Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Flaunt photo shoot. Was not shot by Sam Taylor-Johnson. This doesn’t matter to you, probably. But it matters to me because, well, she’s a photographer, a celebrated photographer. And these pictures are so f-cking sexy, I just wonder whether they’d be more sexy or not as sex…      

While all of the Hollywood insiders are busy declaring this The Year of Alicia Vikander, I have to say that I think 2015 is really The Year of Elizabeth Banks. She directed, produced and starred in the mega-hit Pitch Perfect 2. PP2 was so successful that a third Pitch Perfect has been greenlighted and Banks might direct it too. She’s getting Oscar buzz for Love & Mercy. She’s got a fun supporting part in Magic Mike XXL. She’s in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. And she’s filming Wet Hot American Summer: First Day At Camp. It really is The Year of Banks. Bless her. So it’s no surprise that Banks has gotten another magazine cover, this time with Flaunt Mag. Elizabeth joked on Instagram that it looks “like I was dipped in Vaseline and loved every second of it.” Some highlights from the interview:

Whether the industry is less fair to women over 40: “I am 41. That’s true…Not for Sandra Bullock! Not for Meryl Streep! Not for Naomi Watts! I got plenty to do!”

On-screen May-December romances: “The men get all older and all the women stay the same age…that’s true… My male peers in this business would rather be in a romantic relationship in a film with a 28-year-old. I’ll give you that. But it’s for the exact same reason I would prefer to be in a movie with Zac Efron! Because they’re beautiful! They’re sexy! They keep you feeling young, fresh! I guess my point is that I understand the impulse. It’s a bummer, but I think it’s important to remember.”

Inequality in the industry: “Women want to work because what we realized is that when you take that time to go away for six years and get your kids into first grade, people don’t hire you. They f–king forget about you… It’s bad for you, if you actually want to work and make money. Men want us to make money because they like having boats. They like going on vacations. They like motorcycles. And they’re not getting them on their salary alone.”

[From E! News]

Elizabeth Banks pretty much falls consistently into the feminist category of “if men can be ballers, so can I.” She approaches her career with that gung-ho, “let’s throw everything at the problem and just fight to the death” attitude. But no, she shouldn’t do a movie with Zac Efron. That would be bad for her career, just because Zac’s “movie star” attempt isn’t really happening. But I would be all for seeing Banks with a younger love interest, like Channing Tatum or… Kit Harington. Or something.

Photos courtesy of Flaunt.

One of my all-time favorite posts on LaineyGossip is Lainey’s account of interviewing Ezra Miller at TIFF several years ago—“These are TEXTILES”. And then there was the time he went to the MTV Movie Awards with a balloon as his date, and the balloon said “Nothing loves you”. Ezra Miller sounds li…      

As I said earlier, Kim Kardashian has been in the South of France for most of the week. She spoke at the Cannes Lions conference, then she made her second appearance (in two years) at the Daily Mail’s big yacht party at the Cannes Lions conference. Once again, Kim was the big “get” – she was the big name celebrity guest and the Daily Mail is really happy that they get to continue their alliance with the Kardashian-Jenners. This year, Kim brought along Kylie (that poor child), Kylie’s boyfriend Tyga and Kris Jenner and Kris’s boyfriend – go here to see those photos.

As you can see, Kim is still exposing her body while she can. I think Kim is at that stage of her pregnancy where she has good days (not too bloated) and bad days (sick as a dog), and she must have felt pretty good last night to walk out of the hotel in this ensemble. As for her close association with the Daily Mail – Kim has said in the past that the Mail Online is her favorite gossip/celeb news site and the Daily Mail loves her right back. Their relationship is definitely “cozy.”

Megyn Kelly – stay with me! – had a cover profile in the latest issue of Variety, and in between whining about how Jon Stewart was mean to her (deservedly, because her Fox News stupidity can be epic at times), Megyn said that she wants to start doing celebrity interviews. She said she would love to interview Kim Kardashian, and then Megyn made a surprisingly good argument, saying: “I want to know if she’s a force for good or evil. I had someone make the argument that she’s voluptuous, and maybe sending the message to young girls that you don’t have to be a stick figure to be desirable. But I see the other argument too — it’s all enhanced, and you send the message that you need to surgically alter yourself to the point of shocking to be attractive to men.” That’s the conundrum with Kim’s image, isn’t it?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

PBS has decided to suspend the third season of Finding Your Roots as the result of an internal investigation…

Whatever.

Basically PBS has suspended the third season of Finding Your Roots because of Ben Affleck. You’ll recall, once he learned that some of his ancestors were slave owners, B…      

Cameron Diaz is reportedly taking a break from acting, according to sources who spoke to Us Weekly. Officially, she’s working on a sequel to The Body Book which is a good plan. She makes plenty of money from acting, but it can’t be too satisfying to keep churning out romcoms. Cami’s also settling into married life with Benji Madden. We’ve heard about how they’re pro-active in marriage counseling to make it for the long haul. The tabs tried to plant pregnancy stories from the moment Cameron got married. Now Us says Cameron really does want a baby. She’s taking a “sabbatical” to try for pregnancy. Hmm:

Cameron Diaz’s new role isn’t in front of a camera! A source tells Us Weekly the actress is taking a year off from making movies to “be a wife and try to have a baby” with husband of five months, Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden.

