Category: Entertainment

Miranda Hope is ready for people to see more sides of herself outside of being a reality TV star.

Hope, best known for starring on Hulu‘s Emmy-nominated The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, recently released her debut single, “FU4THAT,” a fiery country-pop anthem about reclaiming your power, choosing yourself and moving forward. The track marks the beginning of her music career, with Hope teasing that “an EP or an album would probably be the direction” for what comes next.

Her latest career move comes as The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has remained in the headlines for months. In March, production on season five was halted after it was revealed that fellow cast member Taylor Frankie Paul was involved in a domestic assault investigation. Since then, MomTok has continued to generate buzz with Jessi Draper kissing Hope’s ex-husband Chase McWhorter, Whitney Leavitt announcing she’ll leave the show after season five, the announcement of a spinoff and more. Separately, Layla Taylor publicly came out as bisexual, earning support from fans and her castmates.

Amid all the “chaos,” as Hope describes it, one question has lingered: Can MomTok survive? In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hope opens up about launching her music career, where things stand with season five of SLOMW, the future of the series, her relationships with several cast members and why she’d “never say never” to joining The Bachelor franchise one day.

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How long has music been something you’ve wanted to pursue? Has it always been a dream behind the scenes, or did there come a point where you realized you wanted to take it seriously?

Ever since I was a little girl, that’s been the route that I wanted to go. It didn’t really feel that realistic. I got engaged at 19, married at 20. I felt like my life’s purpose was very, you know, wife and mother — the true Mormon way. It wasn’t until the show and having that, amongst other things, that kind of sparked more of my creativity and made me want to go back to my roots a little bit. And obviously, I have so many more connections now and doors that have opened, so we decided to full-send it, and I’m just so grateful for the opportunity.

Viewers of Mormon Wives saw you at Stagecoach in season three, so it seemed like you already were a country music fan. But for people who may not know that side of you yet, what drew you to the country genre specifically?

I’m originally from a small town in Idaho, and I think that’s a big part of it. My family, even extended family, are very much country, and so I feel like it’s a lot more just my roots. I love all different genres of music, I think my writing style and even vocals, are suited for country music. But I don’t know, we’ll see. I also love pop music. I feel like the song that I just released is very country pop. So, we’ll see what direction I go in the future, but for now, I’ve been very country focused and just taking it back to my roots. It’s been fun.

“FU4THAT” has some pretty personal lyrics. What inspired the song? And what story were you hoping to tell through it?

I wrote the song with intention of it just being a story of me having this experience from going from a people pleaser stage to then coming into my own, and deciding I don’t like how I’m being treated. It was written with an intention of being about shitty men that I’ve dealt with in general. Obviously, we all know there are some pointed lines about my ex-husband, but as a whole, that was kind of the intention of writing the song. It shows the evolution of from where I used to be to now being like, “No, I’m not going to continue to be treated this way and take it from people.” So many people ask if it’s about friendships as well, and I’m like, “It wasn’t written with that in mind at all, but I’m also like, shoe fits.”

Has Chase shared his thoughts with you about it?

Yeah, I actually sent him my demo right after recording it, and he sent me a picture back of him crying. But not because his feelings were hurt, just because he was proud. He didn’t care. He was so excited about it. If anything, he just feels flattered that he has some lines about him, whether for better or worse, positive or negative, he’ll take it.

What’s the response to “FU4THAT” been like so far? Has the feedback changed how you’re thinking about future music projects?

I feel like it’s been pretty split. Half of the people who have listened love it; half hate it. But the thing is, a stream is a stream. Just like how a view is a view, and I don’t typically operate by all press is good press. I don’t necessarily like to buy into that, at least when it comes to filming reality TV. But with music and with your creativity, it feels more fitting in that regard, where I’m like, you know what, it doesn’t have to be your cup of tea. This is very new to me as well. It’s my first song I’ve ever released, and I don’t think the song wasn’t written with the intent to be a vocal showcase. It’s a fun, lighthearted, chant with your girlfriends in the car type of song. And I wanted that, as my first song to come out, as something that I think we can also have fun with, and collectively with your girlfriends, you’ve also been betrayed, bop too. In future releases, I’ve already written and recorded some songs that are more like a ballad, softer and a lot less F words. So, in the future, there will be a little more range, and it’ll be very different.

