<p class="p1">Celebrities who publicly back President Donald Trump are both rare and brave. The stance puts a bright red target on their professional backs.</p>
<p class="p1">Just ask Cheryl Hines, who only stood by her man (Trump Health and Human Services appointee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) and saw her <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0385644/?ref_=fn_t_1"><span class="s1">Hollywood career fade to black</span></a>.</p>
<p class="p1">Backing Israel comes with similar drawbacks. It’s not the “cool” position in La La Land like shouting “Free Palestine” at major awards shows. It might cost you work or put another kind of target on your back.</p>
<p class="p1">Pop superstar Boy George just found that out. The ‘80s mainstay isn’t known for his political musings, but he recently leaned on A.I. to create a new song supporting Israel.</p>
<p class="p1">“We Will Dance Again” slams those who claim the country’s war on Hamas is a genocide:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="p3"><i>You say genocide, I say war, when you’re attacked, it’s what the army’s for … Does it get ugly? You bet it does, when I know you want to kill every last one of us.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="p1">The fallout proved swift. He just voluntarily backed out of a London-based “Jesus Christ Superstar” production.</p>
<p class="p1">The singer, who would have played King Herod, said he made the decision for the good of the production. Would he have had to do that if he had shouted, “Free Palestine” at a glitzy awards show?</p>
<p class="p1">Unlikely. Will more career repercussions haunt the 65-year-old star? Likely.</p>
<p class="p1">That’s the arts-and-culture status quo.</p>
<p class="p1">Michael Rapaport has been unequivocal in his pro-Israel comments and attacks on Hamas terrorists. And, as a result, he received a <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/antifa-michael-rapaport-portland-protest/"><span class="s1">not-so-veiled threat</span></a> from an Antifa-like group in 2024 for daring to bring his comedy act to Portland, Oregon.</p>
<p class="p1">When he performed in Denver last year, his team had the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/04/14/opinion/jewish-comics-no-longer-safe-in-hollywood/"><span class="s1">club wand</span></a> patrons, ensuring no weapons entered the building. That’s not standard operating procedure at the club in question.</p>
<p class="p1">That hasn’t silenced the loquacious star. Rapaport released a searing satirical video last year before the Oscars ceremony that mocked his fellow artists for ignoring the plight of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.</p>
<p class="p1">He claims his prolific acting career has <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/13/entertainment/michael-rapaport-claims-hes-having-trouble-finding-acting-jobs-over-his-israel-advocacy/"><span class="s1">cooled a bit</span></a> since becoming more vocal on the issue.</p>
<p class="p1">More recently, he vowed to challenge New York City’s Zohran Mamdani, a leader eager to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in 2029 for Big Apple mayor.</p>
<p class="p1">Singer John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting fame has been equally vocal in his support for Israel. Ondrasik repeatedly mentioned the ongoing hostage crisis during his recent music tours. He even vowed to sing alongside pianist Alon Ohel, one of many Israelis held hostage by Hamas.</p>
<p class="p1">Earlier this year, the singer-songwriter <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFpYqi4kRzM"><span class="s1">fulfilled that pledge</span></a> by performing his hit song “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” with Ohel on his tour. “We prayed for that miracle. We hoped for that miracle, and my friends, that miracle is right now.”</p>
<p class="p1">The music industry was shockingly silent on the Oct. 7 savagery, specifically the massacre at the Nova Music Festival. U2’s Bono and Madonna mentioned the atrocities, albeit briefly. Otherwise, the industry has been quiet, save for comments from Ondrasik, more recently from Boy George, and from heavy metal singer David Draiman of Disturbed fame.</p>
<p class="p1">The singer scrawled “Bleep Hamas” on an <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2025-11-03/ty-article/.premium/disturbed-announces-a-hiatus-after-david-draimans-public-support-of-israel/0000019a-4a7d-dd6e-a7db-5ffda1a40000"><span class="s1">IDF artillery shell</span></a> and has used his X account to share pro-Israel messaging. His stance also sparked safety concerns and at least one concert cancellation.</p>
<p class="p1">The band’s Belgium gig got <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/music/articles/watch-disturbed-call-unity-onstage-092807238.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAhWiYwQC87E4z_0Smku5DO9Yz5PrF08EKBw_hg5QsEO3nMhuG2GR_Tcoh8C5iOzcCpaQ35tdLebnPJsABrKIgWs__eI6MLmX530-gqbTMzzZXa1xoW9Mmu6P4-oLHl3w7rNnkc79u6IWrfhbK2P61wbiW45Tj8abPdSwlrzXF0l"><span class="s1">scrapped by the city’s mayor</span></a> due to “public safety fears” tied to protesters.</p>
<p class="p1">Other pro-Israel voices came from unexpected places. Actress Patricia Heaton isn’t Jewish, but she’s been loud and proud in defending Israel and calling out Hamas for its terrorist ways. She also helped create the October 7 Coalition (07C), a Christian-led group to rally spiritually minded souls to fight antisemitism and support Israel.</p>
<p class="p1">“Will &amp; Grace” alum Debra Messing penned a post for The Times of Israel calling out the stunning rise in antisemitism while suggesting her fellow progressives <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/my-inconvenient-jewish-fear/"><span class="s1">have lost their way</span></a> given the party’s recent anti-Israel stance, writing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="p3"><em>I still believe in the progressive vision. But I’m watching closely, because if it can’t make space for my community, then it’s not what it claims to be.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="p1">Israeli-born actress Gal Gadot of “Wonder Woman” fame <a href="https://apnews.com/article/gal-gadot-israel-hamas-gaza-genesis-prize-hollywood-3b674679ece9e27db14f9ebc948f5bf5"><span class="s1">earned her homeland’s Genesis Prize for her support</span></a>. She hasn’t hidden her pride in her homeland, which may have been awkward during the 2026 “Snow White” press rollout. Her co-star, Rachel Zegler, is a strong pro-Palestine force.</p>
<p class="p1">The actress known to millions as Blossom, Mayim Bialik, lent her voice to the small pro-Israel contingent of Hollywood stars. Bialik did more than <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/hollywood-stars-like-mayim-bialik-debra-messing-among-1200-blasting-israeli-film-boycott-erasure-art"><span class="s1">sign an open letter condemning an Israeli film boycott.</span></a></p>
<p class="p1">Her staunch support of the Jewish state has her <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jun/26/mayim-bialik-recalls-parking-lot-confrontation-israel-views-says/"><span class="s1">fearing for her life</span></a> and the lives of her children. She has had several incidents in recent years that left her feeling threatened for her views.</p>
<p class="p1">And then there’s the least political comedian possible, Jerry Seinfeld.</p>
<p class="p1">The stand-up legend has been hounded in public by pro-Palestinian protesters. Each time, he’s deflected their comments with biting humor. That wasn’t all he has done for Israel.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/thank-you-to-comedy-legend-jerry-seinfeld-for-always-standing-with-israel/">He visited Tel Aviv</a></span> following the Oct. 7 attacks to meet with survivors as well as the family members of the hostages.</p>
<p class="p1">These artists stood up for Israel, the Jewish people, and against Hamas. It&#8217;s a small list that comes with no perks and plenty of sacrifices, but these voices refuse to be silenced.</p>
<p class="p1">***</p>
<p class="p4"><i>Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of </i><a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/"><span class="s2"><i>HollywoodInToto.com</i></span></a><i>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News&#8217; Big Hollywood. He&#8217;s also the host of </i><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hollywood-in-toto-podcast-w-christian-toto/id1186449155"><span class="s2"><i>The Hollywood in Toto Podcast</i></span></a><i>. Follow him at </i><a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en"><span class="s2"><i>@HollywoodInToto</i></span></a><i>. </i></p>


