#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Carol Kane on working with Jason Schwartzman and her dream of being in a Martin Scorsese film

PARK CITY, Utah

Carol Kane really wanted to work with Jason Schwartzman, but the opportunity would require her to step a little outside of her comfort zone.

Filmmaker Nathan Silver came to her with an idea for “Between the Temples,” about a widow and a widower who become friends one winter. Her character, Carla, is a retired music teacher who wants to get her bat mitzvah. Schwartzman’s Ben is her former student, and currently a cantor, who agrees to help (reluctantly at first). Silver and his co-writer C. Mason Wells didn’t have a script, not in any traditional sense. It was something in between a script and a treatment, a novella of sorts with some written lines and lots of opportunity for creativity and character development.

“The idea sounded pretty fascinating,” Kane, 71, said in a recent phone interview. “But I was a little trepidatious about working in a way that I never had before.”

She was willing to take the leap with her collaborators, however. It helped that she felt like she knew Carla in a way.

“The story of Carla is somewhat similar to my mom’s story. She moved to France and started an entirely new life at 55. She just changed her life,” said Kane, with her 97-year-old mother nearby. “I think that there are a lot of very brave women out there sort of trying to reinvent themselves at a certain age when certain responsibilities have freed them to make that choice.”

The film premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where it is seeking distribution. And working with Schwartzman on the complex, loving relationship between Carla and Ben was as good as she hoped.

“It was like having a great dancing partner,” Kane said. “He’s just a great actor and he’s a great human being. I certainly hope that we will get to do this again sooner rather than later.”

Kane considers herself extremely lucky for all the great filmmakers she’s gotten to work with over the years. Her first film, “Carnal Knowledge,” was with Mike Nichols after all. She’d go on to work with Hal Ashby (“The Last Detail”), Joan Micklin Silver (“Hester Street,” for which Kane got an Oscar nomination), Sidney Lumet (“Dog Day Afternoon”), Woody Allen (“Annie Hall”), Elaine May (“Ishtar”) and Rob Reiner (“The Princess Bride”), and act in the much-loved series “Taxi.”

More recently she’s gained new fans through “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and her current series “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.” But there’s at least one dream collaborator on her list that she hasn’t gotten to work with yet.

“I hope to one day get a chance to work with Marty Scorsese,” Kane said. “That’s been my lifelong dream.”

Recently Kane was watching an interview with Emma Stone on “CBS Sunday Morning.” She was a big fan of Stone’s Oscar-nominated performance in “Poor Things” and was interested in what she had to say.

“She’s a genius in that movie. She’s just brilliant,” Kane said. “And (in the interview) she goes on and on about how every time she gets a new part, she feels she won’t be able to execute it, that she won’t be able to do it and that fear just reverberates on a constant basis. I have to say, that’s how I feel.”

Kane continued: “For me, at my age, it was kind of jarring, but also kind of moving to hear someone who’s as young and beautiful and as big a movie star as Emma Stone is having the exact same feelings I have.”

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

'Breaking Bad' stars reunite on picket line to call for studios to resume negotiations with actors

KRYSTA FAURIACULVER CITY, Calif.

The cast of “Breaking Bad” has reunited to call upon Hollywood studios to resume negotiations with striking screen actors.

“We want you to come back to the table with us,” Bryan Cranston said in a plea to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers outside Sony Pictures Studios on Tuesday.

Cranston was joined by Aaron Paul, Jesse Plemons and other members of the “Breaking Bad” universe in an effort to energize picket lines more than a month after SAG-AFTRA joined striking Hollywood writers.

Both guilds are seeking to address issues brought about by the dominance of streaming services, which have changed all aspects of production and pay in the industry.

“The way things were structured 10 years ago made a lot of sense and it made it more possible for journeymen-type actors, actors in the middle that are working just as a hard or harder,” Plemons said.

By its final season, which aired more than a decade ago, “Breaking Bad” was one of the most watched and highest rated cable TV shows ever.

The AMC hit series has achieved enduring popularity on Netflix, but its stars say that has not been reflected in their pay.

“I don’t get a piece from Netflix on ‘Breaking Bad’ to be totally honest and that’s insane to me,” Paul said. “I think a lot of these streamers know that they have been getting away with not paying people a fair wage and now it’s time to pony up.”

Cranston said they chose Sony for their reunion as the studio behind the Emmy-winning hit, along with its spinoff projects, the AMC prequel series “Better Call Saul” and the Netflix film, “El Camino.”

“We’re not making them the enemy. They are not villains. These are people that we all will be working with once again at some point,” Cranston said. “We just want them to see reality.”

Several other casts have joined picket lines during the strike, including actors from “Parks and Recreation” and the cult hit “Jury Duty," drawing a link between popular shows and the actors' strike goals.

Cranston also affirmed SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher’s recent comments to The Associated Press that these dual Hollywood strikes are galvanizing a broader movement throughout the country.

“Without organized labor, management will just keep stuffing their pockets. They don’t and will not ever just go, ‘You know what? I don’t think this is being fair to those people. I’m going to pay them more.’ It’s just not what they do,” he said.

Cast members of “Better Call Saul” were also on the picket lines, including Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian, along with the series co-creator, Peter Gould, who has been on strike with the Writers Guild of America since May.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Liv Ullmann, cinema royalty and major Cannes draw, looks back

CANNES, France

Very few are capable of capturing people's attention at the Cannes Film Festival like Liv Ullmann.

At 84, Ullmann is unabashed cinema royalty, and directors have flocked to greet her at this year's festival. Pedro Almodóvar sought her out at a luncheon. Todd Haynes endeavored to get word to her that his latest film, “May December,” is inspired by “Persona," the 1966 film that began her decade with Ingmar Bergman.

After meeting Ullmann, “The Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer pressed his hand against his chest to catch his breath.

Ullmann has been coming to Cannes longer than she can remember. She's pretty sure there's a hotel suite somewhere named after her. But after being here in just about every capacity — with “Cries and Whispers" in 1973, her own “Faithless” in 2000, president of the jury in 2001 — she was in Cannes for a different reason. Dheeraj Akolkar’s documentary series, “Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled,” played in the Cannes Classics section.

“I've never been here when someone else has made a movie about me or my life," says Ullmann. “That makes it so different and maybe a little shameful, somehow. Because I'm an actress and a director.”

