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    Is Stephanie Hsu the ‘Dark Horse’ of Award Season?

    Every time Stephanie Hsu thinks she has gotten used to the reactions to “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” something new manages to throw her for a loop.And on Friday night at a West Hollywood hotel bar, it was Steve Buscemi.“I’m sorry to be so rude,” said the 65-year-old actor, who sidled up to our table during an interview to say hello to Hsu. It turned out that Buscemi was a major fan of “Everything Everywhere,” the sci-fi hit in which Hsu plays the unhappy daughter of Michelle Yeoh’s multiverse-skipping savior: He’d seen the movie multiple times, including at an actors guild screening earlier that evening.Hsu, 32, is often stopped by people who love “Everything Everywhere,” but this was a pinch-me moment that she met with a big grin. Buscemi asked for a picture, and the buoyant Hsu leaped out of our booth to pose with him, then returned to her dirty martini. “That was crazy,” she told me after he left. “It’s all crazy!”Though the film came out nearly a year ago, its award-season afterlife has proved so potent that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has begun to sound less like a title and more like the organizing principle of Hsu’s day planner. On the day we met, she had just completed several interviews and a pit stop at the Palm Springs International Film Festival; a few days later, she’d attend the Golden Globes, where her co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan and Yeoh were all nominated and where the latter two won major awards.Hsu was not nominated for a Globe, and as the ensemble’s least-known member, she has sometimes been left out of the awards conversation, though she did receive a Screen Actors Guild nomination on Wednesday morning. Funny and refreshingly honest, Hsu understands that nothing is guaranteed this awards season, and many may see her as an underdog. “The elephant in the room,” she said, “is the dark horse of me.”Still, even if Hsu isn’t as famous as her veteran co-stars, her presence is no less pivotal. In “Everything Everywhere,” Hsu plays Joy, who is crestfallen that her mother, a Chinese American laundromat owner named Evelyn (Yeoh), makes so little effort to understand her. It’s crucial that we feel for Joy because we soon learn that in every other universe but ours, she’s a flashy, universe-collapsing supervillain named Jobu whom our Evelyn is charged with defeating. Hsu drew a map to track how fed-up Joy became the nihilistic Jobu, and tried to imbue her baddie with a strong emotional core: Underneath it all, this is a supervillain who wants nothing more than to be embraced by her mother.Hsu bristled initially when Jamie Lee Curtis advised her to stay centered with the film starting to take off. But Hsu added, “As the year has unfolded, I’ve realized how little I knew about anything.”Ryan Pfluger for The New York TimesThe result is a big-screen breakthrough for Hsu, who had been best known for playing Mei Lin on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and for Broadway roles in “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical” and “Be More Chill.” She likens her awards-season stint to film school on steroids. “There are moments where it’s so fun, so joyous, so inspiring,” Hsu said. “And then there are moments where maybe you feel a little bit icky, because you realize that something’s happening behind the curtain that perhaps you were always suspicious about, but you just didn’t know how political it gets.”Still, whenever she gets too caught up in award shows and industry attention, Hsu endeavors to remember the often-tearful reactions of the fans who have flagged her down to talk about how much “Everything Everywhere” moved them.“I’m witnessing other people’s humanity in a way that is very alive,” she said, “and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, we did that. We did something that made people start crying even when they think about it.’ And that’s crazy. That came from our labor of love.”Inside the World of ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’In this mind-expanding, idiosyncratic take on the superhero film, a laundromat owner is the focus of a grand, multiversal showdown.Review: Our film critic called “Everything Everywhere All at Once” an exuberant swirl of genre anarchy.The Protagonist: Over the years, Michelle Yeoh has built her image as a combat expert. For this movie, she drew on her emotional reserves.A Lovelorn Romantic: An ‘80s child star, Ke Huy Quan returns to acting as the husband of Yeoh’s character, a role blending action and drama.The Costume Designer: Shirley Kurata, who defined the look of the movie, has a signature style that mixes vintage, high-end designers and an intense color wheel.Gotham Awards: At the first big show of awards season, which is a spotty Oscar predictor but a great barometer for industry enthusiasm, the film took the top prize.Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.It’s been almost a year since “Everything Everywhere” came out, and you’re still going. How does it feel at this late date?A whole pandemic happened between when we filmed and now, so it’s kind of surreal. Obviously, it’s my first time on a press run like this, and it’s been wild, but so many people haven’t actually seen the movie yet, and it’s been really delightful to still bring it into people’s lives. I think its superpower is to somehow be able to make you feel a part of the mess of humanity again. To feel those roller-coaster feelings beside a stranger is a special thing.This script came to you shortly after you wrapped the third season of “Mrs. Maisel,” which you shot alongside “Be More Chill.” Did you feel ready for it?That was the first year where I finally admitted to myself that I was an actor. I’ve always been a little bit punk rock — probably in an impostor syndrome way — where everything always felt like an accident: How did I stumble onto Broadway? How did I stumble onto this TV show? And to do a show on top of that, it asked so much of my discipline and rigor that I was like, “OK, this is what I do.” And with that came a lot of responsibility and weight.It’s not fun to talk about identity or race because you want to talk about art and the craft, but the reality was that I’d never seen myself as a lead on Broadway because I was like, “I’m not a ‘Miss Saigon’ person, so there’s no path for me there.” And I never thought I could be in a period piece on television because every version I’ve ever seen of that is incredibly offensive. And so that year, I was breaking down all these barriers that had been placed around me, carving my own path in a really real way.Hsu, left, with Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh and James Hong in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”Allyson Riggs/A24, via Associated PressBefore you had those stage and screen roles, you spent a lot of time doing experimental theater. Do you think you were rejecting the mainstream because you thought it might reject you?At the time when I was finishing school and living in New York, those roles were not available in the mainstream. And I had no interest in selling myself or just shrinking myself to an inappropriate cameo just so that I could say I added one more thing to my résumé. I remember in 2012, I went into a commercial audition and they were like, “OK, could you do it again, but with a