No one could ever dispute Meryl Streep’s acting chops, but who knew she was also the queen of improv?
Don’t Look Up director Adam McKay has shared a compilation of clips of the multiple Oscar-winning star on the set of the Netflix hit showing off her “breathtaking” improvisation skills.
Meryl, who plays a Trump-esque US president in the climate crisis metaphor movie, ditched the script for one particular scene where she is seen on the phone in the Oval Office.
Adam reveals he filmed “20 to 25 completely different absurd phone calls” of the actor, which he described as “tour de force of improv”, and after seeing the clip, we’ve got to agree.
In a widely-shared clip from the hour-long show, Carr joked about the horror of the Holocaust and “six million Jewish lives being lost” before making a disparaging remark about the deaths of thousands of Travellers at the hands of the Nazis as a punchline.
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Carr has received widespread criticism over the remarks, with calls for Netflix to remove the joke and sparking petitions calling on him to apologise.
On Saturday evening, Only Connect host Victoria took to Twitter to defend her “close friend”, saying Carr was “a properly decent person”.
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“While I’m here, might take a moment to mention I also love @JimmyCarr, a close friend who’s made about a thousand jokes I wouldn’t make myself, as a stage performer, but as a man is full of goodness and kindness,” she said.
While I’m here, might take a moment to mention I also love @JimmyCarr, a close friend who’s made about a thousand jokes I wouldn’t make myself, as a stage performer, but as a man is full of goodness and kindness. He’s a properly decent person.
When one unimpressed follower asked: “Do you think you would be similarly quick to defend him if he’d made a joke defending the murder of Jews in the Holocaust?”, Victoria responded: “Yes. It’s not about the joke.”
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Others pointed the presenter towards comedian David Baddiel’s response to Carr’s comments.
The comedian had pointed out the difference between cruel jokes about the Holocaust and ones that target the oppressors.
“I said this every night during my Trolls: Not The Dolls tour as part of a bit arguing that it’s not the subject matter of a joke that counts, it’s the specifics of the individual joke. Clearly, Jimmy Carr’s was the former,” he said.
I said this every night during my Trolls: Not The Dolls tour as part of a bit arguing that it’s not the subject matter of a joke that counts, it’s the specifics of the individual joke. Clearly, Jimmy Carr’s was the former. pic.twitter.com/xI4yWt9U0T
This is the joke I was leading to, which is, unlike Jimmy’s, I think defensible. Meanwhile, away from stupid discussions about the limits of comedy, my sympathies are with the Roma and Sinti community who suffered so much during the Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/GEC5u1HgYI
As a footnote, I’d add that Jimmy is a close friend of mine and a brilliant stand-up in general. Makes no difference to how I feel or think about this specific joke.
David added: “As a footnote, I’d add that Jimmy is a close friend of mine and a brilliant stand-up in general. Makes no difference to how I feel or think about this specific joke.”
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Meanwhile, Judge Rinder star Robert Rinder labelled Carr and the audience at his Netflix special who “clapped, whooped and cheered” over the joke, “complete incorrigible turds”.
Robert, who is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, made his feelings clear during a panel discussion about the hour-long special on Talk Radio
Jimmy Carr’s ‘joke’ suggesting the systematic genocide of gypsies during the Holocaust was a ‘good thing’ is breathtakingly racist. The truly disturbing thing isn’t just the gag, it’s that on hearing it, instead of leaving, the audience clapped, whooped and cheered in approval👇🏻 https://t.co/tlsbVYIpa9
In a follow-up tweet posted on Saturday, Robert said the comedian’s comment was “breathtakingly racist” and reiterated his dismay at the audience’s reaction.
“Jimmy Carr’s comments, no one can call that, you know, snowflake or wokeishness, that’s just… it was just appalling,” Dorries said during an interview on BBC Breakfast.
Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, has also urged Netflix to remove Carr’s “vile anti-GRT and antisemitic material”.
HuffPost UK has contacted Carr’s reps for comment.
Robert Rinder has labelled Jimmy Carr and the audience at his Netflix special who “clapped, whooped and cheered” over a joke he made about the Traveller community and the Holocaust, as “complete incorrigible turds”.
