Justin Baldoni is preparing a “shock” counter-complaint against Blake Lively.
The actor and director, 37, has been accused by actress Blake of sexual harassment on the set of their movie ‘It Ends With Us’ and according to the Daily Mail, he is now preparing to submit legal documents of his own when the courts reopen after New Year’s Day.
His lawyer Bryan Freedman also told Deadline Saturday: “I am not going to speak to when or how many lawsuits we are filing but when we file our first lawsuit, it is going to shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a demonstrably false narrative.
“It will be supported by real evidence and tell the true story. In over 30 years of practicing, I have never seen this level of unethical behaviour intentionally fuelled through media manipulation.”
The Mail added Justin’s lawsuit will flip Blake’s narrative Justin and his crisis PR team allegedly planted a smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
Supporters of Blake amid her battle against Justin have included actress Kaitlin Olson, 49, whose husband Rob McElhenney, 47, is a friend and business partner of Blake’s 48-year-old partner Ryan Reynolds.
Kaitlin wrote on her Instagram Stories: “@blakelively is a kind, lovely, honest and generous person (and an incredible mom.) FYI.”
Justin, 40, has denied the allegations made by Blake, with his lawyer describing the claims as “categorically false”.
Mr Freedman, who is acting as a lawyer for the actor and his Wayfarer Studios production company, told Variety: “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
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Britney Spears will be honoured as a “human icon” in her upcoming biopic.
The 43-year-old ‘Toxic’ singer’s turbulent life will be told on screen by ‘Wicked’ director Jon M Chu, 45, and the filmmaker has now revealed his vision for his portrayal of the pop sensation.
He told Bustle about getting a different idea about Britney after reading her 2023 memoir ‘The Woman In Me’: “She’s always been this icon, but ultimately, especially more recently after reading her book, she’d become human to me.
“I think that is so beautiful. I hope to convey that humanity and the spectacle of what she is in all her glory.
“(I want to explore) what we expect from people that we think are ours. “They’re their own people, and we have to respect that.”
Britney teased in August she was working with producer Marc Platt on a “secret project” moments before the biopic was announced.
Universal won the film rights to her 2023 autobiography, and Jon added landing the job as director of the project was a thrill as he grew up a Britney fan.
He added: “I watched Britney before she was a solo act, when she was one of 12 acts at some radio station thing at The Shrine Auditorium.
“I’ve loved her for many years. I've seen over seven concerts, which probably isn’t a lot compared to other people.”
Britney said on Instagram in August it was “flattering to be in such good company with Jon M Chu” while making a gag about the format of her biopic.
She added: “The project I might be doing isn’t a biopic story… it’s a fictional musical where I play an extremely intelligent character !!!”
Britney told fans on Christmas Day she had reunited with her sons Sean, 19, and 18-year-old Jayden – who she had with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, 46 – for the first time in two years.
She posted a video of her kissing Jayden on the cheek on her account, while a source told DailyMail.com his older brother was also with them for the holiday.
A source told the outlet: “Sean and Jayden surprised Britney on Christmas and she was absolutely blown away.
“Needless to say, she was a sobbing happy mess and couldn’t pull herself together because of how happy she was. It was so sweet.”
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Matthew McConaughey is launching a weekly newsletter called 'Lyrics of Livin'.
The Oscar-winning actor will launch the first edition of his newsletter on January 3, with new editions being released every Friday thereafter.
The series has been described as "a collection of thought-provoking notes, tips, truths and inspirations he’s gathered over decades of life".
McConaughey, 55 – who released his memoir, 'Greenlights', in 2020 – said in a statement: "I’ve journaled and scribbled down good times, bad times, turn-offs and turn-ons for more than four decades now, and as you may know, many of those journal entries were what inspired my book 'Greenlights'.
"Which got me thinking, what if I didn’t wait 40 more years to share my thoughts, prescribes, tips, truths and inspirations: Things I’ve seen, said, stole and heard along my way that can help us find more 'Greenlights' in our life and put a little rhyme to our reason."
McConaughey opted to release the newsletter on Friday afternoons because Friday has "always been [his] favourite day of the week".
The actor added: "Think of it as five minutes with McConaughey as you end your week and head into your weekend. You can read it yourself or listen to me read it for you. It’s yours if you want it, easy."
'Greenlights' is comprised of McConaughey's personal journal entries and musings, with the Hollywood star previously describing it as a "playbook based on adventures".
