It's really hard to be funny. It's even harder to be funny and get paid for it. But the cartoon editor of The New Yorker, Bob Mankoff, has made a living making people laugh for decades.
So where do you start? There are so many ideas one could use for a joke. He says there are two main topics that are always funny and here's why.
Produced by Sam Rega
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Since it's release in November 2013, Disney's "Frozen" has become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time.
The kid-friendly flick, which cost $150 million to make, has raked in over $1.2 billion worldwide.
Disney saw record earnings as a result, and announced sales of more than $3 million in "Frozen" dresses, toys, and related merchandise.
But actors who voiced the characters in the film didn't see as much of a return as the film studio.
Josh Gad, who voices fan favorite snowman "Olaf," was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman" this week and revealed: "The thing made a couple of billion, I made a couple of thousand."
"No, they actually paid me really well," Gad said sarcastically as he shook his head back and forth to imply he was lying.
"No, I love you Disney, I really do," Gad backtracked. "They actually really took care of us and the luxury of this thing is that now we're all in the theme parks and get to see it all come to fruition."
"It was a blast, Gad added of his time shooting the movie. "They spread it out over the course of two years, so in total I did about ten [voiceover] sessions."
Regardless of any drama, Gad recently told E! Online he is "excited" to return for a "Frozen" sequel, adding, "I have complete faith in the creative team and I'm excited to hear that it's happening at this point."
But Gad isn't the only one not to profit as much as expected off the first film's success.
Actress Spencer Lacey Ganus, the 15-year-old who voiced teenage Elsa, received just a one-day guaranteed payment of $926.20, reports TMZ, who obtained a copy of Ganus' contract because it has to be filed with the courts since she is still a minor.
Ganus will, however, earn a pretty penny thanks to residual checks.
"She's collected more than $10,000 in residuals," the actress' rep told TMZ, adding that the money is being put into a college fund.
But Disney is no stranger to controversy over how much they pay their voice talent.
In 1992, Robin Williams was paid scale of $75,000 for his work on "Aladdin," which went on to gross more than $504 million worldwide.
Williams agreed to the fee "for my children," but told Disney, "I just don't want to sell anything — as in Burger King, as in toys, as in stuff."
After Disney proceeded to use Williams' voice in promo materials leading to a decade-long feud, the actor snarked, "You realize now when you work for Disney why the mouse has only four fingers — because he can't pick up a check."
Watch Gad discuss his "Frozen" paycheck on Letterman below:
SEE ALSO: There are only 6 Hollywood actors who can command $20 million per film
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Spoilers ahead — read at your own risk!
Nobody wanted to love "Furious 7" more than me.
And for the first time in "Fast & Furious" history, I was disappointed.
To be clear, the action is still fun, exciting, and over the top in the way that only a "Fast & Furious" movie can be. I had a goofy smile on my face during a number of the crazy stunts, even though most of the big-action set-pieces were spoiled in the trailers.
Beyond the stunts, the film has a number of problems.
New direction
Unfortunately, franchise newcomer James Wan, of the "Saw" franchise and "Insidious," is simply not as well versed in shooting high-octane action scenes as Justin Lin, director of "Fast & Furious" 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Wan's moving-camera tricks may work well in the context of his horror films, but his style does not at all mesh with this franchise.
Part of what makes "Furious" movies so easy to love is that the completely ludicrous action sequences are shot so well that it's easy to suspend disbelief and just go along for the ride. The chase scenes, heist scenes, and even simple hand-to-hand combat scenes have been the saving grace of the franchise.
The sequences have always stressed coherence over quick cuts. But Wan cuts away for large chunks of time and returns arbitrarily, and it's discombobulating for the viewer.
The much anticipated Michelle Rodriguez-UFC star Ronda Rousey fight pales in comparison to any number of female-to-female fights from "Furious 6." There is so much happening in this sequence, but Lin's masterful cross-cutting ensured that the audience never loses their bearings.
The fight sequences in "Furious 7" are far more haphazard, so it's harder to tell who is fighting who and which fist is which, and they're just not as exciting.
As for big action, rewatching the plane sequence or the London chase in "Furious 6" really shows how Lin succeeds where Wan fails. Lin's camera connects the action, and it's coherent and makes sense. The same shot will go from inside a plane and pan to what's happening outside in a way that is seamless and all too rare in the action genre.
No scene in "Furious 7" compares.
Wan's sensibilities work wonders in his horror films, from "Saw" all the way through his recent monster success, "The Conjuring," but this is his first attempt at shooting big action.
And Justin Lin had four "Fast & Furious" movies to perfect his craft. He grew along with the franchise, mastering the stunt coordination and honing an eye for bigger, badder action sequences, the scope of which appeared limitless.
"Furious 7" is Wan's debut, and his project was overshadowed by tragedy.
Paul Walker
The film's biggest problem is Paul Walker's presence, or rather lack thereof, after he died in a car accident midway through filming. Initial reports said Walker was at least 80% done with filming, but there's no way this is the case.
Paul Walker's Brian O'Connor just never feels like a real character. His role, as well as the rest of the ensemble, is completely expendable. If he were totally written out of the movie, it would play out exactly the same.
There are a handful of scenes in which Paul Walker actually appears — for the rest of them they used his brothers as stand-ins and hide his face from the camera.
The CGI is so well done that you can't tell it's not Walker, but it's still clear the filmmakers had to jump through hoops to make the movie work after Paul's death.
His dialogue is recycled from older movies, it cuts to the same static reaction shot over and over, and they do whatever they can to make sure the camera is never anywhere near his face. There's no real solution to this very specific problem, but it's distracting when noticed.
