Timothée Chalamet’s comment on the contemporary state of opera and ballet in a CNN/Variety town hall last month was among the targets of “Saturday Night Live‘s” “Weekend Update” segment.
“And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive.’ Even though it’s like, no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” Chalamet said.
The comment has drawn strong responses from prominent opera and ballet companies in the U.S. On Saturday, “SNL” went pretty easy on the Oscar-nominated star of “Marty Supreme,” the story of a ping-pong prodigy in the 1950s. “Weekend Update” anchor Colin Jost observed that Chalamet has been “criticized by major opera and ballet organizations after he said that no one cares about those art forms. Chalamet made the comment on a press tour for his movie about ping-pong.”
Among other zingers, Jost commented on Kristi Noem’s ouster as head of the Department of Homeland Security, in part out of unhappiness over her spending $220 million on an ad campaign that put her front and center in various rustic settings including shots of her on horseback. In the campaign, Noem “dressed up like Jesse from ‘Toy Story.’” Jost also went there on the allegations that Noem has had an intimate relationship with a Trump aide. “She’s so happy riding a horse. Bet his name is Corey Lewandowski.”
In discussing another member of Trump’s cabinet, Jost noted that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the controversial head of Health and Human Services, “is what happens when you leave Walton Goggins in an air fryer.”
On the emergence of what appears to be a severe rash on President Trump’s neck, “Weekend Update” anchor Michael Che observed, “Apparently somebody accidentally washed his shirt in holy water.”
Stephen Hibbert, a writer and actor who went from the Groundlings to writing for “Late Night With David Letterman” and “Mad TV” to a cult role as the Gimp in “Pulp Fiction,” died March 2 in Denver, Colorado. He was 68.
Family members confirmed the death to Rolling Stone and Fox News Digital and said the death occurred after a heart attack. In a statement given to TMZ, his three children, Ronnie, Rosalind and Greg, said, “Our father, Stephen Hibbert, passed away unexpectedly this week. His life was full of love and dedication to the arts and his family. He will be dearly missed by many.”
While Hibbert had a long career of writing for and appearing in television comedy shows and films — from writing credits on “Boy Meets World” to “Animaniacs” to small roles in an “Austin Powers” film and “True Jackson, VP” — he was best known to film fans for playing the Gimp in his friend Quentin Tarantino‘s “Pulp Fiction.” It was a part that required him to neither speak nor show his face on screen, but which was nonetheless taxing for the many hours spent on-set in a full-body leather suit.
“I’m absolutely stunned to hear that Stephen Hibbert, the gentleman who played the Gimp in ‘Pulp Fiction,’ has passed away,” said “Pulp Fiction” co-writer Roger Avary on X. “Eli Roth and I were just with him at Days of the Dead Atlanta. He was at the table next to me and was genuinely a wonderful fellow. He took my role as The Gimp when I decided that Quentin was going to punk me and lock me in that box over lunch with a ball gag in my mouth. So Stephen stepped in and truly breathed life into that latex-covered character. I’m saddened by his passing but glad to have gotten to know him, and to call him a friend.”
Hibbert told interviews that he enjoyed the unusual notoriety — including the fact that there was an action figure of the Gimp for his kids to enjoy — and he made regular appearances at entertainment memorabilia conventions to greet fans.
I’m absolutely stunned to hear that Stephen Hibbert, the gentleman who played the Gimp in Pulp Fiction has passed away. Eli Roth and I were just with him at Days of the Dead Atlanta. He was at the table next to me and was genuinely a wonderful fellow. He took my role as The Gimp… pic.twitter.com/ntPmu04SOi
“I think it’s one of the greatest films of all time,” he told AARP’s Tim Appelo in a 2024 profile. “I saw it again recently, and I had forgotten how funny it was, and what a great time capsule it is of Los Angeles in the early ’90s. … I’ve done a number of really fun fan fests, screenings and conventions, and I always have a blast! Hanging out with films nerds for three days? Yes, please! Lots of people are taken aback by the fact I’m such a family man, I guess. A straight guy busily cobbling together a writing career in TV and film comedies.”
