| |  Welcome to this week's "Just for Variety." “And Just Like That ...” will not only look like “Sex and the City” for a new generation, with Nicole Ari Parker, Sara Ramírez, Sarita Choudhury and Karen Pittman joining the cast, but the HBO Max reboot will also tackle issues around race. “I’m excited to be a part of something that’s different for them,” Parker tells me. “We can talk about the elephant in the room that there were no fully fleshed-out characters of color, but now here’s the four of us. We’re real people, and they’ve been great to work with, and some of our [storylines] deal with race and deal with real experiences. It’s New York City!” The series, of course, will bring back some of its signature sexiness as well. “We’re grown-ass women, so we know how to keep it sexy,” Parker says, smiling. “It’s piping hot.”
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Angelina Jolie knows how to throw a party. Just ask her “Eternals” co-stars about the Halloween bash she hosted — Jolie came as a giraffe! — while they were filming in the Canary Islands. Lauren Ridloff tells me that she and Brian Tyree Henry won best costumes for their “Midsommar” looks. Gemma Chan went as Uma Thurman’s “Pulp Fiction” character. “But then I went to the party,” Chan says, “and there were six other people in the same costume!”
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Congrats to Michael J. Fox! The Michael J. Fox Foundation raised $5 million during its A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson’s gala on Oct. 23. As Fox told me recently about continuing his work to find a cure: “I just want to get this done. I’m committed to this. I won’t stop until it happens.”
... Jennifer Hudson hasn’t returned to Broadway since making her debut in the 2015 revival of “The Color Purple,” but JHud is itching for more. “I don’t know what that project will be, but I do want to see me back on Broadway,” the “Respect” star tells me. “It just has to be the right project, and I want to be involved in more ways than just being on the stage. I want to produce.” How about directing? “Maybe,” she says. “I want to expand myself and approach it from many angles.” … EXCLUSIVE: I’ve got the scoop on this year’s InStyle Awards honorees. They are Simone Biles, Melissa McCarthy, stylists Jason Boden and Samantha McMillen, designers Michael Kors and Anifa Mvuemba, makeup artist Nina Park, hairstylist Lona Vigi and U.S. Rep. Katie Porter. Presenters at the Nov. 15 event at the Getty Center will include Zoë Kravitz, Elle Fanning, Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson and Christian Louboutin. “At InStyle, we celebrate the brilliant, creative and yes, stylish voices who drive the culture forward,” InStyle editor-in-chief Laura Brown tells me. “We couldn’t be more excited that the InStyle Awards will return—bigger, better and with the infamous [photo-op] elevator! — in November.”
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Get to know Saniyya Sidney! Not only is the 14-year-old actor earning awards buzz for her performance as Venus Williams in “King Richard” (she was recently honored as one of Variety's 10 Actors to Watch), but she is one beautiful, gracious and humble young woman. When I met her recently for the first time at Elle’s Women in Hollywood dinner, she recalled her first day on the set of “King Richard” with Will Smith, who stars as Venus and Serena Williams’ dad and coach, Richard . “We were singing and laughing and rapping ‘Summertime,’” Sidney says. “I was like, ‘What is going on right now? Oh, my gosh. This is actually happening!’ It was fun, and he was just so down-to-earth.” Have some news to share or a story to pitch? Email me at mmalkin@variety.com. |
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| | |  Kristen Stewart wants you to know that “Spencer,” her new movie in which she stars as Princess Diana, is not a biopic or documentary. It is a fictional take on what happened when Diana decided during a family Christmas that she wanted out of her marriage to Prince Charles. “We’re not trying to educate anyone, we’re not trying to solve anything,” Stewart told me at the film’s Los Angeles premiere at the DGA. “We’re also not trying to like figure out whether or not we should have a monarchy. It’s what did it feel like to be her, think about what those nights were like, think about what those meals were like. “It’s the moments in between,” she continued. “They could have done the dinners and opening presents and the photo ops, but they didn’t. They did getting dressed, cleaning up dirty dishes, and you know, crumpled up wrapping paper, I just think that’s such an interesting way to tell the story that everyone thinks they know so well.”
