scamanderishredmayniac

[scamanderishredmayniac]

Palio di Siena, Italy, August 2025.

📸 Source: Daily Mail

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Amanruya Hotel, Turkey, May 2025.

📸 My screenshots from The Official Aman Shop video on Instagram.

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Our beautiful man 😍

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I truly truly believe that the most important thing you can do in fandom is be a cheerleader. comment on fics. reblog art and rave in the tags. support the people making the things you want to see. this is how you keep a fandom alive. this is how you get more of what you want. you never know: that person could have decided to make more just because you liked it.

[scamanderishredmayniac]

The Day of the Jackal> NY premiere, October 17, 2024.

📸 Source: Jeff Ayars on Instagram.

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Video: Behind the Scenes DVD Feature

Part 2 - Pre-Production

Yes, you can find parts of this DVD extra on Youtube, in varying levels of quality. I have it for you here, from my undisclosed source, in downloadable form. I only have 6 segments, and unfortunately the intro isn't one of them.

Okay, but can I just say that seeing the bare shell of Nigel's room feels like a violation somehow? Like digging up a body and staring at the skeleton that's left.

BTS Part 1 - Casting BTS Part 3 - Australia BTS Part 4 - Yorkshire 1 BTS Part 5 - Yorkshire 2 BTS Part 6 - Music

[Like Minds Masterpost - Main]

[scamanderishredmayniac]

Video: Behind the Scenes DVD Feature

Part 1 - Casting

Yes, you can find parts of this DVD extra on Youtube, in varying levels of quality. I have it for you here, from my undisclosed source, in downloadable form. I only have 6 segments, and unfortunately the intro isn't one of them.

BTS Part 1 - Casting BTS Part 2 - Pre-Production BTS Part 3 - Australia BTS Part 4 - Yorkshire 1 BTS Part 5 - Yorkshire 2 BTS Part 6 - Music

[Like Minds Masterpost - Main]

[scamanderishredmayniac]

Nooooooooo!!! I’ve just finished watching the show, and oh my gosh! I loved it. But when it ended I was like “You can’t end it like that!!!!” I had this gut feeling we wouldn’t be getting a second season, but I didn’t want to believe it. I was just hoping they were taking their sweet time, only to find out on the internet that indeed they were not going to do season 2. I was about to do a whole video on how disappointing the end was, how the show had so much potential but left so many things untold, unfinished, and left hanging. And then I came across this post here today. A few days after finishing watching it. I think I finished 5 days ago to be exact. I’m so gutted we won’t be getting a season 2, and even more so now after reading this. It sounds like it would have been a really good season. So so gutted. Thank you for sharing this with us fans. So heartbroken that we won’t get to see this on screen though. Really disappointed with Netflix for this.

I shall now go hunt down the book and read it, I didn’t realise it was based on a book. I’m an avid reader, so I really would love to read it too and compare how much was kept from the book and how much was adapted. Such a good concept and story line.

The Midnight Club - Season Two

I'm very disappointed that Netflix has decided not to pursue a second season of THE MIDNIGHT CLUB.

My biggest disappointment is that we left so many story threads open, holding them back for the hypothetical second season, which is always a gamble.

So I'm writing this blog as our official second season, so you can know what might have been, learn the fates of your favorite characters, and know the answers to those dangling story threads from the first season.

So for those of you who want to know what we were planning to do, here's a look at what would have been season 2!

AMESH Season 2 would open with Amesh, his glioblastoma advancing quickly. He would tell the first story of the season, but would be struggling to make it through. We'd focus on his love story with Natsuki for those first few episodes as it becomes clear that Amesh's death is imminent.

Meanwhile, Ilonka is trying to reconcile how she was fooled by Julia Jayne, all while falling further in love with Kevin, and she realizes he may be fading faster than he lets on.

Ilonka begins a serialized story in an effort to encourage him to "stay alive a little longer," like he did in season one. And the story she tells is... REMEMBER ME.

This was the thing I was most excited about for this season.

