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‘Barbie’: First Reactions From the Premiere

Downtown Los Angeles was full of Ken-ergy for the premiere of Barbie, where the first public screening showed off the new Margot Robbie film.

First reactions are now coming out on social media for the feature from filmmaker Greta Gerwig and based on the Mattel doll. Formal reviews from critics will come at a later date closer to its July 21 release.

The film, thanks to its its meme-able moments and sharp marketing campaign, has become one of the most talked about of the summer ahead of its domestic debut, when it will open against Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The box office showdown, dubbed Barbenheimer, has sparked numerous jokes about the very different tones and ambitions of both films. (One, a take on a classic doll, the other about the father of the atomic bomb.)

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For what it’s worth, Barbie star Robbie and director Greta Gerwig posed for photos with themselves in front of several summer movie posters holding tickets for each, including for Oppenheimer. And Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy has stated his support for Barbie, telling the Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia, “I can’t wait to see Barbie. I love Margot Robbie, I love Ryan Gosling … My advice would be for people to go see both [Barbie and Oppenheimer], on the same day.”

Robbie plays a version of Barbie (there are multiple in the films), while Gosling stars as one of many Kens. When Robbie’s Barbie starts to sense there is something off with her world, she travels to our world in search of an answer.

Read on for the first reactions to Barbie.

#Barbie caught me off guard & I mean that in the best way possible. It’s funny, bombastic, & very smart. Greta Gerwig aims for the fences & hits a home-run. Margot Robbie’s performance is great & @RyanGosling & @SimuLiu are pure entertainment! The whole cast is brilliant! pic.twitter.com/oXH965aUIF

— Joseph Deckelmeier (@joedeckelmeier) July 10, 2023

#Barbie is a triumph. A pitch-perfect script backed by great performances — particularly from Ryan Gosling — turns what could be a simple studio comedy into a sharp commentary on our society that makes its nuance palatable for those that may not take it at face value. GG is 3/3. pic.twitter.com/MIVRtkmtbd

— Eze (@EzeBaum) July 10, 2023

I have seen #Barbie! The craftsmanship is incredible. In particular the costume & production design includes next-level work that heavily contributes to creating the feeling that these truly are Barbies, their dream houses, and their worlds come to life.

As for the story, that’s… pic.twitter.com/97r3sSodcw

— Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) July 10, 2023

I can’t officially quit Twitter before telling you all that #Barbie is currently my favorite film of the year. Greta Gerwig somehow exceeded my expectations. She tackles the positives and negatives of Barbie so beautifully. Give Ryan Gosling an Oscar nomination, I’m dead serious!

— Jamie Jirak (@JamieCinematics) July 10, 2023

#Barbie REVIEW: Heartfelt & hilarious! Margot Robbie’s crown jewel performance (Oscars here we come). It’s super fun, endearing & magical with a 3rd act that’ll beach you off. This isn’t just another comedy, it’s Greta Gerwig’s BEST movie ever!! A fitting end setting what’s next pic.twitter.com/qXPM8gSiqs

— Atom (@theatomreview) July 10, 2023

#Barbie is a cinematic triumph. Gerwig is at the top of her game here, she’s crafted a film that’s not only gorgeous to look at, but poignant, clever and hilarious. Margot Robbie delivers an endearing and memorable performance, though it’s Gosling who stole every scene he was in pic.twitter.com/IU9ZrbKlnq

— Jack (@JStepback) July 10, 2023

The way BARBIE completely lives up to the hype! A rich tapestry of camp, tantalizing visuals and emotional sincerity. Offering the grand comment on society that a woman’s everyday life is a gendered battlefield. Gosling as Ken is sublime and instantly ICONIC. In Gerwig we TRUST pic.twitter.com/qCPuA3Afxo

— ty (@DennisDuganFan) July 10, 2023

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Greta Gerwig on ‘Barbie’ vs. ‘Oppenheimer’ Battle and Margot Robbie’s Already-Iconic Foot: “I Did Always Think of the Arched Foot as a Bat Signal”

After a worldwide fan event tour, Barbie finally made its debut at the film’s world premiere in Los Angeles on Sunday, on a pink carpet that had been transformed into a real-life Barbie Land.

