Latest news with #WeekendatBernie's
Sky News AU
7 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Here are the ‘politburo' members who were really running the Biden White House, according to ‘Original Sin' authors
A small, tight-knit group in former President Joe Biden's inner circle was running the White House like a 'politburo', and they were the 'ultimate decision-makers' as Biden's health and cognitive function continued to decline, according to the authors of a bombshell new book. This group, dubbed the 'politburo,' included a coterie of seasoned political veterans, including Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti and Bruce Reed — but also family members such as first lady Jill Biden and the president's son Hunter, the authors of 'Original Sin' claim. 'In terms of who was running the White House, it's a small group of people that have been around,' 'Original Sin' author Alex Thompson told PBS' 'Washington Week' on Friday. 'Some people within the administration called them the Politburo. That's the term we used in the book.' Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain was at times part of the 'politburo,' as was former senior adviser to the president Annie Tomasini. Also on the 'politburo' was the first lady's former top adviser and 'work husband,' Anthony Bernal, whom The Post previously reported created a toxic workplace environment. 'And Joe Biden himself also is part of this. Joe Biden is not like — it's not 'Weekend at Bernie's,' right?' said co-author and CNN anchor Jake Tapper, referring to the movie about a dead guy who is wheeled around as part of an elaborate ruse. 'He has some purchase here. He has some agency. And he's aware of some of what's going on.' Tapper added: 'He's aware of the fact that they are keeping the cabinet away from him, they are keeping some White House staffers away from him.' Usually, the term 'politburo' refers to the top echelon of a communist state. Many of the seasoned politicos had been around Joe Biden for decades. Regardless of official titles in his 2020 campaign and administration, the 'politburo' generally called the shots and got Biden to agree. 'Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board,' one source familiar with the inner workings of the White House told the authors. An unidentified cabinet secretary vented about the Politburo, saying, 'I've never seen a situation like this before, with so few people having so much power. They would make huge economic decisions without calling [Treasury] Secretary Yellen.' The Politburo had been forceful in rejecting and diminishing concerns about the former president's age and mental acuity, according to the book. The advisers had generally seen 'concerns about Biden's age as simply a political vulnerability, not a serious limitation,' the book claims. They believed that Biden was achieving real policy victories, entitling him, and them, to a second term, according to the book. Former President Barack Obama had been leery about 'hangers-on' in Joe Biden's orbit, particularly on his 2020 campaign and stressed that 'I don't want him to be humiliated.' Alumni of the Obama administration also spotted key differences in how Joe Biden's presidency operated. 'Obama would hash it out with deputies and mid-level aides. Biden, by contrast, mostly met with the Politburo and his top national security aides,' the book said. 'Many of Biden's own aides were also kept at arm's length from the president.' The bombshell book explained that, irrespective of official titles, 'in practice, Bruce Reed was the real domestic policy adviser, Mike Donilon was the actual political director, Steve Ricchetti controlled Legislative Affairs, and Klain controlled a bit of everything.' Mike Donilon, senior adviser Donilon, who served as a senior adviser to Biden from the start of his presidency until January 2024 when he hopped over to the campaign, had been a close confidant of the former president since the 1980s. During his time on the 2024 campaign, he raked in a jaw-dropping $4 million salary, according to 'Original Sin.' Some outside observers, including Obama strategist David Axelrod, assessed that he was 'tied to Biden emotionally that he could not accept the truth.' Donilon, a former pollster and media consultant, was widely seen as a true believer in Biden who earned the former president's mutual trust. 'The president valued Mike Donilon's advice so much that aides would later joke that if he wanted, he could get Biden to start a war,' Thompson and Tapper wrote. Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president Ricchetti, who served as counselor to the president throughout Biden's time in the White House, served as the 46th president's chief of staff during the latter half of his vice presidency and worked on Biden's campaign. He also previously served as the White House deputy chief of staff for operations in the Clinton administration. During the Biden administration, Ricchetti played a key role in helping the former president steer through key legislative battles. At times, he would also weigh in on pressing political matters. At one point, Ricchetti personally called a reporter of an unnamed media outlet off the record to refute claims from multiple sources about Biden's health, according to the book. He also fumed after actor George Clooney penned a stunning op-ed urging Biden to drop out of the race. 