title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: There was much controversy over the refereeing in the tournament. Questionable decisions in the match between Italy and South Korea resulted in 400,000 complaints, and featured in ESPN's 10 most fabled World Cup controversies. The match between Spain and South Korea featured two controversially disallowed Spanish goals, which Iván Helguera referred to as "a robbery" and led to Spanish press brandishing the officials "thieves of dreams", though FIFA dismissed the incident as human error.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: This was the first World Cup that featured squads of 23 players, an increase from 22 previously. Of the 23 players, three must be goalkeepers.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The FIFA Organising Committee announced the eight seeded teams on 28 November 2001. The historic tradition to seed the hosts (Japan and South Korea) and holders (France) was upheld; while the remaining five seeds were granted to the other five of the top six teams, ranked by their results in the last three FIFA World Cups (ratio 3:2:1) and their FIFA World Ranking position in the last month of the past three years (equal ratio).


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: For the draw, the 32 teams were allocated into four pots; the eight top-seeded teams, were allocated in pot 1 and would be drawn/selected into the first position of the eight groups playing in the group stage. The remaining 24 unseeded teams, were allocated into three pots based on geographical sections, with the: 11 European teams in pot 2; two Asian teams and three South American teams in pot 3; three North American teams and five African teams in pot 4.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The general principle was to draw one team from each pot into the eight groups, although with special combined procedures for pot 2 and pot 3, due to comprising more/less than eight teams - but sixteen teams in total. At the same time, the draw also needed to respect the geographical limitation, that each group could not feature more than one team from each confederation, except for the European teams where the limitation was maximum two per group. Finally, special limitations were also stipulated to evenly distribute the presence of teams from each confederation between the groups playing respectively in Korea (group A-D) and Japan (group E-H); while China for political considerations only could be drawn for one of the groups playing in Korea.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The FIFA Organising Committee decided ahead of the draw, to place the defending champions (France) in Group A; while the co-hosts South Korea and Japan were placed respectively in Group D and Group H. The procedure for the draw comprised the following six steps:


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: Besides of drawing the teams, the event also featured American vocalist Anastacia giving a debut public performance of the official song of the World Cup: Boom.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: In each group, the teams played three matches, one against each of the other teams. Victories were granted 3 points, while a draw was equal to 1 point. After completion of the Group stage, the best two teams of each group advanced to the Round of 16 in the knockout stage, in a way so all group winners started out meeting a runner-up from one of the other groups. This format was identical with the tournament structure being used in 1998. A total of 64 games were played, including the final and a bronze medal game between the two semifinale losers.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: Group F was considered the group of death, as it brought together Argentina, England, Nigeria and Sweden.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: In the original version of the rules for the final tournament, the ranking criteria were in a different order, with head-to-head results taking precedence over total goal difference. The rules were changed to the above in advance of the tournament, but older versions were still available on the FIFA and UEFA websites, causing some confusion among those trying to identify the correct criteria.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: For the second round, quarter-finals and semi-finals, the qualifiers from Groups A, C, F and H played their games in Japan while the qualifiers from Groups B, D, E and G played their games in South Korea. Daegu, South Korea, hosted the third-place match while Yokohama, Japan, hosted the final.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: In the round of 16, Germany beat Paraguay 1–0 with a late goal by Oliver Neuville in Seogwipo. England defeated Denmark in Niigata 3–0, with all goals occurring in the first half of the game. Sweden and Senegal faced off in Ōita and finished 1–1 in regular time and it took a golden goal from Henri Camara in extra time to settle the game for Senegal 2–1, which lead to Senegal becoming only the second African team to reach the last eight (after Cameroon in 1990). Spain and the Republic of Ireland played in Suwon, where Spain led most of the match 1–0 until a late penalty kick scored by Robbie Keane made the match go to extra time, where Spain emerged victorious in a penalty shoot-out. The United States beat CONCACAF rivals Mexico 2–0 in Jeonju with Brian McBride and Landon Donovan scoring the goals. Brazil defeated Belgium 2–0 in Kobe, with an amazing volley by Rivaldo and a splendid counter-attack goal by Ronaldo. Turkey ended co-hosts Japan's run with a 1–0 win in Miyagi, thanks to an Ümit Davala goal in the 12th minute. The other co-hosts, South Korea, defeated Italy 2–1 in extra time in Daejeon with a goal by Ahn Jung-hwan in the 117th minute. South Korea's win ensured that, for the very first time in the Cup's history, teams from five continents – Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia – reached the quarter-finals of the same tournament.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: In the quarter-finals, England and Brazil squared off in Shizuoka, where Ronaldinho scored a free-kick goal over England's David Seaman early in the second half as Brazil won 2–1. The United States lost to Germany 1–0 in Ulsan by a Michael Ballack goal in the 39th minute, but controversy surrounded the game when United States demanded the referee give a penalty for a goal-line handball by Torsten Frings in the 49th minute, but the referee did not award the penalty. South Korea got another success in Gwangju in a controversial manner, overcoming Spain 5–3 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in which the Spaniards twice thought they had scored while onside; however, the efforts were disallowed by the referee with controversial decisions. While the decisions were marginal, in both incidents the Korean players stopped playing after seeing the flag raised, allowing the goals to be scored. The hosts became the first team in the Asian Football Confederation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, eclipsing the record of their North Korean counterparts who reached the quarter-finals in 1966. They also became the first World Cup semi-final team not from UEFA or CONMEBOL since the United States did it in the first World Cup in 1930. Turkey defeated Senegal 1–0 in Osaka, with a golden goal scored by İlhan Mansız in the 94th minute.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The semi-finals saw 1–0 games; the first semi-final, played in Seoul, saw Michael Ballack's goal suffice for Germany to eliminate South Korea. However, Ballack had already received a yellow card during the match before, which forced him to miss the final based on accumulated yellow cards. The next day in Saitama saw Ronaldo score a goal early in the second half, his sixth of the competition for Brazil, to defeat Turkey in a replay of their Group C encounter.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: In the third-place match in Daegu, Turkey beat the South Koreans 3–2, their first goal coming from Hakan Şükür straight from the opening kick-off (even though South Korea kicked off) in 10.8 seconds, the fastest ever goal in World Cup history.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: In the final match held in Yokohama, Japan, two goals from Ronaldo secured the World Cup for Brazil as they claimed victory over Germany. Ronaldo scored twice in the second half and, after the game, won the Golden Shoe award for the tournament's leading scorer with eight goals. This was the fifth time Brazil had won the World Cup, cementing their status as the most successful national team in the history of the competition. Brazil became the only team since Argentina in 1986 to win the trophy without needing to win a penalty shoot-out at some stage during the knockout phase and the total number of penalty shoot-outs (2) was the lowest since the four-round knockout format was introduced in 1986. Brazil also became the first team to win every match at a World Cup since 1970 and set a new record for highest aggregate goal difference (+14) for a World Cup winner. Brazil's captain Cafu, who became the first player to appear in three successive World Cup finals, accepted the trophy on behalf of the team.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: Ronaldo won the Golden Shoe after scoring eight goals. In total, 161 goals were scored by 109 players, with three of them credited as own goals. Two of those own goals were in the same match, marking the first time in FIFA World Cup history that own goals had been scored by both teams in the same match.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: After the tournament, FIFA published a ranking of all teams that competed in the 2002 World Cup finals based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The sponsors of the 2002 FIFA World Cup are divided into two categories: FIFA World Cup Sponsors and South Korea and Japan Supporters.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The original domestic ticket allocation had fully sold out and the organising committee completed sales of tickets returned from the international allocation by the end of April. However, there were a significant number of empty seats at the opening matches. It was gradually revealed that the World Cup Ticketing Bureau (WCTB) still had unsold tickets in its possession. After FIFA agreed to sell this inventory, JAWOC undertook sales over telephone and WCTB handled the internet sales. For the second round Japan vs. Turkey match in Miyagi in particular, although it was reported by both parties that all tickets had been sold, some 700 seats remained empty.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The official mascot of this World Cup was "Ato, Kaz, and Nik" (The Spheriks), orange, purple, and blue (respectively) futuristic, computer-generated creatures. Collectively, members of a team of "Atmosball" (a fictional football-like sport), Ato is the coach while Kaz and Nik are players. The three individual names were selected from shortlists by users on the Internet and at McDonald's outlets in the host countries.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The official song was "Boom". The official local song of this World Cup was "Let's Get Together Now". The official anthem was "Anthem".


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The official FIFA cultural event of the 2002 World Cup was a flag festival called "Poetry of the Winds". Held in Nanjicheon Park, an area of the World Cup Park close to the stadium, "Poetry of the Winds" was exhibited from 29 May to 25 June in order to wish success upon the World Cup and promote a festive atmosphere. During the flag art festival, hand-painted flags from global artists were displayed as a greeting to international guests in a manner that was designed to promote harmony (2002 Flag Art Festival Executive Committee).


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The World Cup was originally going to be hosted either in Japan or in South Korea, but in the end both rivals had decided to share the hosting duties thus making this World Cup the first to have multiple host nations. However, there were concerns regarding the selection of hosts due to logistical issues caused by fans traveling across two separate sovereign nations as well as whether some of the 20 stadiums to be constructed for the World Cup would be ready in time for it or not. While political and infrastructural problems were eventually overcome, there still remained the issue of East Asia's wet season which could disrupt the play, The timing of the tournament thus had been altered to mitigate as much as possible against such issues, with the tournament kicking off on May 31 and due to run until June 30, the earliest date for a World Cup final since 1986.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The time difference caused issues for fans worldwide especially in Europe, where people had to go to work when matches were played.


title: 2002 FIFA World Cup

text: The tournament had a major economic impact on both South Korea and Japan, generating an estimated US$1.3 billion in revenue. Spending from World Cup tourists in South Korea created US$307 million in direct income and US$713 million in valued added. Japan spent an estimated US$5.6 billion on preparations for the event, which had a US$24.8 billion impact on the Japanese economy and accounted for 0.6% of their GDP in 2002.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2020 action-adventure comedy film based on the video game series of the same name published by Sega. Directed by Jeff Fowler (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, it stars Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, alongside Jim Carrey and James Marsden, with supporting roles by Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, and Neal McDonough. The film follows Sonic (voiced by Schwartz), a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog who can run supersonic speeds. He teams up with a town sheriff, Tom Wachowski (Marsden), to stop the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Carrey).


