This week, I have a serious and emotional conversation with actor Michael Chernus about his challenging new role as John Wayne Gacy in Peacock's Devil in Disguise. He shares how he mentally prepared to play the serial killer and why this limited series is different by focusing on the victims of these horrific crimes.  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://link.newsweek.com/join/for-the-culture  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Padma Lakshmi’s new cookbook, Padma’s All American, is a natural extension of her Hulu series Taste the Nation. In fact, the documentary laid the groundwork for the book, says the former Top Chef host. “Once we had done the show, I had all these communities I had already embedded myself in,” she told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. Beyond recipes, the book carries an important message: Lakshmi “was trying to...really highlight the positive effects of having all these contributions from immigrants.” For Lakshmi, the recipes are ultimately a vehicle for connection. “I am hoping that the food will entice you, will almost be like a bait to get closer to your neighbors. Hopefully you’ll be curious enough to get to know the culture that the food came from and the people that are making this food.” Lakshmi returns to TV with the new CBS reality competition series America’s Culinary Cup, where elite chefs compete for a major prize. “It doesn’t look like any other TV set or studio I’ve ever seen.”  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://link.newsweek.com/join/for-the-culture  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“I need to get obsessed by projects so I can be involved in. I want to be entirely disappearing in a project.” And that’s exactly what Marion Cotillard has done in joining season four of The Morning Show (Apple TV+). Cotillard plays Celine Dumont, the new board president of the fictional news network who hails from a French dynasty and has plans to shake things up. The Oscar-winning actress found her first TV series “very different from a movie,” but leaned into the “best advice” from co-star Billy Crudup. “He knew that I was freaking out. He said, ‘You know what they did on the first three seasons. You know how smart they are. Give your total trust and be a happy puppet. Let them direct you.’” Part of what interested Cotillard about the series is what it says about the state of journalism. “Journalism sometimes has to have strong opinions [in order] to dig into subjects, but also to open the door of very ugly things.” Joining a TV series fits with how Cotillard has led her career since winning the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. “I was solely following my choices. I never had any plan. I was so lucky that amazing directors offered me amazing journeys.”  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://link.newsweek.com/join/for-the-culture  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The most terrifying thing about nuclear weapons isn’t the warheads, but how quiet we as a society have become about them. The Cold War-era fear of total annihilation has morphed into a dangerous cultural amnesia that Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow finds deafening. With her newest film, A House of Dynamite, she is determined to make the world listen again.   “I think the fact that the conversation has drifted off has a lot to do with the fact that nuclear weapons have sort of been normalized,” Bigelow tells Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. “And that in and of itself is a pretty terrifying idea. And the fact that we don’t look at it with the kind of global annihilation prospect that we should. I mean, we don’t tend to take it very seriously.”  Pick up our cover story on Bigelow in the latest issue of Newsweek.   Subscribe to my newsletter: https://link.newsweek.com/join/for-the-culture  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Even before Patricia Arquette signed on to play Maggie Murdaugh in Hulu’s Murdaugh: Death in the Family, she was already “obsessed” with the infamous case of convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh. “I had been following it and watched documentaries and different shows about it,” she told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. “I was just really doing a deep dive looking at Narcissistic Personality Disorder.” One of the things that really fascinated Arquette about Maggie was her slow, tragic realization of her husband’s true nature. “I like that her awakening starts to happen but even until the last second she still never thinks he's capable of that.” In the end, it was “that danger of your own partner being capable of something so scary was so chilling to me and for her and for all these women.” The Academy Award and Emmy winning actress has been busy in recent years with various projects like Severance on Apple TV+, and her busy schedule is not something she takes for granted. "I'm just grateful honestly at this age that I'm still able to work and getting really good parts and being able to do some more character work, because when you're a young girl, you don't get parts like that, and you don't get chances like that."  