The Orlando Sentinel reported that Disney has given money to every single sponsor and co-sponsor of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which was passed by Florida’s House of Representatives February 24. Officially titled the House Bill 1557, the proposed law is heading to the state’s Republican-held Senate next. As the Orlando Sentinel stated, the bill’s Senate sponsor, Ocala Republican Dennis Baxley, has actively backed anti-gay legislation for years, including laws that would block gay couples from adopting children....

The news comes seven months after Florida reversed its longstanding policy of allowing Disney to tax itself to cover the cost of water power, roads, and fire services for Walt Disney World. The policy, which was established in 1967 with the Reedy Creek Improvement Act, came under threat after a public spat between the state’s governor Ron DeSantis and the now-former Disney CEO Bob Chapek over the state’s controversial Parental Rights in Education Law, colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which forbids discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools....

While the 2020 presidential election is over two months away, this week’s Democratic National Convention will likely be Biden’s biggest and best chance to motivate Democratic voters to turn out for Joe Biden in November. Unlike all American presidential elections in recent history, large campaigning events are unlikely to happen this voting season due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the upcoming presidential debates are unlikely to sway Democrats toward Trump, who presumably will not vote for the President in any meaningful numbers....

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” director Raimi recently told Rolling Stone that even he did not watch all of Disney+ series “WandaVision” before helming the film follow-up (in theaters May 6) involving Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen. “I never even saw all of ‘WandaVision’; I’ve just seen key moments of some episodes that I was told directly impact our storyline,” Raimi said. “I’m not really sure what the ‘WandaVision’ schedule was or how it changed....

A particularly splashy casting is John Krasinski playing Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four. Krasinski has long been a popular fan casting for the role, so many online superhero fans felt particularly vindicated by his appearance. The cameo has been a popular topic during the massive press tour that the film’s stars have embarked on. So when Elizabeth Olsen took Vanity Fair’s famous lie detector test, Krasinski inevitably came up....

Ellen Kuras, the visionary behind “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Blow,” makes history as the first woman to receive the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. Kuras has won two Emmys and been nominated for an Academy Award. Kuras also won an Emmy for her directorial debut film, “The Betrayal/Nerakhoon.” A three-time winner of the award for Best Dramatic Cinematography at Sundance, Kuras has collaborated with auteurs Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Sam Mendes, Michel Gondry, Jonathan Demme, Rebecca Miller, and Jim Jarmusch, among others....

As the CEO and Technoking of Tesla as well as the Chief Engineer of SpaceX, Musk was most recently in the news for the launch of the second operational flight of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station on April 23. Musk adds to a line of unusual hosts that “Saturday Night Live” has taken chances on in the past (and often to impressive ratings), including Donald Trump, Al Gore, Ralph Nader, and Al Sharpton....

The Oscar winner teams up again with “The Favourite” auteur Lanthimos for the black-and-white short film “Bleat.” The film is the second work to be commissioned as part of the Greek National Opera and nonprofit NEON program “The Artist on the Composer.” French actor Damien Bonnard also stars. “Bleat” will have its world premiere May 6, accompanied by live music ensembles May 6–8 in Stavros Niarchos Hall at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Kallithea, Greece....

The #ReleasetheFuquaCut campaign can only get so far, though, as Hawke revealed he’s been begging director Antoine Fuqua for over half a decade. “In some ways, I see all his films [as] a collective scream against authority,” Hawke told The Hollywood Reporter of his collaborations with Fuqua. “[It’s] 107 [degrees] in Louisiana and there were more studio execs than our 100-person cast. He just put his head down and made his movie....

Ethan Hawke told The New Yorker that being part of Robert Eggers’ “The Northman” was like returning to the old-school, big-budget roots of the Hollywood studio films of yore. While Hawke admitted that he may have scoffed at auteur Eggers’ methods when he was younger, he can now only admire the precision behind building a historically accurate world — much like Francis Ford Coppola did for his (troubled and year-plus-long) 1979 war epic “Apocalypse Now....