In an interview, the Norwegian actor, who lives in Boston, reflected on the passing of time and her halcyon decade with Bergman, one of cinema's great collaborations. Ullmann starred in 10 of Bergman's films, including “Scenes From a Marriage” and “Saraband,” and she directed two of his screenplays. “A Road Less Travelled” streams on Viaplay beginning June 22nd.

AP: Having been such a central part of arthouse heyday when filmmakers like Bergman, Godard and Truffaut were such a part of culture, do you ever lament that today's most daring movies seem to reside less in the spotlight?

ULLMANN: They make incredible movies now. You know, I saw Cate Blanchett last year. What an actress. Art, it’s made today. But so many other films are also reflection of this time. And I mean, everything that won Oscars this year, I didn’t even understand them all. It doesn't mean that there's something wrong with them or there's anything wrong with me.

I sometimes miss that there aren't more of the movies we used to call classical. That's about aging, too, maybe. What I’m most nervous for is that all these serials that are everywhere is removing us so far from what film really was. The art of the lighting, the art of the cinematographer, the art of the director — that kind of language. I like where I came from.

AP: How clearly do you remember meeting Bergman?

ULLMANN: Bibi Andersson, who was my best friend and we had done some movies together, I visited her in Sweden. We were walking on the street, and that’s where Ingmar came and spoke with her. He knew who I was because I had filmed a lot. He said, “Oh, well, I’d like you to be in one of my films.” And so maybe that’s why I also experienced everything (in film) more personally because it happened like that, Ingmar and me.

AP: He was immediately struck by you in that meeting, but what was your first impression of him?

ULLMANN: Oh, I was so impressed. I'm shy and then I was really shy. I never spoke. When he said he wanted me in one of his movies, I was shocked. Luckily, I didn't have any lines in the movie. It's strange he did that with me because I was 25. I was young. I see the movie as about him having reached middle age and wanting to stop life and go into himself. Then he picked me. I was him. And I think I was him in many of the movies. We were not alike each other but in certain ways we were. There is a reason he then used me continually until he died.

AP: How would you describe how deep your connection was?

ULLMANN: He said that. You and I are painfully connected. We lived together for five years but maybe the most wonderful connection was when we lived separately. We became more connected that way. I came to Fårö (the island he lived on) the night he died and he was already on his way.

AP: Did you share any words on his death bed?

ULLMANN: He was already on his way. One thing I did say. The last film we did together was “Saraband." That's about a woman who comes to her husband many years after it's over. And he asks her, “Why did you come to me?” She says, “You called for me." When I was sitting there on the bed, I said, “If you're wondering why I'm here, you called for me.” He may have heard that, I don't know.

AP: You've often been described as his “muse” but that doesn't seem the right word for your collaboration.

ULLMANN: I don't think I was a muse but you can say that. I did a lot of things that he wanted to do that he didn't do. I traveled. I went into the world. I became famous. The strange thing with all these actors who he loved dearly, he didn't like them to go. Bibi Andersson and Max von Sydow. But he thought it was fun with me. I don't know why. When I did “A Doll's House," he came to New York. He hated to travel. He enjoyed what I did. There was so much I got to do because I wasn't him, and maybe he would have loved to do. All his seriousness, of course that wasn't me.

AP: You consider yourself at heart a theater actor, but what was your relationship to the camera? In the documentary, Blanchett says you were "looking up at the world sort of with a face of unconditional love.”

ULLMANN: If you’re really close to somebody you love, when you look at each other, you know everything about each other. I see the camera that way. I don’t have to be shy. You are an actor from the inside. Your soul, your your heart can come out if you want to show the camera the real truth. It tells what is under there. It's nothing you can act or do Stanislavski about. It's not your brain. Your brain is not the actor. It's from here (points to heart). If you relax your body, the camera will take it.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

'Romeo and Juliet' lawsuit over child actors' nude scene to be thrown out

LOS ANGELES

A child abuse lawsuit over a nude scene filed by actors who played star-crossed lovers in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 "Romeo and Juliet" will be thrown out, a California judge said Thursday.

Olivia Hussey was 15 and Leonard Whiting 16 when they starred in the Oscar-winning film of William Shakespeare's tragedy from Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures.

The film featured a brief bedroom scene in which Whiting's buttocks and Hussey's bare breasts were visible, and the actors -- now both in their 70s -- claimed in a lawsuit filed in December that the movie amounted to sexual exploitation.

But a judge Thursday granted Paramount's motion to throw out the suit, rejecting its argument that the scene amounted to "child pornography" and noting that the award-winning film was covered under freedom of speech protections.

"Plaintiffs have not put forth any authority showing the film here can be deemed to be sufficiently sexually suggestive as a matter of law to be held to be conclusively illegal," wrote Judge Alison Mackenzie, according to Variety.

The statute of limitations had also expired, she ruled, determining that the lawsuit had not qualified for a California measure temporarily unlocking historic child abuse claims.

Variety reported that during a 2018 interview with Hussey, she had defended the nude scene, which she insisted Zeffirelli had done tastefully.

"It was needed for the film," she told the outlet at the time.

But the suit filed last December said Zeffirelli -- who died in 2019 -- cajoled the teenage pair into performing the scene, telling them without it "the picture would fail."

It alleged that the director had originally insisted there would be no actual nudity, with both actors covered by flesh-colored underwear.

"Defendants were dishonest and secretly filmed the nude or partially nude minor children without their knowledge, in violation of the state and federal laws regulating indecency and exploitation of minors for profit," the suit said.

The complaint, which claimed damages of hundreds of millions of dollars, said the two performers suffered mental anguish and emotional distress, and had only limited professional success following its release.

Hussey and Whiting's lawyer Solomon Gresen "strongly denounced" the ruling, in a statement sent to AFP, and said he plans to file the claims before a federal court within weeks.

"We firmly believe that the exploitation and sexualization of minors in the film industry must be confronted and legally addressed to protect vulnerable individuals from harm and ensure the enforcement of existing laws," he wrote.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Oscars producers promise cameos and surprises for Sunday’s show

LOS ANGELES

With just day to go until the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, the show’s producers are feeling good about what they’ve put together.

The nominees are some of the best the Oscars have seen, including some true blockbusters like “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie.” Ryan Gosling is singing “I’m Just Ken” during the show. There will be a live orchestra in the theater. And the ever-reliable Jimmy Kimmel is back to host the proceedings for the fourth time.

