Entertainment Weekly - 01 2020 PDF

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BEST & WORST 2019 The TOP 10 in M O V I E S , T V, M U S I C & BOOKS
1 OF 6
DRAMA QUEEN
AW K WA F i N A
E N T E R TA I N E R
of the Y E A R
PLUS
Regina
KING
LIZZO
Ta i k a
WA I T I T I
Renée
Z E L LW EG E R
The Cast of
SUCCESSION
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Contents
JANUARY 2020
→
ENTERTAINERS
OF THE YEAR
29
We bow down to
the stars who had
us in thrall in 2019:
Awkwafina, Renée
Zellweger, Regina
King, Taika Waititi,
Lizzo, and HBO’s
Succession. Plus:
10 other celebs
who made our pop
culture year.
BEST & WORST

58
From TikTok to
Jordan Peele, Billie
Eilish to the Safdie
brothers, we take a
look back at 2019’s
best—and worst—
movies, TV, music,
books, and more.
2
SOUND BITES
5
EDITOR’S NOTE
6
THE MUST LIST
17
FIRST TAKE
78
REVIEWS
112
THE BULLSEYE
SHIRT: JACQUEMUS
P H OTO G R A P H B Y JA M E S M A C A R I EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 1

2019’S
Sound Bites
SHARPEST LINES
“ Thank you “ Being vice president

to Satan for
BALE: PAUL DRINKWATER/NBCUNIVERSAL/GETTY IMAGES; VEEP: COLLEEN HAYES/HBO; CAPTAIN AMERICA: © MARVEL STUDIOS 2019; EVIL: ELIZABETH FISHER/CBS; SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME: JAY MAIDMENT/SONY PICTURES
is like being
giving me
inspiration
on how to play
this role.” DECLAWED,
—Christian Bale,
accepting his award
for portraying Dick DEFANGED,
NEUTERED,
Cheney in Vice, at the
Golden Globes
“YOU GUYS ARE LIKE FLEETWOOD

MAC. YOU BREAK UP, YOU
GET BACK TOGETHER AGAIN, AND
BALL-GAGGED,
and sealed in an abandoned
THEN YOU GO OUT AND MAKE
A GREAT ALBUM, LIKE THE BEST coal mine under
OF FLEETWOOD MAC.” two miles of human s---.”
—Noho Hank (Anthony Carrigan), telling Fuches —Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus),
(Stephen Root) to make up with Barry (Bill Hader), on Barry discussing her former position, on Veep
“I HEARD MEG RYAN T

“TH AA’ I S
“ I was just in the
DIDN’T OWN A COMPUTER middle of torturing William IC S A
WHEN SHE BOOKED Shakespeare by ER S
describing the plot to the M —Captain
THIS ROLE. I’VE GOT TO
S.”
A
America (Chris
Entourage movie.” Evans), rejecting Iron
SAY, IT SHOWED.” Man’s (Robert
—Shawn (Marc Evan Jackson), Downey Jr.) criticism
—Eddie (Hudson Yang), reviewing You’ve Got Mail, revealing what he was doing in the Bad Place, of his assets,
on Fresh Off the Boat on The Good Place in Avengers: Endgame
“ What are you doing,

Fleabagging?”
—Mira (Kristen Connolly), asking her friend why she’s hanging out with a priest-in-training, on Evil
What Line Is It Anyway?

Replace each letter with a different letter to solve the TV cryptogram. We’ve already given you three letters to start. Grab a pencil!
P U’ N P
‚ .
T E Y Q Z O N P M U P L H S F P T P P B Y H U OMQ P
—Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), dismissing Peter’s (Tom Holland) assertion
that he’s an underqualified superhero, in Spider-Man: Far From Home
Answer: “Bitch, please, you’ve been to space.”
2 JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 EW ● COM

Editor’s Note
BY → JD HEYMAN @JDHEYMAN
year of Pearl Harbor Jojo Rabbit; Lizzo, whom

and Citizen Kane; 1968 you cannot listen to with-
was both scorched by out feeling just a little
revolutionary rage and bit more able to kick the
soothed by “Hey Jude.” world in the pants; and
Or, as the best TV theme the cast of Succession,
song ever goes, you who gave us the great
take the good, you take media-dynasty psycho-
the bad, etc. While all dramedy of our time.
MORE STAR
the negativity in 2019 This extravaganza
WARS FOR YOU
kept many glued to their When it comes of talent—corralled by
respective outrage- to your favorite senior editor Brittany
franchise, EW is a
news networks, the fun— force. Get Star
Kaplan and expertly
easily overlooked while Wars: The Ultimate crafted by features edi-
surfing successive anxiety Guide to the tors Clarissa Cruz and
Complete Saga
waves—was delightful. by using the smart Sarah Rodman and their
Let’s begin with the code below, or able teams—wasn’t
buy it on Amazon
folks on six very special easy to curate. Not in a
and wherever mag-
Entertainers of the Year azines are sold. year that gave us Brad
covers: Awkwafina, who Pitt in Once Upon a Time...
established herself as in Hollywood, Margaret
a major dramatic talent Atwood’s The Testaments,
in The Farewell; Renée and the triumph of Phoebe
Zellweger, who triple- Waller-Bridge. All that—
underlined her reputation plus the best and worst
as one of Hollywood’s in show business—is
great stars with a heart- here, made more beauti-
rending performance ful by revamped design.
Here’s to a Very in Judy; Regina King, who

began the year by win-
We hope it leaves you
with new affection for the
Entertaining Year ning an Oscar and ended

it by starring as the
roller coaster that was
2019—and excited for all
coolest of masked aveng- the future holds.
THERE ARE OH-S O-MANY RE AS ONS TO SAY ADIO S , ers on Watchmen; Taika
2019, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Let’s Waititi—the filmmaker,
face it, it was a volatile, agita-inducing year, chock-full actor, and mutant spawn
of zero-sum politics, doomsday weather, and blood- of Monty Python and Mel
pressure-boiling social media posts. But trying times Brooks—who was behind
do tend to spark memorable pop culture: 1941 was the the quirky anti-hate satire JD HEYMAN
OUR STELLAR
LINEUP
Photographer
James Macari and
photo editor
Alison Wild chased
away winter’s
gloom with colorful
shots of each of
our Entertainers of
the Year. Collect
PHOTOGRAPH BY BEAU GREALY
them all at
backissues.ew.com.
AWKWAFINA’S STYLING: ERICA CLOUD/THE ONLY AGENCY; HAIR: MARCUS FRANCIS/STARWORKS ARTISTS; MAKEUP: KIRIN BHATTY/STARWORKS ARTISTS; MANICURE: THUY NGUYEN/STARWORKS ARTISTS; DRESS: CHRISTIAN COWAN X
ASOS; ZELLWEGER’S STYLING: PETRA FLANNERY/TWO MANAGEMENT; HAIR: RICHARD MARIN/CLOUTIER REMIX; MAKEUP: KINDRA MANN/TOMLINSON MANAGEMENT GROUP; MANICURE: DIEM TRUONG/STAR TOUCH AGENCY; TRENCH:
JUAN CARLOS OBANDO; SHOES: JIMMY CHOO; RING: DAVID WEBB; KING’S STYLING: WAYMAN & MICAH/STARWORKS ARTISTS; HAIR: YVETTE SHELTON; MAKEUP: LATRICE JOHNSON; DRESS AND GLOVES: LOUIS VUITTON; SHOES: AL-
EXANDRE BIRMAN; EARRINGS: SARA WEINSTOCK; WAITITI’S STYLING: JEANNE YANG AND CHLOE TAKAYANAGI/THE WALL GROUP; GROOMING: SU HAN/ORIBE/DEW BEAUTY AGENCY; SUIT: ETRO; SHIRT: PAUL SMITH; LIZZO’S STYLING:
JASON REMBERT/THE WALL GROUP; HAIR: NEAL FARINAH; MAKEUP: GRACE AHN/JULIAN WATSON AGENCY; MANICURE: ELI ISHIZU/OPUS BEAUTY; BODYSUIT: BAMNBYSHAVELLE; EARRINGS AND RINGS: DEGRISOGONO; BRACELETS:
BVLGARI AND DEGRISOGONO; THE CAST OF SUCCESSION: STYLING: JASON REMBERT/THE WALL GROUP; STRONG’S GROOMING: MELISSA DEZARATE/THE WALL GROUP; SUIT: VIVIENNE WESTWOOD; CULKIN’S GROOMING: BENJA-
MIN THIGPEN/STATEMENT ARTISTS; SUIT: THOM BROWNE; SNOOK’S MAKEUP: NANCY SILER/ART DEPARTMENT; HAIR: HELEN REAVEY/MANAGEMENT ARTISTS; MANICURE: ROSEANN SINGLETON/ART DEPARTMENT; DRESS: DOLCE
AND GABBANA; EARRINGS AND RINGS: DE GRISOGONO; AWKWAFINA, ZELLWEGER, KING, & WAITITI SET DESIGN: ABRAHAM LATHAM/ART DEPARTMENT; LIZZO & SUCCESSION SET DESIGN: SHARI ANLAUF/ATELIER MANAGEMENT
F O LLOW U S O N : @ Enter t ainm entWe ekly @ Enter t ainm entWe ekly @EW @ E WSnap s EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 5
Must List T H E TO P 10 T H I N G S W E L OV E T H I S M O N T H
EDITED BY
MARC SNETIKER
@MARCSNETIKER
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y L O U I S E P O M E R OY
1
women’s stories, and some of
the specifics you see in scenes with
her are taken from real-life
interactions those women experi-
enced,” says Robbie. Kayla begins
the film as a loyal foot soldier in
Ailes’ army, seeing Fox as not just
an employer but part of a larger
crusade to shape American mor-
als. Her faith fades, however, once
she’s subjected to sexual advances.
Robbie herself has spoken out
against harassment in Hollywood
before, joining others in the wake
of the #MeToo movement, but she
admits making Bombshell opened
her eyes to how insidious—and
hard to define—it can be. “I felt
like I’ve done nothing but talk
about sexual harassment in the
workplace, and I thought that I
had a pretty comprehensive
BOMBSHELL understanding,” she says. But
Bombshell showed her that even
victims of sexual harassment don’t
always recognize it—and an
unspoken culture of silence can
help perpetuate it.
Robbie empathetically traces
MOVIES Kayla’s journey from wide-eyed
believer to uncertain skeptic. It’s
new emotional territory for the
MARGOT ROBBIE MIGHT H AV E Ailes denied until his death in actress, yet falls in step with her
followed you on Twitter, and you 2017). Charles Randolph’s script career goal to tackle surprising,
didn’t even know it. The 29-year- can be both humorous and diverse roles (like Sharon Tate in
old actress stars in Bombshell as unflinching, following some of Quentin Tarantino’s summer
Kayla Pospisil, a chirpy conserva- Fox’s most famous female faces as smash Once Upon a Time...in Hol-
tive news junkie who works at they grapple with their own expe- lywood and pigtailed hell-raiser
(and worships) Fox News, so to riences with Ailes—including then Harley Quinn in 2020’s Birds of
better understand Kayla and her headliner Megyn Kelly (Charlize Prey). Getting inside Kayla’s head
fanaticism, the Australian Robbie Theron) and former Fox & Friends was a new kind of challenge, she
created an anonymous Twitter cohost Gretchen Carlson (Nicole notes, but a welcome one—even
account and followed as many Kidman). Theron is uncanny as if it meant spending hours on
young, right-wing American Kelly, while Kidman plays Carlson Twitter trying to understand unfa-
women as she could find. “I didn’t with a steely resilience—but per- miliar politics. “The homework
grow up watching Fox News, and haps most affecting is Robbie’s part was difficult,” Robbie says.
I didn’t grow up in the same place role as Kayla, a fictional composite “But the emotional side was diffi-
as [Kayla].... I was struggling to character inspired by several of cult in a different kind of way.”
understand that point of view for Ailes’ anonymous accusers. “Kayla Some things are perhaps best
a while, and Twitter ended up is an amalgamation of many learned offline. —DEVAN CO GGAN
being the most useful tool,” Rob-
bie explains. “Because people are
extremely vocal on Twitter.”
Much of Bombshell is based in
fact: Jay Roach’s drama chronicles
the downfall of news titan Roger I FEEL LIKE I’VE BEEN PREPARING FOR HER MY
Ailes (John Lithgow), whom mul- WHOLE LIFE BECAUSE I’VE KNOWN SO MANY WOMEN
tiple Fox employees accused of WHO’VE EXPERIENCED UNWANTED SEXUAL ADVANCES.”
sexual harassment (allegations —MARGOT ROBBIE
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 7
2
LITTLE
WOMEN
MOVIES
DOES THE WORLD need another
LITTLE WOMEN: WILSON WEBB/SONY (2); MARRIAGE STORY: WILSON WEBB/NETFLIX; A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: LACEY TERRELL/SONY; FORD V FERRARI: MERRICK MORTON/FOX; PAIN AND GLORY: © EL DESEO/
Little Women? Dozens of previ-
ous adaptations of Louisa May
Alcott’s beloved novel may say
no; Greta Gerwig begged to dis-
agree. Thank goodness she did:
Her 2019 take is less faithful
rendering than joyful reimagin-
ing, a classic cleared of cobwebs
(though it still keeps the crino-
lines). The look of the film is
lovely, and the cast, from Laura
Dern’s Marmee to Timothée
Chalamet’s lovelorn Laurie,
uniformly great. But it’s Saoirse
Ronan, with her fierce, tender
Jo, who makes every moment—
big, little, and in between—sing.
— L E A H G R E E N B L AT T
W I L L T H I S O S CA R M OV I E M A K E M E C R Y ? B Y L E A H G R E E N B L AT T
MANOLO PAVÓN/SONY PICTURES CLASSICS; JOJO RABBIT: KIMBERLEY FRENCH/FOX SEARCHLIGHT
Marriage Story Little Women A Beautiful Day in Ford v Ferrari Pain and Glory Jojo Rabbit
the Neighborhood
HOW MUCH Approximately the It depends how As if every last red Well, how much Like Pedro Fun fact: Rabbits
WILL I CRY? same amount you much time you’ve cardigan and did you cry in high Almodóvar him- have tear ducts!
did when your spent telling your- Daniel Tiger pup- school when you self came to your Try to focus on
actual parents got self, “Maybe things pet you ever loved asked for a Trans door and held that real hard in
divorced, minus turn out different has been thrown Am and got a your face in his the last 20 min-
the weird week- for Beth this time.” on a bonfire, along scooter instead? hands, tenderly. utes of this movie.
ends with Dad. with your heart.
WHAT KIND Probably the Happy tears (you Nostalgic tears for There’s no crying You will call them The kind that
OF TE AR S? pretty kind, until love this story); your lost youth, in race cars! las lágrimas, make you feel
the second Sond- swoony tears (oh, and a guttural sob Okay, fine: Maybe because you are tricked because
heim number Timothée); tragic at the thought just one single Spanish and mel- you just came for
kicks in; after that, tears (did you that one day Tom manly trickle roll- ancholy and you the Hitler comedy
just grab a bucket. honestly believe Hanks too will die. ing past the rim of have great shoes. and now you are
the Beth thing?). your Ray-Bans. verklempt.

3
But Hooper (who snagged an
Tom Hooper: Oscar for The King’s Speech) hopes
C AT S In Defense of Cats when he finally lets Cats out of the
bag in December, he’ll have the last
laugh. The director began his jour-
ney with the project in 2012, when
TOM HOOPER HAS he sought to tackle another musical
MOVIES
seen your Cats memes. after the success of Les Misérables.
He’s even laughed at a Others had tried to herd Cats to the
few. When the first big screen before—Steven Spielberg
official invita-
C O N S I D ER T H I S YO U R trailer for the Oscar- abandoned an animated version
CATS: UNIVERSAL PICTURES; HOOPER: TIM P. WHITBY/GETTY IMAGES
tion to the Jellicle Ball. Andrew Lloyd winning director’s in the ’90s—but Hooper says he’s
Webber’s adored-and-abhorred 1981 feline extravaganza dropped in been obsessed with the musical
July, the immediate online reac- since childhood: “We got the audio-
musical springs into movie theaters tion was disbelief, confusion, and, cassette, and I listened to it literally
Dec. 20 with a new clowder of singing yes, mockery: Had Andrew Lloyd until the cassette wore out.”
cats including Taylor Swift, Jennifer Webber’s long-running musical The musical itself is both un-
Hudson, James Corden, Idris Elba, always been so...bizarre? And why ashamedly bonkers and earnestly
and Francesca Hayward. Whether did the cats look like that? “I didn’t emotional, following a group of Jel-
think it was going to be a big deal, licle* cats who introduce themselves
you pounced on the phenomenon in
and it was obviously much more of via song, then publicly debate which
the ’80s or hid under a bed, Cats is a big deal than I thought,” admits of them will go to heaven. (Really.)
an event not to be missed—with or Hooper. “Reading some of the com- Hooper’s goal for the movie was to
without your claws sharpened. mentary was pretty entertaining.” embrace the weirdness. “Before the

THE MUST LIST

JAG G E D
LITTLE PILL
STAG E
* JEL L ICL E (adj.) →

Type of cat wildly diverse in appearance or character; 80-year-long example of T.S. Eliot trolling us
You live, you learn, you get to

see Alanis Morissette’s seminal
’90s album imagined for the stage
as an emotional Broadway musi-
cal. With a book by Juno scribe
Diablo Cody and direction by
studio would greenlight the film, years ago, when I described what Diane Paulus (Waitress, plus that
I had to prove that I had a plan,” he I wanted to do, people said, ‘It’s not one Pippin revival you loved),
says. After recruiting Taylor Swift, technically possible,’ ” he recalls. But Jagged avoids the standard bio-
Jennifer Hudson, Judi Dench, Ian time also has its benefits: Because of graphical route and instead uses
McKellen, and more to help intro- the visceral online reaction to that hits like “Hand in My Pocket”
CATS ON BROADWAY: CAROL ROSEGG; JAGGED LITTLE PILL, MORRISSETTE: MATTHEW MURPHY (2)
duce Webber’s music and T.S. Eliot’s first trailer, Hooper’s team tweaked and “You Oughta Know” to tell the
poetry to a new generation, Hoop- the design of “every single cat.” story of a suburban family unrav-
er’s biggest challenge was making The result is a lavish spectacle eling beneath its seemingly
those actors feel feline; he consid- that Hooper hopes will feel just as picture-perfect veneer. Expect
ered prosthetics like those used on magical as it did when he was a kid. searing songs and lots of theatri-
stage, but limp tails and stationary “I treasure the 10-year-old Tom’s cal examples of irony.
ears fell flat. So he decided to use reaction,” he says. “Often when I’m
visual effects, keeping the actors’ in the edit room working on the
facial expressions while adding tails, film, I recall why I liked it and try to
whiskers, and fur. The only problem honor that.” If only there were a
was waiting for the technology to good song about memory he could
catch up to his vision. “Even three cue up. —DEVAN CO GGAN
[CATS] INVOKES OUR GLOBAL OBSESSION WITH CATS

BUT ALSO EXAMINES SOME OF THE FOIBLES OF HUMANS
THROUGH THAT CAT LENS.” —TOM HOOPER
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 1 1
5
N AT I O N A L
LAMPOON
RADIO HOUR
PODCASTS
OK boomer, it’s time

for the kids to re-
claim the word radio.
№
Like cult classics Wet
6
Hot American Sum-
mer and Freaks and THE
Geeks, 1973’s National
Lampoon Radio Hour W I TC H E R
was one of those rare
glimpses of titanic co-
medic talent just before TV
they reached capital-F

Fame (in this case Bill
Murray, Chevy Chase, his Man of Steel tights and cape for
H E N R Y C AV I L L I S S WA P P I N G
and John Belushi). Now a broadsword, horse, and some long silver locks to play the taciturn
that launchpad is back
lead on Netflix’s adaptation of The Witcher* (a beloved modern
nearly half a century
later—as a podcast.
series of videogames and books). The 36-year-old British-born
The 11-episode series actor will make his debut as fan favorite Geralt of Rivia, a lone
is the R-rated equiva- beast-hunter with supernatural abilities, on the fantasy drama
lent of an SNL skit with series debuting Dec. 20. — J A M E S H I B B E R D
the frenetic speed of
Robot Chicken, featur-
ing an ensemble cast ficent writing of [author There was an effort
of sketch superstars Q+A Andrzej] Sapkowski made on this production
like Rachel Dratch and H E N R Y C AV I L L and the extraordinary to use as little CGI as
Amy Sedaris and rising skill of the game devel- possible. What unique
comics like Cole Escola Given the connection opers at CDPR, coupled physical challenges
and Jo Firestone (FYI, if you’d already forged with with my lifelong love or stunts did you find
history tends to repeat Geralt from the games of the genre, I had an yourself facing as a
itself, you might want to and books, how did innate understanding result of that?
learn those names now). your view of this charac- of Geralt from the get- Thankfully, I was trained
ter actually change go. I realized that, once in the Tom Cruise school
once you finally got to I relaxed into it, it was of Mission: Impossible,
dig around inside him? all there—the who so stuntwise, while
Thanks to the magni- and the why. things were sometimes

THE MUST LIST

and executing that
fight.
As a longtime fan of
The Witcher, how did
your own fandom and
excitement manifest
while on set?
On a daily basis, I had
YO U
the opportunity to play
TV
one of my favorite char-
acters from game and
book lore, so naturally, Sera Gamble’s beautiful dark twisted social media
every day, whether it thriller is bloodier and even more subversive than its
was a grueling one or first cycle, which is definitely worth the rewatch in
just a difficult one, it case you forgot just how wild this sociopathic little
* WITCHER (n.) →
actually held both excite- treasure is. In the delicious second season (premier-
ment and enjoyment. ing Dec. 26 and now fully on Netflix instead of Life-
time), Penn Badgley’s hopeless-romantic murderer
Season 2 was just basically becomes a New York Times trend piece
announced. What are about relocating from New York to Los Angeles; there,
you most glad to know as palm trees burn and greens get juiced, he woos a
Medieval monster-hunter cast out from society; future face of Glacéau Smartwater
now, preparing to beguiling chef (reality: stalks her into a relationship)

step back into Geralt, because new city, same Joe. Essentially a heady
that you didn’t know drama in CW clothing, YOU cunningly dissects tropes
the first time? and, literally, bodies with a fun-scary love story that
uncomfortable and at Discovering and “finding” makes a case for deleting every single online profile
times very uncomfort- a character, to use a very you’ve ever created.
able, it was always a actory term, can be a
pleasure to be involved challenge. Especially
and to be hands-on. when set within certain
Also, I have been fortu- working parameters
nate enough to have that had been developed
had experience with before I was fortunate
sword work from previ- enough to join the show.
ous projects like Now that I’ve lived with
Immortals under Roger the character for eight
Yuan, but when working months nonstop, I’m far
with Wolfgang Stege- more comfortable exist-
mann and his crew ing in his skin in the most
to design the fight in natural way possible and
episode 1, I pushed can most accurately
myself to new depths of represent a true-to-lore
effort. We took no pris- Geralt, no matter how
THE WITCHER: KATALIN VERMES/NETFLIX (2); YOU: BETH DUBBER/NETFLIX
oners when designing the story may evolve.
↓ Emma Appleton and Henry Cavill
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 1 3
№ №
8 9
FOLLOWER S C L E M E N CY
B y Megan Angelo
BOOKS MOVIES
Writer-director
Chinonye Chukwu’s
Clemency is a master-
fully paced slow burn
about the grim realities
of capital punishment
in America, but Alfre
Woodard is absolutely,
achingly on fire as
an insomniac prison
warden pushed to the
psychological brink
after orchestrating the №
10
execution of a young
This hot futuristic debut inmate. Delivering some
already has Hollywood of the best work of her
circling (Abbi Jacobson stellar career, Wood-
calls it “pure gold”), and ard’s raw performance
with good reason. Angelo drives the film to an
casts a brutally satirical emotional crescendo
eye on internet fame that should land her a
and corporate power, much-deserved place HARRY
following two ambitious
friends (one a novelist,
in this year’s Best
Actress Oscar race. STYLES
the other an actress)
MUSIC
as they plot toward
the success—or, more
accurately, popularity— THE LEAD-UP TO HARRY
they’ve long aspired to. Styles’ second solo album had

Toggling between this him sweaty and shirtless in
present-day timeline the “Lights Up” video; playing
and an eerie portrait of coy about whether his single
the future in which social “ Watermelon Sugar” was
media madness and about oral sex; and, in true rock
fashion, declaring to Rolling
CLEMENCY: NEON; STYLES: RICH FURY/GETTY IMAGES
celebrity obsession have

reached terrifyingly Stone that the process of making his new record
realistic extremes, our included eating a bunch of psilocybin mushrooms and
two heroines make looping Paul McCartney’s RAM. So yes, it does seem like
life- (and world-) defin- Styles is having more fun than most of his pop contem-
ing choices; in turn, poraries. He continues that reputation with Fine Line,
Followers emerges as a which subs the ’70s pastiche of his first record for upbeat
humane, incisive story ’80s-inspired pop-rock. (Think less Fleetwood Mac,
of the human connection more George Michael.) The album doesn’t just avoid the
slowly slipping away sophomore slump, but further establishes Styles as the
from us all. 21st century’s most intriguing, mythmaking pop star.

