celebrity movie
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- 4 Disturbing Theories About the Message Behind Jordan Peele's Us - POPSUGAR Australia
- You Won’t Believe How Much Money Bradley Cooper Makes - Celebrity Insider
- 'I enjoy the craft, not the celebrity': Jason Clarke on avoiding fame - Sydney Morning Herald
| 4 Disturbing Theories About the Message Behind Jordan Peele's Us - POPSUGAR Australia Posted: 31 Mar 2019 03:53 PM PDT
Warning: Spoilers ahead! If you watched Us for the umpteenth time already, you aren't alone. Complex and heavily nuanced with social and political themes — right down to the names of the doppelgängers — Jordan Peele's horror movie is a tapestry of symbolism and satire we can't help but discuss over and over again. And horror movie it is, according to Peele himself. There are endless meanings we can glean from Us, but it's hard to deny its terrifying reflection of us. Peele asks every one of us how we look at ourselves in the mirror, and then brings our own reflection to life so we can't do anything but look at ourselves. There's a reason why one of the taglines of the movie is "Watch yourself." We've broken down the main themes we think Us aims to discuss, proving why it's such a prescient movie. 1. The Fractured Climate of the United States
In an interview with The Root, Peele said, "[W]hen I decided to write this movie, I was stricken with the fact that we are in a time where we fear the other, whether it is the mysterious invader that we think is going to come and kill us or take our jobs or the faction that we don't live near that voted a different way than us." When Red's family invades the Wilson home, Gabe asks them: "What are you people?" to which Red replies, "We're Americans." Red wants people to see the Tethered members of the same society as the "regular" people. Ironically, in trying to prove they're Americans, the doppelgängers tether themselves to a piece of controversial American history in the form of 1986 charity event "Hands Across America." It included participants from all walks of life fighting against poverty, but ended up being somewhat of a fundraising failure. Peele told Vanity Fair: "It's a great gesture — but you can't actually cure hunger and all that." Is Peele suggesting that the event can't help the doppelgängers either? Perhaps. When the doppelgängers recreate this event, they are blindly reverting to a publicized event that boosted morale but wasn't effective; instead of fighting against nationwide poverty, they are fighting against their own oppression and homelessness on the surface — even if their execution is questionable. Whether their uprising becomes a success unlike the real event is left open-ended, but the way the camera pans across the landscape at the end of the movie and shows the span of them holding hands in solidarity suggests a new, potentially dystopian future . . . or just history repeating itself. 2. Materialism, Privilege, and Class Divisions
It's pretty obvious that there's a significant disparity in social class between the surface humans and their doppelgängers. The latter are literally below their counterparts in all facets of life, it seems, forced to suffer at the expenses of the privileged and wealthy. Adelaide ruthlessly climbs her way up the social ladder because the capitalistic institutions in place seem to prevent her or her fellow doppelgängers from achieving success any other way. Can we begrudge Adelaide any more than we can Red, who returns to take back what she feels is rightfully hers in an epic game of survival of the fittest? Reddit user Rydizzle234 also argues that the movie is about social inequality: "The main message of the movie in my mind is expressed near the end of the film when one of the characters mentions something like 'We all look alike, with flesh and blood yet we live very different lives.' This illustrates the fact that we are all human and equal in our creation but disparity varies rapidly here in the US and worldwide between the classes." What's even more painful to realise is that the surface humans — except for Adelaide — are not even aware of their existence until much later, which means they don't know just how good they have it. When the family walks across the beach, we see each of their shadows clear as day. While this shot can be taken to hint at what lies beneath them, it can also show just how oblivious we can be to our surroundings, even when it's right next to us.