The film also shoehorns in a number of "wink wink nudge nudge" moments about his death, and they're all emotionally manipulative and unnecessary given the way the movie ends.
The franchise has always had its heart in the right place — the cast is one big multicultural family, and they want you to know it — but the melodrama goes off the deep end here. The human moments were earned in the previous films, but here they just happen without any rhyme or reason, and are more laughable than affecting.
And unlike the rest of the films, "Furious 7" isn't even about the crew. Vin Diesel is presented as an action hero in the vein of an '80s Schwarzenegger film, complete with all the stupid one-liners and mugging for the camera.
When the crew finally assembles, it's incredibly anticlimactic and there's zero build-up — they're all just suddenly there and ready to go. They add in back story for emotional effect, and it feels cheap and unnecessary.
In the older films, each character is given his or her own introduction: We cut to different parts of the world and check in with each person and find out what they've been up to since their last adventure. This gives the audience a chance to really connect with the characters and become emotionally invested, so when the absurd action sequences go down, we have a reason to care.
The "Furious 7" crew members play like pale imitations of themselves, with each getting a line here and there to remind us of their role. Tyrese says something silly, Ludacris and the rest of the gang crack jokes at this expense, and we move on to the next scene. Instead of proper attention to the full team, Vin Diesel picks up all the slack, and the entire movie revolves around him.
The biggest mystery is why Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson takes such a backseat here — he is all over the marketing material but confined to a hospital bed almost the entire time. UFC star Ronda Rousey and famed martial artist Tony Jaa are both in the cast, but show up for a combined total of maybe five minutes of screentime.
Instead of pumping up these roles, we just get a lot more Vin Diesel reaction shots. The circumstances of filming — rewrites and reshoots to account for Walker's absence — doesn't quite explain the curious lack of airtime for some solid characters.
It doesn't help that Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is a pretty lame villain. He's more of a caricature than an actual person, and the opening title sequence shows that right away. He shows up, dukes it out with Vin Diesel (multiple times), disappears, and pops up again whenever it's narratively convenient.
There's no character building — just destruction. And Vin could have easily taken care of him in one of the film's first scenes.
The "story" itself only gets more convoluted and ridiculous as it goes along ... which is typical of the franchise, but here they're not even trying to make it work in context. By the time we get to the deus ex machina at the end, I was completely checked out.
The connections between the old films and the new films have previously been well thought out and intricately plotted ahead of time. In "Furious 7," they just make stuff up, and attempts to thread the franchise needle feel more like fan fiction than the next logical step.
"Furious 7" is clearly a labor of love, and that's also the reason why it doesn't really work. The "Fast & Furious" franchise has always been silly, but for the first time in its 14-year history, it's really dumb.
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NOW WATCH: Cars fall from the sky in the new 'Furious 7' movie
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. (AP) — The former drummer and a founding member of the Southern hard rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, Robert Burns Jr., died late Friday in a single-vehicle crash in Georgia, police and his father said.
Burns' vehicle went off a road just before midnight as it approached a curve near Cartersville, striking a mailbox and a tree, Georgia State Patrol spokeswoman Tracey Watson said. Burns, 64, was killed in the wreck. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
Burns was one of five musicians who founded the band in Jacksonville, Florida. While Burns was with the group, it recorded "Sweet Home Alabama," ''Gimme Three Steps," and "Free Bird." He left the group in 1974.
He continued to play for fun or in guest appearances nationally, said his father, Robert Burns Sr. Early on, the group played in the Burns' family garage.
"He was a product of his mother, so far as manners is concerned," the elder Burns said. "He had the manners that would suit the King of England. Very soft-spoken and extremely well-mannered person to come out of that kind of industry."
SEE ALSO: Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' is America's favorite road trip anthem
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With "Furious 7" — the latest installment of the "Fast and Furious" series — out in theaters on Easter weekend, we now know what car the film's villain will be driving.
It's a Jag!
Jason Statham is the bad guy, and his character — the sinister Deckard Shaw — opens the film behind the wheel of a white Jaguar F-Type.
Previous "Fast and Furious" villains have driven everything from a Honda S2000s to an Aston Martin Vanquish.
But those who've been watching TV for past year shouldn't be all that surprised to find the "Furious 7" baddie behind the wheel of a Jag.
Jaguar kicked off its "Good to be bad" marketing campaign last year with a gloriously sinister Super Bowl ad.
The ad, featuring such British movie villains as Sir Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong — and Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston — plays on why Brits make such great evil dudes. Interspersed with the actors' speeches are shots of Jag's F-Type driving through London.
The campaign is meant to position the Jaguar as a sleek and attractive, yet naughty, alternative to the straight-and-narrow Mercedes and BMWs that dominate the luxury car segment.
And it seems to have worked, with Jaguar Land Rover notching its best sales year ever in 2014.
Like his fellow "Fast and Furious" characters, Statham's Shaw won't be confined to just one car. Throughout the film, Shaw will also be behind the wheel of a modified Maserati Ghibli and an Aston Martin DB9.
And this isn't the only badness on film that we'll be seeing from Jag. The carmaker's terrifyingly gorgeous C-X75 will provide a wicked set of wheels for the villain in the upcoming James Bond flick, "Spectre."
The Jaguar F-Type sports car is the company's highly praised follow up to the legendary E-Type of the 1970s. With power coming from an available 5.0-liter, 550-horsepower, supercharged V8, the sleek cat can rocket to 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds, with a top speed of 186 mph.
In addition to the top-of-the-line V8 coupe, the F-Type is also available in convertible and supercharged V6 variants.
