Zack Sharf Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Christina Applegate surprised the 2023 Emmys to present the award for supporting actress in a comedy series to “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri. Her appearance, which Variety had exclusively reported on last week, led to a massive standing ovation from the audience and prompted Applegate to get teary-eyed. She announced in August 2021 that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and largely stayed out of the spotlight until a few public appearances last year in support of the final season of “Dead to Me,” her popular Netflix comedy series for which she earned an Emmy nomination at this year’s show for outstanding actress in a comedy series.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Pedro Pascal got his revenge on Keiran Culkin at the 2023 Emmy Awards by joking that his recent shoulder injury was because “Keiran Culkan beat the shit out of me.” The Emmys audience erupted in laughter while the broadcast cut to Culkin in the audience looking stone-faced serious. Pascal has attended several awards shows in recent weeks wearing a giant sling because of a fall.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director As “The Sopranos” turns 25 years old, its esteemed creator David Chase isn’t exactly celebrating. In a recent interview with The Times UK, Chase proclaimed television’s golden age over and lamented over the changing state of the business. He suggested that today’s TV gatekeepers are no longer interested in the serious-minded fare that Chase broke new ground with “The Sopranos” and that continued over the next 25 years with the likes of “The Wire,” “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and more.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “True Detective: Night Country” showrunner Issa López took to X (formerly Twitter) the day after her season debuted on HBO and Max to urge fans to fight back against toxic trolls on Rotten Tomatoes. While the fourth season of the HBO crime series has earned glowing reviews (it boasts a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score from 73 reviews), there’s apparently a section of the fandom unhappy with the new direction of the show (the Rotten Tomatoes audience score is at 69%).

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Robert Downey Jr. has long defended his role in “Tropic Thunder,” the 2008 comedy from director Ben Stiller that cast the “Iron Man” star as an egotistical Australian thespian who takes Method acting to an extreme by undergoing “pigmentation alteration” surgery to darken his skin in order to play a Black solider in a war movie.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Killers of the Flower Moon” star Lily Gladstone recently joined Rolling Stone for an interview in which she was asked to weigh in on the heated criticism of the film made by “Reservation Dogs” actor Devery Jacobs, who Gladstone said is a friend. Gladstone also appeared on “Reservation Dogs.” Jacobs is a fellow Indigenous actor best known for playing Elora on three seasons of the FX and Hulu comedy series. She called out “Flower Moon” last October for not portraying its Osage characters with “honor or dignity” and for further dehumanizing them by depicting their deaths.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Robert Downey Jr. appeared on Rob Lowe’s “Literally!” podcast and said that his run as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe marked some of the best acting of his career, but “it went a little bit unnoticed because of the genre.” The Oscar nominee played the character for 11 years, exiting the MCU in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said last month that he won’t be asking Downey Jr. to return to the MCU as to preserve Tony Stark’s emotional ending (“We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way,” he said), but that hasn’t stopped rumors from circulating that Marvel desperately wants Iron Man back to help restore the MCU to its glory days.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Julia Roberts was interviewed for a Vogue UK fashion spread by her “Notting Hill” director Richard Curtin, who asked the Oscar winner if she feels “responsibility to other women” when choosing her movie roles as an A-list star for well over three decades. “Do you ever think, ‘I’m representing something?” Curtis asked Roberts. “I think it would be more to the point that the things I choose not to do are representative of me,” Roberts answered, noting that “my G-rated career” is an example.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Whoopi Goldberg used the January 11 episode of “The View” to slam Fox News for perpetuating a conspiracy theory that claims the U.S. government is using Taylor Swift to control public opinion (via Entertainment Weekly). “There are real issues impacting millions of Americans,” Goldberg said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kristen Stewart is Variety’s Sundance cover star and said while recording a “Know Their Lines” video that she “hated” making “Charlie’s Angels,” the Elizabeth Banks-directed action-comedy that flopped at the box office in fall 2019. Stewart was joined in the film by Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska. While reviews were mixed, Stewart’s performance as the rebellious Sabina earned widespread acclaim.

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.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Steve Martin recently took to Threads to defend stand-up comedian Jo Koy, who earned largely negative reviews for his gig hosting the 2024 Golden Globe Awards. Variety’s television critic Alison Herman, for instance, wrote that Koy was “woefully unqualified” to be the host, while outlets such as Vanity Fair delivered even more scathing pans by calling the show a “near-total disaster.” “I tip my hat to anyone who steps out on stage to host a live awards show,” wrote Martin, who is a hosting legend thanks to three stints emceeing the Academy Awards.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Barry Keoghan has successfully made the jump from Oscar-nominated actor to internet thirst trap/boyfriend thanks to the success of “Saltburn.” Emerald Fennell’s thriller has turned the 31-year-old actor into a new kind of sex symbol thanks to scenes in which he slurps Jacob Elordi’s bathwater, has sex with a grave and goes full frontal for an extended long take in which he dances to “Murder on the Dancefloor.” The actor told GQ magazine that he’s finally being seen as a man and not just a “freak child” in the aftermath of “Saltburn,” and it feels good. Sometimes you just have to let your manhood all hang out. “It’s nice, man,” Keoghan said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Willem Dafoe recently told The Guardian that “more difficult movies, more challenging movies” usually fail to perform well on streaming platforms because most subscribers just want to go home and “watch something stupid.” That’s a problem for someone like Dafoe, whose movies are often dense and challenging such as “The Northman,” “Inside” and “Poor Things,” just to same a few of his recent offerings. “The kind of attention that people give at home isn’t the same,” Dafoe said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jennifer Lawrence provided the 2024 Golden Globes with one of its funniest and most unforgettable gags. As the award for best actress in a motion picture comedy or musical was being announced, the Oscar winner mouthed “If I don’t win, I’m leaving!” direct to the camera when her nomination was said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jared Leto joined Angela Bassett as a presenter at the 2024 Golden Globes and took a moment to roast himself over his status as one of Hollywood’s most infamous Method actors. The Oscar winner helped announce this year’s categories for best supporting actress and actor in a motion picture. The winners were Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers” and Robert Downey Jr.