THE MUST LIST

MY MUST LIST
NICK OFFERMAN
Currently eliciting laughs with his one-man show All Rise, the former Parks and Recreation star—and arguable Platonic ideal
of masculinity—has a busy 2020 on tap, including a cozy new podcast with wife Megan Mullally, In Bed With Nick and Megan,
and the FX on Hulu limited series Devs, out in March. Here, the Illinois native, 49, raves about some of his current faves.
OFFERMAN: SMALLZ & RASKIND/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES; OKLAHOMA!: LITTLE FANG PHOTO; CATHERINE THE GREAT: ROBERT VIGALSKY/HBO; CAVE: MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY IMAGES; BRAZIL: UNIVERSAL/EVERETT COLLECTION
S TA G E
OKLAHOMA!
(CURRENT BROADWAY REVIVAL)
Megan and I were just
bowled over by this stripped-
BOOKS
down quasi-deconstruction
THE WORLD-ENDING that takes the frosting off
FIRE: THE ESSENTIAL the cake and gives you the
WENDELL BERRY straight baked goods. I
His writing has all of the found it utterly thrilling and
common sense and empa- surprisingly poignant.
thy and affection for human-
ity and for the planet, and
the nature that we actually
all live in, whether we’re
aware of it or not. If these
essays were required read-
ing, I think our society would
be in a lot better shape.
MUSIC
NICK CAVE AND THE
BAD SEEDS TV
G H OS T E E N CATHERINE THE GREAT H B O
I’ve really been fueled by It is just unbelievably gor-
Nick Cave for 25, 30 years. geous. It’s Helen Mirren and
I’m seduced by his willing- Jason Clarke. Every frame
ness to take the ups and the looks like a painting from
considerable downs of his a museum in Vienna. We
life and bald-facedly just devoured that.
pump that all back into his
work. His music is not just
a source of inspiration but a
source of medicine, both
for him and us.
BONUS
JIMMY D IRESTA’S
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
I’ve been obsessed with his
videos for years. He’s the
most innovative and knowl-
edgeable sculptor, creator,
genius, with a generous and
gentle teacher’s spirit that
comes across in the fun
and whimsical ways in which
he presents the making
of objects. —A S TOLD TO
SARAH RODMAN
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 1 5
BILL & TED

TENET
SHOWTIME
PENNY
CONTENTS → FACE THE MUSIC DREADFUL
P. 20 P. 22 P. 23 MORE
First
A N E XC L U S I V E P R E V I E W O F YO U R N E XT O B S E S S I O N S E D I T E D B Y → PAT R I C K G O M E Z @ PAT R I C K G O M E Z L A
(THIS PAGE AND NEXT SPREAD) BETTINA STRAUSS/NETFLIX (4)
NOAH CENTINEO & L ANA CONDOR
T O A L L T H E B OY S :
P. S . I S T I L L L O V E YO U
TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE GETS A SEQUEL! CAN L ARA JEAN AND PETER’S ROMANCE SURVIVE THE ARRIVAL OF A NEW
SUITOR? HERE, THE STAR AND DIRECTOR PROVIDE A SNEAK PEEK OF THEIR NEW NETFLIX MOVIE. B y S a m a n t h a H i g h f i l l
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 17

F I R S T TA K E
L
L ARA JEAN COVEY AND PETER
Kavinsky are in a relationship. A

real one this time.
Audiences met Lara Jean (Lana
Condor), the quirky teen with a love
of romance, and Peter (Noah Centi-
neo), the Jeep-driving jock with a
heart of gold, in 2018’s To All the
Boys I’ve Loved Before. Based on the
2014 best-selling novel by Jenny
Han, the Netflix film followed its
heroine through the biggest crisis of
her love life: Her little sister mailed
out the secret letters Lara Jean had
written to boys over the years. And
when her current crush received
one, Lara Jean entered into a fake
relationship with Peter, an old crush
who also received a letter. But their
pretend relationship lasted about as
long as Lara Jean’s plan to drive to
school. By film’s end, they’d fallen
for each other—almost as fast as
audiences fell for them.
The film caused a social media
uproar, making names out of its
stars and winning rom-com lovers
over with its lighthearted spirit and
refreshingly unjaded take on young
love. With three books in Han’s
series, Netflix quickly got to work
on the rest of the trilogy. And when
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love
2
You (out Feb. 12) picks up, Lara

Jean and Peter are giving this real-

relationship thing a try.
“Jenny constructed a book trilogy
starting with Lara Jean alone in her
room, reading romance novels and
fantasizing about what it means to
be in love, to getting that, and now
[in the sequel], dealing with it,” says
director Michael Fimognari. “And
we still have the little drop in the
pond that was created in the first
movie, which is these love letters
that got sent out, and the ripple of
that gets to come back.”
That ripple is John Ambrose
McClaren, a character viewers met
at the end of the first film who is
now played by Jordan Fisher (Fox’s
Rent and Grease Live!). John’s
arrival will force Lara Jean to figure An (Extremely)
out if her feelings for him are only a
thing of the past. “They’re true Early Look at
friends,” Condor says of Lara Jean the Third Movie
and John. “But because you can DIRECTOR MICHAEL FIMOGNARI
love your friend very much, you get PREVIEWS THE L AST FILM OF THE
confused. You’re like, ‘Do I love him TO ALL THE BOYS TRILOGY
or do I love him as a friend?’ So he’s

really there to mix it up.” Based on Jenny Han’s novel of the
But John will do more than sim- same name, To All The Boys I’ve
ply mix things up. Make no mistake: Loved Before exploded into a
He’s here to steal Peter’s girl. As phenomenon—audiences were
obsessed, even deeming love inter-
Fimognari puts it, “We certainly
est Noah Centineo the internet’s
want there to be a Team Peter and a
latest boyfriend. Considering its
Team John.” � viral success, it was no surprise
Netflix greenlit movies based on
1
Han’s two follow-up Lara Jean nov-
els. And to make sure audiences
get what they want quickly, they
filmed the movies back-to-back.
By June 2019, the second movie
had wrapped and the finale—To All
The Boys: Always and Forever, Lara
Jean—was in production.“The third
one is very much about how your
future influences your present,”
director Michael Fimognari says
of the trilogy’s last chapter. “When
you’re a senior in high school,
all these fantastic opportunities
await: college and living alone.
That has a profound impact on Lara
1 Jordan Fisher and
Jean’s ability to see herself con-
Lana Condor tinuing her relationships. That’s the
2 Anna Cathcart
beauty of what Jenny’s written, is
and John Corbett
(with Noah that from the first page of the first
Centineo and book to the last page of the last
Condor, far left)
reprise their roles book, you get to experience this
as Lara Jean’s full coming-of-age story with this
sister and dad
3 Centineo
character. In that way, it’s the
3
and Condor end, but it’s also her beginning.”
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 1 9
F I R S T TA K E
KE ANU REEVES & ALE X WINTER
BILL & TED

FA C E T H E M U S I C
J
first film in the comedy/science- they’ve been working on it the
fiction series since 1991’s Bill & Ted’s whole time,” says Matheson. “Now
Bogus Journey—would soon start an emissary from the future
shooting. Coincidence? Apparently comes and says, ‘You’ve got to do it
not. “The response to what you did right now. We’ve got literally 80
was staggering to even the biggest minutes or all of reality will come
cynics,” says Solomon. “That was to an end.’ ”
great news for us.” The pair are aided in their quest
This third Bill & Ted film finds by their daughters. Samara Weav-
BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC: ORION PICTURES (3)
Winter’s Bill S. Preston Esq. and ing (Ready or Not) plays Bill’s
Reeves’ Ted Theodore Logan III offspring Thea, while Brigette
still trying to create music for Lundy-Paine (Atypical) is Ted’s kid
JUST 20 MONTHS AGO, ENTERTAINMENT their band Wyld Stallyns, which Billie. “The daughters really love
Weekly hosted a Bill & Ted reunion (the pair learned back in 1989’s their dads’ music and want to help
with stars Alex Winter and Keanu Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) them,” says Matheson. Other fran-
Reeves as well as franchise writers will inspire the utopian society of chise newbies joining the fun are
Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. the future. “They were told when Saturday Night Live cast member
Then, last spring, it was announced they were teenagers that they Beck Bennett, who portrays Ted’s
that Bill & Ted Face the Music—the were going to save reality, and younger brother Logan, and

← 1 Alex Winter
and Keanu Reeves
JOHN TURTURRO & WINONA RYDER
phone it in
2 Reeves and
Winter reunite
with William Sadler
THE PLOT
as the Grim Reaper
3 The kids are
alright: Brigette
AGAINST AMERICA
Lundy-Paine,
Kid Cudi, and
Samara Weaving R E L E A S E D I N 2 0 0 4 , T H E L AT E working-class Jewish family in
Philip Roth’s novel The Plot New Jersey, which includes
Against America imagines an mother-homemaker Bess (Zoe
alternate history where aviator- Kazan) and her unmarried older
hero and xenophobic populist sister Evelyn (Winona Ryder), the
Charles Lindbergh became latter romantically involved with
2 president in 1940 and turned the a key Lindbergh supporter,
United States toward fascism. Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf (John
The book instantly left The Wire Turturro). “He’s a person who
creator David Simon intrigued, but thinks he can negotiate both
he didn’t feel it was “relevant to sides,” says Turturro, who years
our time,” so he initially turned earlier was recruited by Roth for
down HBO’s request to adapt the a live reading of the book. “He’s
material as a miniseries. “It was pushing to assimilate the Jewish
right after Obama had been population into more mainstream
reelected and I said, ‘I don’t see America.” This brings the couple
it,’ ” he recalls. “Then, [with] what’s into “incredible conflict,” adds
happened politically in the last Simon, “not only in their own com-
few years—not only in America, munity, but in their own family.”
but throughout the West—in terms By “tapping into something very
of this dissonance, almost real,” Turturro, a former substitute
3
fact-based political realities history teacher, hopes lessons
and demagoguery in the rise of can be learned from Plot.
the angry nationalists and “History always repeats itself,
musician-actor Kid Cudi. “He plays populists, the very guts of what unfortunately,” he says. “This is
Kid Cudi,” says director Dean Roth was writing about suddenly interesting because it’s showing
Parisot. “He gets mysteriously seemed conceivable.” you the past with connections
thrown around through various Premiering March 16, the to the present—what could
times, because all time and space is six-episode HBO miniseries is have been, and what could be.”
coming unglued.” Returning series told through the eyes of a —DEREK L AWRENCE
veterans, meanwhile, also include
William Sadler as the Grim Reaper.
“Death was in the band in the sec-
ond film,” says Parisot. “Things
didn’t go all that well. But I’ll leave
it at that!”
Reeves has been busy in front of
the camera since the pair last por-
trayed the characters in Bogus
Journey (busy enough of late for EW
to have named him one of our 2019
THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA: MICHELE K. SHORT/HBO
Entertainers of the Year. See page

53). But Winter spent much of that
time directing documentaries. Was
he concerned that he might have
lost his acting chops? “If I was going
back into doing fricking King Lear, → “We got along
then I would have been wetting my really well,” John
Turturro says of
nappies,” he says. “But I do know working with Win-
ona Ryder. “She
this guy pretty well.” was a terrific part-
Most excellent. —CL ARK COLLIS ner to have.”
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 2 1
F I R S T TA K E
JOHN DAVID WASHINGTON ↑ John David

Washington on
[Laughs] This guy moves.”
Speaking of vehicles, Washington
TENET
the water with
Elizabeth Debicki recalls the difficulty of looking at
DEBECKI AND WASHINGTON: WARNER BROS. PICTURES; PATTINSON AND WASHINGTON: MELINDA SUE GORDON/WARNER BROS.
↓ Robert Pattinson ease while shooting a boat-set
and Washington
sequence with Debicki. “I was terri-
fied, but when Christopher Nolan
“ S O , W H AT C A N I N O T T E L L Y O U explains. “We’re crossing a few dif- yelled ‘Action!’ I had to throw all
about my movie?” ferent genres in a hopefully exciting that away and make it look cool,”
That’s writer-director Christo- and fresh way. [Producer] Emma says the actor. Why was he terrified?
pher Nolan warming up to talk [Thomas] and I have put together a “Because it’s a boat, man!” Washing-
publicly about his up-to-now super- lot of large-scale productions, but ton adds with a laugh. “I don’t know
secret new film Tenet for the very this is certainly the biggest in terms how to drive a boat! But I had to act
first time. The movie (out July 17) of international reach. We shot in like I did.” —CL ARK COLLIS
stars John David Washington, Rob- seven countries, all over the place,
ert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, with a massive cast and huge set
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Kenneth pieces. There’s no question, it’s the
Branagh, and has been officially, most ambitious film we’ve made.”
if somewhat unrevealingly, de- The director also reveals that
scribed as “an action epic evolving Washington is “very much the
from the world of international hero” of Tenet. “He’s a massively
espionage.” So what can the director talented actor and physically
of the blockbusters Inception, g i f t e d ,” N o l a n say s o f t h e
Interstellar, Dunkirk, and the Chris- BlacKkKlansman star, who is a for-
tian Bale-starring Batman trilogy mer professional football player.
actually say about Tenet? “We’re “He’s an athlete and pretty hard for
jumping off from the point of view anybody to keep up with, including
of an espionage film, but we’re going the different vehicles we shot
to a number of different places,” he him from—cars and helicopters.

NATALIE DORMER political extremism, atavistic

nationalism, dangerous dema-
PENNY DREADFUL: goguery, and the vehement racism
and antisemitism,” with Penny
CITY OF ANGELS Dreadful: City of Angels as his res-
ponse to it. To understand the
present, the show’s writer-creator
JOHN LOGAN, PENNY DREADFUL’S Eva Green’s Vanessa Ives; he initially goes back to 1938 L.A. during
architect, was just as shocked as the turned down a follow-up when the the construction of the Arroyo
rest of us to learn there were more network came knocking. Then, he Seco Parkway. This new series is
stories to tell. The three-time Oscar says, something happened: “The built around Tiago Vega (Daniel
nominee saw that first iteration of his world changed with such a seismic ↓ No matter what Zovatto of HBO’s Here and Now),
form she takes,
Showtime series—which concluded crash everywhere around us.” changeling Magda whose family is displaced by the
(Natalie Dormer)
in 2016 after three seasons—as a More specifically, Logan points is always
freeway’s construction; he serves
“beautifully complete sonnet” for to “the worldwide resurgence of dressed to kill as the first Chicano LAPD detec-
tive, working to solve a grisly
murder with his mentor, Officer
Michener (Nathan Lane).
“One hundred years before our
show, Los Angeles was Mexico,”
Logan explains. “I wanted to tell a
story about a Latino family under
pressure because of all the forces at
play—not only in freeway building
but also in crime, law enforcement,
and immigration policy.”
At its core, City of Angels (pre-
miering on Showtime in 2020) is
about the “demonization of the
other,” says Game of Thrones vet
Natalie Dormer. The description is
fitting, considering she stars as a
literal demon named Magda.
Dormer characterizes her shape-
shifting hell queen as a “delicious,
multidimensional thrill,” an “agent
of chaos” who can “sow the seeds of
disorder.” In the first season, we’ll
meet three of Magda’s manifesta-
tions as humans, says the actress.
“The audience will discover who
those identities are as they continue
to watch the show.”
What is Magda’s goal on earth?
Well, that’s part of the fun. Accord-
ing to Dormer, “she’s fundamentally
a skeptic of humanity. She says in
the first episode, ‘I give human
beings a choice, but they choose
time and time again to be seduced
by the more baser, selfish roles.’ ”
Magda’s sister, Holy Angel of Death
Santa Muerte (Lorenza Izzo),
JUSTIN LUBIN/SHOWTIME
takes an opposing view. “For all of

us in the current climate, wanting
to believe in humanity,” Dormer
adds, “it’s an interesting argu-
ment.” —NICK ROMANO
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 2 3
T HE
U N TA I N S
FO
E N C E
SIL SELL
ING A
UTH OR
YS
T
S BES
SEPET
TIME
W YORK
#1 NE
R U T A
P_54
P_34 P_40
of the
P_50
P_44 P_30
Our six inimitable PHOTOGRAPHS BY

JAMES MACARI
c over subje ct s
enthralle d and
thrilled us in 2019.
P lus: 10 other
h o n o re e s w h o
blew our p op
c u l t u re m i n d s .
E W. C O M ILLUSTRATIONS BY
P_29 LAUREN TAMAKI
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
AWKW FINA
a
The rapp er and WRITTEN BY
MARY SOLLOSI
comic actre s s got @missollosi
serious in 2019,
which culminated
in a career-making
turn in The Farewell
AW K WA F I N A HAS BEEN HERE
before. She and the other female

stars of Crazy Rich Asians were
among EW’s Entertainers of the
Year in 2018, but now she’s appear-
ing on her own, at the end of her
second big year in a row, and feel-
ing completely different. “It’s still
a ride, but I feel like I have a better
sense of self,” the actress says. “I
have a better idea of where this all
may be going.”
Her year began this past Jan-
uary at Sundance, where she de-
buted two films—and a whole new
side of herself. As the star of The
Farewell, the 31-year-old rapper-
PHOTOGRAPHS BY actress ventured into dramatic
JAMES MACARI leading-lady territory for the first
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
time. She collected rave reviews for

her performance as Billi, a Chinese-
American woman coping with her
grandmother’s cancer diagnosis
while concealing it, according to
Chinese custom, from the sufferer.
“I was really scared about drama,
because I just literally didn’t do it
[before],” says Awkwafina.
The star impressed again in
the dystopian feminist parable
Paradise Hills, in which she
played Yu, a prisoner at a sinister
fairy-tale reform school for young
women. Where Billi’s angst lies
partially in the tension between
her Chinese and American identi-
ties, so the girls of Paradise Hills
struggle to reconcile conflicting
ideas of who they ought to be.
“As a girl, as a woman, we’re con-
stantly negotiating our identi-
ties,” Awkwafina says. “How we’re
seen by the world, and how we
want to be seen, and how we want
to see ourselves.”
The actress has maintained
something of a split personality
throughout her career. Awkwa-
fina—whose real name is Nora
Lum—invented her comedic per-
sona as a teenager to overcome
stage fright, not particularly
thinking the nickname would
stick. “I almost [equated] Awkwa-
fina to this mask I would put on
that just imbued confidence,” she
says. But now that she’s going to
these raw places—she attributes
the success of her performance as
Billi to the bond she shares with
her own Chinese grandmother—
she’s got to take the mask off.
“[Directing her] was more about
getting her to not use comedy as
a crutch—it’s almost a muscle that
you use to deflect emotion, to dis-
sipate tension,” says The Farewell
director Lulu Wang, whose per-
sonal experience inspired the film.
“For this character, she needed to
carry that [discomfort] in her face
and in her eyes.”
That doesn’t mean the star’s
comedic background was an
obstacle to overcome—just a tool
to repurpose. “Comedy and music

are acts of expression,” Awkwafina
says. “Everything that you do will
come from that little place.” She
accesses it again playing Ming in
December’s adventure sequel
Jumanji: The Next Level, which
stars Dwayne Johnson and Kevin
Hart. “My whole career has been
kind of defined by being thrown
into groups of people that are, like,
idol status,” says the actress. She
will next appear in the semi-
autobiographical Comedy Central
series she created and stars on,
aptly titled Awkwafina Is Nora
From Queens (Jan. 22).
“People can say that Nora’s the
serious one and Awkwafina’s this
crazy comedy one, but for me, the
PHOEBE
older I get and the more I [do],
they become one,” she says. “I
WA L L E R - B R I D G E
can’t leave Awkwafina. Awkwa-
fina is a part of me. I didn’t create
Nora; I created Awkwafina. So it
makes it powerful when I see her
(PHOTO SHOOT) STYLING: ERICA CLOUD/THE ONLY AGENCY; HAIR: MARCUS FRANCIS/STARWORKS ARTISTS; MAKEUP: KIRIN BHATTY/STARWORKS ARTISTS;
name somewhere.” Lately, she can by BRET T GELMAN

see it listed among major awards
MANICURE: THUY NGUYEN/STARWORKS ARTISTS; SET DESIGN; ABRAHAM LATHAM/ART DEPARTMENT; COAT: BALENCIAGA; EARRINGS: ALISON LOU
contenders, but the actress is still The 34-year-old Emmy-winning

“just happy to be here” on The writer-actor behind Killing Eve is
Farewell’s extraordinary journey, honored by her Fleabag costar
wherever it may lead.
“When these things happen, I knew I wanted to work taking in all the feelings,
you wonder what got you here,” with Phoebe when I was the frustrations, the
she reflects. “I think that for every sent the Fleabag pilot. doubts, the joys, the fears,
project, I do feel a little bit of that It was clear that she was the sense of accomp-
still, that kind of ‘I’m a nobody, very special and had a lot lishment that come with
who am I?’ ” Lucky for her, there’s to say. Then...I read the making a piece. She’s
more than one right answer. � scripts for the entire first looking at it the most hon-
season. It seemed raw, estly out of everyone
it had an impeccable that’s involved, and she’s
sense of a comedic craft, willing to be brutally hon-
and it felt like the feminist est with herself. I think
show that everybody brutal honesty is the
was trying to make but antithesis of desperation.
that she was actually If the timing’s right, an
making. She can balance honest piece of work
razor-sharp, word-perfect really hits home. It’s one
writing without losing of those situations where
this spontaneous, chaotic Fleabag just matched up
depth. You’re getting hard perfectly and it got the
jokes, but then you’re audience that it deserved.
also getting deep pain. —As told to Nick Romano
There’s a complete lack of
Brett Gelman played Martin,
desperation, a despera-
Fleabag’s nightmare brother-
tion to convince yourself in-law. The comedian also
E W. C O M that it’s good, rather than appeared this year on Stranger
P_33 working really hard and Things and Mr. Mercedes.
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
e
R NÉE
The Oscar WRITTEN BY Judy Garland in Judy. “There’s
TIM STACK
winner may get @EWTimStack
work, and then there’s Judy. It’s dif-
a matching ferent than anything that I have
golden b o okend done before,” admits the Texas
af ter taking native, who’s traded her dandelion-
fans over the colored Stella McCartney designer
rainbow in Judy gown for a sweatshirt and chinos
post–photo shoot. “That’s not to
say that any of the other experi-
“I LOVE SNOOP DOGG—DON’T ences were less special, but it felt
you?!” We do, of course, but hear- like there was a different purpose
ing Renée Zellweger admitting beneath it.” Though notoriously
she’s a Snoop stan at her EW cover press-shy, the Academy Award
shoot in Los Angeles is an unex- winner sat down with EW to talk
pected twist. But the unexpected is about that purpose, discuss her big
really what we should expect from year, and let us get to know more of
Zellweger, who became a house- the real Renée.
hold name when she “completed”
Tom Cruise in 1996’s hit romantic On what she would have
comedy Jerry Maguire (which, done if she hadn’t become
incidentally, costarred one of our an actress “I was going to jour-
other Entertainers of the Year, nalism school. It’s so interesting
Regina King) and is now a front- the way journalism has changed in
PHOTOGRAPHS BY runner for the Best Actress Oscar the last 20 years. It seems like it’s
JAMES MACARI for her astounding channeling of more difficult to get the support
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
that you need to do legitimate

reporting, and at the same time,
it’s never been more important.”
On turning 50 this past April

“I’ve never been ashamed of my
age. Not everybody gets 50 years.
Aging is a privilege. There’s just a
certain kind of liberation—there’s
freedom from a certain level of
self-doubt. Freedom from that
self-imposed judgment where
you’re gauging how well you’re
doing in terms of some timeline
that you didn’t determine for
yourself. You stop looking at those
sorts of things and start to
acknowledge that the life you have
lived has mattered.”
On why she wanted to play

Judy Garland “I felt that there
was a certain injustice in the blan-
ket of tragedy that was thrust over
that final chapter of her life. I
GROUP; MANICURE: DIEM TRUONG/STAR TOUCH AGENCY; SET DESIGN; ABRAHAM LATHAM/ART DEPARTMENT; DRESS: STELLA MCCARTNEY; RINGS: DAVID WEBB
(PHOTO SHOOT) STYLING: PETRA FLANNERY/TWO MANAGEMENT; HAIR: RICHARD MARIN/CLOUTIER REMIX; MAKEUP: KINDRA MANN/TOMLINSON MANAGEMENT
thought, ‘Just because you think
that you can summarize or draw a
conclusion based on what you’re
seeing on the outside, it doesn’t
make it the truth.’ I felt like every-
body on that set, we were sort of
advocating for her.”
On the biggest misconcep-

tion about her “Oh, gosh. I see
stories sometimes because [my
team will] send them along because
they want to know if I would like to
correct them. Most of the time
I don’t see the point because I feel
like it’s not my business to correct
how people think. Most of the time On what a typical weekend that I didn’t have the gratitude
I don’t know who that person is— is like for her “I will play some that I should have for the experi-
the ‘Renée Zellweger’ in quota- music, probably. I do something ences that I was having, because
tions. That’s fine with me.” [physical] every day, even if it’s they were taking a toll. I knew that
going out in my garage and grab- I just had to do something differ-
On physically transforming bing those dumbbells. I have to ently. I was making a lot of really
for roles “It does make the expe- run the dogs, so I’ll take them and important significant life deci-
rience more authentic for me. And we’ll go check on the horses across sions based on my professional
I do have an emotional connection the street and stuff like that.” life. I needed to stop doing that.
to athletic, physical exertion. If Everyone said, ‘You shouldn’t do
I’m ill or if I am fearful or if I need On whether she’d ever step that, especially at this age. It is
to write something or if I can’t fig- away from Hollywood “There really important that you keep
ure something out, I don’t make a was a moment, I guess eight or going.’ But there comes a point
phone call or sit on a couch—I lace nine years ago, where I knew that I JAN. 2020
where you’ve got to do things that
up my shoes.” needed to change my life. I knew P_36 enable you to grow.” �
TA - N E H I S I C O AT E S
BY JACQUELINE WOODSON
The author, 44, became an

Oprah-anointed sensation with his
debut novel, The Water Dancer
I’ve read The Water Dancer Each time, I got something

three times. The first more out of the novel.
time that I read it, I read it People are hungry for
nervously: I like Ta-Nehisi narratives that help us
as a person a lot, and I understand this present
was scared that it was not moment. They’re hungry
going to be good! You have for narratives where
those friends who write we are heroic, and it’s
books and you go, “Oh, no, not just a tired, sad slave
this is painful to read.” So song. It’s a book about
I was really happy to see people who are enslaved.
how brilliant it was. I real- That resistance is the
ized, through looking back shape we need right
at his other pieces, he
was always coming to this
place. Then the second
now. And it has magical
realism: It’s a way to
escape while also being
Billie Eilish
time I read it was to study engaged, to understand. The “Bad Guy” singer, 18,
it in this way that writers What really blows me conquered the charts—and ushered
study each other’s work away about his work is in a new era of pop stardom
when there’s a brilliance how absolutely accessible
to it that you want to learn it is. He bridges the gap.
from. The third time, it —As told to David Canfield “ I U S E D TO K N O W W H AT DAY O F T H E W E E K I T WA S , ”
was listening to the audio- says Billie Eilish, reflecting on her whirlwind 2019, the
Woodson is a National Book
book that Joe Morton did. Award-winning author of chil- year the Los Angeles native transformed from a break-
It’s a whole different level dren’s and adult books. Her most E W. C O M out singer-songwriter with a cult following to an
of experiencing the story. recent novel is Red at the Bone. P_37
international pop star. “Everything that’s happened in
the last year or two has been life-changing. It’s just
thing after thing of ‘Wow, what the hell’s going on?!’ ”
Here’s what’s been going on: To support her first
album, the bass-thumping When We All Fall Asleep,
Where Do We Go? (which debuted at No. 1 on the Bill-
board 200 in April), Eilish embarked on a world tour.
Her creeping, minimalistic singles continued to pop up
on the Hot 100; at one point, 14 of her tracks coexisted
on the chart. How has the explosion in popularity
changed Eilish as an artist? “My stage presence has
probably been the biggest difference,” she says. “When
I watch videos of when I was starting out, I thought [at
the time] I was going full out and crazy, but now I’m like,
‘Oh, I literally was just standing there.’ I feel so comfort-
able performing now and so happy and blissed out.”
She might feel at peace on stage, but Eilish is still
combating the reality of her success. “I thought it
would end,” says the singer, nominated for six Gram-
mys, including Best New Artist. “I didn’t think then
that people would still give a f--- about me two years
later.” They seem to give quite a few—no matter what
day of the week it is. —Ruth Kinane
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
n
REGI A
She star ted 2019 WRITTEN BY Night in Miami. “My agent called
SARAH RODMAN
by winning an @SarahARodman
and said, ‘They’re going to roll with
Oscar. She ended you, they don’t want to see anybody
i t kicking whi te- else,’ ” she recalls before launching
supremacist ass on into a series of big grins, shoulder
HBO’s Watchmen. shimmies, fist pumps, and a slide
All hail the King. down in her chair. The 49-year-old
L.A. native sits up with a laugh and
says reassuringly, “It was my driv-
ing version of that. I did pull over. I
can say it now, I was like, ‘If I don’t
win the motherf---ing Oscar, that is
okay. I’m about to do a film.’ ”
REGINA KING D OES A L IT TL E CHAIR Boyz n the Hood and Ray, to her In perhaps the world’s best
dance when she recalls her peak indelible voice work on The Boon- having-cake/eating-it-too scenario
2019 moment. It is minimal in docks and Emmy-winning turns imaginable, King nabbed that mofo
movement, but radiantly joyful, on prestige dramas like American for her steely and anguished turn
her recollection suffused with an Crime—it may not be the moment as the mother of Tish, whose boy-
endearing mixture of pride, incre- you think it is. friend is erroneously incarcerated,
dulity, and childlike giddiness. A few weeks before the Oscars, in If Beale Street Could Talk. And it
If you have followed the actress- King—who has amassed a clutch of just got better from there, with her
director’s distinguished career— television directing credits, includ- deservedly buzzed-about perfor-
from her formative years spent on ing Insecure and This Is Us—had mance as Tulsa police detective
the hit sitcom 227, to the long list PHOTOGRAPHS BY just met with producers about Angela Abar (a.k.a. Sister Night) on
of memorable roles in movies like JAMES MACARI helming her first feature film, One HBO’s Watchmen, the provocative
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
(PREVIOUS SPREAD) DRESS: VALENTINO; EARRINGS: ANNA SHEFFIELD; RINGS: ERINNESS AND STATE PROPERTY; (THIS PAGE) DRESS AND GLOVES: LOUIS VUITTON; EARRINGS: SARA WEINSTOCK
(PHOTO SHOOT) STYLING: WAYMAN & MICAH/STARWORKS ARTISTS; HAIR: YVETTE SHELTON; MAKEUP: LATRICE JOHNSON; SET DESIGN; ABRAHAM LATHAM/ART DEPARTMENT;
series from Damon Lindelof that JAN. 2020 she brings to every role no matter
P_42
picks up the action in the world of how elegant or gritty—are intrinsi-
the beloved graphic novel three cally hers.
decades later. She is excited to pour all of
After appearing on the show- that into directing One Night in
runner’s The Leftovers, King was Miami, which is still in the early
down to suit up again for him. both real and fictional American stages. Based on the play of the
“[Lindelof ] had the script deliv- history—with regards to white same name by Kemp Powers, it
ered with a lovely note, saying that supremacy is still astonishing to imagines what happened when
he sees me as this and would I take King. Plus, she loves kicking ass. Muhammad Ali (then Cassius
this ride with him,” she recalls on a “It is so much fun,” she says, which Clay), Sam Cooke, Malcolm X, and
recent Sunday morning during her is part of why she enjoys telling NFL star Jim Brown holed up in
EW cover shoot. “I started reading people her age. “I’m waiting until the Florida city following Ali’s
the pilot and five pages in I was I’m damn near 50 to be a super- triumph over Sonny Liston. While
like, ‘Oh, oh, he’s going here? Black hero. What?” she loves acting, a lifetime spent
Wall Street?’ ” she says of the har- Given her impressive (and on sets made her want more.
rowing opening scene depicting impressively consistent) résumé, it “If the pinnacle was just to win
the 1921 Tulsa massacre. “I had to seems plausible that King was bit- an Oscar, then that’s kind of sad,”
just sit with that for a second ten by a radioactive Cicely Tyson says King. “The award is great,
because it had been something and Pam Grier in some bizarre but nine times out of 10, that is
that my sister and I, for a long community-theater/science-proj- usually not the reason the person
time, had been like, ‘Why hasn’t ect mishap as a child. But her set out to express their art in a
this story been told?’ ” superpowers—empathetic eyes, public way.” She laughs, then clar-
That Watchmen went there— finely attuned BS meter, and that ifies: “By no means am I saying,
and several places beyond in air of around-the-way-girl realness ‘Hey, you could take it back.’ ” �
EDDIE MURPHY
by WE SLE Y SNIPE S
Af ter almost a decade of f the radar, the

comedian, 58, emerged with a riotous
performance in Dolemite Is My Name
I auditioned for the first I’d characterize it more

Coming to America, but I like riding along, and, in
didn’t get to audition in some cases, hanging on.
front of Eddie. After three If you watch his films over
callbacks, I ended up los- the years, you can tell
ing the role to Eriq La that a lot of the comedi-
Salle. But ever since I saw ans have a residue of
that movie, I’ve wanted to Eddie’s style, and I think
work with Eddie. Director it’s even the same for
Craig Brewer gave me
the pitch on Dolemite and
some of us actors from
that era. He’s so great Margaret
At wood
passed the message that that you pick up little
Eddie had suggested me things, maybe it’s timing
[for a role] and I thought or a little look. Eddie can
that was pretty cool. I convey the subtleties and
Over 30 years after The Handmaid’s Tale,
told Craig, “Any opportu- humor in life and mater-
nity for me to be down ialize our inner thoughts. the 80-year-old author blessed us with
with this, I am in.” He can say everything a best-selling sequel, The Testaments
Working with Eddie was that we wish we had the
surreal, joyful, hilarious, nerve to say. —As told
Congrats on The Testa- just making it up, because
and, at times, a little to Derek Lawrence
ments tying for the you can’t actually remem-
scary. You know he lives
Snipes stars in Netflix’s Booker Prize this year. ber that much about how
in the world of funny and
Dolemite Is My Name and People my age usually you wrote things. Unless
you want to at least be will reunite with Murphy don’t get on those kinds you’re a much better
in the room. I don’t know for the upcoming Coming to of lists because “Been organized person than I
if it was toe-to-toe.... America sequel.
there, done that. You’ve am. [My process] is skiing
won too many things down a hill. When you’re
already.” So it’s very nice skiing down a hill, you’re
of them. I expect I am trying not to fall over—
representing the Old and you’re making a lot
Biddy Cohort, which is of unconscious decisions
shrinking by the minute. automatically. You’re
not thinking about them
How did you decide it was because if you do, you
time to write a sequel? will fall over.
Have you ever been swim-
ming in a very cold lake? What do you hope
You put your foot in, you people will remember
take your foot out. You about your work?
think, “Am I really gonna It’s kind of not my busi-
do this?” And then you ness to decide the legacy
have to run in screaming. of The Handmaid’s Tale.
It’s the author’s job to
Has your writing process make the book in the
changed over time? best way that they can. If
Here’s a deep dark secret you don’t want people
that I’m going to share interpreting it, don’t pub-
with you: Everybody who lish it. Because once you
E W. C O M
goes on about their writ- publish it, it’s not yours
P_43 ing process is probably anymore. —Seija Rankin
2019 Enter tainers T H E R E ’ S A R U N N I N G J O K E T H AT
of the Year Taika Waititi can sleep anywhere.

