Sony offered James Bond star Daniel Craig a $5 million fee to put the forthcoming Sony Xperia Z4 smartphone in the forthcoming film Spectre, but Craig and Spectre director Sam Mendes resisted because "James Bond only uses the 'best.'"
This is all according to internal Sony emails revealed via last winter's hack, dated to October of 2014.
It appears from the first email that long-time producer Barbara Broccoli, the daughter of James Bond movie series creator Albert Broccoli, wanted Sony to bolster its $18 million commitment to marketing Spectre with payments to the cast and crew for using its phones.
There appears to have been some back-and-forth, per a second email, with Samsung making a product placement offer of its own: Samsung was willing to give a $5 million fee for its phones appearing in the movie, but a higher marketing spend of $50 million to promote it.
Craig and Mendes had concerns other than cash, it seems from that second email.
"BEYOND the $$ factor, there is, as you may know, a CREATIVE factor whereby Sam and Daniel don’t like the Sony phone for the film (the thinking, subjectively/objectively is that James Bond only uses the 'best,' and in their minds, the Sony phone is not the 'best')," wrote Andrew Gumpert, President of Worldwide Business Affairs and Operations for Columbia Pictures.
Barring any further emails, we may have to wait until the release of Spectre on November 6 to see which phone Bond thinks is best.
The making of "Good Will Hunting" is the stuff of cinematic legend.
That is partially because the script earned the writers, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Oscars for best original screenplay and launched them both into stardom.
But they weren't the only ones to contribute to the classic script.
At a Tribeca Film Festivalpanelheld on Wednesday, moderator Faith Saile brought up that Damon began working on the idea for the script during a playwriting class he took while attending Harvard. Originally, the character of Will Hunting, who Damon ended up playing, was a physics prodigy.
However, Sheldon Glashow, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who teaches at Harvard, told Damon that he should be brilliant at math instead of physics.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.That may not sound like a big difference, but according to Columbia University physics and mathematics professor Brian Greene, who spoke at the panel about how "Good Will Hunting" portrays math and science, it makes a lot more sense.
He went on to explain why physics wouldn't have worked as well in the context of the film.
"Having some deep insight about the universe, though, typically, it's a group project in the modern era," Greene said. "Doing some mathematical theorem is a singular undertaking very often."
This works well for both the film and the character of Will. After all, Will's genius makes him something of a loner, and the more people want to work with him and help him, the more he pushes away. It just seems like a group project wouldn't benefit him.
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.It also seems like one of the film's most important moments, the one in which nobody realizes that it is the janitor who has finished the equation written out on a chalkboard, would not have existed without this change.
"You've got this guy who sees a problem on the board and he goes ahead and solves it. It's unlikely someone could look at physics by themselves and come up with a theory of the origin of the universe," Greene said, "it's just less believable."
"Good Will Hunting" would go on to gross $225.9 million worldwide and win two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams) and Best Original Screenplay (Affleck, Damon).
This week "NBC Nightly News" debuted the first of Kate Snow’s series on transgender children.
The segment, titled "Jacob's Journey," was a hit with viewers. Nearly 8 million people tuned in to watch the story of 5-year-old Jacob Lemay, who was born a girl but has identified as a boy since birth.
Since the six-minute segment was posted to NBC News' Facebook page, it has received 10 million views and counting.
The "NBC Nightly News" reports on transitioning children are airing the same week that Bruce Jenner will sit down with Diane Sawyer for a "20/20" special, in which the Olympian turned reality-TV star will reportedly discuss his transition to becoming a woman.
In anticipation of Jenner's interview, NBC is taking a look into the lives of families raising transgender children. Here's the story of how the Lemay family knew their daughter "Mia" was transgender — and how Mia transitioned into "Jacob."
"Jacob is your typical, energetic little boy," says his mom, Mimi.
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"He loves to run around and play in the dirt. He's a youthful, energetic little boy."
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"He's the funnest kid and a great buddy," says his dad, Joe. "He was also born in a girl's body."
There's a lot of discussion flying around over who's actually coming back for Netflix's "Full House" spin-off and who isn't.
After weeks of speculation, the deal apparently came through earlier this week and was quickly announced by the original show's star and the spin-off's executive producer, John Stamos.
“Five minutes ago, they called, they sealed the deal,” Stamos revealed while on ABC's "Jimmy Kimell Live" Tuesday. “We’ve been working on this for many, many years."
Stamos will reprise his role as Uncle Jesse. But what about everyone else?
Bob Saget as Danny Tanner — IN NEGOTIATIONS
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. The show's original single dad has stayed pretty quiet about the new show. But reports of some kind of reunion have been circling for years and Saget has had plenty of time to comment.
According to Lori Loughlin, who played Jesse's wife Rebecca, Saget is in talks for the show.
Last year, Saget told People that a reunion show was "the farthest thing from my mind that exists." At the same time, he has made appearances with the other cast members in recent years.
Dave Coulier as Joey Gladstone — IN NEGOTIATIONS
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Is there room for the goofy best friend or will Netflix cut this out?
