LeeLoni

First of all.... *SWOOOOOOOON*


(credit: Jim Cox Photograhy; click on the photo to embiggen--it's worth it!)

Last month, Jim Cox (the photographer who took the infamous S6 Oz cast portraits) took pics of Chris and his daughter Sophia, and Cox recently posted them to Instagram. They're gorgeous (no surprise). Here's one of Chris and Sophia together:



In professional news, Chris did an informative interview with Gold Derby where he talked about his Syfy show "Happy" and the plans for its second season:



The most exciting piece of info was that Chris is part of the writing team for S2 and will also be directing at least one episode (in addition to starring in and producing the show). S2 will center around the Easter holiday (similar to how they used a Christmas setting in S1). Presumably, S2 will air next spring. Filming will begin in August, I'm guessing once again in NYC.

On the LeeEEEeee front, he is currently in New Orleans filming his new series "The Purge." Details are sketchy at this point, but I will be diligent in digging up and posting any information that I might find! A few days ago, Lee met up with his former "Red Widow" co-star Suleka Mathew (who is in NOLA filming a different show), and she posted the following to Instagram:



Lee also has a small role in the upcoming film "The Yellow Birds" (playing Jennifer Aniston's husband, LOL), and he makes a brief appearance in the new trailer (at 0:56):







The Yellow Birds will be released on May 17 through Direct TV and on June 15 in select theaters and VOD.

In addition, I recently watched Lee's 2016 indie film "Desert Cathedral" (now available for free to US Amazon Prime members).



Lee was very, very good in this movie, but MAN was it depressing. I'm not even sure I can bring myself to screencap it or do a recap. But Lee's shirtless/nude scenes did bring a smile to my face! So I took several grabs of those (sorry for the poor quality--long story--but you'll get the general idea :D):

( slightly NSFW screencaps )

Also, a PSA! For the last couple of years, the Twitter account associated with LT.com (@LeeLoveNews) has sat dormant, but a few weeks ago fanfromfla graciously agreed to hand over the reins to me. Therefore, if you use Twitter, you might want to consider following that account if you don't already, as I will probably be updating it with info/pics in a more timely manner than here at LJ.

Time for an update!

Season 2 of the sequel to "Wet Hot American Summer" (which has morphed into "WHAS: Ten Years Later") is now available on Netflix! Chris Meloni appears as Gene in 4 of the 8 episodes, and a refrigerator once again plays a role (as does a can of vegetables):


(Screencap credit to Twitter's @marchriska)

( Much more Meloni news here behind the cut! )

Whew! OK, enough about Meloni! On to LeeEEEeee!

In all the excitement of the recent Oziversary Fest, I missed that HBO's website posted a new interview with Lee (and another with Dean Winters) discussing Oz's 20th anniversary. Both interviews are fascinating, Lee's particularly so. Check them out!

Lee Tergesen Sees Horror and Romance in Oz
Dean Winters on the Lessons That Still Ring True

Some of the most notable quotes from Lee's interview:

• The funny thing is, when I was in my early 20s, I used to get drunk and get naked in bars all the time, and now all of a sudden I was going to be paid to get naked -- I was like, alright.


• So many people have said to me that [the B/K] relationship, as twisted and weird as it was, gave them courage to be truthful about who they were. To have that kind of impact on somebody means a lot. Also, I got propositioned. I couldn’t tell you how many people wanted to have sex with me.


• All of a sudden people would have religious beliefs that kept them from showing their penis. Chris Meloni and I were always trying to do the thing that hadn’t been done. There was excitement, like, “I’m the one who gets to bite the d**k off.”


• The scene started and I realize I’m about to get on my knees and blow this guy on screen -- I gotta get out of here now. I start to make my way out and just as I’m getting to the door, I hear the scene play and the crowd goes apes**t.

