Roommates, the internet is calling Jalen Green and Draya Michele courtside couple goals after they shared a sweet moment at the Phoenix Suns vs. Orlando Magic game. Jalen came through clutch, hitting a final 3-pointer to seal the win while Draya cheered him on.
Jalen Green Secures Win & Steals Draya Michele’s Heart
Draya Michele and Jalen Green brought love and basketball energy to the Phoenix Suns vs. Orlando Magaix game on Saturday night. Jalen and his teammates were putting in work on the court, and right as the buzzer sounded, he hit a clutch 3-pointer to give the Suns a 113-110 win over the Magic. Even though his team hyped him up, Jalen running straight to Draya to get the proper celebration he deserved. Video footage showed him planting a kiss on her lips while Draya ginned from ear to ear, holding her man’s face and looking like the ultimate proud girlfriend.
Social Media Is Living For Jalen & Draya’s Courtside PDA
The Roomies loved seeing the courtside PDA vibes between Draya Michele and Jalen Green. Folks were happy to see them still going strong, while others gave Jalen props for publicly loving on his lady in TSR’s comment section.
Instagram user @cultureinmedia wrote, “Love this for her and him!”
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Instagram user @its.amber.esq wrote, “Glad to see they are still together 💕”
While Instagram user @dejavuhouseoffashion wrote, “They focus on the age gap, he focuses on the love. ❤️ ❤️🔥🔥”
Then Instagram user @lexijanay wrote, “Can’t be mad at a man loving his woman OUT LOUD👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾”
Another Instagram user @jadoresiwoh wrote, “He loves her down. She looks great. Let’s leave them alone.”
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Instagram user @stocktradertee wrote, “Draya secured the bag. Keep shooting ladies 😭”
Then another Instagram user @flawlessndbrown_ wrote, “That’s her man tf 💕 as he should!”
Finally, Instagram user @balexanderj wrote, “They go together, real bad!”
Draya & Her Kids Bring Major Courtside Energy To Cheer On Jalen
Draya often makes sure to show love to Jalen at his games. In January, she chilled courside with her mini-me’s — her son Jru Scandrick from her previous relationship to Orlando Scandrick and her daughter Lyght Green whom she shares with Jalen. Draya and the kids were front and center for some family fun. At one point, Jalen even had a sweet father-daughter moment with Lyght before hitting the court. See the videos below.
In 2025, the world said goodbye to Robert Redford. Over seven decades, the Hollywood giant entertained audiences with all kinds of action movies, thrillers, Westerns, and comedies. It’s hard to pin down what his best movie is, but his most important celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In 1976, Redford starred alongside Dustin Hoffman in All the President’s Men, based on a book of the same name by The Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Their reporting took down President Richard Nixon, and Alan J. Pakula‘s film, from a phenomenal script by William Goldman, brought their journey to life on the big screen and celebrated the courage of journalists. Half a century later, it’s more important to watch than ever.
What Is ‘All the President’s Men’ About?
All the President’s Men starts with the infamous Watergate break-in, where five men illegally entered the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and were arrested. No one thought much of it at the time, including the reporters from The Washington Post covering it, Carl Bernstein (Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Redford). However, it’s revealed that the burglars are involved with the CIA, and Woodward and Bernstein’s investigation uncovers ties to President Richard Nixon as well.
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What follows is over two hours of a thrilling history lesson about the courage these two reporters showed to uncover the truth at all costs — even if it got them too close to the crimes of the most powerful man in the world. All the President’s Men follows several months of their investigation and ends as Nixon is beginning a second term, but their efforts transformed the world. Over a year later, President Nixon became the only holder of the office to resign, a shocking moment that only happened because of two reporters portrayed in All the President’s Men.
Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman’s ‘All the President’s Men’ Won 4 Oscars
Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Woodward and Bernstein in ‘All the President’s Men’Image via Warner Bros.
