Latest news with #Fargo
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jon Hamm on Consuming So Many Fake Cigarettes and Onion Water ‘Vodkas' for ‘Mad Men': ‘Oh, The Breath Was Lovely!'
Ten years after 'Mad Men' wrapped, stars Jon Hamm and John Slattery still have fond memories of the landmark AMC drama. Well, perhaps except for the smoking. And the onion water. Reuniting Saturday at Austin's ATX TV Festival. Hamm and Slattery spoke to moderator Noah Hawley (who worked with Hamm on the most recent season of 'Fargo') about the legacy of the show, how it still resonates with both them and their fans — and yes, all those cigarettes. More from Variety Candice Bergen to Appear on 'Shrinking' Opposite Harrison Ford and Fellow Guest Star Michael J. Fox, Says Co-Creator Bill Lawrence 'King of the Hill' Revival First Details: Hank and Peggy Are Retired, Bobby's a Dallas Chef, Dale Was Briefly Arlen's Mayor and More 'Your Friends and Neighbors' Season 2 Will Explore Mel's Darker Side and How Far Coop Will Take His Criminal Lifestyle: 'We're Not Going Down the Walter White Road' That couldn't have been good for you, Hawley said. Replied Hamm: 'Oh, it was not. Yeah, I think somebody did a count, and in the pilot alone, I spoke 75 cigarettes… They are fake cigarettes, but that just means that there's no nicotine in them. It doesn't mean you're not burning something.' Because 'Mad Men' was shot in Los Angeles but took place in New York, much of the filming was done indoors. 'We didn't go outside, which was awesome and not awesome,' Hamm said. 'The whole thing, the whole stage is full of fake cigarette smoke.' Slattery noted that the fake cigarettes meant that they were smoking rose petals and marshmallow. While that may sound nice, it wasn't. Then, add to that what was used to replicate a vodka martini: A glass of water with onion in it. 'Oh, the breath was lovely,' quipped Hamm. Slattery pointed out that the 'vodka' was fake, but the onion was very real. 'Pop another pearl onion in your glass of water, and then smoke 26 more fake cigarettes and it's 9:30 in the morning!' he said. At least it was slightly better than smoking real cigarettes — something that Hamm said 'some of the younger actors' tried to do while shooting the 'Mad Men' pilot. 'They were like, 'We're gonna smoke real cigarettes. We really want to, feel it and do it,' ' Hamm recalled. 'And I was like, 'let me know how that goes.' And within three days, they were yellow and sallow. This is a terrible idea.' Hawley pointed out that it's similar to another trick that actors soon learn: Take very small bites when eating food on camera, since you'll be doing it over and over again. 'And move [the food] around the plate,' Hamm added. 'We can't all be Brad Pitt. Would that we could!' Cigarettes, of course, were an important part of setting the scene for what it was like to be an advertising exec on Madison Avenue in the early 1960s. 'I remember at some point, having a conversation with the executives at AMC,' Hamm said. 'They said, 'Do they have to smoke?' That was like, Are you fucking kidding me? Yes, they literally have to. They're addicted to cigarettes. It's kind of why they're sold. They're super popular!' During the panel, Hamm reminisced about how much 'Mad Men' changed his life. 'I started that when I was 35 years old. Went right through to the age of 45,' he said. 'So it's kind of a transitional moment in life and time. Our real lives happen, relationships started and ended, and people had babies, got married and got divorced, and all this shit happened in the real world. It almost seemed displaced from that in a lot, in a weird way, because so much of working on the show was stepping into a time capsule for real. 'If you guys could jump back in time and visit the set, it literally was picture perfect,' he added. 'When you're in gear and smoking cigarette and looking out the fake window, the fake hanging part of Midtown, it was believable. Obviously it's a tremendous honor, and it's a wonderful thing to have worked on and contribute to something that has lasted this long. I'm glad I'm still alive, basically because of the amount of cigarettes I smoked. But the amount of work we put into it feels commensurate with the amount of love we're getting back, which is a nice feeling as well. So that's pretty awesome. I mean, to be sitting here at this incredible festival talking about something you did a decade ago, and have this many people show up just to hear it is tremendous.' Slattery had a similar reflection on his 'Mad Men' experience. 'It felt like a parallel life,' he said. 'There were about six months a year we would do this, and then we would go away. For a couple of years there we were pretty sure we were going to do it again. And to be in the hands of those writers and those designers and those other actors, you had this incredibly intimate relationship with these people that was not your real life. But was just as real and just as demanding and complicated. Yeah, it was all fake, and we went home at the end of the day, but it was such a gift. I think, to pretty much a person, we clocked that right away.' Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alien: Earth Stars Promise ‘Drooling, Snarling' Xenomorphs, Say Series Is ‘Tense' and ‘Not Just Jump Scares'
