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STANREMEMBERING LEE CREED II Creator of a Marvelous universe TESSA 1922–2018 THOMPSON MICHAEL B. JORDAN THE HEAVYWEIGHT ACTORS SCORE A KO IN THIS HIGHLY ANTICIPATEDSEQUEL BY SARAH RODMAN ADVERTISEMENT

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11 30

2018

“I can’t tell if FEATURES you’re making 12 ajokeorifyou’re Creed II just…French.” Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson discuss their chemistry and upping the drama —Queenie (Alison Sudol), attempting tounderstand Rosier (Poppy ahead of the highly anticipated sequel. Corby-Tuech), in Fantastic Beasts: BY SARAH RODMAN The Crimes of Grindelwald

: WILL HEATH/NBC 18 “Change of plans: I’m now Stan Lee dropping of in order of projected Marvel Studios’ president remembers career earnings. Graham, since the late creator and legend. you’re the only future white male BY KEVIN FEIGE in the car, you’ll be first.” SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE SATURDAY —Douglas (Brad Garrett), during morning 22 carpool, on Single Parents AFI Fest A-list actresses and dynamic directors—like Sandra Bullock and Susanne Bier—told stories

: BOB D’AMICO/ABC; BOB : of complicated women at this year’s event. BY PIYA SINHA-ROY 28 Untold Stories:Power Rangers FRESH OFF THE BOAT The cast of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers reminisce on the show’s success 25 years later. “No one BY PATRICK GOMEZ thinks we have 32 the balls to Green Book pull this of.” : MERRICK MORTON/FOX; Mahershala Ali, Viggo Mortensen, and —Veronica (Viola Davis), director Peter Farrelly reflect on their film rallying her female crew WIDOWS about an unlikely friendship. for their heist, in Widows BY SHIRLEY LI

“We’re so

: F. SCOTT: F. SCHAFER/ABC; NEWS AND REVIEWS in sync, like that COLUMNS 36 music group, 2 Movies Backstreet Boys.” Editor’s Note SINGLE PARENTS SINGLE —Jessica (Constance Wu), 40 4 using a different boy TV band than expected, on The Must List Fresh Off the Boat 48 56 Music The Bullseye 52 : MARK SELIGER/WARNER BROS; SELIGER/WARNER MARK : Books

“Can you imagine being Pete Davidson’s mom? It can’t be ON THE COVER easy when everyone is mad Tessa Thompson and Michael B. Jordan photo- at your son—and roommate.” graphed exclusively for EW by Eric Ray Davidson —Pete Davidson, apologizing for his on Nov. 4, 2018, in Los Angeles controversial joke about wounded veteran THOMPSON STYLING: WAYMAN + MICAH/STARWORKS ARTISTS; HAIR: Dan Crenshaw, on Saturday Night Live LACY REDWAY/NEXXUS/THE WALL GROUP; MAKEUP: KIRIN BHATTY/ ARMANI BEAUTY/STARWORKS ARTISTS; MANICURE: LISA WONG/CND/ OPUS BEAUTY; JACKET, TOP, SKIRT: MIU MIU; RING: JENNY BIRD. JORDAN STYLING: ADE SAMUEL/THEONLY.AGENCY; GROOMING: CAROLA GON- ZALEZ/FORWARD ARTISTS; BARBER: JOVE EDMOND; SHIRT: HERMÈS;

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES GRINDELWALD OF FANTASTIC JACKET: DSQUARED2. PROP STYLING: NICK FAIELLA/ART DEPARTMENT

EW.COM 1 FOLLOW ME: @HenryGoldblatt @HenryGoldblatt

FOR MORE OF DANNY’S STORY, adopted daughter. For the first GO TO EW.COM time, he’s publicly revealing his HIV-positive status. Danny is introspective, articulate, and forthright, and can tell his story myself up for my own bigotry much better than I can; I wanted and assumptions. I’ve been on to give him the forum to do so. such a journey to overcome GOLDBLATT: PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON FRANK ROTHENBERG; STYLING: ANNIE JAG ANNIE STYLING: ROTHENBERG; FRANK BY JASON PHOTOGRAPH GOLDBLATT: that. In a way, this has really SHOP; BARBER POINTS OLVERA/FOUR CHRISTIAN BARBER: MANAGEMENT; [Around 2011] I found out been like my second coming-out: I was HIV-positive. It was such coming to terms with my own a shock because I had always bigotry—and finally being very been a hypochondriac. When I free, confident, and honest. came out, it was the peak of safe The last thing I ever want is pity. sex—even at that point, we I just want people to be aware. seemed to be at the tail end of the I knew so little myself, so I get it. FROM DON’T ASK, AIDS epidemic. At some point, I had a partner who lied [to me Danny taught the world a DON’T TELL TO about his status]. lot when he put a blurred face Those early years [after the to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; this DO ASK, DO TELL diagnosis] were very, very time he’s hoping to reignite difficult and very lonely. You discussion about a disease

Let me reintroduce you to THE REAL WORLD The Real World: New Orleans’ Danny Roberts don’t know who to turn to, and some assume has abated, or people don’t know what to say. would rather not face. ARTISTS LEE/EXCLUSIVE SONIA GROOMING: AGENCY; ONLY GER/THE It’s not something that people If you’re looking to spread : MTV/PHOTOFEST; DANNY COURTESY ROBERTS ROBERTS: FOR MUCH OF THE 1990S, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY PUBLISHED have experience with. There’s a bit of cheer during the holi- an annual tribute that listed every actor, writer, and show- also the likelihood that people day season, may I suggest business executive who had died of AIDS that year. The will judge you about what a donation to the Elton John lists were heartbreaking, of course, and especially frighten- behaviors led to this, and what AIDS Foundation (ejaf.org), ing to those of us who were gay. The disease cut a wide kind of people this happens to. I or amfAR (amfar.org)? swath through the industry: from Michael Peters, the cho- wanted to believe I was enlight- Hope you and yours have a reographer credited for the “Thriller” video; to David Scott ened and informed, but I had to wonderful Thanksgiving. Richardson, a writer on Family Matters; to David B. Fein- face the reality that I wasn’t. berg, one of my favorite authors from the ’80s and ’90s, The f---ed-up part and the who artfully (and even hilariously) chronicled the AIDS reason I want to share this story epidemic in novels and articles. is that I spent so long beating HENRYHENRY GOL GOLDBLATTDBL As treatments improved and deaths from AIDS-related illnesses declined, Entertainment Weekly stopped publishing the lists. But as World AIDS Day approaches (Dec. 1), Danny Roberts (center, with his Real World: New Orleans castmates) is still close to Kelley Limp (center, right), who went on to marry actor Scott Wolf. “She’s it’s important to remember that despite the amazing medi- my life sister and has helped me through this,” he says; (right) Roberts today cal advances, there’s still no cure for HIV. About 40,000 people in the U.S. receive HIV diagnoses each year, according to the most recent ﬁgures available. A few years back, Danny Roberts was one of those people. You may remember Danny from The Real World: New Orleans in 2000. He was the charismatic, kind (and remarkably rational) gay man who became an inadvertent poster child for the movement against the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Danny was dating an officer, and MTV blurred the boyfriend’s face so he wouldn’t be identiﬁed and discharged. Danny, now 41, recently moved to NYC, where he works as a digital-design recruiter and raises a 2½-year-old

2 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 DEAR HIV, WE DIDN’T GIVE UP.

XOXO, SCIENCE

There is no cure, but science is still in the Learn about an HIV-1 battle against HIV. Today’s HIV treatments treatment option at may help you get to undetectable. That means the amount of virus is so low it can’t XOXOSCIENCE.COM TM be measured in lab tests. Ask your healthcare provider about HIV and treatment options.

XOXOSCIENCE.COM, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. © 2018 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. UNBC5531 05/18 THE TOP 10 THINGS WE LOVE THIS WEEK Edited By | MARC SNETIKER @MARCSNETIKER

EMMA ST

The Oscar winner, 30, tells EW’s Tim Stack about playing a mean girl and bullying bunnies

Abigail is probably the meanest character you’ve ever played. Was it fun to walk on the bad side?

Oh, it was amazing. In the beginning, Abi- gail, in the first 30 pages or so, is pretty

meek and charming THE FAVOURITE and sweet and quiet, and then she unfolds. Showing up at work every day and trying : YORGOS LANTHIMOS/FOX SEARCHLIGHT; STONE: MIKE MARSLAND/WIREIMAGE to gauge her point along her journey and what was driving her on a daily basis was just a joy.

You do a ton of physical comedy in this. Was that fun?

I did have a great stunt double, but THE FAVOURITE yeah, there was a lot of falling in mud Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and her cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) and falling down the stairs and slap- battle for the afection of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) in this dark ping and getting 18th-century-set comedy from visionary director Yorgos Lanthimos. slapped and fighting. Imagine Heathers meets Howards End—and enjoy. (Nov. 23) It was like a daily

4 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 5 WORDS ON THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE!’S 5TH ANNIVERSARY The hillswerealive, kinda.

[question] of “What’s going to happen SINCE U to Abigail today?” BEEN JOHN*

You have a wild fight/ Eric Bana, 50, explains why his men- love scene with co- acing lover contains star Joe Alwyn. Was DIRTY multitudes—even if that choreographed? he’s not to be trusted. BY DAVID CANFIELD A lot of the elements were choreographed, but it was alsoafree- JOHN LONELY JOHN for-all. It was a roam- ing camera, and we Bravo’s delicious crime When Bana first lis- sort of just went for it, drama (based on the pod- tened to thepodcast, but there were cer- cast of the same name) he was immediately tain beats that we unfurls the true story of compelledbyJohn’s needed to hit, like the businesswoman Debra isolation. “Hedidn’t rolling on the ground (Connie Britton) falling seem to have any and then me kneeing friends or close family hard for a man (Eric Bana) him in the balls. nearby—that really she met online who’s far piqued my interest,” more dangerous than she Queen Anne has 17 Bana explains. perceives. With its two rabbits in the film. “I always find that Were they divas to unforgettable lead perfor- to be a highly suspi- work with? mances, John strikes cious thing about a perfect balance of sexy, someone.Whatmakes scary, sad, and comic. You’d think they’d them mysterious (Bravo, Nov. 25, 10 p.m.) be divasbecause also oftenmakes them very dangerous.” they’re so beautiful, but they were very, very personable. They were incredibly ROMANTIC JOHN sweet. They dopee WhenDebraand a lot. I think when John launchinto Olivia was in bed with their steamy romance, them, she was feel- it’s too good to be ing little wet patches believed. Well, almost. every once in a while. “Initially, they share abond and avery At one point, Abigail passionate romance; purposely steps I don’t think all that on one of the rabbits. was necessarilymade Was that difficult up by him,” Bana to film? teases.“Thisallows the audience to Yeah, I hated it. But believe thatthis is they have handlers something real— that are so protective that it won’t go badly of them, and they’re after all.” Spoiler alert: so great with them. It It does. didn’t hurt the rabbit, what I had to do, but just the concept of LYING JOHN NINO MUNOZ/NBC NINO :

C it mademesick to my stomach. It’s also just Of course, this isn’t such a great moment the pitch-perfect lover for that character, John is presenting himself as—he’s got SOUND OF MUSI

; because you realize, a dark side that was in that moment, important for Bana to she is at a point of indicate at the outset. cruelty to something “Anytime we can see so small and vulner- someone is telling able, and it’s just to a lie,italwayslaysa

: NICOLE WILDER/BRAVO : exercise her power. sort of mistrust—and It’s just a gross, unre-

OHN we have plenty of deemable moment that early on,” says

DIRTY J for this person. the actor.

*ALL THE REJECTED HEADLINESFOR THIS INTERVIEW: 1. Breaking John2.JohnofAll Trades 3. Ready Player John BIRTHDAY BUDDIES (NOV. 23) Boris Karloff |Har Harpopo Mar Marx | Mileyl Cyrus

INSIDE BLACK MIRROR by Charlie Brooker, Annabel Jones, and Jason Arnopp

The award-winning anthology gets a scholarly breakdown in this tell-all tome that co-showrunner Brooker hopes might dispel a few myths. “Some people think the show is created by Unabomber types who despise all technology,” he says. “It’s not that at all! We’re quite self-deprecating. We’ve got a good sense of humor.”

SECRETS OF SAN JUNIPERO Brooker and the book have much more to say about that fan-favorite ’80s episode. BY CHRISTIAN HOLUB

Season 3’s Emmy-winning now old and moved them episode has been justly cel- into this house [they ebrated for its sweet love had] redecorated like the story between Kelly (Gugu ’70s...and it was like they Mbatha-Raw) and Yorkie threw their walking sticks (Mackenzie Davis), but away,” says Brooker. At one Brooker is surprised more point, he wanted Kelly people don’t talk about its and Yorkie to travel to the other protagonists: elderly ’20s, but it was the ’80s set- women in a VR simulator. ting that captured director The episode was inspired Owen Harris’ imagination— by The Young Ones, a 2010 and allowed Black Mirror BBC documentary in which to add to the story with a “they took celebrities who marriage that, at the time, had been famous and were was just as unlikely.

6 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 THE GREATEST SHOWMAN: REIMAGINED

The greatest show just got even greater. The soundtrack to last year’s surprise musical blockbuster—starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum—now gets a Top 40 makeover with covers from pop’s biggest stars, including Kelly Clarkson (“Never Enough”), Pink (“A Million Dreams”), Panic! At the Disco (“The Greatest Show”), and Missy Elliott (“This Is Me”). Perfect for holiday gath- erings and SoulCycle classes.

3 KELLY QUESTIONS WITH CLAARKSON

What’s your relation- theater is so power- ship to the film The ful. I remember being Greatest Showman? a high school sopho- more and doing a I heard the music choir trip to New York, MICHAELYO: before I saw it and it and we saw Les Mis amped me up; then and I literally cried. one night I stayed up And it wasn’t even late and watched it, any of the big stuf! It was, like, Jean BLASIAN and it was so incredible. It was kind of Valjean’s prayer song! how I felt when I was As the son of a black man and an Asian younger and saw What will it take to get woman, comedian Michael Yo, 44, Moulin Rouge! It’s rare you to do a musical? didn’t know where he fit in growing up, to have a movie musi- but in his first stand-up special, Yo cal so moving, inspir- My predicament is, finds the humor in both halves of his ing, and just cool. I don’t want to settle identity. “I’m black and Asian and for less than doing it proud to be both,” says Yo, the host of You also sang on The on Broadway. But The Michael Yo Show (Monday–Friday Hamilton Mixtape in we’re shooting The at 2 p.m. on SiriusXM’s EW Radio). “You 2016. What do you like Voice, then I’m doing don’t have to run away from it and be about cover albums? a talk show, then confused about what pocket you fit in.” we’re going on tour... Yo hopes Blasian “sets the precedent As an artist that grew so there’s just never for everything I want to do moving for- up in musical theater, time to do it. Like, lit- ward in my career,” adding, “I want to it’s a cool thing for us erally, never enough. unify people through comedy, not tear to get to do. Musical —Marc Snetiker people apart.” (iTunes, Nov. 27)

KARLOFF: HISTORIA/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK; MARX: PICTORIAL PARADE/GETTY IMAGES; CYRUS: KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES; CLARKSON: ROY ROCHLIN/GETTY IMAGES; CLARKSON (INSET): PHILLIP FARAONE/GETTY IMAGES; URIE: CARLOS ALVAREZ/GETTY IMAGES; JACKMAN: NIKO TAVERNISE/ FOX; ; ELLIOT: BENNETT RAGLIN/GETTY IMAGES; PINK: SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREIMAGE; MICHAEL YO: BLASIAN: COMEDY DYNAMICS MIX COMPANY A breakdown of the girl groups and boy bands that climbed the charts this year. BY RUTH KINANE

BTS

Theseven-member South Korean boy band’s international appeal is a lotmoreobvious thantheir titular acronym.

