Edward Norton. Clive Owen. Adam Driver Adam Driver Adam Driver1. One man in Hollywood has launchd the ultimate For Your Consideration attempt: Bradley Cooper could win an Oscar (maybe, but probably not) this year, but could Bradley Cooper get the honor of being Spike Lee’s white boy of the month? He’s trying!
Cooper and Lee were paired for Variety’s Directors on Directors series, published this week. It’s a thoughtful coupling: Cooper talks about being a director with a frankly boring meticulousness that comes across as self-serious. Spike Lee is one of the world’s most entertaining, emphatic speakers. (And also, obviously, an iconic writer-director.) (And my twin, if you’re that one guy who dm’d me on IG that one time.) This discussion a good endorsement of Cooper’s director bonafides.
Maestro was executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Now here’s an interview of him making Spike Lee giggle. (Why do I feel like he collects his hero New Hollywood directors like infinity stones. Has Coppola’s phone been ringing off the hook? Is there a Facebook friend request sitting in Paul Schrader’s inbox? Terrence Malick could escape Hollywood, but there is no one more persistent than someone in a television audience twice.) I have to wonder what Barbra Streisand thinks of all this, honestly, since she showed up to the Oscars that one year to notably not say one word about Cooper’s Star Is Born, but to praise BlacKkKlansman, the Spike Lee movie about Adam Driver being hot.
Anyway.
Cooper’s quote about not having chairs around the set of Maestro is the one getting all the attention (“I’ve always hated chairs on sets,” he said. “Your energy dips the minute you sit down in a chair.”) but that is the least interesting part of the conversation to me, a kind of hardo posturing that doesn’t endear him to anyoWhat'sWhats more: I know a man trying to get into a Christopher Nolan movie when I see one!) Someone2 has to make Bradley Cooper seem charming for him to win this Oscar, and the Gigi Hadid relationship isn’t making that happen. Bradley Cooper is not going to Q his little A around time. Enter Spike Lee, who can sell everything but a Tesla truck.
The twinkle in Bradley Cooper’s eye, the way he tries to riff with Spike Lee, the way he overperforms his own laughter, the fact that he invited Spike Lee’s wife to watch the movie in his home screening room — this is a man who wants the Adam Driver treatment. He’s worked with many of great directors3, but he’s never been anyone’s muse. He wants what Adam Driver has!
Cooper auditioned for Spike Lee over a decade ago. I wouldn’t count him out — he’s playing a long game. If nothing else it looks like Spike Lee’s respect is just one more thing he’s taken from Jake Gyllenhaal:
Dropping Links
Passerby, recently described by Vanity Fair as a “nice lifestyle publication,” asked me to guest edit their December recommendations. Spoiler alert: Rhode, The Morning Show, Birth, and a deliriously horny Joan Crawford movie, and more.
It’s a testament to how truly brilliant I think DJ Louie XIV is (and how passionate the Barbz are) that I prepared more for this episode of Pop Pantheon than maybe any podcast appearance I’ve ever done. We talk about Nicki, Pink Friday, and Pink Friday 2.
Literally the minute after I exited Zoom I realized I was completely wrong about what Nicki’s best feature is.
If The Best Writing and Interviewing and Editing Advice I've Ever Gotten wasn’t enough for you: The Creative Independent asked me a lot of questions about writing and my process. I think the best part is that “it is much worse for me to spend a day chained to my desk trying to get something written down, than to simply step away from it for even a couple hours and then come back to it.”
From the Desk of Azealia Banks
Nicki Minaj has never been an album artist; her power is in her features, the way she can take custody of someone else’s song on someone else’s record. Pink Friday 2 is certainly an album that exists. It’s a classically Nicki release, a lot of songs for you to hear and cherry-pick your favorites. (“Everbody,” “FTCU,” “Blessings,” “RNB,” and “Cowgirl” are mine.)
But it is genuinely sad to me that Nicki Minaj, one of the greatest living rappers, the best-selling woman rapper of all time, is so consumed by beefs that are below her.4 Why is she dissing Megan Thee Stallion (that Christopher Reeve line is unconscionable) and Latto (pointless, elevating Latto to a “rival” diminishes them both)? So much of Nicki’s irresistible puckish confidence is replaced by her … trying to make us respect her husband? Genuinely puzzling.
I talked about this more with DJ Louie XIV on Pop Pantheon, but of course Azealia Banks delivered. Devoted Hung Up readers will recall Azealia is either radically right or radically wrong; in some tweets posted this week, she was the smartest on this Nicki paradox.
Meanwhile — and I’m sorry I have to update you on this man because it’s not 2016 anymore — Kanye is in Vegas (?) with professional hanger-on YesJulz5 (??) preparing his new collaborative album with Ty Dolla Sign, Vultures. By this I mean: spewing a lot of gross shit in a meltdown over everything and nothing. I think we can all hear these ramblings and see that what he’s actually upset about is the way he is no longer at pop culture’s epicenter.
Via Twitter, Kanye asked if Nicki would clear “New Body,” their 2018 collaboration that leaked but was never released. On her own Live, Nicki said she declined because the song is old and she’s busy promoting PF2. (How much of this is because she either couldn’t get it for PF2 or doesn’t want to distract from PF2?)
Later, Kanye joked that maybe he won’t release the album at all if “New Body” isn’t on it. I just … I mean I can’t find it within myself to get caught up in this, despite “New Body” being such a good song. Somehow one of Nicki’s best verses (and a decent-to-good Kanye song) being collateral damage in a battle between two narcissists is exactly right.
The NBA — not just the Brooklyn Nets, I’m talking about the entire league — might not see the new year. (TikTok)
Prince Harry a customer of the Taylor Swift quote depot: “I've Been Told That Slaying Dragons Will Get You Burned” (People)
Cardi B and Offset seem for real-for real broken up. (Twitter)
Maybe because of all the Maestro talk I’m revisiting this part of the Bradley Cooper-NYT profile: There are six roles Bradley Cooper says he’s always wanted, and at the time of the interview, he’d done four. Bernstein must’ve been one. What was the final? (NYT)
The audio of Jonathan Majors telling his ex-girlfriend that she should be Michelle Obama-slash-Coretta Scott King … my God. (TMZ)
Under no circumstances will I learn who “Cole Tucker” is. Don’t tell me. I refuse to know! At this point, it’s a matter of time until The Iron Claw becomes a Vanessa Hudgens wedding peg and I’m sick of it!
That’s all this week! Thank you for reading. I forgot to tell you all that last week I saw Poor Things at the DGA and Darren Aronofsky was there … wearing a scarf!
All individual links yup!
I offered many pointers via Vulture during his run for A Star Is Born, a movie I am afraid to rewatch because I can’t afford it to take over my life for another 27 months.
“many great directors” does not include David O. Russell. Lol.
She’s also fighting with Billboard.
If, for some reason, you are interested in more YesJulz context: https://twitter.com/ziwe/status/1299383742742495234
Not Bradley being a “if you got time to lean you got time to clean” boss 😭😭😭😭
For Nicki to fully step into being the Rap Bjork…be still my heart