Latest news with #legalDrama
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Inter Alia review – Rosamund Pike rules in searing legal drama from Prima Facie team
Three years ago, playwright Suzie Miller gave Jodie Comer a career-defining role with her West End debut in Prima Facie. Rosamund Pike's stage CV already has plenty of highs, from Hitchcock Blonde to Hedda Gabler, but her performance in Miller's follow-up play has been keenly anticipated, given that it reunites some of the team that made Prima Facie a smash hit. This is an almost deliberate counterpoint to Prima Facie, in which a defence lawyer, expert at playing the system to demolish rape charges against her clients, is undone by her own experience of sexual assault. Miller wanted to highlight how poorly the law serves victims, and Inter Alia presents the same issue from the flipside with a female judge, determined to make the system more just, whose world is upended by an accusation close to home. Jessica Parks (Pike) is the kind of multi-skilled woman you just know the legal system needs more of. She brings humanity and compassion to her courtroom, employing her soft skills to protect vulnerable witnesses while cutting down cocky male counsel with a tone that can 'cut through tendons and bone'. But she's not just a crown court judge, she's also an expert juggler, in the way that high-achieving women so often need to be. Her career exists 'inter alia' – as Miller puts it, in the cracks of everyone else's lives. All the hallmarks of Justin Martin's pulsating direction are here, from the onstage guitar and drums ratcheting up the tension to Pike's physical, occasionally anarchic performance. She is in constant motion, wearing many different outfits – karaoke queen, sexy wife, Marigold-clad dishwasher and laundrywoman – and Miriam Buether's set combines with Natasha Chivers' lighting to capture the dissolution of boundaries between the courtroom and home. 'You live like you work, everything done at speed,' a friend tells Jessica: it may sound like a badge of honour, but it's also an indictment of the society that requires it of her. The term 'emotional labour' is never used but is certainly present: while Jessica prepares a dinner party for 16, her husband Michael's only responsibility is the cheese. He has it delivered. This is not a solo show: Jamie Glover provides the marital tension as Michael, who has been beaten by his wife to both KC and the bench. Harry, their 18-year-old son, mooches about almost silently, alternating, in Jasper Talbot's portrayal, between sensitive, sulky and comically drunk. But what begin as peripheral figures – to be organised, loved and cared for – are given vital voices of their own as the narrative progresses. Jessica remains the moral and emotional centre: her tragedy unfolds like that of an Ibsen protagonist failed by those around them. As a mother she has done the best she can, both to shield her child from bullies and to raise him true to her feminist beliefs (there's a very funny scene where they have the porn talk). But she can't protect him from social media, or peer pressure or, in the end, himself. As a lawyer turned playwright, Miller's work has an ingrained advocacy – for years, she has used it to argue for social and legal justice. And one of the rare objections to Prima Facie's script – the way its didactic dialogue impinged on the drama – could be upheld here. Determined to give every issue and angle a fair hearing, Inter Alia sheds its nimbleness and wit as it grapples with the serious stuff in its later stages, meaning the pace slows even as the confrontations become more heightened. As the set darkens and Jessica becomes literally lost in the woods, there's a sense that we're all groping, a little blindly, towards an ending, even Pike. But the production remains a searing commentary on the justice system and a purposefully uncomfortable insight into contemporary parenting. Prima Facie remains as relevant as it was three years ago – a UK tour, with a returning Comer, has been announced for 2026 – and this is an ideal companion piece. At the Lyttelton theatre, National Theatre, London, until 13 September. In cinemas from 4 September.