World Premiere Of Disney’s Snow White

Pro-Israel Stars Are Still Ostracized In Terrorist-Supporting Hollywood

antisemitism

Boy George

Cheryl Hines

Entertainment

Gal Gadot

Hollywood

John Ondrasik

Michael Rapaport

Pro-Hamas

Zohran Mamdani

<p>Academy Award-winning Russell Crowe revealed a lot about his own values, giving a thoughtful answer when he was asked about which movies should be required viewing for young men, specifically Gen Z.</p>
<p>Crowe, who won the coveted Best Actor award for his role in &#8220;Gladiator,&#8221; was asked to look back at his filmography and explain which movies he thought every young man should watch. He based his answer on what values and lessons the younger generation could take away from the movies he&#8217;d chosen to make.</p>
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<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s kind of a very serious question,&#8221; Crowe began with a smile, adding, &#8220;It would probably take me a month to write a dissertation.&#8221;</p>
<p>Crowe then selected three of his movies — 2000&#8217;s &#8220;Gladiator,&#8221; 2003&#8217;s &#8220;Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,&#8221; and 2005&#8217;s &#8220;Cinderella Man&#8221; — and explained what he believed young men might learn from each of them.</p>
<h4>&#8220;Gladiator&#8221;</h4>
<p>&#8220;Gladiator&#8221; was first on his list because he said it would teach young men about &#8220;honor and the importance of la familia.&#8221;</p>
<p>Crowe has often talked about the fact that family, and one man&#8217;s mission to avenge his loss, is the heart of that film. He felt so strongly about that particular point that he pushed back — hard — when producers and even director Ridley Scott wanted to add a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russell-crowe-reveals-why-he-refused-to-do-a-sex-scene-for-gladiator">sex scene</a> into the movie.</p>
<p>&#8220;When we were shooting that film, there was a lot of pressure. The studio, the producers [thought] there should be sex between Maximus and the female characters. I just kept pushing back,” he said in a previous interview.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is the story of a man avenging the death of his wife and his child,” Crowe explained. “There cannot be a moment in that journey where he stops and has sex with somebody. It doesn’t make any sense because then that destroys the journey.&#8221;</p>
<p>The end results spoke for themselves: Scott ultimately sided with Crowe, agreeing that a sex scene would take away from the film&#8217;s &#8220;moral core.&#8221; The finished product netted them not only Crowe&#8217;s Best Actor statue, but also the Best Picture Oscar. (Crowe has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russell-crowe-blasts-gladiator-2-for-lacking-moral-core-that-made-the-first-one-great">also said</a> that the reason &#8220;Gladiator 2&#8221; failed to capture the audience in the same way was that it strayed from that &#8220;moral core.&#8221;)</p>
<h4>&#8220;Master and Commander&#8221;</h4>
<p>The second film Crowe listed was &#8220;Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,&#8221; a period piece set in 1805 and loosely based on the &#8220;real-life naval exploits of British Captain Lord Thomas Cochrane.&#8221;</p>
<p>The actor said that film, which did not garner anywhere near the commercial or critical success he saw with &#8220;Gladiator,&#8221; would nonetheless teach young men &#8220;about loyalty and fealty.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;There are a few movies in the things that I&#8217;ve done which can have a profound connection to a young man,&#8221; Crowe continued before offering up his third and final selection. &#8220;Those two are very important, but there&#8217;s also a film called &#8216;Cinderella Man,&#8217; which is about somebody who&#8217;s facing the worst kind of situation, but he still goes forward. And because they go forward, they end up achieving what they set out to achieve.&#8221;</p>
<h4>&#8220;Cinderella Man&#8221;</h4>
<p>&#8220;Cinderella Man,&#8221; as Crowe noted, follows the career of the boxing champion who almost wasn&#8217;t: Jim Braddock. After a hand injury and the onset of the Great Depression stalled what had looked to be a promising boxing career, Braddock was forced to work manual labor jobs on the New Jersey docks — and rely on government assistance at times — to support his family.</p>
<p>In 1934, he got a chance to step back into the ring, but he wasn&#8217;t fighting for the title so much as for his own name. He won in a knockout — and kept winning. But as the prize money rolled in, Braddock didn&#8217;t spend it or even put it into savings. Instead, he tracked down every government agency through which his family had gotten aid, paying every cent back.</p>
<p>Dubbed &#8220;the Cinderella Man&#8221; due to his rags-to-riches story, Braddock went into the 1935 championship match at Madison Square Garden against World Heavyweight Champion Max Baer with 10-1 odds that he would lose. But years of working on the docks had given him the stamina to wear Baer down, and after 12 rounds, Braddock was named the new world champion.</p>
<p>With more than 80 acting credits to his name, Crowe could have answered that question dozens of different ways. The way he chose to answer, what he chose to pass on to the next generation, revealed that values he holds dear: family, loyalty, honor, and determination. And, as Crowe himself showed when the &#8220;moral core&#8221; was threatened during the filming of &#8220;Gladiator,&#8221; he is willing to fight for them when necessary.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p><i>This article is part of </i><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Upstream</i></a><i>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.</i></p>


Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe’s Three Movies Every Young Man Should Watch

family

Gen Z

Kennedy Centert

Movies

Parenting

Upstream

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite all the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ed-harris-said-he-almost-quit-dutton-ranch-get-me-the-f-out-of-here">complaining</a> he did about the significance of his role on “Dutton Ranch,” actor Ed Harris will reportedly be returning for season two.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Per sources who spoke with </span><a href="https://deadline.com/2026/07/ed-harris-returning-dutton-ranch-season-2-showrunner-change-1236999568/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Deadline</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the second season of the popular “Yellowstone” spinoff has already been picked up by the network, and Harris’s character will be part of the story to some degree.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Harris, 75, made headlines earlier this week after going on a rant about how small his role was in the show. He did eventually admit that he thought the series was “pretty good” overall.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Midway through the first season, I was ready to say, ‘get me the f*ck out of here,’ to tell you the truth,” Harris said on the red carpet for Apple TV’s “The Dink.” “I didn’t feel I was being used. I felt very misled. Prior to signing on for it, I was talked to quite a bit about what the season was, and what my character was going to do, and that I was one of the four main characters. And that wasn’t really the case.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He brought up how one scene of him singing in a bar got cut from the finished product. “They said it was too ‘up’ for the dark ending of the episode … I’m like, ‘F*ck you people!’ That, to me, is reason enough to say, ‘I’m voiding my contract,’” Harris said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Dutton Ranch” showrunner Chad Feehan left the series ahead of the premiere due to behind-the-scenes friction. The Deadline sources claimed that this was potentially due to how Harris’s character arc was handled, and said the actor was involved in choosing Feehan’s replacement. Paramount+ has not issued any public statements on these claims.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Yellowstone” creator and “Dutton Ranch” executive producer Taylor Sheridan has made it a habit to underutilize big stars. He’s addressed this in the past, saying he’s well aware it can cause controversy. He did the same with Demi Moore on “Landman.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The critics are going to come after me. I’m underutilizing [Moore], can’t write for women, all this nonsense. Then I’m going to kill your husband and you’re going to have to run the oil company. The critics and me … I don’t care what they think, and it annoys the sh*t out of them that I don’t care. I’ll be the first to tell you that there are things that I do that rage-bait them a bit, and this is one of them. F*ck ’em, honestly,” Sheridan said last month, as The Daily Wire previously reported.</span></p>


Ed Harris

Ed Harris’ Future On ‘Dutton Ranch’ Revealed After He Complained About Role In First Season

Celebrities

Paramount

Taylor Sheridan

Television

<p class="p1">It’s no secret that conservatives are the David to Hollywood’s Goliath on the pop culture front.</p>
<p class="p1">Much of that isn’t their fault. The Heartland is mostly shut out of Hollywood, Inc. Conservative stories rarely get a close-up on screens of any size. The list of openly conservative stars remains microscopically small.</p>
<p class="p1">Yet conservatives may have hurt their own cause by going to war with “The Odyssey,” mostly sight unseen.</p>
<p class="p1">Director Christopher Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic poem drew endless online attacks from both Right-leaning YouTube creators and conservatives. It’s woke! It’s D.E.I. gone wild! The source material’s translator is a <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/2219268/how-emily-wilson-feels-christopher-nolan-the-odyssey-adaptation/"><span class="s1">woke feminist</span></a>!</p>
<p class="p1">A woke feminist, for what it’s worth, who had some unkind things to say about Nolan’s finished product.</p>
<p class="p1">Now, with the film generating rapturous responses from <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_odyssey_2026"><span class="s1">film critics</span></a> and <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/odyssey-audience-cinemascore-even-beyond-031733557.html"><span class="s1">audiences alike</span></a>, that knee-jerk response is looking worse. The film earned a whopping <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/the-odyssey-box-office-christopher-nolan-opening-weekend-shatters-expectations-1236815861/"><span class="s1">$264 million globally</span></a> in its opening weekend, and the subsequent numbers show little sign that it’s a one-weekend wonder.</p>
<p class="p1">Nolan isn’t your average Hollywood storyteller. He never weighs in on politics directly, lets his art speak for him, and once made a blockbuster that side-eyed the Occupy Wall Street movement – “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).</p>
<p class="p1">He spent an entire Oscar campaign for 2023’s “Oppenheimer” without shouting “Free Palestine” or attacking a certain U.S. president. He’s also not a social media diva. He reportedly doesn’t own a smartphone and has his assistants <a href="https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/jaelaniturnerwilliams/christopher-nolan-no-smartphone-email"><span class="s1">print out emails for him</span></a>. (Maybe we can all agreed that’s a bit much.)</p>
<p class="p1">That should have earned him some respect on the Right, the sense that this wasn’t your average Hollywood progressive weaponizing a classic against Red State USA.</p>
<p class="p1">No.</p>
<p class="p1">Social media allowed some Right-leaning souls to predict the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldGE53GwLlc"><span class="s1">film’s financial doom</span></a> and slam the film sight unseen. Even Elon Musk entered the chat, pummeling the film for weeks prior to its release.</p>
<p class="p1">On one key front, the Right had a point.</p>
<p class="p1">Nolan cast trans actor Elliot Page in “The Odyssey,” but he and his team refused to explain what role Page played. That sparked rumors that the part was Achilles, known to all as a fearsome warrior.</p>
<p class="p1">Page is five-foot-one and slender.</p>
<p class="p1">No matter. That Fake News story ricocheted around the web, desperate for a fact check that took too long to arrive. It’s notable that Nolan didn’t immediately debunk the misinformation, nor did his marketing team.</p>
<p class="p1">The latter likely possess smartphones.</p>
<p class="p1">Casting Page deserved some raised eyebrows. The actor is intensely political, before and after the transition. Page’s on-screen appearance is a distraction, no matter where you stand on so-called “representation” and trans rights. Period. Good filmmakers should understand that, but like even the very best storytellers in Hollywood, Nolan isn’t perfect.</p>
<p class="p1">Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o co-stars as Helen of Troy, a character described as fair-skinned in the text and played by white actors in previous takes on the source material. It’s a race swap! Yes, yes, it is, but it’s a very minor point in a much larger story.</p>
<p class="p1">Some savaged the star for not being beautiful enough for the role, a characterization that is both subjective and silly. Plus, Nyong’o has little screen time.</p>
<p class="p1">Nolan spoke repeatedly of his attempt to “modernize” the epic tale for modern audiences. Nyong’o’s casting may have been part of that effort. Some other minor “Greek” roles also clashed with the time period. Was Nolan pulling a minor “Hamilton” move, where casting choices took a creative turn to say something about the culture at large?</p>
<p class="p1">Right-leaning podcaster Bridget Phetasy leveled the cruelest dig at the film’s conservative critics. She called their <a href="https://www.phetasy.com/p/walk-ins-welcome-400?utm_source=podcast-email&amp;publication_id=348276&amp;post_id=208139218&amp;utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&amp;utm_content=watch_now_gif&amp;r=2rv17&amp;triedRedirect=true&amp;utm_medium=email"><span class="s1">attacks “liberal” in nature</span></a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="p3"><i>You had a criticism of making everything political for a decade, and now you haven’t seen the movie and you’re making it political and telling people not to go enjoy a good movie.</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="p1">That’s not to say some conservative arguments weren’t solid or leaned on little more than tired talking points to fit their agenda. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh skewered “The Odyssey” while bringing up salient arguments about the casting, the impact of Page’s character and more.</p>
<p class="p1">He actually saw the film and gave his two cents thereafter. Agree? Disagree? He stated his case well.</p>
<p class="p1">Andrew Klavan mostly praised the film but found the screenplay wanting, to put it mildly.</p>
<p class="p1">The Critical Drinker, who isn’t overtly conservative but leans to the cultural Right, served up a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_W0z6hZlrI"><span class="s1">nuanced take</span></a> that mixed criticism with praise.</p>
<p class="p1">Conservatives should take great care in “jumping the gun” on pop culture matters. In a way, that’s what the Left often does. Consider the L.A. Times’ <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/la-times-daily-wire-run-hide-fight-racist/"><span class="s1">recent assault on “Run Hide Fight: Infidels,”</span></a> a movie that doesn’t hit Daily Wire+ until the Fall.</p>
<p class="p1">The newspaper read a generic synopsis of the film, set on a college campus where Islamic radicals take charge, and declared the film deeply problematic. The film could inspire violence, the paper argued, while implying it should be censored.</p>
<p class="p1">The worst part of this ugly culture war battle? The anger and absolutism behind the critiques. “The Odyssey” is just a movie, albeit a massive one with cultural heft. We can love or loathe it, find it inspiring or wanting.</p>
<p class="p1">Walsh is right, to a degree. So is The Critical Drinker and the Left-leaning mainstream critics who adored “The Odyssey.”</p>
<p class="p1">Conservatives should still engage in the culture wars, create art on their own terms (when feasible) and not cede Hollywood to the modern Left. The latter would be disastrous.</p>
<p class="p1">They also should hold their fire until they see the art in question and bring vital context to their culture war crusades. The Right is working at a distinct disadvantage here. They shouldn’t make matters worse.</p>
<p class="p1">***</p>
<p class="p4"><i>Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of </i><a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/"><span class="s2"><i>HollywoodInToto.com</i></span></a><i>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News&#8217; Big Hollywood. He&#8217;s also the host of </i><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hollywood-in-toto-podcast-w-christian-toto/id1186449155"><span class="s2"><i>The Hollywood in Toto Podcast</i></span></a><i>. Follow him at </i><a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en"><span class="s2"><i>@HollywoodInToto</i></span></a><i>. </i></p>


