The internet's boyfriends go to hell and back in 'Warfare.' The movie will change how you see them.
When the cast of the film Warfare was announced, people were confused — what were so many of the internet's boyfriends doing in a gritty, realistic movie about the perils of war?
The film stars heartthrobs from several projects beloved by young people, like Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things), Kit Connor (Heartstopper), Charles Melton (Riverdale), D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs) and Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I've Loved Before). Standouts from prestigious projects also star, like Will Poulter (The Bear), Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark) and Cosmo Jarvis (Shōgun).
Civil War writer-director Alex Garland wrote and directed the movie with Ray Mendoza based on Mendoza's memories of a mission gone awry during the Iraq War as a former U.S. Navy SEAL.
After the casting was announced, people began to question if it was all a stunt. Was A24 trying to capitalize on the parasocial relationships that so many young people have with this cast to come to see a brutal film? Were these actors out to prove that they could do so much more than what their audience has come to expect of them?
Because most of the film unfolds in real-time, characters aren't given backstories. The audience's first impression of the Navy SEALs comes from what they already know about the actors who play them.
Quinn told Yahoo Entertainment that he didn't think of how the audience might be perceiving him as himself in the film because 'that's a very fast route to madness.'
'A very interesting aspect of the film was the fact that it doesn't patronize the audience or spoon-feed them any kind of particular agenda or backstory about any of these characters,' he said. 'It's very brave in the fact that it just presents these people in the situation and lets the film unfold from there. I would say if you're starting a film and thinking, 'They're going to think Kit Connor is in this,' you're on the high road to nothing.'
Connor told Yahoo Entertainment that he 'sincerely hopes' that the status of the actors in the cast 'doesn't infringe on the immersive nature of the film.'
'I certainly hope that if that is the case, then that runs out quite quickly,' he added.
Garland told the Cut that casting someone in the 'age at which men are sent to combat' was crucial, but he didn't cast Connor because of his teen idol image or because he wanted to subvert it.
'There was no issue of escaping his heartthrob perception because I didn't know about it!' Garland said.
Footage of the opening scene of Warfare has been released, and without context, it's misleading. It shows the cast gathered around a computer, guns in hand, to watch the music video for Eric Prydz's 'Call On Me,' in which leotard-clad dancers perform a workout routine. That's the last upbeat moment of the film.
Connor said the idea of that scene came 'halfway through the filming process.' He said it's not meant to give any 'preconceptions' about the characters but an idea 'of how they all sit in the sort of ecosystem of that platoon.'
Poulter told Yahoo Entertainment that the cast never thought about how the audience might react to the film parasocially, but they all came together 'irrespective of what we'd all done before or ages or level of experience' to go to boot camp, which was a 'great equalizer.'
'Once everyone shaves their heads and gets down to day one of boot camp, we're all starting from zero,' he said. 'In the respect of representing Navy SEALs, we're all very aware of just how limited our skill sets were by comparison. The parasocial thing didn't really play a part.'
Woon-A-Tai told Yahoo Entertainment that as soon as the cast got to boot camp, Mendoza 'made sure that our egos were left at the door.'
'First and foremost, none of us brought it in the first place, but … we 110% gave it our all like this was our only job for the whole year. We gave it all of our dedication,' Woon-A-Tai, who had the added pressure of playing writer-director Mendoza himself, explained.
Jarvis plays Elliott Miller — a Navy SEAL who suffered a traumatic brain injury on the mission depicted in Warfare. The film is dedicated to him. The rest of the cast plays other members of the mission, but they go by aliases because their real-life counterparts decided not to go public with their identities.
Melton told Yahoo Entertainment that the project 'required an absolute, full commitment … because it's a very personal story' to Mendoza, 'in part for the veterans and for his best friend, [Miller], to see what happened to him on that specific day.'
The cast isn't thinking about how their stardom might attract audiences. They just hope people come see the film.
is in theaters April 11.
