Leonardo DiCaprio’s dating life is once again making headlines. The 48-year-old actor is reportedly dating 28-year-old Indian-origin model Neelam Gill. Leonardo DiCaprio was clicked with Neelam Gill at the Chiltern Firehouse in London on May 30. The actor’s mother Irmelin Indenbirken had also accompanied them, Page Six reported. Neelam Gill, who describes herself as a British Punjabi model, last month attended the Cannes Film Festival. The Academy Award winning actor was also at the film festival for the screening of his film Killers Of The Flower Moon. Also Read – Year Ender 2022: Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Vin Diesel and more – 6 highest paid Hollywood stars who ruled hearts this year
Neelam started her modelling journey at the age of 14 and has made quite an impact in the fashion industry. A decade ago, Neelam became the first Indian model to feature in a Burberry campaign. She has also graced the pages of esteemed fashion magazines such as Vogue. Neelam also made an appearance in Mumbai for the opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC). She also walked the ramp for Dior’s first show in India. Also Read – Halloween 2022: Leonardo DiCaprio celebrates it with rumoured GF Gigi Hadid [Full Report]
Neelam Gill’s Indian Roots
The 28-year-old model was born in London in 1995. While her parents were born in the UK, her grandparents hail from Punjab, India. In an interview, Neelam opened up on how her parents separated when she was child. The model shared that she has no communication with her biological father. Her mother and step-father have supported her through the highs and lows.
Neelam Gill’s YouTube
Neelam Gill, on her YouTube channel, discusses topics like bullying, depression, and struggles with body confidence. She even addresses online trolls, and expresses compassion towards them. Through her videos, she not only raises awareness around these topics but also encourages others to embrace their imperfections.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Dating Life
The Hollywood biggie has lately been in the news following his dating rumours with supermodel Gigi Hadid. The dating rumours sparked last year in September after a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio and Gigi Hadid, from a club in New York, went viral on the Internet. In February this year, his name was also linked with 19-year-old model Eden Polani.
Leonardo DiCaprio dating rumours have been the talk of the town after his break-up with model-actress Camila Morrone.
Rick Dalton, the actor best known for the 1960s television series Bounty Law and a string of Westerns shot in Italy, has died, according to the Hollywood podcast Video Archives. The performer, whose notoriety saw a boost after an encounter with his neighbor Roman Polanski and a bizarre home invasion led by deranged followers of a failed Ohio-born singer-songwriter, is survived by his wife Francesca. He was 90 years old.
Okay, okay, we’ll quit it now. Rick Dalton was not a real person, but the name of the character Leonardo DiCaprio played in the Oscar-nominated 2019 film Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. But that doesn’t mean the man who created the story of a striving actor (and his stunt double best pal) caught up in late 60s California lore, Quentin Tarantino, isn’t allowed to have a bit of fun.
The Twitter account for Video Archives, the podcast Tarantino created last year with Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary (named for the Manhattan Beach tape rental shop where they once both worked), decided to kill off Dalton when making a programming note. Rather than just tell fans that their next episode (one about Norman Jewison’s 1975 sci-fi/roller derby exploitation film Rollerball, starring James Caan—as if there could there be a more quintessential selection?!?) was delayed, they decided to blame it on this deadpan announcement. The account teased a forthcoming tribute episode to Dalton’s best work.
Coincidentally, the gag came less than 24 hours before the Cannes Film Festival debut of DiCaprio’s next picture, Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starring Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone.
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As a New Yorker who just visited the Tarantino-owned New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles for the first time, I was tickled to see framed one sheet for Rick Dalton’s movies (i.e. props from Once Upon a Time …) mixed in with promotional ones for repertory titles in rotation like Aliens, Sorcerer, and Jackie Chan’sStrike Force. The two I caught were for Comanche Uprising, a fake movie co-starring real actors Robert Taylor, Charles Bronson, and Joan Evans, and Nebraska Jim, a Western credited to real director Sergio Corbucci in which Dalton co-starred with Daphna Ben-Cobo, with whom Dalton had a whirlwind affair. (This part was played by Tarantino’s wife, Daniella Pick.)
No word at all from the Video Archives group about Dalton’s forever BFF, Cliff Booth, the part that won Brad Pitt the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Tarantino, meanwhile, is prepping his next and perhaps final film, The Movie Critic. Though no cast or studio deal is set up yet, it is believed that it will start production this fall. Details on the project are hush-hush, but he has denied early rumors that it is a biopic about Pauline Kael. At Cannes this week, Paul Schrader spilled a few beans, suggesting that the movie might include reshot versions of New Hollywood classics. (Once Upon a Time … did this with The Great Escape.) Apparently, Tarantino is hoping to tweak the ending of the 1977 film Rolling Thunder, which Schrader co-wrote.
Finally, a first look at Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated “Killers of the Flower Moon” film is here.
A star-studded trailer for the Western crime drama hit the internet on Thursday.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Ernest Burkhart, the nephew of an influential local rancher (Robert De Niro) who gets involved in the sickening Osage Nation murders. Burkhart is married to an Indigenous woman (Lily Gladstone) who has inherited an oil fortune but at deathly costs.
While fans agree on how epic the trailer is, many have quickly pointed out one concerning detail on Twitter: DiCaprio’s accent.
will watch and im sure it’s great but my tolerance for leo dicaprio accent work is wearing https://t.co/ZpyD1OlSvw
— unidentified flying objet d’art (@konstantinlvn) May 18, 2023
I can’t fucking wait to go around everywhere doing an impression of Leo’s fake Southern accent for the next 3 months after seeing this https://t.co/bSkgrruCbH
— my life is a living hell. every minute is torture (@on_da_spectrum) May 18, 2023
Obviously excited for this but is nobody else at least slightly bothered by Leo’s accent here? Like I can tell it’s Leo just doing an accent. https://t.co/bhlcQGO7Eo
On the other hand, other Twitter users didn’t seem to mind the Oscar-winning actor’s accent.
Set in Oklahoma during the 1920s, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is based on David Grann’s best-selling book of the same name.
The film tells the true story of a series of massacres known as the “Reign of Terror,” in which members of the Osage Nation were murdered and extorted by white interlopers seeking their oil fortune.
JaNae Collins, Lily Gladstone, Cara Jade Myers and Jillian Dion in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” coming soon to Apple TV+.
In typical Scorsese fashion, the film’s trailer cleverly conveys the dark history of the Osage murders, all while careful not to give away too many plot details — yet still managing to deliver an ominous atmosphere.
