#which they had joey and hugh do a chemistry read for

[endiness]

"two things of beauty, made to be together"

i am still not over the audition dialogue

[fangirleaconmigo]

You’ve probably gotten tons of asks about it already but are you going to make posts talking about the new season now or wait till part 2 comes out?

Hello dear! I tend to think and mull for a long time because my brain is slow.

If anyone wants my preliminary thoughts that are subject to change after seeing the rest of the season, here’s a few things:

SEASON THREE SPOILERS

Canon bi/pan bard is fantastic so far. It feels very natural, the emotions, the chemistry is there, very special and particular connections, etc.

Joey said he had a lot of input and it shows, because it does feel personal. I love it. Anyone who listened to my Whiskey with Witcher podcast interview knows that I’m a big fan of that development.

He also talked up Hugh Skinner and I was like well we shall see. People always talk up their scene partners because they know them and care about them which is GREAT but that doesn’t always actually translate to the screen for the viewer.

But Hugh WAS amazing. Joey was not exaggerating his expressiveness, passion, and chemistry in the role.

Hm. Let’s see what else.

I really appreciate that they haven’t ‘dropped’ the centrality of the Yen and Tissaia relationship. I’m not a fan of the Vilgefortz Tissaia romance addition. But at least they haven’t minimized how important her other relationships are.

Tissaia and Yen is the relationship that hooked me into the witcher to begin with. It had complications and dramatic tension and I was intrigued by how it changed the two women. It is so central to me, and I'm glad it still is for the show.

Ciri: It’s a whole new Ciri. Very different from the books. It’s not worse, it’s just different. In the books she just wanted to be left in peace and wanted nothing to do with being royalty or the motherhood and reproduction that this entails.

She has like a rage moment of almost riding into Nilfgaard at one point but she comes to her senses.

But the show cast her much older and this is just a different story. It’s about leadership. She wants to be a queen. Like I said. Very very different Ciri.

I have always believed you can change things you're adapting, in fact you have to. The test is, what you change it to has to be compelling enough in its own right that people aren't sitting there bitter about what they are missing out on. And I think her internal struggle and arc has potential. We'll see how it plays out the rest of the season.

The stuff about experimenting on the girls and messing with their heads and mushing their body parts into one is obviously brand new as well. I don’t really get it so far, but we’ll see how it plays out.

I believe it's ideas adapted from Season of Storms but I've only read that book one time, so I'll have to go look again.

The plot line has potential. Again, the story in the books was about bodily autonomy and the villains were all trying to basically turn girls and women into breeding machines. The lab was discovered and was horrific in a different way.

So what they’ve done is a bit more “fantasy” and I think it is potentially a much better choice for the kind of show they’re doing. I don't think I would want to see TWN put in a bunch of extreme and graphic reproductive and sexual violence and torture. I think you have to know the kind of show you're making and have a consistent tone. So I'm open to something else, for sure. But I’ll reserve judgment until I see how they wrap it up.

I loved all of the Ciri and Yen stuff. Their conversation and scenes are great. I know for a lot of people it's sort of hollow after S2. Since I made the decision not to quit the show, I have to let that go or I'll be miserable. So, I'm blocking out and denying a lot of season two.

Season three I'm enjoying. Yes, it's camp and silly in a lot of ways. Of course it's a flatter more simplistic version of the story. But we are on season three folks. If that is offensive to people, they should have quit already. Hatewatching is bad for the soul and constant hate and hostility is bad for the fandom. If ya can't have fun with it, time to move on.

For me, I had a great time watching it. I'm actually re-watching it already. I didn't rewatch season two at all (except for the first ep) so that's a good sigh already.

How I judge the season's writing as a whole will have to happen after the second part. And I'll let you know then if you send me another ask.

What I'm looking forward to the rest of the season:

The lodge. I think Cassie Clare is a fabulous Philippa but I want to see her come into her own self. I hope that's coming.

Keira Metz's brass knuckles.

FRINGILLA. We've seen so little of her so far, but what is there has intrigued me. Where are they going with her? I hope she's a bigger part of the last three eps.

MERIHART I want Philippa x Triss so badly ghhhhhh.

Milva. I can't wait to meet Milva.

Jaskier x Radovid I hope is a satisfying arc, and I believe it will be.

Geralt and Jaskier in Brokilon oh I hope they do it justice.

WILL WE SEE THE UNICORN??

Thanks for dropping into the ol ask box hun!