Business Insider got the chance to spend a few hundred miles behind the wheel of both the coupe and convertible versions of the Jag and came away duly impressed by the sports car. We found the F-Type to be a capable high performance machine that's both luxurious and comfortable to drive, with an exquisitely styled exterior.
"Furious 7" hits theaters in the US April 3.
Check out the official trailer here:
SEE ALSO: The 15 coolest cars from the 'Fast and Furious' movies
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NOW WATCH: Cars fall from the sky in the new 'Furious 7' movie
If "Mad Men" is anything to go by, working in the ad industry back in the 1960s looked like an awful lot of fun.
There's the drinking, the sex, the fashionable clothes, the fancy restaurants, the big creative ideas (that often look as though they were made up on the spot), and the exciting inter-office dramas.
The advertising industry would probably like to portray that the darker side of its "Mad Men" history — the alcoholism, misogyny, and bitter rifts between co-workers and competitors — are just that: Legacy of a bygone era.
But what's it really like? Are there still the three Martini lunches, sex in the supply closet, big macho pitches? With the seventh and final season of "Mad Men" just around the corner, we decided to ask.
The short answer is yes.
Amir Kassaei, chief creative officer of DDB Worldwide tells us: "Big, wild holiday parties back in the 90s with sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll still stand out. Cannes [the big annual advertising festival and awards show,] for one week every year, is still 'Mad Men' at its best. I had a barkeeper at the Martinez Bar tell me that the ad executives drink 10 times the amount of alcohol in one week than the film executives during their week in Cannes."
We're not sure if he's joking, but Steve Red, the partner and chief creative officer at Red Tettemer O'Connell + Partners, tells us that drinking is a way of life for the modern era "Mad Men": "Martini lunches are for amateurs. Our Kegregator goes 24/7, and I wouldn't trust an agency without a bar. Industry parties? Yes."
The episode in season four where the team at Sterling Cooper win a CLIO and disappear for three days is one that "rings true" for, Jared Gutstadt, the CEO and founder of music marketing agency Jingle Punks: "The Jingle Punks work hard but we also celebrate hard too and our appearance at industry events has become nothing short of legendary. We built an Airstream at this year’s SXSW where we took client meetings by day, transforming it into a whiskey bar on wheels by night, smack bang in the heart of downtown Austin."
However, most of the execs we spoke to said that alcohol intake is mostly reserved for after office hours, not like Draper with his fully-stocked drinks cabinet in his office always readily available to dip into.
Better. But not well enough.
Leeanne Leahy, president of the VIA Agency, said the industry still has a long way to go: "Today the culture is more tolerant and accepting of women, but it isn't inviting enough. The industry talks about having women at the helm, and there are more women leading agencies. However, as an industry, we've created an environment that is accepting of women's success but doesn't actively invite it."
DDB Worldwide's Kassaei agrees. "I believe that we still have to work on gender equality in the industry. We need more women as creative leaders," Kassaei said.
The ads targeting women have taken a more realistic approach, however, according to Lou Aversano, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather New York: "We've gone from ads that told women how they could be better wives if they used a certain product to creative work that inspires women to be confident in who they are. Ogilvy's 'Real Beauty' campaign for Dove is a great example of this."
Mad Men: The Carousel from ray3c on Vimeo.
They're still as bombastic as ever. DDB Worldwide's Kassaei says you still have to "wow" the room.
Tor Myhren, worldwide chief creative officer at Grey, told us: "Pitches haven't really changed. They're like our version of the Olympics. You work day and night for weeks or months, all for the chance to get on that high-pressure stage for two hours and sell your idea. They're competitive as hell, and in my opinion, the best part of the job."
But Myhren says some of the antics Don Draper pulls in his presentations would be "laughed at" today: "We're past the whole 'dramatic delivery' thing. Just get to your idea, make it relevant, and make it crystal clear. Never mind the drama."
There's still an element of Draper, but there's more sophistication to pitches now, VIA Agency's Leahy told us. "'Mad Men' always showed Don Draper capturing the imagination of a client, which hasn't changed; our job is still to show them what's possible. That said, there are more rational components to pitches than there once were. We’re more involved with non-emotional components, such as procurement and the competitive nature of the pitch. Instead of working in a vacuum, we prefer to work with clients when possible."
"There is no day to day," RTO+P's Red says. "It's more like day and night."
DDB Worldwide's Kassaei described his average day: "My day starts at 5am with conference calls to DDB’s Australian and Asian markets. I arrive to the office at 7:30am, but I don’t have time for 'Mad Men'-style 'lunch meetings' or breaks. If I am not in the office, I am flying. Last year, I was on a plane for 300 days out of the year. I am still smoking, but outside the building."
Not only have days got longer, but they're more intense, Ogilvy's Aversano told us: "You have to factor in digital, the use of data, media channels. There are more players and more ideas on the table. We have so many more channels and platforms to consider – so much more than Don Draper and his team had to think about."
Views here we split down the middle.
We'll start with the middle. Ogilvy's Aversano told us: "In some ways, the perception hasn't changed at all. it is still viewed as an art practiced by the experienced few but in many ways with the advent of digital and the rise of the Super Bowl as advertising's day in the sun it has become the sport of many. There is far more scrutiny, awareness and thought put into what we do and how we do it."
VIA Agency's Leahy said: "Back then, the industry was deemed much more glamorous, like it was covered in fairy dust. It was the rock and roll of the business world. Today, it’s viewed as less sexy ... However, companies used to think of advertising as a sales tool; today, they regard advertising as a true strategic imperative for business development. Advertising is now seen as a component for driving business growth, not just communication."
