Film
Billboard Women in Music 2025
A feature film by artist, graphic designer, music video director and Ed Banger Records’ longtime art director So Me is out today (April 1) on Netflix.
Banger tells the story of an aging French DJ named Scorpex, played by French actor Vincent Cassel. Scorpex gets mixed up in a mission with an intelligence agency that provides him with what he believes is the chance to return to the top with the movie’s titular banger. The film also stars Laura Felpin and features an appearance by French dance royalty Kavinsky. Watch the trailer for Banger below.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The French language film expands an episode that So Me, born Bertrand Lagros de Langeron, directed for the 2021 French television series 6 X Confiné.e.s. This episode also starred Cassel as Scorpex, with So Me later writing the film based around the character.
“I was already contemplating a movie in this world, and the opportunity of shooting the [episode] came a little bit after actually,” So Me tells Billboard. “So in a way, the [episode] is a spinoff that came out before the movie itself.”
He adds that the bumbling but endearing Scorpex “generates empathy because we’re all sooner or later confronted with a cooler, younger version of ourselves. And it’s particularly true in a job where most of the audience is, well, young. Some DJs deal with it perfectly, some struggle a bit more, and I look at it with a certain tenderness.”
Having worked with many DJs over the years, So Me says these artists have “all inspired me, that’s for sure. However, I would say [Scorpex] is more of a composite. This scene is just so ripe for satire. It’s a lot of egos. And it’s pretty competitive.”
After spending years directing videos for artists including Justice (“D.A.N.C.E.”, “Audio, Video Disco”) Major Lazer (“Get Free”), Kid Cudi (“Day ‘N’ Nite”) and Kanye West (“Good Life”), So Me says making a movie was “always been a dream” of his.
“There’s a lot of common things: Framing, lightning, turning ideas into moving images,” he says of the commonalities between making videos and making this movie. “However, there are also some major differences, such as directing actors, basically telling a more complex story. Music videos are more of a place to experiment, but having shot a lot of things already probably put me at ease to attack the climbing of such a high peek.”
But while making a feature length film was new, So Me certainly had a lot of life experience to draw from in terms of telling a story that takes place within the DJ world of clubs, parties and studios.
“I hope [the film] shows an educated version of how things actually happen in the studio, backstage, et cetera,” he says. “My goal was that people who are in the know would find it credible, however showing how it really is would be extremely boring for people who don’t know. So it’s a fantasized version of this world that aims at feeling real.”
On May 16, The Weeknd will bring his album Hurry Up Tomorrow, which topped the Billboard 200, to the big screen as a suspense thriller. Tomorrow has precedents in many yesterdays: Artists have been making movies out of albums, partly to boost their sales, for decades. March 19 marked the 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Who’s Tommy. But The Who wasn’t first — and it certainly wasn’t the last.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Anything You Want
“Arlo Guthrie is about to become The Thing to talk and write about,” trumpeted an ad in the Aug. 23, 1968, Billboard for the just-released Alice’s Restaurant movie based on his 1967 album of the same name. Soon, Guthrie’s name was littering the pages of Billboard, and a piece in the Oct. 18 issue said the film “sparked sales for the Reprise album … racking up $1 million sales.” A month later, the Nov. 15 issue showed the set at a new chart peak of No. 17 on the Billboard 200, two years after its release.
See It, Feel It, Buy It
Six years after The Who released Tommy, the British rockers followed it with a 1975 film starring Roger Daltrey as the titular pinball wizard. The Ken Russell movie was divisive: The March 29, 1975, Billboard ran two reviews. One praised it as a “gripping fantasmagoria,” while another panned it as a “travesty of worn-out symbolism and general tackiness.” The same issue also reported on “the record war between the original rock opera and the movie soundtrack,” which were on MCA and Polydor, respectively. Buyers bought in, pushing the soundtrack to No. 2 on the Billboard 200, above the original album’s No. 4 peak.