Greta Gerwig — who directed and co-wrote (with partner Noah Baumbach, who skipped the event due to the writers strike) the film — looked back on its origin, with a script that star Margot Robbie said when she first read it was sure it would never get made.

“We wrote it at such a specific time, in the midst of lockdown and everything else, and I was like, I don’t even know if there’s going to be movies again, but if there are, let’s write the most outrageous, anarchic, hilarious thing,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Let’s imaginary go out with a bang. It was something where I decided I had to direct it once the script was written and it was really like I just wanted to make that one, that was the one. So I was like if we can’t do it that’s fine, but I hope they let us.”

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Gerwig also weighed in on the viral response to Robbie’s Barbie foot, which stays arched when stepping out of her heels — and when her feet suddenly go flat, something is awry in Barbie Land.

Saying she did not expect the reaction at all, the director added, “I did always think of the arched foot as like a bat signal, but everybody was like ‘I’ve heard the bat signal, I’ve answered the call!’”

Issa Rae, who stars as President Barbie, joked, “thank god they weren’t taking off my shoe in the film because the arch wouldn’t be as graceful. I was surprised, I was like, ‘Margot, that was your foot?’ And she was like, ‘Yeah.’ The confidence you have to have in that, it just says everything about her. Everything you need to know about her is the fact that she has her own arched foot effortlessly in that movie. And it’s already an iconic foot. I would’ve still been there if it was me, they would’ve been like, ‘Alright, take 230, just please get it right.’ I’m a flat-footed girl.”

Gerwig also addressed the Barbie vs. Oppenheimer rivalry that has developed, as the two films both feature superstar casts and release in theaters on July 21.

“It’s all love — double up, double up twice,” she said of the two movies. “I think you’ve got to see what the experience is, Barbie then Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer then Barbie. I think you’ve got to take all of the journeys.”

Rae added that she thinks the competition between the films “is hilarious; I love that there’s solidarity though where people tried to pit us against one another but now it’s turned into like a double-feature situation. Obviously you should see Oppenheimer first and then cleanse your palate with Barbie.”

She explained of going with Barbie second that Christopher Nolan’s film is “about an atomic bomb, people are gonna die. I want to end my weekend, I want to have mimosas and drinks and cocktails after Barbie, I don’t want to like sulk,” teasing, “That’s just my plan, as long as you’re seeing Barbie I don’t care.”

Of the movie’s many Easter eggs, Robbie teased of her favorites is “there’s a moment when Ruth Handler, who created Barbie, and the Barbie I play meet, and when she hands her a cup of tea, our hands touch like the Michelangelo — it’s a biblical reference but Greta snuck her in there.” The star also spends plenty of time on rollerblades once she gets to the real world, as America Ferrera, who shares those scenes with Robbie, joked of the skating, “I was like, Why are you so good at this? And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, you played Tonya Harding, got it.’”

Ferrera also reflected on seeing the Barbie Land sets for the first time, saying even as someone who didn’t play with Barbies: “it just evoked a deeper childhood nostalgia for imagination and play and beauty and I just got emotional, I started crying. The world Greta created is just unbelievable; she’s such a visionary.”

Added Simu Liu, who plays one of the Kens, “it’s kind of perpetual sunset in Barbie Land, it’s always golden hour; it’s kind of like a Chloe Zhao movie, the sun is always hitting at the right angle. A lot of pink, probably more pink than I’ve ever experienced in my lifetime.” Liu also faces off with Ryan Gosling’s Ken in the film, teasing, “Oh, we battle. It’s a delicious dynamic to play, especially for two Canadians who are supposed to be very polite by nature. I think we had to channel our inner American a little bit, a little butting of heads. But I’m really excited for people to see the relationship unfold.”

Barbie hits theaters July 21.

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Netflix’s New Releases Coming in July 2023

Bird Box: Barcelona, the NFL docuseries Quarterback, the third season of Sweet Magnolias and Jamie Foxx starrer They Cloned Tyrone are among the new projects debuting on Netflix in July

Bird Box: Barcelona is a Spanish-language spinoff of the 2018 Sandra Bullock-starring thriller. The film, written and directed by Alex and David Pastor, picks up after a mysterious force destroys Earth’s population and follows survivors as they seek to escape visible threats. The movie, which stars Mario Casas and Barbarian breakout Georgina Campbell, is meant to be the first of a series of films to expand the Bird Box universe.

