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Sony might’ve screwed the pooch when they attempted to give Marvel villains their own spin-off films that no one asked for (Venom, Morbius, Kraven The Hunter, etc.), but Warner Bros. struck box office gold when Joker hit theaters in 2019. With the sequel just a few months away, it’ll be interesting to see if they can replicate not only the box office receipts of the first, but also the critical acclaim as well.
Yesterday, Warner Bros. released it’s second trailer for the upcoming Todd Phillips film, which features Joaquin Phoenix’s iteration of the Clown Prince of Crime and his “infectious” laughter. Taking place after the events of the first installment, Joker: Folie Ą Deux finds Arthur Fleck aka The Joker locked up in Arkham Asylum awaiting trial for his many crimes. Surprisingly enough, there is where he meets his new love interest, Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga), who not only brings the music out of his soul but also dances it away with him in what’s sure to be some interesting musical numbers.
Though Zazie Beetz might’ve rejected Arthur’s advances in the first film, it seems like Lady Gaga is more than happy to reciprocate Joker’s feelings in the sequel and join him on a Natural Born Killers-ish adventure that will lead to the Joker not only defending himself in court in full clown makeup, but also murder the judge?! We can’t wait for this musical.
Check out the latest trailer to Joker: Folie Ą Deux, and let us know if you’ll be checking for it when it hits theaters on Oct. 4 in the comments section below.
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Turns out, Deadpool is an *NSYNC fan!
Four out of five members of the group (Justin Timberlake is currently on his Forget Tomorrow world tour) attended the premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine on Monday (July 22) at New York City’s David H. Koch Theater. JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick were seen posing on the red and yellow carpet together in videos circulating social media.
The appearance isn’t completely random, as *NSYNC’s 2000 hit “Bye Bye Bye” is featured on the film‘s eclectic soundtrack, alongside tracks like Avril Lavigne’s “I’m With You,” Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris,” Fergie’s “Glamorous,” “The Greatest Show” from The Greatest Showman and “You’re the One that I Want” from Grease, among many others.
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Per the film’s description, Deadpool & Wolverine follows Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), who has left his time as Deadpool behind before the Time Variance Authority, which monitors the timeline in which we exist, calls him in for a new mission and pairs him up with an even more reluctant Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to save the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Reynolds recently opened up to SiriusXM about how he and Jackman were able to convince Madonna to approve the use of “Like a Prayer” in Deadpool & Wolverine. “It did involve a personal visit to Madonna, where we showed Madonna the sequence where ‘Like a Prayer’ would be used,” the film’s director Shawn Levy said.
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Reynolds added, “Also, let’s preface it with the fact that they don’t license — that Madonna doesn’t just license the song, particularly that song. It was a big deal to ask for it and certainly a bigger deal to use it. We went over and met with her and and sort of showed her how it was being used, and where, and why.”
Madonna ended up granting them permission to use “Like a Prayer” and even provided some ideas on how to use the classic track in the film. “She gave a great note,” Reynolds recalled. “She watched it, and I’m not kidding, [she said], ‘You need to do this.’ And damn it, if she wasn’t like spot on.”
Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on Friday (July 26).
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We’re just days away from finally indulging in the long-awaited, highly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine and finding out if any of the rumors about the film, including multiple Marvel superhero cameos, prove to be true.
Until that day finally comes, Marvel released its final trailer for the film and in it not only do we get our first look at a very grown up X-23 (Dafne Keen), but we also learn why Wolverine is finally wearing his comic book accurate costume. Explaining that Cyclopes, Beast and Storm used to beg him to wear the yellow and blue X-Men attire, Wolverine tells Deadpool that he always refused to do so because he didn’t want them to think he was actually a part of their family.
Now that everyone is dead and gone, Wolverine finally suits up to help Deadpool save the multiverse from the likes of Cassandra Nova and Alioth.
How will they pull this off? Who knows. Will Wolverine really fight the Incredible Hulk as rumored? We hope so. Will we be catching this film this weekend? You betcha!
