Masked Singer': Orca Says He Was ‘Never Going to Win’ Because of His ‘Tone’ At TheWrap
Twerking for a new Australian navy ship: the dancers who launched a thousand memesThe Australian defence force’s latest scandal involves a twerk dance in hotpants in front of the HMAS Supply – and an upset Liberal MP
I NEED AN ADULT.
Richard Hajjar agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud, unlawful monetary transactions and filing a false tax return
“SNL” is now nearing the end of its 46th season. The most recent new episode, which aired on April 10, was hosted by “A Promising Young Woman” star Carey Mulligan, with Kid Cudi as the musical guest. It featured a cold open sketch about a local news broadcast discussing the Derek Chauvin trial, in which cast members Kenan Thompson and Ego Nwodim try to convince their white colleagues not to be so optimistic about how the trial will go. There hasn’t been much in the way of celebrity cameos in the new year, and, for now, cast member Alex Moffat will continue to play Joe Biden. He played the role for a second time on April 3 in a sketch that also saw Martin Short make a surprise appearance as Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff. Though the reception for Moffat’s Biden has not been enthusiastic thus far, it’s likely that “SNL” will stick with him in the role for the rest of the season and then secure a big name for the role for next season. Also Read: 'SNL' Cold Open Has Some Bleak Thoughts About Derek Chauvin Trial (Video) This week, on Saturday, April 17, there WILL NOT be a new episode of “SNL.” The show just finished a three-episode run, so it’ll be on break for a couple weeks before bringing the season to a close in May. As is usually the case when the show is off, you’ll be able to check out two reruns on Saturday night. First, at 10 p.m., we’ll get the 1998 episode hosted by Steve Buscemi with Third Eye Blind as musical guest. Then, at 11:30, we’ll get a rerun of an episode from earlier in the current season. You can be pretty sure this season of “SNL” be at least somewhat political for the full stretch. While it’s not an election year anymore, somehow the tense political situation in the U.S. managed to ramp up from the fever pitch early in 2021. And, well, it’s tough to pass up having Aidy Bryant play Ted Cruz as often as possible, which the show keeps doing. While the sketch show has certainly had a whiff of “just trying to return to normalcy” in the new year, politics remains at the core of the cultural discourse. And that Matt Gaetz story isn’t going away. Also Read: 'SNL': Lil Nas X Gives God an Easter Lap Dance (Video) Perhaps the biggest splash of season 46 was the addition of Jim Carrey as the show’s resident celebrity Joe Biden during the election cycle. But Carrey dropped out of the role after Trump lost, and “SNL” has now twice had Moffat play the part. Moffat’s Biden has been met with a pretty tepid response both from the studio audience and viewers at home, but that’s to be expected after only big stars have played Biden on SNL for years. It’s been a strange transition out of the Trump era for “SNL,” which has adopted a softer tone the last couple months. For example, the show has done three separate COVID-19 game show sketches in 2021, two of which were cold open sketches. And Moffat’s Biden has only made a single appearance since the real Biden was inaugurated in January. Read original story Is There a New ‘SNL’ Episode Airing This Week? At TheWrap
Jonathan Pentland, a white non-commissioned U.S. Army staff sergeant who appeared in a viral video threatening and shoving a young Black man, was arrested and charged with third-degree assault and battery on Wednesday. Pentland, 42, is being detained at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in South Carolina, according to online jail records. It’s not immediately clear what took place leading up to the heated encounter. But video of the incident, which was first posted to Facebook on Monday and later circulated on Twitter, showed Pentland demanding that the young man leave his neighborhood and, at one point, shoving the man. “I’m about to do something to you. You better start walking now,” Pentland can be heard shouting in the video. “You’re in the wrong neighborhood, motherf—er. Get out.” “I live here, sir,” the young man responded. The young man’s name is Deandre, according to Shirell Johnson, the woman who originally posted the video to Facebook. Responding to video of the incent that circulated on Twitter, Fort Jackson Commander Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr. said he did not “condone” Pentland’s behavior. “The leaders at Fort Jackson in no way condone the behavior depicted in the video posted recently,” Beagle said. “I remain deeply concerned for the members of our Army family, the young man and his family, and the tensions that activities like this amplify over time; please be patient as facts are determined.” Twitter, I’m told this super douche lives in The Summit in Columbia, South Carolina. If you recognize him, please DM me — I want to make sure the name I have is accurate before I blast it all over social media. pic.twitter.com/LYAVzL2FaE — Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) April 13, 2021 Read original story Army Sergeant Who Threatened Black Man in Viral Video Charged With Assault At TheWrap
L Catterton has invested other active-minded companies such as Peloton, Pinarello and Heartland RV.
