Ben Affleck covers the latest issue of the Hollywood Reporter. This interview is SO LONG. Ben excels at these kinds of long-form interviews though – if anything, he’s better when he has unlimited space to expound, catch himself, backtrack, and smother you with his wit and humor. It’s when he’s trying to be pithy that he gets in trouble. Affleck is currently promoting Air, which he produced, directed and stars in. The film is all about Nike creating the Air Jordans, an entire shoe line based around Michael Jordan. He talks about the film at length as well as Artists Equity, the production firm he set up with Matt Damon and other artists. He talks about everything else too – his wife Jennifer Lopez, his kids, the DC franchises, Batman, Instagram, his grim appearance at the Grammys, the pandemic, the business of streaming, everything. It’s an excellent read, honestly. Go here for the full piece. Some highlights (there are too many, honestly, so I really had to trim this down):

He’s getting over Covid: “I’d had it a couple of times and been asymptomatic, and so I got kind of cavalier and a little bit like, “Wow, COVID doesn’t really actually affect me. I’m one of those people.” And then I just got annihilated. I had the no-energy COVID, where it was too much work to pick up the phone to play Octordle…It’s just Wordle with more words. Don’t be impressed, it’s not harder. I was invited to join a cool little red velvet rope celebrity Wordle group. Matt [Damon]’s one of them. Jason Bateman and Bradley [Cooper], and … Actually, the first rule of Wordle is don’t talk about Wordle.”

Why he started Artists Equity: “One of the reasons I did it was, I’m divorced. I share custody. I don’t want to go to Austin and New Orleans and Georgia anymore and not see my kids. It just doesn’t work. These years are too important. If I miss them, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. And then I thought, “OK, well, if I’m in Los Angeles and I’m in an office and I’m doing this work, I can step out for the basketball game or the jazz performance.” So I protect those things.

The movie business is changing: “Succession is on. Ozark. Narcos. Game of Thrones. You’re not competing with [1980s crime drama] Simon & Simon on an 11-inch black-and-white TV. There’s really beautiful stuff being made. My daughter is 17. She lives her life largely in opposition to the work her parents have spent their lives dedicated to, where she’ll say things like, “I’m not sure film is really … Do you think it’s a genuine art form?” I like the fact that she has this silver rapier tongue.”

He wasn’t fulfilled on the Justice League crap: “The Justice League experience, the fact that those stories became somewhat repetitive to me and less interesting….You could teach a seminar on all the reasons why this is how not to do it. Ranging from production to bad decisions to horrible personal tragedy, and just ending with the most monstrous taste in my mouth. The genius, and the silver lining, is that Zack Snyder eventually went to AT&T and was like, “Look, I can get you four hours of content.” And it’s principally just all the slow motion that he shot in black-and-white. And one day of shooting with me and him. He was like, “Do you want to come shoot in my backyard?” I was like, “I think there are unions, Zack. I think we have to make a deal.” But I went and did it. And now [Zack Snyder’s Justice League] is my highest-rated movie on IMDb.

The mess with Joss Whedon: “I was going to direct a Batman, and [Justice League] made me go, “I’m out. I never want to do any of this again. I’m not suited.” That was the worst experience I’ve ever seen in a business which is full of some sh-tty experiences. It broke my heart. There was an idea of someone [Joss Whedon] coming in, like, “I’ll rescue you and we’ll do 60 days of shooting and I’ll write a whole thing around what you have. I’ve got the secret.” And it wasn’t the secret. That was hard. And I started to drink too much. I was back at the hotel in London, it was either that or jump out the window. And I just thought, “This isn’t the life I want. My kids aren’t here. I’m miserable.”

How he knows Michael Jordan: “I periodically play cards sometimes with Michael, and we’ve got mutual friends, and … None of it sounds good, OK? And it’s not like he’d be like, “Oh yeah, Ben’s my boy.” (Imitating Jordan’s voice.) He’d be like, “Yeah, I know him.” Jordan is — he’s a hero to me. And I know how important and meaningful a figure he is, in particular in the African American community. If you’re going to f-ck around with talking about Michael Jordan, do it respectfully. Nobody’s asking you to do a hagiography, but get it f–king right. I’ve never known anybody with that kind of charisma and power who walks into a room and it just reverberates.

