Are you here for Willem Dafoe in Eternity’s Gate? He plays Vincent Van Gogh. [Dlisted]
Les Moonves was intent on destroying Janet Jackson’s career after the 2004 Super Bowl. Ugh, this story is so awful. [LaineyGossip]
Lily Allen claims James Blunt had sex on her foyer. [The Blemish]
Rob McElhenney explains how he got ripped. [OMG Blog]
Whatever happened to Steve Zahn? [Looper]
Plaid Shirt Guy was the Greek Chorus for America. [Buzzfeed]
Cate Blanchett in green ruffles… love the green, hate the ruffles. [GFY]
Prince George & Princess Charlotte’s first days-of-school won’t be photographed this year, because reasons. [JustJared]
A throwback to some seriously vintage Burt Reynolds. [Seriously OMG WTF]

Destination Wedding is now available on VOD. A romantic comedy for cranks, Destination Wedding supposes two things: 1) The best cinematic romances are spiky and full of tension, and 2) audiences want to see Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder fall in love. Writer/director Victor Levin, veteran of Mad Abou…

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Talk about the apple not falling far from the tree. 26-year-old Jack Quaid is the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. He appeared in the Hunger Games and Catching Fire as Marvel, was part of the impressive ensemble cast of the criminally underrated series Vinyl on HBO and, as Celebitchy reminded me, played Fish Bang in the hilarious Logan Lucky alongside Daniel Craig and Channing Tatum. Hey, he knows all the Twitters.

While Jack is making a name for himself, he is free from having to fight the label of “former child star” and he can thank his famous parents for that. Papa Dennis recently told US Magazine that “I wanted him to grow up as a kid and have his childhood and life experience apart from being on a set, which he will be on for the rest of his life.”

Of course, with two prolific actors as parents, Jack’s genetics pretty much predicted his career, and Dennis knew his son was a chip off the old block, telling US that “I wasn’t really nervous about his ability. It was very obvious that he had a lot of talent and drive to begin with.”

The 64-year-old actor and his son not only share a distinct family resemblance, Dennis said that they “have a very close relationship.” He said he was well aware that Jack had aspirations in getting into the family business, but admitted, “We didn’t let him be a child actor. He did it in high school, a play in high school. He did it the right way, I think. When it came time for him to go out and get jobs — he did it on his own.” And that he did.

As for uniting on-screen together, Dennis said that he and Jack have discussed the possibility of taking on a project together, noting, “We were actually offered a movie together contract. I would have done that but he was kind of against that.” And, being the supportive father I was hoping he’d be, Denis went on to say “I don’t blame him because … he is making a persona, a screen persona of his own. That’s what he’s building and I understand that.” And, he does hope that he will get to act with his son sometime in the future.

Jack has already turned in some great performances. He was a scream in Logan Lucky and I loved him on Vinyl, especially in a memorable scene with Alice Cooper’s boa constrictor. When he was shooting that show, Dennis gave him some fatherly advice, “Don’t worry.” At that time, he told Entertainment Tonight that, “It is advice I’ve never taken. Being a young actor — it’s chaos sometimes.” With his more recent roles, I hope he’s finally taken his dad’s words of wisdom to heart, because it looks like he’s going to be around for a while.

Photos: Getty, WENN

I’ve been parceling out the September issue covers, but suffice to say, the trend for this year’s September covers was to honor amazing black women, from Beyonce to Rihanna to Lupita and more. Harper’s Bazaar Australia didn’t get the memo – Cate Blanchett in their September cover girl. I’m really not feeling this cover though. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like Cate, still, despite her Woody Allen and Roman Polanski vague apologia. I’ve always thought Cate was strikingly beautiful and ageless. But this cover makes her look… worked on. Like she’s had some bad eye work or she overdid some Botox. I don’t know. Anyway, here are some highlights from the interview:

On turning 50 next year: “I think about [turning 50] on an existential level, sure, but on a career level, I refuse. It’s important to keep karate-chopping those doors down and creating new opportunities not just for yourself, but also for those who are coming up behind you. I’m not panicking on a work level. It’s more that there are so many lives I want to live.”

On actors and their limits: “When it suits the media, you’re an actress of international standing with relative intelligence. But veer outside your perceived remit and you’re a ‘celebrity.’ I don’t ever see that happen to men in the banking sector who take on philanthropic causes.”

