Those familiar with author Tom Robbins will likely understand how unusual his books tend to be and how non-conducive they seem to be to filmic adaptation. He wrote his second novel, “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” in 1976, and it was considered striking by readers, a kind of earlier, more whimsical version of Ken Kesey.
The main character, Sissy, was born with abnormally large thumbs that extend as far as her index fingers. Her thumbs, it turns out, make her an exceptional hitchhiker, giving her a near-supernatural control of vehicles. She aims to hitchhike to New York City to become a model for a powerful tampon company overseen by a dandyish man who goes by the title The Countess (John Hurt).
In the book, Sissy marries a young, handsome Mohawk man named Julian. In Van Sant’s adaptation, Reeves plays Julian, although he plays a smaller role. Sissy meets him in New York, but the two have no real fling, which is different from the book. He merely remains a man she desires. Later in the film, Sissy will have an affair with the bisexual cowgirl Bonanza Jellybean (Rain Phoenix). The two also, in turn, have their own affairs with a cave-dwelling sage played by “The Karate Kid” star Pat Morita.
The plot is truly odd. After Sissy models for the Countess, she moves to his “beauty ranch,” called the Rubber Rose Ranch, overseen by Jellybean. The cowgirls who live there are hellbent on drugging the local crane population (!), so they cease migrating and remain out of danger. Cops and other agencies all try to invade the ranch, but the women scare them off with their, uh, feminine odors. The picture ends with a shootout.
“Even Cowgirls” is peppered with cameos from notable actors in addition to Reeves, such as Ed Begley, Jr., Angie Dickinson, Rosanne Arnold, Sean Young, Heather Graham, Carol Kane, Udo Kier, Lin Shaye, and Edward James Olmos. Ken Kesey plays a small part, and William S. Burroughs (who also appeared in Van Sant’s “Drugstore Cowboy”) has a cameo as himself.
Watch it if you can. Sadly, it’s not on streaming.
Inevitable Foundation continues to ramp up its efforts to platform disability in Hollywood with the launch of its own production company.
The first-of-its-kind Inevitable Studios will serve as the content wing of the advocacy and research non-profit, focusing on the development, production and marketing of film and television told through a specific diversity lens. Key to the initiative is the hiring of disabled writers and filmmakers, which make up a fraction of the entertainment industry workforce, but the programming goals are hardly niche.
“We’re looking for commercial projects across all genres that have disability in the DNA,” says Inevitable co-founder Richie Siegel. “That can mean a lot of things, but these are not projects that have disability slapped on — checking some box, where it feels performative. Think about a film like A Quiet Place. If you remove deafness and sign language, there is no movie. The whole thing falls apart. That’s a litmus test for how to build a story where disability is baked in.”
Across three films, that horror franchise has grossed more than $900 million at the global box office. But the fact that there are few examples beyond A Quiet Place, though Siegel eagerly praises Ramy Youssef-produced Ramy and Mo, underscores the dearth of intrinsic diversity in storytelling.
Such inadequacies are more noticeable when taking the scope of disability into account. Inevitable cites a disability community — covering those with physical disabilities, invisible disabilities, chronic illnesses, neurodiversity and mental health conditions, in addition to their family, friends and caregivers — that represents more than 70 million Americans across 20 million households. “It is such a large audience that you’d think someone must have already done this,” adds Siegal.
Siegal and his fellow co-founder, screenwriter Marisa Torelli-Pedevska, have envisioned a production arm since the foundation launched at the top of 2021. “We always knew we wanted to make stuff,” he says. “But we wanted to spend a lot of time building up the relationships with writers, filmmakers, agents and managers. I think we’ve developed our tastes and have a really strong understanding of what the audience wants. Now we can really cook.”
With substantial development fund to commission projects and invest in IP, Inevitable Studios will focus on stories with disability and caregiving baked into the narratives. Siegal and Torelli-Pedevska will lead the production company, with Paramount and Overbrook alum Clarence Hammond serving as senior advisor. The goal is to invest significant time and money into development before seeking financing for filming and partners for distribution and then, when the time comes, lend Inevitable’s understanding of the disability audience to market the projects.
