Latest news with #AwardsCircuitPodcast
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ramy Youssef on Juggling ‘Mountainhead,' ‘#1 Happy Family USA,' ‘Mo,' ‘The Studio' and Perhaps — Eventually — a Baby
Ramy Youssef seems to have a banner year every year. The last time he appeared on Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast, he was promoting his HBO standup special 'More Feelings' and a hosting stint on 'Saturday Night Live,' having just come off of a press campaign for his first movie role in 'Poor Things' — plus Netflix had just set a comedy series co-created by Youssef and Will Ferrell. More from Variety 'Bridget Jones' Director Michael Morris on the Emmy Longform Conundrum: What's The Difference Between a Film and a TV Movie? Emmy Voters: Don't Forget About Zahn McClarnon and 'Dark Winds': He's Your Next Leading Man Short and Sweet: From 'Adolescence' to 'Sirens,' This Season's Best New Shows Are Barely Longer Than a Movie This time around, he's outdone himself with four projects to promote simultaneously: The animated Amazon Prime Video series '#1 Happy Family USA'; the second and final season of Netflix's 'Mo,' which he co-created with Mo Amer; his role in Jesse Armstrong's HBO movie 'Mountainhead'; and his guest appearance in 'The Studio' on Apple TV+. He's also doing stand-up again, on a tour called 'Love Beam 4000.' We talk all about that and more on the latest edition of the Awards Circuit Podcast — listen below! The next time Youssef joins the podcast, he jokes, he may only have one thing to promote: 'If I have a baby, could we just have a podcast where I talk to you about my baby? Could we do an FYC for my baby? And there'd be no project, because I'll just be home with my wife and the baby.' That one has yet to be greenlit — 'We're in development on 'Baby,'' Youssef jokes — but there's plenty on his mind until then. If there's a throughline between the disparate things he's working on, it's that each one feels urgent, deeply connected to an of-the-moment struggle. Take 'Mountainhead,' for example. The film examines the complicated and even violent friendships between a group of tech billionaires who are wading through real-life, apocalyptic consequences of AI. 'I write a lot about man versus system, and [Armstrong's] version of it, and his entry points to it, are different than the ones that I gravitate towards as a writer,' Youssef says. 'But as an actor, it all made so much sense to me the second I read it.' Later in the conversation, Youssef relates that idea to 'Mo,' which follows an undocumented Palestinian refugee who tries, fails and tries again to get his green card in the U.S. 'With 'Mo,' we looked at man versus system in an on-the-nose way,' he says. 'You're watching him go through these courts, and through these double standards […] I felt compelled that this thing has to exist, because there is no humanization — of not just Palestinians, but even refugees. People think 'refugee' and they just see a random CNN image of people displaced on a boat near a shore. And those images need to be tethered to real families and real stories and things that you can understand.' Youssef expanded on his thoughts from a previous Variety interview, where he and Amer shared why they chose not to reference the current war in Gaza in 'Mo' Season 2, emphasizing that they wanted to be timely while still making sure the show would hold up years after the war's eventual end. This is a skill Youssef first honed by observing his comedy idols. 'I love watching old specials. Pop on an old Eddie Murphy, pop on an old George Carlin,' he says. 'Carlin's great at this, because he'll talk really topically about the time, but it always has this core emotional thing that's actually the bedrock of the joke. I don't know the senator he's talking about from the '90s, but I know exactly what he's feeling.' In '#1 Happy Family USA,' Youssef applies the Carlin treatment to 9/11. More than 20 years on, he's still meditating on how Americans at large responded to the terrorist attacks, and how that response impacted Muslim families like his own. To him, the emotional truth that still resonates today is the way he was taught to 'code switch,' or present a version of himself in public that was different from the person he truly was at home. So in the series, the Hussein family goes to absurd lengths to make the white people they meet in public more comfortable. 'Everyone has this part of themselves that they go, 'I gotta hide this now that I'm going outside.' In a way, it's the premise of 'Severance' — that thing of, 'I gotta be somebody else when I'm not home,'' Youssef says. 