He told ABC News before its release: "This is not a traditional memoir, or an advice book, but rather a playbook based on adventures in my life.
"Adventures that have been significant, enlightening, and funny, sometimes because they were meant to be but mostly because they didn't try to be."
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Tom Cruise is searching for an actor to play a young Ethan Hunt in the next two 'Mission: Impossible' movies.
The Hollywood legend is said to be planning to explore the early life of his alter ego in the eighth and ninth films in the action series and a budding performer is wanted for the significant part.
An insider told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "Tom is keen to give 'Mission: Impossible' a fresh take in the next two films and wants to explore a bit of Ethan's past.
"They're going to start looking for a young star to take on the role and they will appear a bit in the next film and then more in the ninth.
"It's very important to Tom that they get the right person. They are seeking a youngster who is completely fresh on the scene and will cause a real stir.
"It's a huge role but the hunt is on to see if they can find a young Tom Cruise.
"The scenes will show Ethan in his early life and explore the things that happened to him before he went on to start working as a spy. It is something they've not done before with 'Mission: Impossible' and so Tom thinks it could be a really interesting tangent for fans."
The next movie in the franchise – 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' – is due to be released in May 2025 and cast member Shea Whigham has stressed that the blockbuster won't disappoint because of Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie's commitment to the project.
The 55-year-old star, who will be reprising his role as US Intelligence agent Jasper Briggs, told MovieWeb: "I think it's going to be amazing. I really do, because of [Tom] and McQuarrie there … I've got to be careful. I can't give away too much. I get in trouble. I've gotten in trouble already.
"I think one of the great things is just to be around these guys that love cinema. I mean, Tom, there's nothing phoney about him when he says how much he loves and he wants people to come to see movies.
"There’s a reason why they’re getting better. Each 'Mission' gets better."
Whigham isn’t the only 'Mission: Impossible' star to comment on 'The Final Reckoning', as Simon Pegg – who plays secret agent Benji Dunn – recently insisted the upcoming flick would be the "best one" in the franchise.
The 'Hot Fuzz' star told the ‘Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum’ podcast last month: "I have just finished shooting. I have one day left of pick-ups to do. I've seen it. It's bananas. It's absolutely bananas."
Pegg added that his co-star Cruise had worked on some huge stunts for the movie that will leave audiences speechless.
He said: "What he does in this one, it boggles the mind. I think this one is the best one ever. And I'm not just saying that because it's like, 'Oh, you've got to say that'. It is going to be great."
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Jay-Z has been accused of “wasting court resources” in his fight against a woman who accused him and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of raping her when she was 13.
The rapper, 55, was sent reeling earlier this month when a woman referred to as Jane Doe in her lawsuit accused him and Combs, also 55, of drugging and raped her at an after-party for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City.
Jay – real name Shawn Carter, has furiously denied the allegations and has made several attempts through his lawyer Alex Spiro to kill the case or force the woman to be publicly identified.
But Judge Analisa Torres has now sided with his accuser in his fight and granted the woman anonymity for the next stage of proceedings – while blasting Carter’s lawyer Mr Spiro in the process.
In a five-page filing release on Thursday (26.12.24), Judge Torres slammed Mr Spiro’s legal moves as “combative”, adding they were filled with “inflammatory language”.
She also accused Carter’s lawyer of trying to “fast-track” the judicial process by repeatedly filing motions to reveal the identity of Jane Doe and dismiss the case.
The judge said in her statement: “Carter’s lawyer’s relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks is inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client.
“The Court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it.”
The judge added Jane Doe’s anonymity would be preserved as “the weight of the factors tips in favour of allowing Plaintiff to remain anonymous, at least for this stage of the litigation”.
Carter has said the lawsuit against him is part of an extortion attempt.
It was lodged through attorney Tony Buzbee’s firm, which is representing more than 100 alleged victims of Combs, and has filed a flood of suits against the rapper since he was jailed in September to await trial on charges including sex trafficking and racketeering – all of which he denies.
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Christopher Columbus has revealed how the 'Home Alone' McCallister family afforded their house.
The director of the hit 1990 holiday flick, written by John Hughes, has revealed the professions of Kate (Catherine O'Hara) and Peter McCallister (John Heard), the parents of Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) – the eight-year-old boy who is left alone and fends off crooks who try to break into the family home in the movie – and explained how they could afford their huge Chicago mansion.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: "Back then, John and I had a conversation about it, and we decided on what the jobs were.
