Chicken Little has nothing on today’s celebrities.
Stars large and small are spreading fear throughout the culture, and the topics won’t take anyone by surprise.
They typically involve an orange man behaving badly and his so-called Gestapo foot soldiers.
The recent Sundance Film Festival affair, the last to be held in Park City, Utah before moving to The Republic of Boulder, is giving celebrities all the red-carpet room they need to spread fear.
<div id="attachment_1036401" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1036401" class="size-large wp-image-1036401" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258422955-864x576.jpg" alt="PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 26: Demonstrators walk down Main Street protesting the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258422955-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258422955-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258422955-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258422955.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />David Becker/Getty Images</div>
The media is doing the rest, regurgitating their comments without a fact check in sight.
Oscar-winner Natalie Portman used her festival pulpit to decry the rise of ICE agents corralling illegal immigrants, many of whom have been charged with heinous crimes like rape and murder.
For Portman, the scary part is <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5707941-natalie-portman-donald-trump-kristie-noem-ice/">enforcing immigration laws</a>.
“It’s very joyful to be at a film festival and in a creative community celebrating film together, but what is happening in our country is just obscene … What Trump, and Kristi Noem and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] are doing to our citizens, and undocumented people, is outrageous and needs to end.”
<div id="attachment_1036349" style="width: 831px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1036349" class="size-large wp-image-1036349" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258048486-821x576.jpg" alt="PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 24: Natalie Portman attends the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Bryan Steffy/GC Images)" width="821" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258048486-821x576.jpg 821w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258048486-300x210.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258048486-768x539.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258048486.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 821px) 100vw, 821px" />Bryan Steffy/GC Images</div>
The comments came shortly after ICE agents shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti, a Jan. 24th incident with many questions left unanswered. Pretti was armed at some point in the altercation, and new video shows he previously spat at ICE agents, kicked another agent’s vehicle, shattering its taillight, and resisted arrest.
His death remains tragic, but context cannot be left out. This wasn’t a peaceful protester simply waving a placard or warbling a protest song.
Actress/director Olivia Wilde doubled down on Portman’s comments, once again from a glamorous red-carpet affair.
“We can’t go another day just sort of accepting this as our new norm. It’s outrageous. People are being murdered. And, I don’t want to normalize seeing people being murdered on the internet. On film. It’s. It’s hideous.”
Oscar-nominee Edward Norton took a cue from too many Democrat politicians by ratcheting up the rhetoric with <a href="https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/01/26/sundance-film-festival-crowds-protest-and-celebrities-react-to-latest-ice-killing-in-minne">the Nazi Card.</a>
“These days it’s ‘What are we gonna do about mass Gestapo shooting American citizens? … We are sitting here talking about movies while an illegal army is being mounted against US citizens.”
<div id="attachment_1036419" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1036419" class="size-large wp-image-1036419" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258054012-864x576.jpg" alt="PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 24: Edward Norton (L) and Seth Rogen attend The Invite After Party with Casamigos at The Cabin On Main Street, Sundance Film Festival 2026 on January 24, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Casamigos)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258054012-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258054012-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258054012-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258054012.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Casamigos</div>
He didn’t back up his charge that the ICE agents are acting in an illegal manner. Nor did he wonder why there’s so much violence associated with Minneapolis “protests” when other cities are also flooded with ICE agents without incident.
Others are relying on social media, not glitzy film festivals, to peddle fear. Comedian Kathy Griffin, whose career came to a screeching halt in 2017 when she shared a photograph of her holding a bloodied Trump head aloft, ISIS style, also spread distrust via social media.
She told her followers to find out if their neighbors are “MAGA” and <a href="https://x.com/ClownWorld/status/2016985304419488006">start planning accordingly.</a> For what, she didn’t say, but the implications were ominous.
“Breaking Bad” alum Giancarlo Esposito, not someone normally associated with political banter, offered what might be the most fear-based comments of them all.
The actor played the Race Card while suggesting we could be staring down the barrel of a Civil War of sorts. And <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-bad-star-says-its-time-for-a-revolution-admits-people-will-die-for-the-cause">there will certainly be blood.</a> It sounds like he can’t wait.
“This is time for a revolution — and they don’t even know that’s what they’re starting,” the actor said. “We have to stand up to it. They can’t take us all down. If the whole world showed up on Putin’s doorstep or the Iranians’ doorstep or in Washington, they’d kill 500 or 50 million or however [many], but the rest of us would survive with a new [world]…”
“This is all a preparation for a very insidious problem that’s happening in our world. And for me, I have to speak out. We will not be ICE’d out. This is not going to happen.”
Some fears don’t directly involve ICE or President Trump, but the connective tissue is easy to spot. Take Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke, who proved his acting chops anew with this unhinged and reality-free take on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-lefts-performative-outrage">death of free speech in Trump’s America</a>.
&#8220;There’s a kind of fear in the air that I’ve never felt before … And it’s not America. To get to be an artist in a free country, I’ve had enough of an education to know what a privilege that is. And I don’t feel that way anymore. And that’s something that has to change.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1036361" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1036361" class="size-large wp-image-1036361" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258406932-864x576.jpg" alt="PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 26: Ethan Hawke attends &quot;The Weight&quot; Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 26, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258406932-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258406932-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258406932-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258406932.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images</div>
Hawke has been mum on the new Hollywood Blacklist that keeps too many conservatives out of Hollywood or shamed into silence. He also stood down when Gina Carano’s social media post pleading for tolerance cost her the biggest job of her career – a slot on Disney+’s “The Mandalorian.”
Pop superstar Lady Gaga isn’t in the United States at the moment, but she still felt compelled to spread fear via <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/01/29/video-lady-gaga-pauses-tokyo-concert-to-smear-and-lie-about-ice/">a Tokyo concert appearance</a>.
“In a couple of days, I’m gonna be heading home and my heart is aching thinking about the people, the children, the families, all over America, who are being mercilessly targeted by ICE. I’m thinking about all of their pain and how their lives are being destroyed right in front of us.”
Laura Ingraham’s “Shut Up and Sing” mantra rushes to mind. 
<div id="attachment_1036387" style="width: 896px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1036387" class="size-large wp-image-1036387" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258386241-886x576.jpg" alt="PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 26: Demonstrators protest the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Main Street during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2026 in Park City, Utah. Protests and demonstrations have broken out in multiple cities following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images)" width="886" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258386241-886x576.jpg 886w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258386241-300x195.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258386241-768x500.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2258386241.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 886px) 100vw, 886px" />Jesse Grant/Getty Images</div>
Late-night comics are doing their fair share of spreading fear, with one in particular making a ghoulish Nazi comparison to heighten his audience’s apprehension for the daily headlines.
Stephen Colbert, whose “Late Show” goes the way of the pager and 8-track tape come May, slammed ICE agents in a way that should make even Left-of-Center souls shudder.
“Yes, do not compare ICE or Border Patrol agents to the Nazis. That&#8217;s an unfair comparison. The Nazis were willing to show their faces.&#8221;
The host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” broke into tears, twice, in the first episode following Pretti’s death. He regurgitated the same Nazi rhetoric coming from the Legacy Media and his Hollywood brethren.
“Decide for yourself if that&#8217;s making America great,” Kimmel cried.
The country these stars describe is scary, no doubt. Yet none of them act as if they’re actually afraid. A Nazi-like state wouldn’t take kindly to these outbursts. Threats would be made. Professional punishments might commence.
Some might disappear, never to be seen again. Yet nothing of the kind has happened, nor will it.
The only thing America has to fear is fear itself, and celebrities who twist the truth for deeply partisan gains.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Variety Studio during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival Presented by Audible