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The eight-episode Quarterback, Netflix’s first partnership with the NFL and produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, features unprecedented access to Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota both on and off the field during the 2022 season as the NFL allowed the quarterbacks to be mic’d up for every single game, with the series taking viewers inside players’ homes with their families and behind the scenes of big moments.

The third season of Sweet Magnolias drops on July 20, as childhood best friends Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Helen (Heather Headley) and Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott) deal with new challenges in Serenity, South Carolina.

While fans wait for more information about the “medical complication” Jamie Foxx experienced while filming the Netflix movie Back in Action, Foxx will appear in yet another Netflix film, They Cloned Tyrone, alongside John Boyega and Teyonah Parris, as they investigate a government conspiracy involving a cloning operation. The film, the directorial debut of Creed 2 writer Juel Taylor, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Rettenmaier, will start streaming on July 21.

At the end of the month, Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes star in the film version of Katherine Center’s novel Happiness for Beginners, in which Kemper’s Helen embarks on an “Adventure of a Lifetime” backcountry survival course and ends up finding more than herself in the movie written and directed by Vicky Wight.

Other films hitting Netflix this month include Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Ride Along and Big Eyes, and the streamer already added Bridesmaids, four Karate Kid films, Liar Liar, the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice, Ray, all three Rush Hour films, The Squid and the Whale, Titanic and The Out-Laws.

Additional series streaming this month include the Unknown four-part docuseries about adventure and exploration in uncharted territories, Too Hot to Handle season five and the second part of The Witcher‘s third season.

The streamer earlier this month added all five seasons of HBO’s Insecure and the first part of season two of The Lincoln Lawyer.

Missed what came to Netflix last month? Check out the June 2023 additions here.

Read on for the complete list of titles hitting Netflix this July.

July 1
The Days
Bridesmaids
The Huntsman: Winter’s War
Jumanji (1995)
The Karate Kid (2010)
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Karate Kid Part II
The Karate Kid Part III
Kick-Ass
Liar Liar
One Piece: Thriller Bark
One Piece: TV Original 2
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Prom Night
Ray
Rush Hour
Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 3
Snow White & the Huntsman
The Squid and the Whale
Star Trek
Star Trek Into Darkness
The Sweetest Thing
Titanic
Uncle Buck
Warm Bodies

July 3
Insecure
Little Angel: Volume 3
Unknown: The Lost Pyramid

July 4
The King Who Never Was
Tom Segura: Sledgehammer

July 5
Back to 15: Season 2
My Happy Marriage
WHAM!

July 6
Deep Fake Love
Gold Brick
The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 2 Part 1
Wake Up, Carlo!

July 7
Fatal Seduction
Hack My Home
The Out-Laws
Seasons

July 10
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
StoryBots: Answer Time: Season 2
Unknown: Killer Robots

July 11
Nineteen to Twenty

July 12
Mr. Car and the Knights Templar
Quarterback
Record of Ragnarok: Season 2: Episodes 11-15
Sugar Rush: The Baking Point

July 13
Burn the House Down
Devil’s Advocate
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Sonic Prime: Season 2
Survival of the Thickest

July 14
The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem: Season 2
Bird Box Barcelona
Five Star Chef
Love Tactics 2
Too Hot to Handle: Season 5

July 15
Country Queen
Morphle 3D: Season 1
My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale: Season 1

July 16
Ride Along

July 17
Unknown: Cave of Bones

July 19
The (Almost) Legends
The Deepest Breath

July 20
Supa Team 4
Sweet Magnolias: Season 3

July 21
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
They Cloned Tyrone

July 24
Big Eyes
Dew Drop Diaries
Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine

July 25
Mark Normand: Soup to Nuts
Sintonia: Season 4

July 26
Baki Hanma: Season 2: The Tale of Pickle & The Pickle War Saga
The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals: Season 7
Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case

July 27
Happiness For Beginners
The Lady of Silence: The Mataviejitas Murders
Paradise
Today We’ll Talk About That Day
The Witcher: Season 3 Volume 2

July 28
Captain Fall
D.P.: Season 2
Hidden Strike
How to Become a Cult Leader
Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie
A Perfect Story
The Tailor: Season 2

July 29
The Uncanny Counter: Season 2

July 31
Bastard -Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy-: Season 2

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‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’: VFX Team on Creating a Young Harrison Ford and How Mads Mikkelsen’s Villain Survived That Train Fall

Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic, which won Oscars for the visual effects in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom, returned to use every trick in the book on the whopping 2,350 VFX shots in the fifth installment of the franchise.