The nearly two-minute teaser is crawling with forewarnings of death, blazing fires and a forbidding voiceover from DiCaprio’s character who portentously hints at the danger of “hungry wolves.”
The film, set to run for a whopping three hours and 26 minutes, marks the seventh on-screen collaboration between DiCaprio and Scorsese.
It also stars Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins and Jillian Dion.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” hits select theaters on Oct. 6 before expanding on Oct. 20. The film will move to Apple TV+ later.
Washington — Hip-hop star and Fugees member Pras Michel picked up a different kind of microphone as he took the witness stand in Washington, D.C.’s federal courthouse to defend himself in a multimillion-dollar international fraud trial.
“Mic check 1,2. Mic check 1, 2,” he aptly said at the start of his testimony.
“After consulting with my attorneys and the universe, I have decided to testify,” Michel told the court Tuesday before answering questions from his defense team and prosecutors alike about the approximately $800,000 he said he paid to friends so they could donate to a political campaign.
Prosecutors allege the Grammy-winning artist immersed himself in American politics at the behest of a wealthy Malaysian financier to gain access, peddle influence, and make money. He was indicted in 2019 on federal charges that Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, paid him millions to help launder money Low had allegedly embezzled from a state-owned investment fund in his home country.
Pras Michel, former member of the Fugees, center, exits federal court in Washington, D.C. on April 3, 2023.
Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Michel, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of using Low’s money to make illegal contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, and pursuing a back channel with Trump administration officials to persuade them to both abandon a federal fraud investigation into Low’s business dealings, and send a Chinese dissident who is in the U.S. back to China to face criminal charges. Prosecutors do not allege Obama campaign officials were aware of the purported illegal payments.
But taking the stand on Tuesday, Michel said he viewed Low’s payment’s to him as “free money,” and accepted approximately $20 million over the course of nine months to help Low secure a photo-op with Obama, both before and after the 2012 presidential campaign.
Beginning in the spring of 2012, the rapper testified, Low approached him about getting then-President Obama to take a picture with the Malaysian financier – currently a co-defendant in the case, and who remains abroad. He was willing to pay lots of money for it, Michel said.
Low first paid Michel $1 million to consider the proposition and start planning, Michel said Tuesday. But by the end of the campaign season, Michel fell short and consistently required more money to get the job done.
Low ultimately got his photo with Obama — taken after the 2012 presidential election at the White House — but it was what transpired between Low’s initial request and the camera flashes that prosecutors say was the first illegal component of his alleged relationship with Low.
The indictment alleges Michel funneled money from Low to straw donors in order to surreptitiously fund Obama’s re-election campaign, and work around campaign finance laws. The Obama campaign was “duped” and “deceived,” prosecutors said during opening arguments earlier this month, after Michel allegedly helped Low disguise the donations as legitimate contributions that had come from the U.S.
Michel said Tuesday that he unsuccessfully tried to get the Malaysian businessman access to various 2012 campaign fundraisers across the country, including one in Miami in which Michel and Low’s father took pictures with Obama. Low, Michel said, was not allowed at the meetings at the campaign’s request due to his financial dealings.
Months later, according to court records and testimony, wealthy Democratic donor Frank White hosted a fundraiser at his Washington, D.C., home, and pressed Michel to fill a table with friends, each worth about $40,000 in donations.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Michel said he paid his friends money so they could donate to Obama’s campaign and attend the dinner, at one point telling the jury he was paid approximately $20 million to secure the photo for Low, and about 10% of that money went towards paying his friends so they could attend the fundraiser.
Michel testified under oath that no one told him such payments toward political donations could have been unlawful or violations of campaign finance laws.
“I thought I could just give my friends money,” he explained from the witness stand, adding some didn’t spend the funds on political donations as expected.
During cross-examination, prosecutors elicited from Michel that he was aware of other election money laws, like those that prevented Low, a foreign national, from donating to Obama’s campaign, and another that put a limit on how much Michel himself could donate. Still, he contended he was unaware his money moves could have been illegal.
The Fugees star said the funds he gave to his friends to donate were “my money,” not Low’s, adding once Low paid him to secure the photo, he was free to do what was needed to get the job done.
During the at-times contentious cross-examination, Michel and prosecutors argued over whether the funds in question belonged explicitly to Michel, as the defendant argued, or were still connected to Low’s international funds.
Michel testified he was “betrayed” and led astray by his outside advisers, confidants, and employees, who he claims did not advise him correctly on how to handle financial and legal matters in the U.S.
In one such instance, several years after the 2012 election, Michel said he had “heard through friends that they were getting visits from the FBI” about the campaign contributions. After consulting a lawyer, Michel said he was advised to send a letter to the individuals he paid to donate to Obama’s campaign and assert the money in question was not a gift, but a loan that needed to be repaid. Prosecutors say these letters — which also suggested legal action could follow — were threats to witnesses in the investigation. The idea was “stupid,” Michel admitted Tuesday, adding he regretted he followed the advice of his counsel in that matter.
Michel’s testimony on Tuesday also touched on his alleged efforts to push Trump administration officials to drop their investigations into Low and extradite a Chinese national living in the U.S. to China to face criminal charges.
Under cross-examination, Michel said “I took it upon myself” to go to the FBI about the dissident, Miles Guo, to work to connect interested parties with the U.S. government. Guo, a Steve Bannon associate, had since been indicted on fraud charges of his own.
Prosecutors say Michel, Low and their partners, including Republican lobbyist Elliott Broidy, met with leaders in the Chinese government and came up with what would ultimately be an unsuccessful plan to pay Broidy millions of dollars to use his political contacts to push Low’s agenda. Broidy’s plan included sending talking points to officials and pressuring Trump administration officials to put meetings on then-President Trump’s calendar.
Broidy pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to serve as an unregistered foreign agent, and Trump pardoned him shortly before leaving office in 2021.
Michel testified Tuesday that “no one I spoke to ever mentioned” the federal laws that required him to register as a foreign agent if doing work on China’s behalf, and that he would have done so if advised.
Still, government prosecutors elicited that the defendant was present at a gathering between Boidy and the Malaysian prime minister on the night before the prime minister was set to meet with Trump. Michel told the jury he had stopped by to “say hello” and nothing more.
Michel’s defense team — led by celebrity attorney David Kenner — has argued the rapper believed he had acted in the best interest of the U.S. at the time and did not act as a foreign agent of China. They have made numerous attempts to dismiss the charges on various grounds of selective and illicit prosecution and, as Michel’s testimony on Tuesday demonstrated, continue to maintain their client was unaware of the laws he is accused of breaking.
