Latest news with #DirectorsGuildOfAmerica
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ayo Edebiri Says Directing ‘The Bear' Was Like ‘Making a Venn Diagram Out of a Thousand Circles'
[Editor's note: This article was originally published in December 2024, and has been updated to reflect the episode earning Edebiri an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.] When Ayo Edebiri found out she would be directing an episode of 'The Bear,' she recalls showrunner Christopher Storer telling her: 'You really get to play here, so feel free to do that.' More from IndieWire Spike Lee's 'Highest 2 Lowest' Reinvents Kurosawa in the Canyons and Subways of New York The Early Aughts Are Back, Baby: 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' and 'Freakier Friday' Writers on Why Nostalgia Is Fueling Hollywood Her first stop was the Directors Guild of America, where she enrolled herself in a class for first-time television directors led by Paris Barclay, Keith Powell, and Dr. Valerie Weiss ('Three legends incredibly giving and helpful,' Edebiri told IndieWire). In a group that included writers, actors, producers, and editors, the class was walked through each step of production and what might come up along the way. How do the actors respond to direction? How does the editor respond to notes? How will the showrunner handle all of it? 'That class is probably one of the coolest, greatest things I've ever done,' Edebiri said. 'The thing that I walked away with the most was that the only wrong way to direct — well, there's probably a lot of wrong ways, but beyond not communicating and not being open — is not finding your way. If you try to do somebody else's way, or work somebody else's way, it's not going to work. Our instructors were so helpful with really illustrating their differences — and that they were successful with their differences — and so encouraging us to find our our ways of communicating, stressing the fact that you always have to be communicating.' Directing Season 3, Episode 6, 'Napkins' got Edebiri communicating more than ever. Her first meeting was with cinematographer Andrew Wehde, to talk about how their episode would fit in with the show's existing visual palette, with Edebiri functioning as 'a guest in somebody else's house, basically.' She spent more time with production designer Merje Veski than she ever did as an actor, and worked closely with location manager Maria C. Roxas. The episode focuses on Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), and the sudden firing which leads her to job hunt all over Chicago and end up at The Bear — a clear before and after in her life. Edebiri and Veski got as detailed as the contents of Tina's fridge, placement of everything in it, and why it would be there in the first place. 'Tina's fridge now at this moment in her life, versus when she's a few years later in her career, and how she's thinking of the kitchen and how she's thinking of food…' Edebiri said. 'Food is still a part of her life, and it's a part of so many of ours. As a mom, when she does meal prep, that's really different from how she's thinking about food in our present at The Bear, but it's still a part of her daily life.' For the first piece of the episode, Edebiri and Wehde opted for as much static camera as possible, 'trying to maintain a really controlled and tight feeling' before Tina loses her job and the handheld camera depicts how unstable she feels. Edebiri wanted Chicago to suddenly 'feel like a different world… juxtaposing how small [Colón-Zayas] is with how small Tina feels.' 'When we finally, at the end of the episode, get back to The Bear, we really wanted it to feel like an early Season 1 episode, using those strong and intentional zooms, swings of the lenses, and embracing the chaos and the noise and having every shot feel really full of information,' Edebiri explained. Then she took a big swing, asking Colón-Zayas and guest star Jon Bernthal to stay fairly still during their conversation that forms the third-act setpiece. The camera follows Tina from the restaurant counter through to the seating area, where it gently reveals her future coworkers Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Neil (Matty Matheson), and Mikey (Bernthal). After Tina starts to cry, Mikey comes over to strike up a conversation. 'In the initial scripting of it, there was a bit more movement with the two of them… with the napkins and with everything that he was doing,' Edebiri said. 