Television

This interview includes spoilers for the series finale of “Homeland.”When Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon learned after Season 5 that their political thriller, “Homeland,” would end after eight seasons, they choose not to shape the remaining installments into one long and complex arc. Instead, they would continue planning it one season at a time.The show would keep them guessing, just as it did for viewers — right up through the series finale, which aired Sunday on Showtime.When it came time to plan Season 8, much about the fate of the show’s protagonist, Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), remained uncertain. But Gansa and Gordon, who created and oversaw the series, had a few definite ideas. One brought the story full circle, in a way, to its beginnings, which centered on a returning prisoner from the Iraq War, Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis).“We had decided that we wanted to tell the last story in Afghanistan, and we already knew two big things,” Gansa said. “We knew that a president’s helicopter was going to go down in a war zone, and we knew that we wanted to put Carrie Mathison in Nicholas Brody’s shoes.”In other words, they wanted her to be suspected of being a traitor.As for revealing that the C.I.A. super spy Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin) had been running a highly placed Russian mole — the translator Anna (Tatyana Mukha) — that idea arose about midway through plotting out the season. And the decision to turn Carrie into a whistle-blower had been a last-minute stroke of inspiration.The tricky part, Gansa said, had been figuring out how to get the Russian officer Yevgeny (Costa Ronin) to trust Carrie enough to allow her to start spying in Moscow. After rejecting a number of possible solutions — such as having Carrie become pregnant with Yevgeny’s child — the writers were stumped. Then, on the day before the final shoot, Gansa woke up thinking about Edward Snowden’s book, “Permanent Record.”“I was like, ‘Whoa!’ What if Carrie has been spending the last two years writing an expose of the C.I.A.?” he said. Everything fell into place, and the series’s production designer quickly mocked up a jacket for Carrie’s book “Tyranny of Secrets.”During a recent phone interview, Gansa discussed bringing the show across the finish line, the impact of Snowden and his regrets about a mishandled story line. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.That’s quite a fake-out when Carrie tries to convince Saul that his life is on the line. Did you ever consider a scenario in which Carrie actually kills Saul?Carrie would never go that dark. There would always be a third way. We did try to make the scene in which she was telling Saul’s sister that he’s dead as uncomfortable as the moment where it looked like she might kill Saul. We wanted those scenes to demonstrate just how far this person was willing to go to get what she thought was right. Look, Carrie is responsible for the death of an important asset, but ultimately, Carrie is able to take that person’s place in Russia and deliver intelligence back to Saul. She is exactly in the position that she most enjoys, which is a duplicitous relationship where she’s doing the work she was meant to do.Is it a happy ending? I think Carrie is happy. We wanted the show to end in a bittersweet way, not in a grim way. And in this uncertain time, I’m relieved that there’s some redemption here. Anything that ends with a little good cheer, I’m weeping, like, “Thank God.”Having Carrie write a book gives you a chance for one last “crazy wall” when we see her office.Although it’s much more ordered! Carrie’s got it together a bit. It was patterned after my office. Most of the books were my books — all the C.I.A. source material, the spy literature, the whole nine yards. And there is just a litany of our overreaction to 9/11 on the wall. It ain’t a pretty picture. Speaking of books, all the red Tauchnitz books used for tradecraft in Saul Berenson’s library are from my father’s collection. They were just a source of aggravation because whatever city we were in, we would always stop at these antiquarian bookstores so he could look for editions he didn’t have. They finally got put to good use.Carrie’s book is dedicated to Franny. What happens to her?Well, Franny got sacrificed. Not only has Franny been abandoned by her mother, but her mother is now like Edward Snowden and is considered a traitor. That’s going to be a very hard thing for that young girl — and, eventually, that young woman — to accept and understand.How did the endgame evolve or change as the world changed?We filmed in South Africa for Season 4 and Berlin for Season 5, and Claire and Mandy wanted to come home to the United States. Even though we might have kept the story abroad, our actors were tired of being overseas. And so we were put in the position of, “OK, how are we going to fashion a narrative back in New York City?” That was tough. Luckily, at Spy Camp, [a series of brainstorming sessions the cast and creative staff did each season with intelligence and national security experts], as we were writing Season 6, Mike Hayden, [the former C.I.A. director], told us about the very interesting process of presidential transitions and what that period between Election Day and Inauguration Day looks like — how uncertain it is, and what a new president’s education would look like after two and a half, three months. [Season 6 debuted in January 2017; Spy Camp was in February 2016.] Just listening to him talk, the idea for that season evolved.For this season, we wanted to consider how America had reacted to 9/11 and how would we react to the next 9/11. Would we have learned anything? We wanted to create an event that was akin to 9/11, but not a mass-casualty attack. So we went back to Afghanistan, where we would have license to tell a more explosive story, for lack of a better word.