‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Directing Duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert aka Daniels Sign Five Year Pact With Universal - Deadline

Universal Pictures continues to build on its strong relationships with filmmakers as it has closed a deal for an exclusive five year pact with directing duo, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, and their producing partner Jonathan Wang.  Daniels unique brand of award-winning storytelling across visual media platforms has spanned music, television and film, most recently with the breakout success of Everything Everywhere All At Once, which has grossed more than $100 million globally becoming indie studio A24’s biggest film ever.

“Daniels are creators who have evolved their craft with a distinct vision and singular voice that is unmistakable across the spectrum of content vying for viewer’s attention,” said Donna Langley, Chairman, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group.  “Their films are remarkably theatrical and with only two original projects under their belts, they’ve merely scratched the surface of what they are capable of as filmmakers.  We’re grateful they’ve chosen to go on their journey with us.”

The deal marks yet another high-profile director (or in this case directors) signing long term deals with Universal Pictures, clearly showing Langley’s impact in building these strong relationships. Jordan Peele, whose thriller Nope just bowed in theaters, signed a similar five year pact given his strong ties to the studio.

In addition to Everything Everywhere All At Once, Daniels and Wang have cultivated an enviable resume across music, television and film.  First coming to prominence with their innovative approach to music video directing with Lil Jon’s Turn Down for What, The Daniels won the Sundance Film Festival “Best Directing” Award in 2016 for their film Swiss Army Man, starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe.  They have also made their mark on television projects by helming episodes of Showtime’s On Becoming a God in Central Florida starring Kirsten Dunst and Comedy Central’s Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens.  Daniels have just announced they will direct and EP a new half-hour comedy, Mason, for Showtime.  The series, produced by A24, will be executive produced by Daniels, Wang, Steven Yeun, Nathan Min and Adam Kopp.

“We’re flattered, grateful, and a bit overwhelmed. Thanks to Donna, Jimmy, Peter, Michael and their whole Universal team for believing in us and our weird movies,” said Daniels.  “To all the fans, thanks for making our careers possible, we’re gonna try to not let you down.”

Daniels are represented by Mosaic and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman.  Wang is represented by Granderson Des Rochers.

Adblock test (Why?)

Article From & Read More ( ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Directing Duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert aka Daniels Sign Five Year Pact With Universal - Deadline )
https://ift.tt/3nTIJUO
Entertainment

Bullet Train Review: Brad Pitt Comedy Suffers From Terminal Self-Satisfaction - TheWrap

Brad Pitt Praises ‘Very Beautiful’ Daughter Shiloh: ‘Brings a Tear to the Eye’ (Exclusive) - Entertainment Tonight

‘Better Call Saul’ Flashes To ‘Breaking Bad’ As Series Finale Looms; (SPOILER) Lives, In Florida - Deadline

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of tonight’s Better Call Saul‘s “Breaking Bad” episode. Let’s just say, the title is a bit of a giveaway.

“I said, no details,” insists Bryan Cranston’s Walter White to Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman in tonight’s third to last episode of Better Call Saul. “He’s on a need to know basis,” the partially ski-masked high school science teacher and would-be drug kingpin tells his sidekick as a smarmy Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) stands in front of the Breaking Bad duo in their infamous meth lab RV a.k.a. the Krystal Ship.

Lurching towards the August 15 series finale, the Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould-created spinoff weaved back and forth Monday to the periphery of seminal Breaking Bad events in the Thomas Schnauz penned and directed “Breaking Bad” entitled 11^th episode of the sixth and last season of Better Call Saul.

On almost any other series, the long anticipated arrival of White/Heisenberg and his henchmen about halfway through the episode would be the marque showstopper. But this being Better Call Saul, there was a far bigger reveal in the slippery cards. If July 18’s Michael Morris-directed and Ann Cherkis-written “Fun and Games” episode outlined the heartbreaking exit of Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler from her life aside Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill/Goodman, tonight’s “Breaking Bad” revealed her fate after the bloody fallout of the mother show, which ended its multiple Emmy-winning run in 2013.

