Newsletter Thursday, May 11, 2017

[LaineyGossip.com - Calling all smuthounds!] Thursday, May 11, 2017 [Intro for May 11, 2017]( [Johnny Depp attends the premiere of film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' at Shanghai Disneyland Park on May 11, 2017 in Shanghai, China]( Dear Gossips, The Hollywood Reporter published an article yesterday about [Johnny Depp: A Star in Crisis and the Insane Story of His “Missing” Millions]( – have you read it yet? As [Stefon]( would say, this piece has everything: gossip, financial assessment, and analysis of how Johnny’s legal battle with his former managers, The Management Group, will impact the industry as other celebrities will be paying close attention to the way finances have traditionally been handled between clients and their representatives. Johnny’s new Pirates movie opens in two weeks though. And a deep-dive like this, exposing his sh-tty work habits, his indulgences, and his mental health issues is…well… it’s probably not exactly how Disney wanted to kick off the press tour. Johnny was in Shanghai today to start selling the movie overseas, as that’s where they are hoping to make back most of their money, just as everyone in North America is processing the disturbing details coming out of THR’s report. Well… maybe not everyone, but we’ll get back to that in a minute. The Hollywood Reporter is not in the business of pissing off major studios, risking access and future content. So they would not have taken on the story if they weren’t confident in their sourcing. What’s most telling here is that those who are on Johnny’s side can barely defend him against the claims that he’s outrageously unprofessional. Last week, I wrote about how he keeps an audio engineer on payroll to feed him his lines [through an earpiece]( so he doesn’t have to memorise them. Now we’re getting more detail about Johnny’s aggressive lateness to set, especially while they were shooting Pirates 5 in Australia. Apparently he routinely kept the cast and crew waiting for HOURS, to the point where they had someone stay parked outside his rented house to monitor when the lights would come on. As soon as they saw that there was activity inside, that person would then alert production, so they could start setting up. Basically, he’s a child. And these unnecessary delays, you can imagine, ate into the budget. Not even super producer Jerry Bruckheimer could deny that Johnny’s behaviour was challenging. Everyone in this article who’s trying to defend him can only rationalise with “he’s not a morning person” or that he was under a lot of pressure. And that even though there were challenges, his passion and commitment to the project should not be questioned. Which… I mean… is that actually helpful? Or is it enabling? THR reports that Johnny’s agent and the movie producers would fight all the time on set, each pleading with the other to talk to Johnny, to force him to fix his sh-t. No one would step up to confront him because they’d all contributed to creating the spoiled narcissist who hadn’t been denied in 20 years – and much of it to their own advantage, since so many of them also got paid, handsomely, for his success. Here’s a guy who kept people waiting, cost a lot of money, wasted a lot of money…and they’re still throwing jobs at him. What would have happened if it was Angelina Jolie? Probably this, right? “BLACKLISTED FROM HOLLYWOOD, NO ONE WILL WORK WITH MESSY DRUNK ANGELINA JOLIE!” Johnny Depp’s reputation, on the other hand, is actually not in bad shape, not at all. I know that may be hard for some of you to believe since you’re visiting this site, which means you spend time on other sites, which means you’re familiar with a specific area of the internet – the gossip environment. But a lot of people have no idea. There are a lot of people who won’t read this THR article, even those who work in media. I know because I work in media and I can tell you that many of my colleagues have no awareness of this article because this article is pretty inside baseball gossip. What’s the point? The point is Johnny Depp will be fine. There’s an entire industry that’s built on keeping him fine. For his sake though, for the people who truly care about him, maybe he shouldn’t be fine and, because maybe then, when they can all start acknowledging