RED VELVET

This K-pop girl group has all the sugary goodness of their name- sake dessert, but with far more LITTLE MIX synchronized choreo. LM5

With Fifth Harmony of the grid, it’s time to wise up to the best girl group in pop today—an infectiously self-confident British quartet whose past U.S. hits (“Shout Out to My Ex,” “Black 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER Magic”) laid the groundwork for Say g’day to the Aussie pop-rock an energized fifth album, which band that went from scooping up fans on YouTube to touring channels 2018’s female rage into with One Direction. a perfect assemblage of close- to-home ballads and catchy club bangers. Mix up your playlist!

WHY DON’T WE

This fresh-faced U.S. five-piece scored a hit with “8 Letters,” and if they’re lucky, they’ll enjoy just as many years of success.

LITTLE MIX: DAVID WOLFF-PATRICK/GETTY IMAGES; BTS: CBS PHOTO ARCHIVE/ GETTY IMAGES; RED VELVET: VCG/GETTY IMAGES; 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER: KATJA OGRIN/REDFERNS; WHY DON’T WE: STEVE JENNINGS/GETTY IMAGES RETWEET Detective Pikachu LIKE Sherlock Gnomes UNFOLLOW Tax Investigator Grape Ape ROMA A sweeping tale of a familiar woman often under- represented on film, director Alfonso Cuarón’s lavish Roma elevates the ordinary life of an indig- enous Mexican maid into an artistic ode—and an early front-runner in the Oscar race. (Out in limited theaters on Nov. 21 and on Netflix Dec. 14)

CHRIS CORNELL More than a year after his suicide at 52, one of rock’s most prolific voices gets a career-spanning self-titled release that pays tribute to all eras of his career— from the grungy depths of Soundgarden to his less-heralded (though no less poignant) solo work. The deluxe version includes 11 unreleased tracks, including an emotional, lush acoustic cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

do it,” he tells EW. The Almost every shot is Mexican filmmaker, a subtle comment 57,dove into his own on class and race, and memories to craft although Cleo is THE ROAD ROMA Roma, a black-and- based on a real maid TO white tale set in who helped raise Mexico City in 1971 Cuarón, she’s a charac- following the life of ter whonevertheless Cleo (newcomer “comes from a He’s tackled a road- Yalitza Aparicio), a completely diferent trip movie (YTu middle-class family’s microcosm. She’s Mamá También), con- maid.Though it the same as many jured up a Wizarding comes directly from characters in the film: World spectacle his childhood memo- invisible.” Less invisi- (Harry Potter and the ries, Cuarón did ble is the praise for Prisoner of Azkaban), not want the film to Roma, which critics and tormented San- be simply nostalgic. have called Cuarón’s dra Bullock in space In writing, directing, magnum opus. But (Gravity)—and for his producing,and the designation rat- next trick, Alfonso shooting the movie, tles. “It was a film Cuarón wanted to Cuarón strove to I had to do,” he says. make a film “that I paint it with “my cur- “I hopeIhavemany don’t know how to do, rent point of view more films inside me.” so I’m motivated to about things,” he says. —Piya Sinha-Roy

CUARON: TIBRINA HOBSON/WIREIMAGE; ROMA:CARLOS SOMONTE/NETFLIX; CORNELL: RAPHAEL DIAS/GETTY IMAGES FANTASTIC BEASTS

1. CHEWBACCA 2. NICHOLAS HOULT FIRE 3. GROVER 4. KELSEY GRAMMER AND BLOOD by George R.R. Martin

An imaginary history of the Targaryen dynasty set hun- dreds of years before HBO’s Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin’s new 736-page epic covers generations of conquest, duels, betrayals, and—for all you romantics—a fair bit of incest. It’s a rousing, dragon-stufed dose of Westerosi storytelling to tide us over as we continue our long watch for the sixth Ice and Fire novel, The Winds of Winter. Martin talks to EW’s James Hibberd about the massive undertaking.

Dragons], who switches Are there any hints here in sides several times, is terms of what’s to come the prototypical Wester- in your Ice and Fire saga? osi gray character. He There are a few that are does some heroic things definitely important, but [and] some appalling, I’m not going to flag vile things. He’s a compli- them. Readers will have cated guy and a lot of fun to find them and puzzle to write about. out whether they’re hints or red herrings. There’s some play with GEORGE R.R. shifting perspectives, too, Overall, what excites you like your Ice and Fire books. most about this book? Yes. This is not a tradi- It’s a lot of fun. The people MARTIN tional novel. It’s written in who are open to reading the style of a textbook, an imaginary history MY BRILLIANT which is quite a diferent and not a novel, which Why a book on the style and is deliberately I realize is not everybody, Targaryens? that way, and hopefully have enjoyed it so far.

FRIEND They’re distinctly diferent people enjoy it on that But honestly, the single MY BRILLIANT FRIEND from every other Wester- basis. But like a historian thing that excites me Despite not knowing her real name, readers osi family. They’re kings. today writing about the most is that I finished it. love author Elena Ferrante like a close rela- They’re practicing incest Civil War, they weren’t I know there are a lot of tive. Now her beloved Neapolitan Novels—a like the ancient Egyptians present during the Civil people out there who are quartet of books tracing the life of a female

to try to keep the blood- War, and sometimes very angry with me that IMAGES MCINTYRE/GETTY EMMA MARTIN: CASTALDO/HBO; : EDUARDO friendship—become a coming-of-age TV line pure. And they have there are contradictory The Winds of Winter isn’t epic, starting with the eye-catching Friend, the dragons, which accounts. So I had some finished. And I’m mad the year’s most vivid, romantic, and soul- nobody else has. You can fun with inventing imagi- about that myself. I’ve had searing teen drama. (HBO, Nov. 18, 9 p.m.) never go wrong with a nary primary sources—like dark nights of the soul dragon. So sure, I could do with the Dance of Drag- where I’ve pounded my a book about what was ons, I get to tell the same head against the key- happening with the Tyrells diferent events in board, where I’ve said, at Highgarden, but I don’t three diferent ways. “God, will I ever finish this? think it would be as juicy. The show is going further and further forward, Do you have a favorite and I’m falling further character in this timeline? and further behind. What I love gray characters. the hell is happening Daemon Targaryen, here?” So to finish a book who is at the center of that I’m proud of was the [Targaryen civil war emotionally a big lift dubbed the Dance of for me. Cuckoo Clock

On the hour, Zero emerges and the clock plays the beloved song from Danny Elfman’s brilliant score, “This is Halloween”

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Address Shown much smaller than actual size of about 21in. H. City State Zip (including weights) Requires 3 “AAA” and 1 “AA” Email (optional) batteries (not included). 01-18084-001-E51202 ©Disney *Plus a total of $24.99 shipping and service; see bradfordexchange.com Limited-edition presentation restricted to 295 crafting days. Please allow 4-8 weeks after initial www.bradfordexchange.com/nightmareclock payment for shipment. Sales subject to product availability and order acceptance. Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson photographed exclusively for EW on Nov. 4, 2018, in Los Angeles BY SARAH RODMAN @SarahARodman

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERIC RAY DAVIDSON @ericraydavidson MICHAEL B. JORDAN is doing that thing where he makes his pecs pulse up and down, and Tessa Thompson is cracking up. The actors have convened to discuss reprising their roles as Adonis Creed and Bianca Taylor in Creed II, out Nov. 21. They display an easy rapport that manifests as attentiveness, afirmation, and gentle ribbing, as well as friendly hand-holding, which the costars maintain throughout the chat. That chemistry was evident on screen in 2015’s Creed, the blockbuster spin-of from the Rocky franchise, which pivoted the point of view from Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa to that of fiery boxer Adonis, son of Rocky’s rival-turned- BFF Apollo Creed. (Stallone, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and won the Golden Globe for Creed, co-wrote the sequel screenplay and returns as the aging but still vital trainer Balboa.) ¶ Creed II takes some of its cues from 1985’s Rocky IV, during which Apollo was killed in the ring by Soviet superfighter Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in what was supposed to be a friendly, publicity-building exhibition match. The new film also has echoes of 1979’s Rocky II, with a deepening romantic relationship and an expanding family. But the new branch of the franchise resolutely retains its own contemporary flavor, from the music to the attitude. While the younger Creed’s prepa- ration for and fight with Viktor “son of Ivan” Drago (played by man-mountain Florian Munteanu) is given ample screen time, the dramatic stakes are also raised outside of the ring. ¶ “It felt good to collaborate with two people who knew what I was trying to do but also were in this world before,” says director Steven Caple Jr., who was handed the reins to the sequel (see review, page 38) by Creed director Ryan Coogler. “I had a lot of freedom to play with them because they already knew their characters.” ¶ EW chatted with Jordan, 31, and Thompson, 35, about rising up, straight to the top, and making sure their voices are heard.

You must have been excited to get back [film] to the second. I thought there was enough inner life that she could occupy her LOUBOUTIN; THOMPSON DRESS: CALVIN KLEIN 205W39NYC; TOP, into this world. Did you go back and watch an opportunity to do something nice with own narrative entirely. We were trying not ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA; RING: BVLGARI; BOOTS: CHRISTIAN BOOTS: BVLGARI; RING: ZEGNA; ERMENEGILDO Rocky IV to brush up on the Drago drama? ours in terms of an homage to that. to be precious, but I wanted to continue (PREVIOUS SPREAD) JORDAN COAT, SWEATER, PANTS: MICHAEL B. JORDAN Yeah, Rocky IV is one of that in this next part of the journey. We my favorites, so I was familiar with the whole And there’s much more meat to your both have grown since we made the first beef that they had. Just getting back into that character this time, Tessa. film, and at a certain point you don’t want definitely got me amped up to play this part. THOMPSON Yes, I think for me, more to be just a cog in something moving, you SHORTS: VEX; SHOES: LE SILLA TESSA THOMPSON You know what I did go important than the actual page space is want to be instrumental to the organism of back and watch was Rocky II, just to get a just that it felt like the character was devel- it. Mike is producing on this one. We’ve sense of what they did with [Rocky’s wife] oping. What we were able to do in the first always had skin in the game, but we’re both Adrian in that film, and how those charac- Creed was create a character that felt very hitting a point in our careers where we ters started their family and how their singular, a woman that felt like she had her want to really… relationship transitioned from the first own agency, that felt like she had a rich JORDAN …be involved in the process. There’s something quietly revolutionary JORDAN Yes. One thousand percent inten- and to be promoting this movie that, in my about these movies: You’ve taken tional. As broad as we want it to be and as estimation, is black as hell. And the folks a globally beloved, mass-appeal fran- accessible to everybody, we try to find that were engaging were all sorts of people. chise and transitioned to a black moments to make it very specific for us. We To me, that does a tremendous amount to protagonist without making a big deal deserve that. You know, what black love humanize our experience. about that. But you’ve also added would be like, what are the things that we touches that will resonate specifically would be doing? Like, if she needed help You’ve had interesting career parallels. with black audiences. I’m thinking of taking out her hair, that’s what I would do. You both first gained notice on critically the moment in the first film when Creed That’s what I did for my sister, my mother, acclaimed TV series—Michael on The is helping Bianca with her hair, or in what I would do for my girlfriend, wife. We Wire and Tessa on Veronica Mars—and the new film when he’s giving Rocky a tried to do it as much as we could. then steadily built toward this peak by hard time about his baby-name sugges- THOMPSON For me, it felt very powerful in balancing provocative indie projects like

(THIS PAGE) JORDAN MIU SHIRT: HERMES; SKIRT: JACKET: TOP, DSQUARED2; JACKET, THOMPSON PANTS: BALMAIN; SHOES; BOSS; HUGO MIU; SHOES: ADEAM; RING: JENNY BIRD tions. Was that intentional? the ﬁrst Creed to go on those steps in Philly Fruitvale Station and Dear White People

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 15 with the giant Marvel movies Black smaller project, remind people why you’re in a global space but also do things that ABR OEEMN;TOPO TLN:WYA + MICAH/STARWO WAYMAN STYLING: THOMPSON EDMOND; JOVE BARBER: WALL GROUP; MAKEUP: KIRIN BHATTY/ARMANI BEAUTY/STARWORKS ARTISTS BEAUTY/STARWORKS BHATTY/ARMANI KIRIN MAKEUP: GROUP; WALL

Panther and Thor: Ragnarok… here—become a household name and then you care about that are rooted in some- GROO SAMUEL/THEONLY.AGENCY; ADE STYLING: JORDAN (PHOTOSHOOT) JORDAN It’s crazy. We’re adulting now! always go back to the smaller films, the thing? Because to me, that’s the future. I [Laughs] We sit amongst each other like, heartfelt projects with a message. It’s a really love going in between each. “Yo, ain’t it crazy how we’re adults now? good balance. Like, how weird is this?” THOMPSON [Laughs] Says the mini- Have you taken a moment to soak up the THOMPSON Except our characters are a mogul. I make fun of him because I admire success of the past couple of years? skosh ahead of us in terms of adulting. it. And that sort of forward thinking and THOMPSON To be honest, I feel a great ’Cause they’re actually, like, parents. They’re ownership over destiny and legacy. [To amount of gratitude for having made the really committing to each other. [Laughs] Jordan] It’s something I’m inspired by in first Creed because I think it did a lot for us. you. I never thought about making big Not just in terms of other jobs. I mean, it’s Was that mix of big and small a specific movies because I just couldn’t see myself no surprise that we went on to do Marvel career choice? inside of them. That’s been broken open, movies; I know that [Marvel Studios presi- JORDAN Intentional. In the beginning, I but I couldn’t imagine myself inside of a dent] Kevin Feige and those guys loved that always wanted to do independent films. I huge franchise because, with the excep- film, so I think it probably put us on certain PROP STYLING: NICK FAIELLA/ART DEPARTMENT FAIELLA/ART NICK STYLING: PROP RKS ARTISTS; HAIR: LACY REDWAY/NEXXUS/THE LACY HAIR: ARTISTS; RKS MING: CAROLA GONZALEZ/FORWARD ARTISTS; GONZALEZ/FORWARD CAROLA MING: felt like that was gonna be my calling card tion of a few women of color, it just didn’t people’s radar. But then also in terms of the BEAUTY; WONG/CND/OPUS LISA ; MANICURE: to the industry—“Oh, this guy can connect, exist. And then, it was with some level of process of getting to make a movie that you he can lead a movie.” Even to myself, I just trepidation that I took on Thor. I thought work so hard on and you’re incredibly wanted to know if I could carry a film, back of Creed—because it wasn’t a franchise at proud of and the experience of making it when we did Fruitvale. And then, after- the time—as an indie film. I was working with collaborators that understand you. wards, you start to think about the bigger with two indie filmmakers, Ryan That you can push each other—that, to me, picture: How do you become a leading [Coogler] and Michael. So that’s been the sets a bar in a new way. So, after making man? How do you become international? thing for me: How do you marry some- that movie, I had a real idea of the kinds of And for me, it’s always been bigger project, thing that does give people access to you films that I wanted to make. And also make something that could be for everyone but also specific, that expands our ideas of the humanity of all people on a huge scale.

