Rita Braver, ‘Sunday Morning' Mainstay on CBS, Plans to Retire
Rita Braver, who has logged more than half a century at CBS News and is known for her reporting on 'CBS Sunday Morning,' plans to retire from the Paramount Global news operation at the end of March, according to a memo sent to staffers Wednesday.
'In her decades at Sunday Morning, she's done it all: breaking news… soft features… political issue pieces… stories on art and theater… personality profiles…If we had a story, Rita always had the interest… and always made the time,' said Rand Morrison, the long-running series' executive producer, in the memo.
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The Verge
11 hours ago
- The Verge
The soul of The Last of Us is in Gustavo Santaolalla's music
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.'
New York Times
17 hours ago
- New York Times
The Director of ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' Unpacks Key Moments
Christopher McQuarrie was a 27-year-old former movie-theater security guard when he won the Oscar for best screenplay in 1996 for 'The Usual Suspects.' Things went a little pear-shaped from that early peak, as they tend to do in Hollywood, and the Princeton, N.J., native was looking to leave the industry altogether when he piqued Tom Cruise's interest for another script that became the 2008 Hitler-assassination drama 'Valkyrie.' It was the start of a professional relationship that has culminated in McQuarrie, now 56, directing and co-producing the past four films of the 'Mission Impossible' franchise, including 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,' in which Cruise famously stars as the unsinkable (and seemingly unkillable) special agent Ethan Hunt. Recently, McQuarrie spoke with The Times in New York and later via video call from the back of an SUV in Mexico City about the choice to make A.I. the villain, the question of whether the franchise is coming to an end, and a 'gnarly' secret Tom Cruise movie in the works. Here are edited excerpts from those conversations. When did the decision come that 'Dead Reckoning' and 'Final Reckoning' would be the final two films in the franchise? Over the course of 'Rogue Nation' [2015], 'Fallout' [2018] and then 'Dead Reckoning' [2023], we were delving deeper and deeper into the emotions of the characters and their arcs. I said, 'Look, we know that it's going to be a long movie, let's just cut it in half.' I understand the irony of me saying we were going to make two two-hour movies and we ended up making these two much, much bigger ones. But we didn't really think of it as being the conclusion of anything until we were about halfway through 'Dead Reckoning.' Over time, we started to feel that this is a movie about the franchise more than just about the mission. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Elle
18 hours ago
- Elle
The 14 Biggest Easter Eggs In The 'Wicked: For Good' Trailer
Just when the world stopped holding space for Wicked, the frenzy is about to kick back up again. The first trailer for the movie musical sequel, Wicked: For Good, was released last night, giving us our first glimpse of Elphaba and Glinda after that infamous 'AhhAAAHAAAAAHH!' at the end of 'Defying Gravity.' As we see in the footage, the former best friends' relationship has completely changed. Elphaba is public enemy number one, Glinda is walking down the aisle to marry Fiyero, and now a girl named Dorothy is in the picture. Fans of the Broadway musical know how this story ends, and they're probably already familiar with some of the tunes that appear in the trailer, like 'No Good Deed' and, of course, 'For Good.' Let's break down some key details and takeaways from the trailer. Elphaba is in the forest chanting the spell, 'Eleka nahmen nahmen, ah tum ah tum, eleka nahmen' from the beginning of 'No Good Deed.' Madame Morrible makes the infamous twister, which eventually crushes the 'Wicked Witch of the East' and brings Dorothy to Oz. Fiyero is now the captain of the guard. The bricks of the yellow brick road make an appearance. Elphaba finds the brochure to Emerald City that Glinda signed for her in the first film. Glinda rests her head on Elphaba's shoulder—this scene appears in Wicked: Part One as a flashback. Glinda appears to be wearing a wedding dress, walking down the aisle with Fiyero. This is a scene that didn't appear in the original Broadway production. When asked about it, director Jon M. Chu explained to Vanity Fair, 'It's life or death for all of them, so a wedding seemed appropriate.' He added of the love triangle between Glinda, Fiyero, and Elphaba, 'It's harder to forgive certain things in certain scenarios. It makes it more complicated.' Someone is wearing those magical jeweled shoes that belonged to Elphaba and Nessarose's mother. Dorothy and Toto are spotted being led out of Munchkinland. Chu explains how introducing the iconic character affects Glinda and Elphaba's journeys. 'We tread lightly, but try to make more sense of how it impacts our girls and our characters than maybe the show does,' he told Vanity Fair. Dorothy, the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow face the Wizard of Oz, who orders them to bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West. Close-up of the Cowardly Lion! Glinda steps into her bubble—is that the same look she wore at the beginning of Part One? Here are Glinda and Elphaba in the room where the bucket of water. Elphaba tells Glinda, 'I'm off to see the Wizard,' referencing the song 'We're Off to See the Wizard' that Judy Garland sings in The Wizard of Oz. Come release day on November 21, we'll be saying that too. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE. Erica Gonzales is the Deputy Editor, Culture at where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.
