Time Magazine has an excellent article about one of the most anticipated films of 2017, Wonder Woman – you can read the full piece here. It works as a primer on the history of WW in the comics, as well as a primer on Wonder Woman’s history of controversy. WW always got sh-t for being pro-feminism, for being a superheroine for little girls, for looking like a sexy pin-up, and for daring to be glamorous AND strong. The most recent controversy for Wonder Woman saw her getting fired from her United Nations special ambassador position because she was deemed too sexy to stand up for exploited girls and women. In this Time piece, Gal Gadot speaks directly about the UN debacle and more. Some highlights:

Gadot on the UN firing Wonder Woman: “There are so many horrible things that are going on in the world, and this is what you’re protesting, seriously? When people argue that Wonder Woman should ‘cover up,’ I don’t quite get it. They say, ‘If she’s smart and strong, she can’t also be sexy.’ That’s not fair. Why can’t she be all of the above?”

Filming with a bunch of ladies in Italy: “It was like a kibbutz, all of us living in little bungalows, beautiful and green with no cars. We had all these women in armor fighting on the beach, and meanwhile all the men—husbands and boyfriends—are walking around with strollers and taking care of the kids.”

Gadot didn’t want Wonder Woman to be bossy: “We knew it was tricky. We wanted to find the balance between portraying her as confident and strong and feminine and warm. I didn’t want her to be a ball buster. I didn’t want her to be bossy. You can be powerful and also loving.”

Even though she served in the Israeli military, she’s a pacifist: “I know it sounds cheesy, but I wish we didn’t have to have an army at all.”

Wonder Woman and feminism: “I think people take it the wrong way when I say I’m a feminist. Feminism is not about burning bras and hating men. It’s about gender equality. Whoever is not a feminist is a chauvinist… We need to educate boys, show boys strong women in powerful positions. It’s all about expanding the possibilities of what women can be. I know I couldn’t do this without my husband.”

The body criticism she received: “Did you see the feedback I got from the fans after they cast me for this role? It was all about my breasts and bottom literally being too small.”

[From Time Magazine]

I agree with her about Wonder Woman being strong, powerful, smart AND sexy, and that it’s absolutely ridiculous for WW to be fired from the UN just because she looks like a pin-up. Here’s what bugs me about what Gal says though: “I didn’t want her to be a ball buster. I didn’t want her to be bossy.” This is a trap. This is the trap that Hollywood falls into time after time. Only women are called “bossy.” Only women are called “ballbusters.” Men who are strong and take-charge just get called superheroes and bosses. Only women and only female characters have to pass some kind of unwritten likeability/warmth/femininity test. What if Wonder Woman was “bossy”? What if she didn’t give a sh-t about busting everyone’s balls? Why would that be a problem?

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

The New York Times did a short profile of Alec Baldwin this week to highlight his ongoing Saturday Night Live portrayal of President Deplorable. While I do think Baldwin and SNL helped to “normalize” Donald Trump ahead of the election, I also believe that they were not trying to do anything except make people laugh. Baldwin’s Trump is a buffoon, a clown and an idiot… which basically shows that Baldwin is really great at impressions. Anyway, this NYT piece is called “A Tangerine Wig and a Tightrope Walk: Alec Baldwin as Donald J. Trump.” Some highlights:

It takes seven minutes for Baldwin to get into the Trump costume: A dusting of Clinique Stay-Matte powder in honey. A hand-stitched wig. Eyebrows glued up into tiny peaks. The rest is left to Alec Baldwin: the puckered lips, a studied lumbering gait and a wariness of humanizing a man he reviles.

Mimicking Trump’s speech patterns: Baldwin relies on “puffs” — his word for the pregnant pauses in the president-elect’s speech. “I see a guy who seems to pause and dig for the more precise and better language he wants to use, and never finds it. It’s the same dish — it’s a grilled-cheese sandwich rhetorically over and over again.”

Baldwin watched hours of Trump’s campaign appearances to get his movements right: “I’m not interested much by what’s inside him,” he said, but in how he moves and takes up space. Mr. Baldwin then amplifies the gestures, and distills them. An emphatic wave becomes a goofy “wax-on, wax-off” movement, he said, the simple hand motion reducing a candidate to an essence: pitchman.

How much Baldwin is paid: He does not write the sketches. He is paid $1,400 for each appearance on the show, he said.