One former Trump official at the center of the alleged pressure campaign was then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who also took the stand as a defense witness on Tuesday.
Sessions, who said Tuesday he did not “recall” ever meeting Michel, told the jury under oath about various high-level meetings about potentially extraditing Guo to China, some involving other federal agencies. Those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and Sessions said he rebuffed attempts to get him to meet with Chinese security officials about the matter. Sessions said he viewed various meetings as “appropriate.”
Prosecutors from the Justice Department — which Sessions once led as the nation’s top law enforcement officer — declined to question him under cross-examination.
Low, according to the Justice Department, allegedly misappropriated over $500 million from the sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) with wire transfers to shell companies he and others owned, and some of the proceeds were used for the production of actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s hit film “The Wolf of Wall Street.“
It’s Monday in mid-April, also known as that brief nether-time between Coachella weekends. Historically, it’s a time when one pores over the artifacts from the festival’s first half, reliving the live streaming and scrolling through the photographs to see who was there wearing some outfit. It’s a time to remember the Coachellas of yore, and ask, Can you believe this is still part of our world? It’s been a thing for so long, and yet, it’s still a thing. Yes, inertia can still be surprising.
The nearly 25-year-old music festival in the California desert paused for three years over the pandemic, before coming back in 2022. This is the first spring it feels like it’s back in full force though, with performances from Bad Bunny, Blackpink, and an odd one from Frank Ocean. These certainly are relevant acts that many were excited to see. But whether it’s because of the hiatus or for some other reason, the spring festival feels eternally like the 2010s.
The celebrities, at least, seemed to be reliving the glory days. There were Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello making out like it was 2019 (the couple broke up in 2021, and one anonymous source told Page Six that this did not mean they’re back together). Leonardo DiCaprio hung out with model Irina Shayk, coparent with Bradley Cooper, along with a “bevy of beauties” like it was 2013. Revolve “activated in the desert” again, while other brands “generated organic placements” with their own activations, as they did when Instagram was the new and exciting social media site. These are missives from another time.
One sign that Coachella does not simply exist as hologram beamed through Instagram from some time between 2012 and 2015 is this:
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There was a time when Vanessa Hudgens would move mountains to party in the desert. And now, for whatever reason, she had to miss weekend one. She’s practically abandoned her post! Was caught sleeping on the job! Has moved on! Except, well, there’s always weekend two for Hudgens, and as for the Groundhog Day of it all? At least she’s experiencing “FOMO,” a very 2014 emotion.
Whenever I watch an awards ceremony for the “biggest names in Hollywood,” I regret tuning in about 30 minutes in. It sounds like a great idea to watch The Oscars in theory, but in practice, it’s more agonizing than a low-scoring football game. Last night’s 95th Annual Academy Awards hosted by Jimmy Kimmel held us hostage and threatened to go on for almost four hours.
This year, we were faced with the cold, hard truth: every celeb we know and love is on Ozempic. And Nicole Kidman will forever give us a meme even if she doesn’t speak.
The Winners
The worst part about these award shows is that you know who’s going to win. Everything, Everywhere, All At Once was going for a sweep of their 11 Oscar nominations, so why do I have to watch everyone, everywhere, all at once make a five minute speech? Seems borderline criminal.
The first award of the night was given to Best Supporting Actress, with EEAO having two nominees in Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu, alongside a roster of talent in Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin). Controversially, or maybe not, Jamie Lee won.
A24’s multiverse EEAO became the most awarded filem of all time, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Leading Actress with Michelle Yeoh becoming the first Asian actress to win. I was on the edge of my seat for one of the closer races of the night, Best Leading Actor. With names like Austin Butler (Elvis), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Colin Farrell (Banshees), Paul Mescal (Aftersun), and Bill Nighy (Living), Fraser ended up taking home the Best Leading Actor award.
Believe me, between Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser’s speeches, not a dry eye was in the house.
The Drama
It wouldn’t be The Oscars without drama. So let’s dig in. Starting with the red carpet – which was actually champagne colored and very ugly this year – we had Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Graham doing interviews. There was a very clear opportunity for millions of TikTok clips if you would have let Baby V interview ex-boyfriend and permanent Elvis stand-in, Austin Butler, but no. Of course not.
Ashley Graham instead interviewed Hugh Grant for quite possibly the most awkward interview of all time. Hugh Grant all but refused to answer questions, even calling The Oscars “Vanity Fair,” to which Graham responds “Vanity Fair is where you’ll be letting loose later.” The whole thing made me sick to my stomach.
And does anyone else feel bad that we keep inviting Rihanna to perform “Lift Me Up” at these shows and then she doesn’t win the award? I think adding her and A$AP Rocky to the audience brings added style and attractiveness that would otherwise lack without them – so maybe give her an award to keep her coming back?
We also have Jamie Lee Curtis’s controversial win as one of the only white women nominated in her category. And while I agree Angela Bassett did the thing both in her performance in Black Panther and her outfit last night, it’s hard to get mad at an actress for winning an award the Academy designated for her. Blame The Academy, not the women.
This year’s major cringe wasn’t a slap, but rather Jimmy Kimmel asking activist Malala Yousafzai if she thought Harry Styles really spit on Chris Pine. After she proceeds to say she only talks about peace, Kimmel nicknamed her Malala-land. Again, just gauge my eyes out at this point.
And for those wondering about hookups, Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner were seen together at Jay-Z and Beyonce’s afterparty. Also in attendance? Gigi Hadid and Leonardo DiCaprio. Do with that information what you will.
The Style
Perhaps my favorite part of the night: the clothes. Some of my favorite looks of the night were as follows:
“Listen—no time to explain, but in 2027, someone known as ‘Mr. Beast’ is nominated for Best Director for a film called Coincidentally Spearman. He must not win! If this happens, a timeline is created wherein billions will perish. I have to go—I’ve used all of my time credits on this final jump, and if I stay around any longer, the multiverse will implode.”
The FBI questioned Leonardo DiCaprio in 2018 about his relationship with fugitive businessman Jho Low, according to newly revealed documents.
Low has been accused by international authorities of stealing billions from a sovereign wealth fund known as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB. In previously unreported documents revealed by Bloomberg on Thursday, DiCaprio shared that he met Low in a nightclub in 2010 and the two became friends.
Low not only showered the actor with gifts ― including a first edition of “The Great Gatsby” and the Oscar that Marlon Brando won for “On the Waterfront” ― but partied with him and financed his film “The Wolf of Wall Street.” They even met each other’s mothers.
“I was working for him, and that business also translates into being social,” DiCaprio told a grand jury, according to Bloomberg. “And so we saw each other more, and there was more interaction.”
