Latest news with #Fey
Malaysian Reserve
18-07-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
CMG sends LOD to MITI regarding designs used at Osaka World Expo
DIRECT marketing firm Current Media Group (CMG) has sent a letter of demand (LOD) to the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) regarding the latter's use of its designs in the Malaysian pavilion at the Osaka World Expo in Japan which the company said was without permission. CMG is also requesting a formal recognition for its contributions. The company said the LOD was issued yesterday after all informal attempts at communication had failed and MITI was given sufficient time to respond in good faith. 'Should MITI fail to respond satisfactorily within the statutory period, CMG will pursue every legal remedy available under Malaysian law,' it said in a statement. On April 25, CMG founder Fey Ilyas took to social media and accused MITI of using his company's designs for the expo without payment or credit. He added that the company was hired in 2022 to develop the pavilion's concept, theme and architecture, and had presented the proposal to key figures including MITI Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz. Fey shared that the company was promised it would be officially appointed for the project but was told in January 2023 that the appointment would not proceed and the ministry wanted to open a tender. He claimed that for two years, CMG faced delays and was denied proper recognition or fair compensation for its work. Moreover, Fey explained that CMG was advised to remain silent to avoid risking future opportunities. MITI later announced it was investigating the allegation and would take legal action if needed, but according to CMG, the ministry has not contacted it for any documents, interviews or clarification, and has not provided any meaningful update on the investigation since then. 'CMG reiterates its willingness to engage in constructive mediation at any time, so long as that process is undertaken in good faith, recognises the value of creative labour and upholds equitable terms,' it said. — TMR
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tina Fey on ‘The Four Seasons': ‘It was a challenge to be restrained about where we put jokes'
'Just one more time,' says Tina Fey. 'It was time for me to go back into something just one more time, before they put me in the ground.' With a string of successes from 30 Rock, Mean Girls, Saturday Night Live to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, turns out it was a 40-year-old movie that inspired the award-winning triple threat to take another creative swing. More from GoldDerby Roy Wood Jr. on how 'Lonely Flowers' became his most personal special to date 'He feels like he's the smartest guy there': 'Abbott Elementary's' William Stanford Davis on Mr. Johnson's 'veneer' of 'mystery' 'The Shining' at 45: How Stanley Kubrick's Stephen King adaptation became the Razzies biggest regret 'I've always loved the movie since I was 11 years old,' Fey tells Gold Derby of the 1981 feature The Four Seasons. As luck would have it, the film was made for Universal Studios, where she happens to have an overall deal. More crucially, she also secured the blessing of Alan Alda, who wrote and directed the original, and has a cameo in Fey's limited series adaptation for Netflix. 'I think he's delighted that this movie he made 40 years ago is still speaking to people in these two different ways,' says Fey. 'I'm still so grateful that he trusted us not to screw it up.' Fey's vision would honor the original by surrounding herself with friends, on-screen and off (she brought on former colleagues Tracy Wigfield and Lang Fisher as co-showrunners). 'The idea of building this ensemble with beloved actors, and the thrill of seeing them pretend to be old friends, that was one of the things I loved the most about the old movie,' says Fey of the film, which also starred Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, Jack Weston, Len Cariou, and Bess Armstrong, about three couples who vacation together. Steve Carell was her first call. 'I thought if I could get Steve to say yes, then we'd really be on our way somewhere,' she says, 'because he's the closest we have to an Alan Alda.' 'He's our most beloved American comedy figure of a couple generations, probably because of the incredible shelf life of the American Office. I also thought there was something about Steve that he could get away with playing Nick, because Nick does some things that make people mad. Michael Scott [from The Office] does things that are ill-advised, too, and Steve is beloved, so I knew he could do that.' SEE Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and more on the 'once-in-a-lifetime' experience of filming 'The Four Seasons' Next in line was Colman Domingo to play Danny. 