Latest news with #Bound
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Gina Gershon: ‘Tom Cruise was tickling me in bed. I nearly broke his nose'
Gina, you are a spectacular and artistically brave woman and movie star. How do you rationalise – and, hopefully, enjoy – the fact that your audiences often encounter you as a beacon of beauty, sexuality and eroticism? Geroellheimer People can see me in whatever ways they want. As long as what I do brings them joy or helps them think about things, I don't contemplate how they view me – it's too abstract. When people share their opinions about me with me, I wonder who they're talking about, but I go along with it to be polite. How do you move on and decompress after playing such intense roles? mansurz After Showgirls and Bound, I had so much residual energy that I ended up going to Greece, cut off some of my hair and released it into the sea. I thought: 'This is very Greek.' There was a lot of energy that came with playing Donatella Versace. When I played Nancy Sinatra, I don't want to say 'I channelled her', but I tapped into her energy. The next thing I knew, I had all these stomach ulcers. I asked her about it. She said: 'I've had seven or eight of those.' I thought: 'Oh my God, really?' What do you think of your status as a gay icon? Kooooonan I think it's fabulous. I'm just happy it's brought so many people so much joy. A lot of women have come up to me and told me how Bound helped them either come out or accept certain things. So that feels nice, you know? Did the Wachowskis invite you to audition for The Matrix? Glozboy They wanted to do The Matrix before they did Bound, but they needed to prove themselves. Once we started working on Bound, they told me about The Matrix. I said: 'That sounds insane – and great.' The storyboards all had my face on, so I naturally assumed I was playing Trinity. Then I guess they fell in love with Carrie-Anne Moss and I didn't do it. It was kind of heartbreaking. Did 'the joke' of Showgirls go over the rest of the cast's heads, or were you all on the same page? Rjoepenk I was a big Paul Verhoeven fan. I loved Turkish Delight and Spetters, so I knew it was going to be very heavy and intense. I went deep down into Cristal, thinking I'd be playing Margo instead of Eve [in All About Eve], thinking about Aphrodite. It felt as if I was preparing for a Wagner concert or something. When I walked on to the set, it was a Technicolor pop concert of jewels and feathers. There was a moment when I was hanging on a rope in an S&M outfit, looking down at a load of naked bodies dancing around me, where I had this weird existential moment. I thought: I studied the classics! I wanted to play Medea. I wanted to do Chekhov. How did I get here? I thought: I better be really, really good in this, or else my career is over before it begins. As it turned more campy, I decided not to take things so seriously and thought: the drag queens will love me and want to dress like Cristal on Halloween. Your cameos in Curb Your Enthusiasm were hilarious. How hard is it not to laugh? Galdove19 Playing Hannah the Horny Hasid, as I like to call her, was some of the most fun I've ever had. I had no idea what I was getting into. When they called, I was sitting with [the music producer] Rick Rubin. I said: 'I don't really have time. I'm doing a movie. I'm doing a TV show.' He said: 'If there's only one thing you should do all year, it's Curb Your Enthusiasm.' When I got on set, I assumed I was playing myself. They said: 'No, we want you to play the Hasidic Jew.' Larry [David] said: 'Can you think of an accent?' I thought about my waxer, Rochelle – a French-Israeli woman who lived in the Bronx. I always loved her voice, so I just did her. Larry was laughing so hard. Any time you do something that makes Larry laugh, you feel great. But it's not so great when you're shooting, because they say: 'We have to do it again because you laughed.' But then you just want to make him laugh, because it feels so satisfying to make him break. What was it like working on the truly absurd Face/Off? If you could swap faces with anyone, who would it be? Bauhaus66 I'd like to swap faces with my cat, because he's so handsome. He's called Lord Louis. Lord Louis Zuzu the Magnificent. He's a 28lb [13kg] bundle of handsome love. He's part African savannah domestic and looks like a lion. I wouldn't mind having Benicio del Toro's face; I just saw him in the new Wes Anderson movie [The Phoenician Scheme]. I could watch his face all day long. Did you feel you were on track to become a femme fatale after your guest stint on Melrose Place? Kal_85 Can I tell you the only thing I remember about Melrose Place? I was in Toronto with a bunch of people and we went to a strip club, like you do in a weird location. It was pretty tame and actually quite sweet. This dancer came walking down the runway, doing her bit. She looked at me, pointed her finger and went: 'Melrose Place!' I thought I was going to die. I'd never been pointed out like that before. I can't even remember who I played on Melrose Place. Is that terrible? What was it like being part of a typically alpha-dog Michael Mann environment working on The Insider? leroyhunter I always thought I was too young. I said to Michael at the audition: 'I'm too young to be believable. We're talking about a 40-year-old woman.' She seemed so ancient to me. I thought: should I have grey in my hair? I walked on to set with no makeup, looking like a kid. I remember Al Pacino looking at me, as if to say: 'What the fuck? How is she going to play this person?' I said: 'Don't, worry. I'm gonna age up quickly.' My first scene was with the great Christopher Plummer – the scene where he yells at me right in the face. He was so intense. It was the first time I felt: wow, I don't even really have to act. When you're working with someone so great, you just stay present and it becomes