Entertainment
Timothée Chalamet subtly roasted by Steven Spielberg at SXSW
Steven Spielberg has become the latest, and perhaps most quietly devastating, voice to push back against Timothée Chalamet’s comments about ballet and opera, delivering a pointed reminder at SXSW that the art forms very much still matter.
Speaking at a panel titled The Big Picture With Steven Spielberg at the 2026 SXSW Conference and Festival on Friday, 13 March, the legendary filmmaker, 79, was discussing the power of shared cultural experiences when he made his move.
After talking about the unique feeling of leaving a cinema after a great film, he extended that thought to concerts, and then, to applause from the crowd, added: “And it happens in ballet and opera, by the way.”
He followed it with a straightforward declaration that these experiences are worth protecting. “We want that to be sustained. We want that to go forever.”
He didn’t name Chalamet.
The 30-year-old actor had sparked a wave of industry criticism after a filmed town hall with Matthew McConaughey at the University of Texas at Austin on 24 February, where he said he had no interest in working in art forms where the pitch was essentially keeping something alive that “no one cares about anymore.”
He appeared to clock the potential fallout almost immediately, adding a hasty cover, “All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason.”
The attempt at self-deprecating damage control didn’t quite do the job.
The backlash that followed was swift and came from across the industry. Ballet stars Misty Copeland and Tiler Peck responded, as did opera singers Andrea Bocelli and Isabelle Leonard.
The Metropolitan Opera itself weighed in.
Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, Jamie Lee Curtis, Karla Sofía Gascón, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Charlie Puth were among the many others who made their feelings known.
Spielberg’s contribution was characteristically understated, no lecture, no direct call-out, just a quiet and authoritative restatement of what most of the industry already believes.
Coming from one of cinema’s greatest living filmmakers, at one of the entertainment world’s most prominent festivals, it landed all the same.
Entertainment
Katie Price says ‘manifesting works’ as she celebrates love with Lee Andrews
Katie Price has shared her true feelings about her new husband Lee Andrews in her latest Instagram post.
It is pertinent to mention that she tied the knot with Lee Andrews, just 10 days after meeting him.
Since then, the couple have been updating followers about their blossoming romance with loved -up selfies and cosy photos from date nights together.
Now she has re-shared the photo to her own Instagram story as she said: “You make me so happy”.
The star, who was known by the pseudonym Jordan during her glamour modelling days, said “manifesting does work” when she shared a photo to confirm her engagement in January.
Katie has previously been engaged eight times and has been married on three occasions to Peter Andre, Alex Reid and Kieran Hayler respectively.
She was also engaged to Warren Furman, Scott Sullivan, Leandro Penna, Kris Boyson and Carl Woods, although they never tied the knot.
Katie recently tied the knot with Dubai businessman Lee Andrews in Dubai, before holding a second, legal ceremony in February – much to the shock and concern of fans and her family.
Her marriage reportedly left her family in shock, with some said to be upset about her decision.
Despite making several promises, Lee has yet to leave Dubai, leaving his wife to travel back and forth between her work and children’s commitments in the UK and Dubai.
Entertainment
Fan proposes Keke Palmer at on onstage
Keke Palmer’s SXSW panel took an unexpected turn on Friday when a stranger rushed the stage and dropped to one knee in front of her, ring box in hand, in front of a live audience.
Palmer was in the middle of hosting a live recording of her podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, alongside her I Love Boosters co-stars Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu and Eiza González when the man appeared at the stage, knelt down and grinned up at her with a ring box propped open.
Palmer’s jaw dropped. Her co-stars reacted with a mixture of shock and laughter.
She handled it with as much grace as the situation allowed.
“I can’t marry you. I don’t know you. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, sir,” she told him, which got a laugh from the crowd.
Assuming it must be a set-up, she asked whether the whole thing had been planned in advance, but staffers and audience members near the front quickly made clear it wasn’t.
Someone called out that she needed security.
Her security guard came out from backstage, and a SXSW staffer stood up from the audience, both moving to escort the man away.
He didn’t budge easily.
Still on his knees, he insisted she wanted to say yes. Several audience members shouted back that she very much did not. He was eventually led out of the event space, with Palmer visibly concerned for him and apologetic towards her co-stars and the crowd.
Taylour Paige, ever quick on her feet, leaned into the moment.
“Sorry to this man,” she said with a laugh, a nod to the iconic meme that features Palmer herself.
Once the dust had settled, Palmer joked that she’d assumed Ashton Kutcher’s hidden camera show Punk’d must have been revived.
She then asked the room to take a collective breath, the audience obliged with a round of applause, and the podcast recording got back on track.
Entertainment
Major Hollywood directors on online critics: ‘You can go crazy’
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.
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