Photos exist of the Thor: Ragnarok
director passed out in the unlikeli-
est places, from reclining in his
daughter’s stroller to curling up en
route to Comic-Con, the Kiwi fill-
ing in a Chris Hemsworth–Tom
Hiddleston sandwich.
His exhaustion is understand-
able: When Waititi, 44, is awake,
he’s practically vibrating with
energy. Upon arriving at EW’s
photo shoot in Los Angeles, he
starts cracking jokes, singing
Led Zeppelin, and contorting his
body into increasingly ridiculous
T IKA
a poses—anything for a laugh. He
doesn’t stop moving until the cam-
eras are put away; then he collapses
on a couch, falling limp like a robot
that’s been deactivated. “I like to
draw so much attention to myself
WRITTEN BY
DEVAN COGGAN
@devancoggan
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
The multihyphenate JAMES MACARI
has lampooned
vampires and
superheroes. Now
he leaps to star-
dom in Jojo Rabbit,
a lauded satire
he both headlines
and helms.
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
in social spaces,” he explains,

laughing. “I want to be seen. I’m
like, me me me me! But when I’m
alone, I’m so exhausted by that
that I basically just shut my mouth
and stare into space.”
Waititi’s 2019 has been his most
exhausting yet: The filmmaker had
a hand in the Star Wars spin-off
series The Mandalorian and the
What We Do in the Shadows TV
reboot, and earned Oscar buzz
for the World War II satire Jojo
Rabbit, about a boy (Roman Griffin
Davis) and his imaginary friend
Adolf Hitler (played by Waititi
himself ). “To me, it’s about making
decisions that surprise myself,” he
says. “To go, ‘Why would I do
that?’ ” Since Waititi has made a
career out of upending traditional
origin stories—for everyone from
Norse gods to Nazis—we break
down his own here.
The DIY Director Waititi sur-

prised himself by even becoming a
director in the first place. Raised in
New Zealand by a single mother, he
grew up wanting to be a painter, and
in his 20s started staging comedy
plays with Flight of the Conchords’
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKen-
zie. “Usually it was because no one
would hire us for fancy plays that
actors all love doing,” he explains.
“So we’d just write our own s---ty
versions.” He eventually began
directing his own films, soon earn-
ing an Oscar nod for his 2004 short
Two Cars, One Night. He found a
global audience with the vampire
mockumentary What We Do in the
Shadows (co-directed with Clem-
ent) in 2014 and Hunt for the
Wilderpeople two years later.
R e i n v e n t i n g t h e B l o c k-
buster Marvel took notice of his
vision and recruited Waititi to
breathe life into its Thor franchise
with 2017’s neon apocalyptic com-
edy Thor: Ragnarok. Since then,
studios have lined up to work with
him, resulting in the Shadows TV
show and his gig on The Mandalo-
rian. (He’s also making another
Thor.) Each of Waititi’s projects is
wildly different, but they all show-
case his trademark blend of zany
laughs and emotional gut-punches,
tackling themes like grief and
trauma alongside jokes about
revolutionary rock aliens. “I love
ridiculous comedy,” he says. “I
want to see comedy that’s so
(PHOTO SHOOT) STYLING: JEANNE YANG AND CHLOE TAKAYANAGI/THE WALL GROUP; GROOMING: SU HAN/ORIBE/DEW BEAUTY AGENCY; SET DESIGN; ABRAHAM LATHAM/ART DEPARTMENT;
dumb—but also comedy where

you’re forced to think.”
Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat
TAY L O R S W I F T
Waititi tackled his biggest tonal E W. C O M
P _ 47
challenge yet with Jojo Rabbit, a
sometimes silly, sometimes sweet
story of Nazi Germany. Although
by BRENDON URIE
the film’s anti-hate message felt
tailor-made for 2019, Waititi first
The star, 30, had one of the year’s biggest
started writing it in 2010, after
records, launched her own music festival,
his mom introduced him to the
and continued to fight for artists’ rights
novel Caging Skies. He initially
approached it as a drama, and he
T-SHIRT: COTTON CITIZEN; PANTS: OFFICINE GENERALE; SHOES: GREATS; (THIS PAGE) SUIT: ETRO; SHIRT: PAUL SMITH
tinkered with the script for years I’d been a fan of Taylor’s her choice of melodies
before Fox Searchlight offered to for years. When “We against certain chords.
help make it—if Waititi would play Are Never Ever Getting What she writes is
the imaginary Hitler. He hesitated Back Together” came so honest, and it shines
to say yes, not because he didn’t out, I’d play [it] whenever through the lyrics’ mar
want the part but because he an acoustic guitar was riage to the melodies.
around. Still do. We met I’m [also] not sure if
worried about whether he, a half-
for the first time to people realize what
Maori, half-Jewish man, was white
record my parts for “ME!” a clever sense of humor
enough. “I’m probably, like, the Taylor greeted me with she has. I’m amazed
most Mediterranean-looking the warmest hug. I at her command of
Hitler there’s ever been,” he says, remember being sick as a room using humor. I’d
pointing at his face and pulling off hell and her being so say that the most
his hat to release a tangle of gray kind about me coughing admirable thing about
curls. Detractors say Jojo pokes everywhere. I swear my Taylor is her kindness.
fun at a serious subject, but Waititi health got better imm Amidst all of the chaos
counters that laughter can be an ediately after. I made that comes with her
a voice memo the night level of success, she
effective way to combat hate. “I do
before while nursing a never lets any of it take
think comedy is often overlooked
104degree temperature her out of her element.
as a serious art form or a serious and a voice that had —As told to Alex Suskind
part of creating change,” Waititi dropped to a Barry White
says. “Comedy is a really great way Urie is the frontman of Panic! At
octave. Somehow she the Disco. He sings on Swift’s
of fighting regimes, and it always could make sense of it. single “ME!” from her platinum
has been.” � As a songwriter, I love 2019 album, Lover.
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
BRAD PITT
b y Q U E N T I N TA R A N T I N O
The star, 56, earns praise from the

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood writer-
director for two very dif ferent roles
This is just a terrific year to the scene aside from

for Brad. It couldn’t be the truth of his own per-
highlighted better by two formance. He’s constantly
roles on the opposite adding little bits of dia-
ends of the spectrum in logue and little bits of
Once Upon a Time...in business that are just
Hollywood and Ad Astra. revelatory. In the [Once]
[Once’s] Cliff Booth is scene where he and Leo
this terrific performance are watching the show
where it’s completely FBI? That’s just Brad,
lived-in, completely that’s just him watching
authentic, but you also the scene and comment-
want to be him. Most guys ing on it. He likes my
LIL NAS X
watch the movie and they scripts and everything,
go, Oh, I just want to be but usually he’ll have this
that guy. He’s, like, the idea to throw an extra
f---ing coolest guy! And line in or an extra moment
b y R YA N T E D D E R then you watch the per- in, and if you don’t like
formance he gives in Ad it, he’ll drop it the next
Astra, which is completely take. But you don’t listen
A salute to the meme-loving, cowboy-
interior, and where most to him at your own peril.
repping, record-breaking newcomer, 20,
of his dialogue is done —As told to Clark Collis
behind the ubiquitous “Old Town Road”
through his voice-over
Tarantino’s films have
narration, yet at the same
garnered five Oscar wins.
time he carries the entire
I won’t say who, but I had They kept introducing He directed Pitt in Once
film on his shoulders. Upon a Time…in Hollywood
people in my world of new features, new collabs,
Brad truly contributes and Inglourious Basterds.
A&R and writer-producers a new video. And he was
say, “Why are you doing on his social media seven
a session with Lil Nas X? days a week, 10 times a
It’s [a] one-hit wonder.” day: “Old Town Road,”
My response was “I don’t “Old Town Road,” “Old Town
know how to explain it, Road.” I love how irrever-
but something about ent and honest he is. He
what this guy’s doing is doesn’t take himself too
smart.” He’s figured out seriously, which I think
that memes will rule is a breath of fresh air in
the universe. So yes, it’s an era of artists that
about the song. The are so edgy and so dark.
song was great, period. If Lil Nas X was on NASDAQ,
And I would argue with I would be very bullish
anybody until I’m blue in on that stock and would
the face that it’s a unicorn bet long, because I think
record. The dude took that he’s so much savvier
two or three genres, than anybody gives him
mashed them together, credit for. —As told to
and the lyric is great. S arah Rodman
But one of the smartest
Grammy-winning songwriter-
moves he [and his record producer Tedder is the frontman
company] made is they for OneRepublic. He worked with E W. C O M
let the hit be the hit. Lil Nas X on his debut EP, 7. P_49
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
z
LI ZO
The rapp er-singer- WRITTEN BY LIZZO HAS A MOUTHFUL OF DIA-
LEAH GREENBLATT monds. It’s edible glitter, actually,
flau tist just to ok @Leahbats
a DNA te st . Turns painstakingly applied to her tongue
ou t she’s the by an obliging makeup artist as light
most signif icant spills in from the high, winter-
ar tist of 2019. bright windows of a Manhattan
photo studio. But it still feels like a
nice metaphor for the past year in
the life of the artist born Melissa
Viviane Jefferson—one that saw her
spend seven weeks atop the Hot 100
with the sleeper smash “Truth
Hurts,” storm festival stages from
Coachella to Glastonbury, earn a
pack-leading eight Grammy nods
(for more on that, head to page 78),
and almost single-handedly redeem
the staid reputation of a certain
small woodwind. (If “twerking flau-
tist” had any history as an internet
search term before she came along,
it was a vanishingly small one.)
Please, just don’t call her an
PHOTOGRAPHS BY overnight success. “Everybody says
JAMES MACARI that and I’m like, ‘It took 10 years to
get to this point!’ ” the 31-year-old

Detroit native tells EW, lounging
on a long gray couch in a plush
hooded sweatshirt and Chanel
slides. “Mainstream success hap-
pens very fast, and that’s why
people think it’s overnight.… But
it’s cool, y’all are going to discover
my discography, dig deeper,” she
says with a laugh. “You’re gonna see
some pictures of me back when I
was wearing $20 wigs.”
It is fair to say it wasn’t very long
ago—before the radio saturation
of “Truth Hurts” and “Juice” and
“Good as Hell,” the spangled
cameo alongside J. Lo and Cardi B
in the hit film Hustlers, the collab-
orations with Justin Timberlake
and Missy Elliott, the ubiquitous
Absolut ads that find her twirling
in a strawberry-print bikini—that
Lizzo Inc. was still a comparatively
DIY operation. More than a decade
spent hustling in Houston and
then Minneapolis as a member of
various R&B-oriented groups only
honed her ambition, if not her
bank account.
So did a childhood where, she
recalls, “I read a lot. I wanted to be
a scientist or an astronomer, and
then I wanted to write, like, the
Great American Novel. I spent a lot
of time in my room. I had a very,
very vivid imagination, and I think
that is the thing that helped bring
out the performer in me.” If it’s
hard to square visions of that little
indoor cat with the brash, tongue-
wagging glamazon showcased on
her wildly popular Instagram
(@lizzobeeating, 6.6 million fol-
lowers and counting), the singer is
happy to disabuse the idea that
fame came easy or friction-free.
Scattered throughout the high-
light reel of her seemingly
unfiltered life—a whirl of awards
shows, avocado-print panties, and
outrageous memes—are moments
of stark vulnerability, and exhaus-
tion, too. Above all, she’s unfailingly
honest about the struggle it
sometimes takes to maintain her
designated crown as the queen of
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
body positivity: “I try to be as real E W. C O M

P_53
as I can on the internet, because
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the thing that people liked about

me in the first place is that I’m TMI.
So if I want to send a picture of my
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ass on my story or lay in a tub of

Skittles naked and post it on my
grid, it’s so cool that I have the
power to do that.” Still, she clarifies, Keanu
Reeves
“self-love isn’t being delusional.…
Every day I have to remind myself
to look in the physical mirror, the
emotional mirror, the spiritual
Perennial internet crush Reeves, 55
mirror. But I don’t go, ‘Do I look
and thriving, had one swoonworthy
like this model or this actress?’ I
moment after another in 2019
have to hold myself to my own
standards. So am I the Lizzo that I
looked like last year when I was on March 20 / BILL & May 31 / A ROM-COM CAMEO
my juice cleanse and working out TED 3 ANNOUNCES LIFTOFF Ali Wong and Randall
six times a week with my trainer? Thirty years after the Park’s Netflix delight
bodacious original, Always Be My Maybe
No. But am I a bad bitch? Yes!”
rad news of Bill & Ted zinged the zeitgeist
If her truths are more nuanced
Face the Music con- with a wild cameo from
than social media leaves room for, firmed that Reeves and Reeves as a vilifiable
and the realities of her day-to-day Alex Winter will return version of himself (that,
life infinitely more complicated, to the Circle K for even frankly, made him no
it’s still a message that resonates stranger things afoot. less attractive).
across a wide swath of fans—from
the junior-high band geeks who April 27 / KEANUCON IS June 9 / UPPING HIS GAME
celebrate what she’s done for their BORN The world’s first After appearing in Fort-
instrument (“The flute community Keanu film festival nite, Reeves doubled
(to not unofficially take down on his pixelated
is loud and proud,” she hoots) to the
place in an EW staff presence by crashing
middle-aged dads who dance like
member’s basement) an E3 press conference
nobody’s watching at her shows. celebrated the movie to announce his role
And she is ready to bring 100 per- star’s versatile career as part-cyborg Johnny
cent that bliss: “There’s a lot of with a two-day con- Silverhand in the video-
anxiety in society. I’ve suffered vention in Scotland. game Cyberpunk 2077.
from it, and it’s awful, it’s debilitat-
ing, I know what that feels like,” she May 17 / A WICK TO REMEM- June 21 / KEANU GOES
says, shifting forward in her seat. BER The sleeper success CABOOM Reeves stole
“And now I think there’s a new wave of puppy-protecting the animated show in
hitman John Wick con- Toy Story 4 as Duke
of people just leaning towards seek-
tinued in cinemas with Caboom, an audacious
ing joy…. The apex of positivity, I
the record-breaking Canadian daredevil with
don’t know where it is, but I hope threequel John Wick: a tragic Canadian past
this is just the beginning because I Chapter 3—Parabellum, who broke new ground
got more.” She leans back again, which was as intense in mustache represen-
cackling. “There is a lot more where in action as it was in tation among action
that came from.” � punctuation. figures. —Marc Snetiker
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
s
SUCCES ION
Jeremy S trong, WRITTEN BY sits next to him, eating pistachios.
KRISTEN BALDWIN
Kieran Culkin, and @KristenGBaldwin
Suddenly Culkin begins vigor-
Sarah Sno ok ously brushing pistachio detritus
are not f il thy rich from his clothes. Sarah Snook,
a**hole s—they 32, known to fans as cunning
just play them commitment-phobe (and Logan’s
really well on T V only daughter) Shiv, watches,
repressing a giggle.
Strong pauses. “We’re all our
J E R E M Y ST R O N G I S T RY I N G TO SAY PHOTOGRAPHS BY characters,” he notes with a smile.
something serious. The actor, 41, JAMES MACARI Not really, but EW’s chat with the
who stars as Succession’s hangdog stars of Succession proved to be
antihero Kendall Roy, is giving a almost as fun as watching the show.
thoughtful answer about the HBO
drama’s storytelling. Strong says In season 2, the show went from
showrunner Jesse Armstrong— cult hit to full-fledged phenome-
who created the dark and soapy non. What was the fan reaction like
saga about media mogul Logan for you in 2019?
Roy (Brian Cox) and his highly People just shout at me
K I E RA N C U L K I N
ambitious offspring—is “weaving on the street. They did that a little
a tapestry” with a “corporate back- after season 1, like, “Oh, you’re on
drop” but high “emotional stakes.” that show.” Now they know the
← (Clockwise from As Strong talks, Kieran Culkin, 37, name of the show, and they yell it at
left) Jeremy Strong,
Kieran Culkin,
who plays Logan’s youngest son me. I had a guy yell, “You’re an ass-
and Sarah Snook and Roy family jester Roman, hole” while I was walking with my
2019 Enter tainers

of the Year
pregnant wife. It’s like, “You should theory was that all the kids were in
know me in real life, I’m an absolute on Kendall’s decision [in the finale].
prick. But this woman thinks I’m
nice, so let’s keep the facade.” Is Brian Cox as scary in real life as
S A R A H S N O O K If people have come to he is on screen?
it before their friends, there’s a per- CULKIN Brian is a big, cuddly teddy
sonal ownership there. My favorite bear. But when the scene starts and
is when [fans say], “Nobody he’s Logan, he can be terrifying.
watches, but I’m telling my friends S T R O N G He’s a heavyweight cham-
to watch it.” Like, “Thanks?” pion. He possesses something
J E R E M Y S T R O N G It is odd. There were when you’re in a scene with him
people dressed as us for Halloween. that is sort of primal and actually
SNOOK Wearing the “LOG” shirt. dangerous. Most of the great actors
S T R O N G I wear that jersey for Ken- have that. He’s the best scene part-
dall’s rap [in season 2’s episode 8, ner you could ask for.
“Dundee”]. That wasn’t called for
[in the script]. I was sitting in our There are really funny moments this
hotel and I sketched [the jersey] season. Were there scenes you
and texted it to our costume guys had trouble getting through?
designer [Michelle Matland]. She SNOOK The chicken power-play
had one made, and now people scene. When Matthew [Macfadyen,
wear it for Halloween! That’s crazy. who plays Shiv’s husband, Tom]
picks the chicken off of Logan’s
Have you met any famous fans of plate and eats it, that was really dif-
the show? ficult for me to shoot.
STRONG I know that [Steven] Spiel- CULKIN I watched that scene 12 times,
berg is a big fan of it. I’m working maybe 13. I missed the next 10 min-
on a thing with him now, and he utes of the show because I ended
came to set the other day and all he up on the floor in tears.
could talk about was…
CULKIN …was Kieran Culkin. We need to discuss the rap. What
STRONG …was the finale. was your first reaction when you
saw it on the page?
Speaking of, the finale delivered STRONG They didn’t see it on the page,
another huge twist. Did it come as and they didn’t see it until we did it
a shock to any of you? on camera. I asked the director
STRONG Last September I had a call [Kevin Bray], “Can we shoot them
with Jesse, and he started by telling seeing it for the first time, as well as
me where the season ends. me doing it for the first time?” So
S N O O K So you knew the whole time? their responses, which are the best
Oh my God! part of it, are genuine.
C U L K I N There are some funny fan S N O O K Shiv’s scripted response was
theories [about the finale]. I’ve completely different from what my
been taking general [business] actual response was. She was meant
meetings and finding out halfway to be, like, arms crossed, sort of
through, “Oh, the only reason you “Someone tell this guy to stop,” but
wanted this meeting is so you can I could not stop laughing.
geek out about the show.” I had one STRONG We had to do it a lot of times.
where the guy’s friends had a the- C U L K I N But it never ceased to make
ory that he thought was bulls---. me be like, “Oh my God, stop!” �
When he told me [their theory],
I said, “Yeah, that’s bulls---.” He
goes, “Do you mind if I get a video
of you saying it’s bulls---?” So I took
a video and I left, and I was like, JAN. 2020
“Oh, I feel like such a whore.” His P_56
LOUBOUTIN; SNOOK’S MAKEUP: NANCY SILER/JUICE BEAUTY/ART DEPARTMENT; HAIR: HELEN REAVEY/MANAGEMENT ARTISTS; MANICURE: ROSEANN SINGLETON/ART DEPARTMENT; DRESS: MONSE; EARRINGS: CHOPARD; BRACELET: BVLGARI; NECKLACE: PIAGET; TIGHTS: WOLFORD;
(PHOTO SHOOT) STYLING: JASON REMBERT/THE WALL GROUP; STRONG’S GROOMING: MELISSA DEZARATE/THE WALL GROUP; BLAZER AND SHIRT: GUCCI; PANTS: VALENTINO; CULKIN’S GROOMING: BENJAMIN THIGPEN/STATEMENT ARTISTS; SUIT: TOM FORD; SHOES: CHRISTIAN
S terling K.
Brown
The This Is Us MVP, 43, reflects on
his other notable roles, in Waves, The
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Frozen 2
SET DESIGN: SHARI ANLAUF/ATELIER MANAGEMENT; (THIS PAGE) SNOOK'S DRESS: DOLCE AND GABBANA; EARRINGS AND RINGS: DE GRISOGONO
This Is Us Fans finally exhaled when Randall (Brown)

resolved tensions with wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson).
“It was really touching to realize just how invested peo-
ple were in this marriage,” says Brown. “All the relation-
ship goals that people would bestow upon us became
even more realized because they had to fight for it.”
Waves Brown shines in this potent indie drama as a

tough-loving, walled-off father who seeks reconnection
after his son (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) spirals out of control.
“Through that loss, he recognizes that there has to be
another way to be with your children.… Thank God, if
there has to be tragedy, at least there’s some learning
that transpires in the midst of that tragedy.”
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Brown guest-stars as

Reggie, fierce manager of Shy Baldwin (LeRoy McClain).
“There’s something about being the guard dog that I
find very satisfying. I have people like that in my life,
so it was an opportunity for me to pay homage.”
Frozen 2 The sequel opened up its world with Brown’s

loyal Lieutenant Mattias. “[Screenwriter] Jennifer
[Lee] wrote something so incredibly nuanced and
thought-provoking. When you take a second to exam-
ine whose version of history you are digesting, you
realize that it can’t be objective.” —Dan Snierson
INSIDE THE This probably goes without saying,

but spoilers abound ahead.
reached his own finale in April’s
Avengers: Endgame, and yet
YEAR WHEN Downey’s face was everywhere
EVERYTHING YO U D I E , O R YO U G E T A G R E AT three months later in Spider-Man:
ENDED promotion. That’s the message

pop culture sent in 2019, as
Far From Home. The fandom for
Hollywood franchises has gone
beloved franchises climaxed into religious, so the narratives them-
BY DARREN FRANICH self-sacrifice and authority. HBO’s selves embrace a messianic mode.
@DARRENFRANICH Game of Thrones killed two queens Luke Skywalker is dead…and
and crowned two Starks. Three there’s Mark Hamill talking in the
people on Veep were elected presi- Rise of Skywalker trailer.
dent, and they share presidential This strange year ended a
status with one long-running sur- strange decade. Is that why so
vivor from The Walking Dead. many ongoing stories were con-
The comic that launched a TV cluding on a weekly basis? Maybe
megafranchise ended with a flash- it’s just a numbers game: more
forward full of grand political shows, more finales. Pray for the
destinies. Future America, it turns poor viewer with complex taste
out, builds a giant statue monu- who loved Broad City, Elementary,
ment to sainted brain-smasher Orange Is the New Black, You’re
Rick Grimes. That Lincoln-worthy the Worst, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,
memorial looks shoddy compared Into the Badlands, Mr. Robot,
with how the Marvel Cinematic Gotham, Catastrophe, Jane the
Universe mourned Robert Virgin, The Deuce, and The OA.
Downey Jr.’s Iron Man. The hero The latter’s cancellation reiterated
Netflix’s destroyer-of-worlds sta- acters a Nobel Prize. Mainstream MOVIES last issue of the original Watchmen
tus, though you can’t blame the entertainment was always exces- graphic novel, and the blue nuclear
TV
st r e a m e r. N e w c h a l l e n g e r s sive (Worlds saved—no, galaxies! god told us much more this year
approach for smallscreen atten- Nay, universes!), and I worry his- MUSIC in HBO’s sparkling sequel series.
tion, and so 2019 was the moment tory will remember 2019 for its Watchmen’s co-creator Alan
B O OKS
for existing networks to remind strident hyperbole. Or maybe Moore probably didn’t approve of
subscribers what they’re subscrib- these endings were a collective S TA G E that return. And the writer claims
ing for. HBO finally went back to Viking funeral, making way for the riotous League of Extraordi-
GAMES
Deadwood 13 years later, and new storytellers. In the pages nary Gentlemen: The Tempest
Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman ahead, EW’s critics praise the work PODCASTS series, which concluded in July,
returned six years after Breaking of Jordan Peele, Sally Rooney, marks the end of his comics career.
Bad to drive harder. Meanwhile, Billie Eilish, the Safdie brothers, I don’t believe him, either. I give it
Netflix wrapped its superhero Lizzo, Lulu Wang, and Florence seven years before Downey is back
spin-off showcase with Jessica Pugh. They come from different as Iron Man—time travel, alter-
Jones season 3. And that wasn’t generations and different back- nate reality, Skrulls—and a couple
even the only Marvel universe that grounds, and you’d forgive any of of spin-offs before HBO begs the
ended this year! Dark Phoenix them if they couldn’t name more thirtysomething Starks back to
was the last stand for Fox ’s than a couple Van Halen songs. Westeros. It’s become weirdly
X-Men, now that Disney has Phoebe Waller-Bridge fore- conventional for people to assume
absorbed the mutants into their fronts 2019’s newish class, and the Illustrations by the world will end in their lifetime.
kyle hilton
Magic Kingdom. multiple Emmy winner says she Don’t believe that, either. Our
You didn’t spot much modesty probably won’t do another season great-grandkids will be complain-
in these finalities. The Big Bang of Fleabag. Respectfully: I don’t ing that Disney couldn’t just leave
Theory was relatively subdued, believe her. “Nothing ever ends,” things alone with the obviously
merely giving two main char- Doctor Manhattan told us in the perfect ending in Toy Story 15. �
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 5 9
BEST & WORST 2019
1 0 B E S T F I L M S
B Y L E A H G R E E N B L AT T
2 3 4
ONCE UPON A TIME... MARRIAGE STORY THE LAST BLACK
IN HOLLYWOOD Directed by MAN IN SAN
Directed by Noah Baumbach FRANCISCO
Quentin Tarantino — Directed by
— Adam Driver and Joe Talbot
Overstuffed? Scarlett Johansson —
Absolutely. But it’s come together and Jimmie (Jimmie
nearly impossible then fall quietly, Fails) attempts to
not to love every spectacularly reclaim his child-
starry, shaggy apart in Baum- hood home; really,
minute of Taranti- bach’s heart- though, Talbot’s
no’s wild California wrecking divorce lush, lyrical swoon
rumpus, easily the drama, a story of a movie is as
richest work of that hits every much about real
his career—and the note with the pure estate as Citizen
most tender, too. clarity of a bell. Kane is about a sled.
5 6 7
JOJO RABBIT MIDSOMMAR THE FAREWELL
Directed by Directed by Directed by
Taika Waititi Ari Aster Lulu Wang
— — —
Watching the guy Existential horror The pleasures of
who brought you laid out to bake in the Wang’s wry, gently
Thor: Ragnarok flowered fields and subversive dram-
unleash his loony midnight sunshine edy aren’t just in
Hitler fantasia on of a Swedish death knowing it’s true—
the world (while cult, Aster’s follow- she based the story
playing the Führer up to last year’s stel- on her relationship
himself, no less) lar Hereditary might with her own termi-
was one of the also be the best nally ill grandma—
year’s daffiest, metaphor for a terri- but in all the tiny
sweetest, and most ble breakup ever perfect moments
unexpected joys. committed to film. it accrues.
8 9 10
UNCUT GEMS AMAZING GRACE US
Directed by Benny Directed by Alan Directed by
and Josh Safdie Elliott and Sydney Jordan Peele
— Pollack —
PAR ASITE Adam Sandler has
done Serious Actor
—
Lost for years
If he hadn’t already
made Get Out, this
business before, in the vaults and could be Peele’s
Dire cte d by B ong Jo on Ho but never quite plagued by legal masterwork:
like this; his turn troubles, this raw the kind of movie
Rich man, poor man; hero and villain; host as a reckless Man- chronicle of Aretha whose meta winks
hattan jeweler in Franklin’s 1972 and jump scares
and parasite. Whatever presumptions the the Safdie broth- gospel sessions are mere pretext
1 viewer brings into Bong Joon Ho’s thrilling,
ers’ electrifying
drama is a kinetic,
is so much more
than a concert
for all the brilliant
ideas and allusions
close-to-the- doc; it’s some- crammed inside
eviscerating drama (or is it a horror com- bone thrill ride. thing close to God. his magpie mind. PARASITE: NEON; JOJO RABBIT: KIMBERLEY FRENCH/FOX SEARCHLIGHT
edy?) will be left pulverized and forgotten on the

cineplex floor. That’s how brilliantly confounding the ↓ Jojo’s Roman Griffin Davis, Taika Waititi, and Scarlett Johansson
director’s high-style exploration of two families—one

smug and wealthy, the other broke and wily—is. But for
all its cool-eyed commentary on the vagaries of class,
the movie has a heart and soulfulness to it that few other
films could match this year. Kim patriarch Ki-taek
(Song Kang Ho, above) isn’t just a man willing to lie and
cheat to feed his family; he’s a wounded lion, stubborn
and proud. The film, too, is its own kind of fantastic
beast: shrewd, unnerving, and utterly unforgettable.