Hibbert wrote for shows including “Boy Meets World,” “Tiny Toons Adventures,” “Animaniacs,” “Howie Mandel’s Sunny Skies,” “Random Play” and “The MTV Movie Awards,” along with uncredited punch-ups on a number of feature films. He was said to also have contributed as a writer on “Saturday Night Live.”
His acting roles included appearances in “The Cat in the Hat,” “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” “National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” “Dr. Ken,” “Rush Hour,” “True Jackson, VP,” “Twenty Good Years,” “Jericho” and “Just Shoot Me.”
At the time of “Pulp Fiction,” Hibbert was married to another of the film’s stars, Julia Sweeney. The two of them co-wrote the “It’s Pat!” movie, adapting the long-running “SNL” sketch, on which Tarantino did an uncredited rewrite. The buddyship with Tarantino dated back to Hibbert and Sweeney’s mutual time in the Groundlings, leading to the “Pulp” casting. Hibbert said Tarantino “would guest with the improv show on Thursday nights. He was pretty much the same then as now, hilarious, endlessly curious and passionate about film.”
Of his friendship with Tarantino, Hibbert said, “We were basically moviegoing geeks. We would go to the New Beverly Cinema [decades before the filmmaker purchased it] and see a screening of ‘Stagecoach’ or something. And at one point during the pre-production of ‘Pulp Fiction,’ he had given me the script to read… ‘Why don’t you come down and [read] for the Gimp part. He knew I was an improviser and an actor as well as a friend and writer.” In the audition, “He played my master, in a bizarre S&M triangle … We acted out this little scene where he ordered me around… By the time I got home — this is in the old days in 1993 —there was a message on the machine: ‘Hey, you got the part. Let’s do it.’ It was a three-day shoot and it was amazing to work with those actors, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Duane Whitaker and Peter Greene.” [Greene died in December 2025.]
Hibbert further quipped o his audition for the casting director with Tarantino: “He bossed me around the office and I groveled. I felt like I’d been training all of my work life for an opportunity to audition for a role like that.”
He continued, “It was a very arduous shoot, because it was a very grim theme, and I was wrapped up in this leather outfit from head to toe. And they wanted me to be a little puffier, so I wore a little mini-fat suit underneath it. Under all the hot lights, with the leather and the fat suit, I lost about 10, 15 pounds over the course of the three-day shoot. And thank God there was a little shower in my little trailer dressing room, because I would just shower afterwards for half an hour.
“I remember at the end of the three-day shoot, Bruce Willis had everyone come over to his swanky, personalized, cool, custom-built trailer, and we all had gin as the sun was going down on a beautiful Southern California evening in Culver City. We’re all just going, ‘Oh man, people are going to just freak out over the scene’ — we were all like little boys, proud of being so naughty and fun. Everyone was at the top of their game, and I still get a warm glow, remembering that day.”
Hibbert had a solution to the mystery of the character: “I played the scene as if the creeps who kept him had cut out his tongue. Quentin really liked that idea. The Gimp had been a prisoner there for a while. So he liked being in that situation, there was a Stockholm syndrome thing happening for the Gimp. Which is why I played it sort of giddy, pointing leeringly at Butch and prancing about. I think if I had played it all sullen and menacing, it wouldn’t have been as creepy.”
Stephen Hibbert attends The Hollywood Autograph Show held at The Westin Los Angeles Airport on February 2, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Getty Images
HIbbert was born in Fleetwood, England, and his family emigrated to Tustin, Calif., when he was 6; a committed Anglophile, he still maintained close ties with and liked to visit his mother’s side of the family in the U.K.
His big break as a writer came with a 1984-86 stint on “Late Night With David Letterman.” From there he worked largely in animation before landing gigs with “Howie Mandel’s Sunny Skies,” “Mad TV” and “Boy Meets World” in the mid- and late ’90s.
Whether writing for sitcoms or animation, Hibbert said he held to the same character-driven principles: “It really doesn’t matter if it’s character in a one-off sketch, characters we know so well in a sit-com or animated little, bouncy things – stay true to them and everything generally works out.”