All the President’s Men was a box office hit, pulling in over $70 million. Not only did audiences love it, but so did critics. Today, on Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 95% Tomatometer. The most famous critic of them all, Roger Ebert, gave it a near perfect 3.5 out of 4 stars in his written review, raving about the attention to detail and how “It provides the most observant study of working journalists we’re ever likely to see in a feature film.”
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Directed by Alan J. Pakula, who had just made another political thriller, The Parallax View, two years earlier, and written by iconic writer William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Misery), All the President’s Men is not one of those thrillers with murder, car chases, shootouts, and violent fights. Pakula was great at that (he also directed Presumed Innocent and The Pelican Brief), but this movie didn’t need it. It was raw at the time, digging into a fresh wound, with Nixon’s resignation happening two years earlier. It’s a film that depends on Goldman’s craft of writing dialogue because All the President’s Men is about people talking.
“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.”
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Redford and Hoffman are at the center in nearly every scene, with powerful supporting performances from Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Jason Robards, Hal Holbrook, and Jane Alexander. At the 1977 Academy Awards, All the President’s Men was honored with eight nominations. Although it lost out on Best Picture to Rocky, the film still picked up four trophies. Robards won for Best Supporting Actor as managing editor Ben Bradlee. Goldman won Best Screenplay, his second win following Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
‘All the President’s Men’ Is Even More Powerful in 2026
All the President’s Men takes its time, showing off the realism of journalism, which isn’t about rushing off to one place after another, but is about research, making phone calls, and waiting for a response. The visual chaos of the newsroom and the sound of typewriters clacking and phones ringing puts the audience right there in the heart of The Washington Post with Woodward and Berstein. The film is a love letter to journalism of the day, and 50 years later, it is a look back into the past.
It’s a moment in time, peering into a world which sadly doesn’t exist in the same way in 2026 with a fractured, corporate-owned media all about driving clicks and pandering to whatever political bubble you reside in. The film shows how a free media can resist and seek out the facts, no matter the consequences. All The President’s Men sought only the truth.
The comedian said it was “the right thing to do,” adding, “A lot of presidents, after wasting $40 billion dollars and blowing up a school full of children, would stick with it.”
It’s no secret that Kevin Smith loves filmmaking. Despite some initial plans to put the camera down over a decade ago, he’s kept at it for over 30 years, from the indie darling Clerks that first put him on the map to Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Tusk, Red State, and many more installments in his View Askewniverse and beyond. All the while, he’s discussed film and pop culture aplenty through his podcasts, Q&As, and just about wherever else people will listen to him. He loves cinema so much, in fact, that he’s even willing to talk about movies with a room full of dogs. Now, Collider is excited to share a new video that shows exactly that as part of an adorable charity collaboration between Hera the Dog Vodka and Much Love Animal Rescue for National Pet Day on April 11.
The surreal footage opens like a normal conversation with Smith, who reflects on 1998 when “Chasing Amy is doing well, Good Will Hunting is doing well, and we get greenlit for Dogma.” Released the following year, Dogma marked the fourth installment in the filmmaker’s View Askewniverse, following the high-stakes comedic adventure of two fallen angels, played by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who find a loophole to get back into Heaven and a group that bands together to stop them before they destroy all of reality. While he starts discussing the making of the controversial classic, the camera pans to show his audience — a small pack of canines of different breeds just doing their own thing. Some look happy, others look bored, but when Smith mentions how the studio “ruined” his fantasy comedy by putting Affleck in it instead of actual dogs, one particular pooch looks sadly at the camera as if wondering what could’ve been with an all-dog cast.
Fortunately, this project has a mostly dog-filled ensemble. Eleven shelter animals took part in the filming of the promotional video alongside Smith, listening as he dropped “Hollywood pearls” and asked them what the deal was with all the panting. He even pitches them on Clerks 4: Still Clerkin’, much to the apparent approval of one German Shepherd. Producer Todd Milliner told Collider that the silly idea was born out of a previous collaboration with Smith and a desire to make something that plays both to his talents and his status as a rescue dog dad. It also just made sense considering Hera the Dog and Much Love’s commitment to finding animals their forever homes.