'He was the only person we ever talked about for Danny,' she says. 'I didn't know what we were going to do if he didn't want to do it.' She hoped he'd want to do some comedy after Rustin — and especially The Madness. 'It was a lot of running and getting shot at, and you know, we're the same age, so maybe he wanted to do a show where he could wear sweaters and go to the beach.' Domingo suggested Marco Calvani as his partner, Claude (adapted from the original's Claudia); Will Forte, Kerry Kenney-Silver and Erika Henningsen rounded out the ensemble. Naturally, Fey was always going to play Kate. 'TikTok will tell you that I only ever play people named Kate,' jokes Fey. 'I always loved the scenes between Carol and Alan [in the film], the way that they would argue, and the kind of healthy arguing style that they had. I just wanted to be in those scenes.' That said, she did check in with her co-showrunners to make sure the fighting didn't go too far. 'Am I just being a horrible bitch to [Jack] all the time?' she asked them, who assured her she wasn't. 'I have heard anecdotally from a lot of people who feel like they see their marriage reflected in Jack and Kate.' Getting the voice of the show just right was a priority — especially after the sharp-edged, deeply sardonic wit of 30 Rock. 'It was a really conscious effort to work in a different tone,' Fey says. 'We wanted to evoke the tone of the original movie. At the same time, we knew we were doing eight episodes for streaming, so we felt like we needed just enough story energy to feel like we were cliff-hangering and pulling people one episode to the next. It was a challenge for all of us to be restrained about where we put jokes. The few other characters we meet can't be too absurd. We have to stay grounded, stay tethered. And that's the goal — if we were to strip some things away, would we be able to hold tinier emotional moments and small behaviors as subtler jokes.' And all joking aside, the series does take a dark turn in the penultimate episode, when Carell's character, Nick, dies in a car accident. 'It was one of the things we talked about from the beginning, because we thought, something needs to happen, and what's a real-life thing that happens?' she says. 'And that's one of the things that happens.' 'I remember when we pitched it to Steve, he was like, why does this keep happening to me?' says Fey. 'And I was like, 'Oh no! Well, too late — it's happening again.'' Netflix Fey says the episode, which is inspired by thirtysomething, is ultimately one of her favorites. 'It's probably the biggest swing that we take in the whole season,' she says. That it happens off-screen, she says, is because 'that's the way it happens in real-life… You don't expect it, and you don't see it.' SEE'The Four Seasons' co-creators explain their decision to kill [spoiler] — and Tina Fey's remarkable performance in response: 'She's really good' Though Fey juggles her usual trifecta of roles – showrunner, writer, actor – on this series, the shorter episode run meant that the scripts were finished by the time shooting began, so the pivot was more seamless. 'You are pretty much ready to answer questions that the actors might have, because you've been thinking about it for a long time,' she says. 'And I guess one of the important things to remember on the acting side is to maybe then try to shake yourself loose from how you've been hearing it in your head the whole time, to try to actually be present with the other actors, because then you might find something new that surprises you.' That's another one of the benefits of the streaming world, Fey acknowledges. 'You don't have to cut to exactly 21:15 so you end up like speeding your episode to make the exact timing. Nobody puts a snipe for a singing contest over your show,' she says. 'Plus we did so much nudity,' she jokes. This also marked the first time that Fey's husband, Jeff Richmond, directed an episode she'd written. 'I think there were moments where he was so happy to get to direct the play within the episode, because he's a theater director also, and that was probably the closest we came to butting heads,' she jokes. 'I will say it was even more adorable thing to watch Jeff direct, his first three-way, same-sex love scene. That was a new fun challenge, because we didn't have those kind of scenes on 30 Rock.' But she's not ready to take on that role herself just yet. 'I would never say never,' she says. 