Former “Bachelor” star Colton Underwood came out as gay in an emotional interview on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, a revelation that sent shockwaves throughout the “Bachelor” fandom. “I’ve ran from myself for a long time and I’ve hated myself for a long time, and I’m gay. I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it,” Underwood said in the interview with Robin Roberts. “The next step in all of this was sort of letting people know. I’m still nervous, but it’s been a journey for sure.” Underwood starred on the 23rd season of “The Bachelor” in 2019, having previously appeared on “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise.” The former professional football player’s decision to remain a virgin was a core part of the narrative throughout all of his appearances to his final rose ceremony. Underwood chose Cassie Randolph to receive his final rose and the couple dated for nearly two years before their messy public split last year. Also Read: 'Bachelor' Fans Are Fine With Colton Underwood Coming Out - But Not With How He Treated Cassie “Do I regret being ‘The Bachelor’? And handling it the way that I did?” Underwood said in the interview. “I do think I could have handled it better, I’ll say that. I just wish I wouldn’t have dragged people into my own mess of figuring out who I was.” But what does this mean for “The Bachelor” franchise overall? Here are three questions for the show raised by Underwood’s interview: ABC/Randy Holmes 1. Will Colton return? Within minutes of Underwood’s interview airing on ABC, certain segments of the “Bachelor” fandom on social media were already calling for him to be brought back for a gay season of the dating show that made him famous. It’s not hard to see why ABC and “The Bachelor” might want him back. Underwood’s original season — with the heavily hyped “Virgin Bachelor” narrative and the fence-jump heard ’round the world — was one of the more talked-about seasons in recent memory that didn’t include a franchise-shaking racism controversy. In terms of viewership, Underwood’s season performed solidly, about even with the 2.4 rating and 7.9 million total viewers of the seasons before and after. The “Good Morning America” interview has only raised Underwood’s profile and a shift to a same-sex format, even temporarily, would be a huge shift that would draw even more attention to the show. But it would almost certainly alienate some fans, including those who aren’t keen to forgive the allegations of stalking and harassment made by Randolph, the woman who won Underwood’s season of “The Bachelor” and dated him for nearly two years. Also Read: 35 Juiciest 'Bachelor' and 'Bachelorette' Moments of All Time (Photos) 2. Can the “Bachelor” franchise become more inclusive? Should Underwood return, he wouldn’t be the first openly LGBTQ contestant in the show’s history, but he would be one of only a handful. Jaimi King was openly bisexual when she appeared on Nick Viall’s season in 2017, a first at the time. And in 2019, “Bachelor in Paradise” made franchise history when Demi Burnett, a contestant from Underwood’s season, proposed to her then-girlfriend Kristian Haggerty on the show. Burnett had come out as bisexual after her stint on “The Bachelor” and returned for “Paradise,” which saw her torn between former “Bachelorette” contestant Derek Peth and Haggerty (not a “Bachelor” franchise veteran). The decision to bring Haggerty onto the show was hailed as a win for LGBTQ representation at the time, with GLAAD calling it a move that “has the power to upend preconceived notions of LGBTQ people like Demi who are attracted to more than one gender.” Host Chris Harrison said in an interview that he was “proud” the franchise was “pushing these issues a little bit” and “raising the level of debate,” but he also gave a caveat: “I always say ‘The Bachelor’ doesn’t create and drive social issues. We’re a microcosm of what’s happening in the world.” Overall, the “Bachelor” franchise has been slow to expand the scope of its vision of fairytale romance. The show’s race problem is well-documented, and as recently as 2014, ABC and producers Warner Horizon were forced issue a statement condemning homophobic comments from one of the show’s stars on the mere possibility of a gay Bachelor. As Underwood’s “Good Morning America” revealed, “The Bachelor” is still held as the pinnacle of heteronormative romance in the mind of both its audience and contestants. “I literally remember praying to God the morning I found out that I was ‘The Bachelor’ and thanking Him for making me straight,” Underwood told Roberts. Also Read: Billy Eichner to Colton Underwood in 2019: 'Maybe You're the First Gay Bachelor and We Don't Even Know' (Video) 3. What about Cassie? Underwood’s interview was met with wide support from the “Bachelor” nation, including the show’s producers and