thing that I had been peddling ^ But glamorous excess still suddenly became very desirable,” Paltrow returns to acting reigns, both in his life and on ‘EVERYONE WANTS TO he says. But his investment in in- with a juicy role in Murphy’s The Politician, his first show for BE SEEN. EVERYONE clusion isn’t cynical: it’s rooted The Politician, as the mom Netflix, which might be the Ryan WANTS TO in his own pain, this desire to be- of a scheming teen (Platt) Murphiest show Ryan Murphy B E L OV E D.’ come the head of his own make- has ever made. You want shock- 61 shift family. “I’m being the father ing violence, Machiavellian who says, ‘You’re enough,’ which no one ever said teens, withering one-liners, Gwyneth Paltrow hav- to me,” he says. “I’ll spend hours in negotiations to ing an affair with a horse trainer played by Martina get actors—especially women and minorities—more Navratilova, musical numbers, Munchausen syn- money than they’ve ever had.” Case in point: his col- drome by proxy, and Jessica Lange in gold lamé? laborator Janet Mock, who wrote, produced and di- That might sound like a lot. But it’s also calibrated rected episodes of Pose, recently signed a multimil- for a mass audience—because Murphy’s sensibility lion-dollar deal with Netflix, making her the first trans has become the sensibility of the mainstream. woman with an overall pact at a major media com- “His work is a reflection of his own interests and pany. “He puts a lot of wind beneath the wings of the sensibilities, but it’s broader than that,” says Cindy people he believes in,” says Paulson. “I don’t think Holland, who runs original programming at Netflix. anyone ever did that for Ryan.” “He’s absorbing influences in pop culture to create By bolstering his colleagues, Murphy also these unique collages that appeal to many different benefits—he’s built a community of colleagues who groups.” Critics have rallied behind some of his proj- are fiercely loyal to him. Yet he’s still driven by his ects while dinging others, but he challenges the narra- need to belong and to be valued by the Establishment. tive that certain shows, like his Emmy-sweeping opus “My whole life has been in search of that brass ring, The People v. O.J. Simpson, are more restrained on and now somebody actually thinks I’m worthy as op- purpose. “That show is outrageous!” he says. “John posed to being an aberration?” he says. “People are Travolta’s eyebrows are outrageous! There was a astounded that I still want that. But everyone wants whole makeover episode! I never change.” to be seen. Everyone wants to be loved.” If he is too much, it has proved to be an asset—too much is exactly what people want. “Call me camp,” A few dAys lAter, at a photo shoot in Culver City, Murphy says. “Call me crazy. Call me wild. Call me Murphy stands before shelves lined with two dozen extreme. Call me erratic. The one thing you can’t say hats a stylist has pulled: wide-brimmed chapeaus in is that I don’t try.” He thinks about it for a second and rose and silver, lilac and camel. He ends up not wear- smiles wickedly. “Actually, I don’t care what you call ing any of them. me,” he says. “As long as you call me.”
MICHAEL B. JORDAN IS MORE THAN A HERO Our next great movie star is making Hollywood inclusive—onscreen and off BY KARA BROWN The sTorefronT enTrance of The Under- once he arrives—wearing a blindingly white T-shirt ground Museum, on a busy street in central Los An- and a friendly grin—he can’t get enough. As we walk geles, is easy to miss. Inside, it feels like somebody’s around, he pulls out his phone to make a note about stylish home: there are shelves lined with books, one of the exhibits so he can look it up later. He framed art and baskets of records. The museum was doesn’t exactly fidget, but there’s an anxious energy launched in 2012 with the mission to bring museum- to him even as he sits still on a bench in the spacious quality art to a community—and neighborhood— garden. When he wants to make a point, he leans in that previously had little access to it. Beyoncé has and looks down, concentrating, wanting to get the been spotted, John Legend used the space to launch words right. “I’m a naturally quiet person,” he says. an album, and Barry Jenkins hosted a screening of “Actions speak louder than words.” Moonlight here. For Jordan, it’s easier to inhabit a role than to talk Michael B. Jordan has never been here before, but about it. But there’s a lot to discuss when it comes
