Latest news with #KathrynHahn
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez on how the ‘Agatha All Along' cast ‘became a coven' when recording ‘The Ballad of the Witches' Road'
When it came to Agatha All Along , it was the songwriters who may have cast the most tantalizing spell. "The crew was telling us, 'I don't usually say this to songwriters, but wow, I had hairs standing up on the back of my neck,'" Robert Lopez says of the reactions to the cast recording the show's haunting song "The Ballad of the Witches' Road." As the double-EGOT winner's multiple award-winning partner and spouse Kristen Anderson-Lopez tells Gold Derby, "When Agatha got a spin-off, [creator Jac Schaeffer] knew instantly that she wanted it to be based around a song, and built it into the very fundamental architecture of the show, which was a huge gift to us. We would work with her for the rest of our career if we could, because she understands music and it gave us this chance to do this thing that we love." (Watch our full interview above.) More from GoldDerby 'Difficult times,' 'screaming matches,' and 'abandonment': David Duchovny and Chris Carter rehash their drama on 'The X-Files' Emma D'Arcy takes a break from filming 'House of the Dragon' Season 3 to talk riding dragons, 'Westerosi jet lag,' and Season 2's 'momentous' moments Jason Schwartzman on the breakneck 'Mountainhead' production: 'I've never done anything like it in my life' Marvel's Agatha All Along, a follow-up to the Emmy-winning WandaVision, follows Agatha Harkness (Emmy nominee Kathryn Hahn), as she regains her freedom and embarks on the Witches' Road to reclaim her powers. The main cast features Joe Locke as Billy Maximoff, Sasheer Zamata as Jennifer Kale, Ali Ahn as Alice Wu-Gulliver, Tony winner Patti LuPone as Lilia Calderu, Emmy nominee Aubrey Plaza as Rio Vidal, and Debra Jo Rupp reprising her role as Sharon Davis. Drawing inspiration from witch lore and pop culture, the series blends dark comedy with supernatural elements, exploring themes of identity, power, and redemption. SEE Kathryn Hahn reveals the unusual way she learned about her Golden Globe nom for 'Agatha All Along' 'The Ballad of the Witches' Road' is a central musical and narrative element in Agatha All Along, composed by the acclaimed duo behind the Emmy-winning 'Agatha All Along' tune from WandaVision and the iconic Oscar-winning anthem "Let It Go" from Frozen. The song is framed as having been originally created in the 1750s by Agatha Harkness and her son, Nicholas Scratch, used to lure unsuspecting witches into a trap where Agatha would absorb their powers. Throughout the series, the song appears in various versions — including the haunting 'Sacred Chant,' a '70s rock-inspired rendition, and a pop cover by Japanese Breakfast — each reflecting different facets of the show's themes and character arcs. The lyrics serve as both a literal guide and a metaphorical warning, symbolizing the dangers of the Witches' Road and the personal trials that each of the characters endure throughout the first season's nine episodes. " If you heard the demo of this song, it's a lot less powerful; it's a lot more choral," Robert Lopez says. "We thought, they'll be singing in a group and I don't know what this is going to be like, but here's an arrangement of it. We laid down each one of these incredible performers who are also at this very moment bonding with one another. They hadn't really gotten to work yet. This was the first thing they did, and they became a coven, track by track," he explains. "It was one of the first things they all did together; we had to record the sacred version before many of them had even stepped on set to act," Kristen Anderson-Lopez reveals. "The beautiful thing that happened that day is that everybody stayed for each other's. We had to record them one by one in layers, and everyone stayed to support each other. Then a week later they were on screen, on set in their iconic costumes, recording it together. And by that point, they had become an a capella group. They could sing it without backup. They had 'in ears,' but they didn't really need them," she says. "When each person had their closeup and had to do their own solo version, after each one, everybody applauded in the most wonderful, supportive way. It really was this meta thing where the coven was created through this sisterhood song." "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" might end up being yet another feather in the duo's cap, now that Lopez is a double EGOT-winner and Anderson-Lopez is this close to achieving EGOT status. They both have won two Oscars (2013 for "Let It Go' and 2017 for 'Remember Me' from Coco) and were nominated in 2019 for 