[aion-rsa]

Best Romantic Movies on Hulu Right Now

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Romance gets a bad rap at the movies. Until you behold the best romantic movies on Hulu.

Yes, Hulu is on the case with an expansive collection of romantic movies for you to connect with your softer side… or the side of you that screams in an eternal tormented shriek, desperately trying to find a mate whose shrieks match your tone in this expansive disappointing nothingness of existence. Love is hard. Anywho, here are the best romantic movies on Hulu right now.

Sense and Sensibility

This Jane Austen character really seems to have a handle on romance. The 1995 film Sense and Sensibility is adapted from the Austen novel of the same name and has a great deal of talent both in front of and behind the camera. Oscar winner Ang Lee directs while Emma Thompson (yes, that Emma Thompson) wrote the script.

Thompson stars alongside Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant. The movie, like the book concerns the Dashwood sisters and their sudden descent into non-stupendous wealth. Of course then the romance begins (not between the sisters, weirdos. Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant are in this thing too, remember?)

AWOL

AWOL is how indie romances should be – small, authentic, affecting. Joey (Lola Kirke) and Rayna (Breeda Wool) are two young women from a nowheresville Pennsylvania town. They meetcute at a local carnival and quickly fall for each other but circumstances threaten to crush their romance before it can even begin.

AWOL understands first and foremost that while love is easy, relationships (and arguably everything else in the world is hard). Sometimes what you want and what your environment is able to allow you to have are two very different things.

Margarita with a Straw

2014’s Margarita with a Straw is both a coming-of-age and romance film the likes of which you’ve probably never seen. This Indian film comes from director Shonali Bose and stars Kalki Koechlin as Laila, an Indian teenager with cerebral palsy, trying to achieve some independence in her life.

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That opportunity comes for Laila when she is accepted to New York Universtiy and moves to Greenwich Village. There she meets and falls in love with blind Pakistani activist. Miles from home, Laila must deal with her changing, burgeoning sexuality and live in a world not built for her. But it’s cool: she can always take her margarita with a straw. 

Hello, My Name is Doris

Between TBS’s (now HBO Max’s) Search Party and Hello, My Name is Doris, director Michael Showalter had a stellar 2016. Hello, My Name is Doris is a wonderfully sweet, equally tragic and completely hilarious romantic comedy. 

Sally Field stars as the titular Doris, a lively woman in her ’60s who after the death of her mother becomes infatuated with a younger man. With the help of cliched self-help materials she does whatever she can to get his attention. Hello, My Name is Doris is an empathetic romantic comedy that will change how you view age.

Cashback

Cashback wins a very important award on this list: most intriguing, provocative poster. But it’s more than just a pretty poster. Cashback is a British romantic comedy about the most mundane of topics: working at a grocery store.

For anyone who as ever been young and had an interest in the opposite sex (or any sex for that matter), however, they know that one’s place of employment is often an absolute fountain of sex and chemistry. If that simple exposition isn’t enough, Cashback comes along with a sci-fi twist and more importantly: Oliver Wood from the Harry Potter series. 

Let the Right One In

Let the Right One In may seem like another odd choice for a romantic movie on Hulu but it’s romantic and sweet in a way that few other movies are. Sure, the players involved are a little boy and a little girl vampire (though the fact that she’s a vampire may very well mean she’s centuries old, just try not to think about it).

It’s a spooky yet undeniably sweet movie that presents the female side of a romantic entanglement as the ultimate protector.

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50 First Dates

50 First Dates has a somewhat disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score. Ignore that. It’s probably partially due to many critics’ distaste for at least one of the actors in the above screengrab. Not that they can be blamed. The presence of Adam Sandler or Rob Schneider in any comedy can be a rough sign. In 50 First Dates‘, however, it’s not an issue at all.

50 First Dates is a legitimately funny and romantic romantic comedy. Drew Barrymore stars as Lucy Whitmore, a woman with short-term memory loss. Due to a car accident, every day she wakes up believing it is October 13, 2002. Sandler’s character Henry Roth meets her in Hawaii and the two must overcome this bizarre condition to establish a lasting relationship.

Date Night

What do you get when you take the male lead of a popular NBC sitcom and pair him with the female lead (and mastermind behind) another popular NBC sitcom? A pretty decent rom-com as it turns out! Date Night stars Steve Carell (The Office) and Tina Fey (30 Rock) as a disaffected married couple trying to spice up their love life with a romantic night out on the town. But when a reservation steal turns into a case of mistaken identity, the pair’s night gets quite dangerous.

