How Andy Warhol’s love life fueled his art; a myth about Leonardo DiCaprio sweeps social media; a new doc tries to look beyond the idea that Marilyn Monroe was a “tragic victim.” All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
Warhol’s Love Life: There’s a perception that Andy Warhol kept his love life hidden, and his art separate from his interior emotions, but that’s all nonsense, says Andrew Rossi, director of the new Netflix docuseries The Andy Warhol Diaries. He tells MovieMaker‘s Margeaux Sippell that Warhol — like damn near everyone who creates anything — used his art to “work out his feelings. … you see that his love life has a real impact on the images he makes.”
Today’s Dumb Joke: I guess he also must’ve been really in love with soup, huh?
Ukraine: Terrible news outlet The Daily Mail posted and then deleted a report yesterday that great actor and frequent-giver-to-good-causes Leonardo DiCaprio donated $10 million to help defend Ukraine. In fact he did not, a person close to the actor tells to MovieMaker. But DiCaprio has made donations to humanitarian groups helping in Ukraine — CARE, IRC, Save the Children and UNHCR — none of which, of course, are funding the fighting. You can read more here, or just click on the names of the charities, all of which are well-established and credible. Donations are tax-deductible.
DiCaprio: The $10 million myth continues to find footing on social media today, because that’s what happens when bad news outlets like the Daily Mail make mistakes and never publicly correct them.
Congratulations: Deadline reports that Cinedigm has picked up all North American rights to Pennywise: The Story Of IT, a feature documentary about the iconic Stephen King villain that is co-directed by friend of MovieMaker John Campopiano and Christopher Griffiths. “Cinedigm will release on TVOD platforms including Apple, Prime Video, Google and VUDU, as well as on horror streaming channel Screambox, this summer,” Deadline writes. The film includes rare interviews with many of the key people in bringing Pennywise to life.
Pam and Tommy: I’m going to miss Pam and Tommy, the compelling, empathetic and darkly funny Hulu limited series that aired its finale last night. It made a lot of stuff up, but its versions of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, played by Lily Collins and Sebastian Stan, were captivating. Real-life sex-tape thief Rand Gauthier, played by Seth Rogen, got a fairly sympathetic redemption arc I’m sure not everyone will love, but I think it worked. The series is also notable for some very inspired needle drops, as IndieWire discusses with its music supervisor, Amanda Thomas.
Marilyn Monroe: While you’re waiting for Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde, starring Ana de Armas as the actress, you may want to check out Karen McGann new CNN docuseries Reframed: Marilyn Monroe. McGann tells the Factual America podcast that she wanted to get past the widely held perception that Monroe “was this tragic victim, that she was a passive person who was kind of used and abused by men, that she was exploited. When we do that we deny someone a personality, we deny them a character, and we deny them a sense of their own agency.” You can watch the interview on YouTube or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or right here:
Winning Time: Fans of the new Adam McKay-produced show about the Showtime-era Los Angeles Laker are going to really like this Hollywood Reporter piece on its origins. It starts with one of the show’s creators, Jim Hecht, showing up at the home of author Jeff Pearlman, asking to option his book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty. “Sober for years already, he brought a bottle of nonalcoholic wine along with a block of chocolate and a big tomato, hoping to sweeten the offer, or, at the very least, to be remembered,” writes THR‘s Lacey Rose. I’m really liking both the series and Pearlman’s book.
Ryan Coogler: TMZ has police body cam footage in which the director of Black Panther, one of the biggest films of all time, tries very patiently to explain to police officers that Bank of America a made a huge mistake by calling the cops on him for attempting to withdraw money from his own account. Here’s the background if you haven’t followed the story.
Dates Shift: You’re going to need to pretty much rearrange all of your plans for the next several two years, at least, because Warner Bros. has moved the dates of some films. The Flash (the one with Michael Keaton returning as Batman) will be out June 23, 2023 instead of Nov. 4, 2022; Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will not be out on March 17, 2023 instead of Dec. 16, 2022, and Timothée Chalamet’s Wonka will now come out on Dec. 15, 2023 instead of March 17, 2023. Okay, WB, no problem, but now we expect these movies to be perfect.
Main image: Andy Warhol in Netflix’s The Andy Warhol Diaries.
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