FALL ARTS PREVIEW FILM to his next film, Just Mercy, an adaptation of Bryan ^ yet—though Just Mercy’s heroism is expressed JUST MERCY: WARNER BROS.; MCMILLIAN AND STEVENSON: COURTESY EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE; WASHINGTON, COOGLER, JAMES: GETTY IMAGES Stevenson’s best-selling memoir, in which Jordan Jordan and through the filing of legal briefs, not heart-pounding stars as the activist lawyer. Directed by Destin Dan- Foxx, left, star action sequences—it’s a continuation of themes that iel Cretton, the movie chronicles the early days of as Stevenson Jordan has worked with before: humanizing the mis- Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative, as he defended and McMillian, understood and shining a spotlight on inequality. It’s wrongfully incarcerated death-row inmates. Just seen at right why Stevenson trusted Jordan with his story. “Films Mercy premieres at the Toronto International Film after McMillian’s don’t always carry the message of a book in an au- Festival on Sept. 6 before hitting theaters in Decem- release in 1993 thentic way, and that was my anxiety,” Stevenson ber in the thick of awards season. The film, which says. “But I felt like he was sensitive to more chal- Jordan also produced, reveals the ways in which law lenging stories of life in America.” While Jordan says enforcement and the judicial system unfairly target he didn’t previously have a firm opinion on the death and punish people of color, as brought to life by the penalty, as a black man in America—and one whose true story of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an in- father was active in the Black Panther Party and mate set to be executed for a crime he didn’t com- whose uncle was in the Nation of Islam—he under- mit. As Stevenson attempts to clear his name, he un- stands how issues like mass incarceration and unjust covers the racist conspiracy that led to McMillian’s criminalization affect people. “Bryan dedicated his wrongful conviction. “It’s a system that preys on life to criminal-justice reform,” he says. “I wanted to people of color, people who are poor, who are un- get behind that story.” educated,” Jordan says. “When you leave this movie, I want you to question what you think is normal.” That’s why Jordan might be our next and last great movie star: he has the box-office bona fides Jordan got his start in intimate, character-driven and the leading-man good looks, but his movies, for dramas that illuminate stories some viewers might the most part, all say something, even the popcorn sideline, before he turned to blockbusters. And flicks. In a moment when it’s nearly impossible to NEXT UP WITHOUT REMORSE JOURNAL FOR JORDAN FOR MICHAEL Jordan will star in an Denzel Washington will adaptation of Tom B. JORDAN direct Jordan as a soldier Clancy’s 1993 novel, set separated from his family in the Jack Ryan universe during the Iraq War 64 Time September 16, 2019
predict where Hollywood is heading—and who can precedents across the board—other studios, other ‘BUILDING successfully draw in audiences—Jordan is as close as production companies want to get in on the same BRIDGES you can get to a sure thing. For him, this was always wave.” WarnerMedia promised to release an annual IS COOL. the goal. “How you make the most impact is: become report with data about the diversity of its projects, a I WAS the biggest,” he says. “Build your brand so it’s global, gesture of transparency in an often opaque industry. BUILDING so you can attack global issues. Every move matters.” TUNNELS Just Mercy is the first project made under those FOR A Like many movie stars before him, Jordan got new directives, and Jordan hopes it highlights the LONG his start in television. Born in Santa Ana, Calif., continued need for more inclusion in Hollywood. T I M E .’ and raised in Newark, N.J., he worked as an actor “Building bridges is cool,” he says. “I was building on shows like Parenthood, Friday Night Lights and tunnels for a long time. It’s still going to get you to the The Wire, in which he had a small but significant role other side—you’re just not going to see them mov- as the teenage drug dealer Wallace. His performance ing.” In this way, his strategy was different from that in Fruitvale Station as Oscar Grant, an unarmed man of other young voices in Hollywood—particularly killed by a Bay Area police officer, brought him wider young black stars like Issa Rae and Lena Waithe— attention and marked his first collaboration with di- who declared their intentions to disrupt the in- rector Ryan Coogler. The pair next worked together dustry early on. As Jordan has become more out- on a Rocky spin-off, Creed, but with Black Panther, spoken, he wants to collaborate with like-minded Jordan became a household name. His portrayal of colleagues. “What’s the version of it where it’s like, antagonist Erik Killmonger earned him praise for its Donald Glover, Issa, myself, Lena, whatever? That nuance—he was the rare villain with whom many hasn’t been a thing yet,” he says. (He laughs when I viewers actually sided. Black Panther is now the suggest that he just send a group text.) Yet he knows 11th highest-grossing movie of all time and the first Hollywood is always looking to justify its risk aver- superhero film ever to earn a Best Picture