Leonardo DiCaprio - (Please Read First Post Prior to Posting)

[Jade Bahr]

#RJat25 spam train #not sorry

 

Another great article! That's the power of a good movie. Being still relevant after 25 years. Argue with the wall if you disagree.

 

 

How Romeo + Juliet Shook Up Shakespeare for a New Generation

Twenty-five years later, Baz Luhrmann's adaption of the classic play still resonates.

 

 

I was in my ninth grade English class when I watched Romeo + Juliet for the first time. It was the early 2000s: the era of flip phones, AIM, and Myspace. Shakespeare had long carried the reputation of being tough to teach, as language has evolved over the centuries. But in the new millennium, literature teachers were facing unchartered territory in the battle for students’ attention spans.

 

When my class watched Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film adaptation, it didn’t offer much help in translating the words of the 16th-century playwright for a 21st-century audience. So when my teacher rolled in the TV on wheels and popped in the VHS tape of Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version—which marks its 25th anniversary today—my peers and I were predictably skeptical.

 

But it didn’t take long for even the most Shakespeare-averse student to become totally enthralled with the dizzying, vibrant cinematography that’s now a cornerstone of Luhrmann’s canon. Set in a fictional, modern-day Verona Beach (a real-life mash-up of Miami, Mexico City, and Boca del Rio, Veracruz), the movie opens with a news anchor reading the play’s famous prologue and setting the scene for “where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”

 

What follows are two hours of unrelenting action and drama set against the most widely read love story of all time. Of course, everyone knows this story will end tragically, but before then, a lot has to happen. The play may be about a teen romance, but it’s also about the ways in which class, family, and religion shape who and what we love.

 

 

Luhrmann’s lavish, visually indulgent interpretation helped bring these themes to life for a new generation. As over-the-top as Romeo + Juliet may be, there’s an unsettling realism to Luhrmann’s contemporary retelling of the age-old story. It seems completely plausible that these spoiled kids from wealthy, warring families would cross paths and end up falling for one another. Maybe not within the span of 24 hours, but still, it feels like it could happen.

 

Part of what makes Luhrmann’s adaptation so accessible are its stars. Leonardo DiCaprio is in a league of his own today, but back in 1996, he was still pre-Titanic and had done mostly television up to that point. Making him Romeo all but cemented his heartthrob status and propelled him into a new level of celebritydom. Claire Danes followed a similar path after stepping into the role of Juliet, becoming a sought-after actress who’s still serving up emotions as the queen of ugly crying.

 

In addition to the two leads, John Leguizamo as Tybalt and Harold Perrineau as Mercutio are also perfectly cast, bringing not just diversity in terms of ethnicity and skin color, but also diversity of craft and interpretation. Leguizamo’s Tybalt is snaky and fueled by a constant need for rage and revenge; Perrineau’s Mercutio lives for the spotlight and bending and blurring gender norms.

 

Both ping-pong between unapologetically flamboyant and hopelessly vulnerable, and their performances leave absolutely everything on the screen. And then there’s Paul Rudd, whose ageless charm somehow makes Dave Paris—the nobleman Juliet’s parents are trying to set her up with—a rather lovable character, despite being totally oblivious to the fact that Juliet is enamored with someone else.

 

 

Beyond the cinematography and cast, the film is also uniquely marked by its soundtrack, which is equal parts electric and somber. When we first meet DiCaprio as our forlorn Romeo, he’s sitting by the water at sunset, wearing a suit jacket over a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He’s journaling—brooding over his unrequited love for Rosaline, the unseen niece of Lord Capulet (in the 1996 adaptation, his full name is Fulgencio Capulet).

 

As he smokes a cigarette and roams around the sandy, orange-drenched beach, Radiohead’s “Talk Show Host” starts playing. The moment is so emo that any teen—regardless of era—could relate. (Has Olivia Rodrigo watched Romeo + Juliet yet? Inquiring minds need to know.)

 

There's also the meet-cute between Romeo and Juliet in the bathroom of the Capulet mansion, as “I’m Kissing You” by Des’ree is playing in the background—only to reveal that Des’ree herself is, in fact, singing at the big party in the other room. I still get goosebumps every time I think about it.

Other notable musical moments from the film come via the late Quindon Tarver, who as a choir boy sings soul-moving covers of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” and Rozalla’s “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good).” Both renditions are included in the soundtrack, which went on to sell more than two million copies, earning double-platinum status.

