For about a month now, fans have been waiting for more info about Britney Spears’ return to music, which was first rumored in late July via word of a collaboration with Elton John. Since then, the rumors have been confirmed, with John announcing the song (a new take on “Tiny Dancer” dubbed “Hold Me Closer”) earlier this month and Spears confirming her involvement a few days ago.

The only major piece of the puzzle remaining has been when the song is actually coming out. There were rumors it would be released today (August 19), but the song is not out yet. Now, we know when the song truly is set to surface: Today, John revealed it’s going to drop next Friday, August 26. John’s announcement also included what may be the official single art, which features childhood photos of him and Spears.

Now that this info is out there, another piece of the puzzle yet to be uncovered is what the tune sounds like. It will still be a few days before we definitively know that, but Spears pal Paris Hilton had some laudatory words about the song, saying in a recent interview, “It’s going to be iconic. I just heard it a couple days ago in Ibiza and it is… it’s insane.”

I would be lying if I said I was super intrigued by the concept of Beast. It seemed to be a movie about Idris Elba fighting a big CGI lion, and “Idris Elba fights a CGI lion” doesn’t exactly scream “cinema.” But by the same token, Jaws is a movie about Roy Scheider fighting a mechanical shark and Jaws is arguably the first modern blockbuster. So maybe there was reason to give Beast, directed by Baltasar Kormákur (2 Guns, Adrift), the benefit of the doubt.

I briefly had my hopes up when Idris Elba, as American Dr. Nate Samuels, stepped off a small plane onto the South African veldt with his two daughters in tow. At the very least, rural South Africa makes for a picturesque setting. At a basic level, isn’t a change of scenery all we really want out of any movie?

“Where are we?” Dr. Samuels’ older daughter “Mir” (Iyana Halley) asks. “We’re the bush!” exults a smiling Samuels.

Meanwhile, his younger daughter, Norah (Leah Jeffries) complains about the heat. “My head is hot. My hair is hot. My spleen is hot,” Norah riffs.

When she says this, Norah is wearing long pants and at least three layers of clothing, including a turtleneck topped by a jean jacket (her sister has a black hoodie with the hood up). Now, every thriller walks a fine line between the characters acting stupid enough to imperil themselves enough to keep the movie going, and characters acting so stupid that it feels manipulative, so stupid that you can’t put up with any more of their bullshit. It certainly feels like a harbinger of the latter when a thriller opens with a character complaining about the heat while wearing a turtleneck and jean jacket and not one other character in the scene thinks to suggest “Hey, maybe take off your jacket.”

Perhaps it’s overly nitpicky to focus on this one throwaway scene. Fine. Speaking more generally, the thing that Jaws has that Beast lacks (beyond fully-fleshed characters and compelling dialogue) is style. I can accept that the movie is about Idris Elba fighting a lion. If I try a little harder, I can even accept that Beast‘s characters aren’t smart enough to take off their jackets when it’s hot. But I can’t accept that the whole thing just looks kind of drab, cramped, and ugly.

Kormákur shoots most of the action following his subjects with a steadicam focused tightly on the backs of their necks. I don’t know if this was meant to create tension, but mostly it just induces boredom. Virtually every action sequence in Beast, which involves a “rogue lion” taking revenge on all humanity after his pride is murdered by poachers, lacks any real sense of spatial awareness. Action occurring within a recognizable space is what actually creates tension and makes the action compelling — that sense of anticipation, of potential energy building and then releasing. Most of Beast‘s action consists of characters shot in closeup while a lion attacks their land rover while our perspective shakes and tumbles like we’re inside a washing machine. There’s no movie magic, just the kind of “trick” that communicates nothing beyond “I’M DOING A TRICK!” The space between trailer and movie has been annihilated. We’re now merely meant to watch a series of advertisements for feelings.

