Japanese director Nanako Hirose, who trained under Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda at his Tokyo-based film collective Bunbuku Inc., has unveiled her second feature, Between Two Lovers, a romantic drama centered on a married woman who pursues a simultaneous relationship with a female lover — and proposes that all three live together. The film is set for release in Japan on Nov. 27.
The film stars Masami Nagasawa (Our Little Sister) as Uta, a picture book creator described by the filmmakers as “selfish, cunning — yet utterly lovable.” Tasuku Emoto (Kobikicho no Adauchi) plays her husband Morio, an attentive and domestic man torn between his wife’s wishes and traditional family values, while Shizuka Ishibashi — who is set to headline the NHK Morning Drama Series Blossom this fall — takes on the role of Junna, Uta’s lover and editor.
Hirose says the film “was born from the idea that there should be more diverse forms of family in the world.” She says the premise first came to her during the pandemic and she has spent the years since developing and writing the screenplay.
Nagasawa, who recently won the best actress prize at the 49th Japan Academy Awards for Dollhouse, says of her character: “Within Uta-chan’s seemingly conflicted actions lie a mix of ideals, reality, and a sense of justice. Even so, her honesty and authenticity continue to draw people in.” Emoto described the project as “a story about love, brought to life by characters who are clumsy, yet full of longing.” Ishibashi called her character “clumsy and prickly like a hedgehog,” yet carrying a “childlike softness inside.”
Hirose built her career as an assistant director within Bunbuku, the creators’ collective that Kore-eda (Shoplifters, Monster) founded in 2014 alongside filmmaker Miwa Nishikawa (Under the Open Sky). The company has served as a launchpad and incubator for emerging Japanese directors, with Kore-eda mentoring younger filmmakers from script development through production. Hirose’s directorial debut, His Lost Name, starring Yuya Yagira, premiered in the New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival in 2018 and played at festivals internationally.
Between Two Lovers first attracted industry attention at the script stage, winning both the CJ ENM Award and the ARRI Award at the Asian Project Market (APM) within Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market in 2023.
The film is a Japan-Taiwan co-production, with Taiwanese cinematographer Yao Hung-I — who shot several of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s later works as well as Huang Xi’s Missing Johnny — handling the photography, alongside Taiwanese lighting director Hsiao Hung-Yi. Filming took place in September and October of last year, and the film is already complete. Popular Japanese singer-songwriter HIMI composed the score, marking his first time scoring a full feature.
The project was developed by Bunbuku and is being produced and distributed by K2 Pictures, the Tokyo-based company launched in 2023 by former Toei producer Muneyuki Kii. K2 has positioned itself as a disruptor in the Japanese film industry, eschewing the country’s traditional production committee model in favor of a fund-based financing structure aimed at returning more profits to creators and attracting both domestic and international investment. The company’s directorial roster includes Kore-eda, Nishikawa, Takashi Miike and Shunji Iwai, and its K2P Film Fund I has drawn investment from some of Japan’s biggest financial institutions, including MUFG Bank and the Development Bank of Japan. Kii serves as executive producer on Between Two Lovers, with Daiju Koide producing.
Disney+ is heading into April with a packed lineup of premieres, returning favorites and major live sports.
April kicks off with the premiere of “Dear Killer Nannies” and “Pizza Movie.” ESPN broadcasts events begin early, including the NCAA Women’s college basketball games, along with Men’s hockey. On the entertainment side, new and returning titles arrive across Disney+ and Hulu, with highlights like “Sīrat” available for streaming, the premiere of “The Testaments” and Season 2 of “Daredevil: Born Again.”
Nikki Glaser’s “Good Girl” comedy special and “Celebrity Jeopardy” round out the month, with the NBA and NHL playoffs kicking off on April 18.