Sundance 2026: Celebrity Fear Factor On Full Display

Celebrity Fear Factor On Full Display

actors

Celebrities

Democrats

Entertainment

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Leftists

Minnesota

Natalie Portman

Sundance Film Festival

Your average film festival won’t screen “A Minecraft Movie,” “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” or “Nobody 2.” And that’s a good thing.
Festivals give indie filmmakers a chance to shine in a crowded marketplace. They also shake up the theatrical experience by pushing audiences out of their comfort zone.
In short, prepare to be challenged. The best art does just that.
<div id="attachment_961513" style="width: 830px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-961513" class="wp-image-961513 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2172182734-820x576.jpg" alt="TORONTO, ONTARIO - SEPTEMBER 15: Mike Downie accepts the &quot;People's Choice Documentary Award&quot; for &quot;The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal&quot; onstage at the TIFF 2024 Awards Ceremony during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Luma on September 15, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Jeremy Chan/Getty Images)" width="820" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2172182734-820x576.jpg 820w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2172182734-300x211.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2172182734-768x539.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2172182734.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" />TORONTO, ONTARIO &#8211; SEPTEMBER 15: Mike Downie accepts the &#8220;People&#8217;s Choice Documentary Award&#8221; for &#8220;The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal&#8221; onstage at the TIFF 2024 Awards Ceremony during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. (Photo by Jeremy Chan/Getty Images)</div>
Yet some modern film festivals are running from that unspoken promise. And, as is often the case, it involves cowardly programmers who refuse to provoke their presumably left-leaning audiences. In other situations, the festivals won’t stand behind art that could draw the wrong kind of crowd.
Protesters, to be specific, the kind that shout, “From the river to the sea…”
The latest, most embarrassing example? The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), one of the industry’s most prestigious events, recently <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/08/tiff-pulls-october-7-documentary-from-lineup-1236484968/comment-page-2/#comments">yanked an October 7 documentary</a> from its line up.
“The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” recalls how retired Israel Defense Forces General Noam Tibon saved Israelis targeted for death by Hamas terrorists during that cataclysmic day.
<div id="attachment_961501" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-961501" class="wp-image-961501 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827492879-1-864x576.jpg" alt="TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - DECEMBER 02: Major General (Res.) Noam Tibon speaks during a rally calling for the remaining hostages to be released a day after the temporary truce ended outside The Museum of Modern Art known as the 'The Hostages and Missing Square' on December 2, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The rally’s speakers included recently released hostages and their families, as well as Israeli performers. The end of the weeklong ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has also meant a halt to negotiations over the return of more Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. One hundred and ten hostages - a combination of Israelis and foreign nationals - were released during the recent pause in fighting, under half the number estimated to have been taken captive by Palestinian militants on Oct. 7. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827492879-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827492879-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827492879-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827492879-1.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />TEL AVIV, ISRAEL &#8211; DECEMBER 02: Major General (Res.) Noam Tibon. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images</div>
But why cancel the documentary at all? TIFF officials initially said the film didn’t get the legal clearances for footage of Hamas soldiers attacking innocent Jews. That explanation drew instant ridicule, forcing TIFF to suggest it’s working to find a way <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/08/tiff-response-the-road-between-us-1236485877/">to solve the issues</a> and re-install the film into its lineup.
Now, an embarrassed TIFF says it will “<a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/14/world-news/tiff-reverses-course-will-ensure-oct-7-doc-is-screened-following-swift-backlash/">ensure</a>” the film will screen at the September festival after a major media backlash.
The damage is done, no matter what kind of backpedal the festival attempts. Its absurd rationale is likely cover for the real issue – pro-Palestinian protesters would have swarmed the screening, as they’ve done countless times before.
<div id="attachment_961507" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-961507" class="size-large wp-image-961507" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1711807696-864x576.jpg" alt="TOPSHOT - Palestinians transport a reportedly captured Israeli person, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023. One month after Israel was wracked by Hamas attacks, life has been upended for both the Palestinians and Israel after it launched a war of reprisal in the Gaza Strip. The October 7 attacks by Hamas militants who stormed across from Gaza and struck kibbutzim and southern Israeli areas killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and deeply scarred the nation. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says nearly 9,500 have been killed, two-thirds of them women and children, and mostly civilians. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1711807696-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1711807696-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1711807696-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1711807696.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images</div>
Jewish artists (Michael Rapaport, Matisyahu) routinely find their shows canceled due to fear of pro-Palestinian protests. Festival-based violence could have ensued, although a strong show of force would likely prevent such an occurrence.
The Heckler’s Veto won. Again. It’s one reason why protesters keep on raising their voices. They get results.
Today’s festival programmer too often chooses to censor art rather than let it shine.
A more egregious example of festival cowardice? The Sundance Film Festival threw open its arms to “Jihad Rehab,” a celebrated film focusing on Muslim terrorists and their path to redemption.
The film actually screened the documentary in January 2022, coaxing two festival employees to resign in protest. That was just the beginning of the outrage. Some Muslim filmmakers howled over the film’s inclusion, arguing the film exposed the participants to potential danger. Others suggested the film’s director, a white woman named Meg Smaker, was the wrong person to tell the story.
<div id="attachment_961509" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-961509" class="size-large wp-image-961509" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2196257724-864x576.jpg" alt="PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 27: (EDITORS NOTE: This image was shot with a fisheye lens.) People stand in front of the Egyptian Theatre along Main Street during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2025 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2196257724-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2196257724-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2196257724-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2196257724.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />David Becker/Getty Images</div>
Sundance later issued an apology for screening the film, and other festivals dropped “Jihad Rehab” from their lineups.
Smaker eventually won the PR war, with far-Left sites like The New York Times and The Atlantic rushing to her side. The film, retitled “The UnRedacted,” <a href="https://www.justwatch.com/us/search?q=the%20unredacted">still can’t be seen via VOD platforms, though.</a>
Still, the most recognizable film festival in the country couldn’t stand up for its own screened film. That sends a chilling signal throughout the creative community.
Pro-Palestinian pressure also got a trans-related documentary <a href="https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/columnist/editors-note/377538/french-transgender-film-gets-cancelled-because-it-made-israel-look-good/">canceled from a Belgium film festival last year</a>. “The Belle from Gaza” focused on a transgender Palestinian woman fleeing Gaza for her own safety and ending up in Tel Aviv.
Variety captured the current state of film festivals in 2023.
<blockquote>In fact, that quick-to-capitulate reflex underscores a new, unspoken modus operandi in which festivals — once the bastion of provocative, button-pushing fare — are desperate to avoid controversy and the wrath of any identity-focused Twitter mob. </blockquote>
It hasn’t gotten better since then. And there’s a second factor in play.
Modern film festivals display a sense of ideological uniformity that diminishes their cultural impact. Left-leaning features are commonplace, be it stories about abortion rights or pro-LGBTQ+ narratives.
Films that defy that ideology rarely, if ever, make the cut.
Imagine a film festival featuring “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/what-is-a-woman?row=0&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;rowType=Square+Show+Carousel">What Is a Woman?</a>” The Daily Wire’s blistering take down of progressive gender beliefs.
<div id="attachment_805851" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/what-is-a-woman?row=0&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;rowType=Square+Show+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-805851" class="size-large wp-image-805851" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/MixCollage-01-Oct-2024-04-20-PM-2436-1024x576.jpg" alt="What is a Woman?" width="1024" height="576" /></a>Matt Walsh/What is a Woman?</div>
What about “The Fall of Minneapolis,” a harrowing account of the media’s false narratives surrounding George Floyd’s 2020 death?
Or consider “What Killed Michael Brown?” That 2020 movie exposed similarly skewed narratives surrounding the Missouri resident’s 2014 death following a police interaction.
Had any of those films made the film festival cut it might have sparked protests, resignations or both. Cancellations might have followed.
Festival programmers, by insisting on ideological purity, keep these kinds of projects out of their lineups. And few audience members are challenged along the way.
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Even stories told by those holding unorthodox views may not get a festival closeup. Podcaster Adam Carolla has complained that his opinions have kept his apolitical racing documentaries from debuting in film festivals. The most extreme example? His 2020 documentary “Uppity,” a testament to Willy T. Ribbs, the first black race car driver to compete in the Indy 500, didn’t make the festival circuit.
The film checked enough progressive boxes to be included, and the few critics who reviewed the film raved about its content. That didn’t help Carolla crack the festival market.
Hollywood’s progressive groupthink remains a problem, keeping great stories and actors off screen. A similar sentiment holds with film festivals. A fear of social media controversy, and backbone deficit, is making matters worse.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