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Business Insider
4 hours ago
- Business Insider
The stars of 'Stranger Things,' ranked by success
14. Priah Ferguson Ferguson, who plays Lucas' sassy (and almost always correct) little sister Erica Sinclair, is the youngest member of the main cast at 18. She was 11 when she joined "Stranger Things" in season two. Impressively, while she was shooting the show, she was also balancing her studies — she graduated from high school this year. She wrote to her 3.6 million Instagram followers that "balancing an adult career — on and off screen" while maintaining an above-average GPA at her public high school was a "unique journey." Besides playing Erica, Ferguson had roles in the films "The Oath" and "The Curse of Bridge Hollow" (another Netflix joint). She's also had voice roles in animated series "Hamster & Gretel" and "My Dad the Bounty Hunter." Now she's done with school and has more time to focus on her career, we expect Ferguson will appear in more scene-stealing roles. 13. Charlie Heaton Heaton, 31, plays Jonathan Byers, Will's devoted older brother who will do anything to help Will and his mom. He was 22 when the show began, playing a high school sophomore. The British actor hasn't done much outside the show. He was in the calamitous final 20th Century Fox "X-Men" movie, " The New Mutants," in 2020, which essentially doesn't exist. He also stared in the indie movie "No Future," which never had a wide release, and "The Souvenir Part II," which was critically beloved but not a big box-office hit. On the TV front, he only appeared in an episode of the 2020 anthology series "Soulmate." And while he has 5.3 million followers on Instagram, that number doesn't compare to some of the follower counts of his fellow cast members. We'd argue that Heaton's biggest claim to fame is his real-life relationship with Natalia Dyer, his on-screen love interest. 12. Natalia Dyer Speaking of Dyer, 30, she's next up on the list. She plays Nancy Wheeler, Mike's older sister with an investigative streak. Nancy was also involved in a love triangle with her first love, Steve, and Jonathan. She eventually picked Jonathan, but some moments in season four made it seem like a possible "Stancy" reunion is in the cards. Dyer, who was 21 when the show began, has the edge on her boyfriend, Heaton. She's appeared in multiple short films during her "Stranger Things" tenure, and had supporting roles in films like "Velvet Buzzsaw" and "Things Heard & Seen" (both Netflix films). She also had a lead role in the coming-of-age indie "Yes, God, Yes," released in 2020. But it's been five years, and she hasn't been able to parlay that into more leading roles. In 2023, she starred in the first season of the Peacock series "Based on a True Story" alongside Chris Messina and Kaley Cuoco. 11. Eduardo Franco Franco joined the cast in the fourth season of "Stranger Things" as Argyle, Jonathan's stoner best friend in California. Before even joining the show, 30-year-old Franco was well on his way to becoming a zillennial "that guy" — he's had recognizable roles in projects like " Booksmart," "Superintelligence," "Self Reliance," "American Vandal," and "Y2K" just last year. Franco also has had successful voice roles. He starred in "Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken," and has been playing DJ Catnip on the hit children's show "Gabby's Dollhouse" since 2021. A feature-length "Gabby's Dollhouse" film is set to premiere this year, with Franco reprising his role. His social media is what takes him down a bit, with 533,000 followers on Instagram. 10. Dacre Montgomery Montgomery was 23 years old when he joined "Stranger Things" in season two as Max's older stepbrother, Billy Hargrove, who made it his personal mission to bully Max, her friends, and even Steve. Now 30, Montgomery has been steadily working, but hasn't gotten his true big break. The same year he joined "Stranger Things," he starred in the ill-conceived "Power Rangers" movie as the Red Ranger. Since then, he had a small role in "Elvis" and starred in the underrated 2020 rom-com "The Broken Hearts Gallery." However, Montgomery has big things coming soon. He has three movies on the docket: "Faces of Death," which costars Barbie Ferreira, Josie Totah, Charli XCX, and Jermaine Fowler; "Dead Man's Wire," which will be directed by Gus Van Sant and costars Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo, Myha'la, and Cary Elwes; and "The Engagement Party" which will also be Montgomery's directorial debut. But since those projects haven't come out yet, he can't be too high on this list. 9. Noah Schnapp Schnapp, 20, has played Will Byers, who was originally taken to the Upside Down (a dark parallel universe) in the show's first episode, since he was 12. Pre-"Stranger Things," Schnapp had a small role in "Bridge of Spies" and played Charlie Brown in "The Peanuts Movie." Since playing Will, Schnapp had a small role in "Hubie Halloween" (a