Netflix on Monday revealed a buzzy addition to its already expansive Korean content slate: rom-com feature Messily Ever After, starring Kim Min-ha and Noh Sang-hyun.
Production on the film is now underway in Seoul, with the project reuniting the two actors after their shared appearance in Apple TV+’s Pachinko, this time placing them at the center of a contemporary relationship comedy that tracks a couple over the ups and downs of a romantic-but-rocky decade together.
The story follows Su-hyun (Kim) and Hyun-tae (Noh), college sweethearts whose long-term romance oscillates between devotion and exasperation as the years accumulate. Rather than dwelling in the early intoxication of love, the narrative leans into the more complicated terrain that follows: “Messily Ever After (working title) explores what it really means to stay together after the honeymoon phase has long ended — capturing the messy mix of loyalty, irritation, desire and doubt that comes with truly knowing someone,” Netflix’s official summary says.
Kim plays a perfectionist museum curator whose professional composure falters when jealousy and emotional uncertainty intrude, while Noh portrays an installation artist fiercely committed to his creative identity and resistant to compromise.
The film marks the feature directing debut of emerging filmmaker Seo Jung-min. Producers Bombaram Film — the Seoul-based banner behind the youth romance Love Untangled and the socially resonant hit Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 — are backing the project, which Netflix positions as part of its ongoing effort to elevate new voices in Korean cinema.
The project adds to Netflix’s characteristically ambitious Korean slate for 2026. As previously announced, the streamer is rolling out a 33-title lineup spanning scripted series, feature films and unscripted formats, ranging from star-driven romantic comedies like Boyfriend on Demand (led by Blackpink’s Jisoo) to large-scale genre projects such as the superhero drama The Wonderfools starring Park Eun-bin and Cha Eun-woo, and prestige fare including Lee Chang-dong’s long-awaited latest feature Possible Love. The slate also leans heavily on returning franchises — with new seasons of hits like Singles Inferno, Culinary Class Wars and The Devil’s Plan — alongside big-name scripted projects such as Tantara, pairing Song Hye-kyo and Gong Yoo.
A release date for Messily Ever After has not yet been announced.
[This story contains major spoilers from the season three finale of The Night Agent.]
Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) may now be taking a leave of absence from being the titular Night Agent. But naturally, he will not be able to resist being away from the action for very long.
In the third season of Netflix’s hit spy action thriller, after making a deal with the devil, intelligence broker Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum), to thwart a terrorist attack on the UN at the end of season two, Peter found himself investigating a wider conspiracy involving the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a terrorist organization — and even the White House.
While grappling with the guilt of his past choices, Peter hunts down Jay Batra (Suraj Sharma), a junior FinCEN analyst accused of murdering his supervisor and stealing classified intelligence. After tracking Batra down in Istanbul, Peter discovers that the analyst is actually a whistleblower who uncovered a massive financial conspiracy involving Suspicious Activity Reports. These documents revealed that American shell companies, managed by Monroe, were used to launder money for the LFS terrorist organization responsible for downing a civilian airliner. As Peter shifts into a more protective role, he teams up with financial journalist Isabel De Leon (Genesis Rodriguez) — who is later revealed to be Monroe’s estranged daughter, born from a tragic CIA operation in the 1990s.
The conspiracy reaches the highest levels of government, specifically involving President Richard Hagan (Ward Horton) and First Lady Jenny Hagan (Jennifer Morrison). To secure her husband’s election, the future first lady struck a deal with Monroe to exchange laundered campaign funds for classified access to presidential daily briefs. When a White House butler involved in the scheme attempted to back out, he was killed in a confrontation orchestrated by Jenny to look like an assassination attempt. This web of corruption is finally exposed through Monroe’s secret hard drive, which was encrypted with a personal code known only to Isabel. Although the Hagans ultimately use a presidential pardon to escape legal consequences, their crimes are broadcast to the world by a corrupt banker, Freya Myers (Michaela Watkins).
In the aftermath of the scandal, Peter chooses to temporarily step away from Night Action to find the personal balance he has lacked since the series began. But at the end of the finale, FBI Deputy Director Aiden Mosley (Albert Jones) informs Peter that a potential new partner has already been selected for his next mission, leaving the door open for Peter to stage a return sooner rather than later.
In the wide-ranging chat below, creator and showrunner Shawn Ryan answers all of THR’s burning questions after the season three finale. He explains his controversial decision to not bring back Luciane Buchanan’s Rose Larkin, why he never saw Peter’s new connection with Isabel as anything more than platonic, how he decided which characters would live and which ones would die, and whether he thinks this show can survive without his male lead Basso: “There’s a lot of evolution for Peter that I’d want to explore before exploring the world without him.”
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When we spoke last year, you mentioned that Peter found season one “logistically difficult but morally easy.” For season two, you wanted to maintain those same logistical challenges while making things more “morally difficult.” What intrigued you most about how Peter is continuing to wrestle with the morality of being a Night Agent in season three?
One of the things we discussed was the challenge of growing into leadership. The idea that he’s growing into the responsibility of that job; that he’s understanding the drawbacks and sacrifices that come with it. He’s still having difficulty balancing all the various aspects of his life, and that’s something in the writers room of season four that we’re currently working on and talking about. But as it relates to season three, he’s a little less naïve.
If you look at Breaking Bad, very famously, they talked about [Walter White] going from science teacher to Scarface over the arc of that show. [With Night Agent] we talk about a guy who begins the show answering the phone in the basement who gains more and more responsibility and has to live with the consequences of his decisions more and more. Season three in our overall series arc is about him embracing being a Night Agent, embracing those responsibilities, and still understanding that it’s not 100 percent a fulfilling life. There are aspects he’d like to figure out, but those things are for future seasons.
You also told me after season two that the last thing you would want to do is “manufacture crisis after crisis season after season” to keep Peter and Rose together. Peter talks about her in passing this season, but he almost has to shut off that part of his brain to avoid going down that road, because he knows that reaching out to her could put her in danger. Why did you decide against bringing Rose back this season? Was it purely a creative choice? Did it come down to scheduling?