Forbes
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Five Attorneys Discuss Law And Fine Dining In ‘Law And The City'
'Law In The City' is a legal drama starring Lee Jong-suk and Moon Ga-young. Being an attorney in real life is not as glamorous as it is in TV dramas. That's the advice lawyer Ahn Ju-Hyeong gives a new attorney in the k-drama Law In The City. He sees the hapless newcomer trying a dramatic court move that he must have seen on TV. It's overdramatic and pointless. Ju-hyeong should know how unexciting a day in court can be. Ju-hyeong (Lee Jong-suk) has been an associate attorney for almost a decade. What he's learned over the years is that clients can't be trusted. They lie a lot which makes it hard to defend them. He's beyond disillusioned. Still, he's a good worker, meticulous and dedicated. The brightest spot in his day is having lunch with other lawyers who work in the Seokjo-dong district of Seoul. There's talkative Chang-won, played by Kang You-seok; his kind but always late co-worker Moon-jung, plyed by Ryu Hye-young; and the group's capitalist cheerleader Sang-ki, played by Im Seong-jae. Sang-ki runs a restaurant blog called Lawyer's Table. Ju-hyeong's friends tease him about the succession of blind dates he goes on. They wonder why he bothers since he never likes any of the candidates. At least they have each other. These friends meet to eat but also to complain about what's wrong in their lives. Between mountains of cases, they don't really have time to make any significant changes. When another friend stops working in the neighborhood they welcome a new attorney into the fold, the bright and optimistic Kang Hee-ji, played by Moon Ga-young. Hopefully she will fit in. There's only one problem. Hee-ji and Ju-hyeong have met. Also, she's a lot less jaded than they are. Word of warning: don't watch this drama hungry. Since the lawyers meet to try the city's best restaurant, there are plenty of close-ups of their meals and everything looks delicious. Stock up with snacks before tuning in. Law In the City is Lee Jong-suk's first drama in three years. He starred in the 2022 prison drama Big Mouth and before that he appeared in Romance Is A Bonus Book in 2019. Moon Ga-young earned acclaim earlier this year for playing a former gamer in My Dearest Nemesis. Before that she appeared in The Interest of Love, Delightfully Deceitful and True Beauty. Kang You-seok can be seen in Resident Playbook and When Life Gives You Tangerines. Ryu appeared in Gangnam B-Side and can be seen this year in Nice Guy. Baeksang Award-winning actress Yum Hye-ran also plays an important role as Kim Hyung-min, a building owner. Law In The City is directed by Park Seung-woo, who directed Adamas, Kairos and the fantasy drama W: Two Worlds Apart, which also starred Lee Jong-suk. The drama airs on
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Candace Owens calls out Blake Lively over claim she's being subpoenaed into Justin Baldoni legal drama
Conservative commentator Candace Owens has hit back at claims she has become the latest star subpoenaed in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal drama. As Baldoni, 41, plots his next move weeks after his $400million countersuit against Lively, 37, was dismissed, a report emerged alleging Owens, 35, had been ordered to turn over communications with the actor and the Wayfarer parties. Alongside Owens - who has frequently discussed the It Ends With Us legal wrangle on her podcast - it was claimed media personality Perez Hilton and YouTuber Andy Signore had also been subpoenaed after making waves with their 'Blake bashing commentary.' However, Owens has fired back at Lively, denied receiving a subpoena and has sensationally accused the A Simple Favor star's team of 'leaking' the story to TMZ. She exclusively told in a statement: 'Given the fact that I have not received any subpoena yet, I appreciate Blake's team leaking this to TMZ to alert me to it. 'And of course, I have not the slightest idea what I am being subpoenaed for as I knew none of these parties when their respective lawsuits were filed. But stay tuned, and I'll let audiences know on my podcast!' has contacted representatives for Hilton, Lively and Baldoni for comment and has yet to hear back. Popcorned Planet host Signore memorably claimed Lively was 'admitting defeat in a sneaky way' after she dropped her emotional distress claim against Baldoni last month. Last month the theater of battle between Lively and Baldoni narrowed with the announcement that he will not be amending the claims in his $400 million defamation lawsuit. His attorney Bryan Freedman announced that Baldoni would not be amending any of his complaints in the tossed-out lawsuit. In a statement to Freedman said: 'The Court's decision on the motion to dismiss has no effect whatsoever on the truth that there was no harassment nor any smear campaign, and it does not in any way affect our vigorous defense against Ms. Lively's claims. 'Discovery is proceeding and we are confident that we will prevail against these factually baseless accusations,' he continued. 