On today's episode, Variety's Haley Kluge and Jennifer Dorn discuss how they produce Variety’s amazing Power of Women visuals year after year. And Marc Malkin brings us updates on "disgusting" things happening on Season 2 of “The Pitt” in a Red Carpet Rundown with stars Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My apple pie's here.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am a cart of apple pie and ice cream
being delivered right now.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
No, that is nothing missed up.
Speaker 4 (00:10):
I should have warmed up before I did this interview.
Speaker 5 (00:13):
I don't know I'd be singing.
Speaker 6 (00:14):
We wanted to play it the dynamic like Fred Sanford
and esther On Sanford and Son and just had a
ball doing it. I missed additional sitcoms.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Wednesday, October twenty ninth,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm
in LA. He's in New York, and Vriety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. It's Power
of Women Day. This is Variety's super Bowl World Series
(00:56):
and NBA Finals all rolled into one. We're so excited
to celebrate five great stars tonight at our annual event
in Beverly Hills. We'll also be in the company of
ninety plus incredible women from the industry we love, who
were featured on this year's Women's Impact Report on today's episode,
we'll hear from two Variety superstars. Hailey Klugi and Jennifer
(01:17):
Dorn are dynamic duo of art and photography. They'll talk
about how they deliver varieties amazing power of women visuals
year after year. And Mark Malkin brings us an update
on season two of The Pit. He's got a just
for Variety red carpet rundown with Noah Wiley and Katherine Lenasa.
But before we get to that, here are a few
headlines just in that you need to know. Five trillion.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
That's their record setting market cap reached this morning by
AI chip maker Nvidia. Wall Street continues to swoon for
AI companies. It didn't hurt that CEO Jensen Hwang recently
said that the company is expecting five hundred billion dollars
worth of orders for its chips. The litigation between doctor
Phil when the creditors of his Merritt Street Media venture
(02:02):
has taken another turn. A bankruptcy judge has ordered the
company to go full Chapter seven liquidation in its proceedings,
no Chapter eleven reorganization for you, Phil McGraw. He is
not surprisingly planning to appeal the decision. My colleague Todd
Spangler has done a great job following this complicated process.
There's a thaw in the chilly relationship between Netflix and
(02:23):
AMC Theaters. AMC has agreed to book K Pop Demon
Hunters in three hundred venues as Netflix re releases the
animated musical Smash over Halloween weekend. The world's largest cinema
chain typically refuses to schedule movies from Netflix because the
two companies don't agree on the length of time that
a film should remain exclusively on the big screen. But
(02:43):
clearly the potential for K Pop Demon Hunters to turn
out the coin at the turnstiles this weekend was too
enticing for AMC to turn down. A lion of our industry,
John Malone has formally stepped down as chairman of Liberty
Media and Liberty Global. It's a big milestone for his companies.
But does Darth Vader really hang up his cape? Somehow?
I think his influence will still be felt. All of
(03:06):
these stories and so much more can be found on
Variety dot com. Right now, now we turn to conversations
with Friday journalists about news and trends in show business. Today.
We're joined by Hailey Klugi Variety's creative director and Jennifer Dorn,
Variety's visual director. They discuss how they game out the
(03:27):
multiple Power of Women covers every year. These are covers
that always shout a thousand words. Hailey Klugi, Variety's creative
director and Jennifer Dorn, Variety's visual director. Thank you both
for joining me. I appreciate you giving me your time
at the end of one of your longest processes for
creating the incredible photography and art direction and design that
(03:51):
really distinguishes Variety in our contemporary era. And nowhere do
we show off your great work more than in our
twice yearly Power of Women franchise, where we not satisfied
to have one cover, we have five covers. From the
visual and the artistic perspective, You too, are the drivers.
(04:12):
These five covers all have a theme. The wardrobe choices
and the visuals are meant for these covers to be
looked at as a tableau as opposed to an individual cover.
So there's a lot of work that goes on behind
the scenes to make them so gorgeous and suitable for
blowing up huge and putting in department store windows, as
we have done in the past, and it's just a
(04:34):
really moment of pride for variety.
Speaker 7 (04:36):
Every group of honorees has their own personality. And I
do try to use the same photographer for all of
the covers, which sometimes can be challenging with logistics, but
this time our photographer Sammy Dason, and we were using
one location in Los Angeles, so it made it easy.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Hayley, what would you say are the particular challenges of
doing this times five for Power Women?