nomina- sion. “If that’s a movie, it has to be a sure thing,” he tion at the Oscars. (He’ll team up with Coogler again says. “Because if it’s not, and that opening weekend for a dramatization of the true story of how Atlanta isn’t as impressive, it makes it harder for the next high school teachers participated in a standardized- one—for everyone involved.” test cheating scandal, based on a 2014 article, with a script by Ta-Nehisi Coates.) Jordan is selective about Jordan is a gentLeman: on more than one occa- whom he aligns with professionally: “It was never a money play,” he says. “If I was trying to cash out, sion, he leapt in front of me—really, leapt—to open I probably would have done more movies.” doors, like he was conscious of a certain type of chiv- In 2016 he launched a production company, Out- lier Society, which isn’t unusual for promising young alry, and aware of its effects. But despite his charisma, stars like Jordan. But after Frances McDormand gave a viral acceptance speech in 2018 at the Academy his bigger aspirations are behind the camera. “I see a Awards, highlighting the importance of inclusion riders—contract clauses that can be requested by world where I’m just directing,” he says. “Or maybe actors to ensure that a project’s cast and crew meet certain diversity standards—Jordan wanted this to doing a movie once every two or three years.” Yet be a part of his mission. When he was being courted by Warner Bros. to sign a deal with his company, he the next few years will be busy: Without Remorse asked that any resulting projects meet this standard. WarnerMedia, the studio’s parent company, which is out in 2020, and he’ll star in Journal for Jordan, also owns HBO and Turner, ended up working with Jordan and his team to develop a policy to be used directed by Denzel Washington, who’s emerged as a across projects company-wide, whether they were associated with him or not. “For me, that was the mentor for him. Like Washington, Jordan wants to big first step,” he says. “Hopefully, it’s going to set be a role model for the next generation. “I’m in these group chats with a lot of different actors and young talent,” Jordan says. “Miles Brown is awesome. Caleb McLaughlin’s on his way up too.” He knows that the relationships he’s making will have implications not just for his own career but for the industry as a whole. And with Just Mercy, he’s hoping there’s an impact that reaches far beyond the film’s box-office take. “I want people to feel angry, upset, passionate, sad, inspired and optimistic,” he says, “that you can make a difference.” WRONG ANSWER BLACK LEOPARD, He’ll reteam with longtime RED WOLF collaborator Ryan Coogler His Outlier Society will produce for this film about a standardized-test scandal an adaptation of Marlon James’ best-selling fantasy novel 65
CALENDAR BOOKS TELEVISION From Mr. Rogers on the big screen to Star Wars on the small, FILM the autumn’s most anticipated titles in film, television and books U N B E L I E VA B L E track down his father MAKE IT SCREAM, (Tommy Lee Jones), MAKE IT BURN Sept. 13 who disappeared Based on Pulitzer on a similar mission Leslie Jamison Prize–winning 20 years earlier. Sept. 24 journalism, this These 14 essays miniseries follows a THE WATER cover subjects teen (Kaitlyn Dever) DANCER ranging from the charged with falsely Sri Lankan civil war reporting a rape, Ta-Nehisi Coates to lonely whales, while two detectives Sept. 24 pulling from Jamison’s in another state (Toni experiences to Collette and Merritt In June, the explore questions like Wever) investigate a award-winning “Why do we want what series of assaults that author of we can’t have?” share eerily similar Between the details. (Netflix) World and MIXED-ISH G ODFATHER OF △ Me made a HARLEM GEMINI MAN HUSTLERS powerful Sept. 24 testimony to The black-ish universe Sept. 29 Oct. 11 Sept. 13 Congress on expands with a Oscar winner Forest Brokeback Mountain In 2015, New York reparations prequel set in the Whitaker plays the director Ang Li uses published a story and what is 1980s about young infamous ’60s crime CG visual effects to about strippers who owed to black Bow (played as an boss Bumpy Johnson, pit Will Smith, playing conned Wall Street fat Americans. His adult by Tracee Ellis struggling to an aging government cats. Constance Wu debut novel Ross) when her family retake the assassin, against and Jennifer Lopez examines the moves from a hippie streets of a younger version star in this adaptation country’s racist commune to the Harlem of himself—a clone alongside past through suburbs. (ABC) after his created 25 years ago. Cardi B, the eyes of a release from a former young slave THE DUTCH HOUSE prison. (Epix) CELESTIAL BODIES stripper who makes herself. the dangerous Ann Patchett JOKER Jokha Alharthi decision to Sept. 24 Oct. 4 Oct. 15 RED AT THE BONE escape his In her follow-up Joaquin Phoenix steps Three