The legend Susan Lucci, on covering Gwyneth Paltrow, will Heated Rivalry's fandom intensity soften, talk to Jennifer Lopez’s insured ass, and Sally Choi's Obsession gripe, and Mark Lee's statement
The thing a lot of people overlook about the really zealous fandom stuff, the ones that get super-conspiratorial and entitled, is that it's seldom the sole domain of "obsessive teens." Usually, those spaces are dominated by women over 40. It happened with Twilight, 50 Shades, Outlander, Supernatural, and, of course, Club Chalamet. It was that demographic leading the tinhat stuff, like the claims that Sam Heughan was the father of Caitriona Balfe's baby. The head Robsten fan who claimed they had three kids together was a grandmother!
The reason Simone/Club Chalamet is so concerning is that she's been elevated so heavily, both by the press who want a new SEO to mine, and by irony-poisoned online spaces who want both a new spectacle and an excuse to keep being creepy towards celebrities. And she's only gotten worse since latching onto Connor Storrie. Her tweets are more fantastical, she spins grand conspiracies about his love life and "romance" with Francois Arnaud, and she claims Hudson and his fans are jealous because Storrie "won the lottery in appearance (fair, blonde, blue-green eyes)" (and actual quote of hers, by the way.) And that doesn't even get into her favourably RT-ing TERF crap and Tommy Robinson racism. Frankly, I'm not surprised other fans are concerned about her presence in these spaces, but also, don't jump other people and claim you're protecting your idols. You're all dancing around the same fire at the devil's sacrament, babes.
There's no way that Club Chalamet isn't going to find a way to make Francois Arnaud's Broadway debut all about her. I'm certain the theater is going to have multiple pics of her face as well as her face in her fucking dermatologist recommended fucking SPF mask.
I just read this mailbag and your newsletter back to back, Kayleigh, and you’ve been so spot-on about the Club Chalamet coverage. It would be delicious delicious food for a lot of people if she DID end up killing one of these young men she obsesses over. It’s great copy!
Cameras kept cutting to him and Edward Norton during the USMNT game v. Turkiye last night and I kept fervently wishing they'd cut the shot to just Norton and give us all a damn break. Fully expecting another US magazine cover where "sources close to Brad" reveal how his kids were all invited to the game with him but his evil ex-wife yada yada yada.
TY for posting that it was F1 - it was going to drive me crazy! I understand not giving more heat to Brad Pitt, but I'm here for the analysis, especially here on the Squawk. So many oblique references in the mailbag this week.
Thank you for taking my question, it cannot be easy to know how hard you worked and how little you made while seeing the film you worked on breaking box office records all over the place. Of course Sally Choi spoke out and she has said she knew that she was never going to see any money but she wanted people to be aware that when films make bank, not everyone who worked on them gets a piece of that. She helped make a low budget film look like it was made on studio money, she earned the right to speak up.
loved the susan lucci and soap operas appreciation! i grew up watching one life to live and general hospital with my mom. i read an oral history book about OLTL and came away from it understanding that soap opera actors/crew are the hardest workers in the entertainment industry and it’s not even close.
“Her ass was literally a pop culture preoccupation during those years – and this person is suggesting she do a movie about ass cancer? This is so unserious, are we sure they’re not trolling?”
The quick belief in the authority of randoms on the internet has to be an exploitation in a design flaw of human nature because it’s so pervasive. Seeing the list of everything JLo had done in the time period in question was so refreshing but, of course, it’s in a written response that took time and effort, fact checking, and is not a sound bite. Although, I think the last line totally could be.
Soap operas are the acting equivalent of boot camp, IMHO! I was a master memorizer back in the day, and I don't think I could have kept up with that much dialogue to learn overnight. So many, many props to the soap opera vets because damn that's hard work. Days of Our Lives is one I watched as a teenager and not All My Children but Lucci is such a legend. Your intro reminded me that she was in this quite camp Wes Craven horror made-for-TV movie back in the day (Invitation to Hell--come on, how amazing is that? I love a B-movie!). I hope she had a blast making it.
I also deeply appreciated the section about equitable pay /profit sharing .... I was hopeful that folks would attempt better profit sharing (I thought that was part of Damon/Affleck's shingle -- artist's equity??? also hopeful that MBJ would be able to stake that claim as well) ... In any case, there's no reason for an Internet pile on, just because someone is highlighting the gross free labor strategies that suffuse capitalism --- internships, training programs, etc etc that help people get industry experience while exploiting human capital. Medical residencies are no exception, maybe the Pitt should tackle that....
Yes, artists equity is built on the idea of providing all stakeholders that work on films with some profit sharing on the back end. However, they don't really work in the independent space, which is where the obsession story emerged from. But it is also showing that it's possible to profit share on studio films. You just have to have top line talent willing to back it.
