title: Ja Morant

text: Ja Morant began to register on the radar of some scouts the summer of his sophomore season in 2018. He was one of 20 players invited to Chris Paul's Elite Guard Camp, which Morant called, "an honor." When his sophomore season began, Morant assumed a leading role for Murray State with the departures of key players Jonathan Stark and Terrell Miller. In his season debut, he recorded 26 points and 11 assists in a 74–53 win against Wright State. On November 24, 2018, Morant posted 29 points, a season-high 13 rebounds, and 12 assists in a 77–66 win over Missouri State, becoming the first Murray State player to ever record multiple triple-doubles. In his next game, he scored a season-high 38 points in a 78–72 loss to Alabama, the 12th-most single-game points by a player in school history. By around December 2018, Morant was almost unanimously projected as a top-five selection in the 2019 NBA draft, and in late January 2019, at least one outlet forecasted him as the first overall selection. At that time, then-Yahoo Sports journalist Pat Forde wrote, "He seems almost certain to be the first top-ten pick from a mid-major school in five years (Elfrid Payton, Louisiana-Lafayette), and could be the first true mid-major pick in the top five since Michael Olowokandi of Pacific went No. 1 in 1998."


title: Ja Morant

text: On January 10, 2019, Morant was named to the midseason top 25 watch list for the John R. Wooden Award. On the same day, he broke the school record for most assists in a single game, with 18, while scoring 26 points against UT Martin. He established a new scoring career-high nine days later on January 19, when he recorded 40 points, 11 assists, and 5 steals, shooting 21-of-21 from the free throw line, in a victory over SIU Edwardsville. He broke the OVC record for most consecutive free throws made in a game, and he became the tenth player in Murray State history to record a 40-point game. Morant also became the first NCAA Division I men's player in 20 years to tally at least 40 points, 10 assists, and 5 steals in a single game. On February 2, Morant collected 28 points and 7 assists in a 67–63 win over Tennessee Tech. He broke the school single-season assist record of 212 set by Chad Townsend in the 1996–97 season. After posting 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 14 assists in a 102–70 victory over Eastern Kentucky, Morant became the 46th Murray State player with 1,000 career points and eclipsed the OVC record for single-season assists previously held for 32 years by Duane Washington of Middle Tennessee.


title: Ja Morant

text: At the end of the regular season, he was named OVC Player of the Year and first-team All-OVC, while leading the NCAA Division I in assists. He later earned first-team All-American honors from the United States Basketball Writers Association and second-team All-American honors from "Sporting News". On March 8, in the semifinals of the OVC tournament versus Jacksonville State, Morant scored 29 points, including a game-winning three-point play. One day later, he recorded 36 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists in a 77–65 upset victory over the Belmont Bruins, who were playing without injured first team All-OVC center Nick Muszynski, for the OVC Tournament title. Morant was subsequently named the tournament's MVP. On March 21, in an 83–64 win over fifth-seeded Marquette in the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament, Morant posted 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 16 assists. He became the eighth player to officially record a triple-double in the history of the tournament, and the first player since Draymond Green in 2012. In the second round, he chipped in 28 points in a season-ending 90–62 loss to fourth-seeded Florida State. During the game, Morant set school records for career assists and single-season points.


title: Ja Morant

text: He closed his sophomore campaign averaging 24.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 10 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. Morant became the first NCAA player to ever average at least 20 points and 10 assists per game in a single season.


title: Ja Morant

text: Following Murray State's loss in the 2019 NCAA men's basketball tournament, Morant announced his intention to forgo his final two seasons of collegiate eligibility and declare for the 2019 NBA draft.


title: Ja Morant

text: Morant was drafted second overall during the 2019 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. On July 2, 2019, he signed a four-year contract worth $39.6 million with the Grizzlies. On October 23, 2019, Morant made his NBA debut, starting in a 101–120 loss to the Miami Heat with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block. On November 13, he recorded his first career double-double with 23 points and 11 assists, and hit a game winning layup in a 117–115 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. On February 9, 2020, he recorded his first career triple-double in a 106–99 win over the Washington Wizards. Morant was selected to the Rising Stars Game for the 2019–20 season. In the 2019–20 season, Morant led all rookies in assists with an average of 7.1 assists per game, as well as total points scored, with 1,138 (17.8 points per game). At the end of the season, he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year and earned the NBA All-Rookie First Team honor.


title: Ja Morant

text: On December 23, 2020, Morant recorded a then career-high 44 points, alongside nine assists, two rebounds, and two steals in a 131–119 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.


title: Ja Morant

text: On May 21, 2021, in the newly implemented play-in tournament, with the eighth and final playoff spot on the line, Morant recorded 35 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists to lead Memphis to a 117–112 overtime win over the Golden State Warriors, securing the Grizzlies’ first postseason berth in four seasons. Two days later, he made his NBA playoff debut, scoring 26 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists to help lead the Grizzlies to a 112–109 upset victory in Game 1 over the top-seeded Utah Jazz. Morant followed that up with 47 points and 7 assists in Game 2, but Memphis fell short, 141–129. The Grizzlies were eliminated, losing the series in five games.


title: Ja Morant

text: On October 20, 2021, in the Grizzlies' season opener, Morant recorded 37 points and six assists in a 132–121 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. On October 24, he scored 40 points while dishing out 10 assists in a 121–118 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. On December 29, Morant put up a season-high 41 points, behind a career-high six made three-pointers, to lead Memphis to a 104–99 victory over the Lakers.


title: Ja Morant

text: On January 26, Morant tied his season-high 41 points, alongside 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals in a 118–110 win against the San Antonio Spurs. On January 27, Morant was selected to his first All-Star Game as a West Starter. The next day, Morant logged his fourth career triple-double with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 119–109 win over the Utah Jazz. On February 16, Morant tied his then career high with 44 points, including a career high 20 points in the first quarter, grabbed 5 rebounds and delivered 11 assists in a 123–119 loss against the Portland Trail Blazers. On February 26, Morant scored a then career-high 46 points in a 116–110 win over the Chicago Bulls. The total was the record for most points in a game by a Grizzlies player, breaking Mike Miller's record set in February 2007. On February 28, Morant bested this total, scoring a career-high 52 points, on an efficient 22-of-30 shooting, including 4-4 from beyond the arc, in a 118–105 win over the San Antonio Spurs. On March 18, he tweaked his right knee against the Atlanta Hawks and missed nine games. Morant led the Grizzlies to their first Southwest Division title in franchise history. Memphis also tied their franchise record with 56 wins. Despite missing 25 games during the regular season, he was named the winner of the NBA Most Improved Player Award.


title: Ja Morant

text: On April 21, 2022, during Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs, Morant posted 16 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds in a 104–95 Game 3 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was the first postseason triple-double in Grizzlies franchise history. In Game 5, Morant scored the game-winning layup with one second left, finishing with 30 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in a 111–109 win. He scored 18 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. On May 3, during Game 2 of the second round of the playoffs Morant put up a playoff career-high 47 points along with 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals in a 106–101 win over the Golden State Warriors. He scored the last 15 points for Memphis and also became just the third player in NBA playoffs history to have multiple 45-point games before turning 23 years old, joining Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. On May 7, Morant injured his right knee in game 3 of the series and Memphis would go on to lose in 6 games. In the three games he played, he averaged 38.3 points per game on 50.6%/43.3%/85.7% shooting splits.


title: Ja Morant

text: On July 6, 2022, Morant signed a five-year extension with the Grizzlies. The deal includes $193 million of guaranteed money, increasing to $231 million contingent upon his selection to an All-NBA team. On October 21, in the second game of the season, Morant recorded 49 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 blocks on 17-of-26 shooting from the field in a 129–122 win over the Houston Rockets. He set the Grizzlies franchise mark for most points scored through the first two games of a season (83). On November 27, Morant put up his fifth career triple-double with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists in a 127–123 win over the New York Knicks. He also tied Marc Gasol for the most triple-doubles in Grizzlies history. On December 7, Morant put up his sixth career triple-double with 26 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists In a 123–102 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He also surpassed Marc Gasol for the most triple-doubles in Grizzlies history.


title: Ja Morant

text: Morant has a younger sister, Teniya, who grew up playing basketball with him in their backyard and now competes for Hillcrest Middle School in Dalzell. He has the words "beneath no one”, advice his mother gave him, tattooed on his left arm. Morant's favorite artist is rapper Lil Baby. His athleticism often draws comparisons to Russell Westbrook, who Morant said is his favorite player because Westbrook is often overlooked, just like he was by college recruiters in high school.