"Catherine O’Hara’s Kate McCallister was a very successful fashion designer, as suggested by the mannequins in the family’s basement.
"As for John Heard’s Peter McCallister, he can’t say for sure.
"The father could have, based on John Hughes' own experience, worked in advertising, but I don’t remember what the father did.
"He was able to rule out one profession, though, which people online speculated might have drawn criminals Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) to the McCallister home in the first place: not organized crime — even though there was, at the time, a lot of organized crime in Chicago.”
After 'Home Alone', Christopher, 66, went on to direct two 'Harry Potter' films – 'The Philosopher's Stone' and 'Chamber of Secrets' – and his experience of working with Macaulay, 44, influenced his casting search.
He said in Demi Lovato's new Hulu documentary 'Child Star': "We went from shooting ‘Home Alone’ [where] nobody cared, but in the course of a year, Macaulay Culkin became a huge star, and that was unexpected.
“It’s not like ‘Harry Potter,’ where you know that it may be extraordinarily successful…
"I came from a working-class family, and I’ve seen it a couple of times with kids when you see someone who comes from a working-class family, and suddenly they’re thrown into — the kid becomes the breadwinner for the family.
"You go on the street, you go into a pub, you go anywhere, and people are saying, ‘Who are you gonna cast? Who’s gonna be Harry Potter, who’s gonna be Harry Potter?’
"You take that information and you bring it back to the actor and the actor’s parents: ‘This is gonna get pretty intense.'"
Christopher added he "felt a tremendous responsibility" to ensure any child cast in 'Harry Potter' "knew what they were getting into", particularly as he'd seen how Culkin – who has since been outspoken about his troubled family life, including his "abusive" father – struggled with fame.
He said: "Suddenly, I realised that parents had to be a big part of it.
“I can’t have [an actor] go home to a really sort of shaky environment for the sake of a film. It’s not worth it. It was as important to cast the parents as it was to cast the kids.”
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Nicholas Hoult has the prosthetic penis worn by his 'Nosferatu' co-star Bill Skarsgard "framed at home".
The 35-year-old star plays Thomas Hutter in the new horror film and revealed that he received the prosthesis as a gift from director Robert Eggers after he got slightly too close to Skarsgard's vampire Count Orlok during a scene.
In an interview alongside cast mate Lily-Rose Depp for Elle, Nicholas explained: "I have Count Orlok's prosthetic penis framed at home.
"There's a scene where Bill Skasrgard is slurping my blood, and Robert Eggers asked afterward, 'How was that for you?' And I said, 'I could feel his prosthetic penis on my leg'. And then, as a wrap gift, Rob got it framed, and he sent it to my house."
The 'Renfield' star then revealed how he had an awkward encounter at a shop because the frame had broken when his present arrived.
Hoult recalled of the staff member: "He kind of didn't even blink the first time.
"Then, when I went back to pick it up, I think he'd clocked like how weird it was that I was framing potentially this vampire penis, and he was like, 'Is this some kind of collector's piece?' And I was like, 'Hm, you could say that.'"
Nicholas revealed how he was told to lose weight by Eggers to create his alter ego's haunted look for the remake of the 1922 silent film.
He explained to The Hollywood Reporter: "Rob asked me to lose some weight for the movie. So I was about 20 pounds lighter than I am normally, and that weight loss was combined with the makeup team's brilliant job.
"Thomas goes through a lot in this movie, and so they added that harrowing look with hollowed-out cheekbones. That was some great makeup in terms of making Thomas look like he'd been to hell and back."
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An Alabama woman who says she was raped by Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs when she was 13 can proceed anonymously, for now, in her lawsuit against the rap moguls, a judge ruled Thursday.
In her written order, Judge Analisa Torres also chastised the lawyer representing Jay-Z for what she described as his combative motions and “inflammatory language” against the plaintiff's lawyer, calling them inappropriate.
The Manhattan jurist said the woman can proceed anonymously at this early stage of the litigation, but she may be required to reveal her identity at a later date, if the case proceeds. That would allow defense lawyers to collect facts necessary to prepare for trial. Torres also cited “substantial interest” from the public.
Combs remains jailed in New York awaiting a criminal trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He also faces a wave of sexual assault lawsuits, many of which were filed by the plaintiff's lawyer, Tony Buzbee, a Texas attorney who says his firm represents over 150 people, both men and women, who allege sexual abuse and exploitation by Combs.
The lawsuits allege many individuals were abused at parties in New York, California and Florida after receiving drug-laced drinks.
