Latest news with #TouchMe
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Last Surviving Members of The Doors Remember Jim Morrison's 'Heartbreaking' Death
The Doors took music by storm in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of hits including "Break On Through (To the Other Side)," "Light My Fire," "People Are Strange," "Hello, I Love You," "Touch Me," "Love Her Madly," "Riders on the Storm" and more. But tragedy struck in 1971 when lead singer Jim Morrison was found dead in a bathtub in Paris at the age of 27. The cause of death was listed as heart failure, and Bill Siddons, The Doors' manager, told Rolling Stone at the time that there might have been a possible lung infection because Morrison had been coughing up blood in the days leading up to his death. In a new in-depth history of The Doors' meteoric rise and fall for Louder Sound, surviving members John Densmore (drums and backing vocals) and Robby Krieger (guitar, lead and backing vocals) reflected on their time with Morrison and what might have become of the band had he lived. "Jim's demise was heartbreaking. I mean, it was so good live, and then it eroded. And I hated that. But now, many years later, time has really helped me reflect on the fact that he was supposed to be a shooting star — a quick impact and then goodbye," said Densmore. Krieger added, "When Jim went to Paris [March 1971], I figured he'd be back at some point and we'd start playing again. But it wasn't meant to be." Krieger also said that they talked about trying to continue on after Morrison's death, and he kind of wishes they would have, but Densmore said it was a "real struggle" to figure out what to do. "That was a real struggle. We didn't want to give up the musical synchronicity, but who's going to fill those leather pants?" said Densmore, adding, "We tried a few people, and Ray [Manzarek] and Robby sang. They were OK … Without Jim, what is The Doors?" Ray Manzarek was the fourth member of the original group, who played keyboards and contributed to lead and backing vocals; he died of cancer in 2013. Krieger and Densmore were contemplative about what might have happened if Morrison had not died so young. "Had Jim lived, I think our music would've gone more in the direction of 'Riders On The Storm.' And we'd be into film soundtracks. We all loved film," said Densmore. "Ray and Jim went to UCLA film school and would be experimenting with that. Editing film can be like drumming. It's all about timing." "I do sometimes wonder how The Doors might've sounded through the seventies, and possibly the eighties, if Jim had lived. But I really have no idea. That was the thing about The Doors – what we came up with was always a surprise, even to us. I think that's one reason why the music still holds up today. I still play those songs so much that it sometimes feels like it was only yesterday. It seems like we never stopped," concluded Krieger.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Touch Me' seduced Sundance audiences with its gory, outlandish tale of an alien cult leader with addictive tentacles. Its director says it was inspired by his life.
Each year, Sundance Film Festival curates a Midnight program filled with unusual independent horror movies. The slate in 2024 included breakout hits Love Lies Bleeding and I Saw the TV Glow. In 2025, comedic and gross horror films like Together and Touch Me left audiences both squirming and cracking up. Touch Me was written and directed by Addison Heimann. It follows Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and her codependent roommate Craig (Jordan Gavaris), who evacuate their apartment after a stomach-churning plumbing mishap and move in with an alien cult leader whose sex appeal and addictive touch wreak havoc on their friendship. 'People have been calling it 'Fun-der the Skin,' Heimann said, referencing the haunting 2014 film Under the Skin, in which Scarlett Johansson stars as an alien seducing men, then banishing them to an alternate dimension. Touch Me has all the extraterrestrial chaos with a more playful tone. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Heimann and Dudley spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about the delightfully bizarre film before its Sundance premiere. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What a wild movie. Where did the idea come from? Addison Heimann: Depression is always the answer. I was going through a pretty terrible friendship breakup, and a lot of stuff was going on with my family. I had just watched this movie called The Untamed, which is about an alien who has sex with people in a cabin and makes them feel euphoric. I was like, 'I wish that happened to me.' So I dreamt up a world that took the concept of an alien removing anxiety and depression and fused it with my own life and devastation at the time, and created this world where two codependent friends are f***ing an alien and start fighting because they're so addicted to his touch. I've also been learning Japanese for five years and became obsessed with Japanese films of the '60s and '70s — a lot of pink films, and ones like Kwaidan, Jigoku and House. I infused that wild insanity into this world. Olivia, you are a sci-fi and horror star. What was it about this movie that drew you in? Olivia Taylor Dudley: I read the script really fast and made the decision like, an hour after I got it. There were 50 reasons to do this movie: The tracksuits really got me, the hip-hop dancing, the alien sex and the trauma. I have OCD and I'm in [Exposure and Response Prevention] therapy, just like Joey. The movie does such a good job of touching on very real and personal traumas that people go through and I think everybody in the audience will relate to on one level or another. Then there's this levity and hilarity and ridiculousness to it that makes it a great vehicle to get really important messages across. At every turn, something horrible and traumatic happens to these characters — it all starts when they lose their house because their shower breaks and starts spraying sewage. Heimann: That was a real thing that happened to me. I had to find a way to get $10,000 to completely redo the bottom of my house because it was filled with poo water. I took things from