Kim Wexler lives.

In fact, as a Nebraska roadside phonebooth call from an incognito Goodman as Cinnabon manager Gene makes clear, Wexler is alive and well-ish and working at Palm Coast Sprinklers in Florida. Beyond that, at least for now, we don’t know more about Seehorn’s Wexler life in the Sunshine State. What we do know is her conversation with Odenkirk’s now Gene character, her ex-beloved and literally partner-in-crime, did not go well.

After the scene setting line of “Hi, I’m looking for Kim Wexler, I believe she works there,” there was a wider shot of the payphone and bustling trucks going by. We hear none of the conversation between the two, but it is clearly boisterous and engaging, to say the least, with snow coat garbed Gene jerking his head and body around in the confined space of the old skool phone booth. As with some many things involving the former couple, the call ends badly with a close-up of Odenkirk’s character smashing the handset against the box in a way most of us haven’t seen since the mid-1980s. Wandering around in the snow outside the phone booth, the man once known as Saul Goodman then shows his hold on his lack of impulse control and shatters one of the glass panels with a well placed kick.

That’s all the Kim we get for now, but with two more episodes to go, it is very unlikely it is the last we will see or hear of her. The same can probably also be said of Cranston and Paul.

Not that getting them here and naturally placed in the sometimes deranged BCS world was a cake walk as Schnauz told Deadline today. “Linking up with that moment in Breaking Bad where Saul yells, “It wasn’t me, it was Ignacio!” has been talked about forever as a target we needed to hit, and I was lucky it landed it my episode because it was so much fun to do,” Schnauz said of finding that perfect slot for Cranston and Paul to land.

“So much work, but so much fun,” the long-time Gilligan collaborator added. “It was really over too fast. I only had Aaron and Bryan for a day and a half back in April of 2021, while Vince was directing episode 602.  I had to write this scene and be ready way in advance of when we filmed the rest of 611 because those dates were the only time we could get the guys together because of other commitments they had. Bryan and Aaron slid back into those roles so easily, and watching them try to handle Saul was so much fun.”

So, to that, back in their toxic “Laurel and Hardy vibe,” to quote Goodman riding shotgun in the RV later in the episode, Gilligan and Gould wouldn’t have waited this long to bring the celebrated duo into the BCS world only to have them disappear in a puff of drug tainted smoke, so to speak. Plus, the near end of the ‘Breaking Bad” episode sees Goodman strutting into J. P. Wynne High School to confront science teacher White, after getting the skinny on him from the Jonathon Banks portrayed Michael Ehrmantraut – which has benign cliffhanger scrawled all over it.

Along with some Swing Master product placement, there is also another drama playing itself out in tonight’s exquisitely crafted BCS episode. Starting with former Saul Goodman & Associates secretary Francesca Liddy surfacing again in her post-Breaking Bad life, if you can call it that, “Breaking Bad” furthers the descent of Odenkirk’s Gene back into a life of crime, scams, and double-crosses. In that, besides Tina Parker showing up, Carol Burnett is back too in what could be a much bigger role than her “Nippy” debut of last week indicated.

Leaping from the vivid colors of the Breaking Bad timeline and Albuquerque, New Mexico to the dank B&W of Gene’s under the radar existence in Omaha, Nebraska, the Schnauz cooked-up episode lays out an intricate and lucrative scam to drug deep pocketed residents of the Cornhusker State. While the endgame is not painted yet, the tactic is to get welp cabbie Jeff (Pat Healy) and pal enlisted in the identity heist.

Once Burnett’s slightly rebuffed Marion catches a glimpse of her new friend Gene and son Jeffy having a late night dust-up in her garage, it is looking a pretty sure bet that some wild cards are about to be put on the table for the final two episodes.

If that means more Kim, more of Walt and Jesse or a final reckoning, it certainly would fit Better Call Saul‘s profile. For right now:  “No details,” as Walter White said.