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Development for a "Sonic" film began in the 1990s but did not leave the planning stage until Sony Pictures acquired the rights in 2013. Fowler was brought in to direct in 2016. After Sony put the project in turnaround, Paramount Pictures acquired it in 2017. Most of the cast signed on by August 2018, and principal filming took place between September and October that year in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. Following the negative reaction to the first trailer in 2019, Paramount delayed the film by three months to redesign Sonic.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog" premiered at the Paramount Pictures studio lot on January 25, 2020, before being theatrically released in the United States on February 14. It set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in the United States and Canada and grossed worldwide, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2020, and was the highest-grossing video game film adaptation of all time in North America until 2022, when it was surpassed by its sequel. The film was praised for its action sequences, visuals, humor, Schwartz and Carrey's performances, and its faithfulness to the source material, although its screenplay and product placement were criticized. "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" was released in 2022, while "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" is scheduled for 2024. A spin-off miniseries starring Knuckles is in development.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: On a distant planet known as Mobius, Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speed, is unexpectedly followed by a tribe of echidnas. His guardian, an anthropomorphic female owl named Longclaw, gives him a bag of warp rings that open portals to other planets. She uses one to send him to another planet, Earth, while she stays behind to hold off the echidnas, leaving Sonic alone.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Ten years later, Sonic enjoys a secret life under the rural town of Green Hills, Montana, but longs to make friends. He idolizes the local sheriff Tom Wachowski and his veterinarian wife Maddie unaware the pair are to relocate to San Francisco as Tom plans to accept a post with the SFPD.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: One night, Sonic grows upset over his loneliness while playing baseball alone and inadvertently triggers an electromagnetic pulse that causes a massive power outage across the Pacific Northwest while running at high speeds. The United States Department of Defense reluctantly enlists the services of eccentric roboticist and scientific genius Dr. Robotnik to determine the cause. Seeing he is being hunted, Sonic plots to leave Earth for a different planet; he is reluctant to do so as the planet only consists of fungi. However, Tom discovers Sonic in his shed and shoots him with a tranquilizer dart, causing Sonic to accidentally create a portal to the Transamerica Pyramid's tower roof upon reading the writing on Tom's shirt. Sonic accidentally drops his bag of rings on the tower's roof through the warp ring before he passes out. Tom hesitantly agrees to help Sonic and the two flee when confronted by Robotnik, who falsely labels Tom a domestic terrorist. The two slowly bond, with Tom relating to Sonic's desire for friends. Sonic creates a bucket list and Tom helps him complete several entries along their journey.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Meanwhile, Robotnik, discovering that one of Sonic's quills holds an almost limitless amount of electrical energy, plans to capture Sonic to use his powers for his machines. As he tracks them down, Sonic and Tom manage to fight off several mechanized drones sent by Robotnik, but Sonic is injured in the battle.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Arriving in San Francisco, Tom brings Sonic to Maddie, who treats him at her sister Rachel's home. Sonic receives a new pair of red sneakers to replace his ruined ones from Rachel's daughter Jojo. The group heads to the roof of the tower and recovers the rings as Robotnik arrives in an advanced attack hovercraft and his flight suit powered by the quill. Sonic fights off Robotnik's drones and uses one of his rings to send Tom and Maddie back to Green Hills to protect them; however, Robotnik uses the quill's power to match Sonic's speed. Sonic fights Robotnik in a chase across the world before Robotnik subdues Sonic in Green Hills. Tom and the townsfolk intervene, and Tom acknowledges Sonic as his friend, causing Sonic to regain his power. Sonic takes back his quill's power from Robotnik, weakening Robotnik's hovercraft. Sonic also promises himself that he would use his power to protect his friends. Using his powerful spin attack, Sonic viciously attacks Robotnik and defeats him by banishing him into a portal to the mushroom planet.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Following the incident, Tom and Maddie decide to stay in Green Hills and let Sonic live with them. The government erases all evidence of the events, including records of Robotnik's existence. Three months later, Robotnik is still in possession of Sonic's quill and usable equipment salvaged from the remains of his hovercraft. He swears to return to Earth and exact revenge against Sonic.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Development for a film adaptation of the "Sonic the Hedgehog" video games began in 1993 during production of DIC Entertainment's television show "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog". Michealene Risley, the newly appointed consumer products director who helped license Sonic for "Adventures", negotiated with several Hollywood producers. Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske was wary of damaging the brand, citing the commercial and critical failures of the "Super Mario Bros." and "Street Fighter" films. Despite Kalinske's concerns, Sega was enthusiastic. In August 1994, Sega struck a development deal with MGM and Trilogy Entertainment Group, with Pen Densham as executive producer.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: MGM and Sega hired Richard Jefferies, an associate of Risley from her days at Marvel Comics, to write a film treatment. At the time, Sega was developing the video game "Sonic X-treme" (which was canceled in late 1996) for its next console, the Sega Saturn, and asked Jefferies to feature the Saturn in the screenplay. Jefferies' treatment, "Sonic: Wonders of the World", was submitted in May 1995. While the draft received a positive response among MGM and Sega executives, Sega COO Shinobu Toyoda suggested Kalinske replace Robotnik with a meaner villain. MGM canceled the project after a failed attempt to revive it at DreamWorks. Jeffries suggested that the film was scrapped as both Sega and MGM wanted a higher share of the profits, while Densham said it followed creative differences between Sega and Trilogy.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In 2002, Ben Hurst consulted DIC Entertainment about the possibility of making an animated "Sonic" film to serve as a continuation of the animated "Sonic the Hedgehog" television series, in which he worked as a writer. DiC put Hurst in contact with a Sega executive interested in the idea. Hurst was contacted by Ken Penders, writer of the Archie Comics' "Sonic the Hedgehog" comic book series, who had been alerted of Hurst's plans. Though Hurst told him his strategy and offered to include him in his effort, Penders told Sega that Hurst was trying to co-opt the franchise, leading Sega to dismiss Hurst and his proposal. In September 2003, Penders pitched his own concept for a "Sonic" film, "Sonic Armageddon". In Penders' words, the movie would have been an origin story and a series reset, resolving the plot threads which began in the animated "Sonic" show and continued in Archie's comic series. The project was dropped in 2007 due to a corporate upheaval and the death of Sega licensing manager Robert Leffler, who had supported Penders.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In 2013, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the rights to produce and distribute a "Sonic" film. On June 10, 2014, a live-action animated film was announced as a joint venture between Sony Pictures' Columbia Pictures and Marza Animation Planet, a Japan-based subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings which had produced CGI cutscenes for several "Sonic" games. It would be produced by Neal H. Moritz by his Original Film banner alongside Takeshi Ito, Mie Onishi, and Toru Nakahara, and written by Evan Susser and Van Robichaux. In February 2016, Sega CEO Hajime Satomi said the film was scheduled for 2018. Blur Studio's Tim Miller and Jeff Fowler were hired in 2016 to develop it; Fowler would make his feature directorial debut, and Miller would serve as executive producer. Blur Studio previously produced cutscenes for the games "Shadow the Hedgehog" (2005), for which Fowler directed cutscenes, and "Sonic the Hedgehog" (2006). Patrick Casey, Josh Miller, and Oren Uziel were writing the screenplay, while Casey and Miller wrote the story.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: On October 2, 2017, Paramount Pictures announced that they had acquired the rights after Sony put the film in turnaround. Almost all of the production team remained unchanged. Coincidentally, Paramount and Sega had once been sister companies under Gulf and Western Industries; Gulf and Western sold Sega's assets in 1984. In February 2018, it was announced that the film would be released in November 2019. During production the film used the working title "Casino Night", named after one of the stages in the "Sonic" games. Early drafts featured Sonic's Super Sonic form from the video games. The ideas were discarded as Fowler felt "it didn't make sense to obviously bring in the Super Sonic thing just yet” and wanted to focus on the origins of Sonic and Robotnik's relationship.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In May 2018, it was reported that Paul Rudd was in talks for a lead role as Tom, "a cop who befriends Sonic and will likely team up to defeat Dr. Robotnik”; however, this was later denied by Paramount. A day later, it was announced that James Marsden was cast in an undisclosed role, but later revealed to be Tom Wachowski. In June, Tika Sumpter was cast as Tom's wife Maddie, with Jim Carrey cast to play the villain, Dr. Robotnik.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In August, Ben Schwartz joined the cast to voice Sonic. This marked a rare occasion in which the character would not be voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who has been voicing Sonic in most incarnations since 2010. Schwartz, a fan of the original video games, was chosen for the role after Fowler and Miller cast him for a test reading as they pitched the project to several studios. Having enjoyed his performance, they officially cast Schwartz as the voice of Sonic. Adam Pally and Neal McDonough were added to the cast later that month. Debs Howard and Elfina Luk joined the cast the following November. Riff Raff was cast in an undisclosed role, but was cut from the film.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Principal photography began in mid-September 2018 and ended in Vancouver, Ladysmith, and Vancouver Island on October 16, 2018. Key production scenes were also filmed in Liwa Oasis, United Arab Emirates. During filming, Ben Schwartz was unavailable, so a stand-in performed alongside Marsden.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: The visual effects are provided by Moving Picture Company (MPC), Marza Animation Planet, Blur Studio, Trixter, and Digital Domain. The production team created a realistic version of Sonic using computer animation, adding fur, new running sneakers, two separate eyes, and a more human like physique. They used Ted, the living teddy bear from the "Ted" films, as a reference to insert a CGI character into a real-world setting. Executive producer Miller said: "It would be weird, and it would feel like he was running around nude if he was some sort of otter-like thing. It was always, for us, fur, and we never considered anything different. It's part of what integrates him into the real world and makes him a real creature." According to Miller, Sega was not "entirely happy" with the design of Sonic's eyes.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: On May 2, 2019, in response to the criticism, Fowler announced on Twitter that Sonic would be redesigned. The film was delayed from its original release date of November 8, 2019, to February 14, 2020, as a result. Artist Tyson Hesse, who worked on previous "Sonic the Hedgehog" media, was brought on to lead the redesign. Sonic was given larger and differently colored eyes, new sneakers, white gloves, and a less humanlike body to better resemble "Sonic"s video game design. Sonic was redesigned by Marza Animation Planet. The redesign added an estimated $5 million to the production budget, took around five months, and was achieved without overtime.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: A modified version of the original design for Sonic would later be included in the film "" (2022) as the character "Ugly Sonic", voiced by Tim Robinson.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In February 2019, Tom Holkenborg, who previously worked with executive producer Miller on "Deadpool", was hired to compose the score. The soundtrack was released alongside the film on February 14, 2020, in both digital and physical formats. Riff Raff, who had a role in the film but was cut, appears on the soundtrack. An original song, "BOOM" by X Ambassadors, appears on the soundtrack, the single was released on January 24, 2020 by Atlantic Records. "Speed Me Up" by American musicians Wiz Khalifa, Lil Yachty, Ty Dolla $ign, and Sueco The Child received 15million streams, along with 1.8billion views for the "Speed Me Up" TikTok challenge. "Friends" by Hyper Potions, which previously appeared as the opening theme of "Sonic Mania", also appears, along with arrangements of tracks from Masato Nakamura's score for the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" (1991). Holkenborg attempted to capture the feel of Nakamura's soundtracks for the "Sonic" and "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" (1992) games, using Yamaha digital FM synthesizers (such as the DX7) similar to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console's Yamaha YM2612 sound chip.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Test footage was screened at the Comic Con Experience in Brazil on December 6, 2018. It was followed by a teaser poster released on December 10, 2018, revealing the silhouette design of Sonic, with the tagline "A Whole New Speed of Hero". It received a negative response from critics and fans, and was compared unfavorably to another 2019 video game film adaptation, "Detective Pikachu", which added fur and skin textures to the "Pokémon" characters. Sonic's humanoid appearance was described as evoking an uncanny valley response. Former members of Sonic Team, who created the "Sonic the Hedgehog" games, also expressed surprise. A second poster was leaked online shortly after. Fans complained of a lack of resemblance to the games and criticized the positioning of Sonic's legs, spawning an Internet meme in which users recreated the position. The film's official Twitter account posted an image of Sonic behind a sign reading: "Can't a guy work out?" Images of the Sonic design were leaked in March 2019 to more fan criticism. Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka was "shocked" by the design and felt the ratio of Sonic's head and abdomen was imbalanced.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: The first trailer premiered on April 4, 2019, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and was released online on April 30. It received near-unanimous criticism, with Gita Jackson of "Kotaku" calling it "horrific" and "a blight upon this weary earth". Sonic's design was heavily criticized by fans for its humanoid appearance, while some found the use of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" jarring. Conversely, "CNET"'s Sean Keane praised the humor and references to the games. Within two days, the trailer was viewed more than 20million times on YouTube, and had received hundreds of thousands of "dislike" ratings, drastically outnumbering the "like" ratings.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: A second trailer revealing the redesigned Sonic was released on November 12, 2019. The trailer received far more positive responses, with many praising Sonic's new design. The tone and the humor also received positive reviews, as did the choice of song, J. J. Fad's "Supersonic" and Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop". Naka said he felt the new design was "much more Sonic-like". The second trailer received thousands of likes and the highest like-to-dislike ratio of any trailer on Google in the last three years. The trailers have garnered a total of more than 500million views worldwide. As a promotional tie-in, the version of Sonic seen in the film was added as a playable character to the mobile games "Sonic Dash" and "Sonic Forces".


