Claire Foy Reveals Her First Director ‘Shouted at Me’ to ‘Start Acting, Darling!’: ‘Not Very Nice Directors Need Someone to Bully on Set’

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Melissa Barrera weighed in on her controversial exit from the “Scream” franchise while attending the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of her latest horror movie, “Your Monster.” “Honestly, I think I finally am becoming who I’m supposed to be in life, and the last few months have been a big awakening of that,” Barrera told the Associated Press when asked about her “Scream” exit. “I’m just so grateful for everything that’s happened.” Barrera played Sam Carpenter, the daughter of Billy Loomis (played by Skeet Ulrich in the original films), in 2022’s “Scream” and 2023’s “Scream 6,” the latter of which set a franchise box office record with $108 million at the domestic box office.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jodie Foster said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible while at the Sundance Film Festival that the $1.4 billion success of “Barbie” helps prove that Hollywood no longer views women directors as too much of a risk. That wasn’t always the case, as Foster often saw women filmmakers being marginalized during her career ascent in Hollywood. “I’ve had the beauty of being able to be in the business since the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and so on,” Foster said to Variety’s Rebecca Rubin.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jodie Foster graced the cover of Time magazine in 1991 when she was 28 years old and set to direct her first feature, “Little Man Tate.” She said at the time that “this is not a business that is kind to women” who aspire to be directors, but her tune has changed 32 years later. “Sometimes I read things I said in my 20s and I’m like, really? But that’s a pretty good one,” she recently told Time in 2023 during an interview for her role on HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country.” “When I was young, there were really no American women directors, maybe a few,” she said. “I didn’t think I was allowed to be a director.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Taylor Swift is not the mysterious author behind the “Argylle” book that served as the inspiration for Apple’s upcoming spy thriller from director Matthew Vaughn. Conspiracy theories have circulated on social media for months alleging Swift is the author “Elly Conway,” a pseudonym for the writer whose manuscript was apparently so astonishing that it led to a reported $200 million deal for the film rights. Screenwriter Jason Fuchs adapted Conway’s book into Vaughn’s movie.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Katherine Heigl joined her former “Grey’s Anatomy” cast members Ellen Pompeo, Justin Chambers, James Pickens Jr. and Chandra Wilson on stage during the Emmy Awards in what was one of the more high-profile reunions for the stars.

Daniel Franzese is dishing on the possibility of a Looking reboot!

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Greta Gerwig doesn’t seem too upset over the polarizing “Barbie” joke Jo Koy made during his gig hosting the 2024 Golden Globes. Koy received mostly negative reviews for his hosting stint, and the “Barbie” joke led to backlash on social media as many viewers thought Koy was being reductive and sexist toward the film. During his opening monologue, Koy tipped his hat to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon by jokingly comparing Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Gerwig’s “Barbie.” “‘Oppenheimer’ is based on the 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project — and ‘Barbie’ is about a plastic doll with big boobies,” he joked as the audience responded with a muted laugh.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director As promised, Jeremy Renner is kicking off 2024 by returning to acting. The Oscar nominee took to Instagram to post a selfie from his first day on the set of “Mayor of Kingstown” Season 3, which notably marks his high-profile return to acting following his near-fatal snow plow accident last year. “Day one on set,” Renner’s caption reads.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The powerful emotions of loneliness, loss and the spirit of memory that run through “All of Us Strangers” spoke volumes to cinematographer Jamie Ramsay. Written and directed by Andrew Haigh, the movie stars Andrew Scott as Adam, a gay screenwriter who lives alone. A chance encounter with Harry (Paul Mescal) leads to a relationship and triggers memories for Adam, who finds himself in a fantastical world when he visits his childhood home and sees his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) 30 years after they died in a car accident.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Hannah Waddingham revealed during the official Golden Globes pre-show presented by Variety and Entertainment Tonight that she was accompanied by 4,500 active members of the military when she first flew onto the set of the upcoming “Mission: Impossible 8.” It was announced last March that the “Ted Lasso” Emmy winner was joining Cruise and the “Mission: Impossible” gang in the highly-anticipated eighth installment of the action series. Waddingham’s role in the film is not yet known. “He’s lovely and fabulous to work for and that’s it,” Waddingham said about working with Tom Cruise.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Katt Williams’ recent interview on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast has gone viral for a handful of soundbites and revelations made by the comedian. Williams made his film debut playing Money Mike in the 2002 comedy “Friday After Next,” which he revealed originally included a sexual assault scene that he refused to participate in (via BuzzFeed).