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“I was already working with Kevin on a show at NBC and got to meet his rescue dogs, so we knew he was both a huge dog lover and someone who can talk — at length — about filmmaking. When we teamed up with Much Love Animal Rescue and Hair of the Dog Vodka, it just clicked: what if we let Kevin do what he does best… but with dogs? We had a script, which Kevin politely ignored, and then he improvised for hours. What you see is the result of Kevin being Kevin.”
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Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best Picture Is Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country
Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.
🪜Parasite
🌀Everything Everywhere
☢️Oppenheimer
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🐦Birdman
🪙No Country for Old Men
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01
What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.
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02
Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?
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03
How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.
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04
What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?
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05
What do you want from a film’s ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?
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06
Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what’s even possible.
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07
What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.
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08
What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.
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09
How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.
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10
What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?
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The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…
Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.
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Parasite
You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.
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Everything Everywhere All at Once
You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.
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Oppenheimer
You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.
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Birdman
You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.
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No Country for Old Men
You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.
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Kevin Smith’s Authenticity Made the National Pet Day Collaboration Work
Though Smith brings the star power, the dogs are the real heart and soul of the project, who happen to improvise just as well as their human co-star. Fellow producer Paul Velten said the goal wasn’t to necessarily direct the dogs, but let them do their own thing around the filmmaker as if they were just hanging around being pets. “We also wanted the dogs to feel like what they really are — your best friend, your therapist, your ride-or-die,” he added. “So the idea became: let’s just hang out, talk about what we love, and see what happens. Turns out, dogs are a very supportive audience.”
Still, it can’t be understated how important it was to have someone like Smith who really understood the cause of helping dogs and the organizations that find them homes. “It’s everything,” Milliner responded. “We always look for people who genuinely care about the cause, not just people who can show up and hit their mark. Kevin already loves rescue dogs, so there was no selling required.” Authenticity can go a long way towards giving real credit to two organizations that can talk the talk when it comes to caring for the creatures that roam the streets.
The Los Angeles-based Much Love is a non-profit powered by volunteers, who help to rescue abused, neglected, and homeless animals, and provide them with care, training, and housing until the right family comes along. From their opening in 1999, they’ve found places for over 3,500 animals, though the last year has been one of their most trying, with the LA wildfires increasing the burden on shelters amid a surge of strays across the city. Hera the Dog, meanwhile, has married award-winning vodka with a mission of supporting shelters, donating 6% of all proceeds to facilities in need, and donating $70,000 and 16,000 pounds of pet food to local rescues in need. Owner Julia Pennington also has 25 years of experience working in an animal shelter under her belt, making the goal all the more personal. In Velten’s eyes, this campaign necessitates real care and a real commitment to match that of the organizations themselves, even if it means doing something as goofy as talking to dogs about Dogma:
“Yeah, you can’t fake this stuff. We’re asking people to give their time and actually care, so they have to be invested from the start. With Kevin, we just gave him the space to do his thing — improvise, riff, go off-script — and that’s where the magic happens.”
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Much Love and Hera the Dog’s Campaign Features an Inclusive Adoptable Dog Cast
Casting the dogs wasn’t as simple as rounding up a selection of the cutest furry friends possible. All of Smith’s talented co-stars featured in the video come directly from Much Love, and they’re all adoptable. Milliner revealed that it was a key tenet of the production for the dogs to be representative of the animals that could be found at the rescue. “Much Love Animal Rescue brought a group of adoptable dogs, and that became our cast. We wanted it to be real — these are dogs you could actually meet and take home.” As Velten added, like strays themselves, these dogs came in all shapes, sizes, and states of being, yet all with big hearts and enthusiasm to be on the cozy little set. “And it was a full range — big, small, chaotic, chill. We had dogs with disabilities too — a blind dog, a deaf dog, one missing a leg — and they were all living their best lives on set.”
