Between Matthew Weiner's hit series' "The Sopranos" and "Mad Men," the 49-year-old writer/show creator has finally learned the key to managing his busy schedule.

"I have an assistant with an IQ higher than mine who can make sure that I get stuff done," Weiner told Business Insider at Tuesday's Time 100 gala. "I have so many decisions to make that I really try not to think about the little stuff, like what I'm going to eat for lunch."

And while Weiner hasn't yet gone to extremes, like wearing the same outfit every day to avoid any hassle in the mornings, he may soon change his tune.

"That's [getting dressed] such a huge waste of my time too," says Weiner. "I should do that, but I don't."

Ultimately, adds Weiner, "The more you have to do, the more you can get done."

With nine Emmy wins to his name, sounds like whatever Weiner is doing is working. 

"Mad Men" is currently in its seventh and final season.

When the time comes to say goodbye for good, Weiner tells us "I'm going to be sad," but in the meantime, he's just focusing on taking it all in: "I'm trying to really savor these current experiences and the love that I'm getting from people about the show."

SEE ALSO: 'Mad Men' creator Matthew Weiner reveals his biggest career regret

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NOW WATCH: How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' have changed over the years

A week after the call from the assistant, I was sitting in the center of daily operations for this mid-sized agency, which employed up to eight modeling agents.

Finally, I was called into the director's office. On a desk in front of me were piles of photos and proof sheets.

To my left, shelves displaying the faces of dozens of plus-size models with ruby lips and smoky eyes stared down at me.

I wanted my picture up on that wall.

In rapid-fire succession, Bobby, the director, detailed my fate as a plussize model while he visually sized me up aloud: 

You’re cute and have a good personality but a bit small for plus. We start at [size] fourteen but you may be right for fit and commercial [modeling]. You have good eyes, teeth, and well proportioned . . . You will have to maintain your shape . . . Besides fit modeling, you could do showroom and commercial print for catalogues, cute little articles in magazines like Marie Claire, and commercials like Verizon . . . You are more of the Banana Republic look . . . classier, sophisticated. At some point during his verbal tirade, I reckoned this was a sales pitch to tantalize my model dreams, throwing me candy bits with recognizable retailers and markets to bait me. As much as I tried to sell myself to this agent, he tried to sell his services to me.

He handed me a photographer’s business card and directed me out the door. My modeling journey had officially begun.

Recruitment into Plus-Size Modeling

The nature of modeling work suggests that models are different from the general population.

Compounding the difficulty of working under the conditions of impersonality, objectification, and necessary corporal discipline, plus-size models face additional scrutiny due to the negative cultural view of fat.

While Erving Goffman’s view of stigma suggests that fat women would be more inclined to cover up their curves and excess flesh, these women chose to enter a field where they publicly parade their fat bodies for a discerning public.

Essentially, it is this very courage to flaunt their bodies that sets plus-size models apart from traditional, straight-size models. These women shed a penetrating layer of shame and guilt built up over the years to reveal a new, confident self that was no longer afraid to enjoy her size and shape.

These plus-size models broke with conventional interpretations of their social identity by flaunting their fat bodies in hopes of changing the cultural discourse.

The typical routes to enter into plus-size modeling include the former straight-size model, the performer, the outsider, and the self-promoter.

Success, by any route, is rare.

Formers

Some of today’s top earning plus-size models began their modeling careers as straight-size models.

Crystal Renn’s career trajectory is a prime example of this route. After struggling to maintain weight as a straightsize model by exercising for eight hours a day, Crystal transitioned to plus-size modeling:

You know, I was so happy for once, and I was really comfortable in who I was. You know, whereas before, I was completely unhappy, and you know, scared and insecure. It was a whole different me . . . I really learned—it took me six years, but I learned to be who I was.

Livia’s story is another example of this transition.

While working as a size seven fit model in Los Angeles, Livia’s body “gave up” on her due to hunger and dehydration, so she decided to move to New York, where she discovered plus-size modeling. Clarissa, too, switched to plus-size modeling after a couple of, self-described, unsuccessful years as a straight-size model:

I was told my boobs were too big, my hips too wide. I wasn’t booking work and trying to lose [weight] wasn’t working . . . I stopped fighting my body and found a new career in plus[-size modeling].

As a size fourteen commercial print model, Clarissa booked more jobs than when she was a smaller size. 

In their first stints as models, these formers tried to maintain a thin model body type to the detriment of their own health and emotional well-being, exacerbated by the pressures of working alongside pre-teen models with extraordinarily high metabolisms. They felt like failures as their bodies changed despite their best efforts.

Livia admitted that she felt uncomfortable with her body as it began to change: “I believed I had to cover myself up. I was ashamed I couldn’t control it [her body] . . . I failed at my job.”

These formers tried to mold their bodies to match the thin model expectation; yet, in that very process of losing weight, they gained insecurity and body loathing. Once these former straight-size models discovered plus-size modeling, they found a place where they embraced their bodies and even modeled alongside straight-size models.

“When I stopped trying to fit the mold my agency wanted [as a straight-size model],” Clarissa explained, “I entered a kind of happy place. I made peace with my body.”

As plus-size models, their bodies, which no longer fit the normative expectation of a straight-size fashion model, were valued for their natural curves.

Performers

Another freelance, size sixteen/eighteen model, Janice, agreed with the sentiments of the formers: 

Despite all the problems in this [modeling] industry, I’m rewarded for being myself. I’m grateful for there to be such an industry. I’m honored to take part in this field where I can potentially change minds about beauty.

She was thankful for the opportunity to work in a field where she could be herself in her fat body. Janice fell within the second type of recruitment—performance artists, such as actors and singers, who were offered modeling work and then decided to pursue additional modeling opportunities.

Primarily an actor, Janice earned the much-coveted SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card from, to her own disbelief, booking a modeling commercial. A self-described “chubby” girl, Janice never thought of her body as something useful, let alone something that would bolster her acting career. She understood that to act, she needed to be thinner, but as a plus-size model Janice could be her two hundred-pound self.

Armed with the good fortune of receiving union benefits, she focused on auditioning for acting jobs, but admitted that modeling jobs were more lucrative and she intended to continue to model until she got her big acting break.

Lea, too, an accomplished Broadway performer, began working as a size sixteen plus-size model to earn extra money. She regularly worked in showrooms, parading in next season’s designs for fashion buyers.

She recalled, “I thought, ‘I might as well try it [modeling].’ And guess what? I was the right size. It worked out, and I have extra cash in my pocket.”

Lea did not expect to continue modeling in the long-term. For her, this was a temporary opportunity that turned into a series of reoccurring commercial print jobs, where she modeled clothes for department store circulars Gail, a size twenty-two commercial and catalog print model and singer from Boston, also found herself thrust into modeling while on a whim to bolster her other performance-centric career aspirations.