My grandmother and aunt loved All My Children and I thought Susan Lucci was the epitome of glamour when I was a kid. She still is! One of my favorite moments from the last season of Hacks is when Jimmy calls his soap opera star mom to see if she could be off book for a movie by the next day and she replies, “honey, I work in soaps, I could be off book for Hamlet tomorrow.” Respect for soaps!
My grandma died 5 years ago, on my annual beach trip without her I get a twinge thinking about how no one watches soaps while I’m eating lunch after we come in from the beach anymore! I liked Days of Our Lives and Passions about 20 years ago but I haven’t watched anything regularly since I was about 15.
I also thought of F1! Damn, I just really dislike BP now and every time someone around me talks about him, I’m THAT persona saying “wife and child beater”
The breakdown of the script coverage / J. Lo career arc and value of her ass was the gossip gift I did not know I needed today! People on social media are so unserious.
I love this call out : “do we seriously believe that the primary motivation of the person who found that photo and then posted it was to crusade against antisemitism?” LMFAO literally laughed out loud cause there is no way this person is crusading against antisemitism🤮Lainey just saw right through that shit😂 👏
I will never get tired of saying it, but the reason you think Heated Rivarly fandom is toxic, is because you are looking at it on twitter, a toxic platform. Its not the same elsewhere, it really isn't!
I totally get it - Twitter is the most toxic - but I saw the fake news that I referred to in my post on TikTok. Again by a reasonably presenting proper adult woman who claimed with her whole chest that she knew what was going on during a certain public appearance when I was literally standing right there.
Im not young and hip enough to be on tiktok, lol. But i did see people on threads and reddit erasing and making others to erase Connor's audition tapes because they were leaked without his consent, or paparazzi puctures or removing religeously any deep dive into Hudson's partner and i dont remember fandoms being as wholesome and respectful before (Im 42). So i do think there is some positive progress too, if you know to look for it.
The thing a lot of people overlook about the really zealous fandom stuff, the ones that get super-conspiratorial and entitled, is that it's seldom the sole domain of "obsessive teens." Usually, those spaces are dominated by women over 40. It happened with Twilight, 50 Shades, Outlander, Supernatural, and, of course, Club Chalamet. It was that demographic leading the tinhat stuff, like the claims that Sam Heughan was the father of Caitriona Balfe's baby. The head Robsten fan who claimed they had three kids together was a grandmother!
The reason Simone/Club Chalamet is so concerning is that she's been elevated so heavily, both by the press who want a new SEO to mine, and by irony-poisoned online spaces who want both a new spectacle and an excuse to keep being creepy towards celebrities. And she's only gotten worse since latching onto Connor Storrie. Her tweets are more fantastical, she spins grand conspiracies about his love life and "romance" with Francois Arnaud, and she claims Hudson and his fans are jealous because Storrie "won the lottery in appearance (fair, blonde, blue-green eyes)" (and actual quote of hers, by the way.) And that doesn't even get into her favourably RT-ing TERF crap and Tommy Robinson racism. Frankly, I'm not surprised other fans are concerned about her presence in these spaces, but also, don't jump other people and claim you're protecting your idols. You're all dancing around the same fire at the devil's sacrament, babes.
Hey now. Leave the devil's sacrament out of this. Some of us are just trying to have a good time around a fire.
There's no way that Club Chalamet isn't going to find a way to make Francois Arnaud's Broadway debut all about her. I'm certain the theater is going to have multiple pics of her face as well as her face in her fucking dermatologist recommended fucking SPF mask.
That stage door needs to be guarded like Fort Knox. Truly, I am worried for him.
I just read this mailbag and your newsletter back to back, Kayleigh, and you’ve been so spot-on about the Club Chalamet coverage. It would be delicious delicious food for a lot of people if she DID end up killing one of these young men she obsesses over. It’s great copy!
Such a great mailbag! Love the show your work elements. Thanks as ever for the thoughts and time.
Also, if the “big movie” was F1, I did notice the lack of coverage and just so appreciated your subversive approach to that.
It was very “I don’t know her” energy. 👏
If F1 and Brad Pitt have no haters, I am dead!
Cameras kept cutting to him and Edward Norton during the USMNT game v. Turkiye last night and I kept fervently wishing they'd cut the shot to just Norton and give us all a damn break. Fully expecting another US magazine cover where "sources close to Brad" reveal how his kids were all invited to the game with him but his evil ex-wife yada yada yada.
Definitely F1. Clocked it in real time. Was here for the (lack of) coverage. You are my people!
TY for posting that it was F1 - it was going to drive me crazy! I understand not giving more heat to Brad Pitt, but I'm here for the analysis, especially here on the Squawk. So many oblique references in the mailbag this week.
