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    The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to HBO, Hulu, Apple TV+ and More in March

    Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for some of March’s most promising new titles.(Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)John C. Reilly, Quincy Isaiah and Jason Clarke in “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”HBONew to HBO Max‘Drive My Car’Starts streaming: March 2Nominated for four Academy Awards this year, including best picture, this critically acclaimed drama is a captivating meditation on loss and regret. Directed and co-written by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (adapting a Haruki Murakami short story), “Drive My Car” has Hidetoshi Nishijima playing Yusuke Kafuku, a renowned actor and theater director who is mourning the death of his wife and muse. When he agrees to direct a multilingual stage adaptation of “Uncle Vanya” in Hiroshima, Yusuke bonds with his designated driver, while also forging a wary relationship with the play’s star — who was his late wife’s secret lover. Though the movie has a three-hour running time, Hamaguchi moves the plot fairly briskly from one quietly intense scene to another, bringing a beautiful blue tinge to the story of a man haunted by all things he has left unsaid and undone.‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’Starts streaming: March 6The sports reporter Jeff Pearlman’s book “Showtime” covered the rise of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, an exciting and star-laden team who helped the N.B.A. become an international phenomenon. The TV adaptation “Winning Time” turns that tale into a stylish period dramedy and features an all-star cast recreating an era when a handful of strong, often conflicting personalities changed the whole culture of professional basketball. The producer Adam McKay (who also directed the first episode) and creators Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht deploy a storytelling style reminiscent of McKay’s movie “The Big Short,” where characters like Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly), Jerry West (Jason Clarke), Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) and Pat Riley (Adrien Brody) sometimes break the fourth wall to help explain the fine details of business management, on-court strategy and handling superstar egos.‘Minx’ Season 1Starts streaming: March 17Set amid the freewheeling publishing industry in early 1970s Los Angeles, “Minx” stars Ophelia Lovibond as Joyce, an activist who gets the chance to create and edit the feminist magazine of her dreams — so long as she is willing to include erotic photo spreads of naked men. Jake Johnson plays Doug, a successful pornographer who mentors Joyce, a proudly independent woman embarrassed to admit the troubles she has had adjusting to the age of sexual liberation. Created by Ellen Rapoport, “Minx” finds humor in the ways that certain gender-role expectations and stereotypes persist even in an “anything goes” era of free love and progressive politics.Also arriving:March 1“The Larry David Story”March 2“West Side Story”March 3“Gaming Wall Street”“Little Ellen” Season 2“Our Flag Means Death” Season 1“The Tourist” Season 1March 8“Ruxx” Season 1March 10“Dune”“Theodosia” Season 1March 13“Game Theory with Bomani Jones” Season 1March 13“Blade Runner: Black Lotus” Season 1March 15“Phoenix Rising”March 17“DMZ” Season 1“Jellystone!” Season 2March 18“Lust” Season 1“Pseudo”March 20“Amsterdam” Season 1March 24“King Richard”“One Perfect Shot” Season 1“Starstruck” Season 2March 31“Julia” Season 1“Moonshot”Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball as seen in “Lucy and Desi.”Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesNew to Prime Video‘Lucy and Desi’Starts streaming: March 4The comedian and producer Amy Poehler directed this homage to the groundbreaking Hollywood power couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, taking a comprehensive look at their impressive careers and rocky marriage. With the help of rare home movies and old audio interviews — combined with new comments from Carol Burnett, Bette Midler and others — Poehler and her team detail how Ball and Arnaz worked their way up in show business, before creating the groundbreaking sitcom “I Love Lucy” and founding the influential television studio Desilu Productions. This is a film about two widely beloved entertainers who helped change television with their business savvy and their stubborn refusals to compromise, even as they worked to exhaustion and made each other miserable behind the scenes.Also arriving:March 4“The Boys Presents: Diabolical”March 7“2022 Academy of Country Music Awards”March 10“Harina”March 11“Upload” Season 2March 18“Master”March 25“Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls”Steve Sang-Hyun Noh, center, with Minha Kim and Inji Jeong in “Pachinko.”Apple TV+New to Apple TV+‘Pachinko’ Season 1Starts streaming: March 25Min Jin Lee’s best-selling historical novel “Pachinko” inspired this ambitious drama, which follows one Korean family across three countries and seven decades against the backdrop of war and military occupation. Created by Soo Hugh — a writer and producer on “The Terror” — and featuring the work of the acclaimed indie film directors Kogonada and Justin Chon, “Pachinko” weaves together story lines from multiple time periods, including from a Korean fishing village in the early 20th century and Japan around the time of World War II and the late 1980s, when global business concerns were shrinking a lot of the old distinctions between regions and ideals. Like the book, the series is about the legacies and connections that sustain people through times of turmoil.Also arriving:March 4“Dear…” Season 2March 11“The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey”March 18“WeCrashed”Amanda Seyfried portraying Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout.”Beth Dubber/HuluNew to Hulu‘The Dropout’Starts streaming: March 3Amanda Seyfried plays the scandal-plagued biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout,” a miniseries based on the podcast of the same name. Anyone who has read the various investigative exposés about Holmes’s failed start-up, Theranos, already knows the yarn of how the company claimed to have developed a groundbreaking blood-testing device that never worked as promised. “The Dropout” goes deeper into Holmes’s past, framing her less as a hapless fraud than as a well-meaning misfit who was in too much of a rush to become rich and famous.‘Atlanta’ Season 3Starts streaming: March 25After a four-year layoff, Donald Glover’s one-of-a-kind, award-winning dramedy “Atlanta” returns for its third and penultimate season, which was shot mostly in London. (Season 4 is currently slated to run this fall, wrapping up the series.) The story picks up with the aspiring rap star Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry) and his bumbling manager and cousin, Earn (Glover), trying to make inroads in the European market while they and their friends Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) and Van (Zazie Beetz) are feeling more alienated than usual by their surroundings. As always with “Atlanta,” expect the unexpected, as Glover and his creative team explore aspects of the Black experience that range from the subtly poignant to the comically surreal.Also arriving:March 1“Better Things” Season 5“The Savior for Sale”March 4“Benedetta”“Dicktown” Season 2“Fresh”March 6“Mark, Mary & Some Other People”March 8“India Sweets and Spices”March 10“American Refugee”March 14“Hell Hath No Fury”March 15“You Can’t Kill Meme”March 17“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”March 18“Deep Water”“Life & Beth” Season 1March 19“Captains of Za’atari”March 26“Mass”March 29“The Girl from Plainville”Oscar Isaac as the hero in “Moon Knight.”Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios.New to Disney+‘Moon Knight’ Season 1Starts streaming: March 30The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe television series features a cult-favorite superhero: a cloaked vigilante who draws inspiration and strength from an ancient Egyptian god. Oscar Isaac plays the hero, who has dissociative identity disorder but does his best to use the unique qualities of his different selves in his fight over evil. In the Marvel comics, Moon Knight is a fairly dark, violent character, similar to Batman and Daredevil in his knowledge of the criminal underworld and his willingness to crack skulls. The TV version is being pitched as similarly shadowy, as evidenced by the first season’s main villain: a charismatic religious cult leader played by Ethan Hawke.Also arriving:March 11“Turning Red”March 18“Cheaper by the Dozen”“More Than Robots”March 23“Parallels” Season 1March 25“Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u”“The Wonderful Spring of Mickey Mouse” More

