Newsletter Monday, July 04, 2016

[LaineyGossip.com - Calling all smuthounds!] Monday, July 04, 2016 [Intro for July 4, 2016] [Mariah Carey performs on stage during the 2016 ESSENCE Festival presented by Coca Cola at the Louisiana Superdome on July 2, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana] Dear Gossips, Mimi performed for the first time at Essence Festival in New Orleans this weekend. And if you couldn’t be there, the next best thing is to read about what it was like for those who were there. Most of the coverage from mainstream outlets was positive. [PEOPLE reported on her “stunning” entrance] as she was carried out on stage on a lounger by six beefcakes. [Entertainment Weekly posted that she “glittered”] through her set. And [Billboard focused on her special guests], Da Brat and Jermaine Dupri. If you only read those accounts though, you would have missed the fact that she couldn’t be bothered to figure out the actual mechanics of her show, modified from Vegas to the Louisiana Superdome, and that during a show that was only an hour and 15 minutes long, she spent over 15 minutes of that time changing into different outfits. She also, at one point, decided to spend a few moments staring at herself on the big screen: "This is a song my people tell me — we have a remix, but people tell me they like the original. ... It's a cute little song," she said before cutting herself off to examine her own image on the Mercedes-Benz Superdome's massive video screen opposite the stage. She flattened one hand against her baby pink bodysuit outfitted with a giant bow and tulle train. "Is it too princess-y?" The reporter [covering the event for The Times-Picayune] wasn’t writing about this in praise though. She found it “bewildering”. So, she clearly isn’t a Mimi scholar. Because, frankly, that’s exactly what I expect out of a Mimi experience. It’s not like anyone is going to a Mimi show thinking it’s going to be Beyoncé levels of precision and attention to detail. There’s basically no choreography when it comes to Mimi – she can barely stand! So what you’re going for then is to watch her watch herself, preen, force everyone around her to give her compliments, and celebrate the fact that she’s thin. Which is pretty much what she was doing. I don’t see a problem. Yours in gossip, Lainey [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 1:01 PM [Miley & Liam: back together for Fourth] [Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth at Soho House in Malibu, July 3, 2016] It’s been a couple of years since [Miley Cyrus] and [Liam Hemsworth] celebrated Independence Day together. Here they are at Soho House in Malibu yesterday. Speaking of Independence Day, the movie, Resurgence, was supposed to be Liam’s claim to leading action hero status. And, well, the reviews were dismal and the box office was underwhelming so, no, it hasn’t happened yet. Will it ever? A better question might be: is there a shortage of actors like Liam Hemsworth? Like is the market demanding a Liam Hemworth to fill a void? Sarah recently wrote about how [John Boyega was cast in the sequel to Pacific Rim]. There was a time when someone like Liam would have been considered for the part, like as Charlie Hunnam’s younger brother, or something. Now those decisions aren’t so automatic. Or, maybe, Liam just hasn’t shown that he has it? Someone on set at etalk just now posited that Liam, onscreen, doesn’t have the charm of his older brother. Like, the most interesting part about him, right now, is Miley….even though the narrative has been that she’s “lucky” to have him back, and had to “change” to make that happen. I worry now though. I worry that since Independence Day didn’t do for Liam’s career as his team had hoped it would, Miley will end up getting shafted for it. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 7:16 PM [Bridget Jones’s Face] [Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones's Baby trailer] It’s been a relatively slow long weekend on social media, which was bad news for Owen Gleiberman, author of the ridiculously misogynistic [Variety article about Renee Zellweger's face] in the new Bridget Jones trailer. I really thought about whether or not using that word was hyperbole, but it’s not. Here’s why: Glieberman’s central argument is that, in his opinion, Zellweger doesn’t look like Bridget Jones anymore, and that takes something away from the audience. He spends a long time being patronizing about how incredible it was that Zellweger became