Netflix movie) and starred in the indie film "Waiting for Anya," both in 2020. In the five years since, he's had just one other role, appearing in the 2023 thriller "The Tutor," which was a flop critically and financially. There's a reason for his slowdown in work, though — since 2022, he's attended the University of Pennsylvania. He's also leveraged his fame to become a business owner (he started the company TBH, which is a healthier alternative to spreads like Nutella) and YouTuber. He has 4.56 million subscribers on the site, even though he hasn't posted in years. He also has a huge Instagram presence, with 21.4 million followers. Schnapp has mainly been in headlines for his views on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Per Entertainment Weekly, after he made posts supporting Zionism in 2023, some fans called for a boycott of season five (which was then in production) or for Schnapp to be fired. In a January 2024 TikTok post, he said, "I feel like my thoughts and beliefs have been so far misconstrued from anything even close to what I believe." He continued, "I think anyone with any ounce of humanity would hope for an end to the hostility on both sides." 8. Caleb McLaughlin McLaughlin has played Lucas Sinclair, the more levelheaded and skeptical member of the core group, since season one, when he was 15. Now 23, McLaughlin has arguably undergone the biggest transformation — he even has a beard! Like many of his costars, McLaughlin has continued to work with Netflix. He appeared in "High Flying Bird" (directed by Steven Soderbergh), "Concrete Cowboy," and "The Deliverance," all Netflix originals. He had a role in the 2023 biblical comedy "The Book of Clarence," which was a box-office flop but critically well-liked. He also played former NBA player and current college coach Dru Joyce III in "Shooting Stars," a Peacock film about a young LeBron James. "Stranger Things" isn't the only TV show he's done, either. He played Ricky Bell in the BET miniseries "The New Edition Story," and has had voice roles in "Summer Camp Island," "Ultra City Smiths," and "The Boys Presents: Diabolical." 7. Gaten Matarazzo Matarazzo, 22, plays the lovably geeky Dustin Henderson, who formed a bond with older kids Steve and Eddie. He was 14 when the show began airing. Matarazzo has since built himself a very well-rounded career. In addition to his movie roles ("Honor Society," "My Father's Dragon," "Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain" and the upcoming "Animal Farm" remake) and theater roles ("Into the Woods," "Parade," and the original cast of the "Sweeney Todd" revival), Matarazzo has also made himself a TV personality; he executive-produced and hosted the Netflix hidden-camera series "Prank Encounters." 6. Maya Hawke Hawke, 26, joined the show in season three in 2019, when she was 21. She plays Robin Buckley, originally Steve's coworker at Scoops Ahoy, but soon she becomes his best friend. She's also one of the show's two canonically queer characters, alongside Will. Technically, Hawke has been famous since birth, as her parents are Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. But 2019 was her breakout year, as she joined "Stranger Things" and appeared in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." Like the rest of her costars, Hawke has a good relationship with Netflix. She starred in "Fear Street Part One: 1994," "Do Revenge," and "Maestro," all on the streamer. Besides that, Hawke appeared in the Wes Anderson film "Asteroid City" and the highest-grossing film of 2024, " Inside Out 2." She voiced a new emotion, Anxiety. Next year will be a big one, though. Hawke was announced to be joining the cast of " The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" as Wiress, originally played by Amanda Plummer in "Catching Fire." Hawke has a music career, as well. She's released three albums: "Blush" (2020), "Moss" (2022), and "Chaos Angel" (2024). She's set to resume her world tour for "Chaos Angel" this summer. 5. Finn Wolfhard Wolfhard, 22, is the show's lead character, Mike Wheeler. He's the one who decides to go looking for Will after he goes missing and forms a special bond with the mysterious girl they meet in the woods. We know the most about his home life, as his sister Nancy is a main character, and we've met his parents and younger sister, as well. He began playing Mike when he was 13 years old. Wolfhard has two successful franchises to his name. He played young Richie in 2017's " It" (which made $704 million) and 2019's " It Chapter Two" (which made $473 million). He also appeared in " Ghostbusters: Afterlife" and "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire," which each made around $200 million worldwide. In 2024, he had a small role in "Saturday Night," and this year, he appeared in the A24 film "The Legend of Ochi." His directorial debut, "Hell of a Summer," premiered this April and made back its budget, per The Numbers. Wolfhard has also become a successful voice actor. He voiced Pugsley in the animated "Addams Family" movie, which also made around $200 million (though he was recast for the 2021 sequel), and voiced Candlewick in 2021's " Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," which went on to win best animated feature at the Academy Awards. It's a wonder that Wolfhard also has time for a career as a musician. From 2017 to 2019, he was the lead singer of the band Calpurnia. He then joined the band The Aubreys, which released its debut album in 2021. On June 6, Wolfhard will release his debut solo album called "Happy Birthday." He's going on a mini-tour to support it during the month. 