title: Ja Morant

text: Morant received a shout-out from rapper J. Cole on the song "My Life" from Cole's 2021 album "The Off-Season". On June 1, 2021, rapper Moneybagg Yo released the song "Rookie of the Year" in celebration of Morant being named NBA Rookie of the Year. The song reflects on Morant's "underdog mentality and praises his rise from a little known college freshman to being named NBA Rookie of the Year in 2019–20". On June 3, Morant released a six-episode documentary, "Promiseland", focusing on his first NBA season.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Blonde is a 2022 American biographical film written and directed by Andrew Dominik, and the second adaptation, with the same name, based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. The film is a fictionalized take on the life and career of American actress Marilyn Monroe, played by Ana de Armas. The cast also includes Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, and Julianne Nicholson.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Along with shifting aspect ratios, most of the film is presented in black and white.<ref name="empireonline/armas-exclusive"></ref> Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tracey Landon, Brad Pitt, and Scott Robertson produced the film, which, after a lengthy period of development that began in 2010, entered production in August 2019 in Los Angeles. Production wrapped in July 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The film also garnered controversy and notoriety for its lead casting, graphic sexual content, and status as the first NC-17-rated film to be released via a streaming service.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: "Blonde" premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2022 and began a limited theatrical release in the United States on September 16, 2022, before its streaming release on September 28 by Netflix. The film received highly polarizing reviews from critics and audiences alike; while de Armas's performance garnered general acclaim, Dominik's graphic depiction of Monroe's life was criticized as exploitative and unethical.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: As a child, Norma Jeane Mortenson grew up being raised by her mentally unstable mother Gladys. On her seventh birthday in 1933, she is given a framed picture of a man Gladys claims is her father. Later that night, a fire breaks out in the Hollywood Hills, and Gladys drives Norma Jeane up there, claiming that her father lives there, but is forced to go back home at the orders of the police. An enraged Gladys tries to drown Norma Jeane in the bathtub when she asks about her father but lets her go. Norma Jeane escapes to the house of her neighbor, Miss Flynn, who promises she will be fine. A few days later, Norma Jeane is sent to an orphanage while Gladys is admitted to a mental hospital, having been declared unfit to raise a child.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: In the 1940s, Norma Jeane becomes a pin-up model under the stage name "Marilyn Monroe", appearing on magazine covers and calendars. While trying to break into the acting world, she is raped by film studio president Mr. Z. In 1951, she auditions for the role of Nell in "Don't Bother to Knock"; the audition goes awry when she breaks down and leaves in tears, but she impresses the casting director enough to give her the part. As her acting career steadily rises, Norma Jeane meets Charles "Cass" Chaplin Jr. and Edward G. "Eddy" Robinson Jr., with whom she begins a polyamorous relationship. She lands her breakout role in 1953 with "Niagara", but after she is spotted in public with Cass and Eddy, her agent calls on her to limit her appearances with them in public, which upsets her as she feels that her Marilyn persona is just a role and not her true self.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Norma Jeane becomes pregnant by Cass, much to her delight, but eventually decides to have an abortion out of fear that the child might inherit Gladys' mental issues. Cass supports her decision. On the day of the appointment, she changes her mind, but it is too late. Following the abortion, she breaks things off with Cass and Eddy. She later meets Joe DiMaggio, a retired athlete who sympathizes with her when she expresses her desire to leave Hollywood and become a more serious actress in New York City. As she films "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", she receives a letter from a man claiming to be her father. Norma Jeane feels disconnected from her onscreen performance at the film's premiere, saying it is not her. She returns to her hotel room, having been told that someone is waiting for her. Expecting it to be her father, she instead finds Joe, who proposes to her, which she accepts reluctantly.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Norma Jeane and Joe's marriage sours when Cass and Eddy give Joe some nude publicity photographs of her, which enrages Joe so much that he hits her and demands that she decline making "The Seven Year Itch" out of principle. However, she still goes through with filming, doing the famous publicity stunt with the white dress. When she arrives at home, a drunken Joe screams and gets physically violent with her. She divorces him shortly after.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: In 1955, Norma Jeane auditions for the Broadway play "Magda", written by renowned playwright Arthur Miller. During a read-through, her performance impresses everyone except Arthur, but he eventually warms up to her when she gives him some insightful character analysis. Norma Jeane and Arthur marry and move to Maine, where she lives a happy life with him and becomes pregnant. However, when walking on the beach one day with a platter of food, she trips and miscarries. Distraught, she returns to acting soon after.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: While filming "Some Like It Hot", Norma Jeane becomes more uncontrollable and mentally disturbed. She is overwhelmed by the constant press attention, feels that she is becoming a joke, has frequent outbursts on set, especially towards director Billy Wilder, and grows increasingly distant from Arthur. To cope with her stress, she begins taking pills.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: By 1962, she has become dependent on drugs and alcohol. Secret Service agents pick up an intoxicated Norma Jeane and take her to a hotel to meet the president, who forces her to fellate him, before raping her, and then has her taken away after she vomits in his bed. Already dazed and drugged on pills, she begins to wonder if this is what being Marilyn Monroe has led to, and she also hallucinates having another abortion before being sent back to her home in Los Angeles. She learns from Eddy on the phone that Cass has died and has left something for her, which she refuses to see at first but is convinced by Eddy, who sends it in a package in the mail. Cass' memento turns out to be the stuffed tiger she found when the three of them were together, and the package also contains a letter where he confesses that the letters that Norma Jeane has been receiving, supposedly from her father, were actually written by him.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Shattered by the revelation, Norma Jeane overdoses on barbiturates; as she lies dying on her bed, she has a vision of her father welcoming her to the afterlife.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Andrew Dominik, who directed the film and served as screenwriter, had begun developing the project as early as 2010, which is an adaptation of the novel, "Blonde" (2000)—a fictional and controversial account of Monroe's life—by Joyce Carol Oates. Dominik said that he did his own research by reading several of Monroe's biographies and that he used very little of Oates' novel "Blonde" in the movie, but he also added that the book was pretty much the bible for the film. Dominik told "Vulture" that "Blonde" is "a film that definitely has a morality about it. But it swims in very ambiguous waters because I don't think it will be as cut-and-dried as people want to see it. There's something in it to offend everyone."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Dominik discussed his fascination with Marilyn Monroe, stating, "Why is Marilyn Monroe the great female icon of the 20th Century? For men she is an object of sexual desire that is desperately in need of rescue. For women, she embodies all the injustices visited upon the feminine, a sister, a Cinderella, consigned to live among the ashes [...] I want to tell the story of Norma as a central figure in a fairytale; an orphan child lost in the woods of Hollywood, being consumed by that great icon of the twentieth century."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Dominik described the film as being "more accessible" than his previous projects and revealed that his script contained "very little dialogue", as he preferred to make it more of an "avalanche of images and events." Furthermore, Dominik stated:


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: For Dominik, "Blonde" was his first attempt at developing a film featuring a woman at the center of the story. During a retrospective screening of his Oscar-nominated western "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007), Dominik stated, "It's a different thing for me to do [...] the main character is female. My films are fairly bereft of women and now I'm imagining what it's like to be one."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: While Netflix classified "Blonde" as "a fictional portrait of Marilyn Monroe" on the platform's official website, Dominik stated; "I think "Blonde" is a work of fiction and it's got just as much Joyce in it as it does Marilyn. But having said that, I think it's probably closer to the truth than what Fox is pushing to sell Marilyn stuff."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: In May 2010, it was announced that Naomi Watts would star in the film as Monroe, and that the production, which at this point cost an estimated $20 million, was slated to begin principal photography in January 2011. Principal photography on the film didn't commence, with Dominik later stating he hoped it would be his next film, with production commencing in 2013. During this time, Dominik directed the crime drama "Killing Them Softly" (2012), starring Brad Pitt, who subsequently became interested in the project.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: In June 2012, it was announced Plan B Entertainment would produce the film, with Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner serving as producers, but Watts' participation was in question, as "it's likely that the filmmakers would go in a different direction," according to the report. In April 2014, it was announced that Jessica Chastain had replaced Watts as Monroe. Chastain had co-starred in Terrence Malick's drama "The Tree of Life" (2011) opposite Pitt, who was instrumental in her casting. The report also revealed that Dominik was planning to begin principal photography in August of that year.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Dominik attributed the delays in production partly due to financing: "it's just a question of how much money I can get to make the film. And I really want to make that movie. I've been working on it for years."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: In March 2019, it was announced that Ana de Armas was in early negotiations to star in the film, replacing Chastain. Dominik noticed de Armas's performance in "Knock Knock", and while she went through a long casting process, Dominik secured her the role after the first audition.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: In preparation, de Armas worked with a dialect coach for a year. De Armas described her casting process: "I only had to audition for Marilyn once and Andrew said 'It's you,' but I had to audition for everyone else [...] The producers. The money people. I always have people I needed to convince. But I knew I could do it. Playing Marilyn was groundbreaking. A Cuban playing Marilyn Monroe. I wanted it so badly. You see that famous photo of her and she is smiling in the moment, but that's just a slice of what she was really going through at the time."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: De Armas considered her relationship with Dominik to be the most collaborative of her career, remarking, "Yes, I have had collaborative relationships, but to get phone calls at midnight because he has an idea and he can't sleep and all of a sudden you can't sleep for the same reason." De Armas read Oates' novel and also said she studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, [and] films.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: In August 2019, it was announced that Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Julianne Nicholson, Caspar Phillipson, Sara Paxton and Xavier Samuel joined the cast, followed by Garret Dillahunt, Scoot McNairy, Lucy DeVito, Michael Masini, Spencer Garrett, Chris Lemmon, Rebecca Wisocky, Ned Bellamy and Dan Butler in September 2019.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Principal photography began in Los Angeles in August 2019. In April 2022, Dominik confirmed that the filming was finished in July 2021, following the shutdowns as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and that post-production had also been finished.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: During "Blonde"'s press conference at the 79th Venice Film Festival, Dominik said that the initial scenes of the film were shot in the same apartment where Monroe had lived with her mother. Monroe's death scene was also filmed in the same room where she died in real life. "It definitely took on elements of being like a seance," Dominik said. Filming also started on August 4, 2019, the 57th anniversary of Monroe's death. De Armas said at the press conference that she believes Monroe's ghost was close to them on set. "I think she was happy. She would also throw things off the wall sometimes and get mad if she didn't like something. Maybe this sounds very mystical, but it is true. We all felt it." De Armas later told "AnOther" magazine that everyone in the crew wrote a message to Monroe in a big card, then they went to the cemetery and put it on her grave. "We were asking for permission in a way. Everyone felt a huge responsibility, and we were very aware of the side of the story we were going to tell — the story of Norma Jeane, the person behind this character, Marilyn Monroe. Who was she really?", she said.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Much of "Blonde"s cinematography is digitally-shot in black and white; other portions of the film are in color, aspect ratios (1:1, 1.37:1, 1.85:1, 2.39:1<ref name="thecrimson/blonde-film-review"></ref>) shift to depict historical usage. Many scenes are visual homages to classic photographs of Monroe by notable photographers.<ref name="ucsdguardian/review-blonde-2022"></ref><ref name="esquire/a41388312"></ref> Blonde was set to premiere at 2021 Venice Film Festival, but Netflix was unhappy with the final cut it received, and hired Jennifer Lame to help.<ref name="awardswatch/blonde-cinematographer"></ref>