electric. What was it like ordering a multiple orgasm from Tom Cruise in Cocktail? TopTramp I almost broke his nose. I had never done a love scene before and it was going to be with Tom Cruise. I thought: God, I get paid for this. He was so cute. I had a crush on him immediately. He was very protective and very much a gentleman, saying: 'Let's keep you covered.' He was very concerned. Originally, we were supposed to be running around naked, but I thought: I don't wanna do that. That seems dumb. I suggested: 'Why don't you go down on me under the covers? Then when you pop up, it'll be a surprise.' He loved the idea, but I'd told him I was very ticklish, because he had started to tickle me earlier. I said: 'Just don't do that. I lose control because I was tortured as a child by my brother.' Right before the take, he was down there and grabbed my waist in a tickly, sweet manner. I didn't mean to, but I had a kneejerk reaction right into his nose. It was full of blood. I thought: I just broke Tom Cruise's nose. I will never work in Hollywood again. I was mortified because I really kicked him good. I didn't mean to. He said: 'Nope. My bad. You warned me.' I remember thinking: this guy is a movie star. He deserves everything he gets. He was just so kind and so sweet with me in a situation where I was quite vulnerable. I'm glad he was my first. High Rollers is on digital platforms
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Gina Gershon 'suffered PTSD over Showgirls'
Gina Gershon suffered "a lot of PTSD" following the release of Showgirls. The 63-year-old actress starred alongside Elizabeth Berkley in the 1995 erotic drama film, which centres on a woman who hitchhikes to Las Vegas to pursue her dreams of being a showgirl, but Gina admits that she didn't enjoy making the much-maligned movie. She told The Independent: "I realised I have a lot of PTSD around that movie." The film was a box-office flop and was widely panned by critics. Gina now admits that she "knew it was going to be a disaster". The actress shared: "They were like, this is gonna be huge – but I knew it was going to be a disaster. "I was always happy with my work in it, but I knew that it was not going to be what people thought it would be. And I was scared, so I just told my agents, 'Get me another job before Showgirls comes out. I need to show that I really am an actress.'" Gina has hired and fired lots of different agents over the years, but the actress doesn't have any regrets about her approach. She explained: "I do think my career would have been much easier if I'd had agents that really got me. "I've had to go through several different ones, because I just don't want to spend time playing characters I'm not invested in. It would have been nice if we were all on the same page, but at the end of the day, it's my book, and it's my story." Gina believes that a lot of her projects take years to be fully appreciated, including Showgirls, which has become a cult film in recent times. The veteran actress said: "I remember I was doing Cabaret on Broadway [in 2001] and there was a whole side of a building with my face on it. That was huge! But then, of course, it goes away, and then I'm like, 'Ooh, what if I never work again?' "And my movies always take, like, 20 years to be seen. Critics loved Bound, but people were very, like, 'Let's sweep this under the rug because it's a lesbian movie and no one's gonna want to see it.' And Showgirls was shunned, but now it's 30 years later, and screenings of it are selling out, and people love it."
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Queer Joy Alert: Gay TikTok star rallies his followers to feed the hungry
Queer joy is a radical act, so join us each week for more stories that uplift, resist, and shine. For more stories on Queer Joy, click here. Facing empty shelves and worrying about how they were going to feed their community, a Tennessee food pantry was shocked when they found themselves flooded with donations from an unexpected source: TikTok. A week ago, Knox Pride, a LGBTQ+ nonprofit resource center, put out a call on Instagram for donations because their food pantry was 'almost empty' with no way to fill it after their funding was slashed. Luckily, one queer TikTok star saw the post and jumped into action. Social media can feel like a vapid, superficial way to spend your time, but sometimes these apps that have taken over our lives are used to make real positive change in the world. That's true for Matthew Bounds, who is changing lives with his TikTok channel, one charity at a time. Better known as 'Your Barefoot Neighbor,' the 42-year-old gay social media influencer creates simple, easy comfort food recipes for his 1.8 million followers, but on top of his cozy meals, Bound has managed to galvanize his fans, over and over again, to donate to local charities. While killing time waiting in line by scrolling on his phone, Bounds saw Knox Pride's plea for donations and knew he had to act fast. 'I knew they had lost their funding. I knew things were tight for them. I had seen their updates on that, but that post right there just really hit me,' he told PRIDE. Bounds rushed home and recorded a quick TikTok asking his followers to help him fulfill their Amazon Wishlist and stock their pantry shelves, after he had donated a handful of things himself. 'History has shown that the Barefoot Neighborhood does not play when it comes to stuff like this, and ya'll go crazy hard, crazy fast,' Bounds said in the video. #barefootneighborhood Asking his followers — he has approximately 3.5 million across all platforms — to help out nonprofit organizations in desperate need of donations is nothing new, but normally, Bounds carefully plans out any fundraisers he does so when the TikTok video asking for help for Knox Pride didn't get as many views as he was hoping, he worried that very few people would order anything off of the nonprofit's Wishlist. But the next morning, he woke up to a message from Knox Pride's executive director, John Camp, with photos of the trucks full of Amazon packages streaming in. This allowed them to fully stock their food pantry within 24 hours of the video going live. 