He hates golf: “I don’t golf myself. Because I just feel like it eats people’s lives up. I look at golf like meth. They have better teeth, but it doesn’t seem like people ever come out of that. Once they start golfing, you just don’t ever see them again.

How he got Viola Davis to play MJ’s mom: “Begging. I’m sure it was because I said, “Michael Jordan wants you to play his mom.” It certainly wasn’t “Ben Affleck wants you to be in his movie.” She’s not comfortable with sycophancy or obsequiousness. You can tell it chafes her. I just treated her with respect, which is to say, “When you’re ready, let me know. We’ll be here.”

J.Lo’s contributions to ‘Air’: “Oh my God, she’s brilliant. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the way fashion evolves through the culture as a confluence of music, sports, entertainment and dance. She helped me in talking about the way in which a part of the reason why Jordans [the shoes] were so meaningful is because culture and style in America is 90 percent driven by Black culture. Black culture has historically pioneered music, dance, fashion, and it’s then been stolen, appropriated, remarketed as Elvis or whatever. And in this case, [Nike], a white-run corporate entity, was starting to do business with African American athletes in an identity affiliation sales thing. They were really taking value from what Michael Jordan represents and who he is. I don’t think the meaning can be overstated. They’re going to switch from “Hey, guys, we are a nice shoe,” to “If Mike has it, you want it.”

On Instagram: “My wife’s a genius at that. I don’t know if there’s anybody who understands Instagram better than her. In fact, she gave me a talk this morning before this interview. She thinks that because of experiences that I’ve had, I’ve become very guarded. And she’s right. I view these things as land mines, where if you say one wrong thing, your career might be over. I had a really painful experience where I did an interview where I was really vulnerable, and the entire pickup was something that was not only not right, it was actually the opposite of what I meant.

The Howard Stern interview where he talked about drinking & Jennifer Garner: “The idea that I was blaming my wife for my drinking. To be clear, my behavior is my responsibility entirely. The point that I was trying to make was a sad one. Anyone who’s been through divorce makes that calculus of, How much do we try? We loved each other. We care about each other. We have respect for each other. I was trying to say, “Hey, look, I was drinking too much, and the less happy you become, whether it’s your job, your marriage, it’s just that as your life becomes more difficult, if you’re doing things to fill a hole that aren’t healthy, you’re going to start doing more of those things.” I think I was pretty articulate about that. It was the New York Post who deliberately mischaracterized it in order to make it clickbait, and everyone else then picked it up, and it didn’t matter how many times I said, “I do not feel this way. I’m telling you, I don’t blame my ex-wife for my alcoholism.”

J.Lo helps him: “But anyway, so [Jennifer Lopez] tells me today, “Relax, be yourself. Have fun. You’re actually a fun guy who is real and genuine and you just seem so serious.” Do I seem serious? But as in many things, she’s really right. And she loves me. She’s looking out for me. She’s trying to help me. So it’s like, maybe I ought to f–king listen to her.

His big night at the Grammys: “I had a good time at the Grammys. My wife was going, and I thought, “Well, there’ll be good music. It might be fun.” At movie award shows, it’s speeches and, like, sound-mixing webinars. But I thought this would be fun. I saw [Grammy host Trevor Noah approach] and I was like, “Oh, God.” They were framing us in this shot, but I didn’t know they were rolling. I leaned into her and I was like, “As soon they start rolling, I’m going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor.” She goes, “You better f–king not leave.” That’s a husband-and-wife thing. I mean, some of it is, I’m like, “All right, who is this act?” Like, I don’t keep up. My wife does, obviously. And yeah, it is your wife’s work event. And I’ve gone to events and been pissed off. I’ve gone and been bored. I’ve gone to award shows and been drunk, a bunch. Nobody ever once said I’m drunk. [But at the Grammys] they were like, “He’s drunk.” And I thought, that’s interesting. That raises a whole other thing about whether or not it’s wise to acknowledge addiction because there’s a lot of compassion, but there is still a tremendous stigma, which is often quite inhibiting. I do think it disincentivizes people from making their lives better.

