Latest news with #MaryHarron
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
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‘American Psycho' Director Mary Harron Is Surprised by Movie's Lingering Relevance
American Psycho director Mary Harron admitted that the cult classic film is just as relevant today as it was when it was released in 2000 while celebrating its 25th anniversary during a conversation with Hasan Minhaj at the 2025 Tribeca Festival on June 7. The horror film, which takes place between 1987 and 1989, follows investment banker Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) as he deals with murderous fantasies. Harron told Minhaj she believed that Wall Street employees were 'dinosaurs' at the time of filming and that we would 'never see' men like that in the future. More from The Hollywood Reporter What Sold Gerard Butler on Reprising His Role in the Live-Action 'How to Train Your Dragon' 'Twelve Moons' Director Victoria Franco Has Been Waiting for Her Tribeca Moment How Ticket Resellers Caused Drama at Miley Cyrus' 'Something Beautiful' Tribeca Film Premiere 'Not that there wouldn't be rapacious Wall Street behavior and greed,' she continued. 'It was true, actually, for a few years after the film came out. It was much better hidden.' However, Harron pointed out that people are still 'reveling in bad behavior' and 'the joy of being overly racist' today. She continued, 'I would never have thought you would see that.' Minhaj said that Bateman seemed to say 'the quiet part of loud' in his voiceovers, while people in the present day seem much more comfortable using hateful and offensive rhetoric. Harron agreed and explained that she viewed Bateman more as a symbol than as a person. 'Patrick Bateman is like if you took everything terrible about, like, 20th century capitalism and about the Reagan era,' she said, listing cruelty, despising the poor, sexism and racism as some of the issues he wasn't afraid to glorify. Meanwhile, she said that the character also represents the 'triumph' of 'male dominance and money.' When Minhaj asked if 'reality now is oddly mimicking' the plot of the movie, Harron admitted that her views of the world have changed since it was made. 'I would've said when we were making [the] film, you know, the arc of history bends towards justice. And now I think maybe the arc of history is like a corkscrew or maybe it's a rollercoaster,' she said. 'Maybe it doesn't just bend towards justice. I would like to think that we'll get through this and find better times.' After noting that she never would have imagined the state of the world would look like it does in 2025, Harron added, 'It's so much worse than when I was making the film. You know, open fascism.' She also pointed out that the direction of today's society may be 'why people still like this film' today. Harron, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Guinevere Turner, reflected on the popularity of Bateman today after Minhaj pointed out that there are some people that view the character as aspirational. 'I know the film is very popular with Wall Street guys and Guinevere and I were, 'Wait, what? Like, we're making fun of this,'' she said. 'I don't know. I can't explain it.' She then theorized that people may find the character to be aspirational because he 'has everything materially that a person would want' and that he 'does whatever he wants.' The movie also includes several mentions of the Trump family, while Donald Trump is mentioned in the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name that the movie is based on. 'It was as a quasi-celebrity,' she said of Trump being mentioned, noting that Bateman's fiancée Evelyn Williams (Reese Witherspoon) complained about his obsession with the now-president. 'That, I thought, was part of his dorkiness, really. 'Cause Donald Trump in the 80s, you know, New Yorkers did not really think of him as cool. He was just, like, he was kind of a joke.' Also during the interview, Harron reflected on why Bale was the perfect person to play Bateman after the role was re-cast several times. 'It was very strange because he hadn't actually done anything like that before in his work,' she said, adding that Leonardo DiCaprio briefly had the role. Harron explained that Bale was the only actor up for the role who viewed the script as 'funny' as she did, which gave her confidence that he was the perfect person to play Bateman. 'It was basically that we had the same sense of humor,' she said of why he ultimately got the role. 'The other actors I met, some of them well known and certainly better known than Christian at the time, I could tell that they thought Bateman was sort of cool. And to me, it's like there's nothing cool here. We're not doing the coolness. We're doing the absurdity of him. So, I knew that it was very important we be on the same page.' The conversation concluded with Harron recalling how difficult it was to get the film made until Lionsgate agreed to produce it. 'I would never have imagined that it would be so embraced,' she said of the film's legacy. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Miley Cyrus Says She Knows What Upcoming 12-Track Experimental Album 'Feels Like'