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 Jodie Foster took a humorous jab at Gen Z during a recent interview with The Guardian, saying they’re especially annoying to work with. Gen Z, the generation directly proceeding millennials, comprises those people born after 1996 and through 2010. “They’re really annoying, especially in the workplace,” Foster told the publication.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Steven Spielberg memorably thanked Tom Cruise last year for saving the movie business with “Top Gun: Maverick,” but it appears Meryl Streep has a different selection. While attending this year’s Palm Springs Film Awards, the Oscar winner called out Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” for saving the movies and “all of our jobs” last summer. The blockbuster comedy was the highest grossing movie of 2023 with $1.4 billion in ticket sales.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kate Hudson appeared on “The View” and reflected on the recent 20th anniversary of her iconic romantic comedy “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” The genre has lost much its box office dominance in the decades since Hudson first linked up with Matthew McConaughey to the tune of $105 million at the domestic box office and $177 million worldwide. For comparison’s sake, the just-released rom-com “Anyone But You,” starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, has earned a decent $38 million and counting worldwide.

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).

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Claire Foy recently appeared on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast while on the press tour for “All of Us Strangers” and was asked to reveal the worst acting note she ever got on set from a director. She didn’t hesitate to answer: “Start acting, darling!” “First job I ever did on TV, which was ‘Being Human.’ The pilot, with Russell Tovey and Andrea Riseborough.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jeffrey Wright‘s latest stop on his “American Fiction” press tour was a cast interview with Entertainment Weekly in which he shocked his co-stars with a story about how he once refused a studio’s request to censor his dialogue. The Emmy winner starred in Ang Lee’s 1999 Civil War drama “Ride With the Devil” as a former slave fighting for his freedom. “In this scene in which he has this kind of the apex of his awakening and his need to emancipate himself, he says, ‘Being that man’s friend was no more than being his n—–.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director America Ferrera has found herself in the Oscar race for supporting actress thanks to her role in “Barbie,” which is largely defined by a nearly three-minute monologue in which her character, Gloria, passionately rails against double standards women face on a daily basis. Both the speech and “Barbie” at large have been criticized by some for being an oversimplification of feminism, but Ferrera rejected such criticism during a recent interview with The New York Times. “We can know things and still need to hear them out loud.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jordan Peele is not ready to disclose any information about his next movie, which will serve as the follow-up to his 2022 science-fiction thriller “Nope,” but he does think it could be “my favorite movie” as long as he makes it right — no pressure. Peele was supposed to already be making his fourth solo directorial effort with Universal Pictures, but the Hollywood strikes delayed the project in 2023 and filming isn’t likely to start until later this year. “This has been…obviously, it’s been an interesting year because the writer’s strike had had me in a state of listening, and that’s where I need to be,” Peele said on the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast when asked about his new movie.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Batman Returns” screenwriter Daniel Waters participated in a recent discussion about the Tim Burton-directed sequel (via IndieWire) and revealed the collaborators’ clashing visions for a spinoff project centered on Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman. Waters was envisioning a satirical take on the comic book movie genre, something he says was more akin to Prime Video’s “The Boys” these days, but Burton had something far more risky up his sleeve.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The career of Scott Frank got a lengthy deep dive courtesy of a profile in The New Yorker that revealed the writer-director has a $300,000 weekly fee as a Hollywood script doctor. Frank acknowledges this fee is “insane,” but being a script doctor is how he’s made a life for himself despite being a credited screenwriter on films by Steven Soderbergh (“Out of Sight”), Barry Sonnenfield (“Get Shorty”), James Mangold (“The Wolverine,” “Logan”) and more.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Paul Schrader wrote Martin Scorsese‘s “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” and it appears he would’ve handled things differently had he been the one to pen “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In a recent interview with France’s Le Monde, Schrader called “Flower Moon” a “good movie” but one that could’ve been better had DiCaprio been playing the FBI agent investigating the Osage murders. “Marty compares me to a Flemish miniaturist.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The “Harry Potter” film franchise might have saved Gary Oldman’s career, but he’s not giving himself much praise for his performance as Sirius Black. Oldman debuted as the fan favorite character in 2004’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” During a recent interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, the Oscar winner called his acting in the “Harry Potter” movies “mediocre.” Most fans across the world would probably disagree.