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Buzz Feed
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Kevin Spacey And Shia LaBeouf At Cannes: Opinion
Note: This post is an Op-Ed and shares the author's personal views. Discussion of sexual abuse. Listen, I know that looking for feminism at the Cannes Film Festival might be like looking for oranges at the scrap heap. But, for the love of god, Kevin Spacey was just awarded with the "excellence in film and television" lifetime achievement award at the Better World Fund's gala dinner. Well, surely Spacey must have been in some wonderous film or TV show as of late? No, of course he hasn't. Since 2017, the actor has faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, starting with actor Anthony Rapp accusing him of making a "sexual advance" towards him when he was 14. Now, Spacey was found not liable for sexual battery against Rapp. Criminal charges against him were dropped in Massachusetts. He was also cleared of all sexual assault charges in a UK trial against four men. Spacey himself has consistently denied allegations of misconduct. But that's not the end of his legal woes. He's currently facing at least two civil lawsuits in the UK alleging sexual abuse. In total, Spacey has been accused of sexual misconduct by over 30 men. This includes his LA Confidential costar Guy Pearce, to which Spacey said, "Grow up. You are not a victim." So, what did ol' Kev spend his time in Cannes doing? Comparing himself to artists who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Spacey said in a speech of one such person, "He couldn't find work in Hollywood for 13 years... There are times when one has to stand up for principle. I've learned a lot from history — it often repeats itself. The blacklist was a terrible time in our history so that it never happens again." The award was, as per a Vulture writer in attendance, "an 'engagement award' for 'people who have engaged, inspired, and mobilized for a cause.'" The emcee even spoke about victims of violence. Yes, folks, losing your career because you might be a communist is totally the same thing as being #MeToo-ed. It feeds into other antagonistic language I've heard about the movement: That it's a witch hunt, that victims can just say any old thing and ruin men's lives. Never mind that serious abuse allegations don't stop you from being President of the goddamn United States, no, won't someone think of the men! Never even consider how many talented people we may have lost because of mistreatment. I swear to god if someone comments about how "Believe All Women" is wrong — THAT'S NOT THE SLOGAN. Now, to the credit of the festival itself, it's worth noting that the award ceremony was not an official event. In a statement to the Guardian from the festival read, 'The Festival de Cannes had no involvement in, and was not informed of, either the invitation extended to Mr Spacey or the award presented during this private event.' But let's take a moment to look back. In 2024 — the year after Johnny Depp presented his movie Jeanne du Barry — Variety wrote that the festival began as the "belated" #MeToo movement came to the French film industry. This year continues in that suit: previous Cannes fixture Gerard Depardieu recently began his 18-mont suspended sentence for sexual assault. There's also been a parliamentary inquiry into the entertainment industry, which found misconduct to be "endemic." Inquiry chairwoman Sandrine Rousseau subsequently said, "The Cannes Film Festival must be the place where this shift in mindset happens; the place where we say loud and clear ... amid the glitter and the red carpets ... that finally, we all want things to change: every one of us, at every level of the industry." As per Variety, the festival issued a rule for this year "banning filmmakers or talent accused of sexual misconduct from walking the red carpet and presenting films at the festival." Actor Theo Navarro-Mussy was subsequently barred from the premiere of Case 137 as he had been accused of rape and sexual assault (though the charges were dropped, his accusers reportedly plan to appeal). It hasn't been foolproof. Ezra Miller, who walked down the red carpet of Die My Love, and who's faced allegations of abuse and grooming. Then there's Shia LaBeouf, who attended the red carpet for The Phoenician Scheme, despite the fact that he's set to go to trial against his ex, FKA Twigs, later this year in a case where she has alleged sexual assault and battery. To add insult to injury, LaBeouf is at the center of a documentary that also debuted at Cannes this year called Slauson Rec, which reportedly features him screaming and behaving violently towards his acting students. Shia also attended the photo call for the documentary. The real cherry on this shit sundae is that the splashiest new rule at Cannes was that the dress code had been updated to bar nudity and voluminous dresses. Many took this to be on a comment on the presence of female nipples we've seen in recent years on the red carpet. It's funny what's considered bad behavior, isn't it? But hey, maybe my hopes are too high! If someone says they want to "guarantee that the films submitted have respected and continue respecting the safety, integrity and dignity of all contributors," then why on earth would I expect them to actually do something about it? BuzzFeed has reached out to representatives for the Cannes Film Festival for comment.