But with a polar opposite view, Myhren said: "Oddly, despite its horribly depressing plot lines and despicable characters, Mad Men has made advertising sexy again. Go figure.”
RTO+P's Red added: "People still don't trust us, but they still want to be us."
SEE ALSO: Meet Ginny Bahr: She's worked at ad agency JWT since the 'Mad Men' era — and she's not quitting yet
SEE ALSO: Forget 'Mad Men', here's what the women of Madison Avenue really looked like in the 1960s
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NOW WATCH: How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' have changed over the years
AMC will begin to air the final episodes of “Mad Men” on Sunday.
If you haven't had a chance to watch the first part of the final season 7, which aired last spring, don't worry, we have you covered.
Before saying goodbye for good to Don Draper and the rest of the gang, here's a refresher of what went down the first half of the final season.
If you haven't watched the first part of season 7 yet, warning: spoilers ahead.
AMC will begin to air the final episodes of “Mad Men” on Sunday.
If you haven't had a chance to watch the first part of the final season 7, which aired last spring, don't worry, we have you covered.
Before saying goodbye for good to Don Draper and the rest of the gang, here's a refresher of what went down the first half of the final season.
If you haven't watched the first part of season 7 yet, warning: spoilers ahead.
In HBO's explosive new Scientology documentary "Going Clear," one of the most interesting and least discussed allegations is that Scientology once hand-picked and groomed a young church member to become Tom Cruise's girlfriend.
As former Scientologists explain in the documentary, the church does whatever it can to keep Cruise happy because "In the eyes of [Scientology leader] David Miscavige, Tom Cruise is the perfect Scientology celebrity," according to ex-Scientology executive Mike Rinder.
The church reportedly kept Cruise happy by doing him favors like tricking out all of his cars and motorcycles.
And decking out his airplane hanger in Santa Monica, California.
So when Cruise was looking for a new girlfriend after his breakup with Nicole Kidman, the church jumped to help, the documentary said.
"Tom was in Spain. They were opening a new Scientology church in Madrid, and he was overheard complaining that he needed a new girlfriend," said Lawrence Wright, author of the best-selling book "Going Clear," on which the documentary is based.
"Soon after that," Wright said, "a young Scientologist pre-med student named Nazanin Boniadi was told she was going to get a special assignment."
At this point in the documentary, director Alex Gibney chimed in via narration to explain: "Years later, Nazanin became a successful TV actress ..."
"... and would have a small part in a Paul Haggis [director and former Scientologist] film."
"But at the time, she was a dedicated young Scientologist ..."
"... who believed in the church's claims for its humanitarianism mission."
"In fact, she set a monthly record for selling books for the church."
"Nazanin may not speak publicly about her experiences because of an NDA the church pressured her to sign," Gibney said, "but I discovered details from FBI testimony regarding her ordeal."
"David Miscavige assigned Nazanin's case to a key church official, Greg Wilhere," Gibney said. "He put her through a one-month program of on-camera interviews, intensive auditing, and some security checks."
"She was moved into the Celebrity Center, separated from her family, and certain problems were addressed during this period of time," adds author Lawrence Wright. "One was that she had a boyfriend."
"She is handed a transcript of his auditing session in which he admitted that he had an affair," Wright said, "so she broke up with him."
Now that Boniadi was single, it was time for her makeover.
"Wilhere took her to an orthodontist to have her braces removed," Gibney said.
"At Burberry and other stores in Beverly Hills, he bought her $20,000 worth of clothes."
"At the Celebrity Center, a man who worked for Cruise's hairstylist colored Nazanin's hair to Cruise's liking."
"Nazanin was told that her makeover was part of the church's humanitarian mission, because she had to look her best for conferences with world leaders."
"Only after she was flown first class to New York, did she discover the actual role that the church wanted her to play — she was to be the girlfriend of Scientology's biggest star."
"Within a month, Nazanin was living with Cruise. While at his house in Telluride, Miscavige came to visit."
"Overcome by a severe headache, Nazanin had a hard time understanding Miscavige, which infuriated him. The next day, Cruise — inches from her face — pounded on the table and screamed at her for insulting the head of the church."
"Two weeks later, church henchman Tommy Davis delivered the news to Nazain that her relationship with Cruise was over."
Director and outspoken former Scientologist Paul Haggis explained what allegedly happened next: "According to her [Bodiani], they [the church] came to her apartment with her mum and found every photograph of the two of them together [Bodiani and Cruise] and took them away and every scrap, every letter, everything, they tossed as if it never existed."
"And she was really upset because she was really hurt by the whole thing. And she made the mistake of telling her friend, who immediately went to tell someone in the church. She agreed to do punishment, like cleaning out the public bathroom on her hands and knees with a toothbrush, while other people she knew were stepping over her.
She did nothing wrong, other than tell her friend she was heartbroken, and this is the way she was treated?"
After the incident, Bodiani pursued an acting career and has since appeared in "Homeland," "Scandal, "How I Met Your Mother," "Iron Man," among many other titles.
Neither she nor Cruise have ever publicly discussed their alleged relationship.
Despite Bodiani's story, "The church claims [leader] Miscavige has no involvement in Cruise's personal life and that the search for Cruise's girlfriend never existed," Gibney states in the film.
But Cruise and Miscavige's relationship is deep, going back decades.
"Tom Cruise was the guy," former Scientology exec Mike Rinder said. "Miscavige and Cruise have been pretty buddy-buddy way back to 1990s 'Days of Thunder.' In the eyes of Miscavige, Tom Cruise is the perfect Scientology celebrity."
And it seems like Cruise also enjoys Miscavige's friendship.