Adblock test (Why?)

Article From & Read More ( ‘Better Call Saul’ Flashes To ‘Breaking Bad’ As Series Finale Looms; (SPOILER) Lives, In Florida - Deadline )
https://ift.tt/6a5fjDn
Entertainment

Beyoncé Will Change ‘Heated’ Lyrics After ‘Ableist Slur’ Criticism - The New York Times

The pop star’s decision to replace two words in her song “Heated” follows Lizzo’s removal of the same term, which has been used as a slur against disabled people, from her track “Grrrls.”

Days after the release of her latest album, “Renaissance,” Beyoncé will modify the lyrics of one of its songs, a representative for the singer said on Monday, in response to an outcry from disability rights advocates who say the pop star should not have used a word that has historically been employed as a derogatory slur.

In “Heated,” a dancehall-inspired track, the singer uses the words “spaz” and “spazzin’” in an energetically recited portion of the song that’s a callback to the freestyles at some ballroom events. Activists condemned the use of the word in social media posts, pointing out that another pop star, Lizzo, had removed the same lyric from a song following similar backlash in June.

“The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced,” a spokeswoman for Beyoncé said in an email.

The word at issue is based on spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy that causes motor impairments in the legs or arms. In June, Hannah Diviney, a writer and disability advocate from Australia, tweeted about Lizzo’s use of the word, noting that to a person with cerebral palsy like her, spasticity referred to an “unending painful tightness” in her legs, and urged the singer to “do better.” In response to the criticism from fans and activists, Lizzo changed her song, “Grrrls,” and wrote in a statement that “this is the result of me listening and taking action.”

Diviney wrote in an op-ed, published in The Guardian on Monday, that her “heart sank” when she learned that Beyoncé’s new album had used the same word.

“I thought we’d changed the music industry and started a global conversation about why ableist language — intentional or not — has no place in music,” Diviney wrote. “But I guess I was wrong, because now Beyoncé has gone and done exactly the same thing.”

Disability right advocates have noted that the word has been more commonly used as a derogatory term in the United Kingdom compared to the United States. Scope, a group in Britain that campaigns for equality for people with disabilities, tweeted, “Disabled people’s experiences are not fodder for song lyrics,” and urged Beyoncé to follow Lizzo’s example.

Adblock test (Why?)

Article From & Read More ( Beyoncé Will Change ‘Heated’ Lyrics After ‘Ableist Slur’ Criticism - The New York Times )
https://ift.tt/qEmiHAR
Entertainment

Amber Heard Claimed She Lost $47 Million to $50 Million Due to Johnny Depp, Refused to Accept Half His ‘Pirates 5’ Pay - Variety

More than 6,000 pages of court documents used in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have been unsealed, with The Daily Beast reporting that Heard’s team claimed in pretrial documents that she suffered financial losses in the “$47-50 million” range over a “3-5 year period” because of Depp’s defamatory statements against her. Heard’s team also argued that her stature as an actor was “comparable” to the likes of Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Zendaya, Ana de Armas, and Chris Pine.

Elsewhere, the newly-unsealed court documents reveal that Heard walked away from “tens of millions of dollars” by refusing to accept the money Depp made off the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie. The sequel was shot during Depp and Heard’s marriage, which made it a “community property asset” and entitled Heard to half the income made. The Daily Beast notes that Depp made $33 million from the fourth “Pirates” movie, so he likely matched that or made even more on a fifth film. Heard refused to accept the money during her divorce proceedings, all evidence from which was excluded from being used in the defamation trial.

According to The Daily Beast, the unsealed documents also reveal that Depp’s team fought to keep Marilyn Manson’s name out of the defamation trial. The team argued that “references to and evidence regarding Marilyn Manson” would “smear Mr. Depp under a guilty by association theory.”

