Say what you will about Barbara Walters, the woman knows a ratings gold mine when she sees one.
After the firestorm of controversy that erupted over The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck's criticism of Erin Andrews' outfits on Dancing With the Stars, insiders are now saying it was Walters, not Hasselbeck, who demanded that Hasselback's apology happen on air.
"What sources are telling me is that Barbara made her apologize publicly. Barbara was smart enough to say, 'You need to go on camera, you need to say sorry,' and I fear — you know, Barbara is a smart, smart lady — I fear this is about ratings. The ratings are going to go through the roof," PopEater columnist Rob Shuter said.
And as the former publicist for drama-inclined stars like Paris Hilton and Naomi Campbell, Shuter knows a publicity stunt when he sees it.
Lara Spencer of The Insider added that the other hosts weren't caught by surprise by the comment because any views or topics for the day's show are discussed beforehand in the makeup room. "Actually I have a source, very close, who was in the room that day, who said that for sure they all knew that Elisabeth was going to come out and say that. So I think the big brouhaha is over Erin's reaction and the public's reaction to it."
Who else is Hasselbeck talking to behind the scenes? Shuter says none other then her friend from the 2008 campaign trail, Sarah Palin.
"The one person I was told that she called for some advice was her good friend Sarah Palin," Shuter continued, though he wrote there is no word on what the former vice presidential candidate said about the situation.
Describing the new movie Pillionis almost an act of futility. It contains a variety of seemingly disparate parts that coalesce into a whole to make it utterly fascinating. Few other recent films have been able to walk the line between filthy and wholesome in quite the way this one does, and that’s only because few other filmmakers would actually dare to try.
It centers on Colin (Harry Melling), a meek man in his mid-thirties who still lives at home with his parents, Pete (Douglas Hodge) and Peggy (Lesley Sharp), while working a dead-end job giving out parking tickets. While performing in a barbershop quartet at his local pub, Colin catches the eye of biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), who summons him for a clandestine hook-up the following day (which just so happens to be Christmas Day).
With barely a word exchanged between them, Ray establishes a dominance over Colin that quickly leads to them starting a relationship in which Colin does anything Ray asks. And that means more than just sex: Colin, whether desperate for any kind of affection or unlocking a side of himself he hadn’t known, readily agrees to cook, clean, shop, and basically do whatever else Ray wants him to do.
Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Harry Lighton, the film is astonishing in the way it’s able to mine humor from Colin and Ray’s atypical bond. To call Ray “unfeeling” might not be totally accurate, but the way he treats Colin borders on cruel. However, the way Lighton structures the film, it’s easy to understand why someone like Colin would be willing to go along with the situation. It’s both hilarious and heartbreaking to see Colin debase himself in a variety of ways.
On the flip side is Colin’s heartfelt arc with his parents. It’s established right away that Peggy, who is sick with cancer, is a bit too involved with Colin’s love life, with the opening scene featuring her setting him up on a blind date. But their easy acceptance of his queerness and desire to see him find love is as heartwarming as it gets. The juxtaposition between the wholesomeness of their family and Colin’s new life is also the source of a good amount of comedy.
Lighton does not shy away from the sexual side of Colin and Ray’s relationship, and the scenes he depicts are as graphic as you are likely to see in an R-rated film. Some go up to and a little past what might be expected in a mainstream movie (including the use of a certain fake appendage). Other times they play out in a comical way to illustrate just how far Colin has progressed from the person he was when the film started.
Skarsgård, who stole the show in the Charli XCX movie The Moment, is the attraction in more ways than one in this film. The part calls for someone who’s not only impossibly handsome, but also a person who can stop dissent with just a glance, and he lives up to both qualities equally well. Melling, best known for playing Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies, also embodies his role perfectly. He plays Colin as weak enough to be run roughshod over by Ray, but not so hopeless as to not be worth rooting for.
Pillion (which is the name of the secondary seat on a motorcycle on which Colin rides multiple times in the film) operates at a storytelling level that is difficult to achieve. Many people will not fully understand the film’s central relationship, but the way it is showcased by Lighton makes it compelling, gut-wrenching, and sexy.