'Ricchetti read it and was furious. Internally, he threatened to shut Clooney down—some of his colleagues thought he sounded like a mob boss,' the authors wrote. Bruce Reed, deputy chief of staff for policy Reed previously served as Biden's chief of staff during the first half of his vice presidency, prior to Ricchetti later taking over that post. He is also an alumnus of the Clinton administration. He was widely regarded as a 'policy wonk' and was among the advisers who helped prep Biden for his disastrous debate against President Trump. Ron Klain, ex-chief of staff As Biden's first chief of staff during his presidency, Klain was very influential and had sway over key decisions and messaging strategy — even after he left the White House, according to 'Original Sin.' Klain had been in Biden's orbit since the 1980s during the former president's Senate days. He also worked on the Clinton campaign in 2016. He officially exited the White House in February 2023, but still retained influence on the former president and helped him prepare for his disastrous debate against Trump last June. 'Biden showed a particular deference to Klain even though his chief of staff was often more progressive. Biden had deep respect for Klain's intellect. 'Only one person here is smarter than me and it'sRon,' aides heard him say,' the book claimed. Hunter Biden and Jill Biden Jill Biden had also been a key force in trying to shield her husband's faux pas from the public in what some have dubbed operation 'bubble wrap' and Hunter Biden was seen as a key force trying to prevent his father from dropping out of the 2024 race. In the earlier stages of the former president's political career, the first lady had been a 'reluctant political spouse,' but she had significant influence throughout his administration, admonishing staffers at times for letting him ramble on too long in front of the cameras. Hunter Biden had weighed heavily on his father during his second term, and some aides speculated it played a role in his decline. 'To understand Joe Biden's deterioration, top aides told us, one has to know Hunter's struggles,' the book said. 'Plum jobs' Many 'politburo' members also brought key friends and family into plum Biden administration roles. Donilon's niece landed a role on the National Security Council, according to the book. Reed's daughter was a day scheduler for the president and Ricchetti's children also found jobs across the government, 'Original Sin' reported. Top Biden allies have rejected many characterizations in the book, but Thompson explained that he 'had stopped believing their denials for a while' after he kept hearing evidence that countered White House narratives. 'Original Sin' hit bookshelves last Tuesday. Originally published as Here are the 'politburo' members who were really running the Biden White House, according to 'Original Sin' authors
New York Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Here are the members of the ‘politburo' who were really the Biden White House, according to ‘Original Sin' authors
A small, tight-knit group in former President Joe Biden's inner circle was running the White House like a 'politburo,' and they were the 'ultimate decision-makers' as Biden's health and cognitive function continued to decline, according to the authors of a bombshell new book. This group, dubbed the 'politburo,' included a coterie of seasoned political veterans, including Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti and Bruce Reed — but also family members such as first lady Jill Biden and the president's son Hunter, the authors of 'Original Sin' claim. 'In terms of who was running the White House, it's a small group of people that have been around,' 'Original Sin' author Alex Thompson told PBS' 'Washington Week' on Friday. 'Some people within the administration called them the Politburo. That's the term we used in the book.' Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain was at times part of the 'politburo,' as was former senior adviser to the president Annie Tomasini. Also on the 'politburo' was the first lady's former top adviser and 'work husband,' Anthony Bernal, whom The Post previously reported created a toxic workplace environment. 'And Joe Biden himself also is part of this. Joe Biden is not like — it's not 'Weekend at Bernie's,' right?' said co-author and CNN anchor Jake Tapper, referring to the movie about a dead guy who is wheeled around as part of an elaborate ruse. 4 Ron Klain had worked with former President Joe Biden for decades. Bloomberg via Getty Images 'He has some purchase here. He has some agency. And he's aware of some of what's going on.' Tapper added: 'He's aware of the fact that they are keeping the cabinet away from him, they are keeping some White House staffers away from him.' Usually, the term 'politburo' refers to the top echelon of a communist state. Many of the seasoned politicos had been around Joe Biden for decades. Regardless of official titles in his 2020 campaign and administration, the 'politburo' generally called the shots and got Biden to agree. 4 Bruce Reed's daughter became a day schedule for the president. Getty Images 'Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board,' one source familiar with the inner workings of the White House told the authors. An unidentified cabinet secretary vented about the Politburo, saying, 'I've never seen a situation like this before, with so few people having so much power. They would make huge economic decisions without calling [Treasury] Secretary Yellen.' The Politburo had been forceful in rejecting and diminishing concerns about the former president's age and mental acuity, according to the book. The advisers had generally seen 'concerns about Biden's age as simply a political vulnerability, not a serious limitation,' the book claims. They believed that Biden was achieving real policy victories, entitling him, and them, to a second term, according to the book. Former President Barack Obama had been leery about 'hangers-on' in Joe Biden's orbit, particularly on his 2020 campaign and stressed that 'I don't want him to be humiliated.' Alumni of the Obama administration also spotted key differences in how Joe Biden's presidency operated. 