What does the future of your music career look like? Are you hoping to release an EP or an album, or maybe any live performances?

I think right now an EP or an album would probably be the direction. I’ve had some writing sessions since, while I was recently in Nashville, I did some writing sessions. Lots of exciting things in the work. We’ll see where it goes, but that’s what’s on the radar for now.

Shifting to Secret Lives, Whitney recently mentioned on a podcast that the next season will be just five episodes. Is that accurate, or is that something you can’t really speak to yet?

Day to day, we are always learning new information. Kind of feels like the blind leading the blind here, where we are. We don’t really have any 100 percent concrete information, and people keep asking for release dates and stuff. I’m like, “Unfortunately, we don’t know any of that information.” I wish they gave it to us, but yeah, as far as now, we know very little. So there’s not a whole lot I can speak to now, but hopefully in the very near future, there will be more information on that.

Season five was halted in March because of an investigation involving Taylor. It resumed a month later. Has filming completed for you? Have you completed your confessionals and your portion yet?

Everything regarding filming, just in general, is so up in the air. We still have some aspects in the works, and some conversations are still being had, but it’s been such a whirlwind ever since we stopped — nothing I would say is wrapped or not. It’s really just a bundle of chaos. (Laughs.) This is new territory for everybody involved. So, we’re all hoping that we’ll be able to have it back to business as usual as soon as possible.

Jessi made headlines by kissing Chase. Where do things stand between you and Jessi today? Are you on speaking terms?

It’s been a little bit, so I’m not as fired up about the situation as I was. Obviously, people saw a lot of stuff online about how I felt. I think I’m still dissecting entirely how I feel about it, to be honest. As a whole, everything’s just an entire whirlwind of ups and downs, but right now I’m feeling a lot more indifferent about the situation. I still have my feelings about it, but we’ll see how things go moving forward. I’m open to having more conversations down the line, but for now I’m just trying to focus on my music, and we’ll address that when it feels like the right time.

Shortly after your song’s release, Taylor commented on a TikTok post of yours, “this is so good.” Where do you two stand now? And from what you know, how is she doing?

Right now, I feel like I know very little. We’ve all been so incredibly busy in MomTok. For so long, there was just so much going on, and we all have so many things going on in our own regard, and I think we’re all kind of focused on that, so we haven’t really spoken recently. But I genuinely hope that she’s doing well, and from what I know and what I hear, it seems like and sounds like she’s doing better. I truly wish nothing but the best for her. As far as our relationship goes, it’s the same as Jessi, where I’m open to having conversations down the line when it feels like the right time, but for now I’m just hoping she is in a healthy and happy spot.

As the franchise continues to grow with spinoffs and everyone is branching out into different projects, where do you see Mormon Wives going over the next few years? Do you think that some of the off-camera headlines will help or make it more challenging for the show moving forward?

I think both. Some of those headlines, that’s how the show came to be — the swinging headlines. Sometimes I think it serves us. I think other times it hurts us, especially when it comes to storylines and things that the audience would love to have reserved for TV. A lot of the time, with our cast, it spills out online, and I hope that, moving forward, there can be more of a surprise element and a more intimate component between the show and our audience. When it all spills out online, I don’t want to say it necessarily ruins it, because sometimes it adds a layer of excitement, or people be like, “Oh, I can’t wait to hopefully watch more context behind that.” So, I wouldn’t say it necessarily helps or hurts distinctly one or the other. It’s a nuanced situation where both can be true, and so it sometimes does help us to have those headlines, and then other times I do think obviously, it does hurt us, which, partially, is why we are down right now with filming. But MomTok has continued to survive this long, so I see no reason why we can’t survive past this. (Writer’s Note: Shortly after this interview, cast members posted videos on social media together, appearing to be filming.)

You have a lot of friends in the Bachelor world. Is that something that attracts you to possibly join that franchise in the future?

I don’t know that I would want to be done dirty by 20, 30 men. I wrote a song about just a select few, I don’t know if I can do a whole slew of them. A hook would be that they would all be great people, but dating on reality TV — never say never, but I feel like, especially as a single mom, that makes things a lot more complicated, and then that with music, I think I have a lot on my plate. I like to consider myself open about future possibilities, but it’s not really at the top of my list. Also, dating in general, right now, isn’t top of my list either. (Laughs.)

I know some of the girls in Mormon Wives visited Taylor when she was filming The Bachelorette. Were you a part of that group?

I wasn’t. Well, we all had a bit of back-and-forth, but hopefully people will see it all unfold. But from the sounds of it, I think that it would be a really fun and interesting component to see. But even during filming, we all have so much going on that, unfortunately, we can’t make it to everything.

Layla recently publicly shared that she is bisexual. As one of her close friends, how proud are you of her for opening up about that part of her life?

I’m so proud. When she told me, I just cried. I’m so happy for her, and you can feel the relief, and authenticity just oozing from her, even just in our conversation about it. She truly is glowing, and she’s really, really come into her own over the last few years, especially this last year. It’s been such a beautiful thing to watch as a friend, and I’m really, really proud of her.

Have you had a chance to meet the person that she’s dating?

Not yet. I am hoping to soon, but we’ll see.

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“FU4THAT” is available to listen on Spotify and Apple Music.

She’s sitting atop the call sheet. She’s tackling an iconic character. She’s plastered across billboards in Hollywood. Oh, did we mention she’s only 11 years old?

Alice Halsey is taking on the Laura Ingalls mantle in Netflix’s new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie, which premiered July 9. “There’s never really been a billboard of me before, so this is insane,” the 11-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s mind-blowing.”

Halsey had the Little House books in her house growing up, but she didn’t read them until she got the audition for Laura. “They’re so good,” she says. “I feel like Laura has this power to pull people in with all the details and the descriptions and everything. She definitely has a lot of power with her words.”

The actress took preparing for Laura seriously. She read the script a lot, listened to podcasts and read books related to late 19th century era in which the show is set. “I just wanted to get a sense of who the character was, how I would play her,” Halsey says. She’s impressively earnest and focused for such a young star.

Being on set and in costume helped immerse herself in the world. Halsey says was happy the whole day getting to be Laura. “The prairie can be really wild,” she says, recalling her time shooting. “It feels like it’s all alive when the breeze goes through and everything moves. It’s really magical. But it’s also really unpredictable.”

Halsey experienced that unpredictability while the show filmed — including the opening scene of the series, where the audience sees her character for the first time, slingshot in hand.

“This warm wind came in — it’s called a Chinook wind and it comes in every year,” Halsey says. “It hit us and tents were blowing and rows were flying away and everybody was freaking out. I was just cracking up because it was all the chaos. I just found it so funny.”

Halsey felt a bit of pressure working on Little House, as she is at the top of the call sheet. “It’s definitely a big responsibility,” she says. She also can’t stop raving about what a good environment the set was. She says everyone was putting their heart and soul into the project, which made them like one big family.

“That definitely helped relieve some of the weight off of my shoulders,” she says. “It’s pretty easy to act with all the people that I’m acting with. They are all such amazing actors and so good at their work.”

Halsey is aware of the legacy of Little House on the Prairie. “It’s a story that’s been beloved to so many people over generations and generations. Part of it is because of Laura’s words and Laura’s tale, but also it’s relatable in every time,” she says. “No matter what year it is, no matter what’s going on at that time, there’s always something in Little House that’s a comfort and relatable to what you’re experiencing.”

Halsey already has a few years of acting experience under belt. Her first gig was Lessons in Chemistry with Brie Larson, but where she got the most experience was on soap opera Days of Our Lives. The 11-year-old credits her time on the show as helping her become the actress she is today.

