Latest news with #MisterRomantic
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Afternoon Briefing: Marines moved into Los Angeles amid protests
Good afternoon, Chicago. Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan arrived today at the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago for his historic sentencing in a long-running corruption case that shook the state's political world to the core. Madigan, 83, who for years was widely hailed as the most powerful politician in the state, gave a slight smile as he strode past a horde of television news cameras with his lawyers and family members without comment. Carrying a briefcase and umbrella, he then headed to the 12th-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey. The hearing is expected to last two hours or more. Check back at for updates. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History A lot of attention has been given to the Sox since the fandom of Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, for the South Side baseball team was revealed. But religious women from local orders have frequented Sox games for decades. Read more here. More top news stories: An immigrant in Wisconsin has been released on bond after false accusation he threatened Trump Crestwood fire officials suspect natural gas was cause of deadly house explosion President Donald Trump's administration this week provided deportation officials with personal data — including the immigration status — on millions of Medicaid enrollees, a move that could make it easier to locate people as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown. Read more here. More top business stories: Air India survivor Vishwaskumar Ramesh recalls harrowing moment the plane went down Massive Google Cloud outage disrupts popular internet services Andrew Vaughn, the No. 3 pick in the 2019 draft, had been a prominent component of the Sox lineup since arriving in the majors in 2021. But he got off to a slow start this season and the Sox optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte on May 23. Read more here. More top sports stories: As Chicago Bears separate for summer, Ben Johnson will stay dialed in — and connected with QB Caleb Williams NASCAR's first Cup Series race outside the US hits travel snags to Mexico City Juneteenth is more than just a holiday. It's a celebration of freedom, community and the rich tapestry of Black culture that continues to shape Chicago and the rest of the country. Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: John C. Reilly will bring his show 'Mister Romantic' to Steppenwolf this fall Amy Morton is back on stage in 'You Will Get Sick' at Steppenwolf Theatre. What took her so long? After a week of tense protests over the federal immigration raids, about 200 Marines have moved into Los Angeles and will protect federal property and personnel, a military commander said. Read more here. More top stories from around the world: Air raid sirens sound across Israel following an Iranian missile attack on the country Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, shows up for Sean 'Diddy' Combs' trial but can't get in
Chicago Tribune
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
John C. Reilly will bring his show ‘Mister Romantic' to Steppenwolf this fall
The actor John C. Reilly will appear in September at Steppenwolf Theatre, the Chicago-based theater company said Thursday night. The Chicago-born, DePaul University-educated actor-singer will bring his vaudeville-style show 'Mister Romantic' to the famed theater in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on Sept. 13-14. The booking is part of an ad hoc tour for the respected artist, who gained fame in such movies as 'Chicago,' 'Boogie Nights' and 'Magnolia.' In 'Mister Romantic,' which plays in New York this week and heads to London in the fall, Reilly and his band perform American musical standards in what is described as 'an experience of love, laughter, and longing.'
The Guardian
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Chaps frame the buttocks in a beautiful way': John C Reilly on Magnolia, moving into music – and his nice bum
Your roles fluctuate wildly between the serious and silly. Does one necessitate the other? vammypI've always thought it's all the same. You just try to be as honest as you can, and if you're being honest in absurd circumstances then you're in a comedy. It's not like I try to be funny or serious – just honest. If you're watching someone play a bad guy and there's nothing about the performance that makes you feel for the person or understand them in a deeper way, that's a fail to me. Because the truth of life is that at a funeral someone always cracks a joke. There's something so rich about being able to laugh at a funeral. That is what life is to me: all those grey areas, these contradictory things. I'm impressed and baffled by this left turn with Mister Romantic [Reilly's vaudevillian crooner alter ego]. How did you come up with the character? Why did you pick out the songs that you did? steve__bayley I made the musical Chicago years ago and played this character Mister Cellophane, and it reawakened my love of musical theatre. In particular, my love of the vaudeville performance style: very presentational, trying to connect with the audience and not aloof in any way. I love performing like that. I wanted to sing all those songs, but