more Asian accent?” And I said, “I’m so sorry, but this role is not for me. I don’t do that and I’m not interested in this part.”I walked out and I was fuming. I sat next to this actor and asked him, “Did they ask you to do an accent?” He was Asian and spoke perfect English, and he was like, “Well, yeah.” And I’m like, “Did you do it?” And he said, “I have no other choice.” I understand that people want to make it and they only see one path and have to bend and fold to have a life in the arts, but I always thought if that’s how it’s going to go for me, then I’m going to work at a bar or in a wood shop. I have to make things that matter to me. Life is too short to completely dehumanize yourself.When you came on board “Everything Everywhere,” did you think about how the movie would resonate for people who also don’t tend to see themselves onscreen?I knew the movie was going to be special, but I had no idea it was going to do what it has done. And it’s been really healing for me to hear how many people have been affected by it. So many daughters and mothers have been coming to me crying, saying, “I saw myself in the movie,” or “My relationship with my mother is just like that.”When you say that it’s been healing, what was it healing in you?I don’t know if I could ever make this film again because at that point in my life, I had nothing to lose. There really were no eyes on me, so I got to bring everything I value as an artist into that role, and the affirmation I have received has validated that the wildness and imagination inside of me is really resonating with a large mass of people.Your directors, Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, said this awards season has been emotional for the cast and crew. How have you experienced it?At the Gotham Awards, [the “Tár” director] Todd Field said we have to eradicate the word “best” when we talk about how we value art, and I felt that so deeply. But also on the same evening, when Ke won best supporting actor, I stood up so fast and screamed so loud that I almost passed out. And then when we won best picture, I couldn’t believe it. I’m not sentimental about this kind of stuff and yet I could not stop crying onstage.Why do you think you reacted that way?Even as a kid with ideas, I just never thought it could be me up there with my friends, making something I believe in that is being celebrated. I remember sitting in front of a TV when Halle Berry won at the Oscars — the only woman of color who’s ever won best actress — and I don’t remember anyone else who won that night, but I remember that moment. I’ve been reflecting on that a lot, because I didn’t realize how much I had deleted the possibility from my mind that I could actually ever be a part of this industry in a real way, doing something that I value and love. So to get to be there and feel this big hug from our peers felt completely surreal.I’m still processing all of it. I’m trying to allow myself to also feel vulnerable in this ride, because there are highs and there are definitely a lot of lows. I think the biggest thing I’ve been trying to balance is how to genuinely receive the goodness while not protecting myself too much that I can’t enjoy the ride. It’s a sweet, sweet moment that may never come again. But also, you can’t get attached to the sweetness, because then you start chasing something that’s not real.Hsu saw few actresses of color winning honors when she was coming up: “I didn’t realize how much I had deleted the possibility from my mind that I could actually ever be a part of this industry in a real way.”Ryan Pfluger for The New York TimesTell me more about those highs and lows.After Jamie Lee Curtis saw the movie at South by Southwest, she took me aside and said, “This year is going to be a total roller coaster for you. Center yourself.” And I remember thinking, “Jamie, listen, I’m a grown-ass woman and I’ve been around the block. I know how to stay centered.” But as the year has unfolded, I’ve realized how little I knew about anything.You have to hold onto your self-worth in such a profound way, and it’s hard, because it feels like other people’s opinions of you are going to affirm whether or not you get to keep making movies, which is such a crazy trap and also very real, right? But I’ve had to continue to remind myself that I got to this moment without anyone ever knowing anything about me, so it really is just all about the work.And it’s work that people are responding to with a lot of passion.Yeah, but this industry is weird. You have moments like the one we just had with Steve Buscemi, and then you also have moments where you walk on a carpet and people are like, “Lana Condor, Lana Condor!”No! Did that happen?It was just once, but it was very pronounced. In everybody’s defense, my mom also thinks I look like Lana Condor: She sent me a picture of Lana Condor a year ago and was like, “You look like this woman.” But after the Lana Condor thing happened, we were at a screening in New York, and a bunch of people kept going up to my publicist and the Daniels’ publicist, who are both Asian, and they were like, “Congratulations, your performance is incredible.” And they were like, “Huh?”So listen, this ride is amazing, but that is real. We have not transcended this moment, right? James Hong [who plays Yeoh’s father] started acting at a time when people wouldn’t even say his name, they would literally just call him “Chinaman” and say “Get on your mark.” Michelle waited almost 40 years for her first chance of being No. 1 on the call sheet, and Ke left acting for [nearly] 20 years. As successful as this film has been, the biggest fear on the other side is “What if this is my last chance?”How different are you now than you were a year ago?The biggest thing I’ve learned from this past year is how to continue to show up for myself. This is not something I ever thought I would be in the conversation for, but I know I brought something to this project that is completely singular. Sometimes, things have made me want to just completely disappear into the background, but there are people who felt something in this character, people who are rooting for roles like this to exist, people who are rooting, also, for me to elbow more space or even just to stand here.And so it really is the masses that have been continuing to push me forward to show up for myself. Because as confusing as all of this is, I am so proud of our movie and what I was able to bring to it, and proud for it to be my big introduction to what I believe art can or should be. Whether that is clean enough for people to digest, that’s a whole other story. More

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    Jennifer Coolidge Wins First Golden Globe for ‘The White Lotus’

