Andy Cohen’s new book Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries came out today. Andy is tight with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kelly Ripa. He hangs out with John Mayer. So as much as he says he’s telling Hollywood tales, the tales he can safely tell are nowhere near as good and as gos…

Here are some photos from Monday night’s Beverly Hills premiere of Manchester by the Sea, the new Kenneth Lonergan film which is already getting major Oscar buzz, especially for two of its leads, Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. To be clear, I don’t think Michelle is really the lead in this film – people are saying she would likely be nominated in the supporting category. But Casey is the lead and some believe he’s got a good shot at the Best Actor Oscar. We’ll see. The film was produced by Matt Damon, who attended with his wife, and Casey’s big brother Ben Affleck also came out to support the film. Ben looks especially rough these days.

As for Michelle, she wore this Luis Vuitton dress which… exhausts me. I’m so tired of Michelle in LV. I’m so tired of Michelle in white. All that being said, this particular LV dress is not the worst thing she’s ever worn. Here’s a front view:

Michelle Williams wearing #LouisVuitton #LVSS17 by @TWNGhesquiere to the Premiere of #ManchesterByTheSea in Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/oIlyV5LG9i

— Louis Vuitton (@LouisVuitton) November 15, 2016

At best, it’s sort of boringly attractive. I’ll say something nice: I’m beyond grateful that she seems to be growing out her hair a little bit.

Meanwhile, did you know Michelle was cast in a Janis Joplin bio-pic? She confirmed the news in an interview with E! this week. She told E! that she had been begging for the job for a while and once she got it, she started to get really nervous about it. She should be nervous. I think she’s a terrible choice for Janis. Wasn’t Amy Adams supposed to play Janis? Was that this bio-pic or a different one?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, WENN.

I’ve said it since the night of the US election—movies are about to get a big escapism bounce. It’s already started, with the first post-election weekend posting box office numbers almost 50% higher than the same frame last year, and it will continue to affect movie turnout as people look to get …

Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them opens this Friday. I’m looking forward to it and early reviews are incredible. As we learned last week, Johnny Depp will be featured in the sequel as Dumbledore’s rival, Gellert Grindelwald. Personally, I had no idea Depp was anywhere near the franchise and it sounds like it was planned to be kept a secret. So was his involvement played down for a reason? Did they want a big reveal right before opening or was there some concern given Amber Heard’s allegations of abuse? And with those allegations out there, how does outspoken social activist J.K. Rowling feel about his appearing in one of her films? I can’t answer the first question for you but J.K. was asked the second at the film’s premiere last Thursday.

Johnny Depp’s talent is indisputable.

But, given the allegations lodged against him earlier this year, he also comes with baggage. So, when it was revealed that Depp briefly appears in Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them—as Gellert Grindelwald, no less—many Harry Potter fans voiced their disapproval.

E! News caught up with the one and only J.K. Rowling at the movie’s red carpet premiere in New York Thursday, where she explained why only Depp could play Albus Dumbledore’s rival (described in the Harry Potter novels as one of the “most dangerous dark wizards of all time”).

“I didn’t approach him—although he was approached with my full blessing, because I thought he’d be amazing in the part. I can’t say much, because there are surprises in the movie, but I’m really happy with his performance,” the screenwriter teased. “And I think the fans will be, too.”

Speaking of Dumbledore, Rowling revealed she has an actor in mind for the sequel.

“I have, of course, thought about this. I do have a name. I do have someone in mind, but I can’t say it. Because if that person doesn’t get cast, then the person who does get cast will blame me forever for having said it, won’t they?” Rowling told E! News. “So, I’m going to just keep quiet.”

“If it is that person,” she added, “then you will know about it.”

[From E! News]

Okay, so she doesn’t really answer anything other than she thinks he did a good job and that she gave her blessing to approach him. Johnny filmed his bit in Fantastic Beasts in January of this year and Amber made the abuse claims public in May, so maybe they felt stuck with him? It sounds like they are fully backing him, though. The director David Yates and producer David Heyman came out much stronger on their endorsement of Depp based on talent. Yates even went into this weird little monologue about how odd Hollywood is that, “it’s a weird old business — you’re a star one week, people are saying odd things the next”. No. One week your childhood crush is separating from his wife and the next it’s revealed that he’s abusive. That’s not quirky Hollywood, that’s overlooking criminal behavior. There isn’t much J.K. can do if the studio is staying with Johnny, I know, but I am still a little disappointed in her heralding him.

