More from Julian Sancton
‘Under Paris’ Director Used Hollywood Tricks to Make an “Anti-Hollywood” Netflix Hit
[This story contains spoilers for the Netflix movie Under Paris.] Slicing Paris in half, the river Seine flows through the heart of French identity, past the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Académie Française, the centuries-old institution of letters that guards against the bastardization of the French language, leading a valiant resistance to American cultural expansion. In these sacrosanct waters and […]
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How ‘Hacks’ Snuck in Climate Activism Between Jokes
In the HBO hit Hacks, the quip-rich dynamic between the extravagant, cynical stand-up doyenne Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her anxious, earnest Gen Z head writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) is both an engine of comedy and a way to explore generational disconnects over contemporary issues, from ageism and sexism to evolving gender norms. A major arc […]
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Apple’s Soul-Crushing New Ad: Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?
It seems at first like a brilliant, if unsubtle, piece of dystopian satire: countless symbols of human creativity — books, musical instruments, artworks, arcade games — crowded onto a platform and slowly, painfully, sadistically pancaked between the massive metal jaws of a machine. An upright piano splinters and cracks. Paint gushes like blood. With its […]
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‘Food, Inc. 2’ Creators on Why a Sequel to 2008’s Big Ag Exposé Was Necessary: “It’s Really Sad to See Things Get Worse”
Food, Inc. 2 follows the golden rule of Hollywood sequels: The second time around, the villain must be scarier and the death count higher. Directors Melissa Robledo and Robert Kenner’s 2008 documentary Food, Inc. helped spark a national conversation about the devastating economic, environmental and health effects of our industrialized food system, and built momentum for […]
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Rambling Roundup: Ridley Scott’s Very Expensive Roman Holiday
Ridley Scott’s Very Expensive Roman Holiday With accidents on the set, complaints about animal abuse and now reports that the production went wildly over budget, sources tell Rambling Reporter that Ridley Scott’s long-anticipated Gladiator sequel is leaving Paramount execs feeling a bit like Joaquin Phoenix’s Emperor Commodus — “terribly vexed.” Initially budgeted at $165 million, sources […]
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Hollywood Flashback: Costa-Gavras’ ‘Z’ Ventured Into New Oscar Territory
“Any resemblance to real events and dead or living people is not a coincidence. It is INTENTIONAL.” So reads a title card at the beginning of Costa-Gavras’ Z, set in an unnamed Mediterranean country that could stand in for any number of police states torn between Russian and American influence at the height of the […]
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Jeremy Renner on His New Superpower (After “Dying and Coming Back” to Life)
Just over a year after suffering a horrific snowplow accident on New Year’s Day that shattered 38 bones and left his life in limbo, Jeremy Renner will show off his miraculous recovery to an estimated audience of 113 million. This Sunday, viewers will see his first Super Bowl ad, for Silk Protein, a product the […]
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Oscar Nominee Cord Jefferson on His Two Nods for ‘American Fiction’: “I Might Have Had a Heart Attack if I Was Watching It Live”
American Fiction writer-director Cord Jefferson wanted to make absolutely sure he’d be asleep when the Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday morning. “I think that I might have had a heart attack if I was watching it live — it would have been too intense an experience for me,” he says when reached by phone following the […]
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In Sports Media, Athletes Now Run the Show — and Bring Upheaval
By 2018, Will Compton, a 28-year-old backup linebacker on a one-year contract with the Tennessee Titans, knew his playing days were numbered. Contemplating a career after football, he considered going into real estate or coaching but couldn’t muster much enthusiasm for either. Driving home after a game one evening, he called Taylor Lewan, an offensive […]
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Louise Linton Welcomes Baby Girl With Husband Steve Mnuchin — and a New Rom-Com
With the birth of her daughter on Tuesday, Louise Linton has premiered the first part of what she calls her “double feature.” “I’m just really delighted,” says the Scottish actress (Cabin Fever), who is married to producer and former Trump administration treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin. The news comes just over a month before the Dec. 12 release […]
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SBF Ties to Hollywood Super-Connector and Taylor Swift’s Openness to FTX Money Revealed in New Book
Sam Bankman-Fried had a plan to save humanity, and he would need celebrities to pull it off. In Going Infinite, Michael Lewis’ newly released account of Bankman-Fried’s vertiginous rise and fall, The Big Short and Moneyball author explains how the disgraced crypto tycoon — now in jail awaiting trial on fraud charges — claims to have been motivated by […]
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How the Hammer Museum’s Diverse ‘Made in L.A.’ Biennial Expands the Artistic Canon
On a plaque at the Watts Towers Art Center, adjacent to the iconic spires built by Simon Rodia, is a quote by the institution’s late co-founder, the renowned artist Noah Purifoy: “Creativity can be an act of living, a way of life, and a formula for doing the right thing.” The phrase, as well as […]
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