Dr. Samuels and his daughters have come to South Africa, where he first met his now-dead wife (what would thrillers and Nicholas Sparks movies be without dead moms??) to meet up with his old friend, a game warden played by Sharlto Copley. There is some brief family drama, with Samuels’ older daughter blaming him for abandoning their mom while she was sick, but none of it really connects to the trip to Africa. They’ve apparently come for your basic safari, like any other tourists. The interpersonal dynamics add nothing to the drama and even Copley’s South Africanness feels watered down.

The only character with an intriguing perspective is the lion. He wants to decimate humanity because poachers murdered his family? I would like to subscribe to his newsletter. But Beast mostly treats him like your standard CGI baddie. One of the locals calls the lion “the devil,” and Beast is weighed down by this inability to decide whether the lion is rational or supernatural. Idris Elba’s eventual battle strategy has the most tacked-on, thinnest veneer of having to understand the lion’s mindset in order to defeat it, to the point that it feels like an apology.

Judging by a skim of his IMDB page, Kormákur‘s career seems to have a general “one for them, one for us” feel to it, of making one studio schlock picture and following it with something more personal. And who could blame any director for that? But Beast feels slapdash and detached to the point of being disdainful. It offers the barest idea of a movie about Idris Elba fighting a lion and nothing more.

‘Beast’ opens nationwide August 19th. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

When I first saw the headline that the IRS was raising the tax deduction limit for teachers buying classroom supplies with their own money—you know, the necessary items to do their jobs well—I was thrilled. The previous deduction of $250 was laughable, a virtual slap in the face to professionals who regularly spend two, three or four times that amount per year buying supplies for their students out of their own pocket.

But when I saw the amount the deduction was raised to, I rage laughed. $300? Are you kidding me?

It sounds great to say, “We’re raising the tax deduction for teachers by 20%” until you realize that the teacher deduction hasn’t been raised since 2002 and that 20% increase is a measly $50.

Fifty bucks spread over 20 years is $2.50 a year. Whoop dee frickin’ do. That doesn’t even come close to keeping up with inflation, for the love. Just to keep up with inflation, that $250 deduction from two decades ago should be over $400 now.

And again, even that amount wouldn’t be close to enough. An AdoptaClassroom survey of 5,400 PreK-12 teachers at public, private and charter schools across the U.S. found that teachers spent an average of $750 out of their own pockets for school supplies during the 2020-21 school year. About 30% spent more than $1,000.

In the face of that reality, raising the deduction limit from $250 to $300 is ridiculous, gross, rude, disrespectful and insulting. Teachers are professionals who are already paid less than what they’re worth. The fact that they have to buy supplies out of their own pockets at all is a travesty. The least we can do is let them deduct whatever they spend out of their taxes.

I’ve been a teacher and I’ve also been a business owner. The number of things a business owner can legally deduct is bonkers. You can deduct so many things from your business income that you pay zero taxes on it, and we’re putting this painfully low limit on out-of-pocket teacher supplies? Why? Who wins here?

u201c@Logically_JC My teacher friend tonight told me she had spent $1200 setting up her classroom.u201d

— John Collins (@John Collins)
1660652659

Honestly, why do we even have a deduction limit for teachers at all? It feels like whoever makes these decisions either doesn’t fully trust teachers or thinks they aren’t deserving of reasonable compensation. I mean, how much do they really think teachers are going to be able to deduct here even if there were no limit? Newsflash: Teachers aren’t rolling in extra dough. They’re not looking for ways to game the tax system to avoid tax liability. They’re literally spending their own money on their jobs—which is ridiculous—and hoping to get some back from the very same government that employs and pays them.

In recent years, some teachers have shared that they’re simply refusing to buy classroom supplies out of their own pocket anymore, pointing out that it doesn’t solve the problem, but masks it. It’s also simply not doable for many. The teaching profession tends to draw people who are willing to make sacrifices for kids, which is admirable, but financial sacrifice should not be an expectation inherent in the job.

