Dakota Johnson delights, Game Of Thrones spins off (again), and more news from the week

Bowen Yang seems less than thrilled about what is going on at Saturday Night Live

Last week, Bowen Yang made headlines for appearing to distance himself from Dave Chappelle during the closing moments of Saturday Night Live. Chappelle wasn’t a guest on the show that night but had randomly hopped on the stage from the audience to join the goodnights. We don’t know for a fact that Yang’s displeasure was due to Chappelle’s presence, but video of Yang and Sarah Sherman looking upset and disturbed in the direction where Chappelle was standing led many to assume they were unhappy with the notoriously transphobic comedian’s surprise appearance. –Read More

Donald Glover also compares Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith exit to divorce

Reflecting on her six months working on the new Mr. & Mrs. Smith show and her partnership with Donald Glover, Phoebe Waller-Bridge said last year that “some marriages don’t work out.” Apparently, that’s the metaphor everyone’s running with, as Glover agreed in a new profile for The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s a divorce in a weird way. You’re like, ‘Oh shit, this should have worked,’” Glover explains. “And this is just me, being honest, but I think a good relationship is one where you don’t waver from the extremely uncomfortable. And I don’t know if we were ever going to get to a place where we could be completely brutal to each other.” Read More

Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web press tour is one for the books

The SAG-AFTRA strike this summer was huge and important and powerful, but there was one thing we kind of missed during those long, quiet months: deeply unhinged press tours. Luckily, the actors have really delivered on this front in the time they’ve been back. Hugh Grant compared his oompa-loompa mocap suit for Wonka to a “crown of thorns.” Reneé Rapp cussed out a random, misogynist bus company owner! It’s been awesome. But no one has fed the people quite like Dakota Johnson while promoting her upcoming Madame Web, a movie she seems to simply despise. Please, join us on this journey. Read More

Jonathan Majors: More former partners, plus Lovecraft Country crew, speak out

As Jonathan Majors’ conviction on assault and harassment continues to wind its way toward sentencing, The New York Times has more information about Majors’ past behavior on deck this evening. Pulling from a mixture of background info collected for his 2023 trial, plus interviews with several of the women in question, the Times piece focuses on two women, Emma Duncan and Maura Hooper, who were both in long-term romantic relationships with the (now-former) Marvel star, both of whom said he was possessive and abusive. (Physically so, at least one of the women alleges.) The Times also spoke to several women who worked on Majors’ breakout project, HBO series Lovecraft Country, who described incidents of unprofessional behavior from the star. Read More

HBO adds another Game Of Thrones spin-off to the pile

Producing House Of The Dragon was a pain to begin with.

HBO reportedly made numerous attempts to expand Westeros, hoping to develop George R.R. Martin’s World of Ice and Fire into multiple spin-offs. At one point, the network spent $30 million on a pilot starring Naomi Watts and, in an act of Ramsay Boltonian cruelty, never aired it. On the one hand, that’s what pilots are for. On the other, release that episode. However, after a decade of development, HBO got House Of The Dragon, which more or less satisfied everyone’s desire for more extreme violence, incomprehensible cinematography, and computer-generated dragons. But that’s not all. Several other spin-offs have been reported in the years since, including A Jon Snow sequel series, ‌A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight (which was actually greenlit), Ten Thousand Ships (another prequel), a show about the Sea Snake, and The Golden Empire, one of several animated GOT shows in development. Now HBO is adding another. Read More

Bill Maher says he has a Kanye West interview that no one will ever see

In a real “the worst person you know made a really great point” moment, Bill Maher is taking a stand and de-platforming Kanye West—even as certain other people with the power to do so (hint, hint: he’s also antisemitic) keep letting the disgraced rapper come crawling back. In a recent episode of TMZ Investigates, Maher revealed that he had conducted a two-hour interview with West for his “Club Random” podcast, but would never air the episode due to his guest’s virulent anti-Jewish rhetoric. Read More

The whole Eternals press circuit sent Kumail Nanjiani to counseling

Look. Eternals wasn’t good. You know it, The A.V. Club knows it (we gave it a C+), director Chloé Zhao knows it, and Kumail Nanjiani certainly knows it. “The reviews were bad, and I was too aware of it,” the actor said of the film, in which he played an immortal being named Kingo, during an appearance on the “Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum” podcast (via Variety). “I was reading every review and checking too much.” Read More

Miley Cyrus won in so many ways last night

Last night, Miley Cyrus proved once and for all that she really does know how to love herself better than anyone can. The former Hannah Montana star’s Grammy performance was nothing short of triumphant. She took home not only her first but also her second-ever award for “Flowers” (Best Pop Solo Performance and Record Of The Year respectively). Those statues were handed to her by Meryl Streep and Mariah Carey, whose presence sent the singer into a bit of a meltdown after the fact. She wore four different dresses and looked great in all of them—an objective fact she acknowledged in her Record Of The Year acceptance speech by thanking “my main gays because look how good I look!” She brought the house down with her first televised performance of her winning single, complete with the same ebullient choreography from the music video and a joyful Tina Turner nod at the end. She looked strong, she looked powerful, and most importantly, she looked like she was having the time of her life. Read More

Christian Bale is building foster homes because he’s the real-life Bruce Wayne

Actor and apparently really good guy Christian Bale broke ground on 12 new homes for foster children

Lauren Patten says Mandy Patinkin told her not to scream so much

The Death And Other Details star says Patinkin was always looking out for her voice