Latest news with #Superman-like
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘The Boys' never pulls punches. But its creator fears a ‘cooling effect' on political TV
'The Boys' is known for chest-bursting tentacles, shape-shifters who bed your boyfriend and merciless satire of capitalist excess and corporate-controlled media. But last year, Season 4 of the Prime Video series set its sights on a new target in its evolution from comic-book adaptation to hot-button must-see: politics. Set during a presidential election cycle that eerily reflected the one going on in the real world, the show's metaphorical relevance soared to an all-time high. 'Despite all the sex and violence and madness, we take a lot of pride in, maybe, being the most current show on TV right now,' showrunner Eric Kripke says on a Zoom call from Toronto, where 'The Boys'' fifth and final season is in production. 'You're not really expecting a superhero show to have the vibe of 'Veep.' It's just another way that we try to be unexpected.' Unexpected yet strangely prescient. As an election that will determine the fate of democracy looms, the season details the megalomaniacal Homelander's schemes to gain political power to match his Superman-like abilities. There's something Elon Musk-like about how the most powerful man on Earth wants to make himself — and Vought International, the media/chemical/defense corporation he heads — America's governing oligarch. There are other elements we might associate with the current administration sprinkled throughout the season too. A Vought network tries to turn a 'Sesame Street'-style show into fascist propaganda. Collectible Homelander NFTs are proposed. Masked agents grab dissidents off the streets. All coincidental, considering scripts are written long before the final product debuts. 'Sometimes we joke, a little unsettlingly, that we're Satan's Writers' Room,' Kripke says with a laugh. 'But because we're writing about what we view as societal problems, the unfortunate truth is these things were problems two years ago when we wrote them and they'll be ongoing until we really figure out how to get a handle on a lot of this and maybe stop trusting the people in power quite so blindly.' The mightiest of Vought's ultra-marketed superstars, Homelander, played by Antony Starr, is believed by many in the world of 'The Boys' to be America's greatest hero; in reality, he's an oversensitive, egotistical demagogue. Seemingly invincible, he tends to win despite setbacks that might destroy a lesser being. But Starr insists he doesn't model the character on President Trump. Much. 'Not specifically,' the blond, square-jawed New Zealander says during the same Zoom interview. 'I'm an equal-opportunity poacher. I've taken from a lot of different people. Last season, the idea was really teased about Homelander being like a Caesar. If you dip not far back into history, there are just so many people to choose from. 'What I have found about using one specific person for any character — especially with someone like this — is it doesn't work,' Starr continues. 'You get a two-dimensional portrayal. So, Homelander is a conglomerate of tyrants.' After all, Homelander, unlike the president, craves breast milk, collects his gray hairs and tears people's torsos apart. Although Kripke has described him as analogous to Trump in the past, he notes that Starr brings out aspects of the character that make him his own man. 'I don't think Homelander is sympathetic, but you can empathize with him,' the showrunner says. 'That's the magic trick that Antony pulls off. Homelander sees himself as so much better and bigger than human, and yet he's inescapably human. That conflict, I think, is driving him slowly insane. 'But he's authoritarian in general,' Kripke admits. 'Obviously, things are happening in the particular country I live in that I respond to. This is a reflection of the things we see and the writers are scared of. What we found early on about the superheroes in this world is there's this interesting intersection of fascism and celebrity. It's a unique yet very current notion — not just in the States but all over the world — how people are using the power of celebrity to advance authoritarian ideas.' With studios backtracking on diversity initiatives and media magnates like Jeff Bezos — who owns the Washington Post as well as Amazon — reticent to find themselves on the wrong end of the president's bully pulpit, concerns that there may be pressure to ease off on 'The Boys'' scathing satire seem appropriate. Kripke says no. 'There's been a total of zero notes about pulling our punches or about making things less political or less savage,' he reveals. 'The various powers that be have been really great about it. I think they know that we'd just do it anyway, so why bother? 'Look, not about this particular show, but I'm certainly worried about a cooling effect when, now more than ever, you need people in the back of the classroom throwing spitballs,' Kripke cautions. 'That's not just healthy, that's vital. It's really important that people who can thumb their nose at it don't get scared.' And though he leaves the politics to the writers' room, the man who plays Homelander understands that 'The Boys'' bold perspective is what's made it so compelling. 'I think actors are some of the worst people to listen to for political advice, especially ones from New Zealand,' Starr says. 'But I will say the passion that our writers clearly put into what they're doing, the care and the love that they have for their country, for what's happening socially and politically, has a broad impact. We all feel like we're part of a machine that has something to say. 'It's a big show in every way and its message is bigger: Never pull punches. Regardless [of] whether you agree or disagree, at least we are part of a show that's putting its neck on the line and taking risks across the board, from performance to thematics to commentary.'
