Eliana Willis

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    With ‘Sprint’ and ‘Simone Biles: Rising,’ Netflix Fills Olympic Content Gap

    New seasons of documentaries about running, gymnastics and basketball are being filmed this summer as part of a partnership with the International Olympic Committee.The four-person crew from Box to Box Films, the production company responsible for the hit Netflix motorsports docuseries “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” has often shot in lavish settings like Monaco and Miami.But one recent morning, it congregated in a far less glamorous spot: a set of flimsy bleachers next to a running track in the Paris suburb of Eaubonne, where it waited about an hour for a practice session to begin.“This is our life,” Warren Smith, a top executive at Box to Box, said of the waiting. It could have been worse: Across town, a second crew was filming a runner having a haircut.The footage from France will eventually be part of the second season of “Sprint,” a Netflix documentary following the American 100-meter stars Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles and a dozen or so other track athletes.The series is one of three projects being filmed during these Summer Games as part of a partnership between Netflix and the International Olympic Committee, a latecomer to the sports-documentary genre that is now an eager participant.Just as “Drive to Survive” forged a deeper connection between fans and Formula 1 auto racing, the I.O.C. hopes these projects will pique awareness and interest among a new (read: younger) generation of Olympic fans. They include the track series, a gymnastics one called “Simone Biles: Rising” and one about the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Patti Yasutake of ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Beef’ Dies at 70

    Ms. Yasutake played Nurse Alyssa Ogawa in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”Patti Yasutake, the actress known for her roles in the hit Netflix series “Beef” and in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” died on Monday at a hospital in Los Angeles. She was 70.The cause was cancer, her manager and friend of more than 30 years, Kyle Fritz, said.Ms. Yasutake had a 30-year theater career, but she is most widely recognized for her recurring role as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the television show that aired from 1987 to 1994. She appeared in 16 episodes and later reprised the role in the films “Star Trek Generations” and “Star Trek: First Contact.”In an article on Startrek.com, the website’s managing editor Christine Dinh wrote that Ms. Yasutake’s Ogawa was one of two recurring ethnically Asian characters on the show at the same time, a rarity when there “were so few characters who looked like me on-screen in Western media that I could count them on one hand.”“What stands out about Alyssa Ogawa’s story is that it spoke to the Asian American experience but wasn’t about that,” Ms. Dinh wrote.More recently, she was cast in Netflix’s hit show “Beef,” a dark comedy in which Ms. Yasutake plays Fumi Nakai, the fierce and unapologetic mother-in-law of Amy Lau, played by Ali Wong.Patricia Sue Yasutake was born in Gardena, Calif., on Sept. 6, 1953. She grew up there and in Inglewood. Ms. Yasutake graduated with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a theater degree.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    A ‘Stranger Things’ Prequel Is Coming to Broadway Next Spring

    The play, now running in London, is set 24 years before the start of the Netflix series.“Stranger Things,” Netflix’s enormously popular sci-fi drama, is coming to Broadway.The three-hour drama, already running in London, is a prequel of sorts, set in 1959, 24 years before the streaming series begins. The play’s full title is “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”; like the Netflix series, it takes place in the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., and features some of the supernatural streamer’s adult characters when they were high school students.“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” is to begin previews March 28 and to open April 22 at the Marquis Theater.The lavish, spectacle-heavy production opened in London in December. British critics were enthusiastic: In the Sunday Times, Dominic Maxwell called it “a tremendous technical feat that is also moving, amusing and surprising,” while in the Daily Telegraph, the critic Dominic Cavendish labeled it “the theatrical event of the year.” But in The New York Times, the critic Houman Barekat was unimpressed, calling it “a gaudy, vertiginous fairground ride of a play.”The London production has been successful and will continue to run. The producers say the show has attracted a high number of first-time theatergoers and those who rarely go, drawn by their interest in the “Stranger Things” story. The show also won two Olivier Awards, for best new entertainment and for set and video design.The play is written by Kate Trefry, who is also a writer of the series, and it is based on a story by Trefry; the Duffer Brothers, who created the series; and Jack Thorne, a playwright who won a Tony Award for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” The play is directed by Stephen Daldry, a three-time Tony winner, for “The Inheritance,” “Billy Elliot,” and “An Inspector Calls,” and co-directed by Justin Martin.The creative team is considering making some changes to the narrative and technical elements of the show as they bring it to Broadway.Netflix is a lead producer of “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” along with Sonia Friedman, a prolific producer on Broadway and in the West End. More

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    A Decade Later, ‘The Leftovers’ Seems Almost Like Prophecy