Speaker 8 (05:00):
Biggest difference for Power of Women versus a traditional standalone
cover is were you looking at them in like a
holistic sense? Right? How are these five working together? So
in the past, we've had Power of Women in Nashville,
and our through line was that we wanted everyone to
have like their version of concert sheet, and that was
the through line. Or we did a Power of Women
(05:22):
New York where we shot them all in studio and
then they were all in black, so like leaning into
the New York all black uniform. So for this particular
group of women, we really wanted to lean into the
location of it all and that was kind of our
through line. So when I start to look at what
do these covers look like from a design perspective. I
(05:44):
inherit really wonderful photography that Jennifer produces, and then my
version becomes how are these posters? How are these pieces
of art? And certain respects And in this case we
really linked into kind of the architectural pieces of the hotel.
It's a really strong type or typeface that we're using,
(06:04):
grading a Gothic that really leans into the architecture. Because
the photography and the wardrobe is so feminine and soft
and beautiful. And to pair that with the strength of
what these women represent and also the strength of the
hotel as well, was fun. Always a fun pace to do.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Okay, I'm going to test myself here. I'm going with
no notes here in front of me. This year's honoree
are Jamie Lee Curtis, Kate Hudson, Nicole Scherzinger, Sidney Sweeney,
and Wanda Sykes. Folks, while you're listening, go to writea
dot com and gaze at these gorgeous photos. They are
not wearing the same outfit, but there is a sense
of a theme. How do you communicate that to the
(06:45):
people that are being photographed.
Speaker 7 (06:47):
I will try to come up with a few sentences
and I send the same group of sentences to every
single person, and then I will elaborate on that because
everybody reads the same thing differently.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Right, very subjective.
Speaker 7 (07:01):
Typically we do not get all of the honorees at once.
It's an evolution in terms of booking this. In this case,
we photographed Sidney and Nicole first, so I knew what
they were wearing, and as a result of that, I
knew what colors they had on. So when photographed the
other three honorees, I specifically referenced, please do not wear yellow.
(07:25):
So it can evolve over.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Time, Hailey. In conceiving the cover, we have five different covers,
since every variety cover has that big, beautiful masthead. I
love that flying via I always will. But within that
there's a lot of play and the particular poses that
you obviously take numerous setups and you have some choices,
what if you found are the keys to getting that
across In the cover, we.
Speaker 8 (07:47):
Do shoot these women in multiple different setups, so we
get to play this fun matching game where we have
a beat and C for each woman and then we say, well,
be from this pair or from this shoot looks great
with a from this one, and we get to look
at it as this mix and match puzzle to find
that right configuration for the five of them. The thing
(08:10):
about Power of Women covers that's so special is that
we get to really rely on the strength of the
photography and go very minimal elsewhere. We have a logo
and we have their names and Power of Women, and
that's really the three pieces of it. But there's no
additional cover lines or decks. It's a very minimal cover.
(08:30):
And then for the inside of the design, similarly, we've
got a great group of designers here on our staff.
In the same way that Jennifer hires a female photographer,
I also have my female designers work on this package
as well, and so we get to look at it
the covers as posters, and then the inside also a
continuation of that story based on the type, the colors,
(08:53):
all those sorts of fun elements and bring this package
together for all of them.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I don't know how you topped yourselves. Every year.
Speaker 7 (09:00):
Somebody's photographed all the time. You know, there's a lot
of trust. They come, they show up, they have their
photo taken, and then they leave and then they probably
cross their fingers that we're going to do right by them.
I take that seriously, and I know Heley does too,
so it's nice to see it all come together.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I can't wait for the two of you to see
your handiwork writ large. I really do love it. We
blow up all the covers big and it makes it
really feel like an event, and we are celebrating these
folks for the right reasons. They're all associated with charities.
It's a very big effort, and I am very happy
to shed some light for listeners on two of the
(09:37):
key women here that make this thing happen. It is
incredible work and we deeply, deeply appreciate it.