Combs’ lawyers have dismissed Buzbee’s lawsuits as “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs.” Jay-Z has said in a statement that Buzbee is trying to blackmail him to settle the Alabama woman's allegations.
Buzbee said in an email that his firm does not comment on court rulings.
In her lawsuit, the woman who says she was raped at 13 identifies herself as “Jane Doe.” She said she was living in Rochester in 2000 when she made her way to New York City and befriended a limousine driver who drove her to an after-party for the MTV Music Awards, where she says she was eventually attacked by Jay-Z and Combs.
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Jay-Z, asked the judge to dismiss the entertainer from the woman's lawsuit and he requested a hearing on the case for the day after he made his requests in writing on Dec. 18.
Citing an interview the plaintiff did on NBC-TV, Spiro wrote that the broadcast revealed “glaring inconsistencies and outright impossibilities” in the plaintiff's story. For one thing, the woman said she traveled for five hours from Rochester to watch the music awards show on a jumbotron outside the VMA even though permits and pictures show there was no jumbotron at the event.
Spiro also noted that the woman's father has said he does not recall driving from Rochester to pick his daughter up in New York City, as she says he did.
The woman has admitted inconsistencies in her story.
Torres wrote in her order Thursday that Spiro, who has been on the case less than three weeks, has submitted a “litany of letters and motions attempting to impugn the character of Plaintiff's lawyer, many of them expounding on the purported ‘urgency’ of this case.”
Referring to Jay-Z by his legal last name, the judge added: “Carter’s lawyer’s relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks is inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client. The Court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it.”
A message seeking comment from Spiro was left for him on Thursday.
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Dolly Parton is “ready for a diet” by January.
The 78-year-old singer adores spending the holiday season with her loved ones and while they spend most of December feasting, she’s ready to stop overindulging by the end of the period.
She told Closer magazine: “We all start eating around Thanksgiving and we eat until the first of January, and that’s when we all go on our diets. You know how that goes?
“So you think, ‘Well, I’m not going to even think about dieting now. I’m just going to eat everything I want to.’
“You stretch your clothes out! But you’re ready for a diet after the first of the year.”
The ‘Jolene’ hitmaker – who is married to Carl Dean – goes “all-out” for Christmas with her extended family.
She said: “I go all-out for Christmas. My family call me Granny Claus, Dolly Claus, or Gigi Claus, it just depends on the different generations.
“I’ve been doing that since I had my younger brothers and sisters.
“They’ve now got children and now their children have children, so I’ve just been at it for years. Christmas is a big thing for us.
“We all sing Christmas songs around the piano – all the traditional ones like ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ and ‘Silent Night’
“But then we’ve got to have ‘Rudolph’ and all of the fun things, ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’, all of that.”
And when it comes to their Christmas Day meal, Dolly serves up something for everyone on 25 December, with the food accompanied by her own range of wines.
She said: “We have turkey and ham, black eyed peas and cornbread dressing, and then we have lots of mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and that sort of thing.
“My wine is great because it goes with different things.
“And if you like good food and good wine, I think it all goes together just like fashion.
“We really are big on having lots of great things for all the holidays.”
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Blake Lively’s claims that “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni unleashed a smear campaign against her have gained support from a new lawsuit that Baldoni’s former publicist filed against him.
The lawsuit was lodged Tuesday in New York state court in Manhattan by Stephanie Jones, who began representing Baldoni in 2017. It said the actor and his movie production company, Wayfarer, expanded their contract in 2020, agreeing to pay a $25,000 monthly fee.
The lawsuit alleged that Baldoni, 40, and Wayfarer last August, when the film was released, teamed up with publicists to try to “bury” and “destroy” Lively amid fears that allegations of misogynistic and toxic on-set behavior as the romantic drama was made might harm his reputation and career.
Jones sought unspecified damages from the defendants, including Jennifer Abel, a former employee who she says carried out the campaign to damage Lively and muddy the reputation of Jones.
The lawsuit alleges that Abel was fired after Jones learned on Aug. 21 that Abel had “stolen more than 70 proprietary and sensitive business documents and additional client leads” from Jonesworks as Abel prepared to leave the firm to start her own publicity company, taking along Baldoni and Wayfarer as clients.
The lawsuit also alleges that Abel teamed up with Melissa Nathan, a crisis management expert who in the past has represented actor Johnny Depp, in a quest to influence and control media content damaging to Lively and Jones.