A fan of a custom plus-size design label, Gail added the fashion line to her friend list on her social networking page. The owners of the fashion label, after listening to a couple of tracks on her profile page, decided Gail’s style matched that of the fashion’s and asked her to model their latest collection in an upcoming advertising campaign.

“It was random,” recalled Gail, “but hopefully this gig will help my career with more publicity and exposure. I may try acting, as well.”

Gail signed a contract with the fashion label and divides her time between modeling and music.

Outsiders

Given the similarity between modeling and the performing arts, it is not unreasonable to consider a professional leap from straight-size modeling or acting to plus-size modeling; however, for some women, pursuing a career in modeling involved an unexpected turn of events.

In the third type, the outsider, a member of the fashion community—a designer, boutique owner, agent, or another plus-size model—recruited a fat woman into modeling.

Unlike the first two types who have experience in being evaluated on the basis of their bodily capital, the outsider may be unfamiliar with the use value of her body and, consequently, need to overcome an initial resistance to hide her fat body.

The majority of the models interviewed in this study were of this third type, the outsider who was urged by others to pursue modeling. While there were those few women who previously worked as straightsize models or in other related performance fields and then transitioned into plus-size modeling, most of the women entered the field by chance.

Whether scouted by an agent, recruited by a designer or boutique owner to model fashions, or approached by another plus-size model, these women were introduced to plus-size modeling through someone connected to the industry. For example, size fourteen/sixteen model Stephanie was approached by a makeup artist while she was clothes shopping:

I was in the checkout line, just chatting, when she suggested I try plus[- size] modeling. I hadn’t thought about it before but she made me think. If an established professional in the biz says I should do it, why not?

In ethnographic studies focused on cultural producers within an aesthetic economy, researchers found that a greater proportion of fashion models were “discovered” by agents at random and others entered the field by chance.

This was the case of size fourteen freelance model Becky, who, while shopping, was approached by the owner of a Connecticut plus-size boutique to participate in a showcase:

A woman just came up to me and asked me to model the clothes in a fashion show for the store. I figured since I already wear these clothes, it wouldn’t hurt. . . . Of course, I was nervous, but it turned out fun. I guess I can say that I am now hooked.

That first taste of the modeling experience enticed Becky enough for her to make the leap to New York City, where she attended modeling workshops to learn how to walk the runway and pursued other modeling opportunities.

Grateful for the introduction to modeling by that boutique owner, Becky confessed, “If she hadn’t approached me, I wouldn’t know that I could model. It’s not something I could’ve imagined.”

Similar to the hesitation I experienced while waiting to see the agent at my first open call, these outsiders, like Becky, were initially unsure or simply unaware of their place in the fashion industry before an insider showed them the way.

Size sixteen/eighteen model Joelle began modeling after attending an open modeling call with her friend who worked as a plus-size model:

At first, I didn’t want to go because of my body issues. She basically dragged me to the casting. But it was the best thing I could’ve done for myself . . . After the casting, I saw myself differently. I looked around the room and saw a group of plus beauties. I belonged. “I could do that,” I thought to myself. I really did believe it . . . Finally, I appreciated my body instead of hiding from it. Mary, too, was recruited by another working plus-size model who urged her to pursue a modeling career.

“I was shocked by the suggestion,” she admitted. “I thought only anorexic girls modeled . . . I spent so many years hating my body that the idea of selling it was foreign to me.”

After a few months of what Mary described as “researching modeling agencies so I don’t get scammed” and essentially “psyching myself up for the challenge,” she approached a few plus-size agencies and eventually signed with one.

As a result, she worked steadily for a couple of years as a size fourteen fit model with a few designers.

Given the normative expectation of fashion models as young, tall, and thin, it is no wonder that these women had trouble envisioning a place for themselves on the fashion boards. All of these women, who were already in their twenties when they began modeling, were older and larger than the traditional fashion model.

Self-Promoters

The fourth type, the self-promoter, was a fat woman who entered the field of plus-size modeling of her own volition without a network connection to aid in her pursuit. Without this help, she was left to her own resources, cold calling agencies and sending in blind submissions.

For some women like Willa, modeling was thought to be an unattainable dream, but as Willa discovered, it only took a few courageous steps: I had been told that I should look into modeling since I was a little girl, but didn’t think anyone would be interested in hiring me.

Last year, I finally took a chance and sent my pictures to “Curvy Clothes,” and I’ve been modeling with them ever since. Willa was considered lucky to have booked a job on her first try.

After working steadily as a size fourteen/sixteen catalog model for a reputable plus-size retailer, she signed with an agency specializing in fit modeling and hoped to expand her modeling career.

Rachel, who worked as a size eighteen fit model for a few local companies, had a similar start: I had thought about modeling for quite some time and finally took a chance and entered a contest through a department store to do one of their runway shows. I was put in touch with an agency and have been working since then. Rachel hoped to expand into commercial print work in the near future.

There are opportunities for those without prior experience to enter the field. Many plus-size fashion labels, from large-scale plus-size retailers like Torrid and IGIG to smaller, independent labels like the one in Gail’s case, recruited models directly from their customer base by advertising model searches online on their retail websites.

Using actual customers without previous modeling experience as models in advertising campaigns is an increasingly popular trend in retail. Besides plus-size retailers, Abercrombie & Fitch and American Apparel regularly use store employees in their advertisements. Casting calls, themselves, can be an opportunity for a sale.

At an open modeling call where I met Gail, the owners of the fashion label were selling t-shirts and tickets for a raffle, where the prize was the option to buy any item in the collection for five dollars. The models at the call jumped for a chance at a greatly reduced garment and bought raffle tickets by the handful.

Excerpted from "Fashioning Fat" by Dr. Amanda Czerniawski with permission of NYU Press.

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Remember that recent story about the 30-year-old Russian man who volunteered to be the first person to have his head transplanted onto another human body? Well, it might be part of a big marketing hoax. 

Dr. Sergio Canavero, the controversial real-life neurosurgeon from Turin, Italy, who has published more than 100 papers and plans to complete the first head transplant surgery in 2017, denies these claims.

Kotaku UK published a comprehensive breakdown on this conspiracy theory that suggests Dr. Canavero is actually helping market a new game called “Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.”

Here’s the lineup of evidence that suggests this is the case:  

• As the Kotaku UK report points out, it all started with a post on the video game forum NeoGAF, which showed off the uncanny similarities between Canavero and a character from the game.