“We’re really excited about this year,” said Molly McNearney, who is executive producing the show for the fourth time. “It’s a phenomenal year of movies. And we have great movies that the home audience is familiar with, which makes our jobs easier.”

The producers were hired earlier than usual, meaning they’ve had more time to plan and study past Oscars broadcasts to try to home in on what works and what doesn’t. One thing they’ve learned is that if the room is laughing, the audience at home is usually laughing too.

McNearney, who is married to Kimmel, said that they’re focusing on jokes over big, highly produced comedy bits. Kimmel will do his 10-minute monologue to kick off the show and will be sprinkled throughout.

“I think an evening that just makes people feel good is a win,” McNearney said. “Our job as producers is to keep that feeling good moving quickly because it is a long show and we want to make sure people are staying throughout.”

Another thing that works: When the speeches are good and people feel invested in the winners. Last year there were a lot of great comeback and underdog stories, from Brendan Fraser to Ke Huy Quan, which helped. This is not something the producers have any control over, but they are optimistic about the nominees and setting up scenarios with presenters who have a genuine connection either with each other or people in the audience.

“We want everybody to feel included, that they are part of our story,” said executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor. “I hope that we have put another kind of modern take on it that really focuses on storytelling and connection and that the audience in the theater and at home will just feel immersed in the experience all throughout the evening.”

Kapoor noted that the live performances of the Oscar-nominated original songs should be a real highlight of the show too, from the Osage singers to Gosling. They’ve also re-designed the stage so that an orchestra of 42 musicians can be in the Dolby Theatre and seen on camera. And Kapoor teased that the In Memoriam sequence is something they’ve put a lot of time and thought into and that it is poised to tug at audience heartstrings.

“There’s going to be entertainment and lots of surprises and a few cameos and things that haven’t been announced yet. We’re just really excited for everybody to come watch with us,” Katy Mullan said. “The Oscars is one of those last giant tentpole pop culture moments that everybody looks forward to and gathers around that TV set. It’s co-viewing at its best. And we’re in this moment where there’s more interest around these big live moments than there has been in years.”

Their main concern at the moment is that the global audience remembers that the broadcast begins an hour earlier than normal, at 7 p.m. EDT. It’s also the first day of daylight saving time.

“I think people are going to bed earlier and people are very excited, hopefully, that it’s starting at 7,” Mullan said. “It won’t be so late for everyone hanging on for the best picture announcement.”

The 96th Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 10 with the pre-show beginning at 6:30 p.m.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Oscars producers promise cameos and surprises for Sunday’s show

LOS ANGELES

With just day to go until the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, the show’s producers are feeling good about what they’ve put together.

The nominees are some of the best the Oscars have seen, including some true blockbusters like “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie.” Ryan Gosling is singing “I’m Just Ken” during the show. There will be a live orchestra in the theater. And the ever-reliable Jimmy Kimmel is back to host the proceedings for the fourth time.

“We’re really excited about this year,” said Molly McNearney, who is executive producing the show for the fourth time. “It’s a phenomenal year of movies. And we have great movies that the home audience is familiar with, which makes our jobs easier.”

The producers were hired earlier than usual, meaning they’ve had more time to plan and study past Oscars broadcasts to try to home in on what works and what doesn’t. One thing they’ve learned is that if the room is laughing, the audience at home is usually laughing too.

McNearney, who is married to Kimmel, said that they’re focusing on jokes over big, highly produced comedy bits. Kimmel will do his 10-minute monologue to kick off the show and will be sprinkled throughout.

“I think an evening that just makes people feel good is a win,” McNearney said. “Our job as producers is to keep that feeling good moving quickly because it is a long show and we want to make sure people are staying throughout.”

Another thing that works: When the speeches are good and people feel invested in the winners. Last year there were a lot of great comeback and underdog stories, from Brendan Fraser to Ke Huy Quan, which helped. This is not something the producers have any control over, but they are optimistic about the nominees and setting up scenarios with presenters who have a genuine connection either with each other or people in the audience.

“We want everybody to feel included, that they are part of our story,” said executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor. “I hope that we have put another kind of modern take on it that really focuses on storytelling and connection and that the audience in the theater and at home will just feel immersed in the experience all throughout the evening.”

Kapoor noted that the live performances of the Oscar-nominated original songs should be a real highlight of the show too, from the Osage singers to Gosling. They’ve also re-designed the stage so that an orchestra of 42 musicians can be in the Dolby Theatre and seen on camera. And Kapoor teased that the In Memoriam sequence is something they’ve put a lot of time and thought into and that it is poised to tug at audience heartstrings.

“There’s going to be entertainment and lots of surprises and a few cameos and things that haven’t been announced yet. We’re just really excited for everybody to come watch with us,” Katy Mullan said. “The Oscars is one of those last giant tentpole pop culture moments that everybody looks forward to and gathers around that TV set. It’s co-viewing at its best. And we’re in this moment where there’s more interest around these big live moments than there has been in years.”

Their main concern at the moment is that the global audience remembers that the broadcast begins an hour earlier than normal, at 7 p.m. EDT. It’s also the first day of daylight saving time.

“I think people are going to bed earlier and people are very excited, hopefully, that it’s starting at 7,” Mullan said. “It won’t be so late for everyone hanging on for the best picture announcement.”

The 96th Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 10 with the pre-show beginning at 6:30 p.m.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Vienna Philharmonic, once an all-male ensemble, now has 24 female musicians

NEW YORK

Andrea Götsch was surprised when she won her audition in 2019 that led to membership in the Vienna Philharmonic.

“When I went home, I was just laughing because I couldn’t realize that they had really taken me,” the 29-year-old clarinetist told The Associated Press. “It was always kind of a dream. As a young child already, I watched the New Year’s concert, but it was never a goal. I thought that was too far away.”

A male bastion from its founding in 1842 until 1997, the Vienna Philharmonic now has 24 female players among 145 members with three vacancies as it tours the United States this week.

“It’s very positive to me. It’s a completely normal way of us living with each other. And we all have one main goal, to give the best possible concert — and that unifies us,” said Daniel Froschauer, chairman of the self-governing ensemble. “Look at music schools: There are many more women than men. And we want the best members, so it was the right decision.”

Based since 1870 at Vienna’s Musikverein, the Vienna Philharmonic elects leadership, engages conductors, chooses programs and schedules tours and recording sessions. It selects members from the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and has had a summer residency at the Salzburg Festival since 1922.