Check out the final trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, and let us know if you’ll be checking it out in the comments section below.
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After months of rumors as to who would be directing the highly anticipated Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, it seems like Marvel Studios might be bringing back the duo that gave us some of the greatest Marvel films ever — the Russo brothers.
Variety is reporting that Joe and Anthony Russo are in negotiations with Marvel Studios to have them direct the upcoming Avengers films after the duo took a break from comic book-themed films, following the record-breaking success of the Infinity Saga’s conclusion in Avengers: Endgame. Though the Russo brothers had initially stated they’d return to Marvel to direct a Secret Wars film if it ever came to fruition, Marvel has spent the last year or so searching for directors to take the helm of said film once it was announced.
Why Marvel didn’t simply ask the dynamic duo of directors to return is anyone’s guess, but everyone from Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi) to Ryan Cooler (Black Panther) to Shawn Levy (Deadpool, Wolverine) was said to be in the running to take the helm. Ultimately, the Avengers projects still remain without a director.
Complicating the matter is the fact that Jonathan Majors was supposed to play the main villain in both films as Kang The Conqueror, but after Marvel let him go due to his domestic abuse conviction, no one knows how they’ll resolve that storyline going forward. It seems like Marvel will recast the role, however, with word that the next installment of Avengers will no longer be called The Kang Dynasty, rumors are swirling that Kang may play a smaller role than expected if he’s even in the films at all.
Variety reports:
It’s unclear when Marvel plans to begin production on the upcoming “Avengers” installments. Anthony and Joe Russo’s next film is Netflix’s “The Electric State,” a sci-fi adventure with Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown that completed shooting in late 2022.
The Russos have directed four Marvel films, including 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.” “Avengers: Endgame” is the second-highest grossing movie in history with $2.79 billion while “Infinity War” is the sixth biggest with $2.05 billion. They’re in the company of James Cameron as the only directors with two $2 billion blockbusters.
With a proven track record of not only creating classic but also well-written Marvel films, the Russo brothers are probably the safest bet to take on such a task at the current moment as many feel that Marvel Studio films have fallen way off over the past few years.
What do y’all think about the Russo brothers possibly returning to direct the next two Avengers films? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Photo: Getty
By today (July 19), when Universal Pictures’ Twisters blows into theaters, more than a dozen songs from the all-country soundtrack will have whirled their way onto radio and streaming services.
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Propelled by first single, Luke Combs’ muscular “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”— which is already No. 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart after only nine weeks — the soundtrack includes such new songs from such heavyweights at Miranda Lambert, Kane Brown, Lainey Wilson, Shania Twain and Jelly Roll, as well as burgeoning artists like Bailey Zimmerman, BRELAND, Dylan Gossett, Tucker Wetmore and Tanner Adell. Twenty of the soundtrack’s 29 tracks are featured in the movie.
A soundtrack totally devoted to country songs is still a rarity and when they have occurred, they have usually been for country-themed movies, including 1980’s Urban Cowboy, 1992’s Pure Country, 2010’s Crazy Heart or 2011’s Country Strong.
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Twisters, which stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as storm chasers, is a standalone sequel to 1996’s $495 million domestic-grossing Twister, which featured a rock soundtrack. The one artist from that soundtrack who makes a return as a fun Easter egg for fans is Twain, who duets with BRELAND on “Boots Don’t.” “She had a big song [“No One Needs to Know”] from the first soundtrack, and we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if she did one for this one,’” says Mike Knobloch, president of NBCUniversal Music and Publishing.
“We weren’t trying to recreate [the original soundtrack]. In the same way that the movie is different, we treated this initially like its own project,” he continues. “We worked closely with [director] Isaac Chung to conceive a music soundscape for the film that would be organic and authentic to where the story takes place, which is in Oklahoma,” Knobloch says. “We got to do something we don’t typically do, which is not just dabble in country music, but really lean in in an authentic way to work with Nashville writers and country artists. And not just for a song or two, but for the entire film.”
