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Submit Your Short Film to Corto Condorello 2026
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Exclusive: The second edition of Piccolo America’s premier shorts festival Corto Condorello is seeking submissions through November 6. Nicolas Winding Refn will serve as jury president.
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Crystal Hefner Asks Jessica Biel “Please Reconsider” ‘Playmates’ Role
Nearly a decade after his death, Hugh Hefner‘s widow is expressing her disapproval of a coming-of-age story inspired by her late husband.
Crystal Hefner, who was married to the Playboy founder from 2012 until his death at age 91 in 2017, shared a screenshot of an Instagram DM she sent to Jessica Biel asking her to “please reconsider” starring as Hugh’s fictional wife in Lorraine Nicholson’s Searchlight pic Playmates.
“Please reconsider playing Hugh Hefner’s ‘wife’ if this film intends to romanticize him or the Playboy world,” wrote Crystal in the message. “I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse in that relationship. Many other women have come forward with allegations of rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation as well. There are also deeply troubling concerns involving minors. I hope everyone involved in this film takes the time to listen to the women who lived it before helping Hollywood turn it back into nostalgia.”
Written and directed by Nicholson, and inspired by her childhood friendship with Hugh Hefner’s kids, Playmates is described as an LA-set coming-of-age story following 13-year-old know-it-all Elle (played by Indiana Elle), who considers the Playboy Mansion her second home. During her time at the Mansion, Elle meets Anna (Lily-Rose Depp), one of seven hopefuls vying to be Playmate of the Month. The two form an unlikely friendship and try to help each other get what the other wants most, a magazine cover and a boy.
Crystal added in a post, “Regarding the film, I hope it’s not something that will glorify Hugh Hefner. With women in the leading roles, my hope is that the film ultimately delivers a message of empowerment: that women can find fulfillment, independence, and a sense of self beyond Playboy.”
With Bill Pullman playing Hugh Hefner, we’re told Biel’s character is a fictional role not inspired by any of his three wives.
Since Hugh Hefner’s death in 2017, Crystal has opened up about the toxic environment of the Playboy Mansion and the abuse she said she endured during her time there, with other Playboy models sharing similar experiences in recent years.
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Entertainment
AHS 13: Inside the Coven Reunion
Note: This story contains spoilers from “American Horror Story: 13” Episodes 7-8.
Ding, dong, the baddest witch in town is back! “American Horror Story: 13” finally brought back Former Supreme Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange) for its Avengers-style crossover season, just when the witches needed her the most.
Last we checked in on the Murphyverse’s favorite witch coven they had taken a major loss, after Supreme Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson) was killed by “Hotel” killer James Patrick March (Evan Peters) and his band of historical serial killers — at the order the mysterious Mr. Nas (Paul Anthony Kelly), who appears to be Satan himself collecting sacrificed souls in order to rise and conquer the world.
Just as all hope seemed lost, Fiona and some other fan-favorite friends returned to rally the troops at Miss Robichaux’s Academy. But there’s still a big foe to defeat and lots of mysteries left to unravel. Look below for the highlights from Episodes 7-8 of “American Horror Story: 13.”
Episode 7: “The Baddest Witch of Them All”
The episode kicked off right after Cordelia’s murder, with Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts) bracing the witches for battle. Mallory (Billie Lourd) watched over the Supreme’s body as the other witches hunted down the serial killers in the house — while James played the piano in the background almost the entire installment.
Madison and Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) took on Jeffrey Dahmer (Seth Gabel), and made a meta reference about, of course, tuning into his season of “Monster.” Madison fangirled a bit over the serial killer before he stabbed her unconscious, but Morwenna (Alex Consani) — one of the new witches this season with resurrection powers — healed her with ease. Then they burned Jeffrey alive — or I guess, dead again.
With Cordelia dead, and apparently too far gone to be revived, Madison took the lead during the offensive against the killers. Meanwhile Coco (Leslie Grossman), a witch with the power to detect calories and people’s metabolism first introduced in “Apocalypse,” began to sense a presence burning way too much energy.

Combining Queenie’s voodoo doll powers and Coco’s metabolic powers, the witches teamed up to kill the Zodiac killer — apparently a diabetic — while Madison and Morwenna worked together to try to bring Cordelia back to life. Mallory also sent the Nightstalker back in time to his old neighborhood so he can get beaten to death, and Ophelia (Avantika) promised to keep the secret about her fellow witch’s time-travel powers.
Then as James continued to play, the front door of the Academy opened … It was Fiona! In for a rude awakening at the sight of her dead daughter. But she didn’t stop to mourn, as she immediately started sparring with James — after he finally got up from the piano. He tried to recruit her for Satan’s cause, but Fiona wasn’t brought back by the devil. It was Cordelia’s spell that summoned her back from hell.
She handily turned James’ killer conspirators to her side, and they violently destroyed him. Then she killed them just as easily with her powers. After returning to her daughter’s body, the witch used her powers to bring Cordelia back to life.
“You summoned me and I came,” Fiona told her daughter. There wasn’t much time for pleasantries though, with Fiona telling the witches it’s time to gang together to save the world.
Episode 8: “Hell No”
Back to knotty pine we go! This episode kicked off with a heartwarming reunion between Fiona and Cordelia, reminiscing on how they used to curl up together when Cordelia would get sick as a child.
Fiona told her daughter about her experiences in hell, and how being stuck reliving her memories and mistakes helped her see the error of her past behavior. Cordelia was willing to let it all go, knowing she needed her mother’s strength to help defeat the looming darkness to come. Fiona decided that helping Cordelia develop the strength to become “a Supreme for the ages” would be her penance.
Through a sludgy autopsy and a hidden snake inside one of the killers’ bodies, Cordelia and Fiona deduced that the devil was behind the attack. Which lead Cordelia to descend to hell to find Papa Legba (Orlando Jones) — a friend of the devil’s and gatekeeper of hell — for help.
The visit was less than friendly, as Papa quickly but temporarily blinded Cordelia — an echo to her fate in “Coven” before rising to become Supreme. She lured him out of hell with the knowledge of Fiona having escaped through Cordelia’s spell; she wanted to make a deal to let the knowledge of her spell die with her, in exchange for a way to defeat Satan. But Papa said he couldn’t do that without summoning Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett) into the picture. The twist? One soul must go down to hell in order for another to come up.
Fiona volunteered, flashing back to her long tenure in the “knotty pine” maze. But Cordelia knew that Fiona would be the only person capable of convincing Marie to help their cause; so Queenie ended up making the sacrifice instead. She ended up reuniting with racist torturer Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) down there, as the most annoying customer at the endless customer line at Chubbe’s Fried Chicken — the voodoo witch’s version of hell. Don’t worry though, Queenie got her revenge: deep-frying Delphine’s face and making her taste her own skin.

Back in the land of the living, Marie arrived for another face-off with Fiona. But Papa stopped their reading session quickly, assuring them that white and Black magic must work together to defeat the devil, “or everything you know and love will die.”
Fiona and Marie agreed to a detente, and they officially join forces to defeat the devil. How will they do it? Will the internet survive when Constance and Fiona inevitably end up in the same room? Where is this going with only five episodes left?
See you next week.
“American Horror Story” releases new episodes Thursdays on FX and streams the next day on Hulu.
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