Many of you have been asking for a post on Dev Patel. More posts on Dev Patel. It’s been a great week for Dev so far. On Monday he was at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon as a proper nominee for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Lion. And this weekend he’s at home in London for the BAFTAs.

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I find Isabelle Huppert’s Gucci dress to be so fug that it’s actually a little bit charming. She wore this to the Santa Barbara Film Festival. [JustJared]
Are you here for Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled? [LaineyGossip]
Jack Nicholson is doing a movie with Kristen Wiig. [Dlisted]
Gwyneth Paltrow covers all of the international Elle covers. [GoFugYourself]
Gigi Hadid wanders around in Tommy Hilfiger. [Popoholic]
Vogue still likes Lena Dunham for some reason. [OMG Blog]
Kelly Ripa dishes about her sex life with Mark Consuelos. [Wonderwall]
One of Lisa Rinna’s daughters looks so much like Katy Perry. [Reality Tea]
Selena Gomez is cleavage-y in New York. [IDLY]
Kate Beckinsale put her puppy in her sports bra. [Seriously OMG WTF]
You’ll wear the panties Tom Ford gives you and you’ll like it. [Socialite Life]

Aaron Taylor-Johnson profile in Vulture posted yesterday – did you read it? He’s quite self-deprecating. And I don’t think it’s dishonest. When ATJ was nominated and then won the Golden Globe, no one was expecting it, certainly not him. Partly because he wasn’t the one who was supposed to emerge …

Who is this adorable baby girl?

Hint: Mom is the celebrity.

Leave your best guess in the comments. We’ll reveal the answer later.

Now that I’m a few weeks removed from seeing La La Land, I’ve gotten used to the idea that it’s going to win a lot of Oscars and my anger about that has dissipated somewhat. I still believe Moonlight is a superior film, and I still hope that Moonlight wins Best Picture and that Barry Jenkins wins Best Director. But I’ve resigned myself to the idea that at best, I think those awards will be split, with La La Land picking up either Picture or Director and Moonlight picking up the other. Who know though? There is a quiet backlash against La La Land, so maybe that backlash will be flourishing by the time the Oscars roll around.

A few weeks back, artist Elon Rutberg – perhaps best known for his collaborations with Kanye West – tweeted that La La Land is “fascist” because it’s being used to sedate the populace, and that the escapism is a way of weaponizing “dangerous naïveté.” Rutberg also said the movie was “an act of destructive naïveté in a historical moment requiring depth, clarity, and refined thought.” If I had to guess, I would say that Rutberg meant that at this particular moment in America, we don’t need a film about white people saving jazz and singing weakly and acting twee. I bring up those now-deleted tweets because Barry Jenkins made a funny reference to them.

Moonlight writer-director Barry Jenkins just got back from an European tour promoting the movie, and he was shocked at what this year’s Oscars race has done for his profile. “When I was in Holland, my face was everywhere!” Jenkins said on The Awards Show Show this week, recalling the strange sensation of people honking at him on the street to lend support. With 8 Oscar nominations, Moonlight is second only to the 14 given to Damien Chazelle’s modern musical La La Land, and Jenkins laughed at the notion that both directors have suddenly become big in Europe. “Everywhere there was a newscast in Germany or Holland about the Oscars, it was ‘Damien and Barry Jenkins,’” he said. “It’s like we’re in a battle royale.” Moonlight is touted by some as the only film that can defeat La La Land … an awkward narrative for Jenkins, who has become good friends with Chazelle over this awards season.

“I wasn’t on set thinking, ‘I’m going to make a film that can take down the ‘white, fascist musical,’ just like I’m sure Damien wasn’t on set thinking, ‘I’m going to make a movie that can take down the gay, black, hood love story told in an art-house way,’” said Jenkins. “It just doesn’t work that way. Just like all these movies [like Moonlight, Fences, and Hidden Figures] are being framed as a response to #OscarsSoWhite — I think they all arose in a vacuum, and they just arrived at this moment. It’s great for people out there who need a narrative, but we’re just trying to make art.”

That’s not to say that Jenkins isn’t conscious of all the strategizing that goes into the Oscars race. “I’m on this podcast, so very clearly, I’m participating in awards season,” he told Awards Show Show hosts Kyle Buchanan and John Horn. “So much is at stake with the results of all these things we’re going through … and yet I don’t want those results to affect my feeling, my appreciation, my pride in the work that we did.”

And at the very least, awards season gives his eloquent cast the chance to speak passionately from the heart, as Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali did last weekend with a highly praised speech at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. “It’s much easier to be silent than it is to speak up,” said Jenkins, who admits that he watched Ali’s moving speech “through blurry eyes.” And if Moonlight does prevail on Oscars night, will he follow suit? Jenkins smiled: “If I’m so lucky to give a speech, maybe I’ll say a little somethin’.”