Despite how many canines were in one place, they managed to be quite chill and respectful of Smith while he discussed movies. Handling that many animals is still a little chaotic, though. “Honestly, there were more dogs than we could even fit on camera at times,” Milliner recalled. “It turned into a bit of a party.” Velten seconded that notion, calling the shoot “A very well-behaved party… powered entirely by treats.” “And the occasional filmmaking advice from Kevin Smith,” Milliner concluded. No matter how producers pulled it all together, it made for a fitting cinema-themed promotion that feels appropriate for both the director and for two organizations looking to do good in and around Los Angeles.
National Pet Day arrives on April 11. Check out the video in the player above and visit the official Hera the Dog Vodka and Much Love Animal Rescue websites for information on how to support both organizations and, in turn, help some animals become someone’s loving new pet.
On April 9, Hacks returns for its fifth and final season, sadly forcing fans to say goodbye to one of HBO Max’s best original comedy series. No doubt, it’ll go out with a bang that’ll leave viewers in hysterics with laughter and tears. Jean Smart stars as legendary comedian-turned-late-night host Deborah Vance, who experiences a comical yet emotional series of ups and downs alongside Hannah Einbinder’s up-and-coming comedy writer Ava Daniels.
Hacks has been an undeniable hit from the get-go, with numerous Emmy wins throughout its run; Season 4 even landed a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. For four solid seasons, Hacks has continued to nail its biting mix of hysterical comedy and drama that tugs at your heartstrings while evolving Ava and Deborah’s dynamic. As we head into the final season, let’s recap the most important moments from Hacks Season 4.
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Key Moments to Remember from ‘Hacks’ Season 4
Hacks Season 4 is a wild ride full of ups and downs that sees Deborah and Ava’s rivalry play out behind the scenes after the explosive blackmail scheme Ava used at the end of Season 3 to secure the head writer role on Deborah’s late-night TV show. Her decision completely obliterates the foundation of their relationship, and, in addition to creating resentment on both sides, it also builds a new level of paranoia in Deborah, especially after her chief operations officer, Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins), quits to find his own way. Season 4 is full of laughs and drama, but its key moments include a shift in power dynamics, deeply personal transformations, a late-night implosion, and, after a falsified death report, a brand-spanking-new beginning.
Shifting Power Dynamics
Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder backs to each other with crossed arms on a beach in Season 4 of Hacks.Image via HBO Max
In the wake of Ava’s Season 3 antics, the power dynamic between Ava and Deborah shifts drastically and brings out the worst in both women. As a star of late-night television, Deborah has the power to make Ava’s work life as difficult as possible, and she does, even going so far as to thoroughly embarrass her on air.
On the other hand, Ava seizes every opportunity she can to confront, disagree, and argue with Deborah, consistently and intentionally butting heads with her while also threatening to expose her affair with network chairman Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) to the press. Tit-for-tats like this only intensify their feud, but after mounting network pressure, a medical scare for Deborah, and a falsely perceived life-ending scare involving Ava, the two finally call a truce, making up in the process.
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Personal Transformations
Hannah Einbinder’s Ava Daniels is devastated in the Season 3 finale of HacksImage via Max
Although Ava and Deborah’s rivalry lives on, it also causes major personal transformations. A darker, more ruthless side of Ava emerges that teaches her not just how to compete with Deborah, but also how to manipulate her. She also finds herself part of a throuple, to whom she badmouths Deborah’s show. After they break up with her, in the wake of a heated moment in the writers’ room, Ava quits her job and disappears.
The news incites panic in Deborah, who pushes everything aside and frantically tracks Ava to the beach, where she mistakes a woman in the water for Ava attempting suicide. This, coupled with an earlier panic attack that lands Deborah in the hospital, is a defining moment for the duo, who finally find themselves evolved and on the same page… for now.