BEST & WORST 2019
G R E AT
RMAN
R FO C
E E
S
P
D ia n e
G R E AT D E B AT E Guer rero
The Year’s Most D O O M PAT R O L
Divisive Season 1 of the DC Universe

streaming drama Doom Patrol
featured Nazi puppets, a stampede
Literary Ending of human butts, and a sentient

genderqueer teleporting street
block named Danny. But the most
Trust Exercise may be racking up awards, arresting element was Diane
but its twisty structure has split readers. Guerrero’s performance as Crazy
EW critics David Canfield and Leah Greenblatt Jane, a woman with 64 different
weigh what worked and what didn’t. personalities—each with a
different superpower. “The biggest
challenge was developing each
DAV I D CA N F I E L D VS L E A H G R E E N B L AT T persona as its own character,”
Guerrero says of the role, which
The debate around Susan Choi’s I love a twist! The bombshell turns required her to oscillate from the
Trust Exercise seems to focus on in the final pages of Colson White- Stepford-wife-like personality
intent. Is she trying to pull a fast head’s The Nickel Boys and Taffy Karen to the aggressive, take-no-
one on readers, veering from Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is prisoners Hammerhead and many
theater-arts high school melo- in Trouble were two of my favorite more—often in a single shot. “This
drama into something much more literary bait and switches this young girl was abused and suffered
meta, and then later, revisionist? year. But I did feel a little bluffed trauma, so how do we keep her
Does she earn the right to repeat- out by Choi’s narrative choices in safe? That’s all the personas’ goal.”
edly upend each detail in the novel Trust (oh, the levels of Alanis Though less grounded in reality
readers thought to be real or true? Morissette irony in that title). than her other 2019 projects
I’d argue yes. The book offers its So we have the story of two Can you guess Orange Is the New Black and Jane
surface pleasures: an evocative smitten teenagers in Texas circa what these the Virgin, Doom Patrol’s story of
things have in
portrait of adolescence to start, a the mid-’80s, maybe, and their common? freaks and outcasts battling the
(Answers at
mournful meditation on memory charismatic teacher. Or do we, is bottom of page.)
“Bureau of Normalcy” also hada
and friendships to follow. Its late the jackknife thrown at us halfway political message. “The Bureau is
COREY NICKOLS/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES
COMMON
#MeToo turn seems a bit tacked through, and it’s not an unclever all those institutions telling us we
K N OW L E D G E ?
on, but its provocations feel right one. But it does feel a little bit like a just need to accept the way things
↓
for a 2019 book about adults, stu- dirty and maybe unnecessary trick: are: terrible gun laws, kids in cages,
dents, and power; a bit of righteous Yes, truth is subjective; yes, we all Little Women women relinquishing rights to their
—
rage coursing through a story in write our own realities. And yes, Booksmart bodies,” Guerrero explains. “We’re
which its author wields gonzo con- Choi writes hers way better than — saying, ‘No. There are other ways
Someone Great
fidence. She offers something to most. But I’d like to be trusted, too, — that we could all be happy and live
argue about, complex and pre- to find my own honest way into a Hustlers in different ways like Danny the
—
scient. That’s worth treasuring. story—from page 1, not 133. Late Night Street and Jane.’ ” —CHRISTIAN HOLUB
ANSWER → Films about women directed by women

EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 6 1
BEST & WORST 2019
Live 1 BRANDI CARLILE

2
ROBYN ON THE
3
ROSALÍA AT
Wires COVERING JONI

MITCHELL’S BLUE
HONEY TOUR
—
COACHELLA
—
— It wasn’t a set of The type of per-
Faithful covers of classic The singer- shows so much formance that
albums, new artists songwriter trium- as a multisensory makes festival
phantly capped experience that organizers regret
becoming pop stars,
a year of spectac- posed questions their decision
beloved singers returning ular tributes—from like: Have you to place a singer
to the stage. Here’s a Chris Cornell to really lived until so far down the
ranking of the eight best Dolly Parton—with you’ve seen the lineup poster. For
live performances of 2019. a note-perfect, pop star writhe 55 minutes, Span-
by joey nolfi, emotionally vast, around under a ish star Rosalía
sarah rodman & and radiantly joyful floor-to-ceiling proved her Next
performance of sheet? Wait, why Big Thing bona
alex suskind
one of her hero’s is there a sheet? fides with an
↑ Joaquina Kalukango most challenging What does it all explosive evening
and Paul Alexander Nolan masterworks. mean? In the end, set that featured
A thrilling high- questions were precision dance
wire act, she aced irrelevant—Robyn moves, gorgeous
HOW SLAVE PLAY it, with Mitchell

cheering her on.
just wanted you
to lose yourself in
singing, and playful
crowd interactions.
SHOOK BROADWAY’S —SR the music. —JN —AS
STATUS QUO
No Broadway debut in 5 6 7
PAUL McCARTNEY ERIC CHURCH’S LADY GAGA AND
2019 was as thrilling as WITH A LITTLE DOUBLE DOWN BRADLEY COOPER
that of Jeremy O. Harris, HELP FROM RINGO TOUR AT THE OSCARS
— — —
SLAVE PLAY: MATTHEW MURPHY; ROBYN: PAUL BERGEN/REDFERNS

the young playwright behind At 77, Macca con- It’s possible The reverse, one-
the season’s most talked-about, tinues to put art- no one worked take crowd shot.
ists half his age harder in 2019 The long gazes
thought-provoking new work. and younger to than the country from across the
Harris began writing Slave Play— shame with epic star, who—in sup- piano. The slightly
shows featuring port of his superb off-key yet
an electric piece about the inter- his crackerjack album Desperate charming singing
sections of race, sexuality, and band and a juke- Man—played back- by Cooper. The
box of hits. But to-back three- breathtaking
power examined through three
the final stop of his plus-hour shows windup by Gaga.
interracial couples—while still in Freshen Up tour in cities across And then, as the
grad school, and in two years it’s contained a truly North America song ends, that
fab treat: Ringo with no two set last look into each
blazed from Yale to Broadway, Starr turned up at lists exactly the other’s eyes (you
a trajectory just as dizzying to the the encore to man same, aided by know, the one that
the kit. The crowd, powerhouse made everyone
mind behind it. “It still all feels so understandably, singer Joanna think they were
deeply surreal,” says Harris. “It’s went wild for the Cotten and a dating). Aaah aaah
mini-reunion. —SR fiery band. —SR aaaah aaah. —AS
not lost on me, the opportunity
that I have to do the show…how
insane it is that a black play is on ↓ Come here, honey! Robyn on tour.
Broadway at all, let alone a black

play by a 30-year-old gay man.”
Between its rave reviews,
Slave Play has also incited heated
responses from audience mem-
bers. Harris doesn’t mind if people
call his play controversial—so long
as they don’t dismiss it. “The thing
I hear more often than anything
is ‘I haven’t stopped thinking about
this since I saw it,’ ” says Harris.
“I’m seeing a lot of young kids of
color especially being like, ‘Thank
you for giving me the language
to say the things I’ve been trying
to say for years.’ The fact is, ideas
in the play don’t stop when they
leave the threshold of the theater.”
Harris’ Twitter mentions certainly
agree. —JES SICA DERSCHOWITZ

BEST & WORST 2019
4
THE STONES
POST–MICK
HEART SURGERY
—
Mick Jagger again
spent the year
putting our work-
out routines to
shame—and this
was after the 76-
year-old under-
went heart-valve
replacement sur-
gery, which forced
the Rolling Stones
to reschedule their
tour dates. Just
over two months
later, Jagger was
back on stage
dancing, vamping,
and yelling like a
man with a new
lease on life. —AS
8
GAME OF THRONES: HELEN SLOAN/HBO; SUPERGIRL: ROBERT FALCONER/THE CW
EVERY MEGAN
THEE STALLION
CONCERT
—
Hot Girl Summer
never ended. The
24-year-old Hous-
ton native’s live ↑ Game of Thrones’ Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), queen of the night
sets have turned
into high-energy,
twerk-heavy
showcases where
the rapper dances
on stage with the
The Night That
Changed TV
stamina of an
Olympic athlete.
Just Google “Meg
Thee Stallion live
2019” and you’ll
see why fans On April 28, 2019, HBO offered a look at the
claim her knees
are actually made
best and worst instincts of modern television,
of vibranium. —AS says EW critic Darren Franich
AN HBO SERIES KNOWN FOR BOLD STORYTELLING UNLE ASHED AN ACTION-
packed mini-masterpiece. Yes, it was a perfect episode of Barry, the

hitman blood farce starring Bill Hader. In “ronny/lily,” Barry winds up
half-dead from run-ins with a weed-puffing tae kwon do master and his
Also That Night
feral daughter. Hader himself directed, mixing fight-scene tension with Dreamer (Nicole
funny-scare surrealism. You could see what was happening, which is Maines) came
out as trans in a
more than can be said for “The Long Night,” the Game of Thrones dragon- Supergirl episode
zombie showdown that aired right before. The anticipated battle episode where the heroes
faced an anti-
was one of the most expensive in TV history—and one of the worst lit. immigrant hate
The word cinematic usually gets mangled into expensive-looking when group. “I’m differ-
ent,” she said.
we talk about television, and “Long Night” was Blank-Check TV at its “But so is every-
most extreme, sacrificing dramatic complexity to pyrotechnics and the body. And I don’t
know when that
muddiest version of realism. Budgets will keep getting bigger as outlets became such
COMMON grasp for viewer attention—look at all those jet packs on The Mandalo- a bad thing.”
K N OW L E D G E ?
rian!—but Barry offered the real road map for wonder. “ronny/lily” ends
↓ with a police helicopter chop-chopping above the poor assassin.
Church Rewatching, I realized that the copter doesn’t actually appear. The trick-
— ery is old-fashioned: a spotlight from the offscreen sky matched to a
Lil Bub
— sound effect. You feel it, though, and sense the psychic effect it has on
Goose war-traumatized Barry. It’s an effect you don’t have to see to believe,
—
Taylor Swift requiring nothing more expensive than imagination.
ANSWER → 2019’s most iconic cats

EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 6 3
BEST & WORST 2019
1 0 B E S T S H O W S
BY KRISTEN BALDWIN For another take, see critic Darren Franich’s picks at ew.com/2019tv
2 3 4
WATCHMEN VEEP THE GOOD FIGHT
HBO HBO CBS All Access
— — —
Damon Lindelof’s On the savage Diane Lockhart
“remix” of the political satire’s (Christine Baran-
renowned graphic final season, Selina ski) joined the
novel is rife with Meyer (Julia Louis- resistance, only
surrealism (squid Dreyfus) proved to find that when
showers, fetus that ruthless ambi- decent people do
fishing), but it’s all tion and misogyny the wrong thing
in service of a pro- have no gender. for the right rea-
found question: “Men hate women; sons, nobody
How can America women hate wins. As euphoria-
atone for—and themselves,” she inducing as a fen-
move on from— declares, unapolo- tanyl lollipop, and
its racist past? getic to the end. just as addictive.
5 6 7
FLEABAG LOS ESPOOKYS BETTER THINGS
Amazon HBO FX
— — —
A damaged young On this strange, A wise man named
woman (Phoebe kindhearted com- Homer once said,
Waller-Bridge) edy, four misfits “It’s funny ’cause
learns to forgive turn their love of it’s true.” Three
herself, with help horror into a busi- seasons in,
from a Hot Priest ness. Mixing magic Pamela Adlon’s
(Andrew Scott) realism (see: a impossible-to-
and a chilly sister demon obsessed describe half-hour
(Sian Clifford). At with The King’s experience, about
just six episodes, Speech) and real- motherhood,
it’s a masterwork world struggles, woman-hood, and
of efficient, inci- Espookys is a freak person-hood, is the
sive storytelling. show with heart. truest thing on TV.
8 9 10
SUCCESSION AFTER LIFE THE OTHER TWO
HBO Netflix Comedy Central
— — —
There is no greater On Ricky Gervais’ Sarah Schneider
PERP E T UAL GR ACE , LTD guilty TV pleasure
in 2019 than
dark comedy, a
sharp-tongued
and Chris Kelly
created a hilarious
watching terrible widower (Gervais) family sitcom
Epix rich white people is nudged out of about siblings
doing bad things to his suicidal fog (Heléne Yorke
In this meditative, moving, and wonderfully each other. Credit by his eccentric and Drew Tarver)
PERPETUAL GRACE LTD: LEWIS JACOBS/EPIX; THE OTHER TWO: JON PACK/COMEDY CENTRAL
creator Jesse colleagues and coming to terms
funny saga, Jimmi Simpson stars as James, a
1 broken spirit who drifts into a stolen-identity
Armstrong and
a stellar cast for
a level-headed
widow (Penelope
with adulthood,
and then wrapped
finding the human- Wilton). Alternately it in a searing
ity in the Roy raw, riotous, and satire of our celeb-
scheme dreamed up by Paul Allen Brown family’s venality. keenly bittersweet. reality culture.
(Damon Herriman). Paul’s Ma (Jackie Weaver) and Pa
(Ben Kingsley, above) are the marks, but not even the Lord ↓ The Other Two’s other two: Molly Shannon and Case Walker
can help those who try to take this fearsome couple down.
Creators Paul Conrad and Bruce Terris craft a story that
unfolds like a Rube Goldberg contraption, as James’ every
miscalculated step toward redemption results in another
comical disaster. The ensemble is stuffed with excellence:
Luis Guzmán gives a career-best performance as Hector, a
hapless Mexican sheriff; Terry O’Quinn is the law personi-
fied as Wesley Walker, Texas Ranger. The Epix app costs $6
a month; it’s a small price to pay for 10 hours of Grace.

BEST & WORST 2019
S***ty Music The Literary

Boyfriends
of 2019
Sequel Ranking
Sequels to three hugely popular—and brilliantly
Bad boys: can’t live with them,
can write a killer song about them.
adapted—novels hit shelves this year. We
by leah greenblatt rank them from best to worst. BY DAVID CANFIELD
1
OLIVE, AGAIN
Elizabeth Strout
—
The least clamored-for of the
Selena Gomez sequels here turns out to be the one
“Lose You to Love Me”
— we needed most. The indomitable
Justin Bieber, killer of Olive Kitteridge returns grouchier,
choruses and burner of forests,
you have been served.
→ funnier, and sadder than ever in
Strout’s stunning book about getting
older. Once again composed of
linked stories, the novel explores
the looming reality of death from
angles both heartbreaking and
hilarious, allowing its heroine to stay
irascible and alienating, if also “a
tiny—tiny—bit better as a person.”
“Norman F---ing Rockwell”
—
Man-child, bad poet, know-it-all:
“Why wait for the best
2
OLIVE KITTERIDGE: JOJO WHILDEN/HBO; THE HANDMAID’S TALE: GEORGE KRAYCHYK/HULU; CALL ME BY YOUR NAME: PETER SPEARS/SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
when I could have you?”

THE TESTAMENTS
Margaret Atwood
—
The moment this 34-years-in-the-
making follow-up to The Handmaid’s
Tale was announced, The Testaments
felt like a literary blockbuster.
Lizzo → It delivered, topping the New York
“Truth Hurts” Times best-seller list and getting
— scooped up by Hulu for a compan-
Player, please: just go
and get the bom-bom-bi-dom
ion adaptation. Atwood couldn’t
out of her DMs. deliver a book quite as prescient
as its groundbreaking predecessor,
but in integrating events from the
TV series, still found a thrilling, pro-
vocative new story in Gilead to tell.
Billie Eilish
“Bad Guy”
3
FIND ME
—
André Aciman
It’s almost cute how bad he
—
thinks he is, this rough ’n’ tough
always-so-puff guy. There’s plenty of evocative prose
and swoony romance to be found
in the Call Me by Your Name sequel,
but it feels a bit rushed out of the
COMMON
success of the 2017 Oscar-winning
K N OW L E D G E ? →
film. Elio and Oliver take a back
↓ seat, in fact, in the novel’s opening
Dumbo to Elio’s father, Samuel, who gets
— his own love story—albeit one that
Miranda Lambert The Jungle Book
with Maren Morris — lacks the erotic passion of CMBYN.
“Way Too Pretty for Prison” Lady and the When our heroes finally take center
— Tramp
The worst? Yes, but not —
stage, the book improves, though
worth jail time. Fantasia still not measuring up to the original.
ANSWER → Movies that got the Disney+ “outdated cultural depictions” disclaimer
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 6 5
BEST & WORST 2019
SPOILER ALERT!
It’s Hard to
Say Goodbye
Crafting a fantastic series finale is always
the goal—but not always the result. Here,
EW staff reflect on some hits and misses.
HITS MISSES
↑ Persephone (Amber Gray) and Hades
(Patrick Page) go way down in Hadestown
HOW THE
UNDERWORLD CAME
OUT ON TOP
HADESTOWN: MATTHEW MURPHY; JANE THE VIRGIN: KEVIN ESTRADA/THE CW; CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND: GREG GAYNE/THE CW; VEEP: COLLEEN HAYES/HBO; GAME OF THRONES: MACALL B. POLAY/HBO
“It’s an old song, and
we’re gonna sing it
again.” The opening
hymn of the hit musical Hadestown
JANE THE VIRGIN (THE CW) CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND (THE CW)
offers a promise—not just to the
This romantic dramedy ended The musical rom-com bowed
eight shows a week for the folk
the way a good telenovela should: with only one underwhelming
musical that dominated Broadway
with a big event (a wedding for song and no romantic happy end-
in 2019, but to the Greek myth of
Gina Rodriguez’s Jane and Justin ing, serving as more of a happy
Orpheus and Eurydice that, even
Baldoni’s Rafael!), a long-awaited beginning for Rebecca (Rachel
now, still demands to be retold.
reveal (adult Mateo is the narra- Bloom). But since the entire final
Over the past 13 years, writer
tor!), and a very meta twist (Jane’s season promised an eventual res-
and composer Anaïs Mitchell has
book will become the show fans olution in the battle for her heart,
taken her tale of Hadestown—an
had been watching). And Jane did the finale was a letdown—that
idea that came to her as if handed
it with the same heart it’s had potentially powerful message lost
down by the Muses—from DIY
since day one. —SAMANTHA HIGHFILL in translation. —SYDNEY BUCKSBAUM
upstart to concept album to
full-fledged theatrical production.
The trick through all of it was
making an old fable feel new again.
“This story has appealed to artists
for many years because it has this
hero who’s an artist.... But any
of these myths, if you went deep
enough, they’re like a prism that
refracts light in different angles
on the present day,” says Mitchell.
Her own journey shares parallels
with Orpheus in how both found VEEP (HBO) GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
salvation in community, from If anyone deserved a happy end- You get a throne! And you get
collaborators to audiences. “It’s ing, it was not Selina Meyer (Julia a throne! Everybody gets a
only when [Orpheus] can hear the Louis-Dreyfus). Though the finale throoooone! The fantasy’s rushed
world singing along with him that put her in the White House, she conclusion ended years of conti-
he comes into his powers,” she remained permanently peeved by nental strife with an unconvincing
says. “[Fans] have a relationship the level of incompetence in her Dragon Queen heel turn, a ludi-
with this show I will never know. office. With a leap into the future crous big speech from Tyrion
The thing is, at some level, bigger and a callback joke seven seasons (Peter Dinklage), and happy end-
than all of us who have worked on in the making, it was a satisfying ings for any Stark left alive. The
it.” As any great myth should be. send-off, fit for a truly terrible fake last dragon left Westeros, and you
—MAUREEN LEE LENKER president. —KRISTEN BALDWIN can’t blame him. —DARREN FRANICH

BEST & WORST 2019
3 V I D E O G A M E S
WE COULDN’T PUT DOWN
The
Long
Farewell
Dozens of series have
already announced they’ll
end in 2020
13 REASONS WHY
—
THE 100
—
ARROW
—
BLINDSPOT
—
BOJACK HORSEMAN
—
CLAWS
—
CORPORATE
—
CRIMINAL MINDS
—
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE ↑ (Clockwise from top) Death Stranding; Untitled Goose Game; Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FRESH OFF THE BOAT: ERIC MCCANDLESS/ABC; DEATH STRANDING: SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT; SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE: SEKIRO
—
EMPIRE
—
FRESH OFF THE BOAT
—
1 2 3
DEATH STRANDING SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE UNTITLED GOOSE GAME
FUTURE MAN PS4 Multiplatform Nintendo Switch
— — — —
GLOW What is Death Stranding? Sekiro demands mastery Many games set you on
— and rewards fierce some noble quest to res-
It’s the much-buzzed-
THE GOOD PLACE
about game wherein commitment. From the cue a princess or save a
—
a virtual Norman Reedus game’s first clash with a galaxy (perfectly respect-
HOMELAND
— urinates on command. katana-wielding goon, it’s able tasks, to be sure).
HOW TO GET AWAY (Nope, we’re not joking.) clear that FromSoftware The aptly titled Untitled
WITH MURDER A longer answer: Metal has designed another Goose Game does none
— fascinating world with of this, instead casting
Gear Solid auteur Hideo
LUCIFER
Kojima presents a story versatile combat and you as a horrible goose
—
about a futuristic delivery mobility controls. Those whose only purpose is to
MARVEL’S AGENTS OF
S.H.I.E.L.D. man who sets out to systems are pushed to terrorize a quaint English
— rejoin a disconnected the limit in white-knuckle village. Steal a sandwich!
MODERN FAMILY postapocalyptic America boss battles that force Throw the gardener’s
— players to go beyond just rake in the lake! Drop a
haunted by beings stuck
POWER COMMON
K N OW L E D G E ? between life and death. learning mechanics to small boy’s glasses down
—
It’s a comment on the truly understanding their a well! With its deceptively
THE RANCH
↓ intricacies. Some may simple art style and
— world in which we live,
SCHITT’S CREEK Toni Morrison’s meant to bring players despair or even flat-out its hilariously mean
— Song of Solomon together through digital quit, but the rush of gameplay, this incredible
—
STRIKE BACK cooperation in a stunning overcoming those barriers indie took the internet
“Lift Every Voice
— will keep gaming masoch- by storm, allowing each
and Sing” high-concept saga.
SUPERNATURAL —
Nina Simone But yes, you do get to ists hooked even after of us to tap into our inner
—
— know the Walking Dead four full play-throughs feathered miscreant.
VIKINGS
The Bayou and a platinum trophy. Honk, honk.
— Classic halftime star a little too well.
WILL & GRACE show —NICK ROMANO —EVAN LE WIS —DEVAN CO GGAN
ANSWER → Influences, inspirations, and allusions in Beyoncé’s Homecoming

EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 6 7
BEST & WORST 2019
Eat the Rich R

