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    Can We Talk About the Mom in ‘A Christmas Story’?

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCan We Talk About the Mom in ‘A Christmas Story’?The woman hasn’t had a hot meal in 15 years and she’s always cooped up at home. 2020 is the year to give this character from a classic holiday movie her due.Melinda Dillon, center, plays Mother Parker in “A Christmas Story.”Credit…MGMDec. 21, 2020, 7:00 a.m. ETIt’s been tough to watch movies in 2020 and not project our frustrations and anxieties onto the screen. Maybe the extravagant wedding sequence in “The Godfather” suddenly felt garish compared to all of this year’s Zoom “I Dos.” Or maybe you put on “Elf” to pass some quarantine time, and the crowded mall scenes launched you into a cold sweat, because everyone is inside and no one is wearing a mask.When I watched the classic “A Christmas Story” recently for the 20th time (at least), my pandemic-weary brain zeroed in on something I’d never really noticed. I looked past the cute kids and the leg lamp and the famous tongue-stuck-on-the-pole scene, and became laser focused on the mom. One look at her disheveled hair and shabby robe and exasperated stare and I thought: This woman is a damn hero.“A Christmas Story,” which TBS has played on a loop every holiday season for over a decade, takes place in early 1940s Indiana, and follows a young boy named Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) who desperately wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, even though his mom (Melinda Dillon, referred to as “Mother” in the credits), says his dream gift is too dangerous. That’s pretty much the plot, but the director Bob Clark and the writer Jean Shepherd somehow created an oddball, timeless Christmas movie that manages to be both darkly comic and sweet. Every year I’ve watched this movie assuming Ralphie is the protagonist. Now I’m not so sure.Peter Billingsley in “A Christmas Story.”Credit…MGMWhen we meet Mother, she’s frazzled, serving food and wearing dowdy clothes that look like rags next to her husband’s comparatively haute couture suit. While The Old Man (Darren McGavin) reads the paper or grumbles about the faulty furnace, Mother cooks, cleans, wrestles the kids into their gigantic snow suits and frets about everyone’s well-being, even though no one frets about hers.Normally I wouldn’t find her plight so enthralling, but on this viewing, as soon as her husband and kids left for the day, I desperately wanted to know what this woman did with her alone time. She wasn’t juggling home school and work during a global crisis, so did she just keep on cleaning? Maybe she mixed herself a clandestine Tom Collins and took a bubble bath. Where were the scenes of her celebrating her freedom by dancing through an empty house, like Jill Clayburgh in “An Unmarried Woman”? Was I projecting?Something tells me she was not sipping cocktails and pirouetting from room to room.Instead, we see Mother serving up cabbage and meatloaf, which practically makes her a saint in my book. I’ve occasionally handed my toddler son Goldfish and some grapes for dinner over the past year (toddlers are picky!), so at least her uninspired meals are home cooked. We also see her washing Ralphie’s mouth out with a huge bar of red soap after he says “the queen mother of dirty words.” My son said his first curse word this year also, only he’s 3-years-old instead of 9 like Ralphie. Rather than stuffing soap in his mouth, I looked away to hide my laughter and to avoid giving the word any attention. Mother didn’t have the luxury of reading fancy books by child psychologists instructing her about what to do when kids curse. What she did have was a big bar of soap.Mother might not get treated like a superstar, but Dillon received top billing in “A Christmas Story.” She came to the film with a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” plus two Academy Award nominations, for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Absence of Malice.” Dillon started out as the first coat check girl at the improv theater The Second City in Chicago, but when her career quickly took off, she was overwhelmed by the prospect of fame. She turned her energy away from acting and toward marriage and kids. The role of real-life suburban mom quickly lost its allure, though.“I got buried alive,” Ms. Dillon said of her stay-at-home stint in a 1976 interview with The Times. She went back to work.Reading that, it’s hard not to imagine that Ms. Dillon brought some of those feelings to the role of a woman who, as Ralphie says early on in the movie, “hadn’t had a hot meal for herself in 15 years.”She’s not just a meatloaf baking pushover, though. Mother has mastered the art of outsmarting her husband. She uses stealth tactics to convince him not to turn on the hideous leg lamp he won in a contest, like suggesting he keep it off so they don’t waste electricity (this qualifies as a stealth tactic in my eyes). She later not-so-subtly asserts her authority by destroying the leg lamp in a fit of rage. I cheered her on with every off-camera smash. Deprived of hot meals and cooped up at home, she needs this.From left, Ian Petrella, Billingsley, Dillon and Darren McGavin.Credit…MGMAt the end of “A Christmas Story,” Ralphie and Randy tear open their many presents, and The Old Man opens a gift from Mother, a shiny blue bowling ball. As I watched her observe her husband and son’s delight around the Christmas tree, I noticed that she was holding something that could either be a gold spatula or a fly swatter. I hoped that whatever her gift was, it was not either of those things. Suddenly, on the umpteenth viewing of this movie, I needed to know if this woman, the saint of the film, got a Christmas present.Frantic Google searches combining “mother” “Christmas Story” “gift” and “spatula” yielded nothing, so I emailed A Christmas Story House & Museum in Cleveland, the site of the actual house from the movie, hoping for answers.“Who cares what the mom gets for Christmas,” replied the museum’s owner Brian Jones. Turns out he was joking, but still. “No one has ever asked me that in nearly two decades in the business,” he wrote.According to Jones, Mother is indeed holding a fly swatter. If she gets any presents, we never see them. Is her Christmas gift the fact that her husband and sons are all happy and fulfilled? Where is her reward for multitasking and keeping everyone fed and clothed and protected from blizzards, all while sacrificing her own time and energy to make yet another cabbage stew? They could have at least given her a card!From now on, when I watch the end of “A Christmas Story,” I won’t be focused on Ralphie’s BB gun or Old Man Parker’s bowling ball. I’ll be rooting for the mom, and imagining a deleted scene where she kicks up her feet, has that Tom Collins and gets a quiet moment all to herself.Dina Gachman is an Austin-based writer and the author of “Brokenomics.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Marvel May Pass the Baton to M'Baku in 'Black Panther' Sequel