No, listen, it wasn’t scheduling. It wasn’t that we were unhappy with Luciane in any way. She was wonderful. As we told that story in season two, it felt like an ending in that moment. I still have hopes and intentions that Rose isn’t done on our show. But we started off in the writers room with the idea of, “How would a Peter/Rose-centric season three work?” [We were] hitting some roadblocks and not getting to where we wanted to be. We asked, “Well, how would a Peter-centric season three without Rose work?” And ultimately, that was the most creative, satisfying thing.
Now, that leads to not my favorite [kinds of] conversations. I called up Luciane, and I explained [the situation]. She was really wonderful about it, and had a sense from how season two ended that this was a possibility. She has a very successful show on Apple [called Chief of War] that I know she’s really proud of. I was clear to her on the phone call: “Listen, we’re actually intending to bring Chelsea [the Secret Service Agent played by Fola Evans-Akingbola] back in season three after she wasn’t in season two, other than one cameo scene near the end. This is the kind of show where people can drop out and come back in, and I really want to hold open the possibility that Rose will return in the right situation, and I hope you, Luciane, will be open to it.” She seemed to be [interested]. She can speak for herself, but we never want The Night Agent to become formulaic. We never want it to become repetitive.
One of the things I like so much about the show is that each new season is kind of a new world — has a lot of new characters, new storylines. With our flashbacks, you can always go back to moments with characters. So it was a creative decision I made that the studio and network supported, based on what we thought was creatively best for the show. We know there will be people who were very invested in Rose who will be disappointed. I understand that. I don’t blame them for feeling that way, but hopefully, when people see the season, they’ll understand what we did. I’m really proud of the third season, and I think the creative team did a fabulous job.
Genesis Rodriguez in The Night Agent season three.
Christopher Saunders/Netflix
You introduced Genesis Rodriguez as Isabel de Leon, a financial journalist who, as viewers learn midway through the season, is the estranged daughter of Jacob Monroe. When did you come up with that twist in the writers room, and how did you think about building up to that twist when you were creating the character?
I like to give a lot of credit to the writers room because so many of the great ideas on the show emanate from them and are presented to me. I will egotistically say for one second that what you’re talking about was my idea before the season began. (Laughs.) When I was thinking about season three and how we were going to wrap up the broker storyline, I thought about [Peter] meeting a woman who we didn’t know right away was [Monroe’s] daughter.
I didn’t have all the specifics, and in fact, those things were developed in collaboration with all the writers, [like] the journalist angle. I wanted to explore the financial world. I came into the season with a thesis statement that we put in the mouth of Isabel at one point — that all the horrible things that happened in the world couldn’t really happen without the cooperation and work of these financial institutions that hid their money and facilitated their illegal activities.
I was interested in humanizing Jacob Monroe. I think one of the things our show has done well over all three seasons is, we don’t have villains play pure villains. We see them as human beings. We understand their motivations; what drives them. And to give the writers room credit, they’re the ones who came up with and pitched me the idea of doing this extended flashback in episode seven in Mexico City, where we see the origin stories of the broker, how he came to meet Isabel’s mother, how the various levels of betrayal led him to his life now and to their estrangement.
There were some viewers who cynically believed that Isabel was replacing Rose as Peter’s love interest, but Peter and Isabel never crossed that line. Did you ever consider making them more than just friends and allies?
While the character of Rose isn’t in season three, the shadow of Rose hangs over a lot of season three. One of the things I fought for in the writers room was the idea that, as far as Peter was concerned, Rose wasn’t just disposable. It wasn’t just like, “Oh, well, we had a thing in those couple seasons, but now I’ll move on.” We wanted him to carry the weight of the sadness of that [relationship ending]. One of my favorite scenes in the season is in episode four, where he and Isabel are playing pool and asking each other questions, and he comes cleaner than he otherwise might [to someone else] about the weight of losing Rose and having to give her up.
Everyone loves a little romance, and the Peter/Rose romance was very successful, but we never viewed Isabel as a “replacement” for Rose. I think that would cheapen what Rose meant to Peter. Not that he can’t ever find love or romance again, but I just felt it was emotionally true to have him still carrying the weight of that lost relationship. So I don’t know if it was ever pitched or discussed, but if it was, we never seriously considered a romance. The things that they were involved in were too serious. The whole reason why [Peter and Rose] weren’t together was that it was too dangerous in his job. And to have another woman who’s romantically involved in danger, at least in season three, didn’t feel right to us.
Luciane Buchanan’s Rose Larkin with Basso in season two.
Christopher Saunders/Netflix
This season, compared to past seasons, doesn’t have as high of a dead body count, but there are still two pretty shocking deaths: Peter’s mentor-slash-handler Catherine (Amanda Warren) dying in an explosion staged by Monroe in episode two, and Peter’s partner Adam (David Lyons), who was previously Hagan’s commanding officer in the military, secretly shooting Monroe in the head in episode eight. Can you walk me through the thought process behind which characters you chose to kill off this season? Did you have any others that you considered killing off in the room?
We always discuss killing off everyone! You never want the deaths to feel like wallpaper. You never want them to feel gratuitous. You think about ways that you can earn them. Early on, we talked about Peter growing into being a leader. One of the ways that can happen is when you lose your leader, and you have to step up.
So it was out of those conversations that we talked about Catherine’s death — and all credit to Amanda Warren who played her so well. She didn’t have to come and do those two episodes. We had a contract [option] to either employ her for all of season three or not at all, so it had to be a negotiation for her to come back and just do the two [episodes]. She was truly lovely, and I explained to her what that death would mean for the show, what it would mean for Peter, and she really embraced it and was wonderful.
The Jacob Monroe death was something that the room pitched to me that I think is a great twist for Adam, who starts off as an ally for Peter. He’s someone who grew up believing that, as he said, “Generals question so that we don’t have to,” and [Adam] starts finding himself in the gravitational pole of a corrupt presidential administration by which he begins to be corrupted. I liked that there was some reticence and hesitation from him about doing what he did [by killing Monroe] and almost a little instant regret, because there are a lot of good aspects of Adam.