G R E AT
FO
RMAN
C
E
E S
P
Enjoy a little class warfare with
your light entertainment? In 2019,
you got served. BY LEAH GREENBLATT
NE AR THE END OF 201 8, A ROBIN HO OD REB O OT STARRING
Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, and a mother lode of CG

arrows came and went, mostly unnoticed. Maybe America
was just waiting for Ramona, the erstwhile stripper at the
center of Hustlers with a supremely 21st-century MO: Steal
from the rich and share it with her sisters on the pole—all
the blue-collar girls and single moms who dance for the
tossed-off dollar bills of Wall Street traders and CEOs.
Did it hurt that Lopez looks like a goddess in glittery C a r m en
Lucite heels while she does it? Probably not, but Lorene Ma r ia
Scafaria’s fact-based drama struck a common chord with
other films this year; call it Revenge of the 99 Percent. Rian
Ma cha do
Johnson’s all-star whodunit Knives Out and the scrappy
B-horror hit Ready or Not also revolve around smart, IN THE DREAM HOUSE
resourceful young women (Ana de Armas and Samara
Weaving, respectively) thrown at the mercy—or more She turned the short-story
likely, the actual knives—of people in income brackets collection on its head with her
miles above their own, then forced to become both the fantastical debut, Her Body
heroines of their own stories and de facto class warriors and Other Parties—a National
by the final-credits roll. Though no film this year cap- Book Award finalist—and has
tured the struggle quite like Bong Joon Ho’s brilliant now done the same with
caste satire Parasite, in which a flat-broke Seoul family her remarkable memoir.
stealthily infiltrates a far wealthier clan, one lowly house- Dream House tackles the rarely
hold task at a time. The movie’s greatest trick might be its explored, oft-misunderstood, and
refusal to draw straight lines to good and evil: In Bong’s deeply painful topic of queer
puzzle-box world, no one’s hands are clean—but it’s the domestic violence. Machado, 33,
mess that makes them all equally, indubitably human. revisits an abusive relationship
↓ Samara
Weaving in
but filters it through various
Ready or Not pop culture tropes and narrative
conventions. “I love nonfiction that
pushes formal boundaries,”
Machado tells EW. “I’m interested
in the ways form and structure
READY OR NOT: ERIC ZACHANOWICH/FOX SEARCHLIGHT; MACHADO: ART STREIBER/AUGUST

can inform a piece of writing.”
In lyrical, wrenching second-
person chapters, Machado chan-
nels traumatic experiences
through storytelling frames ranging
from the “road trip to a haunted
COMMON house” to the murder mystery,
K N OW L E D G E ? exploiting their familiarity with
↓ emotional force. “It’s just how
my brain works,” she says with a
Attempt escape
after witnessing laugh. “It’s how I process stuff.”
ritual suicide
The result is an alternately devas-
Pee on an tating and ingenious volume that
ancestral tree
— challenges not just the way we look
Photograph at abuse and the clichés that
sacred runic
texts surround it but the nature of story-
— telling itself. Not bad for her first
Cheat on
Florence Pugh nonfiction book. —DAVID CANFIELD
68 JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 EW ● COM ANSWER → Things that will get you killed in Midsommar
BEST & WORST 2019
10 B E ST A L B U M S
B Y L E A H G R E E N B L A T T, S A R A H R O D M A N & A L E X S U S K I N D
2 3 4
WHEN WE ALL FALL CUZ I LOVE YOU THE HIGHWOMEN
ASLEEP, WHERE Lizzo The Highwomen
DO WE GO? — —
Billie Eilish By infusing Individually,
— broader pop sen- Maren Morris,
What teen spirit sibilities with what Brandi Carlile,
smells like in she’s always Natalie Hemby, and
2019: a one-girl excelled at— Amanda Shires are
pop juggernaut boisterous vocals, formidable artists.
spinning millennial quick-fire bars, Po oling their
excess and an unending supply strengths in this
anxiety into pure of female empow- supergroup cre-
gold—one addic- erment—Lizzo ates a Voltron
tive darkwave finally became the that radiates heart,
bedroom bop star she was sup- humor, and high
at a time. — LG posed to be. —AS times. —SR
5 6 7
IGOR JAIME ON THE LINE
Tyler, the Creator Brittany Howard Jenny Lewis
— — —
Told through the The Alabama Do they even
eyes of his blond- Shakes front- make real trouba-
bewigged alter woman heads into dours anymore?
ego, Igor show- new territory— If they do, the
cases Tyler’s vocally, lyrically, onetime Rilo Kiley
repeated interest musically, and member would
in defying conven- emotionally—on be their jukebox
tions, this time this hazy, genre- queen—the patron
through a mix of bending solo saint of sad-eyed
jangling keys, low- record that is both ladies, long empty
end synths, and intensely personal highways, and
melancholic and achingly uni- tarnished rhine-
hooks. —AS versal. —SR stones. — LG
8 9 10
ANIMA NORMAN F---ING WESTERN STARS
Thom Yorke ROCKWELL! Bruce
— Lana Del Rey Springsteen
Who better to — —
FAT HER OF THE BR ID E soundtrack this
anxious, techno-
Del Rey’s celebra-
tion and subversion
Few artists pair
broad vision and
logically omni- of all things Ameri- intimate character
Vampi re We ekend scient era than cana—blue jeans, detail with as
the Radiohead Coca-Cola, apple balanced a hand
Behold: the rock star in Tevas. He’s moved to leader? His third pie—peaks in as the Boss, who
solo LP is a nervy, these swooning reminds us that
Los Angeles. He’s become a dad. He’s worried
1 about our changing planet but content with
haunting, and
gorgeous attempt
tales of slippery
men, Cinnamon
redemption is
possible and the
at making sense Girls, and all the land of hope and
of the noise best bad romance dreams can be
the way his own life has played out. It’s all around us. —AS. in between. —LG a real place. —SR
there on Vampire Weekend’s airy, optimistic fourth LP,
one where frontman Ezra Koenig—the aforementioned ↓ Brittany Howard
man in sandals, which he’s sported throughout FOTB’s

promotional cycle—conveys a tale of acceptance in the
face of change. Set against the backdrop of the band’s
usual melting-pot approach (the Grateful Dead riffs of
“Harmony Hall,” the Melanesian choral samples of
HOWARD: RACHAEL WRIGHT
“Hold You Now,” the freak folk of “Sympathy”) this

catchy and sprawling double record not only speaks to
our current era of upheaval better than any other release
in 2019, it serves as a balm. —AS
P H OTO G R A P H B Y D U S T I N A K S L A N D EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 6 9

BEST & WORST 2019
R
G R E AT
FO
RMAN
C
E
3 P O D C A S T S
P
E S WE COULDN’T TURN DOWN
1 2 3
DOLLY PARTON’S AMERICA ROOT OF EVIL CONAN O’BRIEN NEEDS A FRIEND
WNYC Studios TNT/Cadence13 Earwolf
Jharrel —
The endlessly charming
—
Root of Evil: The True Story
—
The TBS host jumped
Jerome and prodigiously gifted of the Hodel Family and to podcasts—but not
country legend has the Black Dahlia was the shark—shortly before
famously had a quip for launched as a companion his show reformatted
WHEN THEY SEE US every occasion over the piece to TNT’s I Am the in early 2019. The move
course of her astonishing Night. But while star Chris was meant to revitalize
When Jharrel Jerome was 13, he
50-plus-year, multi- Pine and Wonder Woman the late-night format,
auditioned for four performing-
hyphenate career. Which director Patty Jenkins’ but it jolted life into the
arts high schools in New York City. is why it is so impressive gorgeous limited series interview podcast format,
He got into all of them. Less that host Jad Abumrad crafted a noir tale inspired too. Conan O’Brien Needs
than four months after graduation, and producer-reporter by the life of Fauna Hodel, a Friend finds O’Brien
he landed a part in Moonlight, Shima Oliaee were able this haunting docuseries (with assistant and
the 2016 Oscar winner for Best to coax the Smoky Moun- is a chilling example of sudoku savant Sona
Picture. By 21, he was standing on tain mama into sharing truth being stranger than Movsesian) flexing his
stage accepting this year’s Emmy more of her artistic and fiction. Hosted by her improv-comedy muscles,
personal self than is daughters and featuring churning out gut-busting
award for Outstanding Lead Actor
normally on display. Most the late Hodel’s memoir voice characters and
in a Limited Series or Movie for
important, in the midst of audio notes, Root of Evil hyperspecific rants
his work in Netflix’s When They
the Partonaissance, the takes listeners down about the Beatles or the
See Us. The Ava DuVernay-helmed podcast emphasizes her a winding path exploring Kardashians. O’Brien’s
drama tells the story of the artistry over her artfully Hodel’s surreal life as intimate conversation
Exonerated Five, the five young constructed facade to get the granddaughter (or with David Letterman in
men of color who were wrongfully to the beating heart that daughter?) of one of Old October should be in the
PARTON AND ABUMRAD: SHIMA OLIAEE; JEROME: MARCUS YAM/LOS ANGELES TIMES/CONTOUR RA/GETTY IMAGES
imprisoned for the 1989 assault is the root of her talents. Hollywood’s most sinister Smithsonian immediately.
and rape of a white woman in —SARAH RODMAN figures. —PATRICK GOME Z —OMAR SANCHE Z
Central Park. Jerome played Korey

Wise and was the only actor to
↓ Here she goes again: Dolly Parton opens up to Jad Abumrad for Dolly Parton’s America
embody both the younger and
older versions of his character. By
taking on all of Wise’s story, Jerome
was handed a daunting task, with
the fourth episode of the series
serving as a devastatingly unre-
lenting look at Korey’s experience
behind bars. “That’s something
you take home every night,”
Jerome says of the heavy material.
“I’m still walking it off.” But that’s
not to say the young actor, now
22, doesn’t have future plans.
Maybe by 25, he’ll be Spider-Man?
“I’d love to play the live-action
Miles Morales,” he says. “Flipping
over walls? That’d be cool.”
—SAMANTHA HIGHFILL

BEST & WORST 2019
“1:23:45”
Chernobyl
HBO
—
From the opening
moments of its first
episode—named
“1:23:45” for the exact
moment at which the
titular nuclear disaster
occurred in April 1986—
the series revealed
itself to be relentlessly
brutal but totally human.
It’s equal parts haunting,
horrifying, tragic, and
terrific. —L AUREN HUFF
“ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: CO-OP”

Documentary Now!
IFC
—
The best parodies spring
from love, as evidenced
by John Mulaney and
Seth Meyers’ meticulous
send-up of Original Cast
Album: Company, D.A.
↑ While some TV musicals give us the flimflam flummox, Fosse/Verdon’s Michelle Williams (center) truly razzle-dazzled
Pennebaker’s 1970 doc
about the Stephen Sond-
heim classic. The episode
Excellent Episodes chronicles one disastrous

late-night recording
session for the fake
Looking beyond the series we also celebrate musical Co-Op, complete
in these pages, here are six episodes that had with Mulaney as a nitpicky
Sondheim caricature
us glued to our screens
and music so catchy
it belongs on Broadway.
—DEVAN CO GGAN
“NOWADAYS” forget, especially a has been doing on the
Fosse/Verdon
young Muslim-American, moon for the past 10 “EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION DAY”
FX
— “Strawberries” finds years. It’s heartbreaking Superstore
12-year-old Ramy (Elisha to watch Della (voiced by NBC
This penultimate episode
—
marked a series high note, Henig) attempting to Paget Brewster) reckon
This season 4 finale
digging into Gwen Verdon navigate the fallout from with how her love of
effortlessly pinged
(Michelle Williams) and 9/11. Things soon take an adventuring has kept her
between comedy, drama,
Bob Fosse’s (Sam Rock- unexpected turn when away from her family—and
and suspenseful action
well) codependent rela- he encounters Osama her lullaby for her sons
as the Cloud 9 employees
tionship through the lens bin Laden (Christopher might break you—but the
banded together to pro-
of their final original stage Tramantana) in his hope of reunion is power-
tect Mateo (Nico Santos)
collaboration, Chicago. kitchen. Of course, the ful too. —CHRISTIAN HOLUB
from being captured by
Fosse/Verdon was at its surreal scene is a dream,
FOSSE/VERDON: NICOLE RIVELLI/FX; DUCKTALES: DISNEY CHANNEL
ICE, an unwelcome door-

best when giving Verdon but the confidence to ↓ DuckTales’ Della Duck is over the moon buster. Somehow, creator
equal credit in creating the pull this off was very real. Justin Spitzer’s script
Fosse legend; the show —DEREK L AWRENCE
and Jeffrey Blitz’s direc-
doubled down here, with
tion found humor in such
Gwen finally laying claim “WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO
DELLA DUCK?” a terrifying scenario
to her contributions and
DuckTales without undercutting just
her Pyrrhic victory as Roxie Disney Channel how serious it was.
Hart. —MAUREEN LEE LENKER —
—CHANCELLOR AGARD
This whole time, DuckTales
“STRAWBERRIES” had been hiding its best
Ramy
Hulu character off screen.
— But this episode finally For a list of our top 30
Flashing back to a day showed us what Huey, episodes of the year, visit
that no one will ever Dewey, and Louie’s mom ew.com/2019episodes
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 7 1
BEST & WORST 2019
HOW OKLAHOMA!
MADE BROADWAY
HISTORY
Known affectionately as
“the Oklahoma! that
f---s,” this Rodgers and
Hammerstein revival broke away
from its roots, with its in-the-round
presentation and potent carnal
energy. But the biggest moment
for director Daniel Fish’s production
didn’t happen during a perfor-
mance—it was at the Tony Awards,
when actress Ali Stroker, 32,
became the first wheelchair user
to win a Tony, taking home gold
for her joyously lusty Ado Annie.
A stunned Stroker took to the stage
and proclaimed, “This award is for
every kid who is watching tonight
who has a disability, who has a
limitation or a challenge, who has
been waiting to see themselves
represented in this arena. You are.”
Stroker (who also appeared
on Glee) tells EW she’s since heard
↑ (From left) Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, and Jenna Bush Hager
from many fans who count her tri-
umph as one for their community,
The Book-Club
including Gregg Vigil, a founding
member of the Colorado theater
company Phamaly, formed entirely
of performers with disabilities. “He
told me watching me win was one
Bonanza
of the highlights of his life,” she
OKLAHOMA!: TEDDY WOLFF; WITHERSPOON: FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY IMAGES; WINFREY: RACHEL LUNA/GETTY IMAGES
Literary-loving celebs transformed publishing
marvels. “What’s so important and
in 2019, one book at a time. BY DAVID CANFIELD
what creates progress is when we
see it actually happen.... We can
talk about how we want to make B O O K S W I L L A L WAY S H AV E A N and Oprah Winfrey have been doing
change and how we want prog- audience, but in this era of stream- this for years. But Witherspoon
ress, but you only really believe ing, tweeting, and political insanity, proved her influence over sales like
it when it happens.” We cain’t say buzzy endorsements go a long way. never before with Owens’ Where the
no to that. —BY MAUREEN LEE LENKER Just ask Etaf Rum or Delia Crawdads Sing, a swampy Southern
Owens or Lara Prescott. There’s a mystery, technically released last
↓ Ali Stroker good chance you still haven’t heard year. The book had been on shelves
of any of these first-time novelists for weeks to little fanfare before
(before their work hit shelves this Witherspoon’s promotion—oh, the
year, pretty much no one had). power of her cozy bookish selfies!—
COMMON
K N OW L E D G E ? But each received huge platforms made it this year’s No. 1 best-selling
↓
after being selected for celeb-led fiction title. She spotlighted other
book clubs, and ascended to debuts, too, like Prescott’s The
Ad Astra
—
national best-seller status—a rarity Secrets We Kept—a gloriously femi-
The King for debut literary fiction. They nist period spy thriller—no doubt
—
The Last Black affirmed to publishers and book- with an eye toward her next Big
Man in San sellers around the country that Little Lies-size Hollywood success.
Francisco
— there’s still good reason to invest in (Her 2017 selection Little Fires
The OA
—
the untested and the unknown. Everywhere hits the screen in a
Sweetbitter Moguls like Reese Witherspoon starry Hulu adaptation in 2020.)
72 JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 EW ● COM ANSWER → Projects produced by Brad Pitt in 2019

BEST & WORST 2019
TIKTOK
DON’T STOP
The best way to hear
about new music in 2019
was a lip-synching app
“TiK ToK” is a 2009 party ← Lil Nas X’s

anthem by Kesha. “Old Town
TikTok™ is a lip-synching, Road” first
blew up on
video-producing app TikTok
that boasts a reported
500 million users.
Despite the same idio-
syncratic spelling, the
singer of the former did
not invent the latter,
though they do share
common ground. Nearly
10 years after “TiK ToK”
hit No. 1 on the Hot 100,
TikTok launched Lil
Nas X’s “Old Town Road”
to the same chart-
topping spot—where it
stayed for a record 19
consecutive weeks.
Credit Michael Pelchat
(a.k.a. @nicemichael),
the first TikTok user to
upload the single to the
app, along with a video
of him dancing to its
country-inflected groove
while wearing high-
Winfrey, meanwhile, partnered waisted jeans and a flan-
with Apple TV+ for a revamp of nel shirt. Millions more
her famed book club, which followed suit, vaulting
launched in September with the “Old Town Road” into the
history books. Blanco
first novel from essayist Ta-Nehisi Brown’s “The Git Up” and
Coates, The Water Dancer. On her Ashnikko’s “Stupid” have
glowing recommendation, it sold since found mainstream
close to 100,000 copies in its first success through the
app. So while “TiK ToK”
week alone—staggering by any
may be old news, TikTok
measure—and is aggressively pro-
BUSH: PACIFIC PRESS/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES; LIL NAS X: JASON KEMPIN/GETTY IMAGES
is still blowing the speak-

moted across Apple’s and Oprah’s ers up. —ALE X SUSKIND
many platforms.
Then there’s 2019’s true game-
changer: Jenna Bush Hager. The
new Today cohost’s monthly
Read With Jenna group began in
the winter and has transformed
Our Favorite Movie Trendlets
niche literary titles—mostly from Class wars and men vs. mortality are some of the bigger themes in film this year,
but here are other trends we noticed whilst munching our popcorn. by clarissa cruz
women and people of color—into
commercial powerhouses: Rum’s
generational saga of Palestinian
women A Woman Is No Man,
Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Jamaican
queer novel Patsy, Cara Wall’s
faith-based The Dearly Beloved. VOMITING FACE-OFFS SECRET SPACES AVENGERS WHIPLASH
— — — —
She’s sending a clear message to Puking was shorthand Bombshell, The Irish Denizens in hidden Chris Evans, Scarlett
publishers: Want to get your books for a having a heart man, and Gemini Man chambers were Johansson, and Mark
of gold for Hustlers’ stars transformed with major plot points in Ruffalo got mean, vul-
in front of millions of people? Look Lili Reinhart and Ana de help from prosthetics Parasite, Jojo Rabbit, nerable, and schlubby
to fresh, new voices. Armas in Knives Out. or digital de-aging. and Ready or Not. roles post-Endgame.
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 7 3
BEST & WORST 2019
The Star Turns

Some of these actors we knew well, others hardly at all. But this year, each gave
cinematic performances that moved, surprised, and enthralled us. BY DAVID CANFIELD
THE LEADING MAN THE DISCOVERY THE TRIPLE THREAT

Leonardo DiCaprio Zhao Shuzhen Adam Driver
Once Upon a Time...in The Farewell Marriage Story; The Report;
Hollywood — Star Wars: The Rise of
— A TV veteran in China, Skywalker
Two scenes in OUATIH —
Shuzhen wowed American
best explain why DiCaprio’s Few have ever had this
audiences in her U.S. film
actor character, Rick kind of year. It began in
debut as Awkwafina’s
Dalton, is one of the Oscar January with the splashy
Nai Nai. There’s trickery to
winner’s best perfor- Sundance premiere of
the character (the entire
mances. In one, between film hinges on a secret The Report, in which Driver
shooting scenes of his lat- to which she is not privy), stars as a Senate staffer
est TV Western, Dalton plus Shuzhen made this investigating post-9/11
chats with a wise child grandma so hilariously torture programs. Then, at ↑ Dolemite’s Da’vine Joy Randolph is no amateur
actress, who compels the lovable the thought of los- Telluride, Noah Baumbach
washed-up cowboy actor ing her was heartrending. unveiled Marriage Story
and Driver became an enough for the indefat-
to consider the state
THE COMEBACK Oscar front-runner for his igable Randolph to miss
of his career. In the next,
Joe Pesci emotionally naked por- a spotlight of her own.
Dalton drunkenly melts
The Irishman The Tony nominee steals
down after failing to — trayal of a divorcing dad.
every one of her scenes
remember his lines, Lured out of retirement for Finally, a big role in a little
as neophyte actress Lady
launching into a mono- another Martin Scorsese movie called Star Wars
Reed, playing her with
logue about his fall from Mob film? We thought we closed out his 2019. What
comic gusto and imbuing
grace. DiCaprio plays knew what to expect from else ya got?
her with rousing dignity.
both with deep soul and Pesci here, and yet he
THE BREAKOUT
a sense of regret. Recent rose to The Irishman’s THE REVELATION
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
roles—whether getting mournful challenge with Dolemite Is My Name Jennifer Lopez
high on quaaludes or devastatingly subtle work. — Hustlers
—
eating raw bison liver— His latest (last?) gangster Eddie Murphy and Wesley
She’s been a rom-com
haven’t felt so personal. turn is quiet, reflective, Snipes occupy plenty of
queen and an indie darling;
This felt thrillingly human. funny, and, finally, tragic. space in Dolemite, but not
in Hustlers, she proves
she’s a true movie star.
↓ Julia Butters as Trudi talks shop with Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio)
J. Lo embodies the
essence of kingpin Ramona,
rocking huge fur coats
and glitter-dusted dancing
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: ANDREW COOPER/SONY; DOLEMITE: FRANÇOIS DUHAMEL/NETFLIX

ensembles like royalty.
You can’t take your eyes
off of her; she’s utterly
mesmerizing.
THE TRANSFORMATION
Adam Sandler
Uncut Gems
—
For a guy as prolific as
Sandler, you’d think we’d
know everything he could
do by now. But in his
most ambitious role since
Punch-Drunk Love, the
comedy legend plays
a jeweler so detestably
desperate he somehow
makes him endearing.
Through no small amount
of effort, though—
specifically, lots of blood,
sweat, and tears.

P RO M OT I O N
Let’s celebrate Hollywood companies

that make the world a better place
2020
Whether it’s ensuring equal pay for equal work,

supporting the artistic community, looking out for the environment,
or rewarding employees with extra perks,
these organizations do well by doing good.
Think your workplace

is doing awesome things?
Nominate your company at
GreatPlaceToWork.com/BestWorkplacesInHollywood
Entertainment Weekly and Entertainment Weekly Best Workplaces in Hollywood are trademarks of Meredith. Used Under License.
BEST & WORST 2019
1 0 B E S T B O O K S
B Y D AV I D C A N F I E L D & L E A H G R E E N B L AT T
2 3 4
THE NICKEL BOYS SAY NOTHING FLEISHMAN IS
Colson Whitehead Patrick IN TROUBLE
— Radden Keefe Taffy
Whitehead some- — Brodesser-Akner
how outdid his Not every work —
2016 phenomenon of narrative nonfic- Dr. Toby Fleishman
The Underground tion solves a crime. is a man on the
Railroad with this But Keefe’s riveting edge of nervous
devastating tale foray into an evoc- breakthrough in
of two black boys ative murder mys- Brodesser-Akner’s
coming of age in tery from Ireland’s casually brilliant
Jim Crow Florida, Troubles period debut, a feather-
building toward makes good on weight caper that
an unforgettable, its juicy whodunit ends with a true
tragic finale. —DC promise. —DC thunderbolt. —LG
5 6 7
BOWLAWAY GIRL, WOMAN, DISAPPEARING
Elizabeth OTHER EARTH
McCracken Bernardine Julia Phillips
— Evaristo —
This sweeping — Phillips’ assured
family saga refracts So joyfully uncon- first novel, set on
the Great American tained it can a freezing, remote
Novel through a hardly pause for Russian peninsula
New England fun- punctuation, this where two girls go
house mirror. Come surprise Booker missing, develops
NORMAL PEOPL E for the candlepin
bowling, stay for
Prize winner
unfurls a marvel-
into a story of land,
women, and com-
some of the wild- ously anaromic munity that finds
S al l y Ro oney est deaths ever portrait of modern grace in quiet, radi-
put to paper. —DC womanhood. —LG cal empathy. —DC
Boy (handsome, charming, proudly working-
class) meets girl (clever, brittle, and despite all
1 her family money, friendless). They fall in like
or lust or maybe love; the lethal insecurities
and social Darwinism of high school make it hard to tell.
But when the pair finally leave their small Irish village
for college in Dublin, the dynamic between them begins 8 9 10
NOTHING TO THE YELLOW THE NEED
to shift, electrically. At 28, Rooney (Conversations With SEE HERE HOUSE Helen Phillips
Kevin Wilson Sarah M. Broom —
Friends) isn’t too far removed from her own protago- — — Is it a hothouse
Wilson’s vibrantly An intimate mem- domestic drama?
nists; maybe that’s why she writes with such veil-piercing original new novel oir that doubles as Slow-burn science
about a woman’s a rigorous history fiction? Straight-
clarity about the endlessly messy journey of growing up adoption of moody of New Orleans, up metaphysical
twins who (liter- this National Book horror? All
and into oneself. But her youth wouldn’t mean much ally!) catch on fire Award-winning that, and more:
gets plenty weird, debut evolves into a Twilight Zone
PATRICK BOLGER
without all the wisdom contained in People’s cool, but resonates as a rich, pained premise executed
sparsely worded prose—every new paragraph illuminat- a warm, funny ode meditation on the in the most
to the mysteries of limits of the Amer- ruthlessly elegant
ing something essential, universal, and true. —LG parenthood. —DC ican Dream. —DC terms. —LG

BEST & WORST 2019
The 7 Songs
From 2019
You’ll Be Playing
Forever
There was plenty of great music this
year—but how much of it will end up on
one of your future playlists? We predict
which tracks could make the cut.
by alex suskind
PAIN AND GLORY: © EL DESEO/MANOLO PAVÓN/SONY PICTURES CLASSICS; SPRINGSTEEN: ROY ROCHLIN/WIREIMAGE; NORMANI: DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES FOR HARPER’S BAZAAR; ROSALIA: JAVIER BRAGADO/GETTY IMAGES
“CROWDED TABLE” “MOTIVATION”

The Highwomen Normani
— —
This powerful, sing- The former Fifth
along-ready single Harmony member had
from the country a banner solo year
supergroup dreams thanks to her Sam
of a shared tomor- Smith collab “Dancing
row—one where With a Stranger.” But
people of all stripes it’s her second 2019
can sit down together hit, “Motivation,” that
and have a conversa- feels tailor-made for
tion, despite their future cookouts and
differences. dance parties.
↑ Reeling in the years: Antonio Banderas in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory “SOULMATE” “HELLO SUNSHINE”
Lizzo Bruce Springsteen
— —
New Country
Sure, “Truth Hurts” This beautiful, wan-
and its 100 percent dering lead single
viral “100 percent that off Springsteen’s
bitch” catchphrase Western Stars has
for Old Men got more play in 2019,

but expect the far
superior, empowering
Bruce dreaming of
the light at the end
of a dark tunnel. It
non-single “Soul- feels like the type of
This year, Hollywood took on a last taboo: the honest mate” to become song that gets passed
aging of the male movie star. BY LEAH GREENBLATT listeners’ eventual
go-to Lizzo track.
down through genera-
tions of music fans.
SHOW BUSINESS HAS ALWAYS FAMOUSLY sort of melancholic shut-in, racked by “CON ALTURA” “BAD GUY”
Rosalía and J Balvin Billie Eilish
been kinder to men in midlife than it has various maladies and retreating into feat. El Guincho —
to their female counterparts: a safe space long-ago memories of his late mother (a — Because indelible
This hypnotic, four-on-the-floor
for silver lions, nunchuck-wielding fiery Penélope Cruz) and other past call-and-response synth stompers about
Liam Neesons, and the movie stars who loves. Banderas, cinema’s paragon of reggaeton anthem, terrible boyfriends
from breakout who act too tough
simply decide to defy time entirely (ask Spanish charm and virility, is still almost Spanish singer- for their own good
Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeves about the ridiculously handsome at 59, but there dancer Rosalía and never go out of
portraits in their attics sometime). are layers to his performance here hard Latin trap superstar style—nor will Billie
J Balvin, will be in Eilish nonchalantly
This year, though, the specter of to imagine when he first began his heavy rotation for saying “duh” when
mortality didn’t just lurk at the edges of career nearly four decades ago (in an many years to come. the beat drops out.
films like The Irishman and Once Upon a early Almodóvar film, poetically
Time…in Hollywood; it stood proudly, if enough, called Labyrinth of Passion). “BOP”
DaBaby
a little bit stooped, at the center of them. There’s hardly anyone under 75 in —
Leonardo DiCaprio’s journeyman actor Irishman, Martin Scorsese’s sprawling From the stuttering
flute riff to the triplet
Rick Dalton is maybe only in his early gangland epic, though for all its mourn- flow to the unex-
40s when Once Upon a Time opens circa ful late-game meditations on loss and pected Jabbawock-
eez cameo in the
1969, but it’s clear that his era has already regret, the movie’s digital de-aging of Al music video, this
passed—the taciturn cowboy-hero ideal Pacino and Robert De Niro is, paradoxi- braggadocious hit
ransacked by longhairs and feminists cally, maybe the most poignant thing from North Carolina
MC DaBaby is one
and Manson girls with murderous about it. All that CG “youth” has the odd of the most fun rap
gleams in their eyes. (Or has it?) doubling effect of drawing up our collec- singles in ages.
In Pedro Almodóvar’s lovely, elegiac tive memories of the actors’ real younger
Pain and Glory, Antonio Banderas plays selves on screen: life and art colluding to → Bruce Springsteen,
a proxy of the 70-year-old director as a remind us how soon this too will pass. Normani, and Rosalía
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 7 7
Revi s
News
T H E M O S T I M P O R TA N T TA K E S O F T H E M O N T H
W HO W IL L (AND SHOULD) WIN

LIZ ZO LE ADS THE PACK WITH EIGHT NODS, BUT AS ANYONE WITH A SPRE ADSHEET AND A BO OKIE KNOWS, MUSIC’S
A TEENAGE BILLIE OR A BAD BUNNY? RE AD ON
ALBUM OF BEST NEW RECORD OF SONG OF

THE YEAR ARTIST THE YEAR THE YEAR
ROGERS: DIA DIPASUPIL/WIREIMAGE; EILISH: RICH FURY/GETTY IMAGES FOR RADIO.COM; LIL NAS X: AARON J. THORNTON/
○ I, I Bon Iver ○ Black Pumas ○ “Hey, Ma” Bon Iver ○ “Always Remember Us This
○ Norman F---ing Rockwell! ● Billie Eilish ○ “Bad Guy” Billie Eilish Way” Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga,
Lana Del Rey ○ Lil Nas X ○ “7 Rings” Ariana Grande Hillary Lindsey & Lori McKenna
○ When We All Fall Asleep, ○ Lizzo ○ “Hard Place” H.E.R. ○ “Bad Guy” Billie Eilish
Where Do We Go? Billie Eilish ○ Maggie Rogers ○ “Talk” Khalid O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell
○ Thank U, Next Ariana Grande ○ Rosalía ● “Old Town Road” Lil Nas X ○ “Bring My Flowers Now”
○ I Used To Know Her H.E.R. ○ Tank and the Bangas featuring Billy Ray Cyrus Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth,
○ 7 Lil Nas X ○ Yola ○ “Truth Hurts” Lizzo Tim Hanseroth & Tanya Tucker
● Cuz I Love You (Deluxe) Lizzo ○ “Sunflower” Post Malone & ○ “Hard Place” Ruby Amanfu,
○ Father of the Bride WHO WILL WIN Ms. Eilish, Swae Lee Sam Ashworth, D. Arcelious
Vampire Weekend your destiny (and a chaperone Harris, H.E.R. & Rodney Jerkins
for the after-party) awaits. WHO WILL WIN Did you hear ○ “Lover” Taylor Swift
W H O W I L L W I N Lizzo’s Cuz is W H O S H O U L D W I N Bless the one about the gay black ○ “Norman F---ing Rockwell”
the rare record that sparked Lizzo, but this is her third solo cowboy who spent 19 con- Jack Antonoff & Lana Del Rey
joy in nearly every music-buying studio album, sheeple! secutive weeks smashing the ○ “Someone You Loved”
demographic, and it can’t Wunderkind Billie feels like top of the Hot 100 with Miley’s Tom Barnes, Lewis Capaldi,
GETTY IMAGES; SWIFT: GOTHAM/GC IMAGES
(truth) hurt that it also contains the truest definition of what dad? Yeah, that one. Put Pete Kelleher, Benjamin Kohn
some of the year’s most ubiq- this prize is about, and your bets on “Old Town Road.” & Sam Roman
uitous radio hits. she absolutely deserves it— W H O S H O U L D W I N The genre- ● “Truth Hurts” Steven
W H O S H O U L D W I N Don’t you though Maggie Rogers’ smashing ubiquity of “Road” Cheung, Eric Frederic, Melissa
want to hear Lana’s accep- breezy melodies and win should earn Lil Nas at least one Jefferson & Jesse Saint John
tance speech? Truly, though, some intergenerational statuette. But “Hey, Ma”’s
no one here is undeserving— appeal could still thread the gorgeously woozy layers do WHO WILL WIN 100% that Lizzo.
except Lil Nas X; that’s not an needle to victory in such make the case for what is WHO SHOULD WIN
album, it’s an EP. a packed category. technically a production prize. Lana F---ing Del Rey.