Omani sisters Virginia to 2016’s into a role played by grapple with love Jacqueline Woodson plantation Commonwealth, Jack Nicholson, Heath and loss as the oil Sept. 17 following a Patchett again Ledger and many industry takes hold The latest adult novel near-death explores the tenuous others for an origin of their country. The from Woodson, author experience. nature of familial story that imagines novel is the first to be of the award-winning bonds. This time, the the villain as an originally published middle-grade memoir story follows a pair of aspiring comedian. in Arabic and win Brown Girl Dreaming, siblings whose lives the Man Booker traces the impact of are upended when B AT W O M A N International Prize. an unplanned teenage their father remarries. pregnancy on three Oct. 6 OLIVE, AGAIN generations of a black JUDY Orange Is the New American family. Black star Ruby Rose Elizabeth Strout Sept. 27 will play television’s Oct. 15 AD ASTRA Renée Zellweger plays first openly lesbian A new set of a struggling Judy superhero in a series interlinking stories Sept. 20 Garland, decades that expands the DC welcomes readers A space engineer after The Wizard of Oz, Comics small-screen back to Crosby, (Brad Pitt) ventures who takes on a run of repertoire. (The CW) Maine, the home of to the outer edges of London performances retired schoolteacher the solar system to that would turn out to be among her last. HUSTLERS: ST X; GEMINI MAN: PARAMOUNT; GODFATHER OF HARLEM: EPIX; THE MORNING SHOW: APPLE; QUEEN & SLIM: UNIVERSAL; A BE AUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: SONY
Olive Kitteridge, (Scarlett Johansson) THE IRISHMAN the protagonist of is hiding a Jewish girl Strout’s Pulitzer- in their home. Nov. 1 winning 2008 novel. Martin Scorsese In them, she forges directs Robert De Niro connections with a (for the ninth time) cast of characters, alongside Al Pacino both new and old, from and Joe Pesci in the a grieving teen to an story of the hit man overwhelmed lawyer. Frank Sheeran, who was rumored to LOOKING FOR FIND ME have carried out the QUEEN & SLIM ALASKA infamous mob hit André Aciman of Teamster leader Nov. 27 Oct. 18 Oct. 29 Jimmy Hoffa. The duo behind Following the success This modern-day Bonnie and Clyde The O.C. and Gossip of the 2017 movie IN THE DREAM story from writer Lena Waithe follows Girl adapts this adaptation of Call Me HOUSE a man and a woman (Daniel Kaluuya young-adult novel by Your Name, this and Jodie Turner-Smith) whose by John Green (The sequel picks up years Carmen Maria first date turns disastrous when a Fault in Our Stars), after the central pair Machado traffic stop leads to the death of an about a teen who first met, with Elio in Nov. 5 aggressive white cop. The pair takes falls for a mysterious Paris as Oliver, back in Each chapter of this off, becoming wanted enemies to classmate named America, considers a memoir from the 2017 some and folk heroes to others. Alaska Young. (Hulu) trip to Europe. National Book Award finalist is guided by FROZEN 2 Tom Hanks slipping JOJO RABBIT HARRIET a specific narrative into his red sweater trope—the haunted Nov. 22 and genial charm. Oct. 18 Nov. 1 house, the unreliable Disney’s sequel Writer-director Taika Cynthia Erivo plays the narrator—to explore to the smash hit HIS DARK Waititi’s dark comedy legendary abolitionist her experiences in an 2013 animated film M AT E R I A L S features the filmmaker Harriet Tubman, who abusive relationship finds Anna (Kristen as a bumbling Adolf escaped from slavery with another woman. Bell), Elsa (Idina TBA Hitler, an imaginary and went on to help Menzel) and their HBO is ready to fill friend to a member of free hundreds of THE anthropomorphic the Game of Thrones– the Nazi Youth during slaves through the MANDALORIAN friends traveling north size hole in your World War II who Underground Railroad. to search for the heart: the network discovers his mother Nov. 12 source of ice queen has teamed with the Disney launches its Elsa’s magic. BBC to adapt Philip streaming service with Pullman’s beloved the first live-action ▷ fantasy novels about a Star Wars TV series, A BEAUTIFUL girl caught in a battle in which Game of DAY IN THE between religious Thrones’ Pedro Pascal NEIGHBORHOOD zealots and scientists. plays a gunfighter who THE MORNING SHOW operates at the outer Nov. 22 edges of the galaxy. Just over half TBA (Disney+) a century after Mr. Rogers’ Co-Producers Reese Witherspoon and CHARLIE’S TV show Jennifer Aniston star alongside Steve ANGELS debuted, this Carell in this series about behind-the- drama inspired scenes drama and gender dynamics at Nov. 15 by a 1998 a morning news show. (Apple TV+) Elizabeth Banks Esquire directs this new profile sees addition to the franchise that began with a late-’70s TV series and lots of feathered hair. Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska play the formidable trio.