REMEMBER ME is one of my all-time favorite Pike books - it tells the story of a teenage girl who is pushed off a balcony, and awakens as a ghost. She has to navigate being a spirit while trying to solve her own murder. We would have stretched this story out over 5 episodes. We were going to use it as a vehicle for Ilonka to try to come to terms with the fact that she is going to die, and to begin to trying to wrap her head around being a ghost... but this is the coolest part... the lead character of Ilonka's story wouldn't be played by Ilonka. She'd be played by...

Anya.

Because this is how we live on, isn't it? In the minds of those we leave behind. And Ilonka would use REMEMBER ME as a way to imagine her dear friend Anya, waking up as a ghost, navigating the afterlife. And this sets up one of the best mechanisms of the show - even if a character dies, as long as they're remembered by members of the club, they live on in their stories.

As the story starts to pick up steam, though, the group will have to deal with the death of Amesh, which he greets with grace and bravery.

In his final moments, he sees someone in his room - the Janitor from the first season, as played by Robert Longstreet, who says comforting things to Amesh even though he can't respond.

In his final, final moments, the SHADOW descends upon Amesh, and he is engulfed into it, which reinforces the idea that the Shadow is DEATH...

With Amesh's death comes something that upends the entire thing: a NEW PATIENT. We didn't work out too much about who this would be, but it would be a new roommate for Ilonka. Someone taking Anya's old bed. Ilonka would find herself being initially cold to her - just as Anya was when Ilonka arrived. Even feeling like this new girl shouldn't necessarily be ushered into the Club. But of course they would develop a beautiful friendship over the course of the season. The new girl joins the club, where something else exciting is happening - Cheri is telling a story. We hadn't decided which one, but I think it might have been MONSTER.

Natsuki would be the next to die, which would be heartbreaking. And again, she would talk to the janitor just before it happened... and again, the Shadow would come in the final moments.

For Spence, though, things would take a different turn.

The advancements in HIV treatment in the late 90's would come into play, and we'd see his prognosis change. The HIV cocktail came out in Dec 1995, and we really wanted to explore that.

Spence would ride the swell of antiviral advancements, and by the end of the season, he'd no longer be classified as terminal. In the finale of season 2, Spence would leave Brightcliffe just like Sandra did in Season 1, heading off to manage his disease and live the rest of his life.

But onto the BIG MYSTERIES of the season one... here are some answers: What is up with Dr. Stanton's tattoo and bald head? Well, a few things. First, Dr. Stanton is actually the daughter of the original Paragon cult leader, Aceso. Her nickname was Athena, she wrote the Paragon journal that Ilonka found in S1. She turned on her mother and helped the kids escape, but because she was part of the cult in her teenage years, she had the tattoo.

It was her initials that Ilonka found carved into the tree in season 1 (her maiden name was Georgina Ballard, hence the G.B. that Ilonka finds carved in the tree).

She hated what her mother became, and the atrocities of the cult. She reclaimed the property after her mom was gone, and wanted to change it into a place that celebrated life. She was trying to undo her mother's legacy and leave something behind that was beautiful. She is wearing a wig at the end of S1 not because of a sinister reason, but because she is undergoing chemo. Dr. Stanton has cancer. Having helped so many people deal with disease, she now has to deal with it herself.

Her treatment would be successful, and she'd go into remission, but having to face that - while caring for the terminal kids at Brightcliffe - was going to be a very introspective arc for Stanton.

What about the Living Shadow? It's Death, right? Well... no.

At the end of the season, Kevin will die... followed shortly by Ilonka. And as she is dying, two things will happen. First, she'll find herself talking to the Janitor, played by Robert Longstreet... and she'll make a discovery.

HE is Death. And nothing to be afraid of. It turns out no one else ever saw this character. Stanton has a cleaning service, and the Nurse practitioners make up the rooms - the only people who ever saw this mysterious Janitor were the patients. He is Death, and offers them kind words before they die. Then what was the Shadow?