“There are so many amazing actors and actresses on that show that I was privileged enough to work with, and they’re all really experienced,” she says. The older actors helped her learn to find her light and to work under the show’s impressively packed schedule. “There’s one take per scene. That’s all you get,” she says. “On a regular show or movie, it’ll be like you have multiple takes, and you have to be really good on each one because you don’t know what the editor’s going to pick.”

She adds of her work on Days, “It was a great learning experience. Having a schedule that’s so fast-paced — you would shoot a couple episodes in one day — was very new to me. It kind of whipped me into shape.”

Next, she’s set to been alongside Viola Davis in Amazon MGM’s Ally Clark. “Acting with Viola is like stepping into another dimension. You look into her eyes and there’s a whole other world inside them. It’s almost surreal,” she says. “She’s also super funny and nice, and I love working with her.”

The Serbian drama 3 Weeks After (3 Nedelje Posle), directed by Miroslav Terzić, has won the Europa Cinemas Label as the best European film at the 60th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF). The jury of three Europa Cinemas Network exhibitors unveiled their pick on Saturday afternoon.

3 Weeks After, which explores peer violence and which THR recently discussed with Terzić, will now receive the support of the Europa Cinemas Network, with additional promotion and incentives for exhibitors to extend the film’s run on screen.

The jury statement about the film, which had its world premiere in the main competition program of KVIFF 2026, highlighted: “It was a unanimous decision to award the Europa Cinemas Label to 3 Weeks After by Miroslav Terzić. As a jury, we had a tough decision in front of us, because all 15 films competing for our award were good in their own way, and we are three different people, each with their own taste, yet this film captivated us right from the first shot and held our attention until the very end.”

The jury added: “The ensemble cast delivers a remarkably strong and authentic performance. The story portrays the lives of adolescents today through their own eyes, allowing their voices and perspectives to shape the narrative in a genuine and convincing way. At its core, it’s fueled by group dynamics. Miroslav Terzić’s filmmaking is stunning in every aspect of its craft. The film urges us to truly hear young people, be there for them and not look away!”

The cast of 3 Weeks After includes Jovan Ginić, Klara Hrvanović, Andjela Alavirević, Tihana Lazović and Branislav Trifunović. Written by Vladimir Arsenijević, Bojan Vuletić and Terzić, the film features cinematography by Damjan Radovanović and editing by Marko Ferković.

Being sold internationally by Bendita Film Sales, 3 Weeks After was produced by This and That Productions (Serbia), and co-produced by Invictus (Bulgaria), Nightswim (Italy), Kinorama (Croatia) and Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg).

The Europa Cinemas Label jury for Karlovy Vary consisted of Sophie Jansen (Filmhuis Den Haag in The Hague, The Netherlands), Nataša Jurčová Findrová (Kino Lumière in Bratislava, Slovak Republic) and Grégory Le Perff (DSN – Dieppe Scène Nationale in Dieppe, France).

Antoinette Bower, the German-born British actress who starred on an Adam & Eve-like episode of The Twilight Zone and portrayed the seductive catlike alien Sylvia on an installment of Star Trek, has died. She was 93.

Bower died April 30 in an Eagle Rock senior retirement home in Los Angeles, her friend Carlotta Glackin — great niece of famed Golden Age character actor Edward Everett Horton — told The Hollywood Reporter.

On the big screen, Bower got top billing in the Filipino-shot horror film Superbeast (1972), played the wife of Leslie Nielsen and mother of Jamie Lee Curtis in the slasher classic Prom Night (1980) and was kidnapped by Charles Bronson in the action thriller The Evil That Men Do (1984).

For three seasons (1989-92), she recurred as the kind Fox Devlin, an associate of Winston Rekert’s Dr. Michael Terry, on the Canadian TV drama Neon Rider, set on a ranch in British Columbia for troubled and abused teens.

On the Rod Serling-penned, Ted Post-directed Twilight Zone episode “Probe 7, Over and Out,” which premiered in November 1963 during the anthology show’s fifth and final season, the statuesque Bower portrayed Eve Norda, a woman stranded on a distant planet. The only other person around is an astronaut named Adam Cook (Richard Baseheart).

