Miley Cyrus & Dolly Parton Christmas Special Exlusive 3
Taylor Swift Eras Tour & Billboard Hot 100 4 - 7
Selena Gomez My Mind and Me Documentary Exclusive 8 - 9
Shop the Fit Taylor Swift Edition 10 - 11
How to Achieve Soft Glam 12 - 13
Becky G Interview 14- 15
Harry Potter Actor dead at 72 “Wands Up” Tribute 16 - 17
Winter Movies 2022 18 - 19
Gaten Matarazzo Promises Answers in Season Finale 20 - 21
Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton are your new favorite onscreen dynamic duo, and an exclusive new clip of the pair is perfect proof.
The two performers took time out of their busy filming schedule for their forthcoming NBC special Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas (and interrupted Miley’s fun day riding the Wild Eagle at Dollywood) to chat and reminisce about the past — including the time Miley invited Dolly to guest star on Hannah Montana. As Aunt Dolly, the icon fully joined in on Miley Stewart’s constant havoc-wreaking decision-making. But the moments were important for Dolly herself, too.
“One thing that touches me most of all is when you had me on the Hannah Montana show back years ago,” Dolly says, reiterating how proud she is of her goddaughter. “You really helped my career, you introduced me to a whole new set of fans. Young ones! Though of course they’re not all as young as they used to be now.” Miley responds, “Well, you wrote the handbook on how to stay young.” And Dolly fires back, “Well, I‘ve got the doctor’s bills to prove that.”
Now, Dolly is returning the favor with a Miley duet in Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas, which also features appearances from Jimmy Fallon, Zach Williams, Jimmie Allen, Willie Nelson, and Billy Ray Cyrus. The Miley/
Dolly performance, Dolly explained in an NBC first look clip, is about “just getting to be with her and letting people see our relationship, in addition to how well our voices blend.”
Meanwhile, the special itself has some seriously meta energy. “It’s the story of the behind the scenes of the making of a network special, it’s like a show within a show, a movie within a movie,” Dolly revealed in the above interview. “It’s really showing what can go wrong and what will go wrong, there’s so much drama, so much craziness.”
The NBC special isn’t the only Miley/Dolly reunion we’ll see in the coming months. The pair are taking over New Year’s Eve as co-hosts of Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party, which will be held in Miami. Last year, Miley and Pete Davidson livened up NYE with a chaotically fun special; we know this year’s will be even better, if Dolly has anything to say about it.
TaylorSwift announced Tuesday morning her longrumored return to the road, with an outing dubbed the “Eras Tour” scheduled to hit U.S. stadiums beginning in March 2023 and running into August, with international dates set to be revealed later.
The support acts are very much all about the sisterhood, with a host of acts Swift has championed in the past. Opening acts for the U.S. leg of the tour are Paramore, Haim, Phoebe Bridgers, Beabadoobee, Girl in Red, Muna, Gayle, Gracie Abrams and Owenn.
The tour starts March 18, 2023 in what is apparently a sweet spot for Swift, Glendale, Ariz., the same place her last outing, the pre-pandemic “Reputation” tour, began in 2018.
The U.S. leg wraps up four and a half months later with two nights at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium Aug. 4-5 — the venue she was set to open as a concert venue in 2020 with the canceled “Lover Fest” mini-tour. Scroll through to see all 20 cities Swift will be hitting over the course of 27 dates.
As for which album we can consider the tour to be supporting, since she has released four original studios albums since her last tour? All of them. Swift described the tour as “a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present!),” with a graphic showing her look from different
phases of her career.
See the full itinerary, with color-coded graphics indicating which of the nine opening acts got the gigs in which cities.
The Capital One Cardholder Presale has been rescheduled to Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022 at 2 p.m. local venue time.
Tickets to Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour officially go on sale in just a few days, on Friday, Nov. 18. This will be the pop star’s first tour in over four years and the first tour after debuting four new last four albums — Lover, Folklore, Evermore and Midnights — plus the re-recordings of her Fearless and Red albums.
