Newsletter Friday, December 08, 2017

[LaineyGossip.com - Calling all smuthounds!] Friday, December 08, 2017 [Intro for December 8, 2017]( [Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani attend SFFILM's 60th Anniversary Awards Night at Palace of Fine Arts Theatre on December 5, 2017 in San Francisco, California](Dear Gossips, The American Film Institute (AFI) released its Top 10 of 2017 yesterday. We’ll discuss some of the entries through the day but in this space I want to once again spotlight The Big Sick, co-written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon and, by alphabetical order, the first title to be named. The AFI isn’t always the best predictor of Oscar but it’s a good way to stay in the conversation. And for months and months, Kumail and Emily have been working hard to stay in the conversation. (Here they are earlier this week in San Francisco at SFFILM’s 60th anniversary event.) They had to work hard to stay in the conversation as The Big Sick was released in the summer and it’s a romantic comedy and it’s a romantic comedy with a man of colour in the lead role, not typically what the Academy takes seriously during award season. So it’s in good shape as we get closer to Monday. Monday is when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces the Golden Globe nominations and, at this point, it would be considered a snub indeed if The Big Sick was not counted among the five nominees for Best Motion Picture Comedy/Musical. Kumail actually has a shot at a Best Actor Comedy/Musical nomination too, which feels good – a Pakistani-American man getting an acting nomination for playing a romantic lead, right? As Kumail said [back in June]( when he was promoting the film around its release: "I feel way more defined by my ethnicity now. If there's an ethnicity that is maligned and attacked and demonized ... I'm with you. I stand with you. Because it's unavoidable that people are seeing me a certain way, I kind of want to own it. I feel more Pakistani than I have in the last 10 years." The Big Sick is now available for home viewing. If you haven’t already, and you’re staying home this weekend, getting caught up on the movies and the TV shows you’ve missed, I highly recommend. It’s a wonderful film. And it’s actually perfect for this time of year. Have a great weekend! Yours in gossip, Lainey [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 1:42 PM [Smutty Social Media, December 8, 2017]( [FKA twigs The Fashion Awards 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London, December 4, 2017](Hamilton has premiered in London – how many celeb posts will I get out of this? So far, two. [A post shared by Stephen Merchant (@stephenmerchant)]( on Dec 8, 2017 at 7:17am PST [A post shared by Annabelle Wallis (@annabellewallis)]( on Dec 8, 2017 at 4:57am PST Leonardo DiCaprio’s hair has never looked better than when he cropped it for The Departed, don’t @ me. [A post shared by Kate Hudson (@katehudson)]( on Dec 7, 2017 at 7:03pm PST The Olsens have showed up for Bob Saget many times over the years, but the fact that Ashley chose to do the red carpet? That’s a major show of support from her. I think the last time we saw her walk a red carpet was the MET Gala. [A post shared by Bob (@bobsaget)]( on Dec 6, 2017 at 12:50pm PST I feel like Art Basel is less of a focus on social media this year. Is Leo even there? Of course he is. He [reportedly bid $850,000]( for a piece of art. [A post shared by diplo (@diplo)]( on Dec 6, 2017 at 12:35pm PST Beyonce makes a cameo in the first 7 seconds of this Tina Knowles Insta video (but your volume needs to be way up). [A post shared by Tina Knowles (@mstinalawson)]( on Dec 7, 2017 at 4:09pm PST OK guys this is very important – I’ve been waiting forever (7 days) for Boyd Holbrook to post a new photo so I could talk about him. And he posted a door. Whatever, that’s not the point. I saw him at the airport last week and holy Jesus. Hot. He is insanely good looking – perfect bone structure, tall, nice jeans, great walk, gravelly voice. Did I mention hot? Very very hot. Like a mix of Armie Hammer and Charlie Hunnam. Pictures do not do him justice. [A post shared by Robert Holbrook (@robertboydholbrook)]( on Dec 7, 2017 at 10:56am PST FKA twigs looks like she stepped out of Baroque painting. It’s a very dramatic Versace dress, but it doesn’t overpower her. [A post shared by FKA twigs (@fkatwigs)]( on Dec 4, 2017 at 10:15am PST Everybody loves Chris (except his ex-wife). [A post shared by Chris