Speaker 8 (09:45):
Hi Prie.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Now let's hear directly from a few Variety's Power of
Women on a Rees. Here's some fun clips from Sydney Sweeney,
Nicole Scherzinger, and Wanda Sykes. You heard short quips from
those three at the start of this episode. We'll start
with Sweeney discussing how she's using her star power for
good when it comes to producing.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
When I'm involved as a producer on projects, I think
that for me, at least, the environment just I feel
more immersed in it.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I know everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I have a deeper connection and relationship to people, and
I just want to make sure everybody's having a really
good time. I try to create activities for everybody, and
I love when people feel like a family when they're
working together.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Now, Sweeney recalls her work in the twenty twenty three
feature film Reality, about nsa whistleblower Reality winner, and that's
followed by her memories of the warm environment on The
Handmaid's Tale. Despite the brutality of the storyline, I.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Had to memorize so many lines for Reality. I think
that my brain doesn't remember a single thing that I said.
That movie was so intense because it was the actual
transcript from the interrogation, and so we had everything precisely
the same the whole movie in sixteen days, and we
were filming like ten to fifteen pages of just pure dialogue,
(11:09):
every single diy on site of Handmaid's Tale.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It was like they were playing Taylor Swift all the time.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
We were singing dance.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
It was such a good vibe, and I remember beinking, Oh,
this like this is how such should be, Like this
is just so much fun. Everybody's friends, the crew is incredible.
It was a really good environment.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Now we'll hear from Wanda Sykes on how the Chris
Rock Show kick started her TV career, and she reflects
on the process of writing for comedy.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
Specials that was not just on the Chris Rock Show.
I was a writer on a Chris Rock show. I
started there. Then all the writers we just started ended
up casting ourselves in bits or a writer would.
Speaker 9 (11:47):
Go, hey, I want you to do this bit.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
We just used each other because we would write bits
and cast them. But then it was like we had
a crew, and you know, the producer was like, hey,
we have like five hour I was left with the crew.
You guys got anything.
Speaker 9 (12:02):
We was like, yeah, let's do this, and we would
just do it ourselves.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
And that's how it kind of started us getting in
front of the camera when people right, they go they
just named the character Wanda, and they want me.
Speaker 9 (12:15):
Yeah, I know, okay, they want me. They're looking for me.
I could do this. This is easy.
Speaker 6 (12:34):
Writing a special is a long process. You take the
material out, work on it, you see what works, what
doesn't work, and of course something big will happen in
the world, and then then you throw that out and
then you start writing towards what's going on. So it's
the fine line of trying to be current but also
making it.
Speaker 9 (12:52):
Big enough where it'll it'll hold up.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
I am working on a new special I am and
hopefully i'll shoot it next year.
Speaker 9 (13:00):
Top of next year.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
I test my jokes out on stage in front of
the audience. You'll lose friends if you become that comic
where you just, you know, running your material by them
all the time, or trying to sneak a joke in.
And like comics, we called each other out on it.
Did you just try a joke out on me? You know?
But I do have a couple of comic friends where
I can say, hey, let me ask you about this.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
And here comes Nicole Scherzinger with memories of how she
learned to roar when she was a member of the
Pussycat Dolls girl group. After that, she dishes about how
she came to own the song right there.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
How did I become the lead singer of the Pussycuddles.
Robin Anton used to say, there's a pussy Cat Doll
on everyone. There was an actual audition, they saw a
gazillion girls. I came in at the eleventh hour. I
was the very last person for them to see and
it was just because I heard it through the Grapevine
(13:56):
and I showed up at the record planned and they
didn't even want to see me. They had no time
for me because they were in their callbackstages. I walked
into this ginormous recording studio and they were like, you
can stop right there. What do you want to saying?
And I just sang a cappella an original song and
then they're like can you dance? And out of nowhere,
like I just whipped out a CD from my armpit,
(14:17):
I was like hit.
Speaker 7 (14:18):
I felt like I.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Had a top hat on and I wrote I unleashed,
and I was wearing like of course it and everything
and ready to go. Because I have a theatrical background.
I played Vell Mkelly in college, so I just like
had my fishnets on and I had my corset on
and so it's a lot of years of hard work
that got me. But it was just the pussy cat
dolls unleashed, the doll.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Inside of me. I'm really grateful because I don't think
a lot of people know this, but they sent that
song to Innerscope for Mary J.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Blige.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
She passed on it and I said, can I sing
it please? I remember I listened to it. I drove
up really late from the studio. One night, I was
in my driveway GOTOS two in the morning and I
just listened to it on repeat in my car in
the dark, and I just felt like, Oh, this song
just like speaks to my spirit, my soul. It's read
(15:10):
keep it right there. I love the way you got
it right there here. Oh oh oh e eh oh.