• Valery Spiridonov, the 30-year-old volunteer who is allegedly getting the transplant, is a CG artist and a game development supervisor.
• Dr. Canavero held his TED Talk in Cyprus, where the hospital scene in “Metal Gear Solid 5” allegedly plays out.
• TED Limassol, where Canavero gave his TED Talk, is an anagram for “Solid Metals.”
• The head transplant project is called “HEAVEN,” which is also a reference to the bad guys in the “Metal Gear Solid” series.
• Dr. Canavero has written many articles on the phenomenon called “phantom pain,” which is also the subtitle of the next “Metal Gear Solid” game.

And here’s the kicker:

• Hideo Kojima, who heads up the “Metal Gear Solid” franchise, tweeted about his next project in 2010: “The next project will challenge a certain type of taboo. If I mess up, I’ll probably have to leave the industry. However, I don’t want to pass by avoiding that. I turn 47 this year. It’s been 24 years since I started making games. Today, I got an ally who would happily support me in that risk. Although it’s just one person. For a start, it’s good.”

This makes it sound like Kojima was able to persuade Dr. Canavero to join his venture — to help leverage his authority as a famous doctor and neurosurgeon to promote "Metal Gear Solid 5" with a viral marketing stunt.

Dr. Canavero told Kotaku UK that he "doesn’t understand why they used him as a template for that character without asking him permission.” And yet, when asked about his resemblance to the 3D character from the game, Dr. Canavero could only guess:

“One of the sponsors [at TED] was coincidentally a game developer. Maybe some people there… I don’t know… maybe they recorded the thing from certain angles, maybe the cameras were set up in the right spots… I do not know. It’s just a hypothesis, but maybe it’s not too farfetched.”

When Kotaku’s Gabriele Galliani tried to protest, Dr. Canavero interrupted with what could be the giveaway:

“To be completely honest with you: This isn’t such a bad thing. Since my project requires a lot of money, Mr. Kojima will be able to say he had a part in HEAVEN [the name of his head transplant procedure] despite the fact that he probably never intended to.”

In other words, it sounds like Dr. Canavero is in fact a real doctor who happened to strike a cross-promotional deal with Konami and Kojima: He and Spiridonov promote the head transplant surgery, which in turn promotes the game. We still have yet to confirm these findings, but there is a ton of evidence pointing in this direction.

Also worth noting: This hoax sounds like it's right out of Kojima's playbook. Hideo Kojima is known for deceiving his audiences before revealing a major game he's working on. Last year, he didn't simply unveil the next big "Silent Hill" game: He created a fake game studio and released a completely unrelated game, that, when played to its completion, revealed that it was just a teaser for Kojima's next project.

Kojima pulled a similar bait-and-switch with the reveal to "Metal Gear Solid 5," where he created a fake game studio and an unknown developer named "Joakim Mogren." He later revealed the developer to be "a Swedish guy."

We’ve reached out to Konami, as well as Dr. Canavero, and we’ll update this story if we hear back. Until then, the evidence from Kotaku UK and NeoGAF is absolutely worth your eyes.

SEE ALSO: The world's first head-transplant patient could experience a fate 'worse than death'

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NOW WATCH: 3 breakthroughs that Bill Nye thinks will change the world

If there’s one thing Quentin Tarantino loves more than blood-soaked fight sequences (and filming women’s feet), it’s shooting great driving scenes.

From "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction" to "Death Proof," Tarantino has found a knack for placing memorable sequences on the road.

At times they are filled with drama, like when Vincent Vega (John Travolta) drives home Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) after reviving her from a drug overdose in "Pulp Fiction." Or they're thrilling, like in "Death Proof," in which the director had the plot focused on a crazed stunt driver (Kurt Russell) and his indestructible car.

Now we can enjoy Tarantino's work in all its glory, thanks to editor Jacob T. Swinney, who has put together a supercut of the director’s best driving scenes.

And to make it better, he cut it to the classic surf-rock song from "Pulp Fiction," The Cenurians' "Bullwinkle Park II."

Watch the video below:

SEE ALSO: The first teaser trailer from Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" is finally online

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NOW WATCH: The new trailer for Season 3 of 'House of Cards' is terrifying

Mac started gaining attention when she began posting photos of herself as the Queen of the Dragons from the set of the fantasy drama based on George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels.

According to Metro UK, Mac had been standing in on the show's fifth season. Currently 18 years old, Mac moved to Marbella, Spain, when she was 10 years old.

Although some reports refer to Mac as a stand-in and double for Clarke, an HBO representative told Business Insider that she was only a stand-in.

What's the difference? A stand-in is typically used to set cameras and lighting while the actor is away, while a double is used on camera for stunts, sex scenes, and other scenes actors are unable to do or won't do.

Also, despite what Mac's boss and star of Dublin's "Real Housewives" series, Virginia Macari, told Ireland's Sunday World, don't hold your breath waiting to see Mac in her own role on "Game of Thrones." An individual close to the show told Business Insider that producers may have discussed an extra role for Mac, but it never came to be. 

In the meantime, check out Mac on-set below with "GOT" actor and Daenerys' current love interest, Michiel Huisman.

When not in her "Game of Thrones" garb, Mac tends to post more model shots:

And recently dyed her blonde hair brown:

SEE ALSO: HBO's 'Game of Thrones' got the Iron Throne all wrong

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NOW WATCH: 'Game of Thrones' superfans caught George R.R. Martin's mistake so he hired them

Currently in its seventh and final season, "Mad Men" will soon say goodbye after eight years on the air.

When that time comes, the show's creator and writer, Matthew Weiner, says, "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be sad." 

The 49-year-old spoke to Business Insider at the Time 100 gala, where he explained that in the meantime, he's just trying to live in the moment.

"I'm doing something I don't usually do, I'm trying to really savor these current experiences and the love that I'm getting from people about the show," says Weiner. "I'm hearing things that I always wanted to hear, people telling me what the show means to them, people worried about how I'm doing. I'm just a writer, and I love that this meant something to people."

With a cast and crew that have become like family over the years, Weiner says, "We have all sworn to stay in touch, I'll tell you that. And I think we'll all watch the end of the show together."

But Weiner usually prefers to watch the show on Sunday nights with a smaller crowd.

"I do like to watch it," Weiner says of his hit AMC show. "I watch it with my family, and we're going to have some viewing parties. But I'm not fun to watch it with. I'm totally intolerant of any conversation."

While Weiner says that the show "does look different when when you see it with other people," he never has any regrets because "I had the chance to do whatever I wanted to do" during filming.

But to this day, Weiner says, "I get anxious on Sundays. For me, it's like a performance."

"It's such a pleasure," Weiner adds of his experience on the show. "Do you know how weird it is to see your name on TV? I haven't gotten over that yet, believe it or not."