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: The original design, named "Ugly Sonic", appears as a minor character in the 2022 film "", playing off the Internet's reaction to the first trailer. According to that film's director Akiva Schaffer, they had also used Moving Picture Company for their animation studio, and MPC was able to provide the original Sonic model for the film. The character was voiced in the film by comedian Tim Robinson.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog" was scheduled for 2018 by Sony Pictures Releasing. In February 2018, shortly after taking over the rights, Paramount Pictures rescheduled the film to November 15, 2019. It was later moved a week earlier to November 8, 2019. Following the announcement of Sonic's redesign in May 2019, the film was again delayed for just one last time by three months (to February 14, 2020, to be exact), to ensure Paramount got "a little more time to make Sonic just right". "Playing with Fire" took the original release date. The world premiere took place at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles on January 25, 2020. The film was originally going to be released in Japan on March 27, 2020, but had to be moved to June 26, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: On March 20, 2020, Paramount announced that "Sonic the Hedgehog" would be released to home media in the United States and Canada before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run, as many film studios took the decision to release films earlier due to movie theaters closures in mid-March because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The digital version was released on March 31, 2020, and was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray by Paramount Home Entertainment on May 19, 2020. All home media releases include an original short film, "Around the World in 80 Seconds".


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: The film topped the American Blu-ray and DVD charts for several weeks upon release. It was the sixth top-selling home video title of 2020 in the United States. The DVD and Blu-ray releases crossed units sold in the United States by January 2021 and earned about in US sales revenue .


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: After its release to Digital HD in 2020, Paramount Pictures announced that the film would land on the streaming service, EPIX on November 20, 2020. The movie then made its move to streaming service, Hulu on February 18, 2021, and on Amazon Prime Video the next day on February 19, 2021. Paramount Pictures also confirmed that the movie as well as its sequel entitled "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" would release later on Paramount+ with its sequel being released 45 days after its theatrical release window.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog" grossed $149 million in the United States and Canada, and in other territories, for a worldwide total of . It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2020, and the highest-grossing superhero film of the year, ending Marvel Studios decade-long run of having the highest-grossing film of the genre (from 2010 to 2019). The film's budget was estimated at being between $85 million and $90 million.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside "Fantasy Island", "The Photograph", and "Downhill", and was initially projected to gross $40–50 million from 4,130 theaters in its four-day President's Day opening weekend. After making $21 million on its first day (including $3 million from Thursday night previews), estimates were raised to $64 million. It went on to top the box office with a $58 million debut over the three-day weekend, and $70 million over the four, breaking "Detective Pikachu"s record for the biggest opening weekend by a video game-based film. It was also the fourth-best President's Day holiday weekend and Jim Carrey's second biggest opening weekend, behind "Bruce Almighty" (2003). The success was attributed in part to the redesign of Sonic and the publicity it created, and the delayed release date, which meant it opened with less competition from other family films. Opening day audiences were 56% male and 44% female, with 70% under 25 years and 30% over 25 years. In its second weekend, "Sonic the Hedgehog" made $26.2 million and retained the top spot at the box office, bringing its ten-day domestic gross to . "Sonic the Hedgehog" made $16.3 million in its third weekend and was dethroned by newcomer "The Invisible Man". On March 14, 2020, it became the highest-grossing film based on a video game in US box office history, surpassing "Detective Pikachu".


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog" was released in 40 countries during its three-day opening weekend, topping the international box office with . Its strongest international regions were Latin America and Europe, with its largest openings being in Mexico, in the United Kingdom, in France, in Germany, and in Brazil. Worldwide, it made over the three-day weekend and over the four days. In its second weekend the film again topped the international box office with from 56 countries for a ten-day overseas gross of , and topped the global box office again with for a ten-day worldwide gross of . Its largest international markets in its first ten days were the United Kingdom (), Mexico (), and France (), retaining the top spot in these markets. The film opened in 16 new markets, led by a number-one debut in Russia (). The film was released in Japan on June 26, 2020, after being postponed from a previous March release due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and debuted at No. 6 that weekend. In China, the release was also postponed due to the pandemic, eventually receiving a July 31 date and underperforming at the Chinese box office due to new pandemic-related theatre policies there.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In terms of box office admissions, the film sold 15,876,790 tickets in the United States and Canada (annual rank #3), 6,811,679 tickets in Mexico (annual #1), 893,634 tickets in Peru (annual #2), 468,697 tickets in Ecuador (annual #1), 67,230 tickets in the Dominican Republic (annual #2), 12,454,206 tickets in Europe (annual #3), 3,001,403 tickets in Brazil (annual #3), 698,500 tickets in China, 687,740 tickets in Argentina (annual #3), and 118,725 tickets in South Korea, for a combined tickets sold in these territories.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, "Sonic the Hedgehog" has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "Fittingly fleet and frequently fun, "Sonic the Hedgehog" is a video game-inspired adventure the whole family can enjoy -- and a fine excuse for Jim Carrey to tap into the manic energy that launched his career." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average 4 out of 5 stars, with 66% of viewers they surveyed saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Akeem Lawanson of "IGN" gave the film a score of 7 out of 10, praising the performances and the nostalgia, stating, "While this family-friendly action-comedy suffers from a simplistic story and leans too heavily on tired visual clichés, "Sonic the Hedgehog" is nevertheless boosted by solid performances from Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. Their ongoing cat-and-mouse game is entertaining, and passionate fans of the Sega franchise should appreciate all the nods to Sonic's history." Dami Lee of "The Verge" gave the film a positive review, praising the nostalgic elements seen in the film, writing that it "shines when it remembers it's based on a video game, and there's some genuinely fun stuff—like when Sonic uses his time-stopping powers or Robotnik's elaborate 'evil-plotting' montage that makes you wonder why more movies don't feature bad guys with choreographed dance sequences. Carrey plays up Robotnik as the cartoon villain he is, and it's a true delight to watch him in his element." Corey Plante of "Inverse" called it a "road trip superhero movie" and "the best superhero movie of 2020" so far. John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter", gave the film a positive review, saying: "Flesh-and-blood actors help keep this game derived kids' flick afloat."