The Guardian
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Babe review – tale of the talking sheep-pig a charming relic of its time
Thirty years ago, a non-Disney talking-animal adventure became a big movie talking point. Babe, adapted from Dick King-Smith's children's book The Sheep-Pig, features an adorable piglet who is rescued from a brutally realistic-looking agribusiness breeding shed as his mum and siblings are taken off to be slaughtered; it is then rehomed in a quaintly old-fashioned farm with lots of different animals, situated in an uncanny-valley landscape of rolling green hills which looks like Olde England but where everyone speaks in an American accent. The lead human is grumpy cap-wearing Farmer Hoggett, played by James Cromwell, later to be hard-faced Captain Dudley Smith in LA Confidential and Prince Philip in Stephen Frears' film The Queen. The little piglet does his best to fit in and finds his destiny when it looks as if he could be a very talented sheep-herder. But this is not animation, nor is it precisely live-action. The movie got a (justified) best visual effects Oscar for its mix of animatronics and real animals, modifying their appearance and behaviour onscreen and using CGI for their mouths. It was a startling novelty which was very much of its time. Yet Babe and its innovations didn't really lead to anything else; they were almost a standalone phenomenon, soon superseded in mainstream family-movie terms by the digital animation of Pixar and Disney's continuing live-action productions. Babe is a strange film, for me. The digitally confected moving mouths superimposed on the faces of largely real animals do not convey emotions and moods in the way even a crude animation might; the rest of the animal's face remains inscrutable and unreadable, and the animals have neither the charm of unadorned reality nor the thoroughgoing ingenuity of animation. And the story itself is a kind of weird anti-Orwell farmyard tale in which the slaughter of animals is a reality central to Babe's identity crisis, but which is otherwise not part of the film's world; nor is there much zip to the script. But, shot by the late Andrew Lesnie, cinematographer on the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films, it always looks good. Babe is in UK cinemas from 11 April.
The Independent
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Kim Basinger shares rare comments on ex Alec Baldwin decades after tumultuous divorce
Their divorce was one of the rockiest to hit Hollywood in the 1990s, but new comments suggest they are on much better terms these days. Kim Basinger, 71, and Alec Baldwin, 66, were married from 1993 to 2002 after meeting on the set of 1990's The Marrying Man. They share one daughter, Ireland, who was seven when they divorced and is now 29 years old and welcomed her own daughter Holland in 2023. Their marriage came to an end in a tumultuous divorce that led to a contentious and highly publicised custody battle over their daughter. In a new interview with Variety, Basinger spoke about where she stands with Baldwin for whom, she said, she has 'great respect'. 'Alec and I have a great relationship. I have great respect for where he is today, and his family,' she said. 'You know, we don't spend Christmases and holidays or see each other very much. But we talk.' The LA Confidential actor continued: 'He'll pick up the phone and call me, and we have a very genuinely cordial and I think loving relationship in a lot of ways, just because we share a daughter, and I don't wish him anything but everything good. 'He's been through a lot lately,' she added, apparently referring to the death of cinematographer Halya Hutchins in 2021. Last year, Baldwin faced an involuntary manslaughter trial after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Hutchins, who was 42 when she died. In July, the case was dismissed with prejudice based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defence. The prosecution will not be able to file charges against Baldwin again in Hutchins' death. Basinger went on to praise Baldwin's wife, Hilaria, stating: 'But Hilaria seems to have a great handle on that. So more power to her.' Basinger's comments come nearly two decades after Baldwin left a notorious voicemail for Ireland, who was 12 at the time. Originally contained in a sealed file from the former couple's court battle, the audio – in which he called Ireland a 'rude, thoughtless little pig' for not answering his call at a prearranged time – was leaked online and went viral. In a statement, the 30 Rock star apologised, writing: '"I'm sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child. 