SEE ALSO: Here's how 'Mad Men' creator Matthew Weiner manages his super busy schedule

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NOW WATCH: How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' have changed over the years

"Maggie" may have sounded like a fun idea on paper, but as the Tribeca Film Festival audience found out Wednesday night at the film's world premiere, its execution leaves a lot to be desired. 

It's a zombie melodrama where nothing really happens. The film opens with NPR radio vaguely explaining how a viral outbreak has started turning people into zombies. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Wade, father of the titular Maggie (Abigail Breslin), who learns the hard way that there are rules laid out about quarantines and how to deal with an infected loved one, as his daughter has already been bitten prior to the opening scene.

"Maggie" chugs along at a snail's pace and there is absolutely zero payoff for its immense amount of set-up. Everything is so bleak and brooding, which would be fine if there was some actual weight to it — all we get is broad strokes of impending doom and melancholic solilioques. You know how some horror movies have eerily quiet moments, where the tension builds and builds until something crazy happens? That's "Maggie" in its entireity, except it never builds to anything. 

The film is supposed to be an emotional, character-driven drama, but there's never a reason for the audience to care. There's no hook. The audience is thrown into the (lack of) action with no character or world building. The movie is decidedly more "melodrama" than "zombie," and there are only a couple of "action" moments in which Arnie takes on the dead. Most of the screentime is used to show close ups of Schwarzenegger looking pensive, pondering what to do in his tough situation. 

Simply put, Schwarzenegger has never been some Academy Award worthy thespian — he's an over-the-top action hero. Just because "Maggie" puts some pain behind his eyes and a tear on his cheek doesn't suddenly make him a dramatic force. A majority of the movie is Arnold meandearing around, frowning, often not even saying anything. When dialogue does actually make it out of his mouth, you will wish it hadn't; it's painful to watch him try to emote. He has the subtly of an 18-wheeler. 

Unfortunately, "Maggie" makes the case for Schwarzenegger sticking to what he knows. There's a reason he has yet to star in something this "heavy" — he simply can't pull off the material. Breslin is fine as the zombified girl, but there's not much for her to do here, either. She just mopes around, dealing with her own mortality, and the role just doesn't allow her the chance to really transcend it.

Some are already calling "Maggie" a "slow burn," but in order to burn, something needs to have been ignited in the first place. 

Watch the trailer below.

SEE ALSO: This trippy thriller with future 'Star Wars' star Oscar Isaac is a must-see

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NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

The biggest year for action movies is about to begin, starting with next week's release of "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

Though Marvel will kick off the blockbuster movie season, a ton of incredible-looking action and adventure movies are coming this year, according to "coming soon" lists from IMDB and Metacritic.

1. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Summary: "When Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth's Mightiest Heroes are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure."

Release date: May 1

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

Summary: "In the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and everyone is fighting for the necessities of life, there are two rebels who just might be able to restore order — Max (Tom Hardy), a man of action and few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos, and Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a woman of action who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland."

Release date: May 15

3. "Tomorrowland"

Summary: "Bound by a shared destiny, a bright, optimistic teen (Britt Robertson) bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor (George Clooney) jaded by disillusionment embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory as 'Tomorrowland.'"

Release date: May 22

16 years ago Seth Green decided to take his love of action figures and combine it with one of his major passions: stop-motion animation. The idea for Cartoon Network's late-night animated series “Robot Chicken” was born and the animation world suddenly changed.

The success of the show led to the creation of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios in 2012, which Green runs along with “Robot Chicken” co-creator Matthew Senreich and one-time animators on the show, John Harvatine IV and Eric Towner. The move has extended their brand of creative work to commercials, movies (they are responsible for the cool end-credits sequence in “The Lego Movie”) and they were even offered to put their own spin on the iconic opening of “The Simpsons."

But “Robot Chicken” is still the foundation of the company.

If you’ve never seen it, “Robot Chicken” is a stop-motion animated show that has aired on Cartoon Network’s late-night Adult Swim lineup since 2005 and is filled with short sketches featuring raunchy action figures in hilarious situations. Skits include a "Star Wars" Stormtrooper taking his daughter to work or the characters from “The Golden Girls” acting as if they were in an episode of “Sex and the City.” 

The show not only has a dedicated fanbase, but clout in the industry as it has won three Primetime Emmys. 

You may have seen a few of their most popular sketches, like the giraffe stuck in quicksand who's going through the five stages of grief.

For years, Green and Senreich would put the sketches together with their writers and then hand over the creation of sets and action figures for the episodes in the hands of outside companies spanning from California to Florida. But after teaming with Harvatine and Towner to form Stoopid Buddies, they brought everything in-house. Now they work out of a facility in Burbank, California where they oversee close to 170 artists who mainly make up the team that spend close to a year to produce a season of “Robot Chicken.”

According to Green, the biggest revelation in doing the show for so many years is you have to multitask.

“It’s impossible to accomplish a sketch-based episodic show without shooting multiple episodes at the same time,” he told Business Insider. “When we are doing a ‘Robot’ season we’ll have as many as 20 stages operating different sketches from different episodes.”

Though some things haven’t changed. Green and Senreich still look over every aspect of production, from the skits developed in the writer’s room to the puppets being made.

And then there are the voices for each episode. Usually done by celebrities, though you’d hardly know it as they rarely use their normal speaking voices, the show has accumulated quite a roster. Regulars include Green, Seth MacFarlane, Donald Faison, and Mila Kunis. Guest voices range from Val Kilmer to Vanessa Hudgens.

Green and Senreich always head the voice recording sessions and often track the people down to do them.

“With the voices we have a long list of people we want to get,” Senreich explains. “They are people we’ve run into or we just know they want to do the show. And then there’s the list of people who we need.”

“Somebody who sounds like He-Man, somebody who sounds like Papa Smurf,” Green adds.

But the one person on that list they’ve tried for years to land for the show but with no success has been Harrison Ford.

“We came really close once,” said Senreich. “He was shooting ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ in New Mexico and we got the call a little too late that he might be able to do it if we got out to New Mexico. But we’ll keep trying.”

With an eighth season of “Robot Chicken” in the works, a DC Comics special on the way, and recent news that the company has signed a deal with the WWE Network to produce a 2D series, Stoopid Buddy Stoodios is thriving. Green and his buddies base their success on the environment they’ve created.

“Years ago Matt and I had this experience where we took this job because we thought it would be a good step [for the company],” Green recalls. “It was miserable, and we wound up never making those projects. After that we were like, Let’s not work with people who we wouldn’t work with for free. That’s the kind of stuff we want to be making.”

Reruns of "Robot Chicken" currently air at midnight on Cartoon Network.