Speaker 7 (15:18):
I like the way that you hold up body.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Now watch your mouth out.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
I like it dirty.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Now here's a Just for Variety red carpet rundown with
Mark Malcolm. There's a lot of disgusting things happening in
season two of The Pit.
Speaker 10 (15:36):
He's learned thanks Cynthia. The cast of The Pit is
teasing season two. Star and executive producer No Wiley tells
me that they've completed ten of the upcoming seasons fifteen episodes.
I'm really proud of the season. We've obviously said a
very hard by ourselves. We're competing with our own shadow. Now.
I caught up with Wiley and co star Katherine lanassa
(15:57):
Sunday at the Rape Treatment Center and STU Houses Annual Brunch.
Season two is set over fourth of July weekend. Our
prosthetic team has been working over time where you're gonna
be in for some treats.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
It's fourth of July week and Americans heard themselves and
all Serzo is.
Speaker 10 (16:12):
The NASA said just reading the scripts could prove difficult.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Thoroughly disgusting, thoroughly thoroughly disgusting, disturbing, heartbreak, gag news. This
is what we do every day at the pet For more.
Speaker 10 (16:23):
Of my interviews with Wiley and l NASA, check out
my column Just for Variety at Variety dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
we're watching for. The fortieth Annual Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame Induction Ceremony airs live November eighth on Disney Plus.
Highlights from the ceremony will air January first on ABC
and head to Hulu the following day. This year's inductees
include Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outcast, Soundgarden,
(16:49):
and The White Stripes. Before we Go, congrats to Daniel Radcliffe.
He's heading back to Broadway as the star of the
solo play Every Brilliant Thing. It opens March twelfth for
thirteen week engagement at the Hudson Theater. Thanks for listening.
This episode was written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton,
with contributions from Hailey Cology, Jennifer Dorn, and Mark Malcolm
(17:10):
Stick Snicks hick Picks. Please leave us a review at
the podcast platform of your choice, and please tune in
tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety and godspeed to
the Dodgers for Game five tonight.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Winning the Tony this year has been more than a
dream come true and answered prayer. I want to write
my own musical and show, and I want to do
more on world tours, a movie musical as well. There's
so many things that I want to do, get my
music out there and continue to try to leave my
imprint and make a difference in this world.
My apple pie's here.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am a cart of apple pie and ice cream
being delivered right now.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
No, that is nothing missed up.
Speaker 4 (00:10):
I should have warmed up before I did this interview.
Speaker 5 (00:13):
I don't know I'd be singing.
Speaker 6 (00:14):
We wanted to play it the dynamic like Fred Sanford
and esther On Sanford and Son and just had a
ball doing it. I missed additional sitcoms.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Wednesday, October twenty ninth,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm
in LA. He's in New York, and Vriety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. It's Power
of Women Day. This is Variety's super Bowl World Series
(00:56):
and NBA Finals all rolled into one. We're so excited
to celebrate five great stars tonight at our annual event
in Beverly Hills. We'll also be in the company of
ninety plus incredible women from the industry we love, who
were featured on this year's Women's Impact Report on today's episode,
we'll hear from two Variety superstars. Hailey Klugi and Jennifer
(01:17):
Dorn are dynamic duo of art and photography. They'll talk
about how they deliver varieties amazing power of women visuals
year after year. And Mark Malkin brings us an update
on season two of The Pit. He's got a just
for Variety red carpet rundown with Noah Wiley and Katherine Lenasa.
But before we get to that, here are a few
headlines just in that you need to know. Five trillion.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
That's their record setting market cap reached this morning by
AI chip maker Nvidia. Wall Street continues to swoon for
AI companies. It didn't hurt that CEO Jensen Hwang recently
said that the company is expecting five hundred billion dollars
worth of orders for its chips. The litigation between doctor
Phil when the creditors of his Merritt Street Media venture
(02:02):
has taken another turn. A bankruptcy judge has ordered the
company to go full Chapter seven liquidation in its proceedings,
no Chapter eleven reorganization for you, Phil McGraw. He is
not surprisingly planning to appeal the decision. My colleague Todd
Spangler has done a great job following this complicated process.