'I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now." Ireland joked about the infamous voicemail at her father's roast on Comedy Central in 2019, quipping on stage: "It's good to be here. I almost didn't even know about it because I haven't checked my voicemails from my dad for the last 12 years." Baldwin's wife, Hilaria, faced her own controversy back in 2020 after she was accused of faking her Spanish heritage, prompting her to later confirm that she was, in fact, born in Boston under the name Hillary Hayward-Thomas. She spent a lot of her childhood in Spain, where her family still lives. This month, the 41-year-old yoga instructor hit back at the criticism she has faced for her Spanish accent during the season premiere of her and Alec's new show The Baldwins. 'I love English, I also love Spanish, and when I mix the two it doesn't make me inauthentic, and when I mix the two, that makes me normal,' she said. 'I'd be lying if I said [the controversy] didn't make me sad and it didn't hurt and it didn't put me in dark places.'
The Independent
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Kim Basinger shares rare comments on co-parenting with ex-husband Alec Baldwin
Kim Basinger has shed some light on Alec Baldwin as a parent in rare comments about their relationship. Basinger, 71, and Baldwin, 66, were married from 1993 to 2002 after meeting on the set of 1990's The Marrying Man. They share one daughter, Ireland, who was seven when they divorced and is now 29 years old and recently welcomed her own daughter Holland. In a new interview with Variety, Basinger spoke about where she stands with Baldwin for whom, she said, she has 'great respect'. 'Alec and I have a great relationship. I have great respect for where he is today, and his family,' she said. 'You know, we don't spend Christmases and holidays or see each other very much. But we talk.' The LA Confidential actor continued: 'He'll pick up the phone and call me, and we have a very genuinely cordial and I think loving relationship in a lot of ways, just because we share a daughter, and I don't wish him anything but everything good. 'He's been through a lot lately,' she added, apparently referring to the death of cinematographer Halya Hutchins in 2021. Last year, Baldwin faced an involuntary manslaughter trial after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Hutchins, who was 42 when she died. In July, the case was dismissed with prejudice based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defence. The prosecution will not be able to file charges against Baldwin again in Hutchins' death. Basinger went on to praise Baldwin's wife, Hilaria, stating: 'But Hilaria seems to have a great handle on that. So more power to her.' Basinger's comments come nearly two decades after Baldwin left a notorious voicemail for Ireland, who was 12 at the time. Originally contained in a sealed file from the former couple's court battle, the audio – in which he called Ireland a 'rude, thoughtless little pig' for not answering his call at a prearranged time – was leaked online and went viral. In a statement, the 30 Rock star apologised, writing: '"I'm sorry, as everyone who knows me is aware, for losing my temper with my child. 'I have been driven to the edge by parental alienation for many years now." Ireland joked about the infamous voicemail at her father's roast on Comedy Central in 2019, quipping on stage: "It's good to be here. I almost didn't even know about it because I haven't checked my voicemails from my dad for the last 12 years." Baldwin's wife, Hilaria, faced her own controversy back in 2020 after she was accused of faking her Spanish heritage, prompting her to later confirm that she was, in fact, born in Boston under the name Hillary Hayward-Thomas. She spent a lot of her childhood in Spain, where her family still lives. This month, the 41-year-old yoga instructor hit back at the criticism she has faced for her Spanish accent during the season premiere of her and Alec's new show The Baldwins. 'I love English, I also love Spanish, and when I mix the two it doesn't make me inauthentic, and when I mix the two, that makes me normal,' she said. 'I'd be lying if I said [the controversy] didn't make me sad and it didn't hurt and it didn't put me in dark places.'