SEE ALSO: "The LEGO Movie" end credits took two months and thousands of Lego bricks to complete

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NOW WATCH: Here's how the stars of 'Fast & Furious' have changed over the years

The new Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie drama "Maggie" had its world premiere Wednesday night the Tribeca Film Festival.

The film was a departure for Schwarzenegger, and lovers of zombie movies, as director Henry Hobson focused on the somber relationship between a father (Schwarzenegger) and daughter (Abigail Breslin) in the final weeks before she turns into a zombie after being bit.

Following the screening, Schwarzenegger, Hobson, and actress Joely Richardson took the stage for a brief Q&A.

Schwarzenegger discussed what's next on his plate: There's the upcoming Terminator film, “Terminator Genisys” (opening July 1), and he’s also hoping to do another film in the “Conan the Barbarian” franchise. And then the 67-year-old star dropped this bomb:

“I’m doing a sequel to ‘Twins’ called ‘Triplets’ with Eddie Murphy.”

That certainly grabbed the attention of the audience.

But digging deeper, it sounds like the project has been in the works for a while.

“I have been trying to do it for 10 years,” Schwarzenegger said while doing press for his film “The Last Stand” in 2013. 

In “Twins,” Julius (Schwarzenegger) and Vincent (Danny DeVito) are fraternal twins from the result of a secret experiment carried out by the government to create the perfect child. In “Triplets,” the plot will revolve around Julius and Vincent discovering they have another brother from the experiment. That brother will be played by Eddie Murphy.

According to the “Triplets” IMDb page, “Twins” director, Ivan Reitman, will return to direct the sequel. Devito is also signed on to return, but there’s no word yet of a start date on production.

“Twins” was number one at the box office when it opened in the winter of 1988, and had a whopping worldwide gross of $217 million. 

SEE ALSO: New "Terminator: Genisys" trailer shows Arnold Schwarzenegger back in action

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NOW WATCH: This new documentary reveals how taking photos of everything defines our lives now

In an attempt to breathe life into Jay Z's recently launched streaming service, the rapper might release a joint album with wife Beyoncé exclusively on Tidal.

DJ Skee, an entertainment commentator based in LA, says his sources are certain that a full-length Jay and Bey collaboration is nearing completion and set to launch exclusively on Tidal. That portion of the story starts at 1:50:

As Cosmopolitan.com points out, DJ Skee first mentioned a joint album in the fall. It's possible he has a direct line to a member of Jay and Bey's entourage who is feeding him this intel. But keep in mind that Beyoncé was able to release her surprise album without a single soul suspecting it was in the works, so the Knowles-Carters are old pros when it comes to assembling secret LPs.

However, as DJ Skee himself points out, Jay Z has already tried an exclusive (although not so secret) album launch — and it backfired when the album leaked online, making it easier for fans to pirate the music than it was to obtain it legally.

Still, a joint album between Beyoncé and Jay Z could send people scrambling for Tidal memberships, and the service could use a leg up. Despite the star-studded press conference and accompanying celeb Instagram posts trumpeting the arrival of Jay Z's new streaming service, Tidal appears to be floundering.

Tidal has yet to catch on, perhaps because it hasn't done much to differentiate itself from its competition (aside from costing more than services like Spotify). It has already disappeared from the App Store's top 700 downloads chart, according to the Guardian, while Spotify and Pandora hit the top four simultaneously for the first time ever.

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NOW WATCH: Watch these giant container ships collide near the Suez Canal

Christopher Nolan has garnered a reputation for ending his films with mind-boggling twists. 

The one that still seems to perplex people the most is 2010's "Inception."

If you haven't seen the film, there are spoilers ahead.

At the end of "Inception," Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) finally returns home to his kids after spending a long time in the dream world. Cobb carries a little top with him. If the top keeps spinning, that means he is in a dream. If it stops and falls over, that means he is back in reality. The final shot shows the top spinning, but it never reveals whether it falls over. 

Five years after "Inception" was released in theaters and became a box-office smash, this one question still drives fans crazy.

At a recent Q&A at the Tribeca Film Festival, one audience member asked the director to explain what the ending of "Inception" means.

Nolan, who looked like he had heard this question just a few too many times, wouldn't explain the ending, but instead explained why he won't comment on it or the endings to any of his films for that matter. 

He told a story about when his mind-bender "Memento" premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2000.

"We got a very, very excited reaction to it," Nolan said. "Somebody had asked about my interpretation of the ending and I said 'Well, it's all up to the audience but this is what it means to me,' and I gave them in great detail what exactly the ambiguities of the film meant to me," Nolan said. 

The press conference was never recorded, so his "Memento" explanation never got out. However, Jonathan Nolan, Christopher's brother, who wrote the short story on which "Memento" was based, advised him against ever explaining the ending of one of his films again.

According to Nolan, his brother told him, "You don't understand, nobody hears that first bit where you say it's really up to the viewers if you then give your interpretation."

"It's the last time I ever opened my mouth," Nolan said.

Christopher Nolan isn't the first filmmaker to be questioned about the ending of something he made years ago. He's in good company with the likes of David Chase, the creator of "The Sopranos," who recently gave an in-depth analysis of the show's ending following nearly 10 years of constant debate and controversy.

Nolan is known for his secrecy, so it is unlikely that we will ever get an explanation like that for "Inception" or his other films.

While he will never offer us a definitive answer (an interview in Wired is the closest he's gotten to giving one), we seem to have his permission to continue arguing over whether or not that top kept spinning.

SEE ALSO: Christopher Nolan says he's most proud of the opening scene in 'The Dark Knight Rises'

SEE ALSO: Christopher Nolan made a bunch of ‘Star Wars’-inspired movies when he was a kid

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NOW WATCH: Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains The End Of 'Interstellar'

Jay Z's $20-per-month artist-owned streaming music service, Tidal, launched last month with a star-studded presentation and the promise to “forever change the course of music history.”

Usher, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Arcade Fire, Beyoncé, and many others all showed up to support the world's first streaming platform owned by musicians, which will pay established musicians for playing their songs.

But many notable artists who weren't on stage that day are now publicly speaking out about the ridiculous display of riches.

"I think they totally blew it by bringing out a bunch of millionaires and billionaires and propping them up onstage and then having them all complain about not being paid," Death Cab for Cutie singer Ben Gibbard said in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. "That’s why this thing is going to fail miserably."

Instead, Gibbard says Jay Z should have taken a different approach.

"If I had been Jay Z, I would have brought out ten artists that were underground or independent and said, 'These are the people who are struggling to make a living in today’s music industry. Whereas this competitor streaming site pays this person 15 cents for X amount of streams, that same amount of streams on my site, on Tidal, will pay that artist this much.'"