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Gene Park of "The Washington Post" gave the film a positive review, saying it was "the furthest thing from "Cats", despite the early comparisons. Wary fans expecting the usual easy target to mock will instead find something to fervently celebrate for years." Amon Warrman of "Empire" gave the film two out of five stars, writing, "An on-form Jim Carrey can't stop Sonic's live-action debut from feeling like a missed opportunity. If the teased sequels do materialize, here's hoping the storytelling levels up." Ben Kenigsberg of "The New York Times" gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Sonic now resembles a cartoon hedgehog instead of a spray-painted marmot. But if anything was done to de-genericize the script, it hasn't helped. Not that the Sega games—in which the fleet-footed hero zips around doing flips and collecting gold coins (which here encircle the Paramount mountain) gave the director, Jeff Fowler, much to work with."


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: "Variety"s Owen Gleiberman criticized the tone: "For all the borderline tedium I felt at "Sonic the Hedgehog", I do realize that this is a picture made for 8-year-olds. And they'll probably like it just fine. Yet I would also call the overly kiddified tone of the movie a mistake." Writing for "The Guardian", Steve Rose gave the film two out of five, saying elements were "clearly indebted" to other films, such as Quicksilver's powers in the "X-Men" movies, and finding the message of friendship "trite and familiar". Simon Abrams of "RogerEbert.com" gave the film one out of four, writing, ""Sonic the Hedgehog" is only as successful as the amount of time you want to spend watching its animated protagonist go on instantly forgettable adventures, and boy, is that unfortunate." Tim Grierson of "Screen Daily" also gave the film a negative review, writing, "The film projects enough benign cheerfulness that the experience is never unpleasant, but one can’t help but feel the filmmakers’ strain in crafting a sly action-comedy for audiences expecting over-the-top spectacle and nonstop quips. Sadly, Sonic isn’t swift enough to deliver."


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: An action-packed chapter novel based on the film, titled "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Official Movie Novelization", created by Kiel Phegley, was released on February 14, 2020, published by Penguin Books, the same release as the theatrical film.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: Paramount confirmed that a sequel was in development on May 28, 2020. Fowler returns as director, while Casey and Josh Miller return as writers. Neal H. Mortiz, Toby Ascher, and Toru Nakahara are producing, having co-produced the first film alongside Takeshi Ito, while Tim Miller, Hajime Satomi, and Haruki Satomi return as executive producers. Filming took place between March 2021 and May 2021, under the working title "Emerald Hill". This is a reference to the first level of the game "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" (1992), and it features a remix of the "Emerald Hill Zone" theme from the game.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: On December 8, 2020, it was confirmed that artist Tyson Hesse would reprise his role for storyboard artist Fill Marc as he said the following: "I wrapped up work on "" last week. Excited 2 announce I've been working on the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Story Team with Jeff Fowler and Tyson Hesse at Blur Studio. My first live action feature coming in 2022." This will be Marc's first live-action project. In January 2021, Sumpter announced that she was reprising her role as Maddie. She also announced that the sequel will film in Vancouver and Hawaii. The title, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2", was confirmed on February 10, 2021. On March 15, 2021, Jeff Fowler confirmed that production of the film had begun. The film was released on March 30, 2022 in France and the Netherlands, April 1 in the U.K. and on April 8 in the U.S.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In February 2022, a third film was confirmed to be in development, scheduled for release on December 20, 2024.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

text: In February 2022, a spin-off series starring Knuckles the Echidna was announced, scheduled for release on Paramount+ in 2023.


title: Laura Dern

text: Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards.


title: Laura Dern

text: Born to actor Bruce Dern and actress Diane Ladd, Dern embarked on an acting career in the 1980s and rose to prominence for her performances in "Mask" (1985) and the David Lynch films "Blue Velvet" (1986) and "Wild at Heart" (1990). She received her first Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the titular orphan in the drama film "Rambling Rose" (1991), and achieved international recognition for her role as Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's adventure film "Jurassic Park" (1993), a role that she reprised in the sequels "Jurassic Park III" (2001) and "Jurassic World Dominion" (2022).


title: Laura Dern

text: After winning two Golden Globe Awards for her performances as Katherine Harris in the television film "Recount" (2008), and Amy Jellicoe in the comedy-drama series "Enlightened" (2011–2013), Dern garnered her second Academy Award nomination for her work in the biopic "Wild" (2014). In 2017, she began starring as Renata Klein in the drama series "Big Little Lies", winning a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, and reunited with David Lynch for "Twin Peaks: The Return". She has since played supporting roles in the films "" (2017), "Marriage Story" (2019), and "Little Women" (2019). Her performance in "Marriage Story" won her numerous accolades including an Academy Award and her fifth Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Laura Dern

text: Laura Elizabeth Dern was born on February 10, 1967, in Los Angeles, California. The daughter of actors Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern and great-granddaughter of former Utah governor and Secretary of War George Dern, she was conceived while her parents were filming "The Wild Angels". Poet, writer, and Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish was her great-great-uncle. After her parents divorced when she was two years old, Dern was largely brought up by her mother and maternal grandmother, Mary, who had Norwegian ancestry, from Oslo. She was raised a Catholic. Her godmother was actress Shelley Winters. She developed scoliosis as a child.


title: Laura Dern

text: Her first film foray was an appearance as an extra in "White Lightning" (1973), a film in which her mother starred. Her official film debut was an appearance in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974), opposite her mother. In 1982, Dern served as Miss Golden Globe at 15 years old. In the same year, she portrayed a rebellious rock band member in the cult film "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains". At 16, after doubling on her classes to graduate high school a semester early, she sought and attained emancipation, which allowed her to work the same amount of hours as an adult on films. After moving out of her home at the age of 17, Dern became roommates with Marianne Williamson, and enrolled at UCLA intending to double major in psychology and journalism, but withdrew two days into the semester to film "Blue Velvet".


title: Laura Dern

text: Dern got her first credited role, Debbie, appearing alongside Jodie Foster in the 1980 coming-of-age film "Foxes". At the age of 11, she had originally auditioned for a different role after telling casting directors that she was 14. In 1985, she was cast two weeks before production began as the protagonist, a carefree 15-year-old girl, Connie Wyatt, who grabs the attention of a predatory stranger, in the film "Smooth Talk". The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in the Dramatic category in 1986 and received largely favorable reviews. It is seen as the film that launched Dern's career.


title: Laura Dern

text: Between 1985 and 1990, Dern gained critical acclaim for her performances in "Mask", "Blue Velvet", and "Wild at Heart"–the latter two of which were directed by David Lynch–which began a longstanding collaboration between Dern and Lynch. In the biographical drama film, "Mask", she played the role of Diana Adams, a blind girl who becomes Rocky Dennis' love interest, starring alongside Eric Stoltz and Cher. At the age of 16, Dern was cast as Sandy Williams, one of the starring roles alongside Kyle MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini in the critically successful mystery thriller film "Blue Velvet." It was widely regarded as Dern's breakthrough performance.


title: Laura Dern

text: In 1990, Dern once again collaborated with Lynch, starring as Lula Fortune alongside Nicolas Cage in the black comedy crime film "Wild At Heart", where she portrays a vastly different character from her previous role in "Blue Velvet". Dern called the role an opportunity 'to play not only a very sexual person, but also someone who was, in her own way, incredibly comfortable with herself'. The film which had won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, was met with generally positive reviews from critics but polarized some audiences at the time. Lynch also cast Dern's mother, Diane Ladd, to play Lula's overbearing mother in the film.


title: Laura Dern

text: Dern also auditioned for the iconic role of Clarice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), but lost the role due to studio's skepticism about her level of fame at the time. In 1992, Dern and her mother, Diane Ladd, became the first mother and daughter to be nominated for Academy Awards for acting in the same film for their performances in "Rambling Rose"–Ladd received a Best Supporting Actress nomination, while Dern received one for Best Actress. The following year, she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film and received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Television Movie for her performance in the 1992 television film "Afterburn".


title: Laura Dern

text: Dern starred as Dr. Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film "Jurassic Park", achieving international recognition with the role. Dern, who had been more focused on independent films prior to the film, was Spielberg’s first choice for the role of Ellie Sattler after having been impressed with her work in "Smooth Talk" and "Rambling Rose". She was also influenced by "Wild At Heart" costar Nicolas Cage to take the role and called the decision an "easy yes", recalling how Spielberg and producer Kathleen Kennedy made sure the character was a "no-nonsense feminist who had her own independent spirit and was brilliant in her craft" and wasn't an "oversexualized action heroine" while describing filming to be similar to an independent film.


