Movies

An outsider herself as a young woman, the director and actress wants teenage girls to relish a sense of community. More

David Guillod, a former Hollywood executive who was out on bail after being charged with sexually assaulting four women, was arrested again on Wednesday in connection with another sexual assault report, the Los Angeles Police Department said.Mr. Guillod, who is best known for his work as a talent manager and executive producer of the movie “Atomic Blonde,” was charged in June with 11 felony counts, including rape of an unconscious person and kidnapping to commit rape. He had been released from custody after posting $1 million bail.Last week, a woman came forward to report that Mr. Guillod had sexually assaulted her during an evening meeting, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release. A prosecutor with the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office, which brought the initial charges, said that the most recent sexual assault is alleged to have taken place in mid-October, while Mr. Guillod was out of custody but on GPS tracking.Mr. Guillod, 53, was arrested at his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and is being held in custody on bail set at $5 million, the news release said.A lawyer for Mr. Guillod did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest arrest. Earlier this year, in response to the initial charges, a spokeswoman said that Mr. Guillod denied the charges and that an “overwhelming amount of evidence has been collected over the course of this investigation disputing” them.The spokeswoman said in June that Mr. Guillod’s lawyer had successfully argued to lower the bail amount from $3 million to $1 million, the figure that it had originally been set at, and Mr. Guillod pleaded not guilty to the charges.Among the earlier sexual assault charges, which were brought by the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office, all four of the women said that they were unconscious at the time. In one of the cases, Mr. Guillod was accused of kidnapping and raping a 23-year-old woman who was prevented from resisting because she was intoxicated, according to the criminal complaint.The authorities in Santa Barbara began their investigation of Mr. Guillod in 2017. That same year, the actress Jessica Barth accused him — at first without naming him, in a blog post, and later online by name — of drugging and sexually assaulting her when he was her manager in 2012.At that point, Mr. Guillod stepped down from his position as co-chief executive of Primary Wave Entertainment, a talent agency, and there were reports that other women had also gone to the police with their complaints. Though prosecutors in Santa Barbara office are handling the prosecution of the initial cases, law enforcement officials in Los Angeles had been involved in investigating Mr. Guillod since 2018 because two of the cases were reported in their jurisdiction. More

A letter released on Friday that carried the names of some of the most influential black figures in film, television, visual art, music, theater, literature and other cultural disciplines called on the institutions they work with to actively fight racism by cutting ties with the police, as well as financially supporting and advocating for black artists and their work.The letter, published online to commemorate Juneteenth, was promoted by a new organization called Black Artists for Freedom, which describes itself as a collective of black workers in the culture industries. It carries the names of hundreds of cultural leaders, including Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, Lupita Nyong’o and Tessa Thompson in film; Debbie Allen, Lee Daniels and Sterling K. Brown in television; John Legend, Questlove and Janelle Monáe in music; and Jamaica Kincaid, Marlon James and Jesmyn Ward in literature.Making a direct appeal to the institutions with which they work, the collective laid out the ways that racist stereotypes are perpetuated in books, film and other mediums, and demanded that institutions work to right those wrongs.“No more stereotypes. No more tokenism. No more superficial diversity,” the letter read. “No longer will we watch Black culture be contorted into a vehicle for self-congratulation, complacency, guilt relief, experiential tourism, fetishism, appropriation, and theft.”Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation and one of the architects of the effort, said the letter started to come together informally a few weeks ago when she was on the phone with a friend discussing the protests across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd. She said the question was “What can we do?” And the answer that arose from the conversations that followed was to compose a letter in celebration of Juneteenth that unified the voices of artists across different cultural fields.“We wanted to use the day to celebrate our imagination and our value,” Ms. Lucas said. “We thought one way we would be able to do that is show our strength in numbers.”The initial letter published online carried more than 1,000 signatures and offered an option for others to add their names.The letter echoes the appeals of protesters marching against police brutality in its call for institutions like museums, theaters, book stores and festivals to break contracts they have with police departments and “reconceive what it means to keep art, audiences, and patrons safe.”“We hope to amplify the movement’s work and to call out our own industries for what they are: institutions that promote colonialism, capitalism, and racism, and that function in exploitative and destructive ways,” the letter read.Many cultural institutions put out statements in solidarity with protesters or posted black squares on social media for #BlackoutTuesday — efforts that, in some cases, were criticized as tone deaf or insufficient in responding to the racism in their own organizations. Friday’s letter urged these institutions to “put their money where their mouths are” by hiring and promoting black cultural workers in all disciplines and putting substantial resources into their work. It called on them to recruit black people for leadership positions and create pathways for black students to enter their professions.The letter closed with the demand that black artists have the freedom to shape how stories about blackness are told rather than listening to what overwhelmingly white institutions consider “marketable” or “palatable,” whether in television shows, novels, fashion, podcasting or the myriad disciplines that the 1,000-plus names represent. More