Harpist Anna Lelkes played with the Philharmonic for 26 years as a nonmember before she became the first woman admitted. Albena Danailova became an acting concertmaster in 2008 and was granted membership in 2010. The 48-year-old had the high-profile position leading the strings in Sunday’s performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony with conductor Franz Welser-Möst at Carnegie Hall.

VPO women include 14 violins, two violas, two cellos, one double bass, two harps, one flute, one clarinet and one bassoon.

The Berlin Philharmonic, widely considered Europe’s other great orchestra, admitted Swiss violinist Madeleine Carruzzo as its first female in 1982 and currently has 26 women, 99 men and five vacancies.

The New York Philharmonic’s first female musician was harpist Stephanie “Steffy” Goldner in 1922 and it now has 49 men and 45 women with 12 vacancies. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra made principal horn Helen Kotas its first rostered female in 1941 and started this season with 59 men, 34 women and 15 openings.

Froschauer, a first violinist who has been a VPO member since 1998, was elected chairman in 2017. He said about 100 people apply for each open position in the State Opera Orchestra and a quarter are given auditions behind screens for a jury of roughly two dozen. They play pieces chosen by the jury head and are graded, with 20 points the most. Those with 11 points or more advance, and after the second round the field is cut to five, then culled further for the final round.

“A jury member has to say, ‘I’d like to ask to remove the screen,’" Froschauer said. "All the points are cumulative and usually there is one person who has a certain amount. There’s no more screen and sometimes there’s three ladies and sometimes there’s three guys. Sometimes it’s a mix. But the most important thing is what are the points?”

Winners get a one-to-two year trial with the State Opera Orchestra, and then a person will be considered for admission. After two more years, they can apply for membership to the Philharmonic.

Harpist Anneleen Lenaerts, 36, applied for an opening at the suggestion of a friend, Xavier de Maistre, who left the Philharmonic for a solo cello career. She took a flight from Brussels just before Christmas for a pre-audition and then the main audition the next day in the Mahler Hall of the State Opera. She was among two finalists who waited in an adjacent room while the jury deliberated, and they were both called in for the announcement by Michael Bladerer, the double bass who chaired the jury and is now the orchestra’s general manager, its No. 2 official.

She debuted at State Opera in Strauss’ “Arabella” with Welser-Möst in 2011 and was admitted to the Philharmonic in 2014, just its eighth woman.

“I was a freelancer, playing solo and chamber music, which I loved. And I never expected to end up in an orchestra like this,” Lenaerts said. “It is a different country with a different history, different mentality, different language. All of that was new for me. (...) You just have to prepare as best as you can and then hope that in the pit it will go well. And on top of that, you have the schedule of the Vienna Philharmonic.”

Götsch, the clarinetist from Bolzano, Italy, was called into the orchestra as a substitute at the suggestion of VPO member Johann Hindler. She began at the opera with Verdi’s “La Traviata” in 2016 and played with VPO for the first time a year later in Mahler’s Sixth Symphony with Daniel Harding. She won her audition in 2019.

A year later, she was confirmed for the Opera Orchestra and in 2022 she became a VPO member. Götsch sits on the orchestra’s management committee with the title Ordnungswahrerin (Order Keeper), where she keeps track of attendance at rehearsals and performances and deals with quick personnel changes.

“Sometimes they get sick an hour before the concert and so they call me and say ‘I cannot play. Can you help?'" she said. “I have to make sure that there are enough people.”

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Not just Ken: Oscars producers share vision for gala

LOS ANGELES

When "Barbie," a neon-pink pop culture phenomenon like no other, was nominated for eight Academy Awards including best picture, the team organizing this year's Oscars gala knew exactly who they needed to approach.

LOS ANGELES

When "Barbie," a neon-pink pop culture phenomenon like no other, was nominated for eight Academy Awards including best picture, the team organizing this year's Oscars gala knew exactly who they needed to approach.

"The fact that Ryan Gosling will be performing 'I'm Just Ken' for the very first time, I think, will be a moment that everybody will want to watch," Oscars showrunner Raj Kapoor told AFP.

Gosling "was rightfully a little hesitant at the beginning," but quickly agreed because "he is a total professional," explained executive producer Molly McNearney.

It is traditional for each of the year's five best song nominees to be performed live on the Oscars telecast. But it is rare that two of those tunes both come from the year's top-grossing film.

"What Was I Made For?" will be performed at Sunday's ceremony by Billie Eilish, one of the world's biggest music stars who has already won two Grammys for the tune.

And the other, a six-minute power ballad to the fragile male ego, will be sung by the Oscar-nominated Gosling, who plays Barbie's boyfriend-turned-foe Ken in the surreal feminist comedy.

The former Disney child star turned A-lister, who performed at weddings and fronted an indie rock band in his teens, has been deep in rehearsals since agreeing to perform, meeting producers multiple times at the venue.

"He's going to leave no one disappointed with that performance," said McNearney.

The emphasis on "Barbie" is unsurprising. It grossed $1.4 billion, and movies that do well at the box office tend to attract more viewers to the Oscars when nominated.

Last year, producers heavily emphasized "Top Gun: Maverick."

A promotional skit for Sunday's Oscars saw returning host Jimmy Kimmel visit the film's pink "Barbieland," alongside its stars including Gosling and America Ferrera, also a nominee.

The producers also can showcase "Oppenheimer," which is the favorite for best picture, itself earned nearly $1 billion, and was the other half of last summer's "Barbenheimer" viral phenomenon.

"It just feels like that energy has carried on through the year," said executive producer Katy Mullan.

"We're giving 'Barbie' plenty of love in the show. But we're giving every movie that's been nominated lots of love," added McNearney.

Another highlight will be Osage musicians performing a song from Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," on a night that could see its star Lily Gladstone become the first Native American actor to win an Oscar.

"For everybody in that room and everybody at home, to have a little insight into the musical nuances of a historical tradition within that tribe, and it to be celebrated on our show? There's been a lot of time and thought into how we honor that correctly," said Kapoor.

After a pandemic low of barely 10 million viewers led some to question the Oscars telecast's relevance in the era of TikTok, audiences bounced back strongly last year, to 18.7 million.

Part of that was attributed to the successful return of late-night funnyman Kimmel as host, and he is back again Sunday for a fourth stint.