[From Vulture]

Ha, I wonder if Barry Jenkins – who is nobody’s fool – knew that if he said the words “La La Land” and “fascist” together, that would be the headline everyone used, even if he was actually making fun of that idea. I believe that Barry and Damien have probably become friendly over the awards season, just as I believe that both men are both actively campaigning and working to win those Oscars. In any case, while I wouldn’t go so far as to say that La La Land is fascistic, I will say that I have my fingers crossed for a substantial La La Land backlash.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford star on Broadway in the upcoming Sunday In The Park With George beginning previews on Saturday and opening officially later this month. The musical is being staged at the Hudson Theatre which has just been renovated and Jake and Annaleigh were there yesterday…

America Ferrera is on the cover of Redbook this month. The photos are fine, if not a little sedated. I always feel like they don’t know what to do with America in fashion shoots, which is weird because she knows how to dress herself nicely. Plus, what is that bib ruffle doing on the front of her skirt? It looks like a caterpillar trying to camouflage itself. Anyway, I think she’s promoting the second season of Superstore, a comedy she’s produced and stars in. True story, I just started watching Superstore last week. I got some clip via a meme and it was enough to make me check it out. It’s cute. The characters are the show, Mark McKinney’s Glenn makes me laugh just by walking into the scene (although, I must confess, I am a HUGE The Kids in The Hall fan). Although a fairly strong ensemble, America is the star. She does well, too, she’s funny but also the center around which the others circle. She points out in this interview that her Superstore character, Amy, is the opposite of Betty from Ugly Betty, which I didn’t realize. Amy has resigned herself to accept the life she has where Betty, in America’s words, “was a go-getter.” When put like that, it’s pretty easy to figure out why America identifies with Betty more.

On finding balance:
When I was younger, I felt like everything was make or break. In my career and my relationships, there was a right way or a wrong way—and I had to fit into the right box. I’ve let go of those narrow definitions and found a balance.

On stepping up and taking chances in Hollywood:
We talk about a lot of things we want to see more women doing. We want more women producers, more women writers, more women directors– and you can only say that so many times before you say, ‘I’m a woman. What’s stopping me from doing this?’ I’ve had to ask myself: Why not me?

On representing women and Latinas while staying true to herself:
It is true that I represent women, and it is true that I represent Latinas, but it’s also true that I’m myself. My successes and my failures don’t have to have this enormous weight on them; they can just be mine. Whatever moves you forward, focus on it. Whatever handicaps you or paralyzes you, that’s the thing to get rid of.

On how there’s more to a woman’s value than her appearance:
I grew up believing a lot of things about myself that I had to unlearn– things that pertain to being a good woman, things about my weight or height… As women, you’re taught that your value is all about your appearance, not your ideas and your tenacity and your courage and your bravery and your adventurous spirit. Look, I love getting dressed up and looking beautiful. But that’s one tiny piece of me.

[From Redbook]

I love what she says about representing women and Latinas but also holding herself accountable for her successes and failures. We’ve all felt the weight of trying to achieve someone else’s success just because we ticked the same boxes as them. Something else America discussed was that all her current projects have one thing in common, “They scare me. I’ve begun to recognize that if it scares me in a good way — if there’s a part that’s fun and exciting and a little frightening — that’s the direction to go in.” This is where I fall short. I really don’t do enough that scares me.

I’m particularly interested in what America said about how women are raised to see their value through beauty. I’m raising a young lady and I keep thinking I am doing everything right but she is so focused on beauty – hers, those around her. She doesn’t seem to care much about mine but aging is a big topic for her when it comes to me. Obviously, I have had my hand in this but I can’t figure out how. My dilemma at present is bras – do we still suggest to girls to wear them or do we let them make that choice totally on their own? I know that sounds silly but I honestly cannot figure out when I am making a suggestion or passing on some ingrained, antiquated value that society mandated of me.

America is staying very busy with her activism and producing. Her bilingual web series Gente-fied just went to Sundance. Plus, and I am far more excited about this than any grown person should be, they’ve just gone into pre-production on How to Train Your Dragon III, in which she plays Astrid. *squee!*

Photo credit: Jeff Lipsky/Redbook

I will never say “no” to talking about my dream boyfriend/husband/best friend John Oliver. Last Week Tonight returns this Sunday, and Oliver has been doing a lot of press this week. He’s on the cover of Rolling Stone, he appeared on The Late Show, he did media availability with pretty much every newspaper and trade paper. What I love is that outlets like Politico cover John Oliver now, because the show is so smart and politically savvy. Anyway, there were two things I wanted to talk about. One, please enjoy this amusing interview Oliver did with Entertainment Weekly – go here to read. They asked him stupid questions (on purpose), like whether he would try to book Frederick Douglass for the show (Oliver has heard good things about him!).