Hibbert’s first on-screen appearance was in 1987 as “student #3” on “Newhart,” where, just as much as he was excited to meet Bob Newhart, he was equally thrilled to meet the episode’s “actual guest star,” William Windom, whose series “My World and Welcome to It” had been one of his favorite series as a kid, he said.
Although “It’s Pat: The Movie” is generally considered ill-fated as “SNL” spinoffs go, Hibbert held fond memories of it. “Julia and I were married and writing partners, at the time, and Fox approached us to write a movie for Julia’s very popular ‘(at the time) ‘SNL character, “Pat,’” he told the website Trainwreck’d Society in a 2014 interview. “The film ended up at Disney. While the film didn’t turn out as well as any of us would have liked, I still think there are some wonderful performances: Julia’s, Dave Foley’s, Charlie Rocket, and there are lots of truly funny jokes and scenes. So I’m actually pretty proud of much of the movie, and think it’s fair to say it’s better than you remember it, that is in the unlikely event you’ve actually seen it.”
When not writing or acting, Hibbert did stints sharing his love of Hollywood lore with the public. “I’m a huge cinema buff, so I took a little part-time job as a tour guide with this tour company in Hollywood, and I just loved it… It wasn’t a movie stars homes tour… I got to share my knowledge of Hollywood history and L.A. history in general as we busted down Sunset Blvd. and Hollywood Blvd. and all of these famous places.”
His role as the Gimp, of course, gave him automatic status any time it came up in conversation. But he quickly learned he had to take measures to keep a certain kind of fan at bay. “The weekend‘Pulp’ opened, I was visiting my mom and dad in San Juan Capistrano. When I got home, there were two dozen messages on my answering machine, almost all from guys telling me they really enjoyed my performance and would I like to meet them for coffee? Yikes! These fellas had to wait for the end credits to see who played the Gimp, then find a pay phone, call L.A. 411 and snag my number. I quickly changed my number and became unlisted.”
His proudest credit was not actually as the Gimp, but as a volunteer tutor and tutor coordinator with School on Wheels.
“It was fun hanging out with Mike Myers working on ‘Austin Powers’ or something, but the stuff that is really remarkable and that I am proud of, besides my three amazing kids, is working with School on Wheels,” he said in a podcast interview. School on Wheels is a nonprofit “where tutors work with homeless kids wherever they happen to be… Unfortunately, it’s an invisible population… But I worked one-on-one with about five dozen or more kids over the course of six years, and I can say, without exception, all of them were remarkable people… iI’s a bit of a cliche, but it’s true, kids are remarkably resilient.”
Hibbert moved to Denver in the late 2010s to be closer to his children, and described himself as “semi-retired” from show business after the move. In Colorado, he took on the role of educator., including teaching improv and sketch writing at the Bovine Metropolis Theater in downtown Denver. Most recently he was teaching at the Denver School of the Arts.
“I feel very fortunate to have cobbled together a three-decade-long-plus career in show business,” he told North Palm Beach Life in 2021. “It’s an incredibly difficult trench to try to furrow, and I feel lucky that I made a living, and that I have a pension from it now… I just want to publicly state how grateful I am for all the wonderful people I met and worked with, many of whom are still a part of my life.”
Asked by AARP in 2024 if he had any advice for his younger self, he said, “My advice to my younger self: “Trust yourself more — no one really knows what they’re doing — and go to the dentist every year for a checkup.”
Hibbert was known among his show-biz colleagues for his joviality as well as appreciation of many different arts. On social media, his varied interests were evident in his frequent postings of photos of glamorous screen sirens from the golden age of Hollywood as well as classic fine-arts paintings. His Facebook profile quote was from Wordsmith: “The best bits of life are the little, unremembered, nameless acts of kindness and love.”
His last Facebook post, on March 1, was of a lovely, dusk-set Ukrainian painting — “Sunset at the Lake,” by Serhii Vasylkivskyy, from 1900 — with the caption: “Wishing all a peaceful evening.”