Trending on Billboard
Band From the ‘Club’
When the Bee Gees’ 1978 jukebox musical Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band hit theaters, expectations were as high as Lucy in the sky. The July 29, 1978, Billboard reported that the soundtrack of Beatles covers was “taxing virtually every record presser, jacket printing facility and freight company contracted to get the initial order of four million units in the hands of consumers.” A report from an advance screening told a different story: “A movie where the audience laughs at all the wrong moments is in trouble, no matter what its advertising budget.” It was a boon for The Beatles, at least: “Sales of Capitol’s Beatles catalog are surging,” according to the Aug. 26 issue.
Hitting a ‘Wall’
Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Billboard’s No. 1 album of 1980, famously inspired an animated film of the same name. Unfortunately, critics wanted to run like hell. “The $10 million movie adaptation of Pink Floyd’s international double-album bestseller was demolished” at a London premiere, reported the Aug. 7, 1982, issue. Despite an end-credits promise of a forthcoming soundtrack, one never appeared. “We intended to make a soundtrack album,” David Gilmour told the Sept. 18 Billboard. “But we just didn’t have enough new music to reasonably justify putting one out.”
This story originally appeared in the March 22, 2025 issue of Billboard.
In addition to a visionary oeuvre melding jazz, electronica, hip-hop and beyond, Flying Lotus has been quietly building a film/TV career over the last decade. For the 2021 anime Yasuke, he not only scored the series but executive produced, providing plot and character concepts for the series. Prior to that, you may have missed his directorial debut, Kuso, a 2017 body horror flick starring Hannibal Buress; hell, even if you saw it, you might not have known he was involved, as the director was credited simply as “Steve” (his real name is Steven Ellison) on the project.
Now, on his second feature-length film, Ash (out now in theaters and eventually on Shudder), he’s fully aligning his artistic pursuits under his Grammy-winning moniker. Flying Lotus is the director, executive producer and composer of Ash – plus, he acts in the film, alongside stars Eiza González and Aaron Paul, as one of the crew members on a blood-soaked mission to set up life on an alien world in a future where earth has become unlivable (hard to imagine, right?). Melding surreal science fiction, slasher, whodunnit and psychological suspense, Ash is a tightly executed thriller that also grapples with some weighty question: Is there a future for humans on other worlds? What happens when you can’t trust your senses? Is it worth sacrificing the truth just to survive?
Trending on Billboard
The direction is assured and economical when it needs to be while also evoking Kubrick and Nolan in its more disorienting moments. Speaking to Flying Lotus days ahead of the film’s release, it’s strange to learn that the music, of all things, seems to have given FlyLo the most trouble on Ash. In fact, he wrote an entirely different score for the movie that he decided didn’t work, forcing him to start over in the post-production process.
While we may hear parts of that other score eventually (more on that later), the music that does accompany Ash perfectly suits the action, mining the relentless terror of John Carpenter’s music in some scenes, the majesty of Vangelis in others and even the expressive soundscapes of Jean-Michel Jarre.
From learning his post-production “superpower” to the shot from a famous horror movie he cops to lifting, here’s what Flying Lotus had to say about his new project.
Directing a movie is a huge undertaking and accomplishment, so congrats. How did you come to this project?
The people who I worked with on Kuso — that put it out and helped me get distribution for it, XYZ films — they’ve been kind of repping me ever since. We’ve been trying to find a good project to work on — you know, gently. They would send me material and oftentimes it was just not right for me. When this one came around, after I had just done Yasuke, they were like, “Hey, are you interested in this? We’ve been trying to get this thing going for a while.” And I was like, “Guys, how could you not have sent this my way before? It’s totally up my alley!” It’s got all the things that I’m after, and it’s also one of those things where I would also hate to see someone else do it and not do a great job with it. So I got in the mix and just started coming up with some ideas and drawing pictures and throwing them back and forth. They got into it with me and I’m really grateful.
When you signed on for this, was it just a given you would do the score, too?
It was more so like, “Hey, you’re also thinking of doing that, right?” I’m pretty sure people were thinking that was going to happen.
What was it that attracted you to this story? What about the script made you think you had to do this?