This is an idea we take directly from the book REMEMBER ME, and we'll see it play out in the final moments of Ilona's final tale. In Pike's book, Shari is pursued by a dark entity called The Shadow. When it finally catches her, though, it turns out it is not a bad thing at all.

The Shadow is THEMSELVES. It's the Unknown. As it engulfs someone, in the last moment of their life, it takes them through a place of understanding and catharsis, preparing them for the next step.

THIS is what happened to Anya in S1 when the Shadow finally reached her - that's why she fantasized a life beyond Brightcliffe, which ultimately let her find acceptance of her death. It looks different for everybody, depending on their mind-set - because it is simply an extension of themselves.

The Shadow is just the final catharsis, a return to our original form - it is a moment of true understanding, and once we experience it, we move on to the next place.

We see the Shadow in full effect when it finally comes for Kevin. KEVIN DIES with Ilonka at his side, and it leads to the biggest reveal of the season:

Who were the Mirror Man and the Cataract Woman?

They were Stanley Oscar Freelan and his wife, who built Brightcliffe (fun trivia, he is named after the real-life Freelan Oscar Stanley, who built my favorite hotel in America - the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley is also the inspiration for THE SHINING!).

But more than that... there's a reason that Ilonka only sees Stanley in the mirror, and sees the Cataract Woman whenever she looked at Kevin. This is something else we took from Pike's original book... these aren't ghosts, but glimpses of PAST LIVES.

Ilonka WAS Stanley Oscar Freelan, and Kevin WAS his wife. They've lived many lives this way, and are true SOUL MATES - they always find each other, and they always fall in love. In this life, they knew it would be a short one, so they agreed to find each other in the house they built. They've been "remembering" who they are, and glimpsing their former selves in reflections, and sometimes when they look at each other. This is also why Ilonka's very first words to Kevin in S1 were "Do I know you?" and why Kevin thought she was familiar as well. They are two souls who always find each other, again and again.

The story is this: Stanley was dying, and built this cliffside home hoping that the seaside air would help him. It did, and he far outlived his prognosis (this is also true of the real-life Freelan Stanley). However, his wife began to succumb to dementia.

She would wander the halls, looking for him ("Darling!") and would even forget to feed herself ("I'm starving...") and she eventually refused to leave the basement. Heartbroken for her, Stanley painted the walls to resemble the woodland view, and the ceiling to resemble the night sky, so that it would be a little more beautiful for her.

He also painted a labyrinth on the floor, which was a technique used to try to curb the effects of dementia. She'd walk the pattern of the maze and it was believed it could help her cognition. Eventually, she developed frightening cataracts, but Stanley loved her through it all.

They were soul mates.

So while they seemed scary in season 1, that was just how Ilonka and Kevin's mind were trying to remember their pasts. We even had their faces distorting in ways consistent with how memories degrade over time. When the Shadow comes for Ilonka, and gives her this understanding - this "remembering" - she realizes she has nothing to fear. She and Kevin will shed these personas and be reborn, and have the joy of finding each other another way. The Shadow comes for her, Death takes her gently, and Ilonka goes off with Kevin back into the cosmos, ready for their next incarnation. The series would end with Cheri telling this story to a whole new table of patients, including our new series leads. Most of our original cast now would exist as stories, a story told to the next "class" of storytellers at the table, all of whom we will have met by the end of the season. A story called "The Midnight Club."

Well, that's it... that was what we had in mind. It's a shame we won't get to make it, but it would be a bigger shame if you guys simply had to live with the unanswered questions and the cliffhanger ending. I loved making this show, and I am so proud of the cast and crew. Particularly our cast, who attacked this story with incredible spirit and bravery each and every day.

But for now, we'll put the fire out, and leave the library dark and quiet. To those before, and to those after. To us now, and to those beyond.

Seen or unseen, here but not here.

I'll always be grateful that I got to be part of this Club.

[scamanderishredmayniac]

The Wrap Magazine (June 2025)

📸 Credit: Joe Pugliese photography.