A Late-Night Implosion
Jean Smart as Deborah Vance in an evening dress looking ahead in Season 4, Episode 9 of Hacks.Image via HBO Max
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After disagreeing over a particular late-night guest, Ava vents her frustrations to her former boss, who uses her secrets to do a hit piece on the network. When Bob reveals to Deborah that he wants Ava fired for leaking a story, Deborah makes a life-altering decision that results in a late-night implosion, announcing the end of her show and choosing loyalty to Ava in the process. Before they can leave the parking lot, Bob reminds Deborah of her 18-month non-compete contract and threatens to sue her if she breaks it. Now struggling with a lack of fulfillment in her life, Deborah leaves on vacation with an unsuspecting Ava in tow.
A Fake Death and a New Beginning
Jean Smart’s Deborah and Hannah Einbinder’s Ava singing karaoke in the Season 4 finale of HacksImage via HBO Max
While in Singapore at a local resort casino, Deborah realizes she can exploit a loophole in her non-compete by performing stand-up comedy through a translator. Her shows go so well that she enters a months-long residency and succumbs to the casino lifestyle of constant partying, neglecting Ava in the process. Growing disillusioned, Ava confronts her, and an intoxicated Deborah insults Ava deeply, prompting her to leave. The next morning, however, both awaken to a news story that Deborah has died, killing the late-night comedy genre in the process, which becomes the impetus for the two women to get their careers back on track.
It’s not TV, and it’s also not HBO — it’s an HBO Max Original.
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What To Expect from ‘Hacks’ Season 5
Hacks Season 5 is set to explore deeper character relationships in the wake of Ava and Deborah’s return, as Deborah reinvents herself and rewrites the ending of her comedy legacy in the wake of being blamed for killing late-night TV. Viewers can also expect new guest stars and a promised shocking ending, according to the show’s official trailer.
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Deadline also reports a closer relationship between Ava and Deborah, as well as a romantic interlude for Deborah with new addition Christopher Briney, who will play a famous rock star. Showrunner Jen Statsky further confirmed that the final season will bring in “so many stories that we’ve been really waiting and wanting to do, but it just wasn’t quite right in earlier seasons, or it felt like we needed the relationship between Ava and Deborah [to] deepen before we did it.” For those wondering about Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter), they’re still around, and their business is off the chain.
As one of the century’s best sitcoms, Hacks seamlessly showcases the ebbs and flows of being a writer in Hollywood, which partly works because of the beauty that is the relationship between Deborah and Ava. There’s no doubt that Season 5 will clearly be one for the fans: full of big laughs, beautiful moments, and even bigger emotions that are sure to have us all in tears.
Jenna Ortega is opening up about a crossroads in her acting career before landing the role of Ellie Alves in the second season of You.
“I didn’t know what else I was gonna do. I’ve never really considered anything else, more so recently, just out of sake of curiosity and wanting another life experience,” Ortega, 23, said of her ambitions in a Wednesday, April 8, interview on the “Big Bro With Kid Cudi” podcast. “But when I was a teenager, I’d gotten off of a children’s show, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had to prove myself and meet all these new casting directors who didn’t know who I was.”
She continued, “It just felt like a good time to call it quits if I was going to. I was starting high school and [it was a] ‘it was a good run’ sort of thing. We had talked about it for a few months with my team.”
“And then, I think I booked that show You, and then I went on that set, and I loved it and had the best time. I thought, ‘Yeah, there’s no way I could let this go,’” added Ortega, who played Joe Goldberg’s (Penn Badgley) neighbor in You season 2.
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Before her role in You, Ortega starred in Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle from 2016 to 2018. The show ran for three seasons and 57 episodes. The actress also had a starring role in Netflix’s 2015 Richie Rich television series.
Since You, Ortega has become a breakout star thanks to her roles in Scream 5 and 6 and Netflix’s Wednesday.
In 2025, the actress recalled how one of her first movie roles was in Iron Man 3 opposite Robert Downey Jr., but her part was cut before the movie’s 2013 release.
“It was one of the first jobs I ever had. They took all my lines out,” she told Entertainment Weekly, noting that the only part of her visible in the film is “one leg.”
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In a 2024 interview with The New York Times, Ortega reflected on working as a child actor in Hollywood after she started pursuing acting at age 9.