2025 Canada’s Walk Of Fame Induction Gala

Cowardice Is Killing The Spirit Of Modern Film Festivals

Documentaries

Hamas

Hostages

Israel

Movies

October 7

Toronto Film Festival

Former president Barack Obama’s daughter Malia Obama has been accused by an independent filmmaker of copying some of her work.
New York University graduate Natalie Jasmine Harris took to social media to voice her concerns, claiming that Malia’s new commercial for Nike contains elements from Harris’ 2024 short film, “Grace.” She noted in her post that Malia, who uses the name Malia Ann professionally, was in attendance at Sundance during its premiere as she was showing her film there, “The Heart.”
“Been sitting with this for a while. My Sundance short film GRACE (shot brilliantly by Tehillah de Castro) was made with deep love and care. The social cut of the new @Nike commercial directed by Malia Obama (who was also at Sundance my year) feels shockingly similar to my work…” Harris <a href="https://x.com/nataliejharris/status/1919585348759220227">wrote</a> in an X post last week.
She continued, “I know art often overlaps, but moments like this hit hard when you’ve poured your heart into telling stories with care and barely get the recognition you deserve. If brands want a certain look, why not hire from the source instead of for name recognition?”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I know art often overlaps, but moments like this hit hard when you’ve poured your heart into telling stories with care and barely get the recognition you deserve. If brands want a certain look, why not hire from the source instead of for name recognition? <a href="https://twitter.com/Nike?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nike</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/_ajawilson22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_ajawilson22</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y57ACZiPRe">pic.twitter.com/Y57ACZiPRe</a>
&mdash; Natalie Jasmine Harris (@nataliejharris) <a href="https://twitter.com/nataliejharris/status/1919585412810735743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Malia directed the new Nike ad for WNBA star A’ja Wilson&#8217;s pink A’One signature shoe.
Harris posted a follow-up on Instagram the next day, echoing what she had said in her original X update and sharing more stills from both projects and a photo of her and Obama from Sundance last year.
“I don’t have much else to say, besides that this is quite disheartening and disappointing,” she <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJS_XtNJ5Xb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=5a74bf8c-2f8a-4095-aa9e-3093b9db6183">wrote</a> in the post caption. “I’m constantly posting about how difficult it is to be an emerging filmmaker right now and sustain myself without benefitting from family connections, generational wealth, or nepotism… and then to see this just really gives me even less hope that this industry wants me to be here.”
She also addressed those who had criticized her for making the comparisons in the first place.
“I just want to make it abundantly clear that this is not an issue about a game of Pat-A-Cake. It’s the framing, composition, editing, etc. Cinematic choices that are uncannily similar to the visual language in my short film. Before you are so quick to comment, please put your thinking caps on. Why would I say something that in turn probably does put my career at risk to try and say that I invented a hand game? Come on y’all….”

Malia Obama

Indie Filmmaker Accuses Malia Obama Of Ripping Off Her Film

General

Nike

Plagiarism

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Richard Simmons</a> issued a rare statement regarding a rumored upcoming <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies">biopic</a> about his life, saying he never authorized the project.
The 75-year-old fitness personality disappeared from public life in 2014, leaving fans to speculate about what he’s been up to in the decade since then. Simmons rarely makes public appearances or statements, but the buzz about the rumored film project starring <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">Pauly Shore</a> was enough to encourage the “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” star to speak out.
&#8220;Hi Everybody!&#8221; Simmons <a href="https://twitter.com/TheWeightSaint/status/1747716403350622557">shared</a> on his X account on Wednesday. &#8220;You may have heard they may be doing a movie about me with Pauly Shore. I have never given my permission for this movie. So don’t believe everything you read. I no longer have a manager, and I no longer have a publicist.&#8221;
&#8220;I just try to live a quiet life and be peaceful,” he added. “Thank you for all your love and support.&#8221;
Shore posted a teaser clip of the short film, “The Court Jester,” which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, January 19. The actor went on to explain how he’s planning to be involved in the longer biopic that he hopes will begin filming as early as this summer.
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&#8220;If I get the opportunity to star in a Richard Simmons biopic I will deliver because I take things very seriously,&#8221; Shore shared on Instagram. &#8220;I will immerse myself in the body, soul and spirit of Richard Simmons.&#8221;
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1705604838822000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2_j2KMpwVRLCzwAoGaYKL5">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
He continued, &#8220;Richard, if you’re watching, nothing but love, brother, nothing but love. And let’s see if we can do this, we can merge our forces and we can bring a beautiful, beautiful piece for the people to see and we can spread your word.&#8221;
Milton Teagle &#8220;Richard&#8221; Simmons began his public career by opening his gym, Slimmons, in Beverly Hills California after successfully losing 100 pounds. He became nationally recognized thanks to the aerobics workout programs, “Sweatin’ to the Oldies,” which premiered in the late 1980s.
Simmons was known for his over-the-top, energetic and flamboyant personality. His fans and followers were extremely concerned when the fitness star disappeared from the public eye in 2014, with some going as far as speculating that Simmons had been kidnapped. 
A podcast called “Missing Richard Simmons” and a 2022 documentary called &#8220;TMZ Investigates: What Really Happened to Richard Simmons” both explored this topic.
In response, Simmons issued a brief <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=600682001427637&amp;id=100044575263298&amp;set=a.254621222700385">statement</a>, &#8220;Thank you, everyone, for your kindness and love! Love, Richard.”