April 1 “Atomic” (Universal) “Dear Killer Nannies” (Hulu) (Premiere) “Donna Hay Coastal Celebrations” (Disney+ Original) “O11CE: New Generation” (Disney+ Original) “Secrets of the Bees” (Premiere)
April 3 “Pizza Movie” (Hulu Original) (Premiere) “Vegas Golden Knights vs. Anaheim Ducks” (ESPN) “NCAA Women’s College Basketball Tournament Semifinals: Game One” (ESPN) “NCAA Women’s College Basketball Tournament Semifinals: Game Two” (ESPN)
April 4 “Locker Diaries: ZOMBIES” “Detroit Red Wings vs. New York Rangers”(ABC, ESPN) “Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars”(ABC, ESPN) “Louisville Kings vs. Orlando Storm” (ABC, ESPN)
April 5 “Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers” (ESPN) “Inside Out Classic: Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers” (Disney+, ESPN+) – “NCAA Women’s College Basketball Championship” (ABC, ESPN) “Bay FC vs. Washington Spirit” (ESPN2, ESPN Deportes) “St. Louis Blues vs. Colorado Avalanche” (ESPN)
April 6 “American Idol” (ABC and Disney+) “In Your Radiant Season” (Hulu Original) “Sirāt” (Hulu) “Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord” (Disney+ Original)
April 7 “Daredevil: Born Again” (Season 2) (Disney+ Original)
April 8 “Hey A.J.!” (Disney+) “How Not to Draw: Shorts” “O11CE: New Generation” (Disney+ Original) “The Testaments” (Hulu Original) (Premiere) “The Masters: Par Three Contest” (ESPN+, Disney+)
April 9 “The Masters: First Round” (ESPN, ESPN Deportes) “Men’s NCAA Hockey Tournament Semifinals: Game One” (ESPN2) “Men’s NCAA Hockey Tournament Semifinals: Game Two” (ESPN2)
April 10 “Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” (Hulu Original) (Premiere) “RoboGobo” (Disney+) “Perfect Crown” (Hulu Original) (Premiere) “The Masters: Second Round” (ESPN, ESPN Deportes)
April 11 “Locker Diaries: ZOMBIES: Shorts” (Disney+) “Perfect Crown” (Hulu Original) “Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins” (ABC, ESPN) “Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins” (ABC, ESPN) “Men’s NCAA Hockey Championship” (ESPN) “Vegas Golden Knights vs. Colorado Avalanche” (ABC, ESPN)
April 12 “Birmingham Stallions vs. St. Louis Battlehawks” (ABC, ESPN)
April 14 “Daredevil: Born Again” (Disney+ Original) “Meet Iron Man and his Awesome Friends” (Disney+) “#SKYKING”(Hulu Original) (Premiere) “Washington Capitals vs. Columbus Blue Jackets” (ESPN) “Pittsburgh Penguins vs. St. Louis Blues”(ESPN)
April 15 “O11CE: New Generation” (Disney+ Original)
April 21 “Daredevil: Born Again” (Disney+ Original)
April 22 “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+” (Disney+) “O11CE: New Generation” (Disney+ Original) “Orangutan” (Disney+ Original) (Premiere)
April 24 “Nikki Glaser: Good Girl” (Hulu Original) (Premiere) “No Other Choice” (Hulu) “The Prep School Disappearance” (Disney+) “Perfect Crown” (Hulu Original)
April 25 “Good Boy” (Hulu) “Perfect Crown” (Hulu Original) “Copa del Rey Final” (ESPN+, ESPN Deportes) “St. Louis Battlehawks vs. Orlando Storm” (ESPN)
April 26 “Angel City FC vs. Portland Thorns” (ESPN2) “Louisville Kings vs. Dallas Renegades” (ABC, ESPN)
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the “Paradise” Season 2 finale, now streaming on Hulu.
Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) has a new mission heading into “Paradise” Season 3 — but whether he’ll accept it is left up for debate by the end of the second-season finale of the Dan Fogelman drama, which released Monday on Hulu.
In the final episode of “Paradise” Season 2, titled “Exodus,” it’s revealed that the “Alex” that Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) has been hiding away is a super computer more advanced than any AI has ever been, to the point where it’s potentially capable of time travel. The device was created by Link (Thomas Doherty), who is now hellbent on shutting it down as he fears it has fully taken on a mind of its own and could be a detriment to the remaining people of Earth rather than a saving grace.
At the same time, Sinatra has formed the theory that not only is Link is actually (somehow, thanks to Alex) her deceased son, Dylan, but that Alex is the key to reversing what happened to the Earth, and Xavier is the one who needs to solve it. Why Xavier? Alex has provided instructions for a “User X,” whom Sinatra has surmised is Xavier. And before Sinatra sacrifices herself to shutdown the bunker while everyone else escapes its destruction, she tells Xavier he has to be the one to go to Alex and save them all — because she thinks he somehow already has in the future, leading to timeline anomalies like Link/Dylan.
Disney/Ser Baffo
Disney
“I think this is Fogelman’s exploration of the multiverse. Any show that’s dealing with genre and science fiction or whatnot eventually loves to play around with the idea of, is time travel a possibility?” Brown told Variety. “And what are the rules that dictate our excursion into time travel? The first time that I really got geeked over it was ‘Back to the Future.’ So you’ve seen Marvel has dealt with the multiverse and all the different timelines. ‘Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ has done its own specific thing as well. I find it intriguing, because ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is more real than people think. And it unlocks your brain in such a way that whatever you think is possible can be possible if you can conceive it.”