In one clip during "Going Clear," Cruise enthusiastically congratulates the Scientology leader during a church conference by proclaiming, "We are lucky to have you. Thank you."
Nazanin Boniadi's rep declined to comment on the story, and Cruise's rep hasn't responded to our request for comment.
Read Scientology's lengthy response to "Going Clear" here.
SEE ALSO: The chilling story of how Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard rose to power
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NOW WATCH: This Scientology documentary made HBO hire 160 lawyers — here's the trailer
Astrophysicist and cosmologist Neil DeGrasse Tyson is defending Scientology in light of HBO's highly critical documentary on the church.
HBO's documentary "Going Clear" did not show the church in an entirely positive light— Scientology has a built a reputation for tormenting members who leave it, reportedly with either surveillance or harassment.
The film highlights the celebrities who made the religion intriguing to the world as well as the horrific stories of abuse from former members.
But Tyson, in an interview with The Daily Beast, declined to bash the controversial church, saying people are free to believe whatever they want.
"So, you have people who are certain that a man in a robe transforms a cracker into the literal body of Jesus saying that what goes on in Scientology is crazy? Let’s realize this. What matters is not who says who’s crazy, what matters is we live in a free country," Tyson, known for his skeptical views of Christianity, said. "You can believe whatever you want, otherwise it’s not a free country—it’s something else. If we start controlling what people think and why they think it, we have case studies where that became the norm. I don’t care what the tenets are of Scientology. They don’t distract me. I don’t judge them, and I don’t criticize them."
There is dispute, however, about whether or not Scientology is a legitimate religion.
France convicted the organization for “organized fraud.” And it is notorious for convincing people to join its system, having them pay for "readings," and allegedly employing types of blackmail to keep people in the organization.
Former members of the church have sued, claiming the church has duped people into donating millions of dollars toward misrepresented causes, according to The Telegraph.
A 2011 tax filing values the three organizations comprising Scientology at $1.5 billion, according to The Wrap. The church sought a tax-exempt status from the IRS for several years before it finally got it in 1993.
The church's founder, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, "started his career as a writer doing pulp-fiction works for which he was paid a penny a word."
Most of his writing was science fiction, specifically about missions into space — themes that would later come up again in Scientology's unbelievable theory of how the world began.
Hubbard reportedly said, "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion," at a meeting of the Eastern Science Fiction Association in November 1948.
Here's what Tyson told the Beast about Scientology's status as a religion: "Religions, if you analyze them, who is to say that one religion is rational and another isn’t? It looks like the older those thoughts have been around, the likelier it is to be declared a religion. If you’ve been around 1,000 years you’re a religion, and if you’ve been around 100 years, you’re a cult. That’s how people want to divide the kingdom."
Tyson continues: "Religions have edited themselves over the years to fit the times, so I’m not going to sit here and say Scientology is an illegitimate religion and other religions are legitimate religions. They’re all based on belief systems. Look at Mormonism! There are ideas that are as space-exotic within Mormonism as there are within Scientology, and it’s more accepted because it’s a little older than Scientology is, so are we just more accepting of something that’s older?"
"Going Clear" is based on Lawrence Wright's best-selling book of the same name. The documentary premiered Sunday night on HBO.
Jason Guerrasio contributed to this report.
SEE ALSO: How a filmmaker finally infiltrated Scientology for HBO's explosive documentary
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The "Fast and Furious" franchise has evolved from films featuring hot cars and hot babes to having some of the most heart-stopping stunts you'll find at theaters.
One of the men responsible for making those scenes look as realistic as possible is 30-year stunt veteran Spiro Razatos.
"For the fourth film ("Fast & Furious") they kind of relied too much on CGI," Razatos told Business Insider. "So they realized they wanted to do less. That's what I do."
Razatos is responsible for some of the most jaw-dropping sequences from the franchise including when Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker), and the rest of the crew dragged a giant bank vault through the busy streets of Rio de Janeiro in "Fast Five."
He also worked on the duel with a tank in "Fast and Furious 6."
In both sequences, very little CGI was included, using real vaults and tanks to pull it off.
With fans starving for more, "Furious 7" director James Wan and the producers once again came to Razatos to take on the franchise's most insane sequence yet.
They called it the "air drop."
The idea was to have a sequence in the film in which Dom and company in their souped-up cars drop from a plane high above Colorado and parachute into the mountains below.
"When I first read [the script] it was, 'cars drop and they kidnap this girl and they get away on the road,' that was it," Razatos recalls.
The producers assumed the sequence would have to rely heavily on special effects, but Razatos had other plans.
"I said let's really go for it and make the effort because I want this whole sequence to feel real, that's what the audience expects," he said.
The stunt took months of prep time to solve problems. Cameras needed to be mounted onto cars in a way that they wouldn't be destroyed when the cars landed, and the crew needed a safe way to get the cars out of the plane.
"What if one of them gets stuck coming out of the plane?" said Razatos. "How is the plane going to land when you have a car dangling outside of it?"
They finally were able to do a "dry run," with a single car falling out of a plane. But some on the film weren't impressed by the raw footage.
"It was 20 minutes and the cameras weren't placed where they should be," Razatos recalls. "I remember telling the guys, 'ignore this, this is just a test.'"
With a green light, shooting took place in Colorado with two airplane runs, flying at 12,000 feet, that would drop two cars apiece.
Over 10 cameras were used for the sequence. In addition to cameras on the ground, there were cameras remotely operated inside the plane and another three mounted outside each car. Additional cameras were on a helicopter where Razatos was stationed watching monitors and listening to the radio chatter. Three skydivers used in the shoot wore helmet cams.
Skydivers would either jump out before cars or after them.