'Into the Unknown' from Frozen 2. They both won an Emmy in 2021 for 'Agatha All Along' from WandaVision, Lopez won a Grammy for The Book of Mormon and they both won Grammys for "Let it Go" and Frozen, and Lopez has three Tony wins to his name (Avenue Q in 2004 and The Book of Mormon in 2011). When Lopez completed his EGOT in 2014 with Oscar win for "Let it Go," he became the youngest ever to achieve the feat (he was 39), the fastest to achieve it (10 years), and eventually he became the first to win all four of those coveted awards multiple times. "First of all, it is a huge honor. To be recognized for anything, it's a huge honor and I do think that the first Tony that I won for Avenue Q made my whole career possible. I think awards really do make your dreams come true for more than one project. Having that award allows you to get to do all the things you wanted to do or do many of them. And I think that our Oscar for 'Let It Go,' that created Kristen's career," he says of his wife, who is just a Tony shy of completing the EGOT herself. "Winning an Oscar for 'Let It Go' gave me an in with the theater world, which at the time was so male dominated," Anderson-Lopez explains. "There were very few seasons that ever had a female songwriter in the running. So I needed fuel to be able to open doors here in New York," she notes, adding with a playful smile that "when it comes to Bobby being the youngest and the only double EGOT winner, I like to use it to make fun of him sometimes, like when he does something particularly stupid, and I'm like, 'No, no, don't listen to the youngest double EGOT winner.'" Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby Jacob Elordi reveals personal reason for joining 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North': 'It was something important to me' Jason Schwartzman on the breakneck 'Mountainhead' production: 'I've never done anything like it in my life' 'Étoile' creators say cinematographer M. David Mullen was their 'film school' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Making Religion Matter for Secular People
In recent years, an impressive number of particularly charming actors have played rabbis on TV. Adam Brody, Sarah Sherman, Daveed Diggs, and Kathryn Hahn have all donned a kippah, wrapped themselves in a tallis, and shown how fun loving (even sexy) it can feel to carve a path between the rock of tradition and the hard place of modernity. I'm not sure why progressive rabbis are the clerics to whom pop culture tends to assign this role, as opposed to, say, quirky priests or wacky imams. Maybe Judaism is well suited as a religion that revels in questioning and doubt. Maybe rabbis are just funnier. Add to the scroll of TV clergy Rabbi Léa Schmoll, played by Elsa Guedj. In Reformed, a new French series now streaming on Max, Léa has the joyful burden of making millenia-old rituals matter anew. Unlike many other shows that feature rabbis, this one focuses on the actual work of rabbi-ing—and it isn't easy. The drama (and sitcom-style comedy) of Reformed comes out of her struggle against both the nihilism of our fallen world, which provides no answers to the bigger questions of life, and a rigid form of Orthodoxy that provides too many easy answers. In the middle stands utterly human Léa, who has the sweetly befuddled air, wild mane, and wide eyes of a young Carol Kane. Her shirts are often misbuttoned and half-tucked. She's perpetually late. And she is brand-new to the job, having just taken her first rabbi gig when the show opens in her hometown of Strasbourg, in eastern France. She is also a woman rabbi in a country where they are rare—the show makes a running gag of what title to use for her, because both the French word for a female rabbi, rabbine, and a stuffier alternative, Madame le rabbin, sound so unfamiliar that they regularly provoke giggles. After rabbinical school, she moves back into the book-lined apartment of her misanthropic father, a weathered Serge Gainsbourg look-alike (Éric Elmosnino, who actually played Gainsbourg in a biopic). He's a psychotherapist and a staunch atheist for whom a rabbi daughter is a cosmic joke at his expense. 'There was Galileo, Freud, Auschwitz,' he declares over dinner when she discusses her new job. 