The daily gossip: Hollywood actors are officially going on strike, Lea Michele honors Cory Monteith a decade after his death, and more
Today's top entertainment and celebrity news
- 1. Hollywood actors are officially going on strike
- 2. Lea Michele shares emotional tribute to Cory Monteith a decade after his death
- 3. Hayley Atwell doesn't sound thrilled about her part in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"
- 4. Reese Witherspoon didn't "have control" over "Fear" sex scene
- 5. Timothée Chalamet got "Wonka" role thanks to high school musical performances
1. Hollywood actors are officially going on strike
The strike is on … again. The Hollywood actors union SAG-AFTRA has officially called a strike after failing to reach a deal with the studios for a new contract, meaning production will shut down even more than it already had due to the writers strike. This is the first time since 1960 that actors and writers have been on strike simultaneously, and both groups are pushing for increased streaming residuals and regulation of artificial intelligence, among other concerns. Actors can't promote their projects during the strike, and the "Oppenheimer" cast already left Thursday's London premiere. Although some movies and shows had been filming during the writers strike because scripts were in the can, most of those productions will now also be halted. This is likely to create more delays — unless, as Anthony Mackie recently told Inverse, Disney plans to "get a bunch of f--king YouTubers to make 'Avengers 5'!" Good luck facing Kang, Jake Paul.
2. Lea Michele shares emotional tribute to Cory Monteith a decade after his death
It has been a decade since the tragic death of "Glee" star Cory Monteith, and Lea Michele is marking the occasion with a heartbreaking tribute. Monteith, who played Finn on the Fox series, died from a heroin and alcohol overdose on July 13, 2013. He was 31. Monteith and Michele were dating at the time of his passing, and she wrote on Instagram that it "feels like only yesterday that you were here and yet a million years ago all at the same time." She added, "I hold all of our memories in my heart where they will stay safe and never forgotten. We miss you every day and will never forget the light you to brought to us all. I miss you big guy." Michele closed her tribute with an apparent reference to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died in 2022, writing, "I hope you found Taylor up there and are playing the drums together."
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3. Hayley Atwell doesn't sound thrilled about her part in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"
Hayley Atwell is breaking down her role in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" with an emphasis on "mad." The actress had a surprise cameo in the 2022 Marvel film as an alternate universe version of Peggy Carter, who declares she "could do this all day" before she's immediately murdered by being sliced in half by her own shield. This cameo as Captain Carter didn't "really serve Peggy very well," Atwell argued on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, noting she gets "so much slack" about it from fans and has to tell them that it "wasn't my choice!" She added that the scene "felt like a frustrating moment" given her character "had less to do than what she did before, before she had the shield." Atwell enjoyed having more to do in Marvel's animated series "What If…?," though, and it certainly helped that she could deliver that performance "in, effectively, [my] pajamas."
4. Reese Witherspoon didn't "have control" over "Fear" sex scene
Reese Witherspoon has some unpleasant memories about one of her earliest film roles. In a new Harper's Bazaar profile, the "Legally Blonde" star said she "didn't have control over" a scene in her 1996 movie "Fear" where her character is digitally stimulated by Mark Wahlberg's character on a roller coaster. Witherspoon, who was 19 at the time, revealed she requested a stunt double be used for below-the-waist scenes. "It wasn't explicit in the script that that's what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no," she said. "It wasn't a particularly great experience." When the author told Witherspoon she's sorry this happened to her, the actress clarified she is "certainly not traumatized or anything by it." But it was still a "formative" experience that made her "understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking."
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5. Timothée Chalamet got "Wonka" role thanks to high school musical performances
Who would have thought Timothée Chalamet's high school musicals would provide him his golden ticket? "Wonka" director Paul King told Rolling Stone the actor was his only choice for the role of Willy Wonka in the movie, and Chalamet didn't even have to audition for it. Still, King did want to make sure that Chalamet could sing and dance given the film features numerous musical numbers, and that's where YouTube came in handy. "It was a straight offer because he's great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it," King said. "But because he's Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views." King didn't specify whether he has seen the infamous video of Chalamet rapping about statistics, though given he came to the conclusion that the actor can "sing and dance really well," maybe he missed that one.
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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