When I say teachers aren’t paid what they are worth, I mean it literally. People who haven’t worked in a classroom have no idea. The energy it entails, the responsibility it requires, the emotional toll it takes and the time outside of school hours dedicated to the work are beyond any other job I’ve ever had. Yes, the work can be rewarding, but a lot of times it isn’t. In no other profession do we expect people to do so much for so little.

It’s not just that teachers deserve to be paid well. (Not merely adequately, but well.) Our kids also deserve teachers who are valued by everyone around them. They deserve teachers who have all the resources they need to educate to the best of their ability. They deserve beautiful learning environments and classrooms full of learning materials that their teachers didn’t have to dip into their wallets to pay for. They deserve to live in a society that prioritizes education above everything else, a society that understands quality education is the root of solutions to most problems.

Teachers are quitting in droves and many of those who are staying are barely hanging on. We can’t afford to keep losing good teachers. Money isn’t the only reason teachers are quitting, but it doesn’t help. Let’s drop the tax deduction limit altogether. It’s quite literally the least we can do.

Prank calls are a popular way to monkey around, but this story takes it to a whole new level.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call that was immediately disconnected. According to a social media post, dispatchers traced the mysterious call back to the offices of a local zoo nearby. However no one at the zoo made the call.

Make that no person.

Deputies soon realized the lawbreaker behind the call was Route—a baby capuchin with two opposable thumbs and quite possibly a mark on her permanent record.

“Capuchin monkeys are so smart,” Paso Robles’ Zoo To You owner Lisa Jackson told AP News, noting that capuchins are tool enthusiasts.

“She sees me all the time texting and playing with the phone. So I think that’s pretty much what she did.”

You heard it folks—this was a textbook case of monkey see, monkey do.

Baby Route had picked up a cellphone found from inside a golf cart that traveled around the zoo’s 40 acres and started pushing buttons. That button combo just so happened to be for emergencies only. Whoops.

“Our Deputies have seen their fair share of ‘monkey business’ in the County. But nothing quite like this,” the Sheriff’s office wrote.

They also posted adorable photos of the guilty party.

Route’s antics are certainly hilarious and rival that of “Curious George,” but they also prove why trying to own a capuchin (or any monkey, for that matter) isn’t the best idea.

According to The Spruce Pets, capuchins rarely get enough stimulation and activity when raised by humans, leading to destructive behavior.

Plus it can be nearly impossible to mimic a natural environment and diet. Do you really have the time and resources to make your own mini jungle and serve mixed fruits and vegetables mixed with baby food … twice a day?

Oh yeah, and it’s illegal to own one in 35 out of 50 states. So there’s that.

Basically, even though movies and television shows make owning a monkey seem like a dream … maybe reconsider.

As Zoo to You wrote on its Facebook page, “let this serve as an educational lesson that monkeys are NOT animals that should be kept as pets! They’re so inquisitive you never know what might happen!”

Still, we can admire these super-smart monkeys and their odd quirks from afar. For example, you know how we humans might try to form bonds through a well-meaning high five or fist bump? Capuchins prefer instead to poke each other’s eyeballs. How fun.

They also wash their hands and feet with pee, and scientists still aren’t sure exactly why. Comfort? Pleasure? A good tree grip? The world may never know.

Lastly, they very well may be nature’s radical feminists. Female capuchins have been known to throw rocks at their potential male mates.

One thing’s for sure—capuchins might be born for mischief, but it’s never less than highly entertaining.

And now for the real question: How will Route cause chaos next? Another fake 911 call? Will she accidentally order a delivery of 70 pizzas? Guess we’ll have to stay tuned.

After the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 failed to push legislators to take action to help prevent school shootings, there has been a sense in America that these tragic events have become normalized. Worse, there’s a feeling that far too many people seem to believe that guns are more important than children.

The 2021-2022 school year came to an end with the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were murdered by a gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle. The sound of the school bell ringing again for the 2022-2023 year fills many parents with a sense of dread that their kids could be next.