Miley Cyrus premiered her Something Beautiful visual album for a packed audience at New York's Beacon Theatre as part of the 2025 Tribeca Festival. But Cyrus, who just released her Something Beautiful audio recording last week, with the visual album set to come out next week, is already looking to the future. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'American Psycho' Director Mary Harron Is Surprised by Movie's Lingering Relevance: "I Would Never Have Thought You Would See That" 'Twelve Moons' Director Victoria Franco Has Been Waiting for Her Tribeca Moment How Ticket Resellers Caused Drama at Miley Cyrus' 'Something Beautiful' Tribeca Film Premiere At an album release party last week at the Chateau Marmont, Cyrus teased that Something Beautiful is merely 'the appetizer' for a 'an extremely experimental' upcoming album. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter before the Something Beautiful visual album premiere, Cyrus shared a little more about what to expect from this future release, which she said would likely be 12 tracks. 'And I think I know what those at least feel like and that's what I started out with this album too where it wasn't necessarily about the sound first or even the look or the vision — it's what it makes you feel like,' Cyrus told THR of those dozen songs. 'So I feel that I somewhat know what that is.' And she teased that this future album would hopefully come with less 'pressure' and be more 'about the music.' 'For me, personally, it would just be the fulfillment of always making the thing that's real and right in that moment but I think it'll also come without the pressure that I've put on myself for almost the past two decades of my career,' she said. 'I really want to do something that doesn't have that sort of power over me and is just really about the music.' Inside the Beacon Theatre, Something Beautiful played on the big screen to a mostly enthusiastic audience (there were a handful of people who were under the impression that the event was a concert, including one vocal audience member who interrupted the Q&A to ask if Cyrus was going to sing, after she'd already delivered an impromptu a capella version of 'The Climb') that frequently cheered and even sang along at times to the visual representation of the 13 tracks on the album. Cyrus has already debuted Act 1, consisting of the prelude, title track, 'End of the World,' 'More to Lose' and 'Easy Lover.' The performance-heavy visual album plays out somewhat like a series of music videos, with each song getting a distinct visual representation and the singer sporting a number of dramatic outfits like the Thierry Mugler ensemble she wears in 'Prelude.' Mostly performing on soundstages, Cyrus ventures outside for part of 'Easy Lover,' where she's seen walking around a studio lot and winking to an onlooker, and for 'Walk of Fame,' which she filmed on the eponymous Hollywood sidewalk in the middle of the night, walking away with a 'brutal' knee infection, as she previously explained. The visual album ends with Cyrus singing in the rain to 'Reborn' ('Give Me Love' plays over the credits) and features a cameo from Something Beautiful guest Naomi Campbell on 'Every Girl You've Ever Loved,' which has echoes of George Michael's 'Freedom,' which Campbell similarly was part of. The two runway walk alongside each other in an abandoned warehouse and strike multiple 'pose's as Campbell sings. Speaking in a post-screening Q&A with co-directors Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter and producer Panos Cosmatos, moderated by Derek Blasberg, Cyrus opened up about getting Campbell to join her for Something Beautiful. 'When Naomi wants to do something, just like myself or any artist, they make it happen. They do it,' Cyrus said. 'And there was never a time that there was any difficulties for us getting together in the same room, cutting these vocals. It was always something that felt effortless and easy. And when those things start happening, that's when I know that there was no reality in which it was never written in the stars. I think it was always, from the very beginning, going to be something that her and I shared together, and it was just a matter of time, and there was no better time than now, and she's actually wearing my [Thierry] Mugler [clothes] in that video. I said, 'I don't share fashion with my friends unless they're Naomi.'' Cyrus said she and Michael Pollack, who wrote the album with her, wrote the verse on 'Every Girl' for Campbell, essentially 'channeling' her. 'And she had no notes,' Cyrus said of Campbell, something that surprised Blasberg as well. 