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“Children aren’t supposed to be working like that,” she said. “They are supposed to be climbing trees and drawing and going to school. Some of those kids’ parents don’t even take school seriously, so I feel really, really fortunate to have had parents who made sure that I hung out with friends, made sure that I went to public school and wouldn’t allow me to work on a job unless I had straight A’s and was prioritizing my sleep and my schoolwork.”
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“Child acting is strange,” Ortega continued. “I see why my parents felt so hesitant about it, because you’re putting a child in an adult workplace. I think if I had just stayed growing up in Coachella Valley, I would be a completely different person.”
“I wouldn’t speak the way that I do or approach interactions the way that I do,” she added. “It’s completely changed my way of thinking and going about life, and when I speak to other child actors, I can pick them out instantly because we all have that — it’s just very specific, like some secret little language or something that we all share.”
A Hollywood veteran has reportedly advised Nicole Kidman that she may be better off staying single for now following her divorce from Keith Urban.
The actress and her singer ex-husband shocked fans when they split last year after nearly two decades of marriage, but rumors linking her to her Scarpetta co-star Simon Baker have continued to swirl in recent months.
While neither Nicole Kidman nor Simon Baker has confirmed a romance, the pair are known to have shared a longtime friendship spanning several years.
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The Actress Was Reportedly Advised To Pause Dating By Russell Crowe
Stefano Costantino / MEGA
Amid growing speculation surrounding Nicole Kidman and her longtime friend and Scarpetta co-star Simon Baker, the actress has reportedly been advised to stay out of the dating scene for now.
The advice is said to have come from actor Russell Crowe, who starred alongside Kidman in the 2018 film “Boy Erased” and has remained a longtime friend.
He believes Kidman would be better off remaining single for the time being, following her split from Keith Urban, as rushing into a new relationship could be more about filling an emotional void than finding genuine love.
“He’s spent years of his life as a single parent without a partner, and he says he experienced a lot of growth during those times,” an insider said of Crowe, per Globe Magazine. “That’s why he’s warning Nicole not to dive headfirst into a new relationship to fill the void left by Keith’s absence.”
Nicole Kidman Was Urged To Focus On Her Children
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For his part, Russell Crowe was previously married to Australian actress and musician Danielle Spencer from 2003 until their divorce was finalized in 2018.
Although he has since entered a relationship with Britney Theriot, Crowe has publicly maintained that he has no intention of marrying again.
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Instead, he is said to have found fulfillment in his children, whom he prioritizes above all else, and has reportedly encouraged Kidman to adopt a similar focus.
“You have to hand it to Russell because this is all coming from a place of genuine love and respect for Nicole,” the source said of Crowe’s advice.
According to the insider, it remains to be seen whether Kidman will ultimately take his advice to heart.
However, there are already signs she may be embracing at least the perspective of focusing on her kids, as she has been spotted publicly with her children on several occasions since her divorce from Urban.
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Nicole Kidman’s Friend Naomi Watts Allegedly Wants Her To Begin A Romance With Simon Baker
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Unlike Crowe, who reportedly wants Kidman to steer clear of relationships for now, another friend of the actress is said to feel differently.
According to Woman’s Day, Kidman’s friend Naomi Watts is aware of the rumors linking the actress to her “Scarpetta” co-star Simon Baker and is hoping the two pursue a romance as soon as possible.
“Simon’s always been a good friend of Nicole’s – she and Naomi are both godmothers to his kids – but it’s always been a strictly platonic friendship,” a source told the outlet.
The insider also noted that Watts knows Baker would “drop everything and everyone to hook up with” Kidman, which seemingly makes the duo the perfect fit.
Nicole Kidman Sparked Romance Rumors After ‘Scarpetta’ Premiere
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Weeks ago, Kidman sparked romance rumors with Baker at the premiere of their new sci-fi project.
The two arrived with their hands intertwined and appeared very close as they posed for cameras on the red carpet. They reportedly spent the rest of the evening together at an after-party, where they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company.
