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Conan O’Brien breaks silence over killing of Rob and Michele Reiner after his holiday party

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Conan O’Brien breaks silence over killing of Rob and Michele Reiner after his holiday party

Hours before filmmaking legend Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home, they attended a holiday party at Conan O’Brien’s house.

Now, two months after the tragedy, the comedian has broken his silence about the death of his good friends.

“To have that experience of saying good night to somebody and having them leave and then find out the next day that they’re gone … I think I was in shock for quite a while afterward,” O’Brien said in an interview for “The New Yorker Radio Hour” podcast. “I mean, there’s no other word for it. It’s just very — it’s so awful. It’s just so awful.”

As host of the Dec. 13 party, O’Brien was among the last people to see the Reiners alive. Their 32-year-old son, Nick, was arrested the following night and charged with murdering his parents. Two sources who attended the party described witnessing a loud verbal exchange between Nick Reiner and his parents.

In an interview published Friday, O’Brien said he and his wife were very close with the couple, describing them as “just such lovely people.”

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O’Brien praised Rob Reiner’s talent as a director and his tireless advocacy efforts. The “When Harry Met Sally …” director was a prominent Democratic donor, noted critic of President Trump and a champion for causes such as early childhood education and gay marriage.

“I think about how Rob felt about things that are happening in the country, how involved he was, how much he put himself out there — and to have that voice go quiet in an instant is still hard for me to comprehend,” O’Brien told The New Yorker.

O’Brien said he considers Reiner “one of the greats” given his impressive track record of directing a series of blockbuster movies.

“To make seven — in, like, a nine-year, 10-year, 11-year period — is insanity,” O’Brien said. “With ‘Spinal Tap’ alone, if that’d been the only thing he ever did, he influenced my generation enormously.”

O’Brien fondly recalled first watching the rock mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap” in college, calling it a “splitting-the-atom moment.”

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The pair were not only friends, but also collaborators. Reiner was a guest on a 1999 episode of “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” and also appeared on episodes of O’Brien’s podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” in 2023 and 2025.

Authorities allege Nick Reiner fatally stabbed his 78-year-old father and 70-year-old mother at their Brentwood home sometime in the early morning hours of Dec. 14. The couple’s bodies were discovered in the master bedroom by their daughter around 12 hours later, and Nick Reiner was arrested that night in South L.A. by Los Angeles police.

Nick Reiner was charged with two counts of first-degree murder on Dec. 16 and has yet to enter a plea. In January, his arraignment was postponed to Monday after his lawyer, famed defense attorney Alan Jackson, stepped down and was replaced by a public defender.

Nick Reiner has a history of struggles with mental health and substance use. It is unclear how prominently those struggles will feature in criminal proceedings.

Times staff writers James Queally and Richard Winton contributed to this report.

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Driver arrested after reality TV stars filmed Hollywood road rage encounter

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Driver arrested after reality TV stars filmed Hollywood road rage encounter

The L.A. man who was filmed punching and kicking the Mercedes-Benz of “Gown and Out in Beverly Hills” stars Patrik Simpson and Pol’ Atteu in Hollywood was arrested this week and booked on felony vandalism.

The reality stars shared the dramatic video of the incident on social media with the caption, “Emergency! We need your help! We were just attacked at an intersection.”

“This man just blocked the intersection of our car at Melrose and Vine and then kicked our door in attacking us. Police were called and the license plate is on the video. If you know who this is, call the police immediately and send me a DM. He is dangerous and the police are looking for him!”

In the video, a man wearing a Cheech & Chong tee that reads “Don’t Panic, It’s Organic” blocked the Melrose Avenue and Vine Street intersection Sunday around 9:20 a.m. and hopped out of his Toyota 4Runner.

Contrary to instructions on the man’s shirt, the married co-stars of the Amazon Prime reality series did begin to panic as the man, who has been identified as Los Angeles resident Kevin Antonio Hernandez, approached their vehicle and punched the driver’s side window and kicked the driver’s side door. “Lock the door!” Simpson is heard saying in the video. “Call the police!”

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Hernandez continued to yell at the fashionistas as he returned to his vehicle, but it’s unclear what he was saying because the techno music playing on the radio in Simpson and Atteu’s Benz drowned out any outside noise. Hernandez climbed into the driver’s side of his Toyota and pointed at the couple, yelling one last time, before speeding off.

“Go get him!” Simpson is heard yelling as they continue to film, while chasing the Toyota through the streets of Hollywood and calling 911. The reality stars’ exchange with the emergency dispatcher played out in the video, with the dispatcher urging the couple to stop following the car.

According to Simpson and Atteu, Hernandez had a baby in the car during the heated exchange and ran stop signs and ignored traffic lights as he sped away.

“This is it, I’m going to die here,” Atteu told KTLA of his headspace during the ordeal. “I’ve never been faced with that kind of fear in my life on the streets of L.A.”

The Los Angeles Police Department told The Times that Hernandez was arrested Wednesday. He has since been released.