 

Reception to the movie was mixed at the time. Roger Ebert wasn’t totally sold on the radical retelling, referring to it as “the mess that the new punk version of Romeo & Juliet makes of Shakespeare’s tragedy.” The late film critic gave it just two stars, calling both DiCaprio and Danes “talented and appealing young actors,” but who were, at least from his vantage point, “in over their heads.”

 

Despite critics being divided, the film grossed nearly $150 million worldwide and went on to defeat Titanic at the 1998 BAFTAs for best direction, original music, and production design. Considering the manner in which Titanic dominated pop culture discourse for the last few years of the ’90s, that’s a real achievement.

 

Few contemporary adaptations of Shakespeare’s work have been as culturally resonant, likely because none has been able to capture the specific combination of star power, moving musicality, and visual intensity that Luhrmann achieved with Romeo + Juliet. One noteworthy mention is Maqbool, a 2003 Indian crime drama based on Macbeth, starring Irrfan Khan as the titular character. It didn’t receive nearly as much global recognition, but if you like seeing Shakespeare set in the modern world, it's essential.

 

 

Perhaps what makes Romeo + Juliet as relevant as ever is its ability to be rooted in the tradition of the past while still making room for tomorrow and the way of the future, whatever that may be. That overwhelming sense of uncertainty that encompasses our youth—it never really goes away. Time morphing into something intangible and hard to measure seems to be the essence of adulthood—especially in our current climate.

 

I often feel disconnected from the now, because I cannot make sense of it. That’s how the characters in the film are portrayed, too, and their aimlessness feels like a kind of comforting kinship that I can revisit over and over again. In truth, Romeo + Juliet made Shakespeare as timeless as ever.

 

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[Jade Bahr]

 

#RJat25 spam train #not sorry

25 Years Later, Romeo + Juliet’s Costumes Are as Magical as Ever

 

Twenty-five years ago, Baz Luhrmann laid his scene in fair Verona—and it was like nothing we’d ever seen before. The Australian auteur’s kaleidoscopic reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic romance, Romeo + Juliet, was a brash thrill ride through the streets of some combination of Venice Beach, Mexico City, and Miami, populated by god-fearing gangsters and glamazons. At the center of it all were two career-defining performances from a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the star-crossed lovers, their mesmerizing chemistry making for a love story that has stayed in the hearts of millennials ever since.

 

DiCaprio and Danes weren’t the only reasons the film became such a cult classic, however. Yes, there was its iconic soundtrack—Des’ree’s “I’m Kissing You” remains the ultimate karaoke tearjerker—but also the flamboyant costuming. From Mercutio’s glitzy lingerie set and cape as he belted out “Young Hearts Run Free” at the Capulet party, to Juliet’s ethereal angel wings, to the flaming sacred heart on the Hawaiian shirt worn by Romeo in the opening scenes on Verona Beach, these are looks that haven’t just become a part of cinematic history, but fashion history too. (The latter style in particular has never been far from a menswear catwalk over the last 25 years.)

 

Jamie Kennedy, Zak Orth, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dash Mihok, and Harold Perrineau as the young Montagues. Photo: Courtesy of Everett Collection

 

For that, we have the Australian costume designer Kym Barrett to thank. A contemporary of Luhrmann and his wife, Catherine Martin, at art school in Sydney, she first worked as a wardrobe assistant on the first extravaganza in their Red Curtain Trilogy, 1992’s Strictly Ballroom, before signing on to join the couple’s merry band as they began plotting their radical take on Shakespeare. “We were a very ragtag group and wanted to do stuff our own way, and we spent a lot of time working out not just what we wanted to do, but why we wanted to do it,” says Barrett of the collaborative spirit that underpinned the film’s making. “Some of it was luck, and some of it was just really hard work.”

 

It’s under the former category that Barrett slots her memorable collaborations with Dolce & Gabbana (for the young Capulets’ gunslinging leather waistcoats and cowboy belts), Prada (for DiCaprio’s dreamy wedding suit), and Yves Saint Laurent (for the razor-sharp tailoring and gowns worn by the elder generation’s mob bosses and wives). “That was a dream come true,” Barrett adds. Still, the bulk of the clothing was fabricated by Barrett’s team of pattern cutters and seamstresses, including those famous Hawaiian shirts, which were all painstakingly handpainted as riffs on a piece she picked up in a Miami thrift store. 

