Thursday afternoon, People Magazine had yet another exclusive about Ariana Grande and her new boyfriend Ethan Slater. They met when both of them were married to other people, and Ethan’s wife Lilly Jay welcomed their first child just last year. It’s as messy as can be, made messier by two simple facts: Ariana is using her A-lister PR team to steamroll her way into whitewashing her sloppy behavior AND Lilly Jay is not going quietly. “Sources close to Lilly Jay” have been battling it out with “sources close to Ariana Grande” for the past week and it’s been fascinating to watch from a gossip perspective. Anyway, People’s exclusive was another Team Grande piece about how it was “obvious” that Ari and Ethan were “forming a close connection” on the set of Wicked: “They were very sweet to each other and often seen laughing together… Everyone just thought they were both happily married though and didn’t expect them to end up dating.” The source says they’re now “full-on dating.” Barf. Within hours, Lilly Jay spoke on the record to Page Six:

Lilly Jay says her family is “collateral damage” as news broke of her estranged husband Ethan Slater’s budding romance with his “Wicked” co-star Ariana Grande.

“[Ariana’s] the story really. Not a girl’s girl,” Jay exclusively tells Page Six. “My family is just collateral damage.”

The musician, who shares one son with the “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical” star, says she’s focusing on raising her and Slater’s baby and being “a good mom.”

“The story is her and Dalton,” Jay adds, referencing Grande’s split from her husband, Dalton Gomez, to whom she had been married for two years.

However, sources tell Page Six that Jay has been “calling every news outlet to get this story out” while acting differently toward Slater behind the scenes.

“She’s telling Ethan and others that she only cares about protecting their child,” our source shares. “She’s rightfully upset because her marriage fell apart, but Ariana and Ethan didn’t do anything wrong,” our insider adds, telling us that Slater had been separated from Jay for two months before romancing Grande.

“Ethan is trying to take the high road and hopes he can resolve this situation for the sake of their child.”

[From Page Six]

Those quotes in the second half are from Ariana throwing a tantrum about how Lilly won’t just shut up. Lilly has been “calling every news outlet to get this story out” – yeah, that’s what wronged women do, that’s what many women would do if their husband dumped them for a married costar. “But Ariana and Ethan didn’t do anything wrong” – they truly cheated on their spouses for what will be a six-month relationship at most. Those “sources” keep insisting that Slater left Lilly two months ago when Lilly is making sure everyone knows that she was blindsided by all of this and Ariana’s actions are the real story. Shades of LeAnn Rimes-Eddie Cibrian, huh?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Harvey Weinstein is spending the rest of his life in jail, where he belongs, for decades of sexual crimes against women. Appearing on The Louis Theroux Podcast this week, British actress Samantha Morton revealed that Weinstein tried to ruin her career when she was in her early twenties, simply because she declined a role he offered her. She thought the movie was misogynistic, and when she gave this feedback, along with her pass, Weinstein and his casting directors flatly told her she would never work again:

Samantha Morton, the Oscar-nominee best known for her roles in “Synechdoche, New York” and “Minority Report,” revealed on this week’s episode of “The Louis Theroux Podcast” that disgraced studio head Harvey Weinstein tried to ruin her career for turning down a role.

Morton had already received critical acclaim for her role in “Under the Skin” (1997) opposite actor Stuart Townsend, when Weinstein, who ran Miramax Films with an iron fist at the time, urged her to star opposite Townsend a second time in “About Adam” (2000).

“I said, ‘I don’t like it. I think the film is really misogynistic, and I don’t want to be part of it,’” Morton told Theroux about declining the part. “The casting director came back with, ‘You don’t say no to Harvey.’ Well it’s not up to him. I just don’t want to do this film.”

Morton added she was even “uber polite” and clarified the film was “just not interesting” to her, only for the casting director involved to warn: “You don’t say no to Harvey.” Morton recalled reiterating she wasn’t saying no to Weinstein, but rather to the project.

“I had a phone call saying, ‘You can’t say no,’” said Morton. “The ‘no’ wasn’t being listened to. So they kept coming back with this role, and I was told unequivocally, ‘You’re not going to work again unless you do this role. I’m going to make your life hell.’”

“You will not work again,” the casting director told Morton.