'As an actor— I relate to this too — you always want to have a bit of business! You always want to kind of be doing something, just for texture. I was like, 'Please, please, trust me. The less that you do, the more that it will hit.'' She credits her actors for being 'game and ready and giving and trusting' to yield the final result. Close to a year after filming the episode (Edebiri remembers it was close to St. Patrick's Day due to the chocolate factory location's limited selection of seasonal snacks), Edebiri reflected on 'just how much goes into everything, into every moment, and how many people are so good at their jobs.' No one is God, she noted, but there's a specific cocktail of confidence and collaboration revealed to the person in the director's chair. 'You have to have a certain amount of ego and a certain amount of assuredness in your decisions, but there needs to be space for collaboration, and to also be wrong, or to not have the answer, and to really be able to let someone else have the knowledge and the awareness,' she said. 'It's this really miraculous amount of collaboration with everybody, everybody having a reason for their question or for their thought, because of their vantage point and where they're at.' Edebiri didn't go into 'Napkins' thinking any of it was easy, but she's more in awe than ever at the intricacy of making TV. 'It's like making a Venn diagram, but out of a thousand circles. That's why those moments when you get something, or you get it right, it does feel so special — because it's like, that's insane. That's insane that there's a thousand circles but found the one overlapping point.' 'The Bear' Season 3 is streaming on Hulu. Best of IndieWire 2023 Emmy Predictions: Who Will Win at the Primetime Emmy Awards? 2023 Emmy Predictions: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special 2023 Emmy Predictions: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series Solve the daily Crossword
Courier-Mail
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Courier-Mail
‘F**k my life': Rebel Wilson's extraordinary spray over new lawsuit
Don't miss out on the headlines from Entertainment. Followed categories will be added to My News. Hollywood actress Rebel Wilson has launched an extraordinary spray over the production company suing her for defamation, admitting the first song of her unreleased film, titled 'F**k My Life', sums up her situation. After news broke that the production company was suing her in Australia over comments on Instagram, Ms Wilson has returned to social media to repeat many of the claims that are outlined in the lawsuit. 'So apparently, I'm being sued in Australia?' she said to her 11 million followers on Instagram. 'It makes no sense. As the director, producer and co-star who nurtured a project called The Deb for five years from a three page idea into a gorgeous feature film, I want nothing more than to have this film released, and have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to get this to happen. 'To say otherwise is complete nonsense. I'm so proud of the film!'. Describing the lawsuit as 'baseless' she said that 'many Australians worked so hard on this film, and it's imperative the movie is released!' 'It's been a year since the film has been completed and ready to go in cinemas. Instead, in my opinion, they've continued this spiteful, toxic behaviour. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 18: Rebel Wilson attends the premiere of "Bride Hard" at Directors Guild Of America on June 18, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo byfor 21Seeds Infused Tequila) 'The first song of the film is called F**k My Life. I'm going to release it now, because if these f**kwits aren't going to release the movie, I may as well.' Ms Wilson then posted a video from the unreleased film, which legal sources suggested could be a breach of copyright. 'Everyone who worked on the movie and who knows me KNOWS, I put my blood, sweat and tears into this,' she said. 'Everyone knows I'm a 'truth teller' when it comes to vile people in the industry.' Ms Wilson is facing a lawsuit lodged in the NSW Supreme Court by the production company behind her directorial debut The Deb, alleging serious breaches of contract and director's duties, misleading and deceptive conduct, and injurious falsehood. Ms Wilson was sued for defamation in the United States last year by producers Amanda Ghost, Gregory Cameron and Vince Holden who allege she falsely claimed they had embezzled funds from the movie and had behaved with 'absolute viciousness and retaliatory behaviour'. That matter is ongoing. The new lawsuit in NSW has been lodged by Mr Holden's production company A.I. Film and is being handled by an Australian-based legal team – Patrick George, Jeremy Marel and barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC. It accuses Ms Wilson of blocking the film's release though legal threats and making false claims that the lead actor in the film, Charlotte MacInnes, was the target of 'inappropriate conduct'. In the new legal submissions, A.I.'s legal team insist that Ms MacInnes denies she was ever harassed, and states that Ms Wilson's claims are baseless. The blow up follows a video Rebel Wilson posted on Instagram in July 2024, where she made a number of misconduct claims about the movie producers to her 11 million followers. Rebel alongside actresses Natalie Abbott, Stevie Jean, and Charlotte MacInnes at a party for her unreleased film The Deb. Picture: Instagram/Rebel Wilson '[T]o have the business partners that are involved in that movie turn around and say that no, the movie can't premiere, is just beyond devastating,'' she said. 