[From THR]

I believe him about the Jen Garner stuff, that the context was that he was miserable for many reasons and his drinking was getting worse and his marriage situation wasn’t making it any easier. I believe him that he doesn’t “blame” Garner for his alcoholism, and I think his point is that the failure of his first marriage (generally speaking) contributed to his drinking. I also believe him about the Grammys – he went because he thought it would be a fun night out with his wife and he became a misery meme. Anyway, I love that Violet is always on his ass about his movies and I love how much he respects J.Lo. That’s all.

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What’s the Winston Churchill quote? “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” So it was with that Brian Cox story in the Daily Mail. I strongly suspect that Haute Living New York sent out a promotional email with a few excerpted quotes from their cover interview with Cox, and the Mail decided to create this utterly ridiculous narrative that Cox spent the entire bitching about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I’ve read a lot of Cox’s interviews in recent years – this dude is a socialist and he hates the monarchy and he wants Scotland to vote for independence. I simply didn’t believe that he would save his biggest criticisms for the Sussexes. And he really didn’t. Within Haute Living’s story, it’s clear that Cox is rambling on about economics, politics, the British monarchy and more and there is a larger context. Some highlights from the interview:

On his Succession patriarch Logan Roy: “Logan’s not that bad. I actually have a lot of sympathy for Logan. [Logan] comes out onto the street and he just sees how run down New York is. There are rats everywhere, and a guy eating his supper out of a tin can. Logan sees that and goes, How did this happen? How did we get to this state? It’s a parallel to his own life: he has these awful, entitled children, but he himself does not have that entitlement; he has empathy that his children do not. He believes that everything he’s done, he’s earned … and he’s not wrong. It’s always said that a cynic is a disillusioned romantic. I think that’s true and also the root of who Logan was as a young man. He sees that life doesn’t operate the way one would like it to, but in a more mercenary way. His children, however, don’t realize that if they don’t work, that if they don’t commit some kind of integrity to what they do, that they can’t succeed, and he can’t do anything about that. It’s just the nature of the beast.”

Pretty much an atheist: “I think one of the most fundamental problems we have as humans is that we let religion get in the way so much of the time. I’m not anymore, but I was born a Catholic. I’m pretty much an atheist now, because I don’t think religion serves anybody. I think God is one of the great illusions we cling to in order to give us sanity, but I actually believe in human beings, that they’re much more interesting.”

Why he loves America: “The reason why I live in America, and why I love it, was that I was very attracted by the notion of egalitarian thinking. This country was built on essentially egalitarian principles. And I feel horrible for the immigrant population that comes here with this notion that America represents freedom, because it’s certainly not as free as it purports to be. We’ve allowed so many things to get in the way of that freedom. For me, one of the tragedies of America — because I do love this country and what it represents — is that it isn’t living up to what it represents. It’s not living up to what those principles were built on because all these other distractions have come in.”

On the British monarchy, this is the full section: “I find that it’s really just so sad that we don’t acknowledge our own humanity enough. We don’t acknowledge what we’ve been through on behalf of a family — a ruling family. And that’s why, when you look at what’s happening with Meghan and Harry [there they are!], you go, ‘Well, Harry, there’s an innocence about.’ And with her, too. But you can’t go into a system where somebody’s already been trained to behave in a certain kind of way and then just expect them to cut themselves off. I mean, she knew what she was getting into, and there’s an ambition there clearly as well — the childhood dreams of marrying Prince Charming and all that sh-t we see as fantasy that could be our lives in our dreams. I’m a Cinderella person, you know.” He shrugs. “In my opinion, we shouldn’t have a monarchy. It’s not viable; it doesn’t make any sense. It’s tradition and all that, they say. I say, ‘F–k it! Move on!’”

[From Haute Living New York]

Now, I’m not saying his full comment in context makes more sense, but it’s nowhere near as harsh or anti-Sussex as the Mail would have people believe. My interpretation of his comment is: Harry was very innocent and so was Meghan; it must be difficult for Harry to cut himself from the regimented royal life and his toxic family; and Meghan’s innocence was that she was wrapped up in a princess fantasy and the dream of what their lives could be. Now, I think he’s wrong that Meghan knew what she was getting into. That’s such a stupid conversation, because it’s such a self-own for British people and the British media, because it’s like they’re mad at Meghan for not understanding that they were going to be awful and racist towards her. They’re like “how dare she not realize that we’re utter trash!”