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Universal and the filmmakers met with several labels about the soundtrack, but ultimately chose to work with Atlantic’s west coast president Kevin Weaver, who was coming off the tremendous success of the Barbie soundtrack, over a Nashville-based record company, and had worked on such soundtracks and original cast albums as Hamilton and The Greatest Showman.
“We know from past experiences that Kevin and his team, like us, are super-competitive and uncompromising perfectionists,” Knobloch says. “They want to take big swings like we do. It just felt like Atlantic as a partner had the right attitude. Everyone on the core team [at Atlantic] has great Nashville relationships.”
Like many labels based in New York or Los Angeles, Atlantic has been signing more country artists as the genre boom continues and Weaver says the timing was perfect. “I’ve been trying to find a really credible good vehicle to come onboard with to curate a project within the country genre,” he says. “So, this was really appealing and attractive to me. That’s how we started the dialogue about how this might make sense for us together.”
A number of Atlantic’s up-and-coming country artists appear on the soundtrack, in addition to BRELAND — including Sam Barber, Nolan Taylor and Morgan Ramsey.
Before Atlantic solicited any artists, Weaver, Chung, Knobloch and Universal Pictures’ executive vp of film music Rachel Levy met several times with Chung picking around up to 20 scenes for which he wanted original songs. Atlantic then began soliciting selected artists to write specifically for their scene based on the visual and a very detailed brief, which included tempo, tone and thematic suggestions.
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“What’s really important to me when doing [soundtracks] is making sure that the music is really a character of the movie, and we’re not just trying to shoehorn songs into something for the purpose of having a soundtrack. We found that that pretty much never works,” Weaver says.
Instead, almost every song was written expressly for the film. One of the few exceptions was BRELAND and Twain’s track. “I already had my song with Shania and was looking for a good opportunity to release it, and it ended up being a good fit for the film,” BRELAND says. “It wasn’t something we were specifically writing for the soundtrack; we were just fortunate that what they were looking for was something we already had.”
BRELAND adds it was a “no-brainer” to get involved in one of the summer’s biggest movies. “I got a taste of what films can do for my career after my appearance in Roadhouse earlier this year, so it was a no-brainer when I heard about Twisters,” he says. “The original movie is a classic, and the trailer for this looked really good, so I was beyond excited when I found out they were interested in one of my songs for the soundtrack.”
One of the first artists to sign on was Wilson. “We started reaching out to artists and their teams in early January, and the momentum was incredible from the get-go,” says Atlantic senior VP of A&R at Atlantic, who worked alongside Weaver and the label’s executive vp/co-head of pop/rock A&R Brandon Davis and senior vp of A&R and marketing Joe Khoury. Within 24 hours of contacting Wilson’s manager, they showed Wilson the clip the next night following a dinner. “By that weekend, Lainey had written ‘Out of Oklahoma,’ and we instantly fell in love with the track. “
While there were artists whose schedules didn’t allow them to participate, word quickly spread in Nashville once the music team started reaching out. “Everyone seemed to be really interested and we didn’t want to leave anybody out. We had this embarrassment of riches in terms of who was answering our calls,” Knobloch says, as the soundtrack swelled to nearly 30 artists.
With so many songs, “we had to work really responsibly,” when it came to keeping the music budget under control, Knobloch says. Though he declined to name the budget, he adds that “pound for pound, country songs have fewer writers and samples than other genres of music, so maybe your dollars go a little bit further when you’re making this kind of music.”
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“We had artists and managers who really leaned into what we were doing,” Weaver says. “One of the other things that was unique about this is [country] artists are not typically getting calls [asking], ‘Do you want to write a song for a $100 million Hollywood blockbuster?’ where pop artists get that call more frequently. This genre hasn’t had this opportunity to this extent in quite some time, if forever. And so, because of that, people really want to be a part of this.”
Combs’ manager says Combs was enthusiastic about taking part. “We wanted to do this because it wasn’t a remake of a classic, but a continuation of the narrative of the film, and we felt the movie was going to be an epic moment to be a part of,” says Chris Kappy. “The team at Atlantic and Universal were very professional and fun to work with, and gave Luke full creative control on the song and trusted him — so that makes it easier to let the artist create.”