Brown continued: “And so now that this is introduced into our world, I think the question is, what do you really want? Do you want to go back? Do you want to move forward and leave it alone? Is it too mysterious to play with, to even tinker with, or is it too compelling to not? And different people have different decisions to make based upon where they are in life at that particular time. And you’ll see how that plays out over the course of Season 3.”
“Paradise” executive producer and Season 2 finale co-writer John Hoberg confirms that creator Fogelman’s plan is still a three-season arc, with the upcoming Season 3 — which will begin filming April 7 — serving as a “pretty definitive” ending for the story.
Disney/Ser Baffo
Disney
“If you think about where all of our characters are and what we were left with at the end, which is Xavier has been given this task by Sinatra to go to this second bunker, the question for me is, is he going to?” Hoberg teased. “Does he believe in what Sinatra is up to? Is Sinatra actually up to good? Does this machine do what she thinks? Or is she actually just dealing with her own grief, like she said? And will Xavier answer the call to do what she wants? I don’t know if I can name a specific genre [to describe Season 3], but I do know we’re going with, Xavier has been given a task, and I’m asking myself, is he going to follow through on this? And what are the repercussions if he does and if he doesn’t?”
Disney/Ser Baffo
Disney
What makes Xavier the chosen one in this case? Hoberg promises “Paradise” will answer that burning question, and many more, before the series ends. In fact, it’s been a mission of Fogelman and the “Paradise” writers’ room (which just pitched the series finale outline to Brown last week) to not leave any big loose ends: “There is a reason why Xavier is User X, and we’ll find that out,” Hoberg said.
“I think from Season 1, we established the moral compass that is Agent Collins, and that he’s willing to make difficult decisions for the greater good,” Brown added. “There’s something about him and why Dr. Torabi chose him to be part of the president’s Secret Service detail in the first place to come to the bunker that makes him uniquely equipped to deal with difficult situations in the clearest way possible.”
Disney/Ser Baffo
Disney
Meanwhile, Link/Dylan is also dealing with an identity crisis: He’s maybe Sinatra’s son, he’s definitely the father of the now-deceased Annie’s (Shailene Woodley) infant daughter, and he’s potentially still leading the crusade to take down Alex.
“He knows that it’s feasible. Is it true? We don’t know yet. We’re going to find that out, definitely, in Season 3, so that’s why I don’t want to say too much on that,” Doherty said. “I think with Season 3, we’ll start to see all this information — I mean, one of those things, individually is hard to compute, to comprehend, never mind process it. I think we’ll see him start to process his daughter. We will start to see how he’s processed Sinatra potentially being his mother. We will start to see the loss of Annie.”
Though nothing can be confirmed yet. Brown says that the “coincidence” of Link/Dylan’s name and birthday is “beyond mere coincidence, but more like a coincidence.”
Disney/Anne Marie Fox
Disney
“There are things that we actually had in that finale that got cut that go a little bit further in trying to explain the connection,” Brown said. “I think they ultimately decided to take them out, because I don’t know if the science scienced, exactly. What can I say? Oh, my God! They are obviously connected. I don’t think it is just her grief working out. There’s a connection.”
Disney/Ser Baffo
Disney
By the end of the “Paradise” Season 2 finale, Xavier’s family has been reunited, but his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma) and children Presley (Aliyah Mastin) and James (Percy Daggs IV) now face a new challenge, along with the thousands of other people who have just been expelled from the now-destroyed bunker.
“You got the 10,000 people that Link had, the 20,000 people that were inside the bunker,” Brown said. “There’s no central leadership. You could say Link is leading the folks on the outside — but there’s a mass amount of people that came to do something and now it’s a matter of, do they continue on to destroy Alex? Do they change course? Is Alex not as important anymore? What do the people inside the bunker decide to do? Are they going to stay together? Are they going to branch off and try to find their own people? There’s going to be a lot of different groups that disperse throughout Season 3 and we will follow all of them.”
Doherty says that in “Paradise” Season 3 “it’ll be really, really interesting” to watch the dynamic between Link/Dylan and Xavier, as Dylan looks to parent his infant daughter (brought to him by Xavier only the “holy charge” from Annie) and continue on his quest.
“I think that they’re cut from a very similar cloth, but I think Xavier is a lot more settled as a human being. He’s older, he’s more experienced, he’s got more composure; whereas, where we leave Dylan, he’s still kind of full of spunk and full of justice,” Doherty said. “And, like younger people generally are, he’s got that testosterone and that, like, ‘this is the right thing to do,’ compelling them. It’ll be quite interesting for him to be around someone that shares very, very similar beliefs, but is also more of a realist than him. Is Dylan gonna learn from him, or is he gonna fight against Xavier?”
