Entertainment
Like his character Isaac in 'Ghosts,' Brandon Scott Jones is multidimensional
When Brandon Scott Jones was in seventh grade, his mother bought him a copy of “The Elements of Screenwriting.”
Spurred by his interest in actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, whose turn to writing resulted in the Oscar-winning screenplay “Good Will Hunting,” Jones says he had “one goal, which was to write a part for myself in something, whatever it was.”
Unfortunately, Jones’ first attempt at screenwriting didn’t include the same kind of realism and lived experiences as Damon and Affleck’s story of a South Boston janitor who also happens to be a math prodigy.
“It was about a pornography director and it was called ‘Whatever Happened to Darren Potter?’” Jones says, laughing during an interview this summer over smoothies at the Silver Lake Erewhon.
His interest in writing came about because he’d broken away from the rest of the family during an outing to the multiplex for a repeat viewing of “Titanic” and snuck into a screening of “Good Will Hunting” instead. Then, when they went back to see “Titanic” again, he left and caught a snippet of Paul Thomas Anderson’s porn-industry drama “Boogie Nights.”
“This was an impressionable time where you were [at an age when you were] taking things in, so I wrote this screenplay about this prodigy actor — like ‘Good Will Hunting’ — and this pornography director,” Jones says. “There was no sex or anything like that. It was just that they were both trying to claw their way back to the top of the game.”
Jones had an early interest in writing and performing, but comedy versus drama turned out to be his strong suit.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
This script, and other early material, were written on the typewriter Jones was given for Christmas when he was in fourth grade. He carried them in a briefcase. In eighth grade, the kid who sat next to him in math class would give him notes.
“Darren Potter” was, sadly, never produced (although Jones thinks he still has a copy of it somewhere in case anyone reading this is interested in setting up a meeting). Instead, his attempt at writing dramas has been parlayed into a career that utilizes something Jones has more familiarity with: self-deprecating humor.
Jones, a graduate of New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, got his start at Upright Citizens Brigade, where he was in the main cast of “Asssscat,” one of the improv house’s signature shows. He was then cast in Michael Schur’s NBC philosophical comedy “The Good Place,” winning critical praise for playing a Perez Hilton-like gossip blogger named John Wheaton. And in his film roles, he’s made meals out of small parts in “Renfield,” “Isn’t It Romantic?” and “Senior Year,” co-writing the latter, about a high school cheerleader who wakes up from a coma after two decades and becomes obsessed with returning to finish her senior year and reclaiming her popularity.
He achieved Notable Character Actor status when he was cast as Curtis, a struggling actor and best friend to Cary (Drew Tarver), in the Comedy Central and Max comedy “The Other Two.” It was a part he got literally at 6:30 a.m. one weekday while playing tennis. His friends, series creators Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, called him in a panic because another actor had dropped out of the series and they were about to begin shooting. An hour and a half later, he was on his way to the set. He’d eventually join that show’s writing staff as well.
Then came “Ghosts.” Created by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman and based on the British series of the same name, the CBS comedy falls somewhere between “The Good Place” and Jean-Paul Sartre’s dark existentialist play “No Exit.” As the show’s name suggests, it’s about spirits from different periods of American history who are, for reasons unknown to them, forced to spend eternity on the grounds of what is now a Hudson Valley estate.
In “Ghosts,” Brandon Scott Jones plays Isaac Higgintoot, who died of dysentery during the Revolutionary War.
(Bertrand Calmeau / CBS)
Jones plays Isaac Higgintoot, a member of the American Continental Congress who — appropriately, given his last name — died of dysentery while serving as a captain in the Revolutionary War. Isaac, who always felt like an outsider in life, is now furious that his contemporary Alexander Hamilton has everything from money to a book to a musical commemorating him. Meanwhile, Isaac wants to set the record straight that “I was never at the Boston Tea Party. I was in Boston at a tea party, but it was at my Aunt Geraldine’s house.”
“I think about him being constantly one step to the left of history,” says Jones, theorizing that Isaac could have been at the signing of the Declaration of Independence but probably got there late because he’d spilled something on his shirt. Or that he and his wife, Beatrice (played in flashbacks by Hillary Anne Matthews), were “unsuccessful Machiavellians,” who took it personally when snubbed for a dinner party invitation.
Thus far in the show, Isaac has convinced Sam (Rose McIver), a clairvoyant writer who took over the estate with her husband, Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), to write his biography because his Wikipedia page is severely lacking. Jones says that Isaac isn’t any different from one of TV’s more memorable (modern-day) political figures, such as Selina Meyer, the singularly focused politico played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on HBO’s “Veep.”