Gibbard continued: "There was a wonderful opportunity squandered to highlight what this service would mean for artists who are struggling and to make a plea to people’s hearts and pocketbooks to pay a little more for this service that was going to pay these artists a more reasonable streaming rate. And they didn’t do it."

But while A-listers from Madonna to Rihanna were asked personally by Jay Z to join Tidal, many big musicians were left off the rapper's hit list, including Grammy-winning British indie rock band Mumford & Sons.

The band's front man, Marcus Mumford, told The Daily Beast in a separate interview earlier this month: "We wouldn’t have joined it anyway, even if they had asked. We don’t want to be tribal."

"We just want to play music, and I don’t want to align myself with Spotify, Beats, Tidal, or whatever," Mumford explained. "We want people to listen to our music in their most comfortable way, and if they’re not up for paying for it, I don’t really care."

Mumford, whose 2012 album "Babel" was the highest-selling debut of the year, agrees with Gibbard's sentiments that Jay Z's plea to make the rich richer wasn't exactly the best approach to consumers.

"I think smaller bands should get paid more for it, too. Bigger bands have other ways of making money, so I don’t think you can complain," Mumford added to The Daily Beast. "A band of our size shouldn’t be complaining. And when they say it’s artist-owned, it’s owned by those rich, wealthy artists."

Mumford & Sons guitarist Winston Marshall had a harsher stance, calling the celebrities involved with Tidal "new school f---ing plutocrats."

Singer Lily Allen has also spoken out against Tidal, saying it will turn people to piracy.

"I love Jay Z so much, but TIDAL is so expensive compared to other perfectly good streaming services," she tweeted to her 5.11 million followers earlier this month. "He’s taken the biggest artists & made them exclusive to TIDAL (am i right in thinking this ?), people are going to swarm back to pirate sites in droves sending traffic to torrent sites. Up and coming (not yet millionaires) artists are going to suffer as a result… my concern is that Tidal may set emerging artists back."

Music producer Steve Albini, who has worked on nearly 1,500 albums and wrote the widely circulated "The Problem With Music" in 1993, is also anti-Tidal.

"The for-pay services are deluding themselves by trying to establish a permanent monetization of something that’s in flux," Albini recently explained to Vulture. "The internet provides access to materials and things. Creating these little streaming fiefdoms where certain streaming services have certain artists and certain streaming services have other artists is a crippled use of the internet. If the internet has demonstrated anything over the years, it’s that it has a way of breaking limitations placed on its content."

In the wake of the negative press surrounding Tidal, including the recent departure of the service's CEO and 25 employees, Jay Z is still working hard to promote the streaming service.

After recent layoffs at the company, Jay Z and Jack White personally called customers to reassure fans.

On Thursday, it was reported that Jay Z and Beyoncé might be releasing a secret album exclusively on Tidal to get more people to use the service.

Despite his efforts, the rapper's celebrity doesn't appear to be boosting business.

On Tuesday, two weeks after Tidal briefly cracked the US iPhone top-20 download chart, the app crashed out of the top 700, notes BGR.

"To make matters worse for Tidal, its main rivals are now surging," adds BGR. "On April 20th, Pandora and Spotify occupied positions No. 3 and No. 4 on the U.S. iPhone revenue chart, respectively."

Tidal launched last year and was bought by Jay Z in January for a reported $56 million. The newly relaunched app charges $9.99 a month for standard-definition streaming and $19.99 for a high-definition audio version.

Unlike competitors such as Spotify and Pandora, Tidal boasts exclusive content from musicians, like Beyoncé's recent track that coincided with her and Jay Z’s wedding anniversary. But even a peek into the superstar couple's private relationship doesn't appear to be enough to warrant $9.99 a month. 

SEE ALSO: The CEO of Jay Z's music streaming site Tidal has left the company

MORE: Jay Z and Beyoncé might be releasing a secret album on Tidal to get more people to use the service

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NOW WATCH: If You're Going To Pay For Music — Pay For This

The original team behind classic horror film "The Evil Dead" have reunited for a revival on Starz.

Writer/director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell began production on "Ash vs Evil Dead" this month in Auckland, New Zealand, according to Starz. Raimi is set to direct the pilot episode of the 10-episode first season, which will premiere in Fall 2015.

Campbell reprises the role of Ash Williams, who's described as the stock boy, aging lothario, and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity, and the terrors of the Evil Dead.

"We have elements of the 'Evil Dead' films, which have very hard-edged, intense horror designed to really frighten the audience," Raimi said of the TV series' tone during a press call on Wednesday. "And no holds barred there. Starz has really taken the reins off of us and allowed us to go to town and thrill the audience, chill them, and scare the heck out of them. But also, there is a comedic element that is alive in this."

When the series catches up with Ash, a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind. And Ash is finally forced to face his demons –personal and literal.  Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its “Evil” grip.

"It doesn’t really exist in the exact same universe [as the films]," Tapert said. "It’s a slightly altered universe. It takes place somewhere in an alternate universe after Evil Dead 2. That might seem like a confusing answer, but I don’t want to spoil too much for the audience. That’s the truest answer I can give you."

Lucy Lawless, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo and Jill Marie Jones also star on the series. Craig DiGregorio ("Workaholics") will serve as executive producer and showrunner.

The original 1981 film followed Ash and several friends staying in a cabin in Tennessee, where they unwittingly release evil demons with the ability to possess people. Made on the cheap for $375,000, it went on to earn $29.4 million in worldwide box office, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. In the years since, it developed a cult following.

The team would go on to collaborate on two more films in the franchise with 1987's "Evil Dead II" and 1992's "Army of Darkness."

A remake of "The Evil Dead" was released in 2013, but didn't feature Campbell in the lead role nor did Raimi direct. Instead, Fede Alvarez ("Dante's Inferno") directed while Raimi, Tapert and Campbell served as producers on the film.

SEE ALSO: Michael Bay's Pirate Drama 'Black Sails' Had Starz's Biggest Premiere In The Channel's History

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NOW WATCH: Disney just released a new 'Star Wars: Episode VII' trailer and it's incredible

Whether or not you love the multi-billion dollar "Call of Duty" franchise, you almost certainly don't care about its plot. "Call of Duty" is a game about shooting the bad guys and progressing to the next blockbuster moment, not characters. 

But even with the lack of memorable plotlines, it's a surprise that the series has yet to receive the film treatment.