It may sound corny, but a lot of people who have loved the Rocky movies and now love the Creed movies find them very inspirational when they are going through tough times. Have fans relayed inspiring about the film too is the central kitchen above the sink. I also have some other those stories to you? idea of “Who’s in your corner?” And the [action figures] of women friends of mine. JORDAN Yes. It’s not corny at all. I think the power of family and community. To think JORDAN It’s a posse sitting around waiting power of cinema and movies and storytell- of friends and family—whether it’s related for you. ing—that’s what it’s for, it’s for healing, it’s by blood or your chosen family—going to THOMPSON Yeah, I have Lupita [Nyong’o’s for inspiration. It’s to help people dream, to see the film around the time when we’re character from Black Panther].... Evan get over hard times, as an escape from their all together [at the holidays] is really Rachel Wood from Westworld. There’s, like, reality. The Rocky films, they did that. If the exciting. I know this does sound cheesy, a funny little mash-up of women just chilling Creed franchise can have that same effect, I but I’m going to own it. I don’t care, there when I wash the dishes. [To Jordan] think we’ve done our job. I’ve had kids and because I think it’s really important. I don’t have Killmonger, I’m so sorry. older adults—men, women—come up to me and say, “You motivated me to get up in the Both of you have action figures of your Michael, do you have Valkyrie? morning and go to the gym.” “You motivated characters Killmonger and Valkyrie. Tell JORDAN I don’t. I don’t have a lot, though. me to stick to this diet.” So, yeah, I’ve expe- the truth, have you played with your toys? I’ll get it. rienced that, for sure. It’s incredible. JORDAN Oh, yes. Yes. THOMPSON [With a smile] I’ll give it to you. THOMPSON I think something that’s really THOMPSON Mm-hmm. I have mine in my I have an extra one. X

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 17 STAN1922 2018 LEE

After helping create countless characters with seminal story lines, Stan Lee leaves behind a legacy bigger than them all. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shares what “The Man” meant to him, and the world.

By KEVIN FEIGE as told to Anthony Breznican It was difficult for Stan Lee to choose a favorite creation, but Peter Parker and his alter ego Spider-Man loomed large over the legendary comics creator’s career You’ve heard the legend, which I think is true, that when Stan Lee was a young writer at Marvel Comics he was tired of doing the same old thing, and his wife, Joan, encouraged him to write the kind of stories he wanted to read.

THAT’S WHAT LED TO THE FANTASTIC FOUR. Then Hulk, and Spider-Man. Then Iron Man, and the X-Men, and everything else. He realized in the midst of his amazing 1960s run what he was creating, that people were responding to his characters the same way he responded to ancient myths that he read as a kid, and he went, “Wait a minute. Lemme turn one of those characters into a hero.” And we got Thor, we got Odin, we got Loki, we got Hela. Stan was a charismatic, well-spoken cheerleader for his characters and for the medium of comics in general. Also, he was a very progressive storyteller. He took risks, and he wrote what he believed. You see the quote going around

from one of his old “Stan’s Soapbox” IMAGES VISALLI/GETTY SANTI LEE: IMAGES,

columns about how “a story without a (PREVIOUS SPREAD) EVAN HURD/GETTY message is like a man without a soul.” an African—not even African-American, Wow, is that true, and wow, that is appar- an African—character to their stories ent in all the stories he told. who was smarter and wealthier and more What director Ryan Coogler was able technologically advanced than any other to do with Black Panther would not exist hero. This was at the height of the civil if not for Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby rights movement, and that’s astounding taking a quote-unquote “risk” bringing in to me. He really had a good heart. He

20 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 BEHOLD!

Lee poses in the New SPIDER-MAN! York offices of Marvel Comics in June 1978, showing off one of his recent collections, 1977’s EW IS A FLY, ER, SPIDER ON THE WALL The Superhero Women TO ONE OF LEE’S MOST FAMOUS IDEAS

believed in the best of humanity. He WHEN STAN LEE DIED a hero really is!’ ” on Nov. 12 at age 95, the also believed in the flaws of humanity, Spider-Man was saved writer, editor, creator, and from oblivion because one and that the ﬂaws could be overcome. publisher left behind a of Marvel’s brands, a Twilight Stan explored intimate questions universe of heroes who will Zone-style rip-of called and struggles, and he had a desire endure for ages to come. Amazing Fantasy, was shut- One of the Marvel scribe’s ting down. “When you’re for understanding identity. It might personal favorites was Peter doing the last issue of a be an obvious thing to say, but Stan Lee Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, magazine you’re about to got his messages across in a way that who came to life in 1962 as kill, nobody really cares what was also compelling and entertaining, Lee tried to come up with you put in it,” Lee said. “So an encore for the Fantastic I figured I’d get Spider-Man and held an audience’s interest. Four and the Incredible out of my system.” Some of his lessons are unspoken. Hulk. He found inspiration The book went to print, He didn’t come to set and read the creeping up his office wall. and everyone at Marvel for- scripts and review the cuts. He came in, “When you try to create a got about the wall-crawler. new superhero, you have to “Then a couple months later, did a cameo that excited everybody, and keep creating a superpower when sales figures came in, would let his work speak for itself. that’s diferent,” Lee told this the publisher came to me He was very nice in my interactions reporter in 2002. “While I was and said, ‘Stan, you remem- with him, including what ended up thinking, I saw a fly crawling ber that character that we on the wall and I thought, both liked, that Spider-Man being my final conversation with ‘That would be cool!’ The of yours?… Why don’t we him less than two weeks ago. next thing I needed was a make a series out of him?’ I went to his house to see him, and he name. Crawl-Man? Nah, that “And lo,” Lee concluded, reminisced about the cameos. We were didn’t have it. Insect-Man? a megawatt smile flashing I ran down the list. Mosquito- beneath his mustache, talking about what was coming up, Man, Beetle-Man, Fly-Man. “a legend was born.” always looking to the future. Did he Then I hit on...Spider-Man.” —ANTHONY BREZNICAN know that his time was running out? I Lee joined forces with don’t know. In hindsight, he was slightly artist and fellow storyteller Spider-Man’s first appearance, in Steve Ditko—who died this more wistful than I’d seen him before. Amazing Fantasy #15, August 1962 past summer at age 90— He talked about the past more than I had to create a hapless teenager ever heard him talk about the past. So who develops incredible maybe on some level, he knew. powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. When I sat down by his chair in our The only problem was that last meeting, the very ﬁrst thing he said Marvel’s publisher (and was: “I know you want me to star in the Lee’s cousin-in-law), Martin next movie, but I have to just stick to the Goodman, hated the idea. “I was told in chapter and cameos. You’ll have to leave the starring verse that it was the worst roles to the other actors. I’m sorry.” idea he’d ever heard,” Lee He would show up to the movie sets said of Goodman. “ ‘People game for anything. But one thing he hate spiders! You can’t call a hero Spider-Man!’ ‘Stan, would always do is try to add more lines. don’t you understand that He always would joke—but not really teenagers can only be side- joke—about wanting more lines, kicks?’ When I told him that : ©MARVEL although he understood why we couldn’t. I wanted Peter Parker to have a lot of problems and worries God forbid he would start to over- and be unsure of himself, shadow the hero. That was something a he said, ‘Ugh! It’s obvious you

AMAZING FANTASY AMAZING character like Stan Lee could easily do. have no conception of what

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 21 POWER

The power of twos: Bird Box’s Sandra Bullock and director Susanne Bier; Destroyer director Karyn Kusama and Nicole Kidman. All portraits photographed exclusively at the EW and Audi Photo Booth at AFI Fest in November 2018 in Hollywood. The stories of complicated women collide at the AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE AFI FEST, where A-list actresses combined forces with dynamic directors to play leads who are forced to fight in a world skewed against them.

Written By PIYA SINHA-ROY @PIYASROY

Photographs By EMILY SHUR @EMILYSHUR PAI R S shown on page 22

ACTRESS SANDRA BULLOCK

DIRECTOR SUSANNE BIER FILM BIRD BOX

RELEASE DATE 12.21

SANDRA BULLOCK HAS ORGA- nized heists, participated in beauty pageants, proposed to Ryan Reynolds, and saved lives with Keanu Reeves in films spanning more than three decades. But the Oscar winner has never spent the majority of a film blind- folded—until Bird Box. It was the challenges of inhabiting a world where sight is a fatal weakness that drew Bul- lock to tap into a diferent set of skills. “I was naturally doing what you would do if you’re only following sound, which is stum- bling around,” she tells EW. Bullock teamed up with Danish director Susanne Bier to play Mal- orie, who is trapped in a world where humans are seemingly “infected” by a force that causes them to violently kill themselves. The film flits between the past, “She’s the right one to tell this story,” Margot Robbie (right) says of first-time filmmaker Josie Rourke when the phenomenon first hits, and five years later, when Malorie constructs a survival strategy ACTRESS MARGOT ROBBIE IS NO “We were thinking about Eliza- while caring for two children. stranger to playing real-life char- beth as the opposite of how peo- “You think she’s being harsh MARGOT acters, notably the controversial ple portray her—to see her as and brash and cut of and militant, ROBBIE ice-skating star Tonya Harding vulnerable,” the filmmaker says. but the only way she knows how in last year’s I, Tonya. But when Rourke, the artistic director of DIRECTOR to help these kids survive—and she was asked to play England’s London’s Donmar Warehouse the- her love is so deep for them—is to fiery-haired, alabaster-skinned ater, wanted to rectify the long- JOSIE Queen Elizabeth I in the period be militant,” Bullock explains. ROURKE parsed history of Elizabeth I and For Bier—who directed the drama Mary Queen of Scots, she her estranged cousin Mary Stuart Oscar-winning film In a Better FILM says she hesitated. “All the right (played by Saoirse Ronan), a rela- World—Bullock was the only elements were there, but I didn’t tionship that Rourke says has actress she considered for the MARY feel worthy of the character,” the often been presented as “an epic role. “I wouldn’t have done this QUEEN OF Australian actress tells EW. catfight.” Mary reigned over Scot- movie if Sandra hadn’t played It was a “beautiful letter” from land and had a rival claim to the

Malorie,” the filmmaker says. SCOTS first-time film director Josie throne of England. The film SET DESIGN BY NICHOLAS FAIELLA/ART DEPT Bier’s key challenge was RELEASE DATE Rourke that changed Robbie’s explores the sovereignty of both maintaining an emotional con- mind. “She said, ‘Stop thinking of women and how their tug-of-war nection to a lead whose eyes 12.7 her as a queen and focus on her was exacerbated and manipu- are covered during the film’s as a woman,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, lated by the ambitious politics of tensest moments. “When you sure, I know how to play a young the men surrounding them. “His- look at somebody’s eyes, they tell woman,’” Robbie continues. tory would have run a very difer- you how they feel and what’s Rourke adds that she and ent course had events and male going on with them, and Sandra Robbie came to an understand- advisers not gotten in their way to does that without being able to ing that this film would be “an knock them of the course of their use her eyes.” origin story” for England’s queen. friendship,” Rourke says.

24 EW.COM Progress is driving the narrative forward. Introducing the all-new Audi A6. Audi is proud to be the presenting sponsor of AFI FEST. Progress moves the world forward. That’s why we created the Audi Fellowship for female directors. Because their stories need to be told. #DriveProgress

ACTRESS NICOLE KIDMAN

DIRECTOR KARYN KUSAMA

FILM DESTROYER

RELEASE DATE

12.25

IT WOULD BE MISLEADING TO call Oscar winner Nicole Kidman’s weary, battered, avenging LAPD detective in Destroyer a gender- flipped role. “This story only works because she’s a mother; I don’t think you can just flip it for it to be a father,” Kidman says. “I feel this is very female. It may not be a female we’re used to seeing on screen, but that’s the limitations of the industry and the storytelling.” It’s a description that’s also befitting of her director, Karyn Kusama, who has conjured an array of nontraditional female leads in her films, from the trail- blazing boxer played by Michelle Rodriguez in Girlfight to the savvy, savage succubus immortalized by Megan Fox in Jennifer’s Body. “She’s very female, but she’s “Mimi created the most relaxed set that I’ve ever been on,” muscular in her style, and she’s not Felicity Jones (right) says of her On the Basis of Sex director, Mimi Leder sentimental,” Kidman says of her director. “I love that she’s like that... she doesn’t make romantic com- ACTRESS WHEN TASKED WITH CAPTUR- about her, and it allowed Felicity edies; it’s not part of her makeup. ing the life of the extraordinary and I to really dig deep.” FELICITY This film is very true of her spirit.” Supreme Court Justice Ruth For Leder, Jones perfectly In Destroyer, Kidman plays JONES Bader Ginsburg on the big inhabited the role of Justice alcoholic detective Erin Bell, who DIRECTOR screen, director Mimi Leder and Ginsburg, meticulously captur- goes through a brutal under- British actress Felicity Jones ing her walk, talk, and attitude. cover stint with drug dealers in MIMI knew that they had to go directly “Felicity has great depth and her younger years. The film jumps LEDER to the source material: the Noto- great understanding of people,” Leder says. between the past and present, FILM rious RBG herself. exploring how she ends up so “It was like a first date,” Leder Jones, meanwhile, leaned on physically and emotionally bro- ON THE recalls of her first meeting at the Leder’s wealth of experience. BASIS The filmmaker, who’s helmed ken; Kidman plays both incarna- OF SEX home of Justice Ginsburg, who tions. It’s a choice not often seen was closely involved in the pro- movies like Deep Impact and in films that tend to use younger RELEASE DATE duction of On the Basis of Sex. directed many episodes of hits actors for flashbacks, but one The film focuses on the judge’s like The West Wing and The Left- that Kidman said she insisted on— 12.25 early years as a lawyer and her overs, ran a set that Jones says and Kusama deemed necessary. marriage to Marty Ginsburg was “equally divided between “We see this woman when she’s (played by Armie Hammer). “I’m men and women.” beautiful and reckless, but she asking her all these personal “The film is very much about has hope and feels like every- questions so that I can really get the creation of RBG, so the fal- thing is in front of her,” the film- into the character of young Ruth tering and the missteps and the maker explains. “And then to see Bader Ginsburg—what was failures, and having to keep how that has curdled, you really going on in her mind at the time, fighting—it shows every step of feel the relationship between why was Marty the one. It was so the way how it wasn’t the easiest [Bell’s] two lives.” great discovering the truisms for her,” Jones says.

