LAFD Captain Erik Scott: L.A.'s ‘long road to recovery' after the wildfires ‘is happening'
'Los Angeles is really known for being resilient, and the long road to recovery is happening,' LAFD Fire Captain Erik Scott told The Times' Ducassi on the red carpet of the #Oscars.Later, during the ceremony, the Oscars paid special tribute to first responders and firefighters who battled the devastating January Los Angeles wildfires.Several members of the Los Angeles Fire Department received a rousing standing ovation from the star-studded crowd when they came out on stage about midway through the ceremony.Then noting that there are some jokes 'that I'm not even brave enough to tell,' O'Brien stepped aside for the members to deliver the barbs. 'And everyone in the audience has to laugh,' he demanded. 'These are heroes!'The ribbing began. After O'Brien praised Scott ('Damn, best delivery of the night!'), LAFD pilot Jonith Johnson said, 'To play Bob Dylan, Timothée Chalamet learned how to sing. In fact, his singing was so good he almost lost the part.''On behalf of all of Los Angeles, thank you for all that you do,' host Conan O'Brien said to the first responders.
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Cosmopolitan
2 hours ago
- Cosmopolitan
‘Materialists' Director Celine Song Wants Justice for the Romantic Comedy
The new movie Materialists poses an age-old but always interesting question: Can love exist separate from money? In Celine Song's highly anticipated follow-up to Past Lives, Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, an ambitious New York matchmaker helping her clients realize their dreams of finding true love with someone who conveniently makes more than $500,000 a year. In her pursuit of eligible bachelors, she meets 'unicorn' Harry (Pedro Pascal), who provides a perfect contrast to her barely-employed ex John (Chris Evans). She spends the movie being pulled between a love that is convenient and a love that is decidedly less so. The movie is what many people have been desperate to see back in theaters: a genuine romance. While the film's marketing makes it seem a bit more 'com' than 'rom,' in actuality, Song gives a cynical but honest take on what love looks like in 2025, with surprising and heartfelt performances from her three leads. I alternated between giggling/kicking my feet while watching Johnson and Pescal flirt to crying at the hard-earned growth the characters achieve by the final credits. Song hopped on Zoom with Cosmopolitan to talk about getting the casting of Lucy, Harry, and John just right, why money has always been a part of dating, and how her two films are in conversation with each other. I don't write for actors, so I just wrote a script and I create characters and then I worry about it after. I was casting this movie when I was on the Oscars campaign trail. I was in a good spot to just go and meet actors because they had seen Past Lives. And in the case of all three of these actors, it really was a journey of meeting them during one of these lunches or coffee or dinner and then just falling in love with them as the characters. I wish that I could tell you exactly what it was, but it's just like falling in love. You meet them and then you just fall in love with the idea of that person being Lucy, you know? Dakota and I were having lunch, and at some point in this conversation, I was like, Oh, I think she's Lucy. And it's not really about the literal way that she is Lucy; it's about something in her spirit, in her talent, in her being. And that was true about Chris as well. I expected Chris to be like what I've seen in a magazine. And then I was talking to him, and I just loved him. When it comes to Pedro, it was surprising how the inspiration hit, because I've known Pedro before. We were getting very close, and I wasn't really thinking about it. And then one day, he and I were having this conversation about what love is like and the difficulty of love. Just a personal conversation. And in the middle of it, I remember feeling like, Oh my god, I think my friend is Harry. It has to surprise me a little bit. As in, there is a kind of unexpected quality to it. That's what I really feel is where love is, right? Well, I think that there are things that are easier because it's the second film. My second film gets to be made by somebody who knows how to make a film. The truth is that the way I see my actors is exactly as that—as working actors. And that's how they showed up to set every day. And they just worked their ass off. It was amazing to get to work with such colleagues. I think it's actually the way that he was so completely worthy of love. He's very passionate about it. You know what it is? He was not afraid to be humiliated for love. I think that is a very important quality. Because love humiliates us. It is a humbling experience to be loved and to love. And I think that there is an amazing humbleness that Chris has. He's not afraid to be embarrassing for love. Every actor has an amazing history of work that they're bringing with them. So I wouldn't say that I didn't think about those things. Of course, I did. The surprise of Chris as a person was what really what made me feel like he was John. I found meeting him very moving. And I think that's what really drove me to cast him as John. There's something very heartbreaking about his goodness. I don't ever want to walk into a conversation with an actor about doing a movie and not be able to say, 'You're going to do something you haven't done before.' Because I want not only to be inspired by the work that I'm doing with the actors, but I want the actor to feel inspired, too. The sensitivity that Pedro has, there's a softness that is sometimes being disguised by this hard shell of being a man who is surviving a zombie apocalypse or whatever. Because of what this character is going to eventually go through, it had to be somebody who is completely, entirely lovable. We get to sort