4. Joe Keery At last, we've come to Keery, aka Steve " The Hair" Harrington. Steve began the show as one of the mean popular kids, but has gone through a heartwarming transformation to become a fan favorite. Also, remember that baseball bat with the nails in it? Swoon. Keery was 24 when the show started airing, and now he's 33, the oldest of the main "kids" cast. His career has taken off since then. He was the lead of the 2020 black comedy/horror film "Spree," starred in "Free Guy" and "Pavements," and has an upcoming film co-starring Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, and Vanessa Redgrave called "Cold Storage." He also had a main role in the fifth season of the anthology series " Fargo." But where Keery's edge lies is his music. While his costars have semi-successful musical careers, Keery (as his alter ego Djo) has had real success. His song "End of Beginning" was a bona fide hit in 2024, peaking at No. 11 on the Hot 100 chart, and received Billboard Music Award and Brit Award nominations. His 2025 album, "The Crux," peaked at No. 10 on the US Rock chart and No. 50 on the Billboard 200. The song "Charlie's Garden " is dedicated to his "Stranger Things" costar and friend Charlie Heaton. While Keery doesn't have a personal Instagram, he does have one as Djo, which has 1.4 million followers. He'll be touring through October 2025. 3. Sadie Sink Sink, 23, joined "Stranger Things" in season two as Max Mayfield, the new kid in Hawkins and a tomboy able to keep up with Mike and his friends, when she was 14. She eventually develops a close friendship with Eleven and begins dating Lucas in season three. Max was one of the biggest parts of season four. A pivotal scene in which she escapes the Upside Down helped bring the 1985 Kate Bush song " Running Up That Hill" back to the top of the charts, peaking at No. 3 on the Hot 100. Since joining "Stranger Things," Sink starred in the two Netflix horror films: "Fear Street 1978" and "Fear Street 1666." She also starred in the 2022 Oscar-winning film "The Whale," which earned her a Critics' Choice Award nomination. She began starring in the Broadway play "John Proctor Is the Villain" in 2025, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for best actress in a play. Sink is rumored to have an undisclosed role in the 2026 film "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," per Deadline. Now, we can't talk about Sink without mentioning her role as, essentially, the Taylor Swift self-insert role in " All Too Well: The Short Film," the music video for the 10-minute version of "All Too Well." If Swift picks you to play a fictional version of herself, you know you've made it. 2. Joseph Quinn If you were on TikTok in the summer of 2022, it was impossible to miss the sound of Quinn's voice screaming for Chrissy to wake up. Quinn, 31, joined the cast in season four as a high school (super) senior named Eddie Munson, a heavy-metal-loving, Dungeons-and-Dragons-playing sweetie who bonds with Dustin. Quinn's this high on the list because, in the three years since he was on the show, his career has soared. Since last year, he's been in "A Quiet Place: Day One" (a hit), " Gladiator II" (another hit), " Warfare," and will play none other than the Human Torch in " The Fantastic Four: First Steps" in July. And that's not all. In addition to reprising his role in "Avengers: Doomsday," he was announced to be playing George Harrison in Sam Mendes' four-part Beatles movie extravaganza. Quinn has 5.6 million followers on Instagram — not bad for someone who only joined the app in 2022 to promote "Stranger Things." 