On sharing her political views with her family: She said there are a lot of ‘oh no, not again’ reactions from her children when she tries to discuss social issues at home. “There’s a lot of eye-rolling. We took our nine-year-old to Jordan, but we make a point of not lecturing them. It’s actually interesting to hear them talk when they think you’re out of earshot…”

What she would discuss with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, if given the chance: “I’d talk about off-shore processing [of refugees] and the absolute importance of upholding the human rights convention.”

[From The Daily Mail]

I didn’t realize she was turning 50 in the next year. She’s right to not even concentrate on that at a career level – she’s gotten some of her best roles in her 40s, and she won a second Oscar in her 40s, and she’s got more work offers than she can keep up with. It helps that she’s so devoted to the theater too – if Hollywood stops calling, she would be able to do any play she wanted on Broadway, or in London or Australia. She’s just one of those actresses who will always get work. Now, I totally feel her on the “I think about ageing on an existential level.” How could you not? I have a birthday coming up and it’s f–king painful.

Cover courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar Australia, additional photos courtesy of WENN.

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Alexander Skarsgård’s roles have recently taken him in a more dramatic direction, but his outlook is as positive as ever. In our September Men’s Fashion cover story, the actor discusses his early career, season two of BLL, his favorite Swedish holiday and more. Read the full story online now, on newsstands 9/15. (?: @alexb718, ?: @annemariekevandrimmelen, styling by @georgecortina) #WSJMagazine

A post shared by WSJ. Magazine (@wsjmag) on Sep 6, 2018 at 6:31am PDT

Alexander Skarsgard covers the latest issue of WSJ. Magazine. He’s promoting Hold the Dark, which seems like a really dark little film, and The Little Drummer Girl, a miniseries based on John le Carré’s book of the same name. The photos from this WSJ. Magazine shoot are sexy and lovely – go here to see and read the full piece. Alex isn’t really breaking news, but I enjoyed this interview all the same, especially when he talked about Sweden and a pagan ritual. Some highlights:

He’s been doing some really dark roles: “So… a lot of f—ing darkness last year, man. I learned early on if I can’t switch off and clock out, if I carry it with me when I come home, it’s gonna destroy me and my relationships… [during Big Little Lies] I was staying with my friends, and they have two kids, 8 and 10. It meant so much to have that lightness, to go home to a lovely family life and hang out and play with the kids just so I didn’t spend five months in that darkness. They saved me.”

Growing up in the artsy Södermalm section of Stockholm: “It was very lively, crazy, bohemian and intense. I was studious, I was into sports, I was into listening to music. I just wanted to be normal. My biggest wish when I was 14 was that Dad would become an accountant, drive a gray Saab and wear a suit to work instead of cooking these weird dishes naked and drinking wine on a Tuesday with artists—stuff that I love and appreciate about my father now.”

He lived out of one suitcase after ‘True Blood’ ended: “All I needed fit in that suitcase. A giant blow-dryer. And a framed picture of myself,” he says. Although his nomadic ways came to an end—he recently moved into an apartment in New York’s East Village, and then, after one particularly boozy brunch in Stockholm, he bought another in his old neighborhood (“I was tipsy,” he admits)—Skarsgård has no regrets about his peripatetic period.

On the rumors he’s dated Charlize Theron: “It doesn’t affect me. People can think whatever they want,” he says, adding that, although he’s not active on social media, he still hears such rumors. “It’s impossible to live in a vacuum—you hear, ‘Oh, I heard you’re dating so-and-so.’ Sometimes you’re like, ‘Yeah, I did.’ Sometimes it’s, ‘Never met the person but give her my number.’”

He likes his single life: “I really enjoy the adventure of traveling, meeting new people and working a lot. Hopefully one day I’ll settle down.”

He’s going back to Sweden for Midsommar (or Midsummer), his favorite holiday: “For someone who hasn’t experienced it, it’s f—ing surreal,” he says of the pagan fertility celebration. Swedes head to the woods, set out lavish smorgasbords with pickled herring and schnapps and erect a modified maypole to commemorate the summer solstice. “You celebrate by sticking a 20-foot pole covered in leaves and flowers into the ground,” Skarsgård explains. “A phallic pole in a hole—the symbolism is very clear. So, after you fertilize Mother Earth, you get sh–faced and then you dance around the pole and sing… And you do that all night. It’s the longest day of the year. It basically never gets dark.”