The demand for tickets is already overwhelming, to say the least, so much so that some super-fans made themselves vulnerable to ticket scams. Fortunately, there is a legitimate way to score presale tickets.
As the national presenting partner for Swift’s tour, Capital One is offering credit and debit cardholders access to exclusive presale tickets. Even if you don’t have a Capital One card yet, it’s not too late to apply and take advantage.
Capital One debit and credit cardholders will be able to participate in an exclusive pre-sale beginning Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. and running through Nov. 17 at 10 p.m. local venue
Taylor Swift is going back on the road!
time, or while supplies last.
There will be a range of tickets available for presale, including premium options, meaning cardholders can browse seats in a variety of sections.
Fresh on the heels of breaking chart records, Taylor Swift has announced a new tour.
The US leg of “The Eras Tour” kicks off in the spring.
“I’m enchanted to announce my next tour: Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present!),” Swift wrote on social media with the announcement. “The first leg of the tour will be in stadiums across the US, with international dates to be announced as soon as we can!”
She also wrote that she was “Feeling like the luckiest person alive because I get to take these brilliant artists out on tour with me,” as she announced that fellow artists Paramore, Beabadoobee, Phoebe Bridgers, Girl in Red, Muna, Haim, Gayle, Gracie Abrams and Owenn would be joining her.
“I can’t WAIT to see your gorgeous faces out there,” Swift wrote. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Those wishing to purchase tickets can register here
through Wednesday, November 9 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Registrants will receive a code will have exclusive access to purchase tickets on Tuesday, November 15, starting at 10 a.m. local venue time.
Update, November 11: Another week, another new set of tour dates. Taylor Swift expanded her Eras Tour yet again, and not even because she’d discounted a whole religious population — the demand is just that high.
Swift added 17 dates, almost a 50 percent increase in stops, for a new total of 52. The move came after signups for Swift’s presale ended. Swift’s team told Variety the move was “due to unprecedented demand.” Now, she’s playing three nights in some cities (in some cases with different openers!), and five nights in Los Angeles. A mastermind if we ever knew one.
On November 4, Taylor Swift gave fans an additional eight chances to see her live around the country. “UM. Looks like I’ll get to see more of your beautiful faces than previously expected … we’re adding 8 shows to the tour,” she tweeted on November 4.
The reasoning for the additional shows has not been confirmed, but one thing is for sure: Observant Jewish Swifties who weren’t initially able to attend the Friday and Saturday tour dates might be able to catch Swift on five of the new dates. Combating the rise in antisemitism one show at a
time.
Now that you’ve met her at midnight, how about on tour? Taylor Swift will be spending a lot of midnights on the road in 2023, she told fans on Good Morning America on November 1 instead of the assumed 3 a.m. announcement last week. Swift is set to tour stadiums in the U.S. for the first time since her 2018 Reputation outing with her newly announced Eras Tour, “a journey through the musical eras of my career(past & present!),” with international dates coming soon.
She originally planned two Lover Fest performances in 2020, behind her seventh album, but canceled those because of the pandemic. That makes the Eras tour Swift’s first run of shows in four albums: Lover, her 2020 surprises folklore and evermore, and Midnights, something the tour announcement alludes to with photos of her throughout her career.
She also has two rerecorded albums to promote, Red and Fearless — and, hey, that ten-minute “All Too Well” is going to make a hell of an encore.
Previous Lover Fest Verified Fan purchasers will get preferred access to participate in the TaylorSwiftTix presale; make sure to register with the same Ticketmaster Account as your Lover Fest purchase. Capital One cardholders will have priority access to purchase tickets on Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. local venue time through Nov. 17 at 10 p.m. local venue time or until supplies last.
The tour will be Swift’s official follow-up to her Reputation stadium tour, which broke the record for the highest grossing U.S. tour since Billboard Boxscore began tracking touring data in 1990 upon its conclusion in November 2018. The Reputation tour, in support of Swift’s 2017 album of the same name, grossed $345.7 million and sold over 2.9 million tickets to become her biggest tour to date.