CONTENTS ↓
MOVIES P. 8 4
TV P. 9 4
MUSIC P. 1 0 4
B O O KS P. 1 0 6
GRAMMY GOLD IN 2020

BIGGEST NIGHT TENDS TO THRIVE ON SURPRISES. WILL THE PRIZES GO TO A SMALL GRANDE OR A LIL NAS?
TO PEER INTO EW’S CRYSTAL BALL. B y L e a h G r e e n b l a t t
BEST LATIN ROCK, URBAN BEST COUNTRY BEST SPOKEN BEST

OR ALTERNATIVE ALBUM ALBUM WORD ALBUM POP VOCAL ALBUM
BAD BUNNY: SAM WASSON/GETTY IMAGES; TUCKER: REBECCA SAPP/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE RECORDING ACADEMY; OBAMA:
○ X 100PRE Bad Bunny ○ Desperate Man Eric Church ○ Beastie Boys Book ○ The Lion King: The Gift
● Oasis J Balvin & Bad Bunny ○ Stronger Than the Truth Various Artists Beyoncé
○ Indestructible Flor de Reba McEntire ● Becoming Michelle Obama ● When We All Fall Asleep,
Toloache ○ Interstate Gospel ○ I.V. Catatonia: 20 Years as Where Do We Go? Billie Eilish
○ Almadura iLe Pistol Annies a Two-Time Cancer Survivor ○ Thank U, Next Ariana Grande
○ El Mal Querer Rosalía ○ Center Point Road Eric Alexandrakis ○ No. 6 Collaborations Project
Thomas Rhett ○ Mr. Know It All John Waters Ed Sheeran
WHO WILL WIN Wonder-twin ● While I’m Livin’ Tanya Tucker ○ Sekou Andrews & the String ○ Lover Taylor Swift
reggaeton powers, activate: Theory Sekou Andrews & the
RICK KERN/WIREIMAGE; BEYONCE: STEPHEN LOVEKIN/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Oasis is the sound of two WHO WILL WIN Tucker’s come- String Theory WHO WILL WIN Billie’s the sole
superstars—Colombian-born back narrative almost half nominee also up for Album
J Balvin and Puerto Rico a century into her career feels WHO WILL WIN Only one of of the Year, so signs point to her.
native Bad Bunny—taking over pretty unbeatable—plus she’s these nominees is a cultural W H O S H O U L D W I N Ariana just
el mundo, one slow-grind the only one here with nods in supernova–slash–former took this last year, for Sweet-
anthem at a time. other major categories. First Lady whose memoir debut ener, and Sheeran’s more like
W H O S H O U L D W I N Rabbit W H O S H O U L D W I N There sold more than 10 million cop- the genial host at an all-star
resistance is futile; Bunny and are strong cases to be made ies, and it’s not Sekou. house party. The big question
Balvin pretty much have a lock for Church’s excellently WHO SHOUL D WIN Is it fair to put is whether voters will throw
on this one. Though it would stripped-down outlaw Ameri- Michelle Obama in a category a consolation prize to onetime
be thrilling to see 27-year-old cana or the Pistol Annies’ filled out by classically trained Grammy darling Swift, who is
Catalan Rosalía—by far one back-porch reveries. And musicians, cult filmmakers, old otherwise mostly snubbed for
of the most interesting inter- Reba, like Tanya, is a beloved hip-hop heads, and [checks Lover, or make up for denying
national artists of the past lifer in the business. But notes] actual spoken-word art- Beyoncé countless Album
several years, if not her entire they’re all pretty much livin’ in ists? It is not! She still deserves of the Year prizes by rewarding
pop generation—swerve in. Tucker’s shadow this year. this win, though. one of her weakest works.
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 7 9
T HE
2020
G R A MM YS
SECRET
BALLOT
WE ASKED THREE GRAMMY-NOMINATED
MUSIC VETS FOR THEIR PICKS
(AND UNVARNISHED OPINIONS) ON THIS YE AR’S
WINNERS. HERE’S WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY.
As told to
A l ex S u s k i n d & S a ra h Ro d m a n
Ariana Grande
RECORD OF ALBUM OF
THE YEAR THE YEAR
It’s going to be I’m going to give that

between BIL L IE one to H.E.R . She’s
EIL ISH and H.E.R. like the female
THE MAESTRO But let’s go with Billie.
I think she’s repre-
Prince and Lauryn Hill
put together. The
A Grammy nominee and veteran producer for A-list senting a change, and songs are strong. I love
in [this] climate, we the emotional con-
pop, rock, and country artists are looking for change tent. Musically, it’s at a
across the board. whole other level.
I mean, “Old Town I don’t understand

Road,” if they gave that [Lil Nas X] nomina-
him that many nomi- tion. If I was Taylor
THE TUNESMITH nations, it could go Swift, that would feel
that way. It’s hard for like a serious punch
One of Nashville’s most highly decorated and respected me to say that, but in the gut, because it’s
man, I guess it’s what [an EP], not a record.
songwriter-producers and a multiple Grammy winner people vote on. My personal pick is
But I think “T R U T H ARIANA GRANDE.
HURTS ” will win.
“OL D TOWN ROAD.” As far as what I would

We could not escape pick, I love the
that song. It’s Vampire Weekend
THE CRAFTSMAN a hip-hop track with album. Thinking about
Owner of a caseful of golden gramophones and a a Trent Reznor the industry and
sample with country how it usually votes,
multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer for today’s lyrics |and melody. I think it’s between
biggest acts in pop, alt-rock, and country It covers everything. L I Z ZO and B I L L I E .

NEWS + REVIEWS
H.E.R. Ed Sheeran Lizzo
Beastie Boys Lady Gaga Eric Church
SONG OF BEST NEW BEST COUNTRY BEST POP BEST SPOKEN

THE YEAR ARTIST ALBUM VOCAL ALBUM WORD
Lewis Capaldi, H.E.R., BIL L IE is going to get I’m going to give They’ll probably give it Of course it’s going to
D’ALESSANDRO/GETTY IMAGES; LIZZO: EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES; BEASTIE BOYS: BRIAN RASIC/GETTY IMAGES; GAGA:
or Billie are the front- that. She’s getting it. that one to TA N YA to ED SHEER AN . go to MICHEL L E
runners. I mean, “Bad We don’t even have to T U C K E R . She is I mean, it’s either to Ed O B A M A . She’s got
Guy” is a great song. talk about it. a legend in country because he deserves a wonderful message,
GRANDE: KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES FOR AG; H.E.R.: ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES; SHEERAN: STEFANIA
So, I’ll go with BIL L IE . music, and it’s a great it, or to Beyoncé and [it’s] a great
comeback story. because they think they “f--- you” to put on
It’s an amazing record. should give it to her. there right now where
we are [in] politics.
“ALWAYS REMEMBER I feel like they’re going I think “should win,” There is no other If anybody says any-
US THIS WAY ” from to go with L IZ ZO Eric Church; “will win,” nominee in that body other than
A Star Is Born is the because of her overall TANYA T UCKER . category but ARIANA MICHEL L E OBAMA ,
KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES; CHURCH: JASON KOERNER/GETTY IMAGES
best song in that cate- impact. People love a GR ANDE to me. they’re lying. I mean,
gory. I don’t think Cinderella story. And it sucks for Taylor come on.
people are taking it because I actually
as a serious con- think Taylor really
tender because they deserves to be in Album
[nominated] “Shallow” of the Year.
last year.
Going off of the atmo- This is a really hard I am going to go with I’ve listened to all There’s a lot of people
sphere and what’s one, because there’s ERIC . There’s some- these and I think who grew up listening
really making a big so many new artists thing raw and organic BIL L IE ’s going to win to the B E A ST I E
impact, I just feel [it’s] that really made a big about the album, and this one just because B OYS , and because
BIL L IE EIL ISH . splash. I mean, we it just seemed like the of the impact of what we’re talking about the
got Maggie [Rogers] and kind of record that she’s doing. I just feel Grammys and music,
Rosalía, but...I think could win a Grammy. like it’s her time. I feel like [they] would
BIL L IE is going to win. I’ve just got a feeling. win this category.
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SU B J ECT TO AVA IL A B IL I T Y
Dream Honors
NEWS + REVIEWS
AEROSMITH ARE FEELING SWEET
EMOTION OVER THEIR MUSICARES
AWARD. By Sarah Rodman
As they celebrate 50-plus years

with their Deuces Are Wild resi-
dency in Las Vegas, Rock & Roll Hall
of Famers Aerosmith are set
to add another accomplishment
to their considerable list: 2020
MusiCares “Person of the Year.” As
one of the charitable arms of the
Recording Academy, MusiCares
aids musicians with financial, medi-
cal, and personal emergencies,
including a longstanding addiction
recovery program.
Guitarist Joe Perry tells EW
that he and the rest of the
quintet—frontman Steven Tyler,
guitarist Brad Whitford, bassist
Tom Hamilton, and drummer
Q+A
Joey Kramer—consider this
“a tremendous recognition.
TA N YA M O T H E R
Creating music together for five
decades is special in and of T UCK E R
itself, but to know that we can
T H E 6 1 - Y E A R - O L D I C O N TA L K S W I T H E W A B O U T
contribute to helping fellow musi-
H E R C O M E B AC K , F O U R G R A M M Y N O D S F O R
cians’ lives as they walk the W H I L E I ’ M L I V I N ’ , A N D STAY I N G T R U E TO H E R S E L F.
path to recovery is perhaps even
more meaningful.” By Sarah Rodman
Like honorees past (Dolly Par-
ton, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha
Franklin), the bad boys of Boston—
With 14 nominations over the not what this record’s about. It’s
who have sold more than 150 million
years, it’s not your first time at about your voice and all the flaws
albums worldwide and have won
the Grammy rodeo, but do these and the greatness about it, so it’s
four golden gramophones over the
feel different? / I’m still in shock. real.” I didn’t really relate to that
years—will be feted at an all-star
I’ve never been nominated for too much at that time, but I relate
tribute benefit concert two days
four at one time. Two was my more to it now than ever.
before the Grammys.
limit, so that’s one thing, but to be
nominated for the song I wrote? While you never stopped touring,
That’s the cherry on top of all the this feels like a comeback. Can
cakes. I have absolutely no vision you sense the goodwill that long-
of me even taking home that time fans are feeling for you with
award. But I feel like I’ve won so this return and recognition? / It’s
TUCKER: DANNY CLINCH; AEROSMITH: MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES
much already. just overwhelming. It’s hard to

absorb because it’s a whirlwind,
When your producers Shooter but I do feel the goodwill. I feel
Jennings and Brandi Carlile pro- it so strong when I walk on
posed making this album, you the stage. I’ve grown up in front of
were hesitant. What made you the public and they ’ve seen
finally trust them? / I keep trying me through my ups and downs,
to figure that answer out and I just but I’ve always been pretty much
← Aerosmith: don’t have one. I think it was pre- myself, and this record has really
(clockwise from destined. I was just trying to do the brought me to that point where
lower left) Steven
Tyler, Joey Kramer, best I could at the moment. And I, I don’t feel like I have to be
Tom Hamilton,
Brad Whitford, and
of course, never think it’s good anybody else. I think myself is
Joe Perry enough. And Brandi said, “This is good enough.
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 8 3
Q+A develop? / Krysty Wilson-Cairns,

who co-wrote the script with me,
S A M M E N DE S and I read an enormous amount of
first-person accounts of the war.
THE OSCAR-WINNING AMERICAN BEAUTY DIRECTOR, 54, [For us] it was more about the
REINVENTS THE WAR MOVIE WITH 1917, A STUNNING, experience of the war than the his-
ONE-TAKE-STYLED IMMERSION INTO THE HORRORS OF WWI. torical details. And my grandfather
carried messages; obviously, this is
By David Canfield
a movie about a man who carries a
message. So the spirit of [his sto-
ries] went in.
it’s also much more moving when it
happens. You think, “Wow, a few Your two stars, George MacKay
months ago, I was just writing this and Dean-Charles Chapman, are
on a page, and now everyone’s here relat ive unkn owns . Was that
to make this film.” [It] came from important to you? / I suppose.... I
the stories my grandfather told me wanted the audience to have a new
[about] when he fought in the war, relationship with them, for them to
between 1916 and 1918. He told me feel like they were just two among
when I was a small child and he was thousands and thousands of men.
in his 70s. The telling of those sto-
ries brought everyone together in Let’s get into the one-take conceit:
this giant, slightly crazy endeavor. When did you know Roger Deakins
(The Shawshank Redemption, Blade
Let’s start with the genesis of this 1917 follows two young British sol- Runner 2049) would be your DP? / I
movie. You’re credited on the diers tasked with delivering a was thinking about Roger when
screenplay, which is actually a message and stopping an attack, I was writing it. My one doubt was,
/ It makes you much
first for you. which requires them to take a long, [he] is brilliant with storyboards
more vulnerable, I have to say. But arduous journey. How did the story and at judging combinations of
← Sam Mendes in the things you expect from a WWI drama, like Dunkirk, Saving Private
the trenches
with Dean-Charles movie: trenches, no-man’s-land, Ryan, and countless films before
Chapman and mud. After that, it moves through it—but he has found a remarkable
George MacKay
atmospheres you don’t expect: new way to tell it: through a single
↘ MacKay gets
caught in a
tombs, quarries, chalk trenches, camera’s seemingly unbroken gaze.
harrowing battle orchards, farmhouses, canals, Shooting the action in what ap-
scene
destroyed towns. pears to be one continuous, nearly
two-hour take could feel like merely
You started shooting this in April! a filmmaker’s sleight of hand (or
How did you pull it off? / We had just a very clever way to drive pro-
two scripts: [one] you would call a duction designers out of their
conventional screenplay, [and one] minds). Instead, it effectively drops
that was made up entirely of sche- viewers in the center of the story
matics. It was about 40 pages of and compels them to stay there—
maps; on every map was a diagram fully immersed in every muddy
of where the actors were moving step, hunger pang, and rifle click.
and where the camera was moving. Two privates, one sharp and stoic
We’d rehearsed it so much and (George MacKay), one genially
thought about it so much. From the apple-cheeked (Dean-Charles
theater...I’m not unused to saying Chapman), are dispatched to
to actors, “We’ve been rehearsing deliver an urgent message to the
this for weeks, off you go! You take front: An imminent battle there is
it. It’s yours. It’s your scene.” And a trap set by the Germans; if British
then just watch what happens. � troops attack as planned, they’ll be
annihilated. As the pair set off in a
sort of cautious rush, it becomes
clear why it’s called no-man’s-land.
1917 Whole villages stand eerily empty,
ransacked or booby-trapped; a
frothy pail of milk rests alone, still
S T A R R I N G GEORGE M AC KAY, DEAN-CHARLES fresh, in an abandoned barn; the
CHAPMAN, COLIN FIRTH, RICHARD MADDEN
shots; having worked with him D I R E C T E D B Y SAM MENDES bloated bodies of dead soldiers bob
R A T I N G + T I M E R, 1 HR., 59 MINS.
before, I wondered if he would miss like apples against a riverbank.
that. I knew in my gut that he might Famous faces (Colin Firth, Richard
think it was a gimmick. I wanted IF M OV I E S A I M TO S H OW U S T H AT Madden, Benedict Cumberbatch)
him to understand that it wasn’t. war is hell, they can also often come and go, but the film belongs
But I knew I would have to justify it. make it feel like a highlight reel; all to Chapman and, more than anyone,
blood and glory and noble sacrifice. MacKay. He’s not just a surrogate
So, what were those early conver- Sam Mendes doesn’t have a partic- Everyman; he’s hope and fear per-
sations like? / We agreed that we ularly new tale to tell in 1917—it’s sonified. And you couldn’t look away
didn’t want it to be self-advertising. essentially an impossible-mission if you wanted to. A– —LEAH GREENBLATT
If you become aware of the camera,
then you’ve failed. [Our camera]
doesn’t showboat. But it does move
in a way that sometimes makes you
very aware of the characters’ small-
ness in a huge landscape, or gets
very, very intimate with them.
Sometimes it shows you what they
can see, and sometimes...it oper-
ates like a horror movie in that it
won’t show you what’s up ahead.
1917: FRANÇOIS DUHAMEL/UNIVERSAL (2)
It’s like looking through a tiny key-

hole on a vast expanse. The choice
was about connecting the audience
to the characters emotionally.
How did you settle on the look of

the film? / We knew the movie
[would go] headlong early on into
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 8 5
apprentice (Harry Collett) to find

a cure for the gravely ill Queen
Victoria (Jessie Buckley). Along
the way, he encounters Michael
Sheen’s villainous character
Mudfly and Antonio Banderas’
Pirate King Rassouli, who rules
the fictional island of Monteverdi
on which today’s action takes
place. Needless to say, Dolittle
also spends time chatting it up
with a host of animals, voiced by
the stellar likes of Rami Malek,
Kumail Nanjiani, John Cena,
Marion Cotillard, and Downey’s
MCU costar Tom Holland.
Like the 1967 original, which
was notoriously beset with pro-
duction woes, this iteration has
been a bit of a real-life jungle
cruise: Following EW’s set visit of
the film, originally titled The
Voyage of Dr. Dolittle, Downey
and his producer wife, Susan, saw
director Stephen Gaghan’s cut
and decided additional shooting
was required. Gaghan, best
known for directing the geo-
S TA R K ↑ Robert Downey
Jr., Harry Collett,
and a few of
political thriller Syriana, is a
newbie to the world of big-budget
C ONTR AST their feathered
friends in Dolittle family-friendly filmmaking, and
directors Chris McKay (The
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. ASSUMES THE ROLE OF A LEGO Batman Movie) and Jona-
CHARMING ANIMAL WHISPERER IN DOLITTLE, THE LATEST than Liebesman (Wrath of the
RETELLING OF THE CL ASSIC TALE. Titans) were both recruited to
help rework the project. Mean-
By Clark Collis
while, the movie’s release date
was pushed from last April to
Jan. 17, 2020.
ON A SPRING MORNING IN 2018, that today’s labors seem posi- The Downeys put a positive spin
Robert Downey Jr. is winding his tively down-to-earth. “The on the reshoots. “We realized we
way through an extras-filled Marvel films are literally on this just wanted more with Dolittle and
marketplace set on the backlot other dimension,” says the actor, the animals,” Susan Downey
of London’s Pinewood Studios, 54. “[Dolittle] is essentially a explains. “We brought consul-
filming a scene for his latest period comedy with a lot of heart.” tants, but Gaghan was there—it
movie, Dolittle. In the course Downey is, of course, playing was pretty much the same team.”
of the complicated shot he the film’s titular character whose If Dolittle proves a success,
will chat with a gorilla-playing famous ability to communicate Downey says he would be more
actor wearing a special-effects- with animals was previously than happy to continue talking
assisting green leotard while also depicted in 1967’s Rex Harrison- to the animals for some time
conversing with a nonexistent starring Doctor Dolittle and two to come. “There are so many
parrot that will be computer-gen- more recent, modern-day Eddie ideas and thoughts and iterations
erated onto Downey’s shoulder Murphy vehicles (1998’s Dr. Dolit- that were racing through my
at a later date and voiced by tle and 2001’s Dr. Dolittle 2, both mind from day one,” recalls the
Emma Thompson. box office hits). actor. “Even more now that
For most movie stars, this Downey’s version takes place in we’re seeing [the finished result].
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
sequence would be a trying expe- the 19th-century setting of Hugh Once you start seeing some-
rience. But after a decade playing Lofting’s original children’s books thing you like, you start thinking
Tony Stark in the Marvel Cine- and finds Dolittle setting sail on about how you could get it to
matic Universe, Downey admits an adventure with a young the next level.” �
BOMBSHELL
M OV I E S / T V / M U S I C / B O O KS
S T A R R I N G CHARLIZE THERON,
NICOLE KIDMAN, MARGOT ROBBIE
D I R E C T E D B Y JAY ROACH
R A T I N G + T I M E R; 1 HR., 48 MINS.
M I D WAY T H R O U G H B O M B S H E L L , A
camera swoops in on the contained

chaos of the ladies’ wardrobe room
at Fox News. Bare faces disappear
under foundation thick as cake fon-
dant; Spanxed bodies are encased
in jewel-toned sheaths; a bloodied
heel jams into punishing stilettos.
To be fair, television’s beauty tax is
hardly new, but the symbolism
encoded in all this DEFCON femi-
ninity is not hard to miss. And as
anyone who’s read the past few
years’ headlines knows, being a
female employee at Fox came with
another cost: a “loyalty pledge” that
often meant submitting to the sex-
Awardist
THE
ual advances of men in power there,

from network CEO Roger Ailes
(played here with pudding-faced
menace by John Lithgow) on down.
Bombshell is director Jay Roach’s
imperfect but duly intriguing L U P I TA N YO N G ’ O
attempt to tell that story, and his T H E O S C A R - W I N N I N G ACT R E S S I S B AC K I N T H E R AC E
primary weapon is the women F O R H E R S CA RY - G O O D D O U B L E T U R N I N U S .
themselves: Nicole Kidman as
Gretchen Carlson; Charlize Theron, By David Canfield
nearly unrecognizable in feline,
pointy-chinned prosthetics, as
Megyn Kelly; and Margot Robbie as THE MERE FACT THAT really enjoy scaring unsettling posture in
one of the movie’s rare fictions, an Lupita Nyong’o is people!” Nyong’o, 36, the idea that “there’s a
ambitious evangelical millennial sitting down for this says. “I had never regality to [Red], but
(“I see myself as an influencer in the interview signals sustained the state of also a skittery, creepy
Jesus space”) named Kayla Pospi- a change in the times. fear for so long. It nature to her as well.”
BOMBSHELL: HILARY B GAYLE/LIONSGATE; NYONG’O: CHAD KIRKLAND/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES
sil. It’s their fierce, finely shaded We’ve gathered to exhausted me in a way Since Us was
performances that transcend the discuss Us, the latest that I just was not released in March, it’d
horror film from Oscar prepared for.” be easy for Academy
film’s drab visual style—call it
winner Jordan Peele Having notched a voters to ignore her
Law & Order verité—not just by
(Get Out). As Adelaide/ major critics’ award, while year-end entries
speaking truth to power, but by Red, Nyong’o gives she’s a contender for a hog all the attention.
confronting the audience’s own a performance of Best Actress nod for But Nyong’o makes a
ideas of who the right to do that terrifying intensity, a her turns as Adelaide, convincing case for
belongs to. B+ — L E A H G R E E N B L AT T true transformation. a woman harboring a why the film deserves
The difference in how dark secret, and her a second look. “I was
horror acting tends underground-dwelling playing two characters
to fare awards-wise doppelgänger, Red. (She diametrically opposed
now versus, oh, three won the 2014 Best Sup- to each other,” she
years ago? She’s porting Actress Oscar says, adding, “These
getting some serious for 12 Years a Slave, are films that are
Oscar buzz. her film debut. Nyong’o changing the narrative,
← Crazy like a Fox: “I was interested found Red’s scratchy, pushing the needle,
Charlize Theron
as Megyn Kelly and in how to make a hor- menacing voice by key- revitalizing the poten-
John Lithgow ror film. Do you get ing into how the film’s tial of the work of this
as Roger Ailes in
the fact-based
scared when you’re twist ending related to industry. I love being
drama Bombshell making one? I also trauma, and found her a part of that.”
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 8 7
OUT OF THE → Mercy me:

Jamie Foxx and
ORDINARY
Michael B. Jordan
A F T E R ST E A L I N G S C E N E S I N 2 017 ’ S I , TO N YA ,
PAU L WA LT E R H AU S E R ST E P S I N TO T H E S P OT L I G H T A S
T H E L E A D I N C L I N T E A ST WO O D’ S R I C H A R D J E W E L L .
By Samantha Highfill
JUST MERCY
F I V E Y E A R S A G O , PA U L WA LT E R Jewell, whom he describes as
Hauser was flipping burgers at “chivalrous and gentle,” with the
Five Guys. Now the actor—who’s National Board of Review crown- S T A R R I N G MICHAEL B. JORDAN,
JAMIE FOXX, BRIE LARSON
garnered attention with standout ing him the year’s Breakthrough D I R E C T E D B Y DESTIN DANIEL CRETTON
performances in 2017’s I, Tonya Performance. R A T I N G + T I M E PG-13; 2 HRS., 17 MINS.
and 2018’s BlacKkKlansman—is at But Hauser is just starting to

the Four Seasons in Los Angeles, carve out a space for himself in
A SMALL SOUTHERN TOWN; A YOUNG
where he’s doing interviews with Hollywood, hoping to follow in the
white woman found murdered; a
his Richard Jewell director, Clint footsteps of some of the actors he
black man the local law enforce-
Eastwood. “It’s just dawning on admires most: Philip Seymour
ment decides might as well have
me,” the 33-year-old Michigan Hoffman, John Goodman, and Paul
done it: That’s the basic thrust of
native admits, sitting down with Giamatti, to name a few. “They’re
Just Mercy—a fact-based death-
an Old Fashioned at the hotel bar. not conventional leading men, but
row drama that works as a blunt
“I was crying in the hallway 45 eventually they were given leading
but effective instrument, thanks
minutes ago because I walked out roles,” Hauser says.
largely to its irrefutable message
of an interview with Clint and he The same can be said of Hauser,
and the central performance of
said some really sweet words, and who, at least physically, isn’t a
Jamie Foxx as Walter “Johnny D.”
I was like, ‘Where the hell am I? conventional leading man. He also
McMillian, sentenced to die for a
What am I doing?’ ” put on 30 pounds for his role in
crime there’s almost no logical
Hauser plays the titular charac- I, Tonya and 25 to play Jewell. “We
chance he could have committed.
ter in Eastwood’s latest film (out need bigger guys,” he says. “We
The idealist who comes to
now), which follows Jewell, the lost Chris Farley, John Belushi,
Monroe County, Ala., aiming to save
security worker who gained noto- James Gandolfini, and we need
him is Bryan Stevenson (Michael B.
riety when he discovered a bomb heavier-set people to represent
Jordan), a Delaware native straight
planted during the 1996 Olympics the real world. If I’m pigeonholed,
out of Harvard Law who believes he
in Atlanta and went from being the it’s that people think I play
can free wronged men like Johnny
hero of the story to the potential sweet-natured ne’er-do-wells.” He
and Herbert Richardson (Stranger
villain when the FBI named him takes a sip of his drink before add-
Things’ Rob Morgan, in a devastat-
the top suspect. Hauser is already ing, “There are worse fates than
ing turn). Bryan quickly finds an ally
RICHARD JEWELL: CLAIRE FOLGER/WARNER BROS.; JUST MERCY: JAKE GILES NETTER/WARNER BROS.
earning accolades for his work as that in Hollywood.”
in a local wife and mother named
Eva Ansley (Brie Larson, incognito
in high-waisted jeans and a mud-
colored home perm), and an enemy
in almost everyone else.
It’s solidly rewarding to watch the
wheels of Mercy turn, though direc-
tor Destin Daniel Cretton (2013’s
great Short Term 12) can’t seem to
help falling into certain schematics
that follow movies like these, from
the leering good-ole-boy sheriffs
← “I was not trying to the fiery-speechifying court
to do a caricature
of [Richard], but
scenes. What elevates his storytell-
trying to honor his ing is the commitment of a broadly
character traits,”
Hauser (left, with excellent cast, and the simple truth
Sam Rockwell) at its core: that justice should never
says of playing a
real person. be decided by black and white,
“You hope that you even if the medium that delivers it
capture the spirit
of the person.” sometimes is. B+ —LE AH GREENBL AT T

