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      Billie Eilish Is in the Mood for Love (and a Weighted Blanket)

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeWatch: ‘WandaVision’Travel: More SustainablyFreeze: Homemade TreatsCheck Out: Podcasters’ Favorite PodcastsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMy TenBillie Eilish Is in the Mood for Love (and a Weighted Blanket)The singer-songwriter gets candid about her new documentary, her dream first date and her perfume obsession.Credit…Magdalena Wosinska for The New York TimesFeb. 23, 2021Billie Eilish can’t stop making lists.“I’m just finding ways of enjoying life,” the 19-year-old singer-songwriter said late last month. “I really like cleaning my room and rearranging things.”She’s also been working on the follow-up to her debut album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” from 2019, which helped her win all four top Grammys — best new artist, record of the year, song of the year and album of the year — and made her the youngest person ever, and the first woman, to pull off the sweep.It was the latest milestone in a meteoric rise chronicled in a new documentary, “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry,” out on Apple TV+ Friday. But that doesn’t mean Eilish’s rapid ascent is easy for her to watch. “I’m watching it like, ‘Shut the [expletive] up,” she said. “It’s brutal. I’m like, ‘Don’t talk about that!’” (“It’s really nice to get to watch myself go through all these amazing things from another point of view,” she added of the “painfully honest” movie.)The film, directed by R.J. Cutler, traces a fairy tale career that has seen Eilish’s homemade songs streamed more than a billion times on digital platforms while she’s collected over 75 million followers on Instagram. It chronicles the creation of that award-winning LP, and was filmed from 2018 through early 2020.Eilish has spent the past year enjoying recent milestones like voting, driving and accidentally ordering 70 boxes of Froot Loops online. She also wrote a song with Rosalía, “Lo Vas a Olvidar” (“You Will Forget It”), which premiered during a special episode of the HBO series “Euphoria.”In an interview from Los Angeles in late January — punctuated by occasional barks from her rambunctious pit bull, Pepper — Eilish shared her cultural essentials, including her lockdown listens and her dream first date. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1. The Strokes’ “The New Abnormal”When I first found the album, I was going on a lot of bike rides. I would play the whole album on my speaker backpack and ride around random neighborhoods, and it was always sunny and breezy and pretty and green. Julian Casablancas is just a genius — every time I hear his lyrics I think, “I would never think to say that.” That’s what I love about them — they’re so unexpected, but also relatable. Every single song is good.2. Anything ScentedWhen I was growing up, everybody said I had a “Super Sniffer,” which is a phrase from the show “Psych” and basically means you can smell really well. I don’t know how, though, because my nose is very small! Mine is kind of extreme because I also have synesthesia, which is when your brain pairs two things automatically — every smell has a certain color, number and day of the week. I have probably 100 perfumes, and I label the bottles with little pieces of paper so I can remember what they smell like to me. Some are very specific, like, “This one smells like a ballet class I used to be in,” or “This one smells like that one day we went to this person’s house and this person said this,” and some are more vague, like, “This Hawaiian Punch perfume I got at CVS for $1 smells like 2015,” the whole year. Some are so strong that I can’t smell them at all anymore because I get overwhelmed with the memory.3. Crossroads KitchenI’ve never been on a date — no one has ever taken me on a [expletive] date before! — but if I were to go on one, Crossroads would be the dream. It’s a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles, and it’s bomb. It’s the most delicious food ever. The meatball sub and chicken waffles are my go-tos. They’re both entrees, so every time I go they’re like, “What do you want?” and I’m like “The meatball sub,” and then they want to move on to the next person, but I’m like, “Also, the chicken waffles.” And I eat them both right up. I don’t have any leftovers afterward.4. “I’m in the Mood for Love”The first time I heard this song was on “The Little Rascals,” which was my favorite show when I was kid. All I wanted was to be a Little Rascal; I wanted to kiss Alfalfa so bad! There’s a scene where Darla sings “I’m in the Mood for Love,” and I remember thinking it was such a pretty song. Then years and years went by, until one day, I was like, “What was that song that I thought was so pretty when I was little?” And I found a really beautiful, but low-quality, Frank Sinatra version on SoundCloud, which I listened to when I was traveling through Europe on tour. And then recently, I found this Julie London version, and she just murders it. She has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. It’s just such a perfect love song. Every time I hear it, no matter what I’m feeling, it makes me want love.5. CardsOn tour we have a lot of waiting time — yes, tour, a thing from the past! — and I can’t really go outside because the fans are lined up around the block. But we come up with things to do. Our go-to game is Speed, which is a card game my assistant tour manager, Lauren Millar, taught me how to play on this