Cassie Arnold, a mother and arts educator who lives in Texas, created a chilling reminder of the danger our kids face in schools by sending her daughter to first grade in a dress sewn together with Kevlar.

Kevlar is the material used to create bulletproof vests.

See on Instagram

“My daughter was in kindergarten last year and she knew that her place in ‘lockdown drills’ was by the toilet in the classroom bathroom, and that she had to wait till the administrators banged on the doors, and that she had to be quiet,” Arnold told Yahoo Life. “She wasn’t fazed by it. She was just like, well, this is what we do.”

The depressing thing is that there are thousands of kids like Arnold’s daughter who’ve lived their entire lives under the threat of deadly violence in their schools.

Arnold’s hope is that the dress will inspire others to push back against the notion that there’s nothing that can be done and we need to live with the threat.

“The biggest hope is that we can keep the conversation going,” Arnold told Yahoo Life. “The dress can create a conversation—not just a nonpartisan conversation—and allow us to come to an equal playing field. We need to protect our babies.”

The piece is also noteworthy because instead of being partisan fingerpointing it asks for people to sit down and talk about what’s happening.

Arnold hoped that her piece would be satirical but, in fact, it accurately depicts reality in Texas. In her Instagram post, she points out that Texas looks to spend tens of millions of dollars on bulletproof police shields and barriers in classrooms. While assault weapons are readily available, the state’s efforts are clearly centered around stopping bullets from hitting people rather than preventing them from being fired in the first place.

u201cHeartbreaking. https://t.co/j2kuqHuzqau201d

— George Takei (@George Takei)
1660781022

“[The dress] was originally designed to be satirical, to be a more extreme response to these tragedies. But, the real responses from some of our leaders were too close for comfort,” Arnold wrote on Instagram.

The conversation surrounding school shootings in America has been cyclical. A tragedy happens, a lot of things are said, but ultimately no substantial actions are taken by our leaders. Congress did recently pass the first gun control bill in decades in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, but it took massacre after massacre to get to that bipartisan deal. Arnold’s piece is thought-provoking because it gets ahead of the cycle and begs for the conversation to continue before the next shooting. It also asks us to reconsider the idea that the shootings are a normal part of life in America.

“The timing is intentional,” Arnold wrote on Instagram. “School is starting and the elections in November are coming. It’s time to pressure those who have the agency to create changes to do so.”

The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Offset, Hit-Boy, Fivio Foreign and more.

August sure has flown by, but every week has mattered in some way. We have Offset’s solo (re)debut, Hit-Boy showing the people he is more than a super producer, Fivio Foreign continuing his major run over the year, and of course, the hidden gems you need to know about.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending August 19, 2022.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

Larry June — Spaceships On The Blade

Larry June revels in the simple things life has to offer, such as natural juices and nice cars, but there’s nothing simple about his lyrical ability. He articulates this well on his new album Spaceships On The Blade, specifically in the record “I’m Him.” Babyface Ray, 2 Chainz, Curren$y, and more appear on these 18 tracks that balance rapper swagger with healthy humanity. Larry is setting a different standard.

Internet Money — We All We Got

Internet Money has a knack for bringing talent together. The new six-track offering We All We Got features a diverse array of voices, namely Lil Yachty, Lucki, Yeat, Ken Carson, and more.

The Homies — It’s A Lot Going On

You may know them for their association with Jack Harlow, but The Homies are a talented collective that has been doing this music thing for some time. It’s A Lot Going On features Jace, Marzz, and Mason Dane for a musical display that accurately depicts this project’s title; The Homies can do it all and make it make sense.

OMB Peezy x DJ Drama — Misguided

Has any DJ Drama collaboration gone wrong? I’d say no, but let OMB Peezy show you for himself on Misguided. Peezy and Drama restore the feeling and enlist the help of G Herbo, NLE Choppa, and Morray for this 16-track masterclass.

YBN Nahmir — Faster Car Music

It appears YBN Nahmir is gearing up for an entire series with this first Faster Car Music EP. With sole feature Jeremih, he gets off to quite a good start with standout tracks “Bows” and “Lamborghini Truck.”

