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    What ‘It Ends With Us’ Says About the Blake Lively Brand

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    The images onscreen are informed by the actress’s offscreen businesses, making the movie a fascinating study in the uses of star power.Blake Lively’s hair is like a character unto itself in the new romantic drama “It Ends With Us.”Her thick mane shapeshifts with her role, Lily Bloom, a flower shop owner who falls in and out of love with an abusive neurosurgeon. Lively’s hair, dyed a soft ginger, is artfully messy when she gets her hands dirty starting up the store. The camera follows a mass of buoyant curls when she struts into a party dressed to impress the man who will ultimately betray her. When she wakes up post-coitus, her hair is perfectly tousled. When she is sad, it droops as if by magic.You could say Blake Lively’s hair is a tool she uses to sell her performance, but her performance is also a tool she uses to sell her hair. Those who are impressed with her locks in “It Ends With Us” can learn from her Instagram that she recently debuted a line of hair-care products called Blake Brown. (Brown is her father’s last name.)In many ways “It Ends With Us” is a brand-building exercise for Lively. Yes, the film, directed by Justin Baldoni, is an adaptation of a popular novel, meant to lure fans of the best-selling author Colleen Hoover, but it also serves as an advertisement for the world of Lively — not just her talent but her celebrity and her other significant role, mogul, making the film a fascinating study in the various forms star power can take.On the most readily understandable level, “It Ends With Us” makes a convincing case for Lively as an actress. Her particular je ne sais quoi was evident back in the 2007 pilot of “Gossip Girl,” which opened with a tribute to her allure. Her character — Serena van der Woodsen, the rich girl with a troubled past — arrives at Grand Central, back in New York after a mysterious absence, and everyone turns toward her. As she looks around the train station’s vast hall, she looks gorgeous and wistful, every flip of her hair (that hair!) seems imbued with greater meaning.Lively as Serena van der Woodsen in the opening scenes of “Gossip Girl.”KC Bailey/CWLike every young star on that prime-time soap, Lively made a bid for a film career. “Green Lantern” (2011) didn’t win her a franchise, but it did introduce her to her future husband, Ryan Reynolds. The dark comedy “A Simple Favor” (2018), in which she played a martini-stirring psychopath, was a surprise box office success and garnered a fervent enough fan base to earn a sequel. But Lively seemed to struggle to find her niche in movies, and while she received some praise for performances in the romance “The Age of Adaline” (2015) and the survival thriller “The Shallows” (2016), nothing propelled her to the next level of fame on the big screen.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Best Thanksgiving Episodes to Stream: ‘Friends,’ ‘Succession’ and More