“The early phase is so incredibly important for us,” says Siegel. “We want the space for writers and filmmakers to build the foundation in ways that have real commercial legs. Once that is in place, then we’ll go find those partners. Development is a beast and it’s so easy for the soul of a thing to get lost as more hands come in.”
Talking about the push, Siegel seems particularly eager about theatrical releases, though streaming and television across all genres are also part of the Inevitable Studios plan. The inaugural development slate is still being narrowed down, and the group is bullish on what happens after that — even if the industry headwinds aren’t exactly in anyone’s favor at the moment.
“Yes, in some ways, it is a very wild time to be doing this,” says Siegel. “At the same time, there’s a lot of opportunity. I think that with a lot of the challenges that the industry is facing, whether it’s ticket sales or fickle attention spans, we’re here saying, ‘Hey, there’s this audience no one is paying attention to.’ And maybe that’s part of the solution.”
Samantha Lorraine has officially taken over the role of Dora the Explorer from Isabela Merced — with exactly no swiping needed (a public service announcement to Swiper).
Dora the Explorer (the franchise, not the character — she’s still 16) turns 25 this summer, and Nickelodeon (and the greater Paramount Global) is going all out for the silver anniversary. The big swing is the return of Dora to the big screen feature film in Dora the Search for Sol Dorado, which releases July 2 on Paramount+.
The straight-to-streaming movie follows the world’s greatest explorer and her friends as they trek through the perilous dangers of the Amazon jungle in search of the ancient treasure of Sol Dorado. Dora (Lorraine), Diego (Jacob Rodriguez), the monkey Boots (voiced by Gabriel Iglesias), Mango (voiced by Jacqueline Obradors) and one really handy knapsack must race against time to keep the goodies from getting into the baddies’ hands.
Stepping into the iconic role was career gold for the first live-action Dora, Merced — Lorraine hopes there’s plenty of luster dust left over for her Dora film to have a similar impact.
***
You’re the sixth Dora.
I am the Dora from Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado!
Well, Nickelodeon told me you’re No. 6 — but you’re not the first live-action Dora…
I’m not. Isabela Merced (Transformers: The Last Knight, The Last of Us) did a movie in 2019, and she was absolutely incredible. She’s had such a fantastic career [since then], and so many amazing projects have come out of it. I hope to have that same trajectory. She’s just so incredible, and I’m honored to share things with her and the [previous Doras]. It’s a huge community.
You’re a relative newcomer, though you did do the movie adaptation of one of my favorite books when I was a kid, The Kid Who Only Hit Homers (Matt Christopher, 1972).
No way! That’s funny — it’s such a niche book.
Yeah, I’m old.
(Laughs) It’s so interesting. We did a little Amazon movie right before COVID hit. I remember we were shooting the last week, and all the news started coming out about COVID starting. We really missed [COVID shutdowns] just by a week.
Since Dora is set up to be your breakout role, do you have any apprehension that Hollywood will see you as “the Dora girl”?
No, honestly, it’s not as terrifying to be seen as that because the character in itself is not a copycat of the Dora that we’ve seen before. [This time], we see her be such a smart, quick-witted character, I was lucky enough to see it again last night with the cast and crew. Every time I watch it, I think to myself, “That’s a new Dora. A Dora that we haven’t seen before.”
She has the same traits and attributes of her positivity and optimism — her hopeful leadership. But in this movie, we also see her go through really some low times in her life. She loses a lot of important things, and I think there’s a beautiful, symbolic message of grief and how to deal with that in this movie.
Are there other ways this Dora will stand out from the others?
She doesn’t ask a question to the audience, and she doesn’t wait for the answer to be told to her. She knows it.