Anyway, it’s still perfectly clear that Brian Cox wants to abolish the monarchy. I tend to think he was just talking about the Sussexes more as a character study than political actors, but what do I know.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of Haute Living.

The second season of Yellowjackets is approaching. It’s set to premiere March 26th. Melanie Lynskey got a full interview in the New York Times to promote it. Unfortunately, the interviewer seemingly spent more time researching adjectives for their piece than they did coming up with interesting questions for Melanie. It’s a decent primer to Melanie if you know absolutely nothing about her as it rehashes her career and the choices she made and how she sought more complex roles. And, of course, Melanie was asked about her weight and how that affects her as an actress and her characters. She gave a great response to question, though. Melanie said that if more people who looked like her were represented on film, she wouldn’t have to keep talking about it.

“I am a quiet person,” the actress Melanie Lynskey said. “I’m a shy person. I’m not a person with a big resonant voice or a big presence.”

Lynskey, 45, born on the west coast of New Zealand, entered the industry early and somewhat by chance. She had always loved acting, which offered her a reprieve from what she described as an acute self-consciousness. But she had only ever done plays at school or church when a casting director for Peter Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures,” a 1994 film inspired by a lurid murder case, came to her high school.

Lynskey, who was 15 at the time, was cast opposite Kate Winslet, as a teenager who conspires to murder her own mother. She is thrilling in the role, with a scowl that burns through the celluloid and a dark, mordant energy. That predilection for women with turbulent inner lives, women who strain against social norms — it was there from the start.

For a long time, though, Hollywood ignored it. After finishing high school and trying college in New Zealand, Lynskey moved first to London and then, in 2000, to Los Angeles, where she spent a decade playing anodyne supporting roles in mainstream films (“Sweet Home Alabama,” “Coyote Ugly”) and the occasional indie (“Shattered Glass”). Casting agents and her own representation saw her as the sister, the stepsister, the friend and, rather more vividly, as Charlie Sheen’s erotomaniac neighbor in “Two and a Half Men.”

She was slender in those years, though not perhaps as slender as the industry prefers: The scripts she received were typically for “the fat friend or the jokey kind of fat person,” she recalled. “There was one thing I read where the person had a candy bar in every scene.”

Lynskey’s performances have been scrutinized on social media largely (and irrelevantly) because of her size, which remains smaller than that of the average American woman though greater than the Hollywood norm. Lynskey has complicated feelings about this.

“I very much want to be onscreen representing an interesting person who’s not paying attention to what her tummy looks like,” she said. But she is troubled by the misogyny, the callousness. And though she has an elegant way with a clapback, she wishes that her perfectly ordinary body wasn’t so unusual for prestige television.

“If there were more people who look like me, then I wouldn’t have to talk about it as much,” she said.

[From New York Times]

Melanie’s mission has been to appear on screen as a sexual being without having her character focused on their weight. That ties into her point here. For characters who place larger than a size 2-4, mainly women, generally at least a portion of the dialogue is spent discussing their weight in some way. Maybe a joke at their own expense or a wink to the audience, but they’re rarely allowed to exist unbothered. Melanie’s right, if they simply put a wider variety of faces and figures on screens, everyone would become accustomed to seeing it. It would start looking like the word around them – how novel.

I didn’t love season one of Yellowjackets – I liked it – but I did love the cast. However, the last episode hooked me, so I am looking forward to season two. I’m looking forward to the new characters too.

Jeffrey Mayer, Xavier Collin and JPI Studios/Avalon and Cover Images

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Keira Knightley fell victim to the dreaded puffy-sleeve trend at the New York premiere of Boston Strangler. [GFY]
I feel bad for Pedro Pescal, he’s getting pap’d all the time now. Everyone wants to see him, everyone wants to take his picture! [JustJared]
Law Roach’s best looks as a stylist to the stars. [Jezebel]
I agree, it’s more likely Tom Cruise wanted to avoid the “jokes” at his expense, and that’s why he didn’t go to the Oscars. [LaineyGossip]
Eric Andre has some thoughts on Chet Hanks. [Dlisted]
I haven’t watched Ted Lasso yet, no spoilers or recaps for me! [Pajiba]
That hot editor who won an Oscar? He’s aware of his privilege. [Buzzfeed]
Elton John is planning a massive holiday now that his tour is done. [Towleroad]
Gisele Bundchen has had some cosmetic work recently, right? [Egotastic]
I love that everyone is calling out Gwyneth Paltrow. [Starcasm]

