Author: Tim Baysinger

October 20, 2016 8:30am PT by Tim Baysinger

Steve Wilkie/FOX

The actress also discusses her personal connection to the beloved movie musical. “It’s part of what gave me the courage to truly transition,” she tells THR.

To say Laverne Cox is a trailblazer in the transgender community would be a massive understatement. The actress rose to prominence for her portrayal of Sophia Burset on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, becoming the first trans actress to garner a primetime Emmy nomination for acting.

Thursday, she will tackle the iconic role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter on Fox’s reimagining of Rocky Horror Picture Show. And for Cox, the chance to play the part of the gender-bending mad scientist has a personal connection.

“Rocky means so much to me because it presented the idea of possibilities of around not just dreaming it but being it, purely in terms of my gender expression,” Cox tells The Hollywood Reporter. “After I saw Rocky Horror for the first time, it became a turning point in my life. It’s part of what gave me the courage to truly transition.”

Although the cultural significance of Cox being cast in the role made famous by Tim Curry is certainly not lost on her – “A black transgender woman has never starred in a TV movie; it was time,” she says – the chance to just be seen is important. “As a trans actress I just want to work. I just want a shot to do what I do and show people what I have. I’d like to think I’ve been able to work because I have some talent.”

Cox continues: “For me, I just want people to know that I’m talented, that I can do a lot of different things. That I’m not just a one-trick pony.”

Early next year, Cox will continue to show her ability to play a wide range of roles with CBS’ upcoming legal drama Doubt, where she’ll portray trans lawyer Cameron Wirth. It’s another pioneering move for Cox, who will be the first transgender actor to play a transgender series regular character on a broadcast series.

“She’s gone to Yale, she’s an attorney. She’s very different from Frank-N-Furter and Sophia [from Orange is the New Black],” she says. “I was able to play a lot of different characters.”

But there is still no role like Dr. Frank-N-Furter, says Cox. After all, when else do you get the chance to play an alien from Transylvania that creates life while singing and dancing?

“It was different than anything I’d ever done before,” she says. “What was strange was that I knew the movie so well; I’ve seen the movie probably over 100 times. I knew all the dialogue, knew all the songs. It was about finding my way into it.” If that wasn’t enough pressure, she also had to do it with Curry, who returns to Rocky Horror, this time as the Criminologist who serves as the narrator, starring alongside her.

“I sang all the songs from the show in front of Tim,” she says, but notes that Curry mostly pushed her to do her own thing with the role. “I think he really wanted me to find it on my own.” She explained that they mostly talked about the character itself and her motivations.

“My voice is really different than Tim’s and the [other] people who’ve done Rocky Horror before me,” she explains. “It’s basically a baritone role; I can sing baritone but I can also sing soprano. A lot of it was starting with the music and finding my way into the music and finding how it would feel with my voice.”

Another notable difference – outside of it being played by a black trans woman instead of a white male – is that Cox added more choreography (she has a BFA in Dance). “We decided that we wanted this Frank-N-Furter to move more [than past incarnations].”

When Rocky Horror first premiered in the mid-1970s, it was known more being a cult classic, the kind of movie experience (emphasis on the experience) that at the time was thought as something on the fringes of society. Back then, most who would see it would go at midnight, dress up as their favorite characters and interact with the show. Most shows would feature shadowcasters, people who mime the film while it plays in the background. Cox said bringing that vibe to a primetime broadcast production was paramount.

“Very specifically, when Lou [Adler, who produced the original version and is a co-producer on the Fox remake] was talking with [director] Kenny [Ortega], he said we have to bring the audience participation into our film, and that’s what we’ve done,” she says. “We have an audience who does some of the more iconic callbacks. We incorporated that because Rocky Horror is so much about the fans, and we wanted them to be a part of the experience.” There were also shadowcast actors on hand during the red carpet premiere.

With the original Rocky Horror having celebrated its 31th anniversary in August, Cox is well aware the Fox version will be for many the only incarnation they’ve witnessed. “I’ve met a lot of people who’ve never seen Rocky Horror, so our version will be the first version they’ve ever seen. The hope is that a new generation will discover this film.”

But just how will the audience that typically watches primetime broadcast television take to seeing Rocky Horror on their screens? “I don’t know if [that audience] is ready or not, but ready or not here we come!” she exclaims.

“I think a lot of Fox’s motivation was about bringing this musical to a new generation and having sort of a different spin on things,” she says. After all, Rocky Horror was originally a parody of the science fiction and horror “B movies” that was meant as a callback to classic Hollywood. “I think that’s what made this musical so charming.”

Even though the Fox remake features considerably higher production values, Cox contends it still does it in a way that harkens back to films of the 1930s and 1940s. “There’s an opulence in old Hollywood,” she says. “To be able to have the massive set and these grand production values, therein keeping with this spirit of old Hollywood that this film really is celebrating.”