successful even looking like she did back in the day, before moving on to explain what upsets him so much about celebrities who have plastic surgery: “The most toxic thing about “having work done” is the feeling it can create that someone doesn’t look dramatically different from the way they looked before so much as they look…less. Less vivid, less distinctive, less there.” That feels like a blanket statement that is categorically untrue, given that most celebs have work done somehow, but moving on, he also feels qualified to tell you about the psyche of a celebrity who has had anything done, to wit: “When you see someone who no longer looks like who they are, it’s not necessarily the result of bad cosmetic surgery. It’s the result of a decision, an ideology, a rejection of the self.” Oh, okay, got it. Gleiberman casually criticizes and psychoanalyzes Zellweger, accuses her of ‘reject[ing] the self’, and attributes her success to her former ‘ordinary’ face. Leaving aside whether or not looking ‘ordinary’ is an insult (it’s clear he thinks it’s at least a difficulty to overcome), he neglects to mention her actual talent as an actress, implying it’s irrelevant to whether she can do her job. As an actress. But the part that makes me most infuriated, after accounting for ‘how about she can do whatever she wants with her own face and body which in no way belongs to you’, and ‘your pathetic attempts to not make your article all about women are transparent and lazy’, is that Glieberman thought, when he saw the trailer… “She doesn’t look like Bridget Jones!” Wait, what? Who says she doesn’t? How the hell does he know? Bridget Jones’s Baby is being released twelve years after Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. You know what’s happened to Bridget in the intervening dozen years since then? I have no f-cking clue! None of us do, since the movie has clearly departed from the books at this point. (Super-spoilery, careful if you google!) So who gets to say what Bridget Jones looks like? What changes have happened to her face, either as a result of aging or stress or choices Bridget made, including the 95,000 Silk Cuts she always meant to give up but was never quite able to? What he actually means is ‘she doesn’t look the way she did 12 years ago’, so I guess that means he expects her to look exactly the same now as she did then. Which is, A, a completely unrealistic expectation and judgment of the way women age, B, a judgment that is not placed on men, as if you didn’t know, and C, the very definition of why there’s a thriving plastic surgery industry, because there’s only one way people—by which of course I mean women—are supposed to look. Forever. The extra-infuriating irony here is he doesn’t dare imply any ill-effects from these alleged problems he’s identified. He doesn’t claim the movie won’t do well, since Zellweger is a star and the movie will be huge and he knows it. His whole reason for writing is because he personally got his feelings hurt by someone’s face, as if that’s anyone’s problem but his. Which I strongly suspect [Renee Zellweger], whose face has been criticized for years upon years now, totally knows. She feels like Bridget to me. She giggles like Bridget. She chews her lip in a way that Bridget herself probably hoped she’d grow out of but hasn’t. There’s no issue here. I know I’m always the one looking for something to get mad about, but I’m actually pleased about this one, because Owen Glieberman has given us a tidy object lesson on why, when it comes to other peoples’ opinions, especially about the way you look, it is completely unnecessary to give a f-ck. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 6:52 PM [Smutty Social Media, July 4, 2016] [Jessica Chastain leaves the Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris, France, July 4, 2016] BE HONEST, did you think they would last 17 years? I hoped, but didn’t think it was possible. Let’s not jinx it. [I feel so loved and truly blessed 🙏🏻 My best friend,my love.The kindest man who inspires me every day.