While the film was made without Morton, she was seemingly blackballed from Miramax films to come. Morton told Theroux that Weinstein refused to cast her in “The Brothers Grimm” (2005) opposite Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, and said she was “unf—able.”

Morton started questioning why Weinstein “was anti-me,” only for continuous rejections from his studio—as well as the Weinstein Company, which he founded with his brother Bob in 2005—to remind her of turning down “About Adam.”

“I forgot about it because it was years earlier,” Morton said. “And then all these years later, I realized that [when] I get an offer, get a letter from a director, if Miramax or then the Weinstein Company had anything to do with it, it was just awful for me.”

Morton added that Weinstein had “a deep-seated reason” to “try and destroy” her career, but she was insulated by “independent cinema all over the world” and managed to forge ahead in smaller films—as well as Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report” with Tom Cruise.

[From HuffPost]

The arc of this story is an all-too-rare triumphant one: to go from being told “you’ll never work again,” to having a rich career in independent cinema, then to being in a film about the downfall of the man who threatened you (she had a pivotal role in She Said last year). And all while he watches from prison. Bravo Samantha. If you read up on her, though, you’ll find that she had to navigate a very tough upbringing, which in a way made her just the kind of scrappy, punky type to talk bluntly to Weinstein, consequences be damned. I don’t know about you, but I needed this story after the pro-predator news out of London and Venice this week. Nevertheless, we persist.

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photos credit: Getty and Avalon.red

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I lived in California for 28 of my 30 years, and I have a lot of frustrations with the political system there. Even though there’s a robust Democratic majority, state and local governments still have a lot of gridlock and inefficiencies. The state has some very serious problems coming down the pike and it seems as if there is not enough political will to meaningfully address them. There is a catastrophic housing shortage. This miraculous winter notwithstanding, the state is in a perpetual drought and water shortages wreak havoc on the agricultural sector, which provides the US with over 60% of its winter vegetables. Wildfires steal innocent lives, destroy entire towns, and threaten the state’s most precious and irreplaceable treasures, like the Sequoias. The cost of living is unsustainable, and there is a crisis of homelessness in Los Angeles and San Francisco. I love my home state, and I miss it constantly. But I left it because it has come to embody the original double meaning of the word “utopia”: it is both the good place, and the place that cannot be. (And yes, that is a reference to Mad Men.)

Needless to say I have some reservations about how governor Gavin Newsom’s tenure has been going. He also annoyed me so much when he went to French Laundry at the height of lockdown in 2020. The governor dining at a $600-a-head tasting menu fancypants restaurant when Californians were getting sick and dying? It left a gross taste in my mouth and demonstrated a lack of integrity. I don’t think he deserved to be recalled but I’m looking at him with a beady eye going forward, that’s all. I think Gavin Newsom has his big ambitions, whatever he may say to the contrary. I’m sure he’s going to try to run for president someday, and that’s probably why he’s offering to help end the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. He’s offered to help broker a deal, but it seems like nobody’s taking him up on it. At least not right now.

He’s reached out to “all sides” of the labor dispute: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has contacted all sides of the strikes that have hobbled Hollywood, his office said Wednesday, offering to help broker a deal to restart an industry that is crucial to keeping the state’s economy humming amid signs of weakness.

So far, neither studio executives nor actors and writers have shown formal interest in bringing Newsom to the negotiating table, said Anthony York, Newsom’s senior adviser for communications. But York said both Newsom and senior members of his administration have been in touch with all sides as the two strikes stretch deeper into the summer blockbuster season.

“It’s clear that the sides are still far apart, but he is deeply concerned about the impact a prolonged strike can have on the regional and state economy,” York said. He further noted “thousands of jobs depend directly or indirectly on Hollywood getting back to work,” including crew, staff and catering.

The last time the writers went on strike more than a decade ago, the 100-day work stoppage cost the state’s economy an estimated $2 billion. The economic hit could be even bigger this time around now that actors have joined the picket lines. The strikes come after Newsom signed a state budget that included a more than $31 billion deficit in part because of a slowdown in the tech sector, another one of the state’s key industries.

Why helping end the strike could help his political future: Now in his final term in office, Newsom has worked hard to boost his national profile as he sets his sights on life after the governor’s office. He is widely considered a future presidential contender, though he has said he has no plans to run. Any role for Newsom to help end strikes halting one of the country’s most recognizable industries could bolster his status on the national stage.