Fox’s Rocky Horror also comes a particularly advantageous time, as broadcast networks have been finding success adapting musicals such as The Wiz and Grease for a TV audience. “I don’t know why all of this is happening, but I love that I get to be alive now and that I get to do this.”

Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again airs Thursday at 8 p.m. on Fox.

Watch the trailer below:

October 01, 2016 8:00am PT by Tim Baysinger

Courtesy of The Sheltons of Highland Park; Braden Moran; Photofest

The trio join two new head writers as the venerable sketch show returns for season 42.

They say change is the only constant in life. And that’s never more true than with Saturday Night Live, which has churned out more than 170 castmembers throughout its 41 years on the air.

This season features a notable number of cast shuffles with the departures of Taran Killam and Jay Pharaoh, both after six seasons, as well as Jon Rudnitsky, who left after just one.

In their place are a trio of new faces: Mikey Day, Alex Moffat and Melissa Villasenor, along with two new head writers in Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. Ahead of Margot Robbie making her own SNL debut on Saturday’s season 42 premiere, here’s what you should know about the newest players to grace the Studio 8H:

Mikey Day

A writer and performer, Day becomes the latest SNL castmember to make the jump from the writers room, following Colin Jost and Leslie Jones. During his three years, Day has been behind some of SNL’s most memorable sketches, including last year’s dark spoof of Dead Poets Society, “Farewell, Mr. Bunting.”

This summer, Day was co-head writer and castmember for another Lorne Michaels-produced variety series, Maya & Marty. Day frequently appeared in sketches over the six-episode run of the Maya Rudolph-Martin Short comedy.

Originally from Orange Country, Calif., Day got his start at The Groundlings, following in the footsteps of former SNL-ers including Killam, Kristen Wiig, Chris Parnell and Will Forte. He was also a performer on Nick Cannon’s MTV improv show Wild ‘N Out. His most substantial TV role came on the short-lived NBC comedy Kath & Kim, which starred another SNL alum in Molly Shannon.

Day’s other TV credits include the short-lived Showtime sketch comedy series, The Underground and Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken. Day co-wrote the indie comedy Brother Nature, which debuted earlier this month on VOD with Killam, who stars in the film alongside current SNL vet Bobby Moynihan.

Alex Moffat

Alex Moffat is the biggest unknown of the new castmembers and SNL will be the Chicago native’s first real exposure to the television.

An alum of popular SNL incubator Second City – Bill Murray,  John Belushi and Tina Fey, just to name a few – Moffat was a regular performer at iO Chicago and the Annoyance Theatre.

On stage, Moffat performed a one-man show called Good Little Winnetka Boy, in which Moffat “digs deep to uncover the many characters who live in a small village at the center of his brain.” Moffat also starred in a Sherlock Holmes musical inspired by Jack the Ripper, called Ripper the Musical, where the Chicago Tribune described his performance as “funny and believable as a three-dimensional character who seems to be wandering through the cartoony parameters of the show.”

Moffat doesn’t boast much of a web presence. He had a weekly show where he interviewed comedians such as Tom Green, called El Show with Alex Moffat (though it’s very hard to find). Most notably, he’s appeared in a slew of shorts on Funny or Die. He also co-starred in the 2015 indie film, Uncle John.

Melissa Villaseñor

Villasenor becomes the first-ever Latina cast member in the show’s 41-year history.

While the other two new castmembers are more performers than stand-up comedians, Villaseñor has headlined more than 100 clubs and colleges around the country. She’s known for her wide array of impressions, including Owen Wilson, Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez, as well as animated characters like Mickey Mouse and Pikachu (Pokemon Go sketch, anybody?)

NBC viewers might recognize her from the sixth season of America’s Got Talent, where she made the top 16. She has also leant her voice to Family Guy, Adventure Time and Comedy Central’s Trip Tank. She most recently was part of Mas Mejor, a comedy studio from Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video.

Here she is impersonating former SNL castmember Kristin Wiig.

In the days since her joining SNL however, she has come under fire for a string of years-old offensive tweets, suffering a similar backlash as Trevor Noah when he first got the Daily Show gig.

Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider

SNL not only has three new castmembers, but two new head writers in Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, who were promoted over the summer after several years writing for the show. Schneider becomes the first female head writer since Paula Pell left in 2008 and Kelly is the first openly gay writer. The two have been writing partners since joining the show in 2011, and are responsible for some of the show’s best pre-taped bits, including “The Beygency,” “Back Home Ballers,” the Emmy-nominated “(Do It on My) Twin Bed” and the memorable Curb Your Enthusiasm spoof, “Bern Your Enthusiasm.” They also wrote the sketch “Bar Talk,” which featured Hillary Clinton talking to Kate McKinnon’s Clinton as “Val the Bartender.”

Schneider and Kelly were among the first wave of SNL writers to get their start on the web, with Schneider coming from College Humor and Kelly from Funny or Die. Kelly also wrote and directed the semi-autobiographical film Other People, which starred Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon and Bradley Whitford, that debuted earlier this year at Sundance.