"I didn't realize how intense it would be," Razatos admits now.
"Sometimes a piece of debris would come off the car, so skydivers had to watch out for that," he added. "I'm in a helicopter and I want to get in close for the shots but you have to watch out because of the helicopter blades."
There were also spotters keeping an eye on how close the cars were getting to the skydivers. "On the radio you'd hear people say, 'Skydiver, 200 feet you have a car gaining on your two o'clock,'" Razatos said.
Regardless of all the safety precautions, accidents can happen. Razatos says in one of the runs a skydiver lost his footing getting out of the plane and bounced off the rear exit hatch on his way out of the plane. Not the most graceful of jumps, but Razatos said he was fine.
When one car landed, its parachute caught an air pocket and was carrying the car to the freeway. "I'm hearing on the radio the car is being dragged and it can't stop," said Razatos. "People were on motorcycles to get to the car; jumping on the car with knives to cut the parachute."
And then there's the one car of the four that didn't make it because its parachute didn't deploy. "That car got demolished," said Razatos. "You got to see what would happen if a car really dropped from that height."
Much of what Razatos and his 2nd unit team did on the day made it into the final cut of the movie. Some of it was enhanced to increase the look of the speed at which cars were diving. Shots of the actors in the cars were put in later. But, for the most part, Razatos' mission to do the scene as realistically as possible was a success.
"I started doing stunts when I was 10 years old making Super 8 movies. This feels like I'm back in those days," Razatos said about working on the "Fast and Furious" films.
Thinking back on the "air drop" sequence he admits, "That's going to be hard to top."
Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how the sequence was done:
SEE ALSO: Meet the sexy $3 million hypercar featured in 'Fast and Furious 7'
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The seventh installment to the “Fast and Furious” franchise, “Furious 7,” beat all analyst expectations opening weekend.
Over the Easter holiday, the film starring Vin Diesel, The Rock, and Paul Walker in his final performance, debuted to an estimated $143.6 million.
Is there still a drinking culture?
FURIOUS 7 set a new April opening weekend record this weekend with an estimated $143.6M. #Furious7#OneLastRide
— BoxOffice (@BoxOffice) April 5, 2015Early estimates predicted the film would make $115 m-$120 million at most.
$143.6 million is not only the biggest opening weekend for the “Fast and Furious” franchise, but it’s also now the highest-grossing debut for an April film, topping 2014's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ($95 million).
The film made another $240 million internationally to bring its worldwide gross to $384 million.
Say what you will about the "Fast and Furious" franchise, but they clearly know their audience.
Fans not only went out to see the entire cast reunite on screen, but also to see Walker's final performance after he was killed in 2013.
Social media played a huge role in the film's weekend surge. For over a year, the "Fast and Furious" social media pages (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) have all shared news, videos, and behind-the-scenes photos for the forthcoming seventh film and have taken looks back at the previous installments. Items shared across social media platforms feel organic and unique to that individual network. You rarely see a tweet go out that mirrors a Facebook posting or an Instgram image or video.
Since Walker's death, the rest of the "Fast and Furious" cast also amassed big fan followings on social media. Vin Diesel quickly became the most-followed celebrity on Facebook for sharing messages in both English and Spanish. He publicly grieved the loss of, who he called, his brother, Pablo (Paul Walker), sharing images, video messages, and memories of the two together. Tyrese and Ludacris also gained large followings on Instagram.
The film itself had a little bit of something for everyone involved. It was a downright good time at theaters. Obviously, a lot of heart was placed into making the seventh film happen. Production shut down for a few months after Walker's death. It wasn't clear if the movie was even going to move forward.
By the end of its run, "Furious 7" will likely hit $1 billion worldwide.
Here’s a look at the other opening weekends in the franchise. With the exception of the third film, "Tokyo Drift," each opening weekend has been bigger than the last.
Before checking out @TheRock in #Furious7, take a look @ the @FastFurious franchise's furious box office performance. pic.twitter.com/9YZz8fGnVR
— Rentrak (@Rentrak) March 31, 2015SEE ALSO: "Furious 7" could be the first movie this year to make $1 billion
AND: Our review of "Furious 7":
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NOW WATCH: Cars fall from the sky in the new 'Furious 7' movie
When "Mad Men" first debuted in 2007, it featured a cast made up mostly of unknown actors.
Before the hit AMC show, many of the cast members had bit roles in TV shows and films, one was even a clown who performed at birthday parties.
But with the success of the Emmy-winning drama series, the actors' careers skyrocketed.
Today, Jon Hamm, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, and others, have all seen major career boosts thanks to "Mad Men."
Hamm's pre-"Mad Men" acting career has become something of a legend now. He had trouble finding roles due to his "older appearance," and he was eventually dropped by his agency. He also briefly taught an acting class at his old high school in St. Louis (where one of his students was "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" star Ellie Kemper).
His first credited TV appearance was "Gorgeous Guy at Bar" in an episode of "Ally McBeal."
The first trailer for the new upcoming Amy Winehouse documentary “Amy: The Girl Behind the Name,” has been released. The documentary is set to be released in the UK in July. The trailer shows a young Amy voicing her concerns about the effects of fame.
Winehouse was found dead after a drug overdose in 2011, at 27 years old.
Video courtesy of Altitude Film
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In 2009, actress Leah Remini left the church of Scientology after 30 years and she didn't go quietly.
Remini explained her departure was because "no one is going to tell me how I need to think, no one is going to tell me who I can, and cannot, talk to."
One of the few celebrities who has been as vocal about breaking from Scientology is Oscar-winning writer/director Paul Haggis, who has publicly criticized the church for requiring members to "disconnect" from those who have chosen to cut ties with the religion.