According to Loughlin, Coulier is also still in talks with Netflix.
The actor and comedian is probably a good bet to return. Like Saget, he has made appearances with other cast members over the years and his recent wedding became a mini "Full House" reunion with Stamos, Saget, Candace Cameron Bure, Andrea Barber, and show creator Jeff Franklin (who's also heading up the spinoff).
Candace Cameron Bure as D.J. Tanner — IN
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Twenty years later, D.J. is a veterinarian, has two boys, she's pregnant and, wait for it, recently widowed. Where have we heard this story before?
Jodie Sweetin as Stephanie Tanner — IN
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Sweetin will reprise her role as middle sister, Stephanie, she of the "How Rude!" catchphrase. When we meet her again, she's an aspiring musician and will move in with D.J. to help her raise her kids.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as Michelle Tanner — MIA
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. The twin millionaire fashionistas, who as babies tag teamed the role of the youngest Tanner daughter, had no idea about the show, according to WWD.
“I ran into Bob [Saget] the other day and we didn’t even talk about it,” said Ashley.
“I’m shocked I haven’t heard from John [Stamos],” said Mary-Kate.
But they're going to get some sage advice from a trusted father figure. “I’m going to call [Saget] and get his perspective,” said Ashley.
Have mercy on Netflix.
Lori Loughlin as Rebecca Katsopolis — IN NEGOTIATIONS
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Could Uncle Jesse be a bachelor again? It's possible if Loughlin's talks don't end in her signing on to return for "Fuller House." The actress said on Thursday's "Today" that she's optimistic.
"I think it would be awesome to have all of us together, and I think that's what the fans would like to see," Loughlin said.
Andrea Barber as Kimmy Gibbler — IN
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Hello, what are best friends for? Barber will be back as chatty Kimmy Gibbler, who also moves in to help D.J. out. But she's a single mom with a teenage daughter herself.
Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit as Nicky and Alex Katsopolis — MIA
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. After three seasons of playing Uncle Jess and Rebecca's sons, the twins seem to have moved on from acting. Blake is a firefighter in Atlanta, according to Bustle.
And Alex is still working in Hollywood as a sound editor. In fact, he and the "Game of Thrones" sound team were nominated for an Emmy in 2014.
Movie theater chains like Regal and AMC make huge profit margins on the sale of food and drinks at the concession stand. Without these gross profits both companies would be losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Find out which items are marked up the most and which are the best deal.
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) famously loses his hand to Darth Vader, in an iconic scene from "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.If you've been watching the latest Phase Two Marvel movies closely, you'll notice a character has been losing an arm — or hand — in each film, too.
Phase Two refers to the second of the three phases of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Phase Two kicked off in 2013 with "Iron Man 3" and it will end with this summer's "Ant-Man."
President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige, a self-proclaimed "Star Wars" fan, confirmed the gag is a homage to a galaxy far, far away during the recent press tour for "Avengers: Age of Ultron." But it didn't start that way.
"So I’m obsessed with 'Star Wars' - and it didn’t start out as intentional, but it became intentional," Feige told Cinemablend. "It sort of happens in every 'Star Wars' movie, but I was sort of looking at it, ‘Okay, is Phase Two our 'Empire Strikes Back'?’ Not really, but tonally things are a little different. Somebody gets their arm cut off in every Phase Two movie. Every single one."
With two more films to go in Phase Two — "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Ant-Man" — Feige gave away a bit of a spoiler. Since we've seen "Age of Ultron," we can confirm it definitely happens in that film.
Here are all the severed arms as they appear in the Marvel Universe so far:
"Iron Man 3" (2013)
Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) loses his arm during his final battle with Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.).
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"Thor: The Dark World" (2013)
Thor lost his hand momentarily when Loki pretended to chop it off in a grand visual illusion.
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"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014)Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Bucky (Sebastian Stan) is seen losing his arm in a flashback where he falls off a train and is thought to be dead.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014)Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Groot (Vin Diesel) loses both of his arms during his first encounter with Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Don't worry, they grow back.
You can see more arm slicing in "Age of Ultron" May 1 and "Ant-Man" July 31.
While none compare to Apple's massive, somewhat terrifying undertaking, the new campus of the company behind the world's most popular game – "League of Legends" – is quite a looker.
The view of Riot Games' new campus in Los Angeles.
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In a very, very blue room sits "League of Legends" characters "Tibbers" (the big guy) and "Annie."
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In the mood for a game of gigantic chess? This is Riot Games' new "quad."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Following a record-breaking Wrestlemania, WWE is injecting its WWE Network with a smattering of new, original shows. The WWE Network charges subscribers $9.99 per month, which grants them access not only to each month's live pay-per-view event, but also to the company's extensive library of archival material.
One of the new shows is "WWE Too Hot For TV," hosted by Jerry Springer, whose own iconic syndicated talk show is now in its 25th season. In an interview with Business Insider, Springer said the the show's format will feature him showcasing and commenting on outrageous classic clips from the WWE archive.