There's a thaw in the chilly relationship between Netflix and
(02:23):
AMC Theaters. AMC has agreed to book K Pop Demon
Hunters in three hundred venues as Netflix re releases the
animated musical Smash over Halloween weekend. The world's largest cinema
chain typically refuses to schedule movies from Netflix because the
two companies don't agree on the length of time that
a film should remain exclusively on the big screen. But
(02:43):
clearly the potential for K Pop Demon Hunters to turn
out the coin at the turnstiles this weekend was too
enticing for AMC to turn down. A lion of our industry,
John Malone has formally stepped down as chairman of Liberty
Media and Liberty Global. It's a big milestone for his companies.
But does Darth Vader really hang up his cape? Somehow?
I think his influence will still be felt. All of
(03:06):
these stories and so much more can be found on
Variety dot com. Right now, now we turn to conversations
with Friday journalists about news and trends in show business. Today.
We're joined by Hailey Klugi Variety's creative director and Jennifer Dorn,
Variety's visual director. They discuss how they game out the
(03:27):
multiple Power of Women covers every year. These are covers
that always shout a thousand words. Hailey Klugi, Variety's creative
director and Jennifer Dorn, Variety's visual director. Thank you both
for joining me. I appreciate you giving me your time
at the end of one of your longest processes for
creating the incredible photography and art direction and design that
(03:51):
really distinguishes Variety in our contemporary era. And nowhere do
we show off your great work more than in our
twice yearly Power of Women franchise, where we not satisfied
to have one cover, we have five covers. From the
visual and the artistic perspective, You too, are the drivers.
(04:12):
These five covers all have a theme. The wardrobe choices
and the visuals are meant for these covers to be
looked at as a tableau as opposed to an individual cover.
So there's a lot of work that goes on behind
the scenes to make them so gorgeous and suitable for
blowing up huge and putting in department store windows, as
we have done in the past, and it's just a
(04:34):
really moment of pride for variety.
Speaker 7 (04:36):
Every group of honorees has their own personality. And I
do try to use the same photographer for all of
the covers, which sometimes can be challenging with logistics, but
this time our photographer Sammy Dason, and we were using
one location in Los Angeles, so it made it easy.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Hayley, what would you say are the particular challenges of
doing this times five for Power Women?
Speaker 8 (05:00):
Biggest difference for Power of Women versus a traditional standalone
cover is were you looking at them in like a
holistic sense? Right? How are these five working together? So
in the past, we've had Power of Women in Nashville,
and our through line was that we wanted everyone to
have like their version of concert sheet, and that was
the through line. Or we did a Power of Women
(05:22):
New York where we shot them all in studio and
then they were all in black, so like leaning into
the New York all black uniform. So for this particular
group of women, we really wanted to lean into the
location of it all and that was kind of our
through line. So when I start to look at what
do these covers look like from a design perspective. I
(05:44):
inherit really wonderful photography that Jennifer produces, and then my
version becomes how are these posters? How are these pieces
of art? And certain respects And in this case we
really linked into kind of the architectural pieces of the hotel.
It's a really strong type or typeface that we're using,
(06:04):
grading a Gothic that really leans into the architecture. Because
the photography and the wardrobe is so feminine and soft
and beautiful. And to pair that with the strength of
what these women represent and also the strength of the
hotel as well, was fun. Always a fun pace to do.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Okay, I'm going to test myself here. I'm going with
no notes here in front of me. This year's honoree
are Jamie Lee Curtis, Kate Hudson, Nicole Scherzinger, Sidney Sweeney,
and Wanda Sykes. Folks, while you're listening, go to writea
dot com and gaze at these gorgeous photos. They are
not wearing the same outfit, but there is a sense
of a theme. How do you communicate that to the
(06:45):
people that are being photographed.
Speaker 7 (06:47):
I will try to come up with a few sentences
and I send the same group of sentences to every
single person, and then I will elaborate on that because
everybody reads the same thing differently.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Right, very subjective.
Speaker 7 (07:01):
Typically we do not get all of the honorees at once.
It's an evolution in terms of booking this. In this case,
we photographed Sidney and Nicole first, so I knew what
they were wearing, and as a result of that, I
knew what colors they had on. So when photographed the
other three honorees, I specifically referenced, please do not wear yellow.
(07:25):
So it can evolve over.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Time, Hailey. In conceiving the cover, we have five different covers,
since every variety cover has that big, beautiful masthead. I
love that flying via I always will. But within that
there's a lot of play and the particular poses that
you obviously take numerous setups and you have some choices,
what if you found are the keys to getting that
across In the cover, we.