“Homeland” was highly praised, but also highly criticized. Did criticism of the show ever affect the story?Oh, the criticism affected it enormously. First and foremost, I think both the praise and the criticism were overblown. We were taking shots from the left for being Islamophobic and shots from the right for being soft on terrorism. At the beginning of Season 5, Peter Quinn is sitting in a C.I.A. briefing room and telling people what it looks like on the ground in Syria. Our intention in that scene was to portray Quinn as somebody who had seen too much battle and whose judgment was impaired. And yet Fox News and the right wing ran with what Quinn said as: “My God, ‘Homeland’ is getting it right! You have to take a harder line with all these factions in Syria.” That’s inevitable.There was a moment toward the end of Season 5 where we all just looked at ourselves in the mirror. We were telling a story about an impending attack in Berlin, and four days before we shot the scene, the Paris attacks happened. We found ourselves on the set saying, “What are we doing?” It was truly a “come to Jesus” or “come to Allah” moment: What is the value of telling these stories in a world that felt like it had gone a little crazy? That definitely affected “Homeland” in Seasons 6, 7 and 8.What changed?We made a vow to ourselves that we were not going to dramatize any threats in “Homeland” that didn’t actually exist. From our consultants in D.C., we learned that there were no organized Al Qaeda or Islamic State terrorist cells in the U.S. There were lone wolves acting on their own, but no terror cells here. This was when both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were making it seem like we were going to face another 9/11 attack, and it was only a matter of time. So we were very careful in these remaining seasons that we were not going to be sensational. We were trying to not make it worse.Edward Snowden was one of your spy camp consultants. What did he contribute?That’s why Season 5 was all about the surveillance state, hacking and civil liberties. Bart Gellman, a former Washington Post reporter, told me he was bringing a special guest to Spy Camp, and the next thing you know, we’re Skyping with Snowden in Moscow. This was about six months before Snowden was Skyping with other people, so all of the intelligence consultants we had in the room sat up in their seats, like, “Oh my God!”We had a two- or three-hour conversation with him. He was an interesting cat, for sure. When somebody constantly refers to themselves in the third person, it’s always odd. But he made a compelling case that if he had gone through the normal channels, none of this would have become public.Did your Spy Camp consultants ever warn that opposing world powers might seek to take advantage of a crisis in which actually no one was to blame — just to consolidate their power? In “Homeland,” that happens after a helicopter goes down. In the real world, it might be the politicization of the coronavirus.Right? That’s an interesting analogy. I mean, a virus truly is nobody’s fault, and the political ramifications on all sides — the finger-pointing, the blaming, the conspiracy theories that grow up around these things — is remarkable. We did hear a lot about that in Spy Camp, just in terms of how events can be twisted for political gain in ways that we haven’t yet begun to imagine. And now we’re witnessing it in full bloom.One of the things I remember hearing very early on was how Al Qaeda began to spin events on the ground. Special Ops would go in and kill a terrorist cell, and then Al Qaeda would come in and spread Qurans all over the floor to make it look like they had massacred a prayer circle. How events are open to interpretation is profoundly unsettling. There is no one source that you can look to and say, “Well, I believe that” — some Walter Cronkite who you can look at as an arbiter of what’s real. It makes the world a scarier and more uncertain place.Don DeLillo said in “White Noise,” “In a crisis, the true facts are what other people say they are. No one’s knowledge is less secure than your own.” The time we’re living in right now, I certainly feel that way. I don’t know about you, but I just cannot put my finger on what to believe. Do I wear a mask? Not wear a mask? Do we need ventilators? Do we not need ventilators? The whole thing is just so confusing. “Homeland” has always tried to live dramatically in that ambiguous space. You see that between Saul and Carrie in the last couple of episodes, how to deal with a crisis that’s unfolding in front of their eyes.Any regrets? Any stories you wish you had told differently?After Brody was falsely implicated in the C.I.A. bombing, I wish that we had found a better way to dramatize the impact of that upon his family in Season 3. I just think that if we had been thinking more clearly, we could have devised a better story around how that affected and impacted their lives.That goes back to Franny. What happens when Franny and Dana meet?That would be a great story. Save it for the movie! [Laughs.] More