It struck me out the gate. It had all the signs that directors talk about. You couldn’t put the script down; you started coming up with images in your mind; and like I said, you just start seeing someone else direct it and not doing a good job with it, and [that idea] frustrates you to the point where you’re like, “You know what? I got to do this.” I love the genre, and I love the idea of doing a film that was a bit more commercial leaning, but where I still have room to experiment and play. It was the perfect thing for me. It’s so hard to make a movie; I wouldn’t just jump on any gig just because it’s an opportunity.
The script is interesting, because when it starts out, you think you have it figured, but as the movie progresses, so much more is unraveled.
Yeah, man, it was a lot of fun. It also reminded me of some of my favorite survival horror games. I think it’ll resonate with all the gamers, hopefully. That’s where I come from with this for sure — a lot of first person-y things and lot of video game references. A lot of people ask me about cinematic references, but I always lean more on games and play a lot of video games when I’m working on a movie: Resident Evil, playing Silent Hill, the old ones, over and over. A lot of the indie horror games, too. I started borrowing more from that world because it felt like a road less traveled.
So the first film you directed was credited to Steve, but this one is credited to Flying Lotus. Why?
I guess it’s just taking ownership of the name. They even asked if I wanted to call it “a film by Steven Ellison” or whatever. And I was just like, “I gotta ride it. I’m Flying Lotus, I’ve been doing this for 20 years, man.” It’s time to just let it be what it is at this point.
As a composer, when did you start coming up with musical ideas for this. While reading the script?
Absolutely, right out the gate. I had this crazy, cosmic concept for the music. It was something I started chipping away at from the very beginning. I really wanted to get this new sound: I was pitching to the producers, I was playing it to people, sharing it. When we got to the edit room, none of it worked. It was a totally different sound than it needed to be. It was music for another movie, basically, that wasn’t the movie that was being presented to me. I learned a huge lesson there. I think if I would have gone along with that original idea it would have still been interesting but would have been very wrong for the movie. I learned to listen to the movie and let the movie show you what it’s supposed to be, and to remember to take that step away from it. I think some people get this vision and they’ll just stick with it to the end. Sometimes you need to be able to adapt to the work that is on the timeline.
What was that other soundtrack like? What sonic reference point would you compare it to?
I really don’t like to talk about it, because I’d still like to do it at some point, but I’ll just say that, as a reference point, I was going to do something more like [Miles Davis’] Bitches Brew. It’d be a little different, but it just didn’t go.
How quickly did you figure out the score that ended up in Ash?
It took a while to figure out, but thankfully, I have a lot of reference points from different films. Right out the gate, we had to throw a temp in the movie, so I was able to play with what I thought it needed to sound like for a little while. And while we were in the edit I would sometimes write a queue for something, because I didn’t want to have the temp in that moment. I did the majority of the work when I was in New Zealand finishing post-production on the movie.
Does it feel like different parts of your brain, the composing, directing, editing?
It is now becoming part of my directing process, because I have more confidence in what I can do in the edit while I’m shooting. The editing part of the process, the post, is honestly where I come to life. As someone who sits in front of Ableton all day, it’s real close, editing a film and doing sound design and all that. It’s right there. That’s my superpower zone, the post.
What is it like to act alongside people you’re also directing?
It’s really nerve-racking. But the beauty of this movie was we all ended up doing our scenes on day one together. In a way, we were all nervous; we all had the jitters and were trying to feel each other out. And that was actually what the scene needed — it was a way for us to start building for the greater movie. To put myself in that position, I was able to empathize better with what the actors are feeling, because I know what it’s like to be on the other side of it.
What was it like directing Aaron Paul? Are you a Breaking Bad fan?
I’m just an Aaron Paul fan. He’s a such a great actor and a great human. He was super, super essential in the process. Just his energy on set and how he would lift the crew and the cast. He’s just an incredible human.
Without giving anything away, I will say there was a particular scene where the score really evoked John Carpenter – that relentless, repetitive, terrifying electronic sound.