[From WSJ. Magazine]

When Alex describes Midsommar, he even sings the the song “Små Grodorna,” or “Little Frogs.” It sounds like… an incredible time to be in Sweden. Is it quite common for Swedes to celebrate Midsommar by going to the woods and fertilizing mother Gaia? That’s amazing. MOAR PAGAN RITUALS. As for the rest of it… Alex just seems like a genuinely cool guy, and his whole “I traveled around and made a choice to live out of a suitcase for three years” thing seems genuine. Such a Viking. Mmm.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram courtesy of WSJ. Magazine.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the 100 Days to Peace concert last night in London, their second engagement this week. The signature Sussex handholding was on display. But that’s not what the conversation is today. The conversation is about the dress. And, specifically, how she looks in the …

It’s Friday, damn it, and I just want to look at attractive men in suits and tuxedos. Is that so wrong?? Here are photos from the TIFF premiere of Outlaw King, the Netflix film about Robert the Bruce. Chris Pine plays Robert the Bruce, and I still have questions about his Scottish accent, but sure, I’m willing to overlook those questions at the moment. Pine costars with Aaron Taylor Johnson, who was also on hand at the premiere with his wife Sam Taylor Johnson. I love that Aaron wore a real, formal tuxedo for the premiere, but he makes Chris look sort of underdressed, right? Like they’re at two different premieres. Plus, I hate it when men button the very top button of their dress shirt, like Chris. I feel like that should only be buttoned if you’re wearing a tie.

While Netflix financed and produced Outlaw King, the film is getting a theatrical release. Variety says the theatrical release is well-deserved, because the film looks and feels like a David Lean-esque epic. The TIFF reviews are already coming out, and people seem to like it too. We’ll see – most of the fancy film people (like Oscar voters) still ghettoize Netflix and Amazon-produced theatrical films. The business model is shaking up the industry and I don’t hate the fact that Pine felt comfortable with the material and the Netflix association. Pine has major BDE, right? Speaking of Pine’s BDE, it literally makes an appearance in this film. Mmmm.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Chris Pine was in Toronto last night for the TIFF opening gala world premiere of his new Netflix epic Outlaw King. For those of you asking, I did not attend his red carpet. There was no professional reason for me to be there and despite what my overall Intense Crush aesthetic may suggest, I am above…

Olivia Munn is starring in the fourth Predator movie, a sequel that’s out next week. The LA Times reported yesterday that Munn learned just a month ago that she had worked on the film with a convicted sex offender, a man named Steve Striegel, who was a friend of director Shane Black. Black thought he was giving his good buddy another chance by casting him in the film, in scenes in which the sex offender hit on Olivia Munn’s character. Munn brought the issue up to the film studio, Twentieth Century Fox, which cut Striegel’s scene right before it was set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Respect.

Twentieth Century Fox was just days away from locking picture on “The Predator” when an urgent note came in: Delete the scene featuring Steven Wilder Striegel.

Striegel, 47, didn’t have a big role in his longtime friend Shane Black’s reboot of the sci-fi thriller — just a three-page scene shared with actress Olivia Munn.

But last month, Munn learned that Striegel is a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty in 2010 after facing allegations that he attempted to lure a 14-year-old female into a sexual relationship via the internet. When Munn shared the information with Fox on Aug. 15, studio executives quickly decided to excise him from the movie.

“Our studio was not aware of Mr. Striegel’s background when he was hired,” a Fox spokesperson said in a statement to The Times. “We were not aware of his background during the casting process due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors…”

Striegel served six months in jail after pleading guilty to two felonies — risk of injury to a child and enticing a minor by computer. The first role he landed after his release was in Black’s 2013 film, “Iron Man 3.” Three years later, he got another part in one of the filmmaker’s projects, the crime caper “The Nice Guys.” In 2016, Black told GQ that he was planning to produce a heist film “by my friend Steve Wilder.”

Black defended his decision to cast Striegel in a small part in “The Predator” as a jogger who repeatedly hits on Munn’s character.

“I personally chose to help a friend,” Black said in a written statement to The Times. “I can understand others might disapprove, as his conviction was on a sensitive charge and not to be taken lightly.”

But he said he has long believed that Striegel was “caught up in a bad situation versus something lecherous.”

Munn said she found it “both surprising and unsettling that Shane Black, our director, did not share this information to the cast, crew, or Fox Studios prior to, during, or after production.”

“However,” she continued, “I am relieved that when Fox finally did receive the information, the studio took appropriate action by deleting the scene featuring Wilder prior to release of the film.”