However, J.K. is also touting the film’s star, Eddie Redmayne. Now Eddie I can get behind because I love all of his extra-ness. Kaiser covered his appearance on Graham Norton. And when a fan gave him their homemade “beast” on the premiere’s red carpet, he wore it in his pocket. For promo for the film, Annie Leibovitz photographed some of the stars for Vogue, those photos are below. Grace Coddington styled them – I adore her work. Colin Farrell is not in them, which is a crime against humanity, but they are still great photos.

Photo credit: Annie Leibovitz/Vogue and WENN and FameFlynet Photos

Let’s take a moment to enjoy Natalie Portman today. These are photos from last night’s AFI Fest premiere of Jackie, the film where Portman plays Jackie Kennedy in the immediate aftermath of JFK’s assassination. Portman is getting a ton of Oscar buzz for her performance, but I believe Emma Stone’s performance in La La Land is the current “favorite” for Best Actress these days. So it might have been a good opportunity for Portman to turn on the charm, right? Wrong. Portman had a face like thunder in every single photo from the premiere. It’s actually really funny, mostly because… we’ve all been making this thunder-face in the past week, haven’t we? This is the face of half of all Americans are making as they realize how bad it’s going to be.

As for Natalie’s look here, she’s wearing Dior. Dior has been doing dresses for several pregnant women, to mixed results. I thought Marion Cotillard’s Dior dress was super-boring last week (it was basically just a shapeless tent dress), but Dior did okay by Portman. Maybe she’s one of their favorites.

Obviously, ahead of last night’s premiere, Fox Searchlight released a full-length trailer for Jackie. This one gives a better glimpse of why Portman is being so heavily favored for an Oscar nomination. While her “Jackie voice” is bugging me, the truth is that Jackie really did speak that way. Anyway… I will probably watch this.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Brad Pitt hasn’t promoted a movie in China since Seven Years In Tibet because, supposedly, the Chinese government wasn’t happy about how the country was portrayed. Here he is yesterday in Shanghai on press tour for Allied, all is forgiven. Time to get that Chinese money. As you know, Hollywood is…

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As we discussed yesterday, football player Colin Kaepernick didn’t vote in last week’s presidential election. It wouldn’t have been a huge story except for the fact that Kaepernick has been in the middle of a national conversation about race, police violence and patriotism for months. Colin has spoken eloquently about the need to address police violence and racial injustice in our country, and he has made a point of not standing for the national anthem ahead of his football games.

The fact that Colin placed himself in the middle of these hot-button political issues and then didn’t even bother to vote seems… stupid. I don’t have any other words for it. Idiotic? Ridiculous? Moronic? It’s just f—king stupid. I understand how people can feel let down by their choices at every level of government, but that’s exactly why more people should be engaged, should be politically active, and should, at the very f—king least, VOTE. Well, guess what? Colin has never voted. He’s never even been registered to vote.

Colin Kaepernick raised eyebrows last week when he revealed that he did not vote in the presidential election amid a football season in which his protest of racial inequality gained national attention. In fact, it would have been problematic if he had. The Sacramento Bee found that the San Francisco 49ers quarterback has never been registered to vote.

Kaepernick, who was raised in Turlock, turned 18 in 2005, but he has not registered to vote in California at any point in the last decade, according to records maintained by the California Secretary of State. He also did not register in Nevada while he attended the University of Nevada, Reno, from 2006 to 2010, according to the Washoe County Registrar of Voters.

That means he missed presidential elections in 2008 and 2012 – when Democrat Barack Obama was elected president – in addition to a variety of state and local elections in other years.

Attempts to reach Kaepnernick were unsuccessful. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Kaepernick said he did not care who won the 2016 election and it would have been “hypocritical of me to vote” for either President-elect Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

[From the Sacramento Bee]

Yeah, if he’s not willing to do the bare minimum of citizenship and civic duty, then I say we need to just stop paying any attention to anything he’s got to say. This goes for every single person who doesn’t vote yet proclaims to “care” about this issue or that issue. If you care, you vote. If you don’t vote, you’re publicly telling the world that you don’t really give a sh-t about what happens in your city, county, state or country. You’re saying that you think it’s all broken and you’re too cynical to believe anything can ever change.