That makes me happy. Some of those weird dissonant chords, there’s some of that in there for sure. I was thinking of him so much in the process. One of the movies that I did watch over and over right before production was the original Halloween. I even lifted a shot from that movie — if you’ve seen Halloween, you’ll know the shot. I was trying to get in his spirit toward the end, because he did a lot of his soundtracks alone with very minimal equipment and not a lot of time. When I was in New Zealand, I tried to think like him. I even hit him up: we talked a bit, and he was just so cool, man. He gave me some pointers, we were talking sh-t. But yeah, he was super influential. Vangelis was super inspiring. Akira Yamaoka from the Silent Hill series was super inspiring. I listened to the Cliff Martinez soundtrack from [the 2002] Solaris. I listened to a bunch of Berlin techno, really dark techno. And Angelo Badalamenti, there’s some of him in there.
Speaking of Angelo, you worked with David Lynch on “Fire Is Coming” in 2019. Do you take any particular inspiration from his directing style?
One thing I’ve learned is to be more confident in the unknown and the surreal and how a thing feels versus what a thing means. And not having to always explain a thing or why. Giving people some mysteries to chew on for a little while.
What was the hardest scene to direct?
Dude, my worst day on set was the medbot, the extraction medbot scene. I didn’t know if it was going to work. The whole movie depends on that sequence working out. There was a lot of faith that had to be put into the CG element of it, and we had no time. And that was also the day Aaron was done filming, so he was like, “Alright, that’s the last thing I got, right? I’m out of here.” It was that feeling of, “Oh, Aaron, no, don’t go!” [laughs] Then feeling like, “Dude, I don’t know if we got it with this medbot thing.” But now I have a bit more confidence in the post process and the things that that can be achieved.
Well, it’s tough to direct or act in a scene where CGI makes up a big portion of it.
To be honest, because we’re a small movie, I was just worried that our FX team wouldn’t be able to pull it off in a realistic way. Just because I didn’t know! So I was really, really nervous about that. Had a little freak out, but came back, got it done. But there’s some really great FX stuff there. I was just blown away when I saw that. That’s my favorite stuff that they put together.
And of course, it’s a small budget. But the scene absolutely does work.
It was a lot of love and a lot of support from people who had heard of my music and wanted to try a project that would be a little different. It’s nice to go a little crazy.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: James Gilbert / Getty
It’s been more than two decades since Eminem made his big screen debut alongside an unknown Anthony Mackie in the cult classic film 8 Mile and now all these years later, the new Captain America (Mackie) is opening up about working alongside the greatest white rapper that ever lived with quite an interesting story.
In a recent interview on the Pivot podcast, Anthony Mackie recalled how Eminem took actual shots at Mackie during the film’s final rap battle between B-Rabbit (Eminem) and Papa Doc (Mackie). Talking about his small role in the film, Mackie explained that he and Eminem hung out behind the scenes to become more familiar with each other, as Eminem didn’t think it made sense that the two had beef in the film. To add a little more chemistry to their on-screen drama, he and Em got to know each other a bit more and interestingly enough, Em used some of Mackie’s actual background as the basis for his bars and put his actual real life on blast in the film.
Lines like “But I know something about you, you went to Cranbrook, that’s a private school,” and “Clarence lives at home with both parents/and Clarence parents have a real good marriage,” were based on his real life, as he went to Juilliard and really did have a good home life with both his parents. Funny how having a good childhood could be used as a negative during a rap battle (LOL).
Still, Mackie didn’t take anything personally and called Em a “brilliant” artist even though he was blindsided by the bars during filming. “That’s why I was standing there like, ‘You talkin’ about me! You not talkin’ about Clarence! This has nothing to do with the character! You’re an a*shole, Eminem!” Mackie said.
Regardless, the bars worked perfectly for the film. The only other information that was known about Papa Doc was that he was the leader of the Free World crew that was terrorizing Eminem and his crew while running the streets as if Papa Doc was that dude. Nope, he was a kid from the burbs who got a good education but was fronting like he lived the hard knock life. Typical.
Check out Anthony Mackie talk about his experience filming 8 Mile, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Jeff Kravitz / Getty
Kendrick Lamar is clearly not taking his foot off the gas pedal. His forthcoming comedy film is set to be released this summer.