In fact, Peele himself acknowledges how privilege is gained on the backs of the underprivileged. "We live in a country that is about every man is created equal, and [yet] it's built on the backs of genocide. It's built on bloody soil. In the very DNA of this country, there are great ideas, and there are the worst horrors that humans can create," he said to Vanity Fair. "So I feel like if I'm going to accept the privilege I have as a modern American with opportunity, I have to take on some of that guilt of the sins. The sins, the people who suffer and have suffered so I can have." A particularly affecting scene is the flashback Adelaide has at the end, where we see a side-by-side of the activities of the people on the boardwalk and their doppelgängers forced to mimic their behaviours underneath them without knowing why and without any of the amenities of something as simple as a food court. Fast forward to the present, and Gabe's pride over a boat to show off to his wealthy friend, Kitty Tyler's many facial enhancements, or Zora's addiction to her phone feel shallow and gratuitous when juxtaposed against the decrepit tunnels and the woes of their shadows. After all, technology only gets them so far. Not only are the Tylers immediately killed off in their lofty house, but when Kitty asks her Alexa-equivalent Ophelia to call the police, Ophelia instead plays the song, "F*ck Tha Police." 3. The Duality of Human Nature
Peele stresses that there's a monster inside each of us, and he uses that as a launching pad for the movie. By juxtaposing the surface humans against their doppelgängers, Peele drives home the argument that we can be our own worst enemy. While speaking to NPR, he said, "Now, throughout history the doppelgänger mythology exists. And what I think it represents is this — is everything that we don't face in ourselves. It is a representation of the guilt, the trauma, the fear, the hatred that might be buried underneath layers of pleasantry. All that stuff that we don't deal with: When it comes out, it'll come out in crazy ways." In examining the duality of humans, Peele calls for a reckoning of human and societal behaviour while at the same time upending the definitions of a good and bad person. Once the Wilson family begins killing their counterparts, they stop being afraid and hesitating. Zora and Adelaide in particular take great pleasure in killing the Tylers' doppelgängers. As they make their escape, the family even goes as far as turning the killings into some kind of competition and figuring out who killed the most. They are by no means the "villains" here, but facing their counterparts brings out their inner darkness. Adelaide may have scammed Red out of a privileged life, but her track record shows she is not a bad person per se. This puts viewers in the difficult position of determining whether or her actions are just and she is simply a victim of her circumstances. Having the two physical Adelaides pitted against each other at the centre of the movie personifies this introspection; they're both doing what they can and slowly resorting to their baser instincts to win and survive even as they stand as reminders of the other's wrongdoings. Killing Red doesn't expunge Adelaide's crimes, but it reminds her and us that they're intrinsically not all that different. 4. A Foreshadowing of Judgment Day
A young Adelaide first sees a man holding a Jeremiah 11:11 sign on the Santa Cruz boardwalk in 1986, not realising that it's meant to be a warning about the Tethered. The actual Bible verse says, "Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them." There are several interpretations to what this could mean; a Reddit user posits two of them: "The evil are the tethered, who are coming for mankind, unable to escape. OR the evil is the pointless suffering the tethered have to endure for the sake of humanity." While Red believes the Tethered are being tested by God, it's clear that surface humans don't have strong faith in God, becoming less and less tethered to their faith and more tethered to their materials goods. The glimpses we get of a post-apocalyptic world feels like the onset of Judgment Day.  |
| You Won’t Believe How Much Money Bradley Cooper Makes - Celebrity Insider Posted: 31 Mar 2019 07:46 PM PDT Bradley Cooper has blown up in the past few years. Ever since his great performance in Jennifer Garner's TV Show, Alias; his time on Wedding Crashers starring Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, and Rachel McGowan, and finally, his big role in The Hangover franchise as well Silver Linings Playbook starring Jennifer Lawrence. After starring in a plethora of successful films, Bradley debuted directorially with A Star Is Born, starring himself and Lady Gaga. The Oscar-winning movie – while it didn't receive the award for Best Picture – did blow the critics away and performed well at the box office. A consequence of fame and success is, of course, money, and according to multiple reports, Bradley Cooper is now swimming in it. A Star Is Born proved especially lucrative for the actor-turned-director. Box Office Mojo claims as of March 2019, the Lady Gaga-led movie has earned approximately $433,869,279 all around the globe. Moreover, the movie only cost $36,000,000, which means it scored a significant profit in total. Back in 2015, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that