'With that being at the bedrock of it, we can get super wild and crazy and really go at this with a satire that that period of time has never really gotten from the perspective that we show.' He continues: 'There were so many people who were really sidelined from having their own experience for a really long time in this country. And that time is back and even worse. Anyone who lived through the early 2000s as an adult, who is Muslim, will tell you that it's worse now. This idea of needing to prove your patriotism. It's why the show is called '#1 Happy Family USA.' It's this idea that you gotta get out there on that front lawn and shout it to everybody in order to be deemed safe and worthy of living in the neighborhood.' And while the stakes of the headlines referenced in 'The Studio' are less life-and-death, the Seth Rogen-led comedy is still cut from the same 'man versus system' cloth. Even though Youssef only appears once, as the host of the Golden Globes in Episode 8, it was a logical addition to his rolodex of timely and prescient projects — though he didn't need much convincing, considering he got to bring his dog to the shoot. Also on this episode of the Awards Circuit Podcast: Variety's Clayton Davis talked this spring to star/EP Forest Whitaker about MGM+'s 'Godfather of Harlem,' now in its Season 4. The show picked up in Season 4 with Bumpy Johnson, played by Whitaker, as he continued his bloody war for control of Harlem against New York's mafia families, while contending with the emergence of a potential rival in newly arrived Black gangster Frank Lucas. Variety's 'Awards Circuit' podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, 'Awards Circuit' features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? Emmy Predictions: Documentary Programs — Nonfiction Races Spotlight Pee-wee Herman, Simone Biles and YouTube Creators 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Day of the Jackal' Star Eddie Redmayne on Tackling Iconic Characters, Loving ‘The White Lotus' and the How Acting Is the Perfect Front for a Spy
Though Eddie Redmayne currently stars in 'The Day of the Jackal,' one of the most acclaimed new shows of the year, he still has time to check out other television programs – including the buzzy HBO hit 'The White Lotus.' But the Oscar winner isn't throwing his hat into the casting ring for an upcoming season. 'I'm too paranoid about butchering the things I love,' he tells Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast. 'There are some things you don't want to see yourself in because you don't want to ruin it.' Even the fact that the show shoots in beautiful locations isn't enough to convince the actor. 'You say that, but also you have to be topless for the entire thing. And if you're pasty and moley like me…I just don't think the world needs to see my pallid body.' More from Variety YouTube Star Michelle Khare Successfully Petitions to Join Primetime Emmys With 'Challenge Accepted' (EXCLUSIVE) Julianne Hough on 'Dancing With the Stars,' Her Return to Dance and Why She's Hungrier Than Ever 'The Daily Show's' Ronny Chieng on Recently Becoming a U.S. Citizen: 'It's a Weird Time to Do It' On this episode, Redmayne discusses what drew him to that Peacock series. Also, the Roundtable is coming from New York, as Mike and Clayton recount the week's worth of TV upfront presentations – including Warner Bros. Discovery's decision to reinstate the 'HBO Max' name to Max, and also what was Lady Gaga doing at the YouTube upfront event? Listen below! 'Jackal' has already netted Redmayne nominations from the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG Awards. The spy thriller based on the Frederick Forsyth novel was previously adapted into a 1973 film starring Edward Fox as the titular assassin. Redmayne had grown up watching the film and, as previously noted, was hesitant to take on something he loved. But when he was sent the first three scripts by showrunner Ronan Bennett, he was quickly actor notes that having come up in the theater, he was somewhat accustomed to taking on roles previously played by others – such as in the film adaptation of 'Les Misérables' or his recent, Olivier Award-winning, Tony-nominated turn as the Emcee in 'Cabaret,' which he cites as the role that 'got me into acting.' In fact, recreating a role is part of a long tradition in the theater. 'But that's the same whenever you play Shakespeare part, you know?' he notes. 'I did 'Richard II' at the Donmar Warehouse and there was literally the Richard II seat where all the other actors who had played Richard – Ian McKellan, Derek Jacobi, Ben Whishaw – would come and sit in the seat. It was always, 'Oh Christ, there's another icon!''Redmayne finds himself in that position now as a producer on 'Cabaret,' which is continuing runs both on Broadway and the West End. He often returns to see the other actors, from Billy Porter to Mason Alexander Park. 'I've taken such joy going back and watching them all,' he said. 