In a widely-shared clip from the His Dark Material show, Carr joked about the horror of the Holocaust and “six million Jewish lives being lost” before making a disparaging remark about the deaths of thousands of Travellers at the hands of the Nazis as a punchline.
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Robert, who is best known as TV’s Judge Rinder and is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, made his feelings clear during a panel discussion about the hour-long special on Talk Radio on Friday.
“I’ve got to say Jimmy Carr, I’m not going to repeat the joke, or anybody in the audience who whooped and clapped at a joke about the genocide of Travellers and gypsies, you are all, complete incorrigible turds,” he said.
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Middle class comedians can do irony and clever boundary pushing so it’s ‘ok.’ Let’s imagine the reaction to this joke had it been filmed at a working men’s club to a cheering whooping audience. https://t.co/tlsbVYIpa9
In a tweet posted on Saturday, Robert said the comedian’s comment was “breathtakingly racist” and reiterated his dismay at the audience’s reaction.
“Jimmy Carr’s “joke” suggesting the systematic genocide of gypsies during the Holocaust was a “good thing” is breathtakingly racist,” he tweeted.
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“The truly disturbing thing isn’t just the gag, it’s that on hearing it, instead of leaving, the audience clapped, whooped and cheered in approval.”
Jimmy Carr’s ‘joke’ suggesting the systematic genocide of gypsies during the Holocaust was a ‘good thing’ is breathtakingly racist. The truly disturbing thing isn’t just the gag, it’s that on hearing it, instead of leaving, the audience clapped, whooped and cheered in approval👇🏻 https://t.co/tlsbVYIpa9
In a second tweet, the former Strictly star said that “middle class comedians can do irony and clever boundary pushing so it’s ‘ok’”.
“Let’s imagine the reaction to this joke had it been filmed at a working men’s club to a cheering whooping audience,” he added.
Carr has received widespread criticism over the remarks, with calls for Netflix to remove the joke and sparking petitions calling on him to apologise.
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Roberts tweet came after Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries condemned the remarks during an interview on Saturday’s BBC Breakfast, suggesting that new laws would hold to account streaming sites from airing jokes.
Dorries suggested that in the future, new laws would “hold Netflix to account” for such content.
Nadine Dorries
Future Publishing via Getty Images
“We are looking at legislation via the Media Bill which would bring into scope those comments from other video on-demand streaming outlets like Netflix,” she said.
“So it’s interesting that we’re already looking at future legislation to bring into scope those sort of comments.”
The MP said Carr’s comments were “abhorrent and they just shouldn’t be on television”, but it was then put to her that in a tweet in 2017 she had claimed that “left-wing snowflakes are killing comedy”.
She said: “Well, that’s not comedy.
“What Jimmy Carr did last night is not comedy. And you know, I’m no angel on Twitter, nobody is, but I just would like to say that nothing I’ve ever put on Twitter has been harmful or abusive.
“But that last night… Jimmy Carr’s comments, no one can call that, you know, snowflake or wokeishness, that’s just… it was just appalling.”
Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, has also urged Netflix to remove Carr’s “vile anti-GRT and antisemitic material”.
I have written urging Netflix to remove Jimmy Carr’s vile anti-GRT and antisemitic material.
I have also requested an update from @DCMS on progress to bring streaming platforms under Ofcom regulation.
Nadine Dorries has suggested new laws would hold to account streaming sites from airing jokes such as those made by Jimmy Carr about the Traveller community and the Holocaust.
During an interview on Saturday’s BBC Breakfast, the Culture Secretary condemned the comic’s joke made during his one-hour Netflix special, His Dark Material, as “shocking, abhorrent and unacceptable.”
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Carr issued a “trigger warning” to the audience at the beginning of the Netflix show, admitting his performance contained “terrible things”.
In a widely-shared clip from the show, the comedian joked about the horror of the Holocaust and “six million Jewish lives being lost” before making a disparaging remark about the deaths of thousands of Travellers at the hands of the Nazis as a punchline.
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Nadine Dorries and Jimmy Carr
Dorries suggested that in the future, new laws would “hold Netflix to account” for such content.
“We are looking at legislation via the Media Bill which would bring into scope those comments from other video on-demand streaming outlets like Netflix,” she said.