"The best parallel I can draw is that show 'Talk Soup,' which has been on for years," Springer said, referencing the predecessor to the E! clip show "The Soup" hosted by Joel McHale. "I guess the only question I had is: why did it take us so long to think about that because it's so obvious? It's been so much entertainment for so many years."
"It's a natural fit. Truth is, our audiences overlap. They're the same demographic. So yeah, it was easy to say 'yes' to."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Springer is no stranger to WWE. He has made many appearances on the company's televised events over the years, consistently to great fanfare. His last live appearance, in 2014, saw the TV host trying to motivate the feuding identical twin sisters known as the Bella Twins to reconcile their differences. As you can see below, it didn't work.
"The Jerry Springer Show" is produced in Stamford, Connecticut, which is where WWE's studios and corporate headquarters are located.
WWE is hoping the injection of fresh content will ease the concerns among stockholders regarding the rate of the network's subscriber growth.
Springer's new WWE Network show debuts on Monday, immediately following the end of "Monday Night Raw" on the USA Network.
We talked to Springer about what audiences can expect, along with his thoughts about where the WWE Network fits into the evolving media landscape, as well as Springer's days as a young wrestling fan. You can listen to our full conversation with Springer below:
I used to watch "Game of Thrones" on those low-quality, spammy hosting sites but gave up around season 3. I've been watching "Bored To Death" and "Rome" on Amazon Prime, while my girlfriend watched "True Blood." While I enjoyed those shows, however, I never considered paying for HBO — until now.
After signing up for a trial, I've been so impressed that I might even pay, joining around 30 million traditional HBO subscribers in the US.
Some highlights:
There are tons of good movies on HBO Now. These include many hits that aren't on Netflix, such as: "Batman Begins," "Divergent," "Edge of Tomorrow," "The Grand Hotel Budapest," "Gravity," "The Great Gatsby," "The Lego Movie," "X-Men: Days Of Future Past," and "The Wolverine" — and those are just the recent ones.
Netflix may have more movies, but HBO Now has more than I want to watch right now.
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"Silicon Valley" is amazing. I finally started watching HBO's hilarious satire of tech culture, and I like it so much.
Created by Mike Judge ("Office Space"), its about an awkward coder who stumbles on a valuable app, gets caught in a bidding war between two billionaires, and enlists the other losers in his Palo Alto incubator home to join his company.
The show is absurdly entertaining and insightful, with pause-the-computer funny moments like when a meeting held via "telehuman" holographic projection goes off the rails.
Did I mention "Game Of Thrones"? I've been whistling the "Game of Thrones" theme song all week after devouring season 4.
Everyone knows this show is good, but it's that much better when you can watching it in high quality, as opposed to whatever crappy stream I used in the past (not to mention the good feeling you get when accessing content legally).
And now that the show is moving ahead of the books, many of us loyal readers will feel compelled to keep up with the show.
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I can only assume a lot of HBO series are excellent. I look forward to trying "Veep" next, and then there's John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight," "True Detective," "The Jinx," "Going Clear," and many other shows and documentaries that people seem to love, with exciting new series in the pipe and many famous original series dating back to the nineties.
While Netflix and Amazon Prime have their own good original content, HBO is the clear frontrunner here.
Put it all together, HBO is a strong contender for the best streaming service out there (even if Netflix is cheaper at $8 for streaming only).
Realtor.com has done the world a public service by figuring out how much each apartment or house that appears in the television show "Mad Men" might have cost at the time — and how much each would cost today.
What that post doesn't do is adjust the 1960s numbers for inflation, thereby allowing us to see just which character might have gotten the richest if they held onto that property into old age.
The answer, unsurprisingly, is Peggy.
(Numbers are rounded a bit from the official CPI calculations.)
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Don and Megan’s Upper East Side pad
Address: 783 Park Avenue, Apt. 17B 1965 Value: $55,000 Inflation-adjusted (in 2015 dollars): $410,000 2015 Value: $5 million
Bruce Jenner sat down with Diane Sawyer Friday night and revealed "for all intents and purposes, I am a woman."
Below are quotes from the interview (developing):
"I've always been very confused with my gender identity since I was little."
"I explain it this way -- God is looking down making little Bruce. He gave me all these wonderful qualities. Then at the end, he looked at me and said, 'Hey, let's give him the soul of a female and see how he deals with that.'"
"My brain is much more female than I am male. But that's what my soul is."
"I look at it this way -- Bruce is telling a lie. I can't do that any longer."
"Yes, for all intents and purposes I am a woman."
"My heart and my soul and everything I do in life is part of me. That female side of me is who I am."
"As of now I have all the male parts, but I still identify as female."
"Why is this so hard to say? I don't want to disappoint people."
"I really believe we're going to make a difference in this world from what we're doing (the interview)."
This is the last interview he's going to do as "Bruce."
He hopes to reemerge as the person he calls "her."
"I was a lonely little boy. I'm a lonely big boy. I don't socialize a lot. I never fit in. I like to play golf, but 99% of the time I play by myself."