'I did not believe them when they said she's already cut her verse, and it was better than I ever could imagine. … We were really trying to embody her essence, which is just the ultimate grace, power and beauty and legacy. Truly, she really is one of our living legends. And so to get to spend talking to her and talking to her about fashion in the '90s and where she is now as a mother and watching that evolution has been extremely inspiring for me.' Despite Campbell's influence, Cyrus said generally for Something Beautiful, she 'was actually very protective of not having many references, because I wanted to be the reference, something that no one's ever done before … I completely worship and idolize the Tina Turners, the Donna Summers, Diana Ross, so many ladies before me paved this path that I'm on. This is my journey, but they've made it so much easier because they've already broken down all the doors for me.' Something Beautiful the visual album will play in theaters across North America on June 12 for one night only before getting an international release on June 27. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Ticket Resellers Caused Drama at Miley Cyrus' ‘Something Beautiful' Tribeca Film Premiere
Miley Cyrus' Something Beautiful film premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival on Friday night was, for the most part, a celebratory evening as the superstar basked in love from her fans as she unveiled one of her most ambitious projects in her two-decade career. That is, except for a few rude outbursts from fans who didn't seem to know the event they purchased tickets for was a film screening, not a performance. 'We thought this was a concert, we paid $800,' one fan shouted. 'Are you actually going to sing?' another one yelled. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'American Psycho' Director Mary Harron Is Surprised by Movie's Lingering Relevance: "I Would Never Have Thought You Would See That" 'Twelve Moons' Director Victoria Franco Has Been Waiting for Her Tribeca Moment Jane Rosenthal Champions Female and Nonbinary Filmmakers When the "Very Act of Us Speaking Up Feels Risky" at Chanel Tribeca Festival Luncheon To be clear, yelling at an artist to perform like a court jester in the middle of their film premiere is never warranted, and those who interrupted the discussion should learn better etiquette. Since the event, Miley fans have come to her defense, calling out the behavior as disrespectful. Still, beneath that uncomfortable exchange, last night's event also provides a window into how confusing the ticketing industry can often be for the unaware fan. According to several aggrieved attendees who spoke with The Hollywood Reporter or posted online since last night, the issue appears to trace back to listings on third-party resale platforms, which have little connection to Cyrus, the Beacon Theatre, or Tribeca beyond selling re-listed tickets for the event. Following the premiere, several fans took to social media saying they saw advertisements from resale platforms like StubHub and VividSeats that they said suggested Cyrus would be performing. On X Friday night, one fan posted a screenshot of a VividSeats link that said 'Miley Cyrus & 2025 Endless Summer Vacation Tour. (There is no such tour, Cyrus hasn't had an official headlining tour in over a decade.) It's unclear how many fans were unaware of the type of event they were actually attending. Cyrus and Tribeca had both consistently marketed the premiere as a film event, not a performance or a concert. Inside the packed venue, there were almost no empty seats, and fans responded enthusiastically to Cyrus and the film, cheering as she walked into the audience and took her seat and during multiple points in the performance-heavy visual album. Despite the noticeable interruption, audience members seemed eager to hear what Cyrus had to say, and there were a handful of 'I love you's from the crowd. Still, exiting the venue, at least one slightly irritated audience member asked nearby festivalgoers if they knew Cyrus wouldn't be singing. Meanwhile, quite a few others posted complaints online afterward. Three attendees who spoke with THR said they purchased tickets after seeing StubHub and Vivid Seats ads on Instagram that suggested a full-fledged concert. Reps for StubHub and VividSeats didn't respond to requests for comment. Reps for the festival didn't respond to a request for comment and Cyrus' rep couldn't be reached. Kate Fiore, a 27-year-old New York resident, tells THR that her younger sister had flown out from Houston to attend the event together and that they spent a combined $1,700 for their tickets on VividSeats. Fiore says she'd purchased the tickets in April after seeing a VividSeats ad on Instagram, which she said didn't give any indication that it was a film premiere. 'Had I seen anywhere from that VividSeats ad that this was linked as a Tribeca Film Festival event, I would've maybe looked, but what it said was something like '2025 tour date one night only,' and we weren't the only ones,' Fiore says. Fiore says they realized what the event actually was once they showed up at the Beacon Friday night and that several of the attendees next to her also had similar experiences, telling her they'd spent $700 or $900 for their seats and thought it was a concert. She said several attendees around her left early in frustration. 'No one would've spent this much money if we had known. She doesn't tour, she doesn't play live often.' Venues have long voiced frustration about ticket resale platforms as they aren't directly involved in the event's planning, which can lead to miscommunication with customers, as evidenced in this case. 