Hibbert is survived by his former wives Sweeney and Alicia Agos, and his three children with Agos, Ronnie, Rosalind and Greg.
The original title of “Heel” was “Good Boy.” The new title is probably more accurate, though an even more accurate title might be “Painfully Annoying Punk Idiot.” I jest (a bit), since the title of “Heel” is actually a verb. The film wants to tell the story of a budding hooligan who needs to be brought to heel. That said, does anyone seriously want to see a movie about a 19-year-old British sociopath who gets chained up in a basement so that the weird upper-middle-class couple who’ve kidnapped him can modify his behavior? “Heel” is like “A Clockwork Orange” remade as the year’s worst Sundance movie.
The opening sequence is actually promising. It depicts, in rapidly edited documentary-like montage, a reckless night out on the town by Tommy (Anson Boon) and his friends. They’re hopped-up club kids, and Tommy is their snarling, curly-haired, sexually coercive wastrel ringleader, living in the moment, pouring drinks down his throat, snorting coke and popping pills, dancing and carousing and puking and rutting in the bathroom, pushing himself to a higher and higher high, until he winds up collapsed on the sidewalk — a ritual, we gather, that has happened many times before. Only this time his crumpled body is gathered up by a mysterious stranger.
When Tommy wakes up, he’s in the basement of a stately stone house somewhere in the British countryside. He’s got a metal collar around his neck, and it’s chained to the ceiling. The film has barely gotten started, and already it’s cut to the second half of “A Clockwork Orange”: Can this monster delinquent be rehabilitated? Theoretically, that’s an interesting question, except that the way this happens is so garishly contrived that we can only go with the movie by putting any plea for reality on permanent hold.
Who are the people who have kidnapped Tommy? Chris (Stephen Graham) is a mild chap in a toupee who goes about his mission with a puckish vengeance disguised as gentility. His wife, Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough), is so neurasthenic she’s like a ghost. (She has suffered some trauma that isn’t colored in.) The two have a cherubic preteen son they call Sunshine (Kit Rakusen). And why, exactly, are they doing what they’re doing? We have no idea. Trying to make a bad person into a good person is not, in itself, a terrible notion, but the conceit of “Heel” — that Tommy is locked in a dungeon, being treated like a dog, because that’s what it willtake to change him — is like a toxic right-wing fantasy that the film somehow reconfigures into an implausible liberal “family” allegory.
Ah, plausibility! How unhip to gripe about the absence of it. Yet watching “Heel,” I found it impossible to suspend my disbelief for two seconds. The entire movie, directed by the Polish filmmaker Jan Komasa (“Corpus Christie”) from a script by Bartek Bartosik and Naqqash Khalid, is just a grimy monotonous conceit. It’s been thought out thematically but not in terms of recognizable human behavior. It’s like a film-student short stretched out to an agonizing 110 minutes.
Anson Boon, a charismatic actor who did an okay job of playing Johnny Rotten in Danny Boyle’s TV miniseries “Pistol” (though he never conjured Rotten’s homicidal gleam), infuses Tommy with a loutish energy that in the early scenes, at least, makes him a convincing candidate for either prison or the contemporary equivalent of shock therapy. And yet the character is exhaustingly obnoxious. As a filmmaker, Komasa doesn’t dramatize — he uses one-note traits to clobber the audience. Stephen Graham’s Chris is as quiet and circumspect as Tommy is abrasive. He tries to train Tommy by showing him motivational tapes, and by subjecting him to Tommy’s own depraved TikToks. He then rigs up an elaborate system of gutters on the ceiling so that Tommy, in his metal leash, can wander around the house, a sign that he’s been housebroken.
Tommy has to grow and change, since there wouldn’t be a movie otherwise. In the process, he gets less annoying but also less interesting, because “Heel” sentimentalizes his transformation. Komasa seems to have missed the key irony of “A Clockwork Orange”: that the behavior modification of Alex is as brutalizing as his original state of punk anarchy. In “Heel,” Tommy’s evolution is singularly unconvincing — by the end, he’s practically ready to be the suitor in a Jane Austen drama. But that’s all of a piece with a movie so false it puts the audience in the doghouse.
