Cary Grant’s most prized possession was either his father’s pocket watch, or a gold chain that he wore around his neck that held one of Jennifer’s baby teeth in Lucite, and three charms that represented the three religions of his four ex-wives: a St. Christopher medal from the Catholic Virginia Cherrill, a small cross representing the Protestant religions of Barbara Hutton and Betsy Drake, and a […]
Hollywood
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Almost four years to the day after the Access Hollywood scandal first broke, Billy Bush is revisiting the moment that almost derailed his career. (Again.) Speaking with Men’s Health, the Extra host discussed his relationship with Matt Lauer—and why he felt “deeply hurt” by the disgraced Today anchor at the time. In the fall of 2016, audio leaked of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women on […]
As an actor often described as an “outsider”, Irrfan Khan carved a niche for himself not only in Hindi cinema but in Hollywood too with films such as “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “The Namesake”, “Life of Pi” and “Jurassic World.” He died this April following a battle with cancer and then ultimately succumbing to a colon infection. Late Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan’s wife Sutapa Sikdar has given a befitting reply […]
Anita Hill (shown here in 2017) is chair of the Hollywood Commission, which intends to combat sexual misconduct and gender inequities across the industry. Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP hide caption toggle caption Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP Anita Hill (shown here in 2017) is chair of the Hollywood Commission, which intends to combat sexual misconduct and gender inequities across the industry. Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP In the three years since the Harvey Weinstein […]
On March 31, 1941, MPPDA president Will Hays released his annual report, titled Motion Pictures and National Defense. Although most of the 38-page document would be ignored by the Senate investigation of Hollywood, Hays outlined Hollywood’s response to the turmoil in Europe. Hays describes 1940 “as a period of supreme crisis in the history of the world.” Profits were the only true ideology in Hollywood, and […]
Leonardo DiCaprio loves having sex with his headphones on. A Real Housewife runs a NXIVM-style diet program. Jay Cutler is dating “White Power Barbie.” Vince Vaughn is quite rude to his fans. And Senator Lindsey Graham goes maskless in airports. I owe all of this juicy gossip to Deuxmoi, a highly addictive Instagram account that’s become the go-to source for celebrity tea-spilling during the ongoing coronavirus […]
“Difficult” is not a word that one should have to use in connection with an Emmy nomination. Yet, as excited as Billy Porter is feeling about his second best actor nod for FX’s Pose, that is how he described what it’s like to finally feel seen while the establishment continues to deny your colleagues the recognition they deserve. Despite Porter’s back-to-back nominations—and his victory at last […]
VENICE—When Martin Scorsese can give hours of his precious time to talk about shoes, you know this is about more than what’s underfoot. In Luca Guadagnino’s new documentary about the life of Salvatore Ferragamo (Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams), we see much more than a story about shoes. It is a story about desire, immigration, and heartbreak. All that’s missing is a full-on admission that this is […]
The movie star Lana Turner had been trying to break up with her abusive mafioso boyfriend for some time. On the April evening of Good Friday 1958, she decided to end things once and for all. The story goes that she had discovered that Johnny Stompanato was not in fact 43, as he had told her, but four years her junior, 32, and it was the […]
I attended my very first Sundance Film Festival in January of 1997. I loved the energy and the community that came together around a shared passion for independent film and the discovery of new filmmakers. But when the lights came on, I saw very few people in the audience who looked like me. It was mostly white men. Were there Black filmmakers who didn’t know about […]
There is a story that Andy Serkis loved to tell during the press tour for Black Panther. In March of 2017, over 700 crew members—and 150 vehicles—had assembled in Busan, South Korea, to shoot the film’s big chase sequence, with T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in hot pursuit of Ulysses Klaue (Serkis), an arms dealer smuggling precious vibranium. It ends with Black Panther snaring Klaue, and subduing […]
On Saturday morning, protesters showed up to the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles, carrying signs. To passing drivers, the scene looked pretty typical. There have been protests in Los Angeles nearly every day since the civil uprising in June over police brutality, and the signs’ language resembled slogans popularized by the Black Lives Matter movement. One woman scrawled “CARE NOW” on […]
Bette Midler, the 74-year-old entertainer took aim at Melania Trump’s manner of speaking and accent during the first lady’s Rose Garden pre-election address, branding her “an illegal alien”, in a dig at President Trump’s well-known moniker for illegal migrants. Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan has resumed his old feud with Hollywood star Bette Midler by calling her “racist” for comments about US First Lady Melania […]
Andrew Cuomo Hollywood stars traveling to New York City from out of state for the MTV Video Music Awards will have the special privilege of skipping the state’s 14-day quarantine mandate. Under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s mandate, anyone who travels to New York from any of the 34 ‘high risk’ states must quarantine for 14 days. Violators may be fined up to $10,000 or jailed for 15 […]
This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by senior entertainment reporter Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here. This week: The DNC afterparty nobody asked for. Dolly and Cher to the rescue. Remembering a Drag Race star gone too soon. A foolproof guide to getting a husband. Dolly and […]
On Friday night, one week after his network-mate John Oliver dove into the paint thinner-huffing absurdity of QAnon, a conspiracy theory positing that a secret agent named Q is dropping knowledge online about how Trump is waging a covert war on a cabal of elite Hollywood and Democratic Satan-worshipping, baby-eating, child sex-trafficking pedophiles that extract the fear of children for a drug they’re fiendishly addicted to […]
Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti has been labeled a despotic hypocrite by social media, after he cut off water and power at a TikTok influencer’s residence where gatherings were held in violation of coronavirus orders. In a tweet, Garcetti announced that he had instructed the city to disconnect utility services at a house in the Hollywood Hills, claiming that its tenants had put the community […]
Eric Garcetti Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti a couple weeks ago went full Commie and authorized the city to shut off water and power to HOMES and businesses that are hosting large, unauthorized gatherings. Under Garcetti’s authoritarian Covid lockdown order, large gatherings are prohibited. On Wednesday Garcetti followed through with his threat and actually authorized the city to disconnect utility service from a home in Hollywood […]
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have officially merged spirits with every couple in L.A.—by which I mean, they’re shopping a project together. Variety reports that in June the couple began pitching a top-secret pitch, which they would jointly produce, to multiple networks. A source close to Markle told the trade that she has no plans to star in the potential project; a representative for the two […]
On Sunday night, John Oliver returned to the Last Week Tonight desk after a few weeks off to tackle the biggest news of late. “The big news was Kamala Harris being announced as Biden’s running mate—a decision that sent conservatives scrambling for attack strategies, from claiming it’s an ‘extreme, far-left’ ticket—which it absolutely isn’t—to a baseless accusation that she may not meet the citizenship requirements to […]
For The Daily Beast’s membership drive, we’re asking our reporters and editors to tell the stories behind some of their biggest stories. Sitting on a shelf in my apartment is a 3-year-old bottle of Fiji water that Meryl Streep handed me when I interviewed her for her Oscar-nominated role in Florence Foster Jenkins, a film that required perhaps her greatest stretch yet: playing a woman with […]
Though I might like to claim otherwise, I’m no expert on big-screen T&A&D. Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies, however, makes a bid for being the definitive documentary on the subject. Driven by a cornucopia of film clip and talking heads—led by actors, directors, historians and critics—it delivers a thorough chronological timeline of cinematic nakedness. Too bad, then, that when it comes to actually […]
For a movie that bills itself as a “grindhouse PizzaGate satire,” there’s precious little grindhouse or Pizzagate in Duncan, the new indie thriller from Austin writer-director John Valley. But it is a satire. A shockingly effective one. Duncan levels its weird, Texas-tinged gaze on profiteering, conspiracy-peddling mass media—your Alex Joneses of the world—and cracks them wide open. “The movie’s about a guy out of his depth […]
“Excuse me, are you…” a voice in a restaurant catches me just as salmon flakes off my fork. I look up. My silverware is settling onto my plate as a man with shaky hands gives me the back of a menu to sign. He’s smiling as he tells me he loves my work. Really smiling. Really really loves my work. Did I mention he was smiling? […]
On June 17, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced that actor Danny Masterson had been charged with three counts of rape. Masterson, 44, best known as the star of That ’70s Show, is accused of forcibly raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. He is facing 45 years to life in prison if convicted. (Masterson’s attorney said, “Mr. Masterson is […]
As reparations become a more and more popular topic while anti-police and anti-racism protests rage across the US, rapper Ice Cube wants to see Hollywood studios take part and give yearly payments to black-owned companies. “I think these studios that we know and love should kick in to a studio that’s ran by black people with no outside influences, and whose movies and projects are owned […]
Paul Feig will not let a once-in-a-century pandemic slow him down. He’s balancing far too many plates. There’s the two features in pre-production that he’s planning to direct—This Country, a U.S. remake of the famed U.K. mockumentary about rural life at the margins, and an adaptation of the bestselling novel The School for Good and Evil, a potential Harry Potter-esque franchise. Or how about the projects […]
Kelly Preston sat across the table, holding the metal sensors of a Scientology E-meter in her hands. On the other side of the table, facing the meter’s dial, Sunny Pereira prepared to ask Preston three questions. “Do you have any doubts or reservations concerning attesting to the completion of your pregnancy assist?” Pereira asked her. No, Preston answered. It was 1992, and Preston had recently given […]
In a wide-ranging interview, ‘Westworld’ star Thandie Newton opened up about her experiences with Hollywood sexism and recalled specific ‘toxic’ interactions with former studio head Amy Pascal and ‘Top Gun’ star Tom Cruise. Hollywood may be home to some of the most vocally progressive voices around, but the industry has been cast in a revealing light following years of #MeToo allegations, as well as stars opening […]
After years of doubling down on racist jokes and choosing to “opt out” of critical conversations about her portrayals of people of color, Tina Fey’s work has finally caught up with her. Last Tuesday, the Saturday Night Live alum joined a chorus of Hollywood comedians and showrunners trying to rectify acts of racism and racial miscasting by requesting the removal of certain 30 Rock episodes containing […]
This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by senior entertainment reporter Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here. This week: The Viola Davis Speech We Need to Talk About It’s not a surprise that, during a national conversation about systemic racism and the fortress walls to success and equality encountered […]
This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by senior entertainment reporter Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here. Imagine Going to See Tenet Someone, somewhere saw the trailer for the Christopher Nolan would-be blockbuster, Tenet, and whispered, “Wow, I’m dying to see that movie.” Well, word made it up the […]
If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox every Sunday. Meghan’s ‘brand’ focus, Harry’s ‘cabin fever’ Yet another royal book is published, filled with juicy takes on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s dramatic exit from royal life, and the consequences for them and the royal […]