ABC. “We are so inspired by Colton Underwood’s courage to embrace and pursue his authentic self,” read a statement attributed to the “Bachelor” executive producers. “We applaud Colton and celebrate his strength and courage to live his truth,” said the studio and network. As “Bachelor” fans on Twitter have noted, Randolph received no similar public support from the show when her relationship with Underwood ended with a restraining order and accusations of stalking and harassment. Underwood has apologized to Randolph for his behavior, saying in the interview with Roberts, “I messed up, I made a lot of bad choices … I wish that I would’ve been courageous enough to fix myself before breaking anyone else.” But does the “Bachelor” franchise itself owe more to its contestants? It’s a similar question to the one the show faces on the matter of race. It took 13 seasons for Rachel Lindsay to become the first Black star of “The Bachelorette,” and it was 24 seasons before Matt James led “The Bachelor” earlier this year. Both seasons were marred by racism scandals, with the blowup surrounding the recipient of James’ final rose, Rachael Kirkconnell, growing serious enough to cause the departure of Harrison as host. “Bachelor” producers have vowed to “do better to reflect the world around us,” but do individual instances — like the race controversy of James’ season or the homophobic backlash against Burnett or the messy ending to Randolph’s relationship with the man she was paired with by the show — indicate deeper problems within the franchise itself? ABC/John Fleenor Read original story 3 Questions Colton Underwood’s ‘GMA’ Interview Raises for the ‘Bachelor’ Franchise At TheWrap
TheWrap has continued its annual tradition of showcasing the Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Short, gathering the filmmakers behind them to discuss how they brought their stories of injustice past and present to the screen. Joining TheWrap awards editor Steve Pond on this year’s nominee panel were producer Alice Doyard, (“Colette”) along with directors Sophia Nahli Allison (“A Love Song For Latasha”), Skye Fitzgerald (“Hunger Ward”), Anders Hammer (“Do Not Split”) and Kris Bowers (“A Concerto Is A Conversation”). Doyard, alongside “Colette” director Anthony Giacchino, took a great deal of time gaining the trust of the film’s subject, Colette Marin-Catherine, one of the last remaining veterans of the French Resistance. The film follows the 90-year-old Colette as she travels with teenage student Lucie Fouble for the first time to the ruins of Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, where her brother was imprisoned as a Resistance member and was worked to death in dark tunnels building V1 missiles for the Nazis. The deeply emotional film shows Colette’s wit and thoughtfulness as well as her anger and tears as her grief returns to the surface after lying dormant for decades. Also Read: Aaron Sorkin on How 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' Happened Thanks to... Donald Trump “There was this necessary discussion for Colette that we had for six months about what it would mean for her to go back and whether she even wanted to go,” Doyard said. “I really have to credit Anthony and the other producers for really building trust with Colette, because she knew that if she wanted to say ‘stop,’ which she does in the film, then we would stop the camera. She felt that she was in a secure environment.” Sophia Nahli Allison had to show similar sensitivity when making “A Love Song for Latasha,” a Netflix short recounting the life of Latasha Harlins, who was shot by a Korean store owner over a bottle of orange juice in 1991. The store owner was convicted but avoided jail time, making Harlins’ death one of the factors behind the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The short has been critically acclaimed for its dream-like approach to depicting Harlins’ life and death, using family pictures, sun-soaked shots of Latasha’s neighborhood in the present day, and abstract animation instead of footage of interviews and the shooting. Along with making the film artistically unique when there was little video of Harlins, Allison said it was her way of showing compassion for her family by turning the experience of making the documentary into one of healing. Also Read: Oscar Voters Can Watch All the Nominees in the Academy Screening Room - Except These 2 “The hardest part was getting to the point when we discuss Latasha’s death, knowing that we didn’t want to include footage of the shooting because of the trauma it inflicted on that community,” Allison said. “I’m really grateful with the conversation we had with our animator Buki Bodunrin about ways we can explore other tactics to retell this story that would compliment [Latasha’s best friend] Ty’s voice but not have any elements that would trigger