Heard’s team, meanwhile, urged the judge to throw out a number of “irrelevant personal matters” that Depp’s team was reportedly going to bring up and use against her. Heard’s team alleged that “Mr. Depp inappropriately seeks to introduce evidence” that included “(1) nude pictures of Amber Heard; (2) Amber Heard’s sister Whitney’s reality show video; (3) Whitney and Amber’s past romantic relationships; (4) Amber’s brief stint as an exotic dancer years before she met Mr. Depp and Mr. Depp attempting to frivolously and maliciously suggest or imply that Ms. Heard was at one time an escort.”

The defamation trial ended June 1. The jury ordered Heard to pay $10.35 million in damages to Depp ($10 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages) after it ruled that she defamed him when she wrote a 2018 Washington Post op-ed alluding to her past claims of domestic violence. While the jury in the verdict sided more with Depp, it still ruled that Depp defamed Heard in the course of fighting back against her charges. The jury awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages for her counterclaim.

Heard filed a notice of appeal earlier this month.

Adblock test (Why?)

Article From & Read More ( Amber Heard Claimed She Lost $47 Million to $50 Million Due to Johnny Depp, Refused to Accept Half His ‘Pirates 5’ Pay - Variety )
https://ift.tt/iPCw7Gm
Entertainment

Pat Carroll, Emmy-Winning Actress and Voice of Ursula in ‘The Little Mermaid,’ Dies at 95 - Hollywood Reporter

Pat Carroll, the gregarious Emmy-winning comedienne who was a television mainstay for decades before segueing to a voiceover career that included portraying the villainous sea witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid, has died. She was 95.

Carroll died Saturday of pneumonia at her home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, her daughter Kerry Karsian told The Hollywood Reporter.

Carroll’s perky personality, screwball wit and impeccable timing made her a great second banana, and Red Buttons, Jimmy Durante, Mickey Rooney, Steve Allen and Charley Weaver were among those who called upon her to make their programs funnier. Her antics on Caesar’s Hour earned her an Emmy in 1957, and she was nominated for her work on the classic variety show the following year.

Related Stories

In a 2013 interview with Kliph Nesteroff, Carroll compared Howard Morris, Carl Reiner and Sid Caesar on Caesar’s Hour to the Chicago Cubs’ legendary double-play combination of Tinkers to Evers to Chance.

“I learned so much about comedy from watching those three work together. It was unfailing,” Carroll said. “They worked together for so long that they had that innate sense of each other’s timing. It was impossible for them to fumble. We did two shows every Saturday night because one was for the West Coast and one was for the East Coast. If they totally abhorred a sketch they did, those three would sit in Sid’s dressing room with the writers and write a brand new sketch. Yes, amazing.”

For the next two decades, the bubbly blonde always seemed to pop up on TV.

Carroll played Bunny Halper, the high-spirited wife of nightclub owner Charley Halper (Sid Melton), on three seasons of The Danny Thomas Show in the early ‘60s; was Hope Stinson, who shared ownership of a newspaper with Ted Knight’s character, on the last season (1986-87) of Too Close for Comfort; and appeared opposite Suzanne Somers on the 1987-89 series She’s the Sheriff.

Carroll stood out as a cranky patient who shared a hospital room with Mary Richards (the latter was there to have her tonsils taken out) on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1971, and she portrayed Lily Feeney, the mother of Cindy Williams’ character, on a 1976 installment of Laverne & Shirley.

Her TV credits also included Cinderella, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, Love, American Style, My Three Sons, Police Woman, Busting Loose, The Love Boat, Trapper John, M.D., Evening Shade, Designing Women and ER.

Carroll also was a game show favorite. To Tell the Truth, The Match Game, I’ve Got a Secret, Password All-Stars, You Don’t Say and The $10,000 Pyramid — you name it, she played it.

And she played Doris Day’s matchmaking sister in With Six You Get Eggroll (1968).

Carroll’s throaty laugh and spirited intonations made her a natural for animation work.