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The Day of the Jackal (series 2024)

📸 Peacock

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* Put a Newt here. *🐾

Because I'm not sure I can still color, so I'm going to send it out first.

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Country & Town Cover (2017) - Photo by Greg Williams.

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Eddie Redmayne as Alexander James Gordon Duggan DAY OF THE JACKAL 1.04

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Thank you (sarcasm) to everybody who just dumped sandman spoilers and have told the world Morpheus dies before I’ve started watching, and giving away spoilers. Have people forgotten how to use under the cut and spoiler alert warnings? Ugh! Is there any point watching it now? Oh well. There’s always seeing how it happened.

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Oh thanks for the tag @i-dont-talk-for-days-on-end erm oh, ok let me see. I don’t know if I have any pictures on my phone that describe me. I’ll have to have a look. Lol!

I don’t know who would like to play, so making this an open tag.

Maybe?? @inastarlesssky @keepmeinmind-01 @freedomforthewin

describe yourself only using pictures you have saved on your phone (tagged by @queerholmcs 🫵🏻🪼)

tagging @heartduct @winterdaphne2 @newbbcsblogontheblock @viceversawrites @sidneypagget & anyone else who wants to!

[scamanderishredmayniac]

Article: Eddie Redmayne’s First Leading Role Was in This Under-the-Radar Crime Thriller Alongside ‘The Sandman’s Tom Sturridge.

By Gabriela Silva for Collider, July 25, 2025.

Eddie Redmayne became known for his memorable roles in Les Misérables, The Theory of Everything, The Danish Girl, and the Fantastic Beasts movie series. Tom Sturridge, on the other hand, became known for his roles in Waiting For Forever, Mary Shelley, and his leading role in Netflix’s The Sandman. Both actors have shown incredible range when starring as their characters on-screen, but there’s one movie that went under the radar early in their careers.

Like Minds is a 2006 movie tagged as an unreliable narrative psychological thriller that didn’t make it past the Australian box office. Redmayne stars as private school student Alex Forbes, who becomes entangled in the twisted, dark, mysterious, and macabre secrets of new student Nigel Colbie, played by Sturridge. The movie is a haunting one that dives into the unsettling relationship between the two characters that leads to manipulation, obsession, and dark beliefs. Like Minds is an impressive display of the actors’ acting skills early in their careers that leaves audiences' skin crawling.

What Is ‘Like Minds’ About?

When a privileged teenager, Alex, is accused of murdering his boarding school roommate Nigel, a criminal psychologist named Sally Rowe (Toni Collette) is brought in to assess his mental state and whether Nigel’s death was an accident or part of a larger story. As Sally delves deeper into Alex’s past and his telling of events, she uncovers a dark intellectual obsession rooted in medieval burial rituals, secret societies, and psychological manipulation.

Like Minds unfolds through flashbacks and interviews, revealing the chilling bond between the two students and possibly more than just Nigel’s death as an isolated incident. The more Alex reveals, the more Sally begins to question the larger narrative, and her objectivity begins to crack. The boundaries between truth and obsession begin to blur as she uncovers more evidence, elite privilege going unchecked, and a complex relationship between Alex and Nigel that structures the narrative.

‘Like Minds’ Delves Into the Bizarre and Nauseating.

As far as creepy thrillers go, Like Minds is one to add to the inherently bizarre that perfectly fits into the genre. The stage is set with Sturridge’s character in police custody for the apparent murder of his schoolmate Nigel. By all accounts, the movie does the job of creating the whodunit and “was it really him?” scenario, questioning if Alex is a clever boy caught in a far more sinister game or is really a cold-blooded killer. He is depicted as this posh, rich kid who, through his narrative, appears to be the victim in Nigel’s macabre game. Between Alex’s demeanor in the interrogation room and retelling of the story, he makes you think otherwise. Was Alex revolted by what Nigel was teaching him? Or did it awaken a darker side to him?