In the wake of Remini's break from Scientology, Haggis wrote an open letter thanking the actress in The Hollywood Reporter. After Sunday's HBO premiere of explosive Scientology documentary "Going Clear" — in which Haggis is prominently featured as an interview subject — the letter is more relevant than ever.
While Haggis begins his note by cautioning, "Leah and I haven’t spoken in quite a while" and "we were always friendly but never close friends," the director continues, "she called me as soon as she heard about my letter of resignation" from the church.
"Unlike the rest of my former friends, she expressed real sadness that I was leaving and concern for me and my family," Haggis writes.
So when he heard that Remini had later left the church, the "Crash" and "Million Dollar Baby" writer says "I read some things that really disturbed me."
"First was the way Leah was being attacked by her celebrity 'friends,' who were disparaging her character," he explains. "What was new to me was the report that Leah had run afoul of the church by challenging Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, who is held to be infallible."
Remini reportedly questioned the whereabouts of Miscavige's wife, Shelly, who hasn't been seen in years.
"The next thing I learned made me feel terrible," Haggis explains in his open letter. "Leah got in trouble because of me, because when I was 'declared' a 'Suppressive Person' and shunned, she came to my defense — without me ever knowing it. She had shouting matches with Tommy Davis, then the church spokesman, who had come to try and keep her quiet."
Haggis concludes by applauding Remini's bravery, writing:
I can’t express how much I admire Leah. Her parents, family and close friends were almost all Scientologists; the stakes for her were so much higher than for me. Her decision to leave was so much braver...
I finally called Leah during the last week of July. Her answering service didn’t recognize my number, so it took a while to get through. It was good to hear her voice and great to hear her laugh -- though it was easy to tell she had been terribly hurt and shaken by the events of the last weeks. That said, Leah is an incredibly strong woman and will get through this with the help of her family and her true friends. She is kind and generous and loyal; she has always cared more about others than herself. She barely knew me, and yet she fought for me and my family, a battle she had to know in her gut she was never going to win. That takes an enormous amount of integrity and compassion. I will leave it to you to decide if the same can be said of Scientology’s executives and Leah’s many former friends — especially those Scientologists who are watching her be smeared now and are choosing to stay silent.
I will forever be grateful to her.
To read Haggis' entire open letter on The Hollywood Reporter, click here.
After watching "Going Clear" Sunday night on HBO, Remini tweeted:
Thank you to the brave who did something about it. And to those who didn't have a voice, you do now. #GoingClear
— Leah Remini (@LeahRemini) March 30, 2015
SEE ALSO: People were shocked after watching HBO's explosive Scientology documentary last night
MORE: 21 famous Church of Scientology members
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NOW WATCH: 6 Crazy Things Revealed In HBO's Explosive New Scientology Documentary 'Going Clear'
The “Fast and Furious” films have become one of the biggest action franchises in Hollywood thanks to its ridiculous mixture of high-speed car chases and pulse-pounding stunts.
The latest film out of the high-octane saga, “Furious 7,” continues that trend. But, surprisingly, one of the most insane stunts in the film was almost never filmed.
2nd unit director, Spiro Razatos, a 30-year veteran stuntman who has been responsible with overseeing the crazy action sequences in the franchise since “Fast Five,” told Business Insider the scene in which Brian (Paul Walker) tracks down hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) from a bus traveling at high speeds in the mountains of Colorado, almost didn’t make it into the film.
“In Colorado, they didn’t want to shoot there because there wasn’t a tax break,” Razatos said.
Films both large and small try to shoot movies in states that provide tax breaks as they receive incentives for shooting there. In some cases this includes receiving cash grants, fee-free shooting locations, and lodging exemptions.
Razatos, who is also responsible for directing the “air drop” sequence in “Furious 7” where Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian, and the rest of the crew drop their cars out of a plane, said he not only had to talk the producers into shooting the mountain sequence in Colorado, but convince them to film it at all.
The producers were concerned the sequence would go too long if an elaborate chase for the bus through the mountains followed the air drop. The mountain sequence also included a dramatic fight where Brian has to jump off of it before the bus falls off a cliff. The producers suggested, according to Razatos, that after the cars fall from the sky, “We get [the cars] on the road, [save the girl], and get away.”
In doing this, they wanted Razatos to film the chase in Georgia, a state that provides a tax break for film productions, and then they’d add woods in the background later in post production.
They would completely scrap shooting the bus-falling-off-a-cliff stunt.
Razatos convinced the producers to spend the money so they could do the mountain sequence for real in Colorado.
“I told them, ‘Trust me, it’s going to pay off,’” Razatos told BI. "'The audience is going to know [it's CGI] and aren't going to feel good about it.' The studio came through at the end and let me go out to a place nobody would let you go shoot without a tax break nowadays and trusted me."
The sequence, which included tipping a real bus off a cliff as a stunt person jumped off it, was all done without any computer graphics.
Paul Walker's brother Cody shared an image of how it looked on set:
“Other than taking out the moving wires,” which is worn by the stuntmen, “none of that is enhanced with computer graphics,” Razatos boasted.
“That was my biggest moment,” said Razatos about being able to film the bus-going-off-the-cliff. “It turned out to be the pivotal point in the sequence.”
SEE ALSO: 'Furious 7' will probably be the next $1 billion movie
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NOW WATCH: Cars fall from the sky in the new 'Furious 7' movie
UPDATE: Series creator David Lynch has taken to Twitter to confirm his exit from Showtime's revival of "Twin Peaks."
Here are his tweets in full, which mirror the statement from David Lynch's office obtained by a fan-run Facebook page.