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      Thanksgiving episodes are an underrated TV staple. Here are some of the best to enjoy while you cook, eat or fade away on the couch.Note: This is an updated version of a list that originally ran in 2017.Preparing for the big binge? Whether you call the upcoming holiday Friendsgiving, Slapsgiving, the Feast of Feasts — or just, you know, Thanksgiving — this year, you can be thankful that there is plenty of TV to keep you company. Join these fictional families and friend groups while they break bread or break each other’s spirits, depending on which feels more comforting as you cook, eat and fade away on the couch. Yes, you may have seconds.‘Friends’Matthew Perry, who died last month, at 54, was the king of many a “Friends” Thanksgiving episode. Or as his character Chandler put it, the king of bad Thanksgivings. Or, as Monica’s mother put it, the Boy Who Hates Thanksgiving. (His disdain for the holiday stemmed from learning about his parents’ divorce one Thanksgiving as a child and vomiting in response.) Gradually, though, Chandler conquered his aversion, bailing out the gang with cheese sandwiches at the first Friendsgiving and later helping to prepare a batch of cranberry sauce (made, in his parlance, of tasty Chanberries). Fans with only enough room for one episode should seek out “The One With the Thanksgiving Flashbacks,” from Season 5. (Streaming on Max.)‘Rick and Morty’For the mad scientist Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland), Thanksgiving is an ideal time to break into the National Archives and try to steal the Constitution. So what if some other national treasures are destroyed in the process? “Rick and Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular,” from Season 5, finds Rick on the outs with federal authorities and fomenting an elaborate scheme to score a presidential pardon. Pretty soon people start turning into turkeys while turkeys turn into humans. Your job, if you choose to accept this episode, is to make sense of all the gobbledygook. (Streaming on Max.)Lena Waithe won an Emmy for writing a “Master of None” Thanksgiving episode that tracked her character’s efforts to come out to her mother.Netflix‘Master of None’This series’s Thanksgiving episode is one of its very best. Shifting the focus from our indecisive hero, Dev (Aziz Ansari), to his lifelong friend Denise (Lena Waithe), it presents a sequence of vignettes following her through two decades of Thanksgiving dinners as she struggles to come out to her mother as a lesbian. Every element of this touching half-hour feels carefully crafted, from Angela Bassett’s emotional guest performance as Denise’s mother to the nostalgic 1990s R&B soundtrack. Waithe won an Emmy for the script — which was inspired by her own family history — becoming the first Black woman to win the award for writing in a comedy. (Streaming on Netflix.)‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’For mere mortals, Thanksgiving is a harvest festival. For witches, however, the equivalent Feast of Feasts is a very different celebration, with a very different main course — human rather than avian. In “Feast of Feasts,” from Season 1, the young witch Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) is shocked to learn about this barbaric holiday ritual. (“Are we seriously taking about cannibalism?” she asks in horror.) Her rejection of this ancient tradition puts a damper on any festive feelings. (Streaming on Netflix.)‘Bob’s Burgers’A Season 3 episode is titled “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal,” but don’t worry — Bob and Linda Belcher’s marriage is safe. The proposal in question comes from the rich landlord, Mr. Fischoeder, who offers the Belchers five months’ free rent for a chaste evening with Linda and the family’s three children, with Bob on hand to cook. Like other schemes on the show, this one is a disaster. But Studio Ghibli fans should look out for a lovely dream sequence that pays tribute to “My Neighbor Totoro.” (Streaming on Hulu.)‘The Sopranos’Most of the episodes on this list are somewhat uplifting and work well as stand-alones. This one, titled “He Is Risen,” won’t make sense if you’ve never seen “The Sopranos,” and it is no more uplifting than any other hour of the show. But if you’re already a Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) fan, you probably don’t mind a dark holiday tale. This Season 3 episode features a car wreck, a funeral and the beginning of an extramarital relationship, along with a Soprano family Thanksgiving dinner that is surprisingly pleasant, thanks to the conspicuous absence of Tony’s most reprehensible associate, Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano). (Streaming on Max.)James Cromwell, left, and Brian Cox in a Thanksgiving episode of “Succession,” which offered extra helpings of recrimination.Peter Kramer/HBO‘Succession’The Roys serve up the usual feast of familial animosity at their Thanksgiving bash. The patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is especially disruptive, culminating with his lashing out at an innocent child. In “I Went to Market,” from Season 1, party chat includes touchy but relatable topics such as political ideologies and movie selections, but business concerns naturally trump everything. Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) has to skip most of the festivities — it seems there are some sensitive documents at the office in need of shredding. (Streaming on Max.)‘black-ish’It’s always fun to watch Laurence Fishburne and Jenifer Lewis on “black-ish,” picking at each other as the divorced grandparents Pops and Ruby. The Season 3 Thanksgiving episode, “Auntsgiving,” threw a third veteran actor into the fray, casting Lorraine Toussaint (“Orange Is the New Black”) as Pops’s older sister, Aunt A.V. — whom Ruby hates. (Streaming on Hulu.)‘Gilmore Girls’Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her teenage daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel), can barely boil water, but they do love to eat. In “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving,” from Season 3, they make cameos at no fewer than four different dinners. Rory’s friend Lane (Keiko Agena) offers a meal featuring Tofurky and a budding relationship. The perfectionist chef Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) watches in horror as her husband deep-fries a turkey. Romantic tensions for both mother and daughter are on the menu at the local diner. Lorelai’s parents serve up the usual stew of guilt and resentment. Just like Thanksgiving dinner itself, the episode is a plate piled high with sweet, salty and deliciously tart moments. (Streaming on Netflix.)‘Happy Endings’Midway through the third and final season of this zany hangout comedy, in an episode called “More Like Stanksgiving,” we finally learn how the crew’s resident married couple got together. It turns out that Jane (Eliza Coupe) and Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.) met when he and her friend Max (Adam Pally) were castmates on an unaired season of MTV’s “The Real World” in 2002. A decade later, Max still has the scrapped footage. In just over 20 minutes, the reliably lightning-paced “Happy Endings” pulls off a perfect reality-TV parody and sheds new light on a few longstanding relationships. (Streaming on Hulu.)“Big Mouth” used a turkey dispute to explore issues of generational trauma.Netflix‘Big Mouth’Nothing says love more warmly than a perfectly roasted turkey (or even tofurkey). Such is the lesson learned by Andrew (John Mulaney) in this Season 5 episode. Andrew’s father (Richard Kind) has anger-management issues related to prepping poultry — he believes insulting the bird is the key to keeping its juices inside. Andrew decries this “turkey tyranny” and refuses to eat. In the end, though, he and his father have a heart-to-heart about their troubled family history. Despite the usual gross-out humor, there is a genuine attempt to address issues of generational trauma — and of course the power of sharing food. (Streaming on Netflix.)‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’Many Thanksgiving episodes sprinkle in references to the holiday’s complicated history. “Buffy” takes the reckoning to an extreme in “Pangs,” from Season 4, in which the bumbling Xander (Nicholas Brendon) inadvertently unleashes the spirit of an Indigenous warrior. As the ghost starts murdering people who disrupted his sacred burial ground, the Slayer (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends debate whether it’s right to kill a “vengeance demon” whose grievances are legitimate. The result is a reasonably nuanced debate about whether Americans are responsible for the sins of their ancestors. (Streaming on Hulu.)‘Gossip Girl’Forget, for a moment, the way “Gossip Girl” fell apart at the end. Its first season was a sublime confection sweetened with glamorous costumes and forbidden love, and tempered by heated conflict. All of those elements come together in the Thanksgiving episode, “Blair Waldorf Must Pie!,” which jumps back in time to compare the previous year’s festivities with those of the present. In the past, the beautiful and troubled Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) got wasted before a dinner with the family of her best friend, Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester). A year later, Serena has cleaned up and Blair is struggling with bulimia. Although the girls are often framed as frenemies, this unusually sentimental episode is a tribute to the way they take care of each other. (Streaming on Max.)‘South Park’If a long weekend of family togetherness makes you desperate for a triple dose of irreverence, Season 17 of “South Park” has you covered. In a trilogy of episodes that begins with “Black Friday,” a local mall braces for the yearly blood bath that begins as soon as the plates are in the dishwasher. For Cartman, that means assembling an army of pint-size gamers to procure the new Xbox at a deep discount. When a pro-Playstation faction splinters off, South Park’s own “Game of Thrones” breaks out, complete with Kenny as Daenerys and a Red Robin Wedding. (Streaming on Max.)“How I Met Your Mother” turned Slapsgiving into one of TV’s abiding holiday traditions.Monty Brinton/CBS‘How I Met Your Mother’It is a holiday of firsts in “Slapsgiving,” the Thanksgiving episode from the third season of this beloved CBS sitcom. Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel) are hosting their first Thanksgiving as a married couple. Ted (Josh Radnor) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) have just broken up and are figuring out how to be friends for the first time. This is the first of three Slapsgivings (the others are in Seasons 5 and 9), named for a bet in which Marshall wins the right to slap his obnoxious pal Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) that culminates in the glorious original song “You Just Got Slapped.” Be sure to read Entertainment Weekly’s oral history of the episode after watching. (Streaming on Hulu.)‘Family Ties’This quintessential 1980s family sitcom outdid itself with “No Nukes Is Good Nukes” from Season 1. As the Keaton kids endure their grandmother’s awful cooking, Elyse (Meredith Baxter) and Steven (Michael Gross) relive their hippie youth at a festive Thanksgiving Day nuclear disarmament protest. Of course, the boomer parents end up in jail and their Gen-X children couldn’t be more mortified. It’s a dated story line, but the episode’s message about standing up for your beliefs never gets old. (Streaming on Paramount+.)‘Adam Ruins Everything’Need some ammunition for semi-friendly arguments around the Thanksgiving table? This animated episode, called “The First Factsgiving,” helps dispel many of the beloved myths that have grown around the holiday, including the role of the Native warrior Tisquantum — commonly known as Squanto — in the original Thanksgiving feast in 1621. And about that date: The celebration of Thanksgiving as a fixed, nationwide holiday didn’t come about until the Civil War — a day of mourning for turkeys everywhere. (Streaming on Max.) More