Could he be planning to go for Bob Hope's remarkable record of hosting 19 times?

"I hope not -- I don't think he could survive that!" joked McNearney, who is married to Kimmel.

"I think it's really important to remind someone of all the obstacles before taking on such a big and truthfully thankless job. So I always try to talk him out of it!

"If he still wants to do it, then I know he's truly committed," she said.

Kimmel was partly inspired to return by a desire to celebrate the end of last year's massive Hollywood strikes, which he plans to mention in his opening monologue, said McNearney.

The host's first Oscars ended with the infamous envelope mix-up in which "La La Land" was mistakenly announced as best picture winner, before the prize was awarded to "Moonlight."

Kimmel recently said he hopes Sunday night will again take some unexpected, spontaneous twists.

"That is where Jimmy completely shines. He is the most comfortable in discomfort," agreed McNearney.

Mullan -- who oversaw the London Olympics opening ceremony -- has a more cautious approach.

"I love that Jimmy says he hopes that something goes wrong," she said. "I really hope that nothing goes wrong."

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Scorsese’s gods of the streets: From ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ to ‘Silence,’ faith is rarely far off in his films

DAYTON, Ohio

A widely circulated still from the set of Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” shows the director sitting in a church pew. Next to him is Lily Gladstone, who plays the role of Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman whose family is targeted as part of a broader conspiracy by white Americans to steal the tribe’s wealth, to the point of marrying and killing its members.

In the photograph, Scorsese appears to hold rosary beads, a common devotional object for many Catholics. Mollie is Catholic, so the rosary makes sense as a prop. But as a scholar of religion and film, I’m struck by how it calls to mind the director’s own complex Catholicism and its imprint on his decades of filmmaking.

Scorsese stands in a long line of Catholic American filmmakers, stretching back to the 1930s and 1940s – one that includes Irish Americans John Ford and Leo McCarey, and Italian immigrant Frank Capra. At a time when Catholicism still seemed foreign to many Americans, those directors helped normalize the faith, making it seem like part of a shared American story.

Yet in his films, Scorsese has taken a much more personal approach to exploring Catholic faith and experience. He doesn’t feel the need to defend the religion or burnish its image. His movies are steeped in Catholic sensibilities, but embrace painful questions that often accompany belief: what it means to hold on to religious commitment in a world where God can seem absent.

From altar boy to auteur

Scorsese has often spoken of his Catholic background. Born in New York City’s Little Italy, he went to Catholic schools and served as an altar boy at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, which appeared in his early masterpiece “Mean Streets.” Scorsese even began seminary training, but he quickly realized the priesthood was not for him.

Yet the church proved influential. Scorsese has described St. Patrick’s as a spiritual alternative to the violence in the streets around his neighborhood. A priest introduced the young Scorsese to classical music and books that widened his cultural horizons.

A similar tension runs through many of his films: Catholic devotion, mystery and ritual interwoven with ruthless crime. Indeed, the struggle with faith amid brutality is a theme Scorsese returns to over and over, asking what religion might have to offer the world as it actually exists, with all its cruelties, greed and despair.

Presence and absence

That struggle can be described as one between “presence” and “absence,” to use the terms of religious studies scholar Robert A. Orsi.

Religious presence refers to all the ways people experience their gods’ existence in the world and in their lives. For Catholics, for example, the Eucharist is not just a symbol of Christ; the consecrated bread and wine in Communion actually become Jesus’ flesh and blood, according to Catholic teaching.

Orsi describes religious absence, on the other hand, as the experience of doubt and spiritual struggle about a god not felt directly on Earth.

Both presence and absence shape Scorsese’s rendering of religion. God’s absence takes the form of violence and greed in his films. But some characters also carry their gods with them in the world. This is most dramatically seen in “Silence,” released in 2016, which was based on the novel by Japanese Catholic writer Shusaku Endo.

“Silence” is the story of two Jesuit missionaries who travel to 17th century Japan in search of their mentor, another Jesuit who is believed to have renounced the faith during a wave of violent persecutions. One of them, Father Rodrigues, profoundly questions his own faith after witnessing the torture of Japanese Christians.

Why, he wonders, does God allow such suffering? Eventually he himself will renounce his faith in order to save the lives of those to whom he ministers.

The silence of God is the film’s major preoccupation, yet it is filled with devotional imagery. At the climax of the film, Rodrigues tramples on an image of Christ in order to end the torture of other Christians. But just at that moment, he experiences the presence of his God.

The very final scene depicts his burial, years after the film’s main events – a small crucifix clasped in his hand.

Penance ‘in the streets’

This preoccupation with Catholicism stretches back to Scorsese’s 1973 breakthrough film, “Mean Streets.” Harvey Keitel plays a young Italian American man, Charlie, who grapples with his faith in the unforgiving world of New York’s Lower East Side.

Presence, as Orsi points out, is often as much a burden as a solace. Indeed, part of the emotional power in “Mean Streets” lies in Charlie’s own impatience toward Catholic practices and rules. He wants the freedom to be Catholic in his own way.

“You don’t make up for your sins in the church,” he insists in the opening voice-over. “You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit, and you know it.”

Over the years, Scorsese’s own ambitions have led him far beyond the streets of Little Italy. A number of his films have little to do with religion. Yet movies such as “Casino,” “The Aviator” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” elaborate the same basic question as “Mean Streets”: What is important in a world that so often feels dominated by absence, money and violence? Through a long career, Scorsese has framed both the sacred and profane as compelling but competing forces of human desire.

Shortly before the release of “Silence,” Scorsese visited St. Patrick’s during an interview with The New York Times. “I never left,” he said. “In my mind, I am here every day.”

One might take him at his word. Even in his most recent movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a Catholic sensibility sneaks through in numerous ways. Characters attend Mass at parish churches and  bury their dead on consecrated Catholic ground.

Further, the film’s attention to Osage religious practices demonstrates Scorsese’s sensitivity to the power of ritual and devotion. The movie opens with the burial of a ceremonial pipe, highlighting how objects can assume sacred significance. As Mollie’s mother dies, she has a vision of the elders.

But the questions that haunt Scorsese hang over moments that hardly feel religious, too.