“All she wants is to stay home and enjoy this special time in her life. She has told her team she won’t answer the phone for any amount of money — even though she has received offers for various things. She is adamant that she is not available for anything.”

The pair’s $10 million Beverly Hills mansion, where they held their 100-guest traditional Jewish wedding ceremony in January, provides the perfect retreat. Diaz, who’s “all about healthy living,” meditates every day and is one of those “really spiritual” people who values her quiet time alongside 36-year-old Madden, a second insider says.

“She loves watching TV and movies at home with Benji, and she’s working on new recipes for a follow-up to The Body Book,” the insider continues. “Her priorities have 100 percent shifted. She wanted to settle down and she has.”

And when Madden’s away, his wife is always on his mind. “He’s incredibly faithful,” the source adds. “He messages her all the time and tells her how much he loves her. She does not doubt him for one moment.”

[From Us Weekly

This story makes me side-eye a bit. Not because Cameron may have reversed her previous stance on having kids. That’s fine and up to her, but no one has to “drop everything” to try and get pregnant. The media slant on women giving up their entire lives to hope for a baby is tiresome. I’d prefer to hear that Cameron simply wanted to take a break. She’s been working nonstop for decades and could use some legit time off. Us hints at these things, but they still led their story with the “giving it all up for baby” angle. So predictable.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Ha, many of you predicted this as soon as the stories came out about George Clooney’s “boys-only” roadtrip. Of course Amal Clooney would have to step out today. To be fair to Amal, I think these photos are just her leaving her London home, which means the paparazzi were probably camped out, waiting for the latest fashion show. This doesn’t have the feel of an organized pap stroll, it’s more likely just Amal being polite for the cameras. Is she happy to see them? Of course.

Amal’s jumpsuit is by Sonia Rykiel, a designer that Amal has never worn before, to my memory. The price tag is well over $1000. Seriously. I don’t think this jumpsuit is all that great. It’s not the best color on her and the vibe is supposed to be “conservative, high-class overalls” but it just looks messy and dated. I will say this though – it’s better than most of her casualwear. That’s not saying much though, because her street style is absolutely tragic.

The Express UK posted these photos and asked if Amal was looking “too thin.” I’ve made an effort to not get too judgy or body-shamey about Amal’s weight loss, but yes, even the casual observer can see that she’s lost a significant amount of weight in the past year. Maybe it’s the pressure of being married to George Clooney, maybe it’s the pressure of being a brilliant, amazing lawyer and fashion-plate unicorn, I don’t really know. But she is very, very thin.

Amal also met David Cameron yesterday. You can read about it here.

PS… I bet Duchess Kate is jealous of the buttons.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Jennifer Lawrence was back in New York yesterday after spending the weekend in LA. Here she is out for dinner last night. Without the hot bodyguard you’ve been used to seeing. This new bodyguard though…

Also hot. Maybe even hotter?

Is that why she’s in such a good mood? Or was it the wine…      

Meryl Streep celebrated her 66th birthday earlier this week. To celebrate, she decided to send letters to every member of Congress asking them to revive the Equal Rights Amendment. You can read the Wiki for the ERA here – it’s a fascinating history and it’s amazing to think about how close women came to across-the-board constitutionally guaranteed equality. It’s also pretty amazing to reflect back on how the ERA pitted various feminist movements against each other. Well, we might get a repeat of that.

Meryl Streep has signed a letter being sent to every single member of Congress, urging them to revive a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for women.

“I am writing to ask you to stand up for equality – for your mother, your daughter, your sister, your wife or yourself – by actively supporting the Equal Rights Amendment,” Streep wrote in the message.

Each of her letters were sent to Capitol Hill along with a copy of the book Equal Means Equal: Why the Time for the ERA is Now by Jessica Neuwirth, president of the ERA Coalition, which was founded last year to rally a broader base of public support for the amendment.

The ERA was passed by Congress in 1972, stating, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States of by any state on account of sex.” But only 35 states ratified it over the next 10 years, three short of the 38-state minimum needed to add it to the Constitution, and the issue stalled. Since then, the Associated Press notes, lawmakers from both political parties have regularly tried to restart the process.

[From EW]

While I would like to see the ERA debate revived, I honestly don’t have much hope that it will ever pass. Still, it would force so many discussions and it would ensure that many elected representatives would have to go on the record about why they believed why women should be paid less, or why women should have less reproductive freedom than men and on and on.

Meryl is very politically active across the board, but one of my favorite pieces of Meryl’s activism is her work to create the Women’s History Museum in Washington, DC. Go here to read more about that.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

It’s a good day already. New Idris Elba photos!

He was at LAX yesterday. And while I know I don’t need to give you any more information than that because you’ll just be looking at the photos anyway, there’s more. He’s heading to Glastonbury so we should get some new shots of him there.

Al…