Date Night‘s action-heavy concept isn’t anything new to the romantic comedy genre but the presence of Carell and Fey (along with Mark Wahlberg, Taraji P. Henson, James Franco, Kirsten Wiig, Mark Ruffalo, and a whole host of other impressive talent) is enough to make this a pleasant viewing experience.

The Princess Bride

So you want to watch one of the most purely lovely and entertaining romance movies of all time? Well Hulu is here to say “as you wish.” The Princess Bride is a 1987 fantasy adventure film based on a book by prolific screenwriter William Goldman. The inspiration to the story infamously came from Goldman’s two daughters requesting conflicting stories about “princesses” and “brides.” So the writer decided to do two for the price of one.

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In this adaptation, Cary Elwes stars as Westley, a young farmhand who loves Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright). But when Westley is shipwrecked and left for dead and Buttercup is betrothed to Prince Humperdinck, the hero must embark on a sprawling adventure to rescue her. And of course this is a framed bedtime story being told to Fred Savage in bed…as all movies should be.

The Boy Downstairs

So much of what goes into a good romantic relationship is timing. Sometimes the chemistry is there but the timing is not. 2017’s The Boy Downstairs delves into this phenomenon from a millennial perspective.

Aspiring Brooklyn writer Diana (Zosia Mamet) and aspiring musician (millennials are always aspiring, you see) Ben (Matthew Shear) are in a happy, successful relationship. But Diana is forced to break things off after she moves to London. When Diana returns, she finds a new apartment through her friend and guess who just happens to be the boy downstairs? That’s right: Ben…and with a new girlfriend, no less. What follows is a funny, yet mature examination of what it takes to get the right one back.

Happiest Season

The setup for Hulu’s 2020 Internet-breaking comedy Happiest Season is very romantic…to a point. Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) are in love. Yay! Not only that, but they’re going to Harper’s parents’ house for Christmas where Abby might propose. Woo! Also Harper has not told her parents she’s a lesbian and in a committed relationship with a woman. Oh. Oh no. Poor Abby!

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Questionable setup aside, this an excellent, personal effort from actress turned writer-director Clea DuVall. It’s an attention-grabber and conversation-starter to be sure. It also certainly doesn’t hurt that much of the cast is mind-meltingly hot. Stewart, Davis, Alison Brie, and Aubrey Plaza are like a who’s who of TV and movie crushes. Hell even Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen can absolutely get it. All in all, the charismatic cast and accessible concept makes for a surprisingly wholesome romance movie.

Plus One

Maybe it’s just me, but there’s something really charming about erstwhile TV stars playing the lead opposite each other in a romantic movie. Such is the case with 2019’s Plus One, which stars Maya Erskine (of Pen15) and Jack Quaid (of The Boys).

Erskine and Quaid star as long-time friends Alice and Ben enduring the portion of their twenties where every friend seems to be getting married at once. Thankfully Alice and Ben have a longstanding agreement to always be each other’s “plus one” at every wedding. But such an arrangement couldn’t possibly lead to them discovering they have romantic feelings for each other, right? Right???

Palm Springs

“Time loop” movies frequently try to distinguish themself from Groundhog Day, the progenitor and most famous example of the form, by changing up the genre. Edge of Tomorrow is an action movie and Happy Death Day is a horror movie, for instance. What’s so impressive about Palm Springs is that it leans in to the romantic and comedic stylings of Groundhog Day and in many ways bests them.

In this movie, Andy Samberg styles as Nyles, a young man living through the hell of experiencing the same day (a wedding in Palm Springs) on a loop. In one particular loop, Nyles accidentally brings in the bride’s sister Sarah (Christin Milioti) and the two must confront the reality of living the same day over and over again forever together. You know…just like any couple.

LOVE AND BASKETBALL, Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan, 2000, (c)New Line Cinema/courtesy Everett Collection

Love and Basketball

And now we come to a movie whose title is the two greatest things in the world! Love and Basketball is about…well, what you’d think. Quincy McCall (Omar Epps) and Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) are two next-door neighbors in Los Angeles, California, who are both singularly focused on pursuing their respective basketball careers.

Love and Basketball is a film all about passions – both creative and romantic. The movie also does a surprisingly thorough job of marking all the important beats of a relationship from childhood through the adult years. There’s a reason Love and Basketball has become a modest cult classic – it’s a fine execution of both the romantic and sports movie genres.