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      6 TV Recap Podcasts for Better Binge Viewing

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      These shows will help you go deeper on your favorite small-screen series, whether cult classics or current staples.TV recap shows are among the oldest of podcast genres, and they’ve become even more plentiful during a Golden Age of television.As podcasts have exploded in popularity, actors from numerous series have started their own recap shows, in which they share behind-the-scenes anecdotes and nostalgic reflections. The quality of those star-led offerings can vary wildly, however, and the most rewarding episode-by-episode discussions are often hosted by die-hard fans who know a series inside out.Here are six of the best episodic recap podcasts — of both those types — to help you go deeper on your favorite small-screen shows, whether cult classics or current staples.‘Buffering the Vampire Slayer’There’s no shortage of podcasts about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the beloved series that followed Sarah Michelle Gellar as a teenage girl tasked with facing down the forces of evil. But this savvy, creative show, hosted by Jenny Owen Youngs, a musician, and Kristin Russo, an L.G.B.T.Q. activist, is special — not least because each installment ends with an original song inspired by the episode. Both Owen Youngs and Russo are queer women, and they approach “Buffering the Vampire Slayer” with an eye for marginalized viewpoints and systemic injustice. That often makes for frank discussions about the aspects of the series that haven’t aged well — particularly given recent accusations of misogyny against its creator, Joss Whedon — but that never takes away from the hosts’ clear love for “Buffy” as a flawed but powerful feminist text.Starter episode: “Welcome to the Hellmouth”‘The West Wing Weekly’An early example of a recap podcast co-hosted by one of the show’s stars, “The West Wing Weekly” avoids the pitfalls that can come with that setup. But Joshua Malina’s tenure on the NBC drama was an unusual one: His inscrutable character, Will Bailey, joined at a tricky moment midway through the series, shortly before the contentious departure of its creator, Aaron Sorkin. As the actor still wryly notes in his Twitter bio, he’s considered by some fans to be among the elements that “ruined The West Wing.” Malina, with that self-deprecating tone, and his co-host, the “West Wing” superfan Hrishikesh Hirway (known to many podcast fans as the creator of “Song Exploder”), make for a winning combination. Guests since the show’s debut in 2016 have included Sorkin, nearly all of the main cast members, and political figures who were fans of the show, like Pete Buttigieg and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau. “The West Wing” has became a popular comfort watch for viewers seeking to escape into a more noble version of Washington, D.C., and the hosts’ rapport is a soothing side order, striking a tone that’s irreverent yet heartfelt.Starter episode: “Special Interim Session (With Aaron Sorkin)”‘Too Long; Didn’t Watch’Have you ever watched the pilot of a show, followed immediately by the finale? The answer is probably no, because it’s an ill-advised (not to mention ridiculous) way to actually experience a show. But it does make for an entertaining podcast. Putting a comedic spin on the traditional recap format, Alan Sepinwall, the chief TV critic for Rolling Stone, invites a different actor onto the show each week for a crash course in a classic series they’ve never seen. Much of the fun comes from the deliberate dissonance between guest and subject — Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” shows up to deconstruct “Gossip Girl,” and the comedic actress Eliza Coupe (“Happy Endings,” “Scrubs”) gets to grapple with “Breaking Bad” — as well as the guests’ bemused attempts to figure out the arc of a show having seen only the beginning and end.Starter episode: “Jon Hamm Watches Gossip Girl”‘A Cast of Kings’HBO’s fantasy behemoth “Game of Thrones” is tailor-made for intensive recapping, thanks to the dense mythology of its fictional world, its twist-filled storytelling, and its endless controversies. So unsurprisingly, there’s a dizzying array of “Thrones” recap shows to choose from — even one meant to send you to sleep — but this is one of the most consistent and sharp. Hosted by David Chen, a veteran podcaster, and Joanna Robinson, a cultural critic who is one of the internet’s most well-known “Thrones” commentators, “A Cast of Kings” provides detailed insight into every episode, and doesn’t shy away from critiquing the show’s blind spots when it comes to gender, race and sexual violence. It’s also spoiler-free, making it an ideal companion for those who are belatedly catching up on the show. And for those who’ve made it through all eight seasons of “Game of Thrones,” the podcast recently returned to cover the new prequel series, “House of the Dragon,” with the entertainment writer Kim Renfro replacing Robinson.Starter episode: “A Cast of Kings — Series Retrospective”‘Breaking Good’Bald Move was one of the earliest players in the fan-hosted TV podcast game, and has been producing recap shows for buzzy dramas and genre shows like “Justified” and “The Walking Dead” since 2010. The company’s “Breaking Bad” series might be the best showcase for the affable dynamic between the co-hosts Jim Jones and A. Ron Hubbard, who deliver analytical run-throughs of each episode that hold up just as well today. Although the podcast began during the fourth season of “Breaking Bad,” Jones and Hubbard have since gone back to recap the earlier seasons. With palpable enthusiasm, the duo delve into the psychologically nuanced story of Walter White, the chemistry teacher turned meth king, unpacking the deeper meanings of the show’s characters, visuals and even some of the misogynistic elements of its fandom.Starter episode: “Pilot”‘Gilmore Guys’The cozy dramedy “Gilmore Girls,” which followed the quirky lives of a fast-talking mother and daughter in small-town Connecticut from 2000 to 2007, found legions of new fans once Netflix began streaming episodes seven years after the finale. “Gilmore Guys,” hosted by Kevin T. Porter and Demi Adejuyigbe, took off that same day in October 2014. Porter grew up watching the show, while Adejuyigbe comes to each episode fresh, which makes for a more layered conversation than might have been had between two devotees. Over more than 200 episodes, Porter and Adejuyigbe have built up a following almost as dedicated as the one for the series itself, thanks in part to the reliably hilarious and insightful riffs from guests like the comedian Jason Mantzoukas and the writer Sarah Heyward.Starter episode: “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They? (with Jason Mantzoukas)” More