1. Millie Bobby Brown We haven't really mentioned Eleven (as played by Brown) in this ranking, because it's hard to explain her character without sounding a bit out there. But here we go: Eleven is a young girl who escaped from a secret government lab after discovering she has immense psychic powers. Brown, 21, was easily the breakout star of the show. During Halloween 2016, that pink dress, blonde wig, fake nosebleed, and Eggo box were unavoidable. Brown was just 12 when "Stranger Things" premiered, and received back-to-back Emmy nominations before she was 16. Since then, she's appeared in "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" ($387 million worldwide) and "Godzilla vs. Kong" ($470 million worldwide). She's also starred and produced in four Netflix movies (" Enola Holmes," "Enola Holmes 2," "Damsel" and " The Electric State" — three of which were huge hits) and has another "Enola" film on the way. She's proven herself to be a savvy businesswoman. She was reportedly paid $10 million for " Enola Holmes 2," and Brown has founded three successful companies: Florence by Mills Beauty, Florence by Mills Coffee, and Florence by Mills Fashion. Her beauty brand is available at Ulta, while her coffee is on shelves at Walmart. Brown also proved just how famous she was when she married Jake Bongiovi (son of Jon Bon Jovi) in 2024 and their wedding made dozens of headlines. And in case all that hasn't convinced you, Brown is far and away the most followed person from the cast, with a staggering 63.8 million followers on Instagram.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
And just like that ... we're obsessing over Carrie Bradshaw's style again
When Sarah Jessica Parker first met with the Sex and the City costume department ahead of the series premiere in 1998, two items sat on a couch awaiting her inspection: a vintage clutch and a vintage fur. To Molly Rogers, costume designer for both SATC and its spinoff, And Just Like That…, those items instantly set the tone for years of fashion to come. 'It wasn't like we went to Barneys,' Rogers tells Yahoo Entertainment. The purse and coat, purchased at a downtown consignment store, could only have been found by a true fashionista who embraced the eclectic. Parker's Carrie Bradshaw is the ultimate Cinderella story — an aspirational romance in style and substance. The character didn't become an instant icon by following the rules. Instead, Carrie invented a style all her own: showing up for picnics in dirndls, wearing belts around her bare midriff and pairing $5 tutus with stilettos that most of us could only dream of purchasing. That playful, seamless high-low blend — thrift store finds paired with designer couture — is her fashion fingerprint. It endures to this day, as young shoppers scour their local thrift stores for treasures to pair with more modern finds. Maiia Krylova, founder of the popular Instagram account @carriebradshaws_outfits — which meticulously tracks down items from Carrie's closet — believes the character's signature style is 'the ultimate expression of fearless individuality and emotional storytelling through fashion.' 'She didn't dress to impress others or to follow rules; she dressed to express exactly who she was at that moment,' Krylova told Yahoo Entertainment. Nevertheless, Carrie's fashion maximalism seems to be hitting differently these days. Her outfits on And Just Like That…, the sequel series to SATC, have repeatedly gone viral, and not always in a good way, as fans scrutinize Carrie's giant hats and pigeon purses and declare them over-the-top. But why all the sudden pearl-clutching over the woman who once wore a bird on her head to her own wedding? Isn't all of this in character? One could attribute a healthy portion of the critiques to ageism. 'People really did not want the girls to change' in AJLT, Rogers says. 'They want to keep them in this time capsule, where Carrie's at the gay club with the bandana around her arm and a see-through tank on.' Now in her 50s, some might think it's time for Carrie to give up the wacky accessories and give Chico's a try. But viewers' sudden heel-turn might stem from deeper factors as well. By all accounts, Carrie's specific approach to dressing herself should be a huge hit right now. "Loud luxury" is 'in' and has been for years. Think: fluffy furs, bold animal prints, conspicuous logos and clothing in rich shades of red and emerald green. Productions like The White Lotus and Another Simple Favor have flaunted an ostentatious style, and as the Cut notes, artists like Chappell Roan and Doechii have also embraced (and subverted) the "boom boom" aesthetic of the '80s with playful power suits. That's not the only Carrie-coded trend that's surging right now, either. There's also fashion maximalism, which, like loud luxury, often thrives during times of economic uncertainty. On runways and on TikTok, people are going all in on high-concept outfits, playful accessories and lots and lots of layers. Carrie and her hybrid wardrobe are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SATC's fashion influence. Consider also younger generations' dedication to curating hyper-specific 'aesthetics' as a way to wordlessly introduce themselves to the world. What was Carrie's BFF Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) if not the original 'office siren' in a power suit? Meanwhile, Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) had the 'old money aesthetic' on lock in pearls and twin sets, and the brash, sexy Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) was basically the "boom boom" queen, always wearing her wealth and power on her immaculately tailored sleeve. When it came to personal style, Rogers says each of the four main characters' 'lanes' was clearly defined and easy to articulate. SATC costume designer Patricia Field often described the show as 'the first moving fashion magazine,' Rogers says, with Carrie as its cover girl. With that in mind, it's even easier to understand why the core four each have such distinct wardrobes. 