(The one exception to this whole “don’t speak if you don’t vote” rule is obviously Jehovah’s Witnesses. Witnesses, for the most part, don’t believe in voting as an article of their faith. But Kaepernick is not a Witness. He’s just a guy who wants to be an activist but doesn’t want to participate in democracy.)

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

Father-of-two Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been named PEOPLE‘s Sexiest Man Alive. The former WWE champ, 44, opens up about the new title and family life with longtime girlfriend Lauren Hashian, their 11-month old daughter Jasmine and his daughter Simone, 15, with ex-wife, producer Dany Garcia.

On his family: “We just have this awesome family that is truly non-traditional but so rooted in love. And that’s such a cool thing. I’m very proud of it.”

On his reaction to being named Sexiest Man Alive: “I said, ‘That’s awesome.’ And then what went through my mind was just how cool and exciting it is. And then I thought, ‘Wow, we’ve pretty much reached the pinnacle.’ I’m not quite too sure where we go from here. I’ve done it all, this is it.”

On growing up in Hawaii as a teen: “I was doing a lot of things that I shouldn’t have. I was getting arrested multiple times, but at the same time, always very respectful to my teachers and elders. I was unsure of who I was and who I wanted to be.”

On his career and family life: “I’ve made big sweeping changes in my career over the years, which have served me nicely. But I feel that the big sweeping changes that happened in my life, in my relationships, of being a dad, of being a partner, and the things that I was and the things that I am, has really lent itself to a confidence.”

On what makes him sexy: “Ah, a sense of humor. And I think probably just not trying to be sexy and just being cool and confident in your movies. I think with a lot of my fans, I’ve gotten to a very, very cool place where there’s a direct line between the man they know off-screen and the man they see on-screen.”

For more from The Rock, go to PEOPLE…

I go back and forth on whether I actually like Andy Cohen. Sometimes, I think he’s a gossipy bitch after my own heart. Other times, I just find him absurd with how he manufactures drama. I can’t even decide if I think he’s a good interviewer. He’s better than most, but that’s setting the bar pretty low. Cohen isn’t merely a producer and talk show host though – he’s also a dishy author. His latest book is Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries, and it’s out this week. Several outlets have excerpts and… some of the stuff is just weird, throw-away gossip. But I did enjoy the Taylor Swift story. Some highlights:

The Taylor Swift story:
Cohen recounts that when at the Met Ball this year with Sarah Jessica Parker, whom he attends the event with every year, he had a brief run-in with Swift at the bar. According to Cohen, the “Shake It Off” singer was searching for a spot to watch Lady Gaga’s performance when Cohen noticed an open area by Perry.

“Why I felt I needed to get involved I will never know (maybe I was auditioning for her squad?) but I innocently said exactly the wrong thing to her, which was, ‘Your friend Katy is sitting in the corner and there’s plenty of room around her,’” he recalls. Cohen says Swift then asked, “Katy who?”

“I said, ‘Perry,’ at which point she clearly let me know that she’s the exact opposite of her friend,” he continues. Cohen says he then tried to make light of his misstep, which led Swift to instruct him not to mention this on his show. “She didn’t threaten me about putting it in my book, so here we are,” Cohen quipped, adding that he failed his “squad-ition!”

His Jennifer Aniston story. He was having a drink with John Mayer when he noticed several Friends stars having dinner nearby, following their appearance at a tribute to James Burrows. This was years after Mayer and Aniston had broken up, and Cohen writes: “We realized they had to walk by our table to leave and that would be a ‘moment,’” Cohen recounts. He decided to instead greet the cast, but Mayer did not join him. “As much as I would’ve loved to see the ultimate reunion — Aniston and Mayer — we left before they did and went to bed. Separately.”

[From ET]

“Katy who?” Oh, Swifty. Never stop being that high school Mean Girl. You know, KATY PERRY, the same Katy that you wrote “Bad Blood” about. The same Katy Perry that spurred you convene the largest friend collection just to “show” her who is more popular? That Katy Perry.

What else? He said no to Oprah not once but twice! Once when she asked him to do Where Are They Now?, which seems bizarre (because he didn’t go anywhere) and another time when she invited him to brunch and he had a flight to catch. I don’t know, if Oprah asks you to brunch, you should probably change your flight.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

There are only three things that have made me genuinely laugh out loud in the past 7 days: a text from Lainey, those brilliant Joe Biden memes, and Dave Chappelle. There are three albums that have been my self-care refuge: Solange’s A Seat at the Table, the Hamilton mixtape, and A Tribe Called Qu…