WH Y 1 9 3 9 WAS THE EIGHT Y YE AR S AGO, IT WA S
A BANNER YEAR FOR
BE ST MOV IE YE AR EVER
THE BIG SCREEN. HERE’S
W H Y T H AT ’ S ST I L L T R U E .
By Maureen Lee Lenker
1 2
3 4
Frankly, my dear, you probably should give a damn: “1939 represents Old Hollywood at its Lincoln WHY As earnest senator
best—the studio system, the star system, the way they made movies,” says Thomas S. Jefferson Smith, Jimmy Stewart
Hischak, author of 1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year. “Whatever you liked about movies, it broke out in the 25-hour-filibuster
was there. 1939 did it all and did it well.” There were 365 films released that year, many of scene. Themes of corruption and
which remain the gold standard for their respective genres. “That moment of filmmaking
graft in the American Senate have
is not just about filmmaking,” adds TCM host Jacqueline Stewart. “It’s about reflecting on
made it (sadly) enduringly relevant.
a moment in America’s cultural and political history.” Here are four standouts.
1 / The Wizard of Oz 2 / The Women 4 / Gone With the Wind

GENRE Fantasy OT H E R S IT INFLU- GENRE Female ensemble comedy GENRE Epic romance O T H E R S
ENCED Star Wars, E.T., any Marvel OT H E R S I T I N F LU E N C E D 9 to 5, IT INFLUENCED Doctor Zhivago,
movie W H Y From the sparkly ruby Bridesmaids, Ocean’s 8 W H Y A look Titanic, Australia W H Y All-time
slippers to those terrifying flying at the interior lives of women told classic or dangerous romanticiza-
monkeys, Oz remains the most with heart, humor, and high fashion tion of dark moments in history
influential film of all time. “It’s the through interconnected stories (in this case, the antebellum South
roots of cinema as fantastic, of love, marriage, and divorce. And and slavery)? Tomorrow may
all-encompassing spectacle,” says not a single man in sight! be another day, but Hollywood
EVERETT COLLECTION (4)
Bernardo Rondeau, associate likes to present the world through

curator of the Academy Museum of 3 / Mr. Smith Goes to Washington scarlet-colored glasses. But the
Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, GENRE Political drama O T H E R S lush romance, groundbreaking
where one pair of said ruby slip- IT INFLUENCED All the President’s effects, and Scarlett’s tale of sur-
pers currently resides. Men, The American President, vival still resonate.
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 8 9
IN A REMOTE FARMHO U SE AB O U T
an hour’s drive outside Sintra,

Portugal, EW is watching Richard
Stanley direct a fight scene
A C OMEBACK between Nicolas Cage, who is
wearing ghoulish makeup, and his
IN C O L O R ↑ Richard Stanley
costar Elliot Knight. That the film-
maker is on the set of his new
RICHARD STANLEY HASN’T DIRECTED A FEATURE SINCE HE horror movie, Color Out of Space—
WAS FAMOUSLY FIRED FROM 1996’S THE ISLAND OF or, frankly, any film set at all—is
DR. MOREAU. THE ECCENTRIC AUTEUR FINALLY ESCAPED something of a miracle. Why?
DIRECTOR’S JAIL TO MAKE THE HORROR FILM COLOR Because Stanley, 53, hasn’t directed
OUT OF SPACE (OUT JAN. 24)—WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM a feature film since he got fired
PRODUCER ELIJAH WOOD AND STAR NICOL AS CAGE. from 1996’s critically panned
bomb The Island of Dr. Moreau,
By Clark Collis
swiftly derailing the South Afri-
can’s once-promising career.
Over the years, Stanley repeat-
edly attempted to get various

projects off the ground (including start to terrifyingly transform,
a black comedy, Vacation, star- both mentally and physically, after
ring Bruce Campbell) but to no a meteorite lands in their garden.
STANLEY: BORJA B. HOJAS/GETTY IMAGES; COLOR OUT OF SPACE: RLJE FILMS (2);
avail; he was so certain Color Out The material seems perfect for
of Space would prove another Stanley, whose first (and only) two
false dawn that producer Josh C. movies—1990’s killer robot tale
Waller was forced to personally Hardware and 1992’s supernatural
pick up the director from his serial-killer saga Dust Devil—were
house in the French Pyrenees and both visually striking. “I almost
transport him to set. “Josh had to worked with him on Dust Devil,”
put [me] on a vehicle at five in the Cage, 55, tells EW. “When I found
THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU: PHOTOFEST
morning and drive me south,” out he was going to do it, I thought,

says Stanley. “At which point it He’s exactly the right person.”
became apparent that, yeah, it The director’s comeback took
was actually happening.” root in the 2014 documentary Lost
Based on a short story by horror Soul: The Doomed Journey of Rich-
author H.P. Lovecraft, Color Out of ard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau,
Space tracks the Gardner family, which detailed how Stanley’s
headed by Cage’s Nathan, who dream project became a night-
mare when, having put together a
cast including Marlon Brando and
Val Kilmer, he was sacked after
just three weather-hampered days
of shooting—and, according to
Stanley, an argument with Kilmer.
(Kilmer declined to comment.)
The doc depicts Stanley as an
eccentric who, for example,
secretly returned to the Moreau ↑ From Top Malaysia-based ACE Pictures
Nicolas Cage,
set dressed as one of the movie’s cinematographer and, together with Stanley, assem-
half-man, half-animal beasts and Steve Annis, bled a cast that also includes
and Stanley confer
worked as an extra. But it also on a scene in stoner icon Tommy Chong and
Color Out of
was a reminder that he had once Space; Val Kilmer
Nip/Tuck actress Joely Richard-
been regarded as a major up-and- in The Island of son. “It was day 3 [of the shoot]
Dr. Moreau
coming talent. “Lost Soul definitely that I was feeling the most nervous
changed things,” says Stanley. ← Cage in Color about,” says Stanley, chuckling.
Out of Space
In September 2015, Spectre- “Because I made it as far as day 3
Vision—a horror-oriented inde- on The Island of Dr. Moreau. So
pendent film company founded by I thought, ‘If I make it past day 3,
Waller, producer Daniel Noah, and it’ll be okay.’ ”
actor Elijah Wood—announced it Stanley and SpectreVision have
would produce a Stanley-directed plans to make two more Lovecraft
Color Out of Space. That turned adaptations, including a version of
out to be easier to declare than his story The Dunwich Horror. The
achieve. In May 2016, Noah director also says that Dave and
revealed that Stanley’s reputation James Franco have shown interest
was scaring off financiers. “The in turning the Moreau fiasco into a
first thing to overcome is just TV show: The director describes it
the fears that people have in the as “a televisual follow-up to The
business about him,” Noah said. Disaster Artist—with actors play-
“[I tell people] ‘You’ve got to meet ing myself and Mr. Brando—to
the guy. He’s saner than we are.’ ” run, insanely, as a series. I just
S p e c t r e V i s i o n e ve n t u a l l y hope that whoever they get to play
secured the budget from the me has nice abs.” �
ELIJAH WOOD INTERVIEWED ME FOR SOME PODCAST. IT FELT REALLY

STRANGE BEING INTERVIEWED BY FRODO.” —DIRECTOR RICHARD STANLEY
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 9 1
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LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
LOS ANGELES
BOOKSMART (2019)
The film that nerded its way into audiences’ hearts this summer—and is now a dark-horse awards contender—is a love letter to sub-
urban L.A. that centers on Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy’s (Kaitlyn Dever) one-night search for their “seminal fun anecdote”
before college. Director O L I V I A W I L D E gives us a tour of the movie’s iconic spots—including where the crew hung out after hours.
1 5
1 / Molly’s Apartment various seeming slackers reveal This one, just over the hill from
Molly lives in the San Fernando their A-list postgrad destinations. Bel Air in Encino (Wilde describes
Valley, but the house that Wilde it as a “midcentury Bond villain”
and production designer Katie 3 / Jared’s Yacht Party abode), charmed the filmmakers
BOOKSMART: FRANCOIS DUHAMEL/ANNAPURNA PICTURES (3); WILDE: TIM MOSENFELDER/GETTY IMAGES
Byron chose for filming is actually Molly, Amy, and Gigi (Billie Lourd) instantly. But it had to be handled
in Pasadena because they fell in get consensually bashed on a legit with care. The permanent resi-
love with the retro peach color of ↑ Olivia Wilde yacht in Marina del Rey. Wilde dents are art collectors, and the
shot Booksmart
this ’50s apartment complex. in 26 days shot the sparsely attended soiree house was filled with so many
(Production added the “Le in a single night, due to the yacht’s pricey pieces, the crew had to
Capris” sign—intentionally mis- busy day job as a wedding venue. clear them out before shooting
spelled so it wouldn’t be confused the movie’s climactic sequence
with a real building.) Says Wilde: 4 / Lido Pizza involving the pool debacle and the
“I love that [the complex] is The great carjacking attempt of most heart-wrenchingly awkward
designed to make you commune 2019 takes place at this iconic bathroom hookup ever.
with your neighbors, yet it’s Valley haunt in Van Nuys. Wilde
something Molly would want chose Lido because of its strip-mall 6 / Drawing Room and
nothing to do with.” location—an L.A. trademark—and In-N-Out Burger
its camera-ready neon sign. “And Where to decompress after a night
2 / Crockett High School they make amazing pizza, which I shoot? This Los Feliz dive bar
San Fernando Senior High School discovered,” she says. “We ate so conveniently opens at 6 a.m. And
in the Valley’s Pacoima neigh- much pizza that night.” the cast and crew’s fave non-
borhood acted as a stand-in for alcoholic fuel? Countless burgers
Molly and Amy’s Crockett High, 5 / Nick’s Banger from the L.A. chain, which Wilde
including the infamous bath- Every epic teen party movie says were the only way to survive
room showdown scene where needs an equally epic party house. the all-nighters. —SEIJA RANKIN
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 9 3
TV
T HE What exc i te d you ab ou t this

series? / The long story? Ryan
LOWE DOWN Murphy wrote Nip/Tuck for me
and my agents never gave it to me.
FORTY YEARS AFTER HE MADE HIS TV DEBUT, How about them apples? [Laughs]
ROB LOWE’S CAREER IS STILL ON FIRE. HERE, THE I had lunch with him and told him
55-YEAR-OLD DISHES ON STARRING AS A FIRST how much I loved Nip/Tuck and he
RESPONDER ON FOX’S NEW DRAMA 9-1-1: LONE STAR was horrified as well [that it didn’t
(DEBUTING JAN. 19 AT 10 P.M.). work out]. It’s one of the great Hol-
lywood stories! For 15 years, we’ve
By Ruth Kinane
been trying to find something [to
do] together, but I’ve always been
E D I T E D B Y → PAT R I C K G O M E Z @ PAT R I C K G O M E Z L A
unavailable for the most part. I’m a fires and floods. And my home area → BoJack (voiced
by Will Arnett)
big fan of what he, Brad [Falchuk], of Santa Barbara has really been ponders the void
and Tim [Minear] did with the through it. Through that, I’ve not of nonexistence,
as we all must
genre. I love action; I love a good only had so many firsthand experi-
procedural, but that kind of special ences with losing people in my
sauce they throw on it makes it not community, I’ve also become very,
only really interesting to watch but very close with the [firefighters] in
really, really interesting as an actor. that area. And I did some training
In any given episode, I’m playing down here with the L.A. Fire
comedy, I’m playing leading man, Department. I even hosted a bunch
I’m playing action, and I’m playing of them [at my home] during the
really raw emotion. You just don’t fires. There’s always somebody on
2014–2020
get many opportunities as an actor set to tell you what equipment you
to go to the kind of places that you would use and what you would Remembering
can in Ryan, Tim, and Brad’s shows. wear. But for me, the most impor- BoJack
tant thing is, What makes someone AN ODE TO A STREAMING
Tell us about your character, Owen, want to do that job? What do they MASTERPIECE. By Darren Franich
a New York firefighter who moves love about it? What are the pitfalls?
to Austin. / Ryan’s original pitch What are their fears? I’m lucky to In my bubble, BoJack Horseman
to me was, “He’s an athletic, adven- have actual friends to rely on for was an annual event: whole
turous, rugged, brave firefighter that sort of stuff. seasons of funny-sad-sensitive-
who cares very deeply about surreal showbiz psychocomedy
skin care.” That was the pitch! Like What’s been the biggest chal- devoured in a weekend—or on
a late autoplay night. But do I need
I said, I’ve known Ryan forever, lenge? / There’s an emotional side
to re-explain how a Netflix sitcom
and Brad and I are very close to playing Owen. My character is
about a depressed celebrity
friends—his wife, Gwyneth Pal- the only guy in his New York fire- horse turned into such a gut-
trow, is the godmother to one of house who survived 9/11. That busting, mind-blowing, sour-sweet
my sons—so they know me too well informs every decision and how he contemporary epic? Or can I just
at this point. I will get entire scenes views life. It’s been very emotional start babbling through memories
and I’m just going, “Oh my God, and fraught, wanting to honor it in of perfect episodes, before the
he’s just writing me!” It’s also this a way that doesn’t feel like we’re final eight arrive on Jan. 31?
great dichotomy of a traditional “using” it. Then the physicality of The time BoJack (voiced by
action-oriented first-responder the role: I broke a rib last week, and Will Arnett) went underwater for
a weirdo-cute wordless caper!
character who also has a streak of this week I have to rescue someone
The precise opposite time BoJack
larger-than-life narcissism about who’s drowning in a grain silo.
delivered a 20-some-minutes-long
him. He fills a room and likes the There’s no rest in sight. This is one eulogy (above)! A whole episode
spotlight, but he’s very, very con- of those shows that will kick your adrift in time-space dementia!
LOWE: BRYCE DUFFY/CONTOUR/ GETTY IMAGES; 9-1-1: LONE STAR: JACK ZEMAN/FOX; BOJACK HORSEMAN: NETFLIX
cerned with justice and people ass both mentally and physically. ↓ “There are just Another time-cutting experiment
some actors who
getting a fair shake. you know are going tracking peppy Mr. Peanutbutter
Does that go for the viewers as to make you more (national treasure Paul F. Tompkins)
interesting when
Owen’s putting together a new well?/ Yes! You’re going to go on a you stand next to
through four relationships on four
fire crew when he arrives in Aus- propulsive journey that is emo- them, and Liv’s Halloweens! New mom Princess
one of those peo-
tin. How important was it that the tional as well as physical. You Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) splitting
ple,” Lowe says of
Liv Tyler, who plays into a dozen people just to take
group was inclusive and repre- better fasten your seat belts, a paramedic on care of one baby!
sents all corners of society ? because it is coming at you. � 9-1-1: Lone Star
This series turned into the
Anytime you can tell stories of unexpected porcupine-child
people who are historically under- offspring of Mad Men and The
represented is great for the Simpsons, blending world-building
culture. The notion of having background-joke animation
a trans firefighter is a story you’ve and silly-smart banter farce with
never heard. We get to answer that inward trauma and sharp satire.
in a really organic, non-woke- What will the series finale bring?
police way. This is the 2020 “You can’t have happy endings in
sitcoms,” the sad horse once said.
iteration of a show like this. They
“Because if everyone’s happy,
were never going to do those sto-
the show would be over.” I predict
ries on Emergency! no happy endings when this
show’s over, and I’ll miss watching
Did you talk to firefighters to pre- all the denizens of Hollywood
pare for the role? /
Unfortunately, horsin’ around this never-ending
California has had so many wild- comedic situation called life.
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 9 5
THE OUTSIDER
extreme long angle. So it takes a

D A T E DEBUTS JAN. 12
N E T W O R K + T I M E HBO, 9PM
while to realize that the performer
is the ever-mesmerizing Bill Camp,
the crusty cop from The Night Of
I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW MANY GREAT who was maybe God on The Left-
actors are on The Outsider. HBO’s overs. Two episodes later, another
mystery miniseries begins with the phone call—and the actor who
discovery of a mutilated dead picks up on the other end is Cyn-
child—which is, admittedly, how thia Erivo, Harriet’s breakout icon!
every prestige-y cop show tends to Not to mention the boldface
start. But here the detective is names in the credits. The Outsider
Ralph Anderson, played by Ben was a Stephen King novel, adapted
Mendelsohn. The Bloodline Emmy for television by Richard Price. bad breaker. “Coach Terry” is a pil-
winner and Marvel Skrull is practi- That’s quite a literary crossover, lar of the community. Flashbacks
cally his own archetype at this promising freaky everyday Ameri- and security cameras reveal a freak-
point, with those sad, searching can gothic crossed with gritty-wit ier Terry, with a dead-eyed stare and
eyes and that slight Bogart-worthy street crime. The first episode blood trailing from his teeth.
lisp. Ralph’s wife, Jeannie, is played delivers all that, plus an immediate It spoils not much to say that
(THIS PAGE) THE OUTSIDER: BOB MAHONEY/HBO (2); (OPPOSITE PAGE) YOU: BETH DUBBER/NETFLIX; SPIDER-MAN 2: SONY PICTURES; FINDING NEMO: WALT DISNEY CO./EVERETT COLLECTION
by Mare Winningham. My new TV- twist: Ralph catches the prime sus- something very strange is happen-
procedural heaven is those two pect in the first 10 minutes. It’s ing. You catch sight of a mysterious
solving murders at the kitchen table Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman), a fellow in a hoodie, whose shadowed
with Google and Chinese takeout. beloved local baseball coach. The face looks like a prosthetic some-
Ralph’s search for the killer leads evidence against him stacks so one forgot to finish. I’ve seen three
him to a strip club run by Claude high you need an oxygen mask. episodes of The Outsider, and I
Bolton—pause to appreciate Brit- There is video surveillance, wit- ↑ Holly Gibney
worry that some of the (appar-
ish actor Paddy Considine, who ness testimony, even fingerprints (Cynthia Erivo) ently) supernatural elements are
is an eccentric
always looks like the best pint of on dismembered body parts. crime solver overly familiar, right down to the
beer you’ll ever cry into. And at one Bateman also ably directs the imaginary friend who may not be
↓ Ralph Anderson
point in the tense premiere, a law- first two episodes. The opening hours (Ben Mendelsohn) so imaginary. (The miniseries will
and Yunis Sablo
yer at a driving range answers a offer two sides of the Arrested Devel- (Yul Vázquez)
run 10 episodes, which already
phone. The scene is shot from an opment straight man–turned–Ozark join forces feels like a few too many.)
Quibbles aside, this is a hand-
some new entry in HBO’s lineage
of mature crime dramas, mixing
the bleakening mood of a True
Detective with the detail-oriented
rigidity of The Night Of (which
Price co-wrote). Ralph’s peaceful
small town turns toward mob
mania after Terry’s arrest and the
community-breaking rush to judg-
ment that upends his family’s life.
(Did I mention that Terry’s wife,
Glory, is played by the always-great
Julianne Nicholson? This cast!)
The Outsider succeeds as a culture
clash of familiar investigator types.
Erivo’s endearing Holly has a
hyperbrain on the Monk-Sherlock
spectrum. Ralph’s an endearing
normal-guy detective, all flannels
and dad khakis. I just used the
word “endearing” twice in a review
for a show about a dismembered-
kid corpse, so that has to be some
kind of rave. B+ —DARREN FRANICH

EW ALL-STARS → Joe Goldberg
(Penn Badgley)
Jeff sets his sights on

Love Quinn
(Victoria Pedretti)
Jensen’s
FOUR FAVORITE
POP CULTURE
SQUIDS
I’VE BEEN HAUNTED AND INSPIRED BY

FANTASTICAL CEPHALOPODS SINCE
CHILDHOOD. NO, I’M NOT WEIRD! IT’S
JUST THE SQUIDDY-SCARY TIMES
WE LIVE IN. AND I LIKE CAL AMARI.
Jeff
Jensen
WRITER FOR EW
1998–2017
NOTABLE WORKS
Disney’s Tomor-
rowland; Green
River Killer: A True
Detective Story
YOU
LATEST PROJECT
HBO’s Watchmen
Watchmen
Squatting on a creepy stalker. Pedretti’s Love is
Manhattan with its D A T E PREMIERES DEC. 26
deadly tentacles, N E T W O R K NETFLIX
feistier and more damaged than
this subversive Joe’s last obsession, Beck (Eliza-
squidpocalypse
was an audacious
beth Lail), while Gotham’s Robin
symbol for “ T H I S T I M E W I L L B E D I F F E R E N T, ” Lord Taylor makes a welcome
pervasive Cold
War dread and
says YOU’s charming bookworm appearance as a hacker who be-
corrupting super- and literal lady-killer Joe Goldberg comes Joe’s unlikely confidant.
power culture.
(Penn Badgley) early on in season 2. Much of the new season is fun,
Spider-Man 2 In some ways, he’s right. The series and the writers nod to YOU’s
Doctor Octopus has undergone a lot of changes: a more ridiculous tendencies by
is Spider-Man’s
antithesis, a new network (Netflix), a new locale slipping in jokes at the show’s
rogue rocked by (Los Angeles), a new leading lady expense. “We had a date with
tragedy and hubris,
dehumanized into (The Haunting of Hill House’s Vic- destiny,” Joe intones in one voice-
something weird toria Pedretti). But even so, the over, before adding wryly, “I’m
and wrong. And
lord, that hideous sexy-scary-funny thriller’s formula reading too much Chandler.” But
haircut! A caution- is starting to feel a little familiar. the ongoing narrative fake-outs
ary tale, indeed.
Having fled to L.A. to escape are starting to feel tiresome: I
Finding Nemo his vengeful ex Candace (Ambyr stopped counting the number
The adorable
flapjack octopus Childers), Joe soon meets a beauti- of times Joe narrowly escapes
Pearl’s flatulent ful chef named Love (Pedretti). discovery and/or grievous bo-
response
to unnerving From there, the action—based on dily harm. And Joe’s existential
situations— Hidden Bodies, author Caroline crisis—“Am I refusing to face who
“Aww, you guys
made me ink!”— Kepnes’ sequel to YOU—follows a I really am?”—is hard to take seri-
is pretty much blueprint viewers will recognize. ously as bodies pile up in his wake.
me every day
these days. Joe tracks Love’s life from afar; he With two more books on the
competes for his beloved’s atten- way, Netflix is unlikely to wrap up
Arrival
tion with her drug-addict brother Joe’s story with season 2. The
The cure for
Pearlish high anxi- Forty (James Scully); and he finds finale delivers a twist that lands
ety: benevolent himself looking out for a vulnera- somewhere between clever and
extraterrestrial
squids, squirty
ble teen (Jenna Ortega) who lives too clever by half, and it sets up
with quantum in his apartment complex. more story. “You can’t save some-
enlightenment. Badgley is still immensely one from themselves,” Joe tells us.
Help us, holy
Heptapods! You’re watchable as Joe, who has the heart Let’s hope the same isn’t true
our only hope. of a rom-com hero and the mind of about YOU. B —KRISTEN BALDWIN
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y C A M E R O N K . L E W I S EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 9 7
Pictured: American Airlines team members surviving and co-surviving cancer with
SU2C ambassador, Tim McGraw
Join American Airlines and Stand Up To Cancer in our mission to help make everyone diagnosed with
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W H AT WAT C H
TO
YOUR GUIDE TO JANUARY’S BEST AND BUZZIEST TV. B y D a n S n i e r s o n
PARTY ON FRIDAY 1.17

Here are five other SERIES DEBUT
notable shows with Little America
so many sibilings STREAMING � APPLE TV+
The Kumail Nanjiani-produced,
Brothers & Sisters not-necessarily-White-House-
Gather round the approved docuseries shares
table for a good cry. surprising immigrant stories.
Or a fight.
The Brady Bunch ↓ SUNDAY 1.19

Half of them had SAG Awards
hair of gold like their
8PM � TNT/TBS
mother; the other
three were brown-
SERIES DEBUT
haired boys.
9-1-1: Lone Star
7th Heaven 10PM � FOX
Five kids to start,
then came twins SEASON PREMIERE
in season 3. Curb Your Enthusiasm
10:30PM � HBO
Eight Is Enough
An octet of high
jinks. (See also: THURSDAY 1.23
Just the Ten of Us,
PARTY OF FIVE When Javier and Gloria Acosta are arrested by ICE and
Jon & Kate Plus 8.)
SERIES DEBUT
Star Trek: Picard
deported to Mexico, their children—including a twenty-
STREAMING � CBS ALL ACCESS
something aspiring musician, teen twins, and a seventh- Succession
D A T E DEBUTS
grade whiz kid—are left to care for themselves and their Sure, only four SERIES DEBUT
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8
siblings, but
NETWORK + TIME year-old brother, and to keep the family restaurant Outmatched
FREEFORM, 9PM they’re jockeying
afloat. This intense reboot from original series creators 8:30PM � FOX
hard for Dad’s
Jason Biggs plays an average
Amy Lippman and Christopher Keyser is as emotional as approval/empire.
father of genius kids who are
the bittersweet ’90s drama, with the added gut-punch of smart enough not to ask Dad
being all too timely. —KRISTEN BALDWIN about pies and band camp.
SUNDAY 1.26
Grammy Awards
WEDNESDAY 1.1 MONDAY 1.6 their handlers competing
8PM � CBS
on an obstacle course
SERIES DEBUT SEASON PREMIERE
that includes water, ropes,
The Circle The Bachelor tunnels, and maybe even
STREAMING � NETFLIX 8PM � ABC
TUESDAY 1.28
distracted contestants from
Contestants scheme and vote The Circle on their phones. SERIES FINALE
each other off on a “unique Arrow
social media platform” without TUESDAY 1.7 9PM � THE CW
meeting IRL. Winner gets $100K; SEASON PREMIERE FRIDAY 1.10 Bow down.
losers must stop using their Schitt’s Creek SERIES DEBUT
friend’s Netflix password. 9PM � POP TV Medical Police
Stop and smell the Roses STREAMING � NETFLIX
THURSDAY 1.30
SEASON PREMIERE before TV’s best motel-set Want more Brazilian wacks, SERIES FINALE
Doctor Who comedy checks out forever. stat? In this Childrens Hospital The Good Place
8PM � BBC AMERICA spin-off, Erinn Hayes and 8:30PM � NBC
SERIES DEBUT Rob Huebel return as São It’s been a hell of a ride, but
Zoey’s Extraordinary Paulo-based doctors, but after four seasons, 40 paradigm
SUNDAY 1.5 Playlist now they’ve been recruited shifts, and 400 Bortles shout-
Golden Globe Awards 10PM � NBC by the government to find outs, the zany-brainy afterlife
8PM � NBC A coder (Jane Levy) can hear a non-laughter-based cure comedy must ascend to the
Take a shot (of alcohol) every people’s thoughts expressed for a deadly virus. TV heavens.
time Ricky Gervais takes a as songs. Things get really
shot (at a celebrity). trippy when she runs into
PARTY OF FIVE: VU ONG/FREEFORM
Rebecca Bunch. WEDNESDAY 1.15 FRIDAY 1.31

MIDSEASON PREMIERE SERIES DEBUT SERIES FINALE
Power 68 Whiskey BoJack Horseman
8PM � STARZ WEDNESDAY 1.8
10PM � PARAMOUNT NETWORK STREAMING � NETFLIX
You look like you haven’t seen SERIES DEBUT Take a chopper out of Et tu, beloved animated
Ghost in two months. (James’ America’s Top Dog Brazil and into Afghanistan tragicom? Fine! Everyone go!
nickname could become 9PM � A&E for a dramedy about U.S. See if we care! (Puts on horse
literal in the killer crime A reality series that features Army medics that involves mask, pours scotch, snarks
drama’s final five episodes.) K9 cops, civilian dogs, and lots of vices and no Tina Fey. poignantly, sobs pitifully.)
CHECK OUT MORE TV RECOMMENDATIONS AT EW.COM/WTW OR FROM OUR “WATCH THIS”

DAILY BRIEFING (GOOGLE HOME, AMAZON ALEXA) AND PODCAST (ITUNES, SPOTIFY, GOOGLE PLAY)
Makes
broccoli less
broccoli-ey.
© 2019 Kraft Foods

E N T E R TA I N I N G W E E K LY
THRIVE AND SURVIVE THIS NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH RECIPES AND TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST OF WINTER BREAK
Songs in the
Key of NYE
DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF
NEW YE AR’S EVE PARTY YOU’RE
PLANNING, A VIBE-APPROPRIATE
PLAYLIST IS CRITICAL TO BRINGING
THE RIGHT ENERGY INTO 2020
A N D M A K I N G SU RE RE V EL ER S
← Madix’s secret to
a hangover cure? DON’T REGRET THEIR RSVPS
Midol. “Men might
be too shy to
buy it, but [it’s] VIBE: Beer Pong Blowout
great for women Games, photo booths, and beer
and men. It has
cans that end in “Light” are the usual
an antihistamine,
pain reliever, rowdy suspects at such a college-
and caffeine. Take style rager, where anthems everyone
the pill, go back knows the lyrics to rule supreme
to sleep, and you’ll
hop out of bed
and any linoleum surface can be
SMOOTHIE: KELLY PULEIO; BEYONCE: KEVIN WINTER/AMERICAN IDOL 2011/GETTY IMAGES; TIMBERLAKE: KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES; CYRUS: KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES
30 minutes later, repurposed as a dance floor.

ready to face Britney Spears “Till the World Ends”
the day.”
Journey “Don’t Stop Believin’ ”
Miley Cyrus “Party in the U.S.A.”
Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling”
VIBE: Adults Drinking Wine

For guests who can be trusted with
fragile glassware and hors d’oeuvres
actually served at their intended
temperatures, ease into 2020 with
mellower songs that won’t bring down
the mood as you get progressively
tipsier with each cabernet home-pour.
VA N D E R P U M P Robyn “Dancing on My Own”

Celine Dion “It’s All Coming Back
FUEL to Me Now”
Beyoncé “XO”
Lorde “Green Light”
C O C K TA I L C O N N O I S S E U R S ARIANA MADIX A N D
TOM SANDOVAL L E N D T H E I R VA N D E R P U M P VIBE: Kids Gone Wild
The ultimate test of universality dares
R U L E S W I S D O M TO T H I S H A N G OV E R C U R E T H AT
you to balance the musical tastes of
J U ST M I G H T B E T H E D I F F E R E N C E B E T W E E N
kids mad with the power of getting to
N E W Y E A R ’ S DAY A N D N E W Y E A R ’ S D I S A ST E R party till midnight and adults secretly
wishing they could celebrate the new
year while still getting in bed by 10.
Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe”
INGREDIENTS 1 Combine all ingredients of strawberries, peach, Justin Timberlake “Can’t Stop
(minus garnish) in bananas, and goji berries, the Feeling!”
5 strawberries ↘ Beyoncé;
a blender and blend but anything you have Justin Timberlake; Adele “When We Were Young”
1 peach, Miley Cyrus Avicii “Wake Me Up”
until smooth. will do if you’re desperate.
peeled,
cored, and Tom and I keep a bag
cut into 2 Consume ASAP of flaxseed for this drink,
chunks
directly from blender, and we add just a small
1 banana, cut or pour into tall glass. handful in. You can also
into chunks
add those electrolyte
10 goji berries
“This is a true recovery packets into the mix.”
1 tsp. flaxseed
cocktail. If you wake
1 cup coconut
up with that hangover SERVES 1
water
stomach feeling and a A D A P T E D F R O M Fancy AF
2 Midol, for
headache, this will help,” Cocktails by Ariana Madix
garnish
and Tom Sandoval
(optional) says Madix. “I like the mix
THE DOUGH The Great Baking-

MUST GO ON Show Binge
YOU HAVE A WHOLE WINTER TO GET
DISMANTLE THE PASTRY-ARCHY WITH DŌ FOUNDER COZY WITH COOKING COMPETITIONS,
KRISTEN TOMLAN’S SIGNATURE COOKIE DOUGH, WHICH CAN BUT THE PERFECT BAKE-OFF
BE (SAFELY!) EATEN ALONE OR DELICIOUSLY BAKED INTO BINGES HAVE THEIR OWN SECRET
100-PLUS RECIPES FROM HER BOOK HELLO, COOKIE DOUGH INGREDIENTS. By Ruth Kinane
INGREDIENTS 1 Heat-treat the flour: 2 Make the cookie dough:

Place flour in a microwave- In a medium bowl, whisk
2¼ cups all-purpose
safe bowl and microwave together the heat-treated
flour
on high for 30 seconds flour, cornstarch, baking
2¼ tsp. cornstarch
at a time, stirring well soda, and salt. Set aside.
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102 JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 EW ● COM

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this is the good stuff

1968
Linda
Ronstadt
DOC IN
MUSIC D O C U M E N TA R I E S H AV E
T HE IS always been plentiful, but 2019

ED CARAEFF/MORGAN MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES
brought a bumper crop of great

T WO ICONS OF AMERICAN SONG— stories about important people,
LINDA RONSTADT AND JOHNNY CA SH —GE T THEIR D UE places, and trends in music
IN CAPTIVATING, FORM-BREAKING DOCUMENTARIES
history. From David Crosby—the
THAT EXPLORE THEIR COLORFUL HISTORIES, SINGUL AR
former Byrd and the C in CSNY—
ARTISTRY, AND ENDURING IMPACT.
to the revered Bluebird nightclub
By Sarah Rodman in Nashville (see sidebar), the tales
were varied and rich. Two of the
sharpest entries in the rock-doc
EDITED BY → ALE X SUSKIND @ALEXJSUSKIND

canon deftly chronicle the estima-

ble contributions of masterful
← Exploring
The Gift of Four More
interpreter Linda Ronstadt and
Johnny Cash
Music Flicks
country legend Johnny Cash. FROM A FAMED NEW YORK THEATER
TO PRODUCER RICK RUBIN, HERE
Both artists transcended their
ARE SOME RECENT DOCS WELL WORTH
perceived genres to make a per- THE WATCH. By Alex Suskind
manent imprint on American
music and culture.
That Linda Ronstadt: The Sound The Apollo
of My Voice hits CNN on New A film befitting the Harlem the-
Year’s Day is a boon for fans ater’s 85-year history. Since the
unable to see the James Keach- 1930s, the Apollo has served
as a beacon for the black com-
produced, Rob Epstein- and
munity, helping launch the careers
Jeffrey Friedman-directed film
of Aretha Franklin, the Supremes,
during its brief theatrical run. Stevie Wonder, and more.
As Ronstadt pal and peer Bonnie
Raitt puts it in the film, such was exactly what it felt like to hear an David Crosby: Remember My Name
Ronstadt’s fame and reach that the entire song sung by this woman.” The pugnacious Rock & Roll Hall
powerhouse vocalist from Arizona Director Thom Zimny was dedi- of Famer and cofounder of the Byrds
CASH: ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES; MUSGRAVES: ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES; CROSBY: CBS PHOTO ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES; FRANKLIN: SAM EMERSON/POLARIS; RUBIN: LISA HAUN/GETTY IMAGES
was the Beyoncé of her day. She cated to showing new angles on delves deep into his past—the
hopscotched from rock to pop to the Man in Black in The Gift: The drug addiction, the lost friends,
country to the Great American Journey of Johnny Cash, currently the groundbreaking music—in
this Grammy-nominated doc from
Songbook to the canciones of her streaming on YouTube.
producer Cameron Crowe.
Mexican forebears and more just “What I love to do in making
because she could. Ronstadt won 10 these films is really step into what Bluebird
Grammy awards, scored 11 plati- I imagined the artist’s world From director Brian Loschiavo, this
num albums, and was the first to be,” says Zimny, who also film serves as a showcase for
female artist to top the pop, country, cohelmed the recent Bruce Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Cafe,
and R&B charts simultaneously. Springsteen film Western Stars. which has played early host to
While talking heads like Don “I explored all kinds of archival such country luminaries as Faith Hill,
Henley, Jackson Browne, and footage, home movies, stills that Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves,
other key figures from Ronstadt’s really demonstrate to me a very and Garth Brooks.
past appear, the 73-year-old singer human side of the man’s face, and
Shangri-La
herself is seen primarily in archi- kept away from the iconic stills.”
Def Jam cofounder Rick Rubin
val footage, her voice—like the He also stumbled onto a gold shares pearls of wisdom in this
title implies—used for narration. mine: 60 hours of Johnny Cash Morgan Neville-helmed, Grammy-
“That was a deliberate choice,” telling his life story. The tapes nominated docuseries that
→ Clockwise from
says Keach (Glen Campbell...I’ll were from interviews conducted top left Kacey tackles the sage-like producer’s
Be Me). “We wanted her to tell by Patrick Carr, who coauthored Musgraves; life and career—including his
Aretha Franklin;
her own story.” the singer’s 2003 autobiography. Rick Rubin;
work as the owner of the legendary
S i n c e R o n st a d t , w h o h a s “The audio itself had not been David Crosby Shangri-La recording studios.
Parkinson’s disease, stopped per- used,” says Zimny, still some-
forming in 2009, the short what incredulous at his good
clip at film’s end of her singing fortune. “I literally finished that
with her family is especially poi- interview where Carr referenced
gnant. Keach calls the intimate having tapes, and 24 hours later I
sequence “one of the great had them digitized.”
moments of my career. Nobody That treasure trove pays off
could believe that she actually handsomely. Zimny used it
allowed us to film it.” for Cash’s extensive voice-over,
Keach is hopeful that the doc bolstered by family members
will burnish Ronstadt’s legacy, (daughter Rosanne and son
which is widely respected but John Carter), peers, and fellow
criminally undersung, unlike musicians, including Bruce
anything she ever sang herself. Springsteen and Marty Stuart,
He’s particularly glad that they also only heard, not seen. “I only
included several full perfor- wanted voices that you believe
mances. “In so many music docs, either knew Johnny Cash or
you play a few verses,” he says. were moved by him to a place that
“Instead, we wanted people to feel their life changed.” �
WINTER’S CHIL
’TIS THE SEASON TO TRADE HEART WARMING HOLIDAY READS FOR SOMETHING
neighborhood dead of Officer

Mickey Fitzpatrick’s Philadelphia,
“people with promise, people
dependent and depended on,
people loving and beloved.” And all
lost, one by one, to addiction.
River isn’t the first novel about
the opioid epidemic, but it arrives
with a certain weight behind it:
glowing blurbs from Dennis
Lehane and Paula Hawkins, a large
print run and press campaign.
Framed as a fairly standard police
procedural—young women, mostly
known addicts and prostitutes,
keep turning up dead in still-
ungentrified Kensington, and it
looks like foul play—the plot has
the flavor of a Lehane, too, almost
every page rooted in some deeply
tribal sense of place and class and
family. Once just another mother-
less kid on the block, Mickey now
works those same streets as a beat
cop, but still feels alienated enough
from her colleagues at the PPD to
keep from them that one of the
girls who’s gone missing is her
baby sister, estranged by her own
addictions years before.
What follows is a smart, unsenti-
mental portrait of two very different
siblings, one on either side of the
law, and also of a city in terminal
transition—airy condos rising up
beside empty lots still strewn with
discarded needles; pawnshops and
dollar stores giving way to $7-a-cup
coffee stands. Mickey can feel like a
reluctant protagonist, and some-
THE MUST-READ times a frustratingly naive one (is it
A U T H O R LIZ MOORE
really a fair fight when the reader
LONG P A G E S 496
knows they’re holding a thriller,
BRIGHT LONG BRIGHT RIVER BEGINS WITH A
but the narrator always seems
surprised?). What Liz Moore (The
RIVER litany of names. Boyfriends, teach- Unseen World) makes real, though,
ers, nieces; a Robby, a Ricky, a is the killer she can’t catch: a poison
Review by
Mikey; four Meghans. They appear that lurks in the bloodstream,
Leah Greenblatt
again near the end, slightly altered cheap and deadly and always ready
and addendumed: These are the to add another name to the list. B+
E D I T E D B Y → D AV I D C A N F I E L D @ D AV I D C A N F I E L D 9 7
LIEST THRILLERS
T WISTIER. HERE ARE OUR PICKS FOR THE BEST PAGE-TURNERS TO KEEP YOU UP AT NIGHT.
SISTERLY SABOTAGE
The Better Liar

by Tanen Jones
A woman conscripts a stranger
to impersonate her dead sister;
what could go wrong? Jones’
sensational debut has the
bones of a thriller but reads like
literary fiction: lean, shrewd,
and gratifyingly real.
TECH TERROR
The God Game

by Danny Tobey
Tobey’s horror-tinged novel,
about a group of teens lulled I’m in the flow of it, I write
into a life-or-death VR video- on the tube, going to
game, verges on grim ridicu-
auditions, or on set in my
lousness. But like a cheap VOD
movie that twists and turns, it
trailer,” she says. “I reach
casts its own schlocky spell. for my phone [where]
I make all my notes. I’m
ICY INTRIGUE
sure if Ernest Hemingway
was around now he’d
How Quickly She Disappears use his iPhone notes.”
by Raymond Fleischmann
In a menacing, wintery town of
Her Mr. Nobody inspo
55 people, an isolated house-
wife partners with a killer to “I was fascinated by this
WRITER TO WATCH
solve her twin sister’s disap- story from 2005 about
pearance. A thinly realized
historical backdrop doesn’t get C AT H E R I N E the Piano Man: He was a
guy found on a beach
in the way of a juicy plot.
STE ADMAN in Kent who had no mem-
ory where he came from.
DEADLY DYNASTY FRESH OFF HER BEST-SELLING,
When he turned up he
REESE-APPROVED DEBUT, THE BRITISH
The Majesties ACTRESS-AUTHOR, 36, RETURNS
was wearing an evening
by Tiffany Tsao suit and he could play the
WITH THE RIVETING MR. NOBODY.
Tsao spins a Crazy Rich Asians- piano to concert level. It
esque saga of family wealth
By Seija Rankin was the perfect jumping-
and deception as a nasty-fun
murder mystery, chronicling off point for a thriller.”
the events leading up to a
woman’s poisoning of her Her journey to this is the perfect oppor- Her pinch-me moment
extended clan.
multihyphenate tunity to get around “My agent rang and said
“The life of an actor is to writing a book.” She that Reese Witherspoon
CAMPUS CRIME a precarious one, and I ended up finishing her had read the manuscript
had nothing to do while first novel, 2018’s Some- for Something and was
The Truants
by Kate Weinberg
I waited to start my thing in the Water, ringing studios to see
A naive undergrad falls under next job,” says Catherine without telling anyone. if anyone would co-
the thrall of her sophisticated Steadman, known for produce with her,” Stead-
new classmates and a charis- her TV roles on Downton Her process man recalls. “I was like,
RACHELL SMITH
matic professor in Weinberg’s

Abbey and The Rook. “I “I usually wait to start a okay, even if nothing
moody, well-wrought debut,
heavy on shades of Donna thought, I’ll go insane if I book until I have a couple comes of it, I’ve had that
Tartt’s The Secret History. don’t do something, so of weeks free, but once phone call.”
KE Y S H O C K FACTO R : MEH! GASP! OMFG! EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 10 7

K KIL E Y REID D OE SN’T LOVE BEING
photographed. “I was a little bit

nervous,” she says, reflecting on
having just spent a snowy Monday
morning in EW’s New York studio.
“It’s been a little [overwhelming].
You spend three years alone in a
room, and all of a sudden, you’re
very much on the outside.” She
continues, her voice brightening
as she gears up to talk about her
book: “But so far...so good.”
She’s hardly the first author to
favor unpacking complex literary
themes over posing for a photo
shoot. But for Reid, 32, much of this
is new. She started writing her
debut novel, Such a Fun Age, while
applying to graduate school; fin-
ished it while pursuing her M.F.A.
at the University of Iowa; and sold
it to Putnam, an imprint of Penguin
Random House, in a competitive
10-house auction before gradua-
tion. More than a year ago—and
still before Reid graduated—Lena
Waithe and Sight Unseen Pictures
(Skin) acquired the film/TV rights .
But enough about all that excite-
ment. Reid wants to get into the
work. She delights in being asked
about Fun Age’s neat trick: nestling
a nuanced take on racial biases and
class divides into a page-turning
saga of betrayals, twists, and per-
fectly awkward relationships. “I
love this question, so I’m going to
A NEW take my time with it,” she says,
almost to herself. “I wanted a
L I T E R A R Y AG E compulsive read because that’s the
kind of stuff that I love to read and
KILEY REID WAS STILL A GRADUATE STUDENT WHEN HER DEBUT NOVEL , write. But when it comes to the
SUCH A FUN AGE, WAS SCOOPED UP BY LENA WAITHE FOR A MAJOR social issues, I would hate for any-
ADAPTATION. NOW, OVER A YEAR L ATER, IT’S FINALLY HITTING SHELVES. one to think that my intention
was to make systemic racism a
By David Canfield
light issue.”
Fun Age untangles the troubled
dynamic between Alix, a white
108 JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 EW ● COM P H OTO G R A P H B Y B R A D O G B O N N A

woman in her early 30s curating a imbues her flawed heroes with real FICTION
profitable lifestyle brand online, heart. Briar, for one, is about as REVIEWS
and her 2-year-old daughter Briar’s believably adorable a toddler as
babysitter, Emira, a 25-year-old you’ll find in a novel. “Children are
black woman figuring out her next often written with a forced baby
step. Reid, a former nanny, proves voice that sounds like an 8-year-old
immediately interested in themes trying to play a 5-year-old to get
of child care and ownership, but into some movie,” she cracks. “I
kicks things into a new gear after just wanted [Briar] to be a child.”
Emira is racially profiled at a gro- Reid could do this all day. She
cery store late one night when a discusses her struggles balancing
security guard detains her and comedy and drama, then goes deep
accuses her of kidnapping Briar. on the spiky ending (no spoilers!),
“I can’t not be inspired by things sure to get readers talking. But it’s
that I see on the news, or see around not every day that a debut novel FOLLOW ME DEAR EDWARD
me,” Reid says. She started writing gets bought outright by one of Hol- TO GROUND
the novel back in 2015, during a time lywood’s most exciting talents, and
of heightened racial tensions in so we must end there. “It was very AUTHOR AUTHOR
SUE RAINSFORD ANN NAPOLITANO
America. “I had been to a few Black strange,” Reid admits of learning P A G E S 208 P A G E S 352
Lives Matter marches,” she says. “A that Waithe was interested. Fun
lot of these police-brutality events Age hadn’t even been sent out for- You’ve never A sort of willful
were happening to low-income mally for acquisition when she got encountered a tearjerker,
black Americans.” Reid’s focus on the call. “I got off of a flight, and [my father-daughter Napolitano’s
story like saga of death
class intensifies as Emira grapples agent] said, ‘Your book leaked.’
Rainsford’s slim and recovery
with trauma and struggles to make I thought I was in trouble!”
debut. Her follows 12-year-
ends meet and, after the incident, Reid has to keep mum on the protagonists, old Edward, the
as Alix’s interest in her employee details, but the adaptation is pro- beings of the lone survivor of
increases dramatically. Reid inter- gressing. She’s ecstatic—for the “Ground,” live in a plane crash
rogates tropes of the white savior creative challenge, for reaching a isolation in the who’s just lost
and unknowing racist as they play wider audience, for collaborating woods, toler- his parents and
out in everyday life. She wanted to with other artists. But mostly for ated by nearby only brother. It
“show what this looks like on a petty what this opportunity represents. villagers for their surrounds his
domestic scale, and how racial “I’m extremely excited to have so magical healing years of misery
powers. Weird? and therapy
biases still show themselves.” many women of color on screen, of
Sure, but Rains- with flashbacks
And yet the novel feels bound for all different shades,” she says. Then
ford possesses of the fateful
book-club glory, due to its sheer she adds, “We have the opportunity such a hypnotic flight, zeroing in
readability. The dialogue crackles to make all of [the book’s] awkward command of her on the lives of
with naturalistic flair. The plotting moments even more awkward!” premise. Under- various passen-
is breezy and surprising. Plus, More discomfiting, more enter- world elements gers. The first
while Reid’s feel for both the funny taining, more unique—sounds true keep creeping chapter, an ode
and the political is undeniable, she to Fun Age’s trailblazing spirit. � into this moody to the mundane
fairy tale, but a routines of air
young woman’s travel, contains
liberation is the real bite and an
main, intriguing authenticity the
LENA WAITHE attraction. Ada, novel loses hold
AC QUIRED ADAPTATION
RIGHTS TO SUCH A FUN lonely and long- of; subsequent
AGE IN AUGUST 2018
ing and curious, airborne revela-
finds a potential tions (She’s
suitor; her over- pregnant! He’s
protective dad gay!) feel indul-
becomes afraid gently mawkish.
and hurt by this But Edward’s
distancing. What path to finding
does it mean to purpose and
AXELLE/BAUER-GRIFFIN/FILMMAGIC
heal oneself connection is

versus others? realized with an
“The sickness affecting, quiet
isn’t gone,” says empathy. You’ll
Rainsford. “It sob to the end.
just goes else- That’s the idea,
where.” B+ —DC right? B– —DC
EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 10 9

BOOKS OF MY LIFE
Upon publication of her next decades-
Isabel
Allende spanning epic novel, A Long Petal of the
Sea, the iconic Chilean author, 77, tells all
about her literary loves. � By Rosy Cordero
grateful. I am embarrassed to
finish books I hate, like extremely
violent Scandinavian crime
novels.
The Book of Mine I’d Love to See

Made Into a Movie
Daughter of Fortune, with the
main character played by Anne
Hathaway (3) or someone like
her. The protagonist, Eliza Som-
mers...travels as a stowaway in a
cargo ship from Chile to California
during the Gold Rush of 1848.
The history of this period is fasci-
nating, and I would like to see
it on the big screen.
The Books by Latinx Writers

I Have Loved This Year
Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis
[and] Dominicana (4) by
1.
Angie Cruz.
If People Could Read Only One of

My Books, They Should Read...
ALLENDE: © LORI BARRA; HATHAWAY: AXELLE/BAUER-GRIFFIN/FILMMAGIC; ANNA KARENINA: LAURIE SPARHAM

[My debut novel] The House of
the Spirits, because those who
read it usually get hooked and
2.
want to read other books of mine.
The Books I Loved as a Child The Last Book That Made The Books That Inspired Me
When I was very young, my favor- Me Cry to Travel
ite book was an illustrated I cry often with books, especially War and Peace and Anna Kare-
collection of Hans Christian Ander- when animals are involved—for nina inspired me to visit Moscow,
sen’s tales. Later I read all the example, Lily and the Octopus 3.
which I imagined covered in snow.
classics for young adults, from by Steven Rowley (2). It’s the I visited it for a gorgeous summer
Jules Verne to Mark Twain, and all story of a dying dachshund and week with a special invitation
of Agatha Christie’s novels. her owner’s grief. I read it when from the San Francisco composer
my dog Olivia was mortally ill, and philanthropist Gordon Getty.
The Last Book That Made Me Laugh so I related to the story pro- We were hosted by the National
There’s a very funny sex scene in foundly. I reread it recently, Philharmonic Orchestra and got
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (1). and I cried again. 4. to see some beautiful imperial
It’s really hard to find any humor in palaces not often open to tour-
sex, but the author managed to The Books I’m Embarrassed to ists. It was easy to imagine the
make me laugh like a lunatic when Admit That I Love characters from those books
her young protagonist loses her vir- I am never embarrassed by the attending balls and concerts
ginity with the help of a veterinarian. books I love; I am delighted and in those immense gilded rooms.
110 JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 EW ● COM

Wild About FICTION
REVIEWS
Harry
WORK BY PHOTOGRAPHY ICON HARRY
BENSON, WHO TURNED 90 ON DEC. 2,
IS DISPLAYED AT NEW YORK’S STALEY-
WISE GALLERY THROUGH JAN. 25.
HERE ARE THREE CL ASSIC SNAPS
FROM HIS 2017 COLLECTION PER-
SONS OF INTEREST. By Mary Sollosi
OLIGARCHY CLEANNESS TOPICS OF

CONVERSATION
A U T H O R SCARLETT THOMAS A U T H O R GARTH GREENWELL A U T H O R MIRANDA POPKEY

P A G E S 228 P A G E S 223 P A G E S 205
The Beatles with Cassius Clay, 1964 Fifteen-year-old Nata- The nameless protag- What do women talk
Harry Benson captured this quintet in sha has never even onist of Greenwell’s about when we talk
Miami during the beginning of the been on an airplane prize-winning 2016 about sex? The physi-
band’s first American tour and before before when she debut What Belongs to cal act is a touchstone
the boxer’s first championship fight— arrives at a remote You returns—still an in Popkey’s lean, brac-
and subsequent name change. British boarding school American teacher ingly unsentimental
from Russia. But she adrift in Bulgaria, an debut, but the subtext
has long dark-honey obscure, nicotine- is everything else: envy,
hair and a black AmEx, fugued blotch on the intimacy, loneliness,
and soon she is run- map of Eastern self-control. In inter-
ning fast with all the Europe. He counsels connected chapters
other teenage hyenas (or attempts to) a that travel from a luxe
who sneak out to the young student crushed Italian resort at the turn
village for Malibu rum by unrequited love; of the millennium to
and roll their skirts up attends a festive, way- California’s desolate
way past regulations. ward street protest in San Joaquin Valley in
Why are they all get- the capital; recounts 2017, Topics’ unnamed
ting so so thin, though? various sexual narrator inhabits a
If her mystery doesn’t encounters sprung world where the men
make much sense in from the most mas- turn out to be mostly
the end, Thomas (The ochistic corners of the peripheral: absentee
Seed Collectors) has a internet. It’s those fathers, unwanted
perfectly pitched ear rules of engagement exes. But as she
Dolly Parton, 1976 for human cruelty and that seem to intrigue explores her own his-
A decade into her career, the country self-delusion—one man Greenwell most; the tory through a shifting
icon struck a glamorous pose for
has “the eyes of a life- intoxicating and lens of female rivalries
Benson in her Nashville home.
guard who lets people almost painful honesty and friendships, the
drown”—and all the of his unflinching gaze book’s surface cool-
wild tortures young on desire as “the key ness begins to peel
girls subject them- to the latch of the self, away, revealing the
selves to just to feel or the promised key, a raw, uncommon nerve
pretty in the world. key that maybe never of a radically honest
HARRY BENSON/POWERHOUSE BOOKS (3)
B+ —LE AH GREENBL AT T turns.” B+ —LG storyteller. A– —LG
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EW ● COM JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0 1 1 1
THIS YEAR’S
HITS & MISSES
The only
time you BY → MARC SNETIKER @MARCSNETIKER
don’t want to
hear “He went
to Jared.”
The biggest
Billion-dollar difference
evidence between coffee
that Will Smith and Apple TV+
can still open is that people
blockbusters know how to get
in Agrabah. one of them.
Unfortunately, Hot Hulk is

climate change merely our
just picked up reward for suf-
“hot girl summer” fering through
for 1,000 more all those years
seasons. of Shrek.
HELEN SLOAN/HBO, LIZZO: TAYLOR HILL/FILMMAGIC, DETECTIVE PIKACHU: WARNER BROS. PICTURES, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3-PARABELLUM: NIKO TAVERNISE/LIONSGATE, JONAS BROTHERS: MARIANO
REGIDOR/WIREIMAGE, ALADDIN: WALT DISNEY CO./EVERETT COLLECTION, MEGAN THEE STALLION: P. LEHMAN/BARCROFT MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES, LETO: GILBERT CARRASQUILLO/GC IMAGES PICTURES
HBO, BOOKSMART: FRANCOIS DUHAMEL/ANNAPURNA, EUPHORIA: HBO, MASKED SINGER: MICHAEL BECKER/FOX, SUCCESSION: COLIN HUTTON/HBO, VEEP: COLLEEN HAYES/HBO, GAME OF THRONES:
MARVEL STUDIOS’ AVENGERS: ENDGAME: MARVEL STUDIOS 2019, THE MORNING SHOW: APPLE TV, THE MANDALORIAN: LUCASFILM LTD., HUSTLERS: STXFILMS, BIG LITTLE LIES: JENNIFER CLASEN/
The Jonas
Brothers +
Whatever
puberty =
happens, the
pop music’s
Oscars are in
most shocking
for one hell of an
collaboration
In Memoriam
performance.
On the bright
side, she’ll
probably get
custody of
Thanks to the Emmy.
Lizzo, we no
longer need
insecurity Proof there
or 23andMe
results. are still
good roles
for babies
When
Jigglypuffs
over 50.
start turning up
dead, the movie Fanny
partnership packs and
of the year Beanies
is born. are officially
back in.
Eye glitter is
only, like, the
10th-craziest
thing the Euphoria
teens keep
going through.
Let’s just At least we

say we’re as got rid of If you want
excited about one president to watch the
Westeros’ new this year. collapse of
king as he is. Western civiliza-
tion, it’s on two
channels.

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