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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2020:: LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR
E
B
illy Corgan is no stranger to upsetting
people on the internet. But on a No-
vember morning, he seems remorse-
ful to have upset a particular demo-
graphic: witches.
“It’s Witchgate!” he announces.
Smashing Pumpkins’ forthcom-
ing album, “Cyr,” out Friday, is a roving 20-song
double album that courses with currents of ’80s
synth-pop and darkwave occultism — tailored
most fittingly for the darkest days of the year. Cor-
gan, 53, takes special care to note that he pro-
nounces the title, named after a 4th century child
saint, like “seer.” But he’s starting to second-guess
his own pronunciations.
“I have the witches going after me for mispro-
nouncing ‘Samhain’ in [the song] ‘Wyttch,’ ” he
laments, now that he’s learned it’s pronounced
“sah-wen.” He sighs. “Who knows?”
Corgan dials into the video call from the Chi-
cago home he shares with his partner, designer
Chloe Mendel, and their two young children,
Augustus and Philomena. Although COVID-19 has
imposed restrictions on public life, Corgan feels as
energized and prolific as ever, boasting that the
Pumpkins already have 46 more songs to follow
“Cyr.”
“I am the Hermit,” he says, referring to the ninthcard in the traditional tarot deck. “I withdraw, I
study. I got the light if you want to follow me. If not?
Leave me the f— alone.”
Written and produced entirely by Corgan, “Cyr”
features the Smashing Pumpkins’ co-founding gui-
tarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamber-
lin, plus new guitarist Jeff Schroeder and touring
vocalist/keyboardist Katie Cole. “I was trying to
bring myself into modernity,” says Corgan of the
record, an electronic detour from his more guitar-
driven past. “I got [audio production program]
Logic, I got some beats going, but I just wasn’t feel-
ing it. I started to feel like the Luddite who couldn’t
evolve. But then I realized that when I first heard
Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy and
Joy Division, they were making very modern music
by using the technology that they had at hand. So I
had to get inside the choices that they made.”
Five songs off “Cyr” will soundtrack a five-part
animated video series titled “In Ashes,” which fol-
lows a trio of friends as they survive amid a mass
power outage. Corgan says he originally pitched
the story to a “big shot director,” but it was never
pursued further. He then took the idea to Portland,
Ore., studio Deep Sky, which rendered his post-
apocalyptic narrative in the comic book-style of
’90s cartoon “Æon Flux.”
“In the ’90s I played a lot withSMASHING PUMPKINS’ Jeff Schroeder, left, Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin have a new album and more in store.
Jonathan WeinerTHE
HERMIT
SPIRIT
Smashing
Pumpkins’
Billy
Corgan
‘plays with
dystopia’
on the
band’s ‘Cyr’
BYSUZYEXPOSITO[SeeCorgan,E3]After Metro-Goldwyn-
Mayer Studios’ exit from
bankruptcy a decade ago,
the storied film and televi-
sion company made strides
toward regaining its status
as a Hollywood player.
But growing questions
loom about the direction of
the Beverly Hills-based stu-
dio with the roaring lion
logo.
The company, known for
the Rocky and James Bond
movies, has faced disagree-
ment among investors over
whether to sell, according to
people familiar with the
matter who requested ano-
nymity out of fear of re-
prisals.
Some worry the studio
missed opportunities for a
lucrative exit for sharehold-
ers by not selling to a Chi-
nese company or tech giant
and is now in a difficult posi-
tion due to the COVID-19
pandemic that shut down
movie theaters, closed film
sets and triggered industry-
wide layoffs.
In a significant blow,
MGM last month postponed
the 007 film “No Time to Die”
from this month until Easter
weekend. The risk of further
delays to MGM’s slate and
its large debt load led S&P
Global Ratings last month
to downgrade the compa-
ny’s credit rating to B from
B+.
“They obviously have a
good library of content that
they can sell to different con-MGM
strives
to roar
again
But after a rebound,
the storied studio
faces 007 delay and
pandemic challenges.
[SeeMGM, E6]By Ryan Faughnder
and Anousha SakouiIt’s the music
for a mad worldArnold Schoenberg’s
sacrilegious “Pierrot
Lunaire” foretold a
distortion of reality
that stuck with us. E3Comics...................E4-5
What’s on TV..........E6In the final scene of “The
Christmas Chronicles,” a
painless dose of yuletide
pablum that Netflix sub-
scribers lapped up back in
2018, Santa Claus returns
home after a busier-than-
usual Christmas Eve and
settles in for a well-earned
night of R&R with Mrs.
Claus.
It would be an unremark-
able moment if it weren’t for
the casting: Kurt Russell as a
hipper, hotter but still plenty
traditional Santa, with a
trimmer-than-usual build
but that essential twinkle of
merriment gratifyingly in-
tact. And Mrs. Claus, in an
11th-hour cameo, turns out
to be played by none other
THE CLAUSES(Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell) in a new “Christmas Chronicles.”Joseph LedererNetflixJust a ghost of
‘Christmas’ past
There’s not enough of
Santa and Mrs. Claus
in a yuletide sequel
that’s mostly ho-hum.
MOVIE REVIEW
JUSTIN CHANG
FILM CRITIC
[See‘Christmas,’E6]After months of solitary
monotony, Celia Rose Good-
ing woke up on a recent Sun-
day morning and grabbed
her denim jacket, plaid skirt
and black boots. She trav-
eled from Westchester, N.Y.
— where she lives with her
mother, Tony-winning ac-
tress LaChanze — to Man-
hattan, a familiar commute
she had all but abandoned
for months.
She and her fellow actors
from the Broadway musical
“Jagged Little Pill” were re-
uniting to tape a perform-
ance for the Macy’s Thanks-
giving Day Parade. It was
the first time they were able
to sing together since Broad-
way shut down in March.
“To see all of the people I
love, and do what we all love
to do, felt so good,” said
Gooding, who made her
Broadway debut in the juke-Macy’s
parade
adapts
Broadway actors
reunite for holidaytradition of sharing
song and dance.
[SeeParade,E2]By Ashley Lee