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TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER THEIR SUPERHERO SERIES BECAME AN INSTANT PHENOMENON, THE ORIGINAL CAST OF SABAN’S MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS LOOKS BACK ON THEIR TIME IN SPANDEX

BY PATRICK GOMEZ @PATRICKGOMEZLA ILLUSTRATION BY CESAR ST. MARTIN @CESAR_STMARTIN It all started in a hotel room. Music producer Haim Saban, now 74, was watching TV while visiting Tokyo in 1984 when he came across the popular Super Sentai franchise. HAIM SABAN I was lying in bed, flipping through the three channels that were basically showing Japanese game shows. And then this show came on where I saw five kids in spandex battling monsters, and—I ( CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE ) “The suits were sort of like wearing pajamas. The uncomfortable part was the helmet,” says David might come across as a bit of a Yost (far left with Thuy Trang, Jason David Frank, Austin St. John, Amy Jo Johnson, and Walter Emanuel Jones in 1993); “The child here—I fell in love. I command center used to be freezing cold. Wearing nothing but spandex, we used to hold each other just to stay warm,” adds thought it’d be a great oppor- St. John (far left with Jones, Frank, and Yost at the 2017 movie premiere of Power Rangers); the Rangers in action tunity [to create an American version of Super Sentai]. I’d never seen anything like it on TRANG, who passed away at 27 borrowed somebody’s glasses “Well, you know, your next job TV in Europe or Israel or in 2001 [see sidebar]). and shirt and buttoned it will be bigger or better.” America. Action scenes are the AUSTIN ST. JOHN I wasn’t an crooked and came back and WALTER EMANUEL JONES most expensive to shoot, but actor. I was actually in high said, “Please let me read for I remember in the original you didn’t see their faces in the school. I taught martial arts on Billy.” pilot, when we’d say, “It’s mor- battle scenes, so I thought, the side, and I’d been teaching ST. JOHN When I met up with phin’ time!” our faces would “You can use the [Super Sentai] a commercial-acting coach Walter and Amy and David and morph into our dinosaur, and footage from Japan.” But it who mentioned this audition Audri [Dubois], who was the that was kind of strange. I took eight years of trying to for Phantoms, [a working title Yellow Ranger for the pilot, we thought it was kind of cheesy. convince different people. Peo- for the show]. I said, “You started meeting outside of the But we’d never seen the Japa- ple would tell me that I should know, I’m really not interested auditions. [Trang and Frank nese footage, so it was really focus on my music because in acting. I don’t like cameras. were cast later.] We’d go across cool to see the battles and the TV’s not my business, that I don’t like large groups of peo- the street to a Bob’s Big Boy Rangers in their Zords. [the pilot] was embarrassing, ple.” Then after about three and rehearse together. We SABAN The affiliates went all so bad. But I didn’t give up. weeks, he finally bet me about made it a point to get to know the way to [Fox chairman] Finally, Margaret Loesch at $20 that I wouldn’t be wasting each other and hang out out- Rupert Murdoch, complaining, Fox Kids said she’d give it a try. my time. At the time, I had this side of the auditions to really “What is this [Margaret beat-up car I was driving to build that chemistry. They Loesch] thinking, wanting to Thus began a casting search for high school, and I thought, “I were also looking at a taller put this piece of nothing on “teenagers with attitude”—and could use $20.” group [of actors] and a shorter the air?” But she was very cou- MIGHTY MORPHIN’ POWER RANGERS POWER MORPHIN’ MIGHTY martial-arts skills. Soon Saban DAVID YOST I originally audi- group; we were the medium- rageous…to a point. She had his team of superheroes who tioned for the role of Victor, sized group, and, you know, we decided to air it early in the would play the Rangers when out which was the [original name all just kind of jelled. morning, in the summer, basi- of their helmets and voice them for the] Red Ranger. I made it cally in the graveyard time slot. when the Japanese battle scenes through three auditions, but I After shooting the pilot, the cast were used: Red Ranger, Jason could tell that the producers and Fox network affiliates were But soon after launching on (AUSTIN ST. JOHN, now 44); Pink were leaning in a different doubtful about the show’s Aug. 28, 1993, it was the highest- Ranger, Kimberly (AMY JO JOHN- direction. I begged them to let potential. rated kids’ show on broadcast SON, 48); Black Ranger, Zack me read for the role of Billy, AMY JO JOHNSON It was my first television. Adjusting to fame was : COLLECTION EVERETT (2) (WALTER EMANUEL JONES, 48); and they told me no. They acting job, and I remember difficult for the young cast. Blue Ranger, Billy (DAVID YOST, didn’t think that I fit the way showing the pilot at my house ST. JOHN Walter and several of 49); Green Ranger, Tommy that Billy was supposed to be. with a bunch of friends, and at the stunt guys, we moved into (JASON DAVID FRANK, 45); and But I went in the bathroom the end we all just looked at the same house to try and save Yellow Ranger, Trini (THUY and wet my hair down and each other and they were like, money because we weren’t

30 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 JOHNSON Fans will tell me about the struggles they had when their mom was dying or they were figuring out they were gay. Their stories have shown me how [Mighty Morphin Power Rangers] really helped a lot of young kids who just needed a place to feel safe. It’s really cool to have been a part of that. YOST Because I played the nerdy smart guy, I have fans tell me, “I went into science.” “I’m a computer IT person.” “I’m a doctor.” I have one fan that’s a paleontologist, which I find fascinating, all because of Billy. JONES What I get a lot from my fans is “Man, I wanted to be a hero like you, and so this is what I did with my life.” All I did was go and work as an actor on this TV show, but I paid well at all. It was a non- inspired people to be some- union show. I decided to go to thing. It’s very humbling. the mall across the street to get ST.JOHN I just kind of assumed some new jeans and—I’d never kids would grow out of been on TV before, I didn’t [MMPR] and it would be for- know what to expect—I didn’t gotten and we’d move on. I did make it five steps inside the move on. I taught martial arts doors when the first scream around the world. I became a ripped out. From there, I was firefighter-paramedic. I spent mobbed. My shirt was torn off four years in the Middle East of my back, one of my pockets Halfway through the show’s sec- original cast attending fan events for the war. I was gone for 20 was torn off the back of my ond season, after more than 80 around the world. years. And then a few years ago, jeans, I lost one shoe, I lost my episodes, Trang, Jones, and JASONDAVIDFRANK I’ve heard Walter calls me while I’m on sunglasses, I lost my hat, and I St. John became the first original everything: “You were my father the Iraqi–Kuwaiti border and had some claw marks on my cast members to leave the series figure.” “My parents used to fills me in on these things back and my arms from people called comic cons. I remember (most of the cast say nonunion pay fight all the time, and the only pawing at me. Security finally saying, “What do you mean was a major factor in their depar- thing that calmed my anxiety got me out of there. they come to see you? lt’s been tures). But the Power Rangers down was watching Power Rang- YOST We filmed almost the 20-something years.” He goes, entire first season before it brand has lived on (the original ers.” “Hey, I named my baby “Dude, they grew up. They’re even started airing, so we really seasons stream on Netflix), with after you.” The show was campy, showing it to their children. had no gauge as to what was the show reinventing itself almost it was fun, it was colors, it was Their parents who watched it going to happen or what was 20 times (Saban’s Power Rang- karate, but at the end of the day with them come with them. going on. We were supposed to ers Super Ninja Steel currently it had a ton of heart and was We have three generations of do one little, tiny show at Uni- airs on Nickelodeon) and the teaching teamwork. fans now.” It blew my mind.

ANG: ALAMY.COM versal Studios [theme park] for, like, 100 people, but we ended up creating a traffic jam for eight miles on the 101 Freeway. Universal Studios had to shut REMEMBERING after I found out just to hear her their doors and say, “We can’t voice and leave her a message take any more people today.” THUY TRANG saying I’ll miss her. Learning JOHNSON I found it incredibly / 1 9 7 3 – 2 0 0 1 / about her early childhood and overwhelming. I remember everything she and her family Billy Yost pays tribute to his costar, going to Hawaii and getting off went through leaving Vietnam, who died after a car accident at age 27 the plane to do an appearance becoming refugees and immi- there. They’d announced that “It was very upsetting to hear of grating to the United States, I we were coming on the radio, Thuy’s passing. Amy Jo was the admired her and her family’s and 10,000 people showed up at person who called to tell me. I strength to rebuild their lives the airport and they didn’t have was so shocked. I remember call- here. I’ll always remember her any security. It scared the heck ing Thuy’s voicemail a few times great laugh and infectious smile.” out of me. ST. JOHN,ST. JONES, FRANK, DEE YOST: CERCONE/EVERETT COLLECTION, TR Take two: Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen, photographed exclusively at the EW and Audi Photo Booth at AFI Fest 2018 T h e s ta rs a nd d ir B e . y t c y p S e to k i hi r r ic h rl r o tr s ey a f G d d L in re ate en i @ t en Book navig ri sh o t f irk el ely les l a lik xp story an un Pho about togr aphs r by Emily Shur @emilyshu in early 2017, at an industry brunch deep into awards season. Ali had made a splash with Moonlight, Mortensen with Captain Fantastic, and neither had expected to find the event— the latest in a long line of occasions packed with celebrities, producers, and agents— memorable. And yet... “He and I just connected,” Ali remembers. “It was special from the jump.” ¶ Call it the beginning of a beautiful friendship—or, better yet, a fated one: Five months later, the two became costars in Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, a drama based on the true story of roguish Italian- American driver Tony Lip (Mortensen) and refined black concert pianist Don Shirley (Ali), and their tour of the Deep South in 1962. ¶ Since the film’s rousing reception when it debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, Mortensen, Ali, and Farrelly have been on a journey of their Viggo and Mahershala, this MAHERSHALA ALI Like, the next own—one that could lead to the Oscars. On film relies on your chemistry, day. [Laughs] which was strong from the MORTENSEN We just got along this November afternoon, the actors and their first time you met. What were and had a long, normal conver- director have reached their last stop of the you talking about that made sation, which was nice. We got youtwoclickthatday? out of the… day: a private dining room tucked inside a Los VIGGO MORTENSEN Well, we started talking about how much Mandatory schmoozing? Angeles hotel, where they swap stories from we liked each other’s work, MORTENSEN Yeah. We were in set, reflect on the film, and gather in a long and my son was with me, and a corner, and I was like, “This [Mahershala] was just about is great.” So when Pete said, “I’m group hug to say goodbye. to have a baby— meeting with Mahershala Ali,” SET PAGE) THIS AND SPREAD (PREVIOUS DEPT FAIELLA/ART NICHOLAS DESIGN: I said, “He’d be amazing.” But Howdidyoudecidewhen have been too heavy. It was [after they met] Pete said, to add comedy? Did the humor fascinating but ruined the flow. “I think that was good?” [Farrelly come naturally? ALI It takes them out of the car. and Ali laugh.] ALI Things became funnier MORTENSEN And it would PETER FARRELLY I was confused! as we worked on them. have been a two-and-a-half- He came in, we had a nice dis- I remember feeling this tension hour movie. cussion, and then he just left, so between giving over to [the ALI [To Farrelly] You’re gonna use I thought, “I…think it went great.” humor] or fighting it for it for the sequel, though, right? ALI I couldn’t say, “All right, the sake of preserving this FARRELLY [Laughs] Yeah. Our I want to do it,” because it’s idea of doing a drama, which European Vacation. a process. You gotta get it right. felt dishonest. The truth is ALI Or Forest Green Book. I told him, “I’ll talk to you soon.” that this is a quirky situation, [Mortensen applauds.] Lime MORTENSEN But what does that and it has levity to it. Green Book. mean, “I’ll talk to you soon”? FARRELLY Yeah, I was keeping ALI I had to talk with my wife, that in check. I thought of trying What’s your biggest takeaway and people I’m close to. I knew to go for jokes. Like “farm dog”— from working on this? I wanted to do it. FARRELLY The whole experience MORTENSEN [Points to Farrelly] Sorry, what dog? has been special. When every- But he didn’t know! [Laughs] FARRELLY [Points to Mortensen] thing falls together like this, We were winging it [in a scene I feel unbelievably lucky. Peter, when did you know pair- on the road], and he goes, ALI In terms of the acting, ing these two would work if it “You see that? Was that a deer working with Viggo, this was wasn’t during that first meeting or a…farm dog?” [Laughs] the first time I had ever been that with Mahershala? MORTENSEN [Tony’s] never been present in a project. And Pete was FARRELLY Honestly, I knew if I in the countryside, so… [Shrugs] so open, the energy was super got them, it would work. I never FARRELLY It cracked me up, positive.... I just learned that you doubted it for a second. but it was like we were going could be absolutely committed for a joke. And we took out and focused and also be really The result is a film that juggles dramatic stuf, too. The truth is, light about [your work]. odd-couple humor with weighty the tour went for over a year, material, as Tony and Don up to when JFK got assassinated. And Viggo, what has stayed run into tons of trouble on their After Don Shirley found out with you? trip. Given how toxic racism the president had been shot, MORTENSEN [Pauses]Asafan continues to be, were you ever he called RFK, and RFK took of the New York Mets, I’m still worried that the movie wasn’t the call that day. Don and Tony deeply troubled that I had to pre- serious enough? It’s been went to the funeral! We had it in tend that I was really happy that called “feel-good.” [Ed. note: the script for weeks, and I just Roger Maris hit that home run. This interview was conducted remember not liking it. It would [They all laugh.]I’mkidding. X before Mortensen’s use of a racial slur at an event recently. He has since apologized.] FARRELLY It has a positive, hopeful ending, but “feel-good” makes it sound squeakier-clean than it is. When you, in the first minutes of your movie, have your protagonist drop water glasses in the trash because black workers drank from them, that’s not cutting corners. ( Above ) ALI No movie, I don’t care how There’s something about these three: After huge suc- heavy or gut-wrenching it is, cess with comedies, including is going to fix any of our larger Dumb and Dumber, director societal issues. They just open Peter Farrelly (center)— here with Mortensen and the door to conversations…. Ali—balances humor and Like, we’re going through some heaviness in his first drama things right now, but— ( Right ) MORTENSEN Hope is not a Don Shirley (Ali) and bad deal. Tony Lip (Mortensen) make ALI Yeah. So the fact that people a pit stop during their Southern journey—and walk out feeling uplifted to some budding bromance degree, I don’t think we should apologize for that. [Laughs]

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 35 Movies

Edited By | KATIE HASTY @KATIEHASTY ROMA : ALFONSO CUARÓN : ALFONSO

A FILM WE LOVE Yalitza Aparicio as Roma’s soulful, saintly Cleo

A deeply felt autobiographical love letter /NETFLIX; Roma to the middle-class Mexico City neighborhood of his childhood, the ﬁlm is shot in FANTASTIC OF GRINDELWALD CRIMES THE BEASTS: STARRING DIRECTED BY the dreamy black and white of a long-lost Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira Alfonso Cuarón home movie. While it centers on the story of a family in the early ’70s (loosely based RATING LENGTH REVIEW BY on Cuarón’s own), it’s also about a slower R 2 hrs., 15 mins. Chris Nashawaty @ChrisNashawaty way of life, a culture in the midst of unrest, and most of all, a woman who became a sort of second mother to him and his IS THERE ANYTHING ALFONSO CUARÓN CAN’T DO? siblings while his parents were splitting up.

