Rebel Wilson is finding herself in hot water with The Deb‘s Charlotte MacInnes!
The 45-year-old actress and producer previously made some serious accusations about the producers of The Deb. It seems like those accusations aren’t the end of Rebel‘s legal trouble relating to the movie.
Entertainment Weekly has obtained legal documents filed by Charlotte, the lead actress in the musical, against Rebel. According to the documents, Charlotte is accusing the director of defamation for naming her in the previous lawsuit.
Keep reading to find out more…
EW reports that Rebel had previously claimed that Charlotte was the victim of misconduct by a producer of The Deb. When Charlotte denied the misconduct, Rebel accused her of “changing her story” in order to be cast in another of the producer’s projects.
According to the filing, Charlotte alleges that Rebel harmed her reputation by naming her in false accusations and then accusing her of lying about the details.
According to EW, Rebel has 28 days to release a correction or her claims or apology to Charlotte before her legal team will move forward with the defamation suit.
If you didn’t know, Rebel recently revealed that she was nearly in a Marvel movie!
Prince Andrew faces an unflattering portrait of his private life and finances
This searing biography of Prince Andrew crackles with scandals about sex and money on almost every page, two subjects that have always caused problems for the royals.
Andrew Lownie’s book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, is an unrelentingly unflattering portrait of Prince Andrew. It depicts him as arrogant, self-seeking and in denial about his links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The author’s best-selling biographies have a habit of changing the reputation of famous figures, such as establishing the Nazi intrigues around the Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII.
Although in the case of Entitled, he hasn’t so much cemented Prince Andrew’s reputation, as put it in concrete boots and thrown it in the river. It is hard to see how he might come back from this.
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Prince Andrew with Jeffrey Epstein and Melania Trump [L] at Mar-a-Lago
This account, more than 450 pages, is said to have taken four years to research, involving hundreds of interviews. And for anyone thinking they have heard much of this story before, it is the extra and sometimes unexpected, throwaway details that will make this a fascinating read.
Like comedian Billy Connolly and Sir Elton John being at Prince Andrew’s stag night. Or film maker Woody Allen being at the same dinner with Prince Andrew at Epstein’s house in Manhattan.
This detail tallies with a piece in the New York Times this week that quotes a birthday greeting written by Allen to Epstein, which references “even royalty” being at one of Epstein’s dinners.
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Prince Andrew has stepped down as a working royal
To rapidly lose some mid-life weight, when he was going out with a younger woman, the book records that Prince Andrew lived on a crash diet of “stewed prunes for breakfast, raw vegetables for lunch and soup for supper”.
About their academic ability, the book says that Prince Andrew and Sarah passed two O-levels at their respective expensive private schools. Andrew had to re-take exams the following year before going on to take A-levels.
Now in disgrace, Prince Andrew is claimed to spend his time, when not riding or golfing, cooped up watching aviation videos and reading thrillers, with The Talented Mr Ripley said to be his favourite. It is about a con-man taking on the identity of a wealthy playboy.
There are some more gentle anecdotes about him, such as when he was a helicopter pilot and ferried a group of soldiers from a rifle range and decided to put down on the Sandringham estate.
Queen Elizabeth II, who was in residence, was said to have looked at the guns being toted by these unexpected arrivals. “You can put those in there if you like,” she said, pointing to an umbrella stand.
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Prince Andrew was known as ‘Baby Grumpling’ as a baby
But the biography is much more crowded with anecdotes about his rudeness and his acute lack of self awareness, not to mention a prodigious number of quick-fire affairs.
It is claimed he swore at and insulted staff, bawling someone out as an “imbecile” for not using the Queen Mother’s full title. Protection officers were despatched to collect golf balls and private jets seemed to be hired as casually as an Uber on a night out.
The Paris-based journalist Peter Allen, among the sources for the book, says many of Andrew’s problems reflect on his “flawed character”.