Since the Reputation tour, Swift has released four original studio albums — Lover, 2020’s Folklore and Evermore, and Midnights — as well as two re-recorded albums, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version), both in 2021
This week, Midnights blasted in atop the Billboard
200 albums chart with 1.578 million equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 27, according to Luminate — the biggest week for any album in nearly seven years. Meanwhile, Swift made history on the Hot 100 by becoming the first artist to claim the chart’s entire top 10 in a single frame, with “Anti-Hero” debuting at No. 1 to become her ninth career charttopper.
Thanks to her new album “Midnights,” Swift became the first artist to simultaneously claim all top ten spots on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
Taylor Swift scores one of the most historic weeks in the 64-year history of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, as she becomes the first artist to claim the survey’s entire top 10 in a single frame.
Swift surpasses Drake, who logged nine of the Hot 100’s top 10 for a week in September 2021.
Leading the way for Swift on the Hot 100, “Anti-Hero” launches at No. 1, marking her ninth career leader.
All 10 songs in the Hot 100’s top tier are from Swift’s new LP Midnights, which, released Oct. 21 on Republic Records, blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the biggest week for any release in seven years.
Swift also surges past Drake and The Beatles for the most titles from the top of the Hot 100 in a single week, as her monopoly of the top 10 bests those acts, each of whom infused the top five for a week each in 2021 and 1964, respectively.
Meanwhile, as Swift adds 10 new Hot 100 top 10s, she now boasts the most top 10s among women in the chart’s history, with 40 (surpassing Madonna’s 38). Among all acts, she trails only Drake (59 top 10s).
Plus, Midnights becomes the first album ever with as many as 10 Hot 100 top 10s, besting the nine from Drake’s Certified Lover Boy in 2021.
BY ALEX MORRIS Photographs by Amanda Charchian for Rolling Stone
Gomez has a lot of baggage. She says this is true both “literally and figuratively,” and she says it while I am rolling my own literal baggage across the threshold of her Los Angeles home, having first rolled it past the security gate, then up the verdant hill, then along the glimmering pool, before depositing it in a sort of glam room with a flowery rug and a view of the patio through open glass doors. By this point, I may be perspiring a bit. Gomez hugs me anyway, then scurries off down a hallway to confer with a young woman about the air conditioning.
When she returns, she plops into a white leather salon-style chair and launches into a tale of how, just prior to my arrival, she’d been eating an acai bowl only to realize that “my entire face was purple.” The general vibe here is clear: We are human. We perspire. We get food stuck to our faces. We have baggage. Welcome.
For a while now, one could say this has been a signature of Gomez’s appeal, this sort of wide-armed embrace of the human condition.
Her recent albums span an emotional register that begins at “personal” and ends somewhere around “crushingly confessional,” songs she says arrived via some alchemy of emotional messiness, Chinese takeout, and serious dishing.
“One day I walked in, and the producers were like, ‘How are you?’ And I was like, ‘I want a boyfriend.’ They were like, ‘Oh, should we write about that?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And that’s the whole song: I want a boyfriend,” she says of “Boyfriend,” a standout on 2020’s all-around excellent Rare, an album that continues a years-long streak of dealing with her feelings amid irresistible pop hooks.
Then there’s her acting, specifically her ability to ground whatever project she’s in: providing a dollop of decency in the moral morass of Spring Breakers, offering a cleareyed explanation of synthetic CDOs in The Big Short, being the sardonic, laconic foil to Steve Martin and Martin Short’s comedy fizz in Only Murders in the Building. “Her comedic downplaying and looking at us like we were two insane old men was so perfectly timed,” says Short. “She has, you know, 18 billion Instagram followers because And they know she’s not afraid to open up and say, ‘I am as hanging-on-by-a-thread as anyone else.’ Most big stars don’t feel that they should do that. Her strength is her honesty.”
