The best part of last night’s “Saturday Night Live” was a filmed parody.
“The White Potus” satirizes “The White Lotus” with hilarious results. Among other things, it brings back former “SNL” players Alex Moffatt and Beck Bennett. Moffatt revives his Eric Trump to go with Mikey Day’s Don Jr in place of brothers Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola.
The YouTube video alone has almost 1 million views. You’ll see why.
Actor Walton Goggins is everywhere.
The “White Lotus” star has done a massive amount of press the last couple of weeks for the HBO drama, touting the great love story — his words — between his character, Rick, and Chelsea, played so well by Aimee Lou Wood.
So I was surprised to hear that Goggins’ wife, Nina Conners, directed a film that was released on Friday. He’s never mentioned it.
“The Uninvited” was ready for release in 2024, but just came out this weekend. Among the cast are Goggins himself and the ubiquitous Pedro Pascal.
Goggins did take pictures with Conners on April 7th at a screening in New York at the IFC Center. Unfortunately, no one else went to it, so there was no press coverage.
Back in November, for some reason, there was a better attended screening in Los Angeles. Again, little was made of it, and Goggins’ “White Lotus” season hadn’t aired yet.
The movie — despite the two stars plus Lois Smith, Rufus Sewell and Elizabeth Reaser — has a strange, small distributor called Foton.
“The Uninvited” apparently isn’t terrible. It has an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film takes place over one night at a Hollywood party, and is kind of a satire of the glittery life.
But it’s very curious. You’d think with “White Lotus” booming, and Goggins talking to everyone about that series and “The Righteous Gemstones,” Conners could have gotten some scant mention somewhere. Pascal has also been on the press trail, for his HBO series, “The Last of Us,” which returns tonight.
Rod Stewart — some guys have all the luck.
At 89, Rod the Sod says today he will not retire from singing or performing.
He says in an Instagram post, “I shall never retire! I was put on this earth to be a singer and will keep doing so for as long as the good lord lets me.”
When I saw him this winter backstage at the Fire Aid concerts in Los Angeles, he was literally jumping up and down and chatting up a storm, making jokes with all the red carpet press.
Rod has dates booked all year, too. And if it’s still real, he has that full head of hair.
Good for Rod! He’s an Energizer bunny. Maybe he can do the next collaboration album with his buddy, Elton John, and Ronnie Wood on guitar. Now that would be a super group!
I shall never retire! I was put on this earth to be a singer and will keep doing so for as long as the good lord lets me. pic.twitter.com/noOtVbRfat
— Sir Rod Stewart (@rodstewart) April 13, 2025
“A Minecraft Movie” will not cave in at the box office.
The weekend total was $25.7 million, bring the grand sum of $280 million domestically and $490 million worldwide.
In China, “Minecraft” has scored $14.7 million with or without tariffs. That’s more than most of the Oscar nominated movies this year.
China also provided the third highest take of any country for “Minecraft.” The US and UK are first and second.
“Warfare” and the three or four other new releases this week were duds. Bleecker Street’s “The Friend” and A24’s “Death of a Unicorn” are in that group, too. “Black Bag,” as well. The latter has made just $21 million despite Cate Blanchett and the all star cast.
This is too good. Pretty, pretty, pretty good!
Donald Trump either didn’t remember who Cheryl Hines was tonight at UFC 314, that she’s Robert Kennedy Jr’s wife, or he actually snubbed her.
The latter seems to be the case.
In all the videos of the meeting between Trump and the Kennedys you’ll see:
Hines extends her hand to shake his at at UFC match (where all classy presidents have always gone). Trump refuses to look at her. Hines makes a face and takes back her hand.
Nice respect for RFK Jr from Trump. And Cheryl’s white!
Hines must be so embarrassed. She gave up her career, friends, and life to support her wacko husband. No one takes her seriously anymore, especially after it was revealed that Kennedy had been having some kind of affair with journalist Olivia Nuzzi. Now Trump won’t even look at her.
As many have said tonight, cue the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” music.
What fun for the Kennedy family, who wouldn’t be caught dead at a UFC fight.
Start watching at :45 seconds, it’s a hoot.
BREAKING: President Trump walks out at UFC 314!!! pic.twitter.com/PaUgrGzdq0
— Autism Capital (@AutismCapital) April 13, 2025
Trump just totally ignored @CherylHines at UFC….love this for her pic.twitter.com/2NxWpAwP6v
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) April 13, 2025
You may not know it, but TDF is not all about TKTS.
The Theater Development Fund runs the half price ticket booth in Times Square, true. But the Fund is also the mothership of everything theater in New York. Not much of what goes on on Broadway and off and off would exist with out TDF.
So their annual Costumes & Cocktails event is a big deal, giving the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards, celebrating the accomplishments of the theatrical design community.
This year’s honorees are three-time Tony Award-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes, costume and textile designer Wilberth Gonzalez, milliner and artisan Arnold Levine, and legendary scenic designer Robert Israel.