(LOL at HBO's website feeling the need to censor the words "dick" and "shit")

Also, as a reminder, Lee and Dean are going to perform a stage reading of a new Tom Fontana play ("Screenplay by Stalin") on August 18 at the Williamstown (MA) Theatre Festival. (I previously posted details HERE.) Austin Pendleton (Oz's William Giles) was also recently added to the cast. Myself, tobyfan, miltil,  and shabby86 are all planning to SQUEEeeeEEE be there. We have extra tickets, so if anyone wants to make some last-minute arrangements to join us, that would be OZSOME. The more, the merrier!

Chris posted this selfie to his Instagram last night, with the caption "#GovBall with Bryce, LEE and rockin daughter." (I like how he put LEE in all-caps. :D) The Governors Ball was a NYC music festival that took place over the weekend, with the guys' favorite band Tool as the Sunday night headliner.

Updated! with links to video of his WWHL and Jim & Sam Show appearances

LOOKIT THIS GORGEOUS MAN



LOOKIT ALL HIS GORGEOUS BODY PARTS

So, for the last two days, Chris has been running the media gauntlet to promote his new film "Snatched," opening this Friday. Here is a handy-dandy reference guide to what he did!

( TONS of links behind the cut... )

So, Chris is currently in New York City busy with pre-production duties for "Happy!," the SyFy pilot he is exec-producing/starring in. But apparently he's not so busy that he doesn't have time for visiting old friends! First, he went out to dinner with Lee, and then last night he posted this AWESOME pic to Instagram:



Now, I don't know what the three of them consumed talked about, but BOY was Meloni riled up afterward, because he got on Twitter and proceeded to tear Trump a new one. Which isn't something entirely new for Chris, because he's been tweeting anti-Trump things for months, but he really went after Trump (aka "a fucking dick") with a vengeance this time. He also started replying to hate-tweets from Trump's supporters, even telling one of them to "eat me u fucking idiot troll" (which actually made me laugh and laugh, because in my head all I could hear was Chris Keller going "fuck you, ya fuck").

THEN, the BEST part came, when he decided to post a shirtless mirror selfie to help promote the "Resist" hashtag:

The revolution is upon us. If u can't see the con then u r willfully blind. #Resist. good nite pic.twitter.com/DmXeW8t7td

— Chris Meloni (@Chris_Meloni) January 25, 2017

It garnered so much attention, that "Chris Meloni" started trending nationwide. This morning, Mashable posted a story about the whole thing, complete with copies of some of Chris's more colorful tweets.

Whew! Maybe his scary, angry Stabler/Keller persona wasn't entirely acting!

I also hope the guy in charge of SyFy's programming isn't a Trump supporteer.

An early Christmas present for the Leeloni peeps!





These are "new" pics of Chris and Lee with their agent Bill Butler on the set of Oz during the filming of "Cuts Like a Knife," taken from Bill's Instagram. There are couple of other behind-the-scenes pics floating around on the web that were taken this day, but not these two.

Meloni's new movie "Marauders" is now available for viewing via On Demand! (Amazon, iTunes, etc.) It is also playing in theaters in a few select cities which are listed at the film's website HERE. Below is a production still from the movie of Chris with his fellow co-stars, Dave Bautista and Bruce Willis:



I saw a comment somewhere that said the movie should have been called "Bald Hard: Bald Harder With a Vengeance" and I LOL'd.

ANYWAY, Chris also gave a nice interview to Esquire to promote the film that can be read HERE.

Two thumbs-up is not enough!



A couple of weeks ago, Chris sat down with an audience of SAG-AFTRA union members to discuss his career. SAG has just posted the entire interview to YouTube, which is an hour and 14 minutes in length. It is seriously the BEST interview I've ever seen/heard him do, BY FAR. He tells one story after another and is SO at ease, and animated, and happy, and funny, it's almost as if he was... well, no I'm sure he wasn't, but... let's just say that he's VERY relaxed. He even sings. Twice!

The interview concentrates more on how he became an actor and how he approaches acting, rather than a standard career retrospective per se, so many of the stories he told were new (to me, anyway). There was some talk of Oz, but not a lot, and no leeloni. But when you get a chance, WATCH THIS, because he's simply delightful.