Labor actions have lit up California this summer, and it has become common for politicians and their allies to step in to broker deals. New Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, for example, helped negotiate an end to a strike by Los Angeles school staff. Acting Biden administration Labor Secretary Julie Su, a former California labor leader, helped reach an end to a contract dispute at Southern California ports.

His connections to Hollywood’s top brass: York declined to say who Newsom has spoken with, either on the unions’ side or the studios. Representatives for the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers declined to comment.

Hollywood isn’t just a major economic driver in California — it’s also a fundraising powerhouse for mostly Democratic candidates, including Newsom. In 2021, when Newsom was facing a recall election that could have removed him from office, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings donated $3 million to help defeat it. He has received smaller contributions from executives at Disney, Sony and Lionsgate. Prominent directors and producers like Stephen Spielberg and Chuck Lorre have also donated to his campaigns.

[From AP]

It doesn’t surprise me that Newsom is somewhat cozy with Hollywood execs and power players. Powerful people stick together. Honestly I am not sure the unions should trust him but that’s because I don’t trust him. With the tech sector slowing down, I see why he’s motivated to try to negotiate. He needs that tax revenue coming in, and Hollywood is a reliable cash cow. I just don’t think he’s going to get anywhere, but I’m happy to be proven wrong. We know that the studio execs are planning to run out the clock to make their own workers desperate and homeless. The sooner this ends and they can get a contract together that meets the unions’ *entirely reasonable* demands, the better. I’m also selfishly motivated for the strikes to end because I love red carpet fashion and going without it is sad, even during high summer when there’s not a lot of premieres except for action blockbusters.

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At the very same time that Keke Palmer’s (former?) partner was slut-shaming her about what she wore to Usher’s Las Vegas show, Keke was hanging out with an interviewer from The Cut. In her place, I would have let emotions get the better of me and put Darius Jackson on blast, on the record and in print. Keke did not. Keke side-stepped all of those questions like a pro, like someone who doesn’t want her personal business out there either way. I hope she dumped him, I really do. Anyway, Keke covers The Cut and the interview is heartwarming and nice, because she’s a nice person. Some highlights:

The moms hyping her online: “Do you, new moms. Do you. Girl, if there’s one person on this earth that loves you for sure, it’s that baby. Be happy, because there’s no love like it. Somebody loving you like that, hell, who cares?

Her dream podcast guest: “I absolutely would love to talk to Taylor Swift. And Nicki Minaj. Both for similar reasons. I would totally do it at the same time because it would be a big boss conversation, Ms. Lady. I think they’re both Sagittariuses and I’m a Sag moon. They’re not afraid to talk about the business, the music industry, and the things that people don’t understand. Nicki Minaj has spoken to the things that she’s trying to overcome and how they’re able to get in certain rooms or awards or conversations, etc. She’s very much so wanting to gun for some old ways of things being done. And it’s the same thing with Taylor Swift when it was coming to owning her masters and just … I’ve also talked a lot about my experience in the music industry, but I just think it’s really cool when you can sit down with your peers and you can discuss the real deal that goes on behind the scenes with the industry.

Her headspace as a new mom: “After having my baby, I’ve just gotten so much more powerful. I’m just so strengthened in a crazy way. Strutting my stuff, enjoying. I’ll be honest, I think before I even had the baby, I was really actually quite self-conscious. In a way that you would expect, considering the kind of work that I do as a public figure…After having the baby, my body got so much bigger and I started getting fluff in areas I never had before….We’re going to lean into this new body. That is the whole aura of what’s happening with me in this big boss era as I come into my 30s and I have my baby boy. I’m just continuing to spread my wings as a young woman.”

Whether she wishes she had more anonymity: “Sometimes I feel like I would love a little bit of more anonymity, or at least a version that wasn’t so chaotic. We live in a particular generation where the fame thing is a little bit too much. The way that celebrities are idolized. Popularity to some degree is fine. It’s normal. It could be expected, especially if you’re a public servant or someone that’s a public figure. But now it’s the desire and the goal as opposed to being the aftereffect of being good at something or being known for something. It’s just being known to be known. Fame used to be a little bit more mayorlike, and now it’s almost gone to some type of godlike vibe. That can be quite dangerous and a lot of pressure. I don’t think any human should be that adored.”