The documentary is so raw that Gomez almost didn’t sign off on its release. “I’m just so nervous,” she says of that prospect, pulling her bare feet up onto the chair. “Because I have the platform I have, it’s kind of like I’m sacrificing myself a little bit for a greater purpose. I don’t want that to sound dramatic, but I almost wasn’t going to put this out. God’s honest truth, a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I could do it.”
HERE’S HOW THE whole thing started. Gomez was on a trip to Mexico. While her friends were frolicking about, she was holed up binge-watching documentaries, because that’s the sort of thing she does. She saw a trailer for 1991’s Madonna: Truth or Dare, decided to check it out, and immediately “ran outside with everybody and their piña coladas, and I was like, ‘Guys, you have to watch it.’” Then she promptly reached out to the filmmaker, Alek Keshishian — who just so happened to be her manager’s brother — and persuaded him to do her 2015 video for “Hands to Myself.”
When that went well, the two started thinking up another project.
Gomez was planning the Revival tour and thought it could be cool to do an artful concert documentary à la Truth or Dare. Keshishian wasn’t sure he was interested in doing another documentary about a musician been there, done that — but he was interested in the prospect of capturing that fateful transition from young pop star to fully-fledged artist. Along with everyone else in the world, he knew the broad strokes of Gomez’s story: how she’d grown up in Grand Prairie, Texas, born when her parents were 16, still in high school, and ill-equipped to raise a child together, which they didn’t — Gomez lived with her mom, Mandy Teefey, and her mom’s parents. Teefey had wanted to be an actress, and between working jobs at Dave and Bust-
er’s and Starbucks, and searching the seats of the car for enough change to buy ramen dinners, had brought Gomez along to community-theater productions she was in, which is how Gomez had gotten the acting bug. “She was so cool,” Gomez says of her mom. “She was like Drew Barrymore in the Nineties, with her short hair and butterfly clips. She would make her own clothes. I was like, ‘Mom, I want to do what you want to do.’ And she’s like, ‘OK, well, maybe we can put you in theater classes.’ And I was like, ‘Nope. I want to be on TV.’”
At age seven, two years after her parents had separated, she booked a part on Barney, which filmed in a nearby suburb of Dallas, and which helped Gomez feel like she was escaping something. “I didn’t have to live real life,” she says. “I could go play in Barney World, and that was great. Craft services to die for.” By 10, she’d aged out (“I got the boot because I was too old; business was starting at that age”) and was bandied about by Disney, going back and forth from Texas to L.A., living hand-to-mouth on a Disney per diem, sharing a one-room loft in downtown L.A. with Barney co-star Demi Lovato and all her family. When she was back home in Grand Prairie, she was shy, and sort of an outcast: “You try going to middle school and telling everybody you were on Barney.” She left Texas for good when she got the lead in The Wizards of Waverly Place, a dream come true until paparazzi started showing up outside the set when she was 15. Within a few years, her first romance was being mocked and dissected on the covers of tabloids the world over. Her dad was as supportive as he could be, but, she says, “he didn’t want to be a part of this industry life, so it was really me and my mom, our journey.”
Blouse: Princess Polly$30.45
Green Dress: Boot Barn$40
Cowgirl Hat: Boot Jack$50.99 Jeans: Cavender’s$59.98
Blouse: Shein$15
White Dress: Free People$75
Cowgirl Hat: Boot Barn$35 Jeans: Cavender’s$59.98 Boot: Boot Jack$115.98
Dress: Princess Polly$40.45
Heels: Shoe Carnival$29.99 Jeans: Hollister$25
Pants: Macy’s$40 Dress: Lulus$50.99
Slip Dress: Dillards $24.98 Shoes: DSW$25-$59
Thin Strap Dress: Macy’s$25.55
Lilac Dress: Macy’s$24.99
Purple Glasses: Claire’s$10
Blouse & Skirt: Macy’s$30.45
Blouse & Pants: Cato$22-31
Cardigan & Skirt: Cato$24-$30
Turtle Neck & Jeans: Rue 21 & Hollister$21 & $25
Bra Top: Cider$30.45
Pants: Gap $40
Combat Boots: DSW$59.99
Coat: Nordstrom Rack $55.49
White Blouse: Cider$20
Skirt: Hollister$19.99
Boots: Rack Room Shoes$79.98
Cap: Kohl’s$15.45
Blouse: Old Navy$30.45
Pants: ASOS $40
Shoes: Rack Room Shoes$50.99
Pearl Earrings: Claire’s$59.98
It’s fair to say that the way we wear makeup has changed a lot since the start of the pandemic. As face masks became part of everyday life, bold Instagram looks suddenly fell out of favour as easy, natural trends such as skin work and no-makeup makeup usurped ultra glossy lips, sharp contours and defined brows. But right now, the biggest beauty movement is officially ‘soft glam’.
