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LAS VEGAS – Rachel Brosnahan recalled a night filming “Superman” where the newest Man of Steel, co-star David Corenswet, looked especially superheroic with his cape flapping in the moonlight. She reminded him that he was Superman, with an f-bomb for emphasis.

“I forget I’m in the suit. It’s like a haircut. But those are the best moments,” Corenswet confessed during Tuesday’s DC Studios presentation at CinemaCon.

While writer/director James Gunn might have slipped and accidentally called CinemaCon “Comic-Con,” he knew that theater owners and comic-book fans are very excited about all things “Superman.” The film (in theaters July 11) is the launchpad for a rebooted DC movie universe and a throwback to the days of Christopher Reeve as a charismatic, do-gooding Superman without a shred of cynicism.

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It was Superman’s dog Krypto, however, that stole the show: Gunn showed the audience an exclusive scene where Superman, injured and bloodied, crash-lands in the Arctic and whistles to Krypto have his canine best friend take him to the Fortress of Solitude to recover. Krypto, however, thinks he’s playing and starts jumping on him and roughhousing, doing more damage. And once they get back and fix Superman up, our hero is not pleased that Krypto’s pretty much run amok and wrecked the place in his absence.

The pooch was inspired by Gunn’s own rescue dog, Ozu. When the filmmaker brought the him home, Gunn said, “he was the worst dog you could ever imagine.” Ozu chewed up everything he could – including a new $8,000 laptop – and Gunn would have to climb on furniture because Ozu would run around trying to bite his feet. “I didn’t know if he was playing or he hated my guts.”

New Man of Steel David Corenswet even won over an evil Nicholas Hoult

Gunn, who did Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy before becoming co-head of DC Studios, called the story he tells in “Superman” “utterly human and utterly fantastic at the same time.” Playing love interest/ace Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, Brosnahan added that “there’s something for everyone,” from high adventure to an epic love story. “It was hugely intimidating but these stories at their core are about hope and being courageous and (how) good is always worth fighting for.

“Superman is a cool guy who does the right thing because it’s the right thing.”

The new Supes’ goodness even impressed his arch enemy: Nicholas Hoult, who plays the villainous Lex Luthor, remembered watching one scene being filmed where Corenswet flew onto set in full regalia. “I felt like I was witness to the magic of cinema in first person in real time,” Hoult said. “I’m evil, I hate him, but I got this warmth in my tummy and this stupid grin. I turned around and (crew) people had the same expression on their face.”

Corenswet said that “Superman” at its core is ultimately a movie about “love and hope and a desire to share,” and Gunn added that he hoped audience members will walk out and “love the person they came in with a little bit more.”

Wilson Phillips singer Carnie Wilson is defending her teen daughter, Lola Bonfiglio, from the internet’s negativity over Lola’s “American Idol” experience.

“We’re human, and the internet is so cruel. And the comments are really pissing me off, and I can’t respond,” Wilson said Sunday during the “Music of the 90s” panel during 90s Con in Hartford, Connecticut, per Entertainment Weekly and People magazine.

“Would you encourage a doctor’s son not to be a doctor?”, Wilson continued. “Lola wants to be a singer, and they say these terrible things. And she was so hurt.”

Wilson also said her 19-year-old daughter was “trembling with nerves” because the “Idol” audition was “the scariest thing she ever has done.”

Bandmate Chynna Phillips Baldwin chimed in to say she believed the majority of the comments about Lola’s performances were positive.

Unfortunately for the Wilsons, Lola was cut from the show when the judges eliminated more than half of the contestants in a bloodbath of an episode Monday night.

Following her dismissal from the competition, Lola took to Instagram to say that while this “Idol” chapter has come to a close, “this is just the start of a new chapter of my music journey!”

“I have NEVER experienced pressure like that in my life, but boy has it taught me a lot. It has pushed me to work on my confidence as a singer, hone in on my artistry and songwriting, and not let a little heat stop me!” she added.

Lola’s exit: Here’s who was eliminated, who survived Hollywood Week bloodbath

Lola Bonfiglio’s ‘American Idol’ audition

On the March 23 episode of “Idol,” which showed the fourth week of auditions, Lola stepped into the room with her dad, Rob Bonfiglio, who was toting an acoustic guitar. Judges Carrie Underwood, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan might have thought they’d be seeing another father-daughter performance, but before the two launched into song, Lola brought in some backup: her mom and aunt Wendy Wilson, who are Beach Boys singer Brian Wilson’s children.

The trio sang the 1990 Wilson Phillips chart-topper “Hold On,” with Bonfiglio accompanying on guitar as Underwood mouthed along. The judges, however, needed to see if Lola had what it takes as a solo artist.

