Like nearly every other place on the planet, the Texas State Aquarium has been closed to visitors due to the COVID-19 virus. Located in Corpus Christi, the aquarium features a wide variety of animal life including flamingos, sloths, sharks, Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins, jellyfish, and falcons.

While the closure is unfortunate for the people who love to visit the aquarium, it’s been a lot of fun for some of the animals, namely Chico the sloth.

Chico got to take a break from being in his enclosure recently when the aquarium staff took him for a tour of the aquarium. It’s a little tough for the sloth to move about with its huge claws, so staff let him travel by branch.

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“We frequently give the animals a chance to “meet” each other as a form of enrichment, which helps keep them active in body and mind,” an aquarium staffer said according to Bored Panda.

On his trip, Chico got to see seahorses, jellyfish, and a massive replica of a great white shark. But the highlight of his adventure had to be meeting four lovely dolphins, Shadow, Kai, Liko, and Schooner.

The meeting between the dolphins and the sloth is interesting because there’s probably no way this would have happened in nature.

Texas State Aquarium / Facebook

Texas State Aquarium / Facebook

Texas State Aquarium / Facebook

Texas State Aquarium / Facebook

Texas State Aquarium / Facebook

“As some of our most popular animals, it seemed an obvious choice for our sloths and dolphins to get a chance to see each other while we were temporarily closed,” a staffer said. “We have another sloth, Xena, but on that day, she was more interested in sleeping than meeting the dolphins!”

While it’s tough to tell whether Chico was excited to see the dolphins, the porpoises were sure excited to meet him. One even turned itself upside down to be like the sloth.

Texas State Aquarium / Facebook

This isn’t the first time the dolphins have had a chance to meet the other species at the aquarium.

“Our dolphins have had the opportunity to meet several other animals over the years, including baby gators, an African serval, a red-tailed boa and others. They’re almost always very curious about the other Aquarium residents,” explained the Aquarium staff.

The last place that a dolphin belongs on this planet is a tank. But the enrichment program shows that the caretakers are making the most out of a questionable situation by keeping the animals entertained and engaged — especially at a time when there aren’t many visitors to keep them busy.

“Besides making for some fin-tastic photo ops, these animal inter-species meetups are just one of the many ways we are closed but still caring during the COVID-19 situation.” Aquarium staff said.

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Take a broad look at Devin Vassell’s game and you’re staring at a traditional 3-and-D wing, one who fits the the high-floor, low-ceiling mold. Take a more in-depth look at the Florida State forward and you have someone who can have a significantly positive impact on both ends of the court, making him a top-10 prospect on my board.

As a sophomore, Vassell was one of the country’s best wings, ranking 16th nationwide in BPM (9.7) and helping lead the Seminoles to a 26-5 record and ACC regular-season crown. He averaged 12.7 points on 58.5 percent true shooting (.490/.415/.738 split), 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 steals, and a block per game. His most alluring broad skill is his team defense, which consistently popped on film and is underscored by his stock production.

Vassell constantly coordinates switches, quarterbacks defensive movements and identifies offensive actions. Operating with his head on a swivel, he can deny his man the ball while still readying himself for help responsibilities. By denying off the ball, he extends the offense farther from the basket and slows possessions from opponents, eliminating their margin for error and ability to soundly run their primary action.

Playing around the nail (elbow extend from the free-throw line), Vassell relies on high-level instincts, his ability to diagnose plays, and strong, swift hands to excel at stunting against drives, sparking steals, deflections, or loose balls. Deterrence is a valuable skill for defenders — the act of preventing the offense from reaching its preferred spots — and he is particularly adept at that. He’ll shut down penetration, envelop primary initiators off the ball, and generally forces teams to resort to plan B.

There has been no official ruling on his wingspan (roughly 6’10) but Vassell’s length is impressively functional. He cuts off passing outlets, frequents the passing lanes, provides secondary rim protection thanks to his springy two-foot leaping, and wreaks havoc in a way most draft prospects do not. His penchant for creating distinct plays gives him NBA-ready skills as an impactful disruptor on both the perimeter and interior.

While his 6’7, 195-pound frame means he’s hardly the strongest prospect in this draft, Vassell leverages a low center of gravity to dislodge big men from the post. His feisty hands and length often prohibit entry passes from being executed on switches. This is a skill with nuanced utility, but it’s another example of him maximizing his IQ and physical tools to stamp his mark on the game.