Over the past month, Google Trends shows an increase in demand for ways to achieve the look, while on Pinterest there have been 22x more searches for ‘soft makeup looks’ recently. TikTok is driving the look as the next big thing, too.
The #softglammakeup hashtag has garnered 30.9 million viewsand counting and proves the look works for all skin tones, textures and beauty budgets. So how exactly do you achieve it?
We asked the queen of soft glam, Huda Kattan, to give us a crash course — and it’s actually pretty easy.
“Soft glam is subjective,” says Huda, “but for me, it’s all about looking glamorous without the makeup wearing you.” In other words, it’s a little more subtle than the 10-step makeup looks you’ve spotted all over Instagram involving powder contouring, baking and mega lashes. The trend consists of natural, fleshy tones that suit all skin colours, rather than statement shades.
As with any natural beauty look, Huda says that skin prep is the single most important part. “Having a good base means flawless makeup,” she says.
Help enhance the trend’s soft focus, almost blurred finish, with a gentle exfoliator such as WISHFUL Yo Glow Ezyme Scrub, £18, which features AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids) to buff away dead, dry skin and unclog pores, making skin look and feel smoother. Huda explains that she has been on a real journey with her skin, including acne and uneven texture, but loves to use Honey Whip Peptide Moisturiser, £37, before foundation. “This firms and lifts skin, and hydrates without a greasy or heavy feel, so it’s the perfect base for all makeup looks,” says Huda. The star ingredient is manuka honey,
For soft glam, Huda suggests ditching full coverage foundation for a lightweight skin tint, which will enhance your skin rather than cover it up. She uses GloWISH Multidew Skin Tint, £32, as a base.
Next step: the subtle contour. Unlike solid powder versions, this involves a light cream, which Huda says shapes features without going in too heavy. “This helps define the bone structure but brings warmth into the face and adds a subtle glow,” she says.
“Defined and fluffy brows are an absolute must,” says Huda. “Using the #Bombrows Microshade Brow Pencil, £15, I would create natural hair strokes that will give a full and fluffy look.”
Lastly, lips. Keep things nude here. “I would go for either a matte look using Power Bullet Matte Lipstick, £22, or go for a sheen,” says Huda, with a comfortable cream-based lip product. R29 likes Max Factor Colour Elixir Lipstick, £8.99, which softens and moisturises lips throughout the day.
From a very young age you started working due to your family’s financial struggles. What did you do at such a young age?
“At the age of nine I decided I needed to make money. But because I was so young, I couldn’t get a job. The most I could probably do is sell chocolate bars at school, but what are they going to do, give me a toy piano? I don’t want that. I need good food on the table.”
What was it like when you released your career making song “Shower” was that song written for you?
“It wasn’t written for me, from what I remember.… For me, the lesson [was] that the song was bigger than me. Anyone could have sung that song, but I was very lucky. It took me to so many places. I can enjoy it now.”
“I grew up speaking both languages, but when my brother, Alex, was born and diagnosed with autism and craniosynostosis and undergoing brain surgeries, the doctors recommended we stick to one language in the household. my parents chose English. I found I could have career freedom performing in Spanish.”