Combs song, which his label Sony Music Nashville is working to country radio, is also in the trailer, which helps tie the promotion and the movie together and start what Knobloch calls a “chain reaction” of releases, including Jelly Roll’s song and video, which dropped Thursday (July 18). The marketing campaign of dropping one song a week for the past 10 weeks — plus a song day the week of release –created a long musical runway, as well as fruitful, ongoing social media campaigns. “We have really been activating in every possible way to make as big an impact and as much noise as possible over a longer period of time in the run up to the release of the film than usual,” Knobloch says.
Additionally, with the staggered releases, “more songs have the ability to have their own moment,” Weaver says, “and when they have their own moment, they perform better typically.”
Despite country music’s surging popularity these days, Knobloch stresses the goal was to make a soundtrack that is “broadly accessible,” and appealed way beyond country fans. “There were a lot of times where it didn’t really feel like we were making a country record,” he says. “We were just making great songs with great artists and writers.”
On the first day of filming, the tone for Blur’s new documentary film To The End was set. Having gathered the band in his Devon, England, recording studio, frontman and lyricist Damon Albarn was in a flood of tears as an early version of their ninth studio album, The Ballad of Darren, played through the speakers. It was the first time that he and the band heard the songs recorded with vocals, and it makes for a brutal, heart-wrenching scene.
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Speaking to Billboard, guitarist Graham Coxon reflects on the moment. “It’s all very well sitting down and writing lyrics, but when they’ve been recorded and listened back to [that can be] extremely powerful,” he says. “The song suddenly exists in a sometimes overwhelming way.”
To The End, which hits theaters in the U.K. and Ireland on July 19, captures the band in a reflective, tender mood, and follows the journey through the recording and the lead-up to the Britpop icons’ two triumphant shows at London’s Wembley Stadium in July 2023. Directed by Toby L (whose previous collaborators include Olivia Rodrigo and Liam Gallagher), To The End is a portrayal of loss and the maturing friendship between Albarn, Coxon, Alex James (bass) and Dave Rowntree (drums). The bluster of the group’s outsized, colorful ‘90s persona – a gilded cage, they note in the film – is gone, focusing on rather hushed reflection and contemplation.
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“There are a lot of artists that may not want that vulnerability to be captured,” director Toby L tells Billboard in a separate conversation. “I think the current state of music documentaries are a bit cynical – I don’t necessarily believe them that much. But the band agreed that we wanted to show the unvarnished truth, and we vehemently agreed that this shouldn’t be a puff-piece film.”
After the announcement of two 75,000-capacity shows at Wembley Stadium, Albarn sent Coxon a few demos he’d been working on and corralled the band into the studio in early 2023. Much of The Ballad of Darren is informed by the breakdown of Albarn’s relationship with Suzi Winstanley, his partner of 25 years. The title track’s opening lyrics get to the heart of the matter: “I just looked into my life/And all I saw was that you’re not coming back”.
Recording provided a reunion, however. The sessions were the first time that all four members had been in the studio to work on Blur music since 1999’s 13. Their 2003 album Think Tank was recorded following Coxon’s departure from the group; 2015’s The Magic Whip was pieced together by Coxon and Albarn from past demos. Produced by James Ford [Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Haim], “The Ballad Of Darren” reached No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart and earned the band their first-ever top 10 appearance on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart. They also hit No. 2 on Billboard‘s Adult Alternative Airplay chart with lead single “The Narcissist.”
Coxon – who has known Albarn since they were schoolmates in Colchester, Essex – says the band “very easily fell into their old roles” when they entered the studio. But where 2010 documentary film No Distance Left To Run picked at old wounds during the group’s demise, To The End is happy to leave the scars as they are. To reconnect, Albarn and James go for a dip in the freezing English coast, and during individual interviews the group acknowledges their deep love of one another even if that doesn’t always appear evident. In one scene, Albarn notes that in the past, they wanted to solve any problems “there and then,” but with time they’re “happy to let it disperse” and avoid needless confrontation.