'Obama would hash it out with deputies and mid-level aides. Biden, by contrast, mostly met with the Politburo and his top national security aides,' the book said. 'Many of Biden's own aides were also kept at arm's length from the president.' 4 'Original Sin' hit bookshelves last week. AFP via Getty Images The bombshell book explained that, irrespective of official titles, 'in practice, Bruce Reed was the real domestic policy adviser, Mike Donilon was the actual political director, Steve Ricchetti controlled Legislative Affairs, and Klain controlled a bit of everything.' Mike Donilon, senior adviser Donilon, who served as a senior adviser to Biden from the start of his presidency until January 2024 when he hopped over to the campaign, had been a close confidant of the former president since the 1980s. During his time on the 2024 campaign, he raked in a jaw-dropping $4 million salary, according to 'Original Sin.' Some outside observers, including Obama strategist David Axelrod, assessed that he was 'tied to Biden emotionally that he could not accept the truth.' Donilon, a former pollster and media consultant, was widely seen as a true believer in Biden who earned the former president's mutual trust. 'The president valued Mike Donilon's advice so much that aides would later joke that if he wanted, he could get Biden to start a war,' Thompson and Tapper wrote. Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president Ricchetti, who served as counselor to the president throughout Biden's time in the White House, served as the 46th president's chief of staff during the latter half of his vice presidency and worked on Biden's campaign. He also previously served as the White House deputy chief of staff for operations in the Clinton administration. During the Biden administration, Ricchetti played a key role in helping the former president steer through key legislative battles. At times, he would also weigh in on pressing political matters. At one point, Ricchetti personally called a reporter of an unnamed media outlet off the record to refute claims from multiple sources about Biden's health, according to the book. He also fumed after actor George Clooney penned a stunning op-ed urging Biden to drop out of the race. 'Ricchetti read it and was furious. Internally, he threatened to shut Clooney down—some of his colleagues thought he sounded like a mob boss,' the authors wrote. Bruce Reed, deputy chief of staff for policy Reed previously served as Biden's chief of staff during the first half of his vice presidency, prior to Ricchetti later taking over that post. He is also an alumnus of the Clinton administration. He was widely regarded as a 'policy wonk' and was among the advisers who helped prep Biden for his disastrous debate against President Trump. Ron Klain, ex-chief of staff As Biden's first chief of staff during his presidency, Klain was very influential and had sway over key decisions and messaging strategy — even after he left the White House, according to 'Original Sin.' Klain had been in Biden's orbit since the 1980s during the former president's Senate days. He also worked on the Clinton campaign in 2016. He officially exited the White House in February 2023, but still retained influence on the former president and helped him prepare for his disastrous debate against Trump last June. 'Biden showed a particular deference to Klain even though his chief of staff was often more progressive. Biden had deep respect for Klain's intellect. 'Only one person here is smarter than me and it's Ron,' aides heard him say,' the book claimed. Hunter Biden and Jill Biden Jill Biden had also been a key force in trying to shield her husband's faux pas from the public in what some have dubbed operation 'bubble wrap' and Hunter Biden was seen as a key force trying to prevent his father from dropping out of the 2024 race. 4 Steve Ricchetti, a former lobbyist, had been with Joe Biden during his vice presidency, campaign and presidency. AFP via Getty Images In the earlier stages of the former president's political career, the first lady had been a 'reluctant political spouse,' but she had significant influence throughout his administration, admonishing staffers at times for letting him ramble on too long in front of the cameras. Hunter Biden had weighed heavily on his father during his second term, and some aides speculated it played a role in his decline. 'To understand Joe Biden's deterioration, top aides told us, one has to know Hunter's struggles,' the book said. 'Plum jobs' Many 'politburo' members also brought key friends and family into plum Biden administration roles. Donilon's niece landed a role on the National Security Council, according to the book. Reed's daughter was a day scheduler for the president and Ricchetti's children also found jobs across the government, 'Original Sin' reported. Top Biden allies have rejected many characterizations in the book, but Thompson explained that he 'had stopped believing their denials for a while' after he kept hearing evidence that countered White House narratives. 'Original Sin' hit bookshelves last Tuesday.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Welcome to the Hahnaissance: Kathryn Hahn on Casting a Spell on Audiences With ‘The Studio' and ‘Agatha All Along'