really long bus ride in Russia — we played it for like two hours straight that day. And from then on we just played it nonstop. It started as kind of a time-taker-upper and ended as a thing we’d do when we were supposed to be doing other things.6. “We Need to Talk About Kevin”This movie has the most beautiful cinematography I’ve ever seen — everything about it is perfectly done, from the framing to the colors. It’s been one of my biggest inspirations for my own music videos. Every time I watch it I see something new that’s genius about the way it was shot.7. DrivingOnce I learned how to drive, it was all I wanted to do. It’s a place where I feel very free and anonymous and in control. I drive a black Dodge Challenger, which was my dream car growing up. I saved my money for years and years, and I used to be like, “I don’t want anyone to buy it for me because I want to buy it myself with my own money.” But then Justin [Lubliner], my label guy, a couple months before my birthday was like, “What do you want for your birthday, Billie?” and I, just jokingly, was like, “A Dodge Challenger, in matte black.” And I was like, “Just kidding, don’t get me that, obviously.” Then the night before my birthday, we did a photo shoot for the cover of my album, and at the end of the day Justin drove up in my dream car — I cried for probably three hours straight.8. Weighted BlanketMy mom got one when I was 9 or 10 because she can’t fall asleep without a lot of weight on her — one time when she was younger, she woke up between her mattress and her bed frame! I had just been using hers, and then eventually I got my own. I get so much better sleep under it, and it’s a good physical affection tool when you don’t have any.9. “New Girl”I’ve seen this show like six times, and I just started rewatching it again. It’s just very entertaining and stupid and I love it. I watched it like 10 minutes ago right before I got on this call. I don’t ever get tired of it because the actors are so hilarious. Max Greenfield is just one of my favorite people — he’s so funny and so specifically himself. But Nick Miller is really just top-notch and is the best character. He’s trending on Twitter right now for some reason; I don’t know why. But I don’t blame Twitter. Nick Miller’s the GOAT.10. Frank Ocean“Blonde” is my go-to album to play any time at all, but especially when I need to relax. When I had a plaster mold made of my head for a photo shoot for the cover of Garage magazine a few years ago, I played Frank Ocean the entire hour so I wouldn’t have a panic attack. I haven’t gotten to meet him, but I don’t expect him to ever even come near me. He can stay being God up in the clouds.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Pelé’ Review: A National Treasure

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Pelé’ Review: A National TreasureThis Netflix documentary surveys the Brazilian soccer player’s pioneering career.Pelé, the famed Brazilian soccer player, is the subject of a documentary.Credit…NetflixFeb. 23, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETPeléDirected by Ben Nicholas, David TryhornDocumentary, Biography, Sport1h 48mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.There are two documentaries contained within “Pelé,” David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas’s film about the Brazilian soccer phenom. The main one is the starry survey of Pelé’s record-setting achievements and national adulation. But a second, more sobering story steadily drops the temperature in the room, once Brazil’s military violently takes power in 1964 and shows a strategic interest in “the beautiful sport.”The filmmakers run through a storied history, from Brazil’s 1950 loss to Uruguay in the World Cup (when Pelé, as a boy, told his sobbing father that he’ll win it back) to its triumph at the 1970 final. In a recurring sit-down interview, the now 80-year-old legend is both genuine and diplomatic after decades of worship as “the King.” Teammates remain fond, journalists kibitz, and the singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil and Brazil’s former president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, proffer pop analysis.[embedded content]But as we hear soccer repeatedly invoked as the life-force to Brazil’s sense of self, one interviewee sticks out: a matter-of-fact former cabinet minister, Antônio Delfim Netto, who signed the dictatorship’s infamous “AI-5” act institutionalizing torture and censorship. The filmmakers go on to suggest that the national team’s success became part of military propaganda, and Pelé shares his own guarded thoughts on the era.The dictatorship’s involvement takes the pressures of championship play to another level; Pelé later calls the 1970 World Cup victory simply a “relief.” I did yearn to see more of his talents in action; his header goal in that year’s Italy final feels cosmically liberating. But however conventional as a whole, the movie feels troubled by the traumas of Pelé’s heyday.PeléNot Rated. In Portuguese, with subtitles Running time: Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. Watch on Netflix.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Allen v. Farrow’ Episode 1 Recap: ‘Inappropriately Intense’ Behavior