So both those deaths came out of [the idea that] you have a political thriller, it’s a dangerous world. There are some characters that aren’t going to survive. That’s just one of the signatures of this genre. You always want it to be surprising but inevitable, and I think the game that Jacob Monroe was playing inevitably led to his demise. I don’t think he was destined to die by cancer. I would say that you smartly put your finger on something — we did lean a little bit more into tension in season three. A little less violence, and a little more tension, was an intentional calibration for this particular season that we were interested in.
Peter gets dangerously close to dying multiple times this season — most notably at the hands of his Night Action partner Adam, who is actually an old friend of the corrupt POTUS. Why do you think Adam ultimately lets Peter go after initially shooting him in the finale?
Despite his actions in the last three episodes, I think Adam is ultimately a decent person, and what he was ordered to do, with increasingly less and less justification, reached the point where [he thought to himself] “Am I the person that’s going to sit here and shoot an unarmed man who is just trying to do the right thing?” That was the line that Adam couldn’t cross. He was led to believe erroneously that it was Peter who was off the rails, and then when he gets confirmation that Freya was helping the president and the first lady launder their money, [he realizes] that this isn’t about national security anymore. This is about protecting their own interests, not protecting the nation. That was the last straw for Adam.
Again, I think our villains are multifaceted. They’re not just there to do the evil thing. I think Adam had a lot of points in the season — saving Peter at the end of episode four, working with Peter in episodes five and six — that revealed him to be someone that wanted to be on the forces of good. He thought for a while he was on the forces of good, even if he was asked to be doing tough and violent things. I think when confronted finally with that evidence, that was the line for him that said, “I can’t just shoot and kill this man, in this instance.”
You gave almost all of the surviving characters some kind of coda, but what exactly happens to Adam after he lets Peter go? Where is he? Is he coming back next season?
[Pauses.] The reason why I pause sometimes when I’m answering your questions is that I’m living in this world where I’m getting asked questions about season three, but I’ve been spending the last few months working on season four. I will tell you that the answers to your questions exist in season four, as it relates to Adam.
Stephen Moyer in The Night Agent season three.
Christopher Saunders/Netflix
Peter and Isabel’s investigation into Monroe puts them on a direct collision course with a hit man (played by Stephen Moyer) with a young child, who he seems to have kidnapped on one of his other ops and has now raised on his own. Does this unnamed assassin have a name, or is he just called The Father?
No, we always referred to him as The Father. He gave a fake name to Freya in that bar at the end. That’s not his name. The son tells Peter his name is Orion, but we know that’s a code name he was given. One of the things that I was thinking about, and the other writers were thinking about, is how often kids and parents don’t really use each other’s names in real life. (Laughs.) We just liked the mystery of that.
That’s one of my favorite storylines that we’ve done in all three seasons of the show. I thought Stephen Moyer was so fantastic. Callum Vinson, who played the son, was the real discovery for us all. Credit to the casting department at Sony. He had been in Long Bright River, [another] show of [the studio, Sony Pictures Television], and they recommended that we take a look at him for this role, and he was so, so good. The two of them were so good together. I loved writing that. I loved working on that in the editing room — seeing the two of them work together, and then seeing that all come together in episode eight in the interrogation scenes between the father and Peter, and then seeing the son appear there later in the episode.
The Father has a crisis of conscience as a hit man over the course of the season. And as soon as he sees Peter using “Orion” as a bargaining chip for his own survival in that episode, The Father realizes that he is not cut out for this lifestyle anymore. The last time we see The Father onscreen, he is impersonating a British man who flirts with an unsuspecting Freya, who now goes by Nina, at a restaurant on the boardwalk. Are we meant to interpret the fact that he pulled out a vial of clear liquid from his pocket as proof that he poisoned Freya and presumably killed her?
Yeah, I think we’re meant to interpret that he poisoned her the same way that he poisoned [Isabel’s newspaper boss] Mike in episode two. She threatened his family. There’s one thing about going away, but there’s another about leaving that threat hanging over you and your son. So I think that was him closing the last loophole before walking off — literally — into the sunset on the boardwalk with his son.
We’ve spoken quite a bit about what next season will look like, but The Night Agent hasn’t officially been renewed yet. Where exactly are you in terms of renewal talks with Netflix about season four?
We’re not officially picked up yet, but we’ve been actively working on the writers room. So I just want to be super clear that there’s no news to report on that front. We are just focused on the creative, and when the time comes for Netflix to pick up, they’ll let you guys know.
But what I will say is that [Netflix executives] really do care a lot about the viewer experience, and they understand that fans don’t always like it when there’s too much time between seasons. So I think one thing on their more successful shows is that they’ll allow the writing process to get going a little bit so that when they do pick up a show officially, we can get into production quicker. We can finish the episodes and we can release them to the public with a more regular cadence than we otherwise might be able to if we were waiting for an official pickup to happen before the writing process [begins].
How many seasons of The Night Agent would you ideally want to make, and do you think this show could go on without Peter — or Gabriel — at the center of the action?
I haven’t really considered that a lot. There’s a lot of evolution for Peter that I’d want to explore before exploring the world without him. What you’re talking about is partly creative, but it’s also partly business. I certainly have business partners in Sony and Netflix, so I’d be hesitant to go on the record about what those plans are. I do think, as you’re talking creatively about season four, it’s natural to talk about: Where do we think we’re going in the long-term? You hope you’re the kind of show that would be granted a clear and final season by Netflix so that you could wrap it up. We just saw Stranger Things get a chance to wrap up their storyline after a number of successful years. We saw The Crown get a chance to wrap things up. My hope would be that our show, with the success that we’ve had, would get a chance to do that.
I imagine if and when the time comes, there’ll be a conversation that involves creative and financials. These shows always get more expensive the longer they go on, but because of the nature of the ever-revolving and changing worlds, I do think the show has the potential for longevity. That doesn’t mean it’s Law & Order: SVU 25 seasons and counting, but I think there are more stories to tell — and I hope we’ll get the chance to tell them.