Second thing: John Oliver appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Colbert and Oliver really like each other, and Oliver makes appearances on The Late Show quite often these days. This interview is both men at their best:

Oliver jokes that the biggest things that have happened over the past few months are mostly “cosmetic differences,” meaning “flames and the fact America is in it.” Here’s more:

Until Inauguration Day, Oliver described his general feeling as one of “being tied to a train track, watching the train coming.” And then, Trump getting sworn in was “the train hitting you and you’re thinking, ‘Yup, that felt pretty much how I thought it was going to feel.’”

On Steve Bannon, the “real president” of the United States, Oliver said, “he’s a terrifying individual.” As for Betsy DeVos, who was confirmed as education secretary earlier in the day, he joked, “I actually think she might and should serve as an inspiration to school kids in America, because she shows that they could be secretary of education one day. In fact, not just one day, now. They could do it now. They’re about as well qualified now as she is. They’ve spent arguably longer in a public school.”

During his final show of last year, Oliver called on Americans not to accept Trump as the “new normal.” Three months later, he said he thinks people are still “feeling viscerally repelled” by the president’s actions. But at the same time, he added, “It’s exhausting. It feels like his Inauguration Day was 114 years ago.” When Colbert reminded him that it’s been just over two weeks, Oliver said, “We have a long way to go.” When the host said we have at least four years to look forward to, he asked, “Why not 12? Words don’t mean anything anymore, why would numbers?”

Finally, Colbert asked Oliver to share his thoughts on Trump’s travel ban, given that he himself is a green-card holder and his wife served as a U.S. Army medic in Iraq.

“I am slightly concerned. I have an American wife and an American son now, but who knows what’s enough?” Oliver asked. “Having a green card used to be enough, and yet what we saw with that executive order on immigration, that debacle, things are not what they were supposed to be. We held up translators, Afghan and Iraqi translators at the border who have bled for a country they’ve never visited, have sacrificed family members for this country. This president has done neither of those things, so it’s a little hard to swallow him telling people whether they should be a benefit to America or not.”

[From The Daily Beast]

The green card thing is still chilling to me. As in, it says a lot about the real goals of Emperor Baby Fists’ “Muslim Ban.” It’s not about refusing entry to just certain people from certain countries – although that’s deplorable enough on its own – it’s about empowering police/immigration/security officials/customs officials to discriminate against, harass and detain all foreigners and all brown people. There are brown American citizens being detained and harassed and being asked to “prove” their citizenship. Ugh. As for everything else John Oliver says… yes. I’m glad he’s back.

Photos courtesy of WENN/CBS.

Here are some photos from last night’s big amfAR gala in New York. There was a great turnout, and it was almost like the big amfAR galas at Cannes. There were SO many models there. I’m not going to get to everybody, just the biggest names. Let’s start with Diane Kruger in this Versace minidress. Most of the women wore full-on gowns, so Diane stood out by going shorter. I also think she stood out because this dress feels less like gala-wear and more like “what you wear to a premiere after-party.” The dress is cute enough, but I would have chosen something different for her for this gala.

Scarlett Johansson wore a custom Atelier Versace tuxedo. She was one of the few (if only?) women in a tux/suit. I like the sharpness of this.

Naomi Campbell in Atelier Versace. Meh. She can wear anything, in any color, but I hate this shade of orange.

Zoë Kravitz in Versace, with her boyfriend Karl Glusman. Again, I’m not into the blonde hair but I like the simplicity of the dress. And Zoe seems really loved up with Karl.

Iman in Zac Posen. Do you realize how unforgiving this dress is? It’s satin, it’s bias-cut, it hugs every curve. And she looks amazing.

Chloë Sevigny in MiuMiu. She’s a national treasure, you guys. I love her.

Ellie Goulding in Jenny Packham Spring 2016. I don’t hate this at all. It depends on who is wearing it though – Packham is allegedly one of Duchess Kate’s favorite designers, and I would hate this on Kate. But on Ellie, it’s pretty sexy and cute.

I feel weird about this, but I don’t hate Victoria Justice’s Marchesa gown at all? This is the second Marchesa gown I’ve seen in a week’s time where I’m like, “Eh, it’s not so bad!” Am I losing my edge??

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

The first trailer for Sofia Coppola’s remake of The Beguiled dropped yesterday and her two muses, Kirsten Dunst (Marie Antoinette, The Virgin Suicides) and Elle Fanning, shared snippets of it on their Instagram pages along with the caption “vengeful bitches.”

VENG…