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Real footage from Monroe's filmography is used in this movie mixed in with scenes recreated by Ana de Armas, who was placed in the films "All About Eve" (1950), "Don't Bother to Knock" (1952), "Niagara" (1953), "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953), and "Some Like It Hot" (1959). Andrew Dominik said that he initially didn't get permission from MGM to use footage from their films, so he had to shoot backup versions, such as for the scene with de Armas and Tony Curtis in "Some Like It Hot", which he shot with an actor playing Curtis in case he couldn't get permission to use the original footage. Dominik was allowed to use the footage after an MGM executive got fired and was replaced by Michael De Luca, who finally gave him permission to use it.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: The score was composed and performed by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, with the soundtrack album set for release on September 28.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: "Blonde" had its world premiere in-competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2022, followed by a screening at the 48th Deauville American Film Festival. It was released on Netflix on September 28, 2022, after an initial release date of September 23, 2022.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: The film also had a limited theatrical release in New York City that began on September 16, 2022, and in other locations on September 23, 2022.


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: "Blonde" was controversial among critics and audiences alike, and was described as a "complicated, highly divisive film". Critical acclaim was directed towards de Armas's performance, but the response to the writing and Dominik's depiction of Monroe's life polarized critics; some found the film's spin on the traditional biopic refreshing, while others criticized it as exploitative, sexist, and dehumanizing. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "Blonde" holds a rating of 41% based on 294 reviews, with an average of 5.4/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Ana de Armas' luminous performance makes it difficult to look away, but "Blonde" can be hard to watch as it teeters between commenting on exploitation and contributing to it." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Reviewing the film following its world premiere at Venice, where it received a fourteen-minute standing ovation, Catherine Bray of "Empire" praised Dominik's visual style and de Armas' performance, but found the film failed at demystifying Monroe's life, writing: "The portrait that this film paints of Monroe depicts a little girl lost, who repeatedly calls her lovers 'Daddy' and reacts to almost every new setback with the same tremulously teary ingénue's pout." "Vanity Fair"s Richard Lawson found it a "fascinating alternative to the traditional biopic", commending the unconventional storytelling, direction, and de Armas' performance. Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" called de Armas' work "a performance ... of breathtaking shimmer and imagination and candor and heartbreak."<ref name="variety/1235362257"></ref> "Deadline Hollywood"s Damon Wise stated the film is an "astonishing" way to tell Monroe's life in a fictional sense, as it is "presented as a horror movie in the surreal, nightmarish style" comparable to the films of David Lynch, especially "Mulholland Drive" (2001). Ana de Armas reportedly broke down in tears during the ovation. In a very positive review, IGN's Siddhant Adlakha called the film a "dreamlike fictional biopic about Marilyn Monroe" that features "a stunning, volatile performance from Ana de Armas, whose daring vulnerability is matched by director Andrew Dominik's equally daring formal approach".


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" called it "a must-see", yet also "a work of such wild excesses and questionable cruelty". In "GQ", Jack King's review also noted how the film shifts from a "traditional biopic" to "a movie unrelenting in its brutality". "The Guardian"s Leslie Felperin described the film as "ravishing, moving and intensely irritating" but ultimately "all a bit much", and assigned it a rating of three stars out of five. In a mixed review for IndieWire, Sophie Monks Kaufman called the film a "bizarre, miserablist biopic", admiring de Armas' performance and the cinematography, but criticizing Dominik's portrayal of Monroe: "Dominik critiques the world for reducing his subject down to her topline assets—and then treats her in exactly the same way. His Marilyn is a sexy, breathy blonde with daddy issues. And that's all, folks."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: "The New York Times" critic Manohla Dargis panned the film, criticizing the fact that "once again a director is more interested in examining [Monroe's] body (literally, in this case) than getting inside her mind" and writing "Given all the indignities and horrors that Marilyn Monroe endured during her 36 years, it is a relief that she didn't have to suffer through the vulgarities of "Blonde", the latest necrophiliac entertainment to exploit her." In his negative review, Justin Chang from the "Los Angeles Times" stated that the film "isn't really about Marilyn Monroe. It's about making her suffer." He also opined that the film "turns Marilyn Monroe into an avatar of suffering, dwelling on her pain so obsessively that even the film's fleeting moments of empathy feel like another form of exploitation". "At times, the movie feels like a slaughterhouse seen from the animal's point of view" wrote Bilge Ebiri in his review for "Vulture", remarking on the film's tendency to elicit strong reactions and emotions from an audience by putting together what he described as a "captivating and terrifying" jigsaw puzzle of Monroe's life. Anthony Lane, in his review for "The New Yorker", praised de Armas' performance and Dominik's visual style, but heavily criticized his portrayal of Monroe, ultimately concluding: "Bedazzling, overlong, and unjust, "Blonde" does a grave disservice to the woman whom it purports to honor." In a negative review for "Slant Magazine", Jake Cole echoed Lane's sentiment, stating: ""Blonde"…is the worst kind of feminism, one so absorbed in the desire to 'save' a woman that it victimizes her as much as possible to make its redemption of her that much more praiseworthy." Writing for "Time", Stephanie Zacharek criticized Dominik for allowing "no room for the real-life Marilyn's multidimensionality", asserting that "Marilyn—the brilliant, perceptive if often difficult performer—is almost nowhere to be seen in Andrew Dominik's willfully clueless Freudian fantasy "Blonde"". Jessie Thompson of "The Independent" gave the film one star out of five, stating; ""Blonde" is not a bad film because it is degrading, exploitative and misogynist, even though it is all of those things. It's bad because it's boring, pleased with itself and doesn't have a clue what it's trying to say."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Joyce Carol Oates, the author of the novel on which the film is based, observed a rough cut of the film, and publicly stated: "I have seen the rough cut of Andrew Dominik's adaptation and it is startling, brilliant, very disturbing and perhaps most surprisingly an utterly 'feminist' interpretation... not sure that any male director has ever achieved anything [like] this."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Actress Jamie Lee Curtis—who starred opposite Ana de Armas in "Knives Out" (2019), and whose father, Tony Curtis, starred opposite Monroe in "Some Like It Hot" (1959) and is featured in "Blonde"—was impressed with de Armas' performance, after also seeing an early cut: "I dropped to the floor. I couldn't believe it. Ana was completely gone. She was Marilyn." Brad Pitt, who co-produced the film via his Plan B banner praised de Armas' performance, saying "She is phenomenal in it. That's a tough dress to fill. It was 10 years in the making. It wasn't until we found Ana that we could get it across the finish line". Actor Casey Affleck also praised the film, stating, "I've seen a couple of versions of "Blonde" and it's taken him [Dominik] a long time to get it out into the world. But that's just how he is. He's so slow with it. And it's an amazing, beautiful film."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Suzie Kennedy, an English Marilyn Monroe impersonator and historian for over twenty years, openly despised the film, calling it "a terrible movie... an absolute assassination of Marilyn Monroe's legacy... an assassination of an icon," and that it "capitalized on and exploited the deep sadness of Marilyn's life."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Upon the trailers' release, de Armas' casting as Monroe received some backlash as some viewers felt her ethnic background did not entirely match Monroe's, with complaints that she still maintained her native Cuban accent. Regarding her accent, Dominik told "Screen Daily" in February 2022 that there was "work involved" in making the actress "sound American". Monroe's official estate defended de Armas' casting, stating, "Marilyn Monroe is a singular Hollywood and pop culture icon that transcends generations and history. Any actor that steps into that role knows they have big shoes to fill. Based on the trailer alone, it looks like Ana was a great casting choice as she captures Marilyn's glamour, humanity and vulnerability. We can't wait to see the film in its entirety!"