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      Tavi Gevinson Finds Comfort in Legal Pads, Canned Fish and Rumi

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      Writing for magazines while acting in “Gossip Girl” and “Assassins” has the 25-year-old staying up too late and looking for ways to quiet her mind.At 25, Tavi Gevinson finds herself caught between worlds.There’s the world of acting — where, starring in both Classic Stage Company’s upcoming “Assassins” revival and HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” reboot, she already straddles stage and screen — and the world of writing. Launched into the public eye in 2010 when she founded the now-defunct fashion blog Rookie, she continues to write for herself and for magazines, notably when expressing her regrets in Vulture for working with the abusive producer Scott Rudin.But the preternaturally busy digital native is also at a crossroads when it comes to how to best use her time. She says she longs for the 3 a.m. sleepovers of her childhood, an hour which now sees her “sitting at my desk and working on different projects that no one asked for.”It’s not surprising then, that on a video call from her apartment in Brooklyn, Gevinson discussed 10 things that ease her mind and help her feel productive. (An earlier list she’d shared before our conversation was meant to be satirical, but she wasn’t sure how well a shout-out to “rugged individual queen” Ayn Rand would read, and recanted.) These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1. Canned fish Once I realized I was the first person ever to try canned fish — and that it’s such an easy way to feel like I’ve made something, even though I haven’t done much — it became very pleasurable. It gives me a lot of energy, which is kind of annoying, because when it turns out things are good for me, I’m like, “Damn it, now I have to keep doing this.”2. Google Keep It’s basically Google’s Notes app, but I feel like the Notes app has become such a loaded medium: It makes me feel like I’m writing an apology, and I have nothing to apologize for. So I needed a different app to trick myself into writing by starting on my phone, instead of sitting down at my computer and seeing a blank document and getting freaked out. Plus, Google really needs our help, and really needs the shout-out, so I wanted to include them.3. Legal pads Journals give me anxiety, especially if they’re really nice; even picking out a new journal can take all the fun out of keeping one for me. These are more like my diary. When I was in high school, I would write my diary during class, in my notebooks, and then tear out the pages and compile them. “Books” would be a strong word for what they are.4. The are.na app and website It’s sort of like Tumblr, but more organized; you create different channels, and then you upload blocks with photos, videos, links to articles, PDFs, anything. I don’t know if the good people at are.na would object to this, but the easiest way to describe it is actually as a kind of Pinterest for ideas. I follow channels where people compile readings about subjects I’m interested in, or images that follow a certain theme. Then I use it to organize ideas for things I’m writing. It’s very calming to use.5. Turning childhood keepsakes into jewelry I’ve never made my own clothes or anything, but I found these broken necklaces I made when I was a kid and realized it would be pretty simple to fix them. So I got supplies from a bead store across from Bryant Park, and now I can wear these necklaces I made when I was 5, but have turtles on them. I kind of pile up a lot of DIY projects that sound nice in theory and then rarely follow through.6. Upcycling brands The Series and ThereIsNoMoreStudio! on Etsy are brands that upcycle materials they find, while Samavai makes dresses and shirts out of saris. I have a couple of things from each, and it feels special to wear something that has a built-in history and that someone has very creatively reinvented.I don’t do a lot of browsing on Etsy, though, because I think it’s kind of stressful. More than once, I’ve bought a piece of furniture and then realized, once it came, that it was for a doll house.7. Abandoning books I started finishing a lot more books once I started abandoning ones that I wasn’t compelled to finish, but would just carry around with all of this guilt, and then I would end up looking at my phone instead. So, if by page 30, I’m not interested in turning the page, or I feel I’m not being enriched, then I let it go and I trust that it will either come back to me at the right time, or I’ll die never having read it.8. Conair face steamer A makeup artist on “Gossip Girl” gave this to me and I went, “OK, Amy …” but then I found it really helpful and soothing. You use it and it’s like, “Am I in a spa, or am I on my toilet?” It also seems to be good for your skin — which is the point, yes — but the ritual is also really pleasant to me and feels like it’s helping my skin even more.9. Running to slow songs If I listen to fast songs, I try to run at the pace of the music and can’t keep up. So I like to listen to songs that go at a steady clip, or ideally craft a playlist that starts a little more hyper and then reaches some kind of slow catharsis, with everyone in Prospect Park loving and understanding that I’m having a meaningful experience.Some of the music is excruciatingly sincere, singer-songwriter music. Some is ambient and wonky — Brian Eno is reliable. Sometimes I do show tunes, too, and I’m mortified that people can hear it, and see that I’m angrily running to “The Light in the Piazza.”10. “Don’t Go Back to Sleep” I came across this Rumi poem a few weeks ago in the “Reality Streaming” Substack by Hawa Arsala. Whenever I’d hear people say that they wrote, or made art, in the morning, I would be like, “Well, good for you.” I was resistant to the idea of there being an advantage to waking up early, but I recently tasked myself with trying it for a week and, annoyingly enough, it is very magical to write in the morning. It feels like you have some kind of secret or something.This poem makes me much more eager to go toward that magical little space, because nothing else really gives me that feeling I get out of working alone. It isn’t really fair to be an unpleasant wench all the time, just because I’m mad that I didn’t spend enough time writing, so … yeah, that poem. More