[This story contains spoilers from 's penultimate episode, 'CinemaCon,' and the finale of .] Kathryn Hahn was in desperate need of a good laugh. After reprising her role as the perfidious, power-hungry witch Agatha Harkness in her own eponymous Disney+ series Agatha All Along, Hahn, who has carved out a niche in recent years for playing messy antiheroines, was looking to return to the kind of ensemble comedies which had defined the first two decades of her career. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio' Gets a Sequel: Seth Rogen Comedy Renewed at Apple TV+ On the Set of Seth Rogen's 'The Studio' as a "Oner" Comes to Life: "It Creates a Feeling of Stress" Who's Really Who on 'The Studio'? THR Gets to the Bottom of It The Studio, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's latest Apple TV+ series about the raucous misadventures of the executives working at a legacy Hollywood movie studio, was just what the doctor ordered. Although they had initially conceived of Hahn's marketing maverick Maya Mason as more of an antagonist to the group of hapless executives at Continental Studios, Rogen and Goldberg decided to retool the role after extended discussions with Hahn, who based her frenetic, foul-mouthed character on an amalgamation of Hollywood businesswomen she's encountered over the years. 'As we kept talking about her, we found her [to be] as desperate to hold onto her job, as desperate to stay relevant, as panicked at the youth coming up behind her, as anyone in this core group of people,' Hahn tells The Hollywood Reporter. 'They're basically trying to keep [themselves] from drowning at every moment; they're scared of losing their jobs and losing everything. Films are their entire lives, and the people they work with are basically their families and their social lives. That idea sounded really fun with this group of people. I also knew it was going to be an ensemble, and that's always such a fun place to be in comedy.' Over the course of the 10-episode first season — a second season has already been ordered — Rogen's newly appointed chief Matt Remick struggles to reconcile his love for movies with his need to prioritize his company's bottom line at all costs. In the two-part season finale, the executives arrive in Las Vegas for CinemaCon, an annual presentation to advertisers and journalists about their content slate for the next year, where all hell (naturally) breaks loose. 'I don't even know if I could say it's my Weekend at Bernie's dream come true, to be honest, because that's a dream I didn't even know I had,' Hahn says of the finale. 'It was a dream to spend two weeks in a beautiful Las Vegas casino with Bryan Cranston, and a lot of those incredible background artists were just people at the casinos who were so patient and sweet with us. [The two-part finale is like] Weekend at Bernie's — and it goes full farce. It just pulls out all the stops. As a group going through that together, it doesn't get any better than that. It's just so stupid fun, and the stakes being so life or death again is where the comedy is.' As she prepares to shoot a second season of The Studio, Hahn insists that she does not know anything about the next chapter of Agatha's story in the MCU, but she would reprise that role in a heartbeat. 'Believe me, I'm lighting a candle at the altar all the time,' she laughs. Below, in a wide-ranging interview, Hahn opens up about the joyous (and stressful) experience of shooting The Studio with a murderer's row of comedians. She also offers her take on the major spoilers from Agatha, a show she jokes she could talk about until she is blue in the face. *** You've played plenty of over-the-top characters throughout your career, but this uber-hip head of marketing might be your funniest one yet. How did you think about building this character beyond what was already conceived on the page? How did you find Maya's distinctive looks and mannerisms? You always just use what's written first. It doesn't always feel right when you go outside of what's required, but because it was written so specifically, it became very clear. I had a lot of talks with our amazing costume designer [Kameron Lennox] and with Seth and Evan: 'How can you show as much money on the outside of yourself all of the time, so that every single time you walk in a room you just feel like you're armored in what everybody can see as money?' I wouldn't even say that necessarily it's [her] taste — it's just labels — so we imagined that she has a personal shopper. She has no time! We imagined that every once in a while, maybe once or twice a season, [the personal shopper] would come to Maya's office during lunch. All the shades are drawn, and she just does a fitting for the season. Or she'll send Maya pictures, and Maya will be like, 'Yes! She knows my taste.' There's a lot of young street brands that she's obsessed with. She has her finger on the pulse, I don't know what to tell you. (Laughs.) She wants to be ahead of the curve. Sometimes, it doesn't quite work out that way, but she's constantly looking at the 'gram and TikTok to figure out what the kids are wearing. You've crossed paths with a lot of people in the three decades you have worked in this business, and you have presumably been in rooms with executives before, either as an actor or a producer. How much of these and send-ups have resonated with your own in Hollywood? So much! I think that was why it hit me so hard. I thought, 'Are people going to really understand this outside the business, because it's so industry-specific?' And that's the thing that made me so excited — it does translate to any workplace situation, and I guess funny is funny. I think those dynamics are so universal. But for the business part of it, I certainly haven't been in a lot of rooms with heads of studios. As a working actor for hire, I'll meet the junior execs. They'll come to set to visit in a producing capacity, and they're always so lovely. Those