In our movie, she does break the fourth wall, kind of. When I’m in that tram scene and I’m giving the tour to the parkgoers, I break the fourth wall, and the camera pans out and shows the actual audience in real life, physically there. I thought that was a fun way of implementing that classic Dora-breaking-the-fourth-wall, but also keeping it true to our movie.
Was it daunting to play the role?
It’s truthfully daunting to have one of the biggest characters in media be made new again by your own devices. However, with that came an odd creative freedom to think and interpret her as my own. I think people are going to really like that she’s the same old Dora we know but so much more fearless, determined and smarter than we’ve seen. Her problem-solving skills are beyond impressive. I need a lesson or two from her.
Samantha Lorraine.
Emily Assiran
This is a straight-to-streaming movie. Did you know that when you signed up? Did you hope for theatrical?
No, I didn’t. But honestly, I’m so happy that it’s panning out the way that it’s been going so far. The engagement has been so positive. The reason why I do this is because my family — seeing my little cousins watching the screen and them going, “Sammy, Dora! Dora, Sammy!” It’s so surreal. It makes me tear up every time I think about it. Hopefully, little kids all around the world are going to go, “Wow, that’s — that’s Dora!” They’ll grow up with this version of Dora, and I’m so excited for them to see that.
There’s a ton of kids who will see it who weren’t even born when the 2019 movie came. You will be a generation’s Dora.
Exactly. Even though that previous movie was not too long ago, this movie is a completely different iteration. I think that’s so important to know. It’s another generation’s Dora. Art imitates life and I think it’s so exciting for kids and for the entire family.
You’re 18 now. You were 16 when you shot the movie — so what was your experience with Dora the Explorer? Who was your Dora?
I grew up in Miami, and I come from a very, very, very large Cuban family. That’s my roots. So obviously, me and my entire family watched Dora growing up. [The original Dora] Kathleen Herles, I’ve been able to speak with her. When she first connected with me — I’m being so serious — I threw my phone and started crying. You know the show that you watched growing up that really made who you are? That icon speaks to you and knows you exist? It’s such a huge honor.
What were you acting opposite for the monkey? A tennis ball, I assume?
Good old Boots (Gabriel Iglesias)! Mr. Fluffy! It was a tennis ball. But sometimes I would forget it was a tennis ball because they did such a fantastic job. Especially the little moments where I give Boots a hug, or Boots pets my face. It tripped me up sometimes where I was like, “Wait, that was a tennis ball I was talking to!”
How do you physically hug a tennis ball?
(Laughs) We had a tennis ball and then we had a stuffed animal monkey that I would hug for a reference.
L-R: Sonny (Acston Lucas Porto), Diego (Jacob Rodriguez), Dora (Samantha Lorraine) and Naiya (Mariana Garzón Toro) In the movie Dora and The Search For Sol Dorado for Nickelodeon, streaming on Paramount+ July 2.
Pablo Arellano Spataro/Nickelodeon/Paramount+
You’re very proud of your heritage and Dora is a very important character to the Latin culture — did you ask to add anything specific to the character to further highlight that?
Definitely. That scene after the map being burned and we’re at the dinner table at the Márquez house, asking them if they could put more Ropa Vieja on my plate, because that’s a very Cuban dish. And that’s one of my favorite Cuban dishes. I was like, “Oh, can I get a few extra scoops of that?” The tostones and the salsa and all of those foods. I was like, “Give it more to me, because, you know, she’s not really eating.” I was like, “Pile. It. On!”
Also in that same scene — when we were doing a fitting, that shirt of mine is such a beautiful, authentic Latin shirt, with that shape and that texture. I felt really connected to my roots, being in that wardrobe. There were a few other options that I tried on that I didn’t feel quite as represented, so I was like, “Let’s just go with that shirt. Let’s do it. This is a Latin film and we need to understand our culture, you know?”
On the final day of filming, did you just casually stroll out with Backpack?