Rock (@chrisrock)]( on Dec 6, 2017 at 10:48pm PST [A post shared by Chris Rock (@chrisrock)]( on Dec 6, 2017 at 10:50pm PST [A post shared by Chris Rock (@chrisrock)]( on Dec 7, 2017 at 10:24pm PST [A post shared by Chris Rock (@chrisrock)]( on Dec 7, 2017 at 10:27pm PST [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 7:35 PM [RPattz goes for it]( [Robert Pattinson attends the 2017 GQ Men of the Year party at Chateau Marmont on December 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California]([Robert Pattinson]( gave his best performance to date this year in Good Time. He’s gotten a Gotham Award nomination for it, and an Independent Spirit Award nod, too. People have noticed him doing Good Work this year (he also gave a solid performance in James Grey’s Lost City of Z). And RPattz, noticing that people are noticing him, is doing the award season shuffle. He was the GQ Men of the Year event, which isn’t really about awards, except how every appearance this time of year is about awards. It’s about getting your name out, your name and your project, and allowing people to write your name, your project, and your nominations and broadcast it far and wide: Gotham/Spirit Award nominee Robert Pattinson from Good Time, pictured at the GQ Men of the Year event. But what are his odds, really? Not great. Best Actor is medium-competitive this year, in that the front runners are clear: Gary Oldman and Daniel Day-Lewis. Early voting has been all over the place, spreading the love around in a year without a masterpiece but a lot of really good movies and MANY strong performances. But when it comes to the Academy, which despite aggressive membership initiatives remains mostly old, white, and male, Oldman and DDL are the top locks. Timothee Chalamet is a good bet, too, for Call Me By Your Name, the token youngster nominee. (The Academy loves nominating and awarding ingénues but is much stingier with rewarding young men, especially for romantic performances. Chalamet should get a nod for the final shot of CMBYN alone, but he won’t win.) Another strong contender is Tom Hanks, for The Post. The fifth spot is where the competition is, and it’s a cluster of Jake Gyllenhaal, James Franco, Daniel Kaluuya—surging as Get Out is racking up year-end honors—Denzel Washington, and Hugh Jackman. Pattinson has to bust through that group, and he has to do it with a movie that relatively no one has seen. Good Time was a limited release in late summer, it does not have a sweet box office story, and the Academy screening was sparsely attended. There’s no real momentum for the movie itself, which in turn dings Pattinson’s chances. But he’s out here hustling anyway, which I appreciate. Because even if it doesn’t happen this year, which it probably won’t, people do notice this. They notice him at these events, they notice him gamely hanging around an Academy Q&A, they notice him getting the fringier nominations. This is the stuff that paves the way for bigger nominations down the road. Pattinson might face the same hurdle Leonardo DiCaprio did, overcoming the teen idol stigma, so it might take some time for him to get there. But he will get there, because Pattinson has something DiCaprio doesn’t: He’s a better f*cking actor. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 6:40 PM [Bryan Singer: The other shoe just dropped]( it’s not like we didn’t have a clue. Just days after getting [sh*t-canned]( from Bohemian Rhapsody, Bryan Singer has been sued for allegedly assaulting a seventeen-year-old boy in 2003. Wow that’s an ugly sentence. But we knew it would be. For those of us who have tracked Singer’s name over the years—and for those who have heard his name, among others, whispered in reference to parties and trips and promises—this is not surprising, and it’s as bad as we expected it to be. But will it stick? It’s never stuck before. The last time Singer was sued was 2014. The case fell apart, and a lawyer eventually apologized to Singer, and the others named in the suit, for “participat[ing] in making what I now know to be untrue and proveably false allegations against you.” Interestingly, the same law firm, HermanLaw, that brought that 2014 suit against Singer prepared this case against him now. So already there’s an angle for a defense, that having missed once, now the firm is trying again with a new defendant. They’ll call it, ironically, harassment. They’ll paint Singer as the victim of repeated take-down attempts. But to make that work, they have to tell us why