Richard Simmons

Richard Simmons Speaks Out About Rumored Pauly Shore-Led Biopic: ‘Never Given My Permission’

Richard Simmons Speaks Out About Rumored Pauly Shore-Led Biopic: 'Never Given My Permission'

Hollywood

As diagnosed cases of coronavirus spike across the country, the 64th annual Grammy Awards have been officially postponed and the Sundance Film Festival has been moved to an online format. The Recording Academy and CBS released a joint statement Wednesday, citing the Omicron variant as being the catalyst for that decision. 
&#8220;The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/announcement-2022-grammys-postponed">statement</a> read. &#8220;Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31 simply contains too many risks.&#8221;
The Grammy Awards were scheduled to take place in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena, formerly the Staples Center, on January 31. A new date has not been announced yet. 
It was the same story with Sundance, which moved all in-person scheduled events to online. The film festival will still kick off on January 20 as planned, but only in a virtual format. 
A <a href="https://mailchi.mp/sundance/2022-sundance-film-festival-update?e=9845ee4b62">statement</a> read, &#8220;While we&#8217;re disappointed to not provide the full hybrid experience and gather in-person as intended, audiences this year will still experience the magic and energy of our Festival with bold new films and XR work, the discovery of new storytellers, direct encounters with artists, and an innovative globally accessible social platform and gallery space.&#8221; 
Show organizers also blamed the Omicron spike for their decision. &#8220;This was a difficult decision to make. As a nonprofit, our Sundance spirit is in making something work against the odds,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;But with case numbers forecasted to peak in our host community the week of the festival we cannot knowingly put our staff and community at risk.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/grammy-ratings-hit-lowest-of-low-only-8-8m-tune-in-vs-19m-last-year">2021 Grammy Awards</a> were also delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The event was moved to March and drew a record-low viewing audience of just 8.8 million people tuning in, down from 18.8 million viewers in 2020. 
The CBS broadcast, which was hosted by comedian Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show,” had a 2.1 Nielson rating among adults 18-49. That was significantly less than the previous low at a 5.4 rating in the same demo.
Noah is also slated to host the 2022 event. A list of scheduled performers for the show has not been announced yet.
Jon Batiste, the bandleader on &#8220;The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,&#8221; had the most nominations on the list with 11 total. Other nominees include Justin Bieber, H.E.R., Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo, who were all recognized in multiple major categories. Lil Nas X was also nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year.
A full list of nominees can be found <a href="https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards">here</a>. Some of the major categories include: 
Record of the Year
&#8220;I Still Have Faith In You,&#8221; ABBA
&#8220;Freedom,&#8221; Jon Batiste
&#8220;I Get A Kick Out Of You,&#8221; Tony Bennett &amp; Lady Gaga
&#8220;Peaches,&#8221; Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar &amp; Giveon
&#8220;Right On Time,&#8221; Brandi Carlile
&#8220;Kiss Me More,&#8221; Doja Cat Featuring SZA
&#8220;Happier Than Ever,&#8221; Billie Eilish
&#8220;Montero&#8221; (Call Me By Your Name), Lil Nas X
&#8220;drivers license,&#8221; Olivia Rodrigo
&#8220;Leave The Door Open,&#8221; Silk Sonic
Song of the Year
&#8220;Bad Habits,&#8221; Ed Sheeran
&#8220;A Beautiful Noise,&#8221; Alicia Keys Featuring Brandi Carlile
&#8220;drivers license,&#8221; Olivia Rodrigo
&#8220;Fight For You,&#8221; H.E.R.
&#8220;Happier Than Ever,&#8221; Billie Eilish
&#8220;Kiss Me More,&#8221; Doja Cat Featuring SZA
&#8220;Leave The Door Open,&#8221; Silk Sonic
&#8220;Montero (Call Me By Your Name),&#8221; Lil Nas X
&#8220;Peaches,&#8221; Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar &amp; Giveon
&#8220;Right On Time,&#8221; Brandi Carlile
Album of the Year
&#8220;We Are,&#8221; Jon Batiste
&#8220;Love For Sale,&#8221; Tony Bennett &amp; Lady Gaga
&#8220;Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe),&#8221; Justin Bieber
&#8220;Planet Her (Deluxe),&#8221; Doja Cat
&#8220;Happier Than Ever,&#8221; Billie Eilish
&#8220;Back Of My Mind,&#8221; H.E.R.
&#8220;Montero,&#8221; Lil Nas X
&#8220;Sour,&#8221; Olivia Rodrigo
&#8220;Evermore,&#8221; Taylor Swift
&#8220;Donda,&#8221; Kanye West

The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards

2022 Grammy Awards Officially Delayed Amid Omicron Case Spike

Grammys

Omicron Variant

The first part of a horrifying Michael Jackson documentary called &#8220;Leaving Neverland&#8221; aired on HBO last night. It details, quite graphically, Jackson&#8217;s alleged abuse of Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck. The most unsettling parts of the film are the lurid &#8212; and, we should note, extremely similar &#8212; descriptions of child rape that both men offer, but the most shocking part, especially for someone like myself who didn&#8217;t follow Jackson&#8217;s career very closely, was all the ample and extensive footage of Jackson publicly grooming his victims.
Jackson gallivanted around in public with young male companions for years. After several months, one &#8220;friend&#8221; would be swapped for another. Never adults, never females. Only prepubescent boys. He may as well have worn a sign announcing: &#8220;I abuse children.&#8221; Yet he escaped justice and, for the most part, public scrutiny. Jackson was certainly never a pariah like Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein. If anything, his predation was treated like a punchline. But there was nothing remotely funny about it, as the documentary makes painfully clear.
Of course, Jackson&#8217;s infamously cultish and delusional defenders are not going to let anyone rip the halo from their man&#8217;s head. They have gone into overdrive, <a href="http://www.newser.com/story/270406/security-stepped-up-for-debut-of-michael-jackson-film.html">nearly shutting down</a> the film&#8217;s debut at Sundance a few months ago. While it was airing last night, legions of his fans trolled Twitter to pounce on anyone who expressed shock or disgust at what they saw. I ran afoul of the MJ zombie hoard myself. I can report that they are as ridiculous and vicious as advertised.
The four most common arguments in defense of Jackson appear to be: (1) These are just allegations; (2) He was &#8220;proven innocent&#8221; in court; (3) He didn&#8217;t molest Macaulay Culkin; and (4) He was just a child himself.
Of these arguments, only the first is coherent. But we&#8217;ll get back to that in a moment.
The second argument reveals a stunning ignorance about the basic function of our court system. Nobody is ever &#8220;proven innocent&#8221; in court. You can be acquitted if the jury is not convinced by the evidence brought against you, but this by no means translates to &#8220;proven innocent&#8221; &#8212; especially when the defendant is a world-famous, beloved, mega wealthy celebrity with an army of top lawyers at his disposal. Someone in that position can literally get away with murder. Just ask O.J. Simpson.
The third and fourth arguments are so humiliatingly stupid that I am embarrassed to repeat them. You may, if you like, congratulate Jackson for managing to not molest a few of the boys he surrounded himself with, but that does not prove his accusers wrong. As for Jackson being &#8220;just a child&#8221; &#8212; he wasn&#8217;t. He was a grown man &#8212; and not an intellectually stunted, innocent simpleton like Forrest Gump or Lennie Small, but (I&#8217;m told) an artist, a genius, and the head of a billion dollar empire. He may have been eccentric, but he knew what he was doing.
All that is left is the claim that these are mere &#8220;allegations,&#8221; which is technically true. But the allegations are just one part of the puzzle. The other pieces are all proven and undisputed facts. They are:
(1) Jackson sought and befriended prepubescent boys. He took these boys as companions and traveled the world with them. Every so often, he would find a new young male companion and move on from the old one. This fact is not disputed.
(2) Jackson lavished the boys&#8217; families with gifts and money. This fact is not disputed.
(3) Jackson invited the boys to his home, which was filled with toys and candy. This fact is not disputed.
(4) Jackson invited the boys into his bed. This fact is not disputed.
(5) Jackson had a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/michael-jackson-photos-naked-children-pornography-neverland-ranch-police-records-leak-abuse-a7094876.html">stash of bondage porn</a> by the bed. This fact is not disputed.
(6) The bed was in a room, behind a locked door, at the end of a hallway equipped with alarm systems that would alert him when someone was approaching. This fact is not disputed.
Which leads us to the last piece of the puzzle:
(7) Five of the boys who shared a bed with Jackson later accused him of abuse. This fact, also, is not disputed.
It&#8217;s a cumulative case. If all Jackson ever did was give gifts to random families, I&#8217;d say he was a philanthropist. If all he did was fill his home with toys, I&#8217;d say he was just kind of weird. But each piece fits with the next piece, and the picture gets darker and more sadistic as you continue to connect them.