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    'The Dropout' Shows Elizabeth Holmes's Style Evolution

    How the costume and makeup teams for “The Dropout,” a new Hulu series, transformed Amanda Seyfried into the disgraced Theranos founder.It started, inevitably, with the turtleneck.In Amanda Seyfried’s first fitting for her role as Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout,” Claire Parkinson, the show’s costume designer, focused on the disgraced Theranos founder’s trademark top: a black Issey Miyake turtleneck pulled from the uniform of her idol Steve Jobs. The shirt doesn’t appear until halfway through the Hulu series, set to premiere March 3, but, Ms. Parkinson said, “we needed to figure out what we were building toward.”She had found a vintage Miyake turtleneck and dupes from dozens of other brands. In the end, she went with a semi-synthetic number from Wolford.“It had the perfect stretchiness that she could play with,” Ms. Parkinson said, referring to the fiddling and finger-worrying that Ms. Seyfried performs throughout the series, her jaw flexed and eyes held wide. Even as her voice deepens and her posture straightens out, Hulu’s Elizabeth Holmes looks consistently awkward and maladroit.Claire Parkinson, the show’s costume designer, opted for a Wolford turtleneck, rather than the Issey Miyake version Ms. Holmes wore.Hulu“I’d make Amanda scrunch up her face when I was applying her makeup,” said Jorjee Douglass, the makeup artist who reinterpreted Ms. Holmes’s clumpy mascara and cakey foundation.Such details were essential to the construction of Ms. Holmes’s identity in Silicon Valley, from her initial investor meetings to her fraud trial, where she showed up with beach waves and a diaper bag. (Ms. Holmes was found guilty on one count of conspiracy and three counts of wire fraud, and will be sentenced in September.)“Elizabeth Holmes is costuming herself, and we are costuming her as she’s costuming herself,” said Elizabeth Meriwether, the creator and executive producer of “The Dropout,” adapted from the podcast of the same name. “There’s always a lot of emotional weight behind what she’s wearing.”Understand the Elizabeth Holmes TrialElizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, was found guilty of four counts of fraud in a case that came to symbolize the pitfalls of Silicon Valley’s culture of hustle, hype and greed. She is set to be sentenced on Sept. 26.Holmes’s Epic Rise and Fall: Silicon Valley’s philosophy of “fake it until you make it” finally got its comeuppance.Key Takeaways: Few tech executives are charged with fraud and even fewer are convicted. Here are five takeaways from the verdict.Analysis: Ms. Holmes wasn’t a creature of Silicon Valley, or so the refrain went. But her trial showed otherwise.What Happens Next: Ms. Holmes now awaits sentencing. She can appeal the conviction, her sentence or both.The costume team dressed Ms. Seyfried in versions of pieces that Ms. Holmes had been photographed in or that felt true to the story’s place and time period, from her 1990s Houston childhood up to 2015, when the Stanford dropout became a biotech titan worth billions.Her wardrobe is filled with ill-fitting and unflattering secondhand pieces that Ms. Parkinson, who was nominated for two Emmys for her work on “The Politician,” sourced from eBay, Etsy, Depop, Poshmark and costume warehouses in Los Angeles, where she and her wife live part-time. The items are drab, the labels practical: Banana Republic, J. Crew and the like.Ana Arriola, a former Apple designer who briefly worked at Theranos and staged an image intervention with Ms. Holmes when she was her boss, met with the show’s writers room. “She told us the story of how when she met Elizabeth, she was wearing Christmas sweaters,” Ms. Meriwether said. “We pressed her and we were like, ‘Actual reindeer sweaters?’”It turned out Ms. Arriola meant pullovers with fair-isle and snowflake patterns, which appear on the show, before they’re swapped out for a shiny black replica of a Patagonia vest that Ms. Parkinson’s team made by hand.As Elizabeth settles into the role of founder, she trades fair-isle sweaters for a Patagonia puffer vest (handmade by the show’s costume team).HuluWhile the overall look of the production is unflashy and heavy on earth tones, Ms. Parkinson let the surrounding cast stand in chic contrast to the central figure. Elizabeth’s mother wears Chanel and Tory Burch (Ms. Parkinson’s inspiration for her was Princess Diana), George Shultz (Sam Waterston) has “beautiful bespoke” suiting, and Ian Gibbons (the British chemist played by Stephen Fry) wears sweaters and trousers that telegraph taste and integrity. “Every single character had huge closets,” Ms. Parkinson said.In her fittings with Ms. Seyfried, Ms. Parkinson sought to render something askew about the fit. “Most people look good in black,” she said. “So how can we make it not look good?” Her solution was to play around with the bunching, billowing and wrinkling.Elizabeth’s wardrobe becomes more polished as the show progresses (out with the Gap, in with the Gucci!), but the pieces still sit oddly on Ms. Seyfried. “My goal here was to make it seem like it actually is a costume,” Ms. Parkinson said.She was hired to work in the show in March 2020. Because of the pandemic, filming didn’t begin for a year and a half, over which Kate McKinnon dropped out as the lead and Ms. Seyfried stepped in.Separately, Ms. Parkinson got married; bought an 1860s house in Litchfield County, Conn.; and dealt with a case of Covid-19 in March 2021, which forced her to pull out of a project that was shooting in Atlanta and send her sister, Lily Parkinson, also a costume designer and personal stylist, in her place.When “The Dropout” began shooting in June 2021, Ms. Parkinson had spent more than a year mulling the inner life and outer appearance of Ms. Holmes. Wearing a uniform as armor has long been a favored strategy of women seeking respect in the male-dominated preserve of Silicon Valley. While men are encouraged to telegraph their nonconformist credibility via sweatshirts and soccer slides, women face pressure to look pulled together yet fashion agnostic.Victoria Hitchcock, a Bay Area stylist, keeps a list of chic yet smart designers she suggests for female clients, including the Row, Stella McCartney and Saint Laurent. “I also have a list of designers I would not recommend my clients wear,” she said. “Things that are super-feminine and flowery” are big no-nos.While male founders are encouraged to telegraph their nonconformist credibility through clothes, women face pressure to look presentable yet fashion agnostic.Hulu“I’m wearing an Ulla Johnson blouse right now, but I wouldn’t put that on somebody who’s wanting to exude confidence and knowledge,” Ms. Hitchcock added.Ms. Holmes’s uniform of choice, which would become a punchline, started out as sartorial Soylent for someone who could not be bothered. Clothes were a nuisance to her, a point dramatized in a pre-turtleneck scene involving a pesky bra strap and a pair of scissors.“‘Why’ was a word I kept asking myself,” Ms. Parkinson said of her time researching Ms. Holmes. “I was always like: ‘Why is she wearing that?’ They were all befuddling choices.” But one image struck her as looking the most natural: Ms. Holmes at Burning Man, wearing a bulky coat with a furry collar and oversize pink sunglasses.“The thing I liked about that is that’s a costume, and it almost feels like she’s comfortable in it,” Ms. Parkinson said. “She’s completely happy and in her own world.” More