Who else could hopscotch from the intimacy of Y Tu Played by Yalitza Aparicio, a nonactor BROS. : JAAP BUITENDIJK/WARNER Mamá También to the franchise imperatives of a Harry who makes a dazzlingly soulful debut, Cleo Potter movie to the daredevil dystopia of Children of is the family’s maid, confidante, and tireless Men, all topped off by a trip to the heavens in Gravity? dispenser of comfort. She is the family’s He seems to be incapable of repeating himself. That servant, yes, but she’s also its loyal protec- streak continues with Roma, his best and most personal tor and, in a way, the glue that holds it film yet. together. Roma may span only a year or so,

THE 15-WORD REVIEWW > Fantasticc Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Nov. 16, wide) The visuals are truly fantastic, but Beast-ies need more A FILM WE LOVE

REEL Back to Manderley Lily James and Armie Hammer will star NEWS in a Netflix adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Off Into the Sunset William Goldman, Oscar-winning screen- writer of hit films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride, died on Nov. 16 at age 87.

yet somehow in that year is the entirety of Down for the Queen: Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman life itself—its small, ﬂeeting moments of THE TOP 5 joy, and poignant stretches of heartbreak. MOVIE The Favourite Roma has been called a “memory play,” MEMOIRS More directors STARRING Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone and that feels right. It starts oﬀ slowly, but who’ve tapped into once you sync up with its rhythm, you’ll be their own lives DIRECTED BY Yorgos Lanthimos

hypnotized. Cuarón’s film is about the RATING R | LENGTH 1 hr., 59 mins. senses he still recalls from his youth—the REVIEW BY Chris Nashawaty @ChrisNashawaty sights, sounds, and smells that left an 1 impression he’s never been able to shake. FEW MOVIES HAVE KNOCKED ME OUT QUITE In one scene, we watch Cleo doing laundry PLATOON like Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ The by hand on the roof of the family’s home; Oliver Stone Lobster. Between its WTF surrealism, deadpan then the camera pulls back and pans across (1986) line readings, and romantic heart beating beneath its icy an entire neighborhood of maids just like veneer, I was a goner. It was also the kind of weird little her doing the same. In another, we see the 2 movie for which the term “love it or hate it” was coined. mother, Sofiá (a glorious Marina de Somehow, his latest film is even better. The Favourite is a Tavira), tell her four vacationing children daffy drama set in the 1700s court of Queen Anne. But that she and their father are splitting up, AMARCORD don’t let that put you off: This couldn’t be further from

: YORGOS LANTHIMOS/FOX SEARCHLIGHT followed by a trip for ice cream. Federico Fellini the corsets and curtsies of a typical Hollywood period Cuarón gets that, in life, sometimes the (1973) piece. It’s more like All About Eve directed by Fellini, with smallest moments can be the most indeli- enough depravity to send Masterpiece Theatre types riﬂing THE FAVOURITE THE ble ones. A sunburn from a day at the beach 3 through their PBS tote bags for smelling salts. can leave an imprint as strong as a father Emma Stone stars as Abigail, a young woman from a leaving for a business trip and never once-titled-but-now-disgraced family, who journeys to returning. Nostalgia is funny that way. BULL DURHAM the Queen’s palace to call on her cousin Lady Sarah for Experiencing the gorgeously compassion- Ron Shelton (1988) a hand up. Sarah (played by Rachel Weisz) is the

: EVERETT COLLECTION (5); EVERETT COLLECTION : ate and lyrical Roma, you get the impression Queen’s trusted advisor—and, it turns out, quite a bit that at age 56, Cuarón not only wanted to more (nudge, wink). As for the royal herself (a won- get these still-vivid memories down on 4 drous Olivia Colman), she’s in rough shape. Her MEAN STREETS MEAN , ﬁlm, but that he also had to. You’ll be glad country’s war with France holds less interest to her he did. Because movies with this much than her pet rabbits, and she suﬀers from a laundry list empathy and humanity don’t come along THE 400 BLOWS of health woes, allowing Sarah to rule from behind the

THE 400 BLOWS 400 THE A , very often. François Truffaut (1959) scenes. Abigail, however, has designs of her own. I’m sure some royal scholars will throw a tizzy over THIS FILM CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING: the film’s steamier, fact-adjacent subplots. But Col- BULL DURHAM BULL , 5 man’s performance, especially, is so volcanic, they’ll IC ICE CREAM NMA NAKED MARTIAL ARTS probably just give in. As for everyone else, it’s worth AMARCORD , pointing out that The Favourite is easily Lanthimos’ FFFOREST FIRES H HAILSTORMS MEAN STREETS most user-friendly movie. Which isn’t to say it isn’t

PLATOON Martin Scorsese (1973) strange enough to please his fans, just that it may also convert a legion of new ones. A sensical magic and way less subplot. B– —LEAH GREENBLATT

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 37 Movies

Creed II

STARRING Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone

DIRECTED BY Steven Caple Jr.

RATING PG-13 | LENGTH 2 hrs., 10 mins.

REVIEW BY Chris Nashawaty @ChrisNashawaty

WE’RE NOW EIGHT MOVIES DEEP into the Rocky cinematic universe. Shocking, I know. But just when you thought that every last corner of that universe had been strip-mined for narrative fodder, along comes Creed II. Thanks to the deft directorial hand of Ryan Coogler and a blistering turn from Michael B. Jordan, 2015’s franchise reboot exceeded the expectations of even the most ardent Rocky fan. And its success all but guaranteed another sequel. But where to go Taron for another shot of drama? The short answer Egerton is the boyin is calling back to 1985’s Rocky IV, in which the Hood the Italian Stallion avenged the death of his love/hate rival Apollo Creed at the hands (or rather sledgehammer fists) of Dolph Taron Egerton: Lundgren’s Russki, Ivan Drago. Desperate? Maybe. But it actually works for Creed II. Robin While not as great as the first film, director Rocking The 29-year-old Kingsman star—currently shooting the Elton John biopic Steven Caple Jr. has made a rousing tale Rocketman—tells EW how he found a way to make an iconic, centuries- about fathers and sons, guilt and redemp- old hero his own in Robin Hood, out Nov. 21. BY LEAH GREENBLATT tion—just the sort of big, unsubtle themes that always propelled the series. Now ASK A LEGEND ENJOY YOUR COSTARS MAKE SURE THE STORY II CREED heavyweight champ, Jordan’s Adonis is HAS REAL STAKES about to become a father himself. But first Before he confirmed tak- Egerton quickly PICTURES; MAYER GOLDWYN WETCHER/METRO : BARRY he has to settle old scores in the hulking ing on the role of Robin embraced Ben Men- “Origin stories are funda- Hood, Taron Egerton delsohn’s “dangerous, mentally always the most form of Drago’s son, Viktor. The film slav- spoke to Alan Rickman, playful, provocative” interesting because they ishly follows the sentimental-palooka Rocky who played the Sherif in take on the Sherif of have the greatest arc for template. Still, it doesn’t make it any less 1991’s Prince of Thieves. Nottingham and Jamie a character, and it’s a The late actor—a close Foxx’s alpha-dog inter- very strong, defined arc,” effective. Especially when Stallone is still friend of Dexter Fletcher, pretation of Little John. Egerton says. “[Robin] able to summon the same mumbly poi- Egerton’s director in “There’s so much great starts somewhere very gnancy that made him a star 40 years ago. B+ 2015’s Eddie the Eagle— banter between myself broken and bedraggled, gave the younger man his and Jamie,” Egerton says. and then becomes this Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan in the ring blessing. Talking to Robin “His rifing really helps kind of leather-clad, Hood director Otto with the dark themes.” quick-witted warrior.” But Bathurst (Peaky Blinders) Though having another his cause goes beyond only sealed the deal: “He Jamie present—a certain stealing from the rich to HOOD ROBIN told me he wanted to do lissome Fifty Shades of give to the poor: “We’re something entirely revi- Grey star—as his roman- crusading and fighting sionist, very new, very tic rival on screen was against this Other.... : LARRY HORRICKS/LIONSGATE fresh, that can’t really be less easy: “He’s f---ing There’s an increasing tied down to a medieval Jamie Dornan! Thrilled trend in xenophobia in universe,” Egerton tells about that when I heard,” the world, and this story EW from the Budapest set Edgerton says with a deals with that—albeit of the film. “To apply that laugh. “Great, so that’s the in a very commercial, to Robin Hood was so guy I’m trying to steal the exciting, fun, but also intriguing to me.” girl of of?” very elegant way.”

38 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 Ralph Breaks MORE the Internet ON EW.COM NOW PLAYING To read full STARRING John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman reviews, head to Your complete guide to films in theaters this week ew.com/movies DIRECTED BY Phil Johnston and Rich Moore

RATING PG | LENGTH 1 hr., 52 mins. TWISTS ON HISTORY REVIEW BY Dana Schwartz @DanaSchwartzzz

| “SEQUEL THAT’S BETTER THAN GREEN BOOK Directed by Peter Farrelly W : MERRICK MORTON/FOX Starring Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini the original” is an elusive club, The odd-couple metrics of Mortensen’s Bronx-born mook

WIDOWS limited until now, in this critic’s and Ali’s elegant musician aren’t exactly new, but their opinion, to Toy Story 2, The Godfather Part road trip through the Deep South circa 1962 is still utterly charming—a testament to both actors’ supreme gifts. B+ II, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azka- AT ETERNITY’S GATE | Directed by Julian Schnabel ban. Boys, welcome a new member to the Starring Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac, Rupert Friend L gang. Ralph Breaks the Internet might not Dafoe gives a fevered close-to-the-bone performance achieve everything it set out to do, but it as Vincent van Gogh in Schnabel’s dreamy, deliberately

: HOPPER STONE/PARAMOUNT; enigmatic portrait of the artist. B+ breaks free of the pitfalls of most sequels by never forgoing heart for the sake of bigger OVERLORD | Directed by Julius Avery Starring Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier W franchise pyrotechnics.

INSTANT FAMILY INSTANT This mash-up of WWII men-on-a-mission tropes and gross- We join Ralph (John C. Reilly) and out theatrics (Nazi zombies!) is like Inglourious Basterds Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) six years after meets Re-Animator. A giddy, gory B-movie blast. B+ : NETFLIX; the ﬁrst ﬁlm ended, now best friends living in the comfortable monotony of Litwak’s FOLK TALES Arcade. But, like any self-respecting Disney

princess, Vanellope wants more (although ROBIN HOOD | Directed by Otto Bathurst she won’t sing about it until later). The Starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn W movie’s meta jokes and sophisticated Steal from the rich to give to the poor is an apt metaphor for this dour, humorless adaptation of Robin Hood’s rich, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS themes about insecurity and codependence cinematic storytelling legacy. C

might resonate more with parents than THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS younger kids. But all will be delighted by Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Starring Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Zoe Kazan, Tom Waits LN the too-brief moments spent with the The Coen brothers’ latest film—their first for Netflix—is a squad of Disney princesses—so fun that hit-and-miss anthology of ironic Old West tales. The best you won’t even mind that they’re shoe- two feature Nelson as a singin’, gunslingin’ cowboy and Kazan as a lonely frontierswoman. B : PETER MOUNTAIN/PARAMOUNT; PETER : horned in. Other plot elements are equally contrived, but who can complain when the

OVERLORD movie is so fun? Cover your small kids’ eyes FAMILY MATTERS during a genuinely unsettling climax, and | /CBS FILMS; then cover your own later so no one sees INSTANT FAMILY Directed by Sean Anders Starring Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne W how much you’re crying. B+ A surprisingly effective mix of big laughs and even bigger

: LILY GAVIN Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) and Ralph sniffles starring Wahlberg and Byrne as a couple who (John C. Reilly) meet a pop-up ad adopt three kids out of foster care. On paper, it sounds deadly, but it’s fizzy and full of heart. B

SHOPLIFTERS | Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda Starring Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka, Jyo Kairi L AT ETERNITY’S GATE The master Japanese filmmaker (Like Father, Like Son) follows a makeshift family of grifters in his naturalistic,

: DISNEY; deceptively low-key drama; its impact sneaks up on you. A–

WIDOWS | Directed by Steve McQueen Starring Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya W Oscar winner McQueen (12 Years a Slave) tries his hand at a popcorn-feminist heist thriller so stuffed with stars, styles, and big ideas that it never quite finds its center. C+ RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET THE RALPH BREAKS

KEY L > LIMITED RELEASE W > WIDE RELEASE N > NETFLIX TV

Edited By | PATRICK GOMEZ @PATRICKGOMEZLA SKARSGÅRD: ROBBY KLEIN /CONTOUR/GETTY IMAGES; /CONTOUR/GETTY QUEEN AMERICA QUEEN

ALEXANDERTHEGREAT WATCH MARTIN/FACEBOOK : BORIS True Blood alum Alexander Skarsgård, 42, is having a Big moment. The Emmy winner dishes on his AMC miniseries The Little Drummer Girl and the approximately 9,742 other projects he’s involved in (including a monster-size one for 2020). BY CLARK COLLIS

THE 9-WORD REVIEWW > Queen America (Facebook Watch) CZJ deserves better than this joyless pageant-world parody. C– —KRISTEN BALDWIN LOGLINES Little Bang Young Sheldon’s Iain Armitage (Sheldon) will appear on The Big Bang Theory in December. That’s a Reach A Jack Reacher TV series is in the works (without movie-franchise star Tom Cruise).

( From top ) Alexander HOW BUSY IS ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD? Skarsgård fondly Skarsgård with Nicole Busy enough that he recently spent years recalls shooting at Kidman on Big Little Lies; without a home to call his own. “I’ve just been the historic site. with Salma living on location, jumping from one project “They closed down Hayek in The Hummingbird to another,” says the True Blood and Big Little the Acropolis from Project Lies actor. “I actually got an apartment in sundown to sunrise New York a few months ago. That was the for us,” says the first time in two years I had my own bed.” actor. “It felt very, Skarsgård has already starred in a pair of very special to be up 2018 Netflix thrillers—Mute and Hold the there watching the sun set over Athens.” appearance. “Well, my character is definitely Dark. Now the Swedish actor is playing an Drummer Girl (see review, page 46) is dead,” he says. “I can’t say any more.” Israeli intelligence officer named Gadi helmed by legendary South Korean director The actor is more forthcoming about his Becker in the AMC miniseries The Little Park Chan-wook (Oldboy); Skarsgård is a role in the comedy Flarsky (out June 7), Drummer Girl (airing over three consecutive big fan. “He’s one of the greatest filmmakers about an out-of-work journalist (Seth nights beginning Nov. 19 at 9 p.m.), an of our time,” says the actor. “There are Rogen) whose childhood babysitter (Char-

: JONATHAN OLLEY/AMC/INK FACTORY OLLEY/AMC/INK JONATHAN : adaptation of John le Carré’s espionage directors that have a visual language that is lize Theron) becomes one of the world’s novel. Set in the late ’70s, Drummer Girl sometimes at the expense of the characters. most powerful women. “Charlize Theron’s costars Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth)as They’re focused more on the visual aspect a friend of mine, and they were also shoot- Charlie Ross, an actress who is recruited by than on the psychology of the story. He is a ing in Montreal, and so she asked if I wanted Skarsgård’s character to help stop a bombing master at both.” to come in and play the prime minister [of

THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL DRUMMER LITTLE THE campaign in Europe. “A young British One thing Skarsgård shares with his char- Canada]. It’s not [Justin] Trudeau, but it’s actress in Greece walks into a quite enig- acter? The actor admits he’s “pretty good” at definitely loosely based on him,” Skarsgård matic man, who she initially thinks is just a keeping secrets, and proves it when EW asks says of his role in the movie, a part he budding holiday romance,” says Skarsgård of whether he will appear in the second season filmed on his days off from the set of The the relationship. “He turns out to be some- of HBO’s Big Little Lies (set to premiere in Hummingbird Project, his upcoming drama thing completely different, and she’s roped 2019). Skarsgård’s character, the abusive with Jesse Eisenberg. All this on top of star- into a world of international espionage.” Perry Wright, died in the first season, but ring alongside Keira Knightley in the

: ENTRACT FILMS ELEVATION PICTURES; ELEVATION FILMS ENTRACT : In the miniseries’ ﬁrst installment, Gadi the actor was spotted on the set of season 2, post-WWII drama The Aftermath (April 26) takes Charlie to the Acropolis in Athens for prompting speculation that Wright might and recently being cast in a dramatization what she believes is a romantic date. make some kind of from-beyond-the-grave of Dan Krauss’ 2013 documentary The Kill Team, which details the deaths of Afghan civilians by American soldiers. See? We told you he was busy. And currently the actor is THE HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT HUMMINGBIRD THE tackling his biggest project to date, Godzilla /HBO; vs. Kong (May 22, 2020). So, who’s the tow- ering thesp playing: King Kong or Godzilla? “I can’t reveal which of the behemoths I am!” he says with a laugh. “No, I play a teeny-tiny little human who tries to not get : HILARY BRONWYN GAYLE Das Auto! Skarsgård trampled. I ﬂy out to Hawaii in two days to in AMC’s start that.” Sounds like he doesn’t need that The Little

BIG LITTLE LIES LITTLE BIG Drummer Girl apartment after all.