Straits Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
‘Grateful for my anxiety': Actor Lewis Pullman related to Thunderbolts* character's struggles
NEW YORK – Lewis Pullman is still not sure if he is playing a hero or a villain in the latest Marvel movie Thunderbolts*. 'He's very malleable and easily influenced because he hasn't had a real, strong, reliable source of love in his life,' the American actor said of his character, a dark Superman-like figure known as Sentry/The Void – although his civilian name, Bob, is how you might remember him best. Think what would happen if Superman were super-depressed. Also, Bob appears capable of vapourising people with a flick of his hand. 'There's a contrast between being this all-powerful being and then having your greatest weakness and your main Achilles' heel be your own self,' Pullman, 32, said in video call from his apartment in Los Angeles. He had just returned to the city, where he was born and raised, after a shoot in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the Netflix movie Remarkably Bright Creatures, based on American author Shelby Van Pelt's enormously popular 2022 novel. That was followed by a whirlwind press tour that had taken him from London and New York to Los Angeles and Miami to back to Los Angeles, just in time for his brother's wedding. Pullman – the son of 71-year-old American actor Bill Pullman (While You Were Sleeping, 1995; Independence Day, 1996) – is the breakout star of Thunderbolts*, which has attracted praise for its candid depiction of mental health. 'What I love about this film is that it is so adamantly trying to rid our society' of the stigma around mental health, Lewis Pullman said. Like his character, he has an introspective bent, turning over every question in his mind before answering. Although he had never read the comics featuring Sentry – also known as Robert Reynolds , shortened to Bob in Thunderbolts* – he was drawn to the profound sadness and isolation of the character, whose Mr Hyde-like alter ego is the Void, the darkness that lives inside Bob. Struck by bouts of melancholy, Bob forges an unlikely friendship with Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, who was trained as a child to be a Black Widow assassin. 'She sees something of herself in him,' Pullman said. 'She sees that they are both at the end of their lines.' The role is a breakout turn for Pullman, who earned a supporting actor Emmy nomination in 2024 for his portrayal of a brilliant scientist in the Apple TV+ period series Lessons In Chemistry (2023). Before that, he played a pilot – also named Bob – in the 2022 hit Top Gun: Maverick. 'I should probably take a breather from playing Bobs,' he said with a laugh. Lewis Pullman at the Thunderbolts* screening on April 30 in New York. PHOTO: AFP How did you first get involved in Thunderbolts*? I got a phone call that was very vague and cryptic, and I was like: 'I should meet Jake (Schreier, the director) and see what this is all about.' He couldn't give me the script, so he told me the story old-fashioned style, word by word. It was great to have that experience. You don't get it very often. I had only three days to prepare for the screen test and audition, which wasn't as much time as I'd like. So, I tried to go as broad as possible, and then shrink it down and go as specific as possible in finding and discovering where it was that I, as Lewis, could relate to this character. What did you pull from for the role? What was so exciting and terrifying was how much I related to this character. In terms of the mental health parts of it, the anxiety and the depression, I have a dose of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) , self-doubt and the negative self-talk that can paralyse you. I'm lucky to have come from a great family that was very proactive and resourceful about helping me figure it all out. So, to try to inhabit somebody who didn't have that – I was close enough to those alleyways to be able to see what it would have looked like had I not had those. Have you had candid conversations with people in your own life about mental health? I was a social work major in college in North Carolina, so I have had many conversations about these topics. Coming into this project, it was obvious that it was a major theme. But it was never our goal to make this a PSA (public service announcement). This is still an incredibly fun, large-scale blockbuster film. But by shining a flashlight on it, it becomes more real. In many ways, my anxiety is something I'm grateful for. It's there as a protective mechanism. You don't just make a movie about it and then the conversation's over. I'll be talking about it until I circle the drain. And that's something I've come to be okay with and embrace. Do you have personal experience with depression? That's something that's less of a consistent force in my life. It comes in waves. But it's something that's deep in my marrow