HotNewHipHop is reporting that the MC is looking to extend his 2025 winning streak. After much speculation, we finally have more information on his first big screen effort. This week, Paramount+ disclosed more information on the project via a formal synopsis and the culture is already invested. Titled Whitney Springs, the movie follows a “Black man interning as a slave re-enactor at a living history museum” who “finds out that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his.”
Originally announced in 2022, fans have speculated if Kendrick Lamar would play a role in the film and that too seems to be confirmed. In the promotional poster for the movie, Kendrick Lamar is listed as a primary talent along with Chloe East and Celeste Octavia. This is not the first time K.Dot has tapped into his acting talents, as he played a homeless man in Power.
While very little else is known about Whitney Springs, we do know that Kendrick Lamar has partnered with South Park co-creator Trey Parker to product the project. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Parker confirmed that the rapper was very involved in the creative process. “[Kendrick Lamar is] very involved. And Dave Free is very involved,” he stated. “Every day they are working on it.”
Whitney Springs will be streaming exclusively on Paramount+ starting July 11.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Rolling Loud, an upcoming Hip-Hop comedy film, has several music stars attached to the project along with other familiar faces. Sexyy Red, Ty Dolla $ign, Ski Mask the Slump God, and more are all slated to appear in the project.
As evidenced by the title Rolling Loud, the film is based on the music festival of the same name, as seen in an exclusive report from Variety. Owen Wilson stars as a washed and concerned dad who gets his teen son into the Rolling Loud festival accompanied by his friend, who is played by comedian Matt Rife. Along with the aforementioned stars, Henry Winkler is also a member of the cast, alongside Christine Ko.
Filming is currently taking place in Atlanta, and the film’s screenplay, direction, and production are all helmed. by American High CEO Jeremy Garelick. According to the outlet, Garelick oversaw Murder Mystery 2 with Adam Sandler.
Rolling Loud is set for a 2026 release.
—
Photo: Ivan Apfel / Getty
Jimmy Humilde, CEO of Rancho Humilde, has teamed up with Sony Pictures and Sony Music Latin to release CLIKA, a feature film set to be executive directed by Humilde alongside Michael Greene. The project also includes Humilde’s business partners Jose “JB” Becerra and Roque “Rocky” Venegas.
“This film paves the way for a whole new era of opportunity and representation for Mexican American creators in Hollywood,” Humilde, who has been a force in growing música mexicana’s global movement, said in a statement. “We’ve been grinding in the background, but now we’re stepping into the spotlight, ready to show the world what we’re really about. This moment changes the game, not just for us, but for the next generation and everyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t have a seat at the table. We’re not just part of the conversation anymore—we’re leading it. This is just the beginning.”
CLIKA stars Rancho Humilde rising artist Jaydee (frontman of corridos tumbados group Herencia de Patrones) and follows the aspiring musician’s relentless fight to preserve his family’s legacy, marking a pivotal moment in the global representation of Mexican American stories, according to an official description of the film.
Trending on Billboard
“Jimmy is a visionary producer whose groundbreaking approach has reshaped the sound of Mexican music. Now, his significant contributions in the world of music open the door for new voices, new kinds of stories, and new movie stars. We are thrilled to partner with Sony Music Latin to release his first feature film CLIKA,” added Sanford Panitch, president of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group.
“We are very excited to be part of this film alongside Rancho Humilde and Sony Pictures,” said Alex Gallardo, president, Sony Music U.S. Latin. “Jimmy Humilde is a visionary who has revolutionized Mexican culture, and CLIKA is the first film born from his vision and creative drive. From the moment we first learned about the project, we knew we wanted to be a part of it and that Columbia Pictures was the ideal partner to bring it to life.”
The film is executive produced by Humilde, Venegas, Becerra and Jaydee, alongside producer Sean McBride. CLIKA will be released in theaters Aug. 15 by Columbia Pictures and Sony Music Vision.
