Oscars 2025: Conan O'Brien mocks Karla Sofia Gascon scandal in monologue
Conan O'Brien poked fun at Karla Sofia Gascon's past-Tweet controversy in his Oscars opening monologue on Sunday (02.03.25).
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10 Positively Chilling Stories About Old Hollywood Stars
In 1981, West Side Story star Natalie Wood drowned after (officially) falling off the yacht owned by her and her husband, actor Robert Wagner. But despite her death being ruled accidental, many have speculated for decades that she was, in fact, murdered. Aboard the boat were her husband, Robert Wagner, as well as actor Christopher Walken, who has remained quite mum about the situation. In a rare 1997 statement, Walken maintained that "What happened that night only she knows, because she was alone.' In 2011, the case was reopened, and in 2018, Robert Wagner was named a person of interest in the case. At the time, Lieutenant John Corina of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said that he thinks Wagner has, "constantly changed his story a little bit. And his version of events just don't add up.' But as of 2025, the case still hasn't been closed. Actress Lana Turner, ever-scandalous, was married no less than seven times; but her most famous relationship was with a boyfriend, Johnny Stomponato, who was murdered on the night of the Oscars in 1958 by none other than Turner's own daughter. Johnny Stomponato had a history of mental and physical abuse. That night, Turner attempted to end the relationship, and things terrified 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane, was listening to the entire fight. She ran to retrieve a knife from the kitchen. In her later memoir, Crane wrote that Stomponato "was coming at her from behind, his arm raised to strike. I took a step forward and lifted the weapon. He ran on the blade. It went in. In! For three ghastly heartbeats, our bodies fused. He looked straight at me, unblinking. 'My God, Cheryl, what have you done?'" Stomponato's death was ruled a justifiable homicide. The mysterious death of celebrated director William Desmond Taylor is referred to by some crime fans as "Hollywood's first murder mystery." In 1922, Taylor was discovered dead in his apartment with a bullet in his back. The case remains unsolved. The scandalous story dominated Hollywood, but a suspect could never be nailed down. As the New York Times put it 70 years later, "Was the murderer a seduced virgin, her jealous mother, the gay butler, the drug-addicted actress, the blackmailing secretary, or someone from William Desmond Taylor's mysterious past?" A little over 100 years after the murder, it seems that Taylor's case will forever remain cold — but that doesn't mean that modern imagination isn't still infatuated by it. In fact, just a few years ago the case was the subject of a popular BuzzFeed Unsolved video!
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Kim Novak, the glamorous and fiercely independent star of one of the greatest films ever made, Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo,' will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival this fall. Festival organizers said Monday that they will also host the world premiere of Alexandre Philippe's documentary 'Kim Novak's Vertigo,' which was made in collaboration with the actor. Alberto Barbera, the festival's artistic director, said that the award, 'celebrates a star who was emancipated, a rebel at the heart of Hollywood who illuminated the dreams of movie lovers before retiring to her ranch in Oregon to dedicate herself to painting and to her horses.' Novak, who is 92, left her Hollywood career behind long ago. But in recent years she has occasionally granted interviews around significant film anniversaries and made public appearances. After presenting at the 2014 Oscars many online, including Donald Trump, insulted her appearance. She responded with an open letter writing, 'I will no longer hold myself back from speaking out against bullies." Earlier this year actor Sydney Sweeney paid homage to Novak on the Met Gala red carpet. She's portraying Novak in a new film directed by Colman Domingo about her relationship with Rat Packer Sammy Davis Jr. Of this latest honor, Novak said she is 'deeply touched' to receive the award. 'To be recognized for my body of work at this time in my life is a dream come true,' Novak said. 'I will treasure every moment I spend in Venice. It will fill my heart with joy.' The Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 27 through Sept. 6, but the full slate of films selected won't be announced until late July. 'The Holdovers' filmmaker Alexander Payne will preside over the main competition jury.