 

 

Claire Danes as Juliet, wearing her famous angel wings during the balcony scene. Photo: Courtesy of Everett Collection

 

In the years since, Barrett has gone on to become one of Hollywood’s most eminent costume designers, working on The Matrix trilogy later in the ’90s before moving on to projects as wide-ranging as From Hell, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Jordan Peele’s Us. All the same, Barrett looks back on shooting Romeo + Juliet as one of her fondest filmmaking memories. “It was definitely the job you want to have been your first job,” says Barrett. “It was unforgettable.”

 

Here, Barrett shares the story behind the costumes, from her eclectic range of references, to collaborating with Miuccia Prada on DiCaprio’s tailoring, to how she used clothes to bring Shakespeare’s romantic tale back to vivid, unforgettable life.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Everett Collection

 

Vogue: How did the project came your way, and what your process was in the early stages of conceiving the costumes?

Kym Barrett: Catherine and Baz and I all went to NIDA [the National Institute of Dramatic Art] in Sydney, so we already had that common ground. First, we made a short film with actors from Sydney in an abandoned lot—we dressed up our friends and shot the Mercutio death scene. And then Baz sent it to Leonardo and to Fox, and they decided to give us small amounts of money to start building up to the project that we wanted to do. We were kind of left on our own, and it just grew from there. Catherine, Baz, Craig [Pearce, screenwriter], and I went to Miami to do research, and Sony gave Baz one of those very first small movie cameras. So we made little video vignettes, and we edited it into what I guess you would call teasers. It was really a learning curve for all of us, but we just took our chances. We were only given $15 million, which is not much money for a movie. We prepped in Canada for a little while, and then we decided to shoot in Mexico City for most of it, so it was a culture shock as well, but also an incredible adventure. 

 

The Capulet gang, with John Leguizamo as Tybalt at center. Photo: Courtesy of Everett Collection

 

It’s very impressive that it was your first job as a head costume designer. Did you ever feel nervous about embarking on such a bold and radical take on a story that’s so beloved?

We all came out of the theater, and the job delineations aren’t as rigid as they are in films. You tend to do a bit of everything: We would get there in the morning and steam the curtains, or I’d stay late with Catherine and we’d paint the floor. Everyone is kind of an equal collaborator, and we all brought that same methodology to the way we made that film. I think you can see that, because it’s very cohesive and everything is integrated. You can follow the thought process from the writing to the directing style to the cinematography to the sets and costumes and music, and I think that’s one of the reasons it worked. Because obviously, we were working with what was essentially a kind of foreign language. Shakespeare isn’t a normal medium for film. I think we needed to be really solid with the vision and really tight, so that all the visuals supported the language and people could relax into it and understand what was happening. I think if you talk to most people who enjoy Shakespeare, the first time they start hearing it or reading it, they’re like, “What’s going on?” But if you just settle in and go with it, it starts to make complete sense to you. And that was one of the aims of doing the film. My job was to support the language with imagery, to help you stop thinking about the language and just go with the story. And I think it was successful in that way.

 

Leonardo DiCaprio wears a handpainted Hawaiian-inspired shirt, designed by Kym Barrett. Photo: Courtesy of Everett Collection

 

DiCaprio in a custom Prada suit. Photo: Courtesy of Everett Collection

 

When it came to fabricating the costumes, how much of it did you produce in-house? And how did the collaborations with Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, and Yves Saint Laurent come about?

We made almost everything ourselves. The collaborations with the fashion houses were partly because we were strapped for cash. I had done a bunch of photoshoots in New York and met different people at different showrooms, and when I was thinking about how to design for the Capulets, I was like, well, Dolce & Gabbana is a great jumping-off point. So we struck a deal with them for them to give us old stock that we could use to populate Verona Beach, with all the gangs and the background people. I had this idea of really ornate waist vests that were bulletproof. I showed them those images, and they said, “Oh, we can pull some old stock for you that might be useful.” They came from the showroom with these big boxes of stuff, so the extras fittings were amazingly fun. Everybody loved it. We were able to bastardize some things—we chopped the sleeves off, or we overdyed them to age them, or threw dirt on them. And then I needed a really beautiful suit for Leo when he got married, so we asked Ms. Prada if she would agree to make a suit for him, and she said yes. We were very lucky. And then I had an amazing team in Mexico City, and my cutters and some of my seamstresses came from Montreal, and hair and makeup came from Italy. It was a really international crew—we had people from all over the world speaking all different languages. And that’s such a rich way to work on a creative project, you know? There was this really energetic tension.