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    Mira Sorvino Replenishes With Crosswords and Marinara Sauce

    Her career comeback continues as a ghostly housewife in the Starz horror comedy series “Shining Vale.” Inspirational writers help her find peace.“I really had the time of my life,” Mira Sorvino said. “Like, the most fun you could have and be paid for.”Sorvino, 54, was speaking of “Shining Vale,” the horror comedy series that premieres on Starz on March 6. She stars as Rosemary, a 1950s housewife from hell. (Actual hell? Probably!) As a ghostly Rosemary torments Patricia (Courteney Cox), a present-day writer, Sorvino seems to be enjoying every dry-martini minute of it. “She has a delight in being alive again,” Sorvino said of her character.“Shining Vale” continues something of a resurgence for Sorvino, who appeared last year in “Impeachment: American Crime Story.” and in “Hollywood” the year before. Though she won a best supporting actress Oscar in 1996, Sorvino spent two decades iced out of prestige Hollywood projects, a consequence, she would later learn, of having rejected Harvey Weinstein’s advances.“I have to be damn grateful for the filmmakers and the showrunners saying, ‘Oh, we still believe in Mira. We still think she has it. Let’s see what she can do,’” Sorvino said.She was speaking from her Los Angeles home, where she lives with her husband, the actor Christopher Backus, their four children and arguably too many cats and dogs. While recovering from Covid-19, Sorvino took an hour to discuss the people, places and leisure activities that bring her peace and joy. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1. Capri We were trying to choose a place to get married when we were invited to Capri’s film festival. I had already had this dream of having a wedding on, like, a rocky promontory overlooking the ocean. I thought maybe I could achieve that in America. But I just fell in love with Capri. It was a way of inviting all of my ancestral ghosts to join us at the wedding. We went back for our 15th anniversary and renewed our vows with our kids there.2. Rescue Animals I have seven rescue animals. We got four of them all at once. My sister’s an animal rescuer. She asked us during the pandemic to foster a family of kittens and their mama. And, of course, by the time they had grown up, everyone had fallen in love with all of them. Even the mama, who in the beginning bit and scratched and was a little scary.3. Childhood Fantasy Literature Yesterday, with my 9-year-old daughter, we were reading one of the “Oz” books. We’ve read “The Wizard of Oz.” We’ve read “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” We’ve read the “Harry Potter” series together. “Escape to Witch Mountain,” I forced my other kids to read that with me, because that was my favorite book.4. Running I first started running in college. I had been sexually assaulted on the beach when I was a teen. Afterward, I felt physically powerless. I decided to sign up for novice crew, just to try and build some physical agency. Part of what we had to do was run five miles a day, along the Charles River. At first that was really tough for someone who hadn’t run before, but then it turned into a lifelong passion. For some reason, I feel invulnerable when I’m running.5. Family Recipes I watched my grandmother cook. She would babysit for us a lot. She was a delicious cook, but a little bit greasy. Sometimes I would take this ladle and try and scoop the oil off the top of the sauce. Then she would make me put it all back in. All of these recipes are very simple, but you have to have what my grandparents called “the hand.” My favorite is probably just a simple marinara. It’s fresh tomatoes or canned, and garlic, oil and salt, a little basil. That’s it.6. Driving across America When I was small, my family drove us across the country after my father, [the actor Paul Sorvino], finished a television show in California. I was so taken with the various places we stopped. Ever since then, whenever I’ve had the option to drive across America, instead of fly, I’ve piled my family into a van. For me, it’s always mind-blowing how different each part of this country is and how beautiful and how strange.7. The New York Times Crossword I used to do it with my dad. He was even able to do Saturday. I can’t do Saturday — I throw up my hands. It’s exciting when people have been like, ‘Mira! You’re in The Times’s crossword puzzle!’ That’s a real sign of having arrived, when this pastime that you’ve loved your whole life all of a sudden has you as a clue.8. Inspirational Reading I used to love fiction. But I veer more toward nonfiction now, because I’m looking for templates on how to live and grow and deal with life as it changes in front of me. I look to others, who have had more difficult circumstances than my own, and see how they pursued actions that could change situations not only for themselves, but also for others, for the greater good. Books that have been important to me in the past year: Coretta Scott King’s autobiography, Anita Hill’s autobiography, Richard Rohr’s “The Naked Now,” Marianne Widmalm’s “Our Mother: the Holy Spirit.”9. My Late Grandmother Angela Maria Mattea Renzi Sorvino was known as Marietta. She was the most loving person that I have ever known, had the hardest life, was not bitter, was brilliant, spoke five languages and she just loved. She gave me what it was to love and she gave me what it was to persevere, even when you’ve had everything taken from you. I carry her in my heart all the time.10. “Saturday Night Live” Honestly, my favorite form of acting is comedy. I’m good at drama. I can do it. It’s basically being real. But being funny is much more difficult. I just want to thank every cast member of “S.N.L.” and even all the guests for bringing me happiness. It would be a dream of mine someday to be on the show. Even for one skit. More

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    Trevor Noah Reviews Putin’s Attempt at a Soviet Reunion

    If bringing back the Soviet Union is Putin’s goal, the “Daily Show” host joked, long lines are a good start.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Like Old TimesTrevor Noah was off the air last week, so he dedicated Monday’s “Daily Show” to the current situation in Ukraine, referring to it as “the largest European conflict since World War II — or when Harry and Meghan left the royals.”“Because it’s always been Putin’s wet dream to reunite the Soviet Union, you know? Sort of the same way Disney wants to tie all of its franchises together. Yeah, now Mickey is fighting Thanos? That’s weird, but profitable.” — TREVOR NOAH“Well, damn, Putin’s goal was to bring back the glory days of the Soviet Union. People waiting hours in long lines is definitely a start.” — TREVOR NOAH“They’re cutting off banking, they’re arming their enemies, and on top of that, airlines are stopping flights to and from Russia, which in my opinion might be one of the worst things. Because I mean the best part about going to Russia is that you can fly out of Russia. Now they don’t even have that.” — TREVOR NOAH“Yes, the threat of nuclear annihilation may have increased; yes, we may be on the brink of World War III; and, yes, Europe is once again at the mercy of one power-hungry dictator, but on the bright side, when was the last time you thought about Covid, huh?” — TREVOR NOAHThe Punchiest Punchlines (Taking Sides Edition)“Even famously neutral Switzerland is taking action against Russia. Switzerland, the people who never take a side, are taking a side on this.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Switzerland has a knife out for Russia, and since it’s a Swiss knife, it comes with little scissors, a toothpick and a corkscrew.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“The Swiss don’t get involved in war. They don’t get involved in alliances. My dad didn’t get involved in my life. I would ask him to hug me, and he’d tell me that his official policy was to stay neutral.” — TREVOR NOAH, whose father is Swiss-German“The Swiss president said, ‘Russia’s attack cannot be accepted regarding international law, this cannot be accepted politically, and this cannot be accepted morally.’ And these are the people who gave Hitler a safe deposit box, so.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“This is Switzerland, who may I remind you didn’t take a side when it came to Hitler, but they looked at Russia and said, ‘OK, you’ve gone too far.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“This is like the Dalai Lama grabbin’ a buck knife and an AK and screaming, ‘Kill ’em all! Let the Buddha sort ’em out.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Imagine being sanctioned by a country that has been neutral for hundreds of years. It would be like Tom Hanks telling a child to go [expletive] himself.” — JAMES CORDEN“They have frozen Russian assets and closed Swiss airspace, which is helpful. And now not only is Putin in hot water, he’s in hot chocolate too.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“So to recap, Russia has now lost the Taliban and the Swiss. The most and least violent people in the world are united against Russia right now.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingThe “Saturday Night Live” star Kate McKinnon faced off against Jimmy Fallon in a word game called “Hey Robot.”What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightSandra Oh will talk about the end of “Killing Eve” on Tuesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This OutHarvey Fierstein writes about his life and career in his new memoir, “I Was Better Last Night.” More