I wish I would have taken Backpack! No, that would have been so amazing. You’ve got to manifest it for me. Diego (Rodriguez) and I have our Quipos on our hands that we do for our handshake, the Allyu handshake. I did snatch that up and I have it hanging on my wall right in front of my door. It’s such a good memento, because every time I see it, I always think to myself, “How can I reshoot the movie?” I just want to relive the moment again.
Are you down for more Dora? Or are you one and done?
Oh, absolutely not — bring on the Dora! I love her so much. I think she’s such a huge role model, not just for the Latin community, but just for every single culture around the world. When it comes to that one episode for World Friendship Day, and she goes to Russia, she goes to China and she goes to Africa. It’s such a love for culture, and it’s such a love for, yes, we are all different, but more we’re all the same and we’re all human — just be more empathetic to each other.
***
Dora the Search for Sol Dorado releases July 2 on Paramount+.
Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic “The Odyssey” via a theatrical teaser tied to the release of “Jurassic World Rebirth.” If you’ve caught the sneak peek, you’ll know that it follows a tried and true Nolan tradition — the often cryptic, vibes-first trailer, meant more to tease the mood of the film than to give away much in the way of plot or detail. Since “The Odyssey” is an adaptation of one of the most famous literary works in recorded history, story spoilers aren’t really a concern here. But the classic early Nolan movie teaser arguably makes even more sense in this case, and the trailer footage perfectly sets up the kind of movie he’s trying to make.
The footage primarily shows Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, played by Tom Holland, at a feast of sorts where he asks Jon Bernthal’s character what happened to his father. The older man seems to scoff, declaring that everyone has their own story of what happened to Odysseus (Matt Damon) after the Trojan War. The rumors swirl, and we get a closing shot of the man himself passed out on a drifting raft.
Most of what we see is dim fireside conversation and empty ocean, though there are a couple shots of what appear to be the Trojan Horse. While it’s not quite as much as some fans may have wanted, it’s a great setup for the sort of story we’re going to get.
Christopher Nolan has a habit of making memorable teasers
Warner Bros. Pictures
The original teaser trailer for “Inception” lives in my mind permanently. Speechless, it nevertheless conveyed the mystery, drama, and wonder of the film. It did exactly what a teaser trailer is meant to do — create questions and promise satisfaction. “Dunkirk” had a very similar announcement teaser, as did “Tenet,” and many of Nolan’s other films. Compared to some of those, the “Odyssey” teaser actually looks fairly substantive.
Coming off of his greatest critical success yet with “Oppenheimer,” the director is clearly trying to carry that reputation for epic storytelling forward. If you’ve read any version of “The Odyssey,” you know that the story has a massive scope, and I love that this first trailer keeps things centered on the main plot issue — the disappearance of Odysseus and the question of his return home.
The Odyssey may be fantasy, but it’s still a Nolan movie
Universal Pictures
We all know generally what will happen in “The Odyssey.” The title alone has long been a colloquial shorthand for a long journey of any kind. But there can still be rich drama pulled from the text, and by focusing on the unresolved loss on the side of Telemachus, this early teaser does just that.
In the trailer footage, Odysseus has already been gone far too long. The tragedy has occurred — he didn’t make it home from the war he won, and no one knows for certain why. There are still a lot of questions about how Nolan will balance the various adventures, dangers, and side characters that the story demands, but it’s clear that the tone will be unmistakably Nolan.
Of course, that means that your mileage may vary depending on how much you enjoy the director’s distinct brand of sleek, crowd-pleasing genre drama, as well as how much you can bear his struggles in certain key areas (like, you know, writing women). Though the subject matter is more fantastical with Nolan diving into Greek mythology, your response to the “Odyssey” teaser may still be a fair indicator of what you can expect tonally from the finished film. Nolan doesn’t look to be breaking the mold on what’s worked in the past.
which /Film’s Jacob Hall reviewed here), and, as you can imagine, there are plenty more instances of playing fast and loose with the “rules” of the world at this point in the timeline. It’s no spoiler to say there are holodeck hijinks and even more setup for “Star Trek: The Original Series” to come, but what about those pesky questions surrounding the alien antagonists known as the Gorn?