As an on-ball defender, his lack of strength and lateral burst breed for inconsistent results. Instead of sliding in a stance, he tends to cross his feet and remain upright when moving laterally, leaving him susceptible to being burned by shifty guards and drivers. Other times, his length flusters ball-handlers or enables him to alter shots from an array of zones on the floor.

But off-ball defense is more valuable than on-ball defense because it allows you to affect collective plays rather than individual players. This is where Vassell shines. So, while I don’t project him to be anything more than an average on-ball stopper, I deem his other defensive strengths far more important. He’ll regularly influence plays at the rim, throwing a wrench into offensive sets and inducing turnovers on the exterior.

Assuming a more diverse offensive role in his second year, Vassell’s three-point rate declined from .521 to .361. I’m confident he can return to the former clip in the NBA with less creation responsibilities, but it’s necessary to note he only attempted 119 field goals as a freshman, so emerging as a high-volume shooter will require some growth and adjustment. Working against Vassell is his career 72 percent mark at the free throw line, suggesting he may not be a legitimate 42 percent long-range as he was at Florida State. If he hovers closer to 37 or 38 percent and is unable to rediscover a three-point rate above .500 — opting for lower-value propositions instead — some of his offensive upside is diminished, because defenses won’t concern themselves as prominently with his outside shooting threat.

Regardless, Vassell projects as a versatile shooter after converting 41.7 percent of his triples in two collegiate seasons. As an ancillary player, his intelligence proves resourceful. He’s sharp to relocate off the ball, both as a cutter and as someone who properly fills the lanes on the break, which opens passing windows. While it didn’t occur in spades, he flashed off-movement shooting, further expanding his scoring potential. As a floor-spacer who’s comfortable shooting against closeouts or tight contests, Vassell recognizes when to move into open spots to make passes easier and can fire away on the move or potentially off screens.

But what really drives Vassell’s allure as a scorer is his off-the-dribble shooting (68th percentile, 81 attempts this season). He’s able to fire away over the top of defenders and flashes tough shot-making prowess with thanks to his high release point. He shot 42.6 percent (49-for-115) on two-point jumpers this year — a relatively strong mark — and only 22.4 percent of those were assisted.

Whether it’s running a pick-and-roll and drilling a jumper in space, attacking closeouts and converting off the bounce, or generating separation for open looks, Vassell sports aptitude as a pull-up shooter, which appears translatable to the next level.

The important observation to recognize here is Vassell’s release point, helping alleviate some of the creation roadblocks stemming from his subpar burst. Defenders struggle to alter or deter his jumper because of the release point and it gives him on-ball equity. Jayson Tatum also boasts a similarly high release point off the bounce and it’s why he was one of the NBA’s best pull-up three-point bombers this season. That distinction, compared to other players with similar handle, strength and burst problems to Vassell, is necessary and helps set him apart. Even more, Vassell enjoys adept balance and body control as a shooter. He can knock down shots from funky angles or release points because he’s generally aligned from head to toe, punctuated by precise footwork.

As a result of these various components, Vassell owns some malleable shot diversity. You can deploy him off pindowns, floppy actions, flare screens, the occasional pick-and-roll, or merely station him on the wing, giving him the chance to drill catch-and-shoot threes or capitalize upon irresponsible closeouts. His balance, footwork, and release point ensure he’ll deliver a healthy return on investment.

Vassell’s lack of burst is troubling as it pertains to his dribble-drive forays and ability to get to the free throw line. Only 16.5 percent of his shots in the half-court occurred at the rim and he finished in the 48th percentile in efficiency (21-for-38, 55.2 percent). He yielded a free-throw rate of .221 this year and registered 65 total foul shots. There’s certainly some ball-handling potential, but an inefficacy to apply pressure at the basket or populate the charity stripe caps his self-creation ceiling.

Another reason for optimism regarding Vassell’s on-ball faculty is the playmaking he’s flashed at times this season. He must improve his ability to hit the roll man consistently and isn’t a particularly dynamic facilitator, but he’s not necessarily plagued by tunnel vision.

Draw up pick-and-rolls for him and his blend of passing foundation and live-dribble shooting will manifest; his pull-up gravity also simplifies reads at times, particularly in pick-and-pops, and he’s has shown he can feed the big in those situations. A 19-year-old prospect whose primary attractions reside as a shooter and defender executing passes like these is merely an added bonus and emphasizes his offensive possibilities.