In the opening action sequence of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, a young Harrison Ford appears in a 1944-set flashback highlighted by an action scene atop of moving train. Then we meet the elder Indy in 1969 for his next adventure, which includes a tuk-tuk chase in Morocco and — using the dial to time travel — a climax set during the epic siege of Syracuse.

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The Hollywood Reporter spoke with production VFX supervisor Andrew Whitehurst and ILM VFX supervisor Robert Weaver about their work on the movie — the first in the franchise to be helmed by James Mangold (Logan, Ford v. Ferrari). “The conversation never stops,” Whitehurst says of working with Mangold. “He is so engaged, and he just wants everything to be as good as it can possibly be.”

It goes without saying, a lot of attention has been placed on the young Harrison Ford, who appears during the movie’s opening scene. How’d you do it?

ANDREW WHITEHURST It’s called ILM Face Swap; it’s using an enormous number of techniques.

ROBERT WEAVER Face swap essentially is replacing the face with another face, whether it’s a younger version or somebody entirely different. In this case, it was the younger version. And as Andrew was saying, we utilized every trick in the book as far as what it would take to get each individual shot to the level that it needed to be. It employed using machine learning; it employed building a full CG asset to highly critical detail. This work doesn’t lend itself well to having a very consistent recipe; it’s completely dynamic to the individual shot. So there were times that we were leaning more on the CG asset, and there were times that we would be getting a bit more out of the machine learning passes.

WHITEHURST The one continuous element throughout all of this is having really great artists with really great eyes making those choices with Robert and me. And we had an enormous amount of reference material from earlier Indy films, which we got scanned, and we could use that and we could frame through that and understand what exactly the likeness was that we were trying to hit. And it’s building it up. We would initially do a low-resolution pass that we could give to the edit. So they were always cutting with an age-appropriate Indiana Jones, even if it was not a final quality, so that they could judge the performance in the cut and understand how that was working. And that meant we then got better notes back.

It’s building it up, and it’s using a huge variety of techniques, but it’s all down to artists looking at stuff, talking to us, really getting their heads around what the character is, looking at the performance that Harrison gave that’s driving all of this underneath, and then working and polishing that to get to the finished result. 

WEAVER There were times we would rely on key frame [hand] animation.

WHITEHURST [In other instances] we can shoot with multiple cameras at a performance, we can extract the 3D performance from that, and then we can use that to be mapped onto a different 3D face but maintaining that same performance. 

So that was based on techniques used on The Irishman?

WEAVER That one component, yes, but the technology was better and the artists have learned more [since The Irishman was made]. All of these other components are equally as useful, or in some shots, more useful. 

And then you mentioned machine learning. Obviously between the Indiana Jones movies and the Star Wars movies and everything he’s done, there’s a huge body of Harrison’s work on film. How much of that material did you use to teach the computer some of those more minute mannerisms? 

WEAVER It was incredibly instrumental for the machine learning process to have that repository of imagery for sure. But as Andrew also alluded to earlier, the artists are really the key component here. In addition to the machine learning, we also had a program that we call Face Finder that would, frame by frame, find a similar pose from that repository that artists could then reflect back on and see what in actuality it looked like in the past, and then draw comparisons and know in a very instructive sort of way where we needed to do a bit more work to get what we needed. 

WHITEHURST I think that’s one of the key things for me when I was looking at the work coming in, is that that ability to have frame by frame reference and just be able to compare and go, “OK, well actually, you know, when he does this smirk around his cheek, there’s this little kind of crease that always comes in. Maybe we just need to enhance that a little bit.” Getting a performance is a very holistic thing. It’s not just a physical, sculptural quality. It’s a lot of everything.