Boo! Pixar is developing a third movie in the popular “Monsters Inc.” franchise.
The project was revealed in a lengthy Wall Street Journal profile that examined the inner workings at Pixar, as the animation studio debuts its latest release, “Hoppers.”
The franchise’s first movie, 2001’s “Monsters, Inc.,” operates on the premise that monsters must scare children to power the city. The movie, directed by now-Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter and featuring the voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal, was a massive hit at the box office, grossing $528.7 million worldwide. The 2013 prequel, “Monsters University,” helmed by Dan Scanlon, outperformed the original with a $743.5 million global tally. The success spawned the sequel series “Monsters at Work,” which ran for two seasons.
It’s not immediately clear who will direct the next big screen installment, and plot details — including where in the story’s timeline the action will occur — are being kept under wraps.
But the studio is also taking some big swings on original stories, like next year’s “Gatto,” about a feline thief in Venice. Pixar reportedly pivoted “Ono Ghost Market,” a project inspired by “Asian myths about supernatural bazaars where the living and dead interact,” from a streaming series to a movie. The studio is also developing its first-ever musical, from “Turning Red” director Domee Shi.
As for “Hoppers,” the animal-centric adventure earned $3.2 million in previews, and is projected to earn $35 million to $40 million from 4,000 theaters this weekend.
The members of the Writers Guild of America have voted to approve an agenda for bargaining with the studios, which is set to begin on March 16.
With 97.4% voting in favor, the union approved a “pattern of demands” that focuses on health care, compensation, and artificial intelligence, among other issues.
The WGA has already told members that the health fund is facing a dire financial situation, due to the industry contraction and skyrocketing health costs. According to the union, the health fund has suffered eight-figure losses for the past four years, totaling $205 million, and the fund will run out of money in the next three years if nothing changes.
The pattern of demands calls for employers to contribute more to the pension and health funds, and for them to agree to increase the compensation caps upon which contributions are assessed. In the memo to members last week, the WGA also warned of the need for “plan design changes that will save money while preserving access to high-quality providers.”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on behalf of the studios, published a report in December arguing that Hollywood workers enjoy very generous benefits compared to the typical employer-based plan.
As always in bargaining, the WGA will be seeking to increase minimum compensation rates. It will also seek to make gains on two major issues from the 2023 strike: artificial intelligence and streaming residuals.
The pattern of demands does not cite another major strike issue: minimum staffing on TV shows. In the 2023 deal, the WGA won a provision to effectively do away with “mini-rooms” — in which a small group of writers would work on multiple scripts at a reduced rate while a project was still in development. The WGA also won staffing minimums for shows once they are greenlit, ranging from three to six writers depending on the length of the season.
Though the pattern of demands does not address minimum staffing, it does touch a related issue — compensation of writers who participate in post-production. It also highlights “free work,” a perennial concern among feature writers that has spilled over into the TV business in recent years.
The pattern of demands is a bare outline of topic areas. Detailed proposals will be presented to the AMPTP once bargaining begins, but will be kept under wraps while negotiations are underway.
Rose Byrne is not only going into Oscar night as a first-time nominee for her work in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” but she’ll also be reuniting with her “Bridesmaids” co-stars.
Sources tell me that a “Bridesmaids” reunion is in the works during the ceremony with Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy. Final details are currently being discussed.
The occasion will mark the 15-year anniversary of the hit comedy’s release. Directed by Paul Feig, “Bridesmaids” was written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo.
McCarthy earned the first of her two Oscar nominations for supporting actress. Wiig and Mumolo nabbed noms for original screenplay.
As Variety previously reported, Barbra Streisand is in talks to perform at the Oscars in tribute to her “The Way We Were” co-star Robert Redford.
Streisand is “in conversations” to sing during the In Memoriam segment of the ceremony, according to sources. It has not been decided if the In Memoriam segment would be a solo performance by Streisand or if she’d be joined by other artists.