American Sniper and The Hangover movies earned him approximately $15-$20 million. Essentially, Bradley was already earning significant money before he directed A Star Is Born. In 2014 and in 2015, he earned $46 million and $41.5 million respectively. Forbes reports that Bradley made so much money in 2014 because of Guardians Of The Galaxy, American Hustle, as well as the film mentioned above, Silver Linings Playbook. The year after, he starred in American Sniper, Aloha, as well as Wet Hot American Summer. The star also made money from his production company which he shares with the director, Todd Phillips. Although their reports are described by critics as mere estimations, Celebrity Net Worth claims Bradley is now worth $100,000,000. It's clear Bradley is now one of the biggest stars in the world. He also has a child he shares with the supermodel, Irina Shayk. Advertisement In past interviews, Irina explained that she really didn't like the idea of showing the entire world goes on in their personal lives, especially regarding their newborn child. Post Views: 172  
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| Posted: 30 Mar 2019 05:45 AM PDT "I enjoy the craft, not the celebrity," Clark says. "I don't want to be in a big Marvel movie where it becomes your life. Yes, you can travel on a private jet, but I'm pretty happy taking my kids to the pool on a Saturday afternoon and enjoying what I do. "I want a life outside this business," he adds. "I like my time not being an actor, not worrying about chasing this role or reading that script. I like to read books because I enjoy them, rather than because there might be a film in them."  Clarke (middle) with Alexander Skarsgaard and Keira Knightley in The Aftermath. Credit:DAVID APPLEBY It's a Friday afternoon in Los Angeles, where Clarke has lived for more than a decade now, and he's relaxing at home after flying in the previous night from the London premiere of The Aftermath. It's the time of day when he often calls Australia, having just got off the phone with his mother, who'd just returned from her regular Saturday morning swim in Newcastle. In 2018 Clarke married his long-term partner, French actor Cecile Breccia, and the couple have a four-year-old son and a baby boy. It was that growth of domestic responsibility, after years as an itinerant and initially under-employed actor, that helped sharpen Clarke's focus for Pet Sematary. In the movie he plays Louis Creed, a doctor who relocates with his wife and two children from Boston to rural Maine, and Clarke understood the disturbing lengths parenthood takes the character to. "The book really disturbed me, but it also has an incredible beauty," Clarke says. "There's a section where Louis is writing about how his dead child is dressed in the way no child should be: wearing a suit. Those are some full-on images. There are words for a person who has lost a wife or a husband, but there's no descriptive word for someone who has lost a child." In the novel, which has had elements of the plot extensively reworked for Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer's movie, a family tragedy leads Clarke's desperate man of science to an ancient burial ground in the nearby woods where life can be resurrected even if the soul is lost. Clarke, who'd first read Pet Sematary in high school, went back through the book again, while also reading the writings of musician Nick Cave, who has eloquently detailed his own grief at losing his 15-year-old son Arthur in 2015.  Clarke, as Louis, investigates the burial ground in Pet Sematary. Credit:Kerry Hayes "When I re-read it, it was a very different book. When you've held your own children and looked in their eyes it changes everything," Clarke says. "The book touches on grief itself and the need to hold on to what is ours, moving into this Frankenstein thing of when a monster comes back, it might not be the same but it's still something and someone." Stephen King's 1983 novel was originally made into a film in 1989 (with a catchy Ramones theme song), matching the era's preference for scary but not always subtle B-movie horror adaptations. The best-selling author, who has communicated his approval of the new version to the studio and filmmakers, has seen his work pushed in every direction, from Stanley Kubrick's 1980 invocation with The Shining – which King famously does not like – to 2017's supernatural blockbuster take on It. Clarke believes the wheel is turning again for King devotees looking for a layered screen take. The casting of Clarke, along with independent filmmaker and actor Amy Seimetz, as Louis' wife Rachel, and John Lithgow as Jud Crandall, the elderly neighbour who introduced Louis to the burial ground's cursed power, suggests a care that Clarke believes extends across the production. "It comes down to the people you're involved in and what's on the page," Clarke says. "They have to bring scares – that's what the audience wants, and what has made King traditionally very tricky to adapt. He's a great novelist, not a page-turning thrill-seeker, and he writes about the human condition incredibly well. I hope people want to see it, and they're both scared and disturbed by the film."  