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Did you know that it’s been over fourteen months since we’ve devoted a post to Miley Cyrus? It’s true, I checked. The last time we even talked about her was back in January 2022, when Kim Kardashian unfollowed Miley after Miley flirted with Pete Davidson (who was then dating Kim). While Miley has been active and seen a lot in the past year, it’s also felt like she’s been relatively quiet (for her). Then she released her latest album, Endless Summer Vacation, this month as the first single, “Flowers,” dominated the charts. And still, while the song has been everywhere, Miley hasn’t. It’s been interesting. Is this “growth” perhaps? Has Miley matured? Well, there’s a new piece in People Magazine and it actually sounds like she’s still hung up on explaining what happened during her marriage and divorce to Liam Hemsworth. Their divorce was finalized in January 2020!

Miley Cyrus is 30 years old & thriving: The star is thriving after having had ample time to heal and reflect in the aftermath of her painful divorce from Liam Hemsworth. “She’s the healthiest and happiest she’s been in a long time,” a Cyrus source says. “Everyone was blaming her for the divorce and calling her this wild child, but that wasn’t fair. Their relationship and marriage was toxic, and she was heartbroken.”

Her side of the divorce story: Though Cyrus released the glam rock album Plastic Hearts in November 2020, the source says that she finally feels ready to “tell her side of the story” after having “had time to process and heal” from the split. Though Hemsworth is not directly referenced on the album, fans have speculated that some lyrics — like the ex in “Muddy Feet” who smells like “perfume that I didn’t purchase” — are about the Hunger Games actor.

She’s not blaming Liam: “She’s not trying to bash Liam, but she feels like she has every right to own the narrative after everyone was picking her apart after the breakup,” the insider says.

Miley is moving on too: Hemsworth has been dating Australian model Gabriella Brooks, 26, since December 2019, while Cyrus moved on with drummer Maxx Morando, 24, in late 2021. A second source tells PEOPLE that Morando — who produced two songs on Endless Summer Vacation — is a “cool guy” whose drama-free personality Cyrus finds refreshing. “He has no interest in being a huge celebrity; he’s very low-key. Miley loves these qualities,” the insider says. “Miley can be herself. They are supportive of each other’s careers. Miley is enjoying life and things are great.”

[From People]

I mean… four years after Miley and Liam split and she’s still devoting whole-ass albums to “her side,” really? There’s no time limit on healing, but this sounds more like Miley is trying to rewrite her own (toxic) narrative, where she split with Liam at the same time she launched a full-blown affair with Kaitlynn Carter. Again – I’ve gotten in trouble for this before, so I’ll repeat myself – I have no doubt that Liam cheated or whatever. I just think Miley was just as toxic, dysfunctional, unfaithful and immature as Liam when they were together. I also think Miley sounds like she’s still hung up on Liam!

“Flowers” is a very good song!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

While I’m so proud of Ke Huy Quan and his Oscar win, his journey is so bittersweet. The anti-Asian racism within the film industry, the lack of roles for a talented Vietnamese immigrant, his decades of struggle to find work within the industry he loves. Ke covers the post-Oscars issue of Variety and while they take pains to say that Quan has several projects already in post-production, he also talks about how there’s nothing on his plate right now after winning an Oscar. It reminds me slightly of Lupita Nyong’o post-Oscar career, at least in the first few years: will Hollywood figure out what to do with a talented Oscar winner who isn’t white? Some highlights from Quan’s Variety cover story:

Talking to Steven Spielberg: During a commercial break in the Academy Awards telecast, Quan, 51, went over to where Spielberg was sitting with his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, whom Quan hadn’t seen since they co-starred in “Temple of Doom” four decades earlier. After hugs all around, Spielberg put his hands on Quan’s shoulders and said, “You are now an Oscar-winning actor.”

30 years of little to no work: For 30 years, Quan suffered through countless failed auditions. He later attended USC film school and took odd jobs working as the fight choreographer on “X-Men” and developing projects for director Wong Kar Wai at his production company, Jet Tone Films. That’s where he met his wife, Echo, whom he regards as the unsung hero of his recent success. Every month for the past 20 years, Echo has told her husband, “Trust me, your time will come.” “At times, I was frustrated with her,” Quan says, tearing up as he remembers their conversations. “I told her, ‘You keep saying that, and it’s never going to happen.’ I didn’t believe it. Twenty years isn’t a short time.”