'Seeing how every different Emcee and Sally brings their own individuality and own kind of charisma to the part.' Redmayne himself garnered quite the response when he performed the opening number on last year's Tony Awards, as viewers got the see the sinister, marionette-like Emcee in close-up. One comment referred to him as 'my sleep paralysis demon,' which is a testament to how unsettling the character is supposed to be. 'I don't know if that was meant to be taken as a positive, but I took it as a positive,' Redmayne reveals. 'I saw him as a grotesque, and he's meant to make you feel uncanny and uncomfortable. There was a sort of puppeteering quality to him – was he the puppet or was he the puppeteer?'It was actually when Redmayne was doing 'Cabaret' in London that 'Jackal' came to him – and the timing was impeccable, as the actor had been toying with an idea for a series. 'One of the weird things about doing theater is every night, someone extraordinary would come and see the show – politicians or the Royal Family or actors – and you'd meet them,' he recalls. 'And I thought, Wouldn't it be interesting if you had a sort of actor who was sort of a spy, but living in plain sight? And had access to all these people. It was an idea that was germinating. And then this arrived.' Redmayne calls the role 'an actor's dream,' noting 'all the stuff that we all love -getting to change your voice and do accents and do languages and change the way you look – it had everything.' Of all the people who visited Redmayne backstage, he was most caught off guard by Janet Jackson coming to his dressing room, noting that he and the cast were 'completely obsessed.' He adds, 'I think she's such an inspiring performer, and I just couldn't get over the fact that she loved the show and kept coming back.' Variety's 'Awards Circuit' podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, 'Awards Circuit' features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Apple Holds Strong for Top Series Races With 'Severance' and 'The Studio'; Netflix and FX Could Dominate Doc and Writing Races Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bridget Everett on How ‘Somebody Somewhere' Was the Best Experience of Her Life: ‘It's Like, Now What Am I Gonna Do?'
Bridget Everett isn't quite sure how she could ever top 'Somebody Somewhere.' The show ended its three-season run at the end of 2024 with a moving gathering of the show's characters and a strong musical number in which her character, Sam, finally feels ready to accept the love and friendship of the community she has created in her small hometown. 'I'm so grateful that I got to do it, and I miss doing it all the time,' Everett tells Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast of her HBO series. 'I still think about them. I think about the show and people come up to me a lot, so it lives on for me. I talk to people about it on the street all the time and as much as I am uncomfortable having conversations with strangers, I really enjoy it because it's personal to me. I love that people connect to it, and sometimes in a profound way, because they've dealt with a similar kind of grief.' More from Variety Alexis Bledel Withdraws From Emmy Race for 'The Handmaid's Tale' Due to New Guest Actor Rules (EXCLUSIVE) 'The Studio' and 'Hacks' Are Two of the Best Shows Ever About Hollywood - But Are They Too Inside or PTSD-Inducing? How 'The Studio,' 'Yellowjackets,' 'Monsters' and 'White Lotus' Make Bad Behavior Appealing 'Somebody Somewhere' stars Everett as Sam, a woman who moves home to Manhattan, Kan., as she mourns the death of a sister while reconnects with her other sister Trisha (Mary Catherine Garrison). Along the way, she builds new bonds with friends like Joel (Jeff Hiller), his eventual husband Brad (Tim Bagley) and Fred (Murray Hill). 'It's changed me and helped me be a lot more at peace with myself,' Everett says. 'You get the dream of making a show with people that you love and in a way that you want to tell a story, and then if it makes you feel better in the end, I mean, it's like, now what am I gonna do? Because I feel like I've had the best experience of my life.' On this bonus edition of the Variety Awards Circuit podcast, we tackle that question of what Everett might do next, how the folks in her hometown reacted to being put in the spotlight, and how 'Somebody Somewhere' really resonated with audiences as something truly special. Also on this episode, we talk to Paul Giamatti about his standout episode of this season's 'Black Mirror.' Listen below! Everett has an amazing voice, as fans of her cabaret shows, theater performances and other music gigs (including her band The Tender Moments) can attest. But 'Somebody Somewhere' viewers got a taste of that singing prowess too — particularly in the show's series finale. 