    Marvel Studios

    The studio, which has been actively working on the sequel following the sudden passing of Chadwick Boseman, is reportedly considering to make the Jabari Tribe’s leader the new Black Panther.

    Dec 21, 2020
    AceShowbiz – The shift of power in Wakanda is still one of the hot topics among MCU fans following the untimely passing of “Black Panther” lead star Chadwick Boseman. According to the latest report, Marvel is now considering to pass the torch to M’Baku (Winston Duke) in the upcoming sequel.
    Twitter influencer and writer Daniel Richtman was allegedly the first to come up with the news of M’Baku potentially becoming the new central figure in “Black Panther 2”. Richtman said, per We Got This Covered, “Marvel thinking of making M’Baku Black Panther now.”
    Prior to this, there were rambling rumors that T’Challa’s sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) was to have a more prominent role in the upcoming feature, with many assuming she’s the best option to become the new protector of Wakanda. However, Marvel may have had a change of heart as Richtman allegedly noted, “Shuri may not get it anymore or it could be both of them for this one movie or one or the other, they are undecided.”

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    It’s unclear why Marvel starts considering to make M’Baku as the new Black Panther, but this arrives after Wright came under fire due to her anti-vaccine stance. Earlier this month, the actress posted a controversial video from the On The Table channel, in which host Tomi Arayomi cast doubt on the COVID-19 treatment.
    She initially defended her decision to post the YouTube clip, responding to the backlash, “if you don’t conform to popular opinions. but ask questions and think for yourself … you get cancelled.” She later clarified, “My intention was not to hurt anyone, my ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies. Nothing else.”
    Despite her explanation, Wright continued to receive a storm of criticism, including from her own Marvel co-star Don Cheadle, who blasted the video’s message as “hot garbage.” The actress later deleted the video in question before deactivating her social media accounts after landing in hot water.

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    Shia LaBeouf Removed From Netflix's For Your Consideration Awards Page Amid Abuse Allegations

    Netflix

    After FKA twigs slapped the actor with a lawsuit alleging him of sexual battery and infliction of emotional distress, the streaming giant scrubs his name from the ‘Pieces of a Woman’ publicity materials.

    Dec 21, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Netflix is distancing itself from Shia LaBeouf amid allegations of abuse and sexual battery launched against him by his former girlfriend FKA twigs. After the British singer filed a lawsuit against the American actor, the streaming giant has removed his name from the “Pieces of a Woman” For Your Consideration page.
    According to IndieWire which first reported of the change, the “Transformers” star was initially included in the publicity materials on the awards page for the upcoming film starring him alongside Vanessa Kirby. However, his name is now no longer listed among those the streamer is pushing for film prizes and is not included in the film’s synopsis on the site.

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    Netflix has not addressed its decision to remove LaBeouf’s name from all publicity materials of “Pieces of a Woman”. This, however, comes after twigs accused the 34-year-old actor of assault, sexual battery and infliction of emotional distress during their months-long romance, which began in late 2018.
    In the lawsuit, she detailed an incident which happened on Valentine’s Day in 2019, during which he allegedly drove recklessly while pressing her to declare her love for him by threatening to purposefully crash the car. In another occasion, the “Two Weeks” singer said that the former Disney Channel star choked her in the middle of night.
    Responding to the lawsuit, LaBeouf said in a statement, “I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel… I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say.” While he apologized for his his aggressive behavior, he insisted that “many of these allegations are not true.”