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Disney
Xavier has other problems to deal with to: now that he’s reunited with his thought-to-be-dead wife, he’s got to explain his one-night stand with Dr. Torabi (Sarah Shahi) to Teri. “You will see in Season 3 that it has obviously been brought to her attention,” Brown said. “And you will see how they manage it as a couple. We’re not just gonna slide over it.”
Overall, the Collins family is happy to be back together, but much has changed in just the few years they’ve been apart as Xavier and the kids have lived in the bunker and Teri has survived on the outside.
“I think it’s a very different setup,” Brown said. “We also have two more white babies with us. Delightful welcomes to the tribe. I think he’s happy as a pig in slop to be with his wife, to be with his children. They obviously have been displaced, so they have to find out, what does life look like for them now, where they’re going to go, where they’re going to set up, who’s going to be a part of their tribe? His daughter’s getting older. She’s got a boyfriend, she’s walking off from her daddy. So there’ll be different challenges in terms of that dynamic. There’s gonna be something really interesting with our two newest members as well, with Bean and Annie. Now, Annie’s obviously with her dad, but there’s something there will be something there, too. The dynamics have shifted, and the shift causes a certain degree of friction which will compel us into action for Season 3.”
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Emerald Fennell’s steamy and modern rendition of Emily Brontë’s pivotal Victorian novel hits streaming on Tuesday, March 31, at 12 a.m. ET (Monday, March 30, at 9 p.m. PT). Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, Wuthering Heights‘ initial at-home release comes via premium video-on-demand (PVOD), available to purchase digitally on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.
At a Glance: How to Stream Wuthering Heights 2026 Movie
Wuthering Heights 2026 Streaming: Prime Video, Apple TV
As a premium video-on-demand (PVOD) release, the film is offered for digital purchase on both Prime Video and Apple TV for $24.99, starting Monday, March 30, at 9 p.m. PT/Tuesday, March 31, at 12 a.m. ET.
Wuthering HeightsBlu-Ray and Digital Code
For those who prefer a physical copy, Wuthering Heights on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray is available to pre-order now on Amazon ($19.96 for DVD; $24.95 for Blu-ray; $24.95 for 4K). It has an official release date of May 5, 2026. The physical copies come with a digital code, allowing purchasers to download the digital version on their preferred devices.
Wuthering Heights (4K Ultra HD + Digital)
Buy Wuthering Heights Book and Merchandise
Return to the source material with a copy of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel ($8 $9 on Amazon). In addition to the classic paperback, there are a variety of deluxe or collector’s editions that double as decor. See below for a few favorites.
‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë (Penguin Clothbound Classics)
Part of Penguin’s hardback Clothbound Classics series designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.
The Brontë Sisters Boxed Set (Penguin Clothbound Classics)
Includes ‘Wuthering Heights,’ ‘Jane Eyre,’ ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ and ‘Villette.’
‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë (Deluxe Edition)
Paperback.
‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions)
As part of Wuthering Heights‘ marketing rollout, a number of brands and retailers collaborated on a limited-edition product lineup spanning fashion, fragrance and home. Check out all the releases in The Hollywood Reporter‘s movie merch roundup, and shop a few favorites directly below.
“Wuthering Heights” x Maude Come Undone Kit
Pre-packaged for easy gifting.
Aqua x “Wuthering Heights” Mini Cami Nightgown
XS-XL.
Hanky Panky x “Wuthering Heights” Signature Lace Low Rise Thongs
Alex Cooper‘s Unwell Network has revealed a new YouTube reality competition series that will feature a group of “polarizing” reality TV stars and influencers.
Unwell Winter Games will follow 16 contestants living at a luxury chalet in Park City, Utah, where they will compete in a series of “mental and physical challenges over four days,” according to the company.
The series will see the competitors split into two teams, with one team taking home the final prize. Participants will also compete for individual cash prizes throughout the challenges. “The show promises fierce competition, unexpected alliances and the kind of unfiltered drama that has defined Unwell across its programming slate,” the company said of the show.
Castmembers include Dakota Mortensen, from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, who has recently made headlines over multiple domestic violence investigations involving ex Taylor Frankie Paul. (Paul was also the lead of season 22 of The Bachelorette, but ABC pulled the season after a leaked 2023 video showed her attacking Mortensen.) Love Island USA‘s Huda Mustafa, Russian-born convicted con artist Anna Delvey and Dancing With the Stars pro Gleb Savchenko are also among the cast.