News-wise, he said he's filming his new, untitled movie with Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn in July in Hawaii, and then will start filming Season 2 of "Underground." He also confirmed that he will be taking part in Season 2 of Netflix's "Wet Hot American Summer" sequel.

Some interesting stuff has been going on lately concerning the guys! So here are some updates on Several Various Things! Consider us your one-stop shopping destination for all your Leeloni fandom needs!

A new trailer for the new TV show "Outcast" was just released, and it includes an appearance from Lee. (Thanks to miltil for the heads-up!) The series debuts on Cinemax on June 3. (Although, unfortunately, IMDB indicates that Lee is only in the first episode.) Here are a couple of screencaps of Lee AND his Glorious Hair, as well as the trailer itself:



( More LEE stuff! AND some LEELONI stuff! )

In Meloni news, "Underground" aired its season finale Wednesday night. Chris gave a couple of good interviews to The Wrap and Time this week to promote the episode. I know it's been difficult for some people to find access to this show, but the entire first season will be available on DVD on June 14. In case you still need Reasons to watch, I suggest you take a good look at this new behind-the-scenes photo that was released this week:



Can you believe he's 55 years old?! O_O

( More CHRIS stuff! )

Last night, I was doing my usual stalking sleuthing when I discovered this gem of a photo posted to Instagram (via diego.aguirre.actor):



(LOOK AT THAT HAIR)

Upon further investigation, I discovered that Lee had participated in a stage reading Monday night for a new play titled "The Devilman," written by Adam Seidel. The reading was one of series put on by the IATI Theater, whose mission is to "perform and promote our contemporary Latino heritage through full productions in theater, music and dance, as well as staged readings and workshops." Their play readings include "a talkback with the playwright, director, actors and guests that focuses on audience reaction and constructive feedback to bring the new work closer to a fully-realized production."

Actors Aldo Uribe (the guy in the white t-shirt) and Jeffrey Parrillo (on the far right) read two of the other characters in the play. The guy between them is Aldo's friend Diego, who attended the reading and posted the pic.

The play's snynopsis:
Before Henry Wallace can leave the dusty Mexican town he’s been hiding out in, he needs to bury the body of a beautiful young girl. Guided by Felipe, the owner of the town’s general store, Henry embarks on a journey into the desert: a journey of truth and self-discovery, ultimately leading to a chance at redemption.

It stands to reason that Lee read the part of Henry, who sounds like the main character in the play. Outlaw!Lee would be absolutely mesmerizing, I'm sure. :D

In terms of an actual production, all I could find was this reference that indicates it will take place at the Miranda Theatre in NYC in 2017. Which is obviously a long way off, and a lot of things can happen in the meantime. BUT it's something to keep an eye on. (Hmm, a potential LeeFest? I'm gonna go ahead and coin the phrase "DevilFest" right now!)

****
AND, Good News on the "Underground" front! Chris's new show on WGN America was just renewed for a second season! Filming is supposed to commence this summer, with the episodes to air sometime in 2017. I know I've pimped this show before, but it really is incredibly good. It started off strong, and then got even better (unlike a lot of other shows), and Meloni's performance has been great. According to tvline.com, the Season 1 finale airs Wednesday, May 11 at 10 pm ET, preceded by an all-season marathon at 1 pm. Check it out if you can!

ETA: And now, Netflix has announced a second season of the TV version of "Wet Hot American Summer," this one set ten years AFTER the original movie. The announcement does not include the names of the actors who will be returning, but I know Chris has mentioned how much he enjoys working on this, so I'd expect him to be participating in some way.

In addition, "I Am Wrath," the movie with John Travolta that Chris filmed last spring, is now available On Demand (Amazon Video, iTunes, etc.). Apparently, it also has a theatrical release date of May 13, but exactly where isn't clear.

Finally, in other exciting Chris news, he finally shaved that ridiculous beard thing he had going on: