The daily gossip: May 4, 2020
1.
It's a big day for former preteens everywhere. Twelve years after Twilight author Stephenie Meyer scrapped plans to retell her four-part vampire saga from Edward's point of view, she revealed to fans Monday that "I am very excited to finally, finally announce the release of Midnight Sun on August 4." An early manuscript of Meyer's Twilight retelling had leaked illegally online back in 2008, and the author initially abandoned the project over the violation. The forthcoming novel will retell the original saga's love story through the eyes of Edward, as inspired by "the classic myth of Hades and Persephone." Said Meyer: "Some of you have been waiting for just so, so long, it didn't seem right to make you wait any more." [The Guardian]
2.
While the rest of us are worrying about finding Zoom-appropriate backgrounds in our apartments, Kylie Jenner might have bought an entire mansion last month "strictly for the Instagrams," Cosmopolitan's Emma Baty suggests. In late April, Jenner purchased a $36.5 million house with an absurd bathroom-to-bedroom ratio (14 bathrooms for seven bedrooms!) in Los Angeles. Based on Kylie's photos, though, the place is "shockingly impersonal, almost like someone staged it," Baty writes. What's more, in a video taken in her new house, Kylie twice can be heard telling her 2-year-old daughter Stormi "we're going home." "It begs the question: If this is her new home, what home is she referring to in this vid?!" Baty wonders. Where indeed! Read the whole conspiracy here. [Cosmopolitan]
3.
A new series about Tiger King subject Joe Exotic is in the works, and one actor who should have no trouble tapping into the bonkers show's chaotic energy has already been lined up. Nicolas Cage will reportedly play the big cat enthusiast in the eight-episode scripted series, adding to the list of roles he's got on the docket including ... himself. The new series, according to Variety, will "live in the lion's den with Joe, explore how he became Joe Exotic, and how he lost himself to a character of his own creation." There's no news yet on who might be cast in other key roles, like Carole Baskin, although were Cage to end up playing all the major characters Norbit-style, well, we wouldn't not watch.
4.
Stop the presses! Bella Hadid has reportedly at last re-followed Selena Gomez on Instagram. The pair have been on the outs since 2017, when Gomez began dating Hadid's ex, The Weeknd, prompting Hadid to unfollow Gomez and Gomez to unfollow her back. Gomez split with The Weeknd later in 2017, and apparently now considers all the drama to be water under the bridge — she re-followed Hadid back in November. (Bella and The Weeknd, meanwhile, are currently in a "spending time together again" phase in their on-again-off-again relationship but "not back together as a couple"). Now Hadid is apparently on board with the denouement, adding Gomez to the 386 accounts she follows on Instagram this weekend. [E! News, Just Jared]
5.
The last time we saw Gregor Clegane — better known as "The Mountain" — he was falling to his death from the Red Keep, pushed through a crumbling wall in an act of suicide by his brother, Sandor "The Hound" Clegane. But Hafthor Bjornsson, the actor who played the elder Clegane in five seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones, made a thrilling return this weekend that would have made even The Mountain quake in his armor. On Saturday, Bjornsson, 31, managed to deadlift 501 kilograms, or about 1104.5 pounds, on his third attempt, breaking the world record set in 2016 of 500 kilograms. For comparison, that's about the equivalent of lifting a large polar bear, or a small moose, and you can watch it here. [ESPN]
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