title: Laura Dern

text: That same year, Clint Eastwood contacted the actress for his film "A Perfect World". After the release of "Jurassic Park", Dern was offered many roles in blockbuster films and ultimately chose to star in Alexander Payne's directorial debut black comedy film "Citizen Ruth" to avoid typecasting as the character Ruth Stoops, a pregnant drug addict who unexpectedly attracts national attention from those involved in the abortion debate. The film debuted at Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim for the film and for Dern's performance but only received a limited release from Miramax likely due to its controversial topic. Ladd made a cameo appearance, playing Dern's character's mother for the third time following "Rambling Rose" and "Wild At Heart", with Dern's character screaming a torrent of abuse at her.


title: Laura Dern

text: In 1997, Dern was asked by Ellen DeGeneres to guest star as Susan Richmond, a lesbian who helps Degeneres' character, Ellen Morgan, come out of the closet in "The Puppy Episode" of the sitcom "Ellen," while DeGeneres herself came out at the same time offscreen"." Despite protests from people around her, she shrugged off concerns and immediately accepted the role where she received her third Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series. The decision significantly impacted her career in the following years with Dern revealing in an April 2007 airing of DeGeneres's talk show that she did not work for more than a year and that she needed a "full security detail" following her appearance in the historic episode due to the resulting backlash at the time, but nevertheless called it an "extraordinary experience and opportunity" and "an incredible honor". The following year, Dern co-starred in the television film "The Baby Dance", for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. While dating Billy Bob Thornton in 1999, she was cast as his love interest in his film "Daddy and Them", which also includes Diane Ladd. Dern also appeared in Joe Johnston's biographical drama film "October Sky" alongside Jake Gyllenhaal portraying his character's teacher Miss Riley.


title: Laura Dern

text: In 2000, Robert Altman called upon Dern's talents to play a champagne-loving aunt in his Texas-based comedy "Dr. T & the Women". In 2001, Dern reprised her role as Dr. Ellie Sattler in "Jurassic Park III", which was directed by Joe Johnston whom she had worked with in "October Sky". Originally hesitant to return for a cameo, Dern was later convinced when it was suggested by executive producer Steven Spielberg to the writers, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor who had previously collaborated with Dern for "Citizen Ruth", to have the character play an important role by saving the other characters"." That same year, she co-starred in "Within These Walls and Arthur Miller's Focus." She also starred in the film "I Am Sam" as Randy Carpenter, a woman running a foster home. In 2002, she starred in the film "Damaged Care." In 2004, she starred in the film "We Don't Live Here Anymore" alongside Naomi Watts, Mark Ruffalo, and Peter Krause. Dern starred in the 2005 film "Happy Endings", and in the same year, she appeared in the film "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio".


title: Laura Dern

text: In 2006, Dern reunited with director David Lynch for the third time after "Blue Velvet" and "Wild At Heart" in the experimental film "Inland Empire" which was largely shot on a hand-held Sony DSR-PD150 by Lynch himself and without a complete screenplay. Dern portrays an actress, Nikki Grace, who starts to take on the personality of the character she plays. The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival to polarizing reviews, majority being positive, where Dern admitted that she was not sure what the film was about, but has said she would sign up for any project with Lynch. In the same year, Dern portrayed a supporting role in "Lonely Hearts". Mike White, known for writing "School of Rock" and "The Good Girl", hired Dern for his directorial debut in 2007, the comedy titled "Year of the Dog", and starring Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly and Peter Sarsgaard. In 2008, Dern starred as Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris in "Recount", for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. The following year, Dern was seen in the independent drama "Tenderness", and in 2010, she appeared in "Little Fockers", portraying Prudence, an elementary school principal.


title: Laura Dern

text: In November 2010, Dern and her parents Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern were presented with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming the first family to do so. In October 2011, she starred in a new HBO comedy-drama television series titled "Enlightened" in which she also served as co-creator and executive producer. Dern played Amy Jellicoe, a "health and beauty executive who returns from a post-meltdown retreat to pick up the pieces of her broken life." Dern brought screenwriter Mike White, whom she collaborated with on "Year of the Dog", back into television work after he had suffered an on-the-job meltdown of his own. The series received critical acclaim and lasted two seasons. Dern's mother, Diane Ladd plays the major supporting role of Helen Jellicoe, Dern's character's mother in the series. Dern received her third Golden Globe Award and fifth nomination, her first in the Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy category for her performance. She was also nominated for her fifth Primetime Emmy Award, her first in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category.


title: Laura Dern

text: In 2012, Dern starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's psychological drama film "The Master", alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. In 2014, she co-starred alongside Reese Witherspoon in Jean-Marc Vallée's biographical drama film "Wild" portraying the character of Bobbi, mother of Cheryl Strayed in flashback scenes, for which she received her second Academy Award nomination and her first in the Best Supporting Actress category. That same year, she portrayed Frannie Lancaster in the coming-of-age romance film "The Fault In Our Stars" alongside Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort and alongside Jim Caviezel, Michael Chiklis and Alexander Ludwig, she portrays Beverly Ladouceur (Bev Ladouceur) in the sports drama film "When The Game Stands Tall" produced by Mandalay Pictures. She also portrayed Lynn Nash, a widowed mother and grandmother who gets evicted with her family, in 2014's "99 Homes" alongside Andrew Garfield.


title: Laura Dern

text: In 2017, Dern reteamed with both Witherspoon and Vallée from "Wild" and "The Fault In Our Stars" co-star Shailene Woodley for the 2017 HBO miniseries "Big Little Lies", the latter who Dern had helped convince to join the cast"." For her portrayal as Renata Klein in the series, Dern won her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and her fourth Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture Made for Television. That same year, she collaborated for the fourth time with David Lynch, appearing as Diane Evans in the third season of the mystery serial drama television series "Twin Peaks" and also joined the "Star Wars" franchise portraying Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo in Rian Johnson's space opera film "".


title: Laura Dern

text: In 2018, Dern starred as the real life professor and documentary filmmaker, Jennifer Fox, recalling her traumatic past in the autobiographical feature film "The Tale", written and directed by Fox herself. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2018 to a standing ovation, and later on HBO on May 26, 2018. Dern received her seventh Primetime Emmy nomination for the role in the category Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie. That same year, she also starred in two biographical drama films, "Trial By Fire" alongside Jack O'Connell, and "JT LeRoy" as the author Laura Albert alongside "Certain Women" co-star Kristen Stewart.


title: Laura Dern

text: In 2019, Dern reprised her role of Renata Klein in "Big Little Lies" after the series was renewed for a second season where she once again received critical acclaim and received her eighth Primetime Emmy Award nomination, her first in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category. In the same year, Dern starred in two films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The first is Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story" alongside Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, portraying the character Nora Fanshaw, a divorce lawyer which was written by Baumbach with Dern in mind for the role. For her performance, Dern received major awards including earning her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress from three nominations, winning the first and only Oscar in an acting category for Netflix, and also received the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, the SAG Award for Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. The second is Greta Gerwig's film adaptation of "Little Women", where she portrayed Marmee March. The film also stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, and Meryl Streep, the latter whom she had just collaborated with in "Big Little Lies". In 2020, she served as an executive producer on the animated short film "If Anything Happens I Love You" which was released on Netflix and was a producer on the documentary film "The Way I See It".


title: Laura Dern

text: In 2022, Dern reprised her role as Dr. Ellie Sattler for the first time since 2001's "Jurassic Park III" alongside former co-stars Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum in "Jurassic World Dominion". Due to the character's fan influence, Dern and director Colin Trevorrow felt protective of the character and her legacy, and were in agreement to have the character play a major role. With Neill and Goldblum having led in their own "Jurassic Park" sequel, Trevorrow wanted "Dominion" to be Dern’s film explaining, “It was important for the plot to be driven by Ellie. She’s the only one of those three characters that hasn’t had her own movie.” She is set to star alongside Hugh Jackman in Florian Zeller's adaptation of his stage play, "The Son". Dern appeared in the music video for Taylor Swift's "Bejeweled" from her tenth studio album "Midnights" (2022).


title: Laura Dern

text: Dern will star and serve as executive producer with Benedict Cumberbatch for the science fiction drama film "Morning" directed by Justin Kurzel. She is also set to star in the Netflix film "Lonely Planet" with Liam Hemsworth, and will serve as executive producer and star in the upcoming AppleTV+ comedy series "Mrs. American Pie". Dern is set to reunite with "Wild" author Cheryl Strayed and co-star Reese Witherspoon as executive producers for the upcoming Hulu television series "Tiny Beautiful Things" based on Strayed's book.


title: Laura Dern

text: Dern began dating musician Ben Harper after they met at one of his concerts in fall 2000. Harper and Dern married on December 23, 2005, at their home in Los Angeles. They have two children together, son Ellery Walker (born August 21, 2001) and daughter, Jaya (born November 2004). Through this marriage, Dern also became a stepmother and is close with Harper's children from his first marriage, his son, Charles, and daughter, Harris. The two finalised their divorce in 2013.


title: Laura Dern

text: On October 18, 2017, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal, Dern appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and revealed that she had been sexually assaulted at age 14.


title: Laura Dern

text: During the 66th Golden Globe Awards, on January 11, 2009, Dern expressed support for the incoming administration of Barack Obama during her acceptance speech for her Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film win, stating: "I will cherish this as a reminder of the extraordinary, incredible outpouring of people who demanded their voice be heard in this last election so we can look forward to amazing change in this country. Thank you so much!"