On balance, the evidence against Jackson ends up being so strong that even if no one had ever accused him, we could still say with near certainty that he was a predator. Facts (1) through (6) are compelling enough on their own. Fact (7) is just confirmation. Indeed, on no planet, in no universe, is there any good reason for a man to seek out young boys and share his bed with them. If an adult man is inviting boys over for slumber parties, the chances that he is not a pedophile could not be greater than, say, .01 percent. If that same man is then accused, and then accused again, then again, and again, and again, the chance can no longer be called a &#8220;chance&#8221; at all. If something walks like a duck, flies like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it&#8217;s still technically possible that it isn&#8217;t a duck. It could be a tiny elf in a very realistic duck aircraft. But a rational person cannot take such remote and fanciful possibilities into consideration when drawing conclusions about ducks. Or pedophiles.
By the way, everybody actually agrees with the fundamental point here. If a guy named Bob Smith or Mike Jones was in the habit of &#8220;befriending&#8221; seven-year-old boys and sharing his bed with them, nobody would bother pretending that there might be a non-horrific explanation for his behavior. Only Jackson gets that benefit of the doubt from some people, even now, because he could sing well and dance well. I concede that he was very gifted in both areas. But he was also a godforsaken monster, and no dance routine can mitigate that.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-matt-walsh-show/id1367210511?mt=2">Subscribe to Matt&#8217;s podcast</a>.

WALSH: Michael Jackson Was A Monster. These 7 Facts Prove It.

If only MoviePass had gone bankrupt two weeks ago, I never would have been tempted to squander two hours of the precious life God gave me on Boots Riley&#8217;s lazy pinko agitprop Sorry To Bother You, the single worst film I have ever seen.
To begin, Sorry To Bother You is thoroughly Marxist. But don&#8217;t take my word for it: the film&#8217;s director Boots Riley, a self-described communist since his teenage years, explicitly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/magazine/how-boots-riley-infiltrated-hollywood.html">describes</a> his work as aiming &#8220;to help build a mass movement that can use withholding of labor as a strategy for social change.&#8221; The film insists that capitalism actually enslaves, destroying jobs and spreading poverty in the process while impoverishing black Americans in particular.
Unfortunately for Riley, such a thesis demands its audience disbelieve their lying eyes, as economic liberty continues to bring about record-high employment and prosperity while plunging black unemployment, in particular, to record lows. Riley ignores these realities, as one might expect. If the hundred million people killed by communism in the twentieth century and the millions who remain enslaved by communist regimes from Cuba to North Korea fail to disabuse useful idiots like Riley of communism&#8217;s appeal, tax cuts and a bull run in the stock market aren&#8217;t likely to fare any better.
Ideology degrades art, but what makes Sorry To Bother You particularly tedious is how clumsily it treats ideology. The film&#8217;s protagonist is named Cassius Green. Cash is green. Get it? In case you missed such subtlety, Cassius regularly tells us that his friends call him &#8220;Cash.&#8221; Get it now? Cash! Cash-strapped, Cassius applies for a job at a telemarketing call center, where he soon discovers that the only way to make sales and advance his career is to adopt a &#8220;white&#8221; voice.
Can you spoil a rotten movie? If you&#8217;re worried, stop reading.
An older black co-worker gives Cassius the tip, and Cassius quickly employs it to stunning effect: in virtually no time at all, Cassius is promoted to &#8220;power caller,&#8221; in which role he must constantly use &#8220;white voice.&#8221; Riley never even attempts to explain why the older black coworker who taught Cassius about &#8220;white voice&#8221; has never been promoted, nor does he explain why Cassius&#8217;s white co-workers are not promoted. Logic, schmogic&#8212;stick to the script, as his wooden characters might say.
Once promoted, Cassius learns the telemarketing company&#8217;s awful secret: &#8220;power callers&#8221; sell slave labor for the all-inclusive lifestyle colony WorryFree, whose white CEO demands Cassius warble a profane free-style rap for him and his white, fat-cat buddies, as if to suggest that the demand for degrading hip-hop music comes primarily from wealthy, white, middle-aged businessmen. Here again viewers must get past Riley&#8217;s Orwellian insistence that freedom is slavery and ignore the historical lessons of every communist slave regime since the Soviet Union, if only to appreciate the film&#8217;s clumsiest use of metaphor: WorryFree uses a secret drug to turn its workers literally into horses. Get it? They&#8217;re workhorses! Get it?
The film only goes downhill from there, descending finally into a proletarian rant which perhaps George Bernard Shaw could have pulled off but which Boots Riley does not. The acting is fine, oscillating between &#8220;rubber stamp&#8221; representation and adequacy. The writing is lazy; the message, perverse. In Riley&#8217;s wayward vision, freedom is mistaken for slavery, grievance for holiness, production for destruction, growth for decay. Is it any wonder Hollywood critics lavish the film with rave reviews, while audiences give it a <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sorry_to_bother_you_2018/">failing grade</a>?

