Latest news with #You'reCordiallyInvited
Elle
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
Geraldine Viswanathan Brings Bold Energy to the Marvelverse
Justin French Pullover, shorts, Sacai. Boots, Ugg x Sacai. Necklace, bracelets, Bulgari. When she was six, Geraldine Viswanathan auditioned for a spot at a performing arts school in her hometown of Newcastle, Australia. The task? Pretend to walk a dog. 'I rocked it,' she says, smiling at the memory. 'They saw the dog. They felt the dog.' Less than two decades later, the actress faced an entirely different challenge: losing her virginity on prom night. In 2018's Blockers , she stole the show as John Cena's sporty, sex-positive daughter, exuding a cool confidence well beyond her years. Her career took off from there—she exposed Hugh Jackman's fraud in the HBO film Bad Education , tempted fate alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi on TBS's Miracle Workers , and unleashed cross-country chaos with her lesbian bestie (played by Drive-Away Dolls . Most recently, in Prime Video's rom-com You're Cordially Invited , she played Will Ferrell's daughter, a pairing that sparked some palpable comedic chemistry. 'He made me laugh so hard,' she says. 'I've had some really great dads.' Viswanathan thrives on pushing herself into uncharted territory with each new role. She's not just showing up and delivering a deadpan punch line—each performance feels like an invitation to watch someone redefine what we think they're capable of. Justin French Blazer, shirt, Bottega Veneta. Earrings, Cartier. Her chameleon talents will be on display soon in 'Oh, Hi!' , a rom-com-gone-wrong directed by Sophie Brooks and co-written with recently rebranded as *The New Avengers in a unique marketing move—where she'll take on the role of Mel, the assistant to Julia Louis-Dreyfus's domineering CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. She thinks the role was meant to be: 'When I was 18, I came to L.A. with my family, and my mom saw a psychic who said I'd be in a superhero movie,' she says. 'I need to get that psychic's number!' Filming the movie was unlike anything she had ever encountered before: 'There was no green screen, and it was the craziest set that I've ever been on, just the sheer number of extras.' And contrary to what some fans might expect from a big-budget franchise, there was no special initiation: 'The most Marvel-y thing I had to do was meet with the security team and get a little badge.' 'Feeling undervalued inspired me to act because I love to do it—not because anybody is asking me to do it.' With precious few women of color taking on leading roles in Hollywood, the space can be frustratingly limited. Viswanathan—born to an Indian father, who's a nuclear medicine specialist, and a Swiss artist mother—is keenly aware of this, having felt her ethnicity was a barrier to getting cast in Australia. 'It was an experience that has defined who I am, especially growing up as the only person of color in a small, white town,' she says. 'Feeling undervalued inspired me to act because I love to do it—not because anybody is asking me to do it. When you approach life that way, it becomes more magnetic.' She's also managed to reach It girl status, recently attending her third Paris Fashion Week, where she sat front row beside fellow Aussie Rose Byrne at the Zimmermann show. 'She's had some of my favorite roles,' Viswanathan gushes. '[Byrne] is so brilliant, cool, kind, and funny—she was killing me.' Justin French Pullover, shorts, Sacai. Boots, Ugg x Sacai. Necklace, bracelets, Bulgari. When it comes to her own viewing habits, Viswanathan gravitates toward ensemble comedies like The Hangover . As for Harry Potter, which stars her Miracle Worker s castmate Radcliffe, she admits, 'I was, like, seven when I went to see the first movie and had to leave the theater because I was was a scene where a troll put a wand up his nose. It was too much for me.' So does that rule out the fantasy genre in the future? If Viswanathan has taught us anything, it's that the unexpected is her baseline—but she's always grounded in an unapologetic authenticity. 'I could see myself going there…it's not my first instinct, because I always try to do things I'd actually want to watch,' she says, before adding wryly: 'And I'm still a little bitch.' Hair by Sami Knight for Rehab; makeup by Alexandra French at Forward Artists; manicure by Jolene Brodeur at The Wall Group; produced by Anthony Federici at Petty Cash Production; photographed at Malibu Creek Ranch. A version of this story appears in the Summer 2025 issue of ELLE. Related Stories
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fans Think Thunderbolts* Revealed Marvel's Songbird in New Trailer