💕 Happy Anniversary to the best husband and daddy in the world!! EVER! #HappilyEverAfter @davidbeckham @brooklynbeckham X VB] A photo posted by Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) on Jul 4, 2016 at 12:31am PDT A few weeks ago I mentioned Sienna Miller, then a couple of days later Balthazar Getty. This weekend, his wife Rosetta hosted a weekend in Tuscany with friends like Alex Pettyfer and Milla Jovovich and an assortment of cool European and American socialites/actors/editors/fashion people. As one does. And I wonder… do Rosetta and Sienna’s social circles overlap at all? [Cheers! Fabulous night #rosettagettyxtuscany] A photo posted by @rosettagetty on Jul 2, 2016 at 4:08pm PDT Shout-out to the industrious Snapchat users who managed to screencap Kendall Jenner’s “cutest little Ziploc baggie” [before she deleted it]. "this is the cutest little ziploc baggie I have ever seen" - Kendall Jenner snapchatted a coke bag [ — Molly Lambert (@mollylambert) [July 3, 2016] Uh oh, Wiz Khalifa has figured out the secret to our feminine mood swings. So I found out when girls get all weird and irrational that usually means their on cocaine. That fuggin sucks. — Wiz Khalifa (@wizkhalifa) [July 4, 2016] Two things of note: 1. JLo and Lin-Manuel Miranda are working together. 2. Her pants look suspiciously like Juicy sweatpants. [Me and #Lin-Manuel Miranda working in studio on something very special... #LMTWGR #Loveisloveisloveislove #LoveMakeTheWorldGoRound #happy4thofJuly] A video posted by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo) on Jul 4, 2016 at 9:06am PDT A photo from the set of The Glass Castle – look at all the adorable ginger kids! [Smashing day with the #glasscastlemovie #family 🌳] A photo posted by Naomi Watts (@naomiwatts) on Jul 3, 2016 at 7:28pm PDT I just got my driver’s license a few years ago. Um, I hope Lady Gaga is better at driving than I am. Learning as an adult sucks. [Me at the DMV 🙈. SCHOOLS OUT 🤘🏽🚬] A photo posted by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) on Jul 2, 2016 at 8:42am PDT Happy 4th of July! [What a beautiful #july4th surprise! Sending so much love to my countrymen from across the sea! #independanceday] A video posted by Jessica Chastain (@jessicachastain) on Jul 4, 2016 at 5:32am PDT [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 5:45 PM [Swoki Love on Independence Day weekend] [Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston in Rhode Island for Fourth of July weekend celebration with friends, July 3, 2016] [As anticipated] [Tom Hiddleston] did indeed join [Taylor Swift] and her friends in Rhode Island for her annual Fourth of July weekend of Fomo Try. Cara Delevingne and St Vincent are there. Karlie Kloss. Martha Hunt. Gigi Hadid. Uzo Abuba. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds [as previously mentioned]. Her brother, Austin Swift. And supposedly Selena Gomez who hasn’t been seen in the beach photos but who’s been sighted by fans, allegedly. It’s basically like Taylor’s 1989 tour, when every night it became a guessing game about who she’d bring out on stage. Who will she bring out to the beach? Well, the focus this year is on Tom. Swoki Love is celebrating its first holiday, and it happens to be Taylor’s favourite holiday. Also, possibly, a Nicholas Sparks novel, without the dying. When Swoki first told us that they had arrived, it was also in Rhode Island, on a large rock, in the presence of a photographer. And, as I wrote at the time, those pictures [did not happen by accident]. These shots, then, also did not happen by accident. You’ll note that the entire group of Swift revelers decided to rush the public beach. And it’s not like Taylor wouldn’t know that for three weeks, the world has been paying very close attention to her new relationship, it’s not like she wouldn’t have known that a pap or several paps wouldn’t make the trip to Rhode Island to see what they could get. Instead of staying on her private property, her boyfriend puts on a tank top with I (heart) TS across the front. She’s not forcing him to wear it either. He’s wearing this tank about as happily has he put on his Loki costume, well aware that half of you think it’s a publicity stunt and the other half is shipping them hard and all of us can’t f-cking get enough. Because that’s exactly who Taylor and Tom are, independently and collectively – two people who will always be the obvious and give us exactly what we want, not necessarily what we need. In this way, in the most ironically perfect way, they are the twee equivalent of Kanye West and his wife. Which, God, that makes me so happy I can barely continue. As you can see from some of these shots – and [there are much more here]- several of the squad weekend participants had temporary tattoos painted on their bodies. Tom’s tat was a heart with Taylor’s initials. I say “participants” in particular because this is what's required of those fortunate enough to be invited to Taylor