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    What’s on TV This Week: ‘After Yang’ and the State of the Union

    Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith and Justin H. Min star in a new sci-fi movie on Showtime. And President Biden delivers a State of the Union address.Between network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Feb. 28-March 6. Details and times are subject to change.MondayTRAYVON MARTIN: 10 YEARS LATER 8 p.m. on BET. Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black teenager in Florida, was shot and killed almost exactly 10 years ago by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain. Gayle King, the co-host of “CBS Mornings,” hosts this hourlong special, which commemorates Martin and looks at the activism that his death continues to help galvanize. The program includes interviews with Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, and other mothers whose children have been killed by the police or by gun violence.MY BRILLIANT FRIEND 10 p.m. on HBO. The third season of the show, which centers on a friendship between two girls, Lenù and Lila, who come of age in mid-20th-century Naples, will debut on Monday night. It is adapted from the third of Elena Ferrante’s four Neopolitan books, “Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay,” and finds Lenù and Lila grappling with careers, marriage and, eventually, motherhood. This will be the final season for the actresses Margherita Mazzucco, 19, and Gaia Girace, 18: The fourth book in the series, “The Story of the Lost Child,” which would be the focus of a potential fourth season, revolves around the characters in middle age. “I have never read the final pages of the fourth book,” Mazzucco told The New York Times recently. “I don’t want to know how it ends.”TuesdayPresident Biden in February. He is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday.Sarahbeth Maney/The New York TimesSTATE OF THE UNION 9 p.m. on various networks (check local listings); streaming on Facebook, Twitter, WH.gov and YouTube. President Biden is set to deliver his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday night. Biden will presumably speak to the progress that his administration has made since his first address to Congress last year — including the passage of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and the nearly $1.9 trillion stimulus package — though he’ll have a lot more to cover. He’s likely to address Russia’s war on Ukraine, the selection of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court and the state of the coronavirus pandemic, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosen safety guidelines.Inside the World of Elena FerranteThe mysterious Italian writer has won international attention with her intimate representations of Neapolitan life, womanhood and friendship. Beginner’s Guide: New to Elena Ferrante’s work? Here’s a breakdown of her most important writing. Latest Novel: Following the success of her Neapolitan novels, the author returned to fiction with a suspenseful story about parents and their sins.English-Language Translator: The work of Ann Goldstein has helped catapult Ferrante to global fame. Humility is a hallmark of her approach.Onscreen: The HBO series based on Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend” is a testament to the elusive writer’s ability to create inscrutable characters.Lenù and Lila: The actresses playing the two protagonists in the HBO adaptation grew up with their characters. Here is what they said about it.THE LARRY DAVID STORY 9 p.m. on HBO. What’s the difference between Larry David the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” character and Larry David the successful producer and performer? Based on a trailer for “The Larry David Story,” the answer is a dusting of facial hair and a touch of introspection. David reflects on his life and career in this two-part documentary, which covers his upbringing in Brooklyn, his beginnings in comedy, his success with “Seinfeld” (which he co-created) and his more recent work on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” The documentary was directed by the comic and filmmaker Larry Charles, a staff writer on “Seinfeld” whose well-established rapport with David comes through in their conversations.WednesdayLA STRADA (1956) 6 p.m. on TCM. When the Oscar for best international feature is handed out at the Academy Awards ceremony next month, the winner will become part of a lineage that “La Strada” helped establish: This Federico Fellini classic was the first movie to win the best foreign-language film honor when that category became a competitive award at the Oscars in 1956. The movie raised the profiles of both Fellini and his wife and collaborator, Giulietta Masina, who plays a young woman who is sold to a traveling circus strongman (Anthony Quinn). “‘La Strada’ is often sentimental and not always convincing but the ending packs a wallop,” J. Hoberman wrote about the film last year in his “Rewind” column.ThursdayTilda Swinton in “The French Dispatch.”Searchlight PicturesTHE FRENCH DISPATCH (2021) 8 p.m. on HBO Signature. Wes Anderson drew inspiration from the old-school days of The New Yorker for this ornate anthology comedy, which follows a collection of eccentric magazine writers and their subjects — played by an ensemble that includes Bill Murray, Benicio Del Toro, Léa Seydoux, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton — in a mid-20th-century French city. Typewriters clack. Cocktails disappear.FridayAFTER YANG (2022) 9 p.m. on Showtime. In his 2017 feature debut, “Columbus,” the filmmaker Kogonada used the modernist architecture of Columbus, Ind., to give a surreal, otherworldly undercurrent to a modest story about a close friendship. His new movie, “After Yang,” takes place solidly in the future: It centers on a mother (played by Jodie Turner-Smith), father (Colin Farrell) and young daughter (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) whose humanoid robot, Yang (Justin H. Min), breaks down. The loss of Yang is essentially the loss of a family member, but it may be possible to repair him.SaturdayVin Diesel, left and John Cena in “F9.” Giles Keyte/Universal PicturesF9 (2021) 8 p.m. on HBO. If the “Fast and Furious” movies went all-electric, and the grunt of gasoline engines was muted, the series could still rely on Vin Diesel’s voice to fill out the low end of the sonic spectrum. The latest installment of the series introduced a new villain, played by John Cena, and brought back the familiar faces of Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron. The movie also saw the return of the director Justin Lin, a veteran of the franchise who had stepped away for several years. Lin makes the movie “feel scrappy and baroque at the same time,” A.O. Scott said in his review for The Times.SundayLester Holt, left, and the former Attorney General William P. Barr in an NBC News primetime special.NBC NewsNBC NEWS PRIMETIME SPECIAL 9 p.m. on NBC. Lester Holt interviews the former Attorney General William P. Barr in this hourlong special. The two discuss Barr’s final days as Attorney General during the Trump administration, when he rebuked former President Donald J. Trump’s false claims of a stolen election by acknowledging that the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. The conversation also touches on policing in America, among other topics. More

