Entertainment
In ‘No Hard Feelings,’ 1st Comedy Made For Jennifer Lawrence
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Jennifer Lawrence has long desired to star in a major comedy. In her television appearances, she has always been witty and bright. And, while she has brought humor and physical comedy to many of her performances for David O. Russell and others, she hasn’t received the huge, broad “Dumb and Dumber” or “Anchorman” experience, to name a few of her favorites (or at least the ones she knows).
This summer, that changes with ‘No Hard Feelings’ (in theatres on 23 June), a classic, raucous R-rated comedy tailor-made for her.
“I’ve always wanted to do a comedy,” she says. And I’ve read many of them,” Lawrence said last week in Las Vegas. “I just didn’t read anything funny enough.”
A real Craigslist ad by parents looking for a woman to “date” their son over the summer before he went to college served as the inspiration for the song “No Hard Feelings.” There are disagreements over how genuine the “real ad” was, but the idea of a woman answering such an ad was amusing enough to pique the interest of numerous producers and writer-director Gene Stupnitsky.
Stupnitsky, an Emmy-nominated “The Office” alum who also helmed and co-wrote the 2019 smash “Good Boys,” knew exactly who to take it to. He informed Lawrence about the concept over dinner with pals one night after they had had “eight or nine martinis between us.”
They met almost a decade ago at Mediaeval Times, thanks to a mutual friend. Lawrence, he remembered, was dressed like a full-fledged wizard. They quickly become real friends. He even introduced her spouse to Lawrence.
“I owed him one,” remarked Lawrence. “That’s why I did this film.”
Stupnitsky, seated next to Lawrence, remarked, “There’s probably some truth to that.”
With Lawrence set to appear in and produce the film, it quickly became a hot commodity, with streaming providers and studios bidding for its rights. They ultimately chose Sony and a regular theatrical release.
“I wrote this movie for her because I knew she was funny and wanted everyone else to know it.” People knew she was witty, but they wanted her in a comedy. Yes, I thought, I know how to accomplish this. “I know how to write her voice,” said Stupnitsky. “I remember telling her, ‘I want you to experience the feeling of sitting in a theatre with hundreds of people laughing.'” She’s had many cinematic experiences, but none quite like this.”
Maddie, Lawrence’s character in “No Hard Feelings,” is going through a financially difficult patch. She’s in a bind as an Uber driver without a car. So when she comes across this ad promising a Buick Regal as payment, she bites. Maddie meets 19-year-old Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) for the first time in a clip shown to theatre owners at the CinemaCon event last week, dressed in a slim, hot pink little dress and high heels and behaving openly flirty and accessible.
“She’s dressed as if imagining a 19-year-old’s sex fantasy.” “And she’s incorrect,” Stupnitsky replied. “He’s like the one kid who she can’t seduce.”
The scenario worsens when she tries to give him a ride home. He believes he is being kidnapped, and as anyone who has seen the red-band trailer knows, it concludes with her being pepper-sprayed. But the picture also has a lovely center.
“He is longing for a connection, which she also needs but isn’t aware of,” Stupnitsky explained. “She simply wants to get the car and get on with her life.” But he’s forcing her to take things slowly and get to know him and be intimate with him in a spiritual way.”
Lawrence described the event as “fun,” which was aided by her bond with her younger co-star.
“We just laughed all day long,” she explained. “Sometimes after work, I’d get in bed and just, like, giggle before going to sleep, just thinking about the day.” I was also sad about making it because I thought, “God, I’m just not going to have one of these again.” This is unusual.”
As a producer on the picture, Lawrence has already seen it with an audience and experienced the great, communal laughter that Stupnitsky promised.
“I went to a screening test and sat in the back,” she explained. “It was pretty extraordinary.”
Every project, she realizes, is a risk, but she’s optimistic about “No Hard Feelings.”
“You just never know. You may believe that audiences desire this, but they do not. “And I’ve certainly had my share of experiences with that,” she admitted. “It’s a combination of instinct and analyzing the information.” I had no doubts that what we had was the funniest movie anyone had ever seen, and I knew Gene was the one who could pull it off.”