The concern that he’s humanizing Trump: Playing Mr. Trump as a buffoon landing headfirst in his own gaffes has at points rendered him almost sweetly silly on screen. After the election, Mr. Baldwin recalled, he was distressed to receive an email from a friend sardonically thanking him for humanizing Mr. Trump and helping him win. “I do recognize that that is a possibility,” Mr. Baldwin said. “But I think that now that he is the president, we have an obligation — as we would if it was him or her — to dial it up as much as we can.”

He’s going to keep playing Trump when he can: Mr. Baldwin said that he planned to continue playing Mr. Trump on “Saturday Night Live” and perhaps elsewhere, but that his work schedule — he is about to film two movies — would mean his performances would be intermittent. Besides, he said, it might start to get old for audiences.

The comparison of Baldwin & Trump (they’re somewhat similar): “The difference is, with Trump, it’s incontrovertible that he has said the things he’s said. And he ran on them.”

Getting rid of Trump: “Whoever it is, wouldn’t it be great to be the person who pulls the sword out of the stone? Who gets rid of this guy? Wouldn’t that be thrilling?”

[From The NY Times]

Immediately following the election, Baldwin made some noise about not wanting to do the show anymore, but I think he’s realized the value of being such a pop-culture thorn in Trump’s side. As long as Trump tweets out his irritation with SNL and Baldwin, Baldwin will keep making appearances. As for the rest of it… Baldwin’s obviously not doing it for the money. That’s sort of cool, in my opinion – Baldwin is arguably one of our greatest impressionists, and he has such a long-standing relationship with Lorne Michaels and SNL, so it’s sort of sweet that he just shows up and does his Trump impression for so little money (and in actor-world, that’s probably the least amount of money they can give a SAG union member).

Here’s SNL’s last Trump skit of 2016:

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Baby bump watch!

Mom-to-be Irina Shayk stepped out on Wednesday (December 21). Donning a beige dress and rumored engagement ring, the supermodel, 30, returned to the Beverly Hills Hotel after doing some Christmas shopping in Los Angeles, Calif.

Last month, news broke that the Russian beauty and American Sniper star Bradley Cooper, 41, are expecting their first child. The model debuted her baby bump as she walked the catwalk at the 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

According to sources, the couple are blissfully awaiting their baby’s arrival.

“Irina and Bradley are so excited to be parents,” an insider told E! News. “They have already picked a few names they like. They know the sex but are still deciding between some names.”

The insider added: “Bradley and Irina love each other so much and this is not gonna be the only kid—there will be a few more after this one. Both families are very happy.”

Another source said the two “see themselves spending their lives together and building a family with more than one child.”

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Michelle Williams covers the January issue of Elle Magazine, just proving to me that she’s really going to do a big Oscar campaign this season. Michelle has a supporting role in Manchester by the Sea, and many believe she’s one of the leading contenders for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, alongside Naomie Harris (for Moonlight) and Viola Davis (for Fences). I keep hoping that Viola’s Oscar won’t be snatched away by another actress, and I’m really hoping that Michelle isn’t that actress. People say she’s great in Manchester, and the film is already “the film to beat” for many of the big awards, despite Casey Affleck’s problematic history. Back to Michelle… she really wants the nomination, if not the award. She’s cool with doing a ton of magazine interviews to promote the film and her potential nominations. Which is fine with me too – I like to see her playing the game. Here are some highlights from her Elle interview:

How the tabloid onslaught made it impossible to experience an authentic life: “If you feel like people are watching you, it’s impossible to have an authentic experience of being alive. There’s a performative aspect and a guardedness, and that’s just death. I don’t know how to live like that, and I don’t know how to give a life to my child like that.”

On how she’s naturally open but learned to set boundaries for herself: “It’s not naturally my inclination to be a boundary draw-er. I’m like, ‘Open up all the doors and the windows and let everybody in.’ That’s the aim of my work, too.” But this isn’t acting. “It’s been a really, really long time since I’ve been in an interview. But I have better boundaries now. I feel less susceptible to emotional wreck-diving to come up with explanations for everything.”

On the inspiration that drove her performance in Manchester by the Sea: “Everybody talks about the silences in movies and how interesting they are but it’s a lot easier than connecting beat to beat, line to line, inside of a scene in real time in front of a thousand people. But when I went to make [Manchester by the Sea], I felt a little bit more freedom, more access inside of myself.”