'When fans are acquiring tickets from people who had nothing to do with the event, the ability to communicate the important details of the event is potentially lost,' says Kevin Erickson, the executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, a non-profit music policy group that focuses on reform in the ticket and live music business, among other issues. Erickson says part of the issue is that the state of New York doesn't allow non-transferable tickets, which he says limits the festival's ability to stop resellers from gouging fans at major markups. That's a touchy subject in the business, as critics of non-transferable tickets often argue that policy impedes ticket owners from doing what they wish with their tickets and makes it impossible for fans to easily offload tickets if they can no longer attend an event. Still, as Erickson says, 'You should be able to put on a movie at a film festival without third parties coming in trying to extract all this extra profit.' Another attendee, a New York resident named Tim (he requested his last name be withheld, citing backlash he's already received from Cyrus fans posting about the event) told THR that he'd spent $1,200 for two tickets to take his sister to the event after seeing a VividSeats Instagram ad that he said strongly suggested Cyrus would perform. 'The copy in their ad said something along the lines of 'one night only' and definitely suggesting a concert,' Tim says, adding that many of the attendees around him had also been expecting a concert. 'As soon as we turned the corner on 74th street and I saw the marquee said 'Tribeca Film Festival' I said 'wait, is this a fucking movie?' I'd pay $600 to see Miley Cyrus perform a one-night show at the Beacon, but definitely not that much for a visual album.' Tim called the ad that led him to buy his tickets 'false advertising.' Like Fiore, he added that it was 'almost unanimous from at least everyone by me up in the balcony, who were expecting some type of performance.' Neither he nor Fiore blamed Cyrus or Tribeca for the issue. 'I'm sure Miley had no idea what was going on either, and she was there to deliver something that she put a lot of heart and soul into,' Fiore says. 'It's unfortunate that was the ultimate outcome.' Tim acknowledged that he should've looked closer before purchasing the tickets as he was on a third-party ticketing platform, but he added that consumers shouldn't have to be taking on risk like that when purchasing tickets. 'I was sitting there cringing in the audience with my sister as the fans were yelling at the stage,' Tim says. 'It was very awkward, but it was obvious that there was a clear misalignment in expectations between the event and the fans, which is uncomfortable in a visceral way.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
These Unionized Reality TV Workers Have Been Seeking a Contract For More Than a Decade
The unionization of production company Kirkstall Road Enterprises in 2012 was one of the earliest victories for the Hollywood writers' union when it came to organizing the Wild West of reality television. It was the heady era of Jersey Shore, Duck Dynasty and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and, though it was a modestly sized group of workers, the successful drive at The First 48 producer was a notch in the Writers Guild of America East's belt as it sought to make inroads in nonfiction. Twelve-plus years later, however, these workers still don't have a first union contract — and neither do their colleagues at fellow ITV America subsidiary Leftfield Pictures (Pawn Stars, Alone), which unionized just a few years later, in 2015. Now, as it's making some fresh headway in nonfiction after years of starts and stops, the WGA East is applying renewed pressure. More from The Hollywood Reporter L.A. Times Owner Adds Bias Meter, AI-Generated Copy On Articles, Drawing Criticism From Guild After More Than Four Years of Talks, NBC News' Digital Editorial Staff Gets Tentative Contract Deal Hollywood Unions Traveling to Sacramento to Lobby for California's Film and TV Tax Credit Expansion On Thursday the union delivered a petition to ITV management signed by roughly 500 members, including Nosferatu filmmaker Robert Eggers, American Psycho writer-director Mary Harron and Saturday Night Live writer Bryan Tucker, that calls for ITV America to negotiate these stalled contracts 'in an expeditious manner.' Added the petition, 'Long delays, proposals that are out of line with industry standards and refusals to respond to important proposals do not reflect well on the company's stated principles.' The move follows an unfair labor practice charge filed by the WGA East against Leftfield on Feb. 13, alleging failure to bargain in good faith. The National Labor Relations Board has yet to rule on the case. In a statement, ITV America said that the company 'has been bargaining in good faith and will continue to do so, having already reached agreement with the Guild on a vast number of items.' The company added, 'While the WGA