Low was hit with an Interpol notice for his arrest in 2016 and is believed to be hiding out in China. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was convicted of money laundering and abuse of power as part of the 1MDB scheme in 2018.
DiCaprio wasn’t the only celebrity with whom Low developed a relationship. Kim Kardashian reportedly told the FBI in 2019 that Low gave her then-fiancé Kris Humphries $100,000 for fireworks for their 2011 wedding. He also briefly dated supermodel Miranda Kerr.
Low showered DiCaprio with gifts and financed his 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Bertrand Rindoff Petroff via Getty Images
These relationships were revealed as part of a separate case against rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michél, who is accused of directing foreign financing into Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign and lobbying on behalf of Low and the Chinese government.
Low referred to DiCaprio as “L-Dizzle,” according to messages revealed in the FBI documents. They discussed a $1 billion fund for future projects, as well as an environmentally friendly Belize resort and a Warner Bros. theme park in Asia featuring rides based on DiCaprio’s films.
DiCaprio, who told the FBI that he wasn’t sure how Low made his fortune, said that his publicist Shawn Sachs had hired someone to vet the businessman. DiCaprio said he didn’t “thoroughly read” the background check before starting their many dealings together.
“Usually, DiCaprio relies on his reps to read the reports and give him an okay to continue to work with someone,” wrote FBI agents in the documents obtained by Bloomberg. “In this case, his reps gave him the green light to continue to work with Low.”
Sachs did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a manager for DiCaprio.
DiCaprio said he started to distance himself from Low when news of his alleged crimes emerged in 2015. The FBI wrote that DiCaprio was also “embarrassed” after Low promised to donate a Roy Lichtenstein piece to his foundation and it never materialized.
DiCaprio’s attorneys met with the FBI in 2017 after prosecutors filed a forfeiture action against Low’s assets — which included the rights to “The Wolf of Wall Street” — to hand over the gifts the actor had received. Their relationship has since come to an end.
Leonardo DiCaprio may be pushing 50, but he’s hitting the Paris nightclub scene like a man 20 years younger.
The “Revenant” Oscar winner, 48, was spotted partying during Paris Fashion Week in the Le Piaf nightclub, with the Daily Mailreporting that he “enjoyed a night out partying” with models Maya Jama and Rose Bertram, both 28.
As the Mail points out, DiCaprio has been linked romantically with both women in recent weeks, joking that DiCaprio has been expanding his dating pool to women over the age of 25.
Photos taken at the club indicate that DiCaprio and both women were there at the same time.
A source recently told The Sun that Jama and DiCaprio have reportedly been spending a lot of time together, including a late-night romp in London during the BAFTAs.
“Maya’s schedule is ridiculously busy at the moment but she is making time to work hard and play hard. She had a really late night on Saturday with Leo and his mates at the Firehouse for his pre-BAFTA party. She couldn’t possibly turn down that opportunity,” the source said.
“But she was ready to go again on Sunday night,” the source added. “Leo flew into London for the BAFTA events and was out at Annabel’s, where he saw Maya again. They were two of the last people left standing at the late-night event. They really know how to party.”
There’s reportedly no truth to the rumours that Leonardo DiCaprio, 48, is dating 19-year-old model Eden Polani.
DiCaprio sparked dating rumours after he was spotted sitting next to Polani at model Riley Montana’s album release party last month.
However, a source has since told People, “Leo and Eden just so happened to have been seated next to each other at the party, and were hanging in the same group… Just because Leo might be talking to or sitting with a girl doesn’t mean he’s dating her.”
Polani seems to have since taken down her Instagram account. As per usual with DiCaprio dating rumours, social media users have been poking fun at the age gap between the pair.
However, similar to the rumours surrounding Polani, a source told People they were simply leaving a “big group dinner,” and “were also joined by a number of other people in the car” when they happened to be snapped together.
After the “Titanic” star was spotted with Lamas, her dad, actor Lorenzo Lamas, told the New York Post in December: “I know she likes him very much. I think they met last month. I’m not sure of the circumstances, but that’s what she told me.”
After splitting from his girlfriend of four years, 25-year-old model Camila Morrone, in August, DiCaprio has also been linked to Gigi Hadid, 27.
In all my time on BookTok, there have only been a few novels that actually earned the hype. The algorithm crams book after book down your throat but then, surprisingly, you find one that’s well worth the wait. In this instance, I’m talking about Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
I read this a few years ago and forced everyone in my immediate circle to do the same the second I turned the last page. From start to finish, it’s flawless. It’s a fictionalized epic based on the notorious drama behind Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. It’s as if you interviewed the tumultuous, mystical band and they left nothing on the table.
The book follows Daisy Jones, a mesmerizing artiste who was clearly born to be a star. It leads us through the 60’s along her inevitable rise to fame. Daisy had the looks, the voice, and the attitude — sleeping with rockstars and dabbling with drugs. At the same time, the band The Six led by the angsty Billy Dunne are taking off. When an eagle-eyed producer matches Daisy with The Six, the world is forever changed.
Amazon Prime
Cue the drama. The merger of Daisy Jones + The Six goes on to impact the music industry as their internal drama becomes public. The tale twists and turns until one final concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field signals the end of their time together.
Now, years later, a rising journalist gets the chance to hear their sides of the story. It’s equal parts sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
The story is so addictive it can’t be missed. So if you’re not a reader, you’re in luck. The upcoming TV adaption debuts on March 3, 2023 on Amazon Prime. The 10 episode miniseries is already garnering buzz with a promising cast.
Riley Keough, daughter of the late Lisa Marie Presley and granddaughter of Elvis, will play the lead Daisy and Sam Claflin (Me Before You) will play Billy. Other notable names are Suki Waterhouse and Camila Morrone, who you may also know as Leonardo DiCaprio’s ex-girlfriend.
I can already feel a 70’s-style resurgence on the horizon. This is Gen-Z’s Almost Famous, without a doubt. The way the TikTok community will never be the same after this miniseries premiers. I don’t even know if SHEIN has enough bell bottoms in stock for the trend-hungry consumers.
Sometimes, you can sniff a trend from a mile away. Call me crazy, but I just know we are all going to obsess over the It Girls from Daisy Jones — just like we did with Euphoria. Get your record players out, here are the top trends Daisy Jones & The Six will reignite:
A Curtain Bang Resurgence
No one did curtain bangs and blowouts quite like the women of the 70’s. Whip out those Revlon blow dry brushes (or Dyson Air Wraps for the blessed) and cut your front pieces. We are aiming for bombshell hair and wispy bangs.