There were few prospects more enjoyable to watch this season than Vassell. His wide-ranging talents as a team defender who understands how to pester opponents in various off-ball duties and ignite turnovers are a bankable skill in the Association. He’s going to prompt people to hesitate when driving toward whichever wing he’s inhabiting. He’s going to alter shots around the basket as a helper. He’s going to instruct teammates how to make necessary rotations, identify certain sets the offense is running and sniff them out. He’ll deny his man the ball and remain prepared to fulfill help tasks. All of these traits fall under one overarching umbrella: limiting the number of opportunities players have to score at the rim, the most efficient shots in basketball.

Offensively, he looks poised to assume both an on- and off-ball scoring role, founded upon his high release point, balance, and wherewithal to fill open spaces on the court. He can handle pick-and-rolls from time to time, run off screens, and blend in as a natural floor-spacer who knows how to ease the burden on his primary initiators. Simply put, a player who can be molded to meet the needs of whichever team selects him, blossoms in highly resourceful areas, and does not infringe upon the core pieces already in place while also presenting some on-ball upside is someone who should be drafted in the top-10.

A bit over a week ago, country music legend John Prine was hospitalized due to the coronavirus. As the musician has been receiving medical care, his wife, Fiona Prine, has been sharing updates about his condition. She posted another dispatch on Twitter last night, and unfortunately, she revealed that the singer is “very ill.”

In a series of tweets, Fiona detailed some of what John is going through right now, writing, “He still needs quite a bit of help with his breathing. Like many patients currently in ICU beds all around the world, John has pneumonia in both lungs. He has also developed some peripheral issues that are being treated with meds, including antibiotics. He is very ill and yet I remain hopeful that he can continue to fight this devastating virus and come home where we can care for him.”

Read Fiona Prine’s full statement below.

“This is John’s 8th day in ICU. He is receiving excellent medical care and being treated with kindness and compassion by the entire team looking after him day and night. I cannot be with him which makes this nightmare all the more distressing. As you know, John was put on a ventilator last Saturday. He still needs quite a bit of help with his breathing. Like many patients currently in ICU beds all around the world, John has pneumonia in both lungs. He has also developed some peripheral issues that are being treated with meds, including antibiotics. He is very ill and yet I remain hopeful that he can continue to fight this devastating virus and come home where we can care for him. I don’t have the words to adequately Thank You all for the outpouring of love and prayers that John and our family have received this last week. Please continue to send Love, Prayers and Positive Energy to John. He needs us now more than ever. John loves you and I love you too.”

If you’ve followed the Chicago Bulls and their daily proceedings at all for years, then you’re probably aware that their fan base has grown increasingly disillusioned with the leadership of duo of VP of Basketball Operations John Paxon and GM Gar Forman.

The hashtag #FireGarPax has been a Twitter trend at various points throughout their tumultuous tenure in Chicago, as the organization has cycled through questionable coaching hires, personnel decisions, and plenty of losing without making much progress toward improvement.

Now, it appears the team is finally making a move, of sorts, as it was reported on Friday that they are embarking on a search that would replace John Paxon and Gar Forman with an executive that would have full control over basketball operations, while Forman and Paxon could transition to different roles.

Via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:

Among the Bulls’ initial plans will be to seek permission to interview Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas and Toronto GM Bobby Webster, among other candidates, sources told ESPN.

Chicago ownership has discussed the plan with Executive VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson and GM Gar Forman, sources said. Paxson is likely to continue in an advisory role with the franchise; there are expected to be more ownership conversations with Forman about his future too, sources said.

The phrasing sounds a little more uncertain for Forman, but it’s been clear that a leadership change in Chicago has been long overdue. The Bulls will reportedly begin their search in earnest next week, and they hope to have the position filled before the NBA season resumes, although it remains unclear when that might be, given the worldwide quarantine protocols in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.

(Via ESPN)

You absolutely can’t say that it’s been boring. Across three seasons, the Seth Rogen-produced sci-fi comedy Future Man has done… all of it? Zipping back and forth through time, playing with the multiverse, playing with genre tropes, and saving the world while its three main characters morphed into heroes.