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 41 A Crossover for the Ages The Flash, Green Arrow, and Supergirl unite for the epic three-night event “Elseworlds” (beginning Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. with The Flash on The CW), which will introduce Batwoman to the Arrowverse. BY CHANCELLOR AGARD

“LOOK AT THAT SUIT! LOOK AT extravaganza “Crisis on Earth-X.” that red hair!” actress Ruby “We wanted this year to just be Rose marvels as she watches a little bit easier,” says Arrow footage of herself as DC Comics’ consulting producer Marc Gug- Batwoman on this year’s Arrow- genheim. “The hard thing about verse crossover, “Elseworlds.” crossing over with Legends is, It’s a chilly late-October night because that’s an ensemble in Vancouver, and we’re outside show, you’re crossing over with a derelict mental-health facility the entire cast.” However, this that’s been transformed into the doesn’t make this year less iconic Arkham Asylum, where ambitious. “One of my favorite the Orange Is the New Black moments was in the middle of alum has just shot a scene with the writers’ room when we were The Flash’s Carlos Valdes, who breaking story and things were plays Cisco Ramon. There too getting really big, [executive is Grant Gustin, who is usually producer Greg Berlanti joked], dressed as the red speedster the ‘I’m really glad we decided Flash but is currently donning to go easier this year!’ ” says Green Arrow’s duds for reasons Guggenheim. Production trav- we’ll get into shortly. This isn’t eled to Chicago to shoot The the first time Rose has seen CW’s first Gotham-set scenes, herself in the full, comic-book- and beyond Batwoman, the story accurate red wig, cape, and will also introduce the Arrow- cowl, but it never stops being verse’s version of Lois Lane cool. And her costars agree. (Grimm’s Elizabeth Tulloch) and “I really just like seeing Ruby rock give fans the long-awaited out in that costume,” says Valdes. meeting between Oliver/Green “It really is something to witness.” Arrow (Stephen Amell), Barry/the But that’s not the only geek- Flash (Gustin), and Clark/Super- tastic moment that awaits fans man (Tyler Hoechlin). “We’re during the forthcoming three- both flustered, actually, in our night crossover event: In addi- own ways,” teases Gustin about tion to (hopefully) launching his and Amell’s characters in Batwoman as The CW’s next hit the highly anticipated scene. superhero character, the cross- (And yes, you can expect a train- over also features a topsy-turvy ing sequence that includes the ode to the universe’s main trio. Man of Steel!) By all accounts, “Elseworlds”— So what exactly brings the which includes only The Flash, heroes together? Well, Arkham Arrow,andSupergirl, and doctor John Deegan (Lost’s not DC’s Legends of Tomorrow— Jeremy Davies) has rewritten is smaller in scale than last reality, which results in Oliver

year’s Nazi-filled, four-night and Barry switching lives (and (6) CW THE

THE CROSSOVER TIMELINE > The CW’s latest Arrowverse adventure plays out over three nights during three different series, two of which are airing

42 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 WE’RE JUSTAS TIRED ASNORMAL, BUTFOR SOME REASON IT FEELS LIKE WE’RE HAVING MUCHMORE FUN THAN PREVIOUS YEARS.” —GRANT GUSTIN ON FILMING THE “ELSEWORLDS” CROSSOVER EPISODES

appearances!) and explains why trio. Whereas Barry loves a good Amell and Gustin wear each oth- team-up, Kate doesn’t, and she er’s supersuits. “Having super- isn’t thrilled when Oliver, who powers is crazy! Wearing the was outed as Green Arrow on Flash suit is crazy!” Amell says Arrow last season, arrives in her of the role reversal. “The idea is city. “Kate does not want to deal that in order to be the best ver- with this. She has a whole other sion of Barry Allen, which I have agenda, a whole other life that to be because we face a threat, she’s trying to sort out right there are elements of his person- now. And these friggin’ super- ality I have to embrace, and heroes come in, and they’re a there are elements of my per- mess; they need her help,” says sonality that he has to embrace.” Rose. While she doesn’t hit it of The swap makes the story with the boys, Kate is charmed by funnier than previous crossovers. Kara, and the two women con- “My initial reaction in reading the nect over their similarities. “What scripts this year was that it I think [Kara] appreciates and would be a hoot to film. The empathizes with is her experi- comedy just lives in this. Even ence as a woman, being a hero, just seeing them in each other’s and I think she also sees a lot of suits is funny; they’re literally herself and the struggles that putting themselves in each oth- she went through in becoming er’s shoes!” says Melissa Benoist, her own hero in Kate,” says whose character, Kara/Supergirl, Benoist. For the most part, gets pulled in because she’s the Batwoman’s role in the hour only one who can see Barry and is mainly to tease a potential Oliver for who they really are Batwoman series from Caroline ( Clockwise from (the perks of being from another Dries (The Vampire Diaries), top ) Melissa Earth?). “She inevitably becomes which is in development at The Benoist as Super- girl, Stephen kind of a middleman because CW and would be the first live- Amell as the Flash, ultimately there’s conflict action show headlined by an and Grant Gustin between the two and they start openly LGBTQ superhero if it as Green Arrow team up with John butting heads.” That dynamic gets picked up. “There’s a lot of Wesley Shipp, is on full display in a banter-filled mystery to her, which I think will who’s wearing scene EW observed on Oct. 26, be intriguing, and people will a replica of his Flash costume in which the three heroes find want more after they watch, for from the 1990 CBS themselves locked up in Gotham sure,” Arrow showrunner Beth drama; Clark Kent City—which has become a crime- Schwartz says of Batwoman. (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane ridden ghost town because the “Elseworlds” has its eye on (Elizabeth Tulloch) Dark Knight has been missing for the future in other ways, too. on Smallville’s three years—and it falls on Kara According to the stars, the story old Kent farm set; Batwoman (Ruby to referee an argument between doesn’t necessarily end with this Rose) foils an the two men. three-episode arc. Says Benoist: Arkham Asylum prison break The Arrow hour of the cross- “The idea is that it will have a over introduces Batwoman (and ripple efect throughout the rest her cheeky alter ego, Kate Kane, of the season for all of the shows Bruce Wayne’s lesbian cousin involved—and that next year’s who runs Wayne Enterprises) crossover is involved.” Can Barry and complicates things for the speed us there now, please?

at special times and days: > The Flash (Dec. 9, 8 p.m.) > Arrow (Dec. 10, 8 p.m.) > Supergirl (Dec. 11, 8p .m.) step boldly into adventure! the new york times bestselling series for the whole family

Kim Possible’s Dr. Drakken (Todd Stashwick) and Shego (Taylor Ortega) ANYTHING’SPOSSIBLE As the 2019 Kim Possible live-action movie approaches, EW has an exclusive peek at the villains—who look a lot less animated than when we last saw them. BY DANA SCHWARTZ now in paperback What’s the sitch? Kim threatening.” Enter a blue infection within,” Possible (the hit 2002 Ortega. “Todd’s really Lipovsky says of the new animated series) is tall,” says Stein. “[In Drakken. “It’s like some getting the live-action casting], Taylor was the experiment or some das- treatment in a new only one who could tardly plan went wrong Disney Channel Original push him around with years ago and now he’s Movie—and every hero just her presence.” got this side efect where needs an archnemesis. Stein and his co- he’s got a bluish hue.” Enter mad scientist director, Zach Lipovsky, Shego’s look also has Dr. Drakken (Todd Stash- ultimately decided to an update. “When we wick) and his sarcastic forgo animated Drak- looked at live-action partner in crime, Shego ken’s signature blue skin versions of the original (Taylor Ortega). in favor of creating a costume, it felt a bit like “Shego is one of character that is more pajamas,” Stein says. the funniest characters grounded and less, well, No sleeping on the job from the original show, cartoony. “It’s like he’s got for these villains! but she’s also incredibly tough,” says codirector Adam B. Stein. “We had to find someone who could be hilarious and pull of the eye rolls and nail filing that Shego’s known for while still being physically

Sadie Stanley as the live- Audio also available action Kim Possible; animated Kim; animatedd Shego and Dr. Drakkenn CrusadeContinued Leah Remini, 48, takes on the Church of Scientology in season 3 of A&E’s docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (premiering Nov. 27 at 9 p.m.). BY JOEY NOLFI

Where does season 3 out to [us] who has Scientology, which take us? a family member at hates anybody who BUT DO YOU We had to follow [Scien- Gold Base [the church’s isn’t a Scientologist. tology leader] David de facto international I feel partly responsible Miscavige’s words and headquarters]. We got for this connection, KNOW HIS follow the money. We’re some answers, I can [so] we’re doing trying to not only show tell you that! a special on them. the public how they STORY? get away with doing the You also explore the The Church’s lawyers things they do to peo- union of Scientology tell EW that “the Church ple, but why? Who made and the Nation of Islam. earned its [tax] exemp- this possible? And that’s When I was in Scientol- tion” after a rigorous really the IRS. They bul- ogy, I was approached examination by the IRS. lied the IRS into giving to help make its intro- They deride Remini’s them tax-exempt status. duction to the Nation charge of “bullying” We’re trying to let the of Islam. I had no idea as “farcical.” The Miscav- IRS know that we know what the Nation of Islam iges’ lawyer asserts that that it’s time they took was. David Miscavige the Los Angeles Police some frickin’ responsi- [was] doing nothing in Department concluded bility for what they allow the black communities, that Shelly Miscavige was by giving this organiza- and [we] wanted to not missing “and that tion tax-exempt money bridge that gap. I was Ms. Remini’s false ‘missing to do these things. more than happy to help person’ report was ‘un- because I agree: The founded.’ ” The Church You discuss your belief majority of Scientolo- denies the allegations that Miscavige’s wife, gists are white. I had of fomenting religious Shelly, has disappeared. no idea what [Nation divisions and accuses We’re doing a show of Islam leader] Louis Remini of spreading about the theories of Farrakhan stood for, “vitriolic religious hate where Shelly is, and [like] the hatred for Jews. and bigotry” that risks [someone] also reached And then you have instigating violence.

Read the original novel by bestselling author BARRY LYGA KIM POSSIBLE: DISNEY (4); REMINI: ART STREIBER/A&E ART REMINI: (4); DISNEY POSSIBLE: KIM

MONDAYMONDAY NONOVEMBERVEMBER 19 TUE NOV 20 WED NOV 21

Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia STREAMING | NETFLIX In the Daily Show host’s second Netflix comedy special, Everyone will he shares lessons his mom taught him, be talking about wonders what it tomorrow challenges a black James Bond might

face, and, as any THIS REUNION IS ALL THAT good comic should, jokes about tacos Double Dare THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL and snakes. Not 8–9PM | NICKELODEON together...there's Who loves a Kenan and Kel SCOTT EVERETT WHITE/NICKELODEON; nothing funny about reunion? We do, we do, we Six-Part Miniseries Debut snake tacos. do-oooh! Nickelodeon legends The Little Drummer Girl Kenan Thompson and Kel

9–11PM | AMC Mitchell are back together, this : JONATHAN OLLEY/AMC/INK FACTORY; This ’70s spy thriller peaks too early, but what a peak. time competing on the revival Charlie (rising star Florence Pugh) is a witty-tough young of the classic Nickelodeon actress with radical-chic politics. On a Greek island, she game show. “It was a no- spots a mystery man (Alexander Skarsgård) in a swimsuit brainer,” says Mitchell of taking that barely counts as clothes. Their flirtation carries them on his longtime friend. “We

to the Acropolis, and the great filmmaker Park Chan-wook were talking about how much GLOW (who directed every episode) films the monument with we loved Double Dare as kids, : ERICA PARISE/NETFLIX : ERICA stunningly dreamy romance. Then cruel plot kicks in. An and then to be able to do it, Israeli intelligence oficer (Michael Shannon) draws Char- that was just so much fun. We’d lie into a meticulous, enervating con involving a road trip. have run the obstacle course DOUBLE DARE The John le Carré source material has a few too many rote four or five times if we could.” double-reverse twists. Come for the sumptuous style, stay If only they had some orange

for the Syriana-ish espionage quagmire. B —Darren Franich soda for an energy boost. :

Greenleaf JOHN LEGUIZAMO RECOMMENDS... STREAMING | OWN.COM Lynn Whitfield promises “there will be some surprises” GLOW in the season 3 finale (Nov. 21, 10 p.m. on OWN) of STREAMING | NETFLIX this megachurch family drama on which she plays “These kick-ass women call out matriarch Lady Mae Greenleaf: “The twists and turns the racist stereotyping and the of the power-wielding family is like The Lion in Winter.” blatant misrepresentation of While the season was consumed with will-they-won’t- cultures that was so pervasive they divorce turmoil (“We didn’t know if it was going in ’80s Hollywood,” says John Devour to happen until the writers told us”), Whitfield relished Leguizamo, whose Latin History the penultimate episode, where Calvary Fellowship for Morons is currently streaming it all at once had its annual “Day with Lady Mae.” “What I imagined on Netflix. “GLOW points all this it to be turned out to be so much more.... I felt some- out and makes it fun to watch. thing as an actress,” she says, “that I rarely experience— Binge-watch to get to season 2 so out of control but riding the wave on sprinkles of you can see Shakira Barrera bring magic.” Amen to that! some Latinx power to the ring!”