Cooper serves as an executive producer on the digital series, alongside her husband, Matt Kaplan.
Unwell Winter Games premieres on the Unwell Network’s YouTube channel, which currently has nearly 11,000 subscribers, on April 6. The four-episode show will then release the subsequent episodes in the following days.
The complete cast list and their respective descriptions from the Unwell Network follow.
Lisa is officially heading to Las Vegas for a historic residency this Fall.
The 29-year-old — a member of supergroup Blackpink and a star on last season of The White Lotus — is set to become the first K-pop artist to host a residency in Vegas.
Lisa, whose full name is Lalisa Manoban, will take over The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in November 2026 for Viva La Lisa. The Thai superstar is scheduled to perform at the arena for two weeks, Nov. 13, 14, 27 and 28.
Lisa’s Viva La Lisa residency heading to Las Vegas.
Courtesy
The residency follows the release of her debut album, Alter Ego, which was released in February 2025. Lisa took Alter Ego to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last year, making her solo debut at the Indio festival alongside her fellow Blackpink member, Jennie, who also performed. Blackpink has performed at Coachella twice as a group, including as a headliner in 2023.
Lisa and the rest of Blackpink are coming off their first group world tour in years, which took them to cities around the world including two sold out nights at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The Deadline world tour, named for the album the group released last month, was the first time a girl group sold out two nights at the L.A. venue, bringing over 100,000 fans to the Inglewood-based venue, according to Live Nation.
Lilies (the name of Lisa’s solo fanbase) and Blinks (the name for Blackpink’s fanbase) can sign up for artist presale beginning April 1 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time and ending on April 19 at 10 p.m. PST. Presale is set to open on April 22 at 10 a.m. PST. Information about how to signup for the presale is available through Ticketmaster. General onsale begins April 23.
Eli Roth‘s The Horror Section and Mass Appeal, the entertainment company founded by Grammy-winning rapper Nas, have entered into a strategic partnership. Through the partnership, which includes an investment from Mass Appeal into The Horror Section, the two entities will collaborate across many aspects of the business, including having Roth and Nas co-develop film and television projects. The alliance will kick off with Nas and Mass Appeal CEO Peter Bittenbender boarding Roth’s upcoming film “Ice Cream Man” as executive producers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Nas is one of the most influential storytellers and cultural voices of all time and we bonded instantly over our mutual love of horror,” said Roth in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with Mass Appeal with its unmatched pulse on culture and what truly resonates. I look forward to collaborating with Nas, Peter, and the entire Mass Appeal team, starting with bringing ‘Ice Cream Man’ to theaters worldwide and creating cultural events in the horror space for audiences everywhere.”
Mass Appeal said the deal will allow the company to dive deeper into feature films, specifically in the horror genre, which is a specialty of Roth, the director of “Hostel” and “Knock Knock.”
“I’m proud to come together and partner with Eli to bring these films to life and push the boundaries of what horror can be, both culturally and creatively,” said Nas in a statement. “Eli and I shared the same vision from the beginning and partnering with him and The Horror Section feels natural. I’m excited to take the genre in an exciting new direction, and ‘Ice Cream Man’ is just the beginning.”
“Ice Cream Man” is Roth’s first film under The Horror Section’s banner, following the company’s launch in March 2025. The film follows a summer town descending into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results. The Horror Section recently announced it acquired “Stiletto,” the latest horror feature from director Samuel Gonzalez Jr. starring Gigi Gustin, Charlotte McKinney, Colleen Camp, Meghan Carrasquillo, Stephen Blackehart, and Hannah Hueston.
Nas and Mass Appeal most recently spearheaded the “Legend Has It…” series celebrating and spotlighting some of the most important Hip Hop artists of all time. The series included a year-long run of releases from influential artists, including Slick Rick, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Big L and De La Soul. Nas and DJ Premier brought the series to a close with the release of their long-awaited collaborative album “Light-Years” via Mass Appeal.
Roth is represented by WME. Nas is represented by The Lede Company.
He’s Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise. He’s Chris Redfield in “Resident Evil.” He’s Kyle Crane of “Dying Light.” He’s Raphael from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” He’s Batman in “Arkham Shadow.”
He’s Roger Craig Smith, and he’s been the voice of dozens of iconic video game characters over the past two decades. But this year, he’s celebrating the 35th anniversary of what is inarguably his biggest role: Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog.