Toward the end of the film, when Mollie asks her duplicitous husband, Ernest, to come clean, his refusal to fully confess the harm he did to her and her family epitomizes the depths of his ethical emptiness. Her silence as she gets up and leaves, with an FBI agent standing quietly in the corner, offers a more powerful moral indictment than any legal sentence. The refusal to pay for one’s sins at home and in the streets has rarely looked so damning.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Despite 'Barbie,' women not getting movie lead roles: report

LOS ANGELES

The share of Hollywood films with women in the lead role fell last year, new research showed Thursday, despite standout successes like "Barbie."

In the year that the feminist blockbuster starring Margot Robbie blew its competitors away at the box office, just a third of movies had a woman at the top of the bill, according to the Hollywood Diversity Report.

Greta Gerwig's fun-packed feminist satire, which took more than $1.4 billion at the global box office, also garnered eight nominations for this weekend's Oscars, including best picture.

"Even as 'Barbie' broke box office records, the industry demonstrated that it had continued to undervalue movies centering on and led by women, as women lost ground when it came to representation for theatrical leads, writers and total actors," said the report, produced by the University of California, Los Angeles.

The share of films with a woman as the lead character steadily increased over the decade to 2019, researchers said.

That year, 44 percent of films produced in Hollywood had a female lead.

But in the years since, the proportion has dropped, with just 32 percent of movies in 2023 having a woman as the main character.

"This is a wake-up call for Hollywood," said Ana-Christina Ramon, cofounder of the report and director of UCLA's Entertainment and Media Research Initiative. "Studios need to invest in women and their stories. Women creators and moviegoers are integral to the industry's growth."

The report, which is now in its 12th year, also found that films with a more diverse cast, including a greater proportion of non-white actors, tend to do better at the box office.

Franchise movies whose casts are at least half people of color outperformed earlier iterations, the report said, citing best-in-series successes enjoyed by "Creed III," "Scream VI" and "John Wick: Chapter 4."

In line with previous years, the report found that audiences of color underwrote box office returns, with at least six out of ten tickets for those films' opening weekends purchased by non-white customers.

"When the film industry gives them what they want, people of color deliver at the box office year in and year out," said Ramon.

This year's Oscars are being held in Hollywood on Sunday.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Grammy Awards host Trevor Noah on why to tune in, being nominated and his post 'Daily Show' life

NEW YORK

Trevor Noah is ready to face one of the toughest audiences of his career — the millions watching as he once again hosts the Grammy Awards.

“It is easily the most nerve-wracking thing that I do, but I love it every single time," Noah tells The Associated Press ahead of Sunday's telecast. "Each year there’s a new highlight and a new moment that is embedded into my memory.”

The 2024 Grammy Awards will air live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The telecast — with SZA having a leading nine nominations — will be Noah's fourth consecutive hosting gig for the awards.

He said he's looking forward to the live performances, especially ones by nominated artists Burna Boy, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Travis Scott.

“I always love seeing artists who have an innate understanding of how different and powerful the live experience is, and I think Burna Boy is one of those artists,” Noah said. “He really excels in transforming live energy into a special moment in time.

“Billie Eilish has never given a half-hearted performance. Every time she’s on stage, it feels like watching a vignette from a classic film. It’s really thought-out and beautiful. I think Dua Lipa is one of the best pop performers of our lifetime. She does a fantastic job for this generation. Travis Scott is definitely going to be doing something crazy, so we should get ready for that. I would tune in because I think it’s a good mix of predictably amazing and then unpredictably amazing as well.”

The comedian, best known for hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” from 2015-22, just won an Emmy Award for best talk series for the last season of the show. He previously won one in 2017 for hosting a spin-off show, “The Daily Show — Behind the Scenes,” which was voted outstanding short-form variety series.

Noah is not only a host this year — he's also a nominee, with his comedy album “I Wish You Would” up against “I’m an Entertainer” by Wanda Sykes, “Selective Outrage” by Chris Rock, “Someone You Love” by Sarah Silverman and “What’s in a Name?” by Dave Chappelle.

“I’ve looked into all the Grammy bylaws, and there’s nothing that says being the host will give you any leg up in winning the award,” Noah jokes. “I think Dave Chappelle is the favorite because he’s always the favorite, and rightfully so.”

If that happens, don't expect Noah to be complaining that he lost the Grammy to Chappelle or that it's the second time he's lost a best comedy album Grammy to Chappelle.

“I’ve looked into all the Grammy bylaws, and there’s nothing that says being the host will give you any leg up in winning the award,” Noah jokes. “I think Dave Chappelle is the favorite because he’s always the favorite, and rightfully so.”

If that happens, don't expect Noah to be complaining that he lost the Grammy to Chappelle or that it's the second time he's lost a best comedy album Grammy to Chappelle.

“I don’t understand how people live in a world where you can lose something that you never had. I’ve never won a Grammy. I don’t have a Grammy. Unless Dave Chappelle comes to my house and takes my Grammy. I can never lose the Grammy to him,” he says.

Award show hosts have had a rough few years, with The Slap marring the Oscars in 2022 and comedian Jo Koy getting critically panned at the Golden Globes earlier this year.

“In my head, it was always hard being a host. I always assumed anything could happen. I guess the very nature of comedy has always felt like that for me,” says Noah. “I never blame an audience. I might not enjoy an audience, but I never blame an audience.”

Harvey Mason Jr., president and CEO of the Recording Academy, has got Noah's back, calling the comedian “a total pro” as host.

“There’s never a hesitation, never a hiccup. There’s never a stumble. Second of all, he relates so well to the artists and to the music community in my mind, because he’s a fan and he’s an appreciator and a lover of music,” says Mason.

Noah says he's enjoying his life post-"The Daily Show," which includes hosting the interview podcast “What Now? with Trevor Noah” which has attracted the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Bill Gates, Kerry Washington and DaBaby.

“I’m trying to build a platform where I get really comfortable and people get really comfortable having honest and open conversations with each other,” says Noah. “We’re in a little short supply of that compassion for each other as human beings."

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Sam Waterston to leave 'Law & Order' later this month after 400 episodes

NEW YORK

Sam Waterston, who has played the spiky, no-nonsense district attorney on “Law & Order” since the mid-1990s, is stepping down from his legal perch.

The last episode for Waterston's Jack McCoy will be Feb 22, NBC said. He has been in more than 400 episodes of the police drama, earning a SAG Award and Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the role.

“The time has come for me to move on and take Jack McCoy with me," Waterston said in a statement. "There's sadness in leaving, but I'm just too curious about what's next. An actor doesn't want to let himself get too comfortable.”