How did machine learning contribute?

WEAVER There are absolutely components to it that we rely on. Definitely. And that’s part of the evolution of us doing more successful digital human performance. [To teach the computer] we primarily relied on the older Indy films and that target age. But we also captured present day. 

WHITEHURST Yes, exactly. We shot a lot of reference material, as well as the actual shots from the film we were making. We went and deliberately set up the cameras and got Harrison to perform as he is now. We learn, the computer learns, but I think it’s also worth saying that even within feeding the footage, you need to be careful and select your footage, because some footage might skew results in a way that actually isn’t helpful for a particular shot. So there’s a lot of kind of skill and judgment in terms of selecting what you are going to use as reference.

WEAVER Exactly, that curation process that Andrew was just talking about was incredibly important. Artists would make determinations as to what is helpful.

For his body in this flashback, what was a new Harrison Ford performance? A body double? What was the combination of these things?

WHITEHURST Whenever possible, it’s Harrison. There were times where, for either shoot timing issues or because it was a more of a stunt type scenario, we had to use a stunt performer. So the body there would be the stunt performer. And there’s a couple of times where it’s a digi body, but it’s mostly newly shot Harrison.

Tell us about filming that train sequence.

WHITEHURST Everything involving actors was shot on a stage. We did go to the Austrian Alps and shot a load of material that we were able to use for some of the backgrounds, and we did a lot of scanning of that kind of that environment. We were then able to do a fully CG environment, because the nature of the narrative for that sequence meant that we had very specific requirements for the environment in different places. An awful lot of it ended up being fully CG generated because there is no place that was gonna give us what we needed. 

[When filming the actors on stage] we used bluescreen [instead of virtual production] mostly just for speed of getting through shots and also we needed the flexibility in post to be able to change the background because we were still slightly adjusting exactly what the backgrounds were going to look like when we were shooting. We knew what the overall background would be, but in terms of, well, we need more trees here, or fewer trees here, or the sky, you know, dawn is, is happening over the whole sequence. And that sort of timing is extremely difficult to do upfront. We start in pitch black, we end up post-dawn on a cloudy day.

How did Mads Mikkelson’s villain survive his fall from the train? 

WHITEHURST This was a long conversation, with a lot of iterations. The thing that he gets hit by is a very lightweight hose that they use for putting water into steam trains, which itself can rotate. So he’s being hit by as soft a thing as you can be hit by that’s gonna be hanging by a railway line in 1944. But, yes, it should be a little bit of a surprise when he shows up again later.

WEAVER It boils down to him being a very tough bugger. [Chuckles]

WHITEHURST The one thing I will say is that when Mads does get knocked off the train, he did that. We put some crash mats there and Mads Mikkelson knows how to take a punch and how to look like he’s been hit by something heavy. We had to make him travel back further because the train was moving at speed, and obviously we weren’t doing that on the stage. But in terms of the physicality of the performance, he did that. 

Tell us about creating the tuk tuk chase.

WHITEHURST We had a whole amazing second unit crew directed by Dan Bradley who went out to Fez [Morocco], which was where we were actually filming. This was a sequence which we had prevised and boarded. Because there’s a lot of dialogue that happens in the scene, we knew that there was going to be process work back at Pinewood with our principles. And we needed to know how we were going to stitch that into location-based stunt material, also how we were going to acquire the materials to put in the backgrounds of the process work. So the pre-vis and boarding was essential. That whole process was based on visits to the location and understanding that environment and what could be done there.

They just went and filmed some really amazing stunts, and we were able to shoot multicamera backgrounds, plus scanning everywhere. And so we were then able to build either fully digital versions of backgrounds or projected photography onto digital assets to create the backgrounds for the process work that we shot back at Pinewood. 

There were a couple of stunts that we did at Pinewood just because there was no way of being able to get them on location for various reasons. Usually safety, or just the streets — they are super cramped — so you are limited into where you can put a camera, what kind of camera you can put in there.

Would you describe how you did the underwater dive sequence? 