The post Best Romantic Movies on Hulu Right Now appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[mrmichaelchadler]

Shakespeare for Feminists: An Oral History of 10 Things I Hate About You

20 years ago in the shadow of Y2K anxiety, an unassuming movie set at a high school in Tacoma, Washington opened the same day as “The Matrix.” This was an era before e-mail, when alt-rock was a thing, riot grrls haunted record stores and, pace John Hughes, getting into college was more important than getting a prom date. The film’s rookie screenwriters—one in Los Angeles, the other in Denver—collaborated via snail mail on a feminist refresh of a Shakespeare play considered problematic for its misogyny.

Inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, “10 Things I Hate About You” featured an ensemble of mostly teen-age actors. It was the big-screen breakthrough for TV stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, and Gabrielle Union, not to mention relative newcomer Julia Stiles and relative unknown Australian TV actor Heath Ledger. The dialogue was fresh as their faces, likewise the soundtrack featuring Semisonic, Letters to Cleo and Ledger’s rendition of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” backed by a high-school marching band. The film had edge, but also heart.

This story about two sisters (Stiles, Oleynik) and two transfer students (Ledger, Gordon-Levitt), boasted fully realized conformist and nonconformist characters rather than the preppy versus punk archetypes then in currency. Given its gender balance and story, the film couldn’t be pigeonholed as a chick flick or bro-pic. It struck a nerve and the funnybone of a broad spectrum of moviegoers, from 13-year-old teens to tenured literature professors to theater parodists currently performing an unauthorized tribute in LA.

Beginner’s luck

Kirsten Smith, screenwriter: In 1996 I was in Los Angeles working at CineTel, reading scripts and query letters. I answered a query from Karen McCullah, requesting sample scripts.

Karen McCullah, screenwriter: I was in Denver, writing scripts and working as a freelance publicist for an environmental nonprofit. I came out to LA and had drinks with Kirsten. We started writing an unproduced screenplay on cocktail napkins. We were both fans of Amy Heckerling’s "Clueless," based on Jane Austen’s Emma.

Smith: We wanted to find a fairytale or fable or novel on which we could base a modern story. Someone suggested The Taming of the Shrew. In our version, of course, the shrew wouldn’t be tamed, she was too shrewd.

McCullah: We considered a gender-reversal, making the male lead the shrew before we concluded that all high school guys are shrews. We sent each other drafts by mail. It took about a year. We wrote Kat as the kind of character we wanted to see, an indie rock riot grrl. I was into that at the time.

Smith: We went to Sundance in 1997 and circulated the script, but it didn’t take flight. 

McCullah: It landed at Disney, which wanted to make one teen movie that year. Its choice was between "10 Things" and a script called "School Slut." We did another rewrite, then they greenlit the movie. Still, Disney asked why Kat was so angry.

Smith: All teenagers are angry.

Julia Stiles and Larisa Oleynik

Aligning the stars

Gil Junger Emmy-nominated TV director who made his feature debut with "10 Things": I was very much taken with the script. Its tone was smart, uniquely intelligent and funny. Casting wasn’t an easy process.

Disney executives “gently” encouraged Junger to cast "Dawson's Creek" stars James Van Der Beek and Katie Holmes in the roles of Patrick and Kat that eventually went to Ledger and Stiles.

Smith: The casting people sent us audition tapes. I remember Josh Hartnett and Ashton Kutcher read for Patrick and Katie Holmes, Kate Hudson and Rachael Leigh Cook for Kat.

Andrew Keegan, star of "Camp Nowhere" and TV’s "Party of Five," cast as Joey: As a young actor, I was so thrilled by the prospect of playing Shakespeare! I remember Joseph Gordon-Levitt (star of NBC’s "Third Rock from the Sun") and I were among the first people cast.

Julia Stiles, Kat: I had been reading The Taming of the Shrew in exactly that year. So, yes, the adaptation really appealed to me. "10 Things" was my first big role. After a few years of auditioning but always being told I was too serious, getting hired to play Kat was a thrilling affirmation that maybe my seriousness was okay.

Larisa Oleynik, Bianca: There were many rounds of auditioning. I really wanted the part of Kat. Then I was asked to do a “chemistry” audition as Bianca opposite Julia Stiles’ Kat. Something felt right about it.

Junger: Most of the girls came in to audition wearing sexy clothes. Julia came in wearing baggy pants and a t-shirt, hair up in a bun. She wasn’t working the ‘look-how-pretty-I-am’ angle. When she shook my hand and looked into my eyes, I was struck by a depth and maturity. This, combined with her poise, was formidable.