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    Edi Patterson on Tapping Into Her Id for ‘The Righteous Gemstones’

    Ahead of the Season 2 finale, the actress, writer and producer talked about the joys of being Judy in this HBO comedy about a family of televangelists.This interview contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “The Righteous Gemstones.”It’s nearly impossible to find a Judy Gemstone quote that can be spoken aloud in a real church. When the character isn’t cursing or disparaging her siblings, she is referencing profane sexual acts and organs — all things unfit for a house of worship (and print).But beneath Judy’s abrasive, hypersexual surface is the decidedly calm and collected Edi Patterson, an actress, writer and producer on HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones.” Trading her straight hair and chill demeanor for a curly wig and an unholy amount of sequins, she transforms into Judy, the rambunctious middle child in a family of Southern megachurch preachers, who craves validation and lacks any semblance of a filter.Patterson, who first worked with the show’s creator, Danny McBride, on the HBO series “Vice Principals” (which he created with Jody Hill) acts alongside him and Adam DeVine, who play Judy’s older and younger brothers — both of whom are just as stunted by sibling rivalry as she is, maybe more.Season 2 of the series, which ended Sunday, dove deeper into the Gemstone family drama, making new forays into real estate, motorcycle ninjas and Judy’s relationship with her beta-male husband, BJ (Tim Baltz). After an assassination attempt on the family patriarch, Eli (John Goodman), threatened to tear the Gemstones apart, the season finale brought the whole clan back together for a birth, some death and, of course, one last musical number.It also revealed a softer side of Judy — even though her dialogue was still largely unprintable.“It’s fun for people to watch Judy because she’s doing things that they want to do, and saying things they really want to say, and I think it’s fun to watch someone get to play id,” Patterson said. “I’m really grateful that I get to run downfield as fast as I can and let it rip.”In a recent video call from her hotel room in Winnipeg, Canada, where she was shooting the film “Violent Night” with David Harbour (“Stranger Things”), Patterson discussed BJ’s baptism, Eli’s near-death experience and why we can’t keep our eyes off Judy. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Where do you think Judy falls in the Gemstone hierarchy, being a middle child and the only daughter?Sadly, the default in those sort of systems is very patriarchy-centric, so she’s got a lot to prove. And she knows that she is equal to and as good as her brothers. But that’s part of the fun — she’s in a system where she’s going to need to prove it, probably over and over again. So that sums up all of her emotions of wanting to prove things; wanting to excel; wanting to be bad; all of it.How do you think Judy has changed over the course of this season?Well, she took a big swing with getting married at Disney World without her dad. That was a big, ‘Well, I’ll show them …’ and then she immediately felt bad. She’s got a lot of teenage emotions and angst happening.This season, she probably gets closer to what she wants, with BJ being more accepted than he was. She also has a bit of an emotional epiphany with Tiffany [Judy’s younger aunt, played by Valyn Hall] — basically going from feeling like Tiffany was a mold growing on something in her fridge to actual care and love. That was a really cool progression. Actual people never have a giant turnaround that you see in movies, like, “Now, I’m a different person, and I’m totally better.” I like the big ups and setbacks that the Gemstones have emotionally.That plotline where Judy and BJ kind of become Tiffany’s parents is a funny choice. What was that meant to bring out in each of them?We wanted to show Judy’s depth just a little bit and show she’s complicated, man, and complex. Like, yeah, her bark is loud and intense, and there’s a lot of it coming at you. But there’s also empathy in there, and she can honestly get her feelings hurt, and she can honestly care about whether or not she hurt someone else’s feelings. It was fun to show she’s actually not a full narcissist or a sociopath.Season 2 went deeper into Judy’s relationship with her husband, BJ (Tim Baltz), who was baptized in a very special onesie.HBO MaxEpisode 4 really stood out to me as Judy and BJ’s big moment — how was it to write, shoot and produce that whole baptism?That episode was such a blast. We got to kind of live on that insane set for a whole week and a half, and that was such a pleasure and a luxury. Because the set where we had BJ’s party felt so real and so … I don’t know … have you been to Vegas?I haven’t.Vegas has this weird, weird vibe where some hotels can actually be so blown out that they almost feel cozy. Something in you goes: “I’m safe to cut loose and everyone’s taking care of me.” And I don’t know, that room felt like the cozy side of Vegas.Like the Cheesecake Factory effect? Where you have way too many things going on at once?Totally! Everywhere my eyes look, there’s something interesting to look at. So it was just heavenly to be there for an extended period. And Danny directed that episode — it’s the only one he directed this season, and he’s just so good. It was really fun because, for instance, in the bathroom scene where I’m threatening BJ’s sister, Danny is clear about when there’s room to play with it and get crazy and find things. And there were a couple of wild things we found as we were doing it, like the smoking in the stall or kicking the stall door like a 1980s bully move.Do the particularly memorable lines, like “You can’t gobble the pie if you didn’t help bake it,” more often come from the scripts or happen spontaneously in the moment?A lot of the way they talk is in the crafting. I wrote that “gobble the pie” thing — a lot of times, I know that it’s specifically right for her if it makes me laugh and makes me go, “Oh my God, that’s so stupid.” That’s the highest praise for me. It’s probably right if it made me delightfully disgusted.In previous interviews, you have mentioned that you watched a lot of horror movies when you were growing up. Where do you think horror fits into “Gemstones”?What’s interesting is almost all of us who are writers on the show love horror movies. It’s probably a direction thing, too, because David Gordon Green and Jody Hill [who have directed most of the episodes] both like horror movies. They’re really good at making things truly suspenseful, or truly dramatic, or kind of creepy, or truly action-y. The love of horror makes people not pull back and go, “Oh, it’s comedy.” It makes everyone go further into all of it.You have also said that Judy is wearing ice skater outfits when she performs. If you had to make a mood board of things Judy finds glamorous, what else would be on there?Oh man, it would be covered with ice skaters. There’d be probably a bunch of stuff from Studio 54. Cher would be all over it. I feel like early Madonna would be all over it: It would be a fair amount of this move: [Patterson pulls one shirtsleeve down to reveal a shoulder.]So much of it would be from Judy’s kid brain of what was sexy and what was cool and powerful. I think so many of her notions about things are just stunted.There’s a point in the season where Eli Gemstone almost dies. What was that meant to evoke in the family?It just shows so quickly that even though they all think, “I can do this,” they’re all immediately like: “Oh God, I don’t want it. I just want him here.” They all adore their dad. Judy is very enmeshed with her dad and what he thinks of her. The second something terrible happens, all she wants is for him to be alive and well. Hence the vomiting. [Laughs.]You grew up in Texas going to church every week. What do you think your Sunday school teachers would say if they saw this show?Wow. It depends on which Sunday school teacher. I can think of some people from the church I grew up in that would be very disturbed by what I’m doing and probably not ever watch it — not even because it’s about a televangelist family, but because of the cursing. But a lot of people from the church love it.The thing about our show is we’re never making fun of religion, or people who are involved in religion, or believers. I think all the Gemstones are believers. They’re just messing up a lot. More