“He’s been afforded every type of privilege, all his life, while displaying very poor judgement and getting into highly compromising situations.”
Known as “Baby Grumpling” in his early years, Andrew was claimed to have moved people from jobs because one was wearing a nylon tie, and another because he had a mole on his face.
Diplomats, whose cause Andrew was meant to be advancing, nicknamed him “His Buffoon Highness” because of all the gaffes.
There are details of his unhappy knack of getting involved with all the wrong people in his money-making ventures, from Libyan gun runners and relations of dictators to a Chinese spy.
“This book appears to seal the fate of Andrew if he was ever hoping to be reinstated officially into the working royals,” says royal commentator Pauline Maclaran.
“The public will be wanting to see some clear action on the King’s part I think – particularly as Andrew’s connections to Epstein are raked over again,” says Prof Maclaran.
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Sarah Ferguson at a charity event in the south of France last month
If this seems like a torrent of bad news, the book also raises some deeper questions about what lies behind Prince Andrew’s character.
There are suggestions of an often lonely and isolated figure, obsessed with sex but much weaker at relationships. Sources from his time in the navy saw his “bombastic” exterior as concealing a much more vulnerable and socially awkward figure, whose upbringing had made him unsure how to behave.
He showed authentic courage when he flew helicopters in the Falklands war and he was remembered as being willing to “muck in” during that stressful time, when crews were living on canned food rather than fine dining.
On his fascination for sex, an unnamed source claims Andrew lost his virginity at the age of 11, which the same source likens to a form of abuse.
One of his former naval colleagues went from seeing Andrew as “immature, privileged, entitled” to having a more sympathetic view of a character of “loneliness and insecurity”, a public figure who was uncertain about how he fitted in with other people, and had ended up with the “wrong sort of friends”.
Top of that list must be Jeffrey Epstein. Lownie’s book offers meticulous detail of the connections between Prince Andrew and the US financier and sex offender, establishing links that went back to the early 1990s, earlier than had previously been established.
It is also strong on the unbalanced nature of their relationship, with a friend of Andrew’s describing the prince’s dealings with Epstein as “like putting a rattlesnake in an aquarium with a mouse”.
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The famous photo of Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell
Epstein’s sleazy and abusive world, with its mix of easy money and exploitative sex, was ultimately a form of blackmail operation, claims Lownie’s book. It gave him something to hold over the many powerful people who came into his orbit.
The book is a reminder of the scale and seediness of Epstein’s exploitation of girls. It is also an account of the destruction that followed.
The famous photograph showing Virginia Giuffre with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in London was supposedly taken by Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew is the only one of them not to be either dead or in prison.
And Lownie’s sources cast doubt on whether Epstein did take his own life, questioning the medical evidence and the series of unfortunate gaps in supervision in the jail where he was being held.
After his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview and the court case with Virginia Giuffre – which he settled with a rejection of any wrongdoing – Prince Andrew has been pushed out of public life, no longer a “working royal”.
Historian Ed Owens says it is almost six years since that Newsnight interview, but Prince Andrew is still appearing in news stories “for all the wrong reasons”.
“This isn’t good for the monarchy,” he says, even though “King Charles and Prince William have sought to limit the reputational damage Andrew can have on ‘brand Windsor’,” says Owens.
Standing loyally beside Prince Andrew has been Sarah Ferguson, who describes their relationship as being “divorced to each other, not from each other”, still living together at Royal Lodge.
The book depicts her as being in an endless loop of binge spending, debt and then convoluted deals, sponsorships and freebies, to try to get her finances on track, before the cycle begins again.
But there is no doubting her remarkable capacity to keep bouncing back and to keep on plugging away, when others would have been down and out years ago.
She has a sense of fun that appeals to people. The book tells how successful she was at boosting sales as an ambassador for Waterford Wedgwood, then owned by Tony O’Reilly. She was described by staff as “brilliant at working a room, fresh, chic and wasn’t stuffy”.