it, he could get some real help. Yours in gossip, Lainey [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 1:36 PM [Goldie Hawn and the casting couch]( [Goldie Hawn covers PEOPLE]( [Goldie Hawn]( and Amy Schumer’s Snatched opens tomorrow. Goldie is on the cover of this week’s PEOPLE. Most of the early excerpts from her interview with editor Jess Cagle have been about her relationship with [Kurt Russell](. You know what I think about when I think Goldie and Kurt? Overboard, which I’ve mentioned before, a few times, because I love that movie so much. One of my favourite Saturday afternoon TV movies. Unfortunately this post is not about Goldie and Kurt in Overboard. (Although if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it. The scene where he’s fixing her shoe closet on the yacht and she’s wearing a white robe with Michael Jackson shoulders over a white swimsuit while smoking a cigarette from a cigarette holder is still gold to me after all these years.) This post is about the time Goldie found herself at a meeting with Al Capp who arrived in a dressing gown, gave her some acting tips, and then, well, here’s how she tells the story, in person: This isn’t the first time Goldie has talked about their encounter. And it’s not the first time someone has accused him of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Al Capp doesn’t mean much to me. But he was a big deal cartoonist. He’s been described as a legend. He’s been described as a f-cking asshole. He was allegedly a rapist. And while he was (eventually) exposed for his grossness, prior to that he enjoyed a lot of power and influence and was enabled by a lot of powerful and influential people, including Richard Nixon, who was, oh you know, just the president of the United States. Of course he’s also left a legacy. I feel like for the people who would know Al Capp, they’ll think most of Lil Abner and not, concurrently, of the fact that this man was a predator. And it’s not like in the future, when they go through archives, there will be a footnote to those comic strips telling people that, oh, by the way? This man lured women into his home and took advantage of them. My question is: does that mean, ultimately, that he wins? [Source]( Attached - Goldie on the cover of PEOPLE and with Kurt Russell at the Snatched premiere in LA last night [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 7:26 PM [Smutty Social Media, May 11, 2017]( I love that Neil deGrasse Tyson has cornered the famous astrophysicist market. [Yassss @neildegrassetyson and I are guests on Conan tonight!! He is the MAN. 🌌🌠🌌🌠@teamcoco]( A post shared by Rashida Jones (@rashidajones) on May 10, 2017 at 6:51pm PDT If you live in downtown Vancouver, are you sick of listening to U2 rehearse? They are practicing for their upcoming tour in an open-roof stadium. [My man Bono's birthday today!! We love and miss you and I can't wait to celebrate you at the LA show of the Joshua Tree tour 💜]( A post shared by Helena (@helenachristensen) on May 10, 2017 at 5:40pm PDT Do you remember when Gawker Stalker was a thing? Emily Gould was an editor and went on Larry King to defend it and Jimmy Kimmel was hosting. He [tore into her](. Looking back, the “real time” map seems quaint compared to Twitter. I got a weird hunch and date-searched my gmail and this week is the 10 year anniversary of my Larry King/Jimmy Kimmel scandal — Emily Gould (@EmilyGould) [May 11, 2017]( During a cooking segment on Ellen, [Nicole Kidman]( basically put herself in the meme hall of fame by rejecting Giada’s focaccia. The fact that Nicole couldn’t hold back her criticism – on TV! – is interesting, but I was also fascinated at how Nicole keeps cutting Giada off, so much so that [Ellen]( points it out. And Ellen, celebrity-friendly Ellen, is making faces about the food while Giada tries to promote her new restaurant and show. As helpers, both completely mess up their assignments. Eventually Giada, trying so hard to have a moment with Ellen about the “anus seeds,” gives up and laughs along. She really has no choice, even if she is secretly dying inside as the cool kids snicker about her home ec project. Can you imagine Martha Stewart tolerating this? [Tomorrow, you’re not going to want to miss what @NicoleKidman, @GiadaDeLaurentiis and I have got cookin’.]