 

What was the story behind the Capulet party costumes? I feel like all of them give a little backstory to each of the characters.

In the script, [Romeo] says, “Oh bright, bright, angel,” and I knew Catherine wanted Claire to be on the balcony, backlit and silhouetted with the twinkling fairy lights that look like stars. So I knew straight away what that was going to be. And then with Leonardo, he’s like Lancelot. He’s driven away from his own people, from everything he holds dear to him. It’s an echo of the knight in shining armor, only in this case, it doesn’t work out, of course. I wanted to have that duality of it being one of the greatest romances in the world, but also one of the most tragic. I didn’t want to bang people over the head with didactic imagery, but I did want there to be a subconscious connection to stories and myths. The ballroom party is populated with characters from Shakespeare: Lord Capulet is a Roman emperor and Lady Capulet is Cleopatra. Then Paul Rudd as Paris is a bit on the outside, and a bit of a space cadet, so an astronaut felt right. I always thought of him as floating out a bit beyond reality.

 

Diane Venora as Lady Capulet, dressed as Cleopatra, and John Leguizamo as Tybalt, dressed as the devil, during the Capulet party scene. Photo: Courtesy of Everett Collection

 

I’m also curious about that Hawaiian shirt—or should I say those, as there were two. 

The Capulets definitely have that kind of gunslinging, gangster, low-hipped, cowboy-boots kind of vibe. And then the Montagues are more flyboy. They’re like the guys in Hawaii on leave from the ship. They’re still fighters, but they’re more laid-back and relaxed and American in a way. But both families are super religious, so it made sense that when I designed the shirts, they should have that kind of iconography painted in them. We had an amazing team of fabric painters in our department, and we designed the shirts to have all these different religious symbols embedded in them. Leo’s shirt at the end that he wears in the cathedral was definitely the inspiration and jumping-off point. I found it in a thrift store in Miami, and it already had this very dreamy, romantic Technicolor motif. Then there’s the one with the bleeding heart and the death lilies that the team painted. I chose the flowers as a foreshadowing of what was going to happen. 

 

The film and its costumes still serve as a reference to fashion designers—and indeed creatives of all stripes—today. What has made it endure?

I think the reason it endures in fashion is that a lot of the people who are now heading up these fashion houses were in that age group 25 years ago. It was a new way of viewing Shakespeare, and I think whether consciously or subconsciously, it impacted people of that generation—especially the music, which was extremely evocative and emotional and carried the story. I think everything came together to serve the characters and made them memorable. Even if the storytelling was heightened, the characters were king. I always say to people that a costume isn’t anything without a person in it. It becomes something when the actor puts it on and becomes the character. And I think that’s why it resonates with people: it’s a testament to the enduring power of Shakespeare and his characters, and our ability to reinterpret them for our time. It was a film about two teenagers that was really made for that age group, and I’m still so proud of it. I’ve done a lot of films by now, and I still think it’s my favorite.

 

Courtesy of Everett Collection

 

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[oxford25]

Some non mask summit pix

 

 

[Jade Bahr]

#RJat25 spam train #not sorry

 

Closer look at the relationship of Romeo and Mercutio. Since Mercutio has probably never been more queer than in Luhrmans interpretation many people think he's in love with Romeo or at least it's a theory I read more than once.

 

 

Harold Perrineau Made Shakespeare Sound Natural in ‘Romeo + Juliet’

His modern approach to tackling the Bard’s dense language helped make one of the world’s most famous plays feel accessible to young audiences.

 

 

Before 1996, we’d never seen a film adaptation of Shakespeare that targeted young audiences and retained his original language. Movies of his plays had traditionally taken a more classical approach to the text. They used crisp diction and English accents that catered to the Masterpiece Theatre crowd but might be boring to the MTV generation. Yet Shakespeare’s plays are filled with young characters making irrational decisions all in the name of love. If anyone should be able to identify with his body of work, it’s teenagers.

 

Baz Luhrmann keenly understood this. And it’s a large part of why Romeo + Juliet (1996) is such an achievement. Luhrmann’s kinetic style of direction helps clue in young audiences to the dynamic energy pulsing through the Bard’s ode to feuding families and star-crossed lovers. But he went further than simply infusing a unique cinematic eye into a centuries-old play. He instructed his actors to deliver Shakespeare’s famously dense dialogue so it sounded like contemporary American speech. This allows teens to better understand the language. This technique not only made a 16th-century play feel veritably modern, but it also helped young audiences realize Shakespeare can be so much more nuanced and relatable than what they learned in high school English class.