“To retroactively want your life to have meant something, or to have been part of something, I think is really so fun and desperate,” Jones says.
Not that the afterlife has been too boring for Isaac. At least not in the last few years.
Each season of “Ghosts” has ended with major developments for Isaac. In the first, he realized that times have changed and it’s OK for him to come out as gay, some 250-odd years after his death. In the second, he gets engaged to Nigel (John Hartman), the ghost of a British soldier Isaac accidentally killed on the battlefield. In the third, he leaves Nigel at the altar and then is sucked into the ground by someone else he’d wronged: the ghost of a Puritan woman named Patience, who is played by Jones’ friend and “Senior Year” co-star Mary Holland.
In the Season 4 premiere of “Ghosts,” Brandon Scott Jones’ Issac faces a Puritan ghost named Patience, played by his friend and “Senior Year” co-star Mary Holland.
(CBS)
And now in Season 4 of “Ghosts,” premiering Thursday, audiences find out what exactly Patience has been plotting and whether any of the other estate’s living or dead inhabitants will even notice that Isaac is missing.
“I think the friendship [between us] helped it in a fun way because she’s such a great character actor and a great actor in general,” Jones says of Holland. “It was fun to be surprised by all the choices that she was making. At one point in the script, her character is described as, ‘unhinged and insane.’ So a lot of what you’re seeing, if I’m acting and I’m being terrified of her, it’s also an underlying level of delight watching my friend, which is really, really nice.”
Port and Wiseman stress that they mean no offense to other members of their extensive cast and that it’s merely a coincidence that each season has ended with a big Isaac storyline. They also say that there has been a conscious effort to not make Isaac’s queerness the defining thing about him or to push him into a flamboyant stereotype.
Brandon Scott Jones on playing Isaac Higgintoot in CBS’ “Ghosts”: “I think about him being constantly one step to the left of history.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“He’s much more than just that one trait,” says Port. “He’s a military man. He’s a guy from the colonial days. He’s got a bunch of different factors to his character and personality.”
Jones, who is gay, ponders the question when asked if he thinks queer characters should be played only by queer actors.
“My genuine, honest opinion is that the process of playing a character is the process of finding empathy for somebody that you don’t know,” Jones says, noting that he felt a connection to Eric McCormack, a straight actor, and his portrayal of Will, a gay man, on NBC’s “Will & Grace.” “If we’re denying people the chance to kind of step into those shoes, then that’s problematic to me. If a straight person wants to play gay or a gay person wants to play straight, and we feel like we can’t do those things, then, to me, it starts to feel like it’s a snake eating its own tail.”
Modern-day fandom can be intense, so much so that the minuscule details of an actor’s personal life are dissected — a topic that was skewered in “The Other Two.” Jones says he doesn’t like that actors, writers or casting producers could feel “a massive desire to appease a crowd of people instead of just [play] the character.” But he also doesn’t want casting directors to claim that there are no gay actors for these types of roles simply because they’re not looking.
“I just hope that the stories that are being told are being told authentically, whether that means from behind the camera or the writer or anything like that,” says Jones, adding that “there’s also a part of me where I’m like, if somebody wanted me to play a straight character, I would like to think that I could do it.”
This season will see Isaac plunge further into his post-life crisis as he (sometimes literally) loosens his colonial-era ponytail and lets his hair down.
“After a breakup, he’s trying to reinvent himself,” Wiseman says. “He takes his hair down to see if that changes his attitude.” (He says this fits within the rules of “Ghosts,” which doesn’t permit the deceased to change what they’re wearing but does allow them modifications).
And fans will learn more about that biography.
“There’s a part of you that wonders does he just want a book about himself, regardless of how factually correct?” Jones teases.
Maybe Isaac, like the person who plays him, just wants to create a part for himself.
Movie Reviews
Bandar Movie Review: Bobby Deol roars in Anurag Kashyap’s unsettling legal thriller that refuses to spoon-feed
Name: Bandar
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Bobby Deol, Sanya Malhotra, Sapna Pabbi, Saba Azad, Jitendra Joshi, Raj B Shetty
Writer: Sudip Sharma, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5/5
Plot:
Bandar follows Sameer Mehra’s character, essayed by Bobby Deol, a fading star who is desperately clinging to his past glory. Just as he attempts to rebuild his life and finds solace in a new relationship, his world comes crashing down. A former girlfriend files a heinous allegation against him, dragging him into a vicious, high-profile legal battle. Written by Sudip Sharma and Abhishek Banerjee, the film moves away from standard Bollywood courtroom setups. Instead, it dives straight into the murky waters of social media trials, public perception, and a sluggish judicial system where the truth gets buried under layers of gray.