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      Adam Chanler-Berat of 'Gossip Girl,' an In-Demand Millennial Voice

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      Joseph Moncure March’s “The Wild Party” (1928)Adam Chanler-Berat reads the prescient narrative poem that inspired T Magazine’s 2021 Fall Men’s issue cover story. Due to the era in which it was written, some of the language may be offensive.“I think I’m sort of exaggerating what the author meant, but there’s a bit in there that talks about gossip as an evolutionary tool to bind people together.” The actor Adam Chanler-Berat is paraphrasing the Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari’s best-selling book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” (2011) on a bench near the entrance of Greenpoint’s Transmitter Park, a few blocks from the Brooklyn apartment he shares with his boyfriend, the actor Kyle Beltran. “In the days of cave people,” he explains, “gossip was ‘that person’s going to steal your food.’ It was useful!”It’s natural for the subject to be on the 34-year-old’s mind because he’s just finished shooting the debut season of HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” reboot, the first six episodes of which premiered this summer, with the rest airing in November. In line with the show’s secrets, which are disseminated via smartphones and social media, he found out about his casting when the creator, Joshua Safran, sent him a photo of his headshot on the wall of the writers’ room, along with an offer to star as a nerdy computer science teacher who helps revive the online rumor mill depicted on the original show. Though Chanler-Berat is an established stage actor, this is his first major screen role — a winking take on millennials who’ve been dethroned by a younger generation that now rules the internet they once claimed as their own. Not having auditioned, the invitation came as a surprise to the self-described “theater dweeb,” who first broke out in 2008 as the only “Next to Normal” cast member to have stayed throughout the musical’s entire original Off Broadway and Broadway runs. Since then, he has been repeatedly enlisted to help develop and refine new productions, a shrewd choice for creators looking to tap into the alchemy of intellect and emotional intuition evident in both his work and conversation.From left: Megan Ferguson, Tavi Gevinson and Chanler-Berat in the 2021 reboot of “Gossip Girl.”Karolina Wojtasik/HBO MaxAs he sees it, his “attitude has always been, ‘How do I come in and not mess things up, or get in anyone’s way?’” Lately, that has meant relaxing into being on camera, his fear of rocking the boat beginning to vanish, thanks in part to the pool of Broadway talent the series has hired. He was relieved to discover, for instance, that the 25-year-old Tavi Gevinson — with whom he had also been rehearsing for an upcoming revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins” two weeks before lockdown — would be his main scene partner on the series. The writer-actress, now his close friend, says on the phone a week later that she’s grown to become “deliriously excited” when seeing his name come up on her phone, announcing an incoming voice message, Chanler-Berat’s preferred method of communication, a fact that makes sense given his distinct cadence and tone, which call to mind both old-school elocution and the over-expressive giddiness of a lifelong theater kid. “They’re long, rambling and eloquent,” Gevinson says of the missives, “and he’ll end them with ‘But I don’t know what I’m talking about, bye!’”Gossip keeps finding its way into his conversation — “voice messages are so versatile: better than a text, more convenient than a phone call and you can delete them when you want,” he says — but there’s no point in reading any mischief into this choice; it’s more a genuine curiosity on his part about social behaviors and the impulse to communicate. (“Connecting with people is hard and scary, and there are so many ways people try to do that. Gossip, true or not, gives you a sense of connection to the person with whom you’re sharing information.”)Jennifer Damiano (left) and Chanler-Berat in the musical “Next to Normal” at New York’s Second Stage Theater in 2008.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesChanler-Berat (top) with Carson Elrod (left) and David Rossmer (right) in the play “Peter and the Starchatcher” at New York’s Brooks Atkinson Theater in 2012.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesThis awareness of self and others, apparent in the way his eyes track the dogs mingling around him, is perhaps what led to his being cast — perfectly and, once again, without an audition — as the lead in a 2016 Boston production of Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George.” The starring dual roles of Georges Seurat and his fictional great-grandson George are all about apprehension toward and disconnection from one’s work, one’s peers, one’s loved ones, one’s obsessions. Chanler-Berat, who was 30 at the time, didn’t think he’d “cracked” Sondheim (“I don’t think anyone ever has”) but believes he did what he was supposed to: “There are parts of the characters that feel like an arrested development, like angsty teens, and I think that’s what speaks to nerdy theater people about that show.” The richness of the writer-composer’s work, he says, suggests a continuum that invites performers to continually reflect on their own evolving relationship to the material. “It feels like it was somehow written for you,” he says. “Not for you to play, but for you to experience and hear. Months later, you still realize things you can’t imagine not having done in the performance.”He doesn’t remember the first time he heard “Move On,” the musical’s transcendent ode to making peace with life’s outcomes, but it still reminds him of his late aunt Shirley Shulman, a scenic painter for New Jersey’s Bergen County Players who got him into theater at a young age, dressing him up for small performances for their family around the holidays. Later, as when he was a “socially awkward lost kitten” in middle school (he grew up in Bardonia, N.Y.), she encouraged him to gravitate toward theater people, where he eventually found a community. Despite his crisp, potent singing voice, he still experiences bouts of stage fright, but he says he is “exposure therapy-ing” his way out of it: “The more musicals I do, the more I’m like, ‘Well, I guess my voice generally shows up.’”Chanler-Berat (left) and Phillipa Soo in a 2017 performance of the musical “Amélie” at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesIt’s difficult to take his modesty seriously, given that he has originated an impressive number of roles in offbeat-but-popular Broadway musicals like “Next to Normal” (2009), “Peter and the Starcatcher” (2012) and “Amélie” (2017). Each role required — and, because of his eyes’ sincerity, received — a barefaced candor not often seen in leading men. When he reunites with Gevinson for “Assassins” at New York’s Classic Stage Company in November, it will be John Doyle’s final Sondheim revival before stepping down as C.S.C.’s artistic director, following a long streak of quintessential, stripped-down revivals. Chanler-Berat will play the would-be Reagan killer John Hinckley Jr., which will require him to draw from what Gevinson describes as his ability to be “very present, while embodying someone who has a lot going on inside.” The role seems ideal for this phase of his career and his life, marrying his character actor versatility with the parasocial themes that are as prevalent on “Gossip Girl” as they are among the musical’s presidential stalkers.Before the pandemic, Chanler-Berat’s schedule was set to involve the strenuous double duty of rehearsing and performing the psychologically demanding musical while spending long hours shooting on the “Gossip Girl” set. Subconsciously quoting the midcentury American actress Ethel Merman, who once said an eight-show-a-week musical requires living “like a [expletive] nun,” he says that such asceticism, combined with 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls — as mandated by the series’ hair and makeup sessions, protracted by Covid-19 safety protocols — would have presented an arduous reality. He trails off when thinking of this possibility, internalizing an exacting (but conquerable) challenge that would demand his inner perfectionist to simultaneously pour his all into two vastly different projects. Then he checks himself: “But that’s also the dream, are you kidding me?” More

