‘Strength and honor’: Airbnb inviting would-be warriors to the Colosseum for the ultimate ‘Gladiator’ experience
Airbnb/Daniele Castellaro
While Airbnbs are usually synonymous with cozy getaways, a new Icons experience from the homeshare company will let guests follow in the footsteps of the legendary Roman gladiators.
Set at the actual place where countless epic battles took place, the Colosseum in Rome, and naturally tied into the release of Gladiator II, the ad copy teases that “for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, the Colosseum returns to its original purpose as a venue for performances, inviting daring warriors to step foot inside the historic arena to forge their own paths and shape their destinies.”
It continues, “Those brave enough to rise to the challenge will follow in the footsteps once traversed by victorious fighters, suit up in historically accurate armor, and put their skills to the test to determine their fate in battle.”
The site continues, “The patron will meet you at the Colosseum after sunset and lead you inside. Whether you emerge from this night victor or vanquished, know this – your eyes will embrace a sight not oft seen,” and “savor the symphony of swords and shields as seasoned gladiators engage in a thrilling showdown for your benefit. You must study them – for your turn will soon follow.”
Specifically, guests can request to book one of two three-hour experiences that take place May 7 to May 8. “Each experience has capacity for up to 16 guests each (8 guests and their +1).”
You’ll have to make your own way to Rome — but undoubtedly that will be more enjoyable than how real gladiators found themselves there back in the day.
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images, Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Jeff Goldblum, who famously played mathematician and chaos theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm in several Jurassic Park movies, will be passing the torch to Bridgerton’sJonathan Bailey, who will play paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis in the franchise’s upcoming seventh film, Jurassic World: Rebirth — and Goldblum couldn’t be happier.
Goldblum tells Variety, “The hope of the world resides, and I can think of no better baton receiver to carry on the ‘da da da da da,’” referencing John Williams‘ classic Jurassic Park theme. “It’s Jonathan Bailey! It’s like no other!”
“I had the invitation to join the ‘Jurassic’ world, to join the conga line led by Jeff,” adds Bailey, sharing that he and Goldblum discussed the role on the way to CinemaCon earlier this year. “The original film was a seminal cinematic moment, purely because of Jeff, but also, I went with my family, and the multi-sensory experience of going to see a film so perfectly realized.”
“There’s so much that I am so proud to join. But obviously … there is a sense of responsibility,” says Bailey. “And if I can match half of what Jeff and Sam Neill and Laura Dern achieved, I’ll be very lucky.”
Jurassic World: Rebirth takes place five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, per Universal Pictures. “The planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived.”
However, “The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.”
Bailey stars opposite Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Homeland alum Rupert Friend and The Lincoln Lawyer‘s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.
Blake Lively‘s lawyers have issued a statement amid the ongoing legal feud between her and Justin Baldoni.
In the new statement, released Jan. 7, Lively’s lawyers said, “Ms. Lively’s federal litigation before the Southern District of New York involves serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation, backed by concrete facts. This is not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation. As alleged in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set.”
The statement, issued on Lively’s behalf, also claimed that Baldoni’s response — his lawsuit filed Dec. 31 against The New York Times — was allegedly meant to “launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing.”
The statement continued, “While we go through the legal process, we urge everyone to remember that sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry. A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied. Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim.”
“These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct,” the statement concluded. “Most importantly, media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively’s legal claims. We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats.”
The statement from Lively’s camp comes after Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy for publishing a story detailing Lively’s initial claims against him, including sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against Lively during the production of the film It Ends with Us, which Baldoni also directed and starred in with Lively. The lawsuit came after Lively’s initial complaint, filed Dec. 20, and subsequent lawsuit, filed Dec. 31, against Baldoni.
In a statement to Good Morning America addressing Lively’s latest comments, Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, said, “It is painfully ironic that Blake Lively is accusing Justin Baldoni of weaponizing the media when her own team orchestrated this vicious attack by sending the New York Times grossly edited documents prior to even filing the complaint. We are releasing all of the evidence which will show a pattern of bullying and threats to take over the movie. None of this will come as a surprise because consistent with her past behavior Blake Lively used other people to communicate those threats and bully her way to get whatever she wanted. We have all the receipts and more.”
Read more about the legal battle between Lively and Baldoni below.