decisions about what seems so myopic and not even in the same reality as the stuff that we're making — I have been unaware of those things. But I've definitely seen the way things are proposed to be marketed that I thought, 'Oh, this has nothing to do with what I thought that was about!' (Laughs) I definitely have been in situations where you get onto the set and there's a whole other video village, and there's a group of people sitting there with really nice snacks, and you just see the glow of cell phones on a dark soundstage — and you know the producers are visiting that day. (Laughs) I'm sure my directors and the producers have felt their presence, but I certainly have never been put in that position with the studios. People have tried to satirize Hollywood before, but takes that meta quality to another level. Episode two, for instance, dramatizes the incredibly stressful process of trying to shoot a — or a single, unbroken take of a long scene — against fading daylight. You guys also shot the majority of the scenes in as 'oners,' with some limited cuts here and there. What did you make of the experience of shooting so many 'oners' in this first season? Had you done many 'oners' in the past? There was definitely a panic period at the beginning where I didn't have the rules down yet. If you forget a line, you'd see this incredible camera operator sigh and put his camera down. That really kept me in a state of panic at the beginning. It took me a second to warm up. I just don't want to let anybody down, especially because everybody is working at this high vibration. Everyone is in the same boat, which I think really helps with attention [in the scenes], because we were just full-on really tense and trying to make sure that we got it and that nobody screwed up. I remember [another] gig where we were running over, and the night was getting way too long, and we had to move on. I remember it was an intense reaction shot of mine, and I was looking at my co-actor behind the camera and we were locked in, and then you could see there were some producers just staring at us like, 'Wrap it up. Wrap it up.' I don't think they knew the tension they were adding into that particular scene, which actually ended up helping us. (Laughs) I've definitely been in those situations. That's why that second episode really got me. The 'oner' really stressed me out because I feel like I've been in that position. I probably haven't, but I think it is so relatable, and the whole time you feel like you're going to vomit. For me, episode seven — which digs into how concerned Hollywood has become with race, to the point that they're almost over-correcting to avoid playing into kind of racial stereotypes — is your strongest episode of the season. I loved your line delivery of 'I love lesbians, but white women are the fucking worst right now. They're so toxic.' What were your takeaways from that episode in particular? (Laughs) Well, all of that is so frickin' cynical, and sometimes I feel like it was ripe a little bit [to satirize]. Like, what is everybody really talking about right here? A lot of people like to talk around race, especially around casting, and nobody wants to fuck up. Nobody wants to let any single person down or be offended or be confronted. In most cases, it's very warranted, but all the panicking behind the scenes, and the little fires that are created that don't need to be fires, and the swirling drama around decisions that actually are not that big of a deal — that always makes me laugh. These people don't want to lose their jobs or be canceled, so all these teeny things are so micromanaged in a way that it also becomes worse than the thing that they were looking to avoid. Let's talk about your . The Agatha-Rio (Aubrey Plaza) relationship has clearly struck a chord with audiences, and there have been a lot of theories about what prompted Agatha to kiss Rio a.k.a. Death and to essentially sacrifice herself to save Billy Maximoff (Joe Locke). How did you think about playing that fateful moment between your characters? Can you give voice to Agatha's internal dialogue as she made that choice? I hadn't really thought about it until we were there on the day. We were blessed enough to be able to do it in pretty chronological order, so there was so much track already set behind that moment when we got there. Agatha had been running for centuries away from this inevitability of death and this very toxic ex-lover — the love of her life who was also the worst thing for her. Whenever they would meet, they kept bringing each other lower and lower and lower, which is clearly not a high-vibrational relationship. So I think that kiss couldn't have been planned [in the characters' minds], but I think there was an inevitability to it. Agatha would be loath to say it was about the boy, but I think that, of course, was [part of Agatha's decision]. She didn't want that to happen again to another child that she cared about. She became very tender towards Billy, and I think that was her final way of ensuring his continued journey. I also think that Agatha didn't know if it was going to be final. I think she knew it was happening, but she's such a survivor and such a scrapper that [she thought] she would be able to squirrel her way back into his life in some way. That kiss is really bittersweet too. For Agatha, besides her child, that's the love of her life. They're each other's most formidable barring partners. There's nobody else that could charge them up or turn them on intellectually more than each other, so that's why they can't stay away from each other. It's like this gravitational pull. So I think that's what that kiss also felt like, now that I'm talking