movies
Atsuko Okatsuka Talks Lucille Ball, Hulu’s ‘Father,’ Learning To Trust Herself
Atsuko Okatsuka presents as someone who knows exactly who she is and has no trouble expressing it. But in truth, it’s taken the comic some time to come around to this place.
These days, she travels the world selling hundreds of thousands of tickets — an artist whose appeal knows no borders. But it was only within the last five or so years that she embarked on her touring career in earnest.
Okatsuka hints at her unusual trajectory in Father, her sophomore special released on Hulu last summer, which is being put up for awards consideration this year.
Calling herself a “late bloomer,” Okatsuka was burn in Taiwan, spent her early years in Japan, and came to Los Angeles as a result of being kidnapped by a grandmother with whom she’s very close. After seeing her parents divorce early in life, she moved into a garage with her grandmother and schizophrenic mother — an undocumented immigrant living an otherwise ordinary adolescent life.
During her teen years in Los Angeles, Okatsuka recalls walking by the El Capitan Theatre and marveling at the beauty of a venue where her family couldn’t afford to buy movie tickets.
“I didn’t dare to dream big as a kid when I didn’t have the right papers to even work here,” Okatsuka says in today’s episode of Comedy Means Business. “I didn’t think I could work here or go to college or get a driver’s license.”
Little did she know that with Father, she’d become the first female comedian to headline the historic L.A. venue.
Given that there wasn’t exposure to art in Okatsuka’s home growing up, she first came to awareness of stand-up via a church friend, first dabbling in it via Craigslist class “Pretty Funny Women.” Drawn from the outset to Lucille Ball and other artists of a bygone age, she leaned into physicality in her comedy, finding that an asset as someone who only began learning English, as her third language, when she moved to the U.S.
Okatsuka’s life has had its share of ups and downs — as many serious, emotionally loaded moments as upbeat ones. But in her act, she takes things in stride.
“For me, silliness is so number one. [It’s] so important for me to process things to entertain people,” she says. “So even when I’m writing about a topic or a story that might be, on paper, tragic, I’m always looking for the weird. I’m like, ‘Okay, what’s the absurd in this?’”
Okatsuka drills into that ethos in today’s podcast, going deep on the crafting of her latest hour, her “full-circle moment” at the El Capitan and journey in comedy, her worst fear as a performer, and more. Over the course of the hour, she also discusses performing at the ocean and to the trees in her backyard, her appreciation of recent performances from Justin Bieber that prove “it’s ok to go small,” and more.
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movies
‘Icebreaker’ TV Show Adaptation News & Updates: Everything We Know
Another hockey book adaptation has entered the chat.
Netflix is currently building out its cast for the series adaptation of Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book that kicks off the Maple Hill series. This in addition to their show The Sticks that is also currently in the works.
For everything we know about Netflix’s Icebreaker book adaptation so far, read on.
When will Netflix’s Icebreaker series adaptation come out?
A release date has not yet been set. The show has begun to assemble its cast.
Who will lead the Icebreaker show at Netflix?
Daisy Jelley (Poser, How To Have Sex) will portray Anastasia “Stassie” Allen, and Connor Simos (Subversion) will portray Nate Hawkins in the college hockey drama series.
Who else is in the cast of Netflix’s Icebreaker adaptation?
Gabriel Tierney (Rivals, Enola Holmes 2), Auliʻi Cravalho (Moana), newcomer and professional athlete Peter Berry, Chaneil Kular (Best of the Best, Sex Education), Devin Craig (Sex Lives of College Girls, Maize) and Aidan Shaw (We Were Liars, Heated Rivalry, Finding Her Edge) have joined the ensemble cast.
Tierney will play Aaron; Cravalho will portray Lola; Berry is Robbie; Kular will play JJ; Craig will portray Henry and Shaw is Russ.
What is Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book about?
Stassie is a transfer athlete gunning for Olympic gold. Nate is the campus star chasing the NHL. When an accident forces their teams to share one rink, Anastasia Allen and Nate Hawkins collide—and discipline gives way to obsession, because the only thing more dangerous than wanting to win is wanting each other.
Who else is behind Netflix’s Icebreaker series?
Jade Halley Bartlett (Road House, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Miller’s Girl) created and executive produced the series. Amanda Lasher (Gossip Girl, The Bold Type, Togetherness) serves as showrunner, writer and excutive producer. Grace also executive produces along with Alex Cooper, Matt Kaplan and Mina Lefevre for Cooper’s Unwell Productions.
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movies
Cindy Holland Leaving Paramount Ahead Of WBD Merger
One of the biggest executive questions about Paramount following its pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — who will lead streaming — may have been answered.