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“So it’s interesting that we’re already looking at future legislation to bring into scope those sort of comments.”
The MP said Carr’s comments were “abhorrent and they just shouldn’t be on television”, but it was then put to her that in a tweet in 2017 she had claimed that “left-wing snowflakes are killing comedy”.
She said: “Well, that’s not comedy.
“What Jimmy Carr did last night is not comedy. And you know, I’m no angel on Twitter, nobody is, but I just would like to say that nothing I’ve ever put on Twitter has been harmful or abusive.
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“But that last night… Jimmy Carr’s comments, no one can call that, you know, snowflake or wokeishness, that’s just… it was just appalling.”
She said the comments were “shocking and abhorrent and unacceptable, not just because he was making fun on the basis of people who died in the most appalling circumstances, but on the pain and suffering of many thousands of families”.
In a separate interview with Times Radio, she said: “We don’t have the ability now, legally, to hold Netflix to account for streaming that but very shortly we will.”
Asked on Sky News if there was any way this new law would put restrictions on free speech, she said: “No, absolutely not. We’ve been very, very… well because I’m a Conservative, I’ve been very, very careful about that.”
In a tweet, Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, has also urged Netflix to remove Carr’s “vile anti-GRT and antisemitic material”.
I have written urging Netflix to remove Jimmy Carr’s vile anti-GRT and antisemitic material.
I have also requested an update from @DCMS on progress to bring streaming platforms under Ofcom regulation.
The Traveller Movement, a charity supporting the traveller community in the UK, said: “This is truly disturbing and goes way beyond humour.”
In a tweet, the charity said: “We need all your support in calling this out #StopTravellerHate @StopFundingHate.”
The charity has launched a petition to Netflix calling for the “removal of the segments of His Dark Material which celebrates the Romani genocide”.
The not-for-profit organisation the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust shared a statement on Twitter from their CEO Olivia Marks-Woldman who was “horrified” to hear “gales of laughter” following Carr’s remarks.
Hope Not Hate, the anti-fascism and anti-racism campaigning group, also condemned the comedian’s joke on Friday.
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In a tweet, they said: “Comedy is an amazing tool for progressive change and it’s such a shame that @jimmycarr decided to use his platform to celebrate the murder of one of the most marginalised groups in society.”
The Auschwitz Memorial called for Carr to “learn about the fate of some 23 thousand Roma & Sinti deported to Auschwitz” in a tweet to their 1.2 million followers.
They added: “It’s sad to hear words that can fuel prejudice, hurt people & defile memory of their tragedy.”
HuffPost UK has contacted Carr’s reps for comment.
Anwar Hussein via Getty ImagesPrincess Diana and Jemima Khan in Pakistan together in 1996
Screenwriter and journalist Jemima Khan has revealed she stopped working on the behind-the-scenes team of The Crown over concerns about its depiction of Princess Diana.
Jemima – who knew Princess Diana personally – was invited by the Netflix drama’s creator Peter Morgan to help pen its forthcoming fifth season, which will depict the late Princess of Wales’ final years.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, she noted that it was “really important to me that the final years of my friend’s life be portrayed accurately and with compassion, as has not always happened in the past”.
She explained: “In 2019, Peter Morgan asked me to co-write on the fifth series of The Crown, particularly those episodes which concerned Princess Diana’s last years before she died.
“After a great deal of thought, having never spoken publicly about any of this before, I decided to contribute.”
However, after working on The Crown for around five months, Jemima noted that she eventually “realised that particular storyline would not necessarily be told as respectfully or compassionately as I had hoped” and bowed out.
Anwar Hussein via Getty ImagesJemima Khan had concerns about how Diana will be portrayed in the upcoming season of The Crown
“[I] requested that all my contributions be removed from the series and I declined a credit,” she added.
A spokesperson for The Crown said (via the Standard): “Jemima Khan has been a friend, fan and a vocal public supporter of The Crown since season one.
“She has been part of a wide network of well-informed and varied sources who have provided extensive background information to our writers and research team — providing context for the drama that is The Crown. She has never been contracted as a writer on the series.”