‘Sorry To Bother You’ Is The Worst Film I’ve Ever Seen

My fiancée dragged me kicking and screaming to Greta Gerwig&#8217;s directorial debut Lady Bird. The trailer, which presents the film as 90 minutes of an angsty high school girl fighting with her mother, did not incite me to rush to my local theater. Yet after the film review website Rotten Tomatoes <a href="https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/lady-bird-just-broke-a-rotten-tomatoes-record-heres-what-greta-gerwig-has-to-say-about-that/">announced</a> last Monday that Lady Bird had broken its all-time record for consecutive positive reviews, I put prejudices aside.
Within minutes, one sees the acting is stellar. Laurie Metcalf and Saoirse Ronan, in particular, as mother Marion and daughter Christine &#8220;Lady Bird&#8221; McPherson, turn in magnificent performances. But credit goes to writer and director Greta Gerwig for subverting the audience&#8217;s saccharine expectations at every turn. Gerwig offers a brutally honest vision of humanity and transcendence, avoiding sentimentality with masterful precision &#8212; a Herculean accomplishment in a film about a suburban teenage girl who struggles with identity, romance, family, and faith. The movie&#8217;s honesty derives from its meticulous specificity: robust characters, all with their own vivid inner lives, try with all of their might to be the &#8216;best version of themselves&#8217; amidst the myriad particularities of Sacramento in 2002. Nevertheless, no character escapes his own foibles, and the inevitable suffering and regret that follow disquiet the audience&#8217;s comfortable illusions of our own identities and relationships.
In an <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2017/10/26/greta-gerwigs-lady-bird-rallying-cry-catholic-schoolgirls-everywhere">interview</a> with American Magazine, Gerwig reflected on the importance of particularity to Lady Bird. &#8220;I wanted to make a movie about home and what home means,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;The more particular you make something, the more universal it becomes&#8221; &#8212; a fitting observation for a film released at the start of Advent.
The story is so instantly engrossing, for much of the movie I missed Lady Bird&#8217;s essential, pervasive Christianity. The film takes place at a Catholic high school. Our protagonist&#8217;s name is Christine. The nearest to catharsis Gerwig takes Christine occurs in the hymn-filled rafters of a church.
Audiences may have difficulty identifying the unrelenting emotional quality that makes the film so hard to pin down. The confounding unity of Lady Bird its depiction of financial strain, awkward adolescence, filial regret, natural humor, and overbearing love, offers its audience a glimpse of joy &#8212; not as a modern materialist might call the happy satisfaction of desire, but in the Christian sense of unfulfilled longing. C.S. Lewis explains,
<blockquote>
&#8220;Joy&#8212;that sharp, wonderful Stab of Longing&#8212;has a lithe, muscular lightness to it. It&#8217;s deft. It produces longing that weighs heavy on the heart, but it does so with precision and coordination. &#8230; It dashes in with the agility of a hummingbird claiming its nectar from the flower, and then zips away. It pricks, then vanishes, leaving a wake of mystery and longing behind it.&#8221;
</blockquote>
***Spoilers***
The film persistently portrays leftist characters spouting nihilism as glib and ridiculous. Christine, at her most petulant, mocks the Republican Party by empty insinuation, and Howard Zinn appears as a punchline. By the end of the film, Christine asks a new classmate, &#8220;Do you believe in God?&#8221; When he responds with a frivolous laugh, she chides him for his shallow thinking with a sudden meditation on grace. She wonders, &#8220;People go by the names their parents give them, but they don&#8217;t believe in God.&#8221;
In the final scene, Christine stands in a church before a choir as a solitary tear of joy falls down her cheek. Outside, she calls and leaves her mother a message of love, gratitude, and near-apology, quickly abandoned for the reiteration of love. Christine signs her message, not with the allusive nickname she bestowed upon herself, but with the particular Christian name given by her mother.
Lady Bird&#8217;s delicate balance, as a work of art and within each artistic component, ultimately matches the film&#8217;s form to its content as a beautiful exercise in grace.