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: "Blonde" sparked some controversy when its NC-17 rating (meaning adults only) was confirmed, raising concerns that it would be exploitative in its depiction of Monroe. The film itself features graphic scenes of sexual abuse, including a rape scene,<ref name="bostonglobe/rating-blonde"></ref> as well as Monroe having an abortion, and a miscarriage. Writing for "Jezebel", Kady Ruth Ashcroft remarked on how the rating's relationship with Monroe's enduring status as a sex symbol in pop culture prevents the film from achieving its goal of humanizing her, concluding: ""Blonde"s NC-17 rating is intended as both a warning and restriction as to who can handle the film's mature content. It also acts like a tease—"just how scandalous was this sexpot's life anyways?"—in a way that may prevent the movie from shrinking Monroe the myth back down to Norma ."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Speaking on the rating in an interview with "Screen Daily", Andrew Dominik stated, "It's a demanding movie—it is what it is, it says what it says. And if the audience doesn't like it, that's the fucking audience's problem. It's not running for public office," adding, "If I look at an episode of "Euphoria", it's far more graphic than anything going on in "Blonde"". In an interview with fashion magazine "L'Officiel Italia", de Armas echoed the sentiment, saying, "I don't understand why it happened. I can cite a number of programs or movies that are much more explicit and with a lot more sexual content than "Blonde". But to tell this story it's important to show all those moments in Marilyn's life that brought her to the end she did. It needs to be explained. In the cast everyone knew we should delve into unpleasant territory, it wasn't just up to me". Delving into what Dominik's vision for the film was, de Armas told Rotten Tomatoes, "Andrew's ambitions were very clear from the start—to present a version of Marilyn Monroe's life through her lens. He wanted the world to experience what it actually felt like to not only be Marilyn, but also Norma Jeane. I found that to be the most daring, unapologetic, and feminist take on her story that I had ever seen." She added, "Our movie is not linear or conventional; it is meant to be a sensorial and emotional experience. The film moves along with her feelings and her experiences. There are moments when we are inside of her body and mind, and this will give the audience an opportunity to experience what it was like to be Norma and Marilyn at the same time."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: In a piece for "GQ", Keith Phipps argues that "Blonde", being an exception from the commercial stigma of having an NC-17 rating due to its exclusive release on a streaming platform, could usher in a new era of films and filmmakers that will "push beyond the restrictions of the R rating", writing, "In theory, the NC-17 rating could thrive on services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max and "Blonde" could be a sign of things to come, possibly serving as a cue for other filmmakers to push beyond the restrictions of the R rating."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Writing for "IndieWire", Samantha Bergeson claimed the film makes an anti-abortion statement by showing a CGI fetus talking to Monroe. Charles Pulliam-Moore wrote for "The Verve" that "Blonde"'s CGI fetus "is anti-abortion propaganda dressed up as art", and called it "a judgmental CGI fetus who sometimes talks to Marilyn Monroe from within her uterus to shame her for having had an abortion in the past." A sentiment shared by abortion rights activists such as Caren Spruch, national director of arts and entertainment engagement at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who called it "medically inaccurate descriptions of fetuses and pregnancy" in a statement to "The Washington Post". Steph Herold, who researches reproductive health at the University of California at San Francisco and studies abortion depiction in films and television shows, said the scene in which Monroe's character speaks to the fetus "totally infantilized her in ways that I've only seen in anti-abortion propaganda-type movies," Herold said; "I was pretty shocked by it, especially given the platform and the mainstream quality of this movie."


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: Planned Parenthood accused the film of delivering an anti-abortion message about Monroe's abortion, releasing the following statement to "The Hollywood Reporter" saying the film was rooted in anti-abortion propaganda;


title: Blonde (2022 film)

text: There is no evidence that Monroe ever had an abortion, much less forced procedures as it was portrayed in the movie, according to historian Michelle Vogel, author of "Marilyn Monroe: Her Films, Her Life". "Any talk of pregnancy termination is an assumption on our part. Marilyn loved children and she was desperate to be a mother. Sadly, she never carried a baby to term." It is well-documented that Monroe suffered three miscarriages during her marriage to Arthur Miller; in 1956, in 1957, and again in 1958. In the 1993 biography "Marilyn Monroe: The Biography" written by Donald Spoto, Monroe's gynecologist, Dr. Leon Krohn, stated; "the rumors of her multiple abortions are ridiculous. She never had even one."


title: Colin Jost

text: Colin Kelly Jost (; born June 29, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has been a writer for "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) since 2005 and "Weekend Update" co-anchor since 2014. He also served as one of the show's co-head writers from 2012 to 2015 and later came back as one of the show's head writers in 2017 until 2022 alongside Michael Che.


title: Colin Jost

text: Colin Jost was born and raised in New York City in the Grymes Hill neighborhood of Staten Island, the elder of two sons. His mother, Kerry J. Kelly, was the chief medical officer for the New York City Fire Department, and his father, Daniel A. Jost, is a former teacher at Staten Island Technical High School. He has one younger brother, Casey Jost, a writer and a producer of "Impractical Jokers"; he also had a role in "Staten Island Summer".


title: Colin Jost

text: Raised Roman Catholic, he attended Regis High School in Manhattan, where he was the editor of the school newspaper "The Owl". He attended Harvard University, majoring in history and literature, with a focus on Russian literature and British literature, and wrote his senior thesis on Vladimir Nabokov. Jost graduated "cum laude" from Harvard in 2004.


title: Colin Jost

text: While at Harvard, he was president of the "Harvard Lampoon". He also won $5,250 on a college edition of "Weakest Link", but said he did not think he deserved to win.


title: Colin Jost

text: After graduation, Jost worked as a reporter and copy editor for the "Staten Island Advance". He was then hired as a writer for a short-lived Nickelodeon animated show, "Kappa Mikey". After he left that job, he sent in a writing packet to NBC's "Saturday Night Live", which gave him a writing position in 2005.


title: Colin Jost

text: From 2009 to 2012, Jost was "SNL"s writing supervisor. He was co-head writer from 2012 to 2015, and regained that status from 2017 to 2022. He often collaborated with fellow "SNL" co-head writer Rob Klein. During the summer hiatus following the 2012–2013 season, executive producer Lorne Michaels asked Jost if he could do the "Weekend Update" feature because co-anchor Seth Meyers would soon be leaving to host "Late Night with Seth Meyers". Jost accepted and replaced Meyers on the March 1, 2014, episode. Jost later broke Meyers' record for being the longest anchor in the history of the segment on the October 23, 2021, episode hosted by Jason Sudeikis.


title: Colin Jost

text: Jost names Norm Macdonald as a primary influence for his "Update" anchor work, as Macdonald's tone was the one Jost grew up with in high school. He also names Tina Fey as an influence. In addition to "Weekend Update", Jost made a brief cameo appearance as Ohio Governor John Kasich in a Republican presidential debate sketch. He later portrayed his friend Pete Buttigieg during the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and Roger Goodell during the 2021 NFL season.


title: Colin Jost

text: Jost has worked in multiple roles related to comedy. He has performed as a stand-up comedian, appearing on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon", TBS, and HBO. He was selected as a "New Face" at the Montréal Just for Laughs festival in 2009, and has since appeared at the Chicago Just for Laughs festival in 2011 and 2012 and the Montréal festival again in 2010 and 2012. Jost has published four "Shouts and Murmurs" pieces in "The New Yorker" magazine and has also contributed to "The New York Times Magazine", "The Huffington Post", "The Staten Island Advance" and "Radar". He wrote the screenplay of and played a minor role in the 2015 comedy film "Staten Island Summer", and he also had a minor role as Paul in the 2016 romcom feature "How to Be Single". In January 2016, Jost opened for comedian Liam McEneaney's album recording at The Bell House in Brooklyn. In late 2018, Jost and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared in an advertising campaign for Izod.


title: Colin Jost

text: Jost, along with Michael Che, appeared on the March 4, 2019, episode of WWE's "Monday Night Raw", where both were announced as special correspondents for WrestleMania 35. In the March 4 episode, they got involved in a storyline with wrestler Braun Strowman, which resulted in both Jost and Che becoming participants in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. At the event, Jost and Che went under the ring for the majority of the match and then tried to eliminate Strowman while he was trying to do the same to the Hardy Boyz. Jost attempted to calm the situation by using his therapist, but Strowman chokeslammed him and eliminated the two comedians in quick succession, winning the battle royal.


title: Colin Jost

text: In July 2020, Jost released a memoir entitled "A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir". The book was well received and appeared on the "New York Times Bestseller List".


title: Colin Jost

text: Jost was dorm-mates with 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg while the two lived in Leverett House at Harvard. In 2015, Jost donated money to Buttigieg's mayoral reelection campaign. Subsequently, during Buttigieg's presidential campaign, Jost portrayed Buttigieg in the 45th season of "SNL".


title: Colin Jost

text: Jost began a relationship with actress Scarlett Johansson in May 2017. In May 2019, the two were engaged. They married in October 2020, at their New York home. Johansson gave birth to their son in August 2021.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films "The Conjuring" (2013), "The Conjuring 2" (2016), "Annabelle Comes Home" (2019) and "" (2021).


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of "Taking Sides" (1996). She made her television debut in the Fox fantasy adventure series "Roar" (1997), and her feature film debut in the drama-thriller "Return to Paradise" (1998). Farmiga's breakthrough came in 2004 with her starring role as a drug addict in the drama "Down to the Bone". She received further praise for the drama film "Nothing But the Truth" (2008), and won critical acclaim for starring in the 2009 comedy-drama "Up in the Air", for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga made her directorial debut in 2011 with the acclaimed drama film "Higher Ground", in which she also had a leading role. She also had starring roles in the political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), the crime drama "The Departed" (2006), the historical drama "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (2008), the science fiction thriller "Source Code" (2011), the action thriller "Safe House" (2012), the legal drama "The Judge" (2014), the biographical drama "The Front Runner" (2018), the monster film "" (2019), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe series "Hawkeye" (2021).


title: Vera Farmiga

text: From 2013 to 2017, Farmiga starred as Norma Louise Bates in the A&E drama series "Bates Motel", which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In 2019, she starred in the drama miniseries "When They See Us" as Elizabeth Lederer, for which she was nominated for a second Primetime Emmy Award.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga was born on August 6, 1973, in Clifton, New Jersey. Her parents are Ukrainians: Michael Farmiga, a systems analyst-turned-landscaper, and his wife Lubomyra "Luba" (née Spas), a schoolteacher. She has an older brother, Victor, and five younger siblings: Stephan, Nadia, Alexander, Laryssa (who was born with spina bifida), and Taissa. Her maternal grandparents, Nadia (née Pletenciw; 19252014) and Theodor Spas (19211990), met at a displaced persons camp in Karlsfeld during World War II. As a child, Farmiga converted with her family from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to Pentecostalism.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga considers herself to be "100% Ukrainian American". She was raised in an insular Ukrainian American community in Irvington, New Jersey, with Ukrainian as her native language. She did not learn English until she started kindergarten at age six. When she was 12, the family moved from Irvington to Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. She attended St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark, New Jersey, and toured with a Ukrainian folk-dancing ensemble, Syzokryli, during her teen years. In addition to being a semi-professional folk dancer, she is also a classically trained pianist. Farmiga was a member of Plast.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: In 1991, she graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School. During her junior year there, she found acting after being benched during a varsity soccer game; her friend convinced her to audition for the school production of "The Vampire", and she won the lead role of Lady Margaret. Farmiga went on to study Theatre at Syracuse University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1995. In her final year at Syracuse, she portrayed Nina Zarechnaya in "The Seagull" at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and the production won the top prize. Her drama professor, Gerardine Clark, stated: "We'd never have won had she not nailed the fourth act. A number of the judges told me that."