“The Odyssey” New York Premiere

Conservatives Lose A Culture War Battle Over ‘The Odyssey’

Andrew Klavan

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Culture wars

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Lupita Nyong’o

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Is ‘The Odyssey’ A Sign America Is Post-Woke?

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Spencer Klavan

Weekend Punch

<p>Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery have agreed to delay closing their proposed $110 billion merger until at least June 2027 as they battle a multistate antitrust lawsuit, extending uncertainty over a deal that could reshape the American media landscape.</p>
<p>The agreement allows both sides to avoid a court fight over a preliminary injunction while the case proceeds toward trial.</p>
<p>A coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, sued to block the transaction. The lawsuit claims the merger would &#8220;extinguish competition&#8221; in the media and entertainment industries.</p>
<p>If approved, the merger would unite major media brands, including Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming platforms, CBS News, and CNN under one corporate umbrella.</p>
<p>Rather than continue fighting emergency motions, the companies agreed not to close the transaction until June 2027 or until the court reaches a final decision.</p>
<p>Bonta celebrated the agreement as a major victory for the states challenging the merger.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Today’s agreement is great news for audiences, movie theaters, and the many people who write, build, and create the art, news, and entertainment so many of us enjoy.</p>
<p>We are eager to continue to make our case in court and celebrate another tremendous win in our effort to ensure… <a href="https://t.co/m4LFxiA5tP">pic.twitter.com/m4LFxiA5tP</a></p>
<p>— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) <a href="https://x.com/AGRobBonta/status/2080754504388259849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2026</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&#8220;Today&#8217;s agreement is great news for audiences, movie theaters, and the many people who write, build, and create the art, news, and entertainment so many of us enjoy,&#8221; Bonta said. &#8220;We are eager to continue to make our case in court and celebrate another tremendous win in our effort to ensure this unlawful merger never sees the light of day.&#8221;</p>
<p>New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James also praised the decision, <a href="https://x.com/NewYorkStateAG/status/2080742874610626683">calling</a> it &#8220;a critical victory in our efforts to uphold the law and protect the film and television industries.&#8221;</p>
<p>Paramount defended the merger and said the delay would allow the company to make its case in court.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers, and good for creators, a conclusion dozens of competition authorities around the world have already reached,&#8221; a Paramount spokesperson <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/paramount-skydance-agrees-halt-warner-bros-merger-june-2027-rcna589137">told</a> NBC News. &#8220;We look forward to proving our case at trial.&#8221;</p>
<p>The merger has attracted attention beyond Hollywood because Paramount is now controlled by Skydance founder and CEO David Ellison, 43, whose acquisition of Paramount was backed by his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a longtime ally and supporter of President Donald Trump. Since Skydance took control of Paramount earlier this year, Ellison has overseen significant changes at CBS News, including bringing in journalist Bari Weiss to overhaul the network&#8217;s news division.</p>
<p>Ellison has drawn praise from President Trump, who has expressed optimism that new ownership could restore credibility to CBS News after years of criticism from conservatives and Republicans.</p>
<p>If this merger happens, one company will control CBS and CNN under ownership that conservatives believe is moving in a different editorial direction.</p>


In this photo illustration, the Paramount logo is seen

One Of Hollywood’s Biggest Deals Just Hit A Wall

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CBS News

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<p class="p1">In a cold, sterile room, officials at two long tables, separated by a wide divide, sat, staring. On one end, Team USA was represented by the Biden administration. On the other end, Team China. As U.S. officials slowly rolled out each scripted word, they informed the People’s Republic of China of their modern-day human rights abuses. <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/26/china-defends-itself-on-human-rights-by-pointing-to-history-of-slavery-in-us/"><span class="s1">Then came China’s turn</span></a>. Staring down the barrel of the divide, right into the eyes of America’s top diplomat, the Chinese leader spat out, unscripted, that the U.S. no longer spoke from a position of strength; it had no authority to lecture on human rights abuses.</p>
<p class="p2">They painted the picture of America’s human rights abuses as “deep-seated … they did not just emerge over the past four years, such as Black Lives Matter.” On the issue of forced labor, Chinese officials rebuked the U.S., saying it had no moral authority to judge. They then proceeded to show pictures of their machine cotton production versus America’s historical production through slavery.</p>
<p class="p3">Even through a screen, you could feel the air sucked out of the room.</p>
<p class="p3">And that’s when I realized, as a public relations professional, China was officially on track to win the PR war. Just a few short years later, it looks like they’ve done just that.</p>
<p class="p5">This month, the Pew Research Center <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/07/15/people-in-many-countries-now-view-china-more-positively-than-the-u-s/"><span class="s1">released a blockbuster report</span></a> showing that more nations had a favorable view of China than the U.S. The data also pointed to an indisputable trend: most countries still believe America respects its citizens’ freedom more than China does, but that gap is rapidly shrinking. Across the board, global sentiment toward China trended up. Pakistan topped as China’s biggest fan. But most telling, the countries with the highest regard for the U.S. were those in China’s crosshairs: Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and, most interestingly, India.</p>
<p class="p5">I can attest to this. As someone who grew up in Taiwan, the closer you are geographically to China, the more acutely aware you are of its striking capabilities. Literally. The <a href="https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol52/iss3/2/"><span class="s1">mid-90s Chinese missile attacks on Taiwan</span></a> are seared in my mind, as my school operated daily air raid simulations. The people who live closest to China’s power often have the least romanticized view of it.</p>
<p class="p2">But lest you think this positive shift is just a global phenomenon, it’s not. We’re seeing the same trend here in America.</p>
<p class="p5">Pew also noted <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/14/americans-views-of-china-have-grown-somewhat-more-positive-in-recent-years/"><span class="s1">Americans are steadily warming to China.</span></a> Today, over a quarter of Americans have a positive view of China, doubling over the last three years. Just like the global data, 2023 seems to be a pivotal year, with the graphs showing, pretty much across the board, most countries softening their views on the PRC. Why is that? I’m not sure anyone knows for sure. But as a PR professional, I’m convinced it is in part due to China’s refreshed messaging.</p>
<p class="p2">Every PR practitioner knows that two of the biggest PR metrics are message pull-through and audience sentiment. China appears to be excelling at both. The ultimate victory isn’t when someone repeats a paid message but when they repeat it organically, in their own words, believing it’s their own conclusion. Scroll through TikTok, and you’ll see videos of young influencers comparing the human rights abuses of America vs. China, debating who is more “imperialistic.”</p>
<p class="p5">Look at top streamer and socialist political commentator Hasan Piker. His recent trip to China was viewed millions of times as he stood in Tiananmen Square, not mentioning the atrocities but rather holding a Chinese flag, stating he had <a href="https://thehill.com/video/hasan-piker-blasted-for-china-livestream-i-dont-have-any-patriotism-for-america/11256155/"><span class="s1">“no patriotism in his heart for America.”</span></a> Later, he showed reverence for former communist dictator Mao Zedong by claiming he would never criticize him. In an interview with a <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3343845/hasan-piker-talks-about-his-controversial-china-trip-and-thinking-chinese-thoughts"><span class="s1">Chinese news outlet</span></a>, Piker said that China&#8217;s social contract outperforms America&#8217;s, emphasizing the country’s perceived achievements.</p>
<p class="p2">When it comes to positive sentiment, it’s not just Piker; we can also look at social media to reflect the patterns found in the Pew data. Social media accounts share “Chinamaxxing” content: A social trend where Gen Z romanticizes the communist nation and adopts Chinese aesthetics. For years, experts <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5432077-tiktok-china-influence-us/"><span class="s1">recognized the significant impact</span></a> China’s use of TikTok can have on its 170 million U.S. users. Even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/19/the-guardian-view-on-perceptions-of-superpowers-the-world-isnt-chinamaxxing-its-america-avoidant"><span class="s1">The Guardian points out</span></a>, “China is increasingly investing in overseas influence operations, including working with or amplifying local social media content creators.” It appears that the CCP understands a critical point of PR sentiment: You don’t have to win complete adoration; sometimes reducing opposition is victory enough.</p>
<p class="p5">I see this in my personal interactions as well. Because I grew up in Taiwan, many people share their thoughts with me about China. And what I’ve heard is a definite softening on <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/china"><span class="s1">China’s human rights abuses</span></a>. “They just want to be left alone” or “They only want to operate in their sphere.” They paint China as some geopolitical Greta Garbo, when that’s just not the case.</p>
<p class="p5">It’s why Chinese President Xi Jinping recently described U.S.-China relations through the framework of the <a href="https://gsas.harvard.edu/news/discussing-thucydides-trap"><span class="s1">Thucydides Trap</span></a>, wishcasting his nation to surpass the U.S. as the global superpower. It’s why <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1630978524684413"><span class="s1">U.S. farmers are alarmed at American farmland being sold</span></a>. Even Hollywood can’t produce some American movies without agreeing to zero mentions of the <a href="https://www.heritage.org/china/heritage-explains/how-china-taking-control-hollywood"><span class="s1">“Three Ts”</span></a>: Taiwan, Tibet, or Tiananmen Square.</p>
<p class="p2">China doesn’t need to convince Americans that it’s good. It just needs to convince us we’re hypocritical. Make us feel its ambitions are harmless. The latest Pew data confirms China’s global sentiment is improving, while its talking points are increasingly repeated by Americans themselves. By the two measures I know best, sentiment and message pull-through, the country appears to be gaining. Regrettably, China has been waging the PR war for years — and it appears to be winning.</p>
<p class="p6">***</p>
<p class="p7"><i>Emily Osment Davis is a writer and communicator with a background in non-profits and politics and a not-so-secret love of celebrity gossip. She covers the space where Hollywood meets D.C. — because sometimes the two aren’t so different. You may have read her work in Newsweek, USA Today, Fox News and more.</i></p>


Hands waving small Chinese flags

Is China Winning The PR War?