of undress him in this movie and see the part of them that is so raw and open. This is the thing about all three actors. The first truth is that they're actors, right? This movie is about self-objectification and self-commodification. It's about turning people into numbers. It's about the way that we are thinking about a love in a material way. Who do you think completely understands that? Actors. That's their work. They have to be judged, and they have to be given value. In the very first line! Did you know? Yes! Yo, that's very Materialists. I worked as a matchmaker for six months back in the 2010s, and something that I noticed is that this completely objectified, completely commodified way of talking about our future partner is the norm. Just because it's not being depicted in cinema as much or in stories as much, it doesn't mean that it's not in our everyday life. I think about this so much. So many love stories, you're like, what does the person who's in love do for a living? Well, they're accidentally very rich. Isn't it amazing that Darcy is, like, accidentally so rich and it's a solution to all of Liz's practical problems and he is also the love of her life? But when he points that out, she goes, 'Fuck off.' People don't remember that conversation. They always only remember the 'ardently.' This has always been something that is part of love, dating, marriage, and, in 2025, still is. In this economy? Abso-fucking-lutely. To not contend with it and to not talk about it directly feels like we're missing a really amazing opportunity. The romantic comedy as a genre or romance is often relegated to something that is for chicks, so therefore not of substance. Romance is something that affects us all. I'm so interested in this amazing opportunity that the romantic comedy presents, which is that everybody gets to show up for two hours to talk about love, dating, relationships, marriage. And then within this fun thing, let's actually talk about something. I do think that it is completely worth talking about. It affects all of us. It's the one thing that makes us all feel like idiots. Love makes fools of all of us. [There are spoilers below for the ending of Materialists. If you haven't seen the movie yet, this is your official warning!] Both movies have at the center of it this woman who is facing the question of, what life does she want to live? It's beyond men. Materialists is pretty openly a love triangle, but at the end of the day, it's about this woman who goes through a transformation that they then at the end of it get to make a choice. And that choice is going to affect her life. And the person who is in the beginning of the film has transformed so much by the end of the film, she's unrecognizable. The Lucy who's at the first wedding could never end up with the cater waiter ex boyfriend. It's very connected in that way. I think about this ancient Greek thing that's like, character is destiny. Who you are is going to determine what kind of choice you're going to make. It's not that you make choices and then that becomes who you are. It's actually like who you are is going to mean that the choice you make is inevitable. Given what Lucy has gone through and given who John is and given what John is saying to her, what could she say except "deal"? That's the most romantic line in the whole film. The film is so interested in the practical. The Pride and Prejudice. The debt. The finance. And then, of course, the way that it is going to be ripped apart, but also put together by this very, very ancient notion that love is all shocking. Love is really what is going to keep us going. That's the only deal you can make.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kim Cattrall says Sex and the City character Samantha isn't a nymphomaniac
Former Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall has challenged a common misconception about her much-loved character, Samantha Jones. The 68-year-old actor played the sexually voracious public relations executive on the series from 1990 to 2004, with Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, taking on the roles of her best friends, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte respectively. Cattrall's unapologetically promiscuous character – unmarried, by choice, in her forties – became something of a feminist icon but was commonly labelled a nymphomaniac due to her exploits. Speaking to The Times, Cattrall said: 'She wasn't a nymphomaniac – well, some people might have thought she was – but she was just enjoying the main course. Everyone else was nibbling on the appetisers when she was going for the steak. 'And it was always on her terms – that I always insisted on,' she added. 'But, I'm the antithesis of her [Samantha] in many ways. I'm a serial monogamist, and then some.' Cattrall married the Canadian writer Larry Davis when she was just 19. The marriage was annulled after two years. In her twenties, she married the German architect Andreas Lyson, which lasted seven years. In her early forties, Cattrall married for the third time – the musician Mark Levinson. In 2002, the couple wrote a book together: Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm but separated two years later. Cattrall reprised her character of Samantha Jones in the duo of Sex and the City feature films released in 2008 and 2010. She did not return for the show's reboot And Just Like That in 2021 amid reports of a feud between her and Parker and has since confirmed she will not appear in season three of the series. 'I created a fantastic character that I loved, and I put a lot of love in it,' Cattrall told The Times. 'And if I'm remembered only for that, then that's really OK.' The star turned down the role of Samantha four times before she accepted it. At 41, she didn't think audiences would see her as sexy. 'Self-inflicted ageism,' she reflected. 'Well, that changed – 40 became sexy. It became, 'Man, let's have more of that.''
USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
Sex workers are having a moment, but is the discourse missing the mark?
Sex workers are having a moment, but is the discourse missing the mark? The internet is talking about sex workers. A lot. They were in the spotlight during Oscars season − "Anora" won five awards, including best picture − and OnlyFans stars are gaining popularity on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, becoming pseudo-celebrities in the week, the discourse reached new heights. On June 11, The Economist published a profile of controversial adult entertainer Bonnie Blue titled "Welcome to Bonnie Blue's Britain." The 26-year-old made headlines by staging a since-canceled "petting zoo" stunt to give male fans unfettered access to her. The move angered fellow OnlyFans creators, like Sophie Rain, and made headlines. So what's going on? Sex work is having a moment. But some sex workers, whether they work in strip clubs or as online adult content creators, feel their lived experiences all too often get ignored in the discourse. 'Sex work is work' has become a party line for progressive politics, says Marla Cruz, a 30-year-old sex worker. Signs with the phrase can be found at women's marches and bedazzled T-shirts. But Cruz, along with half a dozen sex workers and OnlyFans creators USA TODAY spoke to, say that while recognizing sex workers' labor is important, the spotlight belongs on the financial and legal barriers to their safety and agency, which they say requires a deeper understanding of their work. 'There are plenty of people who will destigmatize the concept that sex work is real work, which it is,' Cruz says. 'But just because you recognize that it's real work, that doesn't mean that you respect the worker behind it.' What health & wellness means for you: Sign up for USA TODAY's Keeping It Together newsletter. Controversial OnlyFans stunts make 'a joke out of all of us' In December 2024, Lily Phillips made headlines for having sex with 100 men in 24 hours and documenting it for her OnlyFans. That documentary accumulated over 10 million views on YouTube and ignited passionate reactions. In January, Blue said she slept with 1,057 men in 12 hours. Rain, a Miami-based influencer with over 500K fans on OnlyFans and 20M followers across social media platforms, called out Blue for turning the platform into a 'clown show.' Rain is a member of the Bop House, a content creator mansion of eight Gen Z OnlyFans creators. Her posts toe the line between sensual and sexually suggestive but never involve full nudity. 'It's no longer women empowerment. It's shock value, and she's making a joke out of all of us. We built this space to take control of our bodies and make money on our terms,' Rain said in a statement. 'Brands don't take us seriously anymore. Media doesn't take us seriously. I'm tired of having to explain that not all of us are doing circus acts for clicks.' Adreena Winters, who has worked in the adult entertainment industry for over 15 years, starting with studio porn before transitioning to OnlyFans during COVID-19, also worries that customers will 'lose trust' in sex workers if these stunts are just tactics to garner media attention. Still, she hopes these larger conversations can continue the positive trend she's seen in dismantling stigma against sex workers. She attributes this 'big shift' to OnlyFans' presence in books, documentaries and mainstream music. Artists like Lily Allen and Cardi B have used the platform to promote their music or release exclusive content, and Bad Bunny's track "Te Mudaste," which mentions OnlyFans, landed on Billboard's Top 100. But Winters says the acceptance hasn't extended to other areas of sex work, such as studio porn. 