When “Strange New Worlds” first reintroduced the Gorn back in season 1, the famous villains from “The Original Series” were given quite the makeover for audiences these days. Gone was the slow, janky, man-in-a-suit silliness that William Shatner’s James T. Kirk had to contend with, replaced by fearsome lizards created with visual effects and obviously meant to take a page out of the Xenomorph playbook. To say that these changes were controversial would be an understatement, but there was always a method behind the approach.
That news comes straight from showrunner Akiva Goldsman, who recently indicated that he thought the series was the perfect opportunity to take one of the most beloved aspects of the original show and add a thoroughly refreshing twist to our conception of the property. To hear him tell it, this goes far beyond simply modernizing the Gorn — he wanted to add a unique thematic flavor to “Star Trek” and its typical approach to good versus evil.
Strange New Worlds adds new layers to the Gorn
Paramount+
Throughout three seasons of “Strange New Worlds,” the Gorn have certainly claimed their fair share of victims: the Aenar Starfleet officer Hemmer (Bruce Horak), the family of La’an (Christina Chong), and the general peace of mind of pretty much anyone unfortunate enough to cross paths with them. For those who assumed the history of the Gorn had been set in stone decades ago, well, think again! Viewers will remember that season 2 ended on a cliffhanger related to the Gorn Hegemony, leaving us desperate to see how this storyline may be resolved. Showrunner Akiva Goldsman addressed this very issue a few weeks ago following the season 3 premiere of “Strange New Worlds” in New York City.
During a special Q&A after the screening of the Gorn-centric debut episode, which /Film attended, Goldsman was asked about the choice to retcon the Gorn and, in the process, upend a certain “Trek” tradition dating back to its earliest days:
“What I loved about the Gorn was the idea that it was an opportunity to retcon something into ‘Worlds.’ What we do in ‘Star Trek,’ I think, is we start by seeing the ‘other.’ And often we end by engaging our empathy and understanding common ground. That’s great. And it doesn’t mean that there isn’t real evil in the world. What we wanted to do with the Gorn was to create a monster. And a monster that, at least at first, seemed evil.”
Straddling the line between seeing the good in all beings versus the abject “evil” of a species like the Gorn is just one of many ways “Strange New Worlds” has added a new flavor to “Star Trek.” The series may be ending with its fifth and final season, but there are still plenty of episodes left to keep us on our toes. Season 3 premieres on Paramount+ July 17, 2025.
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For someone who became one of the biggest stars in the world thanks to one of the biggest sitcoms of all time, Matthew Perry knew a lot about failed sitcoms. That’s not a knock against the man whose comedy stylings are never given their proper due, having influenced an entire generation’s sense of humor. It’s simply an acknowledgement of how remarkably difficult it is to land a series that actually hits.
Prior to starring in “Friends,” Perry starred in “Home Free,” a sitcom that’s almost impossible to watch today, in which he played a bachelor who lived at home with his mom, only for his divorced sister and her two children to move home and upend his carefree life. It only lasted one season. But Perry was used to sitcoms that didn’t go beyond their first season. He also appeared in “Second Chance” (which was later retitled as “Boys Will Be Boys”) and “Sydney,” both of which were also cancelled before their first seasons ended. That’s to say nothing of the many pilots Perry shot, including “LAX 2194,” a pilot in which Perry played a baggage handler at a future version of the Los Angeles airport, a role that nearly cost the actor his role as Chandler in “Friends.”
Thankfully, Perry (who tragically passed away in 2023 at the age of 54) eventually did make it big with that beloved NBC sitcom and was immediately catapulted to megastar status. Unfortunately, that did little for his personal feelings of inadequacy — something which he discusses in detail in his memoir “Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing.” Nonetheless, the years after Friends ended would see Perry once again struggling for a hit, and while most of his projects were short-lived, there was one sitcom which, though it was far from a “Friends”-level success, at least lasted beyond one season.