Remember, blow dry the top parts and front pieces of your hair away from your face to get the utmost volume.
The Bell Bottom
Honestly, I live for bell bottom jeans. While the baggy jean look has reigned for months, sometimes I like a little shape in my jeans. I’m not talking about anything crazy like skinny jeans, but a fitted thigh is all I need.
I guarantee you that every cast member of this show will at one point rock a pair…and I equally promise that every store will be pushing the 70’s favorite jeans by April.
Band Tees
I can totally see a revival of retro band tees coming back into Urban Outfitters. The oversized vintage-style tee is all the rage, so slap on a picture of the Rolling Stones logo and you’re in business.
Nothing says “I’m with the band” quite like a vintage-inspired tee. This one from Urban is exactly what I’m talking about.
Amazon Prime
Record Players
Remember that era in 2014 when everyone went out and bought a Crosley record player with Tumblr-recommended aesthetic records like The Neighbourhood and The 1975? I just have the weirdest inkling that we are on the cusp of roaming around record stores yet again.
There’s no shame, my dining room wall is covered in vintage records I bought on a discount at my local record store. Bring on all the vinyl for me.
Fur Vests
Anything fur-lined really. A fur vest is the ultimate accessory for your weekend outfit. Seriously, I act differently when I wear a fur vest. Add a pair of sunnies and you’re a rockstar with other places to be.
My personal rec is this Free People fur vest that’s perfect for literally any occasion.
On Monday, the “Don’t Look Up” star was spotted spending time on a yacht off the coast of Saint Barthélemy in the Caribbean, hanging out with friends for the New Year’s vacation.
Back in August, DiCaprio split from girlfriend Camila Morrone after dating for more than four years.
In the time since, the actor has been linked with Gigi Hadid. They were last spotted together having dinner in New York in November.
Then, in December, DiCaprio was spotted with actress Victoria Lamas in Los Angeles, with her dad telling the New York Post that she is “very smitten.”
He added, “I know she likes him very much. I think they met last month. I’m not sure of the circumstances, but that’s what she told me.”
That said, her father clarified, “She’s fond of him, obviously. But they’re not dating, and she does not want that out there because that would be really bad. It’d be embarrassing for her if he should happen to read something that said that they’re dating and they’re not.”
Titanic director James Cameron says he commissioned a scientific study that proves Leonardo DiCaprio’s character could not have survived the “floating door” scene with Kate Winslet’s Rose, a response to angry fans saying the makeshift raft could hold them both. What do you think?
“Then how is Leonardo DiCaprio still alive?”
Sonny Meldal • Assistant Mail Carrier
“I think I’ll wait until this study is peer-reviewed to form an opinion.”
The famed and fictional “Heart of the Ocean” diamond necklace is no match for the one question that remains at the heart of James Cameron’s 1997 epic 3.5-hour film: could Jack Dawson have fit on the door with Rose DeWitt Bukater, ultimately saving his life?
The scene in question takes place after the RMS Titanic meets its fate and begins its descent to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Jack and Rose, the fictional ill-fated lovers who met aboard the ship, find themselves swirling through the icy waters, where they manage to find a thick door that had been ripped off its hinges aboard.
Rose went on first, but as Jack attempted, they both fell off, prompting Jack to allow Rose sole custody of the makeshift island. When help finally comes in lifeboats, Rose is alive while Jack has frozen to death.
Screen capture of the movie “Titanic”, written and directed by James Cameron. Seen here from left, Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack and Kate Winslet as Rose after the Titanic has sunk.
Paramount Pictures. Photo by CBS via Getty Images
Ever since that scene’s release, the question about whether the door had room for Jack as well has been a source of contention. It’s even prompted a dedicated episode of “Mythbusters” on the Discovery Channel, in which they found that if they had tied Rose’s lifejacket to the bottom of the door, it could have supported both of them.
But Cameron insisted after that 2012 finding that Jack “has to die.” And now, the famed director is weighing in once again – with proof.
“We have done a scientific study to put this whole thing to rest and drive a stake through its heart once and for all,” Cameron told Postmedia, according to The Toronto Sun. “We have since done a thorough forensic analysis with a hypothermia expert who reproduced the raft from the movie. …We took two stunt people who were the same body mass of Kate and Leo and we put sensors all over them and inside them and we put them in ice water and we tested to see whether they could have survived through a variety of methods.”
So, what’s the answer?
“There was no way they both could have survived,” Cameron said. “Only one could survive.”
The journey of that study will be revealed in a “little special” set to come out on National Geographic in February, he said, at the same time that “Titanic” is back in theaters to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
And now, two-and-a-half decades later with proof to back him up, Cameron says he has “no” regrets for the movie’s outcome.
“He needed to die. It’s like Romeo and Juliet,” he said. “It’s a movie about love and sacrifice and mortality. The love is measured by the sacrifice.”
On Tuesday morning, Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach, stepped out of City Hall and walked the half block lined by botanical gardens to the city’s convention center, flanked by a small crew of staffers. A press conference was set to start, and Gelber took a seat onstage next to the people who run the Swiss-based global mega-fair empire that is Art Basel. Gelber was in his wide tie and big slacks, a far cry from the Speedos of South Beach, and the crowd included several Swiss politicians, journalists from Asia and South America, billionaire art collectors who live in town, and at least five armed policemen.
By the time his life had led him to this press conference, Gelber had been entangled with Basel for 25 years—in the late 1990s, his father was the mayor of Miami Beach, and the forces were colluding to bring the first-ever expansion of Art Basel to America. Director Lorenzo Rudolf had turned a regional trade fair in the Rhineland into a global power with a wait list of nearly a thousand galleries. After securing a partnership with UBS, Rudolf thirsted for expansion into America. His director of communication, Sam Keller, found that a number of the fair’s most vigorous collectors were advocating for Miami. Miamians weren’t sure why.
“When Sam Keller came to Miami, he came to dinner at our house, and he said they were thinking about coming to Miami—not New York, not Los Angeles, but Miami,” said Rosa de la Cruz, the longtime Miami mega-collector, while on a panel.
“Miami had really gone downhill in the ’80s, and in the ’90s South Beach turned it into a party town, which upset me,” said the collector and real estate developer Craig Robins.
“We went through our Miami Vice phase, which was something we really don’t want to remember a whole lot,” said Gelber, who was living in DC when his dad was mayor, working as a federal prosecutor.