She sang a second audition song, Kacey Musgraves’ “Rainbow,” as Carnie Wilson cried with pride and fanned her face from the sidelines.

Lola’s performance was good enough to get her to the next round, but the judges sent her home with some homework to level up before Hollywood Week.

Richie challenged her to “tell us a story” with her voice, while Bryan warned Lola the competition will require her to belt out some songs and fill “up the room a little more.”

“But you’ve got a really, really beautiful voice,” Bryan complimented.

Shia LaBeouf and his former acting school are going under the microscope in a revealing documentary.

“Slauson Rec,” an upcoming film that centers on LaBeouf’s now-defunct theater school of the same name, allegedly shows the actor’s physical abuse of his students, according to Vanity Fair. The outlet spoke with the documentary’s director, Leo Lewis O’Neil, in an interview published Monday.

O’Neil, a student of LaBeouf’s at Slauson, began making the film after the actor spotted him with a camera during class and encouraged him to film “everything that took place.”

“I wasn’t the only one that was desperate for a community. Everybody who stuck through that program, I think, had an intense sense of being desperate for something like a family,” O’Neil recalled to Vanity Fair. “It was like the Island of Misfit Toys.”

A representative for “Slauson Rec” confirmed to USA TODAY on Tuesday that the movie is currently seeking distribution. Additionally, LaBeouf was not involved in the production of the film, aside from his appearances in the documentary.

LaBeouf launched the Slauson Recreational Center Theater School in fall 2018 at the Los Angeles rec center of the same name, and the school abruptly closed in November 2020, per Vanity Fair. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, LaBeouf allegedly suffered from “dark” outbursts that led to “violent behavior” directed toward his students.

“What started as an open, egalitarian workshop quickly evolved into intense daily rehearsals led by Shia, pushing participants to their limits,” a synopsis of the film reads, according to a press release. “O’Neil, a participant from day one, documents the complex journey of mentorship, influence and the lasting impact on the diverse group over three years.”

Shia LaBeouf voices support for acting school documentary

O’Neil, who shot approximately 800 hours of footage for the documentary, reportedly filmed several instances of LaBeouf “initiating physical altercations” with Slauson students during the school’s final months, according to Vanity Fair.

One of the alleged altercations included a tense argument with a student named Zeke. After aggressively accusing the student of having an “attitude problem,” LaBeouf reportedly shoved Zeke against a wall. A clip of the pair’s conversation is shown in a film teaser shared on the Vanity Fair website.

“People let him get away with it,” Zeke reflects in a FaceTime conversation, after which he reveals scratches and bruises on his body, according to the magazine. “What kind of mentor does that?”

Shia LaBeouf and ‘Don’t Worry Darling’: Actors denies being fired for ‘combative’ process

In a statement to Vanity Fair, LaBeouf said he “fully support(s) the release of the film.” O’Neil said the “Transformers” star has been sent a screening link to view the film ahead of its release.

“I gave Leo this camera and encouraged him to share his vision and his personal experience without edit,” LaBeouf told Vanity Fair. “While my teaching methods may be unconventional for some, I am proud of the incredible accomplishments that these kids achieved.

“Together we turned a drama class into an acting company. I wish only good things for Leo and everyone who was part of The Slauson Rec Company.”

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for LaBeouf for comment.

Shia LaBeouf accused of ‘combative’ acting, physical abuse

This isn’t the first time LaBeouf has been accused of professional misconduct and physical abuse.

In December 2020, LaBeouf’s former girlfriend, British singer and actress FKA Twigs, brought a lawsuit against the actor, accusing him of repeated physical, emotional and mental abuse during their nearly yearlong relationship.

Twigs, who sued for sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress, also claimed in the lawsuit that LaBeouf abused Karolyn Pho, a stylist and ex-girlfriend, and others.

At the time, LaBeouf responded to the allegations in an email to The New York Times, saying he has a “history of hurting the people closest to me” and that he was “sorry to those I hurt.”

Shia LaBeouf lawsuit: FKA Twigs calls out actor’s request for more financial records

Two years later, actress and “Don’t Worry Darling” director Olivia Wilde alleged in an interview with Variety that she fired LaBeouf from the psychological thriller because his creative process “seems to require a combative energy.” Wilde did not specify LaBeouf’s alleged on-set behavior.

LaBeouf disputed his exit from the film at time, claiming he quit due to inadequate rehearsal time.

“I believe that creating a safe, trusting environment is the best way to get people to do their best work,” Wilde told Variety. “Ultimately, my responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them. That was my job.”