“Not a day goes by where — and part of this is because we get to do these fan convention circuits now, where you go out and you travel the world literally, and meet people from all over the world that bring you their Sonic fan art,” Smith told Variety. “They bring you their stories about what that game and what that character meant to them from way back in their childhood. And it started landing for me a few years ago, when I’d have somebody in their 30s go, ‘Bro, you’re like the voice of my childhood.’ And I thought, but you’re 30? And then all of a sudden I’ll be like, that’s right, I’ve got these white whiskers showing up now. And it was because they started playing when they were 15 or 16, and I’ve been voicing Sonic for 16 years now. And so I have to pinch myself every day to think, it’s one thing to have somebody like yourself want to talk to me about something that I’ve done for 20 years in a very cutthroat and challenging industry, to have had a career of over 20 years and still be staying busy is lightning striking more than once, in that regard. But then to also say, I’ve voiced iconic game characters and things that have had an influence on people throughout the years, it’s very surreal. It never gets old.”
Jen Rosenstein
JEN ROSENSTEIN
Smith notes that “there’s never been a better time” to be working as the blue hedgehog, as the Sega IP is at peak popularity with Ben Schwartz voicing Sonic in the Paramount film franchise and Deven Mack leading the Netflix animated show. And as Sonic turns 35 this year, Smith has more in the works than ever, including an upcoming appearance at gaming event IGN Live, running June 6-7 in Los Angeles.
“What I know that I can say is that I’m extremely excited to be a part of this,” Smith said, when asked if he’ll be joining IGN Live to reveal something tied to Sonic’s big birthday. “It is such a cool event, and I cannot wait to get out there and be a part of the energy that’s in that room, and get to participate in whatever way they want us to participate. It’s gonna be a very, very fun event. I wish I could give more details and that kind of thing, but I think that’s for IGN to spill the beans on, and I will play it safe and just go: I’m excited, I can’t wait to be in Los Angeles and be a part of this massive, massive event. It’s the worst thing about my job, I would violate all the NDAs. There’s exciting stuff coming down the pike and I am so stoked for the 35th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. There couldn’t be a better time to be a part of something like that. So I’m tight lipped but expressing my intrigue and my excitement, we’ll leave it there.”
What’s that? You aren’t familiar with Sonic? Oh, then Smith has a first runnerup answer to the question of his most impactful role: The narrator of TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress.”
“There’s something very funny about what I do for a living where it’s like, if you and I sat on a plane next to each other and suddenly, if I even bothered to say, ‘Oh yeah, this is what I do,’ — very often, the next question is, ‘Anything I would have heard of?’” Smith said. “And depending upon the age or the background, it could be anything, right? I’m like, ‘Are you a big gamer? Or do you like anime?’ But it seems like across the board, if somebody’s not heard of Sonic the Hedgehog, or Kyle Crane, or any of these other characters or things that I’ve done, if I mentioned that, somebody always goes, ‘Oh!’ Or my favorite is the tough guy who always goes, ‘I don’t watch that show, but my girlfriend watches,’ or my wife, and then, like, five minutes later they go, ‘So wasn’t there an episode where the grandma got stuck in the parking lot?’ Oh, yeah, you don’t watch.”
As “Say Yes to the Dress” maintains its relevance through old clips turned into viral videos circulating on TikTok, Smith will happily claim the credit with pride — just don’t ask him what he learned from it.
“Fourteen seasons, multiple different series,” Smith said. “They had the Atlanta show and all these different spinoffs that they had done. And it was a blast. And to this day, I think people think I know things about wedding dresses, and I assure you, I know nothing about wedding dresses.”
Turner plays Lara Croft in the Prime Video series, which hails from Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The show is based on the Tomb Raider video game franchise, which follows the adventures of the famed archaeologist and adventurer.
“Sophie Turner recently experienced a minor injury,” Amazon MGM Studios said. “As a precaution, production has briefly paused to allow her time to recover. We look forward to resuming production as soon as possible.”
The nature of the injury is unclear. The crew will continue to be paid while production is paused, sources said.
The cast also includes Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Martin Bobb-Semple, Jack Bannon, John Heffernan, Bill Paterson, Paterson Joseph, Sasha Luss, Juliette Motamed, Celia Imrie and August Wittgenstein.
Waller-Bridge is creator, writer, executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Chad Hodge, who is co-showrunner and executive producer. They are joined by Jonathan Van Tulleken, who will serve as director and executive producer.
The series is executive produced by Amazon MGM Studios, Crystal Dynamics, Waller-Bridge and Jenny Robins through Wells Street Films, Dmitri M. Johnson, Michael Lawrence Goldberg, Timothy I. Stevenson, and Dallas Dickinson through Story Kitchen, Michael Scheel and Legendary Television. Matt McInnis is co-executive producer, and Jan R. Martin is producer.