my real life for the movie. Both Joey and her friend Craig have to address their past trauma that keeps coming up. How did you approach tackling those heavy themes? Heimann: When Olivia hopped on board and became an executive producer and helped develop the script further, we created Joey's backstory based on things she has experienced, and Craig's backstory is based on things I've experienced or tangentially experienced. I think genre film is such an interesting vehicle for talking about things while being wildly entertaining. That's ultimately why I decided to make that mashup, because I wanted to talk about things that were close to my heart that I experienced and that Olivia experienced, and present it to people who may have experienced it too so they can laugh at it but also relate to it. Olivia, how would you describe Joey as a character? Dudley: She feels personal to me. I rarely get to play characters that feel so close to home. She is an individual who's just kind of lost and floating in the world and is really codependent on somebody. She has a lot of love and heart, but it's easy for her to get caught up on the wrong thing. And I think a lot of people can relate to her! If anyone else made a sexy alien who promised to take away all their anxieties, they would say yes, too. I can't fault her for that. I think she's a rad chick who has a lot of flaws that people can relate to. Addison, did you have any inspiration for Brian, your alien cult leader? Heimann: I think we've all had that kind of f***boy who sucks us dry and ruins your life. Brian is an amalgamation of experiences I've had that draw you in and spit you out in a way that makes you feel worse. I think we all have this person in our lives who's both questionable but also so enticing. Lou [Taylor Pucci], who plays him, offered to dye his hair black for the role, and when he did, we thought he looked like a weird Jared Leto that makes everyone go 'him?' but also 'him!' We've talked about the characters, so now we must address everything else going on — the gore, the tentacles and the sexiness of it all. There's so much going on. How much was practical vs. visual effects? Dudley: I always knew I wanted to keep things 100% practical. There's something great about seeing something tangible. I love virtual effects, but for this, I wanted the alien to look like a puppet. When you see the alien at the end, that's a two-foot puppet we put in water. When Olivia rose during the sex scene, we had wires and a giant tentacle wrapped around her. I would say we ended up 90% practical with our VFX designer to keep things moving and fluid. There are so many [prop] heads floating around. One last question for both of you: If you could recommend this movie to any kind of person, who would it be? What's your ideal audience? Heimann: I imagine it's a trendy Gen Z person who wants to make fun of me but I still want to be friends with them. Dudley: Obviously, I want the Gen Z-ers to think I'm cool! But I hope that genre audiences love and embrace it. I don't think there's anything else like this out right now. It's a singular vision. The entire movie doesn't let up. has not yet released plans for distribution.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Touch Me' seduced Sundance audiences with its gory, outlandish tale of an alien cult leader with addictive tentacles. Its director says it was inspired by his life.
Each year, Sundance Film Festival curates a Midnight program filled with unusual independent horror movies. The slate in 2024 included breakout hits Love Lies Bleeding and I Saw the TV Glow. In 2025, comedic and gross horror films like Together and Touch Me left audiences both squirming and cracking up. Touch Me was written and directed by Addison Heimann. It follows Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and her codependent roommate Craig (Jordan Gavaris), who evacuate their apartment after a stomach-churning plumbing mishap and move in with an alien cult leader whose sex appeal and addictive touch wreak havoc on their friendship. 'People have been calling it 'Fun-der the Skin,' Heimann said, referencing the haunting 2014 film Under the Skin, in which Scarlett Johansson stars as an alien seducing men, then banishing them to an alternate dimension. Touch Me has all the extraterrestrial chaos with a more playful tone. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Heimann and Dudley spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about the delightfully bizarre film before its Sundance premiere. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What a wild movie. Where did the idea come from? Addison Heimann: Depression is always the answer. I was going through a pretty terrible friendship breakup, and a lot of stuff was going on with my family. I had just watched this movie called The Untamed, which is about an alien who has sex with people in a cabin and makes them feel euphoric. I was like, 'I wish that happened to me.' So I dreamt up a world that took the concept of an alien removing anxiety and depression and fused it with my own life and devastation at the time, and created this world where two codependent friends are f***ing an alien and start fighting because they're so addicted to his touch. I've also been learning Japanese for five years and became obsessed with Japanese films of the '60s and '70s — a lot of pink films, and ones like Kwaidan, Jigoku and House. I infused that wild insanity into this world. Olivia, you are a sci-fi and horror star. What was it about this movie that drew you in? Olivia Taylor Dudley: I read the script really fast and made the decision like, an hour after I got it. There were 50 reasons to do this movie: The tracksuits really got me, the hip-hop dancing, the alien sex and the trauma. I have OCD and I'm in [Exposure and Response Prevention] therapy, just like Joey. The movie does such a good job of touching on very real and personal traumas that people go through and I think everybody in the audience will relate to on one level or another. Then there's this levity and hilarity and ridiculousness to it that makes it a great vehicle to get really important messages across. At every turn, something horrible and traumatic happens to these characters — it