trauma in the community.” Kris Bowers also wanted to make a documentary celebrating Black life and culture, but his struck much closer to home. His documentary “A Concerto Is A Conversation,” is based around a chat between him and his grandfather, Horace Bowers Sr., who spent what little money he had to travel from the Jim Crow South to Los Angeles, where he got a job at a laundromat that decades later he would come to own. Bowers cites his grandfather as key to his success as a composer in a classical music scene that is still predominantly white, also reflecting in his doc on his own career which included a world premiere of one of his concertos at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a trip to the Oscars two years ago as composer for the Best Picture-winning “Green Book.” Also Read: 'Da 5 Bloods' Composer Terence Blanchard Proposes Blind Auditions for Film Scoring to Boost Diversity (Video) “That conversation happened so naturally because…my grandparents’ house was always a place for me to express myself in such vulnerable moments, and it wasn’t until after we shot it that I was starting to reflect on the things I was asking in that moment,” Bowers said. “It was a little hard to let go of how my family was being presented or how I was being presented.” “A Concerto Is A Conversation” finished filming right before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the United States, but it had arrived several months earlier in Hong Kong, the setting of Andres Hammer’s “Do Not Split.” The intense documentary captures the historic democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 as they happened, filmed with the help of student demonstrators as they took to the streets amidst tear gas and mass arrests by Chinese police. Ultimately, it was the virus, not China, that forced the resistance into their homes, as the documentary ends on an uncertain note with protest organizers figuring out what their next move will be when the pandemic subsides. “On a physical and a personal level, there were all these constant challenges and this incredible intensity, and I could feel it even though I wasn’t taking the same risks as the protesters around me,” he said. “I had to capture that intensity and make it feel as real as possible to the viewers, which is a challenge because it isn’t always possible to mirror that sense of danger and risk happening in these protests.” But the most harrowing of the documentaries is undoubtedly Skye Fitzgerald’s “Hunger Ward,” which shows the human toll of the famine caused by Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen and the Houthi rebels fighting the Saudi-backed government. Released on Paramount+, the film follows the work of the women who work as doctors and nurses in Yemen’s overwhelmed hunger ward treating severely malnourished children. While some of the children in the documentary show signs of recovery, others do not survive. The documentary ends with a plea for viewers to demand political action; and while President Joe Biden promised in February to cut off U.S. support of the Saudi war efforts, which has included supplying weapons and intelligence during the Obama and Trump Administrations, requests from Congress for further details have so far been unanswered by the White House. “There’s a researcher at the University of Oregon who wrote about something called ‘psychic fatigue‘…which is about how when numbers become so huge on something, we become numb to them,” Fitzgerald said. “And I think film is something that can pierce that; because when we tell a story about anything, whether it’s about your grandfather or a Black girl who is shot or any of our documentaries, it cuts through that noise in a very particular way…and that’s why I think the singular nature of our art form is so critical.” Watch the full interview with the Oscar nominees above. Read original story How 2021 Oscar Short Doc Nominees Tackled Tales of Past and Present Injustice (Video) At TheWrap
Lindsay Lohan has kept a relatively low profile over the last few years. However, she definitely made a splash on Wednesday, sharing a few images of herself on Instagram from the Maldives, celebrating herself in a high-cut red one-piece swimsuit, and tagging it with a number of Marriott and W Hotel hashtags. (The photos drew heart emojis from none other than Diane Keaton, who is among Lohan's 8.8 million followers.) How did the Mean Girls star transform herself from a tabloid-headline-attraction to one of the healthiest versions of herself? Here is everything she did, as well as the pool pics to prove it works. 