Speaker 8 (07:47):
Do shoot these women in multiple different setups, so we
get to play this fun matching game where we have
a beat and C for each woman and then we say, well,
be from this pair or from this shoot looks great
with a from this one, and we get to look
at it as this mix and match puzzle to find
that right configuration for the five of them. The thing
(08:10):
about Power of Women covers that's so special is that
we get to really rely on the strength of the
photography and go very minimal elsewhere. We have a logo
and we have their names and Power of Women, and
that's really the three pieces of it. But there's no
additional cover lines or decks. It's a very minimal cover.
(08:30):
And then for the inside of the design, similarly, we've
got a great group of designers here on our staff.
In the same way that Jennifer hires a female photographer,
I also have my female designers work on this package
as well, and so we get to look at it
the covers as posters, and then the inside also a
continuation of that story based on the type, the colors,
(08:53):
all those sorts of fun elements and bring this package
together for all of them.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I don't know how you topped yourselves. Every year.
Speaker 7 (09:00):
Somebody's photographed all the time. You know, there's a lot
of trust. They come, they show up, they have their
photo taken, and then they leave and then they probably
cross their fingers that we're going to do right by them.
I take that seriously, and I know Heley does too,
so it's nice to see it all come together.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I can't wait for the two of you to see
your handiwork writ large. I really do love it. We
blow up all the covers big and it makes it
really feel like an event, and we are celebrating these
folks for the right reasons. They're all associated with charities.
It's a very big effort, and I am very happy
to shed some light for listeners on two of the
(09:37):
key women here that make this thing happen. It is
incredible work and we deeply, deeply appreciate it.
Speaker 8 (09:45):
Hi Prie.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Now let's hear directly from a few Variety's Power of
Women on a Rees. Here's some fun clips from Sydney Sweeney,
Nicole Scherzinger, and Wanda Sykes. You heard short quips from
those three at the start of this episode. We'll start
with Sweeney discussing how she's using her star power for
good when it comes to producing.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
When I'm involved as a producer on projects, I think
that for me, at least, the environment just I feel
more immersed in it.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I know everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I have a deeper connection and relationship to people, and
I just want to make sure everybody's having a really
good time. I try to create activities for everybody, and
I love when people feel like a family when they're
working together.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Now, Sweeney recalls her work in the twenty twenty three
feature film Reality, about nsa whistleblower Reality winner, and that's
followed by her memories of the warm environment on The
Handmaid's Tale. Despite the brutality of the storyline, I.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Had to memorize so many lines for Reality. I think
that my brain doesn't remember a single thing that I said.
That movie was so intense because it was the actual
transcript from the interrogation, and so we had everything precisely
the same the whole movie in sixteen days, and we
were filming like ten to fifteen pages of just pure dialogue,
(11:09):
every single diy on site of Handmaid's Tale.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It was like they were playing Taylor Swift all the time.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
We were singing dance.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
It was such a good vibe, and I remember beinking, Oh,
this like this is how such should be, Like this
is just so much fun. Everybody's friends, the crew is incredible.
It was a really good environment.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Now we'll hear from Wanda Sykes on how the Chris
Rock Show kick started her TV career, and she reflects
on the process of writing for comedy.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
Specials that was not just on the Chris Rock Show.
I was a writer on a Chris Rock show. I
started there. Then all the writers we just started ended
up casting ourselves in bits or a writer would.
Speaker 9 (11:47):
Go, hey, I want you to do this bit.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
We just used each other because we would write bits
and cast them. But then it was like we had
a crew, and you know, the producer was like, hey,
we have like five hour I was left with the crew.
You guys got anything.
Speaker 9 (12:02):
We was like, yeah, let's do this, and we would
just do it ourselves.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
And that's how it kind of started us getting in
front of the camera when people right, they go they
just named the character Wanda, and they want me.
Speaker 9 (12:15):
Yeah, I know, okay, they want me. They're looking for me.
I could do this. This is easy.
Speaker 6 (12:34):
Writing a special is a long process. You take the
material out, work on it, you see what works, what
doesn't work, and of course something big will happen in
the world, and then then you throw that out and
then you start writing towards what's going on. So it's
the fine line of trying to be current but also
making it.
Speaker 9 (12:52):
Big enough where it'll it'll hold up.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
I am working on a new special I am and
hopefully i'll shoot it next year.