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    Patty Jenkins Gets Candid Why She Found It Easy to Walk Away From 'Wonder Woman 1984'

    WENN/FayesVision

    When revealing how close she actually came to ditching the sequel project over equity demands, the ‘Wonder Woman’ director stresses her career had never been about making money.

    Dec 21, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Filmmaker Patty Jenkins had “started to walk away” from “Wonder Woman 1984” before Warner Bros. studio bosses finally agreed to bow to her pay equity demands.
    Jenkins was highly praised by movie critics and fans alike after teaming up with actress Gal Gadot for Wonder Woman’s first solo blockbuster in 2017, when it banked more than $821 million (£607 million) at the global box office.
    However, it took some time before Warner Bros. chiefs announced the director would be returning to take charge of the follow-up, “Wonder Woman 1984”, amid reports suggesting Jenkins was leveraging her position to land a better deal.
    Now she has opened up about how close she actually came to cutting ties with the DC Comics project altogether, simply because she was determined to stand up for herself and demand the same pay as male filmmakers receive for superhero blockbusters.
    In a candid interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, she confessed, “I started to walk away. I was gonna walk away. I even said I’d be happy to go to another studio and make a quarter as much because it’s not a sequel, on principle, no problem.”
    Jenkins admits her career had never been about making money, because she never had the leverage, but this time around, she knew it was “time to turn the tables,” especially as it was easy to find out how much her male counterparts were making for the same kind of work.

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    “They got paid seven times more than me for (their) first superhero movie,” she explained. “Then on the second one, they got paid more than me still. It was an easy fight to say, ‘This can’t be. It super can’t be. And it really can’t be on Wonder Woman…’ ”
    “It was an interesting thing to do, but it was an easy thing to do in the fact I was dead serious. That I was like, ‘If I can’t be victorious in this regard, then I’m letting everyone down.’ If not me, who? So it became something I became very, very, very passionate about.”

    Now Jenkins is looking to the future after the launch of “Wonder Woman 1984”, which hits U.S. audiences on Christmas Day (December 25), and she’s unsure if she will be back for Wonder Woman 3.
    She and screenwriter and comic book author Geoff Johns have already outlined a plot for the next instalment in the DC Extended Universe franchise, but whether Jenkins will be back in the director’s chair remains to be seen – and it all depends on the status of the movie industry once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
    “It’s interesting, I actually came up with a story, and Geoff Johns and I beat out an entire story for ‘Wonder Woman 3’ that we were super fired up about, but I’ve never felt this way before as much as I do now,” she mused.
    “I don’t think I’m doing it next,” she continued, “and so I have to sort of wait and see where we are in the world, you know? What I wanted to talk about in (WW84) was very prescient to what I was feeling and what you were sort of feeling was coming. So now I’m not sure. So much has changed in the world.”

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    Alicia Silverstone Gets Son Small Roles in Her Movie and TV Series so She Can Take Him to Work

    Instagram

    The ‘Clueless’ actress reveals she landed her nine-year-old son Bear small roles in her latest projects so he can be with her on the set during the pandemic.

    Dec 20, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Actress Alicia Silverstone has landed her nine-year-old son small roles in her latest projects simply so he can join her at work.
    The “Clueless” star admits having nine-year-old Bear follow in her acting footsteps with appearances in new film “Sister of the Groom” and in the forthcoming second season of Netflix series “The Baby-Sitters Club” is simply a workaround amid tightened COVID-19 restrictions on set.
    She explained to Entertainment Tonight, “Because of COVID rules he can’t come (on set) unless he’s in it, so they (producers) put him in it…”

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    “All I wanted was to be able to bring my baby to work. We have to support working mothers, too… I’m not going to leave my kid for months. That’s just not happening. Out of the question.”
    Alicia Silverstone is raising her son on a vegan diet. She credited veganism for keeping the boy super healthy and insisted plant-based diet could still provide people with all the key nutrients they needed.
    “He’s such an example of health. This is a child who is plant-based,” she said. “To never have needed antibiotics in nine years and to never have needed any kind of medical intervention… Most kids have so many ear infections, they’re taking medicine all the time. I’m not saying I wouldn’t give it to him… I’m saying he doesn’t need it.”
    “This is a kid who’s been (sick) twice in his life. Twice. For, like, a few hours,” Alicia boasted. “He said, ‘Mummy, I don’t feel good. I’m going to lay down.’ In his whole life, twice. He can get a snot (sic) nose, but he’s still climbing trees.

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    Tom Hanks Recalls Clashing with Director Paul Greengrass on Set of Their New Movie

    WENN

    The ‘Saving Private Ryan’ actor remembers stopping the filming to hash out disagreement with the director on the set of their new project ‘News of the World’.