anyone would bother taking down a f*cking movie director. Maybe that leads to some of the bigger fish swimming in Singer’s pond. LOL no. I have no hope anything comes of this. MAYBE Singer doesn’t skate this time, but it will end with Bryan Singer. He’s probably done, so publicly dismissed by a studio mid-production just days before the Hollywood Predator Advent Calendar spat him out. And, honestly, the fact that production on Bohemian Rhapsody was so rough is probably going to be a bigger ding with many in the industry than (yet another) sex abuse lawsuit. These people can rationalize anything (see also: [Johnny Depp](). That’s how this got so bad in the first place, decades of rationalizing and dismissing victims. Now that they’re being forced to listen, they’re working overtime to make sure that the ones sucked into bad press are cut off, but still no real changes have come for the industry itself. ICM’s [50/50 pledge]( is the closest thing we’ve got to systemic change. So there won’t be any names, and definitely none of the bigger ones, the ones that go beyond Hollywood. Because that’s the pattern we’ve been seeing for months now. Lots of bad apples falling off the tree, but the rotten trunk remains. [Source]( [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 5:53 PM [Carina Lau, fashion designer]( [Carina Lau attends the opening ceremony of Lumieres Hong Kong Festival on November 23, 2017 in Hong Kong, China]([Carina Lau]( is a very famous Chinese actress. She’s married to a very famous Chinese actor, Tony Leung Chiu Wai. I grew up watching their Hong Kong soap operas. And every time I write about them I tell you that they literally look exactly the same now as they did then. Tony Leung is 55. It’s Carina Lau’s birthday today. She is 52 years old. I’m telling you, they look at 55 and 52 the way they did at 25 and 22. Actually, no. They look better now. The last time I wrote about Carina and Tony it was [back in July](. The Oscar Academy released its new list of members and Carina and Tony were invited to join and I was bitching about how long it had taken for that to happen, considering both have international cinema profiles, especially Tony. So it was a pleasant surprise the other day when I was browsing The Hollywood Reporter to see that Carina was called “[China’s next big fashion designer](”. She debuted her line, Anirac, at Shanghai Fashion Week in November and that fashion show kicked off with scenes from Wong Kar-Wai’s Day Of Being Wild, a film that featured so many Hong Kong pop culture legends, including Tony, and Maggie Cheung, and Andy Lau and… Leslie Cheung, one of the most electrifying performers that Hong Kong has ever produced. Leslie died by suicide in 2003. I just creeped Carina’s Instagram and I’m pretty sure this is her with Daffy Tong, Leslie’s longtime partner: [A post shared by Carina Lau/劉嘉玲 (@carinalau1208)]( on Oct 28, 2017 at 9:22am PDT Anyway, Anirac was already available at Lane Crawford prior to Carina’s most recent collection. Lane Crawford started in Hong Kong, like a Bergdorf’s. It has since expanded to other locations in China. It’s luxury retail. And after the show in Shanghai, according to THR, 11 more retailers are now stocking Anirac. Here are some shots from the runway: [A post shared by Carina Lau/劉嘉玲 (@carinalau1208)]( on Oct 16, 2017 at 8:28pm PDT [A post shared by Carina Lau/劉嘉玲 (@carinalau1208)]( on Oct 17, 2017 at 3:58am PDT [A post shared by Carina Lau/劉嘉玲 (@carinalau1208)]( on Oct 17, 2017 at 4:01am PDT The timing is excellent. Think about Crazy Rich Asians (because by now you’ve read the books, right, I AM YELLING AT YOU) and the culture that that story spotlights. So much fashion cash money is dependent on the Asian market. And the movie is coming out next year. Will we soon see people wearing Anirac on the carpet? [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 5:05 PM [Jurassic World 2: Cruise Control]( [Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard arrive at Kimmel, December 4, 2017](In 2015, Jurassic World made a billion dollars, so a sequel was inevitable. And now we have the first trailer for that sequel, which is officially titled Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, but if you’re not getting Speed 2: Cruise Control vibes from this, then you have never seen Speed 2: Cruise Control. The trailer is all explosions and ill-advised action movie romances, with a twenty-first century “insert dark, ominous version of famous theme here” spin. The Jurassic World