    Jennifer Coolidge, who returned to her role as a needy heiress in the second season of “The White Lotus,” won her first Golden Globe, thanking the people who hired her for years of smaller acting roles that led up to this moment in the spotlight. Directing her attention toward one of those people — the show’s creator, Mike White — Coolidge gave an alternately goofy and heartfelt speech that reduced White to tears, turning it into one of the most memorable moments of the night.“I had such big dreams and expectations as a younger person but what happened was they get sort of fizzled by life,” Coolidge said, having placed her trophy on the ground for safekeeping. “Mike White, you have given me hope for — just, you’ve given me a new beginning.”The award, for best supporting actress in a limited series, comes after Coolidge won her first Emmy last year for her performance in the HBO dramedy’s debut season, which was set at a five-star hotel in Hawaii.Since then, Coolidge’s character, Tanya, a fan favorite for her comic cluelessness and overwrought energy, appeared in Season 2, this time vacationing at a sister property in Sicily with her new husband, Greg. (They were the only returning characters from the first season.)In Season 2, Coolidge was given more space to flex her dramatic acting muscles when, in the finale, she ends up on a yacht full of “high-end gays” whose intentions she begins to question. As one of those companions puts it, Tanya — and by extension, Coolidge — has become the heroine in her own Italian opera.After nearly three decades in film and television (highlights include “American Pie,” “Best in Show” and “Legally Blonde”), Coolidge has received the most critical praise of her career for “The White Lotus,” which also won best limited series on Tuesday.In the speech, Coolidge said White had changed her life in a “million different ways,” noting in an aside that her neighbors actually spoke to her now. (“I was never invited to one party on my hill and now everyone’s inviting me!”)“He’s worried about the world, he’s worried about people, he’s worried about friends of his that aren’t doing well,” Coolidge said of White, adding, “You make people want to live longer — and I didn’t.” More

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    SAG Award Nominations 2023: The Complete List, Snubs and Surprises

    “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” pick up important nods. Michelle Williams is shut out.The dark Irish comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” and the sci-fi hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” led this year’s nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which were announced on Wednesday morning. What’s more, both films tied a SAG record: Each scored four individual acting nominations plus an ensemble nod, a five-nomination tally that has only been managed in the past by “Shakespeare in Love,” “Chicago” and “Doubt.”Coming one day after a Golden Globes ceremony that also saw “Banshees” and “Everything Everywhere” reap significant rewards, both films can be considered top contenders as we enter the homestretch of Oscar season. Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical “The Fabelmans,” which took the Globes for best director and best drama, was dealt the most significant SAG snub when its star, Michelle Williams, failed to make the powerhouse best actress lineup.All three movies were nominated for SAG’s top ensemble award, though the category was filled out by the surprise appearances of “Babylon” and “Women Talking,” two films that could not muster a single individual acting nomination between them.As a predictor of eventual Oscar success, the SAG Awards can be hit or miss. Last year, even though all four of the actors who won SAGs went on to triumph at the Oscars, the two shows had very different lists of nominees: In the supporting actor and actress races, for example, just two of the SAG nominees in each category went on to receive an Oscar nomination.That means some of Wednesday’s snubbed actors could still break through with Oscar voters, just as SAG snubs like Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”) and Judi Dench (“Belfast”) managed last year. But it also means that your eventual Oscar winners will probably come from these SAG shortlists.The SAG Awards will be handed out on Feb. 26. Here is the complete list of nominees:FilmOutstanding Cast“Babylon”“The Banshees of Inisherin”“Everything Everywhere All at Once”“The Fabelmans”“Women Talking”Actor in a Leading RoleAustin Butler, “Elvis”Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”The Projectionist Chronicles a New Awards SeasonThe Oscars aren’t until March, but the campaigns have begun. Kyle Buchanan is covering the films, personalities and events along the way.Meet the Newer, Bolder Michelle Williams: Why she made the surprising choice to skip the supporting actress category and run for best actress.Best-Actress Battle Royal: A banner crop of leading ladies like Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett rule the Oscars’ deepest and most dynamic race.‘Glass Onion’ and Rian Johnson: The director explains why he sold the “Knives Out” franchise to Netflix, and how he feels about its theatrical test.Jostling for Best Picture: Weighing voter buzz, box office results and more, here’s an educated guess about the likely nominees for best picture.Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”Bill Nighy, “Living”Adam Sandler, “Hustle”Actress in a Leading RoleCate Blanchett, “Tár”Viola Davis, “The Woman King”Ana de Armas, “Blonde”Danielle Deadwyler, “Till”Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Actor in a Supporting RolePaul Dano, “The Fabelmans”Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Eddie Redmayne, “The Good Nurse”Actress in a Supporting RoleAngela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”Hong Chau, “The Whale”Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Stunt Ensemble in a Movie“Avatar: The Way of Water”“The Batman”“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”“Top Gun: Maverick”“The Woman King”TelevisionEnsemble in a Comedy Series“Abbott Elementary”“Barry”“The Bear”“Hacks”“Only Murders in the Building”Ensemble in a Drama Series“Better Call Saul”“The Crown”“Ozark”“Severance”“The White Lotus”Actor in a Comedy SeriesAnthony Carrigan, “Barry”Bill Hader, “Barry”Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”Actress in a Comedy SeriesChristina Applegate, “Dead to Me”Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday”Jean Smart, “Hacks”Actor in a Drama SeriesJonathan Banks, “Better Call Saul”Jason Bateman, “Ozark”Jeff Bridges, “The Old Man”Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”Adam Scott, “Severance”Actress in a Drama SeriesJennifer Coolidge, “The White Lotus”Elizabeth Debicki, “The Crown”Julia Garner, “Ozark”Laura Linney, “Ozark”Zendaya, “Euphoria”Actor in a TV Movie or Limited SeriesSteve Carell, “The Patient”Taron Egerton, “Black Bird”Sam Elliott, “1883”Paul Walter Hauser, “Black Bird”Evan Peters, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”Actress in a TV Movie or Limited SeriesEmily Blunt, “The English”Jessica Chastain, “George & Tammy”Julia Garner, “Inventing Anna”Niecy Nash-Betts, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”Amanda Seyfried, “The Dropout”Stunt Ensemble in a TV Series“Andor“The Boys”“House of the Dragon”“Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”“Stranger Things” More

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    ‘The Last of Us’ Creators on Turning Video Games Into TV