“We just care a little bit less about what the other might think of us,” Coxon says today. “We have a very old-fashioned relationship in that way – sometimes it’s easier to not talk about emotional stuff, but we know that being in each other’s presence is a support of sorts.”
There’s a jovial camaraderie on the road to Wembley Stadium, showcased through electrifying footage of the regional warm-up gigs in the U.K. and in mainland Europe. Jeopardy only arrived when Rowntree picked up a knee injury in the week prior to the Wembley shows. Spoiler: he made it.
The two concerts are recorded in spectacular fashion, and will be released as a live album, Live At Wembley Stadium, on July 26, alongside a standalone concert film later this year. “They were both so good,” Coxon remembers. “It was shocking. It was a very out of body experience.” Any thoughts when you watched them back? “I wish I looked cooler. I looked a bit pained and tired,” he laughs.
For all the focus on middle-aged malaise, some of the most heartening footage is of the young, diverse crowd that flock to the front row of these shows. Toby L says that though Britpop and ‘90s optimism is long gone, British teens still reach for their music. “The themes that Damon sang about then – particularly that frustration at British culture and also the satire of the human condition – are still timely,” he says.
That affinity doesn’t necessarily always travel. Albarn drew attention to that during Blur’s set in front of a lackluster Coachella crowd back in April: “You’ll never see us again so you may as well f—–g sing it.” Coxon plays it down though admits the California festival can be a “weird, hot show” and that “it felt a bit like ‘who are these old guys?’ Last year the audiences were fantastic all the way through. So I don’t mind a few glum faces in the audience now and then.”
Blur’s future, as it has been for much of the 21st century, is open-ended. “We always like to leave a good amount of time to live life, so if there is another thing to do with Blur we can bring new experiences to it. But it’s big: it’s a massive machine and it’s stressful, so I’m alright with a few years off.” As To The End proves, they will be there for each other through thick and thin.
BLACKPINK in your area — and a theater near you! The superstar girl group unveiled the trailer on Tuesday (July 9) for their upcoming concert film celebrating their eighth anniversary, BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR [BORN PINK] IN CINEMAS, which is set to hit screens worldwide on July 31. In the 30-second clip, the girls are seen dominating global stages, executing flawless […]
“What if The Silence of the Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?”
That was the question M. Night Shyamalan asked when he pitched the concept of his new film Trap, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker revealed in an interview with Empire magazine.
Trap follows a dad (Josh Harnett) as he brings his teen daughter (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert to see Lady Raven, a fictional pop star played by Shyamalan’s real-life daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, The Hollywood Reporter says. But it’s not all fun and friendship bracelets here: they find themselves in the middle of a police operation to capture a serial killer known as “The Butcher.”
In the latest trailer previewing the movie, seen below, a stadium employee says in a hushed voice, “This whole concert is a trap.”
As Shyamalan told Empire, “I directed an entire concert! And it wasn’t just a thing in the background. It’s equally important. There is no pretend concert going on.”The director added, “I love the idea of cinema as windows within windows. One of the reasons to come see the movie at the movie theater is because there’s literally a real concert that you can see nowhere except in that movie.”
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Shyamalan said Trap was partially influenced by his daughter’s aspiring music career, and inspired in part by the 1985 “Operation Flagship,” a sting operation by U.S. Marshals and the DC Metropolitan Police Department that resulted in the arrest of more than 100 wanted fugitives who were lured in by free NFL tickets and the chance to win a trip to the Super Bowl. “The cops were literally cheerleaders and mascots. These guys were dancing as they came in. And they were all caught. It was so twisted and funny,” Shyamalan commented.
Trap, from Warner Bros. Pictures, will be in theaters Aug. 9.
Check out Warner Bros.’ new trailer for Trap and a clip of Saleka Shyamalan, who penned 14 original songs for the film, performing as Lady Raven below.