Chinamaxxing

Communist China

Foreign Policy

Hasan Piker

Public relations

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Thucydides Trap

Tiananmen Square

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Xi Jinping

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Christopher Nolan&#8217;s “The Odyssey” delivered the biggest opening weekend of the director&#8217;s career, generating $264.1 million worldwide, including $139.6 million internationally and $124.5 million domestically, according to </span><a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/the-odyssey-christopher-nolan-biggest-global-debut-1236815981/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Variety</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The Odyssey” has become the biggest worldwide opening of Nolan’s career, a record previously held by “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012), which earned $249 million, and “The Dark Knight,” which earned $198 million, as the outlet noted. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The film&#8217;s record-setting debut comes despite pre-release criticism from some conservatives over several casting decisions. After seeing the movie, however, many have praised Nolan&#8217;s latest epic.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Several conservatives admit that despite a lot of build-up about casting decisions Nolan made, including putting in transgender-identifying actress Elliot Page as a male character and race-swapping Helen of Troy by casting Lupita Nyong’o, the movie is absolutely worth seeing. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ben Shapiro, Editor Emeritus of The Daily Wire, had heaps of praise for the film, saying there were flaws, but they weren’t enough to spoil the entire movie. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Nolan is unparalleled. He’s the best director working today, without a doubt. He just creates iconic movie after iconic movie,” Shapiro said during his review. </span></p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Ben Shapiro Reviews The Odyssey" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MQrF748gmRg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He also said Matt Damon shined as the movie’s lead. “I think he’s great in nearly everything. He sort of disappears into the part in a way that he doesn’t in a lot of other movies. He’s great as Odysseus.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As for other casting decisions, Shapiro was also full of praise, save for a few of the more glaring choices. “Robert Pattinson as Antinous is an excellent antagonist. He’s sleazy and gross. Tom Holland as Telemachus is excellent, well cast. Anne Hathaway does a great job as Penelope,” he said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Shapiro said Nyong’o was actually a fine choice of Helen of Troy unless Nolan was going to cast an actual Greek star in her place.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“So, I know a lot of people were like, ‘Oh my god, Lupita Nyong’o is supposed to look like Diane Kruger.’ I don’t know. Diane Kruger doesn’t look very Greek. She’s German,” Shapiro said. “Lupita Nyong’o is a beautiful woman. But here’s the thing, actually, in the script, Nolan goes out of his way to explain that the war wasn’t really launched over Helen being gorgeous.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Shapiro did mention Page’s casting as Sinon, saying it was an “absolute puzzler” from Nolan because the actress is “about 5’2 and 105 pounds soaking wet and has the voice of a woman. It doesn’t work.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Madeline Fry Schultz <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/go-ahead-watch-the-odyssey">reviewed</a> the film for The Daily Wire&#8217;s Upstream, calling it, “a big, glorious summer blockbuster based on a pillar of the Western canon. It explores mercy, hospitality, vengeance, family bonds, honor, and, of course, homecoming.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Like Shapiro, she said the issues with the film don’t outweigh the benefits. “With the ‘Odyssey’ controversy, conservatives are getting hung up on the details (some more troublesome than others) when the headline is that one of Hollywood’s best directors just made a three-hour-long film about a father returning home to his family, facing terrifying monsters and deftly wielding his bow and arrows on the way.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s beautifully shot, it has mass appeal, and there’s little in the film itself to subvert Homer’s epic tale, which is now reaching a new audience,” Schultz wrote. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another Upstream reviewer pointed out what many others were saying: that the film is infused with Christian themes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Christian morality has become so deeply embedded in Western life that even secular people treat many of its assumptions as universal. They reject Christianity as a religion while continuing to believe that compassion is superior to force, that the weak and downtrodden possess inherent moral worth, that guilt should result from cruelty, and that forgiveness rather than retaliation is a sign of strength,” Rob Henderson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-christopher-nolan-couldnt-bring-himself-to-do?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Rob+Henderson&amp;category=Upstream&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=What+Christopher+Nolan+Couldn%E2%80%99t+Bring+Himself+To+Do">wrote</a>. “Nolan can’t resist placing a Christian (or secular Post-Christian) moral code within a pagan hero.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Critics and audiences agree that, despite its flaws, “The Odyssey” is a masterpiece. It currently has a 95% critical rating and an audience score of 97%. </span></p>


Conservatives Had Concerns About ‘The Odyssey.’ Now They’re Praising It.

Box Office

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Actor Frankie Muniz earlier this month posted a video of himself dancing with his soon-to-be-ex-wife to announce his divorce. Everyone understandably found this odd, so he deleted it.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For a few hours, though, it was up: The &#8220;Malcolm in the Middle&#8221; star turned race car driver, mid-divorce, </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/malcolm-in-the-middle-stars-celebratory-divorce-post-sparks-debate-with-michael-knowles?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Malcolm+In+The+Middle%E2%80%99+Star%E2%80%99s+Celebratory+Divorce+Post+Sparks+Debate+With+Michael+Knowles"><span style="font-weight: 400;">dancing joyfully</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to &#8220;Check Yes, Juliet&#8221; with his former bride. The worst part was their young son dancing right along with them like nothing was wrong. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Muniz seemed to think fans would find it sweet, but thankfully common sense put him back in his place. Commenters called the spectacle sad and strange, especially with a small child unknowingly celebrating the demise of his stable home life. Muniz quickly pulled the clip down under an avalanche of backlash.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His almost-ex, Paige Price, was mad about it. She insisted that two adults who can still function as a team shouldn&#8217;t be mocked for their choices.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Frankie, I am so sorry that you felt the need to delete an old fun video of our family because people are so cruel to you. This world is so f*cked … divorce is bad, sure — it’s not like we’re excited about it … but we’re two adults who know how to be on the same team. I can’t believe people could scrutinize that,” Price wrote under the revised version of their divorce announcement.</span></p>
<p>Divorce isn&#8217;t something to take lightly, but <span style="font-weight: 400;">celebrities have been doing this for years. In 2014, Gwyneth Paltrow ended her 10-year marriage to Chris Martin with a phrase that briefly took over pop culture. They would &#8220;consciously uncouple,&#8221; </span><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/gwyneth-paltrow-10-years-of-conscious-uncoupling"><span style="font-weight: 400;">they wrote</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and continue co-parenting with the same privacy they&#8217;d tried to maintain as a couple. It was mocked mercilessly at the time, eventually becoming a punchline for how out-of-touch celebrities use therapy speak to prove they’re better than us plebs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This type of thinking about marriage hasn’t changed in Tinseltown. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now in 2026, celebs are often trying to sell divorce as an amicable rebrand, a decision two enlightened adults make together for the good of everyone. The kids are said to be the focus even when they clearly are not.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There’s another version of this phenomenon that goes even further. Last month, country singer Jelly Roll (real name Jason DeFord) and his wife of a decade, Bunnie XO (real name Alisa Andrea Carter), announced they were divorcing. Weeks later, Bunnie XO told her podcast audience that the split changed nothing about their plan to pursue IVF together. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They&#8217;d call the baby &#8220;Nugget,&#8221; she said, and raise the child as one big happy family regardless of the marriage&#8217;s end. The former stripper said she and DeFord were “trauma bonded” after going through infertility and didn’t think divorce was a good enough reason not to have a baby together.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She also talked about the fight that ended their marriage. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“On Mother’s Day, we had a little bit of an argument, which I don’t think the details are necessary,” she said. “And, in that argument, I was so fed up and so tired that I just looked at him and said, ‘Well, then file the f*cking divorce papers.&#8217;”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So he did.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now the couple is choosing to bring a child into the world despite getting divorced — because that’s what they want to do. At another point Bunnie XO said she couldn’t understand why she experienced infertility, arguing that it wasn’t fair for some people to be able to have children if she could not. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You get so mad at God, because you’re like, ‘Why is it so easy for people who don’t deserve children to just be able to just pop them out?&#8217;” she said, clarifying that she and DeFord are “two people who really want a baby together.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Infertility is brutal, there’s no question. But planning to co-parent a newborn with someone you no longer call your spouse treats marriage and family as two separate life goals when really they were meant to exist together. In the same house, preferably.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That&#8217;s where celebrities get it so very wrong. Paltrow pitched her conscious uncoupling as proof of a new, peaceful version of divorce. Muniz and Price are asking the public to believe a marriage bond can end with an upbeat dance number and smiles. And Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO are going further still, arguing that a lifelong commitment can be severed without affecting children, even children who haven’t exactly joined the family yet.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Every one of these stories is told from the adults&#8217; point of view. Muniz&#8217;s son probably didn’t think much of the dancing video, even if the internet saw it for the tragedy it was. Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO don’t seem concerned about the reality of raising a newborn in a broken home.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are valid reasons for divorce, but the one thing Hollywood forgot is that even when that’s the case, it’s always a tragedy, not a gentle breaking apart. At the very least, no one should be dancing.</span></p>
<p>***</p>
<p><i>This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.</i></p>