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Allen v. Farrow’ Episode 1 Recap: ‘Inappropriately Intense’ BehaviorThe new HBO documentary series takes another look at Dylan Farrow’s sexual abuse allegations against her adoptive father, Woody Allen.Woody Allen, center, with Dylan Farrow, left, and Ronan Farrow, in a scene from the docuseries.Credit…HBOFeb. 21, 2021The first episode of the four-part HBO docuseries “Allen v. Farrow” debuted on Sunday night, providing a fresh examination of Dylan Farrow’s decades-old sexual abuse allegations against the filmmaker Woody Allen, her adoptive father.When Ms. Farrow was 7 years old, she accused Mr. Allen of sexually assaulting her at the family’s Connecticut country house on Aug. 4, 1992. Mr. Allen has long denied the allegations, which were front and center in a bitter custody battle between Mr. Allen and Mia Farrow, the Hollywood power couple who made 13 films together.Mr. Allen’s relationship with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, is also central to the series. About seven months before the day that Dylan Farrow says her father assaulted her, Mia Farrow discovered nude photographs of Ms. Previn, then a first-year college student, in Mr. Allen’s apartment.Starting in 1992, there were several years of concentrated media attention on the family amid the custody battle and investigations by the authorities in response to Dylan Farrow’s account. Mr. Allen has long argued that Mia Farrow had coached Dylan to make the allegations after learning about his relationship with Ms. Previn, whom he married in 1997. Although a state’s attorney in Connecticut declined to prosecute Mr. Allen, saying that he wanted to spare Dylan the trauma of a trial, he said he believed she had been molested.Nearly three decades have passed since the accusations surfaced, but the complicated saga has returned repeatedly and become the subject of debate — most recently during the #MeToo movement.This series, created by the documentary filmmakers Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy, includes extensive interviews with Dylan and Mia Farrow, as well as Dylan’s siblings and family friends. It includes footage of Dylan Farrow at age 7 recounting to her mother, who is behind the camera, what she says her father did to her in August 1992 — videotape that has never before been released publicly. Letty Aronson, Mr. Allen’s sister, who is currently handling publicity requests for him, declined to comment on the documentary.That footage does not appear in the first episode, which explores the beginnings of Ms. Farrow’s relationship with Mr. Allen and observations about how Dylan became the subject of her father’s “intense affection.” Here is a recap of what we saw on Sunday night.Mia Farrow, center, with, from left, her children Daisy, Fletcher, Soon-Yi and Lark.Credit…HBO‘Idyllic, most of the time’The series opens at a 1992 news conference at the Plaza Hotel in New York, during which Mr. Allen defends himself against the abuse allegations and accuses Mia Farrow of instigating them.But the episode quickly veers away from the account of Mr. Allen, who did not participate in the series but whose perspective is often captured through audio snippets of his recent memoir “Apropos of Nothing.” It turns to an adult Dylan Farrow, now 35, who is seen flipping through a family photo album.Dylan Farrow, who was born in Texas and adopted as a baby, recounts a childhood that was “idyllic, most of the time,” describing what it was like to be the child of a famous Hollywood actress and director: memories of stumbling around film sets as a child, being on private planes for family vacations, swimming at “posh” hotel pools — all of it illustrated by home-video footage shot by Ms. Farrow as her children were growing up.But below the surface of this bustling, unconventional family — nine children, taken care of by unmarried movie-star parents — things were complicated.The Hollywood power coupleThe episode rewinds to the early romance between Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, starting when they first met at Elaine’s, the Manhattan restaurant, in 1979. Ms. Farrow recalls how the couple would flash their lights at each other from their apartment windows, which were visible to each other from across Central Park. The signal was a way of saying “I love you,” she said. Hanging a red towel out the window meant, “Love you huge.”Despite the fact that Ms. Farrow already had seven children — three biologically with her husband at the time, André Previn, and four of them adopted — she said she accepted that Mr. Allen told her that he had “zero interest in kids.”But gradually, Mr. Allen began to spend more time with the children at the home in Connecticut and at his apartment in the city, establishing a particularly strong bond with Moses Farrow, whom Ms. Farrow adopted after her divorce from Mr. Previn.Mr. Allen (holding Dylan) and Ms. Farrow and the rest of the family. In the documentary, Dylan Farrow says her childhood was “idyllic, most of the time.” Credit…HBOGrowing the familyWhen Ms. Farrow wanted to expand the family even further, she said, Mr. Allen told her that he still didn’t want any responsibility for a child of his own but that he “might be more kindly disposed if it was a little blond girl.” Ms. Farrow ended up adopting Dylan, who quickly became the subject of Mr. Allen’s affections. Two years later, Ms. Farrow had a son, Ronan Farrow, who was initially called Satchel. (Ms. Farrow later suggested in a 2013 interview with Vanity Fair that Ronan may have been the child of Frank Sinatra, not Mr. Allen.)In 1991, Ms. Farrow agreed to a family dynamic that would shape the legal conflict in the years to come: Mr. Allen adopted Dylan Farrow and Moses Farrow.An ‘inappropriately intense’ relationshipThe heart of the first episode is a series of interviews with members of the Farrow