Billy Crystal is set to lead a tribute to Rob Reiner with other stars of the late filmmaker’s movies, including Meg Ryan, appearing on stage at the same time.
Presenters set for the 98th Academy Awards include Paul Mescal, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Will Arnett, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Adrien Brody, Javier Bardem, Kieran Culkin, Chase Infiniti, Mikey Madison, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Saldaña and Rudolph.
Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the Oscars will take place on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and be televised live by ABC and streamed on Hulu.
Guatemala is close to enacting its first film law. On March 10, its Congress will be entering into final discussions on Initiative 5906. If it passes, Guatemala will no longer be one of the few nations in Latin America without a legal framework for its audiovisual industry.
Leading the call for international support of this bill is FIPCA, the Ibero-American Federation of Cinematographic and Audiovisual Production, which has already gathered more than 3,500 signatures, including those of Guatemala’s leading voices: Óscar Isaac (“Frankenstein”) and Jayro Bustamante (“La Llorona,” “Ixcanul”) among others in the Ibero-American audiovisual industry.
“If we want to stop losing our talent and our stories, this law is essential. Until now, those of us who have stood out in the arts have been the exception rather than the rule. What truly matters is normalizing the idea that the country should actively support its cultural industries. Those of us who have found a voice in cinema today have done so largely thanks to the backing of film industries abroad,” Bustamante told Variety.
Said FIPCA president Ignacio Rey: “The Ibero-American audiovisual community is closely following this debate. In Latin America, film laws have proven to be effective tools for economic development and job creation. Guatemala is one of the few countries in the region that still lacks a specific legal framework and its approval would allow the country to fully integrate into international co-production networks.”
“For nearly 20 years, we have been fighting for a national film law. At the same time, we have continued making films — pushing against the tide, attending festivals, winning awards and placing our country on the global stage. It’s clear that with proper incentives and safeguards, we could build a strong, sustainable industry that truly contributes to the nation. We know there is still much work ahead, but we are motivated and inspired by these challenges,” said Joaquín Ruano, president of the Guatemalan Association of Audiovisual and Cinematography and FIPCA representative.
The initiative contemplates the creation of a Guatemalan Film Institute, a Film Promotion Fund, a Film Commission operating as a one-stop shop for international productions, a National Cinematheque and a National Higher School of Cinema, among others.
For Bustamante, whose films have represented his country three times in the Oscars’ Best International Feature category (“Ixcanul,”“La Llorona” and “Rita”), the lack of a film law has been a source of frustration for him and his peers. “The prevailing local mindset remains narrow. There are still claims that adding a one-dollar levy to each plane ticket—paid by foreign visitors—would somehow devastate international tourism. Some even argue that public support shouldn’t go to cinema at all, but to AI instead, so young people can make films that way. It is deeply disheartening to face such rigid, hyper-capitalist, free-market thinking.”
Data provided by FIPCA argues that “regional experience offers clear and measurable evidence. In Mexico City, the film industry contributes around 12% of local GDP; in the Dominican Republic, following the implementation of its film law, the sector increased national GDP by 0.32%; in Panama, the audiovisual sector forms part of the creative industries that represent close to 6% of GDP and in Costa Rica, these industries account for approximately 3% of GDP.”
Said Gabriela Sandoval, FIPCA vice president: “The regional figures are clear: where structured audiovisual policies exist — funds, film commissions, incentives — the economic impact is measurable, as a value chain is activated that goes beyond the cultural sphere. Guatemala already has talent and an international track record; what is now under discussion is whether the country chooses to turn that talent into a sustainable development policy.”
The first “War Child,” a British-all-star charity album featuring rare tracks from such then-rising-ish stars as Oasis, Radiohead, Blur, Portishead and Massive Attack as well as Sinead O’Connor, Suede and the Stone Roses, arrived in September of 1995 — so long ago that the primary motivation at the time was to support the War Child charity’s efforts in Bosnia. The organization aims to deliver aid, education, mental health support and protection to children affected by conflict around the world; musically speaking, we can remember getting a specially burned advance CD of that album and being very excited about the new songs from Radiohead (“Lucky,” which of course would be a highlight of the “OK Computer” album almost two years later) and Portishead (“Mourning Air,” ditto their self-titled sophomore set).