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When fans nervously tuned in to watch HBO's adaptation of one of their favorite video games, there was one familiar presence that immediately calmed their nerves: the mournful guitar of Gustavo Santaolalla. As certain story beats changed and beloved polygonal faces were replaced with new actors, the beating heart of The Last of Us — its mesmerizing, tension-ridden score — survived the transition to TV intact. '[Series creator] Neil Druckmann has said that my music is part of the DNA of The Last of Us,' Santaolalla says. 'I think the fact that we kept the sonic fabric — that we didn't do an orchestral score for the series — has been instrumental in keeping those fans of the games fans of the series, too.' Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Santaolalla first started releasing music when he was 17. Loving both English rock bands and the traditional Argentine folk music that he was raised on, Santaolalla melded both into his own unique sound, part of a genre called rock nacional. Before he could fully make his mark, Santaolalla's family fled the Argentine junta dictatorship in 1978, moving to Los Angeles, where his unique sound soon caught the attention of filmmakers. Snapped up to score the 2000 film Amores Perros and 2003's 21 Grams, their success led to Santaolalla composing the soundtracks for Brokeback Mountain and Babe l, both of which won him Oscars. Santaolla's sonic secret? Embracing the eloquence of silence. 'I work so much with silence and space, because silences sometimes can be louder than a note that you're playing,' says Santaolalla. 'I remember on Brokeback Mountain when I first sent them the music, the producer said 'I thought you were pulling my leg at first, because you wait so long to play the next note!'' 'Silences sometimes can be louder than a note that you're playing.' After winning two Oscars back to back, Santaolalla carefully considered his next career move. Despite being a self-professed 'terrible gamer' Santaolalla tells me he always loved watching his son play, mesmerized by the on-screen kineticism. 'I always thought that if somebody connects this at an emotional level with a player, it's going to be a revolution.' It turns out, the universe had picked up on Santaolalla's newest interest. Post-Oscars, he was approached by several game companies to do music, but turned them down because 'I'm very picky about the work that I do.' That includes a lucrative gaming project that he is careful not to name. 'Everyone thought I was crazy!' he chuckles. Still, Santaolalla quietly hoped that a more emotionally-resonant project would materialize. 'So, I waited… and then Neil appeared,' Santaolalla says. 'When Neil told his colleagues that he wanted me to do this, [his colleagues ] said, No, Gustavo is not going to be interested — he won two Oscars! But when Neil [told me] the story, and that he wanted to do a game that connects with people on an emotional level… I was sold. What even Neil Druckmann wasn't prepared for, however, was that Gustavo's music would become just as crucial a presence as Ellie and Joel. In a post apocalyptic world where life is scarce and danger lurks around every corner, silence hangs in the air like a threat. Santaolalla's scuffed notes, discordant melodies and screeching fret slides reverberate across the dilapidated city streets, feeling as unpredictable as the world Ellie and Joel inhabit. 'I love the use of imperfections, even errors or mistakes.' 'I love the use of imperfections, even errors or mistakes,' Santaolalla explains. 'Any professional guitar player when they're recording tend to avoid all kinds of noises; when you run your hand on the fretboard or little glitches in your playing. But sometimes, I'll push those in my mix, and I think that humanizes it. That's why many people have said that my music becomes like a character — a presence. It's why I play things myself.' In the second game, Gustavo's music becomes a physical part of the fiction, with Ellie carrying a guitar throughout her quest for vengeance. She takes out the instrument during welcome moments of downtime, offering cathartic respite. And just like Gustavo's score, these beautiful vignettes break up the harrowing silence, which carries through in the second season of the show. 'I love the TV series too,' says Santaolalla. ' For the show, Neil associated himself with another incredible talent, Craig Mazin — the guy that did Chernobyl — who knows that media and that language. I think it was a big, big challenge, because when you go from one media to another one, people say no, I like the original better! So, I think, once again, that the way we have used the music has been instrumental to keep that fan base attached.' He adds that 'I think that when a story is really great, like a theatrical piece — like Shakespeare — it doesn't matter who plays the character. Obviously Pedro Pascal's Joel is different than the Joel from the game, but the substance of the character is so powerful that those things are just superficial. They could have done this as a series, as a feature film, as a puppet theatre piece, or an animation and it will still land regardless — because it's just great writing.' Now as Santaolalla finds himself releasing his very own instrument — the Guitarocko — it feels like the culmination of the musical journey he started as a teen. Melding the traditional Bolivian 10 stringed ronroco with the form factor of a Fender Stratocaster, Gustavo feels a father-like pride for his musical creation: the 73-year-old is invigorated by what The Last Of Us has given him at this stage in his career. 'I've been blessed with the fact that I have connected with an audience since I was very young,' he says. 'But the way I connect with the fans of The Last of Us and the way they connect with the music… here's a special devotion that is really beautiful. I have this new audience which is fantastic, and I love that they didn't know me as an artist or as a film composer! Now they look for my music, and they discover these things. It's been a gift for me, at this point — after everything that I've been through — to be involved with a project like this.'