The gala, at TAO, opened with “Sunset Blvd.” star Nicole Scherzinger showing up a bit late to kick off the night. (She’s allowed. As she said, it was her only night off from her exhausting schedule.) Scherzinger delivered just the right pizzazz before other presenters like actress Kathy Najimy, legendary director Martha Clarke, and RuPaul’s “Drag Race” star Valentina took the stage.
Najimy presented three-time Tonu® Award-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes with the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design. Barnes joked in his acceptance speech that he was famous for dressing stars in red dresses and sending them big staircases. He won his Tony for “Follies.” But I didn’t get the joke until I saw “Boop” a couple of nights later. Just as he said, Barnes sent the sensational Jasmine Amy Rogers right down a big staircase in one of his stunning gowns. He’s the go-to guy.
Valentina gave the TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award to costumes and textile designer Wilberth Gonzalez; Tony winner Ann Hould-Ward toasted milliner and artisan Arnold S. Levine, Inc. with the TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award; and legendary scenic designer Robert Israel was be honored by Clarke with the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design.
Israel, an international artist and costume scenic designer, just saw his historic work on the opera, “Fidelio,” revived at the Metropolitan Opera to great acclaim last month.
I’d never been to the TDF gala before, but it was packed — far more even than we go to Tao for the New York Film Critics Circle dinner every year. And no one told me that the Costumers’ gang was so lively. They hit the dance floor with a vengeance may still be there for all I know!
Apparently, Ralph Fiennes is trying out to play a villain in the next James Bond movie.
He was “M” in the last couple of releases, but that wasn’t enough to satisfying him.
Fiennes has posted picture of what he looked like under the robes in “Conclave.”
He is now shredded, painfully so.
He just posted these pictures but it looks like they were for an Uberto Pasolini movie called “The Return” with Juliette Binoche which was released in December and made just $2.5 million worldwide.
Was it worth it? They filmed in Greece, and it looks like he ate nothing but protein powder and steroids. Maybe he was bored.
This look should help when Fiennes directs three classic plays this summer in England at Theater Bath. None of them is “Conan the Barbarian.”
Please, give this man a donut!
— Ralph Fiennes (@mrralphfiennes) April 12, 2025
Well, there’s a big “Minecraft” audience out there somewhere.
Last night, the Warner Bros. video game took in a stunning $20.5 million on its second Friday. The grand total is now $220,500,000 after nine days.
Really?
“Minecraft Movie” beat a Christian Easter film called “King of Kings” that boasts an all star cast including Kenneth Branagh, Forest Whitaker, Oscar Isaac, and Ben Kingsley.
It also shushed “The Amateur,” with Rami Malek and Laurence Fishburne. (Some movie theater has to play “The Amateur” with “The Professional.” Come on! Better than Barbenheimer!)
Numbers 4 and 5 were newcomers “Drop” and “Warfare” with $3.5 million each.
Tonight’s box office may not be so great with the first night of Passover, and bad weather. So this was all a good preemptive strike. Will “Minecraft” be invoked at Seders? That would make tonight different from all other nights!
Kanye West is back on Twitter looking for attention.
Is he mentally ill? Or just offensive?
In 30 Tweets in one hour, Kanye attacks Spike Lee, ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Caitlyn Jenner, and Jews — the latter because antisemitism is his regular and not utterly boring way of making people look his way.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hoary Broadway musical closed in 2023 after filling the Majestic Theater since 1988.
There was much rending of garments, a big send off, and a promise (or threat, depending on how you took it) they’d be back with a national tour.
Well, it’s exactly two years later and “Phantom” is coming back. But not to Broadway and not under its own name.
ALW has announced a show called “Masquerade,” an immersive experience, that will be just like “Phantom.”
It’s unclear what the “immersive” part will be, but ALW’s Really Useful Company is renovating the unoccupied old Lee’s Art Supply at Broadway and 57th St. They’re evidently turning it into a “faux” opera house, where audiences will feel like they’re part of the “Opera.”
“Masquerade” sounds like “Sleep No More,” or one of those gimmicky experiences that were so popular in the 1990s, like “Jekyll and Hyde” on Sixth Avenue.
What’s interesting is that “Masquerade” won’t be in a traditional Broadway Theater League theater. Maybe that accounts for changing the name. Will it be a union show? Will Actors Equity be involved? Or is this a clever workaround to be Broadway-adjacent and not pay the price for it? “Masquerade” will be physically on Broadway, but that could be where the connection ends.
Lee’s Art Supply building, built in 1896, was sold to Thor Equities in 2016 from the original family that owned it. Since then, it’s been empty. So this is pretty smart of Thor and ALW to repurpose a structure that looks a faux opera house already. Looking at it, you could imagine the Phantom of the Opera himself haunting the place for the last 129 years!
Will reconstituted “Masquerade” be a hit? Oh, yes. You know the show as international cult followers, and they’ll be putting on cloaks and masks and maybe even bringing their own chandeliers. How will “real” Broadway feel about all this? Not so good, I’ll bet. But this is why Andrew Lloyd Webber is really rich. Don’t cry for him!