Season 3, Episode 7: ‘Passed Pawn’Each man’s death diminishes me,For I am involved in mankind.Therefore, send not to knowFor whom the app ca-chingsIt ca-chings for thee.Or something to that effect.Hard as it may seem to believe that an app designed to facilitate criminal acts could have a nefarious purpose, we finally discover what the powers-that-be have had in mind for Caleb.For weeks, there has been speculation over Caleb’s true identity: Could he be a host or some other artificial creation? Throughout the season, the jumble of fragmented moments that have circulated in his memory has recalled Bernard at his glitchiest, forever struggling to solve the puzzles created by his own consciousness. In the meantime, he has attached himself to Dolores, not least because she moves forward with a confidence and certainty that he could never manage on his own.On this week’s episode, Dolores leads him to a facility in Sonora, Mexico, where some of the biggest secrets of the Rehoboam project are stored. Earlier in the season, we got a glimpse of a Mesa-like operation where human “anomalies” are subject to whatever editing they need to bring them back in line with their predictable, algorithmically correct cohorts. The entire purpose of the Seracs’ project was to wrangle the destructive chaos of human interaction into a coherent, sustainable plan for survival. There’s no room in the system for people inclined to chart their own course because the models all point to the likelihood of extinction.It was never a great sign that Engerraund Serac’s brother was the first fly in the ointment, and many others, like Caleb, would follow. One of the smarter ideas this season is that Serac is a defensible villain: Rehoboam grew out of nuclear catastrophe and the promise of more catastrophes to come, so even the most heavy-handed tactics to keep mankind in line are sensible. It may not sound great for one man and his machine to have the power to control the destinies of individuals and nations, but it sounds better when there are no other options. In order to keep the great Westworld park known as Planet Earth operational, anomalies like Caleb had to be brought back to their loops like the hosts — and if they couldn’t be, they needed to be decommissioned.What we learn in this episode is that the human impulse to misbehave isn’t so easily buffed out. The success rate for editing anomalies is only one out of 10. And so the solution has been to use anomalies to catch anomalies, which has given guys like Caleb a purpose, even if they’re kept in the dark about why their services are needed.Dolores takes Caleb to the facility in Sonoma so he can learn about the lies that have been hard-wired into his programming like one of Lee Sizemore’s park narratives. He has been led to believe in a false memory about a mission gone wrong in Crimea, one that ends with his best friend’s getting killed by the enemy, but the truth is more unsettling and sends him back on a “regressive” path.The trip to Sonora is also a chance for Dolores and Caleb to become acquainted with Solomon, the older and bug-riddled version of what would become Rehoboam. Solomon is presented as the machine equivalent to an anomaly, which makes it dangerously useless to Serac as a tool for social engineering but ideal to Dolores as a strategist for revolution. It’s wild to imagine the rebellions of the future as something akin to the You May Also Like function on Netflix, but Dolores is looking for options on the best way forward against adversaries that are growing in strength.To that end, Team Maeve has claimed its first Dolores, as Clementine comes back from the dead to ambush Musashi-bot in Jakarta. The pre-credits sequence continues the show’s mission to bump up the action considerably this season, which seems like a reasonable response to complaints that the simulated Old West of the first two seasons was long on philosophy and short on shoot’-em-ups. There’s an emphasis on high-tech gadgetry, too. Musashi-bot’s briefcase transforms into an assault weapon at the flick of a wrist. Dolores later wipes out nearly everyone guarding the Sonora facility by using drone-operated targeting.The Jakarta sequence is book-ended by a throw-down between Dolores and Maeve that’s been seasons in the offing. Maeve’s motives for attacking Dolores are clearer now than they’ve been in the past, but “Westworld” has always struggled to make sense of the beef between them. Perhaps it’s simply that Dolores and Maeve are too alike, both strong personalities who want to do things their own way. But their journey to self-awareness, their missions of vengeance and their tip-of-the-spear personalities are so closely aligned that they’ve never had much reason to fight. That makes the climax to this episode seem like a low-stakes form of shadowboxing.“You died many times, but this will be your last,” Maeve warns Dolores. Not likely.Paranoid Androids:Pick your “Westworld” Season 3 Quarantine House! House No. 1: Dolores, Caleb, Ash, Giggles. House No. 2: Maeve, Hector, Clementine, Serac. House No. 3: Bernard, Stubbs, the Man in Black. House No. 4: Charlotte-bot, Musashi-bot, Martin-bot, Sizemore-bot. (All answers other than House No. 3 are defensible.)Bernard, Stubbs and the Man in Black had a couple of contentious scenes together this episode, but main takeaway is that the Man in Black is “Classification U,” a label given to outliers who weren’t corrected by therapy. Now they’re looking for a log of others like him.“The West was cruel, unjust and chaotic,” Dolores tells Caleb, “but there was a chance to chart your own course. I want a place for my kind. For all of us to be free.” For someone who has spent most of her existences on the wrong end of unmediated, lawless violence, Dolores’s nostalgia for the Old West is surprising.“If you die, I will adjust my projections.” Solomon is like Nate Silver 2.0.HBO announced this week that “Westworld” had been renewed for a fourth season. So viewers should not expect to be anywhere near the center of the maze after next week’s finale. More

