Seven celebrity tidbits for dog days of summer
We’re in it: the dog days of summer. With days that feel stickier than an airport Cinnabon, and a restlessness that the season invariably brings, my thoughts have been all over the place.
So, here is some pop-cultural tic-tactoe: seven things on my mind. Feel free to clip and steal — it might make conversational fodder at your next BBQ or patio schmooze. 1. Downton’s crowning glory Crank up the gramophone! The Downton Abbey movie is a-go, as you may have heard. Officially announced last week, the big-screen continuation of the beloved TV serial has gone into production. But what — and how? Well, since the timeline of the series ended in 1925, and the movie is expected to pick up soon after, it occurs to me that the show might be rubbing up against The Crown territory, with the arrival of Princess Elizabeth. The future queen was born in 1926, after all, and everyone — including the royalists of Downton Abbey — would undoubtedly be up on the news.
Beyond the zigs and zags of the Crawley clan, however — clearly, the Dowager Countess is destined to live until she’s 150 — what has long intrigued me is the late-blooming triumph of its creator, Julian Fellowes. Here is someone who toiled for some three decades as a minor character actor before even- tually cracking fame by nabbing an Oscar for screenwriting — for the film Gosford Park, which acted as both an inspiration for Downton Abbey, and something of a prequel — and then becoming a true player, in his 60s, with the ascent of his show.
A multitasker of the greatest order since — he’s written novels, dabbled with the stage, has another show in incubation — the British wiz turns 70 next year, coinciding neatly with the new movie.
2. Separated at rebirth? So, about Justin Bieber’s engagement to Hailey Baldwin, daughter of that one Baldwin brother who is both a bornagain and big-time Trump supporter? No doubt, some of you have thoughts. My main one is this: Can someone come up with an app I can use to distinguish between Hailey and Justin? A Shazam for face-recognition? These two look so much alike it supports a micro-theory I have that couples who look like one another are more likely to wed. (There’s actually some science behind this — it’s calling “genetic assortative mating.” Look it up, darlings!)
3. Screen diversions With TV being a bottomless well these days, as well as a year-round affair (the idea of “seasons” is now almost moot), here’s something I’m pretty into: Killing Eve (which begins its run in Canada, on the Bravo network, July 22, and for which Sandra Oh just became the first Asian woman to get Emmy-nominated for Lead Actress in a Drama Series). My verdict: It’s like John le Carré meets Dexter, but with two trippy female leads, and a dash of Tarantino-esque flair.
Something else: the second season of The Bold Type, which often gets marketed as mere millennial candy, but manages to be aspirational and frothy, but also daringly on-it in terms of issues, both social and technological. The worthiest contender to Sex and the City since SATC? Possibly.
Finally: I’ve gotten into the weirdly earnest and mesmerizing Japanese reality show Terrace House on Netflix. It’s like the un- Real World, and a pretty distinct lens into a whole other culture.
4. Model home in Muskoka She’s baaaaaaack: Closer to home, Cindy Crawford has been spotted doing the party circuit on Lake Joseph with her husband, Rande Gerber. Thought you should know. The Muskoka regulars were recently seen at the dockside #HartCycle fundraiser to end human trafficking. With the whole family in Canada, Cindy’s daughter, Kaia Gerber — an emerging supermodel in her own right — has also been eye-spied doing some paddleboarding.
5. Know his name Staying close to Toronto, possibly you’ve noticed the gauzy, curvaceous pavilion going up on King St. near Portland? Called Unzipped, it’s a remount of the art installation levelled by starchitect Bjarke Ingels at the Serpentine Galleries in London — an architectural folly unveiled every summer during its big-deal Serpentine Gala. Now that it’s being reassembled here in Canada by Allied and Westbank — on a plot of land where they’re building a complex by Ingels — it bears mentioning that this is the guy who was dubbed “the first great architect of the Youtube Generation” in a sweeping New Yorker profile. Moreover, the 43-year-old’s oeuvre is one that has, thus far, included the new Google headquarters in California, and the Two World Trade Center skyscraper in Manhattan.
Most importantly, here is probably the most essential bit of info you need to know about him, if you’re planning to name-drop him to friends: his first name is pronounced Byar-kay.
6. Read his book Because you know I’m always good for a book rec, here’s one: The Italian Teacher, by Canada’s Tom Rachman. Having risen to fame with his The Imperfectionists a few years back, this new one is full emotional voyage — centred on a character who is the son of a mega-celebrated artist. Starts in the Dolce Vita era in Rome, shifts to Toronto in the 1970s, and then floats between London, New York and the South of France. Finely attuned to both the serendipities and catch-22s of a life, it’s about family, loyalty and authenticity. Sharp specks of satire, too.
7. Mark your calendars Who’s ready for Madonna to turn 60? Well ... you have a few weeks to mentally prepare. The original shapeshifter hits that milestone on Aug. 16! With pop culture still reeking of her influence, as a piece in the Guardian recently put it, the Material Girl’s greatest achievement may just be her sheer survival. “Of her era of superstars (Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince), she’s the last one left standing...”