In this week’s handle with care, the first look at the new Little Mermaid, and a Bachelorette Fantasy Suites recap.
Film Twitter’s Super Bowl took place this past Monday when the cast of Don’t Worry Darling arrived for their world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. There were developments in this saga (see past newsletters Worry, Darling! and I’m still worrying darling… if you need a refresher!) up until the night before DWD’s festival day. It was announced that Florence Pugh wouldn’t even attend the press conference with director Olivia Wilde and her costars, because her flight from Budapest (where she is filming the Dune sequel) wouldn’t land for over an hour after the conference starts.
Cut to: Pugh arriving in Venice earlier than expected, Aperol spritz in hand, while Wilde, Harry Styles, Gemma Chan, and Chris Pine are fighting for their lives in the press conference elsewhere.
Styles actually delivered the line of the day while doing press: “You know, my favorite thing about the movie is like it feels like a movie. It feels like a real like, you know, go to the theater film movie that, you know, kind of the reason why you go to watch something on the big screen.” This was Pine’s reaction to hearing him say this.
The world premiere was as uncomfortable as expected, but at least looks were turned. Pugh wore a sequined, off the shoulder, black Valentino gown, and Styles wore a blue suit from his and Alessandro Michele’s upcoming Gucci HA HA HA collection. Styles and Wilde were notably separated throughout the day, with Pine even sitting between them during the film’s screening. Then we got this moment that was dissected many hours later:
To be fair, it does kind of look like he spit on him because of the timing of Styles’ exhale and Pine’s reaction, but the spit is not visible. In all actuality, it looks like Pine was trying to remember where he put his sunglasses. Pine’s representative called spitgate a “complete fabrication.” But wouldn’t that be crazy if everyone on this damn set was feuding?
Don’t Worry Darling got a 4-minute standing ovation, and for the most part Pugh avoided looking in Wilde’s direction except for a few seconds as they applauded for each other. Then Styles had to come up with something to distract from the drama quickly, so he planted one on Nick Kroll.
And that was the end of the film’s promo with Pugh! She won’t be participating in the cast Q&A at the New York premiere, or anything else for that matter. It’s back to being Princess Irulan she goes.
Womp womp
Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday at 96.
This means that her son is now unofficially King Charles III. And he won’t be for long… I know Princess Diana will make sure of that…
And I could be a Funny Girl
Lea Michele made her Funny Girl debut as Fanny Brice this week. I am not very cultured in Broadway, but I thought this was amusing considering the ongoing illiteracy allegations:
#MY Ariel
We got our first look at Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel in Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid. Her voice is so princess-like and stunning, I teared up a little.
The Bachelorette Week 9 (Fantasy Suites) Recap
Gabby, Rachel, and the final six men are in Riviera Maya, Mexico to close out the ~journey~. The women are discussing their shared traumatic experience during Clayton’s Fantasy Suite dates while preparing for their own. Let’s jump in, because this was four hours of TV and I want to be concise!
Gabby and Erich’s date starts with a visit to a cenote, and they jump from three platforms at different heights. Gabby is hesitant to jump off of the tallest one, but she does it with Erich’s support. Erich also expresses worries because there are still two other men in the picture. At their dinner, they talked about their hometown date, and Gabby opens up more about her childhood. Erich tells her he’s in love with her, and they accept the Fantasy Suite invitation to spend the night together without cameras. And it goes well! The next morning, they make breakfast and struggle to say goodbye.
Rachel’s first date of the week is with Aven, and they go on a boat! If this is anything like Love Island, it won’t go well if they get a boat date. Footage of the date is spliced with a conversation Tino has with Jesse Palmer, who asks the host for advice because he is worried about Rachel’s other connections. He even says, “I certainly don’t need to sleep with anybody else.” Aven tells Rachel he’s ready to get engaged, and she tells him she’s falling in love with him. They go into their Fantasy Suite date, and leave feeling great about each other.
Rachel and Tino are up next, and there is some real nervous energy surrounding this date because of Tino’s parents’ reactions. They go horseback riding to a cenote, which they jump into. At their dinner, Rachel tells him that his dad said he wouldn’t accept an engagement between them, which surprises Tino. Then he tells Rachel that he loves her, and she says it back. Rachel previously discussed not wanting to make the same mistake as Clayton and telling all her finalists that she loves them, and that she wanted to save it for the person she picks at the end. So at this point, it looks like Tino is it for Rachel!