What works:
Known for his chaotic energy, Anurag Kashyap takes a remarkably mature and controlled approach here. He avoids sensationalizing a highly sensitive topic, choosing instead to focus on the psychological claustrophobia of the protagonist. The prison sequences are exceptionally well-shot. They create a suffocating, raw atmosphere that makes you feel the weight of the character’s confinement. The script successfully avoids preachy, black-and-white monologues. It bravely forces the audience to confront their own biases regarding modern-day public trials and the digital judge-and-jury culture.
What doesn’t:
Clocking in at nearly two hours and twenty minutes, Bandar feels heavily weighed down in the second half. The narrative stretches thin, and a few subplots demand too much patience, making you wish for a tighter edit. The film stubbornly refuses to take a definitive moral stance or offer a neat resolution. While film enthusiasts might appreciate the complexity, mainstream viewers looking for a clear-cut ending or emotional payoff might walk away feeling detached and frustrated.
Performances:
- Bobby Deol is the beating heart of this film. Stripping away the massive macho swagger and menacing villainy of his recent hits, he delivers a deeply vulnerable, understated performance. He plays Samar with a mix of arrogance, confusion, and raw helplessness, proving his immense range.
- Sanya Malhotra anchors her screen time with her trademark reliability, turning in a grounded and impactful performance.
- Saba Azad and Sapna Pabbi excel in their respective roles, bringing genuine nuance to characters that could have easily been sidelined.
- Jitendra Joshi is an absolute scene-stealer, commanding your attention every single time he steps into the frame.
- Indrajith Sukumaran and Raj B Shetty are absolute show stealers with their raw acting.
Final Verdict:
Bandar is an unsettling, morally complex thriller that refuses to spoon-feed its audience. It isn’t a comfortable watch, nor does it try to be. While the sluggish pacing in the second half prevents it from being an absolute masterpiece, it is worth a watch for Bobby Deol’s spectacular acting reinvention and Anurag Kashyap’s gritty, thought-provoking storytelling.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Pinkvilla. No statement in this article is intended to defame, harm, or malign any individual or entity.
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Kathy Hilton will no longer be the grand marshal of West Hollywood’s pride parade.
The city and WeHo Pride on Wednesday released a joint statement, announcing that “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star would no longer serve as the Grand Marshal Icon for the 2026 WeHo Pride Parade. The event is scheduled for Sunday.
“After thoughtful discussions, the City of West Hollywood, the WeHo Pride production team, and Kathy Hilton have determined that the 2026 WeHo Pride Parade will not designate a Grand Marshal Icon honoree,” read the statement.
The decision comes less than a week after Hilton was announced. That May 28 announcement was met with swift backlash from the LGBTQ+ community and allies, who called out Hilton’s ties to President Trump and alleged MAGA-leaning politics. Critics also cited accusations that the socialite had used a homophobic slur while on a trip with other cast members of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” an action she has previously denied.
In their joint statement, West Hollywood and the WeHo Pride team expressed their appreciation for “the respectful and sincere dialogue” around both the event and the “role and significance” of Pride honorees.
“The City of West Hollywood has always believed that Pride belongs to the community,” the joint statement said. “Since its earliest days, Pride has served as both a celebration and a platform for activism, visibility, resilience, and the ongoing pursuit of equality, dignity, and justice for LGBTQ+ people. … These conversations reflect the passion people have for WeHo Pride and underscore the importance of ensuring that WeHo Pride continues to honor the history, values, and diverse voices of the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a statement, Hilton expressed gratitude for being considered for grand marshal and reaffirmed her commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and causes.
“My reason for wanting to be involved in this year’s WeHo Pride weekend was simple: to celebrate, support, and share in the joy of a community that means a great deal to so many people,” Hilton said. “Pride is, and always will be, about celebrating and uplifting LGBTQ+ voices, experiences, and achievements. … My support for the community and WeHo Pride is unwavering.”
She also mentioned several queer advocacy organizations and events she has supported over the years, including GLAAD, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Dr. Mathilde Krim, God’s Love We Deliver and Project Angel Food.
The latest Pride-related dust-up follows the abrupt cancellation of the Long Beach Pride Festival in May. The city’s Pride Parade took place as planned.