[From Elle]

I was trying to remember when she last did a ton of press… she’s obviously given interviews for various stage and film projects over the past few years, but it has been a good three years or so since she’s done a big campaign and promotional tour. As for the rest of it… I always get the feeling that Michelle would be an annoying friend, you know? She’s the friend who you couldn’t tease (she would cry) or watch trash TV with (she probably doesn’t own a TV) or go out for a drink for a birthday celebration (she has to stay in and read poetry). It’s interesting that she talks about the “performative aspect” of living a public life, because I always get the feeling that she’s doing exactly that in interviews, that what she’s presenting to us is her performance of The Widow Ledger, you know?

Photos courtesy of Terry Tsiolis for Elle Magazine.

Actress Kate Beckinsale covers ES Magazine‘s Film Awards Issue and opens up about raising daughter Lily, 17, with ex Michael Sheen and his girlfriend Sarah Silverman.

On being close with Sheen: “It’s so normal for us. We split up ages ago. We have been not together far longer than we were ever together. But I really love him and like him and we make each other roar with laughter.”

On her relationship with Silverman: “I really love his girlfriend as well, and we are really lucky that we both get on, and Lily gets on great with her. Having as many strong females in your teenage daughter’s life as possible is a good thing.”

On Lily going into acting: “That would be like sitting there with a glass of wine saying, ‘You can’t have a drink.’ I can see why she wants to do it. I don’t love the downside of it for my baby. But it’s not like she hasn’t seen both of her parents having a real experience of what it’s like. She has seen us ecstatic and miserable—she’s seen that, squared.”

On her Christmas plans: “I turn up the air-conditioning and hire a snow machine so we can feel cold and see snow. It’s difficult for a British person to make it feel like Christmas when it’s warm outside.”

For more from Kate, go to ES Magazine…

I’ve admitted this before, but it’s worth repeating: my mom follows the comings and goings of the Kardashian Klan. She even watches Blac Chyna and Rob’s show. I think she enjoys how utterly dysfunctional they are, and we often trade theories about what’s really going on in the family. My mom is broken up about Kim and Kanye’s marriage problems, but she think the drama between Chyna and Rob has been a long time coming and she’s on Team Chyna. As we learned over the weekend, Chyna maybe/probably left Rob and took the kids after a huge fight. There are some stories that Chyna and Rob are already back together but… I don’t know, who cares? The Kardashians don’t care. Apparently, Rob’s family is totally over this Chyna situation.

It might just be a blue Christmas for Blac Chyna. After a fight that nearly ended her engagement this past weekend, a source tells PEOPLE her fiancé Rob Kardashian‘s family continues to step away from the roller coaster relationship — and they’re urging him to do the same. Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner is scheduled to have her annual Christmas party this weekend, but Chyna is not on the guest list.

“Rob’s family is over Chyna,” says the source. “She is not invited to Kris’ holiday party. Rob’s family is trying to distance themselves from Chyna. They can’t stand the toxic relationship. They very much care about baby Dream though. It’s just come to the point when they think Rob is better off without being in a relationship with Chyna.”

Another insider also told PEOPLE Tuesday that Kardashian’s famous mom and siblings “don’t support the relationship” any more.

“At least some of his family members want Rob to split up with Chyna so they can say, ‘We told you so Rob. You deserve better,’ ” the insider added.

Whether Kardashian, who credits his 28-year-old fiancée with pulling him out of a years-long depression, will leave Chyna and/or his 5-week-old daughter home to attend the holiday party remains to be seen. After apologizing to Chyna and pledging to be a better dad for Dream on Monday, it looks like what “family first” means to the 29-year-old sock entrepreneur is shifting, though. And according to the insider on Tuesday, the scales have tipped away from the Keeping Up with the Kardashians stars: “Rob won’t listen to [his family]. He wants to be with Chyna.”

[From People]

At this point, I kind of wonder if Kris Jenner in particular is playing a game with her only son: Kris is Satan’s mistress and she knows how to manipulate her children into doing her bidding. Surely she would know that by trying to drive a wedge between Chyna and Rob, she’s merely casting herself as their common enemy, thus bringing them closer? So does she want Chyna and Rob to be together or what? Because if Kris really wanted Chyna out of the picture, Kris would try to bring her into the fold even harder.