    Hollywood has mostly failed to adapt successful video games into satisfying series and films. In an interview, the creators of this new zombie thriller explain why it can be the exception.When “The Last of Us” came out in 2013, the hit video game’s premise — a fungus turns people into zombies, leaving society in shambles, and what government remains is controlled by fascists — seemed squarely in the realm of fiction. A decade later, an HBO series based on the game is set to be released, on Sunday, to a public that has grown all too familiar with the possibility of a germ apocalypse.The reality of what the world has been through over the past three years is alluded to in a chilling opening scene in which a pair of scientists describe the risk of various pathogens to a talk show audience. After one of them describes something like Covid-19, the other silences both the fictional crowd and us when he expounds upon the ways in which a warmed-up planet could lead to something much, much worse.“Part of writing for an audience is just feeling in your bones what is cultural knowledge,” said Craig Mazin, one of the showrunners. “On the other hand, it’s not a show about the pandemic — it’s about what it means to survive and what’s the purpose of survival. So we get that out of the way pretty quickly.”Over the past decade, as video games have become more vivid and complex, developers have used the medium to spin rich, character-based stories that rival film and TV in quality. “The Last of Us,” for instance, is less about the actual outbreak than the father-daughter relationship between a smuggler named Joel (played by Pedro Pascal in the series) and a 14-year-old girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Their journey across the United States, past zombies and cannibals, raises questions about the limits of love and the atrocities a parent will commit in the name of protecting a child.Acclaimed for its narrative depth, “The Last of Us,” the game, follows a smuggler named Joel and a girl named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic America.Sony Interactive EntertainmentBut while a handful of game-to-screen adaptations like the “Tomb Raider,” “Resident Evil” and “Sonic the Hedgehog” franchises have made enough money to warrant sequels, there is a sense that unlike, say, comic books, the stories in video games have never been properly translated.“A lot of them have been embarrassing,” said Neil Druckmann, who led the creation of “The Last of Us” and its 2020 sequel, “The Last of Us Part II,” and created the HBO show with Mazin. (Druckmann is also a showrunner.)For Hollywood that means a gold mine of intellectual property with a built-in audience of gamers has gone mostly unexploited. Given the pedigree of the creators — Mazin created “Chernobyl,” the Emmy-award winning mini-series, while Druckmann and his studio, Naughty Dog, are considered the benchmarks for narrative storytelling in games — fans are hoping “The Last of Us” will be different. Either way, viewers should prepare to see more games onscreen soon: Other popular video game franchises with film and TV adaptations in the works include “Twisted Metal,” “Ghost of Tsushima” and “Assassin’s Creed.”In a joint video interview late last month, Mazin and Druckmann discussed “The Last of Us,” what they changed from the game and what they didn’t, and why their philosophy for adaptation was to cut away much of the action in order to make the post-apocalyptic world feel more real. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Inside the Dystopian World of ‘The Last of Us’The post-apocalyptic video game that inspired the TV series “The Last of Us” won over players with its photorealistic animation and a morally complex story.Game Review: “I found it hard to get past what it embraces with a depressing sameness, particularly its handling of its female characters,” our critic wrote of “The Last of Us” in 2013.‘Left Behind’: “The Last of Us: Left Behind,” a prologue designed to be played in a single sitting, was an unexpected hit in 2014.2020 Sequel: “The Last of Us Part II,” a tale of entrenched tribalism in a world undone by a pandemic, took a darker and unpredictable tone that left critics in awe.Playing the Game: Two Times reporters spent weeks playing the sequel in the run-up to its release. These were their first impressions.The “Last of Us” games are about a global pandemic in which the cordyceps fungus, a real-life fungus that can take over the bodies and minds of insects, jumps to humans and turns people into zombies. Suddenly that premise feels a lot less fantastical.CRAIG MAZIN Neil made the smart decision all these years ago to say, you know what, instead of some invented no-name zombie virus, or rage serum, or some supernatural hell-has-fallen-and-the-dead-will-walk-the-earth —NEIL DRUCKMANN Radiation!MAZIN Yeah, radiation, which is just an outrage. Instead of all that, why don’t we go find something that’s real? And he did. I mean, that’s what cordyceps does to ants. I love the science of it.“I believe that most fans are going to react positively to it, because we made it with love,” said Craig Mazin, right, on set with Lamar Johnson. “But if people don’t, I get that too.”Liane Hentscher/HBODRUCKMANN Part of the game’s success was that we try to treat it as grounded as possible. And with the show we’re able to take that philosophy even further. So I think why the pandemic [in the games] feels so real, even though it was written before our current pandemic, is we were looking at things like Katrina. Like here’s where government fails, here’s where people can get really selfish, and here’s where we can see these great acts of love.In the games, the outbreak takes place in 2013, whereas in the show it’s 2003. Given that most of the story takes place 20 years later, after the world falls apart, I’m guessing the idea was to place the show in the present day?MAZIN I have this thing about watching shows where a graphic comes up and says, “2053: London.” And I’m like, “I don’t know what 2053 is.” The notion that there’s this twist of fate, and 2023, instead of looking like this, it looks like this — there’s an immediacy to that. I probably inflated its importance in my mind, but it helped me.Gamers are generally of the opinion that game adaptations are pretty horrible. You both seem to agree, and I’m wondering why you think they’ve been such a failure.MAZIN There’s a lot of cringe out there.DRUCKMANN Sometimes the source material is just not strong enough for a direct adaptation. So all you’re left with is a name that has some value to it, but really you’re starting from scratch. Other times it’s that the people in charge are not gamers. They don’t understand what made this thing special. They hang on to really superficial things and they think, for example, plenty of players want to see that one gameplay moment or this one gun from the game.MAZIN Terrific video games are terrific because of their gameplay, but conceptually they may already be copies of something. A copy of “Aliens.” A copy of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” You adapt that and you have a copy of a copy and can just feel a lack of freshness to it.Bella Ramsey, left and Anna Torv in “The Last of Us.”Liane Hentscher/HBOSo what did you try to do differently?DRUCKMANN The most important thing was to keep the soul of it, what it’s about: these relationships. What makes the show are the characters, the philosophical arguments of, “Do the ends justify the means?” And, “How big is your tribe that you’re going to care for?”The least important part was the gameplay. In the game we have long action sequences to get you into a flow state, which gets you to better connect with the character — you see yourself as that character. But if you just try to throw that on the screen in the passive medium, it’s not going to work. And that’s the thing that people often get wrong. The conversation with Craig and with HBO, the encouragement, which I loved, was, “Don’t focus on the action.”Given how many failures there