'I thought the problem was solved. God doesn't exist. The Creation is meaningless. We're alone. We live. We suffer.' (In French—I promise—this sounds like a very normal dinner conversation.) Already in the first episode, in her very first interaction with a congregant, Léa has to defend one of the most primitive forms of religious practice: circumcision. A new mother asks for Léa's help in convincing her non-Jewish partner to get over his resistance to their son having a bris. She senses—after many initial bumbling missteps—that what pains the father is that his son's body will be different from his own, no longer an extension of himself. Léa reaches for a biblical story, the binding of Isaac. As they stand outside the synagogue, where the father has been nervously pacing, drinking espressos, and smoking cigarettes (again, France), she offers her explanation for God's seemingly sadistic command that Abraham sacrifice his son. This was done, she argues, not to test Abraham's faith—God, being omniscient, would presumably know Abraham's faithfulness already—but ultimately to stop Abraham's hand before he brought his knife down, proving the limits of a parent's power over their child's life. [Shira Telushkin: The new American judaism] As Léa tells it, this brutal story becomes a comforting parable about learning to stop projecting yourself onto your children, about letting them go. 'The binding of Isaac is actually the moment when he is unbound from his father,' Léa says. 'God says to the Hebrews, 'Your children are not your children. They come from you. But they are not you.'' A bar mitzvah, a wedding, a Passover seder, and two funerals will follow. And though the same dynamic repeats, Léa's confidence grows as she learns how to give sense to the rituals. 'In the end, our job is about accomplishing certain gestures and trying to understand their meaning,' she says, providing a pretty good synopsis of the show. Interpretation is her creative act, and part of what makes Reformed enthralling is that she gets really good at it. Reformed is roughly based on the book Living With Our Dead, by Delphine Horvilleur, which was published in an English translation last year. Horvilleur is a liberal rabbi (she'll even accept 'secular rabbi') who has become something of a celebrity in France. The book would not seem to be an obvious fit for adaptation into a comedy series—in it, she recounts 11 instances of mourning, and how she has worked to integrate death into her life. She also argues eloquently for her more liberal form of the religion. The birth of rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, in 70 C.E., was the moment, she writes, when exegesis began to trump blind obedience. The rabbis were exiled, and had no temple where they could make sacrifices to God. They invented a religion that was a form of 'literal a-theism,' she writes, 'a world where God doesn't intervene and where human decisions prevail when there is controversy.' In the show, Léa has an antagonist on this point, a soulful local Orthodox rabbi named Arié (Lionel Dray) who was once her teacher. The friction in their relationship is more than just theological—their 'Will they? Won't they?' sexual tension adds another sitcom element to the show (though given his black fedora and many children at home, I'm guessing they won't). They tussle in a friendly, and sometimes not-so-friendly, way about whether an 'authentic' form of Judaism exists. In one climactic scene, while on an interfaith panel discussion, their argument overwhelms the event. Arié refers to Léa's approach to Judaism as 'à la carte': She picks and chooses what suits her interests. 'Why not practice meditation or oriental-spirituality seminars, if the goal is to confirm one's own beliefs?' he asks her. Léa shoots back by asking him if he practices polygamy. Religion evolves, she says, and besides, 'many people aspire to connect with the wisdom of biblical texts, and they have a right to it, even if you claim exclusive ownership of them.' That's fine, Arié responds, but 'don't call it Judaism. Because that's not Judaism. It's something else.' [Franklin Foer: The golden age of American Jews is ending] As someone who is on Léa's side of this debate—I agree with Horvilleur that 'Judaism doesn't require its adherents to pass a final exam'—I appreciated her fierce defense of this more open-ended version of the religion, as well as her look of self-doubt as she was arguing it. Judaism that tries to be alive to a changing world has an inferiority complex. It's not even a fair fight when one side takes the accommodation of reality as its mandate and the other cites the direct mandate of God. Léa's work seems more rewarding, though, because the comfort she provides feels more like grace. When she teaches a man sitting alone with his mother's coffin about the Jewish tradition of tearing a piece of your clothes when in mourning, explaining that it symbolizes 'that the survivor will never be entirely whole again,' the gesture breaks the stark nothingness on the son's face. I'm moved by watching a show that finds drama in all of this, because, at the moment, I'm helping my 12-year-old