Bower also was memorable as the villainous Sylvia opposite Theo Marcuse as Korob on the second-season Star Trek episode “Catspaw,” which premiered in October 1967.

Antoinette Alexandra Jane Bower was born to a German mother and English father on Sept. 30, 1932, in Baden-Baden, Germany.

Educated in England, she was a field language supervisor and welfare counselor in the late 1940s with the United Nations’ International Refugee Organization, which assisted millions of people left homeless across Europe and Asia following World War II.

Bower rejoined her family in Canada in 1953 and in Toronto landed a job with the fledgling Canadian Broadcasting Corp., where she worked in public affairs, wrote scripts and conducted interviews on live TV. She also did some acting, appearing in a 1958 TV adaptation of The Tell-Tale Heart and in 1959 on the syndicated series Hudson’s Bay.

She visited L.A. and in the early 1960s decided to stick around after landing an uncredited role in Marlon Brando’s Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and guest-star parts on such shows as Adventures in Paradise, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Hong Kong, Wagon Train, Thriller, Hawaiian Eye and Perry Mason.

She remained quite busy through the early ’80s, showing up on Combat!, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Burke’s Law, The Wild Wild West, I Spy, The Fugitive, The Invaders, The Big Valley, Bonanza, Mannix, Hawaii Five-O, Get Smart, Hogan’s Heroes, Mission: Impossible, The F.B.I., Columbo, Kojak and Murder, She Wrote and in the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds.

She pretty much left acting after her run on CTV’s Neon Rider.

About 10 years ago, Bower completed a documentary about chuckwagon racing in Canada that she shot, directed, edited and narrated after spending several summers with the participants.

Glackin noted that Bower, who studied carpentry at Santa Monica College, had been a valued Home Depot employee who custom-built cabinets and tall bookshelves at her home in Beverly Glen.

She added that Bower was still getting lots of fan mail from the Star Trek faithful and that William Shatner had emailed his condolences after learning of her death. (She was one of the 20 or so women to kiss Capt. Kirk on the show, according to this post.)

Bower wed Texas-born pop artist James Gill in 1963, but their marriage ended in divorce. She was pre-deceased by her half-brother, Roger.

A life celebration is scheduled for Sept. 26 in Pasadena.

Sofía has just finished her psychology studies in Valparaíso, Chile, and returns to her hometown, Valdivia. This return coincides with the discovery of a young girl’s body, which awakens buried memories of childhood in Sofía. She must decide whether to look beyond the rain and its veil to uncover a past that is painful and uncomfortable not only for herself but also for her whole community.

Director Valeria Sarmiento’s new film Behind the Rain world premiered in the Crystal Globe main competition of the 60th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Mixing beautiful black-and-white landscape images with the difficult subject matter of childhood sexual abuse, the movie is based on an original idea from Sarmiento and a screenplay that she worked on with the late Omar Saavedra Santis​. The director of photography is Acácio de Almeida; the editor is Galut Alarcón.

The cast features Paula Prado, Cristián Arriagada, Aline Kuppenheim, Shlomit Baytelman, Chamila Rodríguez, Daniel Muñoz, Julio Milostich, Aimar Alarcón Rodríguez and Clara Vargas Arellano. Rodríguez is also the producer of the movie.

Sarmiento and Rodríguez, who have been collaborators since Secrets (2008), talked to THR, via an interpreter, about Behind the Rain and their hopes for the societal debate it could cause.

What inspired this story and led you to make a film about a very important, and also very heavy, topic?

Valeria Sarmiento The initial inspiration was that in our society, child abuse is sadly really common. And oftentimes, we are silent about it.

You worked on the screenplay with Omar Saavedra Santis​. Was that his final film project, and how did he come on board?

Sarmiento Initially, I wanted to work on the film with my French and Swiss friends, but we did not really make any progress. When I met with Chamila, she suggested to go back to where it all started, which meant Chile. And that’s when I contacted Omar, who then he joined the team and developed my initial idea further.