island is a volcano, apparently, and [Chris Pratt]( has to go save the dinosaurs from re-extinction, and Jeff Goldblum is present to speak in measured, vaguely warning tones about life and ways and finding. It’s reminding you of the parts of Jurassic Park you like, like roaring Apatosaurus and Jeff Goldblum, and totally ditching those dumb wiener kids from the first movie, thank god. I’m not super impressed with this trailer, but this movie will make a sh-t load of money next summer. Two things I do want to talk about: The director and shoes. Though Colin Trevorrow co-wrote the script, JW2 is directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. He is the director of The Impossible and A Monster Calls, and he broke out internationally with the horror movie The Orphanage. So JA Bayona knows how to do two things: Scare people and make you cry. I actually cannot wait to see how that translates to a blockbuster like JW2. Bayona is the only interesting thing about this movie. As for the shoes, you will note that this time, [Bryce Dallas Howard]( is wearing a sensible pair of sturdy boots. Her shoes in Jurassic World became a big f*cking deal because she spent that whole movie running around in heels and everyone was like, “That’s f*cking stupid.” It put poor BDH, who is really very nice, on the defensive and forced her to keep rationalizing why her character, Claire, would be wearing high heels while traipsing around a jungle. Anyone who has ever worked in an office knows Claire would wear heels in HQ, sure, but she would have a sensible pair of shoes at her desk she could change into, if needed. Apparently, no one involved with Jurassic World has ever had an office job. But the shoes were never really the problem. They were just a focal point because the actual problem was much bigger and harder to articulate for the average viewer. The actual problem is that Claire should have been the protagonist, but the movie kept throwing her momentum to Owen (Chris Pratt). There is a disconnect between what we see Claire doing on screen, and how the movie is telling us to feel about her. For instance, when the [pterosaurs attack]( Owen is overwhelmed and about to be dino chowder, until Claire picks up a rifle and saves his ass like the HBIC she is. But then Owen sweeps her into a kiss like HE just saved HER, and her dumb wiener nephews, who have literally NEVER SEEN Owen before this moment when their aunt SAVED him, are like, “Wow, who’s he?” He did nothing impressive in this scene, but the momentum of the narrative pushes Claire’s triumphant rescue beat to Owen. It’s disorienting and you know it, but you might not realize why in the moment. Thus: Shoes. I hope JW2 fixes this. It’s written by the same guys who wrote Jurassic World, so it probably won’t, but maybe Bayona’s superior narrative instinct can do better by Claire—and Bryce Dallas Howard—than the first movie did. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 4:15 PM [Wonder Woman holds it down]( [Gal Gadot at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in LA, December 7, 2017](As Sarah just wrote in the [previous post]( about all the angst going on at DC after Justice League underwhelmed critically and commercially. Underwhelmed, I think, is a generous way to put it. This was the first movie in which all of their superheroes were gathered together, their answer to the Avengers. And they came out flat. Which means that only one of the members of the Justice League can claim a win: that would be Wonder Woman, Diana Prince. And [Gal Gadot](. Wonder Woman is holding it down. Wonder Woman just made the AFI Top 10 list of 2017. They’ve counted it as one of the 10 best films of the year. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will contend for Oscar and be included among the Best Picture nominees recognised by the Academy. But it does mean that the movie has a chance. And if the movie has a chance, Patty Jenkins, the director, might have a chance. This is a dark, dark, dark horse scenario. But the point is, again, Wonder Woman is holding it down. After all this time, and all that fretting about whether a female superhero movie could do it, and how long it took because they didn’t think a female superhero movie could do it (nobody ever has to be convinced that 18 Batmans can be made), Wonder Woman is the one bright spot in the DC universe, holding it the f-ck down. Here’s Gal Gadot, holding it the f-ck down, at the GQ Men of the Year event (the magazine named her Wonder Woman of