Kelow Latesha — Turbo

Kelow Latesha has her foot firmly pressed on the gas in her new project Turbo. The seven-track project only features Asian Doll, but with a range of records like “Titanic,” “OMG,” and “Charizard,” it may feel like this is a group effort.

Singles/Videos

42 Dugg — “IDGAF”

42 Dugg’s “IDGAF” is the whistle-rapper’s dismissal of anything that doesn’t serve him. He saw a huge rise over the last few years before having to spend time in jail, but his impassioned delivery is just another sign of the greatness that was unfortunately halted.

Pressa — “Blame Me”

Pressa’s “Blame Me” is a genuine inquiry as to why people hate on him. His high-pitched croon over thumping drums contributes to the earnest nature of his confusion, but he makes sure to remind listeners he is a “big killer” in case the vocals are misleading.

Doodie Lo — “I Swear To God”

Doodie Lo’s “I Swear To God” is less than two minutes long, but he doesn’t need more time. The message is he doesn’t trust a lot of people, he doesn’t kill and tell, and he keeps that heat on him in case anyone brings the wrong energy. Lil Durk looks like he’s having a lot of fun in the video too.

Big K.R.I.T. — “Extra Credit”

Big K.R.I.T opens “Extra Credit” saying it isn’t easy being great, but he sure makes it look effortless. When you hit every mark as a lyricist, do you really need extra credit? He’s coming for it all anyways.

Jay Worthy & Harry Fraud — “Winnipeg Winters” ft. A$AP Twelvyy

“Winnipeg Winters” quite literally sounds like a cold night driving through the city. Jay Worthy and Harry Fraud’s chemistry is magical, and A$AP Twelvyy adds some luxurious bars to boost the lush aura.

Armani Caesar — “Hunnit Dolla Hiccup” ft. Benny The Butcher & Stove God Cooks

Armani Caesar is, hands down, one of the best women rapping today. As she powers towards her next project The Liz 2, out on September 2, she taps wordsmiths Benny The Butcher and Stove God Cooks for the cash-chasing anthem “Hunnit Dolla Hiccup.”

Lil Zay Osama — “Set Up” ft. Fredo Bang

Lil Zay Osama and Fredo Bang stay on their toes in the “Set Up” video. As two of the most real out, they handle being challenged with poise and confidence. Not to mention, piercing bars for days.

1TakeJay — “Social Media” ft. Blue Bucks Clans

Who better to offer a scathing analysis of social media than two artists who have gained traction through it? 1TakeJay and Blue Bucks Clan value being cool in real life as opposed to the timeline, but they show they can do both in this upbeat jam.

Stylistic Murder — “Represent The Real” ft. AZ & KRS-One, O.C., and DJ Flip

Just reading these names, you know you’re bound to hear a vintage rap record. Stylistic Murder, AZ, KRS-One, O.C. and DJ Flip overdeliver on “Represent The Real.” It will always be pleasing to get these nostalgic offerings as the rap landscape continues to change.

Jay Fizzle — “50 Freaky B*tches” ft. Lil Harold

Jay Fizzle and Lil Harold live every man’s dream. They sample the Mission Impossible theme song while among many beautiful women wearing less and washing cars more. “50 Freaky B*tches” is as fun and arousing as similar scenes look in movies.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

88rising hasn’t taken their foot off the gas with their recent collaborations, and “Mind Games” adds another check mark to their list of jobs well done. Labelmates Milli and Jackson Wang have no interest in the complications of love, singing their hearts out in full rejection of anything that doesn’t bring them pleasure in the track written by Gallant and produced by Monsters & Strangers.

“Who says I want to think it through? Who says I want to play these mind games anymore?” Wang sings in the refrain after deeming himself a “mannequin in the world of emotion.” Milli later harmonizes with Wang in the powerful line, “Middle of the night asking you why I’ve been asking twice for so long,” before a beautiful saxophone solo.

