The daily gossip: Daniel Radcliffe wins praise for saying absolutely nothing about the Will Smith slap, critics roast Jared Leto's Morbius, and more
Today's top entertainment and celebrity news
- 1. Daniel Radcliffe is 'dramatically bored' by Will Smith slap takes
- 2. 'Morbius' predictably slammed with absolutely terrible reviews
- 3. Bruce Willis' health raised concerns on set for years, report says
- 4. Ashley Tisdale made her husband buy 400 books to fill bookshelves before a video shoot
- 5. Michael Bay admits he 'should have stopped' making 'Transformers' movies
1. Daniel Radcliffe is 'dramatically bored' by Will Smith slap takes
The boy who lived can't live through another week of terrible Will Smith slap takes. Daniel Radcliffe won praise on Thursday after being asked about Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars and deciding absolutely nobody needed to hear his opinion on it. Appearing on Good Morning Britain, the Harry Potter star said he saw the moment at the Oscars like the rest of us, but he declined to comment on it because "I'm just so already dramatically bored of hearing people's opinions about it that I just don't want to be another opinion adding to it." He's apparently not alone, and Radcliffe soon began trending on Twitter as fans praised him for not keeping the discourse going. "Daniel Radcliffe is right, the topic has been talked about to death with nothing else to contribute move on already," one response read. Wait a second, you're telling us a controversial cultural event can happen and you can just … not weigh in? That's allowed?
2. 'Morbius' predictably slammed with absolutely terrible reviews
Leave it to Sony to squander any goodwill gained through Spider-Man: No Way Home within four months. The reviews are in for Morbius, the new Spider-Man spinoff movie from Sony starring Jared Leto, and as you might have expected, they're absolutely awful. USA Today's Brian Truitt declared it the "worst superhero movie since" the infamous disaster Fantastic Four (2015), while Rolling Stone said it's possibly the "single most anemic Marvel movie ever made," Mashable called it a "toothless and tedious chore," and The Playlist said it's so bad it's "just kind of depressing." The film currently holds an unbelievably low 16 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For comparison, 2016's Suicide Squad has 26 percent. Morbius is one of Sony's Spider-Man spinoffs like Venom, but it's not a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — even though the marketing appears entirely built around tricking people into thinking it is. How does Marvel boss Kevin Feige feel about the idea of people walking out of Morbius thinking it's the latest MCU entry? Probably not great!
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3. Bruce Willis' health raised concerns on set for years, report says
Directors who worked with Bruce Willis were concerned about his health for years before he stepped away from acting due to aphasia, an upsetting new report from the Los Angeles Times says. Willis reportedly "has been exhibiting signs of decline in recent years," and those who worked with him on some of his recent films were unsure if he "was fully aware of his surroundings on set." Apparently, Willis' film shoots had to be limited to two days, his dialogue scenes needed to be trimmed, and he had to have his lines fed to him in an earpiece. "Someone would give him a line and he didn't understand what it meant," a crew member said. The actor would reportedly sometimes question where he was. "We are all Bruce Willis fans, and the arrangement felt wrong and ultimately a rather sad end to an incredible career, one that none of us felt comfortable with," director Jesse V. Johnson said. Critic Matt Zoller Seitz suggested the reporting revealed the "financial exploitation of an actor with a debilitating health condition."
4. Ashley Tisdale made her husband buy 400 books to fill bookshelves before a video shoot
Ashley Tisdale may not be as voracious a reader as her house would lead you to believe. Tisdale gave Architectural Digest a tour of her new home in Los Angeles, and at one point, she showed off some bookshelves. But she couldn't help admitting they weren't so full until pretty recently. "These bookshelves, I have to be honest, actually did not have books in it a couple of days ago," she said. "I had my husband go to a bookstore, and I was like, 'You need to get 400 books!'" Tisdale says he suggested they should simply be "collecting books over time," but she wasn't about to show bare shelves to the world. "I was like, 'No, no no no, not when AD comes.'" After the moment went viral on Twitter, Tisdale sought to "clear this up," writing, "There are some of my books from over the years in there but ... any interior designer would have done the same." Well hey, we appreciate the honesty, and shoutout to whichever bookstore made an absolute killing that day.
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5. Michael Bay admits he 'should have stopped' making 'Transformers' movies
Steven Spielberg almost saved all of us from a whole lot of pain. Director Michael Bay admitted to Unilad UK he "made too many" Transformers movies, despite advice from Spielberg, who produced the franchise. "Steven Spielberg said, 'Just stop at three," Bay said. "And I said I'd stop. The studio begged me to do a fourth, and then that made a billion too. And then I said I'm gonna stop here. And they begged me again." Bay ended up making five Transformers movies, the most recent of which was 2017's The Last Knight, and critics widely hated every installment after the first. The franchise is set to return with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in 2023, though Bay won't be directing this time, having finally taken Spielberg's advice years too late. "I should have stopped," Bay said. "[But] they were fun to do." Well, at least someone had fun.
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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