Your makeup brand Treslúce is well known for having a wide shade range, where did the inspiration for this come from?
“Well considering that Latinx people come in all different skin tones. That was part of our initial conversation from the very beginning. To say that there is the Black community and then the Latinx community eliminates the fact that there are Black Latinos. I really want to be so intentional with how we represent Latinx culture because it’s not a one size fits all. I’ve been the Latina face for a lot of brands and not everyone looks like me. Not everyone identifies with their Latinx culture the same way I do. And so, I’d love to create a space where if you are a part of the Latinx community, you feel represented and you feel seen… Latinidad is different for everyone.”
The Treslúce brand was accused of ripping off an indie Latinx brand called Araceli Beauty. What was it like dealing with that?
“When you get to a point in your life and your career like I have, the community that you worked so hard to represent, that community can then identify you as something closer to the fame that you experience. What people project onto [you] sometimes isn’t yours to wear. I have no problem taking accountability… My actions hopefully speak louder than anything I could say.”
You’re an invester in the first female futbol club in LA, what has that been like?
“I became one of the youngest investors in the first female futbol club in LA. I end up being a part owner of the team … I’ve had it tough as a female in Hollywood, how about women in sports? There are parallels there.”
“The industry has a way of being like, ‘We already have one [Latina. We don’t need another.]. I grew up watching the Selena movie, and there’s that scene where her dad says, ‘You’re either too Mexican for the Americans or too American for the Mexicans. It’s exhausting.’ And it’s this unspoken thing that you can’t be in the middle.”
“A new genre to take over, a new product to drop, I’m leaving room for spontaneity. I’m starting to really enjoy not knowing because that’s how I can get inspired by life again. The true artist at heart knows that I want to keep going. I want to keep learning. I’m that little sponge that just loves to absorb anything that I can, understanding the meaning and the why of something. And so, I’m excited for what’s to come because I know that the opportunities can be made into something even more beautiful. It’s humbling as hell.”
Robbie Coltrane cause of death has reportedly been revealed.
The Harry Potter actor’s death certificate states that Coltrane died of multiple organ failure, according to multiple outlets including the Daily Mail, TMZ and the Daily Mirror.
Coltrane, who died on Oct. 14 at age 72, had also been suffering from heart blockages, sepsis and a lower respiratory infection, per the outlets’ reports.
Additionally, the actor had previously been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, his death certificate reportedly indicates.
A rep for Coltrane declined a request for confirmation/ comment from PEOPLE, while a second rep did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request. Coltrane’s agent and friend Belinda Wright confirmed the news of his death to PEOPLE on Friday, sharing that he died that day and calling the actor “a unique talent.”
“He will probably be best remembered for decades to come as Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, a role which brought joy to children and adults alike all over the world, prompting a stream of fan letters every week for over 20 years,” Belinda continued.
“For me personally I shall remember him as an abidingly loyal client ... as well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent ... brilliantly witty,” she added. “And
after 40 years of being proud to be called his agent, I shall miss him.”
While the actor’s cause of death was not immediately apparent, Deadline reported at the time that he “had been in ill health for the past two years,” and died in Larbert, Scotland, in a hospital close to his home.
Much of the Harry Potter shared individual tributes to Coltrane on social media and otherwise, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, James and Oliver Phelps, Matthew Lewis, Bonnie Wright and David Thewlis.
“Robbie was one of the funniest people I’ve met and used to keep us laughing constantly as kids on the set,” star Radcliffe, 33, said in a statement. “I’ve especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on (2004’s Harry Potter and the) Prisoner of Azkaban, when we were all hiding from the torrential rain for hours in Hagrid’s hut and he was telling stories and cracking jokes to keep morale up.”
“I feel incredibly lucky that I got to meet and work with him and very sad that he’s passed,” Radcliffe added. “He was an incredible actor and a lovely man.”
Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae; his two children, Alice and Spencer; and Alice and Spencer’s mother, Rhona Gemmell.
