Stanley Tucci hosts celebs for dinner in new web series ‘Cards on the Table’
Matt Holyoak
Conclave star Stanley Tucci is almost as famous for his love of food as he is for his acting, so who wouldn’t want to attend one of his dinner parties? That’s the concept behind his new web series, Cards on the Table.
Produced by the footwear brand Allbirds, the four-episode series features Tucci getting together for a dinner party with three celebrities, a different group every episode. Among them: Sophie Turner, Queer Eye’s Tan France, Henry Golding, Molly Ringwald, Spice Girls‘ Mel C and comedian HasanMinhaj.
But it’s not just 20 minutes of stars eating. To spice up the conversation, Tucci and the guests answer questions from a deck of “discussion cards,” which have been written for the series by Dr. Orna Guralnik of Showtime’s Couples Therapy. In the first episode, Tucci is appalled and disgusted by Tan’s answer to the prompt “describe in detail a sandwich from your childhood.”
Blake Lively is taking legal action against her It Ends with Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, for alleged sexual harassment during the filming of the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel.
This comes months after rumors of tension behind the scenes first surfaced.
In the complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department and obtained by ABC News, Lively claims Baldoni’s alleged behavior caused her “severe emotional distress.”
A representative for Lively said in a statement that “Blake was retaliated against because she raised concerns about sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior that she and other members of the cast and crew experienced on the set of the film.”
The complaint further alleges that a meeting was held to address Lively’s concerns, adding that it was attended by key stakeholders in the film and Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds.
According to the complaint, Lively said she laid out specific demands at the meeting to ensure a safe and professional working environment, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake” and “no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
Lively claims Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, then engaged in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation, according to the complaint. The complaint includes alleged texts from Baldoni’s publicist to a Wayfarer publicist, whom the complaint alleges said Baldoni “wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried,” and “We can’t write we will destroy her.”
In a message to his publicist, according to the complaint, Baldoni allegedly wrote, “We should have a plan for IF she does the same when [the] movie comes out. Plans make me feel more at ease.”
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, denied the allegations in a statement to ABC News:
“It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions,” Freedman said. “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
Freedman added, “Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met. It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address. The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity. What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.”
In the film, Lively plays a woman with a traumatic upbringing who enters into a relationship that turns abusive.
Baldoni previously told Good Morning America that Lively was an integral part of the film and that he partnered on the project with a foundation dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence.
The 2025 Academy Awards ceremony is Sunday, and this year there are many first-time nominees up for trophies. Here’s a look at some of the stars who are nominated for their first-ever Oscar at the 97th annual awards show.
Thirteen of the performers nominated in the acting categories at this year’s ceremony are up for their first-ever Oscars.
Sebastian Stan is nominated for his first Oscar for playing Donald Trump in The Apprentice. He’s the only first-time nominee in the actor in a leading role category. Meanwhile, the actor in a supporting role category has four first-time nominees: Yura Borisov in Anora, Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain, Guy Pearce in The Brutalist and Jeremy Strong in The Apprentice.
Similarly, the actress in a leading role category also has four first-time nominees. Karla Sofía Gascón is up for her performance in Emilia Pérez, Mikey Madison is up for her role as Anora, Demi Moore is nominated for The Substance and Fernanda Torres has received recognition for her work in I’m Still Here.
The actress in a supporting role category is also filled with four first-time nominees. Monica Barbaro is nominated for her performance in A Complete Unknown, Ariana Grande is up for Wicked, Isabella Rossellini was nominated for Conclave and ZoeSaldaña received a nomination for Emilia Pérez.
Additionally, all of the directors competing for best director — Sean Baker, Brady Corbet, James Mangold, Jacques Audiard and Coralie Fargeat — are first-time nominees in the category. Fargeat, who directed The Substance, is the 10th woman to be nominated for achievement in directing. If she were to win best director, she would become the fourth woman ever awarded the honor.
The 2025 Oscars will air live at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. It will also stream live on Hulu for the first time ever. A special edition of 20/20, Countdown to the Oscars with Robin Roberts, premieres Friday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Timothée Chalamet is going to pull double duty on Saturday Night Live.
The actor will host and perform as the musical guest on the Jan. 25 episode of the sketch comedy show. While it’s unknown if Chalamet will sing as Bob Dylan during the broadcast, the announcement comes after he was nominated for a Golden Globe for playing the singer in the biopic A Complete Unknown.
The first show of 2025 will be hosted by Dave Chappelle on Jan. 18 with musical guest GloRilla. This will be Chappelle’s fourth time hosting the program, while Chalamet will mark his third hosting gig and first time as musical guest.
SNL made the announcement in a post shared to its social media on Friday.
“first 2 shows of the year!” SNL captioned the post.
The hosting announcements come as SNL prepares for its 50th anniversary celebration. SNL50: The Anniversary Special, a live primetime special, debuts on Feb. 16, while the four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night comes to Peacock on Jan. 16.