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Little Amélie or the Character of Rain Movie Review: A quiet story that speaks louder than most

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Little Amélie or the Character of Rain Movie Review: A quiet story that speaks louder than most

The Times of India

Apr 04, 2026, 1:12 PM IST

4.0

Story: A quiet child named Amélie grows up in Japan, barely reacting to the world until a small moment begins to pull her into it. As she slowly becomes aware of people and emotions, she starts to understand life through experiences.Review: Oscar-nominated in the Best Animated Feature category, ‘Little Amélie or The Character of Rain’ is a gentle film that draws you in with its simplicity and honesty. It does not rely on tricks or dramatic moments to grab your attention. The story trusts itself completely and moves at its own pace with quiet confidence. The film feels calm and still, giving each scene time instead of rushing ahead. At times, it may seem like very little is happening, but that is when you realise it wants you to slow down and stay in the moment. Set in Japan, it follows a French family from Belgium with a sense of warmth and care. There are moments when it may feel like the film is holding back, but there is also something real in the way it avoids rushing or explaining everything. Beneath its soft surface, there is a deeply philosophical and thoughtful layer that reflects on life in a simple and honest way.The story follows Amélie (voiced by Loise Charpentier), a young Belgian child growing up in Japan, who spends the early part of her life in a strange, distant state. She barely reacts to the world around her and seems lost in her own space. Her parents, especially her mother, try to reach out to her in simple ways, hoping to see some response. Things begin to change when her grandmother arrives from Belgium and tries to bond with baby Amélie, and the offering of a piece of white Belgian chocolate makes all the difference. Around the same time, we meet Nishio San, the gentle caregiver, who becomes an important part of her daily life. The white Belgian chocolate becomes a turning point in the film, and from that moment, Amélie begins to respond to people and her surroundings, as if she is discovering everything for the first time.The way the film opts to showcase Amélie’s inner world stays with you. It does not explain her thoughts in a clear or direct way. Instead, it lets you sit inside her perspective, even when it feels distant or hard to read. The animation plays a big role here. It has a soft, almost calming quality, like a memory that keeps changing shape. Some moments feel very personal, while there are also sequences that may test your patience. There are stretches where the film stays on a plot point a little longer than expected, and you might find your attention slipping. At the same time, when it works, it really works. It brilliantly captures small feelings that are tough to put into words, and that is not something many films manage to do.The voice performances match this tone well. The actor voicing Amélie keeps things very minimal, which suits the character. There is very little need for long dialogue in this film, as the performance is carried more through tone and the way the moments play out. The voices of her parents and Nishio San bring warmth into the film and give it some emotional grounding. They feel natural, like people you might actually know, rather than characters trying to make a strong impression. Absolutely nothing feels forced in the film, and that helps the film stay believable even when it moves into more abstract spaces.‘Little Amélie or The Character of Rain’ leaves an impression in a quiet and unexpected way. It is thoughtful and gentle, though there are moments where it may feel a bit too soft or even repetitive. The mixed reactions around it make sense because it speaks in a very specific tone and sticks to it. It asks you to meet it halfway, to be patient and open to its rhythm. That may not work for everyone, but if you do connect with it, the film stays with you as a simple and sincere look at how a person slowly begins to understand the world.

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Melvin Edwards, sculptor who welded the African diaspora in ‘Lynch Fragments,’ dies at 88

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Melvin Edwards, sculptor who welded the African diaspora in ‘Lynch Fragments,’ dies at 88

Melvin Edwards, a sculptor best known for abstract steel works that illustrated the history and resistance of African Americans, died March 30 at his Baltimore home. He was 88.

His death was confirmed by Alexander Gray Associates, the gallery that represents him.

Edwards rose to prominence in 1963 with the first works of what would become his most notable series, “Lynch Fragments.” A collection of small, wall-mounted sculptures, he combined fragments of found and recycled steel and welded them into forms of chains, sharp tools, barbed wire and other metal objects.

The series spans several decades, drawing inspiration from racial violence during the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, his personal relationship to Africa, people in his own community and across the African diaspora.

Over the years, Edwards made more than 300 “Lynch Fragments.”

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Recurring materials in his works held layered meanings. Barbed wire served as a symbol of violence and oppression, but also of agriculture, cultivation and survival.

“Melvin was somebody who looked at multiple dimensions of any situation or person,” said Alexander Gray, a gallery owner and close personal friend of Edwards. “He really looked at the world, not through any kind of binary lens, but through a personal lens that was respectful of other people’s perspective.”

Born May 4, 1937, in Houston, the eldest of four children, Edwards grew up surrounded by racial segregation. As a child, he took drawing classes and visited museums, and he also played football.

“The world that I came from was American racism, segregation. I may have been young, but I paid attention,” Edwards said in an introduction to “Lynch Fragments” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Melvin Edwards, seen here in fellow sculptor Hal Gebhardt’s class at USC sometime between 1959 and 1960, died March 30 at his home in Baltimore.

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His artistic career began while studying art on a football scholarship at USC, where he met and was mentored by Hungarian painter Francis de Erdely. Edwards’ L.A. roots were critical to his identity as an artist. Here, he began experimenting with welded steel, which became his primary medium.

After moving to New York City in 1967, he became, in 1970, the first African American sculptor to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Throughout his career, Edwards remained committed to public art, creating sculptures for universities, public housing projects and museums around the world.

Those who knew him described him as overwhelmingly positive, which shaped both his work and his relationships.

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“Melvin’s community of artists was remarkable because it spanned the globe. You could spin a globe, land anywhere, say the name of the country or the city, and he would know three people there, minimum,” said Gray. “He could recall a conversation he had with a person 35 years ago without any hesitation. He had an incredible constellation of people that he was surrounded by.”

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