Contributing: Taijuan Moorman and Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY

Following his dinner with President Donald Trump, Bill Maher is teasing that he’s got a lot to say about the experience.

The “Real Time with Bill Maher” host, a longtime critic of the businessman-turned two-term president, took to X Tuesday afternoon to report back on the meeting. “Hey everybody, thank you for all the interest in my dinner with the president last night – I promise, all will be revealed on the next @RealTimers on April 11,” Maher wrote.

He added, “As it’s April 1 today, no one would believe what I said today anyway!”

County rock singer and staunch Trump supporter Kid Rock was responsible for setting up the dinner between the two.

Prior to the meeting, Trump expressed doubts about how the encounter would go in a Sunday night Truth Social post, saying Kid Rock suggested they confer, and “I really didn’t like the idea much, and don’t like it much now, but thought it would be interesting.”

He added, “The problem is, no matter how much he likes your Favorite President, ME, he will publicly proclaim what a terrible guy I am, etc., … Who knows, though, maybe I’ll be proven wrong? In any event, I’m doing a favor for a friend. I look forward to meeting with Bill Maher, Kid Rock and, I believe, even the Legendary Dana White will be present. It might be fun or, it might not, but you will be the first to know!”

Kid Rock says Bill Maher, Trump ‘talked about things we had in common’

For his part, Rock said Tuesday morning on “Fox & Friends” that “It could not have been better. Everyone was so surprised.”

‘You tried one a few years ago’: Jon Stewart blasts Trump’s ‘methods’ for achieving a third term

He continued, “The president was so gracious. He took us up to the private residence and we saw the Gettysburg Address and the Lincoln bedroom, and I was like, ‘You’ve never been here, Bill?’ … We talked about things we had in common. Wokeness, securing the border. The president was asking him what he thought about policy going on with Iran and Israel and things.”

Rock said, “It blew my mind. I was very proud.”

Though he told the hosts that the guests checked in their phones, he hoped the White House would release some photos from the meeting.

Bill Maher explains why he ‘will talk to anybody’

“There will be lots of people on the left who will be like, ‘How you talk to this man?’” Maher said on the March 23 episode of his Club Random podcast. He went on to explain why he found it important to reach across the political aisle.

“I’m not playing this game that you mean girls play where like, ‘You know what? You can’t sit at my lunch table because I’m just not talking to you.’ Not talking to you? You lost the election,” he said. “Who … do you think you have to talk to? It’s one thing if you win it; it’s another thing if you lose it.”

10,000 jobs gone: Trump administration starts mass layoffs at health agencies

Maher continued, “We’ve got to get more of this going. This has to become the center. This has to become a real center. Right now, it’s a few lonely islands that need to become a bigger … sandbar.”

When guest Andrew Schulz asked what Maher planned to wear to the dinner, Maher replied, “I’m not going to dress like (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy. It’s not going to be a black T-shirt.”

“I am wearing a suit and tie,” he said. “It’s a sign of respect. It’s the White House! … You also have to respect the guy did win. It’s more than half the country. I keep saying it, I’m not going to hate. You can not like Trump; you can hate him, but you can’t hate everybody who voted for him. I said it in my last special: I don’t hate half the country, and I don’t want to hate half the country.”

“So yes I will talk to anybody, and it’s an honor to be invited to the White House under any circumstance.”

LAS VEGAS – As The Weeknd, musician Abel Tesfaye is electrifying when he hits a stage, whether at the Super Bowl, a stadium full of rabid fans or a room packed with movie theater owners.

He’s also an actor, making his debut in Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems,” starring in the short-lived HBO show “The Idol” and being a creative force behind the new psychological thriller “Hurry Up Tomorrow” (in theaters May 16). Tesfaye acknowledges he feels “the rush of performing” in both artistic pursuits.

“The nervousness before performing on stage, it’s never gone away. I’ve been performing 15 years and I still feel nervous before going on. I think that’s a good thing,” Tesfaye tells USA TODAY in an interview at CinemaCon, where he performed his new songs “Cry for Me” and “Open Hearts,” plus the hit “Blinding Lights.” “And I felt that same type of nervousness before acting, before the cameras rolling. So instead of running away from that, I feel like now I’ve embraced it.”

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“Hurry Up Tomorrow” is a companion of sorts to Tesfaye’s album of the same name, though he says the film – which Tesfaye co-wrote with director Trey Edward Shults (“It Comes at Night”) – existed prior to the songs. Tesfaye was “already a fan” of Shults’ work when he came on board and “knew how well he would take care of the music.

“The process was film and then music. It was pretty unique. We got to kind of make it simultaneously.”