WHITEHURST We used every technique, including actually filming things in the Mediterranean. We shot in tanks at Pinewood. We did some dry-for-wet work, particularly closeups, because it’s so performance critical. And then there’s a lot of full CG work and CG enhancement work on top of that. We were able to storyboard and pre-vis the whole sequence upfront, which meant we could take a look at each shot and go, “Well, this shot should be full CG. This shot we think we can get on location, this shot we can get in a tank.” And we were able to divide and conquer using that approach.

There’s a couple of fully CG shots in there, particularly sort of wide establishing shots where we just couldn’t get the location to look right or that matched our requirements and the tank at Pinewood is just not big enough for doing that kind of work. The art department was able to build us some sections of a wreck, but because of the safety requirements for working underwater, it means that people have to be able to get in and out very quickly and safely. So there was a lot of enhancement work that we needed to do to really make it feel like an enclosed and threatening environment. And then of course, there’s the eels on top of that.

The close-ups were all dry-for-wet, and we were using stunt performers in the Pinewood tank.

Tell us about re-creating the siege of Syracuse.

WHITEHURST Because we had the scene earlier on of 1969 New York, we sort of set our world up as being a real place. And then we extended that and we needed ancient Syracuse to be the 213-214 B.C. equivalent. It had to feel like a real lived in city. And that’s a huge amount of work.

WEAVER It was a massive build — building ancient Syracuse and being accurate to the time period. You could have taken the [virtual] camera at any point and flown down into the city and through the streets. All the props sitting on wagons would all be appropriate for 200 B.C. And that of course involved building the various boats and the ocean and the buildings that would have to get destroyed at various points in time and building all the tools that Archimedes employed to fight the Romans back in the day. It was quite an endeavor, but it was very rewarding.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

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Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘How Do You Live?’ Will Be First Ghibli Film to Get a Simultaneous Imax Release

Japan’s Studio Ghibli revealed late last week that Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, How Do You Live?, will get an Imax release when it opens in Japan on Friday. It will be the first of Miyazaki’s films to release simultaneously on Imax, as well as other premium formats including Dolby Atmos, Dolby Cinema and DTS:X.

Miyazaki’s first film in a decade, How Do You Live?, is easily the most anticipated movie coming to Japanese theaters in years. The great animation master, now 82, insists it will be his last feature — a pledge he previously made, and later broke, during the run-up to the release of his most recent film, The Wind Rises.

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Despite the worldwide excitement surrounding the imminent launch of a new Miyazaki and Ghibli movie, remarkably little is known about the film itself yet. Earlier this month, Ghibli’s lead producer Toshio Suzuki, considered Miyazaki’s right-hand man, said the studio would release no trailers and no promotional materials whatsoever ahead of the release, asking fans to instead see the film with no preconceptions.

“Deep down, I think this is what moviegoers latently desire,” Suzuki said, contrasting his approach with the multi-trailer marketing methods of Hollywood, which often reveal much of a movie’s plot and surprises.

Ghibli previously described the film as “a grand fantasy” loosely inspired by Japanese author Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel of the same title, a coming-of-age story about the emotional and philosophical development of a young boy after the death of his father. The studio released just one inscrutable poster for the film in December (see it below), but it has revealed nothing else about the movie since — no plot summary, no voice cast, nothing about the film’s setting or characters.

Thanks to last week’s Imax announcement, when some Japanese moviegoers blindly enter the cinema on Friday, they will get to experience How Do You Live? afresh in the biggest format possible. Global viewers will have to wait a little longer, though, as the film still does not have a release date outside Japan.

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A Hotel Served As The Set For Hoth In The Empire Strikes Back

Hamill said the original location for the scene was 90 minutes away on a blue-ice glacier, but they ended up shooting 30 feet from the hotel they were all staying in because of the weather. He said:

“I was very excited to see [the glacier location], and then, as happens in filmmaking, it was one of the worst snowstorms in I don’t know how many years. We wound up filming right outside the lodge. I mean, if you turned the camera around you saw people on their balconies having their hot chocolate as Harrison [Ford] and I were acting next to a dead Tauntaun.”

Those people have probably been dining out on those stories since 1979. The costumes for the Hoth scenes might have looked warm, but that was largely for show. Hamill mentioned how “bundled up” the crew was in goggles and face coverings. “I would stay bundled up right until we had to shoot, then the protective gear would come off and obviously the wardrobe is designed to look good but not actually be practical in terms of keeping you warm in those conditions.”