The Guardian
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Guy Pearce: ‘I'm not going to win the Oscar – Kieran Culkin will'
After his acclaimed performances in films such as LA Confidential, The Proposition, Memento, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Animal Kingdom and The Hurt Locker, you may be surprised that Guy Pearce has just been nominated for his first ever Oscar: for his turn as the sociopathic industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren in The Brutalist. Or maybe you haven't noticed Pearce's Oscars campaign because he keeps rubbishing his own career: he was 'shit' in Memento ('I'm bad in a good movie. Fuck!'), worse in Neighbours ('I played the same thing and it fucking drove me nuts') and has cheerfully owned up to acting in 'a bunch of shit during my divorce because I needed the money'. As awards campaigns go – well, it's a lot better than Karla Sofía Gascón's. Not that Pearce has paid attention. 'One of the [Emilia Pérez] actors said something on social media, right?' he says, in the understatement of the century. Though The Brutalist is at the front of everyone's minds, Pearce is promoting a completely different film: Inside, in which he plays a downtrodden prisoner who tries to convince a younger inmate to kill his notorious cellmate. But what is it like now being 'Academy award nominee' Guy Pearce? 'It's funny,' he says, rubbing that square jaw that suits both rich American industrialists and rough Australian inmates. 'Not funny that I haven't had one before – just funny to even get one, I reckon. I stop and go, 'Wow, is that – really? OK? That's really happened?'' Pearce is supremely unbothered by the fuss. 'I've been nominated for a few of these awards, and I haven't won any!' he laughs. 'I'm not gonna win! Kieran [Culkin] will win, again.' Has he got a speech ready? 'I've had one I've thought about for the last three months now – haven't used it once! Nah, I'll just forget it.' Pearce has a reputation as one of the more down-to-earth actors in the business: years of living in LA and now Amsterdam has not softened the Aussie contempt for puff and bullshit. He's sweetly unguarded, which can cause him trouble: two weeks before we speak, he made headlines for telling the Guardian his ex-wife, Kate Mestitz, was the love of his life – and not the Dutch actor Carice van Houten, his partner and mother of his eight-year-old son, Monte. The resulting outrage led Van Houten to issue an affectionate public statement, clarifying she and Pearce actually broke up years ago without anyone knowing. 'Oh God,' Pearce groans, of the headline. 'It blew up into this whole thing! Look, let's face it, I was in love with Kate when I was 12 – she got a pretty good run-up compared to anyone else in my life. So it's a fair enough thing to say.' Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning He and Van Houten 'never felt the need to say anything' about their separation, 'because it's nobody's bloody business,' he says. 'But Carice was really copping it in Holland. I mean, so was I. But she and I are the best of friends. We live together and look after our boy, and we function like a family. We have a great love, we adore each other. So yes, she probably is the love of my life now.' Then, a week after we speak, Pearce told an interviewer about how Kevin Spacey 'targeted' him on the set of LA Confidential, and how he 'sobbed' decades later when the allegations against Spacey began to emerge. (Spacey responded by telling him to 'grow up', to which Pearce declines to comment further.) In the unsettling Australian prison drama Inside, the feature debut of director Charles Williams, Pearce plays Warren Murfett, a prisoner on the precipice of parole who befriends younger inmate Mel (a remarkable Vincent Miller) and convinces him to kill his notorious cellmate Mark Shepard, who has been imprisoned since he was 13 for mass murder. Played by Shōgun's Cosmo Jarvis (doing the best Aussie accent by a foreigner since Dev Patel in Lion), Shepard unnerves the other prisoners with his wide-eyed sermons, often breaking out in tongues; killing him, Warren tells Mel, 'is the right thing, the best thing' he can do with his life. Warren cuts an angry, sorrowful figure: he reserves his little enthusiasm for completing the celebrity trivia on the wrappers of sweets that are clearly modelled on Austalia's Fantales. (Who cares about Oscars – Pearce was once a Fantale entry.) Pearce loved how realised Warren was; he hates turning up on set and feeling like the character is half-baked: 'If a director says to me, 'You can build the character however you want' – I don't want to build a character! That always worries me, because I don't necessarily do my best work when I have to do that. I don't trust myself.' Inside was filmed in a real prison facility near Geelong in Australia that hasn't yet opened. 