Eliza Coupe plays Tiger, one of the aforementioned heroes and someone who goes from a no-bullshit future soldier to, well, that, but she also spends a lot of time accessing her spiritual side in the freshly released third and final season (which is available on Hulu). Uproxx recently spoke with Coupe about that journey, but the conversation quickly turned to her connection to past work (Happy Endings, Scrubs), her experience during the early days of The Great Shut-In, and her looming jump to filmmaking, all handed out with candor and a sense of excitement for her own future.

Was this the plan all along, for three seasons and out? Or is this just where everybody wound up?

I think after the second season, where no one knew what the fuck was going on, they were just like, “Uh, I think we need to sew this up. Otherwise, this is going to become a 10 season thing.” And I don’t know, I think we were all a little burnt out. It was really fun, and it was exciting. It was just a lot of energy, and I think that it’s a lot on the writers to create all of that. Time travel makes no sense. So it’s in a world of its own, where you have to make the rules.

Is it taxing, to be involved in something where you don’t really know where the characters are going to go and you don’t really know what you’re going to have to play off of?

For me, it’s always [about] the through-line of the character being… I’ve always known what my character’s intentions are. My character has always had one, main objective. She wants to right the wrongs that she feels that she created in the past, for the future, but she also created them in the future, and they are now affecting the past, and they’re going to affect the future. So, she’s got a lot on her plate. She’s got a lot of guilt. I think that drives her. And so for me, when I’m popped into any situation, as long as I know that [writing wrongs] is my objective, I can pretty much handle whatever they throw at me.

I imagine your improv background helps with that as well.

I think so. I think it goes back to when I was on Scrubs, and Bill Lawrence decided he wanted to add a scene, and he just took the back of the sides and wrote the scene, and said, “Okay, you guys have 20 minutes, learn this.” And then we shot it. And was like, “okay, that’s how this works. Cool.”

I just realized the other day that it’s been 10 years since that went off the air.

It’s been 10 years since that went off the air?!

Yeah, I was surprised, too.

Wow. Okay. That is interesting.

[Laughs] These things are always unsettling. It’s just great fun for everyone, really, to feel the slip of time. Do you ever go back and watch things that you’ve done? That or Happy Endings? Do you have that kind of relationship with them?

Yeah. Well, I don’t go back to watch my stuff normally. It’s funny, though, because sometimes, with Instagram or something, Damon [Wayans Jr.] will post a Throwback Thursday or something from Happy Endings with he and I, and I love seeing it, and then I’ll be like, “Oh, no.” Then I’ll search for stuff and look for stuff. That’s kind of fun to go back and watch that. I’ve never gone back and watched Scrubs. That is for sure. I’ve never done that. Not that I didn’t like it, I just don’t… I feel like I forgot that that part of my life existed, even though it was really fun.

Well, because it was 10 years ago, as we have established.

Thank you! [Laughs] As I’ve now been educated. 10 years. Thank you.

Yeah, painfully reminded. The basis of that question is I know some actors go back to reevaluate what they’ve done, their choices and things like that. And some people absolutely have zero interest in doing that. How do you gauge what’s a successful performance for you?

Every time I do something, I have an attachment to what was going on in my life at that time. Sometimes I don’t want to go back and watch something, because that was a very difficult time in my life, or that was a really fun time in my life. And so it’s kind of like [a game of] chance with that, a little bit. But when I go back and I watch something that I can see what was going on in my life, I can see it in my acting, then I’m like, “Eh.” Sometimes that can work. Other times I feel like I’m just a little on top of the character as opposed to dropped into it. And that’s where I surprise myself, and I see that I’m dropped into it. That’s when I mark it as a success.

This season was a little different because you weren’t necessarily with Josh Hutcherson and Derek Wilson for the full run there.

No, I was playing with a goat.

Yeah, I was going to say, you worked a lot with the goat. Curious how the goat ranks versus Josh and Derek, and also Seth Rogen? How do you rank them, as far as scene partners?

[Laughs] Oh God, they’re all so good. Are you kidding me? They’re all so, so good. I was very fortunate on that show to be with my two castmates, Josh and Derek, being just incredible actors, first of all, but also just wonderful people. They really listened. Nobody was trying to steal the scene or win the scene. That can be a thing in comedy sometimes, where they want to win the scene, and I never understood that. They’re very generous and giving actors, and so is Seth. Seth is incredible. And Seth is an unbelievable director as well. He just knows his shit.

Are you interested in talking at all about how you’re getting through this weird time?