The shoot began in Finse in March, where the average temperature is approximately 26 degrees Fahrenheit with an average low of roughly 15 degrees. When you’re shooting outside for a long time, that isn’t going to be comfortable. Harrison Ford was also stranded at one point in the snow. 

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Paul Wesley Didn’t Want To Play A Canon Version Of Kirk

Remaining “non-canonical” on “Star Trek” may be freeing as an actor, but may raise the hackles of longtime Trekkies. Trekkies, it should be noted, have long been sticklers for canon, and one might even argue that they invented the very concept. 

Paul Wesley talked about how he observed Kirk in the “Star Trek” episode “Balance of Terror,” which was heavily referenced in the first season “Worlds” episode, “A Quality of Mercy.” He also scrubbed through several other episodes and found what parts of Kirk should definitely remain a part of his performance. Notably, he found that Kirk was a very moral person with an unflappable ethical code. That part was to remain canonical. Wesley said: 

“[T]he season 1 finale is based on ‘Balance of Terror,’ which is quite a … I watched that episode multiple times and Kirk is fairly serious. Then as you watch [the original series], there are moments where he’s incredibly playful, and I think every episode speaks to a different characteristic and quality that Kirk has. And I think season 2, episode 3 was very playful, but also the one through line is that he’s very heroic and he has a really good moral compass and he always trusts his instincts. I think that is the pillar and that’s something that is not movable, I guess, so to speak.” 

Season 2, episode 3 of “Strange New Worlds” saw an alternate timeline version of Kirk and Lieutenant Noonien-Sigh (Christina Chong) thrown back in time to 21st-century Toronto. Like “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” the episode is loaded with fish-out-of-water humor, and Wesley gets to be extremely playful. 

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Quordle today – hints and answers for Sunday, July 9 (game #531)

It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s good fun, but also difficult.

What’s more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keeping it fresh in the form of a new variant called the Daily Sequence, which sees you complete four puzzles consecutively, rather than concurrently. 

But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you’ll probably need some for this game too. 

I’m a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who’s been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #531 and the answers to the main game and Daily Sequence. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

Your Quordle expert[image error]Your Quordle expertMarc McLarenUK Editor in Chief

Marc is TechRadar’s UK Editor in Chief and has been playing Wordle and Quordle for more than a year. He’s authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom’s Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in every position. His Wordle streak recently reached the 500 mark and he’ll be inconsolable if he loses it. Yes, he takes it all too seriously. 

Quordle today (game #531) – hint #1 – VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #531) – hint #2 – total vowelsWhat is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

• The total number of vowels across today’s Quordle answers is 8.

Quordle today (game #531) – hint #3 – repeated lettersDo any of today’s Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #531) – hint #4 – total lettersHow many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 12.

Quordle today (game #531) – hint #5 – uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today’s Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #531) – hint #6 – starting letters (1)Do any of today’s Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today’s Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you’re not ready yet then here’s one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #531) – hint #7 – starting letters (2)What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?

• A

• O

• D

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

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Quordle today (game #531) – the answers

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(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today’s Quordle, game #531, are…

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Daily Sequence today (game #531) – the answers

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(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today’s Quordle Daily Sequence, game #531, are…

