Tenet isn’t the first wide-release title during the summer movie season — the Russell Crowe-starring Unhinged and Selena Gomez-produced The Broken Hearts Gallery are — but it’s certainly the most anticipated. Even if no one knows what the heck it’s about. Something about inversions, I dunno? To keep Tenet‘s plot a secret, director Christopher Nolan hand-delivered the script to some of his actors, including Kenneth Branagh.

“I’ll tell you how I got the script. The door knocked, I opened the door and standing at the door was an international film director called Chris Nolan. He had an envelope under his arm… ‘I’ve come to deliver the script to you.’ It doesn’t get more personal then that,” Branagh told Collider. “[I asked], ‘How will we talk about this?’ [Nolan said], “24 hours from now, sir, I will give you a telephone call and we will discuss it.” It’s [that] simple.”

It’s fun to imagine that, upon receiving the phone call 24 hours later, Branagh told Nolan, “Boy, this thing is a steaming pile of dung. Yeesh.” Seems unlikely, though.

Anyway, just remember, the next time you hear a knock on door, it could be “international film director” Christopher Nolan on the other side. Or more likely it’s Amazon dropping off the socks you ordered. But they’re Batman socks, so it’s kind of the same thing.

(Via Collider)

The Wednesday Night Wars continue to be tilted in AEW’s favor, although this week’s battle proved to be one of the closest in recent memory.

As reported by Showbuzz Daily, AEW Dynamite came out on top this week, with a total of 677,000 viewers — down 53,000 viewers from last week. In the 18-49 key demographic, AEW’s ratings continued to slide, down to a .23 from last week’s .29 (and .32 two weeks ago). This week’s Dynamite featured Orange Cassidy being beaten with a bag of his namesake, as well as Jon Moxley doing his best Adam Cole impersonation with a car windshield. The show was the 14th highest rated cable show on Wednesday.

Coming off TakeOver: In Your House, complete with a main event title change, this week’s episode of NXT still lost against Dynamite, however the margin was razor thin — the yellow ropes scored 673,000 viewers this week, down from 715,000 last week, putting the two shows within 4,000 viewers of each other. NXT’s 18-49 demo number was .19, down .01 from last week and equal to two weeks ago. This week’s NXT featured a dramatic unmasking of the (interim) cruiserweight champion, Robert Stone being thrown into a trash can and William Regal live via Zoom. NXT was the 39th most-watched show on cable Wednesday night.

After Showtime submitted their name for Emmy consideration in 2017, nonbinary Billions actor Asia Kate Dillon made headlines by challenging binary-gender conventions and asking to be nominated under the supporting actor category as the term “actor” is a gender-neutral description for theater players. This move led to Dillon gratefully having their identity recognized by the Critics Choice Awards who included them in the supporting actor that same year without requiring a formal request.

However, Dillon’s activism is far from over. After being selected to serve on the 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Motion Picture Nominating Committee, they wrote an open letter in Variety asking the SAG Awards to end the practice of separating actors into binary-gender categories. According to Dillon, the notion behind the categories is antiquated and fails to prevent discrimination.

The distinction between male and female acting categories was implemented as a means of combating the chronic and systemic overlooking of cis-women, particulary white cis-women, when it came to acting awards. This was despite the fact that there were no other categories similarly revised (as in directoress, best female or best male director/cinematographer/sound designer, etc.) I say “particularly white cis-women” because it’s important to note how dangerous it has been to defend the separation of male and female acting categories, as well as other awards shows’ use of the actress category, as being motivated by wanting representation for all womxn (cis and trans alike). In fact, Black, POC, indigenous, trans, and disabled womxn are still the most underrepresented groups at any awards show.

As Dillon notes, gender-neutral categories have already been implemented at the MTV Movie & TV Awards where the actor had the honor of presenting the first gender-neutral acting award to Emma Watson. If SAG were to make a similar move by abolishing binary categories, it would send a powerful message to “non-binary and gender non-conforming members.” But until that decision is made, Dillon will not be participating in the nominating committee. As of this writing, the Screen Actors Guild has yet to comment.

(Via Variety)

The number of NBA players reportedly disenchanted with the league’s momentum toward a return to play is growing, according to new reports from across the NBA media. Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report indicated players wanted to reiterate to league stakeholders what their stance is on this moment of political revolution in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and unify behind it.

Rooks’ Bleacher Report teammate, Howard Beck, added to that reporting to specify the call could include up to 200 players, and that increasingly, it has been Nets guard Kyrie Irving leading the charge against the league’s plans. Beck called Irving a “driving force” behind raising concerns over playing out the season amidst social unrest and while the country attempts to get a handle on the coronavirus pandemic.

Over at Yahoo! Sports, Chris Haynes added to his earlier reporting on the “bad optics” of the NBA return to indicate Irving has organized a call in which players are expected to consider the possibility of not playing at all.