Chamila, why did you want to work on this film – both as an actress and producer?

Chamila Rodríguez I was really intrigued by the artistic complexity, and I’ve been working with Valeria for 20 years. So, I had great trust in her. While we were working on our previous film, she started talking about this story, and it was very appealing to me, because I experienced something similar when I was a child. My experience of child abuse was hidden, and I never spoke about it until I was 40. Then; I finally started to speak about it, so I could really relate to the story. When she showed me the script, I immediately knew that I wanted to do it. I also see art, including film, as a way to exorcize demons, as a way to transform horrible things into something that’s more positive.

Your character isn’t necessarily the easiest person to be around…

Rodríguez Yes, my character is a lawyer who is really difficult to be with.

Behind the Rain has stunning black-and-white visuals, with color coming in only at the very end. Can you maybe talk about that choice?

Sarmiento I knew from the very beginning that the film was going to be in black and white, except for the ending, because I grew up seeing films with no color. I was born in 1948, so it took quite a time before I was able to see a color film. And the title also comes in here. My mother said to me that I have to look behind the rain in order to see all the colors and aspects, so that’s what I tried to do.

How did you cast Paula Prado in the lead role?

Sarmiento It was not easy to find an actress who would be able to travel with us to Valdivia, because many actresses work in theaters, and they can’t really travel to go there. And when I found Paula, I immediately felt that she was the right person, that she would be the perfect one to convey the ideas of the film.

How was the whole experience on set?

Sarmiento The shoot was very harmonious.

Rodríguez It was. And it is a great pleasure to work with Valeria, because as a director, she’s really calm, and you can trust her. You feel safe, and she knows exactly what she wants. Also, Valdivia is a beautiful small town. Everything is close there, so from a technical point of view, it was really helpful and easy to work there.

What is your hope for the film and the discussions it can maybe create in society?

Sarmiento We hope the film will do exactly that.

Rodríguez Yes, because people have to talk about it. It’s like the abuse is hidden because children don’t have the words to be able to tell others about what’s been happening

Don Iwerks, the Disney legend who spearheaded various camera and projection systems for the company’s parks and films, has died. He was 96.

Disney announced Iwerks died Thursday evening.

“It is with great sadness that we report that Disney Legend Don Iwerks has passed away at the age of 96,” reads a statement shared on Disney D23’s Instagram. “Iwerks was an innovator whose work brought The Walt Disney Company to new technological heights, aiding in perfecting the sodium vapor process used in 1964’s Academy Award®-winning Mary Poppins, developing the 360-degree Circle-Vision camera used to film America the Beautiful for Disney Parks, and implementing the projection system for the fan-favorite Star Tours attraction, among numerous other advancements. The achievements of Don Iwerks and his family have shaped Disney’s creative ethos and will forever be part of the company’s history.”

Born on July 24, 1929, Iwerks was the son of fellow Disney Legend Ub Iwerks, co-creator of Mickey Mouse (alongside Walt Disney himself). Iwerks began at Walt Disney Productions in 1950, when he was a special photographic processes laboratory technician. He was drafted into the Korean War but upon his return two years later returned to Disney.

Iwerks took on his role as a camera technician position in 1953, when he worked on his first feature 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He went on to lead the machine shop department, camera service department and technical engineering and manufacturing division.

The executive is particularly known for developing the 360-degree Circle-Vision camera; alongside Ub, he also helped develop the sodium vapor process.

After 35 years with Disney, he founded Iwerks Entertainment Inc. in 1986. The company was acquired by SimEx Inc. in 2001.

In 1997, Iwerks received the Gordon E. Sawyer Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors, then named a Disney legend in 2009.

“Don embodied that rare combination of heart, ingenuity and passion that has always defined Disney,” Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro said in a statement. “Through his innovative contributions to some of our most iconic films and attractions, he helped create experiences that have delighted generations of fans around the world. All of us at The Walt Disney Company will miss him deeply, and we send our most heartfelt condolences to his family, whose enduring connection to Disney has helped shape its legacy for over a century.”