title: Laura Dern

text: An activist and supporter of various charities, Dern advocated Down syndrome awareness in a cover story for "Ability Magazine". In 2018, Dern brought activist Mónica Ramírez to the 75th Golden Globe Awards as a guest. In the same year, she attended a Families Belong Together event and expressed her support for immigrants' rights. She is also an advocate for women's rights, gender pay parity, as well as combating gun violence and climate change. In 2019, she became a board member of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Dern is an ambassador for the American Lung Association and serves as an Advisor to the group's National Board of Directors.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Gilmore Girls is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. "Gilmore Girls" ran for seven seasons, the final season moving to The CW and ending its run on May 15, 2007.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: "Gilmore Girls" received critical acclaim for its witty dialogue, cross-generational appeal, and effective mix of humor and drama. It was a success for The WB, peaking during season five as the network's second-most-popular show. The series has been in daily syndication since 2004, while a growing following has led to its status as a 2000s American cult classic. Since going off the air in 2007, "Gilmore Girls" has been cited in "TV (The Book)" and "Time" magazine as one of the 100 greatest television shows of all time. In 2016, the main cast and Sherman-Palladino returned for the four-part miniseries revival "", which streamed on Netflix and later aired on The CW.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: 30-something single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her intellectual teenage daughter Rory Gilmore as the two women have strong ambitions they try so desperately to achieve: Lorelai wants to own her own inn while Rory wants to attend to the prestigious Harvard university while also dealing with Lorelai's appearance-obsessive and very wealthy parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore, who pay for Rory's tuition at an exclusive private school in Hartford, Connecticut .


title: Gilmore Girls

text: This sets up one of the show's primary, ongoing conflicts: the Gilmore family is forced to face their differences and complicated past, their interactions fueled by these weekly Friday night dinners together. The contrasting mother-daughter relationships of Emily/Lorelai and Lorelai/Rory become a defining theme of the show and a lens through which many of the female relationships are viewed.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Throughout the series, one of the main characters and Rory's best friend, Lane Kim's love life is followed in addition to those of Lorelai and Rory. As the daughter of Mrs. Kim, a very strict, religious, and protective Korean immigrant, Lane struggles to hide her love for rock music and other aspects of pop culture from her mother, including dating. While Mrs. Kim repeatedly tries to find Lane a future Korean husband who is medical school-bound, she dates Henry Cho, one of Rory's Chilton classmates, Dave Rygalski, the guitarist in Lane's secret band, and Zach Van Gerbig, the lead singer of the same band whom she later marries.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: The quirky townspeople of Stars Hollow are a constant presence. Along with series-long and season-long arcs, "Gilmore Girls" is also episodic in nature, with mini-plots within each episode — such as town festivals, issues at Lorelai's inn, or school projects of Rory's.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: One writer later said that the brief given to the writing room at the outset was "This show is about a mother and a daughter who are best friends as well as being mother and daughter, and every conflict and dynamic should ticktack back and forth on that one point."