She doesn’t want her business out there: “There is such a thing as privacy. I’m not showing y’all my ass at night. I’m a human being. I have things that make me just a normal person. I’m flawed. I definitely try to put my best foot forward. But again, because I don’t like the idealism and I don’t like the kind of era that we are in with fame, I definitely self-deprecate, point to my flaws, constantly say I’m not perfect because I really don’t want people putting me to this unbelievable standard. I don’t live to be a celebrity.”

Whether she considers herself to be America’s sweetheart: “Girl, that is crazy as hell. If that is what the people think, I’m truly gagged and gooped because, wow. I don’t even know what that entails, truly, what that really means. But, by golly, if you all feel like I’m America’s sweetheart, I’m f–king here for that sh-it all day and night. I appreciate it because it feels like a term of endearment. But what do I think? If I were to declare myself, I do feel like America’s little sister, little cousin. I feel very much so related to everybody. I don’t even care what background they are, Black, white, otherwise. I feel related to all of the Americans in the Americas. I feel very much so like we grew up together. You know, we went to college together. We went to school together. It feels very familial to me. A lot of the people that I meet, even though I don’t know them, they know me. It kind of ends up feeling like I’m that adjacent second cousin that you see every two years at the family reunion.

[From The Cut]

Someone on Twitter pointed out that Darius Jackson thought he could shame Keke’s outfit and a small community of mostly men would just agree with him and back up his toxicity. While that happened, what also happened was that everyone else took Keke’s side, because Darius underestimated how famous Keke is. Even more than that, he underestimated how well-liked she is, that she’s popular for a reason, because people feel like they know her, that she seems like everyone’s fun cousin. I wish Keke every success in her Big Boss Era and I hope she takes care of herself and her little boy.

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Cover & IG courtesy of The Cut.

There was a big House subcommittee hearing on UFOs this week! [The Atlantic]
With all of this talk about UFOs and aliens, we need to ask the important question: would you bone an alien? [Jezebel]
Dr. Jill Biden has been wearing a lot of patterns this year. [GFY]
Julianne Moore & Jessica Chastain showed up for SAG-AFTRA’s big NYC “Rock the City” demonstration. [LaineyGossip]
Dan Wootton and the monstrous hypocrisy of the British media. [Pajiba]
More photos from SAG-AFTRA’s star-studded Rock The City For a Fair Contract event in Times Square, in New York. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Dave Chappelle will go on a comedy tour next month. Can he? [Towleroad]
You have to look at this woman’s wig, omg!!! [Starcasm]
Helen Mirren is playing Golda Meir in Golda. [JustJared]
Twitter reactions to the UFO whistleblower hearings. [Buzzfeed]
Tori Kelly is reportedly doing a lot better. [Socialite Life]
Troye Sivan wore Paco Rabanne. [RCFA]

It’s been a record-breaking summer around the world and in the US in terms of heat. Where I live we’ve mostly been spared, but because I’m in the PNW I know that “smoke season”–that new West Coast mainstay combining high temps with hazy, hazardous air–will be with us from August to late October. The heat has been especially brutal in the Southwest this year. Temperatures in Phoenix Arizona have exceeded 110 degrees Fahreinheit for 26 days straight. Extreme heat is a health hazard on its own, but if you happen to fall on hot pavement, you could burn your skin. That’s happening in Arizona–people are getting first and second degree burns and even needing to go to the hospital.

Temperatures in Arizona have climbed as high as 119 degrees — superheating the ground so intensely that people are suffering burns from coming into contact with it.

And in Maricopa County, some people have even been hospitalized from burns they sustained from falling on the ground.

Every bed at the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health is full, Dr. Kevin Foster, director of burn services, told CNN — and one-third of the patients were injured by falling outside on the hot pavement.

“Summers are our busy season, so we anticipate that this sort of thing is going to happen. But this is really unusual — the number of patients that we’re seeing and the severity of injuries — the acuity of injuries is much higher,” Dr Foster told CNN.

Temperatures of 118 degrees are high enough to burn the skin, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with blistering and second-degree burns being suffered at 131 degrees.

“The temperature of asphalt and pavement and concrete and sidewalks in Arizona on a warm sunny day or summer afternoon is 180 degrees sometimes. I mean, it’s just a little below boiling, so it’s really something,” Foster told CNN.