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      Is Jeremy O. Harris’s Play for ‘Gossip Girl’ Real? Now It Is.

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      Joshua Safran’s “Gossip Girl” reboot filmed a scene from an imaginary work by the “Slave Play” playwright. Then the Public Theater commissioned it.We hear him before we see him come across the screen: Aaron howls and barks then gallops, on all fours, onto a white, wooden thrust stage, ringed on three sides by the audience. This enraged man — the son of Aaron the Moor from “Titus Andronicus” — is stark naked and covered in blood.“What? What? Have I not arrived as you assumed I would? Like a black dog, as the saying is,” he demands, panting and sniffing, shouting into the faces of the seated theatergoers.He backs away slowly. “You do know who I am, riiight?” Aaron drawls. “The inhuman dog. Unhallowed slave.”This intense scene from a play-within-a-TV-show commands viewers’ attention in Episode 3 of HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” reboot. And it’s all courtesy of Jeremy O. Harris, the Tony-nominated playwright of “Slave Play.” Shortly after the episode dropped, though, people began to speculate on social media if the play was real or not.With a tweet, Harris recently confirmed that “The Bloody and Lamentable Tale of Aaron” is, in fact, a real play. He began writing his dream Public Theater play for “Gossip Girl” after chatting with the show’s creator, Joshua Safran (“Smash,” “Soundtrack”).The series’ showrunner, Joshua Safran, left, and Jeremy O. Harris during the taping.Karolina Wojtasik, via HBO MaxUpon seeing the play’s opening scene during the taping, Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater — who makes a cameo as an audience member in the episode — turned to Harris and asked, “Can we commission this?” Harris said he had a contract the next day.“I was dreaming this play into existence,” Harris said in an interview. It’s a play he’s been thinking about for seven years, since he started studying “Titus Andronicus” — his favorite Shakespeare play.“Titus Andronicus,” thought to be Shakespeare’s earliest tragedy, tells the bloody tale of the downfall of Titus, a Roman general. Titus returns home from war with Tamora, Queen of the Goths, as a prisoner to the Roman emperor; her lover, Aaron the Moor, is in tow.Tamora gives birth to a child, fathered by Aaron, who then kills the nurse to keep the child’s race a secret and flees with the baby to save it from the emperor. But Lucius, Titus’s son, captures Aaron and threatens to kill the child. To save his son, Aaron confesses to a plot for revenge. Lucius, who is later proclaimed emperor, orders Aaron be buried up to his chest and left to die. The baby, however, survives.Harris’s play, then, picks up where Shakespeare left off. We meet Aaron (portrayed by Paul James in the “Gossip Girl” episode), named after his father, in his 20s. He has been raised, ironically, by Lucius Andronicus, now in his 60s. And he’s thirsty for revenge.“The thing that I think makes Aaron a complex character in literature is because he’s like, ‘I’m evil because I’m Black,’” Harris said of Shakespeare’s play. “And this time, he’s like, ‘No, I’m evil because you guys have socialized me. You have socialized rules around what Black means and what maleness means.’”When the opportunity to shoot at the Public arose, Harris knew two things: He wanted to do “Aaron.” And he wanted the director to be Machel Ross, who also directed his play “Black Exhibition” at Bushwick Starr in 2019. Lila Feinberg wrote and Jennifer Lynch directed the “Gossip Girl” episode, in which several characters grapple with what to make of the challenging work.“I loved it. But it’d be committing theatrical seppuku to transfer it,” a theater critic mutters to another at the show’s after party.The other responds: “It would close in a week, especially without a star. I just wish it wasn’t so confrontational.”In an interview, Ross said she “knew that the text was evoking a very specific sort of confrontation between audience and performer.”How could they thrust the “Gossip Girl” cast and universe into this play from the moment it begins, she wondered? Enter: a naked Paul James.“I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to have to be comfortable. I’m going to have to make other people uncomfortable, and own the stage, and be very physical,’” James said in an interview.Harris described the play to Safran, the show’s creator and showrunner, as the audience’s worst nightmare: A naked Black man covered in blood, coming up to them and asking them to touch him. It’s a confrontational idea, and one that the “Gossip Girl” character Zoya Lott — a newcomer to the world of glitz and glamour depicted in the series — can identify with.“Are you kidding me? A provocative play like ‘Aaron’ is exactly what Broadway needs after a year on pause,” Zoya (played by Whitney Peak) fires back at the naysayers. “What it doesn’t is another ‘revisal’ of — of anything. Especially one devised by white people, about white people, starring white people.“That’s why the theater was invented, right? To challenge audience members to — to think beyond their own narratives. I mean, come on, have you never read Shange? Albee? Fornés?”About that exchange, Safran said in an interview: “That’s what Zoya is wrestling with in this world with these people. Can I actually speak my mind, or do I have to fit myself into a box and just observe?”In the show, Harris sweeps into the room, playing himself. “Hey. Who are you?” he asks Zoya. “You seem very much like someone to me. Let’s find a less confrontational space and have a little talk,” he says.“Zoya is one of the only people that can look at their world and process it and call out things as they are,” Harris said. “And make a little mess along the way as she does that.”In fact, Harris will be returning as himself to the show in the second half of its first season, in Episode 10, as a fairy godfather of sorts to Zoya. As for the status of the play itself? “I think it’ll be done when it’s done,” Harris said. More