6 Questions Gina Rippon The British cognitive researcher on why male and female brains aren’t so different, explored in her book Gender and Our Brains Apopular notion has it that a ‘EXPERIENCES A lot of parents work hard to raise human being’s most impor- DRIVE BRAIN their kids without strict gender differ- tant sex organ is the brain. ARCHITECTURE. IT’S A BIT LIKE ences. Can that compete with the gen- You say it’s our behavior that’s dif- TREES THAT GROW der messages in the culture at large? ferent; our brains are strikingly simi- ’ON WINDY PLAINS Children are tiny social sponges, and it lar. Why? This goes all the way back to starts early. Little boys quickly pick up Charles Darwin, who said that women the fact that they shouldn’t cry—that JAMES WALLER are inferior because they have inferior if they want to be on the football team, brains and therefore they do not have then, in British terms, stiff upper lip. Is the right to assume a powerful role in that what you’d call it in America? society. But the bottom line is there is no consistent pattern or structure “Suck it up” is what we’d say. It’s a little which reliably characterizes the brain so more vulgar. Yeah, but telling, actually. that we could say, “O.K., that’s a female brain and that’s a male brain.” If we can’t lay gender differences off But we don’t have to be talking about on brain structure, surely hormones play a role, don’t they? They’re ob- inferior or superior brains—just dif- viously powerful, yes, but they’re re- ferent brains. Absolutely. Some crit- sponsive to the social environment. ics have called people like myself sex- Testosterone, for example, is not the difference deniers, like climate deniers. one-directional driver people say it is. There are sex differences that we should The father of a newborn baby who is the pay attention to, but the power that’s at- primary caregiver of the baby will have tributed to biology is what needs chal- a much lower testosterone level than the lenging. We have to pay more attention father who is not the primary caregiver. to how our experiences drive our brain architecture. It’s a bit like trees that Rightly or wrongly, much has been grow on windy plains. Their biologi- cal drivers make them grow upward, written about women’s empathy and but the winds make them twist or grow branches on only one side. collegiality and how the world would Is this what you mean by the “pink be more peaceful if there were more and blue tsunami” you write about female heads of state. Do you agree? in your book? Yes, and it starts early. I think the best way forward would be There was a BBC program called No gender irrelevance. If good leaders need More Boys and Girls, and they to be empathic, networking, collegial, showed a classroom with a blue then let’s encourage that. If good lead- cupboard for the boys’ coats and ers need to be assertive, thick-skinned, a pink cupboard for the girls’, and able to make rapid decisions, let’s en- no one knew why. It suggests that courage that too. there’s something so important about your sex that you have to You spend little time in your book on hang your coat somewhere else. transgender people. How come? You’re open about the fact that I don’t do research in that area, and I think you need to be a genuine au- you hate gender-reveal parties. I’ve called them jaw-droppingly thority. I’ve been contacted by trans- awful. Twenty weeks before chil- gender males or females who ask, dren even arrive, people are already “Can you put me in a scanner and stressing about how important it is prove my brain is male or female?” to be a boy or a girl. I say, I’m sorry, there isn’t any such thing. I can’t say your brain is all 68 Time September 16, 2019 pinks or blues. In fact, I wanted to call my book Fifty Shades of Gray Matter. —Jeffrey Kluger
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