1 She Has Been Incredibly Healthy During the Pandemic @lindsaylohan / InstagramLohan recently told Page Six that she used her time in isolation wisely "exercising, cooking, brushing up on my French again, reading, journaling, watching a lot of films and, of course, occasional reality TV!" she said. Also, "Zooming with family, which is nice." 2 She Has Avoided Alcohol @lindsaylohan / InstagramThe actress/singer, who recently auctioned off the single Lullaby as an NFT, claims that abstaining from alcohol also helps her stay healthy. "I avoid alcohol," she has said, according to The Mirror. "In fact, I would rather go out diving in the sea at night than drink." 3 She Does Yoga Getty ImagesLohan recently revealed on social media that she is a poser—yoga poser that is! "Starting the day with yoga," she captioned a photo of herself decked out in workout clothes. 4 She Practices Gratitude Photo by James Devaney/GC ImagesLast year, Lohan said on Instagram that she had a "beautiful" birthday. "And during all these tough times I feel like I've learned to understand the simplicity of life and birthdays," Lohan continued, "I was thinking about how many birthdays I've had that are just like so extravagant and how lucky we all are to just have the people around us that we love and the people in our lives that we love and how simple is key." "I'm 34 now and it's been a beautiful day and I'm really happy and really grateful to have good people in my life and I look forward to sharing that with other people in my work and in everything I do from here on out," Lohan continued. 5 She's Closer to Her Fans Than Ever Photo by Raymond Hall/GC ImagesBesides Instagram, Lohan is on Cameo and Vanywhere, where fans can connect to her directly (for a price). In cheerful, sun-dappled messages, she hopes those who order her videos remain "happy, healthy and safe" and are "hanging in there with this pandemic going on." "God bless you," she says in one. "Stay beautiful," proving, after all these years, she's still so fetch.
At least four top female executives at ViacomCBS — including three women of color — have left the company in the last month, raising questions about the network’s ability to retain women and diverse talent at a critical time of change for media companies. In addition to CBS News EVP Kim Godwin — a leading Black news executive who on Wednesday left the network to lead rival ABC News – TheWrap has learned that Stefanie Schwartz, the EVP of ViacomCBS Digital Studios; Nathalie Bordes, the SVP of data and insights at CBS Interactive; and Sarah Jeon, the EVP of business development and strategic partnerships at ViacomCBS Digital, have all left the company in the past month. In addition to the exodus of female execs from the conglomerate’s digital unit, CBS News President Susan Zirinsky will step down from her position after two years to ink a production deal with ViacomCBS, according to the Wall Street Journal. A spokesperson for ViacomCBS declined to comment on the executive departures, but an insider at the company said at least some of the exits were the result of the consolidation of Viacom and CBS’ streaming operations following the 2019 re-merger of the two entertainment...Read original story Is ViacomCBS ‘Blowing Smoke’ on Diversity as 4 Top Female Execs Exit? (Exclusive) At TheWrap
Wyatt Pike has responded publicly since dropping out of “American Idol.” In an Instagram post uploaded Wednesday afternoon, the Utah native confirmed he dropped out of the reality singing competition due to “personal reasons” but did not elaborate. He did add, however, that he was “thankful” he gets to play music for the rest of his life. He ended with a motivating message to his former competitors: “Fellow contestants – miss you all, good luck! Thank you to everyone for your support… do stick around for more musical things soon!” As previously reported, Pike made it to the Top 12 but dropped out before Monday’s first live show. Also Read: Luke Bryan Tests Positive for COVID, Paula Abdul to Fill in on First 'American Idol' Live Show “Before we get to the results, I have to tell you that finalist Wyatt Pike will not be competing in the competition,” said host Ryan Seacrest at the top of the show. “He had to drop out — but we wish him the very best.” There was no reason given for Pike’s abrupt departure, though a rep for “American Idol” told People that Pike left due to “personal reasons.” ABC did not comment further. This isn’t the first time a finalist has dropped out of “Idol” before the live shows. Back in Season 4, fan favorite Mario Vazquez abruptly left the show before the Top 12. On Monday’s show, the Season 19 Top 12 were revealed, with the Top 10 audience vote-getters going through and two judges’ saves. Original judge Paula Abdul filled in for Luke Bryan after Bryan tested positive for COVID-19. Check out Pike’s Instagram post below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Wyatt Pike (@wyattpike) Read original story Wyatt Pike Speaks Out After ‘American Idol’ Exit: ‘Thankful I Get to Play Music for the Rest of My Life’ At TheWrap
They're the hypemen of the century.