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      Logos Lose Their Power on the New ‘Gossip Girl’

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      Contrasting the fashions from the original series tells a much bigger story about trends overall.Even after the beloved teen drama series “Gossip Girl” ended in 2012, viewers couldn’t stop talking about the fashion. And now the show is back, with a Gen Z update. The reboot, which had its premiere on July 8 on HBO Max, takes place in the same world of wealthy Upper East Side elite as the original, but this time it’s barely recognizable as the same place.The show is significantly more diverse. The high school clique of the original show was mostly white and straight. Now there are several characters of color and plotlines that revolve around explorations of sexuality. The clothes the characters wear — maximalist sneakers, vintage purses, tote bags that promote their values — reflect a more intersectional worldview.The cast of the first season of “Gossip Girl,” when flats were the characters’ footwear of choice.Timothy White/The CWIn the rebooted series, Julien Calloway, played by Jordan Alexander, favors chunky Balenciaga sneakers.via HBOBalenciaga Sneakers Are the New Tory Burch Flats“Are those last season’s Tory Burch flats?” an incredulous Blair Waldorf asks a fellow student in Season 2 of the original show.Today, the question would be, “Are those Tory Burch flats?”When designing the wardrobes for the original show, the costume designer Eric Daman recalls walking by Upper East Side private schools and seeing groups of girls in Tory Burch flats. “It cemented the idea of, ‘OK, these young girls wear these designer brands and have cult favorites,’” he said. You’d see few logo-emblazoned ballet flats in that setting today.“The giant Balenciaga sneakers kind of replaced the Tory Burch flat,” Mr. Daman said. The change is indicative of what people, and young people in particular, consider the “it” shoe of today. Blending streetwear and luxury in a single commercial object, the sneaker is what epitomizes cool now.The new footwear is also part of the larger shift to sneakers, which rarely showed up in the old show. In the reboot, Zoya Lott, an outsider from Buffalo, wears the Adidas X Beyoncé Superstars in a key scene in which she meets the popular kids at school. The shoes are a gift from Julien, her half sister and an established Manhattanite. Showing up in the hot commodity shoes symbolizes a turning point for the character.“The shoes are kind of like a bridge into this other world for her,” Mr. Daman said.Blair Waldorf, played by Leighton Meester, carried a logo-heavy Louis Vuitton handbag in the original series.Ignat/Bauer-Griffin – GC ImagesWhitney Peak as Zoya Lott with one of her character’s signature expressive tote bags in the reboot.MediaPunch/ShutterstockThe New LogomaniaBig brand logos will be rare sights on the new show. Large logos don’t “feel authentic to what’s going on with this generation,” Mr. Daman said. “They’re less faithful to brands and less cliquey about them.”Logos used to signify status and a certain level of wealth, but today logos are often meant to convey political or social values. In the reboot, Zoya carries a tote from Revolution Books, a progressive indie bookstore in Harlem, as well as a “Recycling Black Dollars” tote bag from Melanin Apparel.Zoya’s bags are “all from really, really cool stores,” said Whitney Peak, who plays Zoya. “The bags very much speak to who she is.”Serena and Blair do their take on tights in the old series in 2007.Eric Leibowitz/The CWIn the new series athleisure pieces like bike shorts have replaced tights.via HBOAthleisure Is In, Tights Are Out“Tights are not pants!” Blair famously declared in the original series. Blair and her posse of mean girls commonly wore tights in a variety of colors and were offended at the sight of anyone wearing leggings without a skirt.With the exception of some plain black tights, the reboot is “a tightless world,” Mr. Daman said. And to what would certainly be Blair’s dismay, bike shorts are definitely considered pants now.Queen bee Julien frequently wears bike shorts, sometimes styling them with a collared shirt and tie. The athleisure movement, Mr. Daman said, “is a huge part of our culture and what’s going on in fashion. Coming out of the pandemic, people are holding onto their sweats but still want to dress up.”Jordan Alexander, who plays Julien, sees her character’s bike shorts as a highly relevant article of clothing today. “I don’t think it matters if you’re on the Upper East Side and in the one percent,” she said. “You’d still be rocking shorts.”Blair with an enormous, by today’s standards, handbag.Ray Tamarra/Getty ImagesJulien with a vintage Dior Saddle Bag.via HBODesigner Bags, But Now UsedIn the first iteration of the show, everything was big and new. Serena carried large hobo bags, and none of them were bought at resale shops. “If I brought in a secondhand bag to Serena van der Woodsen, she would’ve hit me with it,” Mr. Daman said.Today, staying true to Gen Z’s affinity for buying resale, several of the bags in the reboot are vintage. “We’ve done a lot of vintage Dior Saddle Bags, Fendi Baguettes,” Mr. Daman said. “It’s been great to have some eco-sustainability with these high-end bags.”Gen Z has been called Generation Green or the Sustainability Generation, and there’s a reason for it. Studies have shown that Gen Z makes shopping decisions based on how sustainable a business is, and at a higher rate than other generations. They want what they buy and what they wear to reflect their values.The size of the bags has also changed. The large hobo bag, Mr. Daman said, “is just not the jam” today. The micro Jacquemus Le Chiquito has yet to make an appearance, but it probably will soon, he said.Chuck Bass, played by Ed Westwick, in his element in a conventional men’s wear suit.Patrick Harbron/The CWThomas Doherty as Max Wolfe in a women’s Paco Rabanne blouse, breaking gender norms in a way the original show didn’t explore.via HBOExploring Gender Fluidity Through ClothesIn the original show, Chuck Bass was most often seen in a suit, conforming strictly to gender norms. “If I’d put a women’s blouse on Chuck Bass, it would’ve been a joke” Mr. Daman said.In the reboot, Max Wolfe, the flirty troublemaker of the group and the character most similar to Chuck, wears a white lace women’s Paco Rabanne shirt. Max, who is sexually fluid, is able to pull it off in a way that’s not kitschy or excessive. “To use clothing that doesn’t fit in with gender norms and not have it look like drag and be very sexy — he identifies as a male but wears this blouse — expands on the dialogue of what gender norms are and how we can have that conversation through clothing,” Mr. Daman said.Blair carried Chanel in the original series.James Devaney/FilmMagicSavannah Smith as Monet wears a classic Chanel belt.Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin – GC ImagesOld Chanel Is the New New ChanelIn the first iteration of the show, Chanel was huge for the characters’ style but also for getting other designers to open up their collections to the show. “We didn’t have access to all the designer houses and weren’t getting loans,” Mr. Daman said. “Once Chanel said yes to us, the floodgates opened.”Today Chanel pieces that hold historic value are of huge importance to the characters. “It’s these archival pieces that have a heritage to them that are on point, especially for the Zoomers who seem to love all things throwback to late ’90s and early ’00s,” Mr. Daman said. Classic Chanel handbags and accessories make heavy appearances in the show, as they are pieces that still resonate with younger generations.Headbands were practically mandatory in the original series and were an essential accessory for Blair.The CWJulien repurposing Zoya’s headband as a necktie when she was made fun of for wearing it.Gotham/GC ImagesGoodbye, HeadbandAny OG “Gossip Girl” fan knows that headbands were a big deal. “Blair Waldorf’s headband has a life of its own,” Mr. Daman said. “It was always like her security blanket, for someone who was very tightly wound, very Type A. It was like the last piece of a very thought-out outfit that holds it all together.”The Gen Z characters don’t need that anymore. “They have a different kind of self-confidence that comes from just being,” Mr. Daman said.In the reboot, the mean girl Monet de Haan snarks, “She has a headband on” when she spots Zoya, the out-of-towner. Julien, her half sister, promptly unties the silk scarf and slips it around Zoya’s neck.Headbands may be scarce, but neckties of all sorts are in. Audrey Hope, another member of the gang, wears hair ribbons or scarves around her neck, resembling a tie. “It really shows both sides of her — very feminine, classic energy as well as a side of her that’s a little bit more masc,” said Emily Alyn Lind, who plays Audrey.The desire to ditch the stuffy headband speaks to the times. “We’re in an internet age,” said Ms. Alexander, who plays Julien. “People don’t feel like they need to be one thing anymore. We’ve been exposed to so much.” More

