The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard thing is over for a while; Judd Apatow fields questions on the 15th anniversary of Knocked Up; a reader agrees with us about Top Gun: Maverick but makes us feel dumb while doing so. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
Knocked Up: It’s hard to believe it, but that baby from Knocked Up would be 15 today. Judd Apatow celebrated the 15th anniversary of his film’s release by detailing its conception in a Twitter Q&A. Margeaux Sippell has the highlights here.
The Vibe Shift: “The energy has shifted,” says Stranger Things star Sadie Sink about Season 4. Also, here’s a terrific Variety piece on how the show’s music supervisor, Nora Felder, persuaded Kate Bush to allow the show to use her 1985 banger “Running Up That Hill” — even sending her script pages detailing exactly how and when the song would appear. Even if you’ve never seen Stranger Things, it’s a great snapshot of what music supervisors do.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard: The not-relevant-to-any-of-our-lives Johnny Depp and Amber Heard saga ended yesterday, for now, with Depp mostly victorious. Depp won his libel lawsuit against Heard, his ex-wife, finding that she libeled him and damaged his career when she described herself in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Depp’s lawyers argued my God I’m bored even typing this that he had been defamed even though she didn’t name him, because it was obvious who she was talking about. Heard was ordered to pay Depp more than $10 million, and plans to appeal because of course. The jury also awarded Heard $2 million, finding that one of Depp’s lawyers had defamed her with an accusation that she once roughed up the couple’s apartment to make it look worse for police. OK I have to admit that part would be intriguing if it actually happened, that’s some Gone Girl shit. The Associated Press has more details if you happen to be a gossip, masochist or looky loo.
Exit Emmerich: Toby Emmerich is stepping down as the chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, and will move into a production deal on the lot. Taking over will be former MGM film heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy. Deadline has Emmerich’s exit note to his team, in which he says his exit comes after “a lot of long walks and soul-searching conversations” with David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. Discovery took over WarnerMedia earlier this year.
Fantasia: Fantasia, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, has announced more films for its 26th edition, to be held July 14-August 3 in Montreal. We will be there! I’m most intrigued by Polaris, directed by KC Carthew. Fantasia explains it like this: “With frostbitten hands clasping magical seal-jaws, incredible fights, and visceral kills, POLARIS is a singular vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Director KC Carthew creates a dystopian future with nods to George Miller’s classic Max Max series and an all-female-identifying cast.” The festival will also present Kier-La Janisse with its Canadian Trailblazer Award, and spotlight queer cinema “from the body horror of Carter Smith’s Swallowed to the hallucinatory poetry of Eduardo Casanova’s La Pieta.” And the the fest will include Shinji Higuchi’s manga adaptation Shin Ultraman and Neil Labute’s new thriller House of Darkness. More details are ici, which I believe is French for “here.”
Comment of the Day: “The enemy IS unquestionably Iran. Toward the end of the movie, after the stolen F14 from the unnamed country’s air force almost crash-lands on the American aircraft carrier deck, that plane displays the Iranian coat of arms. This is a no-brainer.” — David, commenting on our story headlined Who Is the Enemy in Top: Gun Maverick?
Time to Musk Up: Yesterday, without realizing it was the 15th anniversary of Knocked Up, I celebrated the 15th anniversary of Knocked Up by watching a bit of Anchorman, which Judd Apatow produced — while holding a baby. (I mean I was holding a baby. Was Apatow? You’ll have to ask him on Twitter.) The baby and I both laughed at the scene below and realized for the first time that Apatow is in it.
Main image: You know
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