The book is already riding high in the best-seller charts and royal commentator Richard Palmer says it raises difficult topical questions.
“It puts Andrew back at the front and centre of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal at a time when Donald Trump is facing serious questions about his own friendship with the late paedophile,” says Palmer.
“It’s a scandal that just won’t go away for the Royal Family, even though they’ve tried to distance themselves from Andrew,” he says.
Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York by Andrew Lownie, published by William Collins, published on 14 August
Busta Rhymes is rejecting claims leveled against him in a lawsuit filed this week by a former assistant, calling it an “attempted shake-down.”
Dashiel Gables, who filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, is accusing Rhymes — real name Trevor Smith Jr. — of wage and hour violations as well as assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“I have been made aware of the claims made by Dashiel Gables, and I completely and categorically deny these allegations,” Rhymes said in a statement to The Times. “For a very brief period, Dashiel assisted me, but it did not work out. Apparently, Dashiel has decided to respond to being let go by manufacturing claims against me in an attempt to attack and damage my reputation.”
Rhymes, 53, said he is preparing a countersuit and is “confident [it] will expose this for what it is — an attempted shake-down by a disgruntled former assistant.”
In the lawsuit, which was reviewed by The Times, Gables alleges that Rhymes repeatedly called him a slur related to sexuality and mocked his poor hearing by telling him to “get a hearing aid.” He also says he was improperly categorized as a salaried employee and wasn’t paid overtime despite allegedly being required to work 15-, 16- and 18-hour shifts regularly for a flat $200 a day.
The lawsuit says he was required to perform “menial tasks,” including fetching cigars for the rapper.
The suit says Gables, 44, accompanied Rhymes on tour from early July to early September of last year, seven days a week, without being paid travel time or overtime, then worked for him from 2 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. daily without pay over his day rate from Sept. 3, 2024, until Jan. 10.
On that last day, the lawsuit alleges, Rhymes “constructively terminated” Gables’ employment “by repeatedly punching him in the face” after first raging at his assistant for not promptly bringing a “catering-size” pan of chicken in from the rapper’s car, then chewing Gables out for sending a text to his minor daughter during work hours.
Gables “tolerated a great deal of abuse while working for Busta Rhymes, he could not tolerate the repeated physical assault and was unable to return to work,” the complaint says, adding that Gables went to the hospital for treatment of bruising and swelling and filed a police report regarding the alleged assault. He did not return to work.
After Gables filed the police report he was “frozen out of the hip-hop music industry,” the complaint alleges. He is seeking back pay as well as compensatory and punitive damages and is asking for a jury trial.
Frances Anderson reveals the story behind her name change – Daily Times
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MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police will soon review the security of comedian Kapil Sharma, said an officer on Friday. Sharma’s cafe in Canada was attacked by unidentified men on Thursday. He has also allegedly received threats via social media through audio clips from members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Members allegedly associated with Lawrence Bishnoi have claimed responsibility for the attack on Thursday (Photo: PTI) (PTI)
On Thursday, unidentified men shot at Kap’s Cafe on 85 Avenue, Scott Road, Surrey, leaving behind bullet holes and shattered glass. Opened by the comedian on July 4, the cafe has endured two attacks already. Earlier on July 10, another unidentified person fired a gun outside the cafe near the same spot. No injuries were reported in these incidents, said the officer.
In light of these two attacks, the Mumbai police said they would soon review security for Sharma. “Senior officers of the Mumbai Police will take a call immediately about it. Plainclothes policemen are already deployed around Sharma wherever he shoots,” said a senior officer from the Mumbai Police.
On Thursday, a man named Goldy Dhillon, claiming to be associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media post.
“Jai Shree Ram. Sat Shree Akaal, Ram Ram to all brothers. The firing that happened today at Kapil Sharma’s Kap’s Café in Surrey has been claimed by Goldy Dhillon, affiliated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang,” read the post.
