The daily gossip: May 7, 2020

(Image credit: Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images for the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival)

Jump to category:

1. Robert De Niro wants to play Andrew Cuomo in a movie
2. Guns N' Roses and James Patterson have teamed up for a 'Sweet Child O' Mine' picture book
3. Martha Stewart's gardener, on day 45 of quarantine at her estate, says he's fine, really
4. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are apparently 'cordial' now
5. Ariel Winter accidentally threw away part of her thumb

published 7 May 2020

1. Robert De Niro wants to play Andrew Cuomo in a movie

Robert De Niro has played dozens of iconic characters over the years — Vito Corleone, Travis Bickle, Jimmy the Gent — and now he wants to add New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the list. Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night, De Niro was asked who he'd want to portray in a movie about the coronavirus pandemic, seeing as Dr. Anthony Fauci has already been taken by Brad Pitt. "I guess I'll play Cuomo," De Niro said. "He's doing what a president should do." Though De Niro and Cuomo were both born in New York City, they share Italian ancestry, so the pick seems only natural, politics aside. Still, 76-year-old De Niro might need a little de-aging magic, since Cuomo is only 62.

Guns N' Roses announced the forthcoming publication of Sweet Child O' Mine, a children's picture book based on a song in which approximately 50 percent of the lyrics are "whoa, yeah, whoa, oh, oh, oh" and "where do we go now." The book is being written in collaboration with novelist James Patterson, and will pull its narrative from the lyrics of the hit 1988 song. The eponymous "sweet children o' mine" (didn't have the same ring, apparently?) will be depicted in illustrations as Maya and Natalia Rose, the niece and daughter of the band's manager. Bizarrely, the cover credits all of "Guns N' Roses," which raises the question: It took the whole band (plus James Patterson) to write this thing?

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

It was a real concern what was going to happen to the grounds of Martha Stewart's 150-acre Bedford, New York, estate during the coronavirus pandemic but — never fear! — her gardener is apparently stuck in quarantine with her. "Since we're at the house all the time we can work earlier and later and we get a lot more things done," said Ryan McCallister, who has spent more than 45 days quarantined on the property but is definitely not a hostage. He added that, "Martha doesn't just sit there and say, 'Do that!' She's out there doing everything with you." Which we suppose is … reassuring? At least whatever McCallister lacks in personal freedom he is reportedly making up in second and third helpings of Stewart's cookies.

After the devastating news yesterday that Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson split after nearly two years of dating, you might be forgiven for thinking love is dead. But as far as power couple break-ups go, there is at least proof of life after love in the form of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who — the tabloids claim — are "more cordial" now. Things obviously hadn't been easy for the couple, who split in 2016, as proven by their lengthy custody battle, the fact that their divorce somehow still isn't finalized, and the cry-for-help that was Jolie's 2015 movie By the Sea. Still, "things between Brad and Angelina are better than they have been," an insider told Us Weekly. Maybe having new "friends" has helped?

Not all of us are out here booking cooking shows while in quarantine! On Access Hollywood on Wednesday night, Modern Family star Ariel Winter, 22, revealed she recently cut off the tip of her thumb in a kitchen mishap. "I was trying to make Greek food 'cause I'm Greek," Winter explained, adding that she'd successfully chopped four onions before her knife slipped on a peeled tomato. Winter and her boyfriend, Luke Benward, rushed to the hospital, with Benward bringing the finger tip along. A nurse later returned the dismembered flesh in a plastic bag to the actress, but she "didn't tell me it was the tip of my thumb too, so I accidentally threw it away and we had to go get it," said Winter.

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.