Appreciate the Susan Lucci intro!
Thank you for taking my question, it cannot be easy to know how hard you worked and how little you made while seeing the film you worked on breaking box office records all over the place. Of course Sally Choi spoke out and she has said she knew that she was never going to see any money but she wanted people to be aware that when films make bank, not everyone who worked on them gets a piece of that. She helped make a low budget film look like it was made on studio money, she earned the right to speak up.
💯
loved the susan lucci and soap operas appreciation! i grew up watching one life to live and general hospital with my mom. i read an oral history book about OLTL and came away from it understanding that soap opera actors/crew are the hardest workers in the entertainment industry and it’s not even close.
I am dead.
“Her ass was literally a pop culture preoccupation during those years – and this person is suggesting she do a movie about ass cancer? This is so unserious, are we sure they’re not trolling?”
The quick belief in the authority of randoms on the internet has to be an exploitation in a design flaw of human nature because it’s so pervasive. Seeing the list of everything JLo had done in the time period in question was so refreshing but, of course, it’s in a written response that took time and effort, fact checking, and is not a sound bite. Although, I think the last line totally could be.
Soap operas are the acting equivalent of boot camp, IMHO! I was a master memorizer back in the day, and I don't think I could have kept up with that much dialogue to learn overnight. So many, many props to the soap opera vets because damn that's hard work. Days of Our Lives is one I watched as a teenager and not All My Children but Lucci is such a legend. Your intro reminded me that she was in this quite camp Wes Craven horror made-for-TV movie back in the day (Invitation to Hell--come on, how amazing is that? I love a B-movie!). I hope she had a blast making it.
I always learn so much from these, thank you. Here's a gift link to the gossip history piece Lainey mentions about Gwyneth in NYT 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/magazine/big-business-gwyneth-paltrow-wellness.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tFA.5LW0.ZvAPoYc9wAfW&smid=nytcore-android-share
Thank you so much!!!! Loved the intro on Susan Lucci, a tremendous body of work and skill. What a joy to hear about your experience with her
I also deeply appreciated the section about equitable pay /profit sharing .... I was hopeful that folks would attempt better profit sharing (I thought that was part of Damon/Affleck's shingle -- artist's equity??? also hopeful that MBJ would be able to stake that claim as well) ... In any case, there's no reason for an Internet pile on, just because someone is highlighting the gross free labor strategies that suffuse capitalism --- internships, training programs, etc etc that help people get industry experience while exploiting human capital. Medical residencies are no exception, maybe the Pitt should tackle that....
Yes, artists equity is built on the idea of providing all stakeholders that work on films with some profit sharing on the back end. However, they don't really work in the independent space, which is where the obsession story emerged from. But it is also showing that it's possible to profit share on studio films. You just have to have top line talent willing to back it.
My grandmother and aunt loved All My Children and I thought Susan Lucci was the epitome of glamour when I was a kid. She still is! One of my favorite moments from the last season of Hacks is when Jimmy calls his soap opera star mom to see if she could be off book for a movie by the next day and she replies, “honey, I work in soaps, I could be off book for Hamlet tomorrow.” Respect for soaps!
My grandma died 5 years ago, on my annual beach trip without her I get a twinge thinking about how no one watches soaps while I’m eating lunch after we come in from the beach anymore! I liked Days of Our Lives and Passions about 20 years ago but I haven’t watched anything regularly since I was about 15.
Same! I feel nostalgic about soaps, but haven’t watched since my early teens.
I also thought of F1! Damn, I just really dislike BP now and every time someone around me talks about him, I’m THAT persona saying “wife and child beater”
The breakdown of the script coverage / J. Lo career arc and value of her ass was the gossip gift I did not know I needed today! People on social media are so unserious.
I love this call out : “do we seriously believe that the primary motivation of the person who found that photo and then posted it was to crusade against antisemitism?” LMFAO literally laughed out loud cause there is no way this person is crusading against antisemitism🤮Lainey just saw right through that shit😂 👏
I will never get tired of saying it, but the reason you think Heated Rivarly fandom is toxic, is because you are looking at it on twitter, a toxic platform. Its not the same elsewhere, it really isn't!
I totally get it - Twitter is the most toxic - but I saw the fake news that I referred to in my post on TikTok. Again by a reasonably presenting proper adult woman who claimed with her whole chest that she knew what was going on during a certain public appearance when I was literally standing right there.
Im not young and hip enough to be on tiktok, lol. But i did see people on threads and reddit erasing and making others to erase Connor's audition tapes because they were leaked without his consent, or paparazzi puctures or removing religeously any deep dive into Hudson's partner and i dont remember fandoms being as wholesome and respectful before (Im 42). So i do think there is some positive progress too, if you know to look for it.