    In interviews, the creators, Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, look back at their HBO grief drama and how it plays differently after the coronavirus pandemic.In “Guest,” an episode in the first season of the HBO drama “The Leftovers,” a woman named Nora Durst (Carrie Coon) approaches a disheveled self-proclaimed prophet named Holy Wayne (Paterson Joseph). She is looking for relief from the torment of her entire family disappearing in a Rapture-like event known as the Sudden Departure, and the prophet clutches her head and quotes from the Bible: “For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope.”These words from the book of Ecclesiastes are an ideal summation of the show, which premiered just over a decade ago, in June 2014. Created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, based on Perrotta’s novel, the series tells a dark story about the aftermath of an inexplicable tragedy in which 2 percent of the world’s population vanishes. But it treats its characters with great care and (eventually) has a wicked, unexpected sense of humor. “The Leftovers” was always joined with all the living, intent on fanning the embers of hope.When the show premiered, it was speculative fiction about an imagined catastrophe. Rewatching it now, it seems more like prophecy, foreseeing an emotional and corporeal reality the world experienced during the coronavirus pandemic. In separate interviews, Lindelof and Perrotta talked about the experience of creating the show, and the ways in which it anticipated our present. These are edited excerpts from the conversations.How did you two come to collaborate?DAMON LINDELOF I think it was 2012. I’m never going to do television again. I’ll never make another thing like “Lost,” so why even chase it? And then, as I was reading the book, I was like, “It’d be really cool to do this as a TV show.”TOM PERROTTA I said, “I’d really like to be in the writers’ room and to have a significant role in writing the show.” But I knew that I needed somebody who could run the show.Damon Lindelof, left, and Tom Perrotta in 2014. They adapted the series from Perrotta’s novel.Sam Comen for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    A Jingle Put Cellino & Barnes on the Map. Their Split Inspired a Play.

    Many New Yorkers can rattle off the phone number by heart. “Cellino v. Barnes” chronicles the rise and fall of these prominent injury lawyers.We must begin with the jingle.It represents everything you probably know about Ross M. Cellino Jr. and Stephen E. Barnes: They were two New York personal injury lawyers reachable for years at 800-888-8888.You may also recall hearing about trouble in paradise. The pair went to court in 2017 and, after an extended legal battle, officially split three years later. Then, just a few months following the divorce, Barnes and his niece died when a small plane he was piloting crashed.Unlikely legal pioneers, Cellino and Barnes proved the power of advertising. From the 1990s through their breakup, they became billboard royalty whose influence expanded beyond western New York — where their original office was — to New York City and California, not only elevating the art of personal injury law but also enriching themselves in the process. Their firm made profits of more than $165 million from settling cases for its clients for $1.5 billion, according to court documents filed as part of the 2017 dispute.Their story, including the demise of their empire, is now unfolding in the Off Broadway play “Cellino v. Barnes,” which is running through October at Asylum NYC. The show dates back to 2018, when it first played at Union Hall in Brooklyn.The playwrights, Mike B. Breen, 35, and David Rafailedes, 34, said the broad outlines of the 75-minute play are basically true. But they condensed the timeline of events and took dramatic liberties as they saw fit.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Akili McDowell, Star of ‘David Makes Man,’ Is Charged With Murder

    Mr. McDowell, 21, was being held on bond for the July shooting death of a man in the parking lot of a Houston apartment complex, the authorities said.Akili McDowell, an actor who starred in the television series “David Makes Man,” has been charged with murder in the July shooting death of a man in the parking lot of a Houston apartment complex, authorities said.Mr. McDowell, 21, was arrested and charged on Thursday with the murder of Cesar Peralta, 20, according to a criminal complaint.Mr. McDowell is being held on $400,000 bond at the Harris County jail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 9. A lawyer for Mr. McDowell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Jonell Whitt, Mr. McDowell’s manager, offered prayers to the victim’s family and to Mr. McDowell. She declined to comment further on Monday evening.Harris County sheriff deputies responded to reports of a shooting on July 20 in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Houston, according to the sheriff’s office.Deputies arrived to find an adult male, who has since been identified as Mr. Peralta, unresponsive from apparent gunshot wounds. Emergency medical workers pronounced him dead at the scene. The authorities said that deputies spoke with several witnesses who reported seeing the victim in a fight with an unidentified male, who fled on foot immediately after the shooting.“David Makes Man” follows David, played by Mr. McDowell, as he navigates life in a housing project in South Florida while trying to succeed as one of the few Black students at his magnet school. The show, which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network, was tinged with magical realism and explored its characters’ inner lives. It was created and written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, known for his Tony-nominated play “Choir Boy” and as a writer of the Oscar-winning film “Moonlight.”According to the website IMDb, Mr. McDowell appeared this year in “The Waterboyz,” a film about two young men whose paths cross while trying to make it in Atlanta. He also appeared in the 2015 film “Criminal Activities,” a crime yarn starring John Travolta; and in the television shows “Billions” and “The Astronaut Wives Club.”Alain Delaquérière More