"I was never attracted to guys. I've always felt heterosexual. I am not gay. I've never been with a guy. I've always been with a woman, raising kids."
"Sexuality is who you're attracted to, but gender identity is about who you identify with."
"I was trying to block out my feelings with the obsession to be an Olympic athlete."
His first wife, Christy, was the first person he told his secret to.
"My gender was a big part of my break up" to Linda Thompson in 1984.
"I wasn't as fair to my ex-wives as I should have been. I've apologized to everybody."
Approaching age 40, 30 years ago, he began to transition and did hormones for "almost five years."
Jenner told his sister, who kept the secret for over 30 years.
"I just can't pull the curtain any longer...I can't do it anymore."
"Being Bruce isn't easy... it's never going away."
"This is not a publicity stunt."
"I told my mom she didn't cause this."
"I've raised wonderful children The first child I ever told was Kimberly. She caught me one time. It was like this big secret in the family that we never talked about again until years later."
When he met Kris Jenner, he was on hormones and had size 36B breasts.
"Kris is a good woman."
Kris Jenner had "no comment" on the Diane Sawyer interview, but Bruce's first two wives sent in well wishes."
Son Brandon told Diane Sawyer of Bruce Jenner: "I'm honored and more proud than ever to be a part of this family."
A few months ago Jenner called the family into a room and told them he wanted to transition. The reactions were varied, because the kids are all very protective.
"Khloe has had the toughest time with it, she's had a lot of loss in her life."
Kim Kardashian said Kanye was the one who opened her eyes to people being "true to myself."
"Kimberly has been, by far, the most accepting and easiest to talk to about it."
"If he's happy, we're happy," Kendall and Kylie Jenner said in a statement to ABC.
"I would like to work with the [transgender] community to get this message out."
"I had a feeling in church that maybe this is why god put me on this earth, to deal with this issue."
DC Comics is currently celebrating the 75th anniversary of Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker.
What better way to celebrate than by revealing the first official look at the next incarnation of the Clown Prince of Crime?
Director David Ayer shared the first image of Jared Leto as the Joker on Twitter Friday evening. The Oscar-winning actor will play the famed villain in next year's "Suicide Squad" film.
Leto will be the first person to play the role of the Joker since the late Heath Ledger in 2008's "The Dark Knight."
This is different than any iteration of the Joker we've seen before.
Here are a few ways the character has looked on screen in the past.
Jack Nicholson went through a long makeup process to show off the Joker's wide grin for Tim Burton's 1989 film "Batman."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.One of the most famous versions of the character is Mark Hamill's (yes, that Hamill) iteration of the wise-cracking clown in "Batman: The Animated Series."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The Joker's best-known for wearing his iconic purple suit and for his bleached-white skin. He looked pretty similar in the "Batman: Arkham" video game series.
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Heath Ledger brought an entire darker look to the character in Christopher Nolan's 2008 "The Dark Knight," dying his long locks a shade of green. The Joker never looked more ragged, sinister, and chaotic.
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In recent years, the Joker character featured in the DC Comics has taken on a similar darker edge.
It's not clear whether this will be the final look for Leto or if the tattoos may just be to promote the 75th anniversary.
On Friday, Bruce Jenner confirmed that "for all intents and purposes, I am a woman" in a bombshell interview with Diane Sawyer.
When Sawyer asked Jenner if his sexual preference has also changed, the 65-year-old Olympian-turned-reality TV star explained: "I am not gay. As far as I know, I am heterosexual. I've never been with a guy, I've always been married, raising kids."
But Sawyer pressed on, asking, "If you're assigned male and you become a female, but you like women, are you a lesbian?"
"You're going back to the sex thing and it's apples and oranges," Jenner responded. "Sexuality is who you're attracted to, but gender identity is about who you identify with."
"So much confusion," added Jenner.
Sawyer later said vai voiceover that ABC News spoke to both transgender people and experts who explained that "sexual desire and gender are two different things."
"Right now," says Jenner, "let's just say I'm asexual."
"There’s two different things here," Jenner explained. “Sexuality is who you personally are attracted to — who turns you on — male or female. But gender identity has to do with who you are as a person and your soul, and who you identify with inside."
Jenner has previously been married three times and has six biological children.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.He was married to Chrystie Crownover from 1972 to 1981, and songwriter Linda Thompson from 1981 to 1984.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.During the interview, Jenner confirmed "my gender was a big part of my break up" to Linda Thompson in 1984. Thompson and Jenner have two sons together, Brody and Brandon, who appeared on Friday's ABC special.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.After Jenner and Thompson split, Jenner started taking hormones and was considering transitioning until he met Kris Kardashian and married her five months after they started dating.
Jenner and Kardashian were married from 1991 to 2015.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The former couple have two daughters together, Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.After Friday's interview aired, Kris tweeted:
Not only was I able to call him my husband for 25 years and father of my children, I am now able to call him my hero.