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The first three seasons of The Night Agent are now streaming on Netflix.
Fractured, unpredictable and thrilling chaos are defining this awards season after a wild night at the 79th BAFTA Awards, with the race now barreling into the final stretch before Oscar voting opens Thursday, Feb. 26.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was the night’s dominant force, winning six BAFTAs: best film, director, adapted screenplay, supporting actor (Sean Penn), cinematography and editing.
For Oscar watchers, the technical trophies matter as much as the headline prizes. Winning for the artisans brings crucial momentum. “One Battle After Another” leaves BAFTA positioned as a below-the-line viability and still a clear best picture frontrunner. But if anyone hoped for a night of tidy answers, BAFTA offered the opposite with a loud reshuffle that may have clarified one thing and destabilized nearly everything else.
Only one Black screenwriter has ever won for original screenplay at the Oscars (Jordan Peele for “Get Out,” 2017). Coogler’s BAFTA trophy strengthens his Oscar prospects against a crowded field. However, and just as important, “Sinners” showed more above-the-line vitality where it needed oxygen most, with Mosaku’s supporting actress win adding real heat to the campaign.
So if you’re keeping score — “One Battle After Another” needed to prove below-the-line love (which it did), and “Sinners” needed to prove more above-the-line love (which it did). Obviously, “One Battle After Another” taking best film and director, after sweeping major critics awards and the DGA leaves many believing it’s over. But if you do your Oscar homework, you know that’s never the case. We have the PGA Awards and the Actor Awards (formerly SAG Awards) happening this upcoming week, all amid final Oscar voting. There’s room for more shifts to happen in the coming days.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Another significant upset came later in the BAFTA evening when Timothée Chalamet lost the leading actor award to Robert Aramayo for his performance in Kirk Jones’ Tourette’s drama “I Swear.” Aramayo also won the EE Rising Star Award, the only honor voted on by the public. Interestingly, Aramayo and “I Swear” have different kinds of momentum, which are forward-looking for next year’s Oscars. The film will be eligible for the 99th Oscars ceremony, with a U.S. release later this year from Sony Pictures Classics.
Nonetheless, Chalamet arrived as the presumed frontrunner after major victories at CCAs and Globes for Josh Safdie’s sports dramedy. At this stage in the season, a loss like this cannot be read as a mere statistical blip. Rather, it can change the story voters tell themselves when they fill out their ballots. Whether it proves ultimately fatal to the campaign is unknowable. Still, it is absolutely relevant, particularly with final voting around the corner.
The SAG Award may now serve as the decisive indicator. Variety has projected for weeks that Ethan Hawke could be the victor in the category for his work as Lorenz Hart in “Blue Moon.” Whoever claims that prize will likely emerge as your Oscar winner. And worth noting: no performer has ever won back-to-back SAG Awards in the same category. Chalamet, who took home the prize last year for “A Complete Unknown,” would make history if he reversed course and won.
Jessie Buckley won leading actress for “Hamnet,” which also won for outstanding British film. The result was broadly anticipated, and the reason is simple, as Buckley’s campaign has looked like the closest thing to a straight line in a season full of detours.
The real circus, though, is the supporting acting races. If BAFTA proved anything, it’s that both are wide open, and not in the polite, pundit-friendly way, but in the genuine chaotic manner. We’ve had three different winners — for both supporting acting races — at the Globes, CCA, and BAFTAs so far.
The closest occurrence of something like this happening was in 2004. Globes went to Clive Owen and Natalie Portman for “Closer” (who both missed SAG noms). CCA went to the “Sideways” duo, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen, and SAG went to eventual Oscar winner Morgan Freeman from “Million Dollar Baby” and Cate Blanchett from “The Aviator.” That specific year, the BAFTA Awards were the final say on the season, with Owen and Blanchett taking their prizes. In the end, it was SAG that was ultimately correct with Freeman from the eventual best picture winner, and Blanchett from the presumed “runner-up.”
Even though he’s a two-time Oscar winner for “Mystic River” (2003) and “Milk” (2008), Penn won his first-ever BAFTA for supporting actor for his villainous turn as Col. Lockjaw in “One Battle After Another,” adding his name to the already fractured leaderboard. Jacob Elordi holds the Critics Choice prize for “Frankenstein.” Stellan Skarsgård took the Golden Globe for “Sentimental Value.” Now Penn has a BAFTA. With the Actor Award still pending, this race is starting to resemble a five-sided coin flip. If Benicio del Toro takes the SAG prize, we’ll have four different winners at every televised show, which hasn’t happened since the COVID-era of 2020’s best actress race — which ended up favoring the BAFTA winner from the eventual best picture winner “Nomadland,” Frances McDormand. That leaves surprise Oscar nominee Delroy Lindo, who is still very much on the table for his work in “Sinners.” Interestingly, before 2020, another time four different winners won awards at the precursors was the 2000 season, where Frances McDormand won CCA for “Almost Famous,” before her co-star Kate Hudson took the Golden Globe, followed by SAG with Judi Dench for “Chocolat” and BAFTA for Julie Walters in “Billy Elliot.” The eventual Oscar winner was Marcia Gay Harden from “Pollock,” who, like Lindo, didn’t land any noms from any of the precursors. Could that be a sign of good things to come for Lindo?
Skarsgård’s loss, in particular, lands with force. His turn as film director Gustav Borg in “Sentimental Value” (which won a single prize for non-English-language film) had the role and prestige that often come with supporting, even with a SAG snub under his belt. Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk,” 2018) is the last acting winner to do so without a win from either SAG or BAFTA (and she coincidentally didn’t have nominations at either).
Supporting actress is no calmer. Teyana Taylor has the Golden Globe for “One Battle After Another.” Amy Madigan won Critics Choice for “Weapons” but wasn’t nominated at BAFTA. Mosaku now has a BAFTA for “Sinners.” None of it adds up to a safe consensus, and that uncertainty is the point. With SAG still to come and no obvious default choice, the industry’s own voting bloc may end up acting as the season’s final referee.