the Year) last night in LA. Can you imagine what that must feel like? The pressure, first of all. Of knowing that all these assholes took forever to come around to the idea that a Wonder Woman movie could actually work. And then having to step into those shoes and swing that lasso around. And now, to know that not only did she hold it down, she and Patty are now HOLDING THEM UP. One day soon, Duana and I will be talking about Gal on Show Your Work. She IS Wonder Woman. Does she want to be anyone else? What are her career aspirations outside of Wonder Woman? Hugh Jackman this year ended an almost two decade run as Wolverine. And he’s one of the few actors who became defined as a superheroe and dooesn't talk about it like it’s a handcuff. You never got the sense that Hugh was looking to get out through the process. He’s getting out now because he feels he’s finished the arc of that character, not because he’s tired of having to be Wolverine and couldn’t wait to get out of his multi-picture commitment and direct terrible movies. Will Gal be the same? If so, what will her efforts outside of Wonder Woman look like? How will she spend her capital? How will we be talking about Gal Gadot in 5 years? Also, um, am I allowed to talk about her fashion? Because for some reason, even though she’s Gal Gadot, and could probably wear just about anything, I’m never excited about anything she wears. Take this red dress for example. I mean, it’s fine. But it’s not like you’ll remember it. It’s not like you were waiting for it. Gal will undoubtedly be a presence during award season this year. Will she be a fashion presence on those carpets? Please can she be? [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 3:50 PM [The DC holiday shuffle]( [Ben Affleck out in LA, November 29, 2017](It was inevitable, and like clockwork, it arrived just before the holidays, when Warner Brothers likes to do their firing: an executive shuffle at DC Films. Jon Berg, who was co-president of production and oversaw DC, is exiting his executive role to become an on-the-lot producer. Apparently, he started talking up his desire to be a full-time producer six months ago. That was summer, plenty of time to see the writing on the wall and start looking for a soft landing. Frankly, I’m surprised Berg is the only person out, but there is a suggestion that DC Films may lose its independence and be combined into Warners regular development/production train, instead of being a sort of studio-within-a-studio (like Marvel is at Disney). At this point, try anything. Let the development office see if they can get a functioning DC movie off the ground. They cannot possibly do worse. At this point, it is abundantly clear that no one is going to replicate the success of Marvel and Kevin Feige. As I said [before](, Feige is a movie guy who likes comic books, so if Warners/DC can’t find one of those—and if they could, they would have already—what they need is a movie guy who operates on the same wavelength as Geoff Johns. He’s a DC Comics guy who is serving as DC Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer, and if they can get a movie dude to match him, maybe DC will (finally) have a winning recipe. But just the fact that there is talk of streamlining DC Films into Warners’ production department suggests they have no such candidate on the horizon and, for lack of anything else to do, will just dump DC into the main pipeline and hope someone comes up with a good idea. There is no relief in sight for Warners/DC. Justice League has one week left before Star Wars comes along and kills it completely, and it will struggle to reach the $700 million benchmark set by the studio as the “non-embarrassment” line. (This, after the studio lowered the non-embarrassment when it became clear Justice League would not be a billion-dollar hit.) But the main problem for them is that without a clear vision or definitive leadership, they’re going to keep floundering as Marvel continues to churn out movies at a reliable rate. Marvel has three movies in 2018 and 2019—DC has three movies over two years, total. They are no closer to catching up with Marvel now, in 2017, than they were in 2013 when they launched Man of Steel. And what about [Ben Affleck](? News of the exec shuffle includes the tidbit that Batfleck is probably done after the stand-alone Flash movie, Flashpoint. Affleck has a three-picture deal, and that Flash movie represents the third picture. (It is extremely likely, at this point, that he will not star