Swift Fourth of July – you MUST participate. At 11am we play fake tattoos. At noon we all jump in the water at the beach. At 1pm there’s a barbecue and everyone has to share their favourite summer memory before getting a sausage. At 3 Taylor passes around yearbooks and everyone has to sign each other’s. What if all the days are scheduled? This is my worst nightmare. I hate group activities on trips away. Because of nap time. I need naps. Are you allowed to take naps? [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 4:36 PM [Blake Lively in The Shallows] [Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in Rhode Island for Taylor Swift's Fourth of July celebration, July 3, 2016] Here’s something I did not expect to say: The Shallows is pretty good. I know, right? I was surprised I like it, too. But The Shallows, aka Blake Lively vs. A Shark, is a solid B-movie. It’s effectively scary and sort of stylish, and Blake Lively isn’t horrible. In a better movie season it probably wouldn’t draw much notice, but this summer has been particularly brutal, so The Shallows sticks out as a high note. Director Jaume Collet-Serra, taking a break from Liam Neeson revenge movies, gets back to his horror roots—he broke out with the horror flick Orphan—with The Shallows. It’s a spare survival story about a woman trapped on a rock while a shark circles her. And that is pretty much the whole movie. There’s an attempt to add some depth and backstory by introducing a subplot in which the protagonist is contemplating quitting medical school after her mother has died, but no one ever gives a sh*t about that. Seriously, when was the last time you were watching a thriller and you thought, “You know what would be great? If we ground completely to a halt so that this character can reminisce about her childhood. That’s what I really want to see in this movie about a town besieged by a swarm of angry bees.” [Blake Lively] plays Nancy—when was the last time you met anyone under 40 named Nancy? I call bullsh*t on this name (Lainey: [me too!])—a med school dropout who’s in Mexico to visit a beach where her mother went one time. Nancy is there to surf and Contemplate Future Things, which is represented by Lively staring blankly into the middle distance. The beginning of the movie is a little rough because Blake Lively can’t act and this is the part of the movie that requires her to be interesting as a person and not potential shark food. But then Nancy arrives at the beach, which is gorgeous. Collet-Serra and his director of photography, Flavio Martinez Labiano (The Gunman, Non-Stop), capture some really stunning images throughout the movie. It’s part of what makes The Shallows work—it’s a great looking movie. Collet-Serra changes up his shot selection enough to keep the visuals interesting, combining aerials, panoramas, hand-held work, and underwater photography. We don’t actually see the shark all that much, and we don’t need to because the camera does a solid job inducing dread. This movie is f*cking ridiculous, but it’s not trying to be anything other than a B-grade thriller, and it’s good at being a B-grade thriller. From the moment of the first shark attack, the tension ratchets up steadily. Marco Beltrami’s score is a little aggressive, but then, The Shallows is not a subtle movie. Beltrami’s thumping score fits right in with Blake Lively shrieking, which is 90% of the dialogue track. To be fair to Lively, though, she has a great horror movie scream. And once she’s stranded and fighting the shark, she’s pretty effective. She does her best acting one emotion at a time. As for the “[empathy gap]” Lainey [referenced in the intro the other day]—oh, it’s totally noticeable. More screen time is given to the seagull sharing Nancy’s rock than to any of her would-be saviors, and because of that med school subplot this can’t just be a basic survival tale, it has to be about Learning Lessons and Life Affirmation, which makes Nancy something of a ghoulish misery tourist whose mere presence gets everyone around her killed. There are so few characters in The Shallows that when only one of them is given anything resembling a life, it’s very apparent. And it’s not like these guys have to be great Shakespearian figures, one memorable trait would be nice. The seagull is sassy, but I can’t remember anything about anyone not named Blake Lively except that they were shark food. The Shallows is a solid B-movie that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a B-movie. That goes a long way in a summer movie season in which several big budget blockbusters have overreached and failed. Compared to the mind-numbing [boredom] of a movie like Independence Day: Resurgence, or the [low] of X-Men: Apocalypse, The Shallows is charmingly quaint. It’s a well-made movie that achieves its goal of making you afraid of the ocean. There’s something to be said for modest ambitions executed well. Attached – Blake and [Ryan Reynolds] in Rhode Island as part of Taylor Swift’s annual Fourth of July celebrity gathering. Lainey has more on that next. [Click here] to see more photos of Blake and Ryan. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 4:05 PM [Bradley & Irina in Paris] [Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk hold hands in Paris, July 2, 2016] [Bradley Cooper] was on a roll for a while there professionally. Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, Guardians Of The Galaxy, and (the overrated) American Sniper, back to back to back to back over three years. And since then…kind of a slump. There was no excitement for Serena. Aloha was a mess. Burnt didn’t go anywhere. And Joy was pretty forgettable. He has a supporting role in the upcoming War Dogs, starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller, but that’s not really his movie. So it makes sense that he’s taking his time deciding what’s next. There’s been a lot of talk about the remake of A Star Is Born, now with Lady Gaga playing the female lead over Beyoncé, but so far no definitive announcements have been made to confirm the project. And there was some buzz over a year ago that he and Robert De Niro would be working on a movie called Honeymoon With Harry, by Dan Fogelman, about a man whose fiancée dies right before the wedding and ends up on a trip with his would-be father-in-law but I wonder if Zac Efron’s appalling Dirty Grandpa may have derailed that for the time being. Until he figures out his next move then, Bradley Cooper headlines have been on his love life. Here he is in Paris with [Irina Shayk] this weekend before sitting front row at Versace, in between Jennifer Garner and Naomi Campbell, to watch her walk the runway. Last week Coop was at Glastonbury, [dancing more attractively than his friend Leonardo DiCaprio]. It’s a similar life though, non? Coop just doesn’t hide as much. Or, rather, the not hiding maybe serves other purposes. This weekend is the Wimbledon final, where Roger Federer just got through the fourth round today and with Novak Djokovic out the way, Roger has a very good chance at his 8th title. Coop was at Wimbledon last year, bro-ing down with Gerard Butler. I feel like we may see him there again this year. [#TBT to twinning with Bradley Cooper at @wimbledon. Rooting for my buddy @djokernole and hero @andymurray!] A photo posted by Gerard Butler (@gerardbutler) on Jun 30, 2016 at 1:37pm PDT [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 3:36 PM [Jennifer Garner’s new moves] [Jennifer Garner attends the Atelier Versace Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2016-2017 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on July 3, 2016 in Paris, France] It was reported a couple of weeks ago that [Jennifer Garner] had quietly changed agents. [According to Deadline], Jennifer has left WME and is now with CAA. Which is notable because her previous agent, Patrick Whitesell is a pretty big deal, repping Denzel Washington, Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, and guiding the careers of Matt Damon and [Ben Affleck]. That’s right. She and Ben used to share an agent. And, just as she’s building some momentum in her career, with the success of Miracles From Heaven (the movie made almost $75 million from a modest $13 million budget and her performance was widely praised), she’s now making moves. Not just to CAA but to Kevin Huvane at CAA. Kevin Huvane’s client list includes Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock. Also… Jennifer Lopez. I blanked on Garner’s agency switch when it first came out because I think I got caught up in Swoki. But then, this weekend, Fourth of July weekend in America, she’s not in LA with her family but instead in Paris for Fashion Week, sitting front row at Atelier Versace. You’ll recall, Jennifer wore Versace to the Oscars in February. Remember she talked about how hard it was to pee in that dress on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon? Jennifer Garner isn’t a fashion front row regular. Obviously she’s developing a