He further threatened to target Sharma in Mumbai. “We called him, but he did not answer the call, so we had to take action. If he still does not respond, then we will take the next action in Mumbai soon.”
On Friday, an audio clip by one Harry Boxer, who is believed to be working with Lawrence Bishnoi and settled abroad, went viral on social media. He said the motive behind the attack was that Sharma had invited actor Salman Khan to his studio.
“Whoever calls the actor or is with Salman Khan, we will target him,” warned Boxer, who has several cases against him.
In the July 10 firing, Harjit Singh Laddi, who is affiliated with the militant organisation Babbar Khalsa International and is wanted in the country, claimed responsibility via a social media post. He said the attack was in retaliation for Sharma’s distasteful jokes that hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community.
Since the suspects claimed to have called the comedian, the Mumbai Police will also look into whether any threat calls and messages were sent to the actor’s phone.
“We have taken the threat very seriously and will provide him with adequate security,” said another officer.
The crime branch team picked up five people from the Cotton Green area on Wednesday. They were identified as Sunny Kumar, 26, Ravi Angrez, 23, Rahul Singh, 27, Anuj Kumar, 28, and Aditya Kaushik, 23, all residents of Haryana, said the officer. The police officers are questioning them and have recovered three revolvers, one pistol, and 51 cartridges from them.
Following Thursday’s attack, they got a second remand till August 12. “Bishnoi gang operates from Haryana, so we are questioning the accused very carefully. They claim they had come to sell the weapons. We are checking all the details,” said the officer.
A team headed by Rahul Rakh of the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai Virar police had arrested seven men, allegedly including a Lawrence Bishnoi gang member. Two country-made pistols, eight live cartridges, ropes, and eight mobile phones were recovered from the vehicles they were using. “We are questioning them too, and they are claiming they were about to carry out an armed robbery. On Thursday, we got to extend their police custody till 12,” said another officer.
A show that captures Washington landscapes, history and the artists who create art here returns for a new season.
Season 2 of the Cascade PBS original series Art by Northwest is streaming now.
Host and writer Brangien Davis says the show is about Northwest artists across the state.
The series explores the connections between artists and their local environment by capturing how the geographic diversity of the Northwest shapes individual artistic expressions.
Seasons 1 and 2 showcase the process and influences of 12 regional artists including a mask carver, a ceramicist, printmakers and painters.”
Davis says she’s traveled across Washington, from Orcas Island to Walla Walla to Pullman, meeting with artists in their home studios to get to know them and their work.
“Our state is so diverse-looking from the coast to the deep woods, to the dry deserts to the Palouse. To see how artists are translating that or interpreting that is endlessly interesting to me,” Davis said.
Paris Jackson is the host of The Newsfeed. She’s an Emmy Award-winning journalist who’s spent more than 15 years in commercial television and public media.
Paris Jackson is the host of The Newsfeed. She’s an Emmy Award-winning journalist who’s spent more than 15 years in commercial television and public media.
Michael McClinton is a senior producer. He is formerly a Cascade PBS marketing/comms producer, winning multiple regional Emmys®. He is a founder at Living Voices, an educational theater company.
Michael McClinton is a senior producer. He is formerly a Cascade PBS marketing/comms producer, winning multiple regional Emmys®. He is a founder at Living Voices, an educational theater company.
Shannen Ortale is a producer at Cascade PBS. She formerly worked as a freelancer & film festival programmer. She also served as a producer & educator for community media & public television in Boston.
Shannen Ortale is a producer at Cascade PBS. She formerly worked as a freelancer & film festival programmer. She also served as a producer & educator for community media & public television in Boston.
Two months after reports alleging Michael Tait sexually assaulted several people over the course of decades rattled the Contemporary Christian Music community, some of the singer’s accusers are speaking out again — and one of them says he believes there could be more than 1,000 other people who share their experiences.