VH1

The ‘Jurassic Park’ actor is accused of being islamophobic over his comments when he saw one of the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ contestants donned a star-spangled hijab.
Apr 27, 2020
AceShowbiz – Actor Jeff Goldblum has been scolded by fans online over his controversial appearance as a guest judge on Friday’s April 24, 2020 instalment of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”.
During the episode, drag queen Jackie Cox, real name Darius Rose, wore a star-spangled hijab in honour of her Muslim background, as part of the show’s Stars And Stripes runway challenge.
Commenting on the look, Jeff, 67, came under fire by first asking if the performer was “religious” before going on to question the treatment of LGBTQ+ people within the faith.

“Is there something in this religion that is anti-homosexuality and anti-woman? Does that complicate the issue? I’m just raising it and thinking out loud and maybe being stupid,” he commented.
While RuPaul insisted that “drag has always shaken the tree,” Jackie became teary-eyed as she said it was “a complex issue” and she had her “own misgivings about the way LGBTQ+ people are treated in the Middle East.”
“I had to show America that you can be LGBT and from the Middle East and there’s going to be complicated s**t around that and that’s okay. But I’m here and I deserve to be in America just as much as anyone else,” Jackie said.
Criticising the “Jurassic Park” star for his theories, fans took to Twitter to make their feelings known, with one viewer writing, “That Jeff Goldblum to Jackie Cox moment on this week’s Drag Race was so deeply uncomfortable to watch.”
“Why did he think that was appropriate? How did it make it to the edit? How was that in any way fair on Jackie? Just so many levels of awfulness.”
Another commented, “Now would Jeff Goldblum have asked a Christian queen that same question that he asked Jackie? That was really ignorant,” while a third user hit out, adding, “I am REALLY not here for Jeff Goldblum’s casually islamophobic critique of Jackie Cox tonight.”
The star has yet to comment on the controversy.