 

The entire cast of Romeo + Juliet was more than up to this linguistic challenge, but no one was better at translating the language into modern vernacular than Harold Perrineau, in the role of Romeo’s wisecracking best friend, Mercutio. 

 

It’s impossible to deny the infectious vitality of Perrineau’s Mercutio, especially in his entrance. Underscored by Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free,” the character steps out of a car, cackling with laughter while strutting around in a miniskirt and diamond-encrusted bustier. Perrineau had trained as a dancer for two years with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City, which helped him master the high-energy choreography Mercutio performs in the opening act of the film. 

 

While his background as a dancer helped Perrineau bring Mercutio’s physicality to life, he didn’t have the same experience performing Shakespearean dialogue. As he mentions in a retrospective interview:

 

“When we did Romeo + Juliet, I had only done [Shakespeare] in school, so I had a very particular idea of how to do it, which is from studying it. Very classical. So when I got the job … everything I learned, we threw away. We wouldn’t do anything, not the big speech things I learned, none of my diction, none of the iambic pentameter. All of it was thrown away.”

Under Luhrmann’s direction, Perrineau surfaced modern speech patterns in the text so the language would be more attuned to younger ears. “[Luhrmann] wanted to find voices we were used to hearing. Patterns of speech we were used to hearing,” Perrineau says. This method allowed teenage audiences to develop a deeper understanding of Mercutio’s thoughts, emotions, and motivations. Even when the old-world Elizabethan language soars over their heads.

 

Take the scene between Mercutio and Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) the morning after Romeo ditches his pals to sneak off to Juliet’s balcony. Mercutio’s resentment towards his best friend is still evident when Romeo reemerges from his late-night rendezvous. “Signior Romeo, Bonjour! There’s a French salutation to your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night!”

 

When Romeo questions him on what he means, Mercutio says, “The slip, sir, the slip; can you not conceive?”

 

We can read Mercutio’s anger as a misogynistic “pals before gals” mentality. He’s upset his friend would choose to see a girl rather than get wasted with the boys. But Perrineau’s line delivery is dripping with jealousy. The audience understands Mercutio doesn’t just have love for Romeo; he may actually be in love with him.

 

Later in the same scene, after the two men blow off steam razzing each other, Juliet’s Nurse appears looking for Romeo. As she sweeps him away, Mercutio follows closely behind, calling out for his friend. In a last-ditch effort to grab his attention, he pulls out his gun and fires off a single shot, yelling towards him, “Romeo, will you come to your father’s?” 

 

On paper, it’s a simple question from a friend asking when he’ll see his buddy again. In Perrineau’s performance, however, we can hear the underlying subtext. He delivers this line with unanticipated desperation that tells the audience exactly what Mercutio is feeling in this moment: confused betrayal. He can sense his best friend pulling away from him, and as his eyes fill with bewilderment, we realize Mercutio’s love for Romeo runs much deeper than we, or the character, may realize. 

 

That doesn’t explicitly mean Perrineau’s Mercutio has a sexual attraction to Romeo. When asked about Luhrmann’s intention for their relationship, Perrineau told Vulture:

 

“His vision for it was…they were [in love], but in the way that 14-year-old boys can be in love with each other. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a sexual thing. But sexuality is a thing that young men are always talking about. So it could be confusing. That’s sort of the stuff we played with.”

This love affair is often an untapped layer of Mercutio’s relationship with Romeo. In the hands of another actor, Mercutio is merely chaotic comic relief. He’s the energizing life of the party who’s willing to show his ass for a laugh. But in Perrineau’s hands, he becomes so much more nuanced than that. He found complexities in Mercutio that may have been left unexplored in a traditional interpretation of the dialogue. 

 

After being stabbed by Juliet’s cousin Tybalt (John Leguizamo), Mercutio tells Romeo, “Ask for me tomorrow, and you’ll find me a grave man.” He turns his back on his friends and stares out into a storm-covered sky. As he looks at his oozing wound, we see in his eyes a dawning realization that his devotion to Romeo has become his ultimate undoing.

 

This epiphany then becomes the motivation for one of the play’s most famous lines, “A plague o’ both your houses!”

 

In Perrineau’s delivery, it isn’t just a curse shouted by a dying man. It’s a renouncement of his friendship with — and love for — Romeo. The audience realizes Mercutio’s death isn’t simply the fatal consequence of the play’s central feud. His life was cut short because of his passionate adoration for his best friend.