Sony, apparently, is very interested in turning the franchise into a film, according to emails retrieved from the Wikileaks database of leaked Sony communications. In an email exchange from February 2014 between former Sony Pictures Entertainment chairwoman Amy Pascal, current chairman Tom Rothman, and CEO Michael Lynton, Rothman wrote:

I had lunch with Barry Meyer today. He is on [the] board of Activision. Blabbing on, as is Barry’s want, he said Bobby [Kotick, CEO of Activision], who is very unhappy with the "World of Warcraft" [movie] deal with Legendary, is now thinking about developing his properties in house because of the stakes involved and the need to control. But he is at least thinking about exploitation now at last. I think we should go to him and propose an overall deal, but one where he could control whether they got made or not.

Activision is a game publishing powerhouse: The company makes and publishes the "Call of Duty" series, as well as the "Destiny," "World of Warcraft," and "Skylanders" franchises. It's these major franchises that Rothman wanted to make into film properties, which he specifically spelled out. Rothman listed "Call of Duty" as "hard, but the biggest title ever"; he pitched "Skylanders" as a "giant family lego-type film."

About one month later, on March 14, 2014, Rothman wrote to Pascal and Lynton once more, ahead of a meeting with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. In this email exchange, Rothman prepared his partners for persuading Kotick. "He has been reluctant to pursue movies," Rothman wrote in reference to Kotick. "But I gather, as sales slow, is now more open."

In early 2014, Activision was still reeling from the lukewarm reception critics had to its holiday 2013 "Call of Duty" game ("Ghosts"). It's this particular environment that Rothman was referencing.

Rothman explained that Kotick – and Activision, by extension – wanted to create film versions of its properties in-house. In Rothman's previous email to Pascal and Lynton, he related that Kotick "is very unhappy with the 'World of Warcraft' deal with Legendary,"  a reference to the still-in-production film based on "World of Warcraft," which is set for a 2016 release. It was previously scheduled to debut in theaters December 2015.

As such, Kotick apparently wanted to handle any film adaptations going forward. Rothman's goal at the meeting with Kotick is explained succinctly in the email from March: "The basic idea of the meeting is to try to COAX him towards us, by letting him retain control, but having the full studio support etc." 

The email thread ends there, and it's not clear if the meeting between Sony Pictures executives and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick resulted in a deal between the two entertainment giants. There certainly isn't anything announced based on what's in these emails. When reached for comment, an Activision representative told Business Insider, "We’re excited to be working with Legendary and Universal and they are fantastic partners." – a reference to the claim that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was unhappy with the "World of Warcraft" film deal between Activision and Legendary.

Activision didn't offer comment on anything else detailed in the leaked emails ("We don't comment on rumor and speculation."), and Sony Pictures has yet to respond as of publishing.

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NOW WATCH: Watch Obama Slam Sony For Pulling 'The Interview'

Stoopid Buddy Stoodios is known best for creating the hilarious stop-motion animated series, “Robot Chicken.” But it also imparted its crafty magic on one of the most popular movies of 2014.

Actor Seth Green and his fellow Stoopid Buddy founders, John Harvatine IV, Matthew Senreich, and Eric Towner, took time out from the numerous projects going on at “Stoodios” to give Business Insider some insight on how they created the eye-popping end credit sequence in “The Lego Movie.”

“They wanted something pretty ambitious,” Green recalls. “Stop-motion without a lot of compositing (combining two or more images).”

To pull this off, Brian Mah of visual studio Alma Mater and Ethan Marak at Stoodios, led the charge, and what they came up with was a less is more approach.

“We wanted to see how few [Lego] bricks we could use to build a train or a bat or a cop car,” said Towner, who added that the creation of the whole credits sequence took two months to complete.

“The result instantly felt far more charming,” he said. “You could appreciate the unique details of each individual brick, rather than them getting lost in a mass of fifty pieces.”

This made it possible for the sequences to go from an original estimate of 10,000 Legos being used to 3,000.

The credits show up in different Lego-made layouts as the film's theme song, "Everything is Awesome" by The Lonely Island, plays in the background. Here are a few:

And then the camera pulls back to display a wide shot of the layouts we've seen with a Lego blocks creation of the words “The Lego Movie” formed before the screen goes black.

That final 12-second portion is considered one of the largest and most intricate stop-motion Lego animations ever attempted, according to Stoopid Stoodios.

The sequence took four motion control passes to complete, with three animators working simultaneously to increment hundreds of individual Lego bricks. With an average of four objects moving per set that totals around 10,000 animated increments to create.

“It’s astonishing how much work goes into such a short sequence,” said Senreich. “Animator Benny Zelkowicz had to move 150-plus Lego pieces per frame!”

Here’s how the whole ending came out.

SEE ALSO: It takes about a year to make one season of "Robot Chicken"

AND: Here's what 'The Lego Movie 2' will be about

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NOW WATCH: This Scientology documentary made HBO hire 160 lawyers — here's the trailer

There was a lot of hope for "Destiny," the $500 million franchise from the folks behind the enormously popular "Halo" series.

But following the game's launch in September, a lot of criticism was hurled at Bungie: There was no real story to speak of, it was too repetitive, there was limited matchmaking, and there were plenty of game-breaking glitches and questionable design choices. Fans were, in a word, frustrated.

Some fans stuck with Bungie – to the tune of over 3 million people as of October 2014. They kept playing the game, exploring the world and cherishing the game's positive elements while holding out hope that Bungie would fix some of the major issues from the laundry list of bugs and head-scratching design decisions. And in recent months, Bungie has delivered for those fans.

In late February, Bungie released a patch that balanced out weapons and introduced a vault system that lets you easily exchange gear between your characters without even opening the game — you can do it all on a smartphone or computer.

Since then, Bungie has tweaked aspects of the multiplayer experience by making ammo more scarce and thus more valuable, it's expanded players' vault space for storing weapons and armor, and it's even added support for colorblind players by improving color-driven gameplay elements.

And on Wednesday, Bungie revealed the motherlode of additions coming in its second expansion pack, "The House of Wolves," coming May 19.

Among the additions, including new weapons, gear, and game modes, are several changes that "Destiny" fans have been craving for a long time, including a way to exchange all materials, and the ability to upgrade all weapons and gear to the maximum cap: This will allow for much more style variety in the game, since players could previously only choose specific pieces of armor if they wanted to reach the maximum level, thus making most players look alike.

The thing is, these changes would not have happened were it not for the "Destiny" community speaking up on Bungie's forums and on the "Destiny" subreddit.

"This sub has been a great place to listen," DeeJ, Bungie's community manager, said in a Reddit post on Wednesday. "Keep talking to us. People at the highest levels of Bungie want you to have fun playing 'Destiny'."

DeeJ has said multiple times that he and his team repeatedly visit these forums to see what players are talking or griping about, and he even maintains an open forum that asks people to leave their top three "wishes" they'd like to see happen in "Destiny."

