Open Thread

The Birmingham Herald reports: The Supreme Court’s ruling declaring race can no longer be used as a criterion for college admissions was a “shot across the bow, man,” says Charles Barkley. Upon hearing the news on Thursday, the NBA Hall of Famer was moved to do something to support future Black students attending Auburn, his alma mater. Something significant. “In …

Variety reports: Alan Arkin, an Oscar-winning actor for “Little Miss Sunshine” with a body of work that spans seven decades of stage and screen acting, died June 29 at his home in Carlsbad, Calif, Variety has confirmed. He was 89. Arkin, who was known for projecting a characteristically dry wit but could play tragedy with equal efficacy, won his Oscar …

Deadline Hollywood reports: The Writers Guild of America strike continued Thursday with a demonstration at Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles that featured appearances by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, as well as a slew of Dolly Parton drag queens on the picket lines. The event, put on by the WGA’s LGBTQ+ writers committee, was titled “Striking 9-5 Picket — A …

Vulture reports: Foolish network executives — you think you can cancel Futurama? No, no. All you can do is postpone its inevitable return. Futurama is coming back for a second time, ten years after its second cancellation. The show first aired in 1999 on Fox, was canceled in 2003, then was brought back by Comedy Central in 2008, before getting …

Variety reports: Julian Sands, the British actor who pivoted from the romantic lead in “A Room With a View” to playing sinister characters in films like “Warlock,” was confirmed dead Tuesday after being reported missing near Mt. Baldy in Southern California on Jan. 13. He was 65. On Saturday morning, hikers found human remains in the Mt. Baldy wilderness and …

Variety reports: Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks and Carol Littleton will receive honorary Oscars at this year’s Governors Awards, announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In addition, the Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards. The four statuettes will be presented at the 14th annual ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Los …

Deadline reports: Veteran producer Arnon Milchan testified on Sunday in the long-running corruption trial against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, involving three separate charges of breach of trust and fraud. Milchan gave his evidence via video-link to the Jerusalem District Court from a room in The Old Ship Hotel in the UK seaside resort of Brighton, close to his current …

Deadline reports: A British TV presenter has revealed that, like Discovery+ explorer Josh Gates, he considered making a show in which he travelled to the wreck of the Titanic in an OceanGate sub – before rejecting the plan as “unsafe.” The Sun reports that Ross Kemp – a veteran of daredevil documentary-making over the last two decades – had planned …

Variety reports: Chris Hemsworth dangles from skyscrapers, dodges a fiery helicopter and survives several bludgeons to the head as former black ops mercenary Tyler Rake in Netflix’s blockbuster sequel “Extraction 2.” Now, onlookers can feel (literally!) the sweat that drips from Hemsworth’s chiseled face during those unrelenting, death-defying sequences through interactive billboards in New York City and Los Angeles. It’s …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Titanic filmmaker James Cameron spoke out Thursday about the loss of the Titan submarine that had dived to explore the historic shipwreck. “Many people in the [deep-submergence engineering] community were very concerned about this sub, and a number of you know of the top players in the community even wrote letters to the company, saying that what …

Billboard Magazine reports: This isn’t just another pre-show soiree: it’s a special gathering organized by AEG’s chairman/CEO Jay Marciano to celebrate some historic chart milestones that Elton and his band have recently set. The first is that the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour has grossed more than $887 million and sold 5.7 million tickets, with over 300 shows in 20 …

Deadline reports: Reddit communities including some of its biggest, clicked into private mode June 12, meaning they’re not accessible to the broader public or even in some cases to members. The unrest, sparked by new app-developer fees, continue. But there’s been a twist, as images of John Oliver now populate the platform. A number of big message boards including giant …

Variety reports: Aaron Taylor-Johnson is hunting big game in the first trailer for Sony’s “Kraven the Hunter.” The new film teases a villain origin story for Marvel character. In comic book storylines, Kraven is a killer predator that sets his sights on Spider-Man. He is also oftentimes portrayed as a member of the supervillain team the Sinister Six. The latest …

The New York Daily News reports: In the recently launched “Talking Statues at Christopher Park” project, multi-hyphenate actor J. Harrison Ghee gives life to the tiny piece of land in the heart of Manhattan’s West Village that has been an integral part of queer and trans life in the city both before and after the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Four other …

Deadline Hollywood reports: “The world’s most notorious game becomes reality.” That’s how Netflix is describing its new competition series, Squid Game: The Challenge that’s dropping in November. The streamer didn’t reveal much about the game based on its runaway hit Squid Game, other than to show how they transformed a massive warehouse into a spot where 456 players will compete …

Variety reports: “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets” has had the biggest debut of any documentary series ever produced by Amazon Studios, Variety has learned. The limited series investigates controversies surrounding the Duggar family, best known for TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” including Josh Duggar’s conviction for possession of child pornography and the family’s connection to the Institute in Basic …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Sony’s biggest hit of the summer, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, won’t be getting a release in the United Arab Emirates, Deadline has confirmed. The pic was set for release on June 22 in the Gulf region. Apparently, the point of contention has to do with Gwen Stacy, and whether the character is trans. One of the frames …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Kevin Spacey is feeling optimistic about making a career comeback if he’s cleared of the sexual assault allegations brought against him in London. In a recent interview, the House of Cards alum said that he has people interested in working with him. “I know that there are people right now who are ready to hire me the …

Variety reports: Cormac McCarthy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who endured decades of obscurity and poverty before film versions of “All the Pretty Horses,” “No Country for Old Men” and “The Road” brought him a wide readership and financial security, died Tuesday in Santa Fe, N.M. His publisher, Penguin Random House, said his son John McCarthy announced his death from natural …

Variety reports: Big changes are afoot for the Golden Globe Awards now that Dick Clark Productions and Todd Boehly’s Eldridge have acquired the assets of the nonprofit Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which will shutter as the awards franchise moves into a new era. The new owners will use the assets and the cash on hand from the HFPA to establish …