'Instead of revising the existing claims, our clients will be pursuing additional legal options that are available to us.' Despite her initial legal win when Baldoni's lawsuit was dismissed, Lively hasn't been letting up on her own lawsuit, and she recently sent out a bevy of new subpoenas. A spokesman for Lively also responded to the news that Baldoni was stepping back from his failed attempt to countersue her in a statement to 'The Court dismissed the frivolous $400 million Baldoni–Wayfarer lawsuit in its entirety,' they said. 'In the days that followed, Baldoni's lawyer said the judge's decision to dismiss their case was not a big deal as they promised to amend and refile it. As per usual, that was not true,' her spokesperson continued. 'The Court's dismissal of Baldoni's sham lawsuit was a total victory after all.' Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni's lawsuit, but he left the Jane The Virgin star a second opportunity to amend the suit by June 23. However, the judge ruled that he could only amend the allegations 'relevant to the claims of tortious interference with contract and breach of implied covenant.' The 132-page opinion broke down why the allegations in Baldoni's lawsuit were without merit, including the accusation that Lively, her husband and her publicist Leslie Sloane engaged in 'civil extortion.' A statement obtained at the time by from Blake Lively's attorneys read: 'Today's opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloane and The New York Times. 'As we have said from day one, this '$400 million' lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it. 'We look forward to the next round, which is seeking attorneys' fees, treble damages and punitive damages against Baldoni, Sarowitz, Nathan, and the other Wayfarer Parties who perpetrated this abusive litigation.' In a statement obtained by a spokesperson for The New York Times said of the dismissal: 'We are grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit against The New York Times for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting. Judge Lewis J. Limon previously dismissed Baldoni's suit alleging defamation and extortion on the basis that all her allegations were made within privileged court papers; Lively pictured in It Ends With Us 'Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism. We will continue to stand up in court for our journalism and for our journalists when their work comes under attack.' The legal battle between Lively and Baldoni officially erupted last year after rumors of tension between the two, with the actress accusing her co-star of sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign, allegations Baldoni denied. In her lawsuit, Lively named a number of Baldoni's collaborators, including his company Wayfarer Studios, the studio's CEO and financial backer, and PR personnel Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. Baldoni has denied the allegations brought about by Lively, while Lively, Reynolds and Sloane have denied the accusations made in litigation by Baldoni. Baldoni's team has released a website which includes private communications such as text messages that were included in court filings detailing his interactions with the Hollywood power couple over the making of the romantic drama. He claimed in court filings they made efforts to usurp and undermine his input as the director of It Ends with Us. Baldoni's team previously said that the communications shared in court filings on the website makes things clear about the motives of both parties. The website, which is live online at comes amid a spate of high-profile litigation between the collaborators on the film, which was a hit at the box office last August. Lively filed an 80-page civil rights complaint with the California Civil Rights Department against Baldoni on December 20, before officially filing a federal lawsuit on December 31. In her lawsuit, the Gossip Girl alum accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her in multiple ways — including body shaming her — and orchestrating a smear campaign against her to damage her reputation. Baldoni told the court the trio had concocted 'false accusations of sexual harassment' against him. Baldoni and his reps have said in response to the lawsuit that Lively twisted the meaning of text messages and mislead the public about their interactions while making the motion picture. On June 3, revealed Lively dropped a claim of intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress against Baldoni. Baldoni subsequently sued the newspaper for $250 million in a defamation claim over a December 21 story titled '"We Can Bury Anyone": Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine ;' the newspaper has denied the allegations. Since Lively's complaint was filed, Baldoni has faced a number of professional consequences, including a lawsuit from a former publicist ; and being dropped by the agency WME , which also reps Lively and Reynolds. WME has denied claims that Lively and Reynolds leaned on them to release Baldoni from their client roster, according to Variety.