daughter prepare for her bat mitzvah. She has to write a speech responding to the section of Torah she will be reading, one that includes the biblical proscription to 'not boil a kid in its mother's milk.' From this, early rabbis extrapolated the strict dietary laws that prohibit mixing milk and meat. My daughter had a different reading, though. In a commentary on the text, she found that in the ancient Near East, meat cooked in soured milk was a delicacy. Maybe God didn't intend for this to be a restriction on food at all, she wondered. Maybe he was just asking people to not show off by eating fancy dishes. Maybe he was telling them to live simply. I liked that in the old words she found her own significance, one an Orthodox rabbi like Arié would find ridiculous but that Léa would smile at. Reformed is a lot more entertaining than this doctrinal back-and-forth would suggest. The show is ultimately about people feeling confused as they face life at the moments that most require an injection of meaning. Can religion still have purpose for those of us who don't believe? The show answers with a qualified yes—as long as it is religion that is never too sure of itself. 'There are lots of rabbis full of certainties,' Arié tells Léa in one consoling moment. 'Perhaps all those who are looking for something else need you.' Article originally published at The Atlantic
Wall Street Journal
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
Kathryn Hahn Still Sleeps ‘Like a Teenager'
When Hollywood needs a woman teetering on a high wire, Kathryn Hahn gets the call. Hahn, 51, has played mothers and monsters who are just barely holding it together. She gained critical acclaim for her portrayal of the powerful witch Agatha Harkness in both Marvel miniseries 'Agatha All Along' and 'WandaVision.' As Agatha, she has the distinction of baring the first naked female butt and delivering the first lesbian kiss in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her roles have ranged from the 'hot rabbi' on Amazon's breakout streaming series 'Transparent' to an unraveling advice columnist in Hulu's 'Tiny Beautiful Things.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Natasha Lyonne and 13 ‘Poker Face' guest stars submitted for Emmy consideration
Poker Face is going big for the 2025 Emmys. Gold Derby has confirmed that the Peacock comedy is submitting 14 different actors for the second season. More from GoldDerby 'Agatha All Along' star Joe Locke on learning from Kathryn Hahn, musical theater goals, and the 'Heartstopper' movie with Kit Connor TV casting directors roundtable: 'The Diplomat,' 'Overcompensating,' 'Only Murders in the Building,' 'Paradise,' 'Doctor Odyssey' How 'Overcompensating' cast one of its writers as its co-lead Natasha Lyonne, who plays human lie detector Charlie Cale, will be submitted in Best Comedy Actress. She was nominated in this category twice before: once for the show's first season in 2023 and in 2019 for Russian Doll. Lyonne has earned a total of five career Emmy nominations, including recognition for writing and producing Russian Doll and for her guest performance on Orange Is the New Black in 2014. Speaking of guest stars, Poker Face is packed with them. As Lyonne's Charlie continues her cross-country journey — dodging mobsters in her trusty Plymouth Barracuda — she encounters mysteries at every stop. Along the way, she meets a host of intriguing characters brought to life by some very familiar faces. Among them are three-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, who plays quintuplets in the Season 2 premiere. She will be submitted in Guest Comedy Actress along with six other featured players this season: Eva Jade Halford, Katie Holmes, Oscar nominee Carol Kane, three-time Emmy nominee Gaby Hoffman, three-time Emmy winner Margo Martindale, and four-time Emmy winner Rhea Perlman. The Guest Comedy Actor submissions will include five-time Emmy nominee Giancarlo Esposito, three-time Emmy winner John Mulaney, Oscar nominee Kumail Nanjiani, Simon Helberg, Simon Rex, and Callum Vinson. In 2023, Judith Light made history when she took home Peacock's first-ever Emmy for her guest performance in the Poker Face episode "Time of the Monkey." See Poker Face's official acting submissions below. (Because actors can submit on their own, there's a chance cast members not listed below might appear on the Emmy ballot.) Comedy Actress: Natasha Lyonne Comedy Guest Actor: Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Helberg, John Mulaney, Kumail Nanjiani, Simon Rex, Callum Vinson Comedy Guest Actress: Cynthia Erivo, Eva Jade Halford, Gaby Hoffman, Katie Holmes, Carol Kane, Margo Martindale, Rhea Perlman Poker Face is available to stream on Peacock. Emmy nominations will be announced July 15. Best of GoldDerby 'I've never been on a show that got this kind of recognition': Katherine LaNasa on 'The Pitt's' success and Dana's 'existential crisis' How Charlie Cox characterizes Matt Murdock through action scenes in 'Daredevil: Born Again' 'Agatha All Along' star Joe Locke on learning from Kathryn Hahn, musical theater goals, and the 'Heartstopper' movie with Kit Connor Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Critics Choice Awards 2025 Red Carpet Arrivals