I was also looking at the world and I thought: man, things are getting pretty unkind and divisive out there. So I created Mister Romantic. He has no memory of the past and so that puts the show live, in the moment. The whole mission is to create empathy and connection and to explore ideas of love. Who were your main inspirations for this album? EddieHaskellRespect must be paid to the real musical inspirations, such as Harry Nilsson, Irving Berlin, Tom Waits and Nat King Cole. I'm not saying I'm as good as them by any means, but what those people did was they fell in love with a song and said: this is a beautiful thing, I'm going to share it with the world. I feel part of that lineage. If you really love a song, it can't be set in amber by one performer; it has to be given life. It's a little nervy of me, I admit, to try to reinterpret these songs after they've been done so beautifully by other people. But life is for living and we have to keep renewing these things if they have meaning for us. Big fan here. Also a big fan of Tom Waits. Do you think Mister Romantic could be persuaded to record an album of Waits covers, à la Scarlett Johansson? TheManWithoutFearI love that Scarlett Johansson did that. I guess Mister Romantic could do an entire album of Tom Waits songs, but I think it's more likely that I would. I literally refer to Tom as Saint Tom. He's a big influence in my life. Not only musically, but also as a performer – his ethos, the way he treats performance and the way he carries himself. I came upon him when I was 18 and he changed my life. I love the way he interprets characters. I've had the luck to meet him a couple of times. Once, he was getting ready to do a movie and he said: 'Can you hook me up with an acting teacher?' I was like: Tom, with all due respect, you're one of the greatest living storytellers, what could anyone tell you about acting? But I set him up with Patrick Murphy, my first acting teacher and closest friend, and they met in Sacramento and went to the zoo and talked about character and looked at animals. I thought you really captured the frailty and humanity of Oliver Hardy perfectly in Stan & Ollie. What kind of research did you do to prepare for the role? Which Hardy performance is your favourite and why? brucevayne1000 I have trouble picking favourites, but I love Brats. It really inspired my absurd sense of comedy. In a weird way, I'd been preparing to play that role my whole life since watching the films on repeat as a child. Oliver Hardy has been a lifelong inspiration and is one of the greatest clowns who ever lived. But one of the great tragedies about him is that he was a beautiful singer, a really incredible tenor, and yet when you look for recordings of him singing there's only about three or four and they're all tied to movies. That's a real shame and I don't want that to happen to me. If people like my singing, I want them to be able to hear me express myself. What compliment still makes you smile? ashtyndsSomeone told me I had a nice butt. I was wearing chaps at the time, which have a way of framing the buttocks in a beautiful way. I have a hard time receiving compliments, actually. I don't live in a place of narcissistic wonder. I live in a place of wishing I was better most of the time or seeing my shortcomings. It's good for an artist to keep their ego in check as much as they can. What is it like to be in a film that just doesn't work or doesn't find an audience? covskyEvery film is like a prayer and it's a miracle when they work. Even if you make the perfect piece of art, it can still trip over itself at the box office if it's not the moment in the zeitgeist when people want that story. I try not to get too caught up in the immediate success or failure of things. If you've made something you're proud of, that is success. I've not always felt that way – there were box office disappointments that were devastating – but I've learned things can be unexpectedly successful or unsuccessful. In the end, what you carry with you is your personal experience. Yesterday's reviews are recycling. I'm convinced that Dr Steve Brule [the parodic public TV host played by Reilly between 2007 and 2016] is one of the most extraordinary characters ever. Nobody could bring that character to life like you. My question – did you really drink the water from the marina? Was that your idea? papalzalewdSteve definitely drank water from the marina. I was executive producer on that show, so I can't speak to Steve's experience. You'd have to check with him, but I'm not sure I would take his advice on everything as a doctor. I'm not even sure what kind of doctor he is. Someone told me once that his mother actually named him 'Dr Steve Brule' – that his middle name is Steve and he is not a medical doctor. I'm so proud to be involved with that show and I'm delighted that people love it. I love it as much as they do. Did Magnolia [Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 ensemble drama] simply belong to a special time? Can a film in a similar style happen again? Why are most films so formulaic, without any of that movie's surprises or spontaneity? julian6 I don't agree with the underlying sentiment. You could have said the same thing about Badlands: no one makes movies like that any more. But that's the job of the artist – to push on no matter what it seems like you're allowed to make. That's certainly