Yeah. I think right now people want to laugh and feel like they’re not alone and to… as much as we can’t necessarily make light of this, we can, in a sense, at least just keep the energy up, and keep it positive. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do just with my own self. I do a lot of yoga and meditation, and I live on a mountain, and so I just am getting outside. I’m hiking a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever hiked so much in my life. My dog is very happy. And I’m also staying connected, and reaching out to the people that I know are alone. And also just keeping myself incredibly clear and healthy and being able to come out of this stronger than ever.

I think that’s a very healthy attitude to have. And I’m trying. It’s hard. I’m throwing myself completely into work, which is probably not the healthiest thing.

No, but it is because it’s creating. We’ve got to create out of this place. This is a place where we can be creating from, because when else… it sounds crazy, but nobody gets this time to just be. You don’t ever get the time. Nobody ever slows down. So we’re being forced to slow down, which means we then will have to look inward at some point. We can distract ourselves all we want, but you have to look inward at some point. And from that point is where you can create. If you’re willing to actually take that opportunity. As opposed to contracting down on this, we need to expand.

You’ve written before. Is that a goal of yours [during this]? I always wonder if people also feel too much pressure to create. Like I’ve seen things where people were like, “Oh, Socrates created such-and-such during … ” or whatever, whoever it is. [Ed. Note: It was Shakespeare] There’s a little bit of pressure, also, to create masterworks.

[Laughs] Yeah. So on the heels of Socrates, I’ll talk about my writing!

[Laughs] Yeah. This is a great interview for you, I’m sure.

[Laughs] I do write. I actually wrote a movie that’s going to end up getting made next year. I wrote it and I’m directing it. And starring in it.

Awesome. That’s a lot.

Yeah, it is a lot. If I say it too many times, I’ll throw up.

[Laughs] With something like this where you’re going to do all three — direct and act, and write it as well — is there anyone that you’ve worked with that you pull lessons from?

Yeah, the great thing is our movie is being produced by Red Hour Films. We have Nicky Weinstock, who’s incredible over there at Red Hour, with Ben Stiller. He’s just been unbelievable in helping us. And then, also, we went down and shadowed the Russo brothers, because I’m friends with those guys. So that was incredible. And it was hilarious, though, to be on set of the Avengers, and probably one of the costumes was still more than our budget. And we were going to shadow them for our indie. It was hilarious. I was like, “Oh. Cool. So Captain America’s shield is basically still more than my budget. But we’re going to go shadow these guys.”

The great thing is that Anthony and Joe Russo were just so helpful, within two seconds of us being down on set in Atlanta, my brother and I got all the information we needed. Joe and Anthony basically just shared with us, talked to us. I also have a ton of director friends that I’ve worked with on both Future Man, and then the pilot I’m going to be shooting is a director that I really respect. I can reach out to these people, and I know that if I needed to, I could shadow them or just sit down with them with my script, and probably be like, “What would you do?” It doesn’t mean I’m going to copy them, but when somebody gives me an example of what they’re going to do, or you see it, it just starts to spark all the ideas and leads you to the next thing that you want to do.

Is doing more behind the scenes work a goal or is this a story that you really wanted to tell on your own and play for yourself?

What happened to me originally, was I wrote a one-person show. That’s how I got into this, with a one-person show. I started writing roles for myself because people didn’t know how to cast me. And I think that people might still not know how to cast me. So I’m excited to keep writing the roles for myself, but then also, in the meantime, having that kind of inform people, like, “Oh, she can also do that. Right.” And then go pick other roles that I haven’t done yet, that I won’t be directing.

I think that whatever the best role is, whatever I’m supposed to be doing, whatever the next… each character I’ve ever done, every show I’ve been on, or movie, I feel like there’s an evolution. I learn something, and then I take it to the next. And to the next and then the next is better and different. However that comes in, whether it’s self-generated, or it’s coming from somebody else giving me roles, I’m excited about it. I don’t think I ever want to get out from it. I like being in front of the camera. But I really like creating the roles for myself, because I know how to cast myself pretty well.

Now, when you’re talking about casting yourself, and I guess showing a different side, is that a big … are you going far away from things that you’ve played before with this? Or is it just subtle differences?

I think that there will be big differences. My movie is quite different, as far as appearance and the energy of it. But there are some elements of me in everything that I do. I think that there are some things that might surprise people, but my movie isn’t Monster. I’m not doing a Charlize Theron Monster next year. But I’m not opposed to doing that. I’ll find my Monster. Trust me.

Oh, I think in these next few weeks we all will find our monster… All right, well thank you very much for taking the time. I’m sorry about the Scrubs 10-year anniversary reminder.

You’re fine. Time is not linear.

The final season of ‘Future Man’ is now available to stream on Hulu.

Two players who considered leaving college hoops to go pro in 2019 were named the Naismith Players of the Year on Friday, as Dayton forward Obi Toppin and Oregon wing Sabrina Ionescu took home college basketball’s top individual prize for the 2019-20 campaign.

In his redshirt sophomore season, Toppin scored 20 points a night on tremendous efficiency, propelling Dayton to become one of the most dynamic offenses in the country. After initially testing the draft waters in 2019, Toppin was the key to making small ball work for head coach Anthony Grant, who won the Naismith Coach of the Year award this week.

In the women’s game, Ionescu somewhat surprisingly came back to Oregon for her senior season despite being the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft. Ionescu scored 19.6 points per game, shot 42.2 percent from deep, and was a nightly triple-double threat with 7.4 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game. Perhaps no team in all of college basketball was as much fun as Ionescu’s Ducks, yet she was ultimately unable to seize a championship after the cancelation of the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments.

Toppin declared for the NBA Draft last week, and is widely expected to be a top-10 pick. As for Ionescu, she once again is presumed to be the top overall selection in the upcoming WNBA Draft, which belongs to the New York Liberty. Should that come to fruition, she will head to Brooklyn to reignite one of the league’s original franchises as they move to the Barclays Center.

Lindsay Lohan is plotting her comeback. Last week, the actress-turned-musician teased her return with an ominous, 30-second clip posted to social media. Her newest track “Back To Me” arrived Friday and marks her first official single in fifteen years, and her first song since she premiered “Xanax” last year.

The bouncy track shows an introspective side to the actress, who has definitely had her fair share of ups-and-downs over the years. After all, she was recently punched in the face on camera while attempting to take two children from their mother. Lohan vaguely touches on her experiences in the dance-ready track’s lyrics. “When life gets harder / And the mind gets darker / Remind myself, never too late / ‘Cause I know that I cut it too deep / And I know that I wanted to leave / So easily, we just walk away,” she sings.

Sharing a snippet of the song on social media Wednesday, Lohan explained the track’s meaning: “The song is about rediscovering and accepting oneself, shutting out the noise and moving forward and letting the past go,” she wrote in the caption. “Living in the now.”

Lohan’s comeback is relatively unexpected. Last summer, Lohan’s Mykonos-based reality TV show Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club was denied for a second season on MTV. After failing to get picked up for a second season, Lohan promptly signed a record deal with Casablanca Records.

Listen to Lohan’s “Back To Me” above.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a virtual standstill, as citizens across the globe have been relegated to their homes for the foreseeable future. The vast majority of professional sports leagues have been shut down for weeks with no clear sense of when they might be able to resume.

The NBA was among the first to help sound the alarm by putting its season on hiatus last month, and though several ideas have been floated around to potentially finish out the current season, there are simply too many factors at play right now that would undermine the safety of everyone involved.

That leaves players in a particular plight in terms of maintaining their readiness for if and when the games start back up. You might assume that most NBA players have access to state-of-the-art facilities and regulation-size basketball courts to practice at home, but as we learned earlier this week when Steph Curry was forced to purchase and assemble a basketball goal at his home so he could shoot, that’s not necessarily always the case. On Friday, we learned that it’s a similar situation for Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton.

Both could certainly take a note from Curry and just order one online and use their free time toward it’s apparently complicated assembly. Otherwise, it seems many players may be finding themselves without the access to practice their craft during the quarantine, and depending on how long this whole ordeal lasts, it could lead to some rusty play down the road, which, to be clear, is very low on the list of concerns we’re all facing right now.