family and friends, some of whom have never spoken publicly, who say that they witnessed behavior by Mr. Allen toward Dylan Farrow that seemed inappropriate or made them uncomfortable.Dylan Farrow said that she has memories of getting into bed with her father — both of them in their underwear — and he would wrap his body around her “very intimately.” A friend of the family, Priscilla Gilman, who became close with the family while dating Matthew Previn, one of Mia Farrow’s eldest sons, recalled that she witnessed Mr. Allen in that situation, getting out of the bed in his underwear. Ms. Gilman, who often spent time with the children, said that she also saw Dylan Farrow sucking Mr. Allen’s thumb. (Ms. Gilman said Mr. Allen told her that sucking his thumb calmed his daughter, but an adult Dylan Farrow now sees it as a violation, recalling that her father had directed her specifically on how to do so.)Mia Farrow’s sister Tisa Farrow said in an interview that she once saw Mr. Allen’s hand linger “suggestively” between Dylan Farrow’s buttocks when applying sunscreen.Mia Farrow, who recalled seeing Mr. Allen kneeling in front of their daughter or sitting next to her with his face in her lap, said that she had at one point confronted him about what she had been witnessing, saying that she was not “comfortable with the way that you’re handling her and looking at her.” She said that Mr. Allen became angry and that she ended up apologizing profusely. But then a respected psychiatrist in Ms. Farrow’s apartment building, Ethel Person, called to tell her that there was something “off” about the way Mr. Allen greeted Dylan Farrow. Mr. Allen then agreed to see a psychologist.The psychologist said she saw Mr. Allen being “inappropriately intense” with Dylan Farrow. But, Ms. Farrow tells the filmmakers, the therapist did not believe the behavior was sexual — even if onlookers or the child herself might perceive it as sexual.A young Dylan Farrow. Mr. Allen wrote in his memoir released last year, “I adored Dylan and spent as much time with her as possible from her infancy on.”Credit…HBODylan’s changing behaviorIn an interview with the filmmakers, Dylan Farrow says that she had loved her father but that she received “intense affection all the time”; the people around her, including Ms. Gilman and her brother Ronan, noticed that she would often scramble away or try to hide when Mr. Allen called her over or entered the room.“Over time, Dylan went from being outgoing and effervescent and talkative to her having this sadness and this withdrawn quality,” Mr. Farrow said in an interview with the filmmakers.Mr. Allen has denied having ever been sexually inappropriate or abusive toward Dylan Farrow, instead portraying himself in his own writing as an initially reluctant father who surprisingly became enamored with his daughter and enjoyed showering her with affection. In part of his memoir that was included in the episode, Mr. Allen wrote: “I adored Dylan and spent as much time with her as possible from her infancy on. I played with her, bought her endless toys, dolls, stuffed animals, My Little Ponies.”The turning pointThen, in January 1992, came the discovery that changed everything. Ms. Farrow said that she visited Mr. Allen’s apartment to retrieve a coat and discovered, next to the phone, racy Polaroid photos of her college-age daughter, Ms. Previn.Ms. Farrow said she remembered putting the photos in her pocket and leaving, in shock. When she returned home, she said that she confronted Ms. Previn. (Ms. Previn did not participate in this documentary.)Dylan Farrow’s therapist advised her mother to tell the children about the photos, Mia Farrow said. She was reluctant, but she did, and Dylan Farrow said it was the first time she realized that she was perhaps not the only one at the receiving end of her father’s behavior, saying that she thought to herself, “Oh, it’s not just me.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      5 Questions About Britney Spears, Answered

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      5 Questions About Britney Spears, AnsweredMario Anzuoni/ReutersFollowing the release of the documentary “Framing Britney Spears,” there’s been renewed attention on the pop star’s battle with her father, Jamie Spears, over control of her personal well-being and finances.I’ve been following the case closely. Here’s what you should know → More

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      ‘Sorry, Britney’: Media Is Criticized for Past Coverage, and Some Own Up

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Britney Spears’s Legal BattleControl of Spears’s Estate‘We’re Sorry, Britney’Justin Timberlake ApologizesWatch ‘Framing Britney Spears’ in the U.S.AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Sorry, Britney’: Media Is Criticized for Past Coverage, and Some Own UpConversations about the relentless focus on the pop star’s mental health, mothering and sexuality have begun anew following The New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears.”Media outlets and fans are re-examining how Britney Spears was questioned and written about during the years leading up to her personal crises.Credit…Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFeb. 12, 2021Updated 1:50 p.m. ET“Help Me,” the cover of Us Weekly blared in all caps, below a photo of Britney Spears with her hair partly buzzed off. People Magazine promised to take readers “Inside Britney’s Breakdown,” teasing details of “wild partying, sobbing in public, shaving her head.” OK! Weekly tempted potential buyers with a firsthand account of an “emotional cry for help.”In 2007, the celebrity magazines stacked up in dentists’ waiting rooms or on the racks by supermarket checkout lines had a favorite cover story: the trials and tribulations of a 25-year-old Britney Spears. That breathless, wall-to-wall coverage of her travails by glossy magazines, supermarket tabloids, mainstream newspapers and television shows alike is now being re-examined in the wake of a new documentary about Spears and her troubles by The New York Times.Fourteen years after Spears’s most publicized crises, some see the hypercritical fixation on her mental health, mothering and sexuality as a broad public failing.