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NBC

The ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ actor returns to ‘Saturday Night Live’ as Covid-19 expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, to factcheck what the President has been saying about the virus.
Apr 27, 2020
AceShowbiz – Brad Pitt stole the show on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, April 25, 2020 with a surprise appearance as America’s top COVID-19 expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” star launched the second At Home version of the famed late-night comedy sketch show by taking on the role of Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for the cold open, during which he tried to clarify numerous confusing statements issued by U.S. President Donald Trump in his regular White House coronavirus task force briefings.
“Good evening, I’m Dr. Anthony Fauci,” a suited Pitt began, wearing a pair of glasses and a grey wig while seated behind a desk.
“Now, there’s been a lot of misinformation out there about the virus. Yes, the President has taken some liberties with our guidelines. So tonight, I would like to explain what the President was trying to say.”
Footage of Trump claiming there would be a vaccine “relatively soon” then aired, before cutting back to Pitt, as Fauci, who mused, “Relatively soon is an interesting phrase. Relative to the entire history of Earth? Sure, the vaccine is going to come real fast (sic).”
He also cleared up a remark the Republican leader had made about how he and his administration had done an “incredible job” handling the pandemic, while declaring COVID-19 would “disappear one day, like a miracle.”
“A miracle is great. Who doesn’t like miracles?” the actor quipped, adding, “Miracles shouldn’t be Plan A.”

After throwing a few more jabs at the controversial real estate tycoon and reality star-turned-world leader, Pitt removed his disguise and returned to his normal voice as he shared a message of thanks to essential workers.
“To the real Dr. Fauci, thank you for your calm and your clarity in this unnerving time,” he said. “And thank you to the medical workers, first responders, and their families, for being on the frontline.”
Pitt’s participation in the monologue emerges weeks after Fauci himself joked about having the Oscar winner portray him on a future episode of SNL.
Quizzed about the prospect on CNN recently, the 79 year old replied, “Oh, Brad Pitt, of course.”
“SNL” producers debuted their first At Home episode on April 11 when Tom Hanks returned to TV for the first time since beating the coronavirus.
Coldplay’s Chris Martin served as the musical guest for that instalment while Miley Cyrus covered Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” for this weekend’s show, which also featured cameos by Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, and Paul Rudd.

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Disney World

Bosses at Disney Parks have decided to stream Happily Ever After fireworks show for families around the world to enjoy at home amid the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.
Apr 27, 2020
AceShowbiz – Disney Parks bosses are bringing the magic of the beloved attractions to people’s homes with a new recording of one of their iconic fireworks displays.
While Walt Disney World is closed indefinitely and it’s not clear when the parks will reopen, fans can now experience one of the attraction’s best-loved spectacles in their own homes every night.
Theme park chiefs have put a professionally filmed version of the Happily Ever After fireworks show on YouTube and other social platforms for fans around the world to watch.
“Fill the skies above your home with some pixie dust. With some modern-day magic we are taking you to the best seat in the house, right in front of Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World Resort. Watch as the castle you know, becomes a canvas for the stories of some of your favourite characters. And just like our characters’ stories, things will turn out to be happily ever after!” company bosses said in a statement.

The clip is part of the #DisneyMagicMoments campaign, which aims to bring the magic of the theme parks to fans at home amid the coronavirus lockdown period.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Swiss bank UBS told its clients that Disney Parks will likely wait until January 1, 2021 to reopen the North American attractions, explaining “the lingering effects of the outbreak… will dramatically reduce the profitability of these businesses even after they’ve reopened until a vaccine is widely available.”