As for Jenner's next steps in his transition and a possible sexual reassignment surgery, he says: "Those are all things in the future for me to explore. No decisions have been made yet."
Watch Diane Sawyer ask Jenner about his sexuality below:
Amid much speculation, E! has officially announced that it will document Bruce Jenner's life as a transgender woman with a new reality show.
The still untitled series will consist of eight one-hour episodes set to premiere on Sunday, July 26 at 9 p.m.
“Bruce is incredibly courageous and an inspiration, and we are proud to be entrusted with this deeply personal and important story,” said Jeff Olde, E!'s executive vice president of programming and development, in a statement on Friday.
He continued, “This series will present an unfiltered look as Bruce boldly steps into uncharted territory and is true to himself for the first time.”
The series will be produced by Bunim/Murray Productions, the same company behind E!'s "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" franchise. Jenner will serve as an executive producer alongside Gil Goldschein, Jeff Jenkins, Farnaz Farjam and Andrea Metz.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Additionally, E! has brought on several consultants with expertise in Transgender issues as show consultants. They include GLAAD's national co-chair for its board of directors, Jennifer Finney Boylan; the Los Angeles Gender Center’s founder and director, Dr. Marie Keller, and the center's director of child and adolescent services, Susan P. Landon.
E! announced the new series on the heels of Jenner's much-anticipated interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer on Friday evening. During the interview, the 65-year-old Olympian-turned-reality star sat down with Sawyer and confirmed "for all intents and purposes, I am a woman."
Over the past year and after divorcing Kardashian momager Kris Jenner earlier this year, Jenner began appearing less on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and was noticeably absent from the family's reported $100 million dollar contract renewal with E! in February.
Among many bombshells Bruce Jenner dropped Friday night during his interview with Diane Sawyer — like "I am a woman"— one of the more unexpected items viewers learned is that the Olympian-turned-reality TV star is also a Conservative Republican.
When Sawyer asked if Jenner cheered when Obama became the first president to even say the word "transgender" in a State of the Union address, the 65-year-old replied that he "would certainly give him credit for that."
"But not to get political," Jenner continued, "I've never been a big fan, I'm kind of more on the conservative side."
"Are your a Republican?" Sawyer asked in response, to which Jenner replied, "Yeah! Is that a bad thing? I believe in the constitution."
"Do you think that would be an unsettling thing for some people in the conservative wing of the party?" Sawyer asked.
"I've thought about that," says Jenner, adding that neither political party has a monopoly on understanding.
Sawyer then asked Jenner if he would go to Mitch McConell and John Boehner and ask them to help champion this cause. Jenner responded that he "would do that in a heartbeat, yes, and I think they would be very receptive."
Currently, 32 states have no laws banning job discrimination against transgender people -- something Obama has urged to change in a State of the Union address.
According to a July Gallup poll, 21% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans are Republican or lean Republican, compared with 63% who identify or lean Democratic, per The Washington Post.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.For close to two decades Courtney Love and the surviving members of the band Nirvana, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, have feuded over the band’s finances,among other things.
But Sunday night at the Tribeca Film Festival showed that the relationship between the wife of the band’s legendary deceased frontman, Kurt Cobain, and its members is improving.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.An audience member asked if Morgen had reached out to Grohl to be in the film, as he was not in it but Novoselic is.
“I wanted to keep [the film] as intimate as possible, so I didn’t feel the need for multiple members of Nirvana [to be in it],” Morgen told the packed audience at Spring Studio in Lower Manhattan. “But I didn’t want to be in a Q&A and answer this question all the time, so I asked if I could talk to Kirst and Dave. I heard back that Dave was in the middle of doing his album [and was unavailable]. Which is fine, and I was fine with that."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.But Morgen added that two weeks before premiering the film at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, Morgen got word that Grohl was done promoting the album and was available to be interviewed for the film.
“So I was like, Alright, we’ll try,” said Morgen. “We did the interview and Dave was great and awesome, but I couldn’t do what I’d already done.”
Morgen had already shown the film at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival when he tried to work the Grohl interview into the film. But he said by that time he had “lost the feel to evaluate it anymore” and decided to leave it on the cutting room floor.
Love did not comment on Sunday about Grohl not being in the film, but if previous Nirvana events are any indication, it seems the two are currently in a better place.
The band and Love had been at odds since the suicide death of Cobain in 1994.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Love, Grohl, and Novoselic partnered in a LLC in 1997, which controls band assets like unreleased music, images, and requires a unanimous vote on major decisions about the use of anything related to the band.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.In 2001, Love sued Grohl and Novoselic over the unreleased song “You Know You’re Right” included in a Nirvana box set due to be released the fall of that year, and asked the court to dissolve the LLC partnership.
Grohl and Novoselic counter-sued, stating that Love is “motivated solely by her blind self-interest.”
The lawsuit was settled in 2002 with all parties staying in the LLC and “You Know You’re Right” being featured in a retrospective album.
But things with Love and Grohl went sour again in 2011 when Love accused Grohl of seducing her daughter with Cobain, Frances Bean Cobain. (Grohl has said the accusation is untrue.)