have been, at least creatively, why do you think the appetite for game to TV or movie adaptations is suddenly so large?MAZIN There’s two possible reasons, one good and one not so good. The video game industry has been putting out some remarkable work. It seems natural that once these games achieve this impressive narrative space, you can start to think about porting them over. That’s the good reason.Here’s the bad reason: Somebody in a room who doesn’t know anything about playing video games looks at a PDF of how many copies are sold, and they go, “Well, let’s just do that. We need the title and the character, and the character should look like the guy in the game, and then, whatever, we’ll hire some people.”What are some of the differences in how you build a character for an interactive medium versus a passive one?DRUCKMANN With a game, there are certain constraints. Joel [the game’s main playable character] needs to be capable enough to mirror what you’re doing in the game. So, for example, he’s crouching and he’s killing. If all of a sudden we had a scene where he’s complaining about his knees, then there’s this disconnect. The Joel in the show, because you don’t have to support him crouch-walking or having to fight all these people, there was this idea of, “What if we explore his age and how broken down he is over the years?” Physically, he becomes a different person that’s more realistic than what we could have done in the game.When translating the game into a TV narrative, “the least important part was the gameplay,” Druckmann said.Sony Interactive EntertainmentMAZIN There are parts of games that, because of their design, have to violate reality. In “The Last of Us” — or really any game where you’re playing somebody that has guns, and you’re fighting against other people that have guns — you’re going to get shot. And then you’re going to heal yourself with a bandage, some pills, power-ups, whatever. So exploring the fragility of the body is part of how we honor this different medium. A single gunshot, if it’s not fatal, can permanently damage you as a human being. There is no bandage for this.Are you anxious about how fans of the game will react to changes?MAZIN My job was to be connected with my own fandom and to think about myself as representative of a lot of people, and to ask what would be important to me, what would hurt if it weren’t in the show. I believe that most fans are going to react positively to it, because we made it with love. But if people don’t, I get that too. It’s part of being deeply connected to something.DRUCKMANN My fear, and this just gets into a general conversation around fandom, is that our cast or anybody from our crew will get attacked or insulted as we make certain changes. After “The Last of Us II,” nothing anybody says online can get to me anymore. But I hate when anybody else gets it.You’re referring to the online harassment, including death threats, surrounding, among other things, the gender and sexuality of certain characters in the “Last of Us” games, which is also explored in the show.DRUCKMANN I’ve learned to just accept it and not to give it too much weight. I tend to not be driven by fear. If anything, I lean the opposite. When there’s a certain backlash to an idea, I’m like, then it’s an idea worth exploring.As a fan of the games, I found myself having a kind of reverse uncanny valley type reaction to Ellie in the show, where I was like, “But that’s not Ellie.” It made me realize how deeply I’ve connected to the game version of Ellie, who is voiced by Ashley Johnson but is a digital character. Unlike a live actress, who you realize is a person and might see in other things, you don’t see Ellie anywhere else, so she almost seems to belong to the story.MAZIN What I said to Bella is, people are going to probably have a reaction to you, not unlike Joel’s reaction, which is: “Who is this? This isn’t my daughter. This isn’t the person I love. The person I love looks like this and acts like this, and you’re not it … but I guess I’m stuck with you for a bit.”And then: “Well, you’re kind of growing on me … Actually, I think you’re pretty great … You know what? I would kill anyone to protect you.”That’s kind of how it works with Joel and Ellie, and that’s kind of how I think it’s going to work with the part of the audience that, like you and like me, has such an attachment to the Ellie that Neil and Ashley created in the game. That’s what Bella does magically. Bella does not beg for your approval — I’m talking about her Ellie — she just is that character and you, like Joel, are falling in love with her. More

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    Kevin Costner Couldn’t Get His Golden Globe Due to California Storms

    When the Golden Globes returned to NBC on Tuesday night after last year’s telecast was canceled amid concerns about the organization that gives out the awards, it was an open question whether Hollywood’s biggest stars would come back. Plenty did, making the evening feel in many respects like a return to shows of the past.But a handful of winning actors and actresses were not there to collect their awards.Cate Blanchett, who won for her portrayal of a virtuosic conductor in “Tár,” was not on hand to accept her Globe for best actress in a motion picture drama; she was said to be filming in Britain. And Amanda Seyfried, who won for her portrayal of the failed biotech founder Elizabeth Holmes in “The Dropout,” was unable to accept her award; she was said to be working on a new musical.Kevin Costner could not pick up his statuette for best actor in a TV drama series for “Yellowstone” for another reason: he was prevented from driving to Beverly Hills from his home in Santa Barbara by the severe rainstorms and flooding that have hit California. Nearly 50,000 residents across California have received evacuation orders, and at least 17 people have died since December.“This is a sad story right now,” said Regina Hall, who accepted his award, as audience members laughed. “He’s stuck in Santa Barbara. Let’s pray, everyone.”Zendaya, who plays the troubled teen in “Euphoria,” won best actress in a TV drama series and was also absent from the award show. The actress apologized on Instagram for not being able to attend, thanked the Golden Globes and shared her admiration for her fellow nominees. More

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    Netflix's ‘The Lying Life of Adults’ Depicts Ferrante’s Naples