A refugee in America: “I was just a normal kid in Vietnam in 1978, and all of a sudden my parents decided to flee the country. I didn’t understand what was happening. All I knew was I was separated from my mom, from my little brother and a couple of my sisters. It was in the middle of the night when my dad, five of my siblings and I escaped in a boat. We got to Hong Kong, and I was in a refugee camp surrounded by guards and police officers for an entire year until we were granted political asylum. Then I got on a plane and landed for the first time in Los Angeles. This was in 1979. I didn’t have the maturity to process the sacrifices that my parents made so that we could have a better future.”

The future in terms of Asian representation: “Forget about 30, 40 years ago — even 10 years ago. Look where we are now: The landscape looks so different. We have a seat at the table. Our voices are being heard. Our faces are being seen, and it feels amazing.

Harrison For presenting Best Picture: “When he opened that envelope and read the title, it made our win for best picture even more special. And when I ran up onstage, I pointed at him and he pointed back at me and I gave him a hug. I just couldn’t help myself. I just want to shower this man with all my love. I gave Harrison Ford a big kiss on the cheek.

Whether he hoped Short Round would come back for The Last Crusade: “I was secretly hoping. But honestly, Steven has given me so much — not one movie, but two movies. And they were the first ones to put an Asian face in a big Hollywood movie.

Struggling to find roles for 30 years: “I was taught never to blame anybody. If something doesn’t go the way you want, it’s either because you didn’t work hard enough, you weren’t good enough or you didn’t try hard enough. So when I couldn’t get a job, I blamed myself: I thought I wasn’t tall enough, I wasn’t good-looking enough, or I wasn’t a good enough actor because I wasn’t classically trained. I never blamed anybody — even to this day. We talk about Asian representation, but I don’t like to look at the past and say, “Oh, my God, how bad it was!” I’d rather focus on the present and moving forward. A lot has changed.

His worries about what comes next: “I had a conversation with my agent. I’m so worried that this is only a one-time thing… I attended an event recently and sat next to Cate Blanchett. I told her that I don’t know what I’m going to do next, but I feel I have a responsibility to do something good, and that I don’t want to disappoint all the people that have supported me. And she said, “Just go with your heart and be irresponsible: Don’t worry about what other people think. Choose something that you believe in, choose something that you love, and things will work out.”

[From Variety]

The part where he talks about blaming himself for not booking roles… that might have actually broken me. Like, how much weight he was carrying on his own shoulders, how he never said to himself “this industry is just fundamentally racist.” It’s sad. In case you’re wondering about his completed projects, he’s in the second season of Loki, he’s in the series American Born Chinese and he’s filmed the sci-fi movie The Electric State. But yeah, people need to write roles for him or cast him in interesting projects. The fact that he’s in a Marvel series is interesting to me – if he gets in with Disney/Marvel, he could have work coming in for the next decade.

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The heiress to the Spanish throne is Crown Princess Leonor, a 17 year old. She is dutifully preparing for her future role – so far, she’s been mainly educated in Spain, but she’s currently in a program at Atlantic College in Wales, which she will complete this summer. Instead of going straight to university or perhaps taking a gap year to be a normal teenager, Leonor has announced her plans to begin her three-year mandatory military training. That’s certainly a choice.

Crown Princess Leonor of Spain is getting ready to report for military duty. The Royal Household of Spain announced in a press release this week that Leonor, 17, will begin three years of military training later this year to prepare for her future role as the country’s head of state. Leonor, who is also known as Her Royal Highness the Princess of Asturias, is the oldest of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia’s two daughters. As first in the line to the Bourbon throne, she will become supreme commander of Spain’s armed forces when her father steps down from his position or dies.

The royal’s training will begin in August after she finishes studying at the UWC Atlantic College in Wales, where she is studying for an International Baccalaureate alongside Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, 17.

Princess Leonor will take part in her first year of training at the Army Military Academy in Zaragoza, before moving on to a naval school, and then finishing her studies at the General Air Academy in Santiago de la Ribera, 280 miles southeast of Madrid.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles spoke about Princess Leonor’s upcoming military service.