[From The LA Times]

There is an extremely high burden of proof on convicting these offenders. This POS was found guilty and served six months for his crimes and yet his buddy believed his bullsh-t excuses and thought he deserved a part in a major film. The argument usually made on behalf of abusers is the old “they were never convicted and tried.” Well this person was found guilty but outlets are still printing his lies and explanations as if they’re valid and explain why his friend would hire him. Imagine if Olivia Munn had less clout and influence and if she was just a newcomer who refused to work with this abhorrent man. She would be the one getting fired, not him. We saw this same scenario play out with Harvey Weinstein, Louis CK and more. Women have their careers ruined when they speak out about being assaulted and yet we’re the ones blamed for not saying anything, for not saying enough, for wearing the wrong outfit or being in the wrong place.

Munn’s tweets about this really show the conviction and general bada-ery this must have required to speak up and stick to her guns. I’m embedding a few below and there are more on her Twitter page.

My mom taught me to stand up & say “That’s not okay” Even if you find yourself standing alone, speak up. Even if people get mad at you, speak up. It’s not our job to stay silent so that others can stay comfortable. Use your voice to shape the world or others will shape it for us. pic.twitter.com/NL4bIQNSGj

— om (@oliviamunn) September 6, 2018

These @latimes excerpts from the arrest affidavit are beyond disturbing and completely contradict Wilder’s version of how he was convicted. https://t.co/QZcGxV7JU9

— om (@oliviamunn) September 6, 2018

In addition to this statement, the @latimes also reported that Wilder said Shane was “aware of the facts” of his arrest. He made a “personal choice” to continually work with a convicted sex offender, but I didn’t have a choice. That decision was made for me. And that’s not okay. https://t.co/AHAyV19tJq

— om (@oliviamunn) September 6, 2018

Also, Munn deserves props so I’m not going to focus too much on the fact that she looks like an extra on Deadwood at the TIFF premiere of The Predator.

This is what she wore to a photocall. Those are pants.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

A month ago, the Academy announced some big new changes they were making to the annual Oscars. The Oscars are basically on life support at the moment – viewership is way down, and the Oscars are generally seen as less and less relevant with each passing year. It doesn’t help matters at all that the old white dudes who make up the biggest part of the Oscar-voting demographic and by God, they want more white people to get Oscars for making boring, awful historical films.

One of the new changes for the Oscars was supposed to remedy that: the Academy announced that they were adding a “Popular Film Oscar,” so that blockbusters and movies like Wonder Woman or Black Panther could be nominated for something. The decision to add this category was seen as especially patronizing, like the Academy is already preparing for the fact that their old white-dude voters will not nominate an actual popular film in the “real” categories. So after that feedback – “this is patronizing as hell, dude” – the Academy has backtracked.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is postponing the introduction of the new “popular” Oscar category it had intended to introduce at its upcoming 91st Academy Awards on Feb. 24. The Academy announced Thursday, following a special meeting of the board of governors on Wednesday morning, that it is shelving the idea for the moment and will not launch the proposed new award at the next Oscar show, but it said it will continue to discuss the idea for the new award and “will examine and seek additional input regarding the new category.” The announcement explained that implementing the new award nine months into the year “created challenges for films that have already been released.” The Academy did not provide any timeline for when further details about the new award might be decided.

“There has been a wide range of reactions to the introduction of a new award, and we recognize the need for further discussion with our members,” Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said Thursday. “We have made changes to the Oscars over the years — including this year — and we will continue to evolve while also respecting the incredible legacy of the last 90 years.”

Hoping to stem falling ratings for the Oscar broadcast, the Academy is looking for ways to attract the attention of mainstream moviegoers. The new award was seen as a way to guarantee that blockbuster movies, like the Marvel, Star Wars and DC Universe films, as well as surprise hits like A Quiet Place and Crazy Rich Asians, would be assured of air time on the broadcast.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

You know another way to guarantee that Crazy Rich Asians, Black Panther and A Quiet Place garner Oscar nominations? Actually NOMINATE the films in existing categories. There’s absolutely NO reason why those three films should be omitted from the Best Picture conversation. They were well-made popular films embraced by the public, and not because of some heavy-handed Oscar campaign in January. Gather around, children: back in the day, the Academy voters used to actually nominate popular films that people saw and loved months beforehand. Weird, right?

Photos courtesy of WENN, ‘Crazy Rich Asians,’ ‘Black Panther’.