Marvel fans seem to believe that the latest trailer for the upcoming feature Thunderbolts* has revealed the MCU iteration of Songbird, thanks to actress Geraldine Viswanathan's appearance in the clip. Speculations have been circulating that she is portraying Songbird in the movie. Geraldine Viswanathan's character, whose name was previously confirmed as Mel, has what appears to be a songbird necklace in the new Thunderbolts* trailer, adding to the fan speculation that she plays Songbird in the movie. Viswanathan was previously confirmed to portray a character named Mel, the assistant of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, in the movie. In Marvel Comics, Songbird's alter ego is Melissa Joan Gold. @cosmic_marvel pointed out on X (formerly Twitter), 'Geraldine Viswanathan's character in 'THUNDERBOLTS*' is seemingly wearing a Songbird necklace.' Meanwhile, @Cy_clops shared a screenshot of Viswanathan from the trailer and an image of Songbird from the comics. 'Songbird? #Thunderbolts,' they wrote in the caption. Another X user, @another_ted_2, quoted @cosmic_marvel's post and observed, 'Bruh, SONGBIRD is getting MCU-supporting-character-ized in a god damn THUNDERBOLTS movie.' In the comics, Songbird is a supervillain-turned-superhero who was previously known as Screaming Mimi. Her powers include a diverse group of sonic-based enhanced abilities. She is an original member of the Thunderbolts. Back in January 2025, Viswanathan gave an interview to ScreenRant while promoting her movie You're Cordially Invited. She was asked whether she considered herself a Songbird as she had sung a musical number for You're Cordially Invited. Viswanathan sidestepped the question and stated instead that she didn't know what the interview was talking about. She added, 'Never in my life have I heard something like that. Yeah. Oh, look what you've done. Now, I'm all nervous. In this film, in You're Cordially Invited, I sing. I sing a song, but I'm not a bird. That's right.' The Bad Education actress also told her co-star Meredith Hagner that she would fill her in later about what the interaction was. Thunderbolts* premieres in US theaters on May 2, 2025.
Perth Now
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Heidi Gardner and Bobby Ray join Will Ferrell and Zac Efron in new movie
Heidi Gardner and Bobby Ray have joined the cast of Will Ferrell and Zac Efron's new movie. The 'Saturday Night Live' star and the pro golfer will join an ensemble cast including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jimmy Tatro, Michael Peña and Fortune Feimster in the comedy feature 'Judgment Day' from director Nicholas Stoller, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bill Camp, Billy Eichner, Tyler Lofton, Rachel Hilson, Rory Scovel, Bobby Cannavale and Regina Hall will also co-star. The new comedy from Amazon MGM Studios tells the story of a young convict (Efron) fresh out of prison as he takes a reality TV courtroom hostage because he blames the megalomaniac judge (Ferrell) for a past ruling that he believes has ruined his life. No details of Gardner's or Ray's roles have been released. The movie will reunite Ferrell with Stoller, after they previously worked together on 'You're Cordially Invited' with Reese Witherspoon. Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum and Alex Brown will produce for Gloria Sanchez Productions and Stoller will produce for Stoller Global Solutions. Stoller recently spoke about the upcoming film, calling it a 'crazy movie'. He told Collider: ''Judgment Day' is about a TV judge, played by Will Ferrell. I don't know if we're allowed to talk about who the other guy is, but we're pretty close to knowing who the other guys are. Basically, he's a TV judge—kind of a blowhard, kind of a jerk. You find all this out over the course of the movie, but the backstory is he ruled against this guy years ago, and it caused this guy's life to spiral, and he ended up in jail. He gets out of jail, and he takes the judge's show hostage live on air in order to put the judge on the stand, is basically what it's about. It's a crazy movie. 'I'm kind of just like, 'I hope I can pull it off.' But it's a bit like with 'You're Cordially Invited'; I think Will Ferrell is this amazing actor, in addition to being a great comedian. Doing comedy is acting, but doing an earnest, emotional scene, he hasn't … And in this movie, he has a bunch of pretty earnest, emotional scenes that really pull my heartstrings. He has all these other gears that he's done stuff in, but it's been fun to do that in this one, too. I want it to be a tense kind of action movie, but it'll be like all my movies. With 'You're Cordially Invited', people are like, 'It's a rom-com,' and I'm like, 'Well, it's more of a com-rom.' It's more comedic than rom-com-y."