“In the Cabinet Meeting today, we have approved a royal decree whose aim is to give structure to the military training and career of [Princess Leonor],” Robles said, per CNN. “It shows that we will have, when the time comes, a supreme commander who is a woman. And in recent years, we’ve made a big effort to incorporate women into the armed forces.”

Noting that an heir “has to have a military background and a military career” throughout “all parliamentary monarchies,” Robles added, “It’s an essential step in the life of Her Royal Highness … toward the leadership of our country.”

[From People]

I get that they want the future queen to have some military background, but is it a rule to do three years of training before university? I wonder. In the British royal system, the habit is more towards university education first, then Sandhurst. That’s what Charles did, that’s what William did. Will Leonor go to university after her military training? Will she have to sleep in the barracks? This poor kid. I mean, she seems bright and capable, but three years is a long time to be in military training.

Look at her trousers, blazer and flats! These are photos from December, when she did an event with the Red Cross.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

In February, there were several (hilarious) stories about all of the angst and big feelings within the British aristocracy, all over the invitation list for King Charles’s coronation. The Duke of Norfolk is in charge of the guest list, obviously in consultation with Charles and the Chubbly committee. Well, the Earl of Rootentooter and Viscount Finger Bowl are quite worried that at the end of the day, they’re not going to be invited to the coronation. The posh people are unsettled, so much so that they might have to summon their quill and parchment to formally complain. Of course, Richard Eden (aka Maureen) has to frame this growing aristo angst by talking about… the Sussexes.

There’s no doubt about it: Coronation fever is in the air. No, not at a certain ‘Spanish Revival-style’, £11 million mansion in Montecito, California, which, by some accounts, boasts nine bedrooms and 19 bathrooms — and at which, according to their spokesman, an email recently arrived from Buckingham Palace, advising Harry and Meghan to ‘save the date’ for Saturday, May 6.

I refer, instead, to the tension brewing up in lesser dwellings — a stately home or two, as well as mere manor houses — which lack the gym, bar, five-car garage and other amenities of Harry and Meghan’s residence. These houses — some of them in need of almost continuous repair — are the homes of those who are, or have long considered themselves to be, good friends of King Charles and Camilla, but from whom the precious email has, so far, been withheld.

‘Some of them are furious, especially those who have made rather a lot about their royal friendships over the years,’ an amused grandee tells me. ‘They’re finding the wait excruciating. And, for some, it’s going to end in humiliation.’ Indeed it is. No fewer than 5,000 were crammed — almost crow-barred — into Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation in 1953.

‘Scaffolding was specially installed, so that you had row after row more or less sitting on top of each other,’ reflects a historian of the Abbey’s state occasions. ‘But that sort of Heath Robinson arrangement simply isn’t possible today because of health and safety.’

In consequence, no more than 2,000 will be able to attend this time. Aware of this, some, I’m told, have resorted to trying to emphasise their links to charities which are likely to be favoured with a handful of invitations. Camilla is, after all, patron of over 100 such bodies, ranging from Macmillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie to the National Literacy Trust.

But such ploys, of course, offer no guarantee of an invitation, which will be sent by post only after prospective guests have received — and acknowledged — the prized, preliminary email. I’m told by a royal source that the emails are being sent in batches — periodically. ‘It’s a practical arrangement,’ I’m assured.

[From The Daily Mail]

So it’s not just that the aristos are mad that they haven’t gotten their invitations, it’s that Meghan and Harry confirmed that they received their email and the Duke of Bugf-ckshire hasn’t. Someone made the point that if Charles wasn’t so hellbent on showing off and inviting foreign monarchs and Camilla’s extended family, he would actually prioritize the aristocrats because they could do some real damage to him. I don’t know, though – Charles is getting it from every angle at this point. His younger son (hopefully) won’t even show up. The anti-monarchy protests keep getting bigger. The Chubbly keeps getting more expensive. Would you prioritize these terrible people?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

One of the dumbest things Quentin Tarantino ever did was set a limit to the number of films he would make. People change, circumstances change and storytellers want to tell stories. For years, QT has said that he only wants to make ten films (as a director) and then he’ll retire and do other things. While I understand why he would tell himself that, I don’t get why he continues to put that entirely arbitrary limit on himself publicly. In any case, he has announced his tenth and “final” film: The Movie Critic. It’s rumored to be another period piece, likely about the infamous critic Pauline Kael (or a character a lot like Kael).