[From People]

I slipped and fell outdoors two years ago and broke my kneecap. I was stuck on the ground for a couple minutes before some very kind people pulled me up onto a chair. I dread to think what might have happened if the ground beneath me was 180 degrees. This kind of health hazard seems likely to affect the unhoused more than other populations, as they will have a harder time avoiding hot pavement. I hope there are air-conditioned shelters available in Phoenix, and cities across America should start prioritizing cooling centers if they aren’t already. Hot pavement is also bad for pets and animals–if the sidewalk or pavement is too hot for bare feet, it’s too hot for dogs, coyotes, or any other animal that isn’t well-adapted to hot surfaces. It’s really scary that the ground itself is becoming hazardous in some places because of extreme heat. Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies have quietly abandoned their climate pledges. I’ve been feeling a lot of eco-grief lately and I know I’m not alone. But it feels better to cry about it than to live in denial about what’s happening.

Phoenix, Arizona, is in the midst of a record-breaking heat wave, seeing daily high temperatures of 110°F or above for 21 consecutive days as of July 20, and the forecast shows no relief, with temperatures expected to sit around 115°F next week. Christopher Burt, a weather… pic.twitter.com/uLrJ6GXgMm

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 20, 2023

NEW: 85 people in Arizona suffered severe burns from contact with pavements heated up to 180F (82C). 7 of them died. In total, 257 people had underlying cause of death listed as “exposure to excessive natural heat”.

This is not a forecast for 50 years time, it’s happening today. pic.twitter.com/A3lmWXyj2o

— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) July 21, 2023

Photos credit: Balazs Simon on Pexels and Sam Williams on Unsplash

The Venice, Deauville and Toronto Film Festivals are coming up in the next few months, but it looks like the writers’ and actors’ strikes will probably extend into the fall, especially with AMPTP refusing to come to the negotiations this week. Which means no SAG or WGA union member will travel to any summer film festival to promote their films. In Venice, they’re trying to carry on like nothing is happening and they’ll have big premieres for European and Asian films. Venice has planned premieres for films by… Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and Luc Besson. I just-

Despite ongoing strikes in Hollywood that led to the exodus of Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers from its opening slot last week, the Venice Film Festival will proceed—but not without a wave of early backlash. When the prestigious festival unveiled its lineup on Tuesday, alongside films from Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Ava DuVernay, and Bradley Cooper were works from a trio of men accused of sexual misconduct. Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance and Roman Polanski’s The Palace each scored out-of-competition slots, while Luc Besson will debut his new feature, DogMan, in competition at the fest.

“Luc Besson has been recently fully cleared of any accusations. Woody Allen went under legal scrutiny twice at the end of the ’90s and was absolved. With them, I don’t see where the issue is,” Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera told Variety in defense of their inclusion in the lineup.

“In Polanski’s case, it’s paradoxical,” Barbera argued. “It’s been 60 years. Polanski has admitted his responsibility. He’s asked to be forgiven. He’s been forgiven by the victim. The victim has asked for the issue to be put to rest. I think that to keep beating on Polanski means seeking a scapegoat for other situations that would deserve more attention,” he continued, adding, “I am on the side of those who say you have to distinguish between the responsibilities of the individual and that of the artist.”

Polanski will not be attending the festival, which runs from August 30 to September 9. Barbera is “not sure” that Allen “will be doing press,” but “he is coming to the film’s premiere for sure.”

[From Vanity Fair]

VF summarized the charges and credible accusations against the men – Woody Allen was accused of abusing his daughter, multiple women have credibly accused Besson of rape and assault (Besson was cleared in a French court last month) and Polanski pleaded guilty to raping a minor, and he’s also been credibly accused of multiple assaults and rapes across Europe. This is just a reminder, to me, that these European festivals have a long history of using their “glamour” to rehabilitate abusers. It’s not just Cannes, although Cannes is the biggest and most recent example, especially given the reception Johnny Depp got just a few months ago. Anyway, no thanks to all of this.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Bethenny Frankel is obsessed with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. She has been engaged in a completely one-sided “war” with Harry and Meghan for years now. I suspect that Bethanny is trying to become a premium anti-Sussex content provider, especially since “Sussex hatred” is a billion-dollar industry for cracked-out losers. I also suspect that a lying, melodramatic famewhore like Bethanny understands that whenever she says anything about Harry and Meghan, people respond. It’s feeding the beast and it scratches her famewhore itch, so here’s your attention, Bethenny. Previously, Bethenny has claimed that Meghan behaves like a Real Housewife “who can’t stop talking.” She’s also claimed that Meghan is a “terrible businessperson” who only did a successful Netflix docuseries as a “smash-and-grab for money.” So what does Bethenny have going on these days?