Numerous text messages included in the lawsuit were extracted from the company phone that Abel returned to Jonesworks when she was fired, the lawsuit said.
In response to a request for comment Wednesday, Abel sent an email that included screenshots of text messages between herself and Jones, along with a July 26 email she sent to Jones, two weeks after announcing her plans during a Zoom call to leave the company on Aug. 23.
In the email, she wrote, in part: “I know this path won’t be easy, but I hope I can keep you in my life as a mentor, a friend and a close confidant because I truly view you as family and would be lost without your support. I want to assure you however I can, that unlike those who have burned you in the past, that there is not one ounce of ill will here.”
She added: “I have left a company before with grace and with my relationships intact, and that’s what I fully plan on, and hope for.”
Nathan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Last week, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, a step that often precedes the filing of a lawsuit, alleging that Baldoni sought to damage her reputation after Lively, 37, and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment” by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, called the claims in Lively's filing “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious.”
He pushed back against Lively’s allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio “proactively” hired a crisis manager “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production.”
A message sent to Freedman on Wednesday to get comment on the lawsuit filed by Jones was not immediately returned.
“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut and sales eventually approaching $350 million.
Baldoni starred in the telenovela send-up “Jane the Virgin,” directed “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity.
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Richard Perry, a hitmaking record producer with a flair for both standards and contemporary sounds whose many successes included Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” Rod Stewart’s “The Great American Songbook” series and a Ringo Starr album featuring all four Beatles, died Tuesday. He was 82.
Perry, a recipient of a Grammys Trustee Award in 2015, died at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, friend Daphna Kastner said.
“He maximized his time here,” said Kastner, who called him a “father friend” and said he was godfather to her son. “He was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it's a little bit sweeter in heaven.”
Perry was a onetime drummer, oboist and doo-wop singer who proved at home with a wide variety of musical styles, the rare producer to have No. 1 hits on the pop, R&B, dance and country charts. He was on hand for Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” and The Pointer Sisters' “I’m So Excited,” Tiny Tim’s novelty smash “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” and the Willie Nelson-Julio Iglesias lounge standard “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” Perry was widely known as a “musician’s producer,” treating artists like peers rather than vehicles for his own tastes. Singers turned to him whether trying to update their sound (Barbra Streisand), set back the clock (Stewart), revive their career (Fats Domino) or fulfill early promise (Leo Sayer).
“Richard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist,” Streisand wrote in her 2023 memoir, “My Name is Barbra.”
Perry’s life was a story, in part, of famous friends and the right places. He was backstage for 1950s performances by Little Richard and Chuck Berry, sat in the third row at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival during Otis Redding’s memorable set and attended a recording session for the Rolling Stones’ classic “Let It Bleed” album. A given week might find him dining one night with Paul and Linda McCartney, and Mick and Bianca Jagger the next. He dated Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda among others and was briefly married to the actor Rebecca Broussard.
In Stewart's autobiography, “Rod,” he would remember Perry's home in West Hollywood as “the scene of much late-night skulduggery through the 1970s and beyond, and a place you knew you could always fall into at the end of an evening for a full-blown knees-up with drink and music and dancing.”
In the '70s, Perry helped facilitate a near-Beatles reunion.
He had produced a track on Starr’s first solo album, “Sentimental Journey,” and grown closer to him through Nilsson and other mutual friends. “Ringo,” released in 1973, would prove the drummer was a commercial force in his own right — with some well-placed names stopping by. The album, featuring contributions from Nilsson, Billy Preston, Steve Cropper, Martha Reeves and all five members of The Band, reached No. 2 on Billboard and sold more than 1 million copies. Hit singles included the chart toppers “Photograph,” co-written by Starr and George Harrison, and a remake of the 1950s favorite “You’re Sixteen.”
But for Perry and others, the most memorable track was a non-hit, custom made. John Lennon’s “I’m the Greatest” was a mock-anthem for the self-effacing drummer that brought three Beatles into the studio just three years after the band’s breakup. Starr was on drums and sang lead, Lennon was on keyboards and backing vocals and longtime Beatles friend Klaus Voormann played bass. They were still working on the song when Harrison’s assistant phoned, asking if the guitarist could join them. Harrison arrived soon after.
“As I looked around the room, I realized that I was at the very epicenter of the spiritual and musical quest I had dreamed of for so many years,” Perry wrote in his 2021 memoir, “Cloud Nine.” “By the end of each session, a small group of friends had gathered, standing silently along the back wall, just thrilled to be there.”