'But I love the showrunner position, because you can have all the perks and the input that a director has without having to figure out the shots. I really do respect people who think in pictures. But I definitely think in moments and bits and words and characters more than pictures.' Far more challenging was shooting the seasons themselves — finding locations for four seasons of the year in just nine weeks of shooting time. Luckily, they had a road map: Arlene Alda, Alan's wife, was the set photographer of the original film. 'She put out a coffee table book at the time of how they did it and what order they shot things in,' says Fey. That meant Forte and Carell were able to get in some ski time. 'They always seemed happiest when we had them do sports; though Fey, however, didn't enjoy that it quite as much. 'This is horrible, why do people do this? It's so cold!' she laments. The ultimate reward, for her, is the success of the show, which debuted at No. 1 on Netflix. 'The closest for me would be playing Sarah Palin,' she says. 'I don't think I've ever worked on something that was seen by so many people. You can always tell anecdotally when you hear from a bunch of people that first weekend. Not to name drop, but I think the first person that texted me that weekend to say I watched it and I loved it so much was Lindsay Lohan. And I was like, if Lindsay Lohan is watching this in Dubai, people are watching it around the world.' Best of GoldDerby Inside 'The Daily Show': The team behind the satirical news series on politics, puppies, punchlines — and staying sane Dakota Fanning said 'yes' to 'The Perfect Couple' the moment she heard Nicole Kidman was involved, without knowing anything else about the show 'Slow Horses' star Rosalind Eleazar gets real about her MI5 outcast Louisa Guy: 'She's really not OK' Click here to read the full article.
Boston Globe
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Tina Fey and Kelli O'Hara honored at Trinity Rep's Pell Awards for lifetime achievement in the arts
Advertisement Several of the speakers and other guests at the event, which raised nearly $400,000 for Trinity Rep's artistic, education, and community engagement programming, shared how programs funded by the Get Globe Rhode Island Food Club A weekly newsletter about food and dining in Rhode Island, by Globe Rhode Island reporter Alexa Gagosz. Enter Email Sign Up 'I am concerned that the arts will be an afterthought as opposed to being one of the most important things we can do,' said actor and Rhode Island resident Related : Advertisement Longtime Trinity Rep supporter Bank of America recently made a $3 million commitment to the theater company, which was announced during the gala. The gift includes $2.75 million to support the Curt Columbus, Trinity Rep's artistic director, said, 'When you live in a country that is undergoing the kind of repression that we're seeing, the arts are more necessary than they have ever been.' Providence lawyer Arlene Violet, who once served as the state's attorney general, said she wanted to attend Tuesday night's gala to show her support for the arts in general, and more specifically, Trinity Rep. 'Places like Trinity Rep will continue to educate the heart, souls, and consciences of theatergoers,' she said. 'And without question, the arts are under attack. I think the president is trying to While accepting her award, Fey told those in attendance that she started her career directing children's theater in her hometown in Pennsylvania. 'We really served our community,' she said. Fey was critical of Trump, making jokes about him and his administration and pretending she was receiving repeated news alerts on her phone: 'The White House has declared Juneteenth canceled – we're just going back to Shark Week.' 'RFK Jr. says hurricanes likely caused by vaccines; we will have a hurricane cure by the weekend.' 'They just keep coming. Breaking news: All new music must emphasize beats one and three. Any syncopated rhythm will be considered DEI.' 'Also, the Russians have a Trump/Musk tape.' 'OK, the Trump/Musk tape has been debunked.' Fey ended her 'news flash' jokes with a clear crowd favorite: 'Trump just ate a Tide pod. It's going to be OK. His doctor said he ate it better than anyone had ever eaten a Tide pod, and the chemicals in it may cause him to live forever,' a joke that elicited prolonged laughter from the audience. Advertisement Fey, 55, who wore a pale pink pantsuit and white crew-neck shirt, was introduced by Kate Liberman, Trinity Rep's executive director, who shared a video message sent by Fey's friend, collaborator, and fellow 'Saturday Night Live' alum Amy Poehler, who joked that everyone at the event should look under their seats because one has the keys to a new car, courtesy of Fey. The 'Mean Girls' creator said she has worked in 'difficult eras' before, including performing on 'Saturday Night Live' just three weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks. 