USINGHOBBYSHIFTEVICTQuordle answers: The past 20Quordle #530, Saturday 8 July: BAGEL, SPITE, MAYBE, RADIOQuordle #529, Friday 7 July: CLOUT, SMEAR, GAILY, ANGRYQuordle #528, Thursday 6 July: HUNCH, LEFTY, ABBEY, RECURQuordle #527, Wednesday 5 July: HILLY, ALERT, SHEET, VODKAQuordle #526, Tuesday 4 July: GUMMY, SQUAT, SUSHI, GAUDYQuordle #525, Monday 3 July: DRUID, ENACT, APART, HEFTYQuordle #524, Sunday 2 July: AMISS, SHOWY, LURCH, SAUCYQuordle #523, Saturday 1 July: KNEAD, DALLY, AMAZE, IDEALQuordle #522, Friday 30 June: WOMAN, BAGEL, SUPER, ARISEQuordle #521, Thursday 29 June: ISSUE, MOUNT, OVOID, SANERQuordle #520, Wednesday 28 June: CEDAR, RUMBA, WIDOW, TITHEQuordle #519, Tuesday 27 June: STRAW, APPLY, MAGMA, CLUEDQuordle #518, Monday 26 June: SCARE, RIGHT, IRATE, ORBITQuordle #517, Sunday 25 June: GAUNT, SLANG, ROUSE, UNITEQuordle #516, Saturday 24 June: BILGE, LEAPT, GLOAT, PLEATQuordle #515, Friday 23 June: FIELD, BRINE, BEGUN, PITCHQuordle #514, Thursday 22 June: AMAZE, BINGO, MUMMY, WEIRDQuordle #513, Wednesday 21 June: BRIDE, TILDE, LOWER, REVELQuordle #512, Tuesday 20 June: DUVET, BLAST, FILMY, CEASEQuordle #511, Monday 19 June: HORDE, LOSER, GUSTO, PRONEQuordle FAQs: Everything you need to knowWhat is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It’s played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year. 

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode – which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! – and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements – specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it’s difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle’s Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can’t blindly throw letters at it and expect to win – you’ll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That’s the case in Wordle too, of course, but it’s even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won’t want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options – you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe – but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you’re faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options – for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH – you’ll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It’s risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it’s the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure – you simply don’t have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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Paramount Execs Tried To Force Taylor Sheridan To Retcon The Ending Of 1883

Sheridan explained that the studio executives didn’t quite believe what they were reading when they got to the finale script for the “Yellowstone” prequel. He said: 

“I know they read the scripts, but they don’t read scripts, so when they read the last episode of 1883, I don’t think they digested what had just happened, even though I made it quite clear from the very beginning. The story I heard is Bob Bakish watched it and said, ‘wait a minute, she dies! They all die? What do we do in season two?’ I said, there is no season two. They’re like, there better be a fu*king season two because we already picked it up. I’m sitting here going, guys everyone is dead.”

To be perfectly honest, I had the same shock reaction, but coming from a viewer’s standpoint, it felt really brave to show deaths on the trail, something that was pretty common back then. The journey West was incredibly perilous. I loved Isabel May’s performance in the series, but as heartbreaking as the story was, it felt right. Of course, from the studio side, it makes sense that they’d already given the green light to a second season and were surprised by what was written. 

That said, it got weirder. Sheridan said, “They wanted to have a meeting about how Sam Elliott survived his suicide. By the very nature of the term, it’s not something survivable, and who would want to see that?” Of course, that sounds strange, but Elliott was a big name for the series. However, the desire for more of the Dutton’s story led to “1923.” 

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The Life And Legacy Of Dr. Soong, The Creator Of Star Trek’s Data

Note: “Star Trek: Enterprise” takes place about a century prior to “Star Trek.”

In a three-part episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise” — “Borderland,” “Cold Station 12,” and “The Augments,” which aired in early November 2004 — audiences were introduced to Dr. Arik Soong (Spiner), a mad geneticist who had been altering and “enhancing” humanoid DNA. Because he was banned from his eugenics programs on Earth (eugenics are a big no-no in the world of “Star Trek”), he was forced to implant Klingons with enhanced human DNA. This is why the Klingons from the original “Star Trek” looked more human from the Klingons in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” There was finally a canonical reason, and it was because of a Soong. At the end of the three-part episode, after Arik is arrested for his genetic shenanigans, he announces that gene manipulation isn’t the right path. Perhaps he’d try cybernetics instead. Of course, it would take several generations to perfect … 

In the first season of “Star Trek: Picard,” set several decades after “Next Generation,” audiences found that Noonien Soong, in addition to building robot “children,” also had a biological child. This was Dr. Altan Soong (yet again played by Spiner), who was still building androids, even though doing so was deemed illegal. He lived in hiding on a hidden planet with a secret colony of android children. In a very Gene Roddenberry fashion, the androids all wore diaphanous robes. They also all had emotions. Just like with Dr. Noonien Soong, however, the color eventually came under threat from a massive, destructive space deity. Altan would shunt the consciousness of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) into an android body. Picard and Data now have that in common.

There was at least one additional Soong besides.

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