title: Vera Farmiga

text: In February 1996, Farmiga starred as Miranda in the American Conservatory Theater's production of "The Tempest". That same year, she portrayed Anne Hartman in a production of "Good" at The Barrow Group. Farmiga made her Broadway debut alongside Ed Harris and Daniel Massey in October 1996, understudying the role of Emmi Straube in Ronald Harwood's play "Taking Sides". Following these stage roles, she co-starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame western television film "Rose Hill" in April 1997, portraying Emily Elliot.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga had a main role in Fox's short-lived fantasy adventure series "Roar" (1997), alongside Heath Ledger and Sebastian Roché. The following year, she guest-starred in an episode of NBC's procedural drama series "Law & Order", portraying Lindsay Carson, the daughter of a convicted murderer who goes on her own killingspree. She next played a supporting role alongside Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix in the drama-thriller "Return to Paradise" (1998). She then had a guest appearance on the NBC sitcom Trinity, portraying Allison. Two years later, Farmiga had a supporting role as Lisa Tyler in the romantic drama "Autumn in New York" (2000).


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Her next film was the crime drama "The Opportunists" (2000), in which she co-starred as Miriam Kelly, the daughter of Christopher Walken's character. The following year, Farmiga had a supporting role as Daphne Handlova in the action thriller "15 Minutes" alongside Robert De Niro, and co-starred in the drama film "Dust", which premiered at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. Farmiga subsequently joined the main cast of NBC's short-lived procedural drama series "" as Alex Cross. The series premiered in September 2001, and was cancelled after one season. She then appeared in the Hallmark fantasy television film "".


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga had her first starring role in the romantic drama "Love in the Time of Money", which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. In June 2002, she starred in David Eldridge's "Under the Blue Sky" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Farmiga next appeared as Lorena Fanchetti in the comedy-drama "Dummy" (2003), alongside Adrien Brody.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: The following year, Farmiga had her breakthrough role as a drug-addicted mother, Irene Morrison, in the independent drama film "Down to the Bone", which premiered at Sundance in January 2004. Praising her performance, Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" wrote: "If there were an ounce of taste left in Hollywood, the magnificent Vera Farmiga would be a front-runner for the Best Actress Oscar". She won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, and earned a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga next appeared alongside Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston in the HBO drama film "Iron Jawed Angels" (2004), as the Polish-American suffragette Ruza Wenclawska. Soon after, she had a supporting role in the 2004 film "Mind The Gap", in which she portrayed a woman who left her fiancé at the altar. She then starred as Detective Susan Branca in the short-lived USA Network adaptation of the British crime drama series "Touching Evil".


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Also in 2004, she had a supporting role as Jocelyne Jordan in the political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate", which also starred Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. The following year, she co-starred in the fantasy drama "Neverwas" with Aaron Eckhart and Ian McKellen, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Farmiga then appeared alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon as police psychiatrist Dr. Madolyn Madden in Martin Scorsese's crime drama "The Departed" (2006). For her performance as Madolyn, Farmiga was nominated for the Empire Award for Best Newcomer, and shared with her co-stars the nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Soon after, she portrayed Dr. Charlie Brooks in the 2006 indie thriller, "The Hard Easy".


title: Vera Farmiga

text: She next starred as Teresa Gazelle in Wayne Kramer's crime thriller "Running Scared", and as the Romanian prostitute Oana in Anthony Minghella's romantic crime drama "Breaking and Entering" (both in 2006). Farmiga subsequently landed the lead role of Sophie Lee in Gina Kim's romantic drama "Never Forever", which premiered at the 2007 Sundance. G. Allen Johnson of the "San Francisco Chronicle" praised her as "the best American actress you've never heard of". She next starred as Abby Cairn in the psychological thriller film "Joshua" (2007), with Sam Rockwell, and portrayed Fiona Ankany in the drama film "Quid Pro Quo", which premiered at the 2008 Sundance. David Edelstein of "New York" magazine stated that Farmiga's performance on the latter film was "scarily good", and added: "She's always visibly calculating, thinking better of something reckless she's about to dothen doing it anyway".


title: Vera Farmiga

text: In September 2008, the historical drama "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas", in which she portrayed Elsa Hoess, was released worldwide. Farmiga won the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress for her performance. That same year, she starred in the war drama film "In Transit" alongside John Malkovich, and portrayed Central Intelligence Agency operative Erica Van Doren in the political thriller "Nothing But the Truth". The latter role earned Farmiga a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: In 2009, Farmiga portrayed the lead role of Kate Coleman in Jaume Collet-Serra's psychological thriller "Orphan". The film was co-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, who had starred with Farmiga in "The Departed." Her performance was praised, with Toby Young of "The Times" writing that she "becomes more convincing as the story unfolds. By the end, she has you in the palm of her hand". She then appeared as Aurora de Valday in Niki Caro's romantic drama "The Vintner's Luck", which premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Also in 2009, she co-starred as frequent flyer Alex Goran, opposite George Clooney, in Jason Reitman's comedy-drama "Up in the Air". Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" praised Farmiga's performance, stating that she "is one of the warmest and most attractive women in the movies, or at least she plays one". She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, and her second nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress. On June 25, 2010, she was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga then starred in the surrealist romantic comedy "Henry's Crime" as stage actress Julie Ivanova, which premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. She next played Capt. Colleen Goodwin in Duncan Jones' science fiction thriller film "Source Code", which premiered at the 2011 South by Southwest. In 2010, Farmiga was offered a lead role in Marc Forster's action biopic "Machine Gun Preacher", but declined because she was pregnant.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: During her second pregnancy, Farmiga made her directorial debut with the micro-budget, Christian-themed drama "Higher Ground", in which she starred as the protagonist, Corinne Walker. The film received "generally favorable reviews" on review aggregator site Metacritic and premiered at the 2011 Sundance. Many of her family members were involved in the production: Farmiga's sister Taissa portrayed Corinne as a teenager, her husband Renn Hawkey served as a producer and musical director, and her cousin Adriana Farmiga served as an art curator. She received nominations in both acting and directing for the film, including the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Director, and the Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture. In his film review, critic Kirk Honeycutt of "The Hollywood Reporter" noted: "Directing debuts by actors don't come any better than this". Of her performance, Leonard Maltin of IndieWire remarked that Farmiga "gives an honest, empathetic performance should come as no surprise; she is one of the most gifted and daring actresses of our time".


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Her next role was the flaky New Age mother Wendy Whitman in the independent comedy-drama "Goats", which opened at the 2012 Sundance. That same year, she portrayed CIA operative Catherine Linklater in Daniel Espinosa's action thriller "Safe House" (2012). Farmiga starred opposite Ryan Reynolds and, for the second time, Denzel Washington.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga's return to television came in 2013, when she began portraying Norma Louise Bates, the mother of Norman Bates, in A&E's drama-thriller series "Bates Motel". The series is a contemporary reboot of Alfred Hitchcock's classic horror film "Psycho" (1960). For her performance, she won the 2013 Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television, and the 2016 People's Choice Award for Favorite Cable TV Actress. She also received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (20132015), as well as nominations for the 2013 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama, the 2013 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and the 2013 TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama. Tim Goodman of "The Hollywood Reporter" called Farmiga's performance "superb" and Mary McNamara of the "Los Angeles Times" identified her as "the main reason [the series] is surprisingly good". In addition to starring, she served as a producer and later executive producer from the second season to its fifth and final season, which aired in 2017.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: She next appeared in James Wan's horror film "The Conjuring" (2013), which was met with critical and commercial success. The film became the second highest-grossing horror film of all time up to that date. Farmiga portrayed paranormal investigator and self-professed clairvoyant Lorraine Warren, alongside Patrick Wilson, for which she was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Scared-As-Shit Performance. Sheri Linden of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that "Farmiga resonates an extraordinary sensitivity" in the role, while Justin Chang of "Variety" called her performance "moving" and highlighted her chemistry with Wilson as a "rock-solid rapport".