Quentin Tarantino is back for the last time. The filmmaker behind some of the most indelible movies of the past three decades, Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood among them, is putting together what sources say is being billed as his final movie.

The Movie Critic is the name of the script that Tarantino wrote and is prepping to direct this fall, according to sources.

Logline details are being kept in a suitcase, but sources describe the story as being set in late 1970s Los Angeles with a female lead at its center.

It is possible the story focuses on Pauline Kael, one of the most influential movie critics of all time. Kael, who died in 2001, was not just a critic but also an essayist and novelist. She was known for her pugnacious fights with editors as well as filmmakers. In the late 1970s, Kael had a very brief tenure working as a consultant for Paramount, a position she accepted at the behest of actor Warren Beatty. The timing of that Paramount job seems to coincide with the setting of the script — and the filmmaker is known to have a deep respect for Kael, making the odds of her being the subject of the film more likely.

The project does not have a studio home; it could go out to studios or buyers as early as this week, according to sources. One frontrunner could be Sony, where Tarantino has a tight relationship with topper Tom Rothman. Sony distributed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the filmmaker’s 2019 opus on 1960s moviemaking, and also gave him a unique deal in which the copyright reverts to him over time. Hollywood also won two Oscars after nabbing 10 nominations and grossed over $377 million worldwide.

[From THR]

The rumor going around is that Tarantino has cast Jessica Chastain in the lead, although that doesn’t seem to be confirmed by any of the trade papers? If this is set in the 1970s and it’s about the film industry and movie critics… well, there’s a potential for an exciting ensemble. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ensemble on Once Upon a Time – it seemed a bit janky and hodge-podge, especially with the way Tarantino cast the Manson family, and I still shudder at Tarantino casting Damian Lewis for a cameo as Steve McQueen. How utterly random. Anyway, it will be interesting to see if The Movie Critic does end up being Tarantino’s final film.

people keep saying Tarantino won’t really retire and maybe he won’t, but dude’s been almost comically stone-cold serious about retiring at 60 for almost 15 years pic.twitter.com/BChgWEMmCD

— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) March 15, 2023

QUENTIN TARANTINO’S final movie is rumoured to be based on movie critic PAULINE KAEL.

Here she is speaking to DICK CAVETT in 1971 about the state of the movie industry.

Who do you think would be a good fit to play her? pic.twitter.com/ifj4bi3Elt

— James Leighton (@JamesL1927) March 15, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Oprah Winfrey was a guest on Wednesday’s episode of CBS This Morning, where her BFF Gayle King interviewed her about her latest book club pick, how Donald Trump can’t keep her name out of his mouth, and many other subjects. Gayle took a moment to ask Oprah about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and whether Oprah thinks the Sussexes should go to the coronation:

Oprah says that Prince Harry and Meghan “should do what they feel is best for them and for their family” when deciding whether to attend King Charles’ coronation. https://t.co/GAGXph1ern pic.twitter.com/nCV3vEbq73

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 15, 2023

Oprah says: “I think they should do what they feel is best for them and their family. That’s what I think. That’s what the bottom line comes down to. What do you feel like is the right thing for you? They haven’t asked me my opinion.” I love that Gayle asked and Oprah answered! I do wonder what the conversations are like behind the scenes, just as I wonder if Harry has decided to go no matter what, simply because it is his father’s coronation and he feels it’s his duty.

Anyway, I wanted to bring up the fact that a network anchorwoman asked billionaire Oprah Winfrey about the Sussexes because the British media is still trying to make “the Sussexes are so unpopular in America” happen. The Daily Mirror even has a piece today about “six concerning signs that Harry and Meghan have damaged their reputation with Americans.” The British media doesn’t understand American culture, American celebrity or how we view British royalty whatsoever. The Mirror honestly claims that Americans have such strong feelings for QEII that we are completely rejecting the Sussexes. LMAO. Meanwhile, the Americans who actually follow royal gossip are like “Oprah needs to call Harry and Meghan and tell them to stay the f–k away from Salt Island forever!”

Photos courtesy of CBS, and CBS/Harpo.