Even with its warts, "Destiny" marks a new age for video games: No longer is a game set in stone. Glitches, bugs, and even design choices can be tweaked or totally revamped, as players will soon see in the "House of Wolves" expansion, which will indeed affect other players that don't purchase the DLC. Players and fans have been waxing poetic on "Destiny" since the announcement because being able to dynamically improve this video game is something magical, and players love that they're being heard. 

Bungie has previously said many times that "Destiny" is a 10-year game: There will be many expansion packs in the future, as well as future standalone games — Bungie is already hard at work on the "Destiny" sequel, even though players will reportedly be able to transfer their characters from one offering to the other.

But new content is all well and good: What's going to keep "Destiny" a hot game for years to come is how Bungie interacts and adapts to its community's wishes. And if "House of Wolves" is any indication, the future for "Destiny" is pretty bright.

SEE ALSO: This is the main reason video games are so much better today than they were years ago

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Following the sensational release of Alex Gibney’s HBO documentary, “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief ” — which became the cable network’s most watched premiere in close to a decade — it looks like there’s another film coming out on the controversial religion.

But this time, Scientology is actively striking back.

British documentary filmmaker and broadcaster Louis Theroux, who is known for his funny TV series on off-beat cultural subjects like "America's Most Medicated Kids" and "Twilight of the Porn Stars," is working with the BBC on his first theatrical feature that will focus on Scientology, titled "Stairway to Heaven: Louis Theroux and the Church of Scientology."

It doesn't seem Scientology is pleased.

Thursday, Theroux tweeted that he got some interesting news from Scientology’s lawyers.

But from what Theroux is tweeting, his film is going to be very different from Gibney’s HBO documentary. 

He hasn’t been shy in letting the world know he’s making the film.

And hasn’t worried about the religion knowing he’s at their front door.

Theroux has made a point to let us know he’s not making "Going Clear."

What exactly is Theroux making? Here’s a hint posted by Tony Ortega over at his The Underground Bunker blog. 

Here are excerpts from the above text:

Louis Theroux’s first theatrical feature documentary from the Oscar winning producer of "Searching for Sugar Man" and "Man on Wire"

One of the world’s newest and most mysterious religions, that numbers Tom Cruise among its followers… A scientific-seeming “technology” which, if properly followed, is said to make the able more able…

On the face of it, who wouldn’t be intrigued — even seduced — by this grand rhetoric?

For more than 10 years, Louis Theroux has been in the grip of a personal fascination with Scientology. Now living in Los Angeles in the heart of the world’s largest population of Scientologists, he has decided to immerse himself in what he regards as “the Holy Grail of Stories.”

This is not the first time Scientology will releases materials on a director or reporter before a story comes out the church thinks puts them in a negative light. 

In 2007, leading up to an episode of BBC’s Panorama series focusing on the church, Scientology posted a rant on YouTube by BBC reporter John Sweeney captured during his interview with Scientologist spokesman, Tommy Davis. 

Then leading up to "Going Clear," the church released videos trying to discredit Gibney. 

But if Theroux's tweet is correct, this will be the first time the church does a documentary on someone examining the church.

Scientology did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

"Stairway to Heaven" currently has no set release date.

SEE ALSO: "SNL" skewered Scientology in this parody recruitment video

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NOW WATCH: 6 Crazy Things Revealed In HBO's Explosive New Scientology Documentary 'Going Clear'

In an interview with NBC news on Thursday, Dr. Mehmet Oz said his TV series, "The Dr. Oz Show," "is not a medical show."

America's most famous doctor has been under fire lately for recommending to viewers some arguably "quack" treatments that don't always seem substantiated.

Even though Dr. Oz might not think his show is about medicine, some of the show's 3.4 million daily viewers might be under the impression that it is indeed a medical show. 

The show has "Dr." in the title. On air, Oz presents himself as a Columbia University heart surgeon and often dresses in scrubs. He also presents health and wellness advice to his audience. Most of his recommendations focus on diet, health, and fitness, but he covers other health-related topics as well.

Still, Oz suggests the "Dr." part of his show's name shouldn't be taken literally. He told NBC:

"It's called The Dr. Oz Show. We very purposely, on the logo, have 'Oz' as the middle, and the 'Doctor' is actually up in the little bar for a reason. I want folks to realize that I'm a doctor, and I'm coming into their lives to be supportive of them.But it's not a medical show."

I want folks to realize that I'm a doctor, and I'm coming into their lives to be supportive of them.But it's not a medical show.

This cuts to the core of the controversy surrounding Oz  — his show looks like medical advice and sounds (sort of) like medical advice, but it definitely is not medical advice, per Dr. Oz himself.

A recent study of 40 episodes the show aired in 2013 found that roughly half the advice doled out on it had little to no solid scientific evidence to back it up.

In other words, when Dr. Oz tells his audience he's found the "miracle cure" for weight loss in the form of a plant extract, or that they can reduce their stress levels by using a psychic to communicate with their dead loved ones, they should be skeptical.

Tim Sullivan, the director of publicity for "The Dr. Oz Show," recently told Reuters that the program has "always endeavored to challenge the so-called conventional wisdom, reveal multiple points of view and question the status quo."

He added, "The observation that some of the topics discussed on the show may differ from popular opinion or various academic analyses affirms that we are furthering a constructive dialogue about health and wellness."

Sullivan did not immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment.

NOW READ: 5 'quack treatments' Dr. Oz has recommended that are totally bogus

SEE ALSO: Half the things the most powerful doctor in America recommends probably aren't supported by science

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It's official!

"Fast and Furious" star Vin Diesel confirmed at Universal's CinemaCon panel, an annual event for theater owners, that the next installment to the franchise is happening.

The currently untitled eighth chapter will be released April 14, 2017.

The seventh film in the franchise, "Furious 7," has now grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide.

It became the fastest film to hit $1 billion, crossing the mark in just 17 days.

Variety reports Diesel told theater owners "It means a lot to me to get your blessing." 

Diesel previously hinted at another installment to the popular franchise during a recent appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" while promoting "Furious 7," saying he always thinks of these films as trilogies.

The actor said that the addition of Kurt Russell in the seventh movie was to introduce him for a story arc in a future film which would take place in New York.

"So, Kurt Russell came in for this movie ["Furious 7"], but he was really … we really hired him because of a story that follows this that takes place in New York," said Diesel.

SEE ALSO: How Vin Diesel helped save the "Fast and Furious" franchise from going to straight to video

AND: "Fast and Furious 7" is an absolutely ridiculous thrill ride and Paul Walker tribute that fans will love

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NOW WATCH: Cars fall from the sky in the new 'Furious 7' movie