close style relationship with Donatella Versace. But this appearance, in combination with the agency change, might be a sign that she’s ready to professionally assert herself more aggressively, building on the great personal publicity she’s generated in the year since she and Ben Affleck announced their separation. On that personal level though, what does it mean now that she and Ben no longer share an agent? There’s been speculation for months that they may eventually get back together. Can there be a professional division and a personal reconciliation? Or is the division both professional and personal? Ben Affleck is building a fragile comeback. Jennifer Garner has always been an asset to him. When Patrick Whitesell was repping them both, I wonder if his interests were always the priority. And now, now that she has representation independent of him, perhaps it’s because Amazing Amy really is calling all the shots. Also attached - Ben Affleck out in LA yesterday. [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 2:38 PM [Gabrielle’s summer before award season] [Gabrielle Union on vacation in Ibiza, Spain with Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Paul, July 1, 2016] Nate Parker and Gabrielle Union both received invitations to [join the Academy late last week]. The two star together in the upcoming film The Birth of a Nation, the record-breaking Sundance smash [that's been generating Oscar attention since January]. In other words, the Academy is setting them up as equals before the movie's release and campaign blitz or festival announcements get underway. Prepare to see a lot more of these two on the circuit among their new class of peers...and the buzz about how compelling this movie must be real enough for the Academy to respond before it comes out. Like the other inductees, Nate and Gabrielle were named to this list alongside two of their most notable projects - Nate for Beyond the Lights and Red Tails and Gabrielle for Top Five and Bad Boys II, respectively. Regardless of The Birth of a Nation's reception from the Academy or audiences - Nate stars in, directs, writes and produces the film, about the 1831 slave rebellion and uprising led by Nat Turner - the two will get to have their voices heard by the body that deems which stories and performances are worthy of the biggest prize in Hollywood. Shortly after her summons, Gabrielle tweeted about her new responsibility. She knows the value of this honour: Huge honor... And I cannot wait to vote. [ — Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) [June 29, 2016] Gabrielle Union consistently delivers solid performances, whether on her show Being Mary Jane, or in movies like She's All That or Top Five. When Chris Rock was promoting the latter, he went out of his way to praise her talents, calling her an underrated actress. He also name-dropped her in his scathing THR essay about how Hollywood is a "white industry" in spite of its ever-evolving quest for change. He implied Gabrielle could or should be considered an equal to Amy Adams [if both were up for the same gig on True Detective]. Either way, the Academy is noticing and she is on their radar. Great timing. New York Magazine reports Gabrielle "disappears" into her role in The Birth of a Nation, [a memorable yet unrecognizable non-speaking cameo]. In the interview, Gabrielle tells the reporter Jada Yuan, "If this movie can help you see the humanity in real people, maybe next year, in 2017, the Oscars won’t be so white." Though her role in the film may be small but impactful, Gabrielle has proven she's been willing and wants to promote the movie however she can, beyond herself. At the NBA All Star Game in Toronto, Gabrielle was thrilled to talk about the film and seemed to still be on a high from the [Sundance premiere barely a month earlier]. She, Nate and their co-star Aja Naomi King (of How to Get Away with Murder fame) also all [presented together at the BET Awards last week]. When Gabrielle learned of the Academy’s invitation, she was on vacation in Ibiza, with her husband Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Paul. The Birth of a Nation opens in October. Next stop…TIFF? [Vacation Vibes... @dwyanewade @cp3 @KingJames @mrs_savannahrj @jada_ap] A photo posted by Gabrielle Union-Wade (@gabunion) on Jul 1, 2016 at 8:39am PDT [🛳🛳🛳🛳🛳❤❤❤👑👑👑] A photo posted by Gabrielle Union-Wade (@gabunion) on Jun 29, 2016 at 2:37pm PDT [Click here for the rest of the photos.] Posted at 1:55 PM [Privacy Policy] - [Unsubscribe]