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During promotional interviews, Kidman and Baker also displayed a strong bond and have declined to address questions about whether they are romantically involved.
While it remains unclear whether they are more than friends, the pair’s ex-spouses have reportedly reacted intensely to the romance rumors.
Nicole Kidman And Simon Baker’s Ex-Spouses Aren’t Fond Of Their Flirty Interactions
Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/MEGA
A source claimed that Urban had already suspected Kidman was growing close to Baker during filming and views the situation as his “worst nightmare come true.”
“He hates that they’re giving interviews about how close they are,” the source added, per New Idea.
Meanwhile, Baker’s ex, Rebecca Rigg, is said to have been blindsided by the rumors and reportedly believes the two dating would be “pretty insensitive,” given that Kidman is considered like family.
After Pooh Shiesty’s detention hearing in Dallas on Wednesday, Attorney Bradford Cohen spoke to the media with lawyers Saam Zangeneh and John Helms at his side.
The judge had just denied Pooh bond, remanding him to custody on kidnapping and robbery charges. Cohen used the media moment to make pointed callouts about the alleged victims and the evidence in the case. Now, the claims are leaving folks with questions. Here are four major updates the attorney shared about the failed bond hearing.
1. Gucci Mane & Other Victims Allegedly Gave Statements To Police In January
Pooh Shiesty’s lawyer did not name-drop Gucci Mane in his press conference. However, he seemed to suggest that the public knows who R.D., as listed in the paperwork, is meant to represent. For context, Gucci Mane’s legal name is Radric Delantic Davis.
Early in the six-minute press conference video shared by Fox 4, Attorney Cohen confirmed that all of the victims in the case, including R.D., gave statements to the police on January 10. He called those statements “very questionable.” Adding, “I think the way the way the statements were made, what was made, what allegedly was witnessed and what wasn’t witnessed, I think gave great pause to the FBI. The FBI doesn’t take three months to arrest someone if they believe everything that was said on the night that it occurred.”
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Later in the press conference, Cohen clarified that since the incident, the FBI has not interviewed any of the alleged victims. “…Allegedly they all have future dates to give statements, but I have no idea if that’s true. We’re basing it on what the [FBI] agent said on the stand, that each one of those witnesses from that evening is going to appear and give a statement to the federal authorities.”
R.D., Cohen confirmed, has not given a statement to the FBI since the incident, but spoke to authorities on the evening of January 10. It’s unclear what his exact statement was. “The FBI said in the future they’re all scheduled to give statements, so we’ll have to see,” the lawyer added.
2. Lawyer Slams The FBI’s Case Timeline
Then, there’s the pace of the investigation. Pooh Shiesty’s lawyer slammed the three-month gap between the alleged kidnapping and robbery and the arrests made.
He explained that the FBI was involved from the “first night” of the alleged incident. Yet, after initial involvement, “nothing happened for three months.” Also, he said:
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“In addition to that, that I thought was quite embarrassing, is that an FBI agent says they don’t have the resources to keep their eye on an individual. This is allegedly an individual that committed a crime, that they then didn’t watch to see if the guns were present, if the jewelry was present.”
3. Lawyer Alleges The FBI Hasn’t Secured Key Evidence
Additionally, Pooh Shiesty’s lawyer pushed back on the strength of the evidence, highlighting major gaps in the prosecution’s case. He said:
“What we didn’t hear today is there is no contract—this mystery contract. They have no contract, they have no video of this alleged signing of a contract, they have no guns, they have no jewelry, they have none of that physical evidence. What they have is… allegedly five individuals, one of them being a very well-known individual that is allegedly cooperating with the government and making these allegations against my client and many more.”
After an interviewer asked, Cohen agreed that it’s fair to label the case a “he said, he said” situation.
“What we’re missing are the other people that were present in the room. The owner of the studio, who said he didn’t hear anything or see anything. The way they leave the studio…no one is arguing with anyone else…the story is quite unusual. And I think that the FI knew that. I think the investigators knew that it was unusual and I think that’s why it took so long to make the arrest.”
