Lulu Wang’s The Farewell premiered at Sundance to outstanding reviews and already, back then, people were talking Oscar potential. The film was released in July and remains one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year with strong specialty box office performance to back it up. And through…

Lulu Wang’s The Farewell premiered at Sundance to outstanding reviews and already, back then, people were talking Oscar potential. The film was released in July and remains one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year with strong specialty box office performance to back it up. And through…

Swifties are claiming a partial victory for the AMAs, but there’s still the Netflix documentary. And Shawn Mendes is a target now, too – not because he has anything to do with Taylor Swift’s master recordings, but because he was on John Mayer’s Instastories talk show, “Current Mood with John Mayer”….

Swifties are claiming a partial victory for the AMAs, but there’s still the Netflix documentary. And Shawn Mendes is a target now, too – not because he has anything to do with Taylor Swift’s master recordings, but because he was on John Mayer’s Instastories talk show, “Current Mood with John Mayer”….

Since July, I have been conducting a thorough scientific inquiry into What Is Cats? So far, I have only questions, no answers, as I try to determine What Is Cats, a question seemingly designed to boggle even the sharpest minds. My first hypothesis is that Cats is a coke-induced mania, but I am worki…

People are still lying about Donald Trump’s weird trip to the hospital. [Pajiba]
Do not click here if you’re afraid of clowns. [OMG Blog]
Harry Styles made Ticketmaster crash, basically. [The Blemish]
Jennifer Lopez is the new face of Coach! [JustJared]
Brad Pitt went to an art exhibit over the weekend. [LaineyGossip]
Gwyneth Paltrow is goopifying BDSM. [Dlisted]
This LV perfume ad starring Emma Stone made a weird fashion choice. [Tom & Lorenzo]
This “gay blind date dance” is absolutely amazing. [Towleroad]
Karlie Kloss looks… different. Is it her hair? [RCFA]

Memorandum from the President’s Physician pic.twitter.com/yzkjqCBBHc

— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 19, 2019

As mentioned a few times recently, Robert Pattinson is a possibility for an Oscar nomination for his performance in The Lighthouse and he’s been campaigning. Robert was at the Academy Governors Awards a few weeks ago, he’s attended pre-awards Hollywood Foreign Press Association events, and he was pa…

I am genuinely looking forward to seeing Helena Bonham Carter play Princess Margaret in The Crown. She looks like Margaret, and I think HBC will be able to capture Margaret’s haughtiness and self-destruction. As it turns out, Helena spent time with Princess Margaret when she (HBC) was a child. And we already knew that Helena contacted a psychic to get Margaret’s permission. Helena talks about all of that and more with the current issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

She doesn’t feel like a British Icon: “My mother’s half-French and half-Spanish. I was much more conscious of that side of the family. And I thought English roses were supposed to be blonde and blue-eyed.”

How she knew the real Margaret: “She was a lifelong friend of my uncle Mark. He was in the Grenadiers, I think, and he guarded Margaret and Elizabeth at Windsor. And then they met, and I think there was a romance. He was really dashing…” Bonham Carter recalls attending parties as a child at her uncle’s home in the presence of the Princess. Years later, after the fire at Windsor Castle, she was invited there to celebrate its restoration. “Margaret was on her own with a drink in her hand and she talked to me. She said, “Oh, Helena, you are getting better, aren’t you, at acting.’ Typical Margaret!”

She spoke to many of Margaret’s friends for research: Lady Glenconner said Margaret had been told “probably by her sister, who was her best friend”, that as her job was to be seen by as many people as possible, she ought to do everything very slowly. Economy of effort was another of the Princess’ trademarks; a different lady-in-waiting, Jane Stevens, told Bonham Carter that Margaret’s lipstick was angled on two sides so it took just a single swipe to apply colour to both lips. “That typifies her,” says Bonham Carter. “The less effort, the better, which is very high-status. And she always wore a corset because she felt vulnerable, it was her emotional armour – she said of herself that her confidence was enamel-thin.”

Justice for Margaret: “I wanted to do her justice. If someone does, as people said, behave rudely, there’s always a reason. It usually means that they’re unhappy.”

Breaking up with Tim Burton & moving on: “You break up, you grieve, you get bored of grieving, and then you finally move on,” she says now. “I’m very happy with someone else. It’s been a bit of unexpected magic in my life.” She and Holmboe now share a ‘fur baby’, Pablo the Tibetan terrier. “Mother and dog are doing very well.”

She’s happy now professionally too: “When I turned 50, I worried it was downhill all the way. But it’s quite the opposite. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier or more fulfilled. This huge blooming of television means character-driven stories, so there’s a lot of choice and a lot of work. When I was young, you were considered ‘older’ over 30.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar UK]

I’m including a photo of HBC with her new (younger) man below. He’s very cute. Helena also went on and on about what Margaret’s spirit told her through the psychic medium, and that Margaret wanted Helena to “scrub up.” Meaning, don’t walk around with your hair looking like a bird’s nest! But if there’s one thing The Crown does really well, it’s all of the hair, makeup and costumes. So I’m not worried. As for everything else… Helena sounded very centered here. I was expecting her to be more eccentric? Maybe she’s becoming more lowkey as she gets older.