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    David Lynch of ‘Twin Peaks’ Says He Has Emphysema

    The director, 78, confirmed the diagnosis in a social media post after revealing in a magazine interview that he would be limited to directing remotely.David Lynch, co-creator of the groundbreaking series “Twin Peaks” and director of “Mulholland Drive” and “Blue Velvet,” said on Monday that he had emphysema but that he would not retire.Mr. Lynch, 78, confirmed the diagnosis in a social media post after revealing it in an interview featured in the September issue of Sight and Sound, a monthly film magazine by the British Film Institute. He added that his mobility was limited and that he could continue directing only remotely.After the interview was quoted in several publications, Mr. Lynch said in a social post that he had no plans to retire.“Yes, I have emphysema from my many years of smoking. I have to say that I enjoyed smoking very much, and I do love tobacco – the smell of it, lighting cigarettes on fire, smoking them – but there is a price to pay for this enjoyment, and the price for me is emphysema,” Mr. Lynch wrote in his post on social media.Mr. Lynch said that he quit smoking more than two years ago, and that recent tests showed he was “in excellent shape except for emphysema.”“I am filled with happiness, and I will never retire,” he said.Mr. Lynch is perhaps best known for the television show “Twin Peaks,” an eerie mystery drama that was considered cutting-edge TV when it appeared on ABC in 1990. The show was adapted for the big screen in a film called “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” in 1992 and later revived in 2017 on Showtime.As a film director, he has earned three Oscar nominations for best director, for “The Elephant Man,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive.” “Wild at Heart” won him the 1990 “Palm d’Or” at the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Mr. Lynch made a cameo appearance as the character John Ford in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” a film about a family closely modeled on the Spielbergs. Mr. Lynch appears in the end of the movie, when he gives Sammy Fabelman, the main character, advice about filmmaking.According to the American Lung Association, emphysema, also referred to as chronic obstructive lung disease, is a lung disease that causes shortness of breath. Smoking and air pollution are the most common causes. Early warning signs of the disease include coughing up mucus, wheezing and chest tightness, the A.L.A. says on its website. More

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    ‘Yo Gabba GabbaLand!’ Revives a Cult Kids Show

    This reboot features the same characters and still emphasizes music and dance while seeking to “make the world of Gabba an actual place,” a creator said.When “Yo Gabba Gabba!” premiered on Nickelodeon in 2007, the series looked and sounded like nothing else on children’s TV. It starred five toys that have come to life, including Brobee; a half-broccoli, half-bee hybrid with a bushy black unibrow; and Muno, a giant Cyclops with bumps all over his cherry-red body. Preschool viewers, typically treated to less challenging musical fare, heard performances from acts like Bootsy Collins, the Roots, My Chemical Romance and Weezer.Like Disney theme parks, the music and dance-centric show sought to entertain children while also appealing to their parents, a particularly tough task for shows aimed at the preschool set. In many ways it succeeded, garnering a loyal fan base that spanned generations.The show eventually became a kind of cultural phenomenon, spawning a live touring show and a line of toys, and showing up at places as dissimilar as the Marvel series “WandaVision” and Coachella. At the concerts, fans could sing along to lyrics about, say, worms and centipedes hanging out underground (“Follow the Oskie Bugs”) or carrots and green beans that get sad if you don’t eat them (“Party in My Tummy”).“I do think that’s part of the beauty of the show,” said Scott Schultz, who created the show with Christian Jacobs. “It’s confusing, but in a fun way.”“Yo Gabba Gabba!” was canceled in 2015, but the creators continued to dream of ways to revive the characters and the show. “We kept thinking, let’s make it bigger, let’s make the world of Gabba an actual place, almost like a destination,” Jacobs said. They eventually found a willing partner in Apple TV+, and production began in 2022.Now the gang is back in a new series, “Yo Gabba GabbaLand!,” which premieres on Aug. 9. The original host, DJ Lance Rock, has been replaced by Kammy Kam, played by Kamryn Smith, a 13-year-old dancer from Phoenix. The show’s “Beat of the Day” duties have transferred from the late rapper Biz Markie to Reggie Watts, Big Daddy Kane and others.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More