Beyond the headline races, the craft categories offered their declarative statements. “Frankenstein” won costume design, makeup and hair, and production design, giving it a firm technical foothold as Oscar voters start locking in their preferences. “Sentimental Value” won film not in the English language, but “The Secret Agent” has Globes and CCA under its belt as well. “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” won documentary over the presumed favorite “The Perfect Neighbor.” In contrast, “Zootopia 2” won animated film, without the presence of “KPop Demon Hunters,” which wasn’t eligible to be nominated due to its release. However, EJAE still gave the film a presence just one day after it swept the Annie Awards, taking home 10 statuettes.
Heading into the final weeks of awards season, the shape of the battlefield is clearer and messier at the same time. “One Battle After Another” looks like the best picture target everyone else has to hit. Buckley appears to be the closest thing to a near-lock in any acting race. Coogler has the wind at his back in original screenplay. And almost everything else remains in flux. The BAFTAs rarely make the Oscars simpler. This year, they’ve made them electric.
Final Oscar voting will take place from Feb. 26 to March 5. The 98th Oscars will be held March 15 and will air on ABC, hosted by Conan O’Brien. This week’s updated Oscar predictions are below.
Animated Feature: “KPop Demon Hunters” (Netflix) — Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong
Production Design: “Frankenstein” (Netflix) — Tamara Deverell; Shane Vieau
Cinematography: “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros.) — Michael Bauman
Costume Design: “Frankenstein” (Netflix) — Kate Hawley
Film Editing: “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros.) — Andy Jurgensen
Makeup and Hairstyling: “Frankenstein” (Netflix) — Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey
Sound: “F1” (Apple Original Films/Warner Bros.) — Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta
Visual Effects: “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (20th Century Studios) — Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
Original Score: “Sinners” (Warner Bros.) — Ludwig Göransson
Original Song: “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” (Netflix) — EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park
Documentary Feature: “The Perfect Neighbor” (Netflix) — Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu and Sam Bisbee
International Feature: “Sentimental Value” from Norway (Neon) — dir. Joachim Trier
Animated Short: “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” (National Film Board of Canada) — Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Documentary Short: “All the Empty Rooms” (Netflix) — Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Live Action Short: “Two People Exchanging Saliva” (Canal+/The New Yorker) — Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata
After drawing social media backlash for suggesting filmmakers should “stay out of politics,” German director Wim Wenders and his fellow jurors at the 76th Berlin Film Festival delivered a pointed rebuttal of sorts, awarding the festival’s top prizes to a number of overtly political films.
Top prize, the Golden Bear for best film, went to Ilker Çatak’s Yellow Letters, a drama following Derya (Özgü Namal) and Aziz (Tansu Biçer), two Turkish theater artists who lose their jobs due to political persecution from Turkey’s authoritarian government. Though set in Ankara and Istanbul, Yellow Letters is shot entirely in Germany, with Çatak making no effort to disguise the fact, hinting that what has happened in Ankara can also happen in Berlin.
Awarding the Golden Bear, Wenders called Yellow Letters, a drama of “the political language of totalitarianism as opposed to the empathetic language of cinema.”
Çatak is the first German director to win the Golden Bear in Berlin since Fatih Akin. Akin, like Çatak a German-born director of Turkish immigrant parents, took the top prize for Head-On in 2004.
The Silver Bear for best performance went to German star Sandra Hüller for her gender-bending turn in Rose, from Austrian director Markus Schleinzer, in which she plays a woman trying to pass as a man in 17th century rural Germany. The black-and-white feature was inspired by hundreds of comparable documented cases throughout history. It’s another stand-out role for Hüller, who was Oscar-nominated for her turn in Anatomy of a Fall, and is about to make the leap to Hollywood, starring alongside Tom Cruise in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s hotly anticipated dramedy Digger, and together with Ryan Gosling in the sci-fi feature Project Hail Mary from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
Hüller did a variation of the Adrien Brody/Halle Berry Oscar kiss, giving jury member Ewa Puszczyńska, her producer on Zone of Interest, a smooch on the lips before accepting her trophy.
The best supporting performance prize was awarded to British acting icons Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay for playing an aging couple in Lance Hammer’s Queen at Sea. The drama, also featuring Juliette Binoche and Florence Hunt, sees Calder-Marshall playing a woman with severe dementia, with Courtenay playing her loving husband and caregiver. Queen at Sea also won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.
The awards ceremony of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival got off to politically-changed start, as several filmmakers used the stage to denounce Israeli military actions in the Middle East and call to “free Palestine.”
Opening the gala event, Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle acknowledged that this year’s edition had “felt raw and fractured,” saying grief and anger over global events belonged within the festival community and that debate was part of democracy. But as prizes were handed out, the political temperature rose. Lebanese filmmaker Marie-Rose Osta, accepting the Golden Bear for best short film for Someday a Child, condemned Israeli bombings and what she called a collapse of international law, while Abdallah Alkhatib, winning the Berlinale Documentary Award for Chronicles From a Siege, brought a Palestinian flag onstage and ended his speech with a call to “free Palestine.”
Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin, head of the short film jury, urged artists to “insist on complexity” and resist reducing festival spaces to parliamentary floors, arguing that direct statements and politically engaged bodies of work could coexist. Wenders, largely silent since the initial controversy, addressed what he called an “artificial discrepancy” between critics and organizers before announcing the competition winners, saying most of those in the room applauded the artists speaking out.
British filmmaker Grant Gee took best director honors for Everyone Digs Bill Evans, a fragmented bio-drama on the influential jazz pianist who was shattered by the tragic loss of his bassist in a car accident. Norwegian actor Anders Danielsen Lie (Sentimental Value) plays Bill Evans, with Laurie Metcalf and Bill Pullman as his parents.
The Silver Bear for best screenplay went to Nina Rozafrom Quebecois director Geneviève Dulude-de Celles, the story of a Bulgarian immigrant who returns to his native land to search for an 8-year-old artistic prodigy.
Anna Fitch’s formally experimental documentary Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), in which the director uses puppets, collages and scale models to recount the life of her friend, the Swiss immigrant Yolanda “Yo” Shea, won the Silver Bear for extraordinary artistic achievement.
