John Krasinski’s film, IF, opens this weekend – this one is for the family, about a young girl who discovers that she can see other people’s imaginary friends and sets upon an adventure to reunite them with their respective kids who are now adults. This, to me, is giving Toy Story 3 so I’m already preparing to sob my black heart out when I see it. Not saying it will be as great as Toy Story 3, one of the best animated movies of all time, my point is just that the grownups might be more affected by IF than the kids.
John wrote and directed IF and he recruited, it seems, all of his friends, and more, to be in his movie. This cast is bananas. There’s his wife, Emily Blunt, and also his former co-star Steve Carell; Maya Rudolph is another former co-star. and his very good friend Ryan Reynolds, but also Ryan’s wife Blake Lively (who, curiously, was not at the premiere last night).
John’s other good friend, Bradley Cooper, is in it; Matt Damon also has a role. That’s one Oscar winner. Another would be George Clooney. And Sam Rockwell. And Louis Gossett Jr.
Other acclaimed actors in the cast include Fiona Shaw, Richard Jenkins, Matthew Rhys, and Zaddy Christopher Meloni.
Plus… Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Awkwafina, Vince Vaughn, Jon Stewart, and Liza Colón-Zayas aka Tina from The Bear!
Plus so many more, seriously the list is endless. This is a major flex for John Krasinski who, as we now know, has established himself as a talented director and is clearly now showing his range, from A Quiet Place to animation. Next thing you know they’ll be handing him a Marvel movie. This reminds me of the podcast episode of Show Your Work that Duana and I did a few years ago about John and Emily and their burgeoning power couple status. Which makes it extra silly how TikTok actually convinced itself a few months ago after the Golden Globes that they were divorcing because an amateur pretend lipreader claimed that John was telling Emily on the carpet that he “couldn’t wait to get a divorce”. When you are a Hollywood power couple, the marriage is also a business. And right now, for John and Emily, business is booming.
While we’re here, though, we don’t power couple talk enough about Maya Rudolph because her partner is Paul Thomas Anderson. PTA is every cinephile’s idol, on any given night at any film festival around the world, someone somewhere is giving a masturbatory speech about what PTA means to them. And he was lucky enough to get Maya Rudolph to share her life with him.
So this is John Krasinski’s big friend circle. And before I conclude this post, let me leave you with a final cast member because he’s a LaineyGossip favourite but it’s been a minute since we’ve checked in with him. It’s our boy Alan S Kim! And just as it was when he was on the Minari circuit, Alan is still wearing Thom Browne.
It’s been three years since Minari’s Oscar run. And you know what comforts me? Some child stars, you see them one day as a kid and the next thing you know, five minutes later, they look like your uncle. Alan is not allowing time to f-ck us up! He’s older now, for sure, but he didn’t reappear as a full-blown adult. Because there is no way an Asian parent will allow their kid to rush to adolescence, lol. Come through, Asian parents! Here’s Alan a few weeks ago celebrating his 12th birthday.
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