McCartney was not in town for “I’m the Greatest,” but he did help write and arrange the ballad “Six O’Clock,” featuring the ex-Beatle and Linda McCartney on backing vocals.
Perry had helped make pop history the year before as producer of “You’re So Vain,” which he would call the nearest he came to a perfect record. Simon’s scathing ballad about an unnamed lover, with Voormann’s bass runs kicking off the song and Jagger joining on the chorus, hit No. 1 in 1972 and began a long-term debate over Simon’s intended target. Perry’s answer would echo Simon’s own belated response.
“I’ll take this opportunity to give my insider’s scoop,” he wrote in his memoir. “The person that the song is based on is really a composite of several men that Carly dated in the ’60s and early ’70s, but primarily, it’s about my good friend, Warren Beatty.”
Perry’s post-1970s work included such hit singles as The Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” and DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night,” along with albums by Simon, Ray Charles and Art Garfunkel. He had his greatest success with Stewart’s million-selling “The Great American Songbook” albums, a project made possible by the rock star’s writer’s block and troubled private life. In the early 2000s, Stewart’s marriage to Rachel Hunter had ended and Perry was among those consoling him. With Stewart struggling to come up with original songs, he and Perry agreed that an album of standards might work, including “The Very Thought of You,” “Angel Eyes” and “Where or When.”
“We were at a back table in our favorite restaurant as we exchanged ideas and wrote them down on a napkin,” Perry wrote in his memoir. Stewart softly sang the options. “As I sat there and listened to him sing, it was clear that we both sensed we were on to something,” Perry added.
Perry was a New York City native born into a musical family; his parents, Mark and Sylvia Perry, co-founded Peripole Music, a pioneering manufacturer of instruments for young people. With his family’s help and encouragement, he learned to play drums and oboe and helped form a doo-wop group, the Escorts, that released a handful of singles. A music and theater major at the University of Michigan, he initially dreamed of acting on Broadway. Instead, he made the “life-changing” decision in the mid-1960s to form a production company with a recent acquaintance, Gary Katz, who would go on to work with Steely Dan among others.
By the end of the decade, Perry was an industry star, working on Captain Beefheart’s acclaimed cult album, “Safe As Milk” and the debut recording of Tiny Tim and Ella Fitzgerald’s “Ella,” featuring the jazz great's interpretations of songs by the Beatles, Smokey Robinson and Randy Newman. In the early 1970s, he would oversee Streisand’s million-selling “Stoney End” album, on which the singer turned from the show tunes that made her famous and covered a range of pop and rock music, from the title track, a Laura Nyro composition, to Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind.”
“I liked Richard from the moment we met. He was tall and lanky, with a mop of dark, curly hair and a big smile, which his big heart,” Streisand wrote in her memoir. “At our first meeting, he arrived laden with songs, and we listened to them together. Whatever hesitation I may have felt about our collaboration soon vanished and I thought, ‘This could be fun, and musically liberating.’”
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Christopher Nolan is following his Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer” with a true epic: Homer’s “The Odyssey.” It will open in theaters on July 17, 2026, Universal Pictures said Monday.
Details remain scarce, but the studio teased that it will be a “mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX technology.” It will also be the first time that an adaptation of Homer’s saga will play on IMAX film screens.
Nolan has been an IMAX enthusiast for years, going back to “The Dark Knight,” and has made his last three films exclusively using large format film and the highest resolution film cameras. For “Oppenheimer,” the first black-and-white IMAX film stock was developed. Nolan hasn’t said specifically what the new technology for “The Odyssey” will be, but earlier this month he told The Associated Press that they’re in an intensive testing phase with IMAX to prepare for the new production.
“They have an incredible engineering staff, really brilliant minds doing extraordinary work,” Nolan said. “It’s wonderful to see innovation in the celluloid film arena still happening and happening at the highest level possible.”
“The Odyssey” will be Nolan’s second collaboration with Universal Pictures following “Oppenheimer,” which earned nearly $1 billion at the box office and won the filmmaker his first Oscars, including for best director and best picture. Rumors about his next project have been swirling ever since, with near-daily speculations about plot — none of which turned out to be true — and casting. While there are many reports about actors joining the ensemble, none has been officially confirmed by the studio.
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Green Gables Daycare, Kelowna
Feb 1 7:30 pm
Oyama Community Hall, Lake Country
Feb 8 6:00 pm
King’s Park, Penticton
Jul 4 8:00 am