In a vulnerable interview with People published Friday (Aug. 8), Shawn Davis — who alleges that Tait drugged and raped him in 2003 — said that he is involved in building a legal case against the disgraced CCM star, whom Davis believes has more than 1,000 total victims, according to the publication. He also said that the Brentwood Police Department in Tennessee is currently carrying out an active investigation into Tait.
“We’re trying to head this and do everything we can in our power to take him down,” Davis told People. “Ultimately, in the end, the goal is to see him go to prison. We need every single victim possible to come forward. They deserve to know that they’re not the only ones, and they deserve to tell their story.”
Billboard has reached out to the Brentwood Police Department for comment. A rep for Tait could not immediately be reached.
Davis was one of a handful of men who detailed allegations of sexual assault against Tait in a June report from The Guardian, which followed on the heels of a similar investigation into the singer by The Roys Report. Despite Tait building his career on releasing music that encouraged abstinence and sobriety, both reports were filled with accusations that he had groomed, drugged and molested multiple people while partaking in drug and alcohol use for many years.
Soon after they were published, Tait responded to the allegations in a lengthy statement posted to Instagram. “Recent reports of my reckless and destructive behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse and sexual activity are sadly, largely true,” he wrote at the time. “For some two decades, I used and abused cocaine, consumed far too much alcohol and, at times, touched men in an unwanted sensual way. I am ashamed of my life choices and actions, and make no excuses for them. I will simply call it what God calls it — sin.”
Tait also noted that he had been seeking treatment since stepping down from his former band, the Newsboys, in January, adding that he’s now living a “clean and sober” life. (Following the reports, the remaining Newsboys members issued a statement saying they were “horrified, heartbroken and angry” to learn of Tait’s alleged behavior.)
His accusers, however, indicated to People that they won’t be satisfied until the singer is fully brought to justice.
“Why does Michael do what he does? Because Michael thought he was invincible,” said Randall Crawford, who alleges that Tait invited him over, roofied his drink and assaulted him while he was blacked out one night in 2000. “It was so traumatic. It did something to me spiritually, mentally and physically.”
“Look at the trail of destruction that he’s left behind,” Crawford added. “I have to speak up. I have kids that are the age of some of these victims. This is for the future generation. This is for those that are scared to speak up. I want more victims to come forward. I want Michael to find true repentance and remorse and feel terrible and not deny what he’s done to me.”
Another accuser, Jason Jones, told People that he thinks Tait’s statement following the Guardian and Roys Report investigations was “hogwash.” “I saw nothing but protection for himself,” added the music manager, who claims he was “blacklisted” by his industry after claiming that Tait had drugged and assaulted him in 1999.
As the men continue to band together and speak out about their experiences, Crawford said he hopes other artists in particular will rise up to condemn the star’s behavior. One of them, Hayley Williams, already has; in June, the Paramore frontwoman said that she believes the CCM industry at large is at fault for enabling predators, adding that she hopes the genre “crumbles” after hearing about Tait’s alleged crimes.
Crawford expressed something similar. “This is a problem,” he told People. “I want justice. I don’t want this to happen to another kid. I’ve seen what it does. It destroyed my career. I didn’t deserve this, what he did to me. I’ve held this shame for many years, [but] I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Collider’s Steve Weintraub chats with Josh Brolin for Weapons.
From Zach Cregger, Weapons is a new horror about a classroom of children who disappear at exactly the same time one night.
In this interview, Brolin discusses why he joined the cast and what makes Cregger and his films so special. He also shares details on upcoming projects, including The Running Man, Wake Up Dead Man, and more.
Josh Brolin was looking for something he’d never done before. Talking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, he admits, “When I saw Barbarian, I was like, ‘Yeah, I really liked it, but I don’t know why.’” Something about Zach Cregger‘s 2022 horror lingered with the actor, and after consulting with his daughter, it was clear that this “young man” might be the answer to his content-overhaul fatigue. When he joined the filmmaker’s sophomore feature, Weapons, he was proven correct.