( A post shared by Ellen (@theellenshow) on May 8, 2017 at 6:30pm PDT .[@GDeLaurentiis]( taught Nicole Kidman and me how to cook. She's got balls. [pic.twitter.com/15zMPnNwdR]( — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) [May 9, 2017]( [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 6:51 PM [A girl in a suitcase]( [Elisabeth Moss attends 92Y Presents Hulu's 'The Handmaid's Tale' at 92nd Street Y on May 10, 2017 in New York City]( Confession: I’m not watching The Handmaid’s Tale. I tried but I couldn’t make it through the second episode—it’s TOO REAL. When I read the book in college it was like a warning to not take for granted the ground gained and keep fighting for more, but watching the show now, with everything that’s going on and women’s rights under attack—I legit keep a list of potential states I can live in, where my right to bodily autonomy is being protected and it is depressingly short—I just couldn’t stomach it. I’ll get through it eventually, but it will take some time and a schedule managed for emotional distress. But just because I’m sitting out The Handmaid’s Tale doesn’t mean I have to miss [Elisabeth Moss]( in a feminist drama, as Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake is returning for six-episode second series. Moss once again plays Robin Griffin, the New Zealander working as a detective in Sydney. This series sees Robin back in Australia, where a body stuffed in a suitcase washes up on a beach. Obviously, bodies in suitcases is right up my alley—I don’t know why bodies in suitcases doesn’t bother me but The Handmaid’s Tale does, but there it is. A new trailer for Top of the Lake shows Robin going to see the body in the suitcase—I love the way she commands [Gwendoline Christie]( to come with her. It’s my dream to someday point at someone and bark, “You’re with me,” and have them obey, immediately and without question. (Where is the adult fantasy camp for that?) The body turns out to be a young Chinese woman with ties to a brothel. Robin’s biological daughter also appears to have a connection to that brothel—the big casting coup of series two was [Nicole Kidman](, and it turns out she’s playing the adoptive mother of Robin’s daughter. Can we talk about her witch hair? Is she playing a witch? Is this an undercover sequel to Practical Magic? Top of the Lake is the perfect combination of gripping mystery, drama, and feminist themes, and it puts Jane Campion behind a camera—series one was the first thing she’d directed since 2009’s Bright Star. For those (few?) of you who can’t quite handle The Handmaid’s Tale, like me, let’s all agree to watch Top of the Lake together, yes? Attached - more shots of Elisabeth Moss at the 92Y event last night for The Handmaid's Tale. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 4:55 PM [Charlie’s weekend flop?]( [Charlie Hunnam at BBC Radio 2 on May 11, 2017 in London, England]( Here’s [Charlie Hunnam]( in London today continuing to promote King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword. He looks hot in that leather jacket. Hot enough to save his movie? [Variety reported]( yesterday that the movie is looking like an “epic flop”. Forbes agrees, saying it’s “likely (the) biggest flop of 2017”. King Arthur cost $175 million to make and right now they’re projecting an opening weekend take of around $25 million, $30 tops. So, as usual, they’ll be looking overseas to make back the rest of it. Domestically though, even at $30 million, it’ll be considered a bomb. I always find it interesting watching actors go through their press schedules in these situations, when you’re out there putting a face to a project and already the industry buzz is that your project is being called a flop. That’s part of the job though, right? Any job, really? I mean this is where you can say there’s an intersection between celebrity and civilian. Most of us have all been part of something we worked really hard on but that still wasn’t very good. You have to slog through it. Some slog through it better than others. What’s different between civilians and Charlie, though, is that even though he’s slogging through King Arthur and its possible/probable “flopness” right now, he already has the next lined up, where he’ll be given a chance to try again. In the real world, often, you don’t get to come back after a flop. Or, at least, not right away. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 4:10 PM [Cap at bedtime]( [Chris Evans for CBeebies ]( I’ve posted [a few times]( about [Tom Hardy](’s appearances [on CBeebies]( reading bedtime stories, sometimes with his dog by his side. Who, though, is he reading them to? Let’s come back to that… The latest actor to read for CBeebies is [Chris Evans](. His story aired last night in the UK. I can’t find the video for the actual thing but here are some of the promos: Even Superheroes Have Bad Days - Actor [@ChrisEvans]( reads the bedtime story this Wednesday at 6.50pm for [@CBeebiesHQ](. [pic.twitter.com/V8v5OVOSli]( — BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) [May 8, 2017]( Be a legend in your lounge! [@BBCiPlayer]( to the rescue... [@ChrisEvans]( [#BedtimeStory]( [pic.twitter.com/IQiahVbtGl]( — CBeebies Grown-Ups (@CBeebiesHQ) [May 10, 2017]( Today's the day! 🙌 Snuggle down for a [#BedtimeStory]( with [@ChrisEvans](. 📚💤 Tonight 6.50pm on [@CBeebiesHQ](. 💕 [pic.twitter.com/iYaNfupbqy]( — BBC (@BBC) [May 10, 2017]( Apparently the moms and gay dads [lost their sh-t](, just like they did with Tom Hardy did it. Right now I want to ask an inappropriate question. But some pearl clutcher will accuse me of indecency because I’m associating children’s bedtime stories with sex. So, to be clear, this is a commentary on the REACTION some parents have had to an actor reading a bedtime story. Like one mom tweeted about how much she enjoyed it, and wondered if they could find a tighter white t-shirt for Chris to wear. Has bedtime stories become like Fifty Shades Of Grey? Which is actually what [another mom tweeted]( after one of Tom Hardy’s CBeebies appearances. So… Has reading bedtime stories on CBeebies now become a new publicity destination? If you’re a Chris Evans or a Tom Hardy, if you’re Charlie Hunnam or Idris Elba, if you happen to be promoting a new project, are you asking to add CBeebies to the press schedule? What happens if Johnny Depp wants to do it? Would it get the same reaction? [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 3:12 PM [Rory Gilmore: the “secret weapon”]( [Alexis Bledel attends 92Y Presents Hulu's 'The Handmaid's Tale' at 92nd Street Y on May 10, 2017 in New York City]( I’m still making my way through Gilmore Girls. It’s been months, I know. And I like it, I do. It’s just not binge-TV for me. So far I’m two episodes into season 5. And finally, finally Rory has done something interesting. But I am most interested in Rory now because of [Alexis Bledel](’s performance in The Handmaid’s Tale. In a piece for [Vanity Fair]( yesterday, writer Joanna Robinson called Alexis the series’ “secret weapon” and Duana and I, on this week’s episode of [Show Your Work]( also discussed how this role fits into Alexis’s career. Or, rather, how it will change her career. Because there is no Rory Gilmore in Alexis’s portrayal of Ofglen and, as Joanna Robinson notes, much of that has to do with how director Reed Morano shot her through the first three episodes, especially in the harsh light of this scene – which is DIFFICULT TO WATCH if you haven’t already but… if you haven’t, WHY AREN’T YOU WATCHING THE HANDMAID’s TALE??? Unfortunately that video cuts off before those affecting close-ups of her face. Like this one: When I was watching it, and she made that face, I call it a “Marmaduke face”, for me I feel like I was seeing Alexis Bledel summoning all her powers, all her talent. Because her “Marmaduke face” isn’t unfamiliar. It’s a face that Rory Gilmore wore quite often… only this was a distorted, mangled, and totally contaminated version of it. Which is exactly the point. Which is exactly what would happen. You don’t become an entirely different person with an entire new catalogue of expressions. Rather oppression takes who you are and warps it. It warps your face so that what was once innocently goofy is now disturbing, grotesque. Alexis Bledel plays it perfectly. And now I’m excited, I’m excited to see what this will mean, what she will now be considered for, now that we know she can do this. Attached – Alexis, [Elisabeth Moss](, and Reed Morano at 92Y in New York yesterday. [Click here for the rest of the photos.]( Posted at 2:12 PM [Privacy Policy]( - [Unsubscribe](