Speaker 9 (13:00):
Top of next year.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
I test my jokes out on stage in front of
the audience. You'll lose friends if you become that comic
where you just, you know, running your material by them
all the time, or trying to sneak a joke in.
And like comics, we called each other out on it.
Did you just try a joke out on me? You know?
But I do have a couple of comic friends where
I can say, hey, let me ask you about this.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
And here comes Nicole Scherzinger with memories of how she
learned to roar when she was a member of the
Pussycat Dolls girl group. After that, she dishes about how
she came to own the song right there.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
How did I become the lead singer of the Pussycuddles.
Robin Anton used to say, there's a pussy Cat Doll
on everyone. There was an actual audition, they saw a
gazillion girls. I came in at the eleventh hour. I
was the very last person for them to see and
it was just because I heard it through the Grapevine
(13:56):
and I showed up at the record planned and they
didn't even want to see me. They had no time
for me because they were in their callbackstages. I walked
into this ginormous recording studio and they were like, you
can stop right there. What do you want to saying?
And I just sang a cappella an original song and
then they're like can you dance? And out of nowhere,
like I just whipped out a CD from my armpit,
(14:17):
I was like hit.
Speaker 7 (14:18):
I felt like I.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Had a top hat on and I wrote I unleashed,
and I was wearing like of course it and everything
and ready to go. Because I have a theatrical background.
I played Vell Mkelly in college, so I just like
had my fishnets on and I had my corset on
and so it's a lot of years of hard work
that got me. But it was just the pussy cat
dolls unleashed, the doll.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Inside of me. I'm really grateful because I don't think
a lot of people know this, but they sent that
song to Innerscope for Mary J.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Blige.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
She passed on it and I said, can I sing
it please? I remember I listened to it. I drove
up really late from the studio. One night, I was
in my driveway GOTOS two in the morning and I
just listened to it on repeat in my car in
the dark, and I just felt like, Oh, this song
just like speaks to my spirit, my soul. It's read
(15:10):
keep it right there. I love the way you got
it right there here. Oh oh oh e eh oh.
Speaker 7 (15:18):
I like the way that you hold up body.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Now watch your mouth out.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
I like it dirty.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Now here's a Just for Variety red carpet rundown with
Mark Malcolm. There's a lot of disgusting things happening in
season two of The Pit.
Speaker 10 (15:36):
He's learned thanks Cynthia. The cast of The Pit is
teasing season two. Star and executive producer No Wiley tells
me that they've completed ten of the upcoming seasons fifteen episodes.
I'm really proud of the season. We've obviously said a
very hard by ourselves. We're competing with our own shadow. Now.
I caught up with Wiley and co star Katherine lanassa
(15:57):
Sunday at the Rape Treatment Center and STU Houses Annual Brunch.
Season two is set over fourth of July weekend. Our
prosthetic team has been working over time where you're gonna
be in for some treats.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
It's fourth of July week and Americans heard themselves and
all Serzo is.
Speaker 10 (16:12):
The NASA said just reading the scripts could prove difficult.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Thoroughly disgusting, thoroughly thoroughly disgusting, disturbing, heartbreak, gag news. This
is what we do every day at the pet For more.
Speaker 10 (16:23):
Of my interviews with Wiley and l NASA, check out
my column Just for Variety at Variety dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
we're watching for. The fortieth Annual Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame Induction Ceremony airs live November eighth on Disney Plus.
Highlights from the ceremony will air January first on ABC
and head to Hulu the following day. This year's inductees
include Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outcast, Soundgarden,
(16:49):
and The White Stripes. Before we Go, congrats to Daniel Radcliffe.
He's heading back to Broadway as the star of the
solo play Every Brilliant Thing. It opens March twelfth for
thirteen week engagement at the Hudson Theater. Thanks for listening.
This episode was written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton,
with contributions from Hailey Cology, Jennifer Dorn, and Mark Malcolm
(17:10):
Stick Snicks hick Picks. Please leave us a review at
the podcast platform of your choice, and please tune in
tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety and godspeed to
the Dodgers for Game five tonight.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Winning the Tony this year has been more than a
dream come true and answered prayer. I want to write
my own musical and show, and I want to do
more on world tours, a movie musical as well. There's
so many things that I want to do, get my
music out there and continue to try to leave my
imprint and make a difference in this world.
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