Still there were advocates. The mega-dealer Jeffrey Deitch, perhaps the biggest buyer at the Basel fair, came down to see his clients Norman and Irma Braman and was taken by the Art Deco architecture of South Beach, with the historic buildings ripe for reinvention. Deitch linked Norman with Rudolf and Keller, who then invited a delegation from the Magic City to the lovely Swiss city to see their decades-old fair in a centuries-old city, and they were still unconvinced.
But the Miami advocates persisted and eventually, Art Basel Miami Beach first opened its doors in 2002. The fair brings in an estimated $500 million to region each year, with the week of the fair long since mutating into a bonanza of attendant happenings—museum galas, pop-up galleries, fashion shows, boutique openings, brand activations, NFT nonsense, film premieres, high-profile concerts, and DJ appearances, a pop-up Saint Laurent gallery on the beach displaying Steven Meisel’s photos of Madonna for her book Sex—unmatched anywhere in the American cultural calendar.
So the story has been for at least the last decade or so. But a recent (and somewhat abrupt) changing of the guard at the top of the Basel leadership, coupled with the new vision of the media scion James Murdoch, who bought the largest stake in the fair group’s parent company, MCH Group, in 2020, means that the 20th-anniversary edition comes at a time of upheaval for the fair. Both the outgoing global director, Marc Spiegler, and the incoming global CEO, Noah Horowitz, were onstage Tuesday, sitting next to each other as if a baton was set to be passed between them. Many in the convention center’s grand ballroom were waiting for some spark of drama to emerge, something akin to the shock announcement of Spiegler’s departure a month earlier.
For those ready to pounce on Basel, Spiegler reminded them about those initial doubts surrounding Miami 20 years ago, and even took a veiled shot at rival Frieze, which operates its US fairs in the nation’s two biggest cities.
“Rarely have so many people been so wrong—because the moment this show opened, it established itself as the most important fair in the most important art market in the world,” Spiegler said, staring down the attendees of the press conference from the podium. “And Art Basel in Miami Beach has held that position firmly for 20 years, truly uncontested, despite challenges from New York and from Los Angeles.”
It should be said, even though we should by now be used to this, that even in 2022 the sheer amount of personal wealth on view in Miami during Basel is staggering. Each year hundreds of private jets are chartered down to South Florida, arriving a day early to diligently take in the dozens of private museums and collections and gallery shows and mega-dealer pop-ups. The de la Cruz family opened its Key Biscayne mansion to invited guests Monday morning, and more spoken Spanish than English wafted through the seaside mansion as women in extravagantly high heels walked past a room-sized Ugo Rondinone installation and paintings by Sigmar Polke and Albert Oehlen.
Onto the Rubell Museum, the giant Allapattah space run by the mega-collectors Don and Mera Rubell, which houses the collection they’ve built over 50 years—gigantic works by Sterling Ruby and Keith Haring and a whole room full of Pictures Generation masterpieces. Then to the offices of DACRA, the real estate company built by Craig Robins, the man responsible for the Design District. For hours he offered Champagne and caviar while those on the list—hello, Jorge Pérez!—gawked at the works of art his employees get to hack out emails next to: a quite frank Jenny Saville painting of multilove in bed, a suite of Marlene Dumas paintings that rivaled anything at François Pinault’s museum show of the artist in Venice, and Urs Fischer’s larger-than-life wax statue of Julian Schnabel, intended to be lit and melted down.
Speaking of Schnabel, his son Vito was a floor down in the Buick Building, admiring a painting by Jamian Juliano-Villani at 100 Years, a joint show put on by Deitch and Larry Gagosian. A few blocks away at the ICA Miami was the first Stateside museum show for Michel Majerus, swarmed with advisers who rep the lenders to the show. And then White Cube took over the private beachfront offered to members of Soho Beach House and erected a giant white tent so the likes of actor Eric André, singer Joe Jonas, and collectors Sandretto and Agostino Re Rebaudengo could eat grilled lobster while listening to the legendary Roy Ayers elegantly whack out melodies on the vibraphone.
And the fair hadn’t even opened yet. As guests awoke Tuesday, many rolled through their lobbies to see the works of art installed in various Miami Beach hotels as part of No Vacancy, which awards one of the featured artists a prize of $10,000. One such hotel is the Loews, the preferred local inn of many an art dealer—the place is so lousy with gallery folk it was like a niche reality show waiting to happen. Guggenheim director Richard Armstrong was at one table, Bard’s Hessel Museum of Art director Tom Eccles was at another, and surrounding them were dealers from David Zwirner, Skarstedt, Pace, Karma, Hauser & Wirth. The French dealer slash-TV-star Kamel Mennour was at one table, and New York’s Marianne Boesky was at another, and Sean Kelly was at another. (Gagosian stays at the swanky 1 Hotel, but sources said this year he booked a double suite and then decided not to come.)
She has yet to reach high school, but 13-year-old Julia Butters is already building the career of any actor’s dreams. At the age of 10, she stole scenes opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. It was on that set where Butters would first meet Steven Spielberg, who cast her as a proxy for his eldest sister in his memoir film, The Fablemans.
“I saw Steven walking around the valet [at Universal Studios]. I waved to him through the window, he waved to me, and I was freaking out,” Butters tells Vanity Fair during a recent Zoom. “That was my only interaction with Steven Spielberg ever, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, that’s the closest I’m ever going to get to him.’”
Her prediction didn’t age well. Just a handful of years later, Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s script, emblazoned with the Amblin Entertainment logo, came her way. “I was so excited,” Butters says. “I remember just being like, ‘Don’t blow it. You gotta try your best. You gotta try your hardest. We have to make this worth it.’ And it turned out to be worth it.”
After securing the role of Reggie, inspired by Spielberg’s real-life sister Anne, Butters had just one question: “Is there a monkey in this movie?” The actor had watched Spielberg, a 2017 HBO documentary about the legendary filmmaker, which recounts the time his mother spontaneously brought a pet monkey home. “I had this joke on set where that was what made me want to do the movie,” she says. “That was the deal—if there was a monkey, I would work on it.” And how was it sharing the screen with an orangutan? Says Butters, “Crystal was such an incredible actress.”
Spielberg’s love of his sister is clear throughout The Fabelmans, shown through details and observations too specific to be made up—from her likening the family’s Northern California move to being “parachuted into the land of the giant sequoia people” to asking when “Sammy” plans on making movies with roles for girls. Although often in the periphery, Reggie’s protectiveness over her mother, Mitzi (played by Michelle Williams), breaks through. During a camping trip, she shields her inebriated mother, dancing by the fire in a transparent nightgown, from prying eyes. And after learning of her parents’ split, she observes that it must be difficult for their mother to be “loved by someone who worships” her as their father does.