 

Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet may be reviled by Shakespearean purists (his visual aesthetic is definitely an acquired taste). But the adaptation helped make the Bard’s canon feel more accessible to a sought-after demographic. The popularity of the film even spurred a wave of adaptations aimed at teens through the following decade.

 

What separates this from, say, 10 Things I Hate About You, though, is that Luhrmann didn’t need to dispense with the original language to make modern audiences understand Shakespeare’s text. Instead, he used an actor like Harold Perrineau who could cut through the density of the language in Romeo and Juliet to find character motivations that would surprise, and delight, teenagers in 1996.

 

To put it another way, Luhrmann and Perrineau proved something English teachers have been trying to drill into their student’s heads for years. The complete works of William Shakespeare have always been sexy, exciting, and deeply relatable to young audiences.

 

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Just LOOK AT HIM! Isn't he gorgeous? I love his perfomance so so much 💖

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Thank god grumpy Bale didn't get the part!!!

 

On the other hand..

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[Jade Bahr]

with Antonio Guterres who feels nothing but gratitude for Leo

 

 

@LeonardoDiCaprio was at #COP21 in 2015 when the #ParisAgreement was adopted.

He has continued to promote its implementation ever since then.

At #COP26, I got to thank him for his #ClimateAction work and support for the @UnitedNations as Messenger of Peace.

 

Original source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVy7fb9rP4X/

 

 

[Jade Bahr]

More from today, looking hella fine 😍

 

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 03: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales speaks to Leonardo DiCaprio as he views a fashion installation by designer Stella McCartney, at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, during the Cop26 summit being held at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) on November 3, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. 2021 sees the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference which will run from 31 October for two weeks, finishing on 12 November. It was meant to take place in 2020 but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo by Owen Humphreys-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

 

 

 

via JJ (exactly the same pics but whatever lol)

 

Guess what dailymail has also the same pics so here just the link:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10160691/Prince-Charles-views-electric-race-car-McLaren-Glasgow.html

[Jade Bahr]

#RJat25 spam train #not sorry

 

MTV interview with Leo about R&J back then:

 

CLIP: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVvf8IRsklu/

[oxford25]

Lucky Ladies  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mirella]

Jade, there is never time to feel sorry, or not sorry for posting any amount to our pleasure. Thanks for all the brilliant updates. ❤ I couldn't find all of it even if I tried.

 

 

The discussions he has must be brilliant and giving in a way we mere mortals can only dream of. Yet all I can think about is how damn hot he is with that open shirt.

 

Looking fine while saving the world. I read in one of the posts that he might give a speech?! 

 

My friends asked me "how is the world handling the climate"? Like we still are depressed about it was my answer. I do hope for humankind that it changes soon and that the numbers and statistics give some hope for a better future. Leo does have a big part in it. ❤ That is an incredible effort. 

 

Just because I had to Google why the name I give the link here for anyone else that is wondering the same.

 

https://ukcop26.org/uk-presidency/what-is-a-cop/

 

 

[Jade Bahr]

Leo made it into a royal insta account #clarence house #life goals 👑

 

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Kinda cute article about it:

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/20211104125549/prince-charles-leo-dicaprio-photo-fans-react/

 

 

[Jade Bahr]

On 10/16/2021 at 1:19 PM, Jade Bahr said:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Abhay Deol To Co-produce Sports Biopic Of Boxer Willie Pep

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Update for this project.

 

Connecticut Boxing Legend Helps Prep Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio Production 

 

Full article: https://i95rock.com/ct-boxing-legend-the-iceman-prepping-actor-james-madio-for-leonardo-dicaprio-production/

 

The New York Times calls the film a "Top 10 Human Interest Story".

 

Willie Pep Boxing Biopic Starring James Madio, Keir Gilchrist & Ron Livingston Set To Enter The Ring

[Jade Bahr]

First nominations for DLU ✨ #the beginning

 

[Jade Bahr]

13 hours ago, oxford25 said:

Lucky Ladies 

I'm in love with those pics.

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Super adorable clip with the lady in yellow and Leo; haha she's so happy to touch meet him 😍

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV1DyYgFnep/

 

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The woman who called Leo out. I guess now she gets the attention she wanted:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV18qXNhLfL/

 

Honestly I think it was a brave move from her since she didn't attack Leo personal. She just used his star power to be heard. And now she's heard. At least for the moment. This is how the world works right?