The Grand Jury Prize went to Emin Alper’s Salvation, a drama that charts the escalation of violence in an isolated village community in the Turkish mountains following the return of an exiled clan.
Alper used his speech to express solidarity with oppressed people everywhere. “The people of Palestine, you are not alone. The people of Iran suffering under tyranny, you are not alone, the people of Kurdistan [you] are not alone,” he said. “And my people, you are not alone.”
But one of the most eloquent speeches on the issue of politics at this year’s Berlinale came from one of the producers of Yellow Letters. Calling out the arguments that had pitted “filmmaker against filmmaker, artist against creatives,” he reminded the crowd that “we are not enemies. We are allies. The real threat among us is not among us. It is the autocrats, the right-wing parties, the nihilists of our time. Let us not fight each other. Let’s fight them.”
Tricia Tuttle ended the night on an optimistic note, saying that “hope and love” were the common themes through all the award speeches tonight. She welcomed the criticism of the festival, saying critics “just want us to be better,” adding that “all are welcome” in the Berlinale community.
Full list of winner below.
GOLDEN BEAR FOR BEST FILM Yellow Letters, dir. Ilker Çatak
SILVER BEAR GRAND JURY PRIZE Salvation, dir. Emin Alper
SILVER BEAR JURY PRIZE Queen at Sea, dir. Lance Hammer
SILVER BEAR FOR BEST DIRECTOR Grant Gee, Everyone Digs Bill Evans
SILVER BEAR FOR BEST LEADING PERFORMANCE Sandra Hüller, Rose
SILVER BEAR FOR BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay, Queen at Sea
SILVER BEAR FOR BEST SCREENPLAY Nina Roza, dir. Geneviève Dulude-de Celles
SILVER BEAR FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), dir. Anna Fitch
PERSPECTIVES
GFF FIRST FEATURE AWARD Chronicles From the Siege, dir. Abdallah Alkhatib
Special Mention Forest High (Forêt Ivre), dir. Manon Coubia
BERLINALE DOCUMENTARY AWARD
If Pigeons Turned to Gold, dir. Pepa Lubojacki
SHORTS
Golden Bear Best Short Film Someday a Child, dir. Marie-Rose Osta
Silver Bear Jury Prize (Short Film) A Woman’s Place Is Everywhere, dir. Fanny Texier
CUPRA Filmmaker Award Jingkai Qu, dir. Kleptomania
Hilary Duff is sort of responding to Ashley’s Tisdale’s claims from her essay in The Cut, in which she explained that she had to leave her “toxic mom group.”
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, published on Friday, Duff was asked about the drama that stemmed from Tisdale’s essay last month and if it led her to pause reentering the pop world. The High School Musical actress’ essay described how she ended relationships in her mom group circle because she felt left out and that it was becoming toxic.
Even though Tisdale didn’t name drop anyone, she and Duff have been photographed together as being a part of the same mom group. And after Tisdale’s essay was published, Duff’s husband and singer-songwriter, Matthew Koma, fired back by posting a photo to his Instagram Story of himself photoshopped onto Tisdale’s body with a fictional headline that reads: “When You’re The Most Self Obsessed Tone Deaf Person On Earth, Other Moms Tend To Shift Focus To Their Actual Toddlers.”
“This is not new for me,” Duff told the Los Angeles Times regarding the drama. “I’ve had this since I was maybe 15 and starting to get followed around by paparazzi. Everything starts getting documented and everyone knows my life and all the players in it. So the stories that get news pickup — it’s not what happens to a normal person who maybe became an actor as an adult.”
She continued to explain that attention is now escalated by spreading information on TikTok. “It’s hard because you’re like, ‘Wait, whoa, that person kind of got it right,’ and ‘Whoa that person doesn’t know what they’re talking about,’” Duff said. “I saw something that was like, ‘None of the moms at school actually like her and neither do the teachers,’ and I was like, ‘First of all… By the way, the women at school are lovely and I’m obsessed with all of them.”
In Tisdale’s essay, she explains what led her to break up with her friend group. “I remember being left out of a couple of group hangs, and I knew about them because Instagram made sure it fed me every single photo and Instagram Story,” she wrote. “Another time, at one of the mom’s dinner parties, I realized where I sat with her — which was at the end of the table, far from the rest of the women. I was starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing every way that they seemed to exclude me. At first, I tried not to take things personally. It’s not like people aren’t allowed to get together without me — and maybe there were perfectly good reasons that I hadn’t been invited. We were all busy, life was hectic.”
She also said she didn’t know why she was being left out, but it made her feel like she was “in high school again” and “totally lost.” Tisdale reached out to members of the group and recalled that it “didn’t exactly go over well.
“Some of the others tried to smooth things over. One sent flowers, then ignored me when I thanked her for them. Another tried to convince me that everyone assumed I’d been invited to gatherings and just hadn’t shown up,” she wrote before adding, “You deserve to go through motherhood with people who actually, you know, like you. And if you have to wonder if they do, here’s the hard-earned lesson I hope you’ll take to heart: It’s not the right group for you. Even if it looks like they’re having the best time on Instagram.”
“So… the next question to Mr Cameron should be this… ‘Are you also against the monopolization that a Paramount acquisition would create? Or is it just that of Netflix?’” the four-time Oscar-nominated actor wrote on Threads Saturday. “I think the answer would be very interesting for the film community to hear and one that should be asked immediately. Is Mike Lee against the Paramount sale as well? Is he as concerned about that as he is the Netflix sale?”
Ruffalo concluded, “We all want to know .…Speaking on behalf of hundreds of thousands of film makers world wide.”
In Cameron’s letter, which is dated Feb. 10 but began making headlines on Thursday and was sent to to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the Avatar director voiced concerns about the future of films being released in theaters if Netflix acquires Warner Bros.
“The business model of Netflix is directly at odds with the theatrical film production and exhibition business, which employs hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Cameron wrote “It is therefore directly at odds with the business model of the Warner Brothers movie division, one of the few remaining major movie studios.”