Fox News
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Blake Lively's request to protect Taylor Swift texts in Justin Baldoni legal battle shut down by judge
Taylor Swift continues to be dragged into the legal drama ensuing between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Days after Lively requested a protective order against Baldoni's request to access Lively and Swift's private text messages, Judge Lewis Liman denied the motion on June 18. "A motion or request may be, and in this case often has been, both a legitimate litigation tactic and an attempt to maneuver in the broader court of public opinion," Judge Liman wrote. "Given that Lively has represented that Swift had knowledge of complaints or discussions about the working environment on the film, among other issues, the requests for messages with Swift regarding the film ('It Ends With Us') and this action are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively's harassment and retaliation claims," he added. In a statement to Fox News Digital, a representative for Lively said they will continue to fight against Baldoni's "relentless efforts" to exploit "Swift's popularity." "The Court outright denied the Wayfarer Parties' motion to compel documents from Ms. Lively, who has produced far more documents in this case than the Wayfarer Parties combined. Further, the Court's protective order ruling rests on the Wayfarer Parties' admission that they received nothing from Taylor Swift, which is exactly the opposite of what their 'insider' claimed two weeks ago," the representative stated. "As for the rest, Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties demanded access to Taylor Swift's private communications—despite having already subpoenaed and then withdrawn that subpoena. Baldoni's desire to drag Taylor Swift into this has been constant dating back to August 2024, when the crisis PR firm led by Melissa Nathan included her in their 'Scenario Planning' document (Lively Amended Complaint, Exhibit D), referred to her as a bully, and called for a strategy to influence the 'TS fanbase' (Lively Amended Complaint, ¶214(b))," the representative continued. "We will continue to call out Baldoni's relentless efforts to exploit Ms Swift's popularity, which from day one has been nothing more than a distraction from the serious sexual harassment and retaliation accusations he and the Wayfarer parties are facing." Representatives for Baldoni and Swift did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Swift was subpoenaed as a witness in the Lively-Baldoni dispute, but Baldoni's team has withdrawn the request, Fox News Digital confirmed in May. A source with direct knowledge of the case told Fox News Digital at the time, "When information is voluntarily received, there is no need for subpoenas." After Swift was subpoenaed May 10, a spokesperson for the pop star denied her involvement in the 2024 film "It Ends With Us" aside from the licensing of her song "My Tears Ricochet," which was featured in the movie's trailer and used in one scene. "Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie. She was not involved in any casting or creative decisions. She did not score the film. She never saw an edit or made any notes on the film. She did not even see 'It Ends With Us' until weeks after its public release and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history," Swift's representative told Fox News Digital at the time. WATCH: WHAT IS GOING ON BETWEEN BLAKE LIVELY AND JUSTIN BALDONI? "The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, 'My Tears Ricochet,'" the spokesperson added. "Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift's name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case." Baldoni and Lively's legal fight is scheduled to go to trial before a New York court in March 2026. Fox News Digital's Janelle Ash and Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this post.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Matlock' Production Designer Adam Rowe on How Two Canceled Shows Gave the CBS Hit Its Scale
There are a lot of pleasures to be found on 'Matlock,' the sly CBS update of the old Andy Griffith legal drama that serves as both a reboot of and a commentary on the original series while also going off in completely new directions. As Madeline 'Matty' Matlock, Kathy Bates does the finest work of her career thanks to a premise — she's a wealthy woman working undercover as a struggling widow in a high-priced law firm where she hopes to find and expose the litigator she blames for her daughter's death — that calls upon her to play every emotional note on the scale and give a multi-layered performance in which she's constantly lying both to others and, at times, to herself. The writing on 'Matlock' is some of the cleverest and most entertaining on network television, and Bates is supported by an ace ensemble cast. But the show's secret weapon is its production design, which helps draw the audience into Mattie's psyche while also creating the sense of scale that the Manhattan set drama requires. For production designer Adam Rowe, that scale was the end result of several years of evolution that began two entire series ago. More from IndieWire Everything to Remember from 'Squid Game' Season 1 and 2 How 'Materialists' Finds True Love in New York City Back in 2020, Rowe was the production designer on a medical series called 'Good Sam' that only lasted for one season. 'We built a sprawling medical campus for a cardiology department,' Rowe told IndieWire. 'We had a lot of story to tell, and a lot of characters. I realized, doing that show, that a hospital is like a spaceship, where each room or level is customized to the equipment it's supporting. So through the course of doing that show, we had a lot of modularization with windows that flipped and walls that changed, and we refined the idea of how to use our one or two stages to be many things for seven or eight storylines. When 'Good Sam' was canceled, Rowe was determined to reuse it for both creative and environmental reasons. 