The daily gossip: December 27, 2019

1. Channing Tatum is looking for love on a dating app

Want to date Channing Tatum? Here's the good news: He's single and looking for love on a dating app. The bad news: The dating app is Raya, a secretive and ultra-exclusive service only available to celebrities. Still, we can gawk at Tatum's profile from afar, which reportedly plays D'Angelo's "Brown Sugar" and concedes that he "used to be a stripper" with a shrug emoji — a brave confession that we're sure will dissuade many would-be suitors of the actual Magic Mike.

Us Weekly

2. Queen Elizabeth likes a stiff martini on Christmas

If you're looking for a cup of Christmas cheer this holiday season, search no further than Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth indulges in a very stiff martini each year. According to a royal insider, the queen treats herself to the cocktail after the deeply boring task of hand-signing each card that gets sent to friends, family, and staff. The insider adds that anyone who joins the queen in her cocktail hour should be "quite careful," because the royal mixologist is "not stingy in the alcohol measurements." But is it shaken or stirred?

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3. Universal pulls Cats from its "For Your Consideration" page

After weeks of ribbing and a truly dismal box-office gross, Universal seems to have finally thrown in the towel on Cats. After failing to secure a Best Original Song nomination for Taylor Swift — and sensing, perhaps, that a surprise Best Picture nomination wasn't in the cards — Universal has quietly scrubbed Cats from its "For Your Consideration" page aimed at Academy Awards voters. That said: The Secret Life of Pets 2 is still up there, so if you really wanted to throw your weight behind a furry animal this Oscar season, you can at least use that as a protest vote.

Variety

4. Todd Phillips wasn't sure if Joaquin Phoenix was actually going to do Joker

It's hard to imagine it now, but it was far from a sure thing that Joaquin Phoenix was going to star in Joker. According to director Todd Phillips, Phoenix mostly expressed interest in the character having a "compulsive disorder to laugh," which he practiced — in an audition that we're sure wasn't unnerving at all — while sitting on Phillips' couch at his home in Hollywood. Even then, Phillips says Phoenix never formally accepted the role, and that he only knew for sure that the actor was doing Joker when "one day he just showed up at the wardrobe fitting" — because why make a Joker movie if you're not willing to embrace a little chaos?

The Hollywood Reporter

5. Kylie Jenner bought a $12,000 Beanie Baby

It's been several a couple of since Beanie Babies were a full-blown, Happy Meal-approved craze — but don't tell that to Kylie Jenner, who just dropped a cool $12,000 on a one-of-a-kind Beanie Baby-inspired bear by artist Dan Life. The doll is a recreation of the discontinued Beanie Baby Erin, which is green with a shamrock design on its chest. This version costs roughly $11,990 more than your average Beanie Baby because it's covered in hard green crystals — because who wouldn't want a stuffed animal that is deeply unpleasant to snuggle?

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