KEEP READING KRISTEN STEWART... |
 Anya Taylor-Joy stars in Edgar Wright’s new “Last Night in Soho,” but it wasn’t the first time they could have worked together. “I had read the ‘Baby Driver’ script’ and auditioned for it,” Taylor-Joy told me at the “Last Night in Soho” premiere at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. “I was a really really big fan of his.” “I do remember that,” Wright said. “But I’m glad we did this instead.” Wright first approached Taylor-Joy about “Last Night in Soho” roughly six years ago, shortly after seeing her breakout performance in Robert Eggers’ Sundance hit “The Witch.” “He was a judge at Sundance and I was really starstruck,” Taylor-Joy said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my god, Edgar Wright wants to talk to me!’ …I don’t think he was planning on telling me what the story was about but we got along so well, he was like, ‘So, this is what the movie is.’ KEEP READING "LAST NIGHT IN SOHO"... ___________________________________________________________________________ |
 The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), will honor designer Jeremy Scott and TikTok at the amfAR Gala Los Angeles, taking place Nov. 4 at the Pacific Design Center. A special tribute will also be paid to the late Arlen Andelson, a former amfAR trustee. The Moschino designer will receive the Award of Courage for his longtime commitment to amfAR and the fight against AIDS. His award will be presented by a surprise special guest. TikTok will receive an honor for the platform’s leadership and commitment to supporting communities globally throughout the COVID-19 crisis. The open-air event will include a socially distanced cocktail reception, dinner, a live auction and performances by OneRepublic and Bebe Rexha. Cadillac and FIJI Water are the associate sponsors. AmfAR has temporarily expanded its infectious disease research efforts to additionally focus on COVID-19. The foundation is funding the development of safe and effective treatments for those infected with COVID-19 as well as research into the impact of the disease on people living with HIV. “When the Lights Are Bright Again” Benefit for The Actors Fund The upcoming launch party for “When the Lights Are Bright Again,” a book about the theater community during the pandemic, will serve as a fundraiser for The Actors Fund. The evening, taking place at Haswell Green’s in New York City, will feature performances by Eden Espinosa, James Harkness, Shereen Pimentel, Robert Hartwell, Eleri Ward, MiMi Scardulla, Nattalyee Randall, Courtney Daniels and Davon Williams. The party will be will be hosted by book’s creator Andrew Norlen and photographer Matthew Murphy. ___________________________________________________________________________  Monique Lhuillier has been integral to many of Reese Witherspoon’s life milestones, collaborating with the entertainment powerhouse on dresses for everything from red-carpet moments to her 2011 wedding to Jim Toth. So when it came time to put the finishing touches on “Monique Lhuillier: Dreaming of Fashion and Glamour” (Rizzoli), the L.A.-based designer’s new tome celebrating her brand’s 25th anniversary, Lhuillier asked Witherspoon to write the foreword. “She symbolizes everything I admire in strong, powerful women who build their dreams and inspire others,” says the designer, who teared up on reading Witherspoon’s heartfelt ode to her and her fashion empire, which began with the launch of her eponymous bridal line in 1996.
KEEP READING MONIQUE LHUILLIER...
___________________________________________________________________________  It’s no surprise Hollywood’s hidden tasting-menu restaurant Phenakite is one of the toughest reservations anywhere, with more than 20,000 people on the waitlist. Chef Minh Phan had to close her indoor-only café Porridge + Puffs during the pandemic, and had no idea Phenakite, which came together in 10 days, would go on to win a Michelin star after less than a year. Phenakite was also named the Los Angeles Times Restaurant of the Year in May, causing the waitlist to start exploding, followed by the Michelin honor in September — which means that with seatings only on Friday and Saturday evenings, it could be a while before most of those on the waitlist make it to the hidden patio. Named for a mineral that becomes a gem under pressure, the restaurant — which is tucked inside the lush Second Home Hollywood campus — represents a triumph of turning the hardships of the pandemic into a rare jewel of an eatery. KEEP READING PHENAKITE... |
  Ben Whishaw
Actor, “No Time to Die,” "Surge"
Padella
6 Southwark St., London “It's beautiful and has only a few tables ... but it's been my favorite place of late. I love the pici cacio e pepe.” |
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WPIX New York news anchor Tamsen Fadal and Ira Bernstein, co-president of Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, were married on Oct. 2 in New York City. The couple met at a 2017 NATPE conference. Bernstein proposed in Southhampton, N.Y., after his initial plans to pop the question in Italy were sidelined by the pandemic. Lance Bass and Michael Turchin welcomed twins Violet Betty and Alexander James via surrogate on Oct. 13. Bass is a singer and an entrepreneur; Turchin is a visual artist. “Gossip Girl” star Jason Gotay and fellow actor Michael Hartung were married on Oct. 11 at The Kester Homestead in Memphis, N.Y., after getting engaged in January. The couple first met in 2014 while working on NBC’s “Peter Pan Live!” Have wedding, baby or pet news to share? Email us at announcements@variety.com. |
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Oct. 27 The Jonas Brothers perform at the Hollywood Bowl. Sharon D. Clarke celebrates the opening night of “Caroline, or Change” at Studio 54 on Broadway in New York City. Oct. 28 Kathryn Hahn, Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell walk the carpet at the premiere of “The Shrink Next Door” at The Morgan Library in New York City. Colin Kaepernick, Ava DuVernay, Jaden Michael and Mary-Louise Parker are on hand for the Los Angeles premiere of “Colin in Black and White” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Oct. 29 “Sex and the City” actor Mario Cantone serves as the master of ceremonies for New York Restoration Project’s Boogie Frights Hulaween at Cipriani South Street in NYC. Gloria Gaynor performs, and Michael Kors judges the costume contest. _______________________________________
DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM AT @MARCMALKIN. |
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