Also: I do think there are some Kris Jenner-fingerprints on this story. Yesterday, Chyna’s lawyer went to TMZ and claimed that Adidas had offered Chyna $250,000 to develop a shoe line but she wanted more money. But then Adidas’ people went to TMZ and said “This is 1 trillion percent false at level. She has never been on our radar.” BURN.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Meet Bianka Bella Bryant.

Former NBA star Kobe Bryant, 38, and wife Vanessa, 34, introduced their newborn daughter via Instagram Wednesday.

“Vanessa and I are beyond excited to welcome our newest baby girl, Bianka!! #BabyBlessing #SweetBaby #AnotherAngel,” wrote the proud papa.

He went on to share his daughter’s birth details.

“Bianka Bella Bryant, December 5, 2016, 7 pounds 5 ounces 20 inches,” he wrote.

Vanessa also reposted the precious photo on her Instagram page.

Bianka joins big sisters Natalia, 13, and Gianna, 10.

In July, we spotted the Bryant family at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Sports Awards in Westwood, Calif.

Over the summer, the couple announced their third pregnancy.

@vanessabryant and I are beyond excited to welcome our newest baby girl, Bianka!! #BabyBlessing #SweetBaby #AnotherAngel ? Bianka Bella Bryant December 5, 2016 7 pounds 5 ounces 20 inches

A photo posted by Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) on Dec 21, 2016 at 5:20pm PST

Lea Michele did a brief interview with People Magazine about one of her favorite topics, diet and exercise. If there’s one thing I like about Lea, it’s the fact that she has high self esteem and she’ll tell you about it. She’s not faux humble or trying to act like she’s not hot sh*t. Lea was asked by People for her motivation for working out and instead of saying she loves it or it’s fun she said she does it so she can eat whatever she wants, which I guess is what works for her. She thinks of her favorite restaurant and getting a nice meal afterwards.

On what she tells herself to stay motivated to workout
“Knowing that I can eat whatever I want afterward always makes me feel good!” she tells PEOPLE at the AeriREAL pop-up shop in New York on Thursday. “I need a goal at the end of anything that I do.”

When pushing through a workout, Michele reminds herself that “at the end, there’s this great place that I’m going to get the most delicious salad or sushi!”

In addition to post-workout meal motivation, she also relies on her pals: “I work out with friends often and I hate bailing on my friends,” she says. “If I make a plan, I don’t like to cancel it, so I always work out with a buddy and it helps me to be accountable,” adding, “You just feel so good after you work out.”

She complements her fitness routine with a healthy diet.

“I just did vegan for the past four weeks,” she shares. “And I did an amazing cleanse, the Beaming cleanse. That’s my new favorite.”

[From People]

Did anyone else catch that little plug at the end for a specific brand of cleanses? Here’s another celebrity who is touting cleanses, probably as some kind of endorsement deal. That’s a shame because we don’t need to “cleanse” our bodies to lose weight. As for what she said about working out – Shape points out that working out to “earn” food can be a symptom of exercise bulimia. I don’t know if that’s something Lea should be concerned about or if she just was trying to come up with an answer on the fly, but again she doesn’t seem to have a problem with being candid with the press. I like what she said about how it makes you feel good, and personally I work out because I enjoy it. It’s intrinsically motivating, to use a fancy word, and I consider it like a treat for myself. Plus I do workouts which are fun for me. I don’t get it when people say they hate working out. If you don’t like what you’re doing as exercise, try to find something you enjoy. There are so many options you can do from home too.

New workout obsession! @bodybysimone ?? with this babe @caraasantana ??

A photo posted by Lea Michele (@leamichele) on Nov 19, 2016 at 7:20am PST

NYC// Bed series 2

A photo posted by Lea Michele (@leamichele) on Nov 5, 2016 at 8:55am PDT

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A photo posted by Lea Michele (@leamichele) on Oct 23, 2016 at 3:38pm PDT

Photos credit: WENN and Instagram/Lea Michele

The Lost City of Z was always going to be a troubled production, I think. Brad Pitt and his production company Plan B were working for years to put the film together, and Brad was supposed to star at one point. At another point, Benedict Cumberbatch was cast but he eventually dropped out as the production start date kept changing. Finally, the cast was set: Robert Pattinson and Charlie Hunnam. They filmed in Colombia in 2015 for months on end. Pattinson lost a lot of weight and grew a sadness beard. And what happened with Charlie Hunnam? Well, he basically lost contact with his girlfriend Morgana for five months. Charlie told the story to Entertainment Weekly and he made it sound like he did it to be so “Method Actor.” Blah.