Bethenny Frankel has again criticised Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with the reality star describing the couple’s lives since leaving the royal family as a “botched job”. In her own remarks about Harry and Meghan, Frankel appeared to question both the couple and their publicist when she asked: “How could someone botch something so badly?”

“I almost feel badly, like I think I do feel badly, because I can’t imagine having so much at your fingertips and letting it all slip away because of living inside your own head,” Frankel added. “And thinking every single thing that you do and say and want is so fascinating that you should be accepting awards at podiums around the world. Why?”

After discussing Meghan’s success as an actor before marrying Harry, Frankel once again remarked on the negative press that has surrounded the couple. “How do you do every single thing wrong?” she asked.

The reality star then claimed “god forbid” the couple were to split, they are “all that each other has” – seemingly referring to Harry’s estranged relationships with his father, King Charles III, and older brother, Prince William. Meanwhile, Meghan also has an estranged relationship with her father, Thomas Markle.

Frankel continued her video by claiming that she’d “never seen a botched job like this in my life” as she described Harry and Meghan’s public lives. “I just, I can’t imagine going from hero to zero like that,” she said, seemingly referring to their decision to leave the royal family. “Having money, having opportunities,” she added, before calling Harry and Meghan “two grifters” and urging the couple to stay out of the spotlight.

“Go away for a long time, and basta and close the mouth,” she said.

[From The Independent]

“And thinking every single thing that you do and say and want is so fascinating that you should be accepting awards at podiums around the world. Why?” Is she mad that Meghan and Harry win awards? That they accept awards? Bethenny thinks they should refuse awards and say “no, I’m not fascinating and I don’t deserve this!” I’m always so confused by Bethenny’s one-sided obsession with making all of these TikToks about how everything the Sussexes do is wrong and terrible and blaming them for trying to break free of being racially and financially abused. What is SHE trying to accomplish here? Is it simply… hearing herself talk? Just adding her grating voice to hater chorus? You would think that Meghan had personally pissed in Bethenny’s cornflakes, the way Bethenny nurses this unhinged grudge.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

No one paid much attention to my coverage of Greta Gerwig’s NYT interview this week, but Gerwig told the Times that the well is dry and she’s not thinking of anything having to do with a Barbie sequel. A sequel feels inevitable though – the Barbie movie is just so successful and there’s so much room to play with that Barbie Cinematic Universe. My guess is that Warner Bros will eventually hire someone new to write and direct a sequel but they’ll bring in Gerwig to executive produce. And obviously, Margot Robbie is probably the key to it. In any case, Mattel is incredibly pleased with Barbie’s worldwide success and they’ll planning to make dozens of movies based on their portfolio of toys and games. Like, UNO: The Movie. For real. Some highlights from this bonkers Variety exclusive:

Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz plans a full slate of toy-movies & Barbie sequels: With dozens of children’s toys on their film slate, 14 Mattel properties are in active development, including “Barney,” “Polly Pocket,” “Thomas and Friends” and “American Girl.”

Barbie sequels: “Barbie, as a brand, has many different iterations. The product lines of Barbie is a very broad brand. In addition to the main Barbie figure, she has family, she has a lot of elements around in her universe,” Kreiz told Variety. “It’s a very rich universe… It’s a very broad and very elastic brand, in terms of opportunities. At the outset, we’re not saying, ‘Okay, let’s think already about movie two and three.’ Let’s get the first one right and make that a success. And if you do that, opportunities open up very quickly, once you establish the first movie as a successful representation of a franchise on the big screen. Successful movies lend themselves to more movies. Our ambition is to create film franchises.”

A Barney movie: Producer: Daniel Kaluuya. The iconic purple dinosaur will inspire a live-action film that Mattel has previously described as an “A24-type” of “surrealistic” movie. Now, Brenner divulges a few more details, telling Variety, “I don’t know that it’s necessarily going to be darker. It’s just going to be unique — more of like a ‘Being John Malkovich’ or an ‘Adaptation,’” she says, referencing the 1999 and 2002 Spike Jonze films.“Any movie that has Barney is not certainly going to be straightforward,” Brenner adds. Referencing the Seth MacFarlane comedies, she quips: “We’re not making ‘Ted.’ You know what I mean?”