The movie features Tesfaye as a fictionalized version of himself, an insomniac musician teetering near a mental breakdown who goes on an existential journey when a mysterious young woman named Anima (Jenna Ortega) comes into his life. A new trailer for the movie released Tuesday showcases its cerebral nature, with dark visual tones and a strong emotional core. (The songs are pretty good, too.)

Shults says Tesfaye is “like family. I love him. So when you work with people you love, it’s super-easy and organic and just works naturally.” Ortega, who’s also a big music fan, calls Tesfaye a “special” sort of artist.

“His music is cinematic. The experience, the music videos, all of that. You could tell that he has a cinephile’s brain,” Ortega says. “I know a lot of people in music who have just created these personas that are so big and bold and scary. And getting to know Abel, he’s kind, very warm and comforting and just almost soft-spoken in a way. It’s almost a strange feeling of, like, you know him and it is represented in his music.”

Abigail Hopkins and Amir Sanei are not only architects themselves, they are also the children of architects and grew up in houses built by their parents. So the idea of designing their own home had always seemed a natural thing to do. “For an architect, there is always the desire to build your own home, it’s so personal,” says Sanei. “You want to be able to shape how you live — but building a house is also a bit of a manifesto.”  

Hopkins had lived in a refined steel and glass house that Patty and Michael Hopkins designed in north London in 1976 — and which is now a listed building. It led to her making her first conscious architectural decision. “The only partitions between our bedrooms were venetian blinds. When we were old enough, we insisted on proper walls,” she remembers. Her parents went on to build the office block Portcullis House for Members of Parliament; a stand at Lord’s Cricket Ground; Glyndebourne’s new opera house — and redesign the FT’s own HQ, Bracken House, among much else. Sanei’s father, who practised and taught architecture in Tehran, designed their house on the Caspian Sea. 

Initially, Hopkins and Sanei assumed that building a new house for themselves on family-owned land overlooking the wide estuary of the River Alde, in Suffolk, in one of Britain’s protected areas of outstanding natural beauty, would be impossible. Their first idea had been to replace a derelict lodge on the estate that they had shared with Hopkins’s two siblings and parents for 15 years. When they started the process, it was suggested that an amendment written into planning law by John Gummer back in 1997 to cover new buildings in the countryside might offer a better alternative. 

Gummer, now Lord Deben, was then the environment secretary in John Major’s last government. After addressing the imperative need to accommodate farm workers, the amendment adds: “an isolated new house in the countryside may also exceptionally be justified if it is clearly of the highest quality, is truly outstanding in terms of its architecture and landscape design, and would significantly enhance its immediate setting and wider surroundings”. It’s a high bar to clear, and one that is perhaps even harder to define. Convincing the local authority in Woodbridge that their design qualified took Hopkins and Sanei three years.

Gummer was trying to keep the tradition of the country house alive. He described it as “one of the great contributions of Britain to art and architecture”. It was a controversial idea at the time; one planning consultant even described it as “elitist”, suggesting it could be “a loophole for a millionaire”. The Conservatives were out of office before a single application using the new legislation could be considered. But it was adopted by their architect-friendly Labour successors, who presented it as a test bed for new thinking about building and planning rather than a nostalgic throwback. 

New Lodge, as Hopkins and Sanei’s home is called, certainly looks nothing like the traditional idea of a stately home. Carefully sited on an estate created in the 19th century, it forms a distant satellite to a big house of the kind that Gummer would appreciate (though its neo-Georgian facades are a product of the 1950s, when the original Victorian house was heavily remodelled by Raymond Erith, perhaps Britain’s most accomplished 20th-century classicist). It is expressly designed to support the outdoor way of life, sailing and long walks that Hopkins and Sanei, their five children and an elegant pair of whippets had enjoyed when they lived in the annexe to the main house. Each family member has their own space, connected by an outdoor courtyard to an expansive double-height shared living area. “We had a special way of life here, and the new house allows us to go on living here the way we had done,” Hopkins explains.

“We were very aware of the passing of time and the generations. We wanted to ensure the house could continue to evolve as a multigenerational family home. This is not just a building for now, it’s a home for the future,” says Hopkins.

The guiding idea was to update the historic pattern of rural life anchored by big houses with networks of small working farms at a distance. Each farmstead typically had a farmhouse, a collection of barns, stable, cart shed and a granary clustered around a yard. Hopkins and Sanei used this as the starting point for what they call their “housestead”. It too is made of a group of distinct parts, but it is outward looking or “extrovert” rather than an “introverted” farmstead, as they put it, in order to take advantage of an exceptional setting. 