46 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 *TIMES ARE EASTERN STANDARD AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE FAMILY TIES IT’SANINCREDIBLY ENTERTAINING EPISODE, A THRILLER WITH A REAL HITCHCOCK VIBE.” —MATTHEW WEINER on the Nov. 23 ﬁnale of his Amazon Prime Video series The Romanoﬀs, a globe-trotting anthology about people who think they are descendants of the Russian royal family, starring Diane Lane, Kathrynn Hahn, John Slattery, Christina Hendricks, Aaron Eckhart, and more

THURSDAY NOV 22 FRI NOV 23 SATURDAY NONOVV2244 SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25

’Tis the Season: Poinsettias Holiday Wars A One Tree Hill Cast Reunion for Christmas 8–9PM | FOOD NETWORK 10–11PM | LIFETIME 8–10PM | LIFETIME No mean girls here, but One Tree Hill fans must’ve been Who needs Tinder Jonathan Bennett does host naughty this year, because when a botanical this festive cake competi- they’re getting coal in their crisis can help you tion where three teams stockings in the form of a medio- meet the love of have to create larger-than- cre cast reunion. To celebrate your life? That’s life Christmas displays. Plus, THE their various Lifetime Christmas what happens when one confectionary crew

TY IMAGE; movies, series alums Hilarie one woman tries gets $10,000 in their stock- Burton, Antwon Tanner, Danneel to figure out why her ing. In the words of Aaron ; ONE; TREE HILL CAST: Ackles, Stephen Colletti, and family farm's poin- Samuels, “It's all sugar.” Tyler Hilton reunite with costar settias, thousands Christmas Everlasting (and host) Paul Johansson. of which have been 8–10PM | HALLMARK While the hour is a fun chance ordered for the local A classic married-to-her-work to see them together again and parade, haven’t New York lawyer (Tatyana Ali) admirably highlights the women turned red yet. Gasp! needs to take a break and of OTH’s Hurricane Florence remember the joy of Christmas. : BRIAN DOUGLAS/©2018 CROWN MEDIA; CROWN DOUGLAS/©2018 BRIAN : fund-raising eforts—and there’s Pride, Prejudice, Luckily (and tragically!), when a musical performance by and Mistletoe her sister dies unexpectedly, Hilton—it hardly compensates 8–10PM | HALLMARK she heads back to her snowy for the cheesy games and stale Lacey Chabert stars hometown, and after rekindling walk down memory lane. C+ as a successful busi- with an ex, making a Christmas : EVERETT COLLECTION; BLAZING SADDLES: THE KOBAL COLLECTION KOBAL BLAZING THE EVERETT SADDLES: : COLLECTION; —Aja Hoggatt nesswoman (pride) quilt, and hanging out briefly Midseason Finale

CHRISTMAS EVERLASTING who, after going with Patti LaBelle—oh, and The Walking Dead home for Christmas, discovering a relative she never 9–10PM | AMC reconnects with an knew existed!—she finds that The last Walking Dead episode of 2018 will old rival (prejudice) not-so-elusive festive feeling. not be for the faint of heart. “The midseason

: JAN THIJS/CHRIS RAPHAEL/SOPHIE MUTEVELIAN/AMAZON STUDIOS (5) and plans a charity It might not be an everlasting finale is a really eerie, scary episode,” says : GENE PAGE/AMC; LEGUIZAMO: STEVEN FERDMAN/PATRICK MCMULLAN VIA GET event with him. Cut hit, but the lead actors have just showrunner Angela Kang. “It really ramps to: them kissing enough charisma to keep the up with this mystery of what’s happening and falling in love holiday spirit alive throughout. B– with these walkers that are unlike any that WALKING DEAD THE ROMANOFFS THE BENNETT RAGLIN/GETTY IMAGES; RAGLIN/GETTY BENNETT RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE IN CONCERT, 1979 (mistletoe). —Ruth Kinane our group has ever encountered before.”

JOHN LEGUIZAMO ALSO RECOMMENDS...

Richard Pryor: Live in Concert; Blazing Saddles STREAMING | NETFLIX “Richard Pryor is the greatest comic of all time, no contest, bar none, ipso facto, QED. He’ll always be the king of taking dark topics and turning it around to make us laugh. Every comedian that’s come since owes their careers to him,” Leguizamo says. “Anybody who takes comedy seriously (ha!) has gotta binge Blazing Saddles back-to-back with his special Richard Pryor: Live in Concert. They’re both groundbreaking in their own ways and make you laugh a little diferently every time. There’s your new morning ritual: Watch a little bit of Pryor every day. Do it while you brush your teeth. While you make your bed. While you watch the news. It’ll make your life better! Maybe. Maybe not. But it’ll definitely make your life funnier.”

ILLUSTRATIONS BY SAM ISLAND Written and reported by David Canfield, Gerrad Hall, Derek Lawrence, and Dalton Ross Music

Edited By | ALEX SUSKIND @ALEXJSUSKIND

Carey on: Mariah returns with her 15th studio album CAREY: SARAH MCCOLGAN, TYLER THE CREATOR: BARRY BRECHEISEN

with the stats to prove it: 200 million-plus Mariah Carey albums sold over nearly three decades; 18 TITLE LABEL No. 1 singles, more than any other solo art- Caution Epic ist in chart history (only the Beatles outrank

GENRE REVIEW BY her); ﬁve Grammys; and, of course, a ﬁve- Pop Leah Greenblatt @Leahbats octave vocal range, though it’s been years since she really used the full scope of it. At 48 (or possibly 49; a true diva never TO SAY “A STAR IS BORN” ISN’T A STORY, IT’S AN INTRO. tells), Carey is no longer at the white-hot A thousand shiny comets have streaked across the center of the zeitgeist—that place where

Hot 100 before disappearing into the faraway ether of SoundCloud rappers battle face-masked /WIREIMAGE where-are-they-now; only a very few turn fame into a DJs for supremacy, and feuding with long game. Mariah Carey is one of thosse rare supernovas, Nicki Minajj has been passed on to the

A SEUSSIAN REVIEW OF TYLER, THE CREATOR’S “IA MTHE GRINCH” > The Grinch hates Christmas but sure loves NOTEWORTHY She Still Wants to Thank You Dido announced Still on My Mind, her first album in five years. Eye of the Tiger Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, and more will appear on the Creed II soundtrack.

MARIAH HAS ALWAYS Carey’s ever come to psychedelia. (And yes, that’s eye-patched ’80s icon Slick Rick guest- LEANED MORE TOWARD ing on the breakdown.) “One Mo’ Gen,” a Mumford & Sons THE BUBBLE BATH lilting echo of 1995’s “Always Be My Baby,” TITLE Delta pleads sweetly with her man for a bedroom LABEL Glassnote THAN THE DANCE FLOOR. replay; the diaphanous ballad “Portrait” for- sakes nearly everything but voice and piano. GENRE Rock Like most Mariah albums, Caution is a REVIEW BY Maureen Lee Lenker more-than-capable hands of Cardi B. But study in varying degrees of incline; she’s @themaureenlee Mariah does not go to the mountain; the always leaned more toward the bubble bath mountain goes to Mariah. And on her 15th than the dance floor. Propulsion comes from ON 2015’S WILDER MIND, studio album, the breezy, pleasingly defiant an updated Rolodex of producers (Skrillex, Mumford & Sons pushed away from their Caution, she finds a freshness that’s been Drake collaborator Nineteen85) and guests retro acoustic sound and dived missing from her recent material. (raspy Atlanta MC Gunna on the glossy headfirst into alt-rock territory. “Just put yourself into my shoes,” she coos “Stay Long Love You,” Ty Dolla $ign gilding With Delta, the band’s fifth over crisp digital finger snaps and mentho- her low-slung la-di-das on “The Distance”). album, they aim for a combina- lated synths on the airy album opener, “8th The four singles floated so far haven’t tion, infusing centuries-old folk roots with a sweeping, mod- Grade”—as if any of us could step into the broken the top 10 domestically, which is ern tonality. Songs like “Forever” Louboutins of the woman who infamously disappointing but maybe not surprising, and “Guiding Light” mix the wore her stilettos on the StairMaster in a considering Carey’s current status as a sort soulful harmonies and banjo licks now-legendary 2002 episode of MTV Cribs. of pop-star emeritus. It’s not that her jersey’s that helped propel the band Whatever kooky champagne universe the been retired, exactly, but a decade has passed to fame with fresh sounds, including organs, synthesizers, Elusive Chanteuse occupies in the public since her last No. 1, “Touch My Body.” And it and miscellaneous effects consciousness, though, she’s surprisingly does take several listens to find the melodies (birdsong, anyone?). “Darkness earthbound in her private world here. For here beneath all the trademark Mimi gauze, Visible” brings a hodgepodge every silky, vaguely generic ballad like the though the hooks feel unmissably sticky of spoken word and electronic title track “Caution” (as in, Proceed With), once they finally sink in. The album closes rhythms to the project, while more playful turns appear on the there’s a “GTFO,” with its bruised lament with “A No No,” which re-ups the Notorious heady dance beats of “Picture “Bulldozed my heart as if you planned it/My B.I.G.’s iconic refrain from Lil’ Kim’s 1997 You.” Although some of these prince was so unjustly handsome,” and “How “Crush on You” remix—a callback to her own sonic experiments are better ’bout you get the f--- out?” chorus. glory days, no doubt, but also a tart reminder than others, Delta provides On the tender, heartbeat-syncopated that even when the new school rules, there’s Mumford & Sons a wide range of inventive expressions, allow- “Giving Me Life,” she admits that a summer- still room for classics, too. B+ ing them to stay true to their time love has her thinking back to being 17 essence: blending the rustic and “feeling myself like I’m Norma Jean”—a THIS ALBUM CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING: quality of their past with a more sly allusion to her bombshell spirit animal majestic approach that under- Marilyn Monroe, whose baby grand piano scores the heavier themes of the MOMULTIPLE OCTAVES WC WIND CHIMES record. While the album feels she reportedly bought years ago. In its final more baroque in nature than any minutes, the song dissolves into woozy, FBF-BOMBS CS CHEER SQUAD of their previous work, it’s not

MUMFORD & SONS: GAVIN BATTY GAVIN SONS: & MUMFORD guitar-laced spaciousness, maybe the closest in need of any ﬁxing. B+ this track, with Danny Elfman’s strings and Tyler’s ace raps. It’s catchy and funny and full of good cheer, this mischievous tune will help close out the year. A– —AS

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 49 Music NORAH’S NEW GROOVE The multiplatinum singer on her new singles and why, two decades into her career, she decided to stop making albums (for now). BY JOEY NOLFI

With more than 50 million albums sold and nine Grammys on the shelf, Norah Jones knows she’s reached a point in her career where she can pretty much do whatever the hell she wants. The 39-year-old says she plans to write the next chapter in her professional song- book at a new speed. “ItwasfunandIhadagreattime,butthat whole album-cycle push, I’m not up for it anymore,” she says. Her husband suggested an alternate route: “Go in the studio” with an array of hand-selected musicians “for one to three days [and] put out a song per month,” Jones explains. So far, a collection of four singles—“Wintertime,” “My Heart Is Full,” “It Was You,” and “A Song With No Name”—made at her own pace with friends new and old serve as tokens brought back from her sonic travels. “It’s easy when you get into a record cycle to lose that a little bit.... When you’re waiting a long time to put something out, the magic of the song starts to dissipate for you as the artist,” she continues. “I’ve always been pretty quick to record. But you sit still, waiting around, getting artwork together, [and] it’s like, let’s just do it and put out the important part and move on.”

Norah .Paak at It Jones made “Wintertime” Anderson .Paak’s new album Oxnard is a wild, funky, with Wilco psychedelic turn for the multidimensional frontman Jeff musician. He chats with EW about humility, hitmakers, Tweedy and advice from Dr. Dre. BY DAN HYMAN

LIKE ANY SMART MUSICIAN, the iconic rapper-producer who Anderson .Paak occasionally not only helped discover .Paak turns to others to help refine his but prominently featured him on JONES: DANNY CLINCH, PAAK: ISRAEL RAMOS art. But he didn’t know how his 2015 Compton LP, construc- to react earlier this year when tive criticism is easier to swallow. a creative collaborator told “You need that,” .Paak now him that Oxnard, .Paak’s seem- admits, “because you’ll go crazy ingly finished new album, still when you’re making these needed tweaking. albums if you don’t have nobody “Yeah, that was definitely a to be your co-pilot.” As it big learning experience,” .Paak turned out, Dre, who exec-pro- says. Then again, when the duced Oxnard, was spot-on with person advising you is Dr. Dre, his assessment. “We went in for

50 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 50TH ANNIVERSARY

a few more weeks, and that’s “It was when the bulk of the album pure actually got done,” .Paak says of creative the more than 10 new tracks that bliss,” says form the core of the record. Anderson “And these were songs that I never .Paak of thought I’d write.” working with Malibu—his Grammy- Dr. Dre nominated breakout 2016 album that dominated critics’ year- end lists and made him a staple on the festival circuit—was a The Beatles’ sprawling, soulful slice of Stax- White inspired sincerity. But .Paak Album opens the sonic floodgates for spent nine Oxnard, which takes its name weeks at from his native Southern Califor- No. 1 nia city. “And that’s all I ever wanted to do,” says the 32-year- old, who uses the record’s opening minutes to veer from blaxploitation-era soundtrack DON’TPASSUSBY music (“The Chase”) to classic A half century ago, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and Elvis Presley West Coast gangsta rap (“Head- each released seminal works. This month, they’re getting low”) and brass-anchored soul the box-set treatment. Here’s what to expect. BY ALEX SUSKIND (“Tints”). Furthermore, he roped in a who’s-who of guest features to flesh out his vision, including Kendrick Lamar, Q-Tip, J. Cole, and Pusha-T. In total, it makes for one of the most tantalizing and trippy hip- hop releases of the year. Or, as the rapper describes it, “This album is Anderson .Paak with some big-ass brass cojones!” Now .Paak—who took up drums at 12 and spent the next JIMI HENDRIX THE BEATLES ELVIS PRESLEY two decades pursuing a music ELECTRIC LADYLAND THE WHITE ALBUM ’68 COMEBACK SPECIAL career while working odd Legacy Recordings Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol RCA/Legacy Recordings jobs—is ready to push his ambi- Jimi was made for sur- This expansive reissue It had been seven tion even further. “I’m in the round sound. On this gives lie to the com- years since his last era where everyone’s doing these remastered 5.1 deluxe mon “record made by public performance, s---ty-ass Auto-Tune-y vibes,” reissue of Hendrix’s four separate solo and the King was he says. “So I gotta be unique.” 1968 masterpiece (the artists” post-breakup ready to reclaim his Frankly, the rapper adds, he only Hendrix studio narrative. Featuring throne. A series of only wishes outré albums like album to top the the remastered album compelling, vulnera- Oxnard were less of an outlier. charts), the guitarist by George Martin’s ble, and flat-out “If it was the ’70s, I’d just have my crisply blazes through son Giles, the back-to- fun televised perfor- chest hair out and be wearing each psychedelic, basics Esher demos, mances helped cool outfits and I’d be up there kandy-kolored rif and and unreleased studio reintroduce Elvis Pres- [like] James Brown sweating all solo—the wah-wahs outtakes, it peels back ley to the world. ugly,” he says. “Now it’s a whole of “Burning of the Mid- the layers of a group There isn’t any new diferent world.” night Lamp,” the diligently working material from those freakish echoes of together to produce sessions in this set, Plus, he says, having A-list “Voodoo Chile”—with something special. but it does collect all admirers like Dre or, say, Beyoncé the subtlety of a blow- Highlights include the previously and Bruno Mars—for whom torch. The set’s real a wild 13-minute released recordings he’s opened on their respective gems, though, are the version of “Helter and video footage tours—the pressure is on to prove early album demos, Skelter,” an alternate in one package for he actually belongs. “They’re which Hendrix “While My Guitar Gen- the first time. With all hit music-makers,” he notes, recorded on his own. tly Weeps” solo from the ’68 Comeback before adding with a massive Even if you’ve been to Eric Clapton, and Special, Elvis hoped dose of humility, “And me? I’m Electric Ladyland, this wisecracks among to solidify his legacy. the guy that’s still gotta put version is worth the John, Paul, George, This box set is proof

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 51 Books

Edited By | CLARISSA CRUZ @CLARISSANYC1

Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama at Chicago’s United Center on Nov. 13

“Hey, Chicago!” a voice blares Stuart Weitzman heels) and the Then there’s the branding: over the arena sound system, production value has skyrock- Fans lucky enough to score a Michelle followed by the cheers of more eted (think dramatic lighting seat will encounter a step-and- than 23,000 people. It takes a and larger-than-life projection repeat, inviting them to take second to register that this screens). The starry tête-à-tête selfies with life-size renderings exclamation is coming from the took place Nov. 13 at Chicago’s of Obama. Then they’ll find Mania former First Lady of the United United Center, which normally merch tables selling, yes, We go inside the opening States, not a sports announcer— hosts rock stars. books, but also concert tees. A night of Michelle Obama’s or Beyoncé, for that matter. The Only, this rock concert is shirt with her famous “When book tour for her best-selling crowd is amped, helped along actually a book tour. While they go low, we go high” quote IMAGES OLSON/GETTY SCOTT OBAMA: AND WINFREY memoir, Becoming. by a steady soundtrack of Ellie Becoming Live—a 12-city show was especially popular. BY SEIJA RANKIN Goulding and the Jackson 5 promoting the publication of Live Nation has produced and the fact that queen bees Obama’s memoir, Becoming— the tour, and the preamble Oprah Winfrey and Michelle bills itself as a series of intimate to the show features a mon- Obama are about to make their conversations, one could be tage of family photos—played grand entrance. forgiven for a little confusion. to the tune of speaker-rattling The pair’s first steps on stage The similarities start at the Top 40—a segment that hearken back to the excitement price tag: Ticket prices ranged wouldn’t be out of place at one of 2008 campaigning, but this from $29.50 to thousands, of the Carters’ On the Run time the fashion is more fun with the highest-price seating shows. In the video opening, (Obama wears a sequined top including a VIP meet-and- celebrities (hi, Gwyneth by Sally LaPointe and hot pink greet…just like Beyoncé. Paltrow!) and civilians alike

52 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 Becoming BETWEEN Spell Bound AnewSabrina the Teenage Witch comics BY Michelle Obama THE miniseries by Hawkeye and West Coast Avengers writer

LINES Kelly Thompson will launch this spring. PAGES 426 Kirkland Signature Ellen DeGeneres and Michelle GENRE Memoir Obama hit Costco for an impromptu book signing.