The Crown star said the director of the BBC’s Being Human pilot made her feel “bullied” while filming the 2008 show.Foy didn’t actually name the individual, but Declan O’Dwyer is credited as the director of the Being Human pilot episode.Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Foy accused O’Dwyer of bullying her and giving the “worst note” she has ever received from a director.Foy claimed that he told her to “start acting, darling” as she filmed scenes as the character Julia. “I didn’t know what I was doing and he shouted it at me,” the Emmy-winning actress recalled.She was being interviewed alongside her All of Us Strangers co-star Andrew Scott, who replied: “Oh that’s horrible.”Foy added: “It’s taken me a long time to accept that it was actually a very unkind thing to do to a 23-year-old on their first job ever.“Instead of taking them under your wing and helping them, just shouting at them in front of everyone … Sometimes not very nice directors need someone to bully on set and I was like that person.”Foy went on to claim that O’Dwyer “doesn’t really work anymore,” to which Scott responded: “But you fucking do.”Foy’s claim wasn’t entirely accurate, however, since O’Dwyer has been attached to a number of notable projects in recent years, including PBS series Miss Scarlet and The Duke.

Claire Foy has revealed how the director on her first major acting job made her feel bullied.

This year’s supporting actress race is historically competitive, but one contender who deserves more of a spotlight is Claire Foy. The two-time Emmy and SAG Award winner is heartbreaking as a mother reuniting with her now adult son in Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” (still one of the best-reviewed movies of 2023).

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zack Snyder has spent the last several years attempting to launch new IP for Netflix, be it his action zombie epic “Army of the Dead” or his new space opera franchise “Rebel Moon,” but the 57-year-old filmmaker is better known for putting his stamp on famed IP, from “Watchmen” to “Man of Steel,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League.” Would he ever return to tackling a pre-existing franchise? “I mean, like, how much IP is there?” Snyder recently said in an interview with The Atlantic before thinking of at least one bit of IP he might like to tackle one day. “It’d be cool to see, like, 20-year-old James Bond,” Snyder said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zack Snyder is currently leading the Netflix charts with his space opera “Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire,” and he recently got a huge sign of support from none other than Christopher Nolan. In a profile published by The Atlantic, Nolan said Snyder’s influence on cinema is so dominant that part of his touch can be felt in any “superhero science-fiction film coming out these days.” Nolan served as a producer on Snyder’s “Man of Steel” (2013), which was based on a story Nolan cracked with his “Dark Knight” trilogy co-writer David S. Goyer.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Taraji P. Henson revealed during a recent SAG-AFTRA conversation moderated by Variety’s Angelique Jackson that she fired members of her team after her career hit a wall despite the global success of “Empire,” the Fox musical drama series that she starred on for six seasons from 2015 to 2020. Henson played the outspoken and ferocious Cookie Lyon, which won her a Golden Globe and earned her two Emmy nominations.

Actress Claire Foy is ready and braced for a lot of personal reactions to her latest film All of Us Strangers. Adapted from Taichi Yamada’s novel Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh’s emotional reimagining finds gay screenwriter Adam (Andrew Scott) working on a script inspired by a devastating personal tragedy: in the early ’80s, both his parents died in a car crash when he was just 12. Seeking inspiration, Adam travels back to his childhood neighborhood where he encounters his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) — not only still living in his former home but looking exactly the same as the last time he saw them.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” star Leah Jeffries recently spoke to Essence magazine about how her casting as Annabeth Chase in the new Disney+ series initially generated backlash from some toxic fans. Racist trolls were upset that a Black actor was cast as a character described in the books as a blonde white girl. “The White Lotus” actor Alexandra Daddario played Annabeth in Fox’s “Percy Jackson” film adaptations.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared on the “Inside of You” podcast and revealed she once had to pull a filmmaker aside on set because he was telling her she had to be sexier. As an actor in her early twenties, Hewitt had no idea what such a request even meant. She said that she never felt like she was “in her body” as a young actor as she was constantly sexualized from a young age.