Steve Irwin Gala

Hollywood Divorce Has A New Look, And Somehow It’s Worse Than Ever

divorce

<p>Acclaimed actor Sam Neill passed away this week at the age of 78, and while most people remember him for his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the Steven Spielberg blockbuster &#8220;Jurassic Park,&#8221; my immediate thought was of one scene in the 1990 thriller &#8220;The Hunt for Red October.&#8221;</p>
<p>In that film, Neill played Soviet Captain Vasili Borodin — serving under Captain Marko Ramius, who was played by the late Sean Connery. When Ramius reveals his plan to defect to the United States, his loyal second-in command is ready to follow him. But knowing nothing beyond his life in the Soviet Union at the height go the Cold War, he struggles to wrap his brain around the concept of liberty.</p>
<p><strong>WATCH:</strong></p>
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<p>&#8220;I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me,&#8221; Borodin begins, his dreams getting bigger with every word. &#8220;And I will have a pickup truck &#8230; maybe even a &#8216;recreational vehicle.&#8217; And drive from state to state &#8230; Do they let you do that?&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I suppose,&#8221; Ramius replies.</p>
<p>&#8220;No papers?&#8221; Borodin is incredulous.</p>
<p>&#8220;No papers, state to state,&#8221; Ramius repeats.</p>
<p>Borodin continues: &#8220;Well then, in winter I will live in &#8230; Arizona. Actually, I think I will need two wives.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Oh, at least,&#8221; Ramius agrees.</p>
<p>Spoiler alert: Borodin is killed before the end of the film and never gets to realize his dream. His last words are, &#8220;I would have liked to have seen Montana.&#8221;</p>
<p>But in his real life, in his own way, Neill lived out that Soviet&#8217;s dream.</p>
<p>Born in Ireland, Neill moved to New Zealand with his family when he was just seven years old, and for the rest of his life, he felt more connected to his adopted home than to his birthplace.</p>
<p>Even after reaching the heights of fame — in major releases such as &#8220;Jurassic Park,&#8221; &#8220;The Hunt for Red October,&#8221; &#8220;Event Horizon,&#8221; and more — and building a film career that spanned more than five decades, Neill often preferred the open space and quiet he found at home, making acclaimed pinot noirs at his Two Paddocks winery.</p>
<p>Neill filled his life with animals, many of whom he named after his celebrity friends, joking that the names were meant to ensure that he&#8217;d never eat them. He always asked friends&#8217; permission before naming animals after them, he said, and noted that &#8220;many of them then take an interest in their namesakes. Helena Bonham Carter is always keen to know if she’s calved again.&#8221;</p>
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<p>&#8220;I am so honored to have a pig named after me,&#8221; actress Annette Bening told Kelly Clarkson on her eponymous show in 2024 — and then revealed the reason she&#8217;d been so tickled to have Neill recognize her in that way.</p>
<p>&#8220;Well, it’s Sam Neill! I mean, oh my god. I have a crush on him, I’m just going to put it out there,&#8221; she admitted.</p>
<p>For Neill, the move to a simpler existence was about balance. He loved acting to the very end, but it was his animals and his wine-making venture that truly made him happy. As he told the West Australian, &#8220;I’d like the vineyard to support me but I’m afraid it is the other way round. It is not a very economic business.&#8221;</p>
<p>As it turned out, he loved the feeling of caring for the land and creating something with his own sweat and toil.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is a ridiculously time- and money-consuming business. I would not do it if it was not so satisfying and fun — and it gets me pissed once in a while,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;I wanted to produce a good pinot noir that would, at the very least, be enjoyed by my family and friends &#8230; <span style="font-size: 16px;">Frankly, my friends will pretty much drink anything, so this didn&#8217;t seem too hard.&#8221;</span></p>
<p>Neill was far from alone in his desire to embrace the simpler things. Story <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/weekend-plans-with-gary-sinise-the-most-patriotic-actor-in-america">after story</a> has surfaced in recent years highlighting celebrities making the move away from industry hubs such as New York and Los Angeles, particularly when it means they can raise their children away from the Hollywood bubble.</p>
<p>What is it about the simpler existence that&#8217;s so appealing? Maybe Neill had it right all along: There&#8217;s something truly gratifying about the idea that you can pour your own blood, sweat, and tears into a project and create something that wasn&#8217;t there before — whether it be a healthy family, your own peace of mind, or just a really good pinot noir.</p>


