The daily gossip: Javier Bardem jumped out of a cake in drag on Daniel Craig's birthday, Broadway's Harry Potter gets fired, and more

1. Javier Bardem jumped out of a cake in drag on Daniel Craig's birthday

No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to … make a wish! Skyfall co-stars Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem chatted as part of Variety's Actors on Actors series, and they reminisced about that time Bardem jumped out of a cake in drag for the 007 actor's birthday. This apparently happened during their joint birthday party, and the story came up after Craig asked Bardem if he had any musical experience prior to singing as Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. "Well," Bardem said, "apart from coming out of birthday cakes dressed like a Bond girl, not much!" Bardem recalled singing "Happy Birthday" to Craig, busting out his "best Marilyn Monroe impersonation." Other highlights of the discussion included Bardem pointing out at the very end that Craig had been bleeding from his forehead the entire time without realizing. Craig joked, "No wonder I get f---ing injured every time I do a movie!"

Variety The Week

2. 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' fires star after investigation into his conduct

Exit stage right. Actor James Snyder, who played Harry Potter in Broadway's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, has been fired from the show after an investigation into his conduct. Diane Davis, who plays Harry's wife Ginny, filed a complaint "regarding the conduct of fellow cast member James Snyder" in November, producers said. After "an independent investigation by a third party," the producers decided Snyder "should not return to the production and terminated his contract." Details about Snyder's conduct weren't released. He and Davis both joined the cast of the Broadway show in 2019 to replace the original cast, and producers said Davis has made the personal decision to take a "leave of absence." Add this one to the seemingly endless list of controversies related to the possibly cursed franchise.

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Entertainment Weekly Vulture

3. Evan Rachel Wood alleges Marilyn Manson raped her on music video set

Evan Rachel Wood reportedly details some disturbing new allegations against rock star Marilyn Manson in a new documentary. Phoenix Rising, a documentary about the Westworld star, premiered Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival, and in it, Wood alleges that Manson raped her during the production of his music video that she appeared in. During what was supposed to be a simulated sex scene, he "started penetrating me for real" without consent. "I was coerced into a commercial sex act under false pretenses," Wood alleges. "That's when the first crime was committed against me and I was essentially raped on camera." Wood also says Manson instructed her to claim that "we had this great, romantic time" making the video, when in reality, this was the "beginning of the violence that would keep escalating over the course of the relationship."

The Guardian The Week

4. Taylor Swift rips Damon Albarn for claiming she doesn't write her songs

Taylor Swift officially has bad blood with Damon Albarn. On Monday, Swift said she's no longer a fan of the Gorillaz musician after he claimed to the Los Angeles Times that "she doesn't write her own songs." Albarn said "there's a big difference between a songwriter and a songwriter who co-writes," adding that he prefers Billie Eilish to Swift because her music is "just darker" and "less endlessly upbeat." Ah yes, who could forget Swift's famously upbeat Folklore? Swift fired back, tweeting directly at Albarn, "I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging." The Red singer also said Albarn doesn't "have to like my songs" but that "it's really f---ed up to try and discredit my writing" — and in a follow-up tweet, she clarified, "PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering." You know what they say: say it in the street, that's a knock-out, but you say it in a LA Times interview, that's a cop-out.

Taylor Swift Los Angeles Times

5. Chris Evans cast in Dwayne Johnson's new 'holiday event film'

Is Dwayne Johnson's new thing going to be starring in forgettable streaming films with red in the title? After Red Notice, The Rock is working on a "holiday event film" called Red One, and Captain America star Chris Evans has now joined its cast. The film was described as a "globe-trotting, four-quadrant action-adventure comedy," which will introduce a "whole new universe to explore within the holiday genre." Yes, a holiday film cinematic universe appears to be the goal here. A previous announcement declared that "this unique concept represents a property that could encompass not only a tentpole film, but could reach beyond entertainment across multiple industries and businesses," whatever the heck that means, though nobody has really explained what the allegedly unique concept is. Clearly, having grand plans for an entire film universe before the first entry even comes out never goes wrong, as the folks behind Tom Cruise's The Mummy could tell you.

Deadline The Hollywood Reporter