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Two weeks ago, “Saturday Night Live” returned to television with its first new episode of the at-home era: a collection of remotely produced sketches that were low on production value but high on spirit and innovation. It offered a window into what the show could do without most of its resources — and into the homes of its cast members, for those of us who always wondered what they looked like.Now that “S.N.L.” proved that it could be done, what would it do for an encore?In its second run at an at-home episode, “S.N.L.” got more ambitious, adding flashy graphics and editing tricks, and diving into its pool of celebrity contacts for some well-timed cameo appearances — perhaps none more surprising than the opening sketch, which featured Brad Pitt as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.In a CNN interview earlier this month, Fauci had said with a laugh that “of course” he would love to see himself portrayed by Pitt, the Oscar-winning star of “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” Perhaps he believed it was never going to happen, but there, at the top of the show, was Pitt wearing a wig, glasses, suit and tie, speaking in a mock-Brooklyn accent and offering his thanks to “all the older women in America who have sent me supportive, inspiring and sometimes graphic emails.”[embedded content]He also offered his commentary on “misinformation” regarding coronavirus and tried to clarify remarks made by President Trump.Following a video clip in which the president said that there might be vaccines “relatively soon,” Pitt said, “Relatively soon is an interesting phrase. Relative to the entire history of earth? Sure, the vaccine’s going to come real fast. But if you were to tell a friend, I’ll be over relatively soon, and then showed up a year and a half later, well, your friend may be relatively pissed off.”After another clip in which President Trump said the coronavirus would disappear “like a miracle,” Pitt said, “A miracle would be great. Who doesn’t love miracles? But miracles shouldn’t be Plan A. Even Sully tried to land at the airport first.”A third clip showed the president stating that “anybody that needs a test gets a test,” and that the tests were “beautiful.” Pitt replied, “I don’t know if I would describe the test as beautiful. Unless your idea of beauty is having a cotton swab tickle your brain. Also, when he said everyone can get a test what he meant was, almost no one.”Pitt then addressed rumors that President Trump planned to fire him, playing a clip of the president saying that he would not dismiss him, adding, “I think he’s a wonderful guy.”“So yeah, I’m getting fired,” Pitt said.Finally, Pitt ended the segment by removing his wig and thanking the real Fauci “for your calm and your clarity in this unnerving time,” and also offering gratitude to medical workers and their families. He added, “Live, kinda, from all across America, it’s Saturday night.”‘S.N.L.’ Throwback of the WeekUnder the limitations of sheltering-in-place orders, “What Up With That?” would seem to be the kind of recurring bit that should be avoided at all costs: It’s an overstuffed talk show with an indefatigable host (played by Kenan Thompson) and it is dependent on filling a stage with as many performers and celebrities as possible, most of whom won’t get to say more than a few words.But by the grace of Zoom, “S.N.L.” pulled it off, working in recurring characters like an enigmatic saxophonist played by Fred Armisen and an enthusiastic, track-suited dancer played by Jason Sudeikis. (Bill Hader, who usually plays Lindsey Buckingham, appeared only as a frozen screen graphic.)Charles Barkley, playing himself, summed it all up: “I’m not going to lie — this is weird.”Music Video of the WeekPete Davidson led off another of his musical segments by lamenting the tediousness of his home quarantine with his sister and his mother. (“Tired of sitting in the dark / Got nothing to watch, already did ‘Ozark’ ”). Then, unexpectedly, he threw the song over to Adam Sandler, the “S.N.L.” alum who, after almost 25 years away from the show, is once again becoming a fixture there.Sandler added a verse about his own monotony, singing, “wife tried to kiss me, I straight up denied her / miss the NBA and I miss Rob Schneider.” And sure enough, there was Schneider, another “S.N.L.” veteran, to deliver the catch phrase he’s been shouting at Sandler for more than a quarter-century.Fake Commercial of the WeekWhile it has been charming to see the grass-roots “S.N.L.” segments with homemade costumes and hand-drawn, taped-up posters on cast members’ walls, let’s also appreciate the more polished efforts on display in this advertisement featuring Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon.They play two of the grocers at Bartenson’s, a store where staples like chicken, milk and bread are unfortunately out of stock, but where you can still find mint-flavored Pringles, fluoride bananas, Pepsi Crab and plenty of Dasani products. As McKinnon says, “We want to give you what you want, but first we need you to buy what we have.”‘Weekend Update’ Jokes of the WeekThis latest at-home edition of “Weekend Update” was a significant step up from its debut — gone were the weird audio inserts of people laughing at Colin Jost’s and Michael Che’s jokes, and the anchors now had the familiar world-map backdrop inserted behind them. (We did miss seeing Jost’s guitar, though.) The anchors riffed on Thursday’s coronavirus briefing at the White House, where President Trump floated dangerous and widely derided solutions for halting the virus’s spread.Jost:You know things are going well when #DontDrinkBleach is trending nationally after a president’s speech. After a doctor said that coronavirus dies quickly in sunlight, President Trump asked if they could bring “the light inside the body.” Though I’m pretty sure “bring the light inside the body” is what they chanted at Jonestown before drinking poison. Then President Clean suggested injecting disinfectant into your body to cure the virus. Experts called the idea “a stroke of genius,” minus the “of genius” part.Che:Trump later backtracked and said he was just being sarcastic, which is just what you say when you know you’ve said something terrible. You know, Colin, speaking of terrible, you know how when a kid has really bad parents, somebody steps in and they have to go live with another family, right? [Jost: “Sure.”] Do you think it’s possible another country could come take custody of us, maybe? I mean, like, just until our government gets back on its feet. Somewhere stable, like Germany or Japan or Nigeria. Or even Iraq. I’ll take Iraq now. Don’t they owe us a favor anyway? Didn’t we, like, kill their dad when they were in trouble? I’m being sarcastic, obviously. More