The death of the Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who came to prominence in romantic hero roles in film and television, has resulted in an outpouring of remembrances in India from leaders and actors alike. On Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Rajput “a bright young actor gone too soon.” Ekta Kapoor, a television producer who was credited with launching Rajput’s television career, posted an emotional video tribute. And Rajput’s idol, the actor Shah Rukh Khan, wrote, “I will miss him so much.”Rajput’s death, which Mumbai police are investigating as a suicide, has also resurfaced the debate over the country’s stigma against mental health, as well as the industry’s rampant nepotism and treatment of “outsiders” — Rajput made his way up in the industry without being related to any other filmmakers, actors and producers, a common reality for many. The actress Deepika Padukone, who has been open about her experiences with depression, has tweeted daily reminders this week that depression is an illness, and urged the media to be sensitive in covering Rajput’s death.In his relatively short career, Rajput rose from background dancer to leading man. Here are some of his best performances.“Pavitra Rishta”During a brief stint on the daily soap opera “Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil,” Rajput caught the eye of the show’s producer Kapoor, who asked him to audition for “Pavitra Rishta.” After seeing his screen test, Rajput later recalled, Kapoor told him, “I will make you a star.” In 2009, Rajput landed the lead role in the daily Hindi-language soap opera adapted from a Tamil-language show, “Thirumathi Selvam.” He played Manav Deshmukh, a car mechanic who falls in love with Archana Karanjkar (Ankita Lokhande). The show details their relationship in the face of familial and societal pressure.“Pavitra Rishta” is available to stream on Zee5 in India.“Kai Po Che!”Rajput marked his Bollywood debut with this 2013 film. Based on the novel “The 3 Mistakes of My Life” by Chetan Bhagat, the story centers on three friends who open a sporting goods store and cricket academy. Rajput stars as Ishaan, an avid cricket fan turned coach who spots and vigorously trains a budding cricket prodigy. Set in Ahmedabad, India, the story takes place against the backdrop of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and the sectarian riots set off by a train fire in the state in 2002, with the sociopolitical turmoil upending the trio’s friendship. Rajput received a Filmfare Award nomination, a coveted honor in the Hindi-language film industry of India. Taran Adarsh, a film critic, said in his review of the film that Rajput was “blessed with wonderful screen presence.”“Kai Po Che!” is available to stream on Netflix.“Shuddh Desi Romance”In this 2013 romantic dramedy, Rajput stars as a man who runs from an arranged marriage on the day of his wedding. He eventually falls in love with Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra). Then, on their wedding day, she runs away, repeating the cycle. The film was seen as a progressive take on India’s values around dating and marriage, and Rajput was praised for bringing “freshness” to the role.“Shuddh Desi Romance” is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.“M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story”Rajput starred in this 2016 film as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the former captain of the Indian national cricket team. The story follow’s Dhoni’s rise from his childhood in Ranchi, India, and his early jobs, including as a ticket collector, capturing how he fell in love with the sport along the way. Dhoni is credited with leading India to its 2011 World Cup victory — a pursuit that is central to the film. “M.S. Dhoni” became one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of its year, and Rajput’s performance netted him several award nominations.“M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story” is available to stream on Hotstar. More

A creepy abandoned house in the boondocks, a shadowy figure in the background, a mysterious man battling unnamed demons — even if you haven’t visited the Welsh spook-house in “You Should Have Left,” you’ve definitely been here before. The film, which is adapted by the director David Koepp and Daniel Kehlmann, from Kehlmann’s novel of the same name, aims for depth but only wades through shallow waters.The retired, middle-aged Theo (Kevin Bacon) and his much younger actress wife, Susanna (Amanda Seyfried), venture to Wales with their young daughter, Ella (Avery Essex), for some bonding and R&R. The land is picturesque, but the house, an impersonal, aggressively modern design, seems to have been dreamed up by Doctor Who: It’s inexplicably bigger on the inside.[embedded content]Some lukewarm scares (doors opening and shutting, as they’re wont to do in haunted houses) signal the fact that something isn’t quite right. And then there’s Theo, who’s suspiciously neurotic about people learning his identity; he’s widely hated and, on top of that, a recovering hothead. He tries to manage his thinly veiled rage and jealousy with journaling and meditation. But in his character, too, there’s something amiss.What the film seems to want to build toward, as Theo angrily scrawls out his frustrations with his wife and wanders through the labyrinthine home, is a Jack Torrance-style breakthrough. Bacon, almost comical in Theo’s violent spasms of fear, delivers a more intriguing performance when he exudes an air of wrath, but that fierce tension isn’t maintained throughout. Meanwhile, we become lost in the house’s ever-expanding hallways and stairways, which draw the eye but remains the movie’s only real point of interest.Sure, there’s Theo with his secrets, but he is ultimately forgettable, a cookie-cutter portrait of a protagonist — and that goes for the whole brood. Essex’s Ella, though reliably adorable, is ornamental, meant to do nothing more than heighten the stakes. Seyfried has even less to do.Armed with allegory, the film cobbles together a slapdash religious metaphor involving damnation out of the workings of the house, what the house actually is and its relationship to Theo, who’s ensnared by its constant turns and shifting dimensions. Koepp and Kehlmann’s screenplay fails to properly set the groundwork for the film’s final twist, instead dropping egregious and poorly incorporated hints on the sluggish march to a telegraphed conclusion. And the direction, too, feels languid, almost mechanical, with rote terrors and tones robbed from horror movies past.Theo should have left the house right away — the title didn’t need to tell us. But “You Should Have Left” also offers us a dreary term of confinement. Time to head for the door.You Should Have LeftRated R. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. Rent or buy on Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More