Barbara Ling, the production designer who turned back time and won an Oscar for re-creating 1969 Los Angeles for Quentin Tarantino’s acclaimed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, has died. She was 73.

Ling died Thursday in Santa Barbara after a battle with cancer, a spokesperson for WME announced.

A Los Angeles native, Ling also tooled around her hometown for the present-day, Michael Douglas-starring Falling Down (1993), then reteamed with director Joel Schumacher to set up the fictional Gotham City for Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997).

In a career that spanned more than four decades, Ling served as the production designer on two 1991 classics, Oliver Stone’s The Doors and Jon Avnet’s Fried Green Tomatoes, on which she also was an associate producer.

She also teamed with director Scott Hicks on Hearts in Atlantis (2001), No Reservations (2007), The Lucky One (2012) and Fallen (2016).

Most recently, she worked on Marc Forster’s A Man Called Otto (2022), starring Tom Hanks, and on the blockbuster biopic Michael (2026), directed by Antoine Fuqua.

On Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), Ling shared the Oscar for best production design with set decorator Nancy Haigh; the two had worked together once before, on the 1988 film Checking Out.

Tarantino’s “main thing from the moment we sat down was, ‘I want this to be real. I want to see. I want to smell and I feel that Hollywood. I don’t want to do green screen over here or have the digital interpretation. Let’s really change the billboards, and let’s put the real facades back on,’” Ling said in a 2019 interview.

“That is, to me, very exciting. It’s something we don’t do much of anymore. I knew that what he wanted was to encompass himself and the actors into an environment that you could feel is real. You’re not just staring at something that’s a piece of green screen where we piece together later. That was the starting ground of this.

“I had to go out and figure out where I could attach real things to. It was quite an engineering feat to do, particularly on Hollywood Boulevard, to say, ‘I want the Pussycat Theater back.’ To build those marquees, it’s added weight. These are old and fragile buildings that we were working with. We had to also work with engineers to make sure we weren’t going to pull the facade off once we rebuilt the old signs. It was laborious but well worth it.

“The night of the first shoot when all the neon lit up and the period cars came out and [Arianne Phillips’] costumes were out there, you absolutely believed you were in 1969 because everything was real. It was a movie filming a real street. We pretty much carried that theme through Westwood [to re-create the Bruin Theater] and everywhere we shot.”

After winning her Oscar, Ling lamented to reporters backstage that “L.A. is not a preservation city, never has been. Now there’s been a nonstop movement of apartment building and glass towers. … What we did will be impossible to do next year. It’s unfortunate. We hope this will bring some nostalgia back and stop things from being torn down.”

Born in August 1952, Barbara Claire Ling began her career designing sets and lighting for more than 200 theater, opera and musical productions. Among her early efforts was the 1981 HBO special The Pee-Wee Herman Show, taped at the Roxy in West Hollywood.

She made the leap to filmmaking when David Byrne enlisted her to design his directorial debut, True Stories (1986).

Her credits also included Heaven (1987), Less Than Zero (1987), V.I. Warshawski (1991), With Honors (1994) and Sydney Pollack’s Random Hearts (1999), among the films that demonstrated she was equally comfortable with period authenticity, contemporary realism and stylized fantasy.

Survivors include her wife, Lindsay, and their sons, Clay and Will. 

Christopher Nolan is the latest major filmmaker to praise the breakout horror hits Obsession and Backrooms.

In a new interview with The Telegraph promoting his upcoming epic The Odyssey, Nolan reflected on the lengths he went to in order to make the film feel authentic, including traveling the world and assembling a “cast of thousands.”

“I think cinema is vital and essential and continues to transform itself,” the Oscar winner said. “We’ve got all these great new young voices in movies, making the medium their own and moving it forward.”

The article states that Nolan pointed to Curry Barker and Kane Parsons — the filmmakers behind Obsession and Backrooms — as evidence that “things are on the right track.” Both horror films have made history at the box office.