Lawrence’s first major cinema release in a few years, following the 2019 X-Men film “Dark Phoenix.” Her most recent films have been streaming releases, such as Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up” and Apple’s “Causeway,” which she also produced.
“I think audiences will remember why they love her,” said Stupnitsky.
“I look much better, 12 feet tall,” Lawrence joked.
SOURCE – (AP)
Entertainment
Patrick Stewart, A Shakespearean Actor Who Soars In Sci-Fi, Looks Back On His Life In Memoir
NEW YORK — Famous “Star Trek” captain Patrick Stewart has boldly gone into his past where no one has gone before.
The actor spent most of the pandemic at his computer composing his memoir, which will be released this autumn under “Making It So,” a phrase he borrowed from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
“My long-term memory is extremely robust. Memory after memory and sensation and sensation and feelings all scuttled back the moment I turned the key on day one, Stewart, 83, said in a Zoom interview from his residence in Los Angeles.
It is a remarkable tale of a child who grew up poor in northern England, became a great Shakespearean stage actor, and then a sci-fi movie icon aboard the USS Enterprise and in the “X-Men” film series.
He grew up in a home without a lavatory or a bathroom, sold furniture as a young man, and worked his way up the regional theatre ranks in England — including touring and a crush on Vivien Leigh — before a 14-year run with the Royal Shakespeare Company and a rise to fame in Los Angeles.
Stewart says in the interview that authoring the book has been a highly therapeutic experience. “I know my therapist is among those anticipating the book the most. I anticipate hearing, “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
Patrick Stewart, A Shakespearean Actor Who Soars In Sci-Fi, Looks Back On His Life In Memoir.
If there is one shadow, it is that of Stewart’s father, a former British Army regimental sergeant prone to violent eruptions against his mother.
Stewart writes about how he and his elder brother, Trevor, braced for nights when their dad came home drunk and angry. “Sometimes with an outstretched hand, and sometimes with a closed fist. He consistently targeted her cranium.”
Stewart wonders if the violence initiated his career. “The stage would prove to be a safe space, a refuge from real life, in which I could inhabit another person, living in another place and time,” he writes.
Other portraits emerge of those who were kind to Stewart along the way, such as Paul McCartney, Rod Steiger, and Kirk Douglas, as well as those who were not: Stewart commanding one of Gene Roddenberry’s starships was never acceptable to “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry or “Dune” director David Lynch.
“I wanted to be truthful, but I also wanted to be respectful and cautious. The most difficult aspect of the experience was determining how much I should say. What should I refrain from saying?
“It’s almost certain that someone will come forward and say, ‘How dare you?'” That is ludicrous.’ I’ve brought this upon myself. But I took it extremely seriously.”
Patrick Stewart, A Shakespearean Actor Who Soars In Sci-Fi, Looks Back On His Life In a Memoir.
Stewart, preparing to portray Hamlet in 1966, is given an hour-long tutorial by the late great director Peter Hall, widely regarded as the most influential figure in modern British theatre.
Stewart says, “When the hour was up and I checked my notebook, it contained nothing but scribbles.” “I realised that he had opened up this text to me in ways that no one else had ever done before.”
The grace with which he dealt with premature receding is a further example. Stewart would audition with a hairpiece, then remove it and make his case: two actors for the price of one.
Stewart dedicates the book to two influential instructors who instilled in him a passion for Shakespeare and inspired him to pursue a career in acting. Later in his 40s, when he was asked to portray Jean-Luc Picard, a 24th-century starship captain, his appreciation for Shakespeare would prove beneficial.
“The etiquette of their speech and demeanor reminds me of numerous Shakespearean situations in which I had participated onstage. I realized that I should portray Jean Luc as if he were a character from “Henry IV,” which is about courageous men.
Later in life, Stewart explored his sense of humor by donning crustacean costumes and lending his voice to Seth MacFarlane cartoons. People believed it would be entertaining to watch me play against type, he writes.