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Source: Rich Polk / Getty
The Drake versus Kendrick Lamar feud has gone so mainstream that it even got a mention at the Academy Awards. Halfway through the Oscars, host Conon O’Brien decided it was a good time to send a stray shot at the Toronto rapper.
“Well, we’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile,” said O’Brien.
He wasn’t done, adding, “Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up,” alluding to Drake’s now infamous decision sue his own record label for promoting Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” despite its damage to his reputation, allegedly.
Drake was somewhere minding his business, but here we are.
The clip started making the social media rounds quickly and Drake is once again trending for all the wrong reasons.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: @jamesgunn / x
While the world awaits the premier of James Gunn’s highly anticipated Superman: Legacy, the man has a few other DC projects in the works to help round out his rebooted DC Universe. Yesterday (Feb. 27), he gave fans their first look at this upcoming HBO series, Lanterns.
Starring Aaron Pierre as John Stewart aka The Green Lantern, and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan aka The Green Lantern (they’re both Green Lanterns), the series will center around the superheroes coming down to Earth to investigate a murder that took place in rural Nebraska where Jordan shows the rookie, Stewart, the Lantern ropes. While we can only imagine the murders have some kind of ties to their world (Lanterns ain’t coming to Earth to investigate a simple homicide charge), the eight-episode series promises “darker mysteries” and “reckonings” being discovered as the show goes along.
While we don’t know if this will have any ties to Superman: Legacy (which is set to premier this Summer), the show is definitely sparking interest in comic book fans who’ve long awaited to see a proper iteration of The Green Lantern on film (Ryan Reynold’s 2011 Green Lantern flick was utter trash).
HBO’s Lanterns is set to debut sometime in 2026 and with a little luck, maybe the DCU will be in a better place than it is today for fans to really enjoy what James Gunn and his team got cooking by then.
Check out the first image for the series below and let us know if you’ll be checking for it in the comments section.
https://x.com/JamesGunn/status/1895144056612687974
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Netflix / Netflix
Daredevil: Born Again hasn’t even premiered on Disney+ yet, but Marvel is already looking towards the future of one of its most prominent characters and have committed to bringing back a fan favorite ass-kicking classic antihero.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher will be returning with his own one-shot story in the near future after he makes his long-awaited return in Daredevil: Born Again. Much in the vein of Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday, the one-time special should be a bloody affair, as we all know Frank Castle aka The Punisher lives to hurt and kill his Ops. With word that the new Daredevil series is actually more violent than its predecessors, a Punisher one-off should be taking the ultraviolence sequences to another level.
Per Entertainment Weekly:
Bernthal is also writing the script with his We Own This City director Reinaldo Marcus Green, who will helm this standalone special. “It’s like a shotgun blast of a story, but also has all the pathos and emotion that you want out of a Frank Castle story,” Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel Television, tells EW. “It’s so exciting.”
Winderbaum tells EW the story concept for the Punisher special came while filming season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again, which will premiere two episodes on Disney+ this March 4. On that show, Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock goes to Frank “because he needs something done that he’s unwilling to do,” Winderbaum previously teased. “And Frank, a bull in a china shop, drives right to the heart of the matter.”
“Bernthal is a generational actor,” Winderbaum says. “He’s incredible what he brings to all the roles he plays, but particularly Frank Castle. And he’s a great writer. He knows the character inside and out…. Also, I love Punisher, but I love Jon’s Punisher in particular. The idea that he’s in the MCU and can bring that to the greater universe, especially the more grounded street-level stuff, is a huge opportunity and, as a fan, the greatest thing ever.”
We. Can’t. Wait.
While we don’t know how big of a role The Punisher will have in Born Again, we know he’ll be helping the Man With No Fear dish out some harsh justice on the streets of New York, and we’re all for it. Where he goes from there will probably be explored in the new Punisher special (unless it’s a prequel of sorts) and hopefully we’ll get some cameos from some of his fellow vigilantes in the Big Apple. Luke Cage maybe? One can only hope, right?
What do y’all think about The Punisher getting his own one-time story? Should it be a series? Let us know in the comments section below.