Category: Entertainment

“Star Wars” has featured iconic locations throughout the franchise, taking audiences to Tatooine, Naboo and now, a campus biology lab at Stanford University.

The romantic comedy “Love Hypothesis” premiered on Amazon Prime on Sept. 23, featuring Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman as romantic interests who get caught in a fake-dating-turned-real-love trope. On the surface, there is no obvious connection to George Lucas’ franchise, but the story’s origin is actually deeply rooted in a galaxy far, far away.

Ali Hazelwood’s 2021 source novel of the same name was originally written as a fan fiction about the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy’s Kylo Ren and Rey, titled “Head Over Feet.” She ultimately transformed her 2018 narrative into a New York Times bestselling novel years later, removing the most obvious “Star Wars” references. But those familiar with the story’s source material will be able to spot plenty of Jedi-adjacent references throughout the romantic comedy.

Claire Scanlon, the film’s director, took a break from filming her next project, the Netflix comedy series “I Suck at Girls,” to break down the “Star Wars” references featured in “Love Hypothesis.” She reveals she wasn’t initially aware the plot was based on a fanfiction between Kylo and Rey, let alone the novel’s popularity on BookTok, a TikTok community that shares reading recommendations with each other.

“Elizabeth [Cantillon, the film’s producer] said, ‘This is based on a book about “Star Wars” fan fiction and it’s from BookTok,’” Scanlon says while laughing. “And I was like, ‘I understand none of the words you just said to me.’”

Perhaps the most overt nod to the galactic universe is the casting of Bateman, who plays the hard-shelled Kylo Ren-inspired Adam Carlsen. In real life, the actor is married to Daisy Ridley, who originated the role of Rey, though Scanlon confirms this connection didn’t influence his casting.

Fans may have also picked up on the film’s opening song, “Mess It Up” by Gracie Abrams, whose father, J.J. Abrams, directed two films in the most recent “Star Wars” trilogy. But it wasn’t Scanlon who came up with this subtle nod, which she reveals was flagged by observant fans on social media.

“Someone on TikTok or Instagram said, ‘They better use a Gracie Abrams song.’ And I was like, ‘Why would they want to use a Gracie Abrams song?’” she says, laughing about her initial cluelessness.

Below, Scanlon breaks down the biggest nod to “Star Wars” in “Love Hypothesis,” and debunks some of the speculated references circulating online.

Color Schemes

Bateman’s character, Adam, is a clear reference to Kylo Ren, as well as nods from his intimidating demeanor to his telling nickname, “Dr. Evil.” Scanlon confirms that Adam also channels the character through his all-black wardrobe, which is mirrored by his minimally decorated office that features an almost entirely black color scheme.

Reinhart’s character, Olive Smith, is primarily seen wearing her lab coat, but outside of the laboratory, she is dressed in red, blue and green outfits. Although these are all colors associated with different lightsabers, that choice was unintentional, Scanlon says. Some eagle-eyed fans also noted she frequently wears an all-red look, which is the color associated with Rey in “The Rise of Skywalker,” though Scanlon says that was just a coincidence.

“Lili just likes the color red,” she says while laughing. “This is nuts. I got to tell Lili all these!”

While this isn’t a reference to Kylo Ren, Scanlon also points out that as Adam spends more time with Olive, his color palette begins to soften from black to navy blue. The texture of his clothes also evolves from cold, hard fabrics to cashmere and softer clothes, representing Olive’s positive impact on him.

Using the Name “Adam”

Yes, Scanlon confirms the character Adam Carlsen is, in fact, named after Adam Driver, who originated the role of Kylo Ren. But the director also has a question for Hazelwood about some other characters.

“I know Ali named Adam after Adam Driver, but did she name Tom Benton after Tom Bateman? The bad guy?” she asks, laughing. “Was she trying to push them apart? Was it just a coincidence? Or was she hating on Tom for being with Daisy and wanted Daisy and Adam Driver to be together?

“Star Wars” Soundtrack

Several moments throughout the film feature John Williams’ “Star Wars” themes, further emphasizing the parallels. “Star Wars” composer John Williams’ theme for Kylo Ren plays when Adam enters the coffee shop with Olive, causing the customers to freeze in fear.

The fallen Jedi’s theme is used again near the end of the film when Adam goes to confront his colleague Tom. The director also points out that this scene was filmed from a low angle as Adam menacingly walks down an empty hallway, visually mirroring several shots of Kylo in the “Star Wars” films.