Tony Goldwyn, who starred in “Scandal” and the 1990 film “Ghost,” has been cast as the new district attorney.

McCoy and the prosecutors would take up the legal case once the New York City detectives were finished investigating a crime, representing, as the narrator says, “two separate yet equally important groups.”

McCoy was a brilliant, hard-charging, angel of justice, prone to bouts of moral outrage and slicing right to the truth. “Your grief might seem a little more real had you not just admitted you cut off your wife’s head,” he once told a defendant.

Bushy-browed Waterston began his acting career as a stage actor in New York with a number of Shakespeare roles, including Lear, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Prospero, Leonato, Prince Hal, Silvius, Cloten and Benedict.

That led to Waterston playing Nick Carraway in “The Great Gatsby” opposite Robert Redford, and the role of Tom Wingfield in a television production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” starring Katharine Hepburn, for which he got his first Emmy nod.

Waterston, 83, joined “Law & Order” in season four in 1994 and stayed until the show stopped in 2010, returning for the reboot in 2022.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

How French film is quietly becoming more diverse

PARIS

"Vermin", a horror film about killer spiders invading a run-down apartment block, has become the first hit of the year in France.

The eight-legged critters are not the only surprise in the low-budget film, however, which for once depicts France's ghetto-like suburbs as more than just a den of drug dealers and terrorists.

Instead the block is shown as a place of hard-scrabble solidarity whose problems stem from abandonment by police, media and society in general.

"We want to challenge stereotypes," said Olivier Saby of co-producers Impact Films. The company was set up in 2018 with a mission to bring more diversity to French cinemas.

"The goal is not to make sure there is a black, Arabic or white person in every scene," he told AFP. "We just want films and TV to reflect real life. If you walk into, for example, a lawyer's office today, you will find a lot more diversity than when you see one on TV."

French cinema has made steady progress in some areas.

French women won two of the last three Palmes d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Three of the five nominees for best director at next month's Cesars (France's Oscars) are women. (The prize has only once gone to a woman, Tonie Marshall, 24 years ago.)

Race is trickier.

Some black actors have become superstars in France, especially "Lupin" star Omar Sy, and comedian Jean-Pascal Zadi, whose sharp satires about racial politics, "Simply Black" and "Represent", have earned awards and been big international hits on Netflix.

But progress is hindered because it remains illegal to gather data on race in France on the grounds that it would perpetuate artificial divisions, said Wale Gbadamosi Oyekanmi, a PR consultant who invests in Impact Film.

"France doesn't really talk about race. You can't monitor the depth of the challenge because you can't measure it" with statistics, he told AFP. "There are new voices that could be heard, that reflect the country as it is now. It's something that can and must be improved."

Analysts work around the issue by measuring how people are "perceived" rather than directly asking their race.

A study of 115 French films released in 2019 by 50/50 Collectif, a campaign group, found 81 percent of lead characters were "perceived as white".

That is not a commercial decision, it said, since the figure dropped to 68 percent for the 15 most popular films of the year.

But France's cultural gatekeepers still bristle at the idea of mixing social issues with creativity, said Marie-Lou Dulac, founder of diversity consultancy DIRE et Dire.

Many in France see encouraging diversity as a way of "perverting creativity," she said. "Actually it's a way to renew creativity, to encounter new stories and characters.

"We can't keep making the same old caricature of a French film -- a white professional couple in Paris who are cheating on each other," she added with a laugh.

Impact Films supports films with LGBTQ, disabled or ethnic minority leads, said Saby. It finances documentaries about environmental and social issues, and hires people from under-represented groups to work behind the camera.

It also works with scriptwriters to avoid cliches. "Why are minority actors always playing a drug dealer?" he added. "Does every action hero need to drive a 4x4?"

As in other countries, pushing for change triggers a backlash.

Powerful right-wing businessmen are also moving into film productions, such as last year's "Vaincre ou Mourir" ("Victory or Death") about the peasant counter-revolution of the 1790s, a favorite topic of pro-Catholic, pro-monarchy ultra-conservatives.

It was produced by the company behind the Puy du Fou theme park, owned by far-right former presidential candidate Philippe de Villiers.

The risk of a backlash is no reason to give up, said Saby, with "Vermin" up for two Cesar awards and well on its way to being the most successful French horror flick in nearly 25 years.

"There was always this battle. It's just that only one side was winning up to now," he said. "There's plenty of room on screen for everyone."

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Netflix unveils 2024 slate led by sci-fi from 'Thrones' creators

LOS ANGELES

Netflix is betting on its ambitious new sci-fi series from the creators of "Game of Thrones" to help extend its streaming dominance in 2024, as the company unveiled a sprawling TV and film lineup Thursday.

"3 Body Problem," out March 21, is adapted from a bestselling Chinese trilogy of novels which takes place in an alternate version of modern reality where humanity has made contact with an alien civilization.

The series will be "part thriller, part sci-fi," chief content officer Bela Bajaria told journalists at a Los Angeles press conference.

It is at least partly set in modern-day London. One scene showed a British police inspector (played by Benedict Wong) investigating a strange and grisly apparent suicide.

"It's a big swing. A huge, cinematic bet," said Bajaria.

The series from "Thrones" pair David Benioff and D.B. Weiss features prominently in a Netflix 2024 preview reel published online Thursday, and was the first content shown to reporters at this week's presentation.

Other shows due later this year include the eagerly awaited second season of "Squid Game" -- the dystopian Korean horror tale about a fictional, deadly game show which remains by far the most-watched Netflix TV series ever.

It will follow returning hero Gi-hun as he abandons his plans to go to the United States and "starts a chase with a motive."

Also among a notably international lineup were a Spanish-language, Colombian-made TV series based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's beloved novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude," and a six-part drama about the life of Brazilian racing great Ayrton Senna.

On the movie side, Eddie Murphy returns this summer in a new "Beverly Hills Cop" sequel.

Netflix last week announced it had added 13 million subscribers in the final three months of last year.

It finished 2023 with slightly more than 260 million subscribers worldwide -- comfortably ahead of any rivals.

"Many of you in this room have said to me that with so many titles across so many genres, that it's hard to understand our strategy," said Bajaria.

But roughly two people per account means an audience of "more than half a billion people," she said.

"No entertainment company has tried to program with this ambition -- for this many tastes, cultures and languages. Ever."