    A new adaptation of the novel “The Lying Life of Adults” features formidable female protagonists and an Italy with distinct social classes.Like the novel by Elena Ferrante on which it is based, the opening line of Netflix’s “The Lying Life of Adults” is spoken by the precocious teenage protagonist, Giovanna, who is listening at the door while her parents talk about her.“Before leaving home, my father told my mother that I was ugly,” Giovanna says, adding forlornly that he had compared her to his estranged sister Vittoria, an insult so vile that it prompted Giovanna’s mother to counter: “Don’t say that. She is a monster.”Thus the viewer is introduced to Giovanna (Giordana Marengo) and Vittoria (Valeria Golino), fitting new entries in the pseudonymous Italian author’s rich stable of formidable female protagonists. Brought to life onscreen in a recent six-episode adaptation of Ferrante’s 2019 novel, they are as complex and contradictory as Lila and Lenù, the protagonists of Ferrante’s four best-selling novels chronicling their friendship, a version of which appeared in HBO’s “My Brilliant Friend.”In “The Lying Life of Adults,” too, Naples provides a socially textured setting for this coming-of-age story, which propels Giovanna from the innocence of childhood into the world of adults’ complex and contradictory compromises. Set in the mid-1990s, the series underscores the slippery social standing of Italian girls, and women, seeking to find a footing in a world where men call the shots.The show is “rightly” Ferrante’s world, according to Domenico Procacci, the chief executive of Fandango, an Italian entertainment company that produced “Lying Life” for Netflix, who spoke at a news conference presenting the series in Rome last month. Fandango also co-produced “My Brilliant Friend” with HBO, RAI, the Italian national broadcaster, and others.From left, Giovanna (Marengo), Angela (Rossella Gamba) and Beniamino (Antonio Corvino) in the series. The girls begin experimenting with the freedoms offered by Naples.Eduardo Castaldo/NetflixIn “Lying Life,” Giovanna navigates two distinct Neapolitan neighborhoods so drastically diverse that it is hard to believe they belong to the same city. She lives in the Rione Alto, an upper-middle-class neighborhood mostly developed in the 1960s and ’70s capping the Vomero hill with breathtaking views of the Gulf of Naples. “Outside of the Vomero, the city scarcely belonged to me,” Giovanna says in the novel.Inside the World of Elena FerranteThe mysterious Italian writer has won international attention with her intimate representations of Neapolitan life, womanhood and friendship. Beginner’s Guide: New to Elena Ferrante’s work? Here’s a breakdown of her most important writing.English-Language Translator: The work of Ann Goldstein has helped catapult Ferrante to global fame. Humility is a hallmark of her approach.‘My Brilliant Friend’: The HBO series based on Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels is a testament to the elusive writer’s ability to create inscrutable characters.‘The Lying Life of Adults’: The novel, which was published in English in 2020 and is now being adapted into a TV series by Netflix, is “a more vulnerable performance, less tightly woven and deliberately plotted,” our critic writes.But in her determination to meet her aunt, Giovanna opens her world to the lower city neighborhood that her father, Andrea (Alessandro Preziosi) escaped, but that Vittoria still inhabits: a run-down district called Pascone in the novel, which was shot in the formerly industrial rough-and-tumble Poggioreale neighborhood.“I don’t think there is any city in Italy where the differences between social classes are as evident as Naples, and at times where this difference counts so little,” Francesco Piccolo, one of the show’s four screenwriters, said at the news conference. In the series, viewers who do not speak Italian might miss the fact that the contrast is underscored by the difference in the Neapolitan dialect spoken between the two neighborhoods. In the wealthy Vomero, the dialect is spoken “for pleasure, for fun,” Piccolo said, while in the other, it is “a totally emotional dialect.”Getting Vittoria right, her movements as well as her dialect, weighed on Golino, who may be best remembered by American audiences for her star turn in the films “Rain Man” and “Hot Shots!” She, too, grew up in the Vomero neighborhood, on “the good side of the tracks,” she said in a telephone interview, and confessed to never having seen the “Naples of Vittoria,” to the point that she “had to go find it, understand it.”A voice coach taught what was to her essentially a new language. “Even though I am Neapolitan, I had never spoken in that way,” Golino said. “It was a sound that I had heard in the city, but it was never part of my world.” To embody the earthy bawdiness of Vittoria “was difficult,” the actress said. “I had to study the words, a way of moving, a way of inhabiting space,” which was foreign to her. “So I spent a lot of time in Naples, which is my city, but Naples is made of many layers,” she said.Golino, center, was nervous about getting the character of Vittoria right. “I had to study the words, a way of moving, a way of inhabiting space,” the actor said.Eduardo Castaldo/NetflixIn turn, Marengo, 19, who made her screen debut as Giovanna after being selected from among 3,000 girls auditioning for the role, said Golino had nurtured her throughout the series. “She gave me a lot of advice,” Marengo said, and the two created a strong bond that Marengo thought was apparent on screen, she said in a telephone interview.“We really helped each other,” Golino said. “We were both in the same state of mind. She because it was her first time, I because I was constantly afraid of making a mistake.”Marengo said she had felt the responsibility of portraying the protagonist of a story that evolves entirely from Giovanna’s perspective. “At first, I was anxious that I wouldn’t be able to make it,” she said. But the director and the crew made sure she did not feel that responsibility, “and that really calmed me down,” she said.In the novel, Giovanna’s inward gaze is even more pronounced. But Edoardo De Angelis, the show’s director, said transposing that inner rumination into visual form was a natural extension of Ferrante’s writing.“Every single word contains an evocation that suggests and invokes a multitude of images,” De Angelis said in a telephone interview. “The words always suggested the path to take because Ferrante’s evocations are always very concrete, even if they begin with an interior thought.”De Angelis’s Naples involves a cacophony of colors and sounds, the underground music scene in the city’s avant-garde community centers and the nostalgia of summer festivals hosted by Italy’s once-powerful Communist Party.Ferrante, the famously elusive author who has never officially made her identity public, has a screenwriting credit, and De Angelis, who is also credited with writing the script with Piccolo and Laura Paolucci, said that correspondence with Ferrante had involved “many letters to find a common language.”In transposing the novel to television, the story also took an unexpected turn, a plot twist that is not in the novel but that Ferrante signed off on, De Angelis said: She was well aware that moving from the pages to the screen “was an occasion to express elements that were only suggested and left to the imagination in the novel,” while on the screen, “the imagination becomes image,” offering the possibility of “more radical choices.”These radical choices open new avenues, and the episodes end with a series of unresolved questions to be answered, perhaps, in a possible sequel. (To this reader, the ending of the novel also suggested that a second book could follow.)Just as Golino worried about doing the character of Vittoria justice, “our series aims to show the authenticity of Italy, even outside of stereotypes,” Eleonora Andreatta, affectionately known as “Tinny,” the vice president of Italian originals at Netflix, said at the news conference. She also worked on the “My Brilliant Friend” series in her previous job at RAI.“Portraying a character that is not edifying, in which you draw out the human, the real human that makes mistakes,” and who was “disobedient” was one of the reasons that she had accepted the role, “even though it frightened me,” Golino said in the telephone interview.“A good actor doesn’t have to be a good liar, but usually they are,” she said at the news conference, eliciting laughs. “If they have to tell a lie, a good actor tells it very well.” More