Long a champion of his hometown, the Los Angeles designer put forth a fashion film with director Cara Stricker and music from The Roots.
A version of this story on “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Years ago, director Jason Woliner was sent a script and told only that it was to be Sacha Baron Cohen’s next movie. The script was top secret, encrypted and nowhere in it did it contain the word “Borat.” That movie, of course, would become “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” whose whopping nine screenwriters — a record for the category, to go with the record for the longest title ever nominated for an Oscar — are celebrating its Oscar nomination. And if it seems odd that it would take nine people to write a largely improvisational film, and that the film would then win a Writers Guild Award and be Oscar-nominated for its screenplay, the “Borat” sequel did in fact have a real script, and it also required a lot more work from its screenwriters. Also Read: 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,' 'Promising Young Woman' Top 2021 Writers Guild Awards: Complete Winners List From the beginning, Woliner said, Baron Cohen had a clear structure of the relationship and journey between disgraced Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev and his daughter, Tutar. The film was modeled on romantic comedies like the Clark Gable classic “It Happened One Night,” but its third act had to be revised because of the COVID pandemic, form-fitted to the events in ways that better told the story of life in 2020. And yes, the filmmakers always intended to end by duping someone in Donald Trump’s inner circle. So while much of the cast of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” didn’t realize they were actually in a moviefilm, very little about it happened by accident. “How do you make a really funny satire that’s also a father-daughter story?” Baron Cohen said. “That was one of the things we set ourselves: Try to get the audience really moved by this relationship with two actors they know are fake.” Also Read: 'Borat 2' Had to Make Up Pandemic Safety Rules - Which Rudy Giuliani Quickly Broke (Video) The first challenge was to bring Borat back into the real world and avoid treading the same territory of the original “Borat.” Having Maria Bakalova as Tutar alleviated some of the pressure on Baron Cohen and allowed someone else to take the spotlight. But it also presented new challenges in giving both characters an arc and positioning Tutar as someone who could change Borat for the better. In the story, Borat and Tutar split up, only for Borat to find her at a gun-rights rally. Woliner explained that the original idea was for Borat to meet with men’s rights activists who could help track her down — but when COVID hit, anti-mask, anti-lockdown conspiracy theorists turned out to be a better alternative. “We were fortunate in that we were able to take beats we already wanted to get in the movie and shape them to what the world had become,” Woliner said. “We realized very early on that we couldn’t make a movie that in many ways was a documentary about 2020 without addressing what happened to the world.” Also Read: 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' Star Maria Bakalova OscarWrap Portraits (Exclusive Photos) “We felt if we didn’t risk our own safety by highlighting that, what would be the point of making this movie? We restructured, we kept the same themes, the same overall shape of the movie, but we made this our Act 3 backdrop,” Baron Cohen added. Jeanise Jones, the kind-hearted babysitter in the movie who looks after Tutar, was a surprise discovery as well, but the screenwriters knew she could be key in helping Borat arrive at his big realization that he loves his daughter, a moment that originally would’ve been handed off to a doctor or psychologist. “We realized how powerful she was and what a strong presence she was in this movie, and that’s why he then went back to her and gave a roll of the dice,” writer Anthony Hines, who has worked with Baron Cohen as far back as Da Ali G Show, said. “He had a pain in his chest, and a doctor would tell him, you’re experiencing a thing called paternal love, which Borat had never heard of before.” Baron Cohen said the real reason to write the character of Tutar was to highlight the misogyny at the center of the Trump administration — and there was no better way to show that “than to have somebody from Trump’s inner circle be completely inappropriate with a young girl in a hotel room.” They had ingested the story structures of numerous father-daughter movies or rom-coms, and decided theirs needed to end with the now infamous scene between Bakalova and Rudy Giuliani. “It’s almost like a thriller,” Baron Cohen said. “Structurally, as a screenwriter, Rudy is like a killer and the murder weapon is down his trousers. So Borat has to get in there and stop the fatal blow, no pun intended…If that scene hadn’t have worked, the movie certainly wouldn’t have been as impactful.” You can watch more from this interview with Sacha Baron Cohen and the “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” team here. Read more from the Down to the Wire issue here. Read original story How the Largely Improvised ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ Landed an Oscar Screenplay Nomination At TheWrap
The founders of the popular website turned these ten viral photos into collectible digital art.