If you like your xenomorphs clocking in at eight feet tall and both 'drooling' and 'snarling,' FX and Hulu's Alien: Earth series has you covered. Announced more than four years ago and hailing from Noah Hawley (of FX's Fargo and Legion), Alien: Earth is set in 2120 when five corporations — Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold — wield the power of nations. More from TVLine King of the Hill Revival Sets August Premiere on Hulu - First Look at Grown-Up Bobby and Much More Yvonne Strahovski Makes Us Wonder: Did The Handmaid's Tale Finale Hint at a Pairing That Was There All Along? Nautilus Trailer: Captain Nemo Makes Waves in AMC's Jules Verne-Inspired Adventure Drama - Watch In this Corporate Era, cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial parts) and synthetics (humanoid robots operated by A.I.) exist alongside humans. But the game is changed when the founder of Prodigy unlocks a new advancement: hybrids (humanoid robots infused with human consciousness). The prototype hybrid is dubbed 'Wendy' and played by Sydney Chandler (Sugar). When a Weyland-Yutani spaceship crashes into Prodigy City, Wendy and other hybrids encounter mysterious life forms 'more terrifying than anyone could have ever imagined.' The cast also includes Timothy Olyphant (Justified) as Kirsh, Wendy's synth mentor/trainer, and Babou Ceesay (Into the Badlands) as Morrow, a good ol' fashioned cyborg — or as he puts it in the TVLine video above, 'an iPhone 1 in an iPhone 20 world.' Also in the Disney Upfront red carpet video above, Chandler shares an irony-filled anecdote about trekking to the Fargo set in Calgary to audition for Hawley, when it turns out they're practically neighbors back in Texas. She and Ceesay then tell me about the guy who plays the 'drooling, snarling' xenomorph that Wendy et al bump up against. Even though all make-believe, 'It's scary being chased by an alien, it does get to you!' avows Chandler. Ceesay in turn reports that he has seen a few episodes already, 'and there were moments where I was breathing a little shallower, waiting for that [scary] moment to hit.' All told, Alien: Earth, he says, is 'tense, it's not just jump scares.' Alien: Earth premieres Tuesday, Aug. 12, with the first two episodes available to stream on Hulu at 8 pm ET and airing on FX at 8/7c. The eight-episode season will continue with weekly drops each Tuesday on Hulu at 8 pm ET and on FX at 8/7c. The cast also includes Alex Lawther (The End of the F***ing World), Essie Davis (Faraway Downs), David Rysdahl (Fargo Season 5), Samuel Blenkin (Mary & George), Adarsh Gourav (Hostel Daze), Jonathan Ajayi (Noughts + Crosses), Erana James (The Wilds), Lily Newmark (A Gentleman in Moscow), Diêm Camille (Alex Rider) and Adrian Edmondson (EastEnders). Got questions about , or for any other TV show? Shoot an email to InsideLine@ and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line! Best of TVLine Yellowjackets' Tawny Cypress Talks Episode 4's Tai/Van Reunion: 'We're All Worried About Taissa' Vampire Diaries Turns 10: How Real-Life Plot Twists Shaped Everything From the Love Triangle to the Final Death Vampire Diaries' Biggest Twists Revisited (and Explained)
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Gateway Fiber Bringing New High-Speed Fiber Internet Service to Residents and Businesses in Fargo, ND
WRIGHT CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 2025-- High-speed internet provider Gateway Fiber is excited to announce its upcoming network expansion into Fargo, North Dakota, offering residents and businesses a fast and powerful new way to connect online. This expansion into Fargo marks the latest step in Gateway Fiber's mission to bridge the digital divide in the Upper Midwest, as it grows its service footprint from Minneapolis into eastern North Dakota. 'Having another excellent internet option available to our community is a big win for the future of our city,' said Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn. 'We are proud to work with Gateway Fiber to bring 100% fiber connectivity to our neighborhoods and businesses. This investment in our digital future will support economic growth, education, and quality of life for years to come.' Construction is set to begin in June, with Gateway Fiber teams working closely alongside city officials to ensure a smooth rollout. Residents and business owners will receive regular updates on construction timelines with neighborhood door hangers and emails and will be notified as service becomes available in their areas. Gateway Fiber's 100% fiber network delivers symmetrical multi-gig speeds, superior reliability, and scalable capacity to meet the growing connectivity demands of modern life. 'We are thrilled to bring our high-speed, 100% fiber-optic network to Fargo,' said Gateway Fiber Chief Customer Officer John Meyer, whose family has deep connections to the area. 