The series is produced by Story Kitchen, Crystal Dynamics and Amazon MGM Studios.
Amy Seimetz never fully turns off her directing brain while acting. “My goal as an actor is always to not get cut out of the television show,” she says with a laugh. “A lot of things that are really helpful for me, in line delivery, are more technical on the filmmaking side: What are you cutting to next? Where are you playing this out? Is this a closeup? Wide? How are you editing this?” The approach has nothing to do with maximizing screentime or superseding her actual director, but modulating her performance within a broader context. “These questions can sound like I’m overstepping, but I actually am aware as an actor, ‘Oh, if I look over here, they can cut to this to help them out in some capacity.’”
This yields rich rewards in The Testaments, Hulu’s upcoming sequel series set 15 years after the end of The Handmaid’s Tale (premiering April 8), and featuring Ann Dowd reprising her Emmy-winning turn as Aunt Lydia. Seimetz portrays Paula, the obsessive matriarch grudgingly raising Agnes (Chase Infiniti), which is the Gilead name for Hannah, the now-teenaged daughter ofHandmaid’s protagonist June (Elisabeth Moss). With imposing, sometimes comic intensity, Seimetz captures the anxieties of a woman on the verge of unraveling whenever life seems out of order — even the misplacement of a dish.
“She wants everything pretty, she wants everything perfect — and so anything that’s out of place, that’s where my eye goes,” she says. “It is very rare to get the opportunity to play someone so sort of insidiously bad. But I didn’t want to go for the arch-villain archetype.”
The performance ought to bring Seimetz some attention, a reminder of the piercing perceptiveness she’s brought to projects including the acclaimed film Upstream Colorand her own directorial project, The Girlfriend Experience. Already, she’s up for an honor at the forthcoming SeriesMania. The indie darling, who’d steadily grown her hybrid acting-directing career in the 2010s, has been out of public view for the last few years. Part of this has to do with a shift in priorities — “It’s very rare that I act these days,” she says — and part of it has to do with swift larger industry shifts, the long-gestating nature of getting anything off the ground right now. And of course, there was the frenzy surrounding The Idol — the HBO series co-created by Sam Levinson, Reza Fahim and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye that Seimetz had directed nearly a whole season of, only for her version to be ultimately, shockingly scrapped for an entirely new take (more on that shortly).
So why was The Testamentsthe project to lead to her largest acting role — and, presumably, press circuit — in years? Indeed, she went so far as to audition for it. “It has to be something where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this, this is maybe not in my wheelhouse’ — if I look at it and I go, ‘I’ve never done that before,’ then I know I want to try,” she says. “They all sort of feed each other in a way — directing, writing, and acting. When I get tired of being bossy, I crave having people tell me when to hit a mark and what to say. When I get tired of being told where to hit a mark and what to say, I want to be bossy again.”
Seimetz came into the project a huge Margaret Atwood fan — the show is based on Atwood’s novel of the same name, which was written during The Handmaid’s Tale’srun on Hulu and builds off of the original series’ events as much as her original book — and with connections to Infiniti, her main co-star. “My very good friend is Sara Murphy, so we had mutual friends — there was an easy in,” she says, referring to the Oscar-winning producer of One Battle After Another, which featured Infiniti’s breakout role.
Seimetz’s icy chemistry with Infiniti is instantaneous and surprisingly light on its feet, reflective of the show as a whole despite the heavy themes. “I wouldn’t say I was playing for comedy, even though Chase would probably argue that I was,” Seimetz says. “But the idea that this is allowed to be devilishly funny in a very, very dark — almost too-close-to-reality — universe pushed me really hard to make it so, because I knew that my character was being told through the lens of Chase’s character.”
“I would try to push as far as I possibly could,” Seimetz adds, “and then just trust the director to pull me back a little bit.”
Amy Seimetz in ‘The Testaments’
Disney/Russ Martin
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Three years ago, Seimetz was traveling around New Zealand’s South Island with a friend, on break from filming her most recent acting role in Netflix’s Sweet Tooth, when she got a call from her publicist: Rolling Stone was asking for comment on “whatever chaos they were writing about” regarding The Idol. She lost signal; her friend asked whether they should turn back or continue on with their off-the-grid adventure. “I was like, ‘No, I want to do what we planned and go snorkeling with dolphins’ — and by the way, that was the best fucking decision I’ve ever made,” Seimetz says.
