Herewith a random collection of things that have been clogging up The Film Experience pipeline (i.e. my desktop and emails) which I never got around to writing about and no team maker volunteered to cover. In some cases I saved a photo I don't remember from what and for what!
Once you're done reading the post please imitate that "empty trash" desktop noise and feel as uncluttered as I will once I've hit publish.
We'll start with Meryl because that always gets you going...
What happened these past two weeks that I need to know about? We haven't done a link roundup yet this month (due to the critics institute retreat I was attending) so I have no idea what happened in my absence. But let us not get further behind. Herewith some news stories as well as a few random good reads.
News
• IndieWire Sofia Coppola responds to the backlash regarding her adaptation decisions on The Beguiled • Theater Mania Josh Lucas and Uma Thurman to star in a new Broadway political play opening this fall The Parisian Woman • Audra McDonald is going on a North American tour so get your tickets! The six time Tony winner's voice is utterly sublime.
As the year of Laura Dern rages forward, ignited by Big Little Lies, it was only a matter of time before fans learned a little bit about her character in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Marking her first appearance into the franchise, Dern's role is an invention of director Rian Johnson's, playing Vice Admiral Holdo, an officer of the Resistance. But if that weren't enough for us lucky fans, Annie Leibovitz of Vanity Fair went on set and snapped some stunning photos of numerous cast members of The Last Jedi. Pictured above is Dern's colorful, sweeping, elegant look (the film's costume design is by Michael Kaplan). I don't know about you, but this one photo is enough to help me make it to December.
Arriving in December, The Last Jedi will put a nice cap on 2017 for Laura Dern. So let's look at what she is busy with this year...
The Last Jedi gets top billing because everyone's been talking about it.
Just watched THE LAST JEDI trailer, noticed that "this film is not yet rated." Crossing my fingers it's gong to be straight-up XXX! pic.twitter.com/GJEqmbtVJH
Click to see the poster largeStar Wars: The Last Jedi opens this December to once again hog all the media attention and all the box office and probably 3 or so Oscar nominations, too. (Here is the new poster to the left.)
The hilariously drama queen thing about the title and Luke Skywalker's pronouncement at the end of the new teaser is that we (i.e. everyone on the planet with any sense) know there will never be a "last" Jedi. Not with literally billions to be made every single year from milking this franchise until no one cares anymore ... an event that surely won't occur in our lifetimes.
Exhausting as it can be sometimes to live inside a film culture that wants the exact same things annually: two Marvels, two DCs scattered from spring to Fall, a Star Wars movie each Christmas, at least 15 concurrent bi-annual franchises and a few ever-discussed franchises that are infrequent (James Bond for one), Disney has done a bang-up job stoking the fire for annual Star Wars adventures, a fire that would burn bright without any stoking whatsoever!
But they stoke well you must admit. Here is the excellent teaser for The Last Jedi, which is mostly focused on Luke and Rey with a few key shots reminding us of the other players.
Friday, August 4, 2017 at 8:00AM 
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