'Our mission is to provide fast, reliable internet with straightforward pricing and industry-leading support. Fargo residents and businesses will soon enjoy the benefits of fiber technology, including enhanced remote work, online learning, streaming, and gaming—all with the bandwidth to power future innovations.' The company's commitment extends beyond speed to empowering residents, businesses, and school districts with seamless connectivity, advanced security features, and innovative tools like cloud-optimized Wi-Fi management. Gateway Fiber is building a stronger digital infrastructure that transforms lives and strengthens communities nationwide. In addition to the new Fargo network, Gateway Fiber has expanded over the last two years into the greater Minneapolis area with high-speed service to the suburbs of Blaine, Brooklyn Park, Champlin, Coon Rapids, Maple Grove, Plymouth, and Shoreview. Residents and businesses interested in Gateway Fiber services can visit to learn more, sign up, or receive construction updates. The company will hire salespeople, installation technicians, and customer support staff in the Fargo area. Are you looking for a career in fiber? Check out the Gateway Fiber career page: About Gateway Fiber Gateway Fiber is on a mission to positively impact communities through a better internet. As data requirements for residences and businesses continue to expand, Gateway is creating a leading, national fiber-to-the-home platform to serve this critical unmet need. Gateway provides faster, more reliable internet with a simple pricing model and industry-leading customer service. In February, Gateway Fiber announced a strategic merger with E-Rate leader WANRack and its residential subsidiary, KWIKOM Communications. The merger creates a more powerful, scalable organization with enhanced growth opportunities for its employees while expanding the combined organization's offerings to meet the diverse internet needs of commercial, small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), and enterprise clients. For more information, visit View source version on CONTACT: For more information, press only: David Workman PR & Communications Manager 314-265-8974 [email protected] KEYWORD: NORTH DAKOTA MISSOURI UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: NETWORKS INTERNET HARDWARE TECHNOLOGY TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOURCE: Gateway Fiber Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/28/2025 11:55 AM/DISC: 05/28/2025 11:53 AM
Epoch Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
‘The Road to Tender Hearts' Is Definitely a Trip Worth Taking
Despite a significant body count in the first few chapters, 'The Road to Tender Hearts' is one of the funniest, sweetest, and best books I've read this year. Those two descriptions really shouldn't go together, but when the writer is as talented as Annie Harnett is, she can get away with it. The plot and characters are complex here, so buckle in. The book first introduces readers to a cat named Pancakes; it's gained a reputation as the resident 'angel of death' at a local Massachusetts nursing home. Residents have noticed how Pancakes only hangs around those who are about to pass away. This has made it very unpopular. As readers get to know the cat, they see that it's certainly unusual and might actually be the angel of death. Pancakes eventually finds its way into the home of PJ Halliday, a 63-year-old divorced dad who sits in the center of a Venn diagram, of sorts: He's a failure-to-launch alcoholic with a tragic history; he's the luckiest jerk around, and he's a great guy who can be trusted about as far as he can be thrown. It's unclear if Pancake's appearance in PJ's life is as a terrible omen or merely a cuddly companion; it could go either way. Wasting Away Again in Pondville PJ has been spending his life getting drunk in the home he once shared with his ex, Ivy, and their two daughters, Kate and Sophie. The home is just this side of a hoarding cliché, except for Kate's old bedroom, which he hasn't touched since she died in an accidental drowning after her senior prom. If PJ isn't drunk at home or at his usual bar, he's over at Ivy's new place, spending time with her and her new boyfriend, Fred, an appellate judge eager to marry her. The trio has an unusual relationship: There is almost no acrimony between PJ and his ex, and he considers Fred to be his best friend. This is a great example of the complex interplay in 'Tender Hearts.' In the same town—a fictional place called Pondville, Massachusetts—some extended members of PJ's family have been struck by a vicious turn of events. In one particular chapter, we watch those events unfold with all the dark humor, tension, and tragedy of the best films by the Coen brothers (think 'Fargo'). It's expertly written, but it's also not for the faint of heart. Related Stories 4/26/2025 4/21/2025 The upshot of that storyline is that PJ suddenly finds himself guardian of the two grandkids of an estranged brother he hadn't spoken to in 40 years. Luna Meeklin is a 10-year-old troubled child and school outcast—highly intelligent, but so battered and alienated by her dysfunctional home life that she frequently withdraws from everything. Ollie is her polar opposite, a perfect foil for Luna. Only 11 months younger, Ollie is bright, sweet, truthful, and innocent to the point of near naivety. His identity is perhaps too entwined with his sister's: 'Ollie could never be happy unless Luna was too.' Worst Laid Plans Even though they have only just met, they all agree to take a road trip across the country to Arizona and California. Why? Luna has become convinced that her father was not her biological father, and her real dad is a man who used to live in Pondville but moved to L.A. to be a famous soap opera star. She has charts, graphs, and other evidence to back her up. For his part, PJ recently discovered that a high school sweetheart, his first love before meeting Ivy, has recently become a widow in a retirement home in Arizona called Tender Hearts. 