“Mind Games” follows 88rising’s 2022 offerings “The Weekend,” “Don’t Go Changing,” and “Split,” all set to appear on Head In The Clouds III, the label’s third installment of their collaborative efforts bringing together close friends, family, and collaborators they respect from all over. 88rising is also gearing up for their Head In The Clouds festival taking place on August 20 and 21, with tickets available for purchase here.

Check out the new single “Mind Games” above.

88rising is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ahead of the 2022 Tournament of Champions, Jeopardy! great Amy Schneider will take part in another game show. The Titan Throwdown, which also added Matt Amodio and James Holzhauer as participants, benefits Project 150, a non-profit providing “free support and services to homeless, displaced, and disadvantaged high school students.”

The event received a boost from Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings, who tweeted, “Whoa, this is some lineup! And benefits a great cause. (NOT just @James_Holzhauer getting smacked around. A Las Vegas nonprofit called Project 150.).” The GOAT also shared an article about being on the Call Me Kat season premiere with co-host Mayim Bialik, which prompted a cranky tweet from a follower who is not thrilled by Schneider’s continued involvement with Jeopardy! (Thursday’s episode was a rerun from her historic stream).

“Why is Amy Schneider back on as a contestant? It is not fair to the new players. I won’t watch Jeopardy while she is on. I know she is your favorite winner,” Dina (who has one follower) tweeted, to which Jennings replied, “It’s a rerun Dina! Settle down!” That’s good advice for 95 percent of people on Twitter, actually: settle down.

The 2022 Tournament of Champions kicks off in November. Until then, here’s more information on this weekend’s Titan Throwdown, including how to attend:

Nathan Fielder will be back to confound audiences with a second season of whatever the heck he’s doing on The Rehearsal. HBO has officially renewed the maybe reality (maybe brilliantly scripted) series, which provided the comedian with a stunningly hilarious amount of resources that allowed him to evolve his sociological experiments from Nathan For You to a wild new level.

“Nathan has sparked such a lively conversation with THE REHEARSAL,” Amy Gravitt, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming said in a statement. “We have no idea where season 2 will take us, and that is the delight of this boundary pushing show from a truly singular talent.”

Over the past five episodes, The Rehearsal has deviated from its simple premise of helping people “rehearse” for delicate interactions to an awkwardly mad-cap exploration into Fielder’s own psyche with a treatise on religion thrown in for good measure. Literally, no one knows what the show is working towards in its season finale. Critics were only provided the first five episodes of The Rehearsal, so it will genuinely be a surprise when it airs.

After “Finding Frances,” the daring and shockingly brilliant season finale of Nathan For You, expectations are high for what kind of trick Fielder has up his sleeve for The Rehearsal season finale, if there even is one. The show has been as unpredictable as it gets, so there’s no telling what will happen as Fielder continues to dive even further into a simulation of his own creation.

Here’s the official logline from HBO even though it’s debatable if this description even applies to The Rehearsal anymore. It’s gone so far off the rails, and we’re here for every awkward second of it:

THE REHEARSAL explores the lengths one man will go to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life. With a construction crew, a legion of actors, and seemingly unlimited resources, Fielder allows ordinary people to prepare for life’s biggest moments by “rehearsing” them in carefully crafted simulations of his own design. When a single misstep could shatter your entire world, why leave life to chance?

The Rehearsal Season 1 finale airs on August 19 at 11 PM EST on HBO.

Simon Pegg‘s new series, The Undeclared War, is terrifying. Not in a zombies, rural weirdos, or aliens eating, attacking, or replacing us kind of way. More in a tiptoe toward World War III or, at the very least, utterly disrupt vital services tipping us back to the stone age kind of way. Which is way more terrifying for how realistic the scenario is.