'And so I said, reported, I guess you would say, their bad behaviour when I found out not minor things, big things, you know, inappropriate behaviour towards the lead actress of the film, embezzling funds from the film's budget, which we really needed because we're a small movie, you know? So kind of really important things. Since I reported that behaviour, I have been met with absolute viciousness and retaliatory behaviour. 'And yet every step of the way, these people who I complained about then tried to make my life hell. 'And this behaviour is absolutely vile and disgusting. Now these people you know, Amanda Ghost in particular, has a history of doing this kind of thing, mainly to music artists but also to people in the film business. So, the thing is, these people are forced to sign NDAs or, you know, otherwise threatened or bullied to not speak out. 'I will speak the truth, and, you know, warn people about these people in the industry. Who are just not behaving ethically ... if the movie doesn't play in Toronto, it's because of these absolute f**kwits.' Ms Ghost is now suing Ms Wilson for defamation in the United States. In the NSW lawsuit, the production company's legal team argued these statements conveyed that one of the producers had made 'inappropriate sexual advances to an actress in the film'. 'In fact, none of the producers had made inappropriate sexual advances to an actress,'' the legal documents state. The lawsuit alleged Ms McInnes categorically denied Ms Wilson's claims telling media outlets 'there is no truth to the allegations made involving me.' 'I love this film and I can't wait for it to be released. It would be wonderful if these proceedings can help make that happen,'' she said in a statement to The actress shared this moment from the set on Instagram. Picture: Instagram/Rebel Wilson She previously told media outlets: 'Making false accusations undermines real victims and I won't be the subject of a fabricated narrative.' After the actress was subsequently cast as Daisy in Florence Welch's musical Gatsby: An American Myth, Ms Wilson is alleged to have made the following statement on Instagram stories accusing her of 'changing her story.' 'When an actress on her first feature film is asked by a producer to stay in the same apartment as them, and then makes a complaint to me as the director saying said producer 'asked her to have a bath and shower with her and it made her feel uncomfortable' – what am I supposed to do of course I reported it,'' Ms Wilson said. 'There is no world where this is acceptable. The fact that this girl has been employed now by this 'producer' in the lead role of a production called GATSBY (ART Boston) and given a record label – should be all the proof you need as to why she has now changed her story.' During the Cannes Film Festival, Ms Wilson allegedly posted more Instagram stories, suggesting MacInnes had 'lied by denying the allegations of sexual misconduct by the film's UK producers'. 'Charlotte MacInnes in a culturally inappropriate Indian outfit on Len Blavatnik's luxury yacht in Cannes – ironically singing a song from a movie that will never get released because of her lies and support for the people blocking the film's release. So glad you got your record deal Charlotte at the expense of the 300 people who worked on The Deb and really wanna see it released.' A behind the scenes photo from the set of The Deb shared by the film's lead actress Charlotte MacInnes. Picture: Instagram/Charlotte MacInnes In the new lawsuit, it is alleged Ms Wilson 'threatened the Australian distributor of the film that she would obtain an injunction to prevent its release, when the contractual documents plainly prevented her from obtaining an injunction.' No stranger to defamation battles, Ms Wilson won a record payout from Bauer media but was later forced to repay the majority of her record defamation payout from a magazine publisher. Ms Wilson had received A$4.7m in damages and interest from Bauer Media over articles that she said portrayed her as a serial liar. But a court reduced the sum to A$600,000 following an appeal by the publisher. She was then ordered to pay back A$4.1m and A$60,000 in interest. A subsequent bid to have an appeal heard in the High Court of Australia was rejected, bringing her legal battle 'to a definitive end'. Originally published as 'F**k my life': Rebel Wilson's extraordinary spray over new lawsuit