“She feels a responsibility to be kind of the mother of the family while her mom is out playing and dancing and having fun and living life,” Butters tells me of Reggie. “Her mother has such a way about her—this innocence, it’s like a breath of fresh air. She feels youthful and young and happy. She just radiates such a glow. Reggie really wants to protect that and keep that fire lit.”
Butters, who plays Reggie from ages 13 to 16, grew similarly attached to her onscreen Fabelmans family—Williams as free-spirited mother Mitzi, Paul Dano as by-the-numbers father Arnold, fellow sisters Natalie (Keeley Karsten) and Lisa (Sophia Kopera), and Gabriel LaBelle, who plays the Spielberg-inspired character of Sammy. “We all built a safe space where you can say what’s on your mind if you’re feeling anxious or sad or happy,” Butters says. “And I think that was really important with such an intense set,” adding of her younger costars, “We were all geeking out over the fact that we had made our dreams come true, working with Steven.”
When I ask Butters if she had jitters about meeting the real-life Anne, who would, after the period depicted in the movie, go on to cowrite and produce Big, starring Tom Hanks, she pauses. “I get nervous about everything, so that’s kind of a funny question.” Butters, who played a kid with obsessive-compulsive disorder on the ABC sitcom American Housewife, says she struggles with her own anxieties, which made their own appearance on the set of The Fabelmans.
One day, a scene involving Reggie and Sammy quickly bantering while washing dishes was placed in front of Butters, who was in the thick of schoolwork, just 30 minutes before it was meant to be filmed. “I was having trouble getting it out on set,” she remembers. “I got super anxious because I was on a Steven Spielberg set and I really wanted to do the best I could. So of course when I couldn’t get it, I got frustrated with myself. And I beat myself up to the point of shaking.”
One of the most iconic shots in the past three decades of film is Leonardo DiCaprio, in tux and tails, standing atop a grand staircase in front of a clock in Titanic, turning and extending his hand to Rose, played by Kate Winslet. That shot almost didn’t happen, because according to director James Cameron, DiCaprio nearly talked himself out of the movie. Twice.
In an interview with GQ ahead of the release of Avatar: The Way of Water,Cameron continued his hit parade of comments and anecdotes, this time reminiscing about the making of the hit 1997 movie, and casting DiCaprio as Jack in particular. According to Cameron, DiCaprio was a hit in his audition, “charmed everybody, myself included.” That’s not to mention the accountants and various other random staff who made their way into the audition room to get a glimpse of the actor. Then came the chemistry read with Winslet. When Cameron took him to read with his eventual romantic co-star, the first of several on-screen pairings for the duo, DiCaprio balked.
“He said, ‘you mean I’m reading?’” Cameron recalls. “And I said yeah, he said oh, I don’t read. I said, ‘well,’ I shook his hand, I said, ‘thanks for coming by.’ And he said, ‘wait, you mean if I don’t read, I don’t get the part? Just like that?’”
Yep, just like that.
“I said, ‘oh yeah, come on, this is like a giant movie that’s going to take two years of my life, and you’ll be gone doing five other things while I’m doing post-production and all the model work and everything, so I’m not gonna fuck it up by making the wrong decision in casting, so you’re gonna read or you’re not gonna get the part,’” Cameron says. That did the trick—Leo read.
“He comes in and he’s like every ounce of his entire being is just so negative, right up until I said action, and then he turned into Jack and Kate just lit up and they went into this whole thing and played the scene. Dark clouds had opened up and a ray of sun came down and lit up Jack. I’m like, alright, he’s the guy.” Crisis averted, or so Cameron thought.
A few weeks later, DiCaprio got in touch with Cameron and told him he thought Jack should have “some affliction or some problem or some traumatic thing from the past,” which Cameron took as a sign that maybe the young DiCaprio wasn’t actually the right guy for the role.
“I said, ‘You’ve done all these great characters that all have a problem, whether it’s addiction or whatever it is, I said you’ve gotta learn how to hold the center and not have all that stuff. This isn’t Richard III. When you can do what Jimmy Stewart or Gregory Peck did, they just fucking stood there. They didn’t have a limp or a lisp or whatever, then you’ll be ready for this, but I’m thinking you’re not ready, because what I’m talking about is actually much harder. Those things are easier, those are props, those are crutches, what I’m talking about is much harder and you’re probably not quite ready for it.’
DiCaprio powered through after Cameron’s tough love pep talk.
“The second I said that, it clicked for him that this was a really hard, challenging film for him, and this was my mistake: I hadn’t sufficiently laid out the challenge for him,” Cameron says.
And that, it would appear, is how you win a Best Director Oscar, as Cameron did for Titanic. Scene.
James Cameron is sharing some surprising details from the making of his blockbuster hit “Titanic,” which celebrates 25 years of being released next month.
In a new video interview with GQ, the iconic director revealed that he almost didn’t end up casting Leonardo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet – his two romantic leads whose careers as major Hollywood movie stars were cemented by the landmark Oscar-winning film.
While considering actors to play the roles of his star-crossed lovers on the doomed ocean liner, Cameron explained that he was initially thinking of someone like Gwyneth Paltrow for Rose, and that while Winslet had been proposed as an option, he was afraid she was too much of a typecast.
“I actually didn’t see Kate at first,” he said in the video. “She had done a couple of other historical dramas as well, and she was getting a reputation as ‘Corset Kate’ doing historical stuff.” (It is true that “The Reader” actress’s three credits prior to “Titanic” were also period costume dramas – “Sense and Sensibility” in 1995, followed by “Jude” and “Hamlet” one year later.)
Cameron went on to say that he was afraid that putting Winslet in the role “was going to look like the laziest casting in the world,” but that he nonetheless agreed to meet her in the end. Of course, he thought she was “fantastic,” and the rest is history.
With DiCaprio, meanwhile, there were some initial hiccups.
After an initial “hysterical” meeting with the heartthrob actor, in which all the women in the production office somehow ended up in the conference room alongside Cameron, DiCaprio was invited back for a screen test with Winslet, who had already been cast at that point.
But when the “Romeo + Juliet” star came in, he was surprised to learn he’d have to read lines and be filmed alongside Winslet to gauge their chemistry on camera.
“He came in, he thought it was another meeting to meet Kate,” Cameron described.
He remembered telling the pair, “We’ll just run some lines, and I’ll video it.”
But then DiCaprio – who by then had led several movies and scored an Oscar nomination for 1993’s “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” – informed Cameron, “You mean I’m reading?…I don’t read,” meaning that he no longer submitted to having to audition for film roles.