Gabby’s second date is with Johnny, and they also go on a boat. One thing about this couple is that they’re always laughing and joking around. Johnny notably remarks that Gabby is “the dopest girl” he’s ever “hung out with.” They arrive at a beach, where there is a blanket and drinks set up for them. Gabby asks him if he’s ready to be engaged, and he basically says no, not this quickly. She excuses herself for a moment, then comes back and expresses that they’re on different pages. They say goodbye to each other, Johnny says, “There goes my lady,” and Gabby gets back on the boat and leaves.
We see Jason for the first time this episode talking to Jesse about where he’s at with Gabby. He says he’s not quite falling in love with her yet, while Gabby thinks Jason is still a real contender. Gabby is in her hotel room when somebody knocks on her door, and she opens it to find an envelope asking to see her on the bridge outside. She goes over to see Erich, who tells her he’s worried about the fact that there are still other men there. Gabby tells him sternly that they have already talked about this off-camera, and she’s irritated that he asked her there to bring it up again with cameras around. Erich looks like he regrets doing this little rendez-vous (but let’s be real, it seems like a producer-driven thing). Gabby leaves for a minute to collect her thoughts, and then returns to express that although his heart is “in the right place,” she’s trying to make good decisions. Erich apologizes, and that’s that for now.
Gabby’s final date is with Jason, and they play tennis together before jumping in the pool. Gabby knows she’s falling in love with him and can see him being her fiancé. At dinner, Jason finally lets her know how he feels about an engagement: “To be like, completely transparent and honest, I don’t think I’m fully there yet.” Gabby is shocked, and excuses herself. After a while, Jason looks for her and tries to salvage what they have, saying that they can try to build on it. They decide to use the Fantasy Suite to talk things through, but they spend most of it talking in circles. “I was like, ‘Maybe it’s not meant to be,” said Gabby about their conversation. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, definitely.’” The next morning, Gabby goes to Jason’s room to officially break up with him. She says Jason was questioning how real their relationship was and saying that he couldn’t see it working outside of it. Gabby leaves in tears, and Erich is the only man left for her.
Back with Rachel, she’s on her date with Zach, and they explore the city after debriefing on their hometown date. They see a tarot card reader, who warns Rachel to let go of her past and move on to the future. In the evening, she tells Zach that she has felt uneasy about Fantasy Suites because of her last season, and apologizes if she seems off. Zach did not even notice, and reassured her that he would never make her uncomfortable. They go into their Fantasy Suite date very excited, and the next morning the energy did a complete 180. They have a very passive aggressive conversation over coffee, and we find out over ITMs that Rachel asked if he was really ready for an engagement because of his age. Zach is 25, and only a few months younger than Rachel. Of course, Zach doesn’t know that Rachel already loves Tino, so I feel like that might be why she was trying to sabotage her relationship with Zach. Zach goes to talk to Jesse about their night, and ultimately decides to talk to Rachel right before the rose ceremony.
When it comes time for the rose ceremony, Rachel arrives, and Jesse lets her know that Gabby won’t join her for it. And Zach does what he set out to do, waiting for Rachel to walk into the room, and swiftly take her back out to talk. The actual conversation is being saved for next week, but in the meantime we go back to Gabby, who is on her way to Erich’s hotel room. He’s getting ready for the rose ceremony, and unbeknownst to him, Gabby is about to tell him he’s the only one left. They tell each other they love each other, and it looks like Gabby found her man. At the end of the episode, Jesse is in the undone live studio to let viewers know that the final two episodes are something we have to mentally prepare for because of the drama. I’m hoping they bring up Erich’s high school yearbook photo of him in blackface that just came to light this week. And according to the preview, it looks like Rachel has a blow up with whoever she ended up picking.
Hi!! Happy Sunday! I hope everyone’s doing well and having a nice weekend. I feel so relieved now that our heatwave is over. When you live in a place with poor insulation and no air conditioning, you would understand. Next week, we’ll talk about everything Emmys!! I’m so excited. Thanks for reading!