Despite the memes and silliness that often surround Irving’s public comments, the ability to rally hundreds of colleagues around an issue of this magnitude is admirable. As the Nets’ representative in the players’ association, Irving has been part of the conversations from the jump, but it appears he was the one willing to risk bothering other players, owners, and league officials by starting a dialogue about the hesitancy on many players’ minds. Even if all of these issues end up getting worked out, it is important that they get addressed as soon as possible, and it’ll be fascinating to watch what happens in the coming days and weeks on this front.

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It turns out that odor-removing gel, rainbow film tile, and bed sheet holders actually make very noticeable improvements.

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If you’re intimidated by the thought of cooking fish and shellfish at home, let these recipes change your mind.

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“Put a finger down if you did something with a man that you didn’t want to do because you were scared to say no…”

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A lot of stories have emerged from the nationwide protests that have been going on following the death of George Floyd. One of the most prevalent was the arrest of Givionne “Gee” Jordan Jr., who was peacefully protesting in Charleston, South Carolina when, seemingly out of nowhere, officers arrested Jordan. A video of the incident went viral, and it has nearly 30 million views on Twitter as of this post. Jordan was taken to jail and charged with “disobeying lawful order” before being released on June 1 on a $465 bond. He has a court date scheduled for June 16.

Following the arrest, Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds told the Post And Courier, “We specifically asked for them, numerous times, to disperse. We said if you don’t, you will be arrested.”

Now, Team Roc, a social justice-focused part of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, wants something to be done about the situation.

Team Roc has been involved since the start, actually. The day after Jordan’s arrest, Team Roc lawyer Jordan Siev sent a letter to the city of Charleston, in which he wrote, “It has come to Roc Nation’s attention that in the course of retaliating against and attempting to control these protests, some of Charleston’s police have gone so far as to arrest nonviolent, non-threatening protesters solely on the basis of their constitutionally protected speech. Here one sees a single protester — who does not threaten, provoke or even approach the dozens of armed police officers facing him, kneeling peacefully and expressing his well-justified grief — hauled away from his fellows and unceremoniously arrested by multiple officers. A more clear-cut violation of this protester’s First Amendment rights could hardly be imagined. […] Act now to release all protesters who have been arrested without lawful cause, and make it known that further acts of repression by Charleston police will not be tolerated.”

On June 11, Team Roc received a response from the city, and assistant corporation counsel Heather Mulloy wrote, “The City is continuing to navigate through the unprecedented and violent attack by rioters on the City and its citizens on Saturday, May 30, 2020, and continues to hold the safety and security of citizens and visitors as a top priority. Protests have continued throughout the City since that evening and the City and the police department have strived to preserve the individual constitutional rights of protestors. As solidarity with lawful peaceful protestors and trust with the community are also goals of the City and the police department, the City and the police department continue to work hand in hand with leaders of protest groups to protect their safety and that of the citizens of Charleston throughout these trying times.”

Team Roc did not love that response, as Team Roc Director Of Philanthropy Dania Diaz issued a statement that reads, “We are outraged by the Charleston police department’s reprehensible arrest of Givionne Jordan Jr. — not to mention their dismissive response to our concerns about their conduct. Giovionne’s arrest was unlawful and the Charleston police clearly violated his Constitutional right to peacefully protest. We applaud Givionne and demand that his charges are immediately dismissed.”

This news comes after Roc Nation took out ads in newspapers across the US in honor of Floyd.

Dave Chappelle’s surprise comedy special appearing on Youtube wasn’t the only comedy news on Friday, as Hannibal Buress announced he would drop a new stand up special on the same platform next month.

Burres shared details Friday about a July 3 release of standup that, like Chappelle’s, is sure to reference police treatment of Black people amid ongoing protests against police brutality and systemic racism. The special, called Miami Nights, references Buress’s 2018 arrest that was captured on a police body camera during Art Basel in Miami. Video of the incident went viral, and the comedian has claimed he didn’t think the arrest was warranted given the circumstances.

From a Miami Sun-Sentinel report at the time:

Minutes later, a crowd of onlookers gathered to witness a handcuffed Buress being lowered into a police cruiser. The comedian hollered, “You don’t have probable cause for anything and you look hella stupid right now.” When bystanders asked Buress why he was being arrested, he laughed again and said, “I’m under arrest right now for calling him a bitch-ass n—-.”

Police later booked Buress at Miami-Dade County jail for disorderly intoxication, a misdemeanor. Reached by phone in Las Vegas on Monday, Buress admits that the body-cam footage looks damaging “out of context.”

The preview video above actually uses some of that footage, which started with him peering into the body camera and saying ““Hey, what’s up? It’s me, Hannibal Buress.” For this video, however, the word “YouTube” is added after “what’s up,” which is a nice touch given the intended release platform. Buress also shared the video on Twitter on Friday, along with a link to a news story about the police officer who arrested him.

It’s clear that the incident and perhaps police brutality as a whole will be addressed during the special when it arrives in early July, which should make it an interesting pairing with Chappelle’s 8:46.