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Rory is accepted to Chilton, a private school that would get her to her lifelong dream to study at Harvard. Because of the heavy price tag the private school comes with, Lorelai talks to her wealthy parents, with whom she has not communicated for a long time. Emily and Richard agree to pay for the tuition, although there is a catch; that Lorelai and Rory would have Friday night dinners with them. Rory has a difficult time settling in at Chilton, struggling to match the demands of private school and attracting the fury of classmate Paris Geller, her academic rival. She meets her first boyfriend, Dean, but the pair break up when Rory doesn't reciprocate his "I love you", instead saying "thank you". Rory spends the remainder of the season saddened by her break up. After being romantically pursued by Rory's teacher, Max Medina, Lorelai decides with a conflicted heart to give the relationship a chance. This dynamic creates some tension between Lorelai and Rory. Lorelai becomes frightened by her feelings for Max and breaks up with him. At the same time, Lorelai harbors a close friendship with local diner owner Luke Danes, and several people comment on their mutual attraction—but Lorelai is in denial and Luke does not act on it. Rory's father, Christopher Hayden, returns and also wants to be with Lorelai but she tells him he is too immature for family life. All the while, Lorelai struggles to adjust to having her parents in her life on a regular basis. Emily and Richard enjoy developing a relationship with their granddaughter, but also realize how much they have missed. The season ends with Rory reuniting with Dean, and Max proposing to Lorelai.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Lorelai accepts Max's proposal but realizes shortly before the wedding that it does not feel right and they break up. This decision is preceded by a drunken phone call she makes to her ex, Christopher Hayden at her Bachelorette party. She and Sookie get excited about opening their own business at the dilapidated Dragonfly Inn but the owner refuses to sell. Sookie gets engaged to Jackson Belleville, a local farmer. Luke's teenage nephew, Jess Mariano, comes to live under his care. Jess is sullen and angry with everyone apart from Rory. The two strike up a friendship, causing jealousy from Dean. Lorelai is disapproving of their closeness, labeling Jess as a bad influence, especially when they are in a car accident which leads to a blow-up with Luke. Richard announces that he has retired but soon becomes bored and sets up his own insurance company. Christopher appears to have his life together and Lorelai decides to reunite with him. But at Sookie's wedding, Christopher learns that his recently estranged fiancée is pregnant and decides to return to her, leaving Lorelai heartbroken. Meanwhile, Rory impulsively kisses Jess.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Rory's attraction to Jess grows stronger but Jess doesn't show affection or knowledge that it is, and she gets jealous when he teases her with a new girlfriend. Dean cannot ignore what is going on and eventually ends their relationship. Rory and Jess immediately become a couple. Meanwhile, she and Paris spend the year as Student Body Presidents at Chilton and both submit applications to Harvard University. They spend a portion of the season in a rivalry with fellow student, Francie, who causes a rift between Paris and Rory. Paris and Rory eventually make amends when Paris confides in her that she lost her virginity. Her college decision plays a big part in Rory's senior year. Harvard is her dream school, but she applies to Yale as well, which causes a rift between Lorelai and Emily and Richard. Paris is devastated when she does not get into Harvard. Rory is accepted but decides to attend Yale University instead, much to Emily and Richard's delight. The Independence Inn is badly damaged in a fire, but Lorelai and Sookie are able to buy the Dragonfly when its elderly owner dies. Jess pressures Rory into almost having sex with him, leading to a fist fight between Dean and Jess when the former witnesses an upset Rory. Luke begins dating a lawyer named Nicole. Lane Kim, Rory's best friend, starts a band called Hep Alien and tries to convince her strict mother to let her date the guitarist, Dave, all while keeping the band secret. As the season ends, Jess abruptly leaves Stars Hollow to track down his estranged father in California, and Rory graduates high school as valedictorian.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Rory starts her college education at Yale, with Paris – now a friend – as her surprise roommate. Both start working for the "Yale Daily News". Rory is surprised when Dean abruptly marries his new girlfriend, Lindsey. Rory and Dean grow close again over the season, leading Rory to turn down Jess when he returns and declares his love for her. Lorelai, along with Sookie and their colleague Michel, spends the season renovating the Dragonfly Inn in preparation for its opening. Lorelai faces financial hardships during this period, ultimately breaking down to Luke who subsequently lends her the money. Lorelai begins dating Richard's new business partner, Jason Stiles, with whom she has been acquainted since childhood. She keeps the relationship a secret from her parents. Lane's mother learns about Hep Alien and kicks Lane out of the house. Sookie and Jackson have a son, Davey. Lorelai and Jason break up after Jason sues Richard for leaving their partnership, while Lorelai sides with her father. Emily feels neglected by Richard and the two separate, with Richard moving into the pool house. Luke and Nicole elope during a cruise, but decide to divorce soon after. Towards the end of the season, Luke accepts that he is in love with Lorelai and begins wooing her. The pair finally kiss on the Dragonfly's opening night, while Rory loses her virginity to a married Dean.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Facing conflict with her mother, Rory embarks on a European trip with Emily and seldom speaks with Lorelai. Near the end of the trip, Lorelai and Rory reconcile over the phone, and Rory asks Lorelai to give Dean a letter for her. Dean's wife finds the letter, which contains information about the affair. Dean and his wife consequently separate. Rory briefly progresses her relationship with Dean but it ends when he realizes how different their lives are. She falls for Logan Huntzberger, a wealthy playboy Yale student whose parents and grandfather consider Rory's lineage inferior to their own. Lane starts a relationship with her bandmate Zack, and Paris starts a relationship with "Yale Daily News" editor Doyle. Sookie gives birth to her daughter, Martha. Lorelai and Luke start a relationship. Emily and Richard – who reunite and renew their wedding vows – disapprove of Luke, and Emily interferes by telling Christopher to try to win her back. Christopher shows up at Emily and Richard's vow renewal, professing his love for Lorelai, which overwhelms Luke, resulting in separation between him and Lorelai, as well as a major argument between Lorelai and Emily. Rory gets an internship at Logan's father's newspaper but is deflated when he tells her she "doesn't have it." Rory lashes out afterwards and suggests to Logan, at his sister's engagement party, that they steal a yacht. The two are arrested, and Rory later announces to Lorelai that she is quitting Yale, and moves into her grandparents' pool house. When Lorelai sees how supportive Luke is over the situation, she asks him to marry her.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Lorelai is disappointed by Rory's actions but concedes that she cannot force her back to Yale; it is a decision Rory must make for herself. Mother and daughter do not speak for six months. Rory has to complete community service and Emily finds her a job with the DAR. Richard becomes concerned with Rory's engaging in the socialite lifestyle without continuing her education. Eventually, after admonishment from Jess, Rory returns to Yale and reunites with Lorelai. She later replaces Paris as editor of the "Yale Daily News", which causes a disruption in their friendship. After a short separation from Logan, the relationship gets serious. Rory is crushed when Logan's father sends him to work in London. Hep Alien disband then come back together. Lane and Zack get married after Zach undergoes a rigorous vetting from Mrs. Kim. Lorelai plans a wedding with Luke, but things get difficult when Luke learns that he has a 12-year-old daughter named April. He starts building a relationship with her but keeps Lorelai separate. Lorelai tries to accept this but eventually snaps and issues him an ultimatum. When he does not agree to elope, Lorelai goes to Christopher for physical and emotional comfort.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Lorelai and Luke officially split when she tells him she slept with Christopher. Before much time has passed, Christopher convinces Lorelai to try a relationship. Christopher receives a letter from Sherry Tinsdale, who is his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his second child, Georgia. The letter states she wants to be a part of Georgia's life again and requests that she spend time with her in Paris. Lorelai and Christopher decide to go with Georgia to get her settled. The pair spontaneously marry during the trip to Paris. Luke has a custody battle over April after her mother moves them to New Mexico, and he asks Lorelai to write him a character reference. Luke ends up winning the right to see April during the holidays. Christopher finds what Lorelai wrote about Luke and is upset. Lorelai and Christopher accept that they are not right together and they divorce, though the divorce is never shown or mentioned subsequently. Lane and Zack have twins, and Sookie becomes pregnant again. Rory completes her final year of college. She and Logan spend half the season in a long-distance relationship until he eventually moves back to New York. He proposes, but Rory says that she wants to keep her options open, which leads to their separation. She panics about what she will do after graduating; following some rejection, she gets a job reporting on the Barack Obama campaign trail. Stars Hollow throws a surprise farewell party for Rory. When Lorelai finds out that Luke organized it, the pair reconcile with a kiss. Lorelai promises Emily that she will continue attending Friday night dinners. Before Lorelai and Rory have to say goodbye, they have one last breakfast at Luke's Diner.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Nine years after the end of the original series, Netflix produced a "Gilmore Girls" revival miniseries. Rory is struggling in her journalism career and having a no-strings-attached, secret affair with Logan in London, while technically having a boyfriend named Paul that she often forgets about. While Logan is engaged to be married, the two of them cannot seem to stay apart. Lorelai and Luke live together but are still having communication problems. Richard has recently died of a heart attack, which causes tension between Lorelai and Emily, and they end up in joint therapy. Lorelai starts to question her life, so she travels to California with intentions to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, where she has an epiphany. She fixes the rift with Emily by recounting a happy story about Richard, and goes home to propose to Luke. Emily decides to sell the Gilmore mansion and move to Nantucket, where she starts working in a museum. After encouragement from Jess, Rory decides to write a book about her life called "Gilmore Girls". After Luke and Lorelai marry, Rory informs Lorelai that she is pregnant.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: The miniseries aired on Up TV and The CW in November 2020, partly because the latter network needed additional programming to fill its schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Amy Sherman-Palladino, who came from a background of writing for half-hour sitcoms, had "Gilmore Girls" approved by The WB after several of her previous pitches were turned down. On a whim, she suggested a show about a mother and daughter but had put little thought into the idea. Having to create a pilot, she drew inspiration for the show's setting of "Stars Hollow, Connecticut", after making a trip to Washington Depot, Connecticut, where she stayed at the Mayflower Inn. She explained: "If I can make people feel this much of what I felt walking around this fairy town, I thought that would be wonderful ... At the time I was there, it was beautiful, it was magical, and it was a feeling of warmth and small-town camaraderie ... There was a longing for that in my own life, and I thought—that's something that I would really love to put out there." Stars Hollow was inspired by and is loosely based on the actual villages of Washington Depot, Connecticut; West Hartford, Connecticut, and the town of New Milford.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Once the setting was established, "Gilmore Girls" developed as a mixture of sitcom and family drama. Sherman-Palladino's aim was to create "A family show that doesn't make parents want to stick something sharp in their eyes while they're watching it and doesn't talk down to kids." She wanted the family dynamic to be important because "It's a constant evolution ... You never run out of conflict." The show's pace, dialogue, and focus on class divisions was heavily inspired by the screwball comedies of the 1930s and Katharine Hepburn–Spencer Tracy films. Sherman-Palladino was also influenced by the "acerbic wit" of Dorothy Parker.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: The pilot episode of "Gilmore Girls" received financial support from the script development fund of the Family Friendly Programming Forum, which includes some of the nation's leading advertisers, making it one of the first networks shows to reach the air with such funding. The show was green-lit by The WB, and Sherman-Palladino proceeded to exercise control over all aspects of its production. Her husband Daniel Palladino was a consultant and occasional writer for the first season, then agreed to quit his producer position on "Family Guy" to commit to "Gilmore Girls"; he became an executive producer with the second season, and also played a major role. The show's third executive producer was Gavin Polone.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Alexis Bledel was cast in the key role of Rory despite having no previous acting experience. Sherman-Palladino was drawn to her shyness and innocence, which she said was essential for the character, and felt she photographed well. Lauren Graham was pursued by the casting directors from the start of the process, but she was committed to another show on NBC. A week before the shooting, they had still failed to cast Lorelai, so they asked Graham to audition anyway. Sherman-Palladino cast her that day, on the hope that Graham's other show ("M.Y.O.B.", which was burned off as a summer replacement series several months before the premiere of "Gilmore Girls") would be canceled, which it soon was. She later explained how Graham met all the criteria she had been looking for: "Lorelai's a hard fucking part. You've got to be funny, you've got to talk really fucking fast, you've got to be able to act, you've got to be sexy, but not scary sexy. You've got to be strong, but not like 'I hate men. Graham and Bledel only met the night before they started filming the pilot.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: In casting the grandparents, Sherman-Palladino had veteran actor Edward Herrmann in mind for Richard and was delighted when he agreed. Kelly Bishop, a fellow New York stage actress, was cast straight after her audition; Sherman-Palladino recalled knowing immediately "and there's Emily". The role of the Stars Hollow diner owner was originally a woman, but the network reported that they needed more men and Scott Patterson was cast as Luke. It was advertised as a guest role, but Patterson said he treated the pilot as "a chemistry test" and he was promptly promoted to series regular.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: In the pilot, Sookie was played by Alex Borstein, but she could not be released from her "Mad TV" contract. She was therefore replaced by Melissa McCarthy, who re-filmed Sookie's scenes. The role of Dean also changed after the pilot, with the original actor replaced by a newcomer Jared Padalecki. The character Lane was based on Sherman-Palladino's friend and fellow producer Helen Pai; Japanese-American actress Keiko Agena was cast in the role when they could not find an appropriate Korean-American actress. Liza Weil auditioned to play Rory, and while she was considered wrong for the part Sherman-Palladino liked her so much that she wrote the role of Paris especially for her.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Headed by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino from seasons 1 to 6, "Gilmore Girls" had a small writing staff that changed regularly throughout the series. The Palladinos wrote a high percentage of episodes and would review and rework the dialogue in episodes allocated to others. As such, the show is considered to have a distinctive "voice". Sherman-Palladino said "every draft either I write, or it passes through my hands ... so that there is a consistency of tone. It's very important that it feels like the same show every week because it is so verbal." The main job of the writers' room was to help develop storylines and create detailed episode outlines. Notable writers who worked on the show at some point include Jenji Kohan, Bill Prady, Jane Espenson, Rebecca Rand Kirshner, and Janet Leahy.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: As signaled by its tagline "Life's short. Talk fast", "Gilmore Girls" is known for its fast-paced dialogue and "witty repartee". Sherman-Palladino wanted a snappy delivery from the characters because she believes that "comedy dies slow", which required large volumes of dialogue to fill the hour-long time slot. Scripts averaged 80 pages per episode, compared to an "hour-long" average of 55–60 pages, with one page translating to 20–25 seconds of screen time. Scott Patterson later said that the pace of the dialogue led to both him and Lauren Graham quitting smoking—"She needed her wind, and I needed my wind."


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Much of the dialogue is peppered with references to film, television shows, music, literature, and celebrity culture. The range of references is broad, summarized by critic Ken Tucker as "some cross between "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and "Ulysses"". Sherman-Palladino wanted the characters to speak this way as an indicator of their worldliness and intelligence, and to cater to a broad audience. At the start, she argued with the network about the frequently old-fashioned references; when she refused to remove a comment about Oscar Levant, she felt the executives adopted an attitude of "Let the crazy woman dig her own grave." The relative obscurity of some of the allusions resulted in explanatory "Gilmore-isms" booklets being included in the DVD sets of the first four seasons.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: In contrast to the rapid-fire dialogue, storylines on "Gilmore Girls" move slowly. Sherman-Palladino's motto was "make the small big, make the big small", which she learned from her days writing for "Roseanne". She chose to be "very stingy with events", and the drama is low-key because "sometimes the average everyday things are more impactful". Key incidents often take place off-screen and are only revealed through character conversations, which journalist Constance Grady says is because "On "Gilmore Girls", the explosion is never what matters: It's the fallout." The show similarly uses subtext rather than exposition, "where people will talk a great deal in order to obscure what they really mean to say". The writers did not like moments to be overly sentimental, preferring characters to show love through actions and behavior. Sherman-Palladino stated that the network did not interfere or request changes, though there is speculation that she delivered scripts at the last minute to avoid their input.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Sherman-Palladino treated Lorelai as a reflection of herself. Her husband commented: "Amy writing for Lorelai Gilmore has always been really special. No surprise, they're kind of doppelgängers ... Amy and Lorelai are very, very similar. That character is a great cipher for a lot of what Amy is and has been, from the very beginning."