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do you write a love story where the central characters can’t touch? Well, if anybody can, it’s Nicholas Sparks. “This is a difficult love story to pull off,” Sparks told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott about his new novel Remain, which he collaborated on with director M. Night Shyamalan, who is adapting the book into a feature film. “One of the reasons we're doing this, of course, is, hey, maybe some of my readers who don't see M. Night films will go see Remain. Maybe some of his fans who would never think of reading something that I write, maybe they will give that a shot.” And they should, because Remain is a haunting love story that is both tonally very much a Nicholas Sparks novel, but also wholly different. It also helps to visualize the actors playing the characters in the film adaptation. “If someone picks it up and they say, ‘Tate, I wonder what he looks like.’ Well, Google Jake Gyllenhaal, that'll help.” While the impact of Spark’s work is “something I very seldom think about,” he does like when he’ll hear a passing reference to one of his books in pop culture. “I'm the first to giggle when The Notebook comes up on Big Bang Theory or wherever it comes up. It's a lot of fun. It makes me smile.”  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://link.newsweek.com/join/for-the-culture  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

To play Alex Murdaugh, Jason Clarke wasn’t going to turn the man into a caricature, telling producers, “I’m not going to play a bad guy here,” Clarke told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. Instead, Clarke focused on the “tragedy of Roman proportions” in Hulu’s ‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family,’ based on the true story of a South Carolina man convicted in 2023 of murdering his wife and son. “We’re not here to sensationalize it or even to replay it. We’re there to open it up.” Clarke has two other big projects this year. The first is the Apple TV+ series ‘The Last Frontier,’ where he plays a U.S. Marshal in Alaska hunting fugitives who escaped a plane crash. “It’s a gut thing. Do I feel like doing eight months in the snow and the winter and the action? You know what? Yes.” Then there’s ‘A House of Dynamite,’ about which he says director Kathryn Bigelow has “stripped back a lot of the usual tools of cinema.” This diversity in roles is exactly why Clarke does what he does. “The times I’m grumpy, I’m frustrated, I’m hurting, I realized just how lucky I am and also what I’m capable of, and that if you find the right things, you can really disappear into them.”  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://link.newsweek.com/join/for-the-culture  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, Tonatiuh joins Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott to discuss the powerful new film, Kiss of the Spider Woman. We explore the importance of Latin excellence on screen and why this story is so topical for queer and trans communities today. We also break down the incredible, star-making performance at the heart of the film by Tonatiuh and what it was like to work alongside powerhouses of talent like Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna and director Bill Condon.   Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Keira Knightley is the first one to say her new film The Woman in Cabin 10 (Netflix) is “rather tense.” That said, “part of the joy of making something that's sort of so tense and twisted and strange is when you're working with really lovely people, you can also have a bit of a giggle,” Knightley told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. Knightley plays Laura Blacklock, a journalist on an assignment on a super yacht with billionaires who don’t believe her when she stumbles on a gruesome secret. She says the film is “definitely playing with the idea of like, women are not believed,” but that gave her the opportunity to do something she’s never done before. “Love being the hero, as well. It was very exciting.” In fact, she joked about telling a fellow actor, “’I don't care that you can run that fast. You don't get to catch me because I'm the hero, OK?’” [laughs] Looking back at her career, while she doesn’t have the nostalgic relationship with her films that many fans have, she does look back on quite a few fondly, particularly Bend It Like Beckham. “There is still not another film about women's soccer. And it did have a place in that cultural landscape. And I think it did help to tell girls that it was okay to like soccer and play soccer.”  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As a star and producer on High Potential, Kaitlin Olson is all-in on the ABC dramedy, now in its second season. “The heart and soul of this show is Morgan's family and her children, and I don't want those to ever be cheesy.” Olson’s Morgan is a single mom with an extraordinary gift: She’s able to piece together information to solve once unsolvable crimes. Finding the balance between family and crime was key to Olson. “Getting it right was really important to me.” And having a say as a producer ensures her creative voice is heard. “I'm grateful every day that I'm in a place where I can trust my instincts and say, ‘This isn't working, and here's how I think we can change it.’” This place in her career has been hard-earned, after 20 years playing Deandra “Sweet Dee” on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. “For a show that on the outside looks like a dumb comedy, it's not. It's a commentary. It's so intelligently written.” Now an Emmy-nominee for her work on Hacks, Olson hopes people take comedic actors more seriously. “There's a common misconception that comedic actors can't really act and it's like, okay, you try and make me laugh. It’s hard to make someone laugh. Comedy is a talent.