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos swiftly fired back against Cameron’s claims on Friday. “I’m particularly surprised and disappointed that James chose to be part of the Paramount disinformation campaign that’s been going on for months about this deal,” he said in an interview on Fox Business Network’s The Claman Countdown.
Sarandos also responded to Cameron’s claims that he plans to shift films to having a 17-day theatrical window. “I have never even uttered the words 17-day window. So I don’t know where it came from or why he would be part of that machine,” he added.
“Movies go into the theaters for 45 days, a healthy, robust slate of films every year, that is going to continue,” Sarandos said. “This deal is contingent on that for us to — for it to work.”
The Netflix co-CEO additionally sent Lee a letter in response to Cameron’s, where he wrote that the Titanic director “knowingly misrepresents our position and commitment to the theatrical release of Warner Bros. films.”
Michael Lynton, the former CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, is looking back on the 2014 film The Interview with deep regret.
In a recent excerpt from Lynton’s upcoming memoir From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn’t Own You, published recently in the Wall Street Journal, he opens up about how greenlighting The Interview, a dark comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco about a plan to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was the “biggest mistake of my career,” because it led to the infamous Sony hack.
Lynton was made aware on Nov. 17, 2014, by the head of IT reporting that 70 percent of Sony’s servers were irreparably damaged. Hackers released stolen emails that had confidential scripts and personal information. The FBI became involved with evidence suggesting that North Korea was most likely behind the attack to axe the release of the film.
The movie was pulled from the U.S.’s major theater chains ahead of its Dec. 25 release after threats from hacker groups implied that moviegoers would be in danger at screenings, The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time.
According to Lynton’s memoir, eight months after the FBI investigated the cyberattack, they knew that North Korea was behind it.
The fallout resulted in the studio having its relationships ruined with prominent industry figures, including Will Smith, Adam Sandler and Angelina Jolie. Former President Barack Obama even called Lynton to tell him, “What were you thinking when you made killing the leader of a hostile foreign nation a plot point? Of course that was a mistake.”
Lynton can now acknowledge that his biggest mistake was “my decision to greenlight a project on the fly.”
He admits that his motivation for allowing the film to be made in the first place stemmed from his “desire to belong” and from his care for the “opinions of others.”
“Just for a moment, I wanted to join the badass gang that made subversive movies,” Lynton wrote. “For a moment, I wanted to hang — as an equal — with the actors. I had grown tired of playing the responsible adult, of watching the party from the outside while I played Risk.”
He added, “My middle-school self took over, and my adult self lost the courage to disappoint the other kids. The party got out of hand, and the company, its employees, my family and I all paid dearly.”
President Donald Trump publicly encouraged Netflix to fire board member Susan Rice — “or pay the consequences.”
“Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences,” he wrote on Truth Social Saturday. “She’s got no talent or skills – Purely a political hack! HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK. How much is she being paid, and for what???”
The president’s post was accompanied by a screenshot of an X post made by Laura Loomer responding to Rice’s Thursday appearance on the Stay Tuned with Preet podcast. In Loomer’s social post, she wrote, “Netflix Board Member Susan Rice says corporations who took a ‘knee to Trump’ will face an ‘accountability agenda’ from elected Democrats if they win the midterms in 2026 and the 2028 Presidential election.”
In the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations’ interview with Preet Bharara, she said, “For those that decided that they would act in their perceived very narrow self interest, which I would underscore as very short-term self-interest, and take a knee to Trump, I think they are now starting to realize, ‘Wait a minute, this is not popular. Trump is not popular.’”
Bharara continued, “There is likely to be a swing in the other direction, and they are going to be caught with more than their pants down. They are going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box.”
The “accountability agenda” Loomer pulled from Rice’s interview was said as follows: “There will be an accountability agenda. You know, companies already are starting to hear they better preserve their documents. They better be ready for subpoenas. If they’ve done something wrong, they’ll be held accountable, and if they haven’t broken the law, good for them.”
Loomer also slammed the potential Netflix-Warner Bros. merger in her post, writing, “If the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger is approved, positive messaging of the Democrats’ upcoming witch hunts against Trump from Barack Hussein Obama and his anti-White racist wife Michelle would likely be blasted across all streaming services as the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions continues to grow within Netflix.”
“The Netflix-Warner Bros. merger would result in a streaming monopoly, which the Obamas will have a significant stake in,” she continued, tagging both Trump and FCC chairman Brendan Carr in her post. “President Trump @POTUS must kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now. @BrendanCarrFCC.”
Amid Netflix and Paramount Skydance’s battle to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Trump said in early February that he “shouldn’t be involved” in the fight for the company.
“I haven’t been involved,” Trump said. “I must say, I guess I’m considered to be a very strong president. I’ve been called by both sides. It’s the two sides, but I’ve decided I shouldn’t be involved. The Justice Department will handle it.”
Currently serving as a Netflix board member, Rice formerly served as the U.S. National Security Advisor from 2013-2017 and the Domestic Policy Advisor from 2021-2023.
If Hulu’s post-apocalyptic drama Paradise has a secret weapon, it’s This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman’s skill for provoking emotion. The new second season knows just how to get a viewer in their feelings, spilling tears over characters in the pits of despair, or joy as they rediscover lost pleasures, or warmth as lonely souls find camaraderie in dark days.
As the episodes wore on, however, I found other, less pleasant emotions starting to creep in as well. Frustration at the accumulation of little plot holes. Exasperation at intriguing storylines that fizzled into dead ends. While Paradise has always been more heart than head, the latest run prioritizes the former to such a degree that the entire thing feels out of whack.
Paradise
The Bottom Line
Lots of heart, not enough brains.
Airdate: Monday, Feb. 23 (Hulu) Cast: Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Krys Marshall, Enuka Okuma, Aliyah Mastin, Percy Daggs IV, Charlie Evans, Thomas Doherty, Shailene Woodley, Cameron Britton Creator: Dan Fogelman
For all its ambition and enormous cast, the first season of Paradise remained anchored to a single place (a city-sized bunker underneath Colorado) and organized around a single propulsive mystery (who killed James Marsden’s President Cal Bradford?). Sure, it was never as profound as it seemed to want to be — more often, it was like one of its own lugubrious covers of ’80s pop songs, silly fun trying to pass itself off as Classy and Serious — but it had an addictive momentum.