title: Gilmore Girls

text: The pilot episode was shot in the Toronto suburb of Unionville. The rest of the series was filmed at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California. Exterior scenes of Stars Hollow, along with those at Luke's Diner and Miss Patty's dance studio, were all filmed on the backlot — with dozens of background actors utilized to make it look like a functioning town. Production designers regularly had to decorate the town square with fake leaves or fake snow to make it look like a New England fall or winter. Interiors of Lorelai's house and inn, and all scenes at Yale and the Gilmore mansion, were filmed on a sound stage. Very occasionally, the show was filmed on location. The exterior shots of Rory's preparatory school, Chilton, were filmed at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Rory's visit to Harvard was filmed at UCLA, the first visit to Yale was filmed at Pomona College, and subsequent Yale shots were filmed at sound stages in Burbank, California, and USC.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: The shot of "Stars Hollow" seen in the first frame of the show's opening credits is actually a panoramic view of South Royalton, Vermont.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: "Gilmore Girls" relied on a master shot filming style, in which a scene is filmed to frame characters and their dialogue together within a long and uninterrupted, single take; often illustrated through another method regularly employed on the show, the walk and talk. Sherman-Palladino explained "There's an energy and style to our show that's very simple, in my mind ... [it] almost needs to be shot like a play. That's how we get our pace, our energy, and our flow ... I don't think it could work any other way."


title: Gilmore Girls

text: It took eight working days to shoot an episode, and days were regularly 14–20 hours long. Lauren Graham said: "We filmed alongside "The West Wing", and Aaron Sorkin shows are known for having the worst hours ever, they go on and on, but we were always there even after they had gone home, because you couldn't change a word of the script." The cast were required to be word-perfect in all the scenes, while also reciting large amounts of dialogue at speed. Matt Czuchry, who had a main role for the final three seasons, commented, "The pace of the dialogue was what made that show incredibly unique, and also incredibly difficult as an actor. To be able to maintain that speed, tone, and at the same time, try to make layered choices was a great experience to have early in my career. It really challenged me." The combination of the difficult dialogue and long takes meant each scene had to be shot many times; Graham said in 2015: "never before or since have I done as many takes of anything". Alexis Bledel recalled that one scene required 38 takes. Graham added, "That show — as fun and breezy and light as it is — is technically really challenging."


title: Gilmore Girls

text: "Gilmore Girls" non-diegetic score was composed by singer-songwriter Sam Phillips throughout its entire run. Sherman-Palladino, who served as the music supervisor of the series, was a big fan of the musician and secured her involvement. For the score's instrumental arrangement, Phillips primarily used her voice and an acoustic guitar, and on occasion included piano, violin, and drums. Many of the musical cues are accompanied by melodic "la-la"s and "ahh"s, which developed because Sherman-Palladino wanted the score to sound connected to the girls themselves, almost like "an extension of their thoughts ... if they had music going in their head during a certain emotional thing in their life." Sherman-Palladino felt that the score elevated the series "because it wasn't a wasted element in the show. Everything was trying to say a little something, add a little something to it." Several of Phillips' album tracks are also played in the show, and she made an appearance in the season six finale, performing part of "Taking Pictures".


title: Gilmore Girls

text: The theme song is a version of Carole King's 1971 song "Where You Lead". King made a new recording specially for "Gilmore Girls": a duet with her daughter Louise Goffin. She was happy that it gave the song "a deeper meaning of love between a mother and her child". King appeared in several episodes as Sophie, the town music shop owner, and performed a brief portion of her song "I Feel the Earth Move" in the revival.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Music also plays a large part in the show as a frequent topic of conversation between characters and in live performances within scenes and at the end of episodes. Musical acts who made appearances include The Bangles, Sonic Youth, Sparks, and The Shins (S04E17). Grant-Lee Phillips appears in at least one episode per season as the town's troubadour, singing his own songs and covers. In 2002, a soundtrack to "Gilmore Girls" was released by Rhino Records, entitled "". The CD booklet features anecdotes from show producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino about the large part music has played in their lives.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: In 2006, the WB merged with UPN to form a new network, The CW. "Gilmore Girls" survived the merger, being selected as one of seven WB shows to be transferred for a new season, but it resulted in a significant change. In April that year, it was announced that Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel could not come to an agreement with The CW and would be leaving the show when their contracts expired that summer. Journalist Michael Ausiello said of the decision: "The thought of "Gilmore Girls" heading into what is likely to be its final season (and its first on a brand-new network) without its mama or her right-hand man is unfathomable." Discussing the departure later, Sherman-Palladino reflected on the contract dispute in an interview with "Vulture", saying:


title: Gilmore Girls

text: David S. Rosenthal, who worked on the show as a writer and producer for season 6, was selected by Sherman-Palladino to replace her as showrunner. Commenting on this change, an article in "Wired" says: "the Palladinos had written the majority of the episodes up to that point, and their distinctive rhythms and obsessions were what defined "Gilmore Girls". What remains after their departure is something that seems like "Gilmore Girls Adjacent" more than anything."


title: Gilmore Girls

text: There was speculation during the seventh season that it would be the show's final year, as Graham and Bledel's contracts were both coming to an end. As negotiations continued between the actresses and the network, Rosenthal planned a finale that "could serve as an ending or a beginning of a new chapter and a new season". Graham later said that by the end of the filming schedule "there was a 50/50 chance we'd be returning", and she requested that the finale provide "an opportunity to say goodbye" to the characters, in case of cancellation. Due to the uncertainty, the cast and crew did not have a final wrap party or an opportunity to say farewells.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: The CW initially considered bringing the show back for a shortened, 13-episode season but then decided against the idea. On May 3, 2007, shortly before the final episode aired, the network announced that the series would not be renewed. Graham explained that the possibility of returning fell through because "We were trying to find a way we [she and Bledel] could have a slightly easier schedule, and there was really no way to do that and still have it be "Gilmore Girls"."


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Because the final season was not written by the series creator, and the new writers had not known that the finale was definitely the last episode, Lauren Graham noted that a lot of fans "were disappointed with how it [the series] ended". In 2009, Amy Sherman-Palladino expressed an interest in pursuing a "Gilmore Girls" film, to finish the series as she originally intended. Over the following years, fans and journalists continued to ask regularly if the show would return. Privately, Sherman-Palladino stayed in contact with Graham, Bledel, Patterson, and Bishop to discuss the possibility, but nothing came to fruition.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: In June 2015, for the 15th anniversary of the show, the cast and showrunners reunited for a special panel at the ATX Television Festival. When asked about a possible revival, Sherman-Palladino told the audience "I'm sorry, there's nothing in the works at the moment." The hype generated by the reunion, however, empowered Sherman-Palladino to pitch new episodes and encouraged Netflix to produce them. In October 2015 – eight years after the show had ended – TVLine reported that the streaming channel struck a deal with Warner Bros to revive the series in a limited run, consisting of four 90-minute episodes, written and directed by Amy and Daniel Palladino. The Palladinos explained that it felt like the right time creatively to continue the story, and that the freedom provided by Netflix made it possible.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: The revival miniseries, titled "", was filmed from February to May 2016. Aside from Edward Herrmann, who died a year prior, every cast member who received a main credit on the show returned for at least a scene, while many supporting characters also made an appearance. The sets all had to be rebuilt from scratch, using nothing but photos and footage from the original series. The revival was released on Netflix on November 25, 2016, to positive reviews. There is speculation regarding a possible second revival, with Netflix reportedly keen.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: "Gilmore Girls" first season commenced on The WB in the Thursday 8pm/7pm Central time slot, as a lead-in for "Charmed". Renewed for a second season, the show was relocated on Tuesdays 8pm/7pm, the time slot of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", which transferred to UPN, and served as a lead-in for "Smallville", which became an instant hit and always beat "Gilmore Girls" in the ratings. During seasons 4 and 5, it led into "One Tree Hill", which slowly became a hit. In season 6, it led into "Supernatural", which became another hit for The WB and continued on until 2020. Both series were led by former "Gilmore Girls" actors, with "One Tree Hill" starring Chad Michael Murray, and Jared Padalecki as a co-star in "Supernatural".


title: Gilmore Girls

text: First-season reruns aired on Monday nights from March 5 until April 9, 2001, during a mid-season hiatus of "Roswell", to build audience awareness of the series. An additional run of the first season aired in 2002 on Sunday nights under the title "Gilmore Girls Beginnings" (which featured a modified opening sequence voiced with a monologue detailing the premise from Graham), and was one of two shows on The WB to have "Beginnings" in its title for reruns, along with "7th Heaven".


title: Gilmore Girls

text: In the US, the show began its syndicated release on ABC Family in 2004. The network continued to air the show daily under its new name Freeform until the fall of 2018, when those rights moved to Pop. In October 2015, "Gilmore Girls" concurrently became available on a second network, UPtv, which continues to air it to this day. Josef Adalian of "Vulture" commented on the rarity of Freeform and Up carrying a series of its type in syndication: "not that many non-procedural, hour-long shows from the early part of the century—particularly those from a small network such as WB—are still even airing regularly on one cable network, let alone two." Up showed "Gilmore Girls" 1,100 times in its first year; Freeform aired it 400 times in the same period. From 2009 to 2013, "Gilmore Girls" also aired in weekend timeslots on SOAPnet.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: Since 2016 UPtv has aired a weeklong marathon of all episodes of "Gilmore Girls" around the Thanksgiving holiday. As the network maintains a family-friendly focus and programming schedule, some minor dialogue edits are made in a number of episodes, mainly when "hell" and "damn" are said, though all episodes are carried.


title: Gilmore Girls

text: In the UK, the series premiered on Nickelodeon in 2003. Only the first three seasons were shown, with episodes edited for content, and some, like "The Big One", dropped entirely. The series was subsequently picked up by the Hallmark Channel, which gave UK premieres to seasons 4 & 5. It was rerun in its entirety on E4 until January 2012. The show moved to 5Star, then in 2018 changed to daily screenings on the Paramount Network. In Ireland, the series aired its entire run on RTÉ One on Sundays, before moving to TG4. In Australia, from 16 March 2015, "Gilmore Girls" began airing again at weeknights on digital terrestrial network GEM and in 2022, reruns of "Gilmore Girls" repeats episodes airing from Saturdays at 1:00 pm on the Nine Network.