“Wandsup” tribute to Robbie Coltrane Harry Potter actor dead at
the age of 72
The season’s gifts include long-awaited sequels to “Black Panther” and “Knives Out” and intriguing originals like “Women Talking” and “The Fabelmans.”
By Ben KenigsbergThis is a select list of films opening by the end of the year. Release dates are subject to change and reflect the latest information as of deadline.
FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS A skiing accident results in amnesia (and, presumably, the possibility of a fresh start) for a vain hotel heiress (Lindsay Lohan). (Nov. 10 on Netflix)
A COUPLE In a career that includes more than 40 documentaries, Frederick Wiseman has seldom made features that could qualify as dramatized. But in “A Couple,” the actress Nathalie Boutefeu, who shares screenplay credit with the director, plays Sophia Tolstoy, wife of Leo Tolstoy. The film draws on Sophia’s writings to explore a famous marriage. (Nov. 11 in theaters)
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER After Chadwick Boseman’s death in 2020, Marvel Studios opted not to recast his role, King T’Challa, in this sequel to “Black Panther.” The character is dead in the new film, which concerns how Wakanda moves forward without him. It also stars Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira and Lupita Nyong’o. Ryan Coogler returns as director. (Nov. 11 in theaters)
IN HER HANDS The documentarians Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen assemble a portrait of Zarifa Ghafari, the mayor of the Afghan city of Maidan Shahr at the time of filming — and, not incidentally, in her 20s and a woman in a country without many women in power. The documentary follows her through American forces’ withdrawal from the country last year. (Nov. 11 in theaters, Nov. 16 on Netflix)
IS THAT BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU?!? Making his documentary-feature directing debut, the former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell looks at the revolution in — and legacy of — Black-centered American filmmaking in the late 1960s and ’70s. The interviewees include Harry Belafonte, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson and Whoopi Goldberg. (Nov. 11 on Netflix)
SHE SAID The New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s book on how they reported their landmark article about sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein gets a film adaptation. Zoe Kazan plays Kantor and Carey Mulligan plays Twohey as they try to convince women to talk on the record. Maria Schrader directed. (Nov. 18 in theaters)
THE SWIMMERS Sally El Hosaini directed the opening-night film at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, a dramatization of the story of Yusra and Sarah Mardini, two sisters from Syria who used their skills as swimmers to help lead a boat filled with fellow refugees to safety during their flight from the country. Yusra competed on the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Olympics. (Nov. 23 on Netflix)
Finale “This season has always given the vibe that not everybody we would assume is safe is necessarily continuously going to be… the stakes are really high.”
BY KAITLYN MCNABTalking to Stranger Things season 4 star Gaten Matarazzo is like talking to a wise, grateful old man who happens to live in a 19-yearold’s body. His hindsight is sharp and his foresight even sharper, and he speaks about the things he’s passionate about with an intellect reminiscent of his boy-genius character, Dustin Henderson.
But Dustin and Gaten are two different people, a distinction that can sometimes be blurred for audiences who have watched him and the rest of his Stranger Things co-stars grow up right before their eyes onscreen. It happens to many young stars who are introduced to the world in iconic roles and larger-than-life stories — to this day, Daniel Radcliffe is still called “Harry.” Yet, when asked what characteristics of his own he’d like people to know, Gaten is stumped.
“I feel like for the most part I kind of wear it out on my sleeves, at least I like to think I do,” Gaten tells Teen Vogue. “I’ve never been asked that question before actually, now that I’m thinking about it… I don’t know. I’m a nerd, I’m a hella nerd. I’m soon to be 20 and I don’t feel like it, but I don’t think that’s a rare occurrence for people turning 20 and leaving their teenage years. I love the theater. I love my family. But that’s all normal stuff, I think. Most of the stuff that interests me and that I love to do and talk about and put my energy into is what I get to do for my career, which is incredible… I’m very lucky.”