REVIEW BY David Canfield @davidcanfield97

BECOMING READS like a glass bottle of decency, pre- served from a nationwide garbage fire. A sincere book from a major public figure, it stands in sharp contrast to the state of our dis- course—starting with the man currently in the White House. Michelle Obama dedicates Becoming’s first third to her working-class coming-of-age in 1970s musings and mantras aplenty— Chicago. It drags, progress- one quotable line from the ing like so many memoirs memoir, “Failure is a feeling long of its type, but Obama also before it’s an actual result,” constructs episodes from was a recurring theme. 2 Dope her childhood that vividly Queens’ Phoebe Robinson, who capture the experience of will host the Philadelphia and growing up black in Amer- Detroit shows, recalls the ica, occupying spaces like moment she got the call. “I was piano recitals and, later, freaking out, overjoyed, and Princeton University where honored,” says the comedian. her blackness—“that every- “Michelle is an example of grace, day drain of being in a deep living your truth, being a citizen minority”—clarifies itself. of the world when it comes to Obama’s strength lies in her philanthropy, a warrior for hindsight, especially in ( From top ) The hometown crowd in Chicago; the Obamas in “Becoming Us,” the book’s 2015. “I was mad at Barack because he prioritized himself in a way women. She’s not perfect, but that I needed to but wasn’t,” Obama said at the Nov. 13 event. she’s everything.” second (and best) section, But beyond the glitz both about her marriage to intentional and inevitable, the Barack Obama. She fully former FLOTUS seems to be lives in the regret, pain, contribute their own answers focused on finding common and loss of various tough to the question “What are ground with her fellow citizens. times from their relation- you becoming?” In Chicago (Obama’s home- ship; she also embraces Besides Winfrey, Obama has I DON’T MISS town), that meant opening up to passionate language peri- tapped other high-profile Winfrey about her marriage, odically—falling for Barack friends—Reese Witherspoon, THE [WHITE] sharing grievances that brought felt like “a toppling blast of Tracee Ellis Ross, and Sarah HOUSE, BECAUSE laughs—“Barack has a lot of lust, gratitude, fulfillment, Jessica Parker among others—to words” and “He’s gonna rational- wonder”—lending Becom- accompany her on stage during WE TOOK WHAT ize your feelings away, which ing bursts of authenticity. the tour, which runs through WAS IMPORTANT makes me wanna push him out a The author directly con- Dec. 19. Each show will be window”—but also ofering reve- demns Donald Trump, but slightly diferent: Becoming Live WITH US. lations that reminded everyone her broader intention is to is built of of the themes in in the room why they are drawn remind her country of what Obama’s book, but the celebrity THE PEOPLE to her in the first place. is being lost—and of what moderators will each bring their IN IT MADE IT “The one thing I’m claiming is once guided the Obama own personality and interests to that my story is the quintessen- presidency: “A glimmer of the stage. Winfrey’s edition car- WHAT IT WAS.” tial American story,” she told the the world as it could be.” ried a SuperSoul Sunday vibe —MICHELLE rapt audience. “How dare some- May decency reign again. B OBAMA, TO OPRAH

CROWD: ARMANDO L. SANCHEZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/GETTYOBAMAS: IMAGES; AMANDA LUCIDON/THE WHITE HOUSE (how could it not?), with WINFREY body tell me that I don’t belong?”

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 53 My Sister, the Serial Killer

BY Oyinkan Braithwaite

PAGES 240

GENRE Fiction

REVIEW BY David Canfield @davidcanfield97

MY SISTER, THE Serial Killer opens on a terrifyingly routine image: Korede coming to her sister Ayoola’s side, yet again, to help her hide a body. This time Ayoola couldn’t even get through a month with her boyfriend before stabbing him square in the heart. Ayoola claims self-defense. But Korede wonders, irri- tated by the burden: Why was she carrying a knife? DEATHBECOMESHER Braithwaite’s debut is a master class in deadpan, its My Sister, the Serial Killer author Oyinkan Braithwaite reveals how humor so muted and know- a book she wrote in a month turned into the year’s buzziest literary ing it feels eﬀortlessly satire—with a high-profile film deal to match. BY DAVID CANFIELD baked into the tragedy. The slim chapters—coming in at a few pages—are stacked with heavy, sardonic cyni- OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE TOOK A WHILE TO explains. “I knew it was going to be dark, cism. They teem with the warm up to the title My Sister, the Serial because that I’m good at. But I didn’t want it love and rivalry and pain Killer. This was her debut novel, after all, to be serious. That allowed me to play.” inherent to any close sib- and pitching it so boldly, so “on the nose,” Braithwaite didn’t even view the book as ling relationship. And they wasn’t something she was comfortable with. having much potential, initially. She felt frus- turn (irresistibly) insane “I always go for the more subtle thing,” the trated by a string of bad luck in getting pub- as the twists accelerate, 30-year-old author says. “But I know I might lished, and decided she’d take a break with entangling the sisters not seem subtle if you’ve read the novel.” Serial Killer—a story she’d been toying with deeper and deeper in a web Well, she’s dead-on there. Serial Killer is as for some time—before returning to her “great of death and deceit. blackly comic as it gets, a tale of murder and novel.” (She was also working at a publishing The novel comes to a resentment unfurled with blunt, bloody house in Nigeria, where she still lives.) She head as Korede’s crush bravado. The novel, set in Braithwaite’s birth- wrote Killer in a month. “I was desperate!” Tade, the handsome doctor place of Nigeria, follows Korede, a weary she says. “I had no intention of sending it who works in her hospital, nurse, and her younger sister Ayoola, a anywhere.” But the raves kept coming. expresses an interest in flighty beauty who’s developed a bad habit— Serial Killer was optioned for film by Work- Ayoola. So the sisterly she keeps killing her lovers. Korede finds this ing Title (Darkest Hour) and Big Talk (Baby bond—Korede’s allegiance, annoying, mostly: Here she is, still cleaning Driver) months before it was published—one Ayoola’s luck—is put to the up her pesky sibling’s messes. Only this time reason for the loud buzz—and Braithwaite test. Serial Killer stays as literally—armed with gloves and bleach has enjoyed the process so far. (“They want forebodingly light as a whenever another beau bites the dust. to keep it as black as possible!”) Amid all the black cloud, but as the pace The title may be provocative, but it rather excitement, she’s only now realizing that this quickens, it wisely exposes perfectly sums up the premise. “Now I love book really is personal. An oldest child her- misogyny, corruption, and [the title] so much,” Braithwaite says. “It self, she channeled her feelings into a novel the perils of social media, BRAITHWAITE: STUDIO 24 saves me a lot of time explaining the plot.” of satirical extremes. “You’re taught to pro- against the vividly original It also nails the tone, a sort of winking mun- tect and look out for your siblings,” she says. backdrop of contemporary danity drenched in noirish dread. Though “It just happens naturally, to me, to every- Lagos. Trust: There’s more that aesthetic wasn’t planned by Braithwaite one—it’s why I knew Korede could believably to this Killer than the trail B+ either. “The humor was purely accidental— protect her sister. Otherwise, she’d have of bodies left behind. I wasn’t really trying to be funny,” she given her up a long time ago.”

54 EW.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2018 Books THEOSCARS OF THE BOOK WORLD The literary awards season is in full swing—and it has more in common with its Hollywood counterpart than you’d think. BY DAVID CANFIELD

They may not have musical numbers and morning-after fashion assessments (thank God), but the awards circuit for books is plenty dramatic. Here’s our take on this year’s race.

THE HEAVYWEIGHTS

Lauren Grof’s edgy short-story collection Florida and Rebecca Makkai’s sweeping historical novel The Great Believers have been front-runners all season, with Florida making the short list for the eclectic Kirkus Prize and Believers for the mainstream the youngest author ever nomi- THE SNUBS THE WORKHORSE AWARD Andrew Carnegie Medal. More nated for the Booker Prize, the importantly, both were named U.K.’s highest literary honor. She In the They were robbed! The Oscars love a good career finalists for the National Book got the call for her risky debut category: Rachel Kushner, achievement award—Gary Award (NBA)—publishing’s Everything Under, a gender- an NBA finalist for her first Oldman for Darkest Hour this biggest prize for American bending retelling of Oedipus. two novels, was somehow year; infamous bridesmaid authors—before losing to an ignored altogether for her Glenn Close for The Wife (we out-of-the-box choice. (More THE GAME-CHANGERS blistering prison drama The predict) next year—and pub- on that later.) Think of their Mars Room. (Compensation: lishing is no diferent. The 2018 duel as a classic Oscar-bait- Not unlike show business, the lit- She’s a first-time Booker nomi- choice? Sigrid Nunez. She’d versus-dark-horse Best Picture erary world can be a bit stufy nee.) Just as Oscar hates going been published for more than race—say, La La Land versus when it comes to who attends too outside-the-box—No Dark 20 years before netting her first Moonlight. Then there’s Wash- its year-end galas. But a few Knight for Best Picture? No NBA nomination this year— ington Black, from Canada’s Esi always break the mold. Nana James Franco for his wild and then unexpectedly won Edugyan. A harrowing epic Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s surreal- Spring Breakers turn?—Ottessa the coveted prize for fiction. about slavery and freedom, it’s dystopian Friday Black is 2018’s Moshfegh’s satirical tour de It helps that her new book, already a Carnegie and Man avant-garde darling—the Get force My Year of Rest and The Friend, is a literary insider’s Booker Prize finalist—hitting Out or Mad Max: Fury Road,if Relaxation has been unjustly dream: Nunez layers it with that awards-friendly sweet spot you will—with a Carnegie long- dismissed. And why the persis- specific humor about the book of artistic and social value. listing and a special NBA “5 tent genre bias? Madeline world she’s been in for so long. Under 35” honor for its author. Miller’s Greek goddess saga Hollywood can’t resist movies THE INGENUE And don’t forget Tommy Orange— Circe deserves more than it’s about movies—remember the breakout in a breakthrough gotten. At least Hollywood when Birdman went all the Move over, Saoirse Ronan— year for Native American writers. knows a thing or two about way?—and, similarly, writers fall we’ve got a new trendy young His novel There There is a Car- ignoring-by-labeling—we’re for books about writing every artist to spotlight. In September, negie finalist and was long-listed still smarting over those time. And what could be more Britain’s Daisy Johnson became for the National Book Award. Creed snubs. Hollywood than narcissism?

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ILLUSTRATION BY JONATHAN BARTLETT NOVEMBER 30, 2018 EW.COM 55 THIS WEEK’S HITS & MISSES TheBullseye BY MARC SNETIKER @MarcSnetiker We have some words for the boogie woogie bugle boy from whatever company made this. Come on, at least make finding the fantastic beasts a challenge.

If Dannemora is the name of her wig, thenn by all means, esscape.s . ards Presidential Medal of Freedom to Babe Ruth, Elvis Presley, and presumably five other people he

saw once on a lunch CHESS; WORLD FOR IMAGES FEWINGS/GETTY TRISTAN HARRELSON: IMAGES;

box in the 1950s. VENTURELL RYAN: AND MELLENCAMP IMAGES; CARR/GETTY MATT STAN LEE: IMAGES; EZRA MILLER IN BLACK: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT DER VAN GEOFFROY BLACK: IN MILLER EZRA 3/AMC; VANDERPUMP: MICHAEL LARSEN/BRAVO; MICHAEL 3/AMC; VANDERPUMP:

David mmer assists cops in tracking look-alike robbery suspect. One could even say Ross helped the case…on a break. best c ugar-related engagement since The Graduate The MCU—and th PRES IMAGES; SPICER/GETTY JEFF WHITE: IN MILLER EZRA IMAGES; /AFP/GETTY one—just got a little less marvelous. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK NEW THE IS ORANGE ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA I/GETTY IMAGES; DION: FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY IMAGES; SAD IMAGES; HARRISON/GETTY FRAZER DION: IMAGES; I/GETTY

Lisa Vanderpump

CelineCli Di Dion launchesl h FURNISS/WIREIMAGE; JON DEVITO: WHILDEN/NETFLIX; : JOJO rumored to leave Real Sade drops sexy new new clothing line, Housewives of Beverly GR STEVE HENDRICKS: CHRISTINA SAUNDERS/SHOWTIME; : CHRISTOPHER song “The Big Unknown” although, FYI, the river Hills after eight years, A Breaking Bad movie as couples all over size tends to run although we know a is officially happening! the country immediately deep and the mountain great surgeon who can Just remember, it’s drop other things. a bit high. make it look like five. always cheaper to bring your own meth instead of buying it at concessions.

Discussions under way about a potential MICHA LEY: sequel to Orange Is the New Black. Spoiler alert: It’s cyan. EL OCHS ARCHIVES; RUTH: BLANK ARCHIVES/GETTY BLANK RUTH: ARCHIVES; OCHS EL E: DAVID MONTGOMERY/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY MONTGOMERY/HULTON DAVID E: BREAKING BAD

Weird secret shrine to Danny DeVito discovered in New York; : FRANK OCKENFELS ANITZ/WIREIMAGE doubly weird since Woody Harrelson screws up World Chess Rhea Perlman reportedly Championship opening ceremony by moving Satanic temple sues Netflix’s Sa spends most of her the wrong piece. It’s almost as big a screwup over goat-demon statue. “She’s on her time in L.A. as asking Woody Harrelson to host your World own on this one,” said Gloria Allred. Chess Championship opening ceremony. SkinCancer.org