'They've never let me down,' Bound said of his followers. 'They love a good call, they love to rally and help people. So, I didn't have any doubt that they would come through, I think I was surprised at how big they came through.' Donations continued to flood in over the next week, and soon, Knox Pride had enough food to stock the pantry multiple times over. The fundraiser was so successful that they also received so many monetary donations that they were able to pay their rent through July, and volunteers started showing up in person. They even got enough truckloads of food delivered that Knox Pride was able to reach out to other local resource centers and help them stock their food pantries as well. 'It's a 180 at the center,' Bounds said. 'Not only was it the tangible physical donations, but you know, just a lot of people who may have kind of forgotten they were there or I even got comments from people who live in Knoxville and said they were unaware of Knox Pride and then they saw my video, so now they are donating and they're showing up to volunteer.' An update for the #barefootneighborhood ❤️ Knox Pride provides food to between 75 and 100 people every day at their food pantry so having empty shelves would have been devastating to the community. After the donations started streaming in, Bound began getting DMs from people who were grateful he had stepped up. 'I had someone DM me and he said he's a 55-year-old gay man who's unhoused and the day I posted that video, he had gone there earlier that day and said they fed him with literally some of the last things on the shelves,' Bounds recalled. 'He said, 'I laid down last night and I didn't know where my next meal was going to be coming from because they were out.' And he said, 'I woke up this morning and saw the video and the updates and everything. I'm going to eat today because of your followers,' which was really incredible.' Bounds, who has published one cookbook and has a second one on the way in 2026, has made a name for himself by making easily accessible, comforting southern classics, but he has also built community outreach and fundraising into his platform since the very beginning. In fact, earlier this month, Bounds, who is a Gulfport, Mississippi native, rallied his followers to support a food drive for Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, and was able to completely stock the shelves of their food pantry in less than two weeks. 'My being gay, and then a lot of my audience is part of the LGBTQIA community, and allies and things like that. I think there's almost the spirit of we're here, we're queer, we'll handle it. I think that really rallies us a lot, too. You know, so many people just love to be a part of an inclusive, diverse community that is so committed to helping folks.' The 'vibe' of the community Bounds has created is one that loves good food and is devoted to helping their community, but he thinks people need the positivity in their lives more now than ever before. 'There's so much negativity and awful news, and I don't know about you, but I feel really hopeless a lot of days,' Bound admitted. 'I think there's so many people that just want a little win, and if I can say, 'Hey, here's an Amazon Wishlist, order something off of it, we'll feed someone today,' that's a way for someone to chip in and make the world a little bit better and have a little control over it for a minute. We're not victims of it, we're contributing to some sort of solution."
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Liverpool unveil plans for new memorial to mark 40th anniversary of Heysel tragedy
Liverpool have unveiled plans for a new Heysel memorial at Anfield to mark the 40th anniversary of the disaster that claimed 39 lives before the 1985 European Cup final. Entitled 'Forever Bound', the memorial will feature a Juventus scarf and a Liverpool scarf entwined together in bronze, a dedication to the date and location of the tragedy and the names of the 39 people who were killed that night – 32 from Italy, four from Belgium, two from France and one from Northern Ireland – engraved on white Italian porcelain. It will replace the existing memorial that is located on the wall of the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand. Advertisement Bruce Grobbelaar, Liverpool's goalkeeper in 1985, attended the announcement at Anfield on Wednesday and admitted emotions are still raw 40 years on. 'One, because I was there,' he said. 'Two, because my mother came from Africa with her husband. It was the first time she'd watched me play. She turned around to me afterwards and said: 'If this is football, I don't want to be a part of it.' It left a lasting impression in my psyche. I had to live with that for all this time. She never watched me again. She came from Africa, she went back to Africa. She might have watched on TV, but never live.' Related: Premier League race for Europe: who's in, who needs what and how 10 could qualify The idea to mark the 40th anniversary with a new memorial came from members of the Liverpool supporters' board and supporters' union Spirit of Shankly. It was felt the current memorial is inadequate and, with the car park behind the Sir Kenny Dalglish stand occasionally closed to the public, the location unsuitable for people to pay their respects. The location of the new memorial, which will measure approximately 2.2m x 1m, has not been decided. Liverpool have identified five possible options around Anfield including one near the Hillsborough memorial. Liverpool consulted on the design with representatives of the Hillsborough families, the club's supporters' board, Juventus and the president of the Association for the Families of Heysel Victims, Andrea Lorentini. Lorentini's 31-year-old father, Roberto, was among those killed when a wall collapsed at the stadium after a charge by Liverpool supporters. Advertisement Juventus will mark the 40th anniversary on 29 May by unveiling a new memorial of their own near the Allianz Stadium. 