Matthew Perry remade a comedy classic that had already been rinsed dry
CBS
After “Friends” wrapped up in 2004, the ensemble all had very different experiences. Matt LeBlanc fronted spin-off “Joey,” which was cancelled after two seasons. Matthew Perry, however, initially stayed away from sitcoms, only returning to the format in 2013 with “Go On,” and like his pre-“Friends” series, it lasted just one season. He then appeared in an episode of his former co-star Courteney Cox’s show “Cougar Town” before once again trying his luck with the sitcom in 2015. This particular project was a reboot of “The Odd Couple,” which had been revisited several times since the 1965 play of the same name debuted.
When Neil Simon wrote his stage comedy back in the mid-60s, he likely had no idea it would spawn what is one of the most deceptively sprawling franchises in TV and movie history. The play debuted on Broadway in 1965 and followed two incompatible roommates, Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison. The former was a fastidious neat freak and the latter was, well, a slob, leading to one of the most enduring fictional dynamics in history.
After the play proved successful and closed in 1967, mass audiences would have a chance to experience that very dynamic when Walter Matthau reprised the role of Oscar alongside Jack Lemmon as Felix in a 1968 “The Odd Couple” movie, which Simon adapted from his play with Gene Saks directing. Once again, the mismatched pair of Felix and Oscar proved popular, and the “Odd Couple” saga was officially established.
The 1970s would see the arrival of a TV series based on the concept with Tony Randall starring as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar. That ABC sitcom ran for five seasons from 1970 to 75, proving that this simple concept had widespread appeal. A Saturday morning cartoon followed, before a reboot of the sitcom arrived in the 1980s. In 1993, CBS aired the made-for-TV movie “The Odd Couple Together Again,” which reunited Randall and Klugman. Hollywood even churned out a sequel to the 1968 movie with “The Odd Couple II,” which saw Lemmon and Matthau back in the roles of Felix and Oscar, capitalizing on their “Grumpy Old Men” success.
Unfortunately, the late-90s sequel very much seemed to suggest that audiences had grown tired of the franchise, but by the time Perry came to the IP, he was hoping things had changed. They sort of had, but not really.
The Odd Couple lasted longer than some of Perry’s other shows
CBS
Matthew Perry’s “The Odd Couple” took the form of a CBS sitcom which ran from 2015 to 2017. This particular effort did manage to go beyond one season, running for three seasons before CBS pulled the plug. With this being the seventh on-screen re-imagining of the story, audiences would have been within their rights to dismiss it outright, but the show also debuted almost a full 50 years after the 1968 film, which Perry claimed he watched “like 50 times” while developing the series (via Twitter).
That Walter Matthau and Jack lemmon-led comedy, rather than the ’70s sitcom, was seemingly the main inspiration behind this sitcom reboot, which featured Perry as Oscar Madison and Thomas Lennon as Felix Unger (the character’s second name had been spelled differently in the original sitcom, and it seems the writers stuck with it for the modern reboot). Perry also executive produced and developed the series, which depicted Oscar as a sportswriter and sports talk radio host whose slovenly ways don’t mesh well with Felix, a professional photographer who moves into Oscar’s apartment after his wife kicks him out.
The critical reception wasn’t great. Perry’s “The Odd Couple” wasn’t exactly one of the best TV show remakes, currently bearing a 26% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers were mostly disappointed with the dated sitcom humor and the inescapably derivative nature of yet another “Odd Couple” revisit. That didn’t bode well for the series’ longevity, though three seasons wasn’t bad for yet another “The Odd Couple” reboot.
According to Deadline, season 2 of the show “exceeded (modest) expectations” in terms of ratings, which secured a season 3 renewal. But that third run of episodes didn’t fare nearly as well, becoming the lowest-rated CBS comedy series of that season, according to the outlet. As such, the network decided to forgo another renewal, and “The Odd Couple” was once again abandoned. Surely, it won’t be long before it returns in some form.