'The staff are all there, the wardens are all there – we had to go through full security checks every time we came in and out every day, but we had the run of the place, which was quite incredible,' Pearce says. Between scenes, he would walk around the prison, talking to the wardens ('A lot of them have worked in prisons for years. They had stories') and the extras, many of whom were formerly incarcerated: 'I was getting a sense of how prison works – who would be where at what time, how you could move from here to there.' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Other scenes were filmed in a youth detention centre that was closing down; there were about 10 boys still inside, so Pearce spoke with them. 'It was deeply heartbreaking,' he says. 'I find it really moving and so sad, particularly with young men. Of course I'm vividly imagining what it would be like if my son were to end up incarcerated, what it must be like for families who have 17-, 18-, 19-year-old boys in prison. Yes, it's also sad for the 50-year-olds who keep going in and out all their lives – but to look at a young, vulnerable man is pretty devastating.' Pearce shot Inside after finishing The Brutalist's 34-day, breakneck shoot. Both films revolve around very ambiguous relationships between men: Van Buren and László Tóth in The Brutalist, Warren and Mel in Inside. The lines are blurred between what is brotherly, paternal, sexual and hostile behaviour; in one scene, Warren directs young Mel in how to kill Shepard during a blowjob – brutal advice, delivered with both friendly and erotic overtones. Pearce is 'deeply interested' in blurred relationships between men. 'As I go through life, trying to understand the dynamics between myself and my friends and – not that I really have any enemies, but people who have done wrong by me – what then happens with that relationship?' he says. 'I'm really curious about the susceptibility and vulnerability we live with constantly, whether it is with your lover, your son or your brother. If a writer has homed in on that stuff, I'll go to that every day of the week. But I've done some bad films before – I know I can't sit around waiting for scripts like this to come along. I'd only work really rarely!' Did he take angry, lonely Warren home with him? 'I probably inadvertently did, to a degree,' he says. 'But I'm so used to it now, especially compared to how I used to do things. I used to feel like I had to have the character in my head 24/7, because I was fearful of losing them, and that became incredibly exhausting. I've slowly realised that it doesn't necessarily mean I do better work. There are definitely days when I can't really socialise with everyone, but I'm better at compartmentalising now. I trust I can get back into the character. Thirty years ago, I was pretty stressy about that stuff.' Pearce is now based in the Netherlands, where he's 'really happy' living with Van Houten (they met on set of the 2016 western Brimstone) and their son, Monte. 'The pair of us are doing our best as a parenting team,' he says. 'But it means that I'm missing out on my life in Australia.' Ahead of the Oscars next week, he is trying to watch all the major nominees: 'Not to blame my son, but I don't think I've watched anything but Bluey and Harry Potter in eight years.' His co-star Adrien Brody is his call for best actor ('I just love him so much') but he thought Timothée Chalamet was 'stunning' as Bob Dylan, and Sebastian Stan 'really incredible' as Donald Trump. Years ago, when Pearce was nominated for every TV award going for Mildred Pierce, he found himself in a sort of support group for supporting actors: 'It was me, Paul Giamatti, James Woods and Peter Dinklage. But we all got one each! I got the Emmy, someone got the Golden Globe, someone got the SAG award. We'd see each other and go, 'Yay, you got one! Well done!'' This year, Culkin seems to be taking home all the loot – but Pearce is untroubled by that. He talks about his recent trip home for the Aacta awards ('divine'), when he ran into the singer Robbie Williams, nominated for his biopic Better Man: 'I said, 'Hey, another award show!' and he went, 'But have either of us won anything? No!' So we had a good old laugh – then of course he bloody won!' Inside is out in Australian cinemas on 27 February, with UK and US releases yet to be announced