Viewers also pointed out that a sample of “Rey’s Theme” was used when Olive tells her friends details of her relationship with Adam after they find the couple in the coffee shop. Scanlon says she doesn’t know if this was intentional, but it could’ve been slipped in from the music team.

“This is fun,” Scanlon says before breaking down the next reference. “This is like a game!”

Olive’s Hairstyle

Olive frequently wears her hair in a high bun, which Scanlon confirms is a nod to Rey’s signature hairstyle of three buns on top of her head.

Adam Carrying Olive

One of the moments when the dynamic between Kylo and Rey shifted in the “Star Wars” films came when Kylo carried an injured Rey onto his ship, hinting at his romantic feelings for her. A similar moment occurs in “The Love Hypothesis” when Adam carries Olive after her feet begin to hurt following their sushi date.

Although the scene mirrors the Kylo and Ren dynamic of alluding to the eventual shift in their relationship, Scanlon isn’t certain that choice was intentional. As far as she knows, it wasn’t a designated reference, but screenwriter Sarah Rothschild may have slyly incorporated the moment.

Adam’s Speech About Being Evil

During their date at the sushi restaurant, Adam opens up to Olive about how he never intended to be evil. He shared that his mentor was a sadist who had powerful friends in high places, very similar to Kylo Ren’s corruption after being mentored by Supreme Leader Snoke. This scene was directly taken from the book, Scanlon says, so it was likely a reference created by Hazelwood.

In that same scene, Adam also jokingly calls Olive a rebel, which could be a nod to Rey’s allegiance to the Resistance. Scanlon isn’t certain if that’s an intentional reference, noting this may also have been a choice by Rothschild.

Watch “The Love Hypothesis” trailer below.

A very jet-lagged Scarlett Johansson reunited with co-stars Adam Driver and Miles Teller for the New York Film Festival premiere of “Paper Tiger,” which kicked off the festival’s 64th edition.

“I’m hallucinating,” said Johansson, who just got off a long international flight, where she’s filming another movie. “It’s 5 in the morning — which is a great time to be doing an interview on stage.”

“Paper Tiger” premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival. However, this marked Johansson’s first time watching the movie (at least in a festival setting); she missed the Cannes premiere because she was shooting yet another movie, “The Exorcist: Martyrs.”

“Don’t rub it in!” Johansson joked about her absence on the French Riviera.

Set in 1986, “Paper Tiger” follows two brothers, Irwin and Gary Pearl, whose get-rich-quick scheme to help clean up the Gowanus Canal lands them in the crosshairs of the Russian mafia. Johansson plays Linda, wife of Teller’s character.

Johansson, Driver and Teller walked the red carpet with Gray at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and sat for a post-screening Q&A, during which they spoke about their close camaraderie during production.

“No work required. There’s a mutual admiration between the four of us,” Driver said. “A set culture comes from the top down, and James sets a culture where everyone feels free. We immediately felt comfortable with each other.”

Added Gray, “We had a nauseatingly lovely set. I love them. I’m not on the Today show. I’m telling you the truth.”

Before the screening began, Gray took the stage and consciously kept his intro remarks short and sweet.

“When I was in film school many years ago, students would show their films, and the students that talked the most [before] often made the very worst movies,” he said. “So I am going to speak very briefly.”

Gray praised the producers and actors who helped bring the film to life and reflected on his early dreams of being a filmmaker.

“I can’t help but remember my mother and father when I said I wanted to be a movie director. ‘How are you ever going to do that?’ And here I am,” Gray said. “I’m not sure the lesson in that.”

NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim introduced Gray as “one of the great living American filmmakers” and praised the director for championing a “singular” artistic vision.

“It’s not easy to make personal films in the current landscape of American cinema,” Lim said. “The fact that there are 24 executive producers credited on this film, like, who speaks to that.”

New York Film Festival’s 64th edition, which runs through Oct. 12, will host the world premieres of “Artificial,” Luca Guadagnino’s buzzy movie about OpenAI founder Sam Altman; Ava DuVernay’s documentary “14th”; director Tony Gilroy’s music drama “Behemoth!” with Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde and Will Arnett; and Takashi Yamazaki’s kaiju sequel “Godzilla Minus Zero.”

“Premiere status is never the be-all and end-all for us,” NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim told Variety ahead of opening night. “Timing is always part of it. But I think we’ve proved in the last few years that we create a pretty interesting context for the launch of a film.”