SPAIN-CINEMA-FILM-FESTIVAL

The Late ‘Jurassic Park’ Star’s Life Offers A Lesson America Still Needs

Montana

New Zealand

Soviet Union

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Actor Sam Neill, best known for his role in the iconic Steven Spielberg classic “Jurassic Park,” died unexpectedly on Monday at the age of 78.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His family shared a </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DauK0SrT6uJ/?hl=en"><span style="font-weight: 400;">statement</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on the actor’s passing on Monday morning. “It is with immense sadness that the whānau [extended family] of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney, Australia,” the statement began.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life,” the statement continued. “The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free. They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Neill announced in 2023 that he had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, but in April of this year, he was declared cancer-free.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The actor, who was born in Northern Ireland, was instantly recognizable for his starring role in “Jurassic Park,” but Neill almost didn’t get the role as there was a lot of competition in Hollywood. Ultimately, the star was picked for the part of Dr. Alan Grant after Harrison Ford turned it down.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I like playing villains and bad guys, characters with moral ambiguity, because, in a way, they are easier to play,” he </span><a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-13-ca-2614-story.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the Los Angeles Times when the film debuted in 1993.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He also appeared in films including “The Hunt For Red October” and “The Piano” along with popular television shows such as, “The Tudors” and “Peaky Blinders.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 1993, Neill </span><a href="https://www.twopaddocks.com/the-story/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">opened a vineyard</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in New Zealand and saw its continued success as being a major part of his legacy beyond his film career.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He said during an interview with Esquire U.K. in 2016, “It doesn’t matter how popular an actor you are, nobody will remember you forever. Acting is ephemeral so it’s nice if you can leave something behind, like a great wine or a beautiful house that has a legacy.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Neill is survived by four children and eight grandchildren. Neill&#8217;s son Andrew was placed for adoption when he was a baby, and he and Neill connected later in life and developed a relationship, which the actor detailed in his memoir, “Did I Ever Tell You This?”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Neill was previously in a long-term relationship with New Zealand actress Lisa Harrow and was later married to Japanese makeup artist Noriko Watanabe from 1989 until 2017.</span></p>
<p>The actor took pride in his craft and was not interested in the celebrity lifestyle.</p>
<p class="paragraph larva // a-font-body-m ">“I do hope I’m not a celebrity because … I think it’s two different jobs,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2023. “You can be an actor — hopefully a very good actor — but it’s another job to be a celebrity, and that’s one you can sign up for or not. And I never signed up for that. I’ve avoided that like the plague.&#8221;</p>
<p class="paragraph larva // a-font-body-m ">“The winemaking thing is absolutely half my life and has been immensely rewarding, and it’s very different from everything else that I do. I’m sort of … half-farmer, half-thespian, if you like,” Neill said.</p>


Sam Neill

Beloved ‘Jurassic Park’ Star Dies At 78

Death

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">TV writer Rebecca Sonnenshine recently defended making her latest project, a reboot of the beloved series “Little House on the Prairie,” a lot more woke.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At this point, it would be more surprising if she had left politics out of it. And to hear her tell it, the word “woke” has lost its meaning anyway. But Sonnenshine did go on record defending the aspect of the new storyline which conservatives are most likely to take issue with, namely, making a local Native American family a key feature of the show despite them not being featured prominently in the best-selling books.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While Laura Ingalls and her family are still main characters, much attention is paid to the mixed-race Osage family, the Mitchells, as Variety noted in an </span><a href="https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/netflix-little-house-on-the-prairie-woke-comments-tradwife-1236804646/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">interview</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> with the showrunner.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“As an adult, everything is different. Especially ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ it’s all about the Osage,” Sonnenshine says. “The Osage are all over that book, but we don’t know them at all. And I thought, well, we have to know them. I have to figure out a way that we can know them, and how do you do that? Trying to create a family that parallels the Ingalls. I had to do a lot of research to figure out how to do that, and I did and we worked with a story consultant named Robert Warrior,” Sonnenshine told the outlet. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I’m not even sure what ‘woke’ means to people anymore, to be honest,” she went on. “I know what I think it means, which is the definition of it being aware and alert to social injustice and prejudice, in particular racial prejudice. So, when people say, ‘I hope it’s not woke,’ I think, ‘Really? Oh, that’s interesting.’ But I don’t think people are using it in that manner; I think it’s just become a catch-all word for things that I don’t quite understand. If I had to sum it up, what people are afraid of is that something from their childhood will be portrayed in a way that scares them.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sonnenshine reiterated what she’s “been saying from the beginning,” which is, “I feel like people are worried for no reason.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Slate reviewer </span><a href="https://slate.com/culture/2026/07/little-house-on-the-prairie-netflix-series-2026-reboot-laura-ingalls-wilder.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">agreed</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that the “Little House” reboot has indeed been altered to suit progressive sensibilities. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“There’s no other way for me to put this: Netflix did indeed woke-ify Little House on the Prairie,” wrote Rebecca Onion. “This new version makes a deep bow to contemporary concerns about the politics of the source material. Some of the Ingalls family’s closest new friends on the show are an Osage couple, a black doctor and black storekeeper, and a French Canadian woman who wears trousers and practices free love.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She also notes a new antagonist in the form of a stodgy, traditionalist family. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Netflix’s Ingalls family are good people, even by 2026 standards, and you can see it in contrast with the Jameses,” she writes. “The Jameses are town-dwelling rich folk who don’t appear in the Little House books but seem to be an adaptation of the Oleson family … The Jameses’ vision for Independence — hierarchy,  respectability, a church, a school — first seduces, then repels, the more gentle-minded Ingallses, Ma and Mary. The James matriarch, Jemma, played by Mary Holland, brings a welcome comedic hateability to this sunny show.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prominent conservatives predicted this long before it happened. Podcast host Megyn Kelly </span><a href="https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1884765394914681141"><span style="font-weight: 400;">posted</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on X in January, “Netflix, if you woke-ify ‘Little House on the Prairie’ I will make it my singular mission to absolutely ruin your project.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This prompted actress Melissa Gilbert, who starred on the original “Little House” series for nine seasons between 1974 and 1982, to reply, “Ummm…watch the original again. TV doesn’t get too much more ‘woke’ than we did. We tackled: racism, addiction, nativism, antisemitism, misogyny, rape, spousal abuse, and every other ‘woke ‘ topic you can think of. Thank you very much.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gilbert has been making headlines lately as she defends her husband, Timothy Busfield, amid allegations of child sexual abuse.</span></p>
<p>The new Little House on the Prairie adaptation debuted all 8 episodes of its first season on Netflix on July 9. The show has been officially renewed for a second season.</p>


Little House on the Prairie

Yes, The ‘Little House On The Prairie’ Reboot Went Woke

Netflix

Wokeness

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