When Charlie Hunnam agreed to play 19th-century explorer Percy Fawcett — opposite Robert Pattinson as fellow traveler Henry Costin — in the film adaptation of David Grann’s The Lost City of Z, he knew it wouldn’t be easy. Giving Hunnam only five days between filming on King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Lost City of Z, the five-month shoot took him away from longtime girlfriend with essentially no means of contact. The solution? A letter a day — or that’s what Hunnam promised, anyway.

“We went to Colombia, and the mail system doesn’t really work very well,” Hunnam said. “It’s completely unreliable. I received a letter from her, and I realized that from the tone of it and things she was saying that she hadn’t received the two letters that I sent before.”

With timely letters not really in the cards, Hunnam decided to go even more Method in portraying the explorer-cum-absentee father Fawcett. He stopped writing altogether. “Which obviously makes me sound like a total bastard, appropriately so,” Hunnam said. “But I was very apologetic.” The separation, however, helped Hunnam understand Percival Fawcett’s obsession. “One of the things that [director James Gray] and I felt strongly that we wanted to explore in the film,” Hunnam said, “was the conflict between family life and the exterior demands that are made on us and the social and economic demands that we all need to deal with in life, being balanced or in conflict with the internal drive, to be the people we want to be and achieve the things that we want to achieve.”

But where does that leave things with Hunnam and the girlfriend he promised to write to? Well, while Colombian mail system failed him, the jewel market did not.

“I had the benefit of shooting in Colombia, where they have rather lovely and somewhat cheap emeralds,” Hunnam says. “My girlfriend is a jewelry designer, so I was able to come back with an appropriately sized gift. It didn’t remedy all of the trouble I was in, but it got me halfway there.”

[From EW]

If you were dating an actor and he dropped off the face of the earth for five months without calling, writing, emailing, telegramming or anything else, wouldn’t you just assume you had been dumped? Like, that sounds like he was ghosting Morgana. And then he just shows up five months later and he’s like, “We’re still cool right, I brought you some emeralds?” Lainey at LaineyGossip was complaining about the white male privilege that goes along with “Method acting” and how these dude-bros basically use their Method as an excuse to act like total a—holes. What bugs is that everyone lets them get away with it too – even Charlie’s girlfriend! How is going dark for five months acceptable in a mature, adult relationship?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

As we learned earlier this week, Margot Robbie slipped away to Australia (her home country) and quietly married her long-time boyfriend Tom Ackerley. In the first reports of the wedding, it sounded super-low-key, and I thought they had gotten away with just a simple beach wedding with only a handful of friends and family. As the reporting on the wedding grew, I realized that Tom and Margot actually did plan a real wedding, with bachelor parties and a van full of friends and a wedding dress and everything. Here’s a shot of Margot in her wedding gown:

Margot Robbie stuns in white bohemian wedding gown at secret Australian weddinghttps://t.co/EZ5KuegHP3 pic.twitter.com/oeTyhkOQnI

— Daily Mail Australia (@DailyMailAU) December 21, 2016

Off-the-shoulder boho vibes, loose hair, simple. Just what I’d expect from her, honestly. Apparently, she had a 16-person-strong bridal party though… and they were all barefoot. Which brings me to my favorite details of any and every wedding story: the food. What kind of food did Margot Robbie have for her boho-chic wedding in Oz? Pizza and cereal.

Actress Margot Robbie married British director Tom Ackerley in a secret wedding Sunday. And in lieu of traditional wedding foods — tiny crackers and, uhhhhh, bad chicken — they opted for something a little more laid-back: pizza and cereal.

Per what a source told The Northern Star: “Pizza and BBQ was the theme of the low-key affair, with Robbie’s favourite menu item, Coco Pops [Ed. Note: Coco Krispies], as the main wedding dessert. Coco Pops were placed nearby the dance floor with bowls, milk and cream also on offer for those who, like Robbie, love the traditional breakfast cereal.”

[From NY Mag]

Pizza? Okay. Barbeque? Sure. I’m down with that. But to only have Coco Rice Krispies as the dessert???? Nope. There’s not even any mention of a cake!! What the hell, Margot??

Oh, and she posted this to her Instagram. I’m enjoying the simplicity of her ring.

A photo posted by @margotrobbie on Dec 19, 2016 at 7:56pm PST

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, PCN, Instagram & WENN.