what Paul Thomas Anderson did with Magnolia. I won't go into it, because he's a private person, but almost everything in that movie has some personal connection to him. Things come in waves: capitalism and the marketplace get the upper hand, but then humanity has this need for stories and honesty in art and it comes back around. Don't let yourself get too depressed about the way things are. There have definitely been moments in the last few years, especially with the current state of the movie business, when I've felt just like this reader. I went to Cannes film festival a couple years ago, really feeling dejected, like: that's it, the streamers have taken over, the movie business is dead. But then you watch these movies from all over the world, Mongolia or Sudan, and you realise: oh no, it's alive and well. This art form is never going to die, because it still works. You just have to seek it out. If you're worried that there aren't more things you like out there, then you have to make sure you show up for the things you do. Because that's what's gonna keep them alive. What's Not to Love? by Mister Romantic is released on 13 June on Reilly's label Eternal Magic Recordings
New York Times
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
As Mister Romantic, John C. Reilly Just Wants to Spread Love
John C. Reilly has been a staple of Paul Thomas Anderson's films, starred in serious and satirical biopics, made a legend of a man-child stepbrother, and was nominated for an Oscar in 2003 for his haunting turn as Amos — 'Mister Cellophane' — in 'Chicago.' But the character closest to him just might be a know-nothing who emerges, openhearted and singing, from a box. For the past three years, Reilly, 60, has performed as Mister Romantic, a retro crooner who just wants to find everlasting love. A vaudeville-esque act of his own creation with mostly American songbook numbers — 'What'll I Do,' 'Dream' — and a backing band, it's a quasi-improvised set that has him interacting with the audience in a way that's sometimes wryly funny, sometimes tender and sad, but always sincere. Connection, of any kind, is the point. After a series of sold-out shows in Los Angeles, Reilly is taking his persona on the road, to Cafe Carlyle starting Wednesday. And he is releasing a concept album, 'What's Not to Love?,' his renditions of classics and more, on Friday. His alter ego's origins are deep-seated. 'I've been a romantic person my whole life,' Reilly said. 'My mother would play these standards on the player piano at our house, and I would sing along.' It was 'Mister Cellophane' that reawakened in him, he said, an appreciation for a bygone era of theatricality. He finished shooting the HBO series 'Winning Time,' about the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, on a Friday, 'and on Monday night, I had my first Mister Romantic show,' he said. 'I was like, oh, I just want to get out onstage and express myself.' Image John C. Reilly's Mister Romantic project includes a cabaret show and a new album, 'What's Not to Love?' Mister Romantic at work. Reilly's Oscar-nominated role in 'Chicago' reawakened a love of theatricality. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Post your questions for John C Reilly
John C Reilly is the master actor who brought comic idiocy to Step Brothers, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and more, as well as dramatic performances for directors including Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson and Jacques Audiard. Now, as he makes a foray into vaudevillian music as Mister Romantic, he will be answering your questions. Reilly's screen career stretches back to 1988 with the rather inauspicious role of Thug in Bar in Steven Seagal thriller Above the Law, but by the early 1990s he was in the thick of starry ensembles in Days of Thunder, Hoffa, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and The River Wild. An early lead role came in Anderson's directorial debut, Hard Eight, one of numerous films the pair would eventually make together including Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Licorice Pizza. Channelling an endearing dopey naivety, he became one of the 00s best-loved comic actors in collaborations with Will Ferrell, and Walk Hard, a brilliant lampooning of music biopics. He's added zing to megabucks blockbusters such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Kong: Skull Island; been in premium indie fare such as We Need to Talk About Kevin, Carnage and The Lobster; and was the voice of a new-school Disney hero, Wreck-It Ralph. In 2022 Reilly began a musical stage show under the name Mister Romantic, with songs about the titular character's search for love: 'I looked at our weary world a few years ago and tried to think of a way I could spread love and empathy,' he said. 'I decided the most fun way to do that was through performing and singing and telling people I loved them.' He has now recorded the songs – previously performed by Tom Waits, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford and more – and interweaved them with 'cinematic audio' for an album release on 13 June. Ahead of its release, Reilly will answer your questions about his foray into music, as well as his screen career. Post them in the comments before 7pm BST on Wednesday 28 May, and his answers will be published online and in the Film & Music print section on 13 June.
