Some of Hollywood’s biggest names, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Sinners director Ryan Coogler and Deadpool &Wolverine filmmaker Shawn Levy have a simple strategy for dealing with the relentless noise of internet fandom: tune it out. 

The group came together this week to offer a rare and candid look at what it really takes to make blockbuster films, and how not to lose your mind in the process.

The occasion was a celebration at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where the Kevin Feige Division of Film & Television Production was officially dedicated in the producer’s honour. 

All three men are USC graduates, and the evening’s centrepiece was a frank conversation between them that touched on internet culture, test screening disasters and the messy, unglamorous reality of making great films.

Feige, widely regarded as the most successful movie producer of all time, was characteristically direct on the subject of online fandom. 

Marvel has always had a close relationship with its audience, going back to the letters pages in its comics, but the internet has changed the nature of that relationship considerably. 

“It can be wielded with such force now that you have to beware,” he said. The sheer volume of theories, opinions and hot takes across YouTube, TikTok and Reddit, he warned, is something filmmakers engage with at their peril. 

“You can read everything on everything and get a different point of view on it. You can go crazy. So, we don’t do that.”

Levy echoed the sentiment, framing it as a matter of professional survival. 

When you’re working on large-scale franchise projects, he is currently in post-production on the next Star Wars film, the ability to switch off becomes essential. 

“You’ve gotta know when to put it down, go quiet, and go back to what you had in your head and in your voice when you began,” he said.

The conversation also turned to something filmmakers rarely discuss publicly: the gut-punch of a bad test screening. 

Feige described the experience with striking honesty, noting that for Marvel, audience previews happen after major investment has already been made. 

“It happens when you’ve already spent almost $200 million on a movie and you screen it for people and they’re like, ‘What was that?'” Levy didn’t shy away from what comes next. 

“And then the panic sets in. You panic, feel like shit, and then you go back to work.”

What made the conversation particularly compelling was Feige’s admission that he spent years thinking Marvel was uniquely bad at getting films right the first time. 

He has since learned otherwise. 

He turned to Coogler mid-thought and asked whether Sinners, the most nominated film in Oscar history this year, was perfect from its first cut.

Coogler laughed. “No,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s perfect even now, bro.”

It was a disarmingly human moment from three filmmakers at the very top of their industry, a reminder that even the biggest films in the world are works in progress right up until the credits roll.

Gwyneth Paltrow has never been one to mince words, and her feelings about the Met Gala are no different. 

The actress and Goop founder, 53, has opened up about her complicated history with fashion’s biggest night out, and made clear exactly which kind of guest she’ll always be.

Writing on Goop, Paltrow shared her all-time favourite red carpet looks, including two from the annual event. But before diving into the fashion, she set the scene: “I have sort of a love-hate relationship with the Met Ball.”

It’s a feeling that dates back further than she may care to admit. 

Back in 2013, Paltrow told USA Today she was “never going again,” describing the night as “so un-fun,” “boiling” and “too crowded.”

Evidently, she got over it, she returned in 2017 and attended again in 2019.

That 2019 appearance, in a yellow chiffon Chloé gown, is one she looks back on fondly. She spoke warmly about collaborating with then-creative director Natacha Ramsay-Levi and said she loved the opportunity to work with a female designer. 

The theme that year was Camp: Notes on Fashion, which produced some of the most outrageous looks the event has ever seen, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry both leaning fully into the spectacle. 

Paltrow did not.

“I’m never going to the Met Ball in like, a hot dog costume or whatever, you know?” she said plainly. 

“I always have to be myself, first and foremost. Like, I’m not going in a costume; I’m going in a dress. There’s two camps who go to the Met Ball, the costume or the evening dress. And I’m always going to be an evening dress person.”

Of the Chloé gown itself, she was almost poetic, describing it as “so light and comfortable and chiffon-y and dreamy,” like “a lemon chiffon pie.”

Alex Warren had a horrifying experience at his first Grammy performance this year, but Chappell Roan was one of the people on his side who offered him support at the time.

The 25-year-old pop star faced a technical difficulty during his performance at the show which made him feel like his career was over.

However, The Ordinary hitmaker shared that after he pulled through the performance despite being unable to hear himself in the microphone, he told Alex Cooper on Call Her Daddy podcast, that with his head on his wife’s shoulder he spent the rest of the ceremony feeling “distraught.”

Warren shared that Roan, 26, noticed his distress and walked up to him in his seat. “Chappell 100% saw that I was like just distraught and she came up to me. She was like, ‘Dude, if anyone understands, it’s the people in this room, and you sounded amazing,’” he said.

The Best New Artist nominee noted that he will “never forget how sweet she was because of that.”

In the same podcast, Warren told the host that the performance had been rehearsed all week and went smoothly except the main day.

“They’re like, ’30 seconds.’ I said, ‘I can’t hear anything, I can’t hear myself. It’s live TV. Twenty-five seconds.’ I go, ‘Guys, something’s wrong,’” he said recalling the incident.

He had a moment to decide and he decided “this is meant to happen” and went ahead to the stage going on with the performance despite the lack of technical support.