India Today
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Heidi Gardner and Bobby Ray join star-packed cast of Ferrell's ‘Judgment Day'
Amazon MGM Studios continues to build excitement for its upcoming comedy feature Judgment Day, with Saturday Night Live star Heidi Gardner and professional golfer Bobby Ray the latest to join the ensemble film, directed by Nicholas Stoller, will star Will Ferrell as a narcissistic judge and Zac Efron as a former convict who blames the judge for ruining his life. The story takes a wild turn when the ex-convict takes over an unscripted TV courtroom in a quest for justice or announced cast members include Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jimmy Tatro, Michael Pea, Fortune Feimster, Bill Camp, Billy Eichner, Tyler Lofton, Rachel Hilson, Rory Scovel, Bobby Cannavale, and Regina Hall. Specific details about Gardner and Ray's roles remain under wraps. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, director Nicholas Stoller reunites with Amazon MGM Studios after working with Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon on You're Cordially Invited, which premiered earlier this year. The new film is being produced by Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum, and Alex Brown under the Gloria Sanchez Productions banner, along with Stoller for Stoller Global to Hollywood Reporter, Heidi Gardner is wrapping up her eighth season on Saturday Night Live and has also appeared in Netflix's You, Apple TV+'s Shrinking, and films like Otherhood and Hustle. She's also known for her voice work in animated titles like Leo and Puss in Boots: The Last Ray, currently ranked 10th in the world for long-drive golf, gained popularity through his YouTube golf content and previously appeared on reality TV, winning Fox's Paradise Hotel in a release date for Judgment Day has not yet been confirmed, the growing list of high-profile talent is generating buzz for the project. Gardner is represented by CAA, OPE, and Melissa Fox at Hansen Read: Gal Gadot and Matthias Schoenaerts to star in WW II thriller 'Ruin' from Niki Caro
Buzz Feed
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
"Thunderbolts*" Geraldine Viswanathan Confesses Messing Up On Set Was "Scary"
Australian actress, Geraldine Viswanathan, has quietly crept onto Hollywood's radar, in recent faves Miracle Workers (2019), Blockers (2018) and You're Cordially Invited (2025). Now, she's stepping up to the MCU plate as a pivotal character in Jake Schreier's superhero smash, Thunderbolts *. Questions are already being asked of her future involvement in the Cinematic Universe and if she'll be returning as bright-haired hero, Songbird. Geraldine's answer is Marvel media training at its finest — which could really mean anything. Ahead of the cinematic release of Thunderbolts*, we sat down with Newcastle-raised Geraldine Viswanathan to confirm (or deny) her future MCU role, chat about the biggest menace on set and her career "WOAH" moment. Here's everything she told us: BFOZ: Growing up in Australia and pursuing acting over here, when it feels so far away from the big lights of Hollywood, what's the moment that made you realise, "Holy shit, I've made it"? Geraldine: I mean, [ Thunderbolts* ]' is kind of crazy and I'm looking at the poster here and I see my name at the bottom and I'm like, "Wow". I feel like it hasn't dawned on me the massiveness of joining the Marvel universe until I've started doing press. But I think also doing Blockers and having our premiere, was such a pinch me full circle moment because I think it was a couple — five years prior to that, I had gone to that same theatre for the Bridesmaids premiere, just as a fan waiting at the barricades to get autographs. And so to be on the other side and have a movie that's premiering at the same theatre felt like a very cool moment. BFOZ: If Marvel dreamed up a new South Asian-Australian superhero, what backstory and powers would they have? Would grow up in Newcastle just like you did? Geraldine: Woah. What a question. You know what? I've thought about this before. I think I was like, wouldn't it be interesting if there was a mixed race superhero who can live in this liminal space between worlds or something like that? Maybe she could shapeshift or time jump or something. But I definitely, would love to see more superheroes from Newcastle. Samir Hussein / Samir Hussein/WireImage BFOZ: Speaking of new heroes, will we be seeing Mel step into her own hero role in the future? Geraldine: I really can't say, or else I'll be sniped, but all I can say is that... Hey! I would love to. I'm available, and this experience has been such a dream and I would love to do it again, if I could. Just for your visual reference, here's Geraldine's reaction to the question: Anyways... BFOZ: Back to Thunderbolts*, the ensemble is full of absolute characters. Which cast member was the biggest menace on set? Geraldine: Biggest menace? I feel like everyone was pretty well-behaved because it was so scary when you mess up and they have to reset. But I think David Harbour is a big crack and I think was cracking up the team. So, he might win the award for biggest menace. BFOZ: And finally, in today's world, if you could pick one of these Marvel villains — Thanos, Valentina de Fontaine, Loki, The Green Goblin or Killmonger — to rule, who would it be and why? Geraldine: Oh my god, these are terrible options. No, I don't want any of them to rule to the world, but maybe if I had to choose, I guess Val. I'm staying loyal to my boss. I think she's not all bad. There's some nuance, there's some gray area there, and I love to see a woman in charge, so I'll go with Val. BFOZ: How do you think she would change the world? Marvel Studios / Courtesy of Marvel Studios