Without missing a beat, Cameron extended his hand to the star and and told him, “Well, thanks for coming by.”
The director then explained to DiCaprio the enormity of the project before them, how the film was going to take two years out of his life, and how he was “not going to f**k it up by making the wrong decision in casting.”
“So you’re going to read or you’re not going to get the part,” Cameron said he told the young actor.
DiCaprio reluctantly submitted, to his credit.
Cameron remembered how the actor “lit up” and “became Jack,” creating electric chemistry with Winslet later seen plainly in the film itself.
“Titanic” sailed into theaters on December 19, 1997 and eventually went on to win 11 Academy Awards, including best director for Cameron.
Remember that feeling? Watching Pulp Fiction for the first time and wondering … what the hell is happening? Well, now you can have that feeling for eight episodes coming soon to your TV.
That’s right. Cult-favorite, Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is making his debut foray into television with an eight-part limited series. The project is rumored to be for a streaming service — as everything is these days. And the director is putting off production of his 10th (maybe final?) feature film to focus on the magic of the small screen.
And it’s coming sooner than you think. Set to premiere in early 2023, Tarantino’s move to TV — and his vague final film — coincides with the book tour for his recent literary offering Cinema Speculation. This is the next chapter, he said in 2020. “This is the time for the third act [of my life] to just lean a little bit more into the literary … I can be a little bit more of a homebody and become a little bit more of a man of letters.”
Whatever this project is, it’s bound to be … interesting.
Tarantino’s films are known as a celebration of cinema, especially his recent feat, Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood. No stranger to streaming services, he partnered with Netflix on the 2015 release of his film The Hateful Eight. And then there are his television credits — From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series was an episodic series based on his film with Robert Rodriguez. Plus, he wrote and directed two episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2005 and helmed one episode of E.R. in 1995.
However, some are apprehensive about the news as Tarantino’s known for being … provocative. Some call it outright offensive. It started with his Pulp Fiction characters distressingly gratuitous use of the N-word. And it’s been controversy after controversy ever since.
Despite female-focused films like Jackie Brown and the Kill Bill Saga that claim to be about empowering women, Tarantino has a penchant for depicting violence against them. Although his films are famous for their blood and gore, women are often the brunt of this abuse.
And the violence doesn’t end onscreen. Reports broke a few years ago that Tarantino spat on Uma Thurman while filming Kill Bill and physically choked her. If that wasn’t enough, he forced her to drive an unsafe car … which crashed, injuring Thurman’s neck and knees. He actually strangled Diane Kruger while shooting a scene for Inglourious Basterds in the interest of “on-camera realism”. Tarantino claims all of this was part of filming, in pursuit of a good shot, but … at what cost?
Even Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood — though star-studded and critically acclaimed — simmers with violence and problematic behavior on and off the screen. His most recent offering is supposed to be a tribute to Sharon Tate. But how is a reimagining of her tragic murder an homage? And the hero is a “wife-killer” who is celebrated in the film. Not to mention the Roman Polanski-ness of it all — eww.
Quentin Tarantino on the set of Once Upon a Timevia Sony Pictures Publicity
If it weren’t enough to glorify Polanski in the film, Tarantino has been callously dismissive of Polanski’s notorious sexual abuse case. In 1977, Polanski was arrested and charged in Los Angeles with six offenses against a 13-year-old girl.
In a resurfaced 2003 Howard Stern interview, Stern asked The Pulp Fiction director why Hollywood still embraced Polanski despite the alleged assault of a child. Tarantino replied, “she was down with this,” dismissing the classification of rape. “He didn’t rape a 13-year-old. It was statutory rape. … He had sex with a minor. That’s not rape. To me, when you use the word rape, you’re talking about violence, throwing them down; it’s like one of the most violent crimes in the world. You can’t throw the word rape around. It’s like throwing the word ‘racist’ around. It doesn’t apply to everything people use it for.”
Tarantino has since apologized — although it took him 15 years. But given his characterization of Polanski in Once Upon a Time, wouldn’t you say the apology’s a tad insincere? And let’s not get into Quentin’s half-assed comments about longtime collaborator Harvey Weinstein.
So Tarantino might be one of the most famous names in film, but does he deserve it? And will his new project be packed with his typical unrestrained violence and callous mistreatment of women? Time will only tell.
Leonardo DiCaprio is a year older. He celebrated his 48th year last week. It’s not quite the big 5-0, but he’s undeniably older, and you know what that means: You and I are also older. Sorry! It may feel like yesterday that we could watch that apple-cheeked heartthrob on Growing Pains reruns. It may feel like it was a week ago that poor Jack froze on a raft. DiCaprio was just the ethereal Romeo to our Juliet, and now he’s rounded the corner to middle age. So that’s tough.
We always took solace in the fact that he absolutely refused to grow up. His girlfriends stayed the same age (early 20s). He partied here, there, and everywhere. But maybe the sun is even setting on his perpetual youth-like lifestyle. He just had a birthday party at a mansion in Beverly Hills, per Page Six. If you squint. there’s growth there, right? Some maturity, even. His birthday party wasn’t in a club. It wasn’t on some yacht. There even was a no-phones rule, reportedly. It’s like was recreating the idea of the ’90s, when reporters could follow you and your Pussy Posse, but could not catch you, but somehow in a more responsible, rules-based way.
The reported guest list, too, is betraying a bit of growth. It’s not just Lukas Haas and Tobey Maguire anymore (although Tobey Maguire was there). It was Bradley Cooper! LeBron James! Kate Hudson, Rami Malek, Ashton Kutcher, Stella Maxwell, Adrien Brody, and Jamie Foxx! It was Mick Jagger! It’s his parents George DiCaprio and Irmelin Indenbirken. DiCaprio is casting a wide net in his dotage. It’s not just him and the boys anymore. It’s all of Hollywood, basically.
The wide net did not catch Gigi Hadid though. She wasn’t there, reportedly. The actor and the model have been seen together in many headlines, but few pictures, since DiCaprio’s apparent breakup with his longtime girlfriend Camila Morrone in August—months after her 25th birthday. And maybe this is maturity too. He’s allegedly dating a mother of one, who can’t just drop her whole life when you want to celebrate your 48th year on earth, and that’s great ultimately. That’s growth. And it doesn’t feel so terrible, right? He can look around at the friends he’s amassed, the family still in his life, the Beverly Hills mansion provided, and think, If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is. Or whatever goes through DiCaprio’s 48-year-old mind.