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    ‘Billions’ Season 6, Episode 6 Recap: I’ll Be Watching You

    Prince takes a hit, and Taylor makes a hit job. The gamesmanship is getting expensive, in more ways than one.Season 6, Episode 6: ‘Hostis Humani Generis’There are few things on television I enjoy more than a good “Billions” fake-out. The sine qua non comes from the stellar Season 2 episode “Golden Frog Time,” in which a Chuck Rhoades who at first appears to be sobbing is actually laughing hysterically because his plan to undermine his enemy Bobby Axelrod worked like a charm. (At the expense of his best friend and his father, but still!)The sleight-of-hand that occurs in this week’s episode isn’t nearly as momentous, but it provides that thrilling frisson nonetheless. For a moment, it looks as if Chuck has put the screws to Mike Prince’s alma mater, Indiana A&M, to prevent it from investing in his firm. How? By blackmailing the university’s endowment chair, Stuart Legere (Whit Stillman alum Chris Eigeman), who has been embezzling.But it turns out that the opposite is true. Chuck is blackmailing Legere and the endowment into investing with Prince by threatening to expose the embezzlement. Having previously rejected his father for the role as too obvious a choice, Chuck wants an inside man who will report back on Prince’s every move, and now he has found one. The needle drop of the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” that accompanies the maneuver is no mere music cue. It’s a mission statement: No matter what Mike Prince does, the watchful eyes of Charles Rhoades Jr. will be on him, whether he knows it or not.Why? Because Chuck really and truly seems to have gotten religion where the billionaire class is concerned. He calls Prince “a robber baron.” He denigrates Prince’s seemingly charitable donation of a new fleet of high-tech subway cars (funding for which was the purpose for reopening the exclusive Prince List to new investors, like his alma mater) as a new form of “noblesse oblige.” He characterizes Prince’s seeming benevolence as an attempt “to further his own ends, whatever they may be, while he enjoys ten thousand, a hundred thousand times” the resources of anyone ostensibly benefiting from his largess. He has deemed all billionaires “hostis humani generis,” an old designation for pirates: enemies of the entire human race.And how will Chuck defeat Prince’s latest gambit? In large part by relying on the acumen of his new lieutenant, Dave Mahar. In a brief meeting with her predecessor, Kate Sacker, Dave discerns that speed is of the essence where Prince Cap’s plan to purchase those new subway cars is concerned. So she threatens to tie it all up in red tape related to the cars’ Chinese manufacturer — an end-run around the Transport Workers Union, which has been bought off with half a billion dollars’ worth of re-education and training for members who lose their jobs to newwer, more automated subway cars. Kate actually tenders her resignation to Mike over the gaffe, though he doesn’t accept it.Then there’s the matter of Leon Sherald (Okieriete Onaodowan) to consider. Sherald is a football star who has started a blockbuster home fitness franchise, and he wants in on the reopened Prince List’s exclusive list of investors. It’s Taylor Mason’s former underling-slash-friend-with-benefits, Lauren (a returning Jade Eshete), who brings Sherald’s offer to the firm, despite the awkward interpersonal dynamics.But when Sherald finds out that the public-sector pension fund to which the Transport Workers’ Union belongs also includes the New York police union, he demands Prince drop it, or he’ll nuke the list’s reputation in the all-important court of public opinion.This is where Taylor comes in. Having been tipped off to an app that suppresses problematic social-media posts by Rian, Taylor reverse-engineers the procedure and digs up damning information about Sherald, neutralizing his ability to tank the Prince List in the process. Rian, once again, is aghast, but the firm wins the day.In the end, Prince agrees to fund public transport, even without his futuristic Chinese subway cars. But what is the endgame here? Well, remember when Chuck talked about Prince’s “own ends, whatever they may be”? At multiple points in the episode, there are tantalizing hints that there’s a play behind the play, a maneuver by Prince for which the Olympic Games are merely a pretext.Scooter warns Prince that his gamesmanship is getting expensive, but it’s perhaps permissible if “there’s no other way to everything you want.” Later, Prince tells Scooter “You’re know where we’re headed — you’re the only one — but when we leave to do the thing, we need to install someone who’ll run the place right.” The dialogue seems to rule out the simple matter of getting his estranged wife a plum coaching gig; it points to something larger, more secretive.The near-term ramifications are clear enough: Scooter’s nephew Philip is being groomed for leadership. The long game, though? The thing Prince is aiming for above and beyond the Olympics? That’s anybody’s guess. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a drama that keeps me guessing.Loose ChangeUntil I heard them open and close this episode, I’d never really made the thematic connection between the Police songs “Synchronicity I” and “Every Breath You Take,” despite their both being on the album “Synchronicity.” The first song is a sort of mystical paranoiac fantasy that everything is connected; the latter is a stalker’s message that it’s right to be paranoid.In this week’s “appearing as themselves” rundown, we see the Warby Parker chief executive, Neil Blumenthal; the Greenlight Capital founder, David Einhorn; the Wharton professor and TED talker Adam Grant; the dot com pioneer Seth Godin; and the philanthropist Jacqueline Novogratz as members of Prince Cap’s board.No “Godfather” references that I spotted this go-round, but Al Pacino’s monologues in “Any Given Sunday” and “Scent of a Woman” get a (literal) shout-out from Philip. Hoo-ah!Your pro-wrestling reference of the week: Dave threatening to pull off a Bobo Brazil “Coco Butt,” one of the most feared head butts in the art form’s history, on the Transit Workers’ Union boss Tony Plimpton (Kevin Chapman).Important Prince Cap maneuverings to remember: Tuk begins to develop some real money-making instincts while working as Philip’s gofer; Philip refuses to be poached even after his uncle Scooter sets him up for a plum job far away from the firm.Your latest sign that “Billions” has evolved past Bobby Axelrod: Comptroller Leah Calder (Wendie Malick) congratulates Chuck on taking down Axe, and Chuck replies that his one-time nemesis “is firmly in my rearview.” Adios, Axe. More