[Mirella]

21 minutes ago, Jade Bahr said:

I'm in love with those pics.

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Super adorable clip with the lady in yellow and Leo; haha she's so happy to touch meet him 😍

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV1DyYgFnep/

 

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The woman who called Leo out. I guess now she gets the attention she wanted:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV18qXNhLfL/

 

😂 You have to take the opportunity you can. 🌞 Cute. 

[Jade Bahr]

Another lucky lady.

 

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[kellybsblover]

1 hour ago, Jade Bahr said:

Another lucky lady.

 

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Seriously a dream---- I just want one like this so I can hang it in my home for all eternity.... is that too much to ask for universe? 🤣With my luck though I'm probably going to look awkward or with my eyes closed or something. 

[Jade Bahr]

 

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Some more clips:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV5ABE3PQen/

[Jade Bahr]

Seems indeed she's campaigning. #meryl for oscar

 

Meryl Streep for President

Meryl Streep explains how she prepared to play a fictional (and not especially competent) U.S. president in Adam McKay’s apocalyptic satire “Don’t Look Up.”

 

Meryl Streep as President Orlean, a commander in chief very focused on her approval ratings in “Don’t Look Up.”Credit...Niko Tavernise/Netflix 

 

Who would you turn to if you learned a comet was on a collision course with Earth and decisive action was required to prevent the extinction of all life on this planet? If your first thought was Meryl Streep, you have made both an excellent and terrible choice.

 

In “Don’t Look Up,” from the writer-director Adam McKay (“The Big Short,” “Vice”), two scientists played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence find themselves facing this end-of-the-world scenario and must turn to a United States government led by the fictional President Orlean for assistance.

 

The good news (for the movie, which will reach theaters on Dec. 10 and Netflix on Dec. 24) is that Orlean is played by Streep, the venerated film and TV star; the bad news (for humanity) is that Orlean is a self-centered scoundrel who cares a great deal about her public image but little to nothing about running the country.

 

Orlean is one of several malefactors in “Don’t Look Up,” a social satire that McKay wrote about climate change but that he fully expects will be interpreted as a commentary on the pandemic. The president is also a character whose many faults and shortcomings Streep delighted in bringing to life, and she credits McKay for giving her and her co-stars the latitude to indulge in awfulness.

 

As Streep explained in a recent phone interview, “He never lost heart or confidence in this vision that he had for this thing, which was to make an atmosphere as free as possible for everybody — just go nuts and do what you want. But with a deadly serious intent.”

Here, Streep and McKay explained the steps they followed to put President Orlean in the Oval Office.

Create a back story.

Based on what she’d read in McKay’s screenplay, Streep said she was already envisioning how President Orlean could have won office. “You could imagine a group of various miscreants was pulled together, and she was the least bad of a lot of other candidates that they could have put out there,” Streep said, adding that she thought of Orlean “as someone whose elderly husband had a lot of money, and she got rid of him, and it was in California so she got half. She had no real agenda except to have and retain power, and when she got there, she just realized that the job was pretty easy.”

McKay said that in naming the character, he was thinking of New Orleans — “It’s a fun city, but it’s kind of in jeopardy” — and not the fact that Streep played the author Susan Orlean in “Adaptation.” (The notion that he manifested Streep in the role by naming it for her, McKay said, is “definitely not the case.”)

Draw on real-life inspiration.

McKay said he thought of President Orlean as “a goulash” of recent chief executives. That meant “the self-serving con man aspects of the last president, the dangerous inexperience of George W. Bush, the slick polish of Bill Clinton, the celebrity of Barack Obama and the coziness with big money,” McKay said. Another inspiration was the finance expert Suze Orman, whom McKay described as “a brash populist with a strong fashion statement.”

 

To that recipe, Streep said she added a dash of the “Real Housewives,” whose televised squabbles often play in her house when her daughters come to visit. Though Streep won an Oscar for playing Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” she said that performance was instructive only up to a point. Thatcher, she said, “wielded a kind of femininity that was intimidating to men, and part of her power was how she could pull it together — it was very specific to the ladder she climbed there.” Orlean, she said, is “more of our time — algorithmically put together.”

 

Streep on the set. Her look was modeled on that of news anchors.Credit...Niko Tavernise/Netflix

 

Look the part.