title: Vera Farmiga

text: She reprised her role in the sequel, "The Conjuring 2" (2016), which was also directed by Wan. The film was the second released in the main series, but the third released within The Conjuring Universe. Like its predecessor, "The Conjuring 2" was met with a positive critical reception and commercial success, surpassing "The Conjuring" as the second highest-grossing horror film of all time.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga appeared as Edith Martin in the romantic comedy "At Middleton", with Andy García and her sister Taissa. The film premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival in May 2013. Also in 2013, she starred as Alice Bercovich in Nae Caranfil's Romanian-American comedy-drama "Closer to the Moon", based on the events of the Ioanid Gang. Farmiga next co-starred in David Dobkin's drama film "The Judge" (2014) as Samantha Powell, the love interest and high school girlfriend of Robert Downey Jr.'s character.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: She then starred as Eleanor Finch in Ricky Gervais' comedy "Special Correspondents", which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. She next appeared as Alise Firth in Jordan Roberts' adventure comedy-drama "Burn Your Maps", which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Farmiga co-starred as Dr. Nora Phillips in Neill Blomkamp's BMW short film "The Escape" (2016), alongside Dakota Fanning and Clive Owen. The following year, she executive produced the documentary film "Unspoken", which premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 2017.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga co-starred with Liam Neeson in Jaume Collet-Serra's action thriller "The Commuter", which was released in January 2018. Also in January 2018, she appeared as a politician in Amazon's sci-fi anthology series "Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams", in an episode directed by Dee Rees. Farmiga then portrayed Laura Jaconi in Shana Feste's comedy-drama film "Boundaries", which premiered in March 2018 at South by Southwest.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Next in 2018, Farmiga starred as neo-Nazi group leader Shareen Krager in Guy Nattiv's racial drama "Skin", which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and portrayed Oletha "Lee" Hart in Jason Reitman's Gary Hart biopic "The Front Runner", opposite Hugh Jackman, which was released in November 2018.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: In March 2019, she starred as Jane Doe alongside John Goodman in Rupert Wyatt's science fiction thriller "Captive State". In May 2019, she portrayed Dr. Emma Russell in the third installment of the MonsterVerse film franchise, "", directed by Michael Dougherty. Also in May 2019, Farmiga portrayed prosecutor Elizabeth Lederer in Ava DuVernay's Netflix crime drama miniseries "When They See Us", based on the Central Park jogger case. For her performance, she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. In June 2019, she reprised her role as Lorraine Warren in the horror sequel film "Annabelle Comes Home".


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga appeared in Ryan Murphy's drama limited series "Halston", based on the life of the fashion designer of the same name, opposite Ewan McGregor in the title role. She reprised her role as Lorraine Warren in "", released in June 2021. In September 2021, Farmiga appeared as Livia Soprano in the film prequel to "The Sopranos", titled "The Many Saints of Newark", which is directed by Alan Taylor. Farmiga appeared as Eleanor Bishop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero miniseries "Hawkeye", which premiered on Disney+ on November 24, 2021.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: In 2021, she began starring in the lead role of Dr. Anna Pou in the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ miniseries "Five Days at Memorial", an adaptation of the book of the same name by Sheri Fink. Among Farmiga's projects in development are the horror film "Bad Bloom", which she will headline and also produce alongside her husband, and the mystery thriller film "The Salamander Lives Twice" co-starring Adrien Brody.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga met actor Sebastian Roché while starring together in the fantasy adventure television series "Roar"; they eloped to the Bahamas after it ended in 1997, and were divorced in 2004. She began dating Deadsy musician Renn Hawkey, after being introduced by mutual friend Allen Hughes on the set of "Touching Evil". They married on September 13, 2008, when Farmiga was five months pregnant with their first child. She gave birth to a son, Fynn, in January 2009 in Rhinebeck, New York and a daughter, Gytta, in November 2010. The family owns homes in Hudson Valley, New York and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga's sister-in-law is actress and photographer Molly Hawkey. She is close friends with her "Bates Motel" co-star Freddie Highmore, who is godfather to her son, and with her "Conjuring" co-star Patrick Wilson.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga is a nondenominational Christian; in a 2011 interview with "Christianity Today", Farmiga said: During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine as part of the Russian-Ukrainian war, she expressed support for Ukraine and quoted the anthem of Ukraine.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: According to the review-aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes and the box office site Box Office Mojo, Farmiga's highest-grossing and most critically acclaimed films include "Down to the Bone" (2004), "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), "The Departed" (2006), "Joshua" (2007), "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (2008), "Orphan" (2009), "Up in the Air" (2009), "Source Code" (2011), "Safe House" (2012), "The Conjuring" (2013), "The Conjuring 2" (2016), "The Commuter" (2018), "" (2019), and "Annabelle Comes Home" (2019).


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga won a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her role in "Down to the Bone" (2004). She won a British Independent Film Award for Best Actress for "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (2008).


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Her most acclaimed role, in "Up in the Air" (2009), garnered Farmiga nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role. For her directorial debut, "Higher Ground" (2011), she received a Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Director nomination.


title: Vera Farmiga

text: Farmiga won a Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television, and received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and a TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama for her role in the drama series "Bates Motel" (20132017). For her performance in the miniseries "When They See Us" (2019), Farmiga received her second Primetime Emmy Award nomination, in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Edward John David Redmayne (; born 6 January 1982) is an English actor. Known for his roles in biopics and blockbusters, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Olivier Awards.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: He began his professional acting career in West End theatre before making his screen debut in 1996 with guest television appearances. His first films were "Like Minds" (2006), "The Good Shepherd" (2006) and "" (2007). On the stage, Redmayne starred in the productions of "Red" from 2009 to 2010 and "Richard II" from 2011 to 2012. The former won him the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. From 2021 to 2022, Redmayne starred in a production of "Cabaret", winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne's film breakthrough came with the roles of Colin Clark in the biopic "My Week with Marilyn" (2011) and Marius Pontmercy in the musical "Les Misérables" (2012). He gained consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayals of the physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything" (2014) and the transgender artist Lili Elbe in "The Danish Girl" (2015), winning for the former. In 2016, he began starring as Newt Scamander in the "Fantastic Beasts" film series. He has since portrayed Tom Hayden in "The Trial of the Chicago 7" (2020) and Charles Cullen in "The Good Nurse" (2022).


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Edward John David Redmayne was born on 6 January 1982 in Westminster, London. His mother, Patricia ("née" Burke), runs a relocation business, and his father, Richard Redmayne, is a businessman in corporate finance. His paternal great-grandfather was Sir Richard Redmayne (1865–1955), a civil and mining engineer. He has an elder brother, cricketer James Redmayne, a younger brother, and an elder half-brother, Charlie Redmayne, who is CEO of the UK division of publisher HarperCollins and half-sister. From the age of 10, Redmayne attended Jackie Palmer Stage School, where he found his love for acting and singing, alongside James Corden.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne attended Eaton House, Colet Court, and then Eton College, where he was in the same year as Prince William. He went on to read History of Art at Trinity College, Cambridge, from where he graduated with 2:1 Honours in 2003. He received a choral scholarship to attend Cambridge. While at Cambridge, Redmayne was a member of the University Pitt Club.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne modelled for Burberry in 2008 with Alex Pettyfer, and in 2012 with Cara Delevingne. In the September 2012 issue of "Vanity Fair", he was featured on its annual International Best Dressed List. In 2015, he was named number one in "GQ"s 50 best dressed British men.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne made his professional stage debut as Viola in "Twelfth Night", for Shakespeare's Globe at the Middle Temple Hall in 2002. He won the award for Outstanding Newcomer at the 50th "Evening Standard" Theatre Awards in 2004, for his performance in Edward Albee's "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?", and the award for Best Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards in 2005. Later stage credits include "Now or Later" by Christopher Shinn at the Royal Court Theatre. The show ran from 3 September to 1 November 2008.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: In 2009, Redmayne appeared in John Logan's new play "Red" at the Donmar Warehouse in London, for which he won the 2010 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He reprised his role in "Red" at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway, in a 15-week run from 11 March to 27 June 2010, and won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. He portrayed King Richard II in "Richard II" directed by Michael Grandage, at the Donmar Warehouse from 6 December 2011 to 4 February 2012.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: In November 2021, he returned to the stage as Emcee in a West End revival of "Cabaret" at the Playhouse Theatre, remodelled as the 'Kit Kat Club'. He previously played the role in a production at Eton when he was 17 years-old, which was later taken to the Edinburgh Fringe. Redmayne chose Jessie Buckley to star alongside him as Sally Bowles, and successfully approached Rebecca Frecknall about directing the production. At the 2022 Olivier Awards, the revival led with 7 wins including Redmayne's own for Best Actor in a Musical.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne made his screen debut in 1998 in an episode of "Animal Ark". His television credits include the BBC miniseries "Tess of the d'Urbervilles", the miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth", and the two-part miniseries "Birdsong".


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne was cast in his first feature film "Like Minds" (2006) after being spotted by casting director Lucy Bevan performing in a play called "Goats". Redmayne has appeared in films such as "The Good Shepherd" (2006), "Savage Grace" (2007), "Powder Blue" (2008), "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2008), "Glorious 39" (2009), and "Hick" (2011). He starred as Osmund in Christopher Smith's supernatural gothic chiller film "Black Death" (2010). His 2008 Sundance drama film "The Yellow Handkerchief" was released on 26 February 2010 by Samuel Goldwyn Films.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: In 2011, Redmayne starred as filmmaker Colin Clark in the drama film "My Week with Marilyn". He took on the role of Marius Pontmercy for the 2012 musical film "Les Misérables".


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: In 2014, Redmayne starred as Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything", a role for which he won the Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, depicting the debilitating challenges of ALS.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: In early 2015, Redmayne appeared in the Wachowski sisters' film, "Jupiter Ascending" as Balem Abrasax. The film was widely panned, including his performance, and won him the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne also presented the 2015 documentary War Art with Eddie Redmayne, made as part of the ITV's Perspectives programme.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne guest starred as Ryan the tank engine in "Thomas & Friends" movie special "Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure."