It isn’t the ideal situation, but director Eliza Hittman (who lives in New York City and is acutely aware of how bad things are right now) seems to, sort of at least, be coming around to the idea of her critically lauded Sundance favorite, Never Rarely Sometimes Always being released on VOD this weekend. (You can literally watch this movie at home, right now, as you are reading this.) Reading between the lines, yeah, it has to be disappointing: a filmmaker works so hard on a project, then it somehow breaks through at a major film festival, destined to be something we talk about the entire year. Then, on top of that, the subject matter of the film itself was something that would have been, and still will be, so important to so many people, and young women in particular. Now, it’s all thrown into flux.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always follows Autumn (Sidney Flanigan, who is fantastic) as she travels from her home in Pennsylvania to New York City to get an abortion. Her procedure is a two-day process, so, with no money, she has to navigate the streets of New York overnight. It’s a harrowing, almost precisely surgical look at what a young woman has to do to get this procedure in America right now, in a movie that not only avoids melodrama, but is decidedly adverse to such a thing. (Which, as Hittman explains, was very much by design.) And now, as politicians take even more rights away under the guise of COVID-19 protections, this is a movie more necessary than ever. (Again, it’s on VOD right now and is one of the best movies of the year. You have nothing else to do. You should watch this.)

Where are you at in the world right now?

I’m in New York. I’m in the epicenter.

Yeah, I am here too, staying inside. And all this has led to your movie being put out on VOD early. You did an interview last week where you didn’t seem totally into that idea. Has that changed?

On this decision? I think my preference would have been to have a theatrical release, for people to see in a movie and theaters to sort of build an audience nationally through theatrical. Of course, we just have no way of knowing when that would have been possible again.

That’s true.

So I think that in lieu of being able to plan, being able to have that theatrical release and with all of the energy and momentum around the movie, hopefully people will be able to find the VOD and still see it.

If I’m in your position, after all the praise at Sundance, I’d feel the same way. But people are begging for stuff to watch right now and this is one of the best movies of the year.

I feel lucky that I have that I played at Sundance and that we won Berlin. We had such a great reception, and obviously the life of so many other movies is kind of unclear at the moment. So I just feel lucky that the film has premiered. The reception has been wonderful. I’m lucky that we didn’t decide to wait to screen for Cannes. I feel very lucky.

And also the topic of this movie is very important right now because I’m sure you’ve noticed there are politicians out there…

Yes. We have three states that have decided that abortion is not essential. I hope that the film on VOD reaches young women, like the character in the film, possibly speak to their vulnerability during these times.

Have you thought about how to get to tie this movie into that message with what you just said, with what’s going on? Is there a way to do that?

We were kind of in constant communication with Planned Parenthood about the release, theatrical and VOD, and we’re working with them to hopefully to help the film reach a vulnerable audience.

I know this isn’t the point of the movie, but a good portion takes place in New York City. And in the movie there are people everywhere and it’s all just so upsetting right now…

I’ve left my apartment not very many times. We’ve been asked to stay at home, so I don’t even really have a sense of what the city is like. All I know at the moment is my messy apartment.

I’m right there with you with the messy apartment.

I live sort of between two hospitals. I hear the shrieking sirens at my window all day all night.

When I watched this movie, I was reminded of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The arc with Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character getting an abortion was one of the first times I had ever seen that portrayed in a film. The first time I saw it, there’s actually a scene of the procedure, which reminded me of a scene in your movie. Then I found out later that scene was only included on a broadcast version.

Yeah. I didn’t rewatch that film when I was writing Never Rarely. What I thought about was Hal Hartley’s Trust, which also has a character who goes and gets an abortion. And one of the pivotal scenes of that movie takes place with the nurse and Adrienne Shelly has this long conversation. That was a scene that I think was inside me when I was thinking about this film. I remember it because the nurse opens up a bottle of whiskey and pours Adrienne Shelly some whiskey when they talk about her decision to get an abortion. That’s very kind of intimate and personal. That kind of darkly comic moments.

Well, your movie is very intimate and personal. And you avoid any overly dramatic moments. There’s no shouting match.

Yeah. I feel like, for me, I never want my film to culminate in a dramatic emotional confrontation. It’s just not the kind of drama that I’m making. The drama of the film is in the obstacles that this character is encountering from beginning to end. It’s not a relationship drama. It’s not a family drama. And if anything, it’s like kind of a personal, bureaucratic odyssey. And that, for me, was important. And any time things felt too melodramatic or something, I would tone it down, scale it back. But I don’t know if it ever really went very far in that direction.

As a filmmaker, why does that turn you off?

I don’t know. I just have this compass in me that helps me navigate tone and in all of those creative decisions. It goes off when I veer into unwanted territory.

Well, I know this isn’t how you envisioned the film being released, but I think people will watch it. I think things will work out.

Thank you. I appreciate it. I hope so.

‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ is now available via VOD, Amazon Prime, and other on-demand streaming services. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.