Indian devotional film “Hanuman Ansh” has grossed more than $3.5 million outside its home territory since Hombale Films took it to international audiences, and the company behind the blockbuster “K.G.F” and “Kantara” franchises has now detailed how it engineered the run.

Written and directed by Vishal Chaturvedi and adapted from his book “Divine Detour: That Changed My Life,” the film follows Lakshman Das, a boy who leaves home after his mother dies, searching for the divine. Years of wandering and meditation later, he becomes the saint Neem Karoli Baba, known to devotees as Maharaj-ji. Shobhinaw Satyaa plays the title role opposite Chandan Anand, with Vihaan Shedge as the teenage Maharaj-ji and Anil Rastogi and Purnima Tiwari in supporting roles. Chaturvedi produced with Ragini Sona, Namrata G. Singh and Anupriya A. Nagar under his Swambhu Media Network banner.

“Our strategy involved taking ownership of all global territories and collaborating with the biggest local partners in each region to ensure the best possible release footprint. By leveraging the data and learnings from our previous releases like ‘Mahavatar Narsimha,’ we were able to tap into the right locations and cinema chains. This targeted approach has yielded spectacular numbers,” says Hombale Films producer Chaluve Gowda.

The Bengaluru banner partnered with Phars in the GCC and Prathyangara in North America, and the film opened internationally on Sept. 11. It marks a first for the company.

“‘Hanuman Ansh’ is the first film outside of our own productions that we have full fledgedly distributed internationally. We truly believed in this project, as it perfectly aligns with our vision of taking Indian stories global,” Gowda says.

North America leads the overseas tally, with $1.8 million from the U.S. and Canada, according to Hombale’s territory figures. Australia and New Zealand contributed $606,716 and the Gulf Cooperation Council region $577,870, with the U.K. adding $269,837. Singapore brought in $61,334 and Europe $41,171, while the rest of the world accounted for $483,006.

Hombale previously backed the animated “Mahavatar Narsimha,” which went on to do more than INR300 crore ($31.3 million) in business.

At home, the film has been a sleeper. Made for approximately INR2 crore ($209,000), “Hanuman Ansh” opened in India on Aug. 7 on some 250 screens through Cinépolis India. Word of mouth pushed it past 2,000 screens, and it has since grossed INR340.7 crore ($35.5 million) in seven weeks.

Chaturvedi has planned the film as the first part of a trilogy.

“We will always support the makers in bringing their ultimate vision to life. These are exactly the kinds of stories we want to champion as a production house, and we will continue to back creators who dare to tell such grand stories with all their heart,” Gowda says.

Taylor Swift has broken two Spotify records for 2026, including most-streamed female artist in a day.

Swift broke the records following the midnight release of “The Life of a Showgirl: Encore,” which featured four new songs, including lead single “Patient Zero.” That song broke the record for the most-streamed song by a female artist in a day so far this year, while Swift herself had the most streams out of any female artist in a day in 2026.

Swift dropped “The Life of a Showgirl: Encore” after gradually rolling out the promise of new music, beginning with some Easter eggs in a “Law & Order: SVU” skit during the Emmys telecast. In character as a detective, she said, “I think what we’re going to be looking for is hiding in plain sight.” She then broke the fourth wall, looking directly at the camera and saying, “Saccharide. Aries. From the vineyard. North or south.” Swifties, of course, solved the puzzle relatively fast, noticing that the third letter of each word spelled out “encore.”

Then, this past Tuesday, she announced that she would be releasing her new single “Patient Zero” this week, rolling out three limited edition CDs of the single on her website. Just a day later, she revealed that she was actually dropping “The Life of a Showgirl: Encore” on Friday, offering fans four new songs including “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.”

On social media, Swift explained why she wanted to add more to her 2025 album. “About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing. Something that completely blew my mind… You gave ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ the biggest first week for an album in history,” she wrote. “I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album. Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in, but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs. I hope you love them, because they were born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made. ‘The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore’ including four new songs is out on Friday and available to pre-order and save now.”

Up next, Swift is set to debut the video for “Patient Zero” at this Sunday’s MTV VMAs, where she is also being honored with the inaugural Artist-Director Award. She previewed the clip on “CBS Mornings” on Thursday before sharing it on her social media accounts. The video, featuring cinematography by Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki, will star Swift alongside Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell.