'Potter' show finds its trio
And Kevin Costner sued over rape scene
The Harry Potter TV show has found its main trio
In case you’re not aware, HBO Max is reboot Harry Potter as a longrunning TV series. It’s set to start shooting this summer and Warner Brothers just announced the 3 young actors who will play the lead roles.
Dominic McLaughlin is playing Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton will be Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout is Ron Weasley. They reportedly beat out 30,000 other kids for the roles. All three of them are relatively new to the film and TV industry. McLaughlin is also in “Grow,” an upcoming Sky comedy starring Nick Frost, Stanton played Matilda on the West End in 2023, while Stout has no previous credits
Showrunner Franceca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod said in a statement, “The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together onscreen. We would like to thank all the tens of thousands of children who auditioned. It's been a real pleasure to discover the plethora of young talent out there.”
The trio joins John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as McGonagall, Paapa Esiedu as Snape, and Nick Frost as Hagrid — among others.
Kevin Costner is being sued over an alleged rape scene
As a stunt performer says they were humiliated and traumatized by this alleged on-set incident.
Actor-director Kevin Costner premiered Horizon: An American Saga Part 2 last year, and now, stunt performer Devyn LaBella is suing Costner, claiming she was forced to act in an unscripted sexual assault scene without proper protocols.
The lawsuit alleges that Costner - who wrote and directed Horizon 2 - improvised this scene for Ella Hunt’s character Juliette, meaning it wasn’t in the script or planned out beforehand. Hunt then allegedly refused to do it and walked off set, so they brought in her double Devyn LaBella, but she says they didn’t fully explain the situation.
Per the lawsuit, Costner asked LaBella to “stand in” as they lined up a shot, but then Costner allegedly proceeded to shoot a sexual assault scene “without advance warning, preparation or consent, and without an intimacy coordinator present.”
The lawsuit says the male actor in the scene was directed “to mount her, pin her down, and violently rake up her skirt.” He allegedly carried out the simulated “violent assault over and over and over again” Additionally, the suit claims the set was not closed — meaning all members of the crew were present
LaBella says in the lawsuit, “On that day, I was left exposed, unprotected, and deeply betrayed by a system that promised safety and professionalism. What happened to me shattered my trust and forever changed how I move through this industry.”
The lawsuit is also pointing to SAG rules that require 48 hours notice for simulated sex and baring your body. Costner’s lawyer meanwhile is calling this “a shakedown” from a “serial accuser”
They say the scene was explained to LaBella and she gave her consent to the stunt coordinator and that she was in “good spirits” and didn’t complain to the stunt team afterwards.
It’s worth noting that all of that is contradicted by LaBella’s claims in her lawsuit, so we shall see what comes of this.
The Last of Us finale viewership is a big red flag for HBO
But the network seems to be in complete denial. The Last of Us aired its season two finale last night, ending what turned out to be a very controversial season among fans. But did those controversies actually affect viewership? Maybe!
As the season 2 finale was down 55% compared to the season 1 finale. 3.7 million cross-platform viewers compared to 8.2 million viewers last season. And the season 1 finale aired on Oscar night. But wait, it gets worse. That 3.7 million finale number is also down from the season 2 premiere, which got 5.3 million viewers
Despite this, HBO is trying to spin it any way it can. First off, the network blamed the low total on the holiday weekend, saying the number will grow as people catch up. And two, it pointed to total numbers, claiming Season 2 is tallying nearly 37 million global viewers per episode.
So the question is, have audiences turned on the show? The viewership numbers might be the canary in the coal mine.
Normally, I’d look at RottenTomatoes and IMDB users ratings for proof of this, but they aren’t exactly helpful in this situation, because of review bombing from really angry fans. That said veteran TV critic Alan Sepinwall has seemingly turned on the show. He was a big supporter of the series early on, but wrote about the finale: “Questionable choices by characters and creators bring this chapter of the series to an unsatisfying close.”
This classic Robin Williams movie was “the most coked-up film set”
According to one legendary executive. Look — the 1980s really were a different time. And if you need proof of that, well, just listen to Barry Diller, who ran Paramount Pictures from 1974 to 1984.
At a recent on-stage conversation in New York, Anderson Cooper interviewed Diller about his decades-long career, and he asked the executive what was “the most coked up film set” he ever visited.
Diller had an immediate answer: Popeye — the 1980 live-action adaptation, directed by Robert Altman, starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall.
Diller said “everyone was stoned” on that movie. And he believes you can see that in the movie itself - through its chaotic speed. Cooper asked Diller if he knew right away that’s what was going on on set And Diller replied, “Knew it? You couldn’t escape it.”
Diller explained that the movie was shooting in Malta, so they had to send their daily footage back to LA to be processed. And quote, “They were actually shipping in film cans at the time. We found out that the film cans were actually being used to ship cocaine back and forth to set.”
So I guess what Diller is saying is that in addition to the regular craft services, they were also serving up an old school Hollywood buffet on the set of Popeye.