She brings this up first to reiterate she still has no comment on what went down on that set or what happened to the show — which was critically derided — once she had been replaced (Levinson directed the final product). Rolling Stonereported that Seimetz was “set up to fail” and that she exited a “shitshow”; HBO later told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement that her version “did not meet HBO standards so we chose to make a change.”
“It doesn’t serve me to dwell on it, it doesn’t serve me to really comment on it,” Seimetz says. “If anything, it is great that I don’t feel the need to — and I really, truly don’t.” She pauses, then connects her Idol saga to the biggest project she’s taken on since: “The best I could say is a Handmaid’s quote: ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down.’ I’m only half joking.”
Did Seimetz feel discouraged, though, coming out of an experience we can at minimum call not ideal? “It doesn’t really matter how I felt,” she says twice. “This is Hollywood. [Steven] Soderbergh actually said this to me: ‘You’re not a real filmmaker until you have that notch on your belt and you keep going.’” For the record, Seimetz looks back fondly on The Idol that she made, even though it’ll never see the light of day. “I really, really loved what I was doing, and they ended up making the show they wanted to make, but that’s just the way it goes,” she says. “I loved working with Lily [Rose Depp]. I think she’s brilliant. At least with the work that we were doing together, she’s a comedic genius, next-level — I don’t know if people know that.”
Behind the scenes, Seimetz forged ahead with vigor, helming multiple episodes of the acclaimed Mr. & Mrs. Smith series adaptation out of the gate. She’s now got multiple high-profile projects in the works as a writer-director, which she’s reasonably confident will move forward — even if they take years. She’s also shooting a hybrid documentary on a rolling basis with one of her best friends, Jillian Mayer, down in Florida. “Jillian’s from Miami and I’m from Tampa, and so whenever I go home, I drive down and reshoot these little pieces of it,” she says. The dynamic has echoed the making of She Dies Tomorrow, Seimetz’s electric 2020 horror-thriller.
“I really fell in love with that process, which is: Start some ideas, and you don’t necessarily need to know where it’s going,” Seimetz says. “Once I realized that I don’t have to wait around for a big project to be there or for anyone to tell me I can direct something…I just went ahead and bought cameras, and now shoot pieces of things.”
She’s learned to navigate a rapidly changing industry through the example of Soderbergh, who first asked Seimetz to turn his feature The Girlfriend Experience into a series a little over a decade ago — even though they’d never spoken beforehand. “He’s so savvy about the changing landscape…. He really saw an opportunity when TV was starting to drop binge-watching: He went to Starz and he was like, ‘What is the number at which you would make a television show and leave us alone?’” Seimetz says. “They gave him a number, and it was very low, and then we made it.” The first season starred Riley Keough in a breakout turn and drew wide critical acclaim, going on to run two more seasons in an anthology format.
“I’ve tried that tactic again on multiple things,” Seimetz says now of how Soderbergh pushed their auteur-driven drama through. “But it is just a forever-changing landscape.” Again though, she sees Soderbergh’s prolific slate over the last five years — even as, for many, it’s felt like getting anything made is harder than ever — and takes inspiration from the nimbleness. “Everyone’s scared to make things,” she says before paraphrasing him: “I’m just going to figure out a way that I can make a bunch of these.”
Amy Seimetz at the ‘Pet Sematary’ premiere at SXSW in 2019
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for SXSW
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Taking on her first regular TV role since the pandemic, Seimetz wound up away from home in Toronto for six full months last year, echoing her intensive time making The Girlfriend Experience up in Canada a decade earlier. The main difference is that here, she was playing a supporting role in an expansive storytelling tapestry. She did not direct on The Testaments either — “I am not able to really be in a performance while directing; I know that about myself enough to say ‘No, thank you’” — and thus had many days to herself.
“It’s almost like a meditation of being in that person because you’ll have breaks and you’re like, ‘What would this person do?’” Seimetz says. “And I can’t say that I relate to Paula.”
She does relate to Atwood, however — she speaks of the author as in sync with her own philosophy of filmmaking and storytelling. “Under these dire circumstances, yes, there are heroes, and yes, there are people that are oppressed, but she allows the emotions to be really messy,” Seimetz says. “She allows the heroes to make mistakes and gets into the psychology and the decision making of what happens under these circumstances. And she plays in this world of gothic darkness with a wicked sense of humor.”
Seimetz then turns to how The Testaments came about in the first place: Atwood seized an opportunity, expanding upon her groundbreaking book right as the Handmaid’s adaptation hit a fever pitch of popularity. Seimetz clearly admires artists’ ability to find their moment. “She’s another one that’s extremely adaptable to the way that the world works,” she says. Seimetz can count herself among that group, too.