Polly Pocket: Studio: MGM, Star: Lily Collins, Writer/Director: Lena Dunham. The “Emily In Paris” star will star as the micro-doll in a family comedy written and directed by the “Girls” creator. Brenner confirms to Variety that there is a script, which she enthusiastically describes as a “great” script. “First of all, they are two of my favorite ladies ever,” Brenner says of Collins and Dunham. “It’s been an amazing collaboration. Lena is so collaborative and rolls up her sleeves and really likes to roll around in notes and listen. She’s incredible. Lily is so smart and so specific and so productorial. It’s just been an incredible collaboration, so we are thrilled about it. Hopefully, we’ll be making that at some point in the future.”

[From Variety]

Variety has a huge f–king list of all of their plans, including Hot Wheels (with JJ Abrams attached), Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots (Vin Diesel), American Girl, Magic 8 Ball, Masters of the Universe, Major Matt Mason (Tom Hanks, Akiva Goldsman), UNO, Wishbone, View Master and on and on. Barbie’s success really opened Pandora’s Box when it comes to toy companies believing that every f–king toy needs a movie. I don’t even recognize some of these toys either.

People have a lot of thoughts about Lena Dunham doing a Polly Pocket movie… and I get it, it’s a terrible idea, even though I sort of like Lily Collins. But don’t give that kind of project to Lena Dunham, my God.

Greta Gerwig realizing she accidentally paved the way for Lena Dunham’s “Polly Pocket” movie https://t.co/1yltUf43ch pic.twitter.com/WyVBXyJ2eb

— Drew Landry (@MrDrewLandry) July 26, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

Byline Times has released Part 4 of their ongoing investigation into Dan Wootton. Wootton is still currently employed by GB News, and he’s been on air this week. He’s still technically employed by the Daily Mail, although it’s been a full month since he’s written anything for the Mail. The bulk of Byline’s current investigation is for Wootton’s time in Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire, namely the now-defunct News of the World and The Sun. Wootton climbed the editorial ranks at the Sun with record speed until he was swiftly shown the door in 2020. That’s something left unsaid in Byline’s reporting, that Wootton likely had a “professional motive” to do certain despicable things – he was getting kompromat on his bosses or colleagues, blackmail material which he used to “help” his ascent up the corporate ladder. Speaking of, Byline’s Part 4 details exactly how Wootton made arrangements with p0rn stars:

GB News presenter Dan Wootton paid adult film stars to meet gay men he had catfished in order to secretly record them having sex, Byline Times can reveal. Wootton ‘rented’ the Facebook profiles of at least three different male p0rn performers for up to £500 a time, before posing as them and tricking his targets into meetings to be covertly filmed with cameras he supplied.

At least one of these meetings took place in a hotel paid for by Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun newspaper – of which Wootton was associate editor at the time. The journalist also charged a £1,500 p0rn star’s fee for the ‘private work’ to his then employers News UK – disguised as payment to a ‘contact’ for a front-page story about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

This newspaper has interviewed two of the adult performers involved and has evidence from another man also paid by Wootton to make secret sex tapes for him.

Byline Times has also identified two of the victims of Wootton’s catfishing conspiracy, which is separate to his use of the pseudonyms ‘Martin Branning’ and ‘Maria Joseph’, to trick scores of other male victims into revealing compromising sexual material.

[From Byline]

Byline then interviews a few of the adult-film actors who rented out their social media pages to Wootton so he could use them as “bait” for certain targets. Wootton would pretend to be these actors on their Facebook pages and set up meetings/sexual encounters with the targets, then he would pay the actors to have sex with the targets and film all of the encounters. I’m kind of blown away by Wootton’s detailed schemes and yet… the crimes were somewhat low-tech. They usually involved Wootton talking some adult actor, escort or down-on-his-luck hustler into having sex with a target and trusting the actor/escort to film it themselves on Wootton’s iPad or cameras connected to Wootton’s Cloud. The catfishing operation was stupidly elaborate and yet ridiculously easy for Wootton to pull off, time and time again. But yeah, there’s evidence and testimony of dozens of crimes here.

Photos courtesy of GB News.