She first slipped into the recording booth in 1966 for the animated series The Super 6. But it was during the ‘80s that her voiceover career skyrocketed; she could be heard on the cartoons Yogi’s Treasure Hunt, Galaxy High School, Foofur, Pound Puppies and Superman.

Undoubtedly, her most memorable character was Ursula for the 1989 Disney feature The Little Mermaid. It would prove to be one of her favorite roles. “It was a lifelong ambition of mine to do a Disney film,” she told author Allan Neuwirth in Makin‘ Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies. “So, I was theirs hook, line and sinker.”

Carroll’s enthusiasm made the octopus-like character uniquely her own and Ursula would become one of Disney’s most memorable villains. However, she landed the part only after an arduous search by the studio.

Little Mermaid producer and lyricist Howard Ashman was a big fan of TV’s Dynasty and envisioned Ursula as a Joan Collins-type. And who better to play her than Collins herself? Alas, her agent quickly nixed the idea.

Writer-directors Ron Clements and John Musker saw Ursula more like a bellowing aquatic version of Bea Arthur, but her agent took offense when the script likened the actress to a witch — and passed. Roseanne, Heart’s Nancy Wilson and Nancy Marchand of The Sopranos fame then reportedly read for the role, but none was quite right.

Charlotte Rae and Elaine Stritch auditioned, but Rae didn’t have the vocal range for Ursula’s signature tune, “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and Stritch couldn’t deliver the song the way Ashman wanted.

Carroll, though, immediately understood Ashman’s approach. The key was a recording that he had made of him singing the song. Once Carroll heard and saw that, the rest was easy.

“He gave me that performance! Come on, I’m honest enough to say that,” she said in Makin‘ Toons. “I got the whole attitude from him … his shoulders would twitch in a certain way, and his eyes would go a certain way … I got more about that character from Howard singing that song than from anything else.”

Carroll won the part and went on to voice the character in several video games and a 1993 Little Mermaid CBS series. (She also provided the voice for Morgana in the 2000 direct-to-video release The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea.)

Patricia Ann Carroll was born on May 5, 1927, in Shreveport, Louisiana. When she was 5, she and her family moved to Los Angeles. At age 20, she served as a Civilian Actress Technician for the army, writing, producing and directing all-soldier productions. She graduated from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 1949.

Carroll’s first professional appearance had come in 1947 alongside Gloria Swanson in a regional stock production of A Goose for a Gander. This led to more stock company roles, and she also sharpened her comic chops by performing in nightclubs and resorts.

Carroll’s off-Broadway debut came in 1950 in Come What May. Shortly after, she began landing television work on Goodyear Television Playhouse, The Red Buttons Show and The Saturday Night Revue.

Carroll first starred on Broadway in 1955 in the musical revue Catch a Star! written by Danny and Neil Simon. The performance earned her a Tony nomination. Decades later, Carroll received rave reviews for her off-Broadway, one-woman show Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein: A One-Character Play.

In his 1979 review for The New York Times, Walter Kerr wrote: “Miss Carroll, working from a text prepared by Marty Martin, gives us the bizarre, close-cropped, richly robed woman who could be — and once was — mistaken for a bishop with a zest that is awesome … I don’t know precisely how Miss Carroll is able to do it, but she manages — without any effort at all — to make us share Gertrude Stein’s attitude toward herself.”

The actress received a Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of the author; she beat out fellow nominees Moore, Susan Sarandon, Phyllis Frelich and Blythe Danner for the honor.

Carroll was married to Lee Karsian from 1955 until their divorce in 1976, and they had three children: Tara, an actress; daughter Kerry, a casting director; and son Sean (he died on the same date as his mom 13 years ago).

Survivors also include a granddaughter, Evan.

Adblock test (Why?)

Article From & Read More ( Pat Carroll, Emmy-Winning Actress and Voice of Ursula in ‘The Little Mermaid,’ Dies at 95 - Hollywood Reporter )
https://ift.tt/vy5oid0
Entertainment