'We dressed them, in the beginning and now, a little more heightened than normal-life reality,' Rogers says, 'and I think that has a lot to do with curating a look by an aesthetic.' Decades after the original show's release, Krylova can draw a direct line from its approach to style to the shopping habits of younger generations today. The show 'showed us that style wasn't just about looking good; it was about telling the world who you are without saying a word,' she explains. Each generation has taken slightly different lessons from that ethos. 'Generation Z, for example, fully embraces the show's fearless experimentation,' Krylova says. 'They're not afraid to color clash, mix high fashion with second-hand finds and wear something purely for the drama, even if it breaks all the so-called 'fashion rules.'' Meanwhile, millennials 'approach the show's influence from a more lifestyle-focused perspective. They deeply connect with the emotional undertones behind each character's wardrobe choices. For them, fashion isn't just about being seen; it's about being understood.' Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén, a research fellow at the USC School of Cinematic Arts who has published books and articles about fashion, media and communication, explains to Yahoo that film and TV have shaped consumers' understanding of fashion for more than a century. For example, the experimental films that preceded the silent era often showcased Parisian fashions, exposing American women who could never attend a runway show to the trends of the time. The fashion tie-ins to films of the 1920s and '30s foreshadowed the product placement deals to come, and American television, in particular, stemmed directly from the advertising industry — which made it the perfect vehicle to inform consumer choices. The 1980s were a formative time, Castaldo Lundén says, as costume departments partnered with department stores to not only sell certain dresses seen on shows like Dynasty to the middle class, but also to sell patterns for those ensembles to audiences who could not afford the ready-made garments. Years later, Sex and the City perfected the art form with prolific product placement both in the original series and subsequent films — making itself essentially synonymous with brands like Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik. 'They are not only selling the fashions in the show,' Castaldo Lundén says. 'They are selling the idea that womanhood comes through the out-of-control consumption of fashion.' Devout fans might see SATC's influence a little differently. 'Television has always had a profound impact on how viewers see fashion because it doesn't just show clothes, it tells stories through them,' Krylova says. 'Unlike fashion shows or magazine editorials, which often feel unattainable, television brings fashion into real-life narratives. Viewers don't just admire what their favorite characters wear; they emotionally connect with them.' People's favorite shows don't just influence the clothes people want to wear, according to Krylova; they also shape why they want to wear them. 'And that's where the real power lies — in showing viewers that fashion isn't just about trends; it's about telling your own story through the choices you make every day,' she says. And Just Like That… costume designer Danny Santiago, who also worked on the two SATC movies, noticed that a lot of younger audiences who've newly discovered the show find inspiration in its '90s and Y2K fashions. 'They want to have that sort of aesthetic to them,' he says, 'so they do seek that type of look out — the certain type of handbags and the way that the skirts are falling, and the crop tops and all that sort of stuff, layering … I see it on Instagram all the time,' he tells Yahoo Entertainment. In that sense, we could call Carrie Bradshaw our first fashion influencer. So why are self-appointed style critics on social media hating on her gonzo outfits? The simple answer is that many people hold an antiquated, narrow-minded view of how 'women of a certain age' should dress and behave. Rogers and Santiago certainly heard more than their fair share of these opinions in the lead-up to the series premiere of And Just Like That … in 2021. 'We got so many questions about, 'What are you gonna do with them? They're at a certain age,'' Rogers recalls. 