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    Prince Harry Engages in ‘Group Therapy’ With a Glass of Tequila

    “This is the other side of the story,” the prince said of his new memoir, “Spare,” while chatting with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.‘The Other Side of the Story’Prince Harry discussed his new memoir, “Spare,” on “The Late Show” on Tuesday, with Stephen Colbert offering Harry a cocktail at the start.“I hear you like tequila,” Colbert said, pouring each of them a glass.Keeping a comfortable and friendly rapport, Prince Harry answered Colbert’s probing but respectful questions about his life and family.“This feels a little bit like group therapy,” Harry said at one point with a laugh.Colbert asked Harry about early leaks of the memoir that were published in the British tabloids. The prince cautioned people to be wary of the stories, stressing the importance of context.“Context is everything, and unfortunately, due to those leaks, the British press, which are central to so much of my story in my 38 years up until this point, and after spending two years focused on context, what I am going to share, how I am going to share it and being able to piece it all together, they intentionally chose to strip away all the context and take out individual segments of my life, my story and every experience that I’ve had and turn it into a salacious headline.” — PRINCE HARRY“This is the other side of the story. There’s a lot in here that perhaps makes people feel uncomfortable and scared.” — PRINCE HARRY“Look, I’m not going to lie — the last few days have been hurtful and challenging and not being able to do anything about those leaks that you refer to. Perhaps — well, not perhaps, without doubt — the most dangerous lie that they have told is that I somehow boasted about the number of people that I killed in Afghanistan.” — PRINCE HARRY“My words are not dangerous, but the spin of my words are very dangerous.” — PRINCE HARRYPrince Harry also spoke about leaving the royal family and Britain with his wife, Meghan Markle, and his assumption that they would be left alone.“That was a real eye-opener for me. I never thought that they would be away from it completely, but I did think that we would get some form of peace. But that is when I realized that actually our mere existence outside of that institutional control was more of a threat. And you know, there’s a similar thing that happened to my mom as well. And, look, they always knew that my wife was going to leave because of the way they were abusing her, but I think the most embarrassing thing was that I decided to leave with her.” — PRINCE HARRY“I have never seen the level of abuse and harassment that I witnessed over my wife. Other members of the family, they have experienced different forms of that, but to see it happen the way it happened, I was naïve going into it and I didn’t realize that the British press would be so bigoted. But even if I had, I wouldn’t have accepted or understood that they could get away with it. But here we are, and I’ve created — or we have created — a fantastic life here in California.” — PRINCE HARRYColbert asked Harry what his mother, Princess Diana, would have thought about the current family dynamic, especially between Harry and his brother, Prince William.“It is impossible to say where we would be now, where those relationships would be now, but there is no way that the distance between my brother and I would be the same.” — PRINCE HARRY“I’ve really felt the presence of my mom, especially the last couple of years. I detail in the book my brother and I talking at her grave and how he felt as though she had been with him for a long period of time and helped set him up with life and that he felt she was moving over to me. And I have felt her more in the last two years than I have the last 30.” — PRINCE HARRYHarry admitted that he has watched “The Crown.” Colbert asked if he fact-checks the series while he watches.“Yes, I do, actually. Which by the way, by the way — another reason why it is so important that history has it right.” — PRINCE HARRYThe Punchiest Punchlines (What’s Up, Docs? Edition)“Today, Obama was like, ‘Nothing to worry about. If Joe had access, it wasn’t important.’” — JIMMY FALLON“Biden was shocked and said he had no idea how the documents got there. Then Hunter Biden was like, ‘OK, so don’t get mad.’” — JIMMY FALLON“There are said to be just under a dozen documents related to Ukraine, Iran and the U.K., and for the MAGA crowd, this was like Christmas and the McRib coming back at the same time.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Is this just what every president does now, just scatter a trail of intelligence like Johnny Document-seed?” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Wow, it’s alarming when you realize how much of our national security relies on old men keeping track of loose pages.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingLeslie Jones teased her upcoming gig as a “Daily Show” guest host on Tuesday’s “Tonight Show.”What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightThe rapper and actor Common will visit Seth Meyers on Wednesday’s “Late Night.”Also, Check This OutSimona Tabasco broke through to American audiences in the second season of “The White Lotus.” Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty ImagesThe “White Lotus” star Simona Tabasco shares her love of “Titane,” the Tate Modern and other cultural touchstones in this week’s My Ten. 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    Tarnished Golden Globes Return to TV, and Hollywood Plays Along

    The companies behind the tarnished Golden Globe Awards pushed forward with a rehabilitation effort on Tuesday, with Hollywood luminaries making their way through a waterlogged Los Angeles to accept trophies for film and television achievements.The stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael hosted the 80th Globes ceremony, foregoing the typical monologue (zingers about high-wattage attendees) for a subdued opening directly addressing the lack of diversity that kept the show off the air last year. In several moments, a quiet awkwardness fell over the room, as when he noted that the group that awards the Globes didn’t “have a single Black member until George Floyd died.”“One minute, you’re making mint tea at home, the next you’re invited to be the Black face of an embattled white organization,” he continued, explaining how he came to take the gig. “Life really comes at you fast, you know?” He cracked that a friend, upon learning that he would get paid $500,000, told him to “put on a good suit and take them white people’s money.”“The Fabelmans,” a semi-autobiographical family drama from Steven Spielberg, won the Globe for best film, drama, and the award for best director.“I’m really, really happy about this,” Spielberg said while accepting the directing prize. “I’ve been hiding from this story since I was 17 years old.” He joked that his mother, Leah Adler, was in heaven “kvelling about this.”