Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”
Dear Marvel: Please meet the star of “RRR” N.T.R. Jr. The actor tells me that he hopes to join the MCU. “I’d love to do it,” he said at a screening of “RRR” on Jan. 7 at the DGA in West Hollywood, adding with a smile, “I’m looking forward to it.”
His favorite Marvel character is Iron Man. “He’s so relatable,” said NTR Jr. “He’s someone like us. He doesn’t have super powers. He doesn’t come from a different planet. He’s not someone who’s gone through a science experiment and turned into the Hulk.”
Not that NTR Jr. needs to prove he has what it takes to play a superhero. He not only kills it like a revolutionary in the action drama “RRR”, but the ripped physique of him is getting a lot of attention. He trained for 18 months and gained around 15 pounds of muscle for the role. “I was eating seven fucking meals a day, 4,000 calories!” said the Tollywood star.
PS: “RRR” is one of my best movies of the year. pure entertainment. pure fun. Look at it. See it on the big screen, if possible.
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Make sure you catch me and Elizabeth Wagmeister today on the red carpet presenting the official digital pre-show of the Golden Globes, produced by Variety. Tune in at 3:30 pm PT/6:30 pm ET on variety.com.
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rian johnson reveals that his first attempt at screenwriting wasn’t all that stellar. The writer-director of “Knives Out” told me in Variety‘s 10 Directors to Watch and Creative Impact Awards Brunch in Palm Springs that he wrote his first screenplay when he was 19 and still in college. “It was something that will hopefully never see the light of day,” Johnson said, adding: “It was about this professor of fish. He was no good.”
When asked to explain what a “fish teacher” is, Johnson laughed: “That’s a good question. You’ll have to ask me, 19 years old.”
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Michelle Yeoh at the 2023 Palm Springs International Film Awards held at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 5, 2023 in Palm Springs, California.
Christopher Polk for Variety
michelle yeoh he was the last to arrive on the carpet at the Palm Springs Intl. Film Festival opening gala, after much of the press had packed up and left. I heard that getting to the desert took longer than expected because his flight from Paris the day before had to turn around due to mechanical problems.
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LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 10: Nathaniel Curtis attends the 2022 South Bank Sky Arts Awards at The Savoy Hotel on July 10, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
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Actor from “The Witcher: The Origin of Blood” nathaniel curtis says the cast nicknamed him “Fancy Gay Jesus” because of his trademark long hair and the fabulous silk robes and jewels of his quirky character Brian. “The thing is, I had a lot of fun on that set,” the actor, who first drew attention for his work on Russell T Davies‘ The AIDS drama miniseries “It’s a Sin,” he tells me on this week’s episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. Landing the role of “Witcher,” says Curtis, “means a lot to me.” She grew up loving the fantasy genre. “When I was asked to play the first openly queer character in the ‘Witcher’ universe, when I heard that, I realized it wasn’t even just me,” says Curtis. “It was about the people. It was about 9-year-old Nathaniel, 10-year-old Nathaniel, 11-year-old Nathaniel who wanted to see people of color in the fantasy world. Then Nathaniel, 17 and 18, who longed to see queer people of color in the fantasy world.”
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star “up” Danielle Deadwyler He’s a big fan of “Lord of the Rings.” While he can do an impersonation of Gollum (see the video above), he insists that he would never try to be a part of that world. “Would you do ‘Lord of the Rings’? No!” she says. “They don’t want me to do ‘Lord of the Rings.’ I just love Andy Serkis, his physique, his vocality. I think those are the things that really interest me because I’m a dancer first, so I’m okay with anything that combines multiple disciplines.”