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.But at last year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction of Nirvana, it seemed everyone was on good terms again.
Love not only went on stage with Grohl and Novoselic to accept the honor, but she and Grohl even hugged on stage.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Love followed the event by tweeting:
The most magical part of the evening. Thank you Dave, love you. I know this made him smile up there pic.twitter.com/1VPdVKAAbc
At Sunday’s post Q&A screening, Morgen was asked how difficult it was to get the full cooperation of Cobain’s family and the surviving band members to take part in this project. He admitted that when he started working on the film in 2007 it was a challenge, but because Frances Bean Cobain was involved everyone agreed to take part.
Love then interjected on how everyone felt about each other at the time:
“It was a tsunami of s---, and I caused most of it.”
"Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck" is currently playing at the Tribeca Film Festival and will air on HBO May 4.
The late, great Robin Williams was often known to go off script and improvise like no other.
It was his attitude that often contributed to the film veering off script during rehearsals and production.
"He was constantly improvising," co-star Stellan Skarsgard said during a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, "And I liked that because if you prepare properly, it is trashed totally by somebody else improvising. And that's really good, because you usually get a little stiff, too skillful, and too elegant if your performance doesn't get f---ed by someone."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.But Williams wouldn't just improvise his lines. He would go completely out of character. According to Skarsgard and director Gus Van Sant, Williams would typically do all of his lines while impersonating different celebrities.
"Every time, the first take, I came in and it wasn't him ... Jack Nicholson was standing there. He'd behave like Jack Nicholson," Skarsgard said.
"Then we had to do it again and he was James Cagney. I think it was five or six takes with a different person every time," he continued. "And then gradually he did something more and more like the character."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Clearly, the other actors enjoyed improvising with him. Much of the improvisation took place in Sean's (Williams) office. According to Van Sant, Williams did an entire scene as Janet Reno, while Matt Damon played along with him as Daffy Duck. Another time, Williams did all of his lines as Frankenstein.
At one point, Van Sant asked Damon, "Isn't this fun?" To which Damon responded, "No! It's exhausting!"
Williams' performance in "Good Will Hunting" earned him his first and only Oscar. His acting method sounds atypical, especially when compared to how other Oscar winners typically prepare. It doesn't sound like Robert De Niro, for instance, who gained a record amount of weight for his Oscar-winning performance as boxer Jake La Motta in "Raging Bull."
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Either way, this seemed to work for him. And it led to some of the film's funniest and most touching scenes like this one, where he tells a story about his wife:
And the final line in the film, which was his idea:
Unfortunately, these great moments were not captured on camera. But Robin Williams was always somebody who just wanted to make people laugh, whether or not the cameras were rolling.
Last week, Gwyneth Paltrow accepted Mario Batali's Food Stamp Challenge, designed to raise awareness about obstacles that low-income families face. For a week, participants live off of roughly $31 worth of food — $1.48 per meal.
Since this challenge is an extreme version of the realities that low-income families face (the SNAP program is meant to be supplemental), I know that this week did not authentically replicate food insecurity. I did hope that it would help me better understand the day-to-day struggles that millions of people living off SNAP benefits face.
It turned out to be one of the most physically and mentally grueling weeks of my life. Here's how it went:
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Monday: I made a mental grocery list, packed a calculator, and went out to collect supplies for the week.
On Monday night I headed to the most affordable grocery store I could think of: Trader Joe's.
I was super conscious of sales as I wove through TJs, and the steals of the night included: sweet potatoes ($0.49 each), bananas ($0.19 each), and a 16-ounce bag of bowtie pasta ($0.99).
A breakdown of how I spent my $28.27:
Red split lentils ($1.69)
Bowtie pasta ($0.99)
Can of garbanzo beans ($0.89)
Can of black beans ($0.89)
Butternut squash soup ($2.79)
Chunky peanut butter ($2.49)
8 corn tortillas ($1.99)
Half-gallon of almond milk ($2.99)
Dozen organic eggs, since the only remaining non-organic eggs were cracked ($3.99)
8-pack of maple and brown sugar oatmeal ($2.99)
7 bananas ($1.33)
Bag of spinach ($1.99)
1 yellow onion ($0.79)
3 sweet potatoes ($1.47)
Sea salt ($0.99)
One of the biggest mistakes I made was not buying butter or oil, essential cooking ingredients that I take for granted and therefore completely overlooked.
You'll also notice there is no coffee, a staple in my normal diet but one that would blow the budget.
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Tuesday: I started out strong, but am already realizing how difficult this will be.
My first meal of the challenge was a bowl of oatmeal topped with sliced banana, but I noticed the absence of coffee. My previous attempt at eliminating my liquid energy failed miserably, so I knew I would have to come up with an alternate morning energizer.
I decided to go for a 30-minute jog each morning, and hoped that the exercise, coupled with a cold shower, would simulate my typical double dose of caffeine. It also seemed appropriate to incorporate something physical in my day-to-day routine, as people living on SNAP benefits tend to lead very physical lives.