often litigates these issues in the press, we believe the proper place for conversations about the process and how to resolve open issues is at the bargaining table.' The WGA largely turned its attention to reality television in the wake of the 2007 writers' strike, which underscored how companies could turn to cheap and fast-to-produce nonfiction content when writers of scripted shows withheld their labor. On the West Coast, the WGA West represents workers at America's Funniest Home Videos and recently unionized Ridiculousness. Its New York-based sister union has gone further, organizing shops like Lion TV, Sharp Entertainment and NBC News Service, formerly Peacock, and Vice before a recent escalation in efforts. The ITV campaign heated up again at the beginning of 2023, when postproduction workers who had been working remotely since the pandemic were told to report to the office. ITV America had moved parts of its operation during the pandemic from Manhattan to Stamford, Connecticut, which raised some concerns about commutes, tax and employment law changes from Kirkstall workers. In May 2024, Kirkstall's union and its management began negotiations for the first time since an unsuccessful initial attempt at bargaining years ago. According to the union, there has been progress on minor issues in these talks, which are set to continue on Thursday, since. However, the labor group claims the company has not wanted to budge on its existing policies for sick time and vacation time, nor wanted to enhance its health insurance offerings or significantly raise wages. 'To think about a union contract that doesn't actually improve things for people, whether it's paid time off or retirement or healthcare or wages or anything else, is just not workable to us,' says Phil Andrews, the union's deputy director for nonfiction and organizing. At Leftfield, meanwhile, the WGA East maintains that the group has been asking for bargaining dates for several months, to no avail — the company allegedly has not committed to setting times for the discussions. With their first contract, the Kirkstall workers are targeting an increase in wages, annual raises, enhanced safety measures, adjustments to the company's health insurance offerings and additional contributions to their retirement plans. Leftfield workers are likewise looking to negotiate minimum wage rates, raises and changes to their health insurance plans, while also seeking contract language around staffers getting rehired season to season. 'Our rates haven't kept up with the cost of living,' says one worker in postproduction. 'I love my job, I'm so glad to be here and I want to move up with the company. And it's hard when they're not necessarily investing in us the way that we are in them.' In its statement, ITV America said that the union's accounting of the situation contained 'numerous false statements'; THR has asked for specifics, which have not yet been provided. The company added, 'During a time of significant industry challenges, impacting networks, producers and individuals in different ways, we will continue engaging with the WGA and prioritizing our employees.' Nelson Lichtenstein, a research professor at the University of California Santa Barbara who specializes in labor history, says this scenario is a little unusual. Delays in reaching a first contract are fairly routine, but 'usually what happens is that after several months or a year, all the [workers] who are involved to begin with are completely discouraged and have moved on,' he says. 'Or after one year, the company can call for another election to decertify the union.' The notable distinction in this case, to him, is that the union has not been decertified and the workers are returning to their attempts after significant time has passed. When asked why it's taken so long, Andrews — who was not employed by the WGA East when these unions first formed — says that, for a while, the union drive did lose support. 'Anyone in labor will tell you if the workers are not motivated and behind the effort 100 percent, then there's nothing you can do,' he says. But recent wins for the WGA East in the space has changed that, he adds. Within the past four years, six production companies have unionized, including two prestige names in documentary, Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions and Liz Garbus and Dan Cogan's Story Syndicate. Half of those have negotiated first contracts. One field crew worker at Kirkstall agrees that this recent spate of activity has been a factor in the renewed energy around the ITV contracts. 'There's real momentum happening right now with nonfiction organizing and ITV should take the lead on it,' this person says. 'We really believe they could be an example out there.' Still, after more than a decade, union supporters stress they aren't taking any chances. Adds the field crew worker, 'Our hope is that by seeing us speaking out about this, they decide to start moving faster with negotiations and not add any further delays into this process in order to avoid us getting into other escalation tactics.' 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