Much more importantly, the album — recorded in a single day — raised over £1.2 million for War Child.
Some 31 years later, the sequel, “Help (2),” has arrived and was overseen by executive producer James Ford, known for his work with Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Pulp, Fontaines DC and many others. He put his address book to work here: There are new tracks — nearly all of which were recorded at Abbey Road Studios across one week last November — from all of the above artists (including the first new song from the Arctic Monkeys since 2022) as well as new songs from Olivia Rodrigo, Geese’s Cameron Winter, Arooj Aftab & Beck, Damon Albarn (with Johnny Marr on guitar), Wet Leg, Big Thief, Beabadoobee and many more — a whopping 23 songs in all, the full tracklist appears below. As the announcement notes, “The new album, like the original, speaks to the urgency of the humanitarian situation globally today.”
Bringing a critical take to such a well-intended album is always awkward, but highlights include the Arctic Monkeys’ first new song since 2022, an uncharacteristically low-key “Obvious” from Wet Leg, an unlikely tag-team on the Broadway song “Lilac Wine” from Arooj Aftab and Beck, a sensitive take on Sinead O’Connor’s hard-hitting “Black Boys on Mopeds” from Fontaines D.C., a sweetly soulful “Naboo” from Sampha, Big Thief’s “Relive, Redie” — and probably most of all, Olivia Rodrigo’s gorgeous, hushed take on Magnetic Fields’ “Book of Love,” from their 1999 classic album “99 Love Songs,” which she sings in a tone that summons “Drivers License” flashbacks.
There is also a visual component to the album, for which Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Glazer acted as creative director, working with Academy Films to assemble a team of creatives and overseeing the filming and art direction for the project. Glazer’s concept was “By Children, For Children”: Each child operated their own small camera and was invited into the studios to film the artists recording without any restrictions, according to the announcement. Glazer’s also team worked with fixers and filmmakers in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan to gather footage filmed by children on the ground in those conflict zones.
Most importantly of all, as the announcement states, “When ‘Help’ was first released, around 10% of the world’s children were affected by conflict. Today, that figure has almost doubled to nearly 1 in 5, or 520 million children worldwide; more than at any time since the Second World War. With conflicts escalating and funding cuts hitting hard, War Child U.K.’s work has never been more urgent and the need for these artists to carry forward the original album’s spirit of collective action could not be more vital.”
“Help(2)” Tracklist:
Arctic Monkeys – “Opening Night” Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten & Kae Tempest – “Flags” Black Country, New Road – “Strangers” The Last Dinner Party – “Let’s do it again!” Beth Gibbons – “Sunday Morning” Arooj Aftab & Beck – “Lilac Wine” King Krule – “The 343 Loop” Depeche Mode – “Universal Soldier” Ezra Collective & Greentea Peng – “Helicopters” Arlo Parks – “Nothing I Could Hide” English Teacher & Graham Coxon – “Parasite” Beabadoobee – “Say Yes” Big Thief – “Relive, Redie” Fontaines D.C. – “Black Boys on Mopeds” Cameron Winter – “Warning” Young Fathers – “Don’t Fight the Young” Pulp – “Begging for Change” Sampha – “Naboo” Wet Leg – “Obvious” Foals – “When the War is Finally Done” Bat For Lashes – “Carried my girl” Anna Calvi, Ellie Rowsell, Nilüfer Yanya & Dove Ellis – “Sunday Light” Olivia Rodrigo – “The Book of Love”
The memo does not cite a reason for her departure; reps for the company did not immediately respond to requests for further information, although sources tell Variety her contract was up; Hits suggests she may be going to rival agency CAA.
“We wanted to share with everyone that our friend and colleague Lucy Dickins will be leaving WME.