Dear Twitter Friends, Showtime did not pull the plug on Twin Peaks.
— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) April 5, 2015After 1 year and 4 months of negotiations, I left because not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done.
— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) April 5, 2015This weekend I started to call actors to let them know I would not be directing. Twin Peaks may still be very much alive at Showtime.
— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) April 5, 2015I love the world of Twin Peaks and wish things could have worked out differently.
— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) April 5, 2015Showtime has since issued an official statement on the matter:
“We were saddened to read David Lynch’s statement today since we believed we were working towards solutions with David and his reps on the few remaining deal points. Showtime also loves the world of ‘Twin Peaks" and we continue to hold out hope that we can bring it back in all its glory with both of its extraordinary creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, at its helm.”
ORIGINAL STORY:
Rough news out of WonderCon today— according to several tweets from convention attendees, Showtime has reportedly canceled the revival of David Lynch's cult series "Twin Peaks."
Breaking news out of WonderCon: Showtime has apparently pulled the plug on the new Twin Peaks TV series. No word yet as to why.
— Bill Hunt (@thedigitalbits) April 5, 2015David contacted cast members today to inform them Showtime pulled the plug.
— Twin Peaks Festival (@TwinPeaksFest) April 5, 2015I've got bad news. No official word yet, but it looks like the Twin Peaks on Showtime deal is dead. But remember, Twin Peaks will never die!
— Twin Peaks (@ThatsOurWaldo) April 5, 2015Showtime officially announced its return back in October, but rumors have been swirling about its cancelation for the past few weeks following David Lynch's comments during an ABC Australia interview.
As of three weeks ago, Lynch was "still working on a contract" with Showtime.
Following Lynch's comments, a "source close to the show" told Entertainment Weekly that "everything is moving forward and everybody is crazy thrilled and excited.”
The source didn't have much to add about Lynch's participation.
"Twin Peaks" follows an FBI investigation into the murder of a homecoming queen named Laura Palmer. The series is known for its bizarre, Lynchian style and while it didn't last long on television (1990-1991), it inspired a feature film following its cancelation titled "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" in 1992.
Star Kyle McLachlan was set to return to the role of Agent Cooper, and series creator David Lynch was supposed to direct all nine episodes.
Welcome back to #TwinPeaks Special Agent Dale Cooper! @Kyle_MacLachlan returns in '16 on @SHO_Network#damnfinecoffeepic.twitter.com/vTphDLvR0y
— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) January 12, 2015Join the conversation about this story »
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Almost 11 months after “Mad Men” paused it’s final season, the show finally returned last night with the first of its final episodes.
After Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and his actress-wife Megan (Jessica Paré) decided to end their marriage in the last episode of the first part of season seven, Sunday's premiere had Draper back to his skirt-chasing ways.
One interesting storyline through the episode is Don’s reaction to the death of Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff), an old fling of Don’s from back in season 1.
But who is this past character who is suddenly addressed in the new episode?
On Sunday, we saw her appear wearing nothing but a long fur coat in a day dream Don has while casting models for an ad.
The dream motivates Don to look her up. But his secretary later informs him that she recently died. This leads Don to pay his respects at her Shiva. There he meets Rachel’s sister, who knows everything about their affair and guilts him for showing up.
When Don later meets a waitress at a diner (Elizabeth Reaser of "Twilight" fame), he ends up having sex with her because she reminds him of Rachel.
Looking back on Don and Rachel’s affair, you realize why her death affected him.
We first met Rachel in the pilot episode of the show, looking for advertising for her department store. Don was instantly attracted to her and that only grew when Rachel played coy toward his advances.
Through more business meetings, the two began to connect, which inevitably leads to them beginning to sleep together when Don was still married to Betty (January Jones).
And thanks to Rachel, we finally got our first glimpse into Don’s past. In an episode towards the end of the first season, Don reveals to her after making love that his mother was a prostitute and that his father was a drunk.
Then in the second-to-last episode of the season, Don surprises Rachel at her office and asks her to run away with him to California. Telling her, “You know more about me than anyone.” But she sees right through him and replies, “This was a dalliance, a cheap affair. You don’t want to run away with me, you just want to run away.”
We thought that would be the last we would see of Rachel, but in episode five of season two, Don runs into her at a restaurant. But by now Rachel is married and goes by the name Rachel Katz.
In an amazing parting line, Rachel turns to the woman with Don, a client, and says “He’s all business, isn’t he?”
SEE ALSO: 10 early roles of "Mad Men" actors before they were stars
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NOW WATCH: The new trailer for Season 3 of 'House of Cards' is terrifying
After HBO's explosive Scientology documentary "Going Clear" premiered last weekend, "Saturday Night Live" took the opportunity to poke fun at the controversial religion.
In "Going Clear," director Alex Gibney includes an actual video the church of Scientology made in the '90s to recruit new members. In the music video, titled "We Stand Tall," the religion's top execs can be seen signing lyrics like, "Take us from clear to eternity, to a future we thought would never be."
"SNL" responded this weekend by making an equally grainy, dated music video for "Neurotology," a Scientology-like group that also sings about "Diametrics," a spoof on founder L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics."
The parody video also addresses Scientology's belief that the world began with aliens, missing church members, and people signing billion-year contracts with the church — all actual things in Scientology.
One lyric from the parody video goes: "Religion and science intertwines, aliens live inside of our minds, billion-year contracts we have signed, it all makes sense to me."
Watch the full "SNL" sketch below:
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NOW WATCH: 6 Crazy Things Revealed In HBO's Explosive New Scientology Documentary 'Going Clear'