Clarke (left) on the set of Pet Sematary with directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer and co-star John Lithgow. Credit:Kerry Hayes One of the reasons Clarke was the first actor cast in Pet Sematary is his ability to bring illumination to morally compromised characters. The actor excels at men who with the best of intentions nonetheless engage with their flaws and failings. It's about more than giving depth to a villain, something Clarke has mastered, it requires the ability to hold every facet of a personality in proximity, so that the best and worst of someone are in conversation. "There's always black and white and grey. We always know in life that nothing is ever the same and that territory interests me," Clarke says. "You can't judge a person's life on one event. For Louis, the true consequences of what he's done is that there's someone inside that monster, and you've got to take responsibility for that and the consequences of what follows." In Kathryn Bigelow's remarkable Zero Dark Thirty, the 2012 film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Clarke memorably plays a CIA officer who, under orders, oversees the torture of detainees, but later takes responsibility for the crimes to help further the pursuit. In 2017's hugely under-appreciated Chappaquiddick, he plays Ted Kennedy, younger brother of the assassinated John and Bobby, whose privilege and noble self-belief carry him through a scandal that costs a young woman her life. "At the end of Chappaquiddick you see real footage of people who voted for Ted afterwards, who thought he had a hard break, and people who thought he should hang. As an actor in this grey area trying to tell this story you're commenting on their world," Clarke says. "Depiction is not endorsement. It's something that makes us question who we are and what we are."  Clarke as the compromised Teddy Kennedy with Kate Mara as Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick.Credit:Claire Folger Clarke has played a terrorist invading the Oval Office (2013's White House Down), a racist Mississippi cotton farmer whose wife deserts him (2017's Mudbound, one of Netflix's best original movies), and a stoic but sympathetic colleague to Ryan Gosling's Moon walker Neil Armstrong (2018's First Man). What he's rarely played is a version of himself: gregarious, a believer in social and economic justice and naturally inquisitive. When the conversation, which can jump around with Clarke, alights on suitable children's television, he happily writes down my recommendation of the ABC's terrific animated series Bluey for his oldest son ("I can't take any more Bob the Builder," he confesses). A compliment on his facial hair work in the forthcoming HBO/Sky miniseries Catherine the Great, where he plays 18th century Russian statesman Grigory Potemkin to Helen Mirren's empress, draws an excitable admission. "Dude, I have wanted to wear a moustache for ages. I wanted one for Aftermath and I grew it, but they made me cut it off for the first day of filming," Clarke says. "When the moustache arose again I didn't have time to grow my own – I'm not Tony Hayes, the great facial hair actor of the Australian cinema – so I stuck on a pretty good one." Starring in a period drama ticked off another box for Clarke, the son of a shearer who discovered period dramas on the ABC as a teenager in the 1980s. He quickly gave up studying law at university once he discovered acting – "I'd be a sweaty ambulance chaser if I hadn't," he says – and while his career has taken a different path to Hugh Jackman, who Clarke studied with at Sydney's Actors Studio, or Cate Blanchett, who he did one of his first theatre productions with post-graduation, he's happy with where he's at now.  Clarke as Grigory Potemkin with Helen Mirren as Russian empress Catherine the Great in the upcoming HBO/Sky miniseries Catherine the Great.Credit:HBO/Sky "I always thought that if you can get to a certain stage in your career, you can relax a bit," Clarke says. "Then you need to trust time and space that you don't jump into the next project – or the wrong one – too soon. The ability to let things go is just as important as the ability to grab on, but you can get to a certain point where you start to really enjoy what you're doing." Clarke, who had his first Australian TV bit parts on Blue Heelers in 1995, has been in his share of bad movies – although sometimes he's the best thing in them, as was the case with his John Connor in the 2015 reboot Terminator Genisys (a film that took $620 million at the worldwide box office but was considered a commercial failure). But as a working actor he takes it in his stride. Clarke doesn't believe any film starts out trying to be bad, and as far as he's concerned it's doing the work that matters, no matter the budget or co-stars. "Practising the art is the art. Good or bad or monetised is up to other people," Clarke says. "I'd love to be one of those veteran English actors, like Sir Ian McKellen, working on screen into my 80s and 90s. I don't want to be put in a box and told who I can and can't be." Pet Sematary opens on April 4. work. Craig Mathieson has been the film critic for The Sunday Age since March 2012, having previously held the same position for Rolling Stone and The Bulletin. The former magazine editor writes widely on film, music and television, and is still able to quote sizeable chunks of the dialogue from Michael Mann's Heat. Most Viewed in EntertainmentLoading  |
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