“Over the past seven years, Lucy helped us navigate one of the most disruptive periods in the live music business. As the head of our UK office, she re-energized our presence in London, built a strong team, and solidified WME’s leadership in the region. Then COVID hit and she dove right in, taking on her expanded role, relocating to Los Angeles, and providing critical support to our team during an unprecedented crisis.
“On the other side of the pandemic, she led major signings, constructed innovative tour models, and brought exceptional heart and enthusiasm to our business.
“Kirk Sommer will continue to lead the Contemporary Music division moving forward, and we will keep you posted with further updates.
“Please join us in wishing Lucy the best in her next chapter.”
Dickins joined WME in 2019 after more than two decades at International Booking Talent (ITB), the U.K.-based agency founded by her father, Barry Dickins and Rod MacSween. She comes from a long line of British music business titans: her grandfather Percy launched the long-running music weekly NME, her uncle Rob Dickins led Warner Music U.K. for 15 years, and her brother Jonathan Dickins has managed Adele, Glass Animals and Rick Rubin.
When she was elevated to global head of contemporary music and touring in 2022, she became the first woman to take on such a role at a major agency. Over the years she has worked closely with Adele, Zach Bryan, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton and many others.
In a New York Times op-ed titled “How Can ‘Love Story’ Get Away With This?,” the actor-director denounces Ryan Murphy’s popular FX series — about the romance between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette — for its “lies” and “misogyny.” Hannah, who dated JFK Jr. prior to Bessette, is a central character in the show played by Dree Hemingway. The makers of the show did not consult with Hannah, and, as she points out in the op-ed, one producer has referred to her character as an “adversary” in the story.
“I have generally chosen not to respond to media coverage of me. I have long believed that engaging with distortion often amplifies it. But a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me. The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident,” Hannah writes.
She opens the essay with advice she once received from none other than Jacqueline Onassis — who is portrayed by Naomi Watts in the series. “She told me that while tabloids, magazines and newspapers often sold ridiculous lies, they were nothing more than bird cage liner by the next day,” Hannah writes. “At the time, I found great comfort and consolation in those words. But today they no longer hold true.”
Now, Hannah argues, “lies live online forever,” and “a dramatized portrayal can become, for millions of viewers, the definitive version of a real person’s life.”
Dree Hemingway as Daryl Hannah in FX’s “Love Story”
FX
In making Hannah a spiteful obstacle to the coupling of JFK Jr. and Bessette, “Love Story” has turned “a real, living person” into a “narrative device,” Hannah writes. “Popular culture has long elevated certain women by portraying others as rivals, obstacles or villains. Isn’t it textbook misogyny to tear down one woman in order to build up another?”
She adds, “The character ‘Daryl Hannah’ portrayed in the series is not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John. The actions and behaviors attributed to me are untrue. I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s. It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show. These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false.”
Since “Love Story” premiered on Feb. 12 on FX and Hulu, Hannah says she has “received many hostile and even threatening messages from viewers who seem to believe the portrayal is factual.”
“I know that as an actress I will be in the public eye. I’ve endured a number of outrageous lies, crappy stories and unflattering characterizations before,” Hannah writes. “I chose not to battle them but to focus on my work and respect my loved ones by keeping my private life private. But my silence should not be mistaken for agreement with lies. Apparently, my discretion makes me a target.”
She adds that she has always “honored” the Kennedy family’s right to privacy, and people “claiming to have any intimate knowledge of our personal lives are self-serving sensationalists trading in gossip, innuendo and speculation.” Hannah concludes the op-ed with: “May love and truth prevail.”
Hannah is not the only public figure connected to the Kennedys who has spoken out about the show. Jack Schlossberg, JFK Jr.’s nephew who is running for Congress, recently slammed the series as a “grotesque display of someone else’s life.”
“Love Story” creator and showrunner Connor Hines previously told Variety that he did not consult the Kennedy family while making the series because “as a writer, it’s more healthy and effective to have some distance from the subject matter.”
Hemingway told The Hollywood Reporter that she wrote Hannah a “love note” detailing “how much I appreciate her as a woman, as an actress, and what an honor of my life this has been.” She did not hear back.