I felt hungry very early today, around 11:30 a.m., and recklessly delved into an unappealing can of black beans before noon. I made up for the pathetic lunch with a surprisingly tasty, and somewhat balanced, dinner. I discovered my new favorite vegetable tonight: sweet potatoes!
I'm a serial snacker and often eat multiple mini-meals throughout the day. Since I will not be scrambling too many eggs without oil, I decided to make a batch of hard-boiled eggs, which will come in handy when I get the urge to snack.
My adrenaline and excitement over starting the challenge helped alleviate caffeine headaches or hunger pains, and even carried me through the dullest of lunches, but my body felt disrupted. I feel incredibly constrained with my limited food options, and each meal feels utilitarian. I predict that the joy of eating will quickly vanish, and it will become like homework — a task to complete or something to check off of a list.
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Wednesday: I'm so tired, I have to take breaks from my standing desk.
The major challenge of the morning was resisting cupcakes and other office pastries that a coworker had brought in to share, since I've decided not to accept any free food this week, including coffee and office snacks.
I stepped up my lunch game after yesterday's disaster and packed a much more satisfying (and filling) meal. Compared to my coworkers multi-colored spreads however, my food stamp meal lost in both the aesthetic and nutritional categories. I couldn't help but feel envious and a little bitter.
For dinner I decided to test my non-stick pan and made a spinach omelet sans oil. It appeared to work well enough, and I'm no longer kicking myself for overlooking butter or cooking oil.
I definitely struggled with caffeine headaches throughout the day. My legs are also still adjusting to their new morning routine, and there were several times when I had to take a break from my standing desk. In general I felt slow and weak.
It's only day 2, but I already find myself consumed with the thought of food. It's constantly on my mind: Will this meal fill me up sufficiently? How much longer do I have to wait until lunch? What do I have left on my shelf? If I eat this now, will I regret it later on in the week?
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Thursday: After falling asleep before dinner, I'm wondering if I'll actually be able to complete the challenge.
I struggled on my jog this morning; the runs seem to be wearing me out and increasing my hunger more than acting as a substitute for coffee. I'm truly worried about being able to focus at work this morning and maintain a high level of productivity.
Incorporating baby spinach into my pasta for lunch made a world of difference flavor-wise, but lunch did nothing to curb the caffeine headaches or screaming legs.
Today was by far the hardest day and had me questioning whether or not I could finish out the week. I fell asleep before I had the chance to make anything for dinner, which was probably my body's way of temporarily escaping the discomfort.
In addition to the persistent feeling of fatigue, one of the biggest unforeseen challenges has been living on only two liquids: water and milk. I take so many liquids for granted, most notably coffee, soda, and Gatorade.
I also feel constantly bloated, due to the carb-overload and water guzzling. I have seemed to keep my mood in check, however, and am very aware of my presence to ensure that my physical discomfort does not negatively affect anyone around me.
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Friday: The week is finally over, and I couldn't be more relieved.
Feeling malnourished after missing dinner last night, I opted out of running this morning and wolfed down three hard-boiled eggs instead. I then spiced up my oatmeal by adding almond milk in addition to water, which was a major game-changer flavor-wise.
Still feeling nutritionally depleted, I eyed my sad, speckled bananas and thought of the perfect way to repurpose them: an almond milk-banana-peanut butter smoothie. It was cool, crisp, nutritious, and best of all — different! It's incredible how exciting just a dab of variety can be when you're living off such a restricted diet.
The breakfast-that-never-ended held me over for a while, and I didn't feel the need to eat my spinach-noodle combo until 2 p.m. The late lunch, and the fact that it was Friday, made for a bearable afternoon.
Finishing the workweek was a huge relief. I love my job, so this wave of relief was an unfamiliar, and scary, feeling.
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Saturday: A day at the courts distracted me from hunger pains and caffeine headaches.
My blissful smoothie combination made an appearance again this morning before I headed out for a day of tennis. I coach on Saturdays, and the day flew by without a thought of food — that was a first.
During my half-hour lunch break I munched on a peanut butter "sandwich" made with tortillas.
While tennis successfully distracted me from any hunger pains, it quickly caught up to me as soon I made it home. I threw together some veggies with my bowtie noodles to create a satisfying pasta medley.
I faced an interesting dilemma this afternoon when I met up with some college friends at a rooftop bar to enjoy the first day of real spring weather. While people ordered several rounds of appetizers and drinks, I sipped on a glass of water. I didn't care too much about not being able to drink a beer or eat chicken tenders (and it was definitely economical), but I felt detached from the group.
Today, it became very clear to me that when I want to interact, socialize, or build relationships with people, I eat and drink with them! Just one meal at a restaurant, however, would likely use half (or more) of my weekly budget.
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Sunday: I've never felt so ravenous in my life.
I returned to my trusty oats this morning. After breakfast I decided to break into my bag of red split lentils, which made an appearance in the surprisingly tasty veggie tacos that I put together for lunch.