Barker’s Obsession, released May 15, has grossed more than $400 million globally on a $750,000 budget. The film became the highest-grossing festival acquisition of all time after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and is now Focus Features’ highest-grossing release ever.

Meanwhile, Parsons’ Backrooms has surpassed $350 million globally and is A24’s highest-grossing film in a number of countries. Parsons, 21, also became the youngest director to top the domestic box office.

“This is why I never bought into the arguments that young audiences’ attention spans are too fried to enjoy a three-hour Greek epic,” Nolan said. “Those films are so mysterious and ruminative. I mean, parts of Backrooms are like David Lynch at his most obscure. And yet young people can’t get enough of them.”

The Oppenheimer director continued: “I’ve never seen a more rapid wholesale dismissal of a supposedly foundational jump in technology in my lifetime. So much energy has been expended on bringing in AI, but if you look at that generation’s reaction, they’re utterly rejecting it.”

Nolan also cited his children, who are in their late teens and early 20s, as examples.

“Their judgment of AI slop has been immediate and harsh. They see it for what it is very quickly — and it’s much easier for them to identify it, because it grew out of an online world they know really well,” he explained. “While that doesn’t mean that every aspect of the technology is useless or meaningless, in filmmaking it’s hitting at exactly the wrong time. After years of driving towards heavily virtual environments, we’re seeing a renewed interest in more tactile, more real forms of storytelling.”

That sentiment was echoed when The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Gen Z moviegoers about the rise of younger filmmakers like Barker and Parsons.

“Audiences in general, but especially audiences my age, are getting so overwhelmed by all of the CGI movies — the Marvel epidemic. It really deterred a lot of people from wanting to go and see these big-budget movies,” one moviegoer said.

Nolan isn’t the only legendary filmmaker championing the next generation of talent. Steven Spielberg also recently praised Obsession, saying he “loved” the film and applauded Barker for making it on a budget of less than $1 million. 

As far as Nolan’s next film, The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus’ long, torturous trip back to Ithaca after the Trojan War to save his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. Its star-studded cast includes Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Travis Scott, Elliot Page, Lupita Nyong’o and more.

Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Obsession coverage here and Backrooms coverage here.

Peter Van Norden, the actor who appeared in the Police Academy and Naked Gun films, has died. He was 75.

Van Norden’s son, Robert, announced that his father died on Thursday.

“Peter passed away peacefully last night with his wife, Wendy, at his side,” Robert wrote in an Instagram post. “He was a terrific father, husband, friend, and a greatly respected member of the theater community. He will be missed.”

Born Dec. 16, 1950, Van Norden earned his first acting credit in the late 1970s in the comedy Squeeze Play. He went on to appear in numerous film projects, including the 1985 Police Academy follow-up, entitled Their First Assignment. There, Van Norden portrayed policeman Vinnie Schtulman, the first partner of Steve Guttenberg’s Carey Mahoney.

Another sequel, he acted in the second Naked Gun movie in 1991, where he took on the role of John Sununu, President George H. W. Bush’s former White House chief of staff.

On the small screen, he has acted in Three’s A Crowd (1985); an episode of Silver Spoons; a 1991 episode of Matlock; L.A. Law (1990-1992); The Stand; Murder, She Wrote (1989-1996); two 2004 episodes of Days of Our Lives; and 9-1-1 (2019).

Van Norden’s film credits include The Accused; An Innocent Man; Love Hurts; Hunky Dory; and West Virginia, among others.

Outside film and TV, Van Norden had an extensive stage career, appearing in various Broadway, off-Broadway and regional productions. His Broadway stints included features in St. Joan, Macbeth, Little Johnny Jones, Romeo and Juliet and The Inspector General. He performed his final stage role last year in Corktown ’39 at Los Angeles’ Matrix Theatre.

Van Norden was also part of The Rehearsal Room actors workshop, which “help[s] actors and artists grow their careers through challenging material.” Last August, he partook in breaking down Shakespeare’s Richard III.

He is survived by his wife, Wendy, and their son, Robert.