'There was a time that we thought 'oh, maybe we can never do comedy again. Maybe it's not appropriate for us to ever laugh again' and it turned out that really, all it took was Will Ferrell in an American flag Speedo to be able to unite the country,' she joked. 'People love to ask me, 'Is it OK to be writing comedy right now?' And I say not only can we, we must,' Fey said. 'Humor is a vehicle for delivering truth. Humor is what will keep us tethered to our sanity through these dark times.' Related : Two-time Tony winner Judith Ivey, a longtime friend and mentor of O'Hara's, introduced her by singing a clever and amusing reworked version of 'Maria' from 'The Sound of Music,' that was all about O'Hara. Wearing a floor-length, spaghetti-strap forest green-hued floral dress, O'Hara said she was honored to receive the award, and promised those in attendance that she will do everything in her power 'to continue to make the world better through the arts' – even if it's just making someone's life 'a little better each time I sing a song or say something that I mean from my heart.' Advertisement 'I'll receive this tonight with such gratitude and such humility because I am determined to be worthy of it for the rest of my life,' said O'Hara, 49, who is touring the country with fellow Tony Award-winning actor Sutton Foster in full symphony concerts, including a O'Hara, who won a Tony Award in 2015 for best actress in a musical for her performance in a revival of 'The King and I,' shared with the audience that while growing up in a small town in Western Oklahoma, she and her family benefited from Trinity Rep established the Pell Awards in 1997 to honor artists whose careers exemplify the values of the late US Senator Claiborne Pell, a staunch champion of the arts and one of the principal founders of the National Endowment for the Arts. O'Hara and Fey join a long list of distinguished performers who have received the award, including last year's recipient,
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tina Fey Explains That ‘Four Seasons' Death and Teases 'Starting From Scratch' for Season 2
[This story contains spoilers for episodes seven and eight of ] 'It's been so fun. I don't know that I've ever been a part of something that had this much of an immediate positive reaction,' Tina Fey says of the last few weeks as The Four Seasons, which she co-created and stars in, debuted on Netflix. More from The Hollywood Reporter John Krasinski Didn't Know Brother-in-Law Stanley Tucci Was His 'Fountain of Youth' Co-Star Until Midway Through Filming Meg Ryan, Rashida Jones Join Natalie Portman for 'Good Sex' (Exclusive) Netflix Is Making a 'Clash of Clans' Animated Series The series is inspired by the 1981 rom-com of the same name directed by Alan Alda, and follows three couples as they go on vacations in spring, summer, fall and winter, with marital and friendship troubles along the way. In a surprise twist, Steve Carell's character Nick — who had divorced his wife Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver) and was dating the much younger Ginny (Erika Henningsen) — died in a car crash in the second-to-last episode, which Fey addressed at an Emmy FYC event on Monday. Fey and her co-creators, Tracey Wigfield and Lang Fisher, had the death in mind from the beginning of the show, and told Carell of his fate when first pitching him on the project, she told The Hollywood Reporter. 'He was like, 'Why does this keep happening to me?'' Fey joked, after Carell's character suffered a somewhat similar ending in The Morning Show, which she admitted, 'I didn't know that when we pitched it, so that's on me. But I dug my heels in.' Of the decision to veer from the film and add in a death, Fey also explained, 'We felt like at the time that everything was sort of grounded and human scale in terms of story, and we were like we do want something to happen, and that is a thing that happens to humans.' Fisher added, 'We wanted this show to really reflect the time in the lives of these people. And when you're in your 50s, it's not like a crazy thing to imagine losing a friend. We wanted this show to have big human stakes, and so someone dying and the group having to come together to deal with that felt right.' The series was renewed for a second season shortly after its premiere, and Fey revealed they started the writer's room last week. 'It's been really nice, we have the same exact writing staff and it's already been really interesting for us to come together and share experiences, not just talk about the previous season but also our own lives,' she continued. 'The writers have been very generous — a lot of what you saw in season one, a lot is obviously from the movie but a lot also came from all of our lives.' She also added that without the movie to provide a template as in the first season, 'we are kind of starting from scratch.' Wigfield noted, 'In some ways it is hard that you're starting from scratch and don't have the movie to guide you, but in a lot of ways the second season of anything is so much easier because you've made so many choices already. We know who these characters are,' adding, 'We set up fun dynamics in the finale. Ginny is pregnant, and this friend group is kind of moving on in the wake of their friend's death. There is going to be really interesting stuff to play and already we're starting to talk about it and it's really exciting.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
San Francisco Chronicle
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: Netflix's ‘The Four Seasons' is overprivileged and out of touch
'The Four Seasons' was a 1981 film about growing old together, not only with one's spouse but also alongside one's dearest friends. Yet, while the new Netflix adaptation brings together a new cast of aging stars, it's not the bodies onscreen that feel dated. Featuring Gen X-ers Tina Fey, Colman Domingo and East Bay's own Will Forte, plus at least on-the-cusp boomer Steve Carell, the series-long expansion of the movie by the same name — written and directed by its original star Alan Alda of 'M*A*S*H' fame — actually regresses the older narrative. Updating the story for 2025 requires a heavy lift, and an acclaimed trio of showrunners — Fey, Lang Fisher (' Never Have I Ever,' ' Brooklyn Nine-Nine ') and Tracey Wigfield ('30 Rock,' ' The Mindy Project ') — certainly make an effort. Unfortunately, it turns out that these three very successful TV writers don't exactly live on the cutting edge of storytelling for the streaming era. The original film's premise is that three middle-class couples of mostly white people navigate love's changing nature through middle age over the course of four seasonal vacations within one year, all to the tune of Vivaldi's famous violin concerto. Here, over the course of eight episodes, we see some beat-for-beat repeats: On the first vacation in spring, everyone jumps impishly from their leisure boat into the water, fully clothed! On a later vacation in summer, one of the wives is replaced awkwardly by a younger blond who sports a fetching white bikini! Yes, there is, once again, so. Much. Vivaldi! The remake gets a small diversity update by casting one of the couples as San Francisco theater veteran Domingo and Marco Calvani, a pair of gay men — although the former is forced unfairly into a 'two-fer' role as the sole person of color. (In the original, that place went to the great Rita Moreno, the East Bay's beloved EGOT.) Gone is a critical confrontation when the younger blond would have stood up for herself against the withering disdain of her partner's older friends. Such a scene would have added much-needed dimension to the role of Ginny (Erika Henningsen), but there's not much to her here beyond the pejorative label 'Yoga Barbie' that another character assigns to her. And rather than keeping the couples middle class, they're rewritten as much wealthier. Carell's Nick is referred to as 'king of the hedge fund,' while Domingo's Danny appears to be a jet-setting interior designer. The other characters are so thinly written in this update, that unlike the original, work rarely enters their banal conversations that drip with privilege and not much else. Particularly grating is when the two — beautiful — middle-aged actors, Fey and Kerri Kenney ('Reno 911!') crack fatphobic jokes, especially at their own expense. It's not funny, and it's not believable in the least, especially when, in one scene, Kenney is a vision clad in a sleeveless, backless gown. Love and the dilemmas of aging are both meaty subjects, as audiences have seen recently in far edgier, envelope-pushing narratives like ' Babygirl ' and ' The Substance.' I'm not at their protagonists' age bracket yet, but those stories dared to stir up dreams of what my menopause era could look like, even if they were fantasies that starred impossibly well-toned, rich white women. Despite all the undeniable talent involved in 'The Four Seasons,' its real failure is one of untapped imagination.