In addition to Roman Roy’s texting error on “Succession,” “Euphoria” has turned the penis into a recurring guest star. Other Sunday-night HBO shows that may have one, two, or more male sex organs include “The Righteous Gemstones“ and “The White Lotus,” which leads me to believe that “The Gilded Age” airs on Monday nights because it is dickless. The penis has not made a comeback on TV and film; it’s more of a coming-of-age story....

But if you’re looking to take a break from the Yule log Disney+ also plans to unveil their latest series based on a popular film franchise. “National Treasure: Edge of History” translates the 2004 feature, starring Nicolas Cage and Diane Kruger, for the television landscape. The original series saw Cage playing a man looking for a secret treasure connected to the Declaration of Independence. The new series follows a young woman as she receives a centuries-old clue that could be connected to her dead father....

For the last eight years, most Universal movies head to HBO (and now, HBO Max) after their DVD debuts — about nine months after their theatrical releases. NBCUniversal animation division Illumination Entertainment has its own deal; films like “Despicable Me” go to Netflix. The last iteration of that deal was 2013 — less than three years after then-TimeWarner CEO Jeff Bewkes mocked the idea of Netflix domination to being conquered by the Albanian army....

Of course, it’s hard to look at the past when much there is to ponder in the present: “Batgirl” won’t come out but the scandal-ridden “Flash” somehow will; older HBO Max titles have been quietly booted from the service; executives on the earnings call proclaimed confidence in plans to jam together two vastly different streaming services into an amorphous new entity that still has no name. But let’s step back for a moment and recall some recent history: Remember HBO Go?...

Robyn would be enough to carry her own series — fortunately “Flack” surrounds her with a co-worker core that locks comfortably into place before the pilot even ends. There’s Eve (Lydia Wilson), Robyn’s adventurous partner-in-crime who’s just as comfortable tossing off a dismissive one-liner as she is delivering paragraphs’ worth of instructions to those she wants to dismiss. The frequent target of the latter is Melody (Rebecca Benson), the firm’s wide-eyed intern who is decidedly behind her office mates in the Cutthroat Instinct department....

The “Saturday Night Live” alum and on-again/off-again “Late Night” bandleader is hosting a competing Oscars, he told friend Seth Meyers on Monday night. Armisen’s version will be just like the real Academy Awards, just for rental cars. “In the film industry, there’s, like, companies that rent out cars,” Armisen said. “Right? So I’m gonna have awards for, like, people who supply automobiles for movies.” And Fred is being bold with the scheduling, slating his rental car awards directly against the actual Oscars....

More titles will screen in the weeks before the February 28 Oscar eligibility deadline. Some were caught in the uncertainty of releasing during a pandemic, as distributors kept pushing back for a proper theatrical release that never came. Others were pressing toward completion. Since fresh entries often surge to the front of voters’ minds, last-second bids can be successful (see: Clint Eastwood with Oscar-winners like “American Sniper” and “Million Dollar Baby”)....

“If Cassian Andor ever needs to find his lost brother or something, then maybe they can call me,” Bernal said when asked about career interest in joining the “Star Wars” franchise. “Or his antagonist. That would be cool actually! In a galaxy far away! I mean, I am curious. If something comes along that is interesting like that…I would consider it, I guess.” Bernal is a renowned actor, but he’s only just getting the chance to be the leading star of a Hollywood studio tentpole....

They also provided major challenges, given that each character — like their counterparts in the show’s British predecessor — would be wearing whatever costume Pain conceived for them for the duration of the series. “I had to ask myself, ‘How do you create characters that are going to stand up over time?’” Pain told IndieWire. “You have to tell the story, but you’re also thinking ahead in terms of the different scenarios the writers might come up with later....

But the statement (below) left the Time’s Up organization, which according to Deadline had a sit-down meeting with NBC executives to discuss an action plan, skeptical: “So NBCUniversal, Dick Clark Productions, and the HFPA just declared that they have a plan to fix problems they’ve ignored for decades. We’re not so sure. On behalf of the many artists who look to us to hold the HFPA’s feet to the fire on the racism, disrespect, misogyny, and alleged corrupt financial dealings of the Golden Globes, we need to see specific details, timetables for change, and firm commitments....