NETFLIXJake Gyllenhaal stars in Netflix’s The Guilty
Having seemingly perfected his impression of Connie Britton’s serious listening face from 9-1-1, Jake Gyllenhaal will now take your call in the first trailer for the upcoming film The Guilty.
The bathing-optional Oscar nominee stars as a former police detective who now toils away at a 911 call centre in the Netflix thriller, which hits the streaming service on 1 October.
Based on the much-lauded 2018 Danish crime flick of the same name, which took place entirely in a single room throughout the course of a phone call, The Guilty sees Jake try to solve a crime at his desk after he’s contacted by a woman who claims to have been abducted.
Netflix’s synopsis says of The Guilty: “The film takes place over the course of a single morning in a 911 dispatch call centre.
“Call operator Joe Baylor (Gyllenhaal) tries to save a caller in grave danger — but he soon discovers that nothing is as it seems, and facing the truth is the only way out.”
“I’m sorry I have to hang up,” the mysterious woman says in the trailer after her captor discovers she’s phoned for help. “I’m gonna die.”
Penned by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto and helmed by Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, who previously collaborated with Jake on the boxing drama Southpaw, The Guilty has been a passion project of sorts for the actor, who once moderated a Q&A with the original film’s director, Gustav Möller, before landing the rights to the film.
Teasing the project on his own Instagram account on Saturday, Jake posted a video with a telephone number, which plays a version of the 911 call his character answers in the film.
The Guilty also stars Ethan Hawke, Riley Keough, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Bill Burr. Watch the exciting trailer below:
And it’s fair to say their reactions were priceless.
For those who haven’t seen it, the Netflix series the tells the story of a married woman called Billie who fantasises about the wild sex life she used to have with her ex-boyfriend Brad.
Jonathan Ross joked: “He needs to accept the fact he can’t compete with Brad. You can’t compete with that. Go home, pack your shirts, fuck off… Look, it’s got it’s own postcode!”
“It can’t be real,” Micah insisted. “That’s an add on, that.”
“Can you get add ons?” Jamie asked, prompting much laughter.
Channel 4The Celebrity Goggleboxers watched *that* Sex/Life scene
Sadly, one pair’s reactions who we didn’t get to see was Maureen Lipman and Gyles Brandreth’s.
She told Radio Times of how she’d left the room when Naked Attraction came on because “life is too short to watch a series of hopeless men dangle their bits and pieces in my direction”.
She said: “I’d seen Gogglebox and I thought: ’Oh, [ours] is the grown-up version, is it? I’m going to go on, and make a lot of comments now about the oeuvre and ‘I did like his first trilogy’…. But it’s your reaction to 12 dangling willies they want.
“They’re searching for ways to make me go: ‘Urgh!’ So I thought: ‘Well, actually, no, life is too short to watch a series of hopeless men dangle their bits and pieces in my direction. So I’m going.’”
Celebrity Gogglebox airs Fridays at 9pm on Channel 4. Sex/Life is streaming on Netflix now.
A new musical based on the life of Princess Diana is coming to Netflix later this year, it has been confirmed.
The stage production, titled simply Diana, began preview performances on Broadway in March 2020, but was shut down after just nine shows when theatres closed due to the pandemic.
Producers of Diana have now announced plans for the musical to reopen in December, but before that, the whole world will have the opportunity to watch it on Netflix.
A filmed version of the show, recorded in September, is set to debut on the streaming platform on 1 October, two months before its return to Broadway.
Evan Zimmerman/Matthew MurphyBroadway performer Jeanna de Waal as Princess Diana
Frank Marshall, one of Diana’s producers, told the New York Times: “I think people will see the movie and will say, that’s a show I want to see in person.”
Beth Williams, another of its leading producers, added: “We feel like it’s an incredible opportunity to put Diana in front of the global Netflix audience, and then give them an opportunity to see it live.”
Diana features Broadway performer Jeanna de Waal in the title role, while Roe Hartrampf and Erin Davie play Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, respectively.
Judy Kaye – who won a Tony Award for her performance in Phantom Of The Opera – also appears as Queen Elizabeth II.
HuffPost UK has contacted Netflix for clarification on whether the Diana musical will also be streaming in the UK.
Tim Graham via Getty ImagesPrincess Diana pictured in 1995
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