Of her goals in music, in a profile on the family published by The New York Times she said, “I think once he [M. Night Shyamalan] saw that I had passion for it in the same way that he had a passion for film, he understood it and was like, all right, I’m with you, let’s make this happen.”
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Amy Winehouse was portrayed by Marisa Abela in the much-buzzed about biopic, Back to Black, which hit theaters back in May. The film is now heading to streaming services, and is available to watch on Peacock beginning on Friday (July 5).
The biopic follows the life of the beloved Grammy winner, who is best known for her groundbreaking sophomore album Back to Black, which included the Hot 100 hits “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good.” Winehouse, who battled drug and alcohol addiction, died in 2011 at age 27 from alcohol poisoning.
The Studio Canal film directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (A Million Little Pieces) and written by Matt Greenhalgh (Nowhere Boy) was made with the support of the Winehouse estate, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Publishing and features a number of the singer’s most beloved hits.
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Iain Cooke, the film’s music supervisor, worked closely with Abela as well as Winehouse’s former band and her estate to capture the late superstar’s unique musical essence on film. See below for Billboard‘s chat with Cooke on all things Back to Black, and catch the film on Peacock now.
Bring me back to when you got the call to be the music supervisor on the biopic. What was it like?
It was it was really exciting. I also saw it immediately as a challenge, and one that would be sort of a journey to bring to life. I actually came on board 10 months before we shot — a long, long time before and there was only really the director, the producers and the writer. They hadn’t crewed up because it wasn’t officially greenlit. The first thing I was tasked with doing was to actually negotiate the rights for the Amy songs in order for the film to get greenlit and that was that was quite an intense few months negotiating. Once we got the approval, we began to prep.
We put Marisa in with a team, a vocal coach and a guitar tutor to work on the material and then we brought on our music producer, Giles Martin, who did a wonderful job. It was really an amazing process from pre-prep through the shoot, through the post production and the edit and on all the way to the final mix. It was about two years work.
What was it like working with Marisa to capture Amy’s unique essence?
She honestly was phenomenal. I’ve got nothing but praise and admiration for her because she works so hard. She was a complete joy to work with and really positive and she just immersed herself in it. She had phenomenal pitch and timing and she just really studied Amy as an artist and also studied some of her influences. She was great.
How do you preserve the authenticity of such a sensitive and widely told story?
All the filmmakers and collaborators involved just felt really passionate about the story and wanted to be the guardians of that authenticity. It was really important to preserve the integrity of her legacy and we all wanted to do the right thing by her. One of the things that we did was we approached her old live band early on — and we would have completely understood if they didn’t want to be involved — but we approached them to see whether they would like to come in and pre-record the live backing tracks and they did. It was just incredibly special and incredibly moving. It was her real band that played that those gigs who pre-recorded the music, and you can’t get more authentic than that.
Is there a scene in the film that you’re excited for people to see?
There’s a moment very early on in the film that Marisa sings ‘What Is It About Men’ — she’s just in her bedroom and it’s just a one-shot with nothing to hide behind. We knew that if we got that moment right, that the audience would be really in the film with us and in the journey. Marisa just did incredible.
I also absolutely love Glastonbury. You know, credit to the sound team. They did an amazing job in the mix. If you watch it, you get that spirit. You know, it’s wild and free. Chaotic, but just the energy of it is magic. Amy was one of the most important recording artists of all time, and she’ll stand up in history alongside the greats that influenced her. She had lyrical wit and one of the greatest recording voices and most distinctive recording voices on record. I hope that we’ll go back and listen to her again, and rediscover and keep listening to her because she’s a classic forevermore.
Lastly, what’s your favorite Amy Winehouse song?
“Love Is a Losing Game.” It’s a timeless, beautiful song.
Back in April, Donald Glover revealed on a livestream of his GILGA radio show that he would be releasing two more albums under the Childish Gambino before he retires it for good. He already dropped the first of the two with Atavista, which is essentially the a more polished version of his 3.15.20 album that […]