BBC

The ‘Killing Eve’ showrunner recalls the first rehearsal of ‘Fleabag’ and claims she was ‘genuinely being quite shocked and a bit embarrassed’ by the unapologetic jokes.
Apr 26, 2020
AceShowbiz – Phoebe Waller-Bridge was taken aback when she revisited her original “Fleabag” scripts years later.
The award-winning writer/actress’ one-woman show was the original inspiration for the acclaimed TV series, and a performance recorded at London’s Wyndham Theatre last year 2019 was recently released for video-on-demand services as a charity fundraiser.
Speaking on Friday’s April 24, 2020 instalment of “The Graham Norton Show”, the star opened up on the show’s journey to success, and admitted that, after originally penning scripts in her mid-20s, she was “shocked and embarrassed” by some of the lines.
“I was in my mid-20s when I did it originally and everyone involved was full of attitude, and totally unapologetic about what we wanted to say and do with the work,” she said. “When I re-mounted it in New York in my early 30s I remember in the first rehearsal opening the script – which is quite a lot edgier than the TV show – and genuinely being quite shocked and a bit embarrassed.”
“I really didn’t think I could say some of the lines,” she mused, adding, “But once I got back into the character it was a lot easier.”
Self-isolating fans in the U.K. and Ireland can watch the show on the Soho Theatre’s On Demand site while it debuted on Amazon Prime Video for users in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
Downloads cost around $5, and benefit charities aiding those affected by the global pandemic, including The National Emergencies Trust, NHS Charities Together, Acting For Others, and the newly-established Fleabag Support Fund, aimed at providing grants of $3,000 to freelance workers in the U.K. theatre industry.

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WENN

The former ‘Boardwalk Empire’ actor is expected to join the cast members of the British television show when it resumes filming as soon as coronavirus is over.
Apr 26, 2020
AceShowbiz – Stephen Graham is joining the cast of hit U.K. TV show “Peaky Blinders” when it resumes filming after the coronavirus.
According to British newspaper The Sun, the star has said he was about to start filming on the show just before shooting shut down last month, March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I was supposed to be starting Peaky Blinders but that has been put on hold indefinitely,” he revealed. “My agent spent a lot of time putting that together.”
Stephen will join its star Cillian Murphy in the cast and will follow Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody, Sam Neill, and Sam Claflin as the latest big name to sign up for the hit show.
Shooting on “Peaky Blinders” was officially halted on March 16 – four days before U.K. officials announced pubs, restaurants and bars would have to close, and Helen McCrory revealed that she, Cillian, and its producers asked the BBC to halt production.
“Together with the producers, we approached the BBC and said we’re going to pull this now before we have to do this down the line,” she told Deadline.com.

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