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Get ready to get messy. This week, we're joined by the brilliant and hilarious Brandon Kyle Goodman for a gloriously unfiltered, absolutely NSFW chat. You know them as the writer and voice on Netflix's Big Mouth, but Brandon is a multi-talented force dedicated to helping us all embrace our most authentic, chaotic, and beautiful selves.  We dive headfirst into their incredible book, You Gotta Be You, discussing everything from radical self-acceptance to the messy parts of life we're often told to hide. Brandon spills the tea on the inspiration behind their podcast, Tell Me Something Messy, and gives us a peek behind the curtain of their iconic "Messy Mondays" on Instagram.  Strap in for a conversation that covers it all: the highs and lows of creative life, the power of owning your story, and why being a little bit messy is a goddamn superpower.  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Elvira firmly believes Halloween requires spooky snacks, and she’s here to provide some inspiration with Elvira's Cookbook from Hell: Sexy, Spooky Soirées and Celebrations for Every Occasion. "I ate every single recipe. I was tasting every single one and they were all great," Cassandra Peterson, the actress behind Elvira, told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. "I do love to cook, however. I don't know about Elvira. I don’t think she cooks so much, but I love cooking." For the past 45 years, Elvira has been a staple of Halloween. “I've never had a Halloween off.” But that’s ok, because she’s proud of playing such a vital role in so many people’s lives. “I get gay guys coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh, you saved me, because I had your poster in my bedroom and my parents were like, ‘Oh thank God, he's not gay.’ Little did they know.” And ultimately, she knows that despite never having Halloween off, she’s given something back to the dark souls of the world with Elvira and has no plans to stop. “It's fun and people get a laugh out of it. And that's what's important. Laughing is important. We need to laugh more than ever. And if I can do that for people, I hope I can do it for a long, long time.”  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For Hotel Costiera, Jesse Williams was drawn to making "something that is global.” The new Prime Video series stars Williams as Daniel De Luca, a former Marine who returns home to Italy to work at a hotel, only to find himself tasked with finding the missing daughter of the hotel’s owner. While he has “no complaints” filming in Positano paradise, “I tried to stay relatively disciplined, but I ate a lot of pasta and bread,” Williams told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. Of the character, he related to his duality. "I don't really say I'm half anything," he notes. "That has to have found itself stewing in something Daniel DeLuca is dealing with." And this series represents a new phase for Williams, taking creative control as a producer. "It certainly feels good... to bet on you in the same way you're trying to bet on yourself.” After leaving his iconic role on Grey's Anatomy, his first move was a deliberate challenge, first going to Broadway and now this, raising the stakes even further by creating an original show. “It's not based on IP or something else. Like it's really trying to forge something new in a space.” But at the end of the day, it’s all about the process. "I love the collaboration that exists in our business."  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For millions of people, a trip to a Disney park is a special occasion, a magical escape. But what if it was your job? What if your office was Main Street, U.S.A., and your daily task was to ride attractions and eat snacks for an audience of thousands? Today we're talking to someone who lives that reality: David Vaughn, one of the most engaging Disney content creators on YouTube and social media. He joins Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott to pull back the curtain to ask him what the job is really like, what drives his passion for the parks, and we get an honest answer to the ultimate question: does having to press 'record' change the way you experience the magic?  For more on David Vaughn: https://thedavidvaughn.com/  Follow David’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidVaughn  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What comes to mind when you hear the term 'Disney Adult'? Is it a stereotype, a punchline, or something much deeper? Today, we're getting the definitive take from the person who literally wrote the book on it. AJ Wolfe, the brilliant creator of the essential YouTube channel, The Disney Food Blog, and now the author of the fantastic new book, 'Disney Adults: Exploring (And Falling In Love With) A Magical Subculture,’ joins Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott on today’s episode of the Parting Shot Podcast. We're diving into the joy, the community, and the misconceptions behind one of the most passionate fandoms in the world. From the psychology of nostalgia to the business of running a Disney media empire, get ready for a truly magical conversation.  