Throughout the memoir, Stewart is just as critical of himself as anyone else. Again and again, he confesses to mistakes or being unnecessarily stiff, at one point calling himself a “pompous ass.” Stewart explains that his relationship with his offspring is “a work in progress.”
“I needed to do better by the women with whom I was romantically involved,” he writes in one section. My two unsuccessful marriages are my greatest regret in a life filled with happiness and accomplishments.
Writing the book became “some of the happiest days of my life,” he says, despite pausing the audiobook a few times because he was weeping.
Sunny, his wife, observed that he appeared lighter and cheerful after a writing session. “She said I would come down smiling and kind of glowing because of the whole experience of going back.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Entertainment
Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour Is Over. But It’s Coming To Movie Theaters Soon
NEW YORK — Monday, AMC Theatres announced that a documentary chronicling Beyoncé’s recently concluded 39-city Renaissance World Tour will premiere in North American theatres on December 1.
The film adds a second blockbuster from a music superstar to a fall film lineup that the ongoing screen actors’ strike has marginally diminished. As with “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” which premieres on October 13, “Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé” is released directly by AMC, without studio involvement.
Tickets cost a minimum of $22 plus tax. AMC stated that the film will broadcast for a minimum of four weeks.
Beyoncé’s previous films include “Homecoming,” a 2019 Netflix film that captures her 2018 Coachella performance. Beyoncé and Swift are rumored to receive at least 50 percent of ticket sales in their agreements with AMC.
Beyoncé and Swift are rumored to receive at least 50 percent of ticket sales in their agreements with AMC.
The film chronicles her tour supporting her Grammy-winning album “Renaissance” from 2022. It mixes concert footage and elements of a visual album while trailing the tour from its beginning in Stockholm, Sweden, in May to the finale Sunday night in Kansas City, Missouri.
Approximately 2,7 million concert-goers attended over five months. According to Billboard, the tour has garnered close to 500 million dollars.
The film’s description states, “It is about Beyoncé’s intention, hard work, involvement in every aspect of the production, her creative mind and purpose to create her legacy and master her craft.”
The singer posted a trailer to her Instagram account with the message, “Be careful what you ask for, because I just might give it to you.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Business
TikTok Testing Out 1st Advert-Free Monthly Subscription
TikTok is experimenting with a new monthly subscription to eliminate video-sharing platform advertisements.
The BBC has learned that the Chinese company is testing the service in an English-speaking market outside the United States, but the company has declined to comment on where.
The tryout price for the subscription is $4.99 (£4.13).
Meta reportedly considers ad-free subscriptions for EU residents to comply with the bloc’s advertising regulations.
TikTok displays personalized advertisements to all users over the age of 18 at this time.
TechCrunch, a news website, reported that the test is on a limited scale, and there is no assurance that a global subscription rollout will occur.
YouTube and X, formerly Twitter, and Tiktok are among the sites that already charge a monthly fee for fewer or no advertisements.
TikTok is experimenting with a new monthly subscription to eliminate video-sharing platform advertisements.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Meta owns Facebook and Instagram and plans to charge European users who opt out of receiving personalized advertisements on its platforms.
Meta reportedly informed EU regulators that users would be charged approximately €10 (£8.68) per month to use Instagram or Facebook without personalized advertisements on desktop and €13 (£11.28) per month on mobile.
A spokesperson for Meta told the BBC, “Meta believes in the value of free services supported by personalized advertisements.” Nonetheless, we continue investigating potential solutions to ensure compliance with evolving regulatory requirements. No further information is available at this time.”
In response to an EU ruling, the company announced in August that it intended to modify its terms and obtain users’ consent before displaying advertisements based on their personal information.
In January, it was fined €390 million (£346 million) by the Irish Data Protection Commission.
The regulator stated that Facebook and Instagram could not “force consent” by requiring users to accept how their data is utilized or quit the platform.
SOURCE – (BBC)
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