In the movie, Brolin plays Archer Graff, a man outraged by the 17 Maybrook children who mysteriously went missing at 2:17 a.m. Even more peculiar is that all 17 kids belonged to the classroom of Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), and all of them seemingly left their homes and ran through the streets of their own accord. Weapons also stars Alden Ehrenreich (Ironheart), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), and Austin Abrams (Euphoria).
In this interview, Brolin also talks about how he had a similar reaction to Weapons as he did with No Country for Old Men, why it’s the perfect cure for boredom, and challenging Cregger on set. He also shares updates for his dream director lineup coming up, with Rian Johnson‘s Wake Up Dead Man, Edgar Wright‘s The Running Man, Ridley Scott‘s The Dog Stars, and more.
Zach Cregger’s ‘Weapons’ Is the Cure for Boring Content
If the quantity-over-quality effect of streaming’s got you down, you’re in the right place.
COLLIDER: Let me start by saying I love this movie, and all of you guys did such great work. One of the things I want to talk about is how the horror genre allows filmmakers to take these big risks and swings that other movies can’t do because of the budget. Can you talk about the freedom that the genre has?
JOSH BROLIN: It’s not only the freedom of it, because you’re inciting a reaction. Do you know what I mean? So you’re getting people raw. You’re getting people reactive. I know that the story came from something that was very emotional for Zach. When I met with Zach after I read, I thought, a really well-designed script, he told me that every character is based off a certain reaction that he was having to a very traumatic event that happened to him. I thought that was really cool. He just personalized it for me.
You’re looking for great filmmakers, and you’re hoping that there’s another new good filmmaker out there. Right now, with so much content, you’re just watching things on whatever streaming service you’re on, and you’re just going, “Fuck, why is this so boring, man? Why?” And just go to the next thing. It’s all the same shit. And then somebody not only takes the horror genre, but then fucks with it and then does something on the edge of absurdity, and it’s sort of humorous, so it’s keeping you off-[balance] enough for him to have an emotional impact, ultimately.
Josh Brolin Knew There Was Something Special About Zach Cregger
“He’s like a god to them.”
One of the things that I was surprised to learn was Zach told me that weeks before they’re going to shoot, him and his DP are going to the set and figuring out every possible shot, the lens, everything. So as actors, when you show up, you’re essentially filming like knocking off boxes.
BROLIN: No, I know what you mean.
What is that like as an actor when the director has such a vision?
BROLIN: If you trust the director, then it’s great because then he’s tweaking and all this kind of stuff. But I know that I challenged him, because he’s young.
Wait, you challenged him? I’m shocked
BROLIN: I know. How surprising! [Laughs] But how can you not, man? He’s a young guy who’s done his sketch comedy, which is something totally different than what he’s doing, and then he did Barbarian. When I saw Barbarian, I was like, “Yeah, I really liked it, but I don’t know why.” Do you know what I mean? So I had to call my daughter, and then I said, “What did you think of Barbarian?” And she said, “One of the greatest movies of the last 10 years or five years or whatever she said.” I talked to her husband. Then you talk to that era of people, and, I mean, he’s like a god to them. And I’m like, okay, so they’re reacting to something that I may not understand. I would rather not understand it and do business with that guy and understand it better later. And I think that Weapons is a much more refined version of something that he had his finger on the pulse of with Barbarian.
No spoilers, but what was something that you really challenged him on on set?
BROLIN: I don’t know, man. I just generally challenged him. [Laughs] I think he had a very strong DP, and I had experienced this before where a DP kind of took over. Do you know what I mean? A lot of DPs want to be directors, so they kind of…
I’ve never heard that.
BROLIN: Yeah, I know. So, I think that he had a very strong DP, and then what I ended up seeing is a very strongly cinematic, emotionally lit movie, which was good.
The cinematography in this film is actually excellent.
BROLIN: It’s amazing.