'It's one thing to try and save plastic water bottles on shows, or to print less, but it's a whole different thing to recycle steel and glass,' he said. Because the set he had built was so production-friendly, with built-in LED lighting, double doors, and 'hidey-holes' for hair and makeup, Rowe was able to convince the producers of Netflix's 'Glamorous' to repurpose it, turning the hospital of 'Good Sam' into the offices of an upscale makeup company. After 'Glamorous' was canceled during the industry strikes, Rowe once again was left with an impressive set that he couldn't bear to just throw away. 'We had several hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of glass and steel and flooring and copper,' Rowe said. He coordinated with the producers and the art department to have the set shipped to Los Angeles, where he added to it yet again to create the elaborate law offices at the center of 'Matlock.' Rowe says that without the starting point of 'Good Sam' and then 'Glamorous,' he never would have been able to build such an intricate and enormous set for 'Matlock,' but that 'Matlock' benefited from that previous work and built upon it. The scale is important because one of Rowe's main goals on the series is to convey Mattie's point of view through his production design. 'From Mattie's point of view, the city of Manhattan is always growing up and out as the story brings her to different places and different parts of the law,' Rowe said. 'All the building blocks we set up for the hospital are still paying off. It's not just environmentally friendly, but it allows our show to feel as big as it does. If we started from scratch, we wouldn't have had the budget to build as much.' One thing that helps Rowe tell the story from Mattie's perspective is the fact that, like her, he doesn't always know what's coming from week to week. 'I was just as surprised as the audience when I was reading the scripts,' he said. 'It wasn't like I had some kind of inside track. On most shows, you don't always know what's coming.' To that end, Rowe tried to design the sets on 'Matlock' to be flexible and adaptable no matter where the story went. 'When I was working on 'Mad Men' with Dan Bishop, he said that metaphorically you always need a back door,' Rowe said. 'That's why there are so many doors on 'Matlock,' because we never know where the story's going to go. I might need a closet, or I might need a bathroom. Sometimes on the show, we're only allowed to see something like horses with blinders on, then at the end of the episode the blinders move and we see a little more. The scenery has to be adaptable to those writing tricks, and we don't always know what they are.' The fluid nature of the sets on 'Matlock' is part of the fun, and die-hard fans of the show have taken to Reddit and other platforms to dissect the contradictions in continuity that often occur — and which Rowe says are entirely intentional. 'Some shows are really strict with continuity, but we really look at every episode individually,' Rowe said. 'As long as we're not disrupting the audience or dislodging their brains, we follow the story. We've taken labels off the set and removed names from the doors, and we don't tell the audience which floor we're on. The audience can't quite figure it out, and it amplifies the intrigue.' One of the most impressive aspects of Rowe's work — aside from the fact that over the course of the show's first season he has managed to design well over a dozen separate courtrooms, none of which are the same and all of which serve the drama in each particular episode — is that 'Matlock' feels quintessentially New York…yet shoots in Los Angeles. 'Shooting Los Angeles for New York is tough,' Rowe said. 'Our streets are wider, we have different trees, New York is older. Los Angeles does not have the scale. But our location department does a great job of finding little corners and pockets that work.' Rowe felt that the ultimate validation came when paparazzi photos of Kathy Bates on location started making their way around the internet. 'The photos said they were of Kathy Bates in downtown New York, and it made me laugh because those photographs were taken here in L.A.,' Rowe said. Ultimately, Rowe feels that doubling L.A. for New York is less of a problem than it might be because the series is so linked to Mattie's subjective experience. 'New York takes a back seat to what's happening in her life, and that's not a concession to shooting in L.A., I think it's the way the story operates,' Rowe said. 'New York is not as much of a presence as the law firm.' That said, Rowe said that he often tries to reinforce the idea that the law firm exists in Manhattan by expanding the scope whenever possible. Rowe also says that one of the benefits of working on 'Matlock' is that it's a character-driven show anchored by an actor who is genuinely a pleasure to work with. 'I know that a lot of people have passion for Kathy Bates and have loved her for a long time,' Rowe said. 'I just want people to know that she's as wonderful as you possibly could imagine, because you hear celebrity stories…then there's Kathy Bates. For all the people who wonder, 'Is she as awesome as she is on camera?' — the answer is yes.' Best of IndieWire The Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in June, from 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window' to 'Emily the Criminal' All 12 Wes Anderson Movies, Ranked, from 'Bottle Rocket' to 'The Phoenician Scheme' Nightmare Film Shoots: The 38 Most Grueling Films Ever Made, from 'Deliverance' to 'The Wages of Fear'