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: That same year, Redmayne starred in the biographical drama "The Danish Girl", directed by Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper. In the film, released in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2016, Redmayne portrayed transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, a casting choice that was met with backlash from the transgender community. Nonetheless, Redmayne's performance garnered critical acclaim; in January 2016, he earned his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor in consecutive years. Redmayne later acknowledged the controversy surrounding his casting by stressing the importance of casting transgender people to play transgender characters.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: In 2016, Redmayne starred as Newt Scamander in the film adaptation of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", the first of a series within the Wizarding World of the "Harry Potter" film series, with a screenplay by J. K. Rowling. "Fantastic Beasts" was a critical and commercial success. In 2018, Redmayne starred in the stop-motion animated film "Early Man", and reprised his role as Newt Scamander in "" as well as its third sequel, "," which was released in April 2022 . Both "" and "" received mixed critical reception but emerged as financial successes. All of J. K. Rowling's "Fantastic Beasts" films rank among Redmayne's highest-grossing films to date. In 2020, Redmayne starred as Tom Hayden in "The Trial of the Chicago 7".


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne married Hannah Bagshawe on 15 December 2014. They have a daughter, Iris, born in 2016 and a son, Luke, born in 2018.


title: Eddie Redmayne

text: Redmayne was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours for services to drama. In August 2014, he was appointed ambassador of film education charity Into Film. He has been a patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association since 2015, having become associated with the charity following his portrayal of Stephen Hawking. He is an ambassador of the Teenage Cancer Trust. He is a patron of Mousetrap Theatre Projects, a charity dedicated to enriching the lives of children and young people through theatre, especially those who are disadvantaged or have additional needs.


title: Snapchat

text: Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. The app has evolved from originally focusing on person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring users' "Stories" of 24 hours of chronological content, along with "Discover", letting brands show ad-supported short-form content. It also allows users to store photos in a password-protected area called "my eyes only". It has also reportedly incorporated limited use of end-to-end encryption, with plans to broaden its use in the future.


title: Snapchat

text: Snapchat was created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown, former students at Stanford University. It is known for representing a mobile-first direction for social media, and places significant emphasis on users interacting with virtual stickers and augmented reality objects. In July 2021, Snapchat had 293 million daily active users, a 23% growth over a year. On average more than four billion Snaps are sent each day. Snapchat is popular among the younger generations, particularly those below the age of 16, leading to many privacy concerns for parents.


title: Snapchat

text: According to documents and deposition statements, Reggie Brown brought the idea for a disappearing pictures application to Evan Spiegel because Spiegel had prior business experience. Brown and Spiegel then pulled in Bobby Murphy, who had experience coding. The three worked closely together for several months and launched Snapchat as "Picaboo" on the iOS operating system on July 8, 2011. Reggie Brown was ousted from the company months after it was launched.


title: Snapchat

text: The app was relaunched as Snapchat in September 2011, and the team focused on usability and technical aspects, rather than branding efforts. One exception was the decision to keep a mascot designed by Brown, "Ghostface Chillah", named after Ghostface Killah of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan.


title: Snapchat

text: On May 8, 2012, Reggie Brown sent an email to Evan Spiegel during their senior year at Stanford, in which he offered to re-negotiate his equitable share regarding ownership of the company. Lawyers for Snapchat claimed that Reggie Brown had made no contributions of value to the company, and was therefore entitled to nothing. In September 2014, Brown settled with Spiegel and Murphy for $157.5 million and was credited as one of the original authors of Snapchat.


title: Snapchat

text: In their first blog post, dated May 9, 2012, CEO Evan Spiegel described the company's mission: "Snapchat isn’t about capturing the traditional Kodak moment. It’s about communicating with the full range of human emotion—not just what appears to be pretty or perfect." He presented Snapchat as the solution to stresses caused by the longevity of personal information on social media, evidenced by "emergency detagging of Facebook photos before job interviews and photoshopping blemishes out of candid shots before they hit the internet.


title: Snapchat

text: As of May 2012, 25 Snapchat images were being sent per second and, as of November 2012, users had shared over one billion photos on the Snapchat iOS app, with 20 million photos being shared per day. That same month, Spiegel cited problems with user base scalability as the reason why Snapchat was experiencing some difficulties delivering its images, known as "snaps", in real time. Snapchat was released as an Android app on October 29, 2012.


title: Snapchat

text: In June 2013, Snapchat version 5.0, dubbed "Banquo", was released for iOS. The updated version introduced several speed and design enhancements, including swipe navigation, double-tap to reply, an improved friend finder, and in-app profiles. The name is a reference to the ghostly hero from Shakespeare's "Macbeth", a character in the play who is ultimately seen to be victorious over evil. Also in June 2013, Snapchat introduced Snapkidz for users under 13 years of age. Snapkidz was part of the original Snapchat application and was activated when the user provided a date of birth to verify his/her age. Snapkidz allowed children to take snaps and draw on them, but they could not send snaps to other users and could only save snaps locally on the device being used.


title: Snapchat

text: According to Snapchat's published statistics, as of May 2015, the app's users were sending 2 billion videos per day, reaching 6 billion by November. By 2016, Snapchat had hit 10 billion daily video views. In May 2016, Snapchat raised $1.81 billion in equity offering, suggesting strong investor interest in the company. By May 31, 2016, the app had almost 10 million daily active users in the United Kingdom. In February 2017, Snapchat had 160 million daily active users, growing to 166 million in May.


title: Snapchat

text: Investel Capital Corp., a Canadian company, sued Snapchat for infringement on its geofiltering patent in 2016. They were seeking "monetary compensation and an order that would prohibit California-based Snapchat from infringing on its patent in the future."


title: Snapchat

text: In September 2016, Snapchat Inc. was renamed Snap Inc. to coincide with the introduction of the company's first hardware product, Spectacles—smartglasses with a built-in camera that can record 10 seconds of video at a time. On February 20, 2017, Spectacles became available for purchase online.


title: Snapchat

text: Snapchat announced a redesign in November 2017, which proved controversial with many of its followers. CNBC's Ingrid Angulo listed some of the reasons why many disliked the update, citing that sending a snap and re-watching stories was more complicated, stories and incoming snaps were now listed on the same page, and that the Discover page now included featured and sponsored content. A tweet sent by Kylie Jenner in February 2018, which criticized the redesign of the Snapchat app, reportedly caused Snap Inc. to lose more than $1.3 billion in market value. Over 1.2 million people signed a Change.org petition asking the company to remove the new app update.


title: Snapchat

text: In December 2019, "App Annie" announced Snapchat to be the 5th most downloaded mobile app of the decade. The data includes figures for iOS downloads starting from 2010 and Android downloads starting from 2012. Snapchat acquired AI Factory, a computer vision startup, in January 2020 to give a boost to its video capabilities.


title: Snapchat

text: In November 2020, Snapchat announced it would pay a total of $1 million a day to users who post viral videos. The company has not stated the criteria for a video to be considered viral or how many people the payout would be split between. The promotion, called Snapchat Spotlight, is intended to run until the end of the year, although the company indicated it will continue if it's successful.


title: Snapchat

text: In June 2022, Snapchat announced plans to launch Snapchat Plus, a paid subscription model. The subscription will give users early access to features, the ability to change the app icon and see which users rewatch their stories. In July 2022, the company reported that they had 347 million daily active users, an increase of 18% from the previous year. In August 2022, Snapchat announced that Snapchat Plus has more 1 million subscribers as well as four new features to the subscription including priority replies, post-view emoji, new Bitmoji content, and new app icons.


title: Snapchat

text: Snapchat is primarily used for creating multimedia messages referred to as "snaps"; snaps can consist of a photo or a short video, and can be edited to include filters and effects, text captions, and drawings. Snaps can be directed privately to selected contacts, or to a semi-public "Story" or a public "Story" called "Our Story." The ability to send video snaps was added as a feature option in December 2012. By holding down on the photo button while inside the app, a video of up to ten seconds in length can be captured. Spiegel explained that this process allowed the video data to be compressed into the size of a photo. A later update allowed the ability to record up to 60 seconds, but are still segmented into 10 second intervals. After a single viewing, the video disappears by default. On May 1, 2014, the ability to communicate via video chat was added. Direct messaging features were also included in the update, allowing users to send ephemeral text messages to friends and family while saving any needed information by clicking on it. According to CIO, Snapchat uses real-time marketing concepts and temporality to make the app appealing to users. According to Marketing Pro, Snapchat attracts interest and potential customers by combining the AIDA (marketing) model with modern digital technology.


title: Snapchat

text: Private message photo snaps can be viewed for a user-specified length of time (1 to 10 seconds as determined by the sender) before they become inaccessible. Users were previously required to hold down on the screen in order to view a snap; this behavior was removed in July 2015 The requirement to hold on the screen was intended to frustrate the ability to take screenshots of snaps; the Snapchat app does not prevent screenshots from being taken but can notify the sender if it detects that it has been saved. However, these notifications can be bypassed through either unauthorized modifications to the app or by obtaining the image through external means. One snap per day can be replayed for free. In September 2015, Snapchat introduced the option to purchase additional replays through in-app purchases. The ability to purchase extra replays was removed in April 2016.


title: Snapchat

text: Friends can be added via usernames and phone contacts, using customizable "Snapcodes", or through the "Add Nearby" function, which scans for users near their location who are also in the Add Nearby menu. Spiegel explained that Snapchat is intended to counteract the trend of users being compelled to manage an idealized online identity of themselves, which he says has "taken all of the fun out of communicating."


title: Snapchat

text: In November 2014, Snapchat introduced "Snapcash", a feature that lets users send and receive money to each other through private messaging. The payments system is powered by Square.