I love the way the camera moves and follows people. So, what was your actual reaction like? You read the script and on the page, you’re thinking one thing. What was your reaction when you actually saw the finished film versus what you imagined going in?
BROLIN: I’m not going to say it was the same, but I remember doing No Country [for Old Men] and thinking, “A few people will see this film.” I think they felt that way. And then I saw No Country, and I was like, “Holy shit. I had no idea.” There was a similar reaction to Weapons. I thought, “This is a cool thing to do. It’s something new for me to do.” And then I saw the movie and I said, “Oh no, no, no. This has elevated beyond what I thought it was.” So yes, I was extremely pleased.
Josh Brolin Is Searching for His “Milestone Moment”
Between Ridley Scott, Edgar Wright, and Rian Johnson, he may have found it.
Image via Paramount Pictures
What are you filming this year? What are you working on?
BROLIN: I did Weapons, and then I went to Knives Out.
No, not the stuff you shot. I mean this year.
BROLIN: This year? Oh, no. I’m not going to work for the rest of the year. I finished Whalefall, and I’m not going to work for the rest of the year.
Speaking of Whalefall, you shot four other things, and I wanted to bring up all four. If you could just touch on why you wanted to do the projects and just tell people about them. You did Whalefall with Brian Duffield, a real talented filmmaker…
BROLIN: Very.
Ridley Scott, The Dog Stars.
BROLIN: Which turned out great.
That’s holy shit. You did Edgar [Wright], The Running Man, and then Rian [Johnson] with Wake Up Dead Man, Knives Out 3. Are you joking? These are four incredible projects.
BROLIN: It was a good year. And I remember there was one moment where I called my agent, and I was like, “What the fuck am I doing all these little parts for, man?” Do you know what I mean? I had, like, a little freakout moment, and then I got over it really quick.
What do you want to tell people?
BROLIN: It’s the filmmakers, man. It’s the filmmakers. Then finding Brian Duffield, or not finding, not seeking, but being lucky enough to be able to be in business with Brian Duffield, Zach Cregger, and all that, like I said, you’re watching movies and you’re like, “I want to see something that impacts.” I want to see like when I saw Taxi Driver, or even when I saw Friday the 13th. I want something that has an impact that I can look back on and say, “God, that was a milestone moment for me. I remember. I couldn’t get over it for a year and a half.” Do you know what I mean? And then I get texts from people, and they’re like, “Holy shit, this was a really effective, affecting movie,” and it makes me happy to be involved with things like that.
Lewis says Grindr offered a window to explore gay culture
For Lewis, hook-up apps such as Grindr offered a way to explore gay culture that had been missing in his upbringing in rural Dumfriesshire.
At first, he loved the excitement of casual sexual encounters being available at the swipe of a phone but soon it became addictive.
“You get the validation, that dopamine hit when people message you and hit you up, it is enjoyable but that is the problem,” he says.
Lewis says it started to damage his self-esteem and he found himself chasing validation – equating his worth with his body.
He says low moods led him back to the app’s loop of quick sexual encounters that often left him feeling “dirty and gross”, fuelling his anxiety and depression.
“On Grindr you’re an object to them, like picking clothes on Asos,” he says.
Grindr, a social networking app for the GBTQ community, is the biggest app of its kind and it now has about 15 million active monthly users.
Many people, gay and heterosexual, use other apps for hook-ups too.
Some enjoy it and don’t think twice, while others feel there is a deeper issue and it has become a fast-track to instant gratification and has normalised easy access to sex.
For Lewis, it has been challenging to establish more meaningful connections beyond sexual hook-ups in a world where many young gay men seem to be focused on one thing.
“When you don’t just want that, you feel like the odd one out,” he says.
Jules Moskovtchenko
Jacob Alon’s songs tackle the experience of casual sex with strangers on dating apps like Grindr
Jacob Alon is an up-and-coming singer who played Glastonbury this summer and has been compared to 70s folk legend Nick Drake.