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    ‘Euphoria’ Star Angus Cloud Offers Hints About Season Finale

    The actor plays Fezco, the kindhearted drug dealer who watches over Rue.Name: Angus CloudAge: 23Hometown: Oakland, Calif.Now Lives: In a light-filled home in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles that he shares with friends.Claim to Fame: Mr. Cloud had never acted before playing Fezco, the lovable drug dealer in “Euphoria,” who has emerged as a fan favorite. Fezco was meant to die in Season 1 but was kept alive, according to a casting agent, after Sam Levinson, the show’s creator, saw Mr. Cloud’s performance. Fezco has a bigger role in Season 2, including a budding romance with Lexi (played by Maude Apatow) that has fueled lots of online chatter.“I think Fezco’s relationship with Lexi is cool,” said Mr. Cloud, who speaks as slowly and softly as his character. “It’s not rushed and it’s not onscreen every single episode, but when it is, it’s truly something special.” He offered a sneak preview of this Sunday’s finale. “In the last episode, Fezco is action packed,” he said. “There’s a lot happening, I just hope the fans are ready.”The unlikely romance between Fezco and Lexi (played by Maude Apatow) has spurred lots of online conversation.Eddy Chen/HBOBig Break: In 2018, Mr. Cloud was walking on Mercer Street in Greenwich Village when he was approached by Eléonore Hendricks, a casting agent for “Euphoria.” “We were still scouting for some lead characters, Fezco especially,” Ms. Hendricks said. “So when I clocked Angus, I stopped him and his friend. This kind of thing happens in New York City, but it can be hard to believe.”At the time, Mr. Cloud was a waiter at Woodlands, a restaurant near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. He thought it was a scam, but his friend convinced him to follow through. “Before this, I didn’t have any desire to act,” he said. “I guess I was just at the right place at the right time.”Latest Project: Madison Avenue has come calling. Last year, Mr. Cloud appeared in a cheeky advertising campaign for Fila called “Falling in Love Again” that featured a short film directed by Mark Seliger and also stars Luke Wilson and Adesuwa Aighewi. Mr. Cloud also appeared in an ad for the Gap last fall directed by Christian Weber.“The costume designers at ‘Euphoria’ do a great job at keeping Fezco’s style aligned with my personal style,” Mr. Cloud said.Pat Martin for The New York TimesNext Thing: Mr. Cloud’s acting career looks bright. “We wrapped the second season on Nov. 23, 2021, and since then, I have booked three new movies,” he said. They include “Your Lucky Day,” a horror film set in a convenience store that involves a $156 million lottery ticket, and “The Line,” a coming-of-age thriller set at a university, starring John Malkovich, Alex Wolff and Halle Bailey.Fashion Darling: “The costume designers at ‘Euphoria’ do a great job at keeping Fezco’s style aligned with my personal style,” said Mr. Cloud, who likes Polo shirts, tracksuits, thick hoodies and colorful street wear. “They know what I like and don’t like, and we work extremely well together.” That may also explain why Mr. Cloud was invited to several fashion events in New York this month, including for Thom Browne and Coach. More