all starts when they lose their house because their shower breaks and starts spraying sewage. Heimann: That was a real thing that happened to me. I had to find a way to get $10,000 to completely redo the bottom of my house because it was filled with poo water. I took things from my real life for the movie. Both Joey and her friend Craig have to address their past trauma that keeps coming up. How did you approach tackling those heavy themes? Heimann: When Olivia hopped on board and became an executive producer and helped develop the script further, we created Joey's backstory based on things she has experienced, and Craig's backstory is based on things I've experienced or tangentially experienced. I think genre film is such an interesting vehicle for talking about things while being wildly entertaining. That's ultimately why I decided to make that mashup, because I wanted to talk about things that were close to my heart that I experienced and that Olivia experienced, and present it to people who may have experienced it too so they can laugh at it but also relate to it. Olivia, how would you describe Joey as a character? Dudley: She feels personal to me. I rarely get to play characters that feel so close to home. She is an individual who's just kind of lost and floating in the world and is really codependent on somebody. She has a lot of love and heart, but it's easy for her to get caught up on the wrong thing. And I think a lot of people can relate to her! If anyone else made a sexy alien who promised to take away all their anxieties, they would say yes, too. I can't fault her for that. I think she's a rad chick who has a lot of flaws that people can relate to. Addison, did you have any inspiration for Brian, your alien cult leader? Heimann: I think we've all had that kind of f***boy who sucks us dry and ruins your life. Brian is an amalgamation of experiences I've had that draw you in and spit you out in a way that makes you feel worse. I think we all have this person in our lives who's both questionable but also so enticing. Lou [Taylor Pucci], who plays him, offered to dye his hair black for the role, and when he did, we thought he looked like a weird Jared Leto that makes everyone go 'him?' but also 'him!' We've talked about the characters, so now we must address everything else going on — the gore, the tentacles and the sexiness of it all. There's so much going on. How much was practical vs. visual effects? Dudley: I always knew I wanted to keep things 100% practical. There's something great about seeing something tangible. I love virtual effects, but for this, I wanted the alien to look like a puppet. When you see the alien at the end, that's a two-foot puppet we put in water. When Olivia rose during the sex scene, we had wires and a giant tentacle wrapped around her. I would say we ended up 90% practical with our VFX designer to keep things moving and fluid. There are so many [prop] heads floating around. One last question for both of you: If you could recommend this movie to any kind of person, who would it be? What's your ideal audience? Heimann: I imagine it's a trendy Gen Z person who wants to make fun of me but I still want to be friends with them. Dudley: Obviously, I want the Gen Z-ers to think I'm cool! But I hope that genre audiences love and embrace it. I don't think there's anything else like this out right now. It's a singular vision. The entire movie doesn't let up. has not yet released plans for distribution.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Wedding Banquet' Trailer: Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone Plan a Sham Wedding in Remake of Ang Lee's Queer Rom-Com Classic
Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone help plan a sham wedding in the first trailer for 'The Wedding Banquet,' a modern retelling of Ang Lee's 1993 queer comedy of errors. Set in Seattle, 'The Wedding Banquet' follows Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and her girlfriend, Lee (Gladstone), who are trying to have a baby through IVF but can't afford to pay for another round of fertility treatment. Meanwhile their friend Min (Han Gi-chan), a closeted scion of a multinational empire, has a student visa that's about to expire. When his boyfriend Chris (Yang) rejects his marriage proposal for various reasons, he pops the question to Angela instead. From there, a wedding plot is hatched: a green card marriage in exchange for funding Lee's IVF. But their plans to quietly elope are upended when Min's grandmother ('Minari' Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung) flies in from Korea to meet her future granddaughter-in-law and insists on throwing them an all-out wedding extravaganza. Naturally, plenty of hijinks ensue. More from Variety Why Isaac Mizrahi Both Cringes and Feels 'Weirdly Empowered' by the Re-Release of 'Unzipped' for Its 30th Anniversary at Sundance 'Touch Me' Director Previews His Alien Throuple Comedy, From Tentacle Sex to Hip-Hop Dance Sequences - Sundance 'The Wedding Banquet' Review: Modern Reimagining of Queer Classic Mostly Finds Its Own Way With Funny New Guests 'We need to de-queer the house,' Yang's character shouts as his boyfriend drives back from the airport with his grandma. 'God, you have so much lesbian literature.' Later in the trailer, Tran's Angela spots a stray, betraying piece of art in the bathroom. As she takes the frame off the wall, she laments: 'Everything in this house is gay!' 'Fire Island' filmmaker Andrew Ahn directed the remake, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival on Monday. James Schamus, who co-wrote the original with Lee and Neil Peng, also penned this updated take with Ahn. The director admits he didn't necessarily feel a 'Wedding Banquet' remake was necessary, though he eventually found value in the idea. 'Times have changed since 1993 for queer people,' Ahn told Variety prior to the film's Sundance premiere. 'There was a new version of the story we could tell. We can get married. Now that we can get married, should we? Do we want to? As a millennial, there's this burden of choice. It shifts the generational focus, and it's looking toward the future.' Watch the first teaser below: Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in February 2025