title: Snapchat

text: In July 2016, Snapchat introduced a new, optional feature known as "Memories." Memories allow snaps and story posts to be saved into a private storage area, where they can be viewed alongside other photos stored on the device, as well as edited and published as snaps, story posts, or messages anytime. When shared with a user's current story, the memory would have a timestamp to indicate its age. Content in the Memories storage area can be searched by date or using a local object recognition system. Snaps accessible within Memories can additionally be placed into a "My Eyes Only" area that is locked with a Personal identification number (PIN). Snapchat has stated that the Memories feature was inspired by the practice of manually scrolling through photos on a phone to show them to others. In April 2017, the white border around old memories was removed. While originally intended to let viewers know the material was old, "TechCrunch" wrote that the indicator "ended up annoying users who didn’t want their snaps altered, sometimes to the point where they would decide not to share the old content at all."


title: Snapchat

text: In May 2017, an update made it possible to send snaps with unlimited viewing time, dropping the previous ten-second maximum duration, with the content disappearing after being deliberately closed by the recipient. New creative tools, namely the ability to draw with an emoji, videos that play in a loop, and an eraser that lets users remove objects in a photo with the app filling in the space with the background, were also released.


title: Snapchat

text: In July 2017, Snapchat started allowing users to add links to snaps, enabling them to direct viewers to specific websites; the feature was only available for brands previously. Additionally, the update added more creative tools: A "Backdrop" feature lets users cut out a specific object from their photo and apply colorful patterns to it in order to bring greater emphasis to that object, and "Voice Filters" enable users to remix the sounds of their voices in the snap. Voice Filters was previously available as part of the feature enabling augmented reality lenses, with the new update adding a dedicated speaker icon to remix the audio in any snap.


title: Snapchat

text: In August 2022, Snap launched the "Family Center" feature which allows parents to monitor the activity of their children, ages 13–18, within the app.


title: Snapchat

text: Snaps can be personalized with various forms of visual effects and stickers. Geofilters are graphical overlays available if the user is within a certain geographical location, such as a city, event, or destination. Users can design and create their own geofilters for personal events at a fee of $10–15 USD per hour. They can also subscribe to an annual plan which ranges from $1,000 to $10,000 depending on the location, for a permanent filter. A similar feature known as Geostickers was launched in 10 major cities in 2016. Bitmoji are stickers featuring personalized cartoon avatars, which can be used in snaps and messaging. Bitmoji characters can also be used as World Lenses.


title: Snapchat

text: The "Lens" feature, introduced in September 2015, allows users to add real-time effects into their snaps by using face detection technology. This is activated by long-pressing on a face within the viewfinder. In April 2017, Snapchat extended this feature into "World Lenses", which use augmented reality technology to integrate 3D rendered elements (such as objects and animated characters) into scenes; these elements are placed and anchored in 3D space.


title: Snapchat

text: On October 26, 2018, at TwitchCon, Snap launched the Snap Camera desktop application for macOS and Windows PCs, which enables use of Snapchat lenses in videotelephony and live streaming services such as Skype, Twitch, YouTube, and Zoom. Snapchat also launched integration with Twitch, including an in-stream widget for Snapcodes, the ability to offer lenses to stream viewers and as an incentive to channel subscribers. Several video game-themed lenses were also launched at this time, including ones themed around "League of Legends", "Overwatch", and "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds".


title: Snapchat

text: In August 2020, Snapchat collaborated with four TikTok influencers to launch Augmented Reality (AR) lenses to create a more interactive experience with users. The lenses now incorporate geo-locational mapping techniques to incorporate digital overlays onto real world surfaces. These lenses track 18 joints across the body to identify body movements, and generate effects around the body of the user. Advertising is now also utilizing AR lenses that make users a part of the advert. Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Taco Bell are just a select few of the brands now utilizing the tech on Snapchat. Consumers no longer scroll past these adverts, but become a part of them with AR lenses.


title: Snapchat

text: In March 2022, Snapchat launched the ability to share YouTube videos as stickers. The stickers function as clickable links that redirect users to a browser or the YouTube app.


title: Snapchat

text: The snapscore, which states the amount of snaps one has sent and received is recorded and is visible to one's friends. If users tap their own score it shows the ratio of sent and received snaps, the amount of snaps they have sent is on the right and the amount of snaps they have received is on the left, these numbers combined are their Snapchat score. There are multiple synonyms for Snapchat score such as Snapchat points, Snapscore, Snap points and Snap Number. YouTube has a similar rewards system called "Perks".


title: Snapchat

text: In October 2013, Snapchat introduced the "My Story" feature, which allows users to compile snaps into chronological storylines, accessible to all of their friends. By June 2014, photo and video snaps presented to friends in the Stories functionality had surpassed person-to-person private snaps as the most frequently used function of the service, with over one billion viewed per day—double the daily views tallied in April 2014.


title: Snapchat

text: In June 2014, the story feature was expanded to incorporate "Our Stories", which was then changed to "Live Stories" about a year later. The feature allows users on-location at specific events (such as music festivals or sporting events) to contribute snaps to a curated story advertised to all users, showcasing a single event from multiple perspectives and viewpoints. These curated snaps provided by the app's contributors and selected for the "Live" section could also be more localized, but Snapchat eventually scaled back the more personal imaging streams in order to emphasize public events.


title: Snapchat

text: An "Official Stories" designation was added in November 2015 to denote the public stories of notable figures and celebrities, similar to Twitter's "Verified account" program.


title: Snapchat

text: In January 2015, Snapchat introduced "Discover" an area containing channels of ad-supported short-form content from major publishers, including BuzzFeed, CNN, ESPN, Mashable, People, Vice and Snapchat itself among others. To address data usage concerns related to these functions, a "Travel Mode" option was added in August 2015. When activated, the feature prevents the automatic downloading of snaps until they are explicitly requested by the user.


title: Snapchat

text: In October 2016, the app was updated to replace its auto-advance functionality, which automatically moved users from one story to the next, with a "Story Playlist" feature, letting users select thumbnails of users in the list to play only selected stories.


title: Snapchat

text: In January 2017, Snapchat revamped its design, adding search functionality and a new global live "Our Story" feature, to which any user can contribute.


title: Snapchat

text: In May 2017, Snapchat introduced "Custom Stories", letting users collaboratively make stories combining their captures.


title: Snapchat

text: In June 2017, "Snap Map" was introduced, which allows users to optionally share their location with friends. A map display, accessible from the viewfinder, can be used to locate stories based on location data, supporting the use of Bitmoji as place markers. Entering a "Ghost Mode" hides the user from the map. The function is based on the app Zenly, which was acquired by Snap Inc. prior to its launch. The map data is supplied from OpenStreetMap and Mapbox, while satellite imagery comes from DigitalGlobe.


title: Snapchat

text: In February 2020, Snapchat released a Discover cartoon series called Bitmoji TV, which will star users' avatars.


title: Snapchat

text: "The Wall Street Journal" reported in May 2017 that Snap Inc., the company developing Snapchat, had signed deals with NBCUniversal, A&E Networks, BBC, ABC, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer and other content producers to develop original shows for viewing through Snapchat's "Stories" format. According to the report, Snap hoped to have several new shows available on a daily basis, with each show lasting between three and five minutes, and the company has sent out detailed reports to its partners on how to produce content for Snapchat. Over 2017 and 2018, Snap and partners launched several shows.


title: Snapchat

text: In, 2018 Snapchat and Vertical Networks (Snapchat Publisher Story) created a show called "My Ex-BFF Court",” which is a spoof of daytime-TV fare like the typical court shows we watch for example “Divorce Court” in which two ex-friends try to fix their problems. Who ever is guilty gets a funny sentence. Each episode is hosted by Judge Matteo Lane who is also known as Matthew Lane.


title: Snapchat

text: In 2018, Snapchat / Vertical Networks made a deal with Fox to make a television version of the dating reality show "Phone Swap".


title: Snapchat

text: In contrast to other messaging apps, Spiegel described Snapchat's messaging functions as being "conversational", rather than "transactional", as they sought to replicate the conversations he engaged in with friends. Spiegel stated that he did not experience conversational interactions while using the products of competitors like iMessage.


title: Snapchat

text: Rather than a traditional online notification, a blue pulsing "here" button is displayed within the sender's chat window if the recipient is currently viewing their own chat window. When this button is held down, a video chat function is immediately launched. By default, messages disappear after they are read, and a notification is sent to the recipient only when they start to type. Users can also use messages to reply to snaps that are part of a story. The video chat feature uses technology from AddLive—a real-time communications provider that Snapchat acquired prior to the feature's launch. In regards to the "Here" indicator, Spiegel explained that "the accepted notion of an online indicator that every chat service has is really a negative indicator. It means 'my friend is available and doesn't want to talk to you,' versus this idea in Snapchat where 'my friend is here and is giving you their full attention.'" Spiegel further claimed that the Here video function prevents the awkwardness that can arise from apps that use typing indicators because, with text communication, conversations lose their fluidity as each user tries to avoid typing at the same time.


title: Snapchat

text: On March 29, 2016, Snapchat launched a major revision of the messaging functionality known as "Chat 2.0", adding stickers, easier access to audio and video conferencing, the ability to leave audio or video "notes", and the ability to share recent camera photos. The implementation of these features are meant to allow users to easily shift between text, audio, and video chat as needed while retaining an equal level of functionality. In June 2018, Snapchat added the feature of deleting a sent message (including; audio, video, and text) before it is read. A feature introduced in August 2018 allows users to send Musical GIFs, TuneMojis.


title: Snapchat

text: In August 2022, Snap Inc. announced it would discontinue all original scripted content with no plans to continue work in this direction.


title: Snapchat

text: In January 2018, Snapchat introduced the use of end-to-end encryption in the application but only for snaps (pictures and video), according to a Snapchat security engineer presenting at the January 2019 Real World Crypto Conference. As of the January 2019 conference Snapchat had plans to introduce end-to-end encryption for text messages and group chats in the future.