'Verso Altrove' is a 65m platform that spirals above ground and focuses on the horizon. Liverpool legend and club ambassador Ian Rush, who played for Juventus, and the Liverpool chief executive, Billy Hogan, will attend the unveiling in Turin. Out of respect for Juventus' commemorations next week Liverpool will not unveil their memorial until later in the summer. Juventus officials will attend the Anfield ceremony. The idea for two scarves tied together originated from photographs of the immediate aftermath of the disaster that showed fan memorabilia discarded all over the Heysel terraces. The image symbolises unity and solidarity between the two clubs, reconciliation and the bond formed by grief. A Liver bird and a zebra, in the design of Liverpool's and Juventus's insignia from the mid-80s respectively, is on each scarf. Jonathan Bamber, Liverpool's chief legal and external affairs officer, explained: 'It's something that we don't want to forget. Forty years is a significant anniversary and so we felt it was a good moment to review what was already in place. We have a supporters' board who we liaise with and it was supporters who came to the club and said: 'Do you think that you should potentially look at this?' There was the feeling that perhaps there could be something that was slightly more accessible and gave people the opportunity to reflect a bit more. 'The interaction with Juventus and the families has been absolutely paramount, it's been at the core of really everything that we've thought through. An awful lot of thought has gone into it, trying to get it right and make it meaningful.' Grobbelaar added: 'I thank the club and Juventus and the people that have coordinated it for getting this right. Because the two clubs have to come together and they are bound together from that day onwards. They are forever bound and I think it is a fantastic tribute to the passing of the 39.'
Boston Globe
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Programs to support N.H.'s neediest students in jeopardy because of Trump administration's proposed cuts
Advertisement 'Higher education is somewhat in chaos right now,' Catherine Provencher, chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire, said during the discussion. Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up Joshua Gagnon, director of the Upward Bound program at UNH, said the program still hasn't received funding for the summer, and without it, the university will be unable to move forward with the program. About $591,000 was budgeted for the program this year. 'As of midnight on May 31, I don't have any funding,' he said in an interview after the discussion. There are a total of 114 students in the yearlong program who would not be able to participate, Gagnon said, and there are also four full-time staff people whose jobs could be on the line. Senator Maggie Hassan and Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander participated in a discussion with educators and school officials at Manchester Community College on Monday about the impact closing the US Department of Education would have on New Hampshire. Amanda Gokee/Globe Staff Mostly, he's concerned about the consequences for the first-generation and low-income students the program supports. It's one of 10 so-called federal TRIO programs around New Hampshire, first established by Congress in 1965 to help low-income students. Gagnon said President Trump has made budget proposals that would eliminate all of the TRIO programs. Advertisement Right now, they serve about 2,280 students in New Hampshire per year, helping to connect students to tutoring, counseling, mentoring and financial guidance. 'We do a good job supporting these students because these programs exist,' Gagnon said. Erika Schofield, 25, is now working as a nurse after obtaining her nursing degree from UNH with the support of TRIO. 'If it wasn't for the support of TRIO, I don't think I would be a nurse right now,' she said. As a first-generation college student, she said money for school was tight: Her father had substance use disorder, and she was raised by a single mom who supported two children with a waitressing job. 'There were a lot of moments where I didn't even know I was going to be able to go to school the next week, let alone finish my degree,' she said. At times, she said, 'It felt insurmountable.' Facing the cost of lab fees, uniforms, and stethoscopes, she credited TRIO with helping her find the scholarships to make ends meet. Schofield finished her degree in 2022, and she now works at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, a job that enables her to provide for her family, she said. 'It makes me sad to think that kids growing up with backgrounds like I had might not have that opportunity if TRIO was cut,' she said. While the funding for TRIO has already been approved and appropriated by Congress, it hasn't necessarily been distributed. Advertisement 'Many of us believe this is a violation of federal law, which says, once Congress appropriates money and directs it to be spent, that the administration has to spend it,' Hassan said during the panel discussion Monday. But, she added, the Office of Budget and Management director, Russell Vought, 'told me he just doesn't believe he has to follow that law. And so that's our challenge.' Hassan said some states with Democratic Attorney Generals have had success in court shaking loose some of the funds, but New Hampshire is not among them. Amanda Gokee can be reached at