4. FBI Agent Who Wrote Criminal Complaint Did Not Testify In Bond Hearing
Pooh Shiesty’s lawyer also criticized the FBI’s handling of the case, specifically targeting the agent who wrote the criminal complaint, Brittany Garcia. According to Cohen, the 4-year agent was present in the courtroom during the bond hearing but did not take the stand, which he found unusual. Instead, another agent testified about the complaint, which underlies the entire case.
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“How about the individual who wrote the complaint, who actually drafted the complaint, who was sitting in the courtroom, whose only been an FBI agent for four years, does not take the stand. They put someone else on to say what she wrote in her own complaint, when… she’s sitting in the courtroom. And that’s done quite often in gamesmanship because they don’t want to put a rookie on the stand and be measured by our legal team.”
In response to a question about how far away a trial is, Bradford Cohen said, “Who knows?” He added that his team must review discovery and other case materials and file several motions. But, overall, the length of time it took the FBI to get arrest warrants gave him “great pause,” Cohen said.
See everything Bradford Cohen said following Pooh Shiesty’s bonding hearing.
Tomorrow, we’re planning on testing you on the off-beat dramedy, Atlanta.
For today’s TV challenge, we’re celebrating the fact that it’s baseball season by revisiting some television moments that showcased America’s pastime. Scroll down for the cold open!
Ray Gunn has long been one of the great cinematic what-ifs. After decades in development and bouncing from studio to studio, the unrealized science fiction noir from The Iron Giant visionary Brad Bird is finally coming to fruition. Today, Netflix revealed a first look at the animated film, which will be released on the streamer later this year.
In the first three images from the film, we get a better look at the retro-futuristic world of Ray Gunn, which will seem familiar to fans of Bird’s other works, including The Incredibles and Tomorrowland. The title character is Raymond Gunn, an old-school human detective in the city of Metropia; there, his 1930s-style office decor clashes with the strange green alien he’s sharing a drink with. Enormous holograms loom over the canyon-like streets, and Gunn soon finds himself in a deadly web of intrigue with aliens, robots, and multimedia superstar Venus Nova. The film will star Sam Rockwell as Ray Gunn, Scarlet Johansson as Venus Nova, and Tom Waits as Eyera. Says Johansson, “Having the opportunity to collaborate with Brad Bird is a career milestone for me; I have loved his work my entire life. This project is so uniquely special because it is a total realization of where Brad is currently on his artistic journey. I can’t wait for audiences to see this extraordinary animation that looks like nothing else out there.”
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
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Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
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🚀Star Wars
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01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
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02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
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03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
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04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
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05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
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06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
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07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
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08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
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Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
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The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
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The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
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Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
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Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
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A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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How Long Has ‘Ray Gunn’ Been In Development?
Ray Gunn sprung from Bird’s fertile imagination even before his first feature film, The Iron Giant. Bird planned to make the film for Turner Feature Animation, but reclaimed the project when Turner merged with Warner Bros. Later, he took it to Pixar, but the animation studio opted to make The Incredibles instead. In recent years, he revived the project at Skydance Animation, and opted out of directing The Incredibles 3 to focus on this project. Says Bird, “Ray Gunn has been in my mind for over 30 years. The film is a blend of sci-fi and classic detective movies from the ’40s…it’s Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers. I’ve been a fan of both of those sort of genres, and blending them together seemed fun, and a chance to play with a lot of very cinematic elements, and extreme characters.” Bird also commented that he wants the film to reach out to “people who don’t watch animation,” because “animation as a medium is too interesting to limit what kind of stories can be told.”
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Ray Gunn is directed by Brad Bird, who also penned the script with Matthew Robbins (Crimson Peak). It will be produced by Bird, John Lasseter, Lisa Beroud, David Ellison and Dana Goldberg producing for Skydance Animation.
Ray Gunn will be released on Netflix in 2026; no exact release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
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