Netflix began life in 1998 as a U.S.-only DVD-by-mail rental company, taking on the then-mighty movie rental giant Blockbuster, before dipping into video-on-demand as a perk for its customers -- a shift that enabled the company to expand globally.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

Carl Weathers, linebacker-turned-actor who starred in 'Rocky' movies, dies at 76

NEW YORK

Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore,” has died. He was 76.

Matt Luber, his manager, said Weathers died Thursday. His family issued a statement saying he died “peacefully in his sleep.

Comfortable flexing his muscles on the big screen in “Action Jackson” as he was joking around on the small screen in such shows as “Arrested Development,” Weathers was perhaps most closely associated with Creed, who made his first appearance as the cocky, undisputed heavyweight world champion in 1976’s “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone.

“It puts you on the map and makes your career, so to speak. But that’s a one-off, so you’ve got to follow it up with something. Fortunately those movies kept coming, and Apollo Creed became more and more in people’s consciousness and welcome in their lives, and it was just the right guy at the right time,” he told The Daily Beast in 2017.

Most recently, Weathers has starred in the Disney+ hit “The Mandalorian,” appearing in all three seasons.

Creed, who appeared in the first four “Rocky” movies, memorably died in the ring of 1984’s “Rocky IV,” going toe-to-toe with the hulking, steroided-using Soviet Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren. Before he entered the ring, James Brown sang “Living in America” with showgirls and Creed popped up on a balcony in a Star-Spangled Banner shorts and waistcoat combo and an Uncle Sam hat, dancing and taunting Drago.

A bloodied Creed collapses in the ring after taking a vicious beating, twitches and is cradled by Rocky as he dies, inevitably setting up a fight between Drago and Rocky. But while Creed is gone, his character’s son, Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed, would lead his own boxing trilogy starting in 2015.

Weathers went on to 1987’s “Predator,” where he flexed his pecs alongside Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura and a host of others, and 1988’s nouveau blaxploitation flick “Action Jackson,” where he trains his flamethrower on a bad guy and asks, “How do you like your ribs?” before broiling him.

He later added a false wooden hand to play a gold pro for the 1996 comedy classic “Happy Gilmore” opposite Adam Sandler and starred in Dick Wolf’s short-lived spin-off series “Chicago Justice” in 2017 and in Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” earning an Emmy Award nomination in 2021.

Weathers grew up admiring actors such as Woody Strode, whose combination of physique and acting prowess in “Spartacus” made an early impression. Others he idolized included actors Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and athletes Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali, stars who broke the mold and the color barrier.

“There are so many people that came before me who I admired and whose success I wanted to emulate, and just kind of hit the benchmarks they hit in terms of success, who created a pathway that I’ve been able to walk and find success as a result. And hopefully I can inspire someone else to do good work as well,” he told the Detroit News 2023. “I guess I’m just a lucky guy.”

Growing up in New Orleans, Weathers started performing in plays as early as grade school. In high school, athletics took him down another path but he would reunite with his first love later in life.

Weathers played college football at San Diego State University — he majored in theater — and went on to play for one season in the NFL, for the Oakland Raiders, in 1970.

“When I found football, it was a completely different outlet,” says Weathers told the Detroit News. “It was more about the physicality, although one does feed the other. You needed some smarts because there were playbooks to study and film to study, to learn about the opposition on any given week.”

After the Raiders, he joined the Canadian Football League, playing for two years while finishing up his studies during the offseason at San Francisco State University. He graduated with a B.A. in drama in 1974.

After appearing in several films and TV shows, including “Good Times,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Starsky & Hutch,” as well as fighting Nazis alongside Harrison Ford in “Force 10 From Navarone,” Weathers landed his knockout role — Creed. He told The Hollywood Reporter that his start in the iconic franchise was not auspicious.

He was asked to read with the writer, Stallone, then unknown. Weathers read the scene but felt it didn’t land and so he blurted out: “I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with,” he recalled. “So I just insulted the star of the movie without really knowing it and not intending to.” He also lied that he had any boxing experience.

Later in life, Weathers developed a passion for directing, helming episodes of “Silk Stalking” and and the Lorenzo Lamas vehicle “Renegade.” He directed a season three episode of “The Mandalorian.”

Weathers introduced himself to another generation when he portrayed himself as an opportunistic and extremely thrifty actor who becomes involved with the dysfunctional clan at the heart of “Arrested Development.”

The Weathers character likes to save money by making broth from discarded food — ’There’s still plenty of meat on that bone” and “Baby, you got a stew going!” — and, for the right price, agrees to become an acting coach for delusional and talent-free thespian Tobias Funke, played by David Cross.

Weathers is survived by two sons.

#yessadirichards

[yessadirichards]

U.S. country music star Toby Keith dies at 62

WASHINGTON

Country music star Toby Keith, celebrated in Middle America for his patriotic fervor and songs extolling the pleasures of drinking, has passed away aged 62, a statement on his social media account said Tuesday.

"Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage," a statement posted to Keith's account on X, stated.

The Oklahoma-born singer, who was a roughneck in the oil fields of his home state before breaking into country in the 1990s, had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2022.

Keith was a controversial figure who often raised eyebrows for the intensity of his nationalist sentiments, with detractors calling him jingoistic.

"Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," released in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, memorably has the line, "We'll put a boot in your ass / It's the American way."

In "The Taliban Song," Keith describes ordinary Afghans praying for U.S. forces to drive out the foreign fighters of the Taliban and al-Qaida -- which was led by the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden. In the chorus, Keith sings, "Ride, camel, ride!"

Usually clad in a cowboy hat, he also had a long list of songs exploring the cathartic effects of alcohol including "I Love This Bar," "Whiskey Girl," "Get Drunk and Be Somebody," "Drinks After Work" and "Drunk Americans."

"Beer For My Horses," one of Keith's best-known songs, sings of getting tough on crime and corruption.

He was also known for his feuds and grudges, including against The Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines -- touring with a doctored photo of her and Saddam Hussein after her comments against the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Keith was the most famous performer at former U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017, though he also played at events for Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

He frequently performed for U.S. troops overseas, often raising his middle finger in the air in an unsubtle message to foreign adversaries.

Later in 2017 he played a male-only concert in Saudi Arabia to mark a Trump visit there -- an unlikely venue for a star more often seen packing arenas in the U.S. heartland.

#yessadirichards