Cindy Holland is leaving Paramount where she was Chairman of Direct-To-Consumer since the Skydance-Paramount merger having served as an advisor to Skydance CEO David Ellison prior to that. She announced her departure in a company memo, which you can read below.
The move leaves HBO’s Casey Bloys as the likely streaming head of the combined Paramount-WBD.
“Cindy is one of the most exceptional executives in our industry — a force of nature whose impact on Paramount over the past year has been significant,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said. “Under her leadership, P+ reached new heights, Pluto TV underwent its most significant transformation in a decade, and we strengthened our content and sports portfolio – all while the business exceeded the ambitious goals we set. Just as importantly, she built an exceptional team and a strong foundation for the future. Cindy has been a trusted partner to me and so many others, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her leadership, her relentless drive and everything she’s done for our company.”
Here is Holland’s memo:
When I joined David’s team in January 2025, we proceeded to set three goals: i) advise on the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, ii) integrate and transform Paramount+ & revive Pluto TV, and iii) build an unparalleled team in this industry. In just over 12 months, I’m proud to say we accomplished all three and it’s been a joy to work closely with all of you.
Together with the Product team, we drove significant strategic and organizational change across DTC — building a new foundation for growth on both services, while investing in greater depth and breadth of programming and delivering strong revenue, profit, and subscriber growth for the division.
As David readies for the next phase of his vision, we’ve discussed my role and the future of the combined businesses. David is optimizing for HBO stability as we move into this next chapter, and I fully support that. I know this team has the leadership and expertise to manage through the transition and the next phase of the company, and to this end today will mark my last day here.
As I reflect on my time here and all that we’ve built together in this short time, what stands out most to me is this team. I have never been more proud of a group of people. What we’ve accomplished together is remarkable — landing quarter after quarter while navigating extraordinary uncertainty and change with resilience, focus and ambition. We grew Paramount+ to an all-time subscriber high, delivered the best retention in the service’s history, and drove double-digit growth in both engagement and revenue. We built an extraordinary content pipeline, greenlighting more than 40 new and returning series and setting all-time records with Landman, the most-watched series in Paramount+ history, and Dutton Ranch, the service’s biggest original series debut ever. We transformed live sports into a powerful streaming growth engine, securing landmark agreements with UFC and Zuffa Boxing and expanding our WNBA and UEFA Champions League rights – with UFC Freedom 250 becoming the largest-ever audience for an exclusive live event on Paramount+ and UFC 329 setting a new platform record for peak concurrent streams for an exclusive live event. And we undertook Pluto TV’s biggest product transformation in a decade, dramatically increasing registered viewing and VOD consumption while delivering strong financial performance across the business. These are extraordinary accomplishments – but what makes me proudest is how we achieved them: together, with an unwavering commitment to our audiences, our creative partners and one another.
I joined Paramount because I believe in these businesses, and because I believe wholeheartedly that the combination of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery serves the best interests of artists and audiences worldwide. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all accomplish together in this next, momentous chapter.
Cindy
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movies
New ‘South Park’ Takes On Data Centers And The Billionaires Who Build Them
While President Trump was holding a press conference at the White House this morning and extolling the AI-related work of Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, a promo for tomorrow night’s South Park episode dropped. It was less salutary.
Here’s the logline for Episode 6 of Season 29: “Butters is unhappy with the data centers that the billionaires are building in our backyards.”
The clip opens with an X-Pest exterminator guy ringing the doorbell at Butters’ home.
“I understand you’ve got some billionaires in your back yard,” he says.
“Yeah, there’s more of these stupid billionaires every day!” replies Butters.
The first image from the episode (see it above) shows Butters in what appears to be his back yard with the X-Pest exterminator guy, who has strapped on his tank of poison and has his sprayer wand at the ready.
The topic of data centers is a hot one across the country and especially in Hollywood, where unions and workers worry about job displacement and writers and directors express concern over what it might do to their art.
Among the biggest players in the data center land rush is, of course, Oracle CEO and Paramount-WBD deal financier Larry Ellison. South Park airs on Comedy Central, which is owned by Paramount. As in the past, the show’s creators are seemingly not afraid to bite the hand that feeds them.
Mark Ruffalo and others have decried the introduction of “really profoundly scary technology” into Hollywood and how AI might impact media outlets soon to be owned by Ellison and his son David.
“Larry is a classic Oligarch,” wrote Ruffalo. “They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.”
Paramount, for its part, responded by accusing Ruffalo of using “antisemitic tropes” in his argument, especially when linking the Ellisons’ studio acquisition to Oracle’s work with the Israeli military.
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