Both snafus have occurred as conservative politicians and advocates continue to attack LGBTQ+ rights and visibility nationwide. Some Republican governors have even pushed for conservative alternatives to Pride month festivities. A recent Gallup poll has found that after years of steady gains, support for marriage equality and same-sex relationships has slipped, particularly among Republicans.
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: Travolta’s “Propeller: One-Way Night Coach” is One for the Ages — All Ages
Back in the good ol’days — the ’90s — John Travolta would love to get off the topic of “Michael,” “Pulp Fiction” or “Get Shorty” in interviews with film journalists like me and regale us with how utterly besotted he had been with his first flying experience, how that drove his passion for piloting and buying planes and airfield-adjacent luxury houses.
He didn’t even seem to mind having to move house when this or that development balked at him flying his Boeing 707 out of there on the way to locations.
Travolta would tell any journalist who asked that he was writing a kid-friendly book, “Propeller: One Way Night Coach,” based on his first flights as a child in old propeller driven airliners — cheap red-eye overnight treks with too many connections for your average jet age traveller to tolerate.
I remember picking up the book when it came out later in the ’90s — at an airport gift shop — and thinking “Well, that’s as cute as I figured.”
And now, decades later and trapped in the B-movie hell of his post “Gotti” career, Travolta’s turned that cute book into the most delightful, fanciful and colorful bon bon of a movie.
“One Way Night Coach” is a child’s fantasy of flight and flying the way it used to be — with pristine, uncrowded, futuristic airports, an early ’60s era of jets and prop planes with over-uniformed stewardesses in white gloves, the days “Back before every Joe Sweatsock could wedge himself behind a lunch tray and jet off to Raleigh-Durham,” as Sideshow Bob memorably sneered on “The Simpsons’.”
It’s a fictionalized account of Travolta’s childhood about an only child (at least two Travolta siblings have bit parts in this movie) of a never-made-it/never-will actress/single-mom (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett) who indulges her aviation-obsessed eight-year-old with a cheap cross-country overnight flight.
Little Jeff (Clark Shotwell) will revel in almost every Idlewild to Pittsburgh to Dayton to Chicago to Kansas City to Denver and Los Angeles minute. He strolls into the cockpit to meet pilots, charms the stewardesses and checks out the sleeping bunks on the TWA Lockheed Super Constellation, loving even the delays if not the Chicken Cordon Bleu he’s offered on legs of the journey that offer a meal.
And as he’s an observant child, he comments (Travolta narrates) on his 50ish mother’s vamping and posing, her choice of cigarettes (Newports) and drinks, the solo traveling men whose attention she pursues and earns.
“I was her best audience,” adult Jeff remembers of the mother who’d read him plays as bedtime stories and delusionally hopes that this trip to Los Angeles might be her “big break” even though she’s pushing 50.
“Hollywood called,” she’d explain about their overnight cheap flight arrangements to ticket agents and crew. “They told me to take the next flight!”
At every turn, Jeff meets or sees kindness — stewardesses who indulge his many questions and bump them up to first class on the mostly-empty planes, a captain who fixes his toy model of a Constellation, a mentally ill flyer who flips out but is calmed by a flight attendant who isn’t overworked and frazzled in jet-powered tin-can jammed with Joe and Jane Sweatsocks who think nothing of traveling in their pajamas.
Normally, I cringe at pictures this reliant on voice-over narration. I recoil from stars who populate their picture with Sandler etc. offspring. But “Propeller” is unfailingly sweet and never cloying.
Sure, it’s fictionalized. But if you’ve followed Travolta’s life and career, a lot of him is in this — his raptoruous engagement with flying, an indulged child who developed a taste for fine food and creature comforts, a mother who was his guiding star as an actor.
I get why there are less adoring reviews than mine floating around “Propeller.” It’s unfailingly sweet. Mom’s man-hunting is seriously dated. This TWA tale is decorated with Gershwin’s majestic “Rhapsody in Blue” — United Airlines’ signature tune. And Travolta’s been around long enough for recent generations to come up and not feel a connection to the “Saturday Night Fever/Get Shorty” star whose career has fallen off and life has been visited by too much tragedy.
But I’d hate to be seated next to anybody who doesn’t appreciate this adorable, pristine and nearly perfect aviation fantasy on any flight, much less an overnight one.
Rating: TV-PG
Cast: Clark Shotwell, Kelly Eviston-Quinnett, Ellen Travolta, Ella Beau Travolta, Olga Hoffmann and John Travolta.
Credits: Scripted and directed by John Travolta, based on his book. An Apple TV+ release.
Running time: 1:01
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