“We’re sorry, Britney,” read a post on Glamour’s Instagram this week. “We are all to blame for what happened to Britney Spears.”Spears was a frequent cover star on celebrity weeklies in the mid-2000s.The tabloids had been obsessed with Spears since her days as a teenage bubble-gum pop sensation, but the coverage reached a new level of intensity during her mid-20s. There seemed to be a vicious cycle at play: The relentless paparazzi that followed Spears nearly everywhere left her exasperated and helped fuel public displays of frustration, which magazines then covered aggressively, interviewing a host of tangential characters, including the owner of the hair salon where she shaved her head and a psychologist who had never treated her.“Her story hit at a time when print magazines were hunting for the story of the week,” said Jen Peros, a former Us Weekly editor, “and when you found a celebrity — I hate to say it — spiraling or acting abnormally, that was the story. And we knew it would sell magazines.”A new episode of The New York Times Presents, on FX and Hulu, coming Friday, Feb. 5, at 10 p.m.CreditCredit…Ting-Li Wang/The New York TimesSome are now asking for direct apologies from people who made jokes at Spears’s expense or interviewed her in ways now viewed as insensitive, sexist or simply unfair. On social media, there have been calls for apologies from prominent media figures, including Diane Sawyer, who, in a 2003 interview grilled Spears on what she might have done to upset her ex, Justin Timberlake; Matt Lauer, who pointed to questions about whether she was a “bad mom”; and the comedian Sarah Silverman, who made off-color jokes about Spears at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.These demands are encapsulated in another phrase spreading on social media: “Apologize to Britney.”Silverman, who had joked on MTV that Spears’s children were “the most adorable mistakes,” did just that on an episode of her podcast that was released on Thursday, saying that, at the time, she had not understood that big-time celebrities could have their feelings hurt.“Britney, I am so sorry. I feel terribly if I hurt you,” Silverman said. “I could say I was just doing my job but that feels very Nuremberg Trial-y, and I am responsible for what comes out of my mouth.”And on Friday Timberlake issued an apology to Spears on Instagram, writing that he was “deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right.” (He also apologized to Janet Jackson, with whom he appeared in 2004 at the Super Bowl halftime show.) The new documentary, “Framing Britney Spears,” which premiered on Hulu and FX last Friday, traces the origins of Spears’s conservatorship, the legal arrangement that has mandated that other individuals — primarily her father — have had control over her personal life and finances for the past 13 years, following her 2008 hospitalization after a three-hour standoff involving her two toddler sons and her ex-husband Kevin Federline.It wasn’t just the paparazzi and the tabloids that reported — sometimes breathlessly — on Spears’s marriages, children, substance abuse issues and mental health challenges: So did The New York Times, as well as other newspapers, television news outlets and late-night comedy programs. Even the game show “Family Feud” found a way to work Spears in, asking contestants to list things that she had lost in the past year (“her hair,” “her husband”).In an interview, Samantha Barry, the editor in chief of Glamour, said of society’s treatment of Spears, “Hopefully we’re in a place where we won’t do that again, where we won’t lift up these celebrities — in particular women — and then proceed to rip them down.”Spears onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2016. In 2007, the comedian Sarah Silverman joked about the singer’s children at the awards show; this week, she apologized in a podcast.Credit…Charles Sykes/Invision, via Associated PressPeros, who started as a reporter for Us Weekly in 2006 and ultimately became editor in chief, believes that with a decade and a half of hindsight, the media would treat Spears differently now. Weekly magazines are “much more sensitive and handle stories like this more delicately,” she said, pointing to coverage of celebrities like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, who have spoken more openly about mental health and substance abuse. Part of the evolution stems from the fact that these subjects are less stigmatized, but it’s also the result of journalists and editors understanding that aggressive media coverage would inevitably receive backlash now, Peros said.Us Weekly was one of the magazines that poured resources into relentlessly covering Spears. In a March 2007 cover story that read like a play-by-play of a natural disaster and its aftermath, the magazine interviewed a diner at a sushi restaurant that Spears’s mother visited, a clubgoer at a karaoke party Spears dropped in on, and cited an anonymous source in Antigua, where Spears briefly checked into a rehab clinic.