Created by award-winning writer and director Peter Kosminsky, the six-part series (which you can stream on Peacock) co-stars Pegg as a government official working for GCHQ (the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters Headquarters) and overseeing the triage and possible response to a debilitating cyber attack on the UK. In the midst of this, the tension is ratcheted up by the typical territorial pissing matches and blame games while relative newcomer Hannah Khalique-Brown brings a relatable, human element to the story as she’s thrust into not just an international incident (on her first day at GCHQ) but also a family trauma. Again, everything is very grounded and slow-burn, allowing you time to sit with thoughts about the possibility of these things, which unlocks a whole bunch of anxiety.

Uproxx spoke with Pegg recently about the series and the tense state of antagonistic behavior and muscle flexes that could one day push us over the edge, the destabilizing influence of troll farms on our discourse, being a source of actorly wisdom for young actors, seizing an opportunity to play a straight drama, and the big picture when it comes to talking about mental health.

We spoke at Tribeca a couple of years ago for Lost Transmissions and afterward, we shot the shit for a moment about Game Of Thrones. I thought about that when I saw that you had said something about Star Wars and it had blown up on the internet. And so I was thinking it must suck to see something like that happen anytime you have any kind of comment about pop culture. Does that make you want to talk about that stuff less?

Yeah. I think the problem these days, is that, and this kind of feeds into the show in a way, in terms of the way that information is disseminated in that you’ll say something which is, if it’s taken out of context and isolated and then kind of turned into a clickbait sound bite, then it becomes a talking point. And then that talking point is addressed as though it was just the thing that was said. Everything is very reductionist. The discourse online is so kind of binary and unsophisticated at the moment. And I think that’s kind of what the troll farm thing takes advantage of when it comes to people in conversations about slightly more, probably arguably more important things like politics and society.

Arguably more.

The idea is that these kinds of massive arguments and contentious debates can just erupt, fueled by, in this case [regarding politics and society], adversarial players who are actually trying to cause problems. I mean, everyone is already in this state of, “I’m ready for a fight.” And when anybody says anything about anything, people are ready to weigh in as they can online with impunity, just for the sake of it. And it’s kind of part of how the internet is being used to disassemble our society.

Certainly. I’m in the US and we certainly see that with our politics here. Even when it’s not a troll farm. Like, when the thing happened with the Trump warrant, every single commenter had the same, “If it could happen to him, it could happen to…” reaction. It almost feels like a troll farm, because people are saying the same thing.

It probably is. I mean, there will be people in that conversation online immediately.

I mean, like, Senators.

Oh yeah. They get retweeted by bots and they feel like they suddenly become empowered because they suddenly have a kind of ego boost by all these people that are seemingly agreeing with them when it’s adversarial players just trying to stoke up the MAGA crowd or whatever.

I’ve been someone who sort of thinks, “oh, maybe the internet was a mistake.” But then this show reminds you how everything is so interconnected. It would be such a devastating blow if something like this happened. How did this open your eyes in terms of the societal import of tech?

Well, I found making the show incredibly educational, in terms of it opened my eyes as to how tenuous the pieces at the moment, global pieces, particularly online are. It’s a very, very tenuous kind of deterrent that we have. It’s similar to the nuclear deterrent that we had in the ’80s. That we still have. Every player who has a cyber warfare infrastructure has exploits placed in their adversary’s infrastructure. So we’ve all got things ready to go. That line in the show about dropping Putin’s plane 20,000 feet, that could happen. We could do that. They could do stuff to us and that’s all that exists right now. We’re in that state of play at the moment. And it’s tempting to feel like everything’s fine, that we’re safe in our countries, and that everything’s such a long way away from us. But these foreign players, these adversaries, even domestic adversaries, are in our living rooms, because they are in our computers and they could do untold damage quite easily. And we could do untold damage to other people. And these things can escalate very quickly because. Like Danny [Pegg’s character] says, “You get attacked, and it looks like it’s Russia. But in actual fact, it’s North Korea pretending to be Russia.” So you retaliate against Russia and Russia, if it’s a first strike for them, they retaliate on you. And suddenly you’ve got a third world war, which is engulfing the entire planet.