because, when you feel that, it's very hard to forget. I was able to tap into that in a way that was safe, with therapy, and then friends and support. I go about therapy in the same way that I go about acting. I assume that I never know anything, that there's always something to learn. I did a lot of cognitive behavioural therapy in high school and now I'm in talk therapy. I've realised that the times when you should stick with therapy the most is when you think you're doing the best without it. That's a mind game that I've fallen for a couple of times. What would you say to people who feel like Bob? It's okay to not smile, it's okay to cry, it's okay to let all those feelings out, and to not bottle them up. You'll find that, more often than not, there will be somebody there to catch you, if you're vulnerable enough to let them. NYTIMES Thunderbolts* is showing in Singapore cinemas. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
USA Today
07-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Jimmy Butler will need to be more Superman than Batman in Steph Curry's absence
Jimmy Butler will need to be more Superman than Batman in Steph Curry's absence Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes. Buddy Hield didn't want to claim Robin. After the Golden State Warriors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday, even after Stephen Curry left the game early with a hamstring injury, Hield and Jimmy Butler took the postgame podium to answer questions about how they were able to win Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. And Hield didn't want to own the title of Robin to Butler's Batman. "I'm Batman today," Hield joked. "I saved the day. He's still Robin." It was funny. The kind of moment that shows why Butler and Hield have the best comedic chemistry of any teammates in the NBA. But like any good joke, it had a lot of truth in it. Because Hield was right. He isn't a Robin. Without Curry, the Warriors don't have one. One of the best No. 1 options in league history, Curry hurt his hamstring in the second quarter and missed the rest of the game. On Wednesday, the Warriors announced the injury as a Grade 1 strain that will sideline him for at least a week, which means he'll miss games two through four of the series, at minimum, and potentially return for Game 5 next Wednesday. Though obviously a bummer, it's the best possible news they could've hoped for. They gave themselves cushion by stealing Game 1 on the road behind 24 points from Hield and 20 from Butler. But what Hield gave them isn't sustainable. He's a career 15-point scorer who averaged 11.1 points this season, which ranked fifth on the team behind Curry, Butler, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski. He's not a Robin, he's just a really good role player. That's why it won't be enough for Butler to simply fill the shoes of Golden State's injured Batman - because he won't have a consistently reliable No. 2 option like Curry did with himself. Butler will have to be Superman. He'll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting on his own. Luckily for the Warriors, it's a role he's very familiar with. PHONE BOOTH MALFUNCTION: Hield accidentally wore the wrong game shorts Butler is only two years removed from carrying an arguably less-talented Miami Heat roster to the NBA Finals -- and he did it twice in four years. The Warriors are only asking him to do it for a series -- albeit a difficult one against another Superman-like player, Anthony Edwards. And Butler will still have a solid cast of role players to help, including Draymond Green, Podziemski and yes, Hield. If Butler can rise to the occasion like he has so many times in the past, the Warriors have a chance to pull off an incredible upset as +165 underdogs at BetMGM. If not, they don't stand a chance at winning a series they were never expected to win to begin with. Road teams are dominating the 2nd round Golden State wasn't the only team to pull off an upset in their second-round opener. Rather, they continued a trend of dominance for the road teams, which are now 5-0 this round. That undefeated record includes the Indiana Pacers taking each of their first two games against the Cleveland Cavaliers to flip the series odds completely in their favor. UNDERRATED: Tyrese Haliburton is devastatingly slept on It's the first time in NBA history all four road teams won the first game of the conference semifinals, but as my buddy Bryan Kalbrosky wrote, we shouldn't expect this underdog streak to continue much longer... "While the road teams are actually 6-0 since Sunday (when the Warriors defeated the Rockets and the Pacers defeated the Cavaliers) in another historic oddity, this is not expected to continue for the underdogs." ...because the Celtics, Thunder and Timberwolves are all still favored to prevail in their series. Read more from Bryan about what we've seen so far and what we can expect next. Shootaround