“That was a time when she was making so much money for these magazines that we had the money to send a reporter to Antigua,” Peros said.Back then, it was Peros’s job in New York to search for nuggets of insight into Spears’s life by interviewing dancers or lighting assistants on her tour, searching through the Yellow Pages for their contact information and typically granting them anonymity to share things that they probably shouldn’t. If the reporters had the same awareness about mental health that they have today, they might not have dug so aggressively, she said.The main difference between then and now is the rise of social media, which has diluted the power of weekly magazines as the primary way to learn about celebrities’ personal lives. In some ways, social media can give celebrities more control over what people see: For Spears, her Instagram account is a repository for improvisational dancing, photos of her and her boyfriend, silly skits and random curiosities — all blasted out to an audience of 27.7 million followers.There may be fewer professional photographers following celebrities like Spears around now, but at the same time, almost everyone is armed with a smartphone and has the potential to become an amateur paparazzi. Instead of sending a reporter to go to Antigua to find out what Spears was up to, Us Weekly would now be scouring social media for photos of her there walking around town or eating at restaurants.Dax Holt, who was a producer at TMZ for over a decade and now co-hosts a podcast about Hollywood, said that he doesn’t necessarily blame the media for Spears’s breakdown but rather an American public that had an incessant curiosity for all things Britney. Still, Holt, who used to sift through paparazzi photos of Spears in his time at TMZ, said it made him sad to watch the documentary and see all that Spears had to endure.“I can’t even imagine what it would be like being a focal point of the world’s attention for so many years,” he said. “One little misstep and the whole world is laughing at you.”So far, the public has heard little from Spears herself about the documentary and the reactions to it. On Tuesday, she seemed to indirectly address the film in social media posts when she wrote, “I’ll always love being on stage …. but I am taking the time to learn and be a normal person.”This time, more people seem to be accepting that she is one.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Control of Britney Spears’s Estate Debated at Court Hearing

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Britney Spears’s Legal BattleControl of Spears’s Estate‘We’re Sorry, Britney’Justin Timberlake ApologizesWatch ‘Framing Britney Spears’ in the U.S.AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyControl of Britney Spears’s Estate Debated at Court HearingLawyers for the pop star and her father, from whom she is estranged, discussed how he would share management of her finances with a corporate fiduciary.Fans of Britney Spears returned to a courthouse in Los Angeles on Thursday to argue in favor of ending the conservatorship that now directs her life and finances. Credit…Mike Blake/ReutersJoe Coscarelli and Published More

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      Justin Timberlake Apologizes to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Britney Spears’s Legal BattleControl of Spears’s Estate‘We’re Sorry, Britney’Justin Timberlake ApologizesWatch ‘Framing Britney Spears’ in the U.S.AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyJustin Timberlake Apologizes to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson“I understand that I fell short,” he said on Instagram, adding that he “benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.”A week after the release of a Britney Spears documentary, Justin Timberlake said he was “deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right.”Credit…Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressFeb. 12, 2021, 1:10 p.m. ETThe singer and actor Justin Timberlake apologized to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson on Friday in a vague but earnest Instagram post, a week after a New York Times documentary on Spears set off a wave of criticism of Timberlake for how he treated the pop star after their breakup.The apology to Jackson seemed to stem from the infamous Super Bowl halftime performance in 2004, when a closing duet between Timberlake and Jackson ended with Timberlake singing “Bet I’ll have you naked by the end of this song” as he tore away more of her costume than had been planned, to reveal — live and televised worldwide — her uncovered breast. In the aftermath, Jackson was the subject of most of the backlash, and Timberlake later conceded that he should have defended her more.Without specifying what exactly he was apologizing for, Timberlake wrote that he had seen all the messages, tags and comments on social media in recent days and that he was “deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right.”