SNL‘s new season premieres Saturday at 11:35 p.m. on NBC.

Saturday Night Live

August 24, 2016 10:32am PT by Tim Baysinger

 Michael Lavine/FOX

Former ‘Top Chef’ winner Kevin Sbraga takes his turn as Fox show returns following Olympics hiatus.

As MasterChef returns for the home stretch of its seventh season Wednesday, Gordon Ramsay argues that the Fox reality competition series is the most competitive he’s seen.

And he’s not just talking about the contestants. Following the departure of Graham Elliott, who had been with the show throughout its first six seasons (and coming a year after Joe Bastianich left), the Fox cooking show went with a rotating cast this year. Alongside Ramsay and Christina Tosi, Wolfgang Puck, Aaron Sanchez and Edward Lee have taken turns as guest judges.

“More than any other season, this one is packed with sheer talent, because of the guest judges; they help raise the bar,” Ramsay tells The Hollywood Reporter, adding that the mix of so many new judges has given way to “a bit of psychological” warfare between chefs. “We’re all puffing our chest out and making sure that we’ve put our best foot forward.”

Ramsay continued: “Anytime you’re among the presence of any professional chef, you raise your game. From a judges point of view, I’d like to think that we’ve got better, and we’ve gotten tougher because of the competition in the room.”

Kevin Sbraga, the winner of Top Chef’s seventh season, makes his guest judging debut when the show returns Wednesday. “He’s young, tenacious and very ambitious. When you’re on that crusade, there’s so much more excitement behind their food,” said Ramsay. “When you’re an established chef and you’re in your 60s and you’ve got that reputation, you lose a bit of magic because you just maintain as opposed to try.”

While Ramsay has enjoyed working with different chefs and injecting some new blood into the franchise, he admitted he misses having a more established roster. Though if the show sticks with rotating guest judges for next season, he does have one particular chef on his wish list: Thomas Keller of the famed The French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley.

“I know how precious his time is, I was hoping he’d yield it this year, perhaps he can come and grace the floor next year,” he said.

Ramsay argued that for some judges, the glare of the cameras can affect their behavior and have them be a bit too forgiving, something the famously irascible Ramsay has never had a problem with.

“I’ve never shied away from it. I don’t like it when chefs come on and they’re not their true selves. I want them to come on and judge [the contestants] like they would do judging dishes at their own restaurant, because that’s what makes the contestants better.” he argued.  “Some judges are a little bit scared to be brutally honest because they don’t want to upset their fanbase, but we need to be critical.”

“Honestly, down the line if you said to me what would be one wish now? Personally, I’d like to see Joe Bastianich walk through those doors,” he said. “I think out of all the judges, he’s the one guy that I miss most. He has that level of competitive spirit, he wasn’t just playing PC because of the cameras.”

As network TV gets back into swing to close out the summer following the Summer Olympics in Rio, Fox’s cooking competition returns with back to back episodes Wednesday that will whittle the remaining nine contestants down to seven. Among the remaining are Las Vegas DJ Shaun O’Neale, elementary school teacher Brandi Mudd and David Williams, who gained notoriety for finishing second during the 2004 World Series of Poker.

“We’re looking at half a dozen talented individuals that are all vying for that top five or top four space,” said Ramsay. “You’ve got the poker player that is playing mind games with the challengers that’s left because that’s how he tips hand, but this guy has won millions of dollars in prize money and is certainly un-phased by pressure. Then you got that incredible DJ whose release from playing in Vegas is getting in the kitchen and cook. I’ve never seen a schoolteacher that can extract incredible flavor like the elementary school teacher. Now with Andrea gone, the competition’s blown wide open.”

Last time MasterChef aired earlier this month, Andrea Galan, whom Ramsay himself thought was a favorite to go all the way, was eliminated from the competition for a reason that had nothing to do with her cooking skills. “That was a tough one,” admits Ramsay. “I think we predicted her as a potential in the finale.”

During the Pressure Test, which saw the contestants have to make sausage from scratch within a 60-minute timeframe, Galan presented her dish a mere three seconds late, enough to get her disqualified.

“Three seconds may not seem a lot and it upset a lot of viewers – the fact that she had to leave the competition – but rules are rules,” said Ramsay, who compared it to when an NBA player gets a shot off a few seconds too late. “If that ball is in your hand when the buzzer goes off… Three seconds is enough time to shoot a hoop. It takes you one second to put the ball across the line in a soccer game.”

And as in sports, whenever a supposed favorite gets knocked out an early round, it leads to wide open field and Ramsay sees the remaining challenges as anyone’s game.

“For me, this is the most exciting top ten we’ve ever had. In previous years, you’ve seen two or three individuals in the top eight, top nine that have a shot.”

MasterChef returns on Fox with back-to-back episodes Wednesday at 8 p.m.