Split into four wings, each uses an entirely different architectural language. “There were some members of the planning committee who were convinced that we were trying to pull a fast one and build four houses,” Sanei says. 

The shared living space to the south has fully glazed walls, sheltered under a steep pitched roof, looking towards the river. It was thatched by David Rackham, the 14th generation of his family to work with reed cut from the local Dunwich and Walberswick reed beds. It was a painstaking process that took Rackham six months, working with just one assistant. Thatch makes for a roof with excellent insulating properties, and projects out over the fully glazed walls to shield them. In winter, the space is warmed by the sun; in summer, the walls open up for natural ventilation. The roof is supported on a structure reduced to a spider’s web of steel, painted a shade of Suffolk shocking pink. 

There is more to Suffolk than picturesque villages and medieval church towers. It’s also a place of mysterious fragments of military archaeology such as the second world war coastal listening stations at Bawdsey and Orford Ness, the pill boxes and gun emplacements built to defend the  area, and the new agricultural vernacular of corrugated iron. Traces of these local influences in New Lodge make it a kind of architectural collage. 

The utilities and boilers are placed to the north in a hangar-like space under deftly cut corrugated steel, like a Savile Row version of a Nissen hut. Sleeping quarters for the five children are in the east wing. Each room has its own bathroom and study space, and is connected by a glass conservatory corridor for insulation. Hopkins and Sanei compare its unpainted chipboard finishes to the aesthetics of a habitable stable, potting sheds or greenhouses. But it’s more comfortable than that might sound. Photovoltaic cells and the solar hot water collector on the roof feed electricity back into the national grid. 

Hopkins and Sanei have their bedroom and a studio in the west wing. The studio is a metal structure that Sanei confesses was inspired by a lunar lander. It sits on top of their brick bedroom, and is reached by a particularly elegant folded steel spiral staircase on the outside of the building. The steel was fabricated in Aldeburgh by another family-owned business started by Dennis Pegg’s great-grandfather, who was a blacksmith and farrier. Pegg specialises in precision engineering and was responsible for making the Aldeburgh “Scallop”: artist Maggi Hambling’s tribute to composer Benjamin Britten. 

“I wouldn’t say that the children were treated as if they were the client,” Hopkins remembers; nevertheless, “there were drawings and models they could see, and they helped clear the site. We saw how they enjoyed their previous home here; [living in distinct areas] is second nature for them, we knew it would work. There was a discussion with our youngest about a tunnel from the studio to the bedrooms but, as late teenagers, they were delighted not to be too near to us.”  

Asking an architect to do something outstanding and exceptional might be to invite them to lapse into pretension and self-consciousness. New Lodge is a much more thoughtful house than that. It is full of ideas about sustainability, design and planning that are applicable elsewhere, while at the same time being closely tailored to a particular place and a particular way of life. 

Deyan Sudjic is director emeritus of the Design Museum in London

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LAS VEGAS – Like many book lovers, Sydney Sweeney swooned for Freida McFadden’s 2022 viral novel “The Housemaid.” Unlike many book lovers, Sweeney is starring in the movie version.

And for her, there was no choice in the matter. “I had to be a part of it,” Sweeney said Tuesday during a presentation at CinemaCon, the annual convention for theater owners and studios.

Directed by Paul Feig, “The Housemaid” (in theaters Christmas Day) stars Sweeney as Millie, a young woman hired by wealthy couple Nina (Amanda Seyfried) and Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar) to be their live-in maid and help out with their daughter. CinemaCon got a first look at the trailer, which showed strange things afoot in the mansion, the relationship between Millie and the Winchesters becoming tense, and hints at how crazy the movie is going to be.

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“She is just as shocked as you guys will be,” Sweeney says of Millie. The actress, who’s also a producer along with Seyfried, devoured all three “Housemaid” books in one week. “I could not put it down,” Sweeney added. “I love when there’s so many unexpected twists and turns and characters that have flaws … but you also love them at the same time. You question your morals.”

Seyfried said she’ll “never forget the way playing Nina Winchester made me feel. I got to go to places I never thought I’d go to.” While doing the movie was “life-affirming and career-confirming” for the Oscar-nominated actress, “the stuff that happened when the cameras were rolling was bananas for me.”

Sklenar, the star of the “Yellowstone” spinoff series “1923” and the upcoming thriller “Drop,” said Andrew is “a very complex character and he’s playing a lot of versions of himself and constantly manipulating those around him. That’s a heady headspace to get to.”

The actor also revealed that Andrew is “a bit more of a force than he is in the book. It’s surprising how much it takes it out of you to be this unhinged. But fun.”