“I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism,” he said in the post.The documentary, “Framing Britney Spears,” which premiered on Hulu and FX on Feb. 5, included a re-examination of the world’s reaction to Timberlake and Spears’s breakup, which was framed in the media as being Spears’s fault — partly because a music video by Timberlake implied that Spears had cheated on him. It included a clip from a radio interview with Timberlake in which he was asked whether he had sex with Spears and he replied, “OK, yeah, I did it,” evoking cheers.The documentary prompted calls on social media for direct apologies from many people who made jokes at Spears’s expense or interviewed her in ways now viewed as insensitive, sexist or simply unfair. But one of the most prominent apologies sought by fans was from Timberlake; others piped up to ask, “What about Janet Jackson?”The mea culpa eventually landed.“I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed,” the post from Timberlake said. “Because of my ignorance, I didn’t recognize it for all that it was while it was happening in my own life but I do not want to ever benefit from others being pulled down again.”In the aftermath of the Super Bowl halftime show, Timberlake apologized to the program’s audience as well as “anyone offended.” At the Grammy Awards, which that year followed the Super Bowl, he won two awards, while apologizing for the “unintentional” incident. Years later, he said in an interview with MTV, “There could have been ways that I could have gone about it, handled it better.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      In ‘Crime Scene,’ Joe Berlinger Investigates True-Crime Obsession

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIn ‘Crime Scene,’ Joe Berlinger Investigates True-Crime ObsessionIn his latest Netflix docu-series, the director of foundational works like “Paradise Lost” turned his lens to the fans and web sleuths that are changing the stakes of true crime.“I’m described as a true-crime pioneer,” Joe Berlinger said. “I liked the pioneer part. The true crime thing makes me a little nervous.”Credit…Dina Litovsky for The New York TimesFeb. 12, 2021, 9:54 a.m. ETThis article contains mild spoilers for the Netflix series “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel”It’s hard to find much that is redeeming in true-crime documentaries these days. They tend to showcase humanity’s worst, there’s a seemingly endless supply, and they’re generally so repetitive that it’s hard to tell one from another. On Netflix, you can watch the four-part “Night Stalker,” about the Los Angeles serial killer Richard Ramirez, and then click over to the four-episode “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel,” in which Ramirez makes a cameo.But “Crime Scene,” directed by the true-crime veteran Joe Berlinger, has some other guest stars, and they make the enterprise a little different than most. One is the title character, the towering Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Located in the city’s drug-and-crime-infested Skid Row area, and known for its history of horrors, the Cecil has stories to tell.So do the supporting players. One by one they bear witness to what they haven’t seen, peering out from their computer screens and offering explanations and verdicts. The police covered up the crime. The death metal singer killed her. Wait, it’s just like that one horror movie. Or maybe it’s a ghost story.They are web sleuths, and together they form a sort of uninformed Greek chorus in “Crime Scene,” which premiered on Wednesday. It covers the well-chronicled 2013 disappearance of Elisa Lam, a 21-year-old Canadian tourist. But the story ends up being more about the nature of truth and mass speculation — and about the ethics of true crime, generally — than about any particular crime.Surveillance footage from the Cecil Hotel the night of Elisa Lam’s disappearance became a source of rampant speculation and conspiracy theory among a community of self-appointed web sleuths.Credit…Netflix“The sleuths are very integral to the structure of the show because what’s interesting for me is perception,” Berlinger said in a telephone interview last week. “I wanted the viewer to really experience it the way the web sleuths did in terms of putting together information and the rabbit holes they went down.”Berlinger, who frequently works with Netflix but also does projects with other networks, has been at this for a while, since well before true crime documentaries flooded the airwaves and streaming platforms.In 1992, he and Bruce Sinofsky debuted “Brother’s Keeper,” the wrenching tale of a barely literate farmer accused of murdering his own brother. In 1996, he and Sinofsky released “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills,” which interrogated the circumstantial evidence that put three Arkansas teenagers in prison, accused of killing and mutilating three young children. Berlinger and Sinofsky made three “Paradise Lost” films altogether, and the teenagers, widely known as the West Memphis Three, were eventually set free.This would seem to be a far cry from “Cecil Hotel,” whose eight-year-old central mystery can be solved by anyone with an internet connection. But Berlinger sees commonalities. For one, those web sleuths.The web wasn’t what it is now in 1996. But Berlinger remembers those who went online, pre-social media, and provided important information about the West Memphis Three. “People can see that these kinds of investigations by regular people can lead to some positive outcomes,” he said.That’s not really the case in “Cecil.” The sleuths go after a death metal artist and ruin his life with false accusations (a touch of satanic panic with echoes of “Paradise Lost,” in which the prosecution uses the West Memphis Three’s taste in heavy metal to help build its case). They obsess over a piece of elevator surveillance footage, seeing proof of evidence tampering where none existed. They accept seemingly every explanation except the simplest one. In general, they get in the way.Some feel the true-crime genre gets in the way as well — of other kinds of documentary and of storytelling in general.A grand Beaux Arts establishment when it was built in 1924, the 700-room Cecil gradually declined into a hub of crime and homelessness.Credit…Netflix“Media companies have grown dependent on the genre,” said Thom Powers, the documentary programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival, in an email. (Powers is a fan of Berlinger, and has programmed his work in the past). “I worry that it’s becoming escapist entertainment that depletes resources from other stories.”