While luck surely had a part to play in the steady rise of Gaten’s career, his success is also due to the fact that he’s been performing since he
was single digits. Gaten started out under the bright lights of Broadway in roles like Benjamin in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Gavroche in Les Misérables. Later this summer, Gaten will make a return to his Broadway roots as Jared Kleinman in the final cast of Dear Evan Hansen until the production closes in September 2022. When we talk on Zoom, he’s in the midst of packing up his life to move to New York City. He holds out the camera with a smile to show me his sparse living room, empty save for a few cardboard boxes.
This summer will be an intense but exciting one for the young actor, as he starts “daunting” vocal training and rehearsals for his run as Jared — “I’m crapping myself endlessly in a continuous loop for the next three months of my life… I haven’t sang professionally long term since my voice changed,” he says, “But it’s [an] exciting fear that’s like butterflies times 11” — while also releasing two major projects.
Next month, Gaten will make his live-action film debut in the Paramount+ coming-of-age comedy Honor Society with Angourie Rice and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and the long-awaited second volume of Stranger Things season 4 will finally be released unto the world.
Large emphasis on “finally” — Gaten apologizes multiple times throughout our conversation for not being able to answer certain questions without dropping extreme spoilers.
“It’s going to be so much easier to talk about it and really go into detail once the arc of the season is complete,” sighs Gaten. But what he can disclose is that “the most interesting and most challenging stuff” of the season comes in Episodes 8 and 9 of Volume 2, calling the twopart finale a “marathon.” With runtimes of 1 hour and 25 minutes and 2 hours and 30 minutes respectively, Volume 2 will satisfy much more than your typical binge-watching session.
“We have so much more to give in just two episodes, which has been incredible,” says Gaten. “I’ve never felt as committed to being truthful on screen as I have this year.” Gaten has been playing Dustin for nearly half of his career, and for all of his adolescence. He remembers arriving on set for season 1, having just turned 13, and feeling like it was the first day of school. Now, as he and most of his castmates exit their teens and enter adulthood, their characters have grown alongside them. As their characters reckon with the aftermath of all they’ve been through, experiencing grief, trauma, and the fantastic misery of high school, they require more depth and a new approach. And Stranger Things 4 has captured that shift more than any other season.
“I think Matt and Ross [Duffer, the show’s creators], they know that not only are these kids and these characters growing physically and emotionally and mentally, but that these characters have to,” Gaten says. “And they know that this show is going to have to as well, if it’s going to work. And it’s felt natural, it’s felt real. I’m excited for people to finally see what we’ve made and what this season has been building to. It’ll explain quite a lot about the characters and what’s to come, and what the past three [seasons] have really been all about. Yeah, it’s a big one.”
Gaten promises answers, which is encouraging, since Stranger Things 4: Volume 1 left fans with lots of confusion and uncertainty. Set in the spring of 1986 in the months following the Battle of Starcourt,
the Hawkins gang is split up across California, Indiana, and Russia while facing Vecna, a murderous threat from the Upside Down that seems undefeatable without Eleven’s powers. By the end of seven episodes, the fate of our favorite meddling kids looks bleak. For its fourth installment, Stranger Things has fully embraced the horror side of its sci-fi genre — but the scariest parts of this season were never the jumpscares or the gore.
“I think the scariest part about this [season] is truly how in danger these characters feel,” Gaten says with severity. “Everybody’s always in danger in this show. That’s kind of the point of the show, is we’re on edge all of the time, but this season has always given the vibe that not everybody we would assume is safe is necessarily continuously going to be… the stakes are really high.”
Since the release of Volume 1 on May 27, theories have abounded the Internet on the Upside Down’s creation, how the gang will defeat both Vecna and series big bad the Mind Flayer, and which characters fans believe will be killed off.
Gaten’s co-star Noah Schnapp (who plays Will Byers) and showrunners the Duffer Brothers have all hinted at major character deaths in interviews about Volume 2. When asked his thoughts on the rumors, Gaten jokes that a number of characters will die in the first few minutes — but is he joking?
“My actions hopefully speak louder than anything I could say.”- Becky G