Hannah Khalique-Brown is so good in this, and I hadn’t seen her in anything before, so it was a revelation for me. When you’re on set with actors who are younger — not to age you — but do you feel a sense of responsibility to mentor or be available for their questions at this point in your career?

Oh yeah, 100%. I immediately got on well with Hannah. She’s got such a great attitude. She’s no ego. This was her show. And at no point did she ever behave like it was her show. She was incredibly collaborative. We’d all sit round off set during the setups and we’d talk. And she said to me quite early on, “Oh my brother and I grew up watching your films”. And I was simultaneously flattered and immediately felt old, but I just loved working with her. The two sides of that coin are, I’m working with Alex Jennings who is an incredibly established, brilliant character actor who is a joy to work with. Most of my scenes with David Neal, who Alex plays, I had such fun. I’m a big fan of his. And then on the other side of that, I’m working with someone like Hannah, who’s literally just started her career, who has boundless enthusiasm and she’s incredibly uncynical. Not that Alex is cynical in any way, but you know what I mean. It’s so fresh and she’s a delight. I’ve got massive respect for her. I think she’s going to do so well.

So you identify someone who’s just starting, someone who’s been in the game for a while, and you’re somewhere in the middle. Do you find it hard to keep cynicism at bay?

No. I generally get cast doing similar things. I’m perceived in a certain way, particularly in the states, but here too, in terms of being a comedic actor or whatever. So to be given the chance to be in something which is far more dramatic gave me the chance to flex different muscles. I came into it feeling more like Hannah than Alex. This isn’t a place where I usually get to play. And so I had zero cynicism and particularly working with someone like Peter Kosminsky, who I really admire as a dramaturge and as a writer, as a person, I felt lucky to be there and I always try and maintain that, just so I always enjoy my job. I’d hate to let cynicism creep in and start to just take it all for granted.

As a writer, do you feel like you’re moving in a different direction as far as the kind of roles you want to write for yourself?

Yeah. Not least because I’m older. I couldn’t write a show like Spaced again because that’s not me anymore. I’ve always believed in the idea of writing from the truth, of writing about what you know, never guessing. And so there has to be a kernel of truth in everything I write and my truth is different to what it was when I was 25. I’d like to try and diversify into more sort of dramatic work as well, because that’s something I like to do and don’t always get the opportunity. So it feels fresh to me.

Writing from a place of truth obviously makes sense right off the tongue, but is that something where you question whether the material would be good if you weren’t coming from that place or is it about needing to be grounded holistically in what you’re working on?

I think it’s about the show, or whatever you’re writing, feeling authentic, feeling like it’s not sort of aimless or vague. Shaun of the Dead was as an easy film to write because, A, we were massive zombie fans and B, we were kind of living that life at the time, same as Shaun and Ed. Shared flats and inactivity. Hot Fuzz, we had to really research. We did a lot of research and we learned about the police. We learned about the rural experience and we learned about the metropolitan experience. And then with The World’s End, again, we were all turning 40 at that time and had lived a certain amount of that kind of [experience]. Certainly, me and booze, I had lived a bit of that. And I always feel like if you’re writing from the truth, then it’s going to feel more real to the people that are watching it.

You’ve been open about things like alcohol. I know from personal experience that when you talk about something that you’ve gone through, it can be cathartic. But when you see the reaction to things like that, do you still feel the reward of that or is there sometimes a feeling of, “Oh, I wish I hadn’t revealed that much of myself?”

Sometimes. You just think a lot of people want to talk about it all the time and I feel like I’ve kind of said everything I need to say about it, but I think what the positives of it are, far outweigh the negatives. It’s good. This is a time, I think, where the notion of discussion is becoming more and more important, particularly when it comes to mental health. And I think if anything that pushes that agenda forward, the idea of actually opening up, then that’s a good thing, I think.

‘The Undeclared War’ is currently streaming on Peacock.