Then the finale saw Xavier (Sterling K. Brown), our Secret Service protagonist, preparing to fly out into the outside world. The narrative possibilities on both sides of the fortress walls seemed endless. What would Xavier find out there — his wife (Enuka Okuma’s Teri)? A desolate wasteland? New friends, or new foes? While he was gone, what would become of the home he was leaving behind? And with so many intriguing narrative options, how would Paradise pick a new path to go forward?
I’ll refrain from spoiling most of those questions, but on the last front I can tell you: It…doesn’t. The seven hours (of eight) sent to critics sprawl out in every direction, scattering existing characters on disjointed journeys while adding a slew of new ones. In all, the plot in the present day covers thousands of miles, while the flashbacks — so, so many flashbacks — span dozens of years.
There are some upsides to the broadened scope. It’s thrilling to get our first extended glimpse of life on the outside in the Glenn Ficarra and John Requa-directed premiere, which chronicles the experience of a tour guide (Shailene Woodley‘s Annie) riding out the end times in Elvis’ Graceland. The episode takes the time to get to know the lonely rhythm of her days before piercing the quiet with a roving band of scavengers, led by the charismatic Link (Thomas Doherty). Woodley, always a sensitive performer, plays Annie’s swirling emotions beautifully, as she moves from panic to resignation to bittersweet pleasure at getting to interact with other humans for the first time in ages.
Other chapters introduce a group of doomsday preppers who become a found family over years stuck in a basement and a band of orphaned children whose survival instincts have been honed at the cost of their innocence. (When an injured grown-up offers to read them a story, the shyest among them responds with a question: When the man dies, can he have his jacket?) At its most effective, Paradise‘s second season evokes the haunting beauty, though not the brutality, of HBO’s The Last of Us.
It’s enough to make you want to not sweat the small stuff, like, “Would it really take three years for someone to think to raid Graceland?” Or “Wouldn’t a tech genius come up with a better computer password than a four-digit code?” Or “Why does this character’s before-times ID have only their picture but not their name, thus defeating the entire purpose of an ID?” Who cares about such nitpicky details when we’re busy tearing up at Annie feeling alive again, or Xavier’s desperation to be reunited with Teri?
But as with greenhouse gases under apocalyptic clouds of ash, it’s the cumulative effect that screws you. A few inconsistencies are forgivable. Too many of them will eat away at the structural integrity of a season — especially if its foundations are already shaky.
One of the major trade-offs of Paradise’s newly expanded scale is a loss of focus. Without a single driving mystery, subplots like Cal’s angsty son Jeremy (Charlie Evans) mounting a youth rebellion are given so little oxygen that it’s easy to forget they exist at all, while compelling characters like Annie get abruptly sidelined once their utility has run out. More time is spent reminding us that we don’t know what characters like billionaire mastermind Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) are really up to, than establishing why we’re meant to care.
Moment to moment, Paradise remains an engrossing experience, thanks in large part to the charm of its cast. But the plot makes less and less sense upon further reflection. Meanwhile, the overreliance on flashbacks to fill in character motivations and goals stalls the momentum, so that it starts to seem that Paradise is a collection of backstories loosely connected by a shared present, rather than an ongoing thriller enhanced by deeper context.
Even Fogelman’s knack for weepy emotionality turns out to have its limits. Season one managed the neat trick of humanizing the seemingly monstrous Billy (Jon Beaver) through — what else? — a tragic past. Season two tries to repeat the feat with a similarly shady character, but only manages to make her seem more alien. (This is an especially rough stretch for the female characters in general, who are treated with a “nice guy” chivalry that can look, in certain lights, a lot like condescension.)
This is a season that feels like it’s constantly in motion, yet never actually seems to get anywhere. Inadvertently, Paradise seems to have adopted the same philosophy to storytelling that Xavier’s son, as he explains in an overwritten but persuasively performed monologue, once took to his toys. “Maybe it’s not fun to play with trains that ride smoothly along their tracks,” Xavier muses of the boy’s thinking. “Maybe the thing that’s interesting about trains is the possibility that these huge metal contraptions could one day crash into one another.”
In season two, whatever destination Paradise was headed for seems to have been forgotten. Whatever bigger themes it once evoked (like the greed of megalomaniacal billionaires, or the complicity of powerful men) have fallen by the wayside. It’s just a collision of characters and ideas and subplots, resulting in the rubble — some of it salvageable and some of it less so — of something that used to run smoothly enough.
Willie Colón, the trailblazing American salsa musician, has died. He was 75.
Colón died Saturday morning, his family shared in a statement on his Facebook page. No cause of death was detailed.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, and renowned musician, Willie Colón. He passed away peacefully this morning, surrounded by his loving family,” the statement read. “While we grieve his absence, we also rejoice in the timeless gift of his music and the cherished memories he created that will live on forever. Our family is deeply grateful for your prayers and support during this time of mourning. We kindly ask for privacy as we navigate our grief.”
Born and raised in the Bronx, Colón had an early musical talent, playing the trumpet and trombone. He signed his first contract, with Fania Records, at 15. His debut album El Malo was released two years later when he was 17.
Throughout his career, he has released a plethora of projects and worked alongside the likes of Celia Cruz, David Byrne, Soledad Bravo and Ismael Miranda. Colón has a total of 10 Grammy Award nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Recording Academy in 2004.
He was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.
Outside of music, Colón was also an activist, serving as a member of the Latino Commission on AIDS and the United Nations Immigrant Foundation.
“Willie was much more than an iconic artist; he was a true visionary that forged a new genre of Latin music that we all love today called Salsa,” said Bruce McIntosh, vp of Craft Recordings’ Latin catalog. “His legacy is etched into the very soul of Latin culture. He will forever be ‘El Maestro.’”