    Dec 20, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Tom Hanks and director Paul Greengrass had to pause filming on new movie “News of the World” to hash out a disagreement about a vital element of the actor’s role.
    The “Saving Private Ryan” star portrays American Civil War veteran Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd in the western, in which he travels from town to town delivering readings of the national news.
    However, the manner in which Hanks’ character delivers the headlines to locals was a real sticking point for the actor and Greengrass because they didn’t see eye-to-eye.
    “We were halfway through the shooting day, and we ended up sitting on the wooden sidewalk of one of our Western towns. And we went at it, he and I, about what these performances of readings of the news meant,” Hanks recalled to CinemaBlend.com.

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    “I was hell bent on authenticity and the real news and the real stories, and almost a dry perspective and presentation of them. And he was bent on the connecting of the audience, of the inspiring of the audience, of the reading of the audience and of the enthrallment of the audience with what this news was.”
    Hanks continued, “He was saying, ‘You must understand: you are putting on a show to bring people together.’ And I was saying, ‘Paul, you’ve got to understand: I am reading the news to bring people together.’ And we had to find this thing that was in there.”
    The double Oscar winner doesn’t reveal who got their way, but the clash of words didn’t dampen Greengrass’ experience of working on the set of the 1870s survival drama, which is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Paulette Jiles.
    Greengrass, who previously worked with Hanks on 2013’s “Captain Phillips”, said, “It is a dream come true for me. In my many years as a filmmaker, I’ve done tough films about where we are today; I’ve done entertaining films about spies on the run, all sorts of things, but I had never made a classical, beautiful Western. That is what I’ve tried to do here.”

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    Goldie Hawn Hated Kissing Kurt Russell in 'Christmas Chronicles 2'

    Netflix

    The ‘Private Benjamin’ actress explains why she was not really fond of kissing her real-life partner as they played a couple in their new Netflix Christmas movie.

    Dec 20, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Actress Goldie Hawn “hated” the bushy beard her longtime love Kurt Russell grew for “The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two” because it made kissing him on set no fun.
    The real life couple played Santa and Mrs Clause in the original 2018 Netflix holiday movie, and they reprise their roles for the sequel.
    And although Goldie admired the facial hair Kurt sported, she was thrilled when production wrapped and he was able to shave off his whiskers.
    “I thought it (beard) was a work of art, I really did,” the mum of actors Kate and Oliver Hudson told U.S. talk show “Live with Kelly and Ryan”.
    “I mean, I looked at it, I got lost in it. I thought it was just beautifully designed…”

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    “Ask me how I liked that beard,” she laughed. “I hated it. It wasn’t fun to kiss.”
    But that’s the only complaint Goldie has about the project, and she had so much fun otherwise, she’s taking another souvenir to the pair’s regular home for the holidays, in Colorado, to remind her of the happy shoot.
    “I loved going to work every day. I have a little sign that they gave me that I’m going to put in my little house in Aspen. It’s a sign painting from outside one of Santa’s stores where they make everything,” she added.
    “I just wanted a piece of the (film’s) village.”
    The actress also loved making the family movie because she knew her six grandchildren would get to see it. She previously said, “I love the thought that they might one day grow up to like other things Kurt and I have done, but right now it’s fun to have them watch this and go to school knowing their friends have seen it too.”

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    Mark Wahlberg’s New Movie ‘Arthur the King’ Finds New Director

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    Mark Wahlberg's New Movie 'Arthur the King' Finds New Director

    WENN

    The upcoming big screen project fronted by the ‘Deepwater Horizon’ actor has got Simon Cellan Jones as a new helmer after the previous one left due to scheduling conflicts.

    Dec 20, 2020
    AceShowbiz – British director Simon Cellan Jones has taken charge of Mark Wahlberg’s “Arthur the King” adaptation after scheduling conflicts forced Baltasar Kormakur to step down.
    The survival story is inspired by real-life events chronicled by Swedish adventurer Mikael Lindnord in his 2017 book “Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home”, in which he recalled how he met and befriended a wounded stray while racing through the Ecuadorian jungle.
    Wahlberg signed on to play Lindnord last year (19) while actor Simu Liu, who stars in Marvel Studios’ forthcoming blockbuster “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, has now been added to the main cast, reports Deadline.
    Production is expected to begin in the Dominican Republic in January (21).

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    The actor recently posted a new picture on Instagram with a caption, “Arthur the King training.” He donned a helmet while posing with his bike.

    Earlier this month, he was reportedly in Australia for work. He quarantined in a luxury retreat outside of Byron Bay to complete a two-week quarantine period implemented by the government Down Under.
    Mark Wahlberg’s new movies, an action comedy “Spenser Confidential” and a new animated Scooby Doo movie, came out earlier this year. His next film, “Joe Bell”, is expected to hit theaters early next year after premiering at Toronto International Film Festival in September.
    Besides “Arthur the King”, his upcoming big screen projects include sci-fi action “Infinite” and action adventure “Uncharted”.

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