Alon’s songs are often tender but they also tackle subjects such as casual sex with strangers on gay hook-up apps.
One of the 25-year-old’s most popular songs – Liquid Gold 25 – ends with the refrain: “This is where love comes to die.”
“I wrote that song after a series of hook-ups on Grindr that left me feeling quite empty and degraded,” Alon tells the BBC Disclosure documentary Should We Hook Up?.
“It can be great fun,” the Scottish singer says.
“But there is definitely a culture that can be quite toxic.”
Alon, who uses they/them pronouns, says in the past they put themselves in risky situations by meeting up with random strangers in a park in the middle of the night.
“Those people could have very easily hurt me and no-one would have known,” they say.
“People have done things I didn’t want them to do and not listened to me when I told them not to.”
Hook-up culture in the gay community has deep roots, dating back to a time when same-sex relationships between men had to remain hidden.
Homosexual acts only became legal in England and Wales in 1967 and it was more than a decade later that Scotland followed suit.
Today, hook-up culture means sex is available 24/7 – and with just a swipe of the phone in your pocket.
Fintan, Kip and James say Grindr is for hook-ups and there was no pretence it is for anything other than sex.
At a bar in Glasgow, Fintan, Kip and James say Grindr is for hook-ups and there was no pretence it is for anything other than sex.
“It’s so superficial,” 23-year-old Fintan says.
“Everyone’s got three pictures or maybe just one picture. Nine times out 10 a lot of them are shirtless.”
Kip, who is 30, says there has never been any intention to build a genuine connection with someone on his hook-ups.
“It has never been ‘wine and a gossip’,” he says. “It’s been ‘take your knickers down, let’s get to it’.”
But Kip says it is not always a great experience.
“Sometimes I have left and I have thought: ‘that was so hot, I’m so amazing’.
“But there are other times when you leave and it is 07:00 and people are going to work and you are there shivering, feeling dirty and dejected.”
In response to the BBC documentary, a Grindr spokesperson said: “We take seriously the responsibility that comes with being a platform used by millions of LGBTQ+ people every day, and we’re committed to supporting their wellbeing in all its forms.”
Rawalpindi’s entertainment arena is losing its landmarks as yet another historic venue is being erased.
Nishat Cinema, located on Liaquat Road near the historic Liaquat Bagh, has been demolished after 75 years.
Built in 1950, during the golden era of Lollywood, the cinema primarily showcased Punjabi films, with occasional Urdu screenings.
At that time, a general transport terminal operated next to Liaquat Bagh, and moviegoers would often catch the last show at Nishat before departing to cities like Lahore.
Once home to 24 cinemas, Rawalpindi no longer screens any films. Fourteen cinemas have been replaced with plazas and commercial centres, three converted into wedding halls, two occasionally hosting theatre performances, and five remaining shut for 25 yearswhose owners have also applied for demolition permits to build commercial complexes.
Nishat Cinema once enjoyed packed audiences, including screenings of Indian films until 1952. It flourished until the 1990s, after which the decline of Pakistan’s film industry led to the closure of many theatres. Internal disputes among the owners and court cases forced Nishat’s closure in 2000.
Following a settlement between the parties and the end of litigation, demolition began on Friday to make way for an approved eight-storey commercial plaza.
The site, considered prime property on Liaquat Road, has long been a focal point for passersbyand even the subject of disputes and gunfire.
With this demolition, Rawalpindi’s once-thriving film industry has all but disappeared.
Cinemas such as Naz, Shabistan, Gulistan, Sangeet, Rose, Novelty, Taj Mahal, Imperial, Nigar, Tasveer Mahal, Rex, Capital, and Qasim have all been converted into plazas. Kahkashan, Nadir, and PAF have become wedding halls. Moti Mahal and Rialto occasionally host theatre shows while Khurshid, Plaza, Odeon, Serose, and Garrison have been shut for over two decades.