about it — it did feel like a magnet. There was an inevitability, but I think there was almost no choice. She just was pulled to her mouth. Aubrey admitted that she signed on to this show mostly because she wanted to work with you again (after ). We only get a little glimpse into the dynamic between your characters. Did you two ever discuss the history of the relationship? Do you have any idea of how they first met or even became a couple before they went their separate ways? Aubrey's one of my favorite actors on the planet, and she's so extraordinary. I just trust her, so I knew that whatever we would bring to it was going to be really rich and juicy, and for some reason, we didn't really talk about that [dynamic]. We kept it simmering. We would sit kind of far away from each other on set — not anything consciously, but we just kept it at a low broil because I certainly didn't know where it would go, or how deep it would go. We would send each other pieces of music, poems and movies to watch that may or may not have had anything to do with them, but it definitely was in the stew when we finally got to do our scenes. I think for the history of the two of them, [series creator] Jac [Schaeffer] didn't even really talk about it either. I assumed that it's just been centuries and centuries and centuries of an on-and-off toxic relationship. Every time they tried to get away, they would find each other over some body at some point, some carcass or a whole coven, and that was their meet-cute somewhere long, long ago. It was a lot of flirting over a bunch of corpses that Agatha had just decimated. (Laughs.) Everything always comes back to Agatha's complicated relationship with Nicky. He was always her kryptonite, because she knew that she wouldn't be able to protect him forever and that he would leave her eventually. That's motherhood! You can't protect your child forever. It's like, you love this thing with everything you have, and you know that you eventually have to let them go — whatever that means — but that's your job, as a parent. It's the worst! So much of Agatha's backstory comes back into focus in the final episode. After inevitably losing Nicky to Death, Agatha essentially tried to fill that bottomless void by killing witches and developing an insatiable amount of power. What did that final episode unlock for you in terms of your understanding of the character, and what was it like for you to play the aftermath of her loss? What I know about Agatha is that she was tossed out of her original coven because [they believed] she was born a bad seed, that she would always be bad, that there was no redeeming her. Her mother and coven, a.k.a. her family of origin, wanted to kill her at the stake! So in terms of childhood trauma (laughs), she definitely had a lot to work with. Since she destroyed her mother and her coven [to save herself], she had been just trying to gain more power. She knew that she got power from [killing other witches], so that was her protection and also her making herself [feel] big and worth it and viable, which was to keep gaining power. Her lack of empathy is pretty intense. And it's all women — she just wants to destroy witches. When she had this little baby boy inside of her and then when he's born, I think that something else cracked open [inside of her], whether or not she'd want to admit it. And to know that she had just a limited amount of time, that she had to beg for that time — I think she forgot that [he would die] at some point, as she was raising him. I think with Aubrey's genius take on Death, Death didn't want to do it. It's out of her control. But again, it's this horrible car crash that you knew was going to happen at some point. For Agatha, it's interesting that we did [her backstory] at the end. I always knew it was where we were headed, and I could not wait to get to it, even though I knew it was going to be so brutal. But having all that track for it really helped, and the kid that played Nicky is so good too. I knew the little pieces that were going to be built up, like the hair in the locket, the dandelion, the bell, her feelings about Billy — all the things that I knew were going to pay off in that last episode. I think that definitely added a lot to the trip I was on leading there, and there was certainly some sort of catharsis when I finally got to go to that episode. It never felt like a total catharsis, to be honest with you. It always felt like there's still this rock of pain on her chest, but also, she's hilarious! It's a great defense [mechanism]. The big plot twist in the finale was that the Witches' Road, the driving force of the season, wasn't actually real. Billy was the one who had created it with his own powers, and the ballad that the witches sang was really a scam. What was your reaction to that twist, and how did that inform the way you played those scenes? My first reaction was, 'Well done.' I was very impressed with this young man who I had written off, but it made so much sense too. It was also very fun to play the 'I'm in on it' and then to play 'I'm doubting it' — to know what to press on the gas in terms of my knowledge and my surprise [about Billy's identity] was fun. I think I had inklings very early on, but it wasn't until much later that it was crystallized. And then to see his twisted mind, it was like, 'Wow, you are a sicko! (Laughs.) Game knows game, I guess. Game respects game.' There's so many little moments that Jac had highlighted for Agatha to really question and then to have to cover it up, because we wanted to give as many options as we could [for the final cut], because that story was going to be so fascinating and people could pick up on [different things]. The