I hadn't felt severely hungry until tonight. Ironically, today was one of my least active days, too (no run, no tennis, and no walk to work), but food depletion seemed to catch up to me this Sunday evening. Since I had been doing a good job stretching my resources, I didn't feel too guilty about whipping up several courses.
Dinner started at 4 p.m. when I cooked my last sweet potato as an appetizer. I then ate the leftover lunch lentils plain and cold, finished off the "splurge soup" that I had opened on Tuesday, made a peanut butter sandwich, then took a spatula to the near-empty jar and scraped off every last bit of peanut butter remaining, eating it off the spatula like a kid licks icing off a beater.
Today was an interesting day; I was clearly incredibly hungry, but was nowhere close to feeling the same levels of fatigue and exhaustion from day 2 and 3. Part of it was me keeping busy, and distracting my body with hobbies such as tennis. Also, I was eating larger portion sizes in general, as I had rationed well earlier in the week. Finally, I could see a neon light at the end of the tunnel.
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Monday: A small chocolate treat and the last supper bring this torturous week to a close.
I took a few hard-boiled eggs to go on my walk to work this morning. A busy Monday made the morning fly and I enjoyed the remains of my pasta at my desk this afternoon.
Upon leaving the office, I remembered that I had $0.92 remaining in my food budget. I passed a Duane Reade, saw Cadbury eggs for $0.29, and there was no turning back.
I wanted to make a memorable last supper, and the most creative option seemed to be a breakfast burrito. I rolled up some veggies with a beautifully runny fried egg in a corn tortilla, and scarfed down the final meal of the challenge alarmingly quickly.
I had extra food left over, but it felt weird indulging just because it was the last night of the challenge. I decided to eat my last meal as if I were continuing with the $29 budget next week.
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Tuesday: I completed the challenge! Coffee has never tasted so glorious.
Food dominated my life this week in a very different way. I thought about creative ways to space out my meals so that I wouldn't feel too hungry, counted down the minutes to meals, and constantly worried about my dwindling pantry. Plus, I felt physically limited this week in a way that I never had before. The absence of caffeine definitely contributed to my sluggish and weak energy levels. My walks to and from work (35 minutes each way) started taking longer as the week progressed (40 to 45 minutes). If I were to repeat the challenge, I would make room in the budget for cheap coffee grounds.
My experimental week clearly does not fully represent the food insecurity that millions of Americans face, but it allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the day-to-day struggles they might experience. The fatigue from small portions and an unbalanced diet is inescapable; your body constantly feels disrupted and "off;" and you never feel like you can fully focus on one task, as the thought of food consumes you. While I fully expected to feel physically weaker, perhaps the most surprising part of the week was the mental and psychological strain.
Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith, cofounders of newly public cloud software company Box, are now worth more than $100 million combined, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Before they achieved fame in the tech world, however, Smith made an appearance as an eligible bachelor on Bravo's "Millionaire Matchmaker" reality show.
Box had about 70 employees in Palo Alto at the time (they now have more than 1,500).
The episode, which aired in 2010, casts a 24-year-old Smith as a stereotypical wealthy nerd. Matchmaker Patti Stanger goes so far as to call Smith the nerdiest guy she's ever met in her life.
"I know it's pretty rare to be a self-made millionaire at 24, but I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy," he says in the episode. "I definitely wouldn't consider myself a typical millionaire. I think most people would consider me a geek, myself included."
In an effort to loosen Smith up, Stanger sets him up with a dance coach. Smith shows up to the dance studio in moose pajama pants.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Things get interesting during the dance class.
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Stanger plans a mixer for Smith and another millionaire on the show to meet a group of women and choose one to go on a date with.
"I didn't have any specific algorithms in mind," for comparing the girls, Smith says.
He eventually chooses a 24-year-old woman named Arielle for his date. At dinner, he tells her that he used to play professional Wiffleball and that he's looking for a lead singer for his band.
"When I say 'band' I don't mean a real band. I mean a band that is actually a video game that I'm afraid to take out of my own living room," he says.
Overall, it seems the date went well. They kiss near the end, and Arielle tells Stanger she'd go out with Smith again.
He even shows Arielle some of the dance moves he learned. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
The date never turned into a lasting relationship, however — Smith married Yael Goshen in 2013.
The New York Public Library has publishedan un-retouched, un-Photoshopped photo from 1939 that features a guy who looks remarkably like Jay-Z.
“I was immediately struck by the similarity to Jay-Z and actually laughed out loud," said Sylviane A. Diouf, who is Curator of Digital Collections at the Schomburg Center for Research In Black Culture and found the photo. "I still hope somebody will tell us who that young man really was."
The library said the image, “Harlem Loiterers” by street photographer Sid Grossman, "created quite a stir" since being posted on Schomburg’sFacebook page the other day.
According to a biography written by Jason Birchmeier, the moniker Jay-Z is an homage to his musical mentor, Jaz-O, as well as to the J/Z subway lines in Brooklyn.