'There's nothing that makes me happier than singing, and there's nothing that makes me sometimes sadder than singing,' she tells Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast. 'But it's really, putting the show together, to find a way to incorporate music that that felt organic. We never wanted to do a big 'Glee'-style number. We wanted to do something how music sort of is part of the fabric of my life or Sam's life.' In the finale, Everett's character Sam brings her friends and sister together to the bar where she works, and she sings 'The Climb,' by Miley Cyrus. 'I used to sing that song live in some of my road shows, and I've always loved it,' she says. 'It is kind of sentimental and on the nose, like the lyrics are very literal. But to me, I never get tired of singing it.' Besides tackling grief, friendship, love and relationships, 'Somebody Somewhere' shined a spotlight on the kind of town that is rarely seen on TV. 'My family, we're all from there — my brother still lives there, and my mom lived there at the time when she was still alive,' Everett says. 'I was like, I want them to be proud of this. I want Manhattan to be proud of this. 'We did a final watch party there, and the cast all came back with me,' she says. 'The feeling in the room was like a rock concert. It was so emotional. I was weeping, just being around all these people that the show connected with that were from there. Feeling like we got that right was so moving to me.' So what is next? 'We're trying to dream up something else,' Everett adds.' I want to do something that feels right, but I want to work. I want to do something. It's hard after you do something that's built for you. I had such a big part of the creative elements, the writing, the producing, all that business. I want to be able to do that again.' Variety's 'Awards Circuit' podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, 'Awards Circuit' features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Sci-Fi Surges, FYC Crunch Pressure, and Comedy Category Shakeups Across 94 Races
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan on ‘The White Lotus' Cut Scenes: ‘There Are Things You Won't See That Are a Part of Our History'
There's nothing quite like working on 'The White Lotus,' where cast members live on the same hotel set where they're filming for as long as six months. And for Season 3 stars Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan — who played three lifelong friends on a girls' trip to Thailand — it's something they're forever bonded by. 'We'd spent half a year together making this thing far from our homes and our families and our routines,' Coon tells Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast. 'And it's so fraught when we watch it in a way that it will never be for anybody else. We'll never be able to explain it. There's no way to express the fulsomeness of that experience. I've said, It's like being an astronaut. The only person who knows what it's like is another astronaut.' More from Variety 'There Is No Feud': Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood Tell All on Their 'White Lotus' Connection, a Cut Love Scene and Yes, Why He Unfollowed Her on Instagram Bridget Everett on How 'Somebody Somewhere' Was the Best Experience of Her Life: 'It's Like, Now What Am I Gonna Do?' How 'The Studio,' 'Yellowjackets,' 'Monsters' and 'White Lotus' Make Bad Behavior Appealing That's true of 'White Lotus' cast from other seasons too. 'We're in this very specific club, this amazing experience that is so singular that Mike [White creates], and you get to say his words and live your life in this alternate reality,' Bibb says. 'It's so immersive, and it makes, I think it makes the work better in a strange way. You're so far from anything that is your reality or your touchstones, which can be so hard.' On this edition of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, we talk to Coon, Bibb and Monaghan about what it was like to be immersed for so long in 'The White Lotus' universe, and how it bonded them much like their characters. They talk about the scene they're bummed ended up being cut, as well as whether they like to do more episodes, and where they think 'The White Lotus' might go next. Also on this episode, the Roundtable discusses the death of 'King of the Hill' voice actor Jonathan Joss, just days after he crashed an ATX TV Festival panel hosted by Mike. And we look at the nomination possibilities for the massive 'White Lotus' cast. Listen below! When it comes to iconic 'The White Lotus' moments, Carrie Coon's speech to her character's friends in the Season 3 finale ranks up at the top. 