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      HBO Max's 'Gossip Girl' Sashays Into a New World

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      A new version of the teen drama arrives Thursday on HBO Max, still glamorous but also reflective of changed attitudes toward wealth and privilege.On a sultry June morning, a small battalion of camera operators, production assistants, and hair and makeup pros descended on a subway entrance on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. An assistant director barked a command and suddenly the ordinary commuters vanished, replaced by glam pedestrians attired in kicky fall fashion. Shoes gleamed, teeth glinted, each ponytail and pompadour shone. In an instant, a traffic median had transformed into a sweat-free space of sparkle, scandal, possibility. Spotted at 72nd and Broadway: “Gossip Girl,” back again. XOXO. More

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      Whitney Peak Has Fun on the ‘Gossip Girl’ Reboot

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      The teenage actress is also a brand ambassador for Chanel.Name: Whitney PeakAge: 18Hometown: Born in Uganda and raised in Port Coquitlam, a city outside Vancouver, British Columbia.Now Lives: in a loft apartment in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.Claim to Fame: A teenage actress who first made her mark playing small but pivotal roles in Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” Ms. Peak stars in the reboot of “Gossip Girl.” She is a fan of the original teenage soap opera, and the glimpse of the privileged life it provided. “I just loved seeing people complain about things that were so outside of my world,” she said. “It was so ridiculous, but at the same time so good. And now that I’m living in New York, I catch myself complaining about something like that. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m doing it!’”Olivia Galli for The New York TimesBig Break: In 2015, Ms. Peak was doing background work on the TV series “Minority Report” when she was cast as the younger version of Lara Vega, played by Meagan Good. A co-star, Colin Lawrence, was so impressed that he connected her to his agency, Play Management. “For the longest time, acting was just this little thing that I did on the side, a little hobby,” she said. Things shifted, however, when she started acting classes. “That’s when I stopped looking at it as a hobby and as something I’m actually interested in.”Latest Project: The new “Gossip Girl” is a modern riff on the original from the early aughts, with a new cast of characters populating the hallowed halls of Constance Billard, a tony prep school on the Upper East Side. Ms. Peak, who got the role after just one audition, plays Zoya Lott, a new girl with a secret that is set to upend the school’s social hierarchy. “She’s very young and a little bit naïve,” Ms. Peak said.Next Thing: Ms. Peak was recently named a brand ambassador for Chanel. “There’s such a maturity and sophistication about Chanel, but I have fun with the idea of making it look street style,” she said. “That’s so sick.”Pajama Party: Ms. Peak has a more casual approach to style in real life. “If I need to clear my head or I just want dessert, my friend and I will, in our pajamas, walk over to this bakery, Martha’s,” she said. “They have this gluten-free chocolate fudge cake that is out of this world.” More