What sets the movie apart is its unsettling atmosphere from the get-go that continues throughout the storyline. Like Minds isn’t shy when it comes to the bizarre, creepy, and downright nauseating scenes. It’s depicted through Nigel’s morbid curiosity with taxidermy and filleting open a pigeon and goes much further as he unveils his fascination with death, control, and psychological dominance—even necrophilia. There are scenes where even horror fans might feel the gurgle in their stomachs. Nigel is the “weirdo” that anyone would stay far away from for good reason, believing he has more than a few skeletons under his bed. Alex is soon entangled in Nigel’s web of ideologies linking medieval burial practices to modern-day moral decay, where death is not only a fascination but a tool for control.

The psychological thriller is a gem of a movie that’s haunting, with each scene feeling claustrophobic as it's set in a gothic boarding school setting that amplifies a sense of isolation and dread. Redmayne and Sturridge deliver goosebump-inducing performances, as audiences explore the twisted psychological labyrinth that leads to Nigel's death and Alex in handcuffs.

Eddie Redmayne and Tom Sturridge Create a Haunting Duo

With Like Minds being Redmayne’s first leading role early in his career, it set the stage for his ability to portray deeply complex and psychologically layered characters. His performance carried quiet intensity, balancing posh charm, vulnerability, and a creeping sense of menace. It’s seen in Alex’s present-day interview scenes with Sally as he appears before her as a broken young man, dealing with Nigel’s mind games and recounting what he thinks is the truth. But there are moments where Redmayne looks to the camera with an emotionless void that hints at something more sinister.

His performance is rivaled by Sturridge’s—equally unsettling but in a different way. While Alex is trying to appear innocent and a victim, Nigel is portrayed as someone who embraces his darker tendencies with no shame or guilt. Sturridge portrays him with a cold, unreadable stare and an unsettling calmness that doesn’t rely on theatrics. He conveys Nigel’s disturbing worldview with quiet conviction, a sense of intellectual superiority that is often accompanied by emotional detachment. Throughout Like Minds, audiences see Nigel as a manipulative genius and a damaged boy.

Redmayne and Sturridge play off each other seamlessly, keeping audiences guessing about the true dynamics between their characters. A tug-of-war tension that has everyone questioning who is influencing whom and whether Alex’s dark demise was inevitable. Together, the two actors elevate each other's performances in Like Minds, where it becomes more than just a murder but a deeper exploration into identity and the sinister potential lurking in young minds.

In the end, Like Minds is a slow-burning psychological thriller that doesn’t aim to comfort but to disturb. It does the job not only because of its eerily grey visuals and unsettling subject matter, but also due to the performances by Redmayne and Sturridge, as they deliver layered characters as young men whose relationship teeters between friendship, obsession, and destruction. Like Minds is not for the squeamish but for someone intrigued by the complexities of the human psyche and blurring lines between victim and villain. There’s not even a clear-cut ending, but rather, something that leaves a lasting impression.

Source:

[scamanderishredmayniac]

Hi, sorry I don’t have any recommendations but I’m hoping some of my followers do, so that’s why I’m reblogging. Sorry to hear your sad news. I wish I could help. Could you maybe take your tablet with you and do some SH fan art of your own? Draw something happy? It’s just a suggestion. I would have drawn something for you, but right now my own life is so hectic, so many problems and so busy. I barely even get to really come on tumblr much these days. I hope you get lots of recommendations and fics sent your way to help ease your grief and time travelling.

So ... I had very sad news yesterday out of the blue, and while I acknowledge that it is normal to feel the way I am feeling rn and to allow myself to begin grieving, I find it hard to face things like long train rides, with nothing to do but to think, and being in public.

So since I recently realised there is almost 1000 people following this blog, I thought maybe if you see this and can think of something, I could collect from you some SH fanfic recommendations, or links to your favourite fan art, something like this. In terms of reading, ideally, I am looking for something with a bit of suspense to hold my attention, as long as it doesn't prominently feature grief or loss, and has a happy ending.

Thank you so much already in advance to everyone who might take a minute to think of something, since I don't know how much energy I will have to say thank you later. <3 It's okay to reblog this post if you want to. Thank you so much. <3