'I am at that certain age … and I was like, 'I don't know why we would dress them like they'd had lobotomies.'' Santiago agrees that the idea that older women should abandon their personal styles is 'old-fashioned.' Maybe women felt this way 30 years ago, he posits — 'like they needed to become something else, in a way of maturing as who they are in their lives. But I feel that [idea] doesn't exist anymore.' But to some fans, Carrie's wardrobe has slowly crept away from its original genius. While Krylova believes that the writer's personal style evolved beautifully in the original series, subsequent appearances of the character in film and on AJLT are a different story. In those productions, she says, 'Carrie's style gradually wore itself out. It became less and less realistic and more and more theatrical, eventually turning into something completely unsupportable.' The way Krylova sees it, she and other fans began shying away because Carrie's 'fits 'had become too theatrical and out of touch with reality.' Nevertheless, she admires the way that Carrie 'continues to challenge the outdated notion that women should remain invisible, modest or reserved as they grow older.' Love them or hate them, Krylova says Carrie's new outfits have 'sparked conversations about women's freedom and the right to dress however they want at any age. And in that sense, Carrie's fashion still does exactly what it was always meant to do — provoke, break boundaries and, most importantly, remind us that self-expression has no age limit.' There might also be a third reason that Carrie's wardrobe is not playing quite as well with its target audience. In the original series, Carrie's unique fashions amplified her position as an outsider — which made her more relatable to an audience that, for the most part, would also have felt out of place among New York's high society. Now, she's as wealthy as anyone else, with the palatial Gramercy Park townhouse to prove it. Within that context, her expensive, enviable wardrobe could feel like an expression of a social standing that viewers will never achieve. In the original series, Carrie's high-low wardrobe mirrored the way she stood with one foot in each of two worlds. On one hand, her spending was the stuff of fantasy. 'It wouldn't be possible to acquire that closet — even in terrible debt — without going bankrupt,' Castaldo Lundén says. At the same time, she says Carrie's wardrobe echoes a concept that first emerged in the 1800s: Those from outside the aristocracy often adopt wardrobes that mimic that class in the hopes of joining it. Men would do so in order to do more business with old money, while women did it in order to marry rich. Just look at who Carrie married. By achieving her ultimate fantasy with Mr. Big (Chris Noth), Carrie completed her Cinderella story — the one that made viewers fall in love with her in the first place. That might have fundamentally shifted the way audiences relate to her, clothes and all. The good news? Carrie has never dressed for anyone but herself. Rogers and Santiago argue she wouldn't give anyone's wardrobe criticisms a second thought. 'If real-life Carrie was walking through the park and people were commenting on her hat like they comment on Instagram, I think she'd ignore it,' Rogers says. 'She'd ignore it,' Santiago agrees. 'Totally.'
Geek Tyrant
6 hours ago
- Geek Tyrant
George R.R. Martin Weighs in on the ELDEN RING Movie: 'Alex Garland Is a First Rate Director' — GeekTyrant
In a recent blog post, the Game of Thrones creator and co-architect of Elden Ring 's vast mythology, George R.R. Martin, offered his thoughts on the upcoming film adaptation, and on its newly announced director, Alex Garland: 'Here's the latest about the ELDER RING [sic] movie that was announced a few days ago. A24 is a kickass studio, and Alex Garland is a first rate director.' That's all he shared directly. No big lore drops or story teases. But Martin's 'current mood' at the end of the post? Simply… 'hopeful.' As for how Martin fits into the Elden Ring picture, he didn't write the game, but he did lay the foundation. Back in 2022, he crafted the world's backstory, its mythic conflicts, and that heavy, dense sense of fallen grandeur. From there, Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki and the team at FromSoftware built the playable experience that we all hate to enjoy, one filled with cryptic NPCs, grotesque monsters, and just enough misery to keep you emotionally invested and spiritually broken. So far, all we know about the film is that it's coming from A24, and Alex Garland is directing. It's also reported that Kit Connor ( Heartstopper, Warfare ) may lead the dark fantasy epic. No story details have been shared, but I think it would be a samrt move to tell the story of Vyke the Dragonspear. It a really strong story, and if you're not familiar with it, you can read all about it here. It's the kind of tragic story arc is tailor-made for Garland's storytelling style. Martin also embedded a video from YouTuber Zayf the Scholar titled 'Why the Elden Ring Movie WON'T SUCK – Director Reveals His TRUE Power Level.' That doesn't technically confirm anything, but Martin is obviously vibing with the vision. You can watch that video below.