“The Banshees of Inisherin,” a windswept tragicomedy about a moldered friendship, was named best film, musical or comedy, also picking up Globes for Martin McDonagh’s screenwriting and Colin Farrell’s acting.But behind the sharp jokes, fervent acceptance speeches, Champagne and couture lurked another sad truth: After two years of upheaval caused by an ethics, finance and diversity scandal — culminating with NBC’s refusal to broadcast the 2022 ceremony — Hollywood has dropped any pretense that the Globes are meaningful as markers of artistic excellence.The Globes are about business, plain and simple.Most movie studios view the Globes telecast and accompanying red carpet spectacle as crucial marketing opportunities for winter films, especially dramas, which have been struggling at the box office. In a study released in 2021, economists at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania found that, on average, films that win Globes earn an additional $16.5 million in ticket sales.“I’m really, really happy about this,” Steven Spielberg said while accepting the award for best director.Rich Polk/NBC, via Getty Images“The Fabelmans,” which cost $40 million to make, not including marketing, was one of the films with the most to gain. It has collected $13.4 million at the domestic box office since its release in November.James Cameron, a best director nominee for “Avatar: The Way of Water,” had received the memo. He turned a red carpet moment into a sales pitch. “We’re back to theaters — as a society we really need this,” he said. “Enough with the streaming already!”The lead acting Globes for dramas went to Austin Butler (“Elvis”) and Cate Blanchett (“Tár”). Ke Huy Quan was honored for his supporting performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” while Angela Bassett won the Globe for best supporting actress for her regal role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”In a surprise, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon” won the Globe for best television drama. (Awards prognosticators had predicted that “Severance” on Apple TV+ would get the prize.) “Abbott Elementary,” the ABC comedy set in a Philadelphia school, was named best comedy.“Thank you for believing in this show,” Quinta Brunson, the “Abbott Elementary” star and producer, said earlier as she collected the trophy for best actress in a comedy. “It has resonated with the world in a way that I couldn’t even imagine it would have.”“The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Abbott Elementary” had the most nominations going into the night among movies and TV shows. “Banshees” was up for eight film prizes, while “Abbott Elementary” figured into five TV categories.Martin McDonagh, holding the trophy, and Graham Broadbent, a producer, are among the group accepting best film, musical or comedy, for “The Banshees of Inisherin.”Rich Polk/NBC, via Getty ImagesFarrell won the Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical for his baffled “Banshees” performance, taking time to thank studio executives, his co-stars, his family and the donkey that appeared in the film. Michelle Yeoh won best actress in a comedy or musical for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a zany twist on superhero movies.“I think all of you women understand this — as the days, the years and the numbers get bigger, it seems like opportunities start to get smaller,” Yeoh said, noting that she turned 60 last year and referencing the discrimination she has faced in Hollywood. She then started to say how grateful she was for the role when show producers started playing music to nudge her offstage. “Shut up, please,” she said, to cheers, before continuing.Michelle Yeoh won best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy, for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”Rich Polk/NBC, via Getty ImagesPeople who assist stars behind the scenes (agents, publicists, stylists) will tell you that very few were eager to attend the ceremony, either as nominees or presenters. At least 20 nominees did not attend, including Julia Roberts, Blanchett and Zendaya, who was named best actress in a television drama for “Euphoria.” Some of the no-shows cited work conflicts, but the weather didn’t help, with the event coming on the heels of what meteorologists said was the worst rainstorm to sweep through Los Angeles since 2005.Still, most nominees went through the motions — smiles! smiles! smiles! — because they care greatly about Oscar nominations, and voting by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences begins on Thursday.The Golden Globe Awards broadcast also generates tens of millions of dollars for various Hollywood businesses. Catering companies, party planners, chauffeurs, banquet workers, florists and spray tanners count on the show to generate a significant part of their winter income. “This is so exciting,” Marc Malkin, a senior Variety editor, said at the start of Variety’s red carpet preshow, sounding like he was still trying to convince himself. (Globes producers actually put down a gray carpet for stars to walk, explaining that it was part of a “new palette.” Some of the biggest stars walked the carpet but did not give interviews, perhaps to avoid awkward questions about why they decided to come.)Advertisers bought roughly $50.3 million worth of airtime during NBC’s most recent Globes telecast, according to Kantar, a media research firm. NBC paid about $40 million for rights to this year’s show, money that went to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the unorthodox nonprofit organization that bestows the Globes, and Dick Clark Productions, which mounted the telecast.As host, Carmichael veered from serious to lighthearted to boorish (vulgar language, a Whitney Houston joke) during a ceremony that was notable for the diversity of winners and those in contention. The show even made time for a taped message about freedom by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.Eddie Murphy and the television producer Ryan Murphy (“Pose,” “Glee,” “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) received lifetime achievement awards. Growing up gay in Indiana, Ryan Murphy said, “I never saw a person like me getting an award or even being a character on a TV show.”Eddie Murphy received a lifetime achievement award.Rich Polk/NBC, via Getty ImagesNBC canceled the 2022 telecast amid an ethics, finance and diversity scandal involving the foreign press association. Citing extensive reforms by the group, NBC in September agreed to return the ceremony to its air — under a one-year trial. The press association has overhauled membership eligibility, recruited new members with an emphasis on diversity, enacted a stricter code of conduct and has moved to end its tax-exempt status and transform into a for-profit company with a philanthropic arm. The 96-member organization now has six Black members — up from zero — and has added 103 nonmember voters, a dozen or so of whom are Black.NBC billed the 2023 Globes as “the party of the year” in advertisements. In truth, however, Hollywood tried to pare back the glamour and excess, in part to send a signal — the Globes are still on probation — and in part because studios have been cutting costs and laying off staff to cope with setbacks at their streaming businesses. In the past, the Beverly Hilton has hosted as many as six separate after parties; this time around, there was one scheduled.Even so, the movie capital does not do austerity terribly well. Moët & Chandon was expected to supply more than 100 cases of Champagne, including its Rosé Impérial. Globes attendees were served Icelandic salmon with “citrus-scented celery purée, Maya Pura honey brulée, roasted watermelon radish” and “herb dust.” More