Embed from Getty Images

Cover courtesy of Bazaar UK, additional photos courtesy of Backgrid and Getty.

I like David Harbour well enough. He seems like a good guy who’s enjoying his rapid rise to stardom. He’s also having fun with his new status as a sex symbol, although he clearly doesn’t understand how he got it. David’s Stranger Things character, Sheriff Hopper, became known for a great deal of facial hair and a ‘Dad-Bod’ that supposedly drives women mad, which I don’t totally understand. I mean, I’m not turned off by a dad-bod but it sounds like his dad-bod is central to his attraction. Something’s working for him because David earned a spot in People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue. While on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, David spoke about being included and then he tried to deflect everything away from that topic. The interview below is queued up to the SMA bit (1:47) and I’ll transcribe below:

I gotta talk to you about the last thing I saw you in, this little program… called Stranger Things. You’ve emerged from that a sex symbol.
Uh, I guess so

The new Sexiest Man Alive issue has come out and look who is one of the Sexiest Men Alive (points to David’s photo) right there. Look at that.
I’m very excited for People Magazine next month is going to release Men Wandering Around Lower Manhattan’s Bed Bath and Beyond Looking for the Perfect Dish Towel – and I’m also in that, as well. I’d also like to say that I got Sexiest Man Alive when I had a full mustache and 40 inch waist so, Thank you, America.

I do honestly think David is flummoxed by his sex-symbol status and his awkwardness in addressing it is genuine. I also like that he pointed out he was chosen when he, “had a 40-inch waist.” I realize there is a major double-standard at play but it’s nice to see David and Ben Platt on a two-page spread with Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves and Andrew Scott. Gotta love that David’s 40” waist is cropped out of the shot, guess that’s one gender-neutral stance Hollywood has. I like to see these lists shake things up so I’m happy David is included on it.

The book that David is currently writing will deal with all of his struggles with anxiety, mental health and having been institutionalized . David said he wants others who struggle with mental disorders to be inspired. He pointed out:

I think it’s rare to see people who are successful who have had really deep struggles with mental illness come out and say, to people who are struggling with it, ‘it’s okay. You can be successful, have a large cultural voice, you can do a lot in this world. Just because you are deemed mentally ill it doesn’t mean it’s some kind of death sentence.’

That’ll move him a few ticks on my sexy list for certain. I love that he’s centering his book around the idea that a diagnosis doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. He’s been such a great spokesman on the subject of mental health, I’m glad that he’s broadening his audience.

Question, though – David told Colbert this new ‘80s villain look he has going on is a result of his being unemployed and just hanging around, writing a lot. If David is unemployed with nothing to shill, why is he on Colbert? I think it’s time he recognizes that we all know Hopper is coming back on Stranger Things 4, so he can drop the façade (and the mullet).

Photo credit: WENN Photos and YouTube

Many of us believed that Miley Cyrus and Cody Simpson wouldn’t last through Halloween. They made it through Halloween, even doing a couple-costume together. But after that, we haven’t heard much about their relationship. Miley is recovering from vocal cord surgery and Cody insists that they’re both sober and working on their sobriety together. Still, rumors cropped up this week that maybe Miley has already phased out Cody after what? About two months? E! News says not so fast:

Miley Cyrus and Cody Simpson are still dating, despite what you might’ve read. It was reported on Monday that the “Mother’s Daughter” singer and the “Surfboard” star had decided to take a break from their relationship. However, E! News has learned the split rumors are not true, in fact, the musical couple was just together in her home state of Tennessee last week.

“Miley and Cody saw each other last week when he visited her in Tennessee. They are fine and are still dating,” a source tells E! News. “Miley has been resting from her vocal surgery but has been in touch and seen Cody recently. Miley always made it clear to Cody that she likes to have freedom and he always understood the dynamic of the relationship. They have been friends for years and will always be, and are currently fine and on great terms.”

Another source also confirms to E! News that Cody and Miley are still very much an item. “They are very happy together. She has a new house in LA and when she’s in town, she has been spending most nights there,” the insider shares. “She was out of town and they definitely missed each other. They reunited and you could see how happy they were to be back together again. It’s clear they are very into each other. She has a busy schedule and a lot of work commitments that have kept them apart. But when they are together there’s no doubt they are crazy about each other.”

[From E! News]

All of this “they’re still together of course and he makes her very happy” stuff can only mean one thing: they’ll be broken up within a month. I believe that they’re probably still together at the moment. But Miley’s need for attention is like an itch waiting to be scratched. As soon as she develops any kind of quiet couple-rhythm with Cody, she’ll be out of there in a flash.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, IG, WENN and Avalon Red.