Streep had a hand in devising Orlean’s fashion sensibility, which she said communicated something essential about the character: “So what if she’s 70 years old and dresses like she’s 35?” she explained. “No one told her you can’t be 35 forever.” That meant attire modeled after TV news anchors who, Streep said, “tend to pick these broad swaths of bright, happy colors to put on themselves — no prints, no polka dots or plaids or, God forbid, florals. None of the things that other people wear. Just these power suits and pencil skirts.” It also called for a specific hair regimen: “When I was in high school, you’d set your hair in rollers, then take it out and brush it 100 times,” Streep said. “This is the kind of hair where you take it out of rollers and just leave it like that — the longer the better. And then those are sprayed and crisped and the ends curl out in weird ways. And that’s a thing. It has always escaped me why this was good. So I thought, well, I’m going to try to that — God knows I won’t do it in my real life.”

Get ready to face the crowds.

All that advance planning may still not fully prepare you for the demands of the presidency, as Streep discovered on her first day of shooting. She had spent several weeks in isolation, as screen actors have been required to do during the pandemic. Then, on the appointed day, she said, “I bundled up in my big down coat, put the dog in the back of my car, drove through a snowstorm to Worcester, Mass., and got out at a stadium and parked.” Once there, Streep said, “They tried to turn me away at several points to get into the set. I said no, I’m in it.” After getting into hair, makeup and costume, Streep took to the stage where she saw her face on a Jumbotron and heard the delayed echo of her voice as she spoke to a crowd of several hundred extras. “And I just lost it,” she said. “I thought, well, I clearly have to retire. I can’t do this. I actually can’t do this. It was really a crisis of confidence.” Needless to say, Streep did find her bearings, but, she said, “it took a while.”

Ad-lib as necessary.

As he did on his movies like “Step Brothers” and “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” McKay allowed for some improvisation in “Don’t Look Up,” and the director said Streep had a talent for extemporaneous dialogue and reactions. “Her character is almost never bothered by horrible things that people say to her or how horrible she is,” McKay said. “She has an utter shamelessness that could almost be misconstrued as confidence.”

 

Streep — who had just completed “Let Them All Talk,” a Steven Soderbergh movie with entirely improvised dialogue, before filming “Don’t Look Up” — isn’t immediately thought of as an ad-libber. But she enjoys the process and admires colleagues who can expertly riff. “Actors get a raw deal,” she said. “People think they’re dopey. But most of the good actors I know are really, really smart — I haven’t seen their math SATs, but I don’t care. Being able to pull that brilliance out of the air, really, it’s a form of writing. It’s an amazing thing when people are good at it.”

Don’t actually run for office.

Despite a successful sojourn into fictional politics, Streep said she harbored no desire to pursue elected office in real life. For one, the experience of waging a campaign, she said, is likely more than she could bear: “The cost, since the rise of social media, is so high that you have to be a nun to be elected,” she said. “Anybody in your family who was in trouble or in jail or anything, your family is offered up on the altar for sacrifice. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.”

 

Acting, said Streep, “is the only thing I can do. I could act like a politician, but I wouldn’t be good at it. I acted like I could play the violin, but I can’t really play the violin.”

 

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[Jade Bahr]

 Ariana Grande REVEALS how she landed up with a role on Leonardo DiCaprio's Don't Look Up

 

 

Ariana Grande is all set to star in a small role in Adam McKay's upcoming film Don't Look Up which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothee Chalamet, Meryl Streep in lead. During her recent appearance on Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the singer spoke about her role in the film and also how she came on board for the multi-starrer.

 

The 28-year-old singer opened up about being a fan of director Adam McKay's work and mentioned that when he approached her for a role, she was more than excited for it but wanted to "earn it" and hence insisted on getting an audition. Revealing the story behind her and McKay's interaction, Grande said, "'I'm such a fan of his work. I'm such a comedy fan and I adore him. And he reached out and said, 'I have this role for you in my new movie.' And I was like, 'Oh, my god. Well, hold on, because I have to audition, I need to earn this, I need to put myself on tape.'"

 

Although the filmmaker then told her it wasn't necessary since it's a small part and then she read it and absolutely loved it. Grande also teased a few details about her character in the film as she told Fallon that her character is named Riley Bina who is an aloof popstar in a relationship with DJ Cello, played by Kid Cudi. 

 

The trailer of Don't Look Up has promised the film to be an intriguing watch with some power-packed performances from DiCaprio and Lawrence as astronomy professors whereas Meryl Streep in the role of the US President. The film is slated to release on December 10 in theatres and December 24 on Netflix.

 

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