in a stand-alone Bat-movie, as director Matt Reeves is said to want “fresh talent”.) Flashpoint is a good storyline to soft-reboot your universe, since it allows you to kill off characters and spin out alternate universes. They could sayonara Batfleck and recast to line up with Matt Reeves’ vision going forward. They could also buy out Affleck’s third picture, or translate it to another project for the studio. Flashpoint has no director, and at this point, even if it’s fast-tracked, it can’t realistically hit theaters before 2020. How long will Affleck want to sit in limbo? And DC announced a bunch of sh*t at Comic-Con, including a Green Lantern movie, but since Justice League face-planted, how much of that is viable? Shazam! is happening whether anyone wants it or not, Aquaman is in post-production, and Wonder Woman 2 is their one bright spot. And I guess they’ll make Flashpoint, for lack of any better ideas. But whether they bring in a new executive to run DC Films or turn it over to the studio team, will anyone want to associate with material tainted by Justice League’s failure? Who wants to stick their name on the Cyborg movie that is never happening? Here's Ben Affleck out in LA last week. [Source]( [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 3:03 PM [Charlie & Garrett]( [Charlie Hunnam out in LA after having lunch with a friend, December 7, 2017](A quick picture post to start the day… [Charlie Hunnam]( was photographed yesterday with cash spilling out of his wallet after having lunch with a friend. Sarah always makes fun of Canadian money (and Canadians get huffy at her, which always makes me laugh) when she’s here because of all the different colours we use. And also, I think, its texture. Canadian currency is printed on a waxy kind of paper now that makes it more durable. She mocks it as “monopoly money”. That might have something to do with the exchange rate too. As a Canadian, obviously, I prefer it to American dollars. Because I can never f-cking tell the denominations apart. Call me a simpleton but I like looking in my wallet and being able to see exactly how much money I have in there based on the colour separation. With American cash, sometime you think you’re high-rolling and then you realise it’s just a pile of ones. Anyway, Charlie’s been pretty quiet lately after a sort of up and down year as King Arthur was a bust but The Lost City Of Z was very well received. Also Papillon was screened at TIFF and no one much talked about it and I’m not sure it even has a distributor yet. Charlie’s next project is supposed to be a film called Triple Frontier which has been in development forever and has since gone through several directors and casting changes (Ben Affleck was once attached). If the project does go forward though, Charlie would be costarring with his friend and celebrity twin [Garrett Hedlund](. Here’s Garrett last night at the GQ Men of the Year event in LA. Garrett’s been around a lot more lately than Charlie because he’s in Mudbound, which is picking up some solid award season momentum. That’s a good suit on him but he has the same problem Charlie has in that he never looks as good on a carpet as he does when he’s in motion. It’s like they don’t know how to stand. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 2:46 PM [December 8, 2017 – Smutty Shout-Outs]( [Rihanna for Nanci](For Fanci before we go to VIP for fried pickles on Sunday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And because you told me to, and I always do what you tell me to do, here are Rihanna, The Bodyguard, Khaleesi with a dragon…and your “pride”: Lauren! Happy 30th Birthday tomorrow! Thank you for being such a wonderful friend to Steph this year. To show her appreciation, Steph asked me to post the “most egregious celebrity belly-cupping photo” that I can think of. And then Idris Elba as a palate cleanser. I think this is pretty egregious, non? To Michelle from Allison – Happy Birthday on Sunday! By request, here are shots of Brandon Flowers and Keanu Reeves. Also, yes, #NeverForget. F-ck Justin Timberlake. Earlier this week, [The Trevor Project]() hosted its annual fundraiser in Los Angeles honouring Tom Ford and Kristen Chenoweth. The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning young people ages 13-24. My Obsession was there. And this is for Jonathan who met them. Please [click here]() to learn more about The Trevor Project. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 2:28 PM [Privacy Policy]( - [Unsubscribe](