Spoiler alert: This article discusses the ending of “Sound of Metal.” For his elegant work on shaping the structure of “Sound of Metal,” film editor Mikkel E.G. Nielsen has won a BAFTA and been nominated for an Oscar. Even the mentioning of those words caused the 47-year-old Dane to shake his head and smile. “I mean, really, nominated for an Oscar,” Nielsen told TheWrap from his home in Copenhagen, Denmark. “That’s just not something that happens.” “Sound of Metal,” starring Best Actor nominee Riz Ahmed as a drummer who loses his hearing, was filmed over 24 days in 2018, nearly three years ago. The movie wasn’t acquired by Amazon Studios until after its premiere at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival.”It’s not a film made out of a desire to win awards,” Nielsen said. “So I’m extremely honored and very surprised, because for all of us who worked on it, the film itself is its own reward.” Also Read: Riz Ahmed's 'Sound of Metal': How the Outer Space Silence of 'Gravity' Shaped Hearing Loss Drama None of it came easily. The movie had been in various stages of development for a dozen years. Nielsen was hired to edit by director Darius Marder as filming completed. The editor, whose credits include “A Royal Affair,” “Beasts of No Nation,” and Robin Wright’s “Land” (made after this film), toiled on all the footage and delivered a rough “assembly cut” of the film that ran three hours and 45 minutes long. In our conversation, Nielsen described what was lost from that original cut — including a three-minute montage that he described as “candy to the eye” — and, conversely, what was found through elimination, as the editor and director committed themselves to the film’s unique, sonic rhythm. In a very basic way, you were the first audience member to see “Sound of Metal.” What could you feel about the film from viewing all the original footage?The whole film is about accepting your journey, and I wanted to be true to that. I did the first assembly all alone, and so the first two or three weeks was just me looking at all the footage. Even though Darius (Marder) didn’t shoot a lot of takes, I never felt like we were in lack of any material. If someone shoots the scene in 700 different ways, it’s difficult to say what is right. But if they show you a couple of possibilities, then it’s more about finding the right language in the edit. What I understood early on was that it felt real. Also Read: Oscar Nominated 'Sound of Metal' Sonic Designer Breaks Down the Film's Profound Final Scene The storytelling felt real? Yeah, it didn’t really feel like a film. I remember those beautiful scenes of Ruben (Riz Ahmed) with the kids, playing around in the playground and the fields. Those scenes signaled to me that this could work. But really my first job was more about building the structure of it. “Sound of Metal” was shot all chronologically, in sequence. Were there places where you could sense how beneficial that was?Oh yeah. I think you notice it in that last scene between Joe (Oscar nominee Paul Raci) and Ruben. It is tremendously written and acted, but because Darius shot it chronologically, that means that it really was the last scene for these actors. And as actors, Joe and Ruben knew that — I mean, Paul and Riz knew that — and it must have been so rewarding to work that way. It became really emotional for them. Your original assembled cut was three hours and 45 minutes long. The finished film is two hours, so that was nearly twice the length. But that’s fine, because it told Darius that he had the material to make a very good film. If it was less that three hours, I would be worried. Can you talk about some of the changes that were made or scenes that were cut out?Well, we made a decision to start the film with a concert scene. Originally it started in the airstream, the vehicle where Ruben and his girlfriend Lou are living. But by starting with them performing their music, then we know exactly who they are when we see them in the next scene, laying in bed. It’s very tender. And that meant that we could eliminate a lot of other stuff, like scenes showing them creating music. We also had scenes of them talking to a journalist about what kind of band they are. Those were cut. Once we established who they were, we had a lot of freedom to underplay the rest. Also