'I mean, that's a classic Mike White moment, right?' she tells the podcast. For much of Season 3, things are becoming more passive aggressive between longtime pals Kate (Bibb), Jaclyn (Monaghan) and Laurie (Coon) as their girls trip exposes some tension in the group. But in the finale, over dinner, Laurie gets honest about how really the trip had just exposed she much she had struggled with the mistakes she made in her own life. In the emotional speech, Laurie realizes that despite her regrets, both time and this friendship, has still made her life meaningful. 'What was lovely about the language of that speech is that it was in in many ways, speaking into the experience we had,' Coon says of their shared journey moving to Thailand and shooting 'The White Lotus' over the course of six months. 'We got to have that experience together near the end of shooting, and so I think we were all processing the ending of this thing while that was unfolding at the table.' Bibb says in shooting that scene, she remembers how the three of them 'felt very dialed in, all day, like I couldn't stop crying every time [Coon] said it. I kept improvising these 'I love yous,' and then Michelle would say 'I love you,' and I think Mike was getting annoyed! But it was so genuine, and I'm so glad they kept it in there… these three people are seen by each other.' Adds Monaghan: 'We all knew what the dialog was, but it was the way in which Carrie performed it. It really spoke to our hearts at that point, personally and professionally. It was a really special ending for us.' As for moments that didn't make the final cut, Coon describes the puppet show that wound up not on the show. 'It was really sweet,' she said. 'So there are things you won't see that are a part of our history.' The different 'White Lotus' groupings were mostly siloed from each other, but Monaghan singles out Patrick Schwarzenegger for being 'a fantastic gentleman and not this douche you see. And I lived with Parker [Posey], and I didn't even know Parker was utilizing a Southern accent!' Would they do 'The White Lotus' again? Bibb was bowled over by the fact that she was able to work so closely to two more actresses her age — 'I never get to work with these two! Mike really knows how to write great women, and we're so lucky to have that.' Where might 'White Lotus' end up next? Bibb agrees that White will never pick any place that's cold. 'I sent him a picture of this location I was in, it was at the Shining hotel up in Oregon, and the snow was up past the window,' she says. 'He was like, 'I'm fearful. I don't trust where you are right now. I hate the cold..' They'll never do a cold one. No way.' Variety's 'Awards Circuit' podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, 'Awards Circuit' features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. Best of Variety 2025 Tony Winners Predictions: A Starry, Stacked Broadway Season Sets the Stage for an Unpredictable Ceremony What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Perth Now
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Bruce Springsteen's 'interesting' visit to set of biopic
Bruce Springsteen admitted visiting the set of his upcoming biopic was 'interesting'. Jeremy Allen White portrays the legendary rocker in the new movie 'Deliver Me from Nowhere' and Bruce revealed that he enjoyed visiting the set and seeing how they recreated his grandmother's house. He told Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast: 'I was on tour during a lot of it, so they filmed a good amount of it without me there. But I was on set sometimes. It was interesting to see it played out, to see your grandmother's house again, and to go inside and get a general feeling of what it was like when you were very young. So I enjoyed all those parts of it.' The focus of the film is the time Bruce, 75, spent making his 1982 album 'Nebraska' and is adapted from Warren Zanes' book of the same name. Bruce revealed why he gave his blessing to director/writer Scott Cooper's adaptation. He said: 'They pitched the idea, and I said, 'it sounds like fun'. It's an interesting concept, because it's only a couple of years out of my life. It's '81, '82, and around the creation of that particular record while I was simultaneously recording 'Born in the USA' and also going through some personal difficulties that I've been living with my whole life. But it's fantastic.' And, Bruce previously praised Jeremy, 34, for his work on the movie. During an appearance on SiriusXM's E Street Radio, he said: 'He sings well. He sings very well. You know, and Jeremy Strong and Odessa Young, you know, it's a tremendous cast of people. They cast the film beautifully, so it's very exciting. 'It was "a little bit" weird at first' but "you get over that pretty quick. 'Jeremy is such a terrific actor that you just fall right into it. He's got an interpretation of me that I think the fans will deeply [understand] and he's just done a great job, so I've had a lot of fun. I've had a lot of fun being on the set when I can get there."