Pick up Disney Adults: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Disney-Adults/AJ-Wolfe/9781668069219  Follow AJ Wolfe’s Disney Food Blog: https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For Bobbi Brown, patience isn't a virtue; it’s an obstacle. The makeup artist and entrepreneur operates on a timeline dictated by instinct, not corporate calendars. “I have no patience,” Brown tells Newsweek’s Parting Shot Podcast in a wide-ranging conversation about her new memoir Still Bobbi. “Like I go in and I say, ‘Oh I love this new product, when are we getting it? February?’ I’m like, ‘Hell no, bring it out in November. I don't care it's not in a package.’”  This drive is the engine behind her entire career. Still Bobbi chronicles the story of a woman who built a billion-dollar beauty empire in her own name, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, only to walk away from it in order to start over (again), this time on her own terms with a new makeup brand, Jones Road Beauty. “I do hope and I do think that my story is empowering to people,” Brown says. “And they're like, ‘Well, look, if she did this and she went through this, then I could do this.’”  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

She's one of the most iconic and feared players in reality TV history, and this week, the legendary Parvati Shallow joins Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott for a can't-miss conversation. From the cutthroat beaches of Survivor to the paranoia-filled castle of The Traitors, Parvati has mastered the art of the game, but what about the woman behind the "Black Widow" persona? She pulls back the curtain on her most famous strategic moves and dives deep into the powerful lessons on intuition and resilience she shares in her brand new book, Nice Girls Don't Win: How I Burned It All Down to Claim My Power. Whether you know her as a master strategist, a cunning traitor, or a Survivor winner, tune in to hear the side of Parvati Shallow you haven't seen on screen.  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Robin Wright knew that in her new Prime Video show The Girlfriend, which she developed in addition to starring in, she would have to fight the potential for melodrama, because “it could easily go there,” she told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. “This was so much of our discussion in the writer's room. How do we keep it plausible?” Wright plays Laura, whose adult son Daniel (Laurie Davidson) starts dating a suspicious woman named Cherry (Olivia Cooke) and proceeds to spiral out of control. “She does not want to lose him to anything. She is very overprotective and ends up becoming possessive.” Despite her sharing few similarities with her character— “I'm not that possessive with my son.”— she still feels a kinship with her. “Everyone you play, as venal as they can be, they believe that they're doing the right thing. So you have to believe that within them.” Wearing many hats, Wright doubled as co-star and director for many episodes. “I could be in the scene with Olivia or Laurie and I'm watching them as a director, like split brain, you know? But I'm still feeding them the character, Laura.” And while she’s directed a number of projects, she says she still has room to grow. “I'm still learning. I'm learning and trying to learn how to get my style.”  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Picture it: September 1985. A new sitcom about four older women living together in Miami premieres, and television is changed forever. Forty years later, The Golden Girls is more beloved than ever. Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott is celebrating this landmark anniversary with a very special guest, Stan Zimmerman, who was in the writers' room during the iconic first season. Stan takes us back to the beginning, sharing stories about the magic of Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, and why the show’s themes of love, friendship, and chosen family resonate so deeply four decades later. Grab a slice of cheesecake and join us on the lanai for this unforgettable conversation.  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is there anything better than a table full of great food and great company? But for many of us, the thought of actually hosting that party can be overwhelming. Well, it's time to put that fear aside.  Bestselling author, food media icon, and professional nice Jewish boy, the one and only Jake Cohen joins Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott to talk about his incredible new cookbook, Dinner Party Animal: Recipes to Make Every Day a Celebration.  Jake shares his philosophy that a "dinner party" isn't about perfection; it's about connection. He gives us his best tips, tricks, and confidence-boosting secrets to help you become the host you've always wanted to be, whether it's for a holiday feast or a casual Tuesday night.  Order Dinner Party Animal: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/dinner-party-animal-jake-cohen?variant=43612579397666  Follow Jake Cohen: https://www.instagram.com/jakecohen  Follow Michael Strassner: https://www.instagram.com/strasshola/  Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/  Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott  Subscribe to Newsweek’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.