Lively’s initial complaint
Lively first filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in late December, alleging “severe emotional distress” after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
The complaint was detailed in a New York Times article titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” Included in the report were details surrounding a January 2024 “all hands” meeting — held “prior to resuming filming of It Ends With Us,” according to the complaint — that was held to address Lively’s workplace 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 that meeting to ensure a safe and professional working environment.
Lively claimed Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, which produced It Ends With Us, then engaged in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation, according to the complaint. The complaint included alleged texts from Baldoni’s publicist to a Wayfarer publicist, who allegedly wrote that Baldoni “wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried,” and “We can’t write we will destroy her.”
Freedman, the attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, denied the allegations.
“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,” Freedman said in a statement to ABC News at the time, in response to Lively’s initial complaint. He claimed Lively’s complaint was “yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film […].”
Lively was criticized during the It Ends with Us tour for her conduct during press interviews and from some who felt she did not highlight the film’s focus of domestic violence enough.
Baldoni’s lawsuit against The New York Times
On Dec. 31, Baldoni filed a lawsuit against the Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy, after it published the article about Lively’s complaint.
The lawsuit claimed the Times, which included the alleged text messages and email exchanges between Baldoni’s publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, had relied on “cherry-picked” and altered communications, with details “stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced” to “mislead.”
Baldoni is seeking $250 million in damages in his suit against the Times and also listed nine other co-plaintiffs, including Wayfarer Studios LLC and his publicists, Abel and Nathan.
Freedman claimed in a statement to GMA that the Times “cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative.”
A Times spokesperson told GMA that they “plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported,” the spokesperson continued. “It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.”
“To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error,” the spokesperson claimed. “We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well.”
Lively files lawsuit against Baldoni and other defendants for sexual harassment
Also on Dec. 31, Lively formalized her initial California Civil Rights Department complaint into a lawsuit, which reiterated details she previously presented in her complaint.
Attorneys for Lively said in a statement that the actress’s “decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks.”
“As alleged in Ms. Lively’s federal Complaint, Wayfarer and its associates have violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns,” Lively’s attorneys claimed. “Now, the defendants will answer for their conduct in federal court. Ms. Lively has brought this litigation in New York, where much of the relevant activities described in the Complaint took place, but we reserve the right to pursue further action in other venues and jurisdictions as appropriate under the law.”
Both Baldoni and Lively are seeking a jury trial.
GMA has reached out to Baldoni’s rep for comment about Lively’s lawsuit.
This week on The Golden Bachelorette, Joan Vassos left Malibu, California, for hometown dates.
Vassos was introduced to the families of each of the remaining men, Guy, Pascal, Jordan and Chock, and was shown around each of their hometowns.
Vassos’ first hometown date was with Guy in his hometown of Reno, Nevada. They cruised Lake Tahoe on a boat, after which Vassos met his family, who told her that she “fit right in” with them.
At the end of their date, Guy told Vassos that he’d “fallen” for her “big time,” and that he could “envision time together in the future.”
Vassos then made her way to Chicago for the first of two hometown dates. Her first date in the Windy City was with Pascal, who took her to his salon and introduced her to his son Maxim and daughter Natalie. Like Guy’s family, they said they were able to see a future with Joan joining their family, sharing that she already “feels like family.”
Her next date with Jordan in Chicago was spent eating deep dish pizza and rainbow cake. But it was during her meeting with his family that she candidly told Jordan’s daughters that she wasn’t sure if Jordan was as committed as the other men, leaving her to question whether she should “take a leap of faith” with him.
During Vassos’ final hometown date with Chock in Wichita, Kansas, she was welcomed with open arms by many from Chock’s family during a gathering to honor Chock’s late mother.
When Chock learned about his mother’s death in an earlier episode, he rushed home to be with his family, but came back to continue his journey with Vassos. She told his kids, Taylor and Tyler, how she admired that he put his family first in that moment. Like Guy, Chock told Vassos that he was “falling in love” and asked her to promise him not to break his heart.
Ahead of the rose ceremony, Vassos told Golden Bachelorette host Jesse Palmer that out of all the men, she possibly had the “deepest connection” with Chock.
She also told him about how “worried” she was that Pascal and Jordan weren’t ready for a relationship.
In the end, Vassos said goodbye to Jordan.
Here’s who’s going to Tahiti for fantasy suite dates next week:
Chock, 60, an insurance executive from Wichita, Kansas Guy, 66, an ER doctor from Reno, Nevada Pascal, 69, a salon owner from Chicago, Illinois