Stiles: Kat was the first role I had read for a young woman that was so refreshingly feisty. I loved the script, especially because it had a healthy bite to it. For a romantic comedy to have a cynical sense of humor, but also be truly romantic, stood out at the time. 

The director was close to the start of shoot and still didn’t have a male lead.

Junger: Marcia Ross, our casting guru, and her associates looked at about a thousand candidates. But I wasn’t going to cast the guy until I saw the guy. There were five casting women and me in the room when the next one walked in. It was Heath Ledger [then 18], and I felt as soon as he walked in, ‘If this guy can speak English I’ll cast him.’ Already he had the energy and that soulful sexuality of a movie star. I wanted to see how nimble he could be if I asked him to change tone with a few lines from the script. He was great. When he walked out the instant the door closed, we all knew. 

Heath Ledger and Andrew Keegan

Ready, set, go

By the time the magnificent seven arrived in Seattle in the summer of 1998, Gabrielle Union and David Krumholtz, respectively 25 and 20, eased into the roles of big sister and brother of the group; Ledger and Keegan were 19; Gordon-Levitt, Oleynik and Stiles were all 17, between their high school junior and senior years. 

Junger: My mantra was, I’m not gonna to shoot a high school movie. I’m gonna shoot a movie about people in relationships who happen to be in high school.

Smith: Heath arrived a little later than the rest of the principal cast. When he did, he instantly became the group’s galvanizing leader.

Keegan: When Keith arrived at the hotel he was carrying a didgeridoo. Classic Australian.

Oleynik: The group had begun to gel by the time Heath came and became our ringleader. We didn’t want to be apart. It was like art camp. We were together both as a group and one-on-one. Julia was so cool and confident. David and Joey (Gordon-Levitt) got close right away. Joey, Julia and I talked about college. On lazy Saturdays I would go to Gabrielle’s room and we’d watch music videos. Andrew and I knew each other from the teen actor beat.

Keegan: It’s interesting to look back on this time before social media. We just hung out together. What happened on "10 Things" set, carried over to our off-screen relationships. You could talk to Heath about anything: He was wise beyond his years. David, Joey and Julia were all crazy Beastie Boys fans. Gabrielle was just the coolest. David and Joseph supplied the comic relief. Larisa was a delight. It sounds corny, but it was a magical experience.

Stiles: It was such a special summer and we were all so open-hearted. Each actor was excited to be there and not jaded or closed-off yet.

Smith: Andrew Keegan had all these eight-year olds who knew him from TV, begging for his autograph.

Junger: When I shot the scene with David and Heath in the cafeteria, Heath fluffed a line. I took him aside and asked him if he was getting wasted. He replied, 'No. It’s just that they come knocking at the door at two in the morning." "Who?," I asked. “You know. Girls.” I’m telling you, there was a magnet in that kid. Another time, I said to him, you don’t know what’s going to hit you when this is released. He said, "Let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about how I could be my best self today."

While many moviegoers might point to the moment at the prom when Bianca protects her date, Cameron (Gordon-Levitt), decking the conceited Joey with a wicked right hook before kneeing him in the crotch as a high point, the actress who played Bianca begs to disagree.

Oleynik: The best day on set had to be Heath singing “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” while dancing in the stadium bleachers. It could have been so cheesy, but it was sincere. I think all of us knew then that we had something special.

Junger: A high point was Julia’s recitation of the “10 Things” sonnet in front of her English class. She delivered it with such depth and pain—in just one take.

Coda

There are many reasons that "10 Things" enjoys such a robust afterlife. One is that it’s a coming-of-age movie in which not only the characters but also the actors playing them seem to be coming of age before our eyes. Another is that many high school and college professors use the film as a tool to better understand the Bard. Some say the movie eliminates the misogyny of the play.

Junger: It has aged well, largely because the script hits the truth of human emotions. Like Shakespeare.

Oleynik: These Shakespeare updates give students a way into the story.

Rebecca Munson, Shakespeare scholar, Project Manager for Princeton Center for Digital Humanities: The underlying question—can an independent-minded woman still pursue her own path if she’s romantically engaged—remains vital to today’s students. The tension between ambition and assertiveness, on the one hand, and the compromises required by romantic engagement, on the other, still apply, regardless of gender.

Katherine’s speech closing the Shakespeare play advocates, often with a wink, that wives obey husbands. Kat’s sonnet in the movie says, “I like you in spite of myself,” which isn’t incompatible with her pursuing her own goals and desires.

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