with Agatha offering to act as a kind of mentor to Billy as the two of them attempt to track down his twin brother. How different did it feel for you to play Agatha as a ghost compared to a living witch, and where do you think we ultimately leave your character? Ghost Agatha felt the exact same way, except that I had fabulous white hair now. But I think she bounced back very fast. She's had a lot of [the same thing] throughout the centuries, so I think the novelty of figuring out these new powers is a real treat. I also think that after everything that they've been through, especially her and Rio, there's a shedding, almost, of something that just didn't serve her. The acceptance of [what happened to] Nicky and this kind of self-forgiveness — boy, her shame and rage cycled pretty out of control for a while. In that opening, she seems to really look at Billy and love him, and she finds a new purpose. I don't think she'll ever stop killing witches or being who she is, but I think that it really feels good to be a mom, actually, [in a way] that she never was able to be before. There was a recent fan theory that stood out to me: Do you think Ghost Agatha would ever try to use Billy's magic to bring Nicky back if she had the chance? Boy, I really love that! (Laughs.) That's a really good idea. But Agatha is never going to be just one thing. I feel this myself, but as soon as I feel like I've got a handle on her, she'll throw you off track and then you have to run to where she is. But I think she's a gamer. It's a long game all the time. Jac would always say her life has been a hustle. She is a huckster. She just hustles. So I think, unfortunately, you have to always doubt what she's saying, as she does with everyone else. There's not a lot of trust there. When I first got the gig on WandaVision, [executive producer] Mary Livanos gave me a huge binder [containing] every time that Agatha Harkness had been in the comics, which was so helpful. It was also so beautiful to see how she's changed. She had been this really gorgeous crone with her hair up. It was very similar to the look in WandaVision, kind of like an Edwardian outfit. There are recent ones where she's in a bikini or whatever with one strip of silver in her hair. That's very funny. But I think [being] a babysitter and a mentor had been her main thrust through a lot of the comics, so it felt like going home at the end of the series. So, I take it that the door is still open for you to revisit (Ghost) Agatha at some point down the road? Yeah! Oh, believe me, I'm lighting a candle at the altar all the time. (Laughs.) I'm constantly burning a candle — a purple candle. *** The first season of The Studio is now streaming on Apple TV+, with the finale set to release May 21. All episodes of Agatha All Along are now streaming on Disney+. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
American Military News
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- American Military News
Ted Kotcheff, ‘First Blood' and ‘Weekend at Bernie's' director, dies at 94
Prolific Canadian-born filmmaker Ted Kotcheff, who directed the films 'First Blood,' 'Weekend at Bernie's,' 'Wake in Fright,' 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,' 'Fun With Dick and Jane' and 'North Dallas Forty,' in addition to a long run as an executive producer on 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,' has died. He was 94. Kotcheff's daughter Kate Kotcheff said via email that he died peacefully while under sedation Thursday night in a hospital in Nuevo Nayarit, Mexico. In a 1975 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kotcheff said, 'The sense of being outside of the mainstream of the community has always attracted me. All my pictures deal with people outside or people who don't know what's driving them.' Born in Toronto on April 7, 1931, to Bulgarian immigrants, Kotcheff began working in television in the early 1950s. He later moved to the U.K., directing for both stage and television. In 1971, he directed 'Wake in Fright' in Australia, which a Times review upon its 2012 re-release called, 'raw, unsettling and mesmerizing.' Returning to Canada in the early 1970s, Kotcheff directed 1974's adaptation of Mordecai Richler's 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz' starring Richard Dreyfuss that would win the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival and earn writer Lionel Chetwynd an Academy Award nomination for adapted screenplay. Kotcheff found huge success in Hollywood with 1982's 'First Blood,' which first introduced the traumatized Vietnam veteran John Rambo played by Sylvester Stallone. Reviewing 'First Blood,' Times critic Sheila Benson wrote, 'this violent and disturbing film is exceptionally well made.' Benson added, 'If it is possible to dislike and admire a film in almost equal measure, then 'First Blood' would win on that split ticket. … Kotcheff has seared so many lingering examples of exultant nihilism into our brains that words to the contrary are so much sop. It's action, not words, that makes 'First Blood' run, and the action is frightening, indeed.' If 'First Blood' tapped into the despair and anxiety of post-Vietnam America, 1989's 'Weekend at Bernie's' became an unlikely cultural touchstone for its carefree, freewheeling playfulness, displaying Kotcheff's versatility. The film follows two ambitious young men (played by Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman) who create a series of elaborate ruses over the course of a hectic weekend that their sketchy boss (Terry Kiser) actually isn't dead. In a review of 'Bernie's,' Times critic Kevin Thomas wrote that, 'a weekend among the rich, the jaded and the corrupt is just the right cup of tea for an acid social satirist such as Kotcheff,' also noting the filmmaker's small cameo in the film as father to one of the young men. Eventually Kotcheff returned to television, working for more than 10 years and on nearly 300 episodes of 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.' In 2011, Kotcheff received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Canada. He published a memoir, 'Director's Cut: My Life in Film,' in 2017. Kotcheff is survived by his wife, Laifun Chung, and children Kate and Thomas Kotcheff. He is predeceased by his first wife, actress Sylvia Kay, with whom he had three children. ___ © 2025 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Guardian