Read: Oscars 2021: 'Mank' Leads With 10 Nominations What was the most difficult scene to lose from the film?Well, one moment in the film that really guided me as an editor was the scene with Ruben and the little kid he meets, Michael, as they’re drumming on the slide in the playground. And because of the change in Ruben’s identity that it represents, it was crucial for us that that moment occurs at the exact middle mark of the film. Ruben has entered the world of the deaf community. And he’s drumming again. After that moment, we had a beautiful three-minute montage, in which you would see Ruben in the deaf community. It was such a wonderful collection of moments. It was just candy to the eye. But it created an issue. Moments had to feel real and feel earned in this film, but suddenly when things are depicted in a beautiful montage, you sit back a little bit and don’t feel the truth in the same way. We never really found the key to making that montage work in the way that the scene on the slide worked. Suddenly we said, “Wait, that’s the issue. The montage is beautiful but it doesn’t work.” So we cut it out. Even without the montage, the film has a wonderful sense of time passing, without a lot of overt transitions. Like in the third act, when Ruben shows up in Belgium. We tried many different variations of that too. When Ruben leaves Joe, there were poignant moments of Ruben sitting all alone or walking around or washing his clothes. We wanted it to feel like a month had passed before he arrives in Belgium. But we realized again that an audience will accept that time has passed without having to be told. Less is more, right?Of course. Darius is very influenced by European cinema, which is interesting because European directors are often influenced by American films. He’s the opposite. Look at the cast and crew. It’s an American film but Riz and Olivia Cooke are from England, the sound designer Nicholas Becker is French, the cinematographer Daniël Bouquet is Belgian, I’m Danish. Darius is influenced by Danish films, specifically, like “Breaking the Waves.” “Breaking the Waves” and “Sound of Metal” both end with church bells, don’t they? That’s true. You can see its influence in the film. How did the ending of “Sound of Metal” change during the editing process? The end scene wasn’t at all difficult, actually. It’s almost exactly how it was in the first assembly. There are some interesting things in that scene. You’ll notice there are two kids in the distance fighting about a skateboard. But when the film goes silent, you see the kids again and they’re getting along. There’s peace in the silence. And you also see the beautiful sun flowing through the trees and it should just feel like a nice reward. You put yourself on that bench. The last shot, the close-up of Ruben’s face, is about 40 seconds long. Yes. We worked on the length of that. The closeup should hold on his face just long enough to make the audience aware of the length of the shot, then it cuts to black. There are ways in which film editing and sound are related. But how important was the power of silence to you while working? Very important. In fact, I worked on the whole film as a silent film. It was such a powerful storytelling tool as I was trying to find the balance in the film. Then I went on a silent retreat after I finished the job. Really, you did? As a treat to myself, yeah. It felt like the right way to honor the movie. I’m a drummer myself. My dad is a musician and he’s losing his hearing. A silent retreat teaches you something about time and where you are in your own life and all the stuff you should appreciate. It felt so good, honestly. Also, you were able to see “Sound of Metal” with a large audience at its premiere in Toronto. What was that like? Incredible. There is a huge deaf community in Toronto and they were there. The dream that Darius shared with me was that he wanted to make a film for them, where the hearing audiences might feel left out. That’s what we got. Suddenly people in the audience were laughing at certain things and I was like “What’s going on?” I have never ever experienced anything like it. Amazing. Read original story ‘Sound of Metal’ Editor on Why He Cut a ‘Beautiful, Candy to the Eye’ Scene At TheWrap
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