'Hey,' he thinks, 'she's back on the market. I should go see her and maybe rekindle a romance.' So, why not travel a little farther to L.A., so that Luna can talk to her real dad? This is, of course, a terrible idea on multiple levels. But PJ even manages to convince his daughter, Sophie, to reconnect with him and come along for the ride. Sophie is currently out of work, smokes weed most of the day, and hates her roommates, so it doesn't take much to get her to go along with this plan. Pancakes, naturally, is coming too. Cheering Them On The pace of 'The Road to Tender Hearts' is brisk; it doesn't stay in one place for very long. However, it's surprising how much character and plot Hartnett manages to pack onto each page while still making it all feel like a natural progression. Even with all these details I've mentioned, I'm still skipping much of the story so as not to spoil readers' fun. What really makes 'The Road to Tender Hearts' work is the sheer enjoyment of watching the decisions the characters make on their journey—often a heady mix of self-delusions, lies, earnest goodwill, desperation, or just plain stupidity. Coupled with the effects of fortune, whether in the form of a semi-mystical cat, the divine, or pure probability, I truly didn't know how it would all turn out. Nonetheless, I rooted for each of them to find their way. And if that doesn't make for a great page-turner, I don't know what does. Two children accompany a father and daughter cross country with a very unusual cat, in "The Road to Tender Hearts." 'The Road to Tender Hearts' By Annie Hartnett Ballantine Books, April 29, 2025 Hardcover: 384 pages What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
Business Recorder
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Recorder
‘Honey Don't!' noir brings Ethan Coen's inventive violence to Cannes
CANNES: Ethan Coen, one half of the renowned Coen brothers, had to get even more creative when imagining how to kill off characters for 'Honey Don't!,' his new spin on 1940s LA noir starring Margaret Qualley. 'It's a challenge because we got a lot of good minds out there thinking about it all the time. So it's hard to come up with new ways,' the director told Reuters at the Cannes Film Festival. 'It sounds strange to say, but you want to make the violence fun, not just some like weird sadistic thing for some reason,' he added ahead of Friday evening's premiere. The Coen brothers are known for their notional plot lines juxtaposed with shock violence in films such as 'Fargo' and 'No Country for Old Men,' both of which earned them Oscar awards. In just one example, as seen in the 'Honey Don't!' trailer, a man has a fork violently rammed into the bottom of his chin. 'Somehow I think it (violence) kind of transcends sadism by virtue of its inventiveness,' added Coen, who said he was aiming to capture the feel of friend and fellow director Sam Raimi's early films, which includes cult horror classic 'Evil Dead.' Qualley stars as the Bakersfield, California-based sharp-tongued and seductive private investigator Honey O'Donahue, who gets tangled up with a cult while looking into a woman's death. 'Captain America' actor Chris Evans plays a crooked preacher, while Aubrey Plaza of 'The White Lotus' is Qualley's romantic interest and Charlie Day a homicide detective. 'We wanted to make a film noir that had a lesbian lead character' because there aren't many of those, especially compared with the number of ones with heterosexual characters, Tricia Cooke, Coen's co-writer and wife, told Reuters. Coen and Cooke said they immediately felt it was the right choice to cast Qualley, initially for their similar lesbian cross-country road trip caper 'Drive-Away Dolls' that marked Ethan Coen's first solo film without his brother Joel. 'We thought after we met her, well, she'll be good for 'Drive-Away Dolls,' but she'll be great for this other script we had written even then,' Coen added. Shooting sex scenes between Qualley and Plaza was not a challenge, as they both really liked each other, said Coen. They decided to set the film in Bakersfield, which is less well-off than Los Angeles, as part of the revamp of the genre. 'It Was Just An Accident' by Iran's Jafar Panahi wins Cannes' top prize LA has been patented by crime fiction writer Raymond Chandler, and that is its own kind of detective story, said Coen. 'We wanted to do it and not glamorous LA, but very much California, the inland desert,' added Coen, with the idea being to capture the bleakness that inhabits those locations. 'Honey Don't!,' which received lukewarm reviews from critics at Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter, is set to hit U.S. theatres on August 22.