The stars are making their way to the red carpet for the 30th annual Critics Choice Awards. On the television side, 'Shōgun' leads with six nominations, while six series are tied with four nominations each: 'Abbott Elementary,' 'Disclaimer,' 'Hacks,' 'The Diplomat,' 'The Penguin' and 'What We Do in the Shadows.' More from Variety Critics Choice Awards: Jackie Chan, Lupita Nyong'o, Kathryn Hahn and More to Present - Film News in Brief Critics Choice Awards Sets New February Date After L.A. Fires Delay Jean Smart Urges TV Networks Not to Air Hollywood Award Shows and Instead Donate the Revenue to Fire Victims and First Responders Chelsea Handler is hosting the 30th annual Critics Choice Awards, which was postponed from Jan. 12 to Feb. 7 due to the L.A. wildfires. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win? What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025 Zoe Saldaña at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Kathryn Hahn at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Cynthia Erivo at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Shogun' star Hiroyuki Sanada at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Angelina Jolie at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Joey King at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Industry' star Myha'la wears a halter gown with floral embellishments at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Kate Hudson at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Thelma' star June Squibb wears a black sequined ensemble at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Adrien Brody at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Lupita Nyong'o at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Colin Farrell at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Rachel Brosnahan at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Jeff Goldblum at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Dakota Fanning at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Jesse Eisenberg at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Andrew Scott at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Saturday Night' star Ella Hunt at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Sing Sing' star Clarence Maclin at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Bowen Yang at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Saturday Night' star Gabriel LaBelle at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Nobody Wants This' star Justine Lupe at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Logan Lerman at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Shogun' star Moeka Hoshi at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Aldis Hodge at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Rufus Sewell at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Sarah Michelle Gellar at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Jackie Tohn wears a sheer, shimmering gold gown at the Critics Choice Awards. 'Saturday Night' star Kimberly Matula at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Chase Stokes at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Industry' star Marisa Abela at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Wicked' star Ethan Slater at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Saturday Night' star Lamorne Morris at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Rachel Bloom at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Shogun' star Takehiro Hira wears a grey double-breasted suit jacket at the Critics Choice Awards. David Harbour at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Nobody Wants This' creator Erin Foster at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Nobody Wants This' EP Sara Foster at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Michael Emerson at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Jimmy O. Yang at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Wendi McLendon-Covey at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. 'Abbott Elementary' star Chris Perfetti at the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards.