“At its worst, the true-crime genre is law enforcement propaganda,” he continued. “The storytelling is so preoccupied with lurid crime details, it rarely pulls back to study larger dynamics.”Even Berlinger has reservations about the genre. His recent body of work comprises several TV docu-series about sensational crimes, including “Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,” “Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers” and “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.” But call him a true-crime filmmaker and he bristles.“I’m described as a true-crime pioneer,” he acknowledged. “I liked the pioneer part. The true-crime thing makes me a little nervous because I think of myself more as a social justice filmmaker spending a lot of time in the crime space.”He added: “I do think there’s a lot of irresponsible true crime being done where there’s no larger social justice message or there’s not a larger commentary on society. It’s just about wallowing in the misery of somebody else’s tragedy without any larger purpose.”The Cecil has tremendous symbolic value connected to the social history and issues of its surroundings. A grand Beaux Arts establishment when it was built in 1924, the Cecil, which is no longer open, gradually declined along with its neighborhood. The area now called Skid Row developed into a hub of crime and homelessness in the ’30s, and the Cecil, a 700-room behemoth, became known for cheap residential accommodations and tawdry doings. Drugs, prostitution and suicides were common. In 1964, the body of a well-liked retired telephone operator, Goldie Osgood, was found raped, stabbed and beaten in her room. The crime was never solved.“There’s a lot of irresponsible true crime being done where there’s no larger social justice message,” Berlinger said. “It’s just about wallowing in the misery of somebody else’s tragedy.”Credit…Dina Litovsky for The New York TimesRamirez, the serial killer, was a guest; he reportedly would go there after a tiring night of killing, throwing his bloody clothes in a nearby dumpster before returning to his room. So was the prolific Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger, who, posing as a journalist, continued his spree in Los Angeles by killing three sex workers.It’s not hard to summon a dark aura around the hotel, and many media accounts have done just that.“It’s been shown as a really dark place, with Richard Ramirez having been there and of course Elisa Lam,” said Amy Price, the hotel general manager from 2007 to 2017, in a recent phone interview. She also appears in the series. “But I thought how they presented everything was authentic and very fair.”For all that has happened at the Cecil, without Lam’s disappearance there would be no documentary, and probably very little interest in the hotel today. The web sleuths, none of whom have met her, profess their love and affection for her. They, and the series, pore over the elevator video as if it were the Dead Sea Scrolls. We watch, over and over again, as Lam punches a row of elevator buttons and squishes herself into a corner of the elevator, then exits and makes some odd hand gestures. Surely this must all mean something.Or, maybe not. And here’s where you either stop reading (assuming you haven’t already Googled the case) or continue on to the not-terribly-mystical conclusion. In the end, yes, the Cecil was a crime scene. Many times over. But it appears there was nothing criminal about the Lam case, which was, according to investigators, a sad accident.Asked how he reconciles his more high-minded ideals with the true-crime genre’s imperative to entertain, Berlinger pointed to the fact that “Cecil” tackles subjects that go beyond the corpse at its core, including cyberbullying, homelessness and mental illness. But he also knows true-crime viewers are tuning in for the more lurid details, and sometimes that gives him pause.“I do ask myself, if, God forbid, something happened to me or my family, would I want someone to tell that story?” he said in a follow-up email. “If I’m being totally honest, I would only want that if the telling of that story had a larger purpose than just ‘entertainment.’”Is Berlinger having it both ways? Perhaps. But so is any news article about the series, as the layers of meta-critique pile up. With “Cecil,” he argued, playing to that true-crime imperative is exactly why it works.“In some ways, we’re being very self-reflexive in using the conventions of true crime to seemingly tell a true-crime mystery,” Berlinger said by phone. “Then, we turn it on its head at the end.”He added: “I thought it was appropriate and interesting to choose a crime that actually isn’t a crime, with a perception that something nefarious happened but, in fact, it wasn’t a crime at all.”That’s certainly one way to tweak the true-crime genre. Just remove the crime.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More