REVIEW: ‘Lady Bird’ Is A Brutally Honest, Christian Masterpiece

If there were ever a time where an idiotic &#8220;<a href="http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_warning">trigger warning</a>&#8221; was actually needed, this would be it. On Thursday, Josh Dickey, a film writer at Mashable, gave the world an exclusive behind-the-scenes <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/01/28/sundance-house-of-horrors/#FGRY4iff25qS">account</a> of the much-ballyhooed Sundance Film Festival. Dickey&#8217;s bizarre and frightening &#8220;tale of depravity&#8221; included two occasions of almost full-on suffocation, sucking on a tampon&#8212;which he pulled out of girls, ya know&#8212;and hiding a piece of paper in his mouth from &#8220;him.&#8221; If &#8220;disturbing&#8221; was what the freaks over at Sundance were going for, they nailed it. 
The film writer recounts being asked to attend an &#8220;exclusive&#8221; &#8220;Blackout&#8221; and quickly accepting without a second thought or a simple &#8220;Will this leave me traumatized?&#8221; question. When he arrived, he was led into a house where &#8220;the windows were covered in black trash bags, the front entrance was blocked by a security guard and the people there to receive me on the alternate side entrance seemed rather &#8230; grim.&#8221;
Before the naïve writer was grabbed by a &#8220;goon squad&#8221; of men who threw a plastic bag over his head&#8212;almost suffocating him&#8212;he was told that if he, at any point, wanted the &#8220;experience to end,&#8221; the safe word was, fittingly, &#8220;safety.&#8221;
<blockquote>
Before my eyes adjusted, an intensely gruff young guy drilled a flashlight directly in my pupils and started barking instructions and questions. &#8220;If at any time you want this experience to end, you must say the word &#8216;Safety,&#8217;&#8221; he said. &#8220;Do you understand? SAY IT.&#8221;
</blockquote>
 &#8220;A group of men grabbed me from behind, threw a plastic bag over my head, pulled it tight enough against my face so that I couldn&#8217;t inhale, yanked me to the floor and ordered me to crawl into a makeshift tunnel,&#8221; writes Dickey.
He was then told to &#8220;find the woman with the hood,&#8221; and &#8220;pull it off&#8221; of her. Dickey followed the orders verbatim and was pulled into a bathroom where the now-hoodless women asked the writer to do the unthinkable. In full commitment-mode, the woman took off her underwear and demanded that he &#8220;pull the string&#8221; to effectively remover her tampon. Dickey complied. 
<blockquote>
She ordered me to sit on the toilet, then pulled down her underwear and told me to &#8220;grab the string and pull it out.&#8221;
Up until this point I&#8217;d kept my hands as much to my sides as possible &#8212; the last thing I wanted was any more trouble than I was already clearly in. But no amount of affected decorum will ever prepare you for those particular instructions.
&#8220;Uhhhmmm &#8230; &#8220;
&#8220;PULL IT OUT PULL IT OUT NOW! HE&#8217;S COMING!&#8221;
Well, I certainly didn&#8217;t want &#8220;him&#8221; to get here and find unfinished business. She guided my hand to the string, and I gently tugged. I couldn&#8217;t see very well in the semi-dark, so I&#8217;m hopeful this was a sleight-of-hand, but &#8212; whatever I was pulling down upon was not easily emerging from wherever it really &#8230; was.
&#8220;PULL HARDER!&#8221;
When whatever was attached to the string finally broke free I could feel a trickle of wetness on my hand.
</blockquote>
And just when you think things couldn&#8217;t get worse, Dickey was told to &#8220;suck on it.&#8221; Spoiler Alert: Dickey didn&#8217;t start screaming &#8220;SAFETY!&#8221; and blow that freak-fest; he complied, again. Gross.
<blockquote>
She ordered me to stand, lifted a soggily engorged clump of cotton up to my face and said, rather come-hitherly, &#8220;Now &#8230; suck on it.&#8221;
After receiving pushback from Dickey, and not hearing the safe word that she reminds him of, the naked woman screams, &#8220;SUCK ON IT!&#8221;
</blockquote>
Dickey writes that &#8220;It tasted sweet and lemony.&#8221; (Feel free to think up exactly how that happened on your own.)
After being suddenly recaptured by the &#8220;goon squad,&#8221; post-tampon-sucking incident, Dickey was instructed to hide a piece of paper in his mouth and told not to let &#8220;him&#8221; find it. Who is &#8220;him&#8221;? You&#8217;ll see, sort of.
Dickey was then thrown into the Men&#8217;s restroom, this time where a lovely young woman was &#8220;gnashing her teeth&#8221; (because apparently Dickey was in Hell now) and screaming repeatedly: &#8220;WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?!&#8221; Naturally, she then stripped buck-naked and climbed on top of Dickey.
For good measure, the &#8220;goon squad&#8221; interrupted and suffocated Dickey one last time.
&#8220;Him&#8221; finally shows up and searched for the paper Dickey was instructed to hide in his mouth&#8212;thank God, &#8220;him&#8221; doesn&#8217;t find it.
<blockquote>
He didn&#8217;t find it &#8212; I kept swirling it where his finger wasn&#8217;t &#8212; and suddenly, I was being pushed, if not lifted and carried, very swiftly in one direction, as if I were about to be launched.
</blockquote>
Dickey finally found himself outside of the &#8220;Blackout&#8221; in Park City. Safe.
Just another day at Sundance, I guess&#8230;
Here&#8217;s a &#8220;Blackout&#8221; preview.
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Some Weird, Weird Crap Is Going Down at Sundance. Frighteningly Weird.

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