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Ted Kotcheff, director of First Blood, Weekend at Bernie's and Wake in Fright, dies aged 94
Ted Kotcheff, the prolific Canadian director of films including First Blood, Weekend at Bernie's, Wake in Fright and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, has died aged 94. His daughter Kate Kotcheff told the Canadian Press that he had died of heart failure on Thursday in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, where he lived. His son Thomas said: 'He died of old age, peacefully, and surrounded by loved ones.' In an amazingly varied career, Kotcheff's work ranged from hardhitting TV plays and low-budget features in the UK, to hit Hollywood comedies and prestige-laden award-winners and cult films. Kate Kotcheff said: 'He was an amazing storyteller. He was an incredible, larger than life character [and] he was a director who could turn his hand to anything.' The son of Bulgarian/Macedonian immigrants to Canada, Kotcheff was born in 1931 in Toronto, and raised in the city's Cabbagetown district. After earning a degree in Ebglish literature from Toronto University, Kotcheff joined a fledgling CBC in the early 1950s, part of a remarkable generation that included Norman Jewison, Arthur Hiller, Sidney J Furie and Alvin Rakoff. Like them, he felt he had to move away to further his career, and Kotcheff came to London in 1957 and began making TV plays for strands including Hour of Mystery, Armchair Theatre and ITV Playhouse. These included an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Emperor Jones in 1958, written by Terry Southern and starring Kenneth Spencer and Harry H Corbett, No Trams to Lime Street in 1959, written by Alun Owen, and – infamously – Underground in 1958, in which actor Gareth Jones collapsed and died during a live transmission. Kotcheff moved into features in the early 60s, making his debut with the 1962 comedy Tiara Tahiti, starring James Mason and John Mills, following it up with Life at the Top, the sequel to hit kitchen sink drama Room at the Top, in 1965, and the race-issue drama Two Gentlemen Sharing in 1969. In the same period Kotcheff also directed the original production of Lionel Bart's celebrated musical Maggie May, which premiered in 1964. Kotcheff continued to work in TV, directing Ingrid Bergman in an adaptation of Jean Cocteau's La Voix Humaine in 1967, and achieving perhaps his high point with a contribution to Play for Today in 1971, starring Patricia Hayes as a homeless alcoholic in Edna the Inebriate Woman. However his career took an unexpected detour in the same year with the cult Australian film Wake in Fright, for which he was offered the job to direct despite never having visited the country. Despite being poorly received in its home country due to its uncompromising depiction of a brutally cruel Australian outback, including notorious scenes of a kangaroo hunt, Wake in Fright was selected for the Cannes film festival and went on to become celebrated as a landmark film, both as part of the Australian new wave of the 1970s and as a pioneering entry in the 'Ozploitation' subgenre. In 1974 Kotcheff finally realised his ambition of making a successful Canadian feature film with The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz; starring Richard Dreyfuss, it was adapted from a novel by his friend (and former housemate in London) Mordecai Richler, with whom he had worked on a string of British productions – including an Armchair Theatre adaptation of Duddy Kravitz in 1961. The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival and was a major commercial success in Canada. As a result, Hollywood took notice and Kotcheff was hired to make satirical comedy Fun with Dick and Jane, starring George Segal and Jane Fonda as a successful married couple who turn to crime after Segal is fired. It was a hit on its release in 1977, and Kotcheff followed it up with another Segal comedy Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? and Nick Nolte American football film North Dallas Forty. Kotcheff then released arguably his most influential film: the Sylvester Stallone action film First Blood, which had numerous directors and lead actors attached to it before Kotcheff offered the role to Stallone and production got underway in 1981. A depiction of an emotionally embattled Vietnam veteran, First Blood was a sizeable hit and spawned two sequels, including Rambo: First Blood Part II which became a career-defining success for Stallone in 1985. Kotcheff had another big success at the end of the decade: the dead-body comedy Weekend at Bernie's, starring Andrew McCarthy. After the failure of the Tom Selleck comedy Folks! in 1992, Kotcheff returned to TV, and in 2000 joined the long running crime show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as executive producer and occasional director, where he remained for 12 seasons. Kotcheff was married twice, to Sylvia Kay between 1962 and 1972, and to Laifun Chung, who survives him.