'I feel like it is very OnlyFans related. OnlyFans is quite ambiguous, people don't just jump to the conclusion that you're doing hardcore porn,' she says, adding that there is also a 'ridiculous amount of stigma and discrimination in the business world.' Keily Blair, the chief executive of OnlyFans, told the Financial Times that one bank turned her down as a customer. Both Winters and Cruz have struggled to access banking tools in the U.K. and U.S., they say, with Winters resorting to 'obscure, online banks' after having her accounts closed. Sex workers frequently ask for advice on Reddit and exchange tips for setting up a bank account to process their OnlyFans earnings. And, FOSTA-SESTA, a U.S. law passed under President Donald Trump in 2018, attempted to shut down websites that facilitate sex trafficking, including the popular advertising platform Backpage, which had been taken down a few days prior by U.S. federal authorities. But sex workers say that in the process, it damaged an online infrastructure that helped keep them safe. A 2020 study of FOSTA's effects on sex workers showed it increased economic instability for about 72% of the study's participants, and nearly 34% reported an increase in violence from clients. Cruz argues that repealing SESTA-FOSTA, which 'goes hand-in-hand' with decriminalizing sex work, is a crucial step in improving their working conditions. OnlyFans and AI are impacting girls: This author wrote a book about it. Sex workers need worker protections, not just attention Cruz's introduction to sex work was as a sugar baby when she was 18 to help pay for college. After working an office job, she began stripping and offering "full-service," which includes exchanging sex for money. She's moved around the country. At one strip club, Cruz faced the 'worst working conditions' she'd ever experienced. In those moments, the least of her concerns was whether or not people saw her labor as 'real work.' While working as a stripper, she was strangled in the 'champagne room,' where clients would go for private services. When she turned to management, they encouraged her not to involve law enforcement. 'Whether or not somebody thinks what we're doing is normal is totally immaterial to whether or not we are safe at work,' she explains. 'I need an emergency button in the champagne room. I need a bouncer by the champagne room to be there if a customer is abusing me.' Online, some young female OnlyFans stars make their lives look aspirational. Rain's 'Bop House' squad has a combined following of nearly 90 million users across social media platforms. 'I wanna be like you when I get older,' one follower wrote under a video of the women dancing. "I need to join the bop house,' said another. But while Cruz has said committing to the industry was the best decision she has ever made, she doesn't encourage other women to follow in her footsteps. On 'Stripper Twitter,' an online community of in-person sex workers, they look out for each other. Part of the reason that community is so strong, Cruz says, is because they understand how 'difficult, lonely and isolating' the work can be. More: Online, young female OnlyFans stars make their lives look aspirational. Is it problematic? Sex workers want better representations of their lived experiences Cruz had been excited for the release of 'Anora,' but was disillusioned by the film. 'Anora' follows the whirlwind relationship between a 23-year-old stripper, Ani (Mikey Madison), and her client-turned-husband, Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. The romantic dramedy was marketed as a Cinderella story, and an early screening to an audience of sex workers, who clacked their heels in approval during the end credits, swiftly circulated on social media. When the film dominated awards season, other sex workers began expressing their disapproval. One of Cruz's biggest criticisms is that it depicted sex workers 'through the eyes of customers and consumers and not as workers performing labor,' which she calls a 'disrespect of our work.' To her, the film was a 'reminder' that the lived experiences of sex workers like herself, and the tensions between sex workers and consumers, will 'not be portrayed accurately' unless sex workers are in control of that portrayal from start to finish. ''Anora' embodies the dehumanizing consumer fantasy of a devoted worker who loves the consumer so much she does not conceive of her servitude as labor,' Cruz wrote of the film. In Mikey Madison's acceptance speech for best actress at the Oscars, Madison recognized the sex worker community: 'I see you. You deserve respect and human decency.' For Cruz, those sentiments fell flat. 'Advocacy for sex workers cannot be ambiguous,' she says. Instead of awards, she'd like to see real, tangible change.
