Movies

Director Martin Scorsese is among the producers on an upcoming documentary about the Beatles‘ legendary first trip to the United States slated to stream exclusive on Disney+ starting Nov. 29. According to Variety, Beatles ’64 will feature never-before-seen footage of the band and its rabid fans at the height of Beatlemania.
Scorsese produced the doc directed by David Tedeschi (Personality Crisis: One Night Only), which will also feature new interviews with living Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The film follows McCartney and Starr and late bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison as they land in New York in Feb. 1964, promising to reveal “a more intimate behind the scenes story” of the group’s iconic debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as footage of the Fab Four’s first American show at the Washington D.C. Coliseum.

The quartet made their debut appearance on Sullivan’s variety show on Feb. 9, 1964, a performance that was seen by a record-breaking 73-million people and is often cited by musicians of a certain vintage as their inspiration for starting a rock band. Variety reported that the doc also features rare footage shot by documentarians Albert and David Maysles (Gimme Shelter).

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A synopsis of the film reads: “On February 7, 1964, The Beatles arrived in New York City to unprecedented excitement and hysteria. From the instant they landed at Kennedy Airport, met by thousands of fans, Beatlemania swept New York and the entire country. Their thrilling debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show captivated more than 73 million viewers, the most watched television event of its time. Beatles ’64 presents the spectacle, but also tells a more intimate behind the scenes story, capturing the camaraderie of John, Paul, George, and Ringo as they experienced unimaginable fame.”

In addition to Scorsese – who also directed 2011’s George Harrison: Living in the Material World doc — other producers of the doc include McCartney, Starr, Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison, Lennon’s son, musician Sean Ono Lennon, and others.

The new Beatles doc will be accompanied by the Nov. 22 release of all seven American Beatles albums in a vinyl reissue collection entitled The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono; the albums will be available individually as well as in a box set. According to Variety, the reissue will include 180-gram albums that have been out of print on vinyl since 1995, including Meet the Beatles!, The Beatles’ Second Album, A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Sound Track), Something New, The Beatles’ Story, Beatles ’65 and The Early Beatles.

Shawn Mendes fans will get a chance to hear the singer’s upcoming fifth studio album, Shawn, before its official release thanks to an upcoming live concert film. Mendes and Trafalgar Releasing announced on Thursday (Oct. 1) that Shawn Mendes: For Friends and Family Only (A Live Concert Film) will hit screens across the country for one-night-only on Nov. 14.
According to a release, the movie features a “heartfelt performance of the self-titled album in its entirety — for the very first time.” The movie was filmed at the historic 500-capacity Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock, NY and features footage of Mendes explaining the inspiration behind each song on the album as well as sharing personal stories, “giving fans an intimate look at the creative journey that shaped the music.”

A full list of participating theaters and showtimes will be announced soon, with fans encouraged to click here to request a screening in their city; tickets will go on sale on Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. ET.

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On Wednesday, Mendes announced that Shawn would be pushed back from its original Oct. 18 released date to Nov. 15. He explained, “My team and i have decided to push the album release date to November 15th. We just need a little bit more time to bring some new inspiration and ideas to life. I love you guys thank you for being so patient, I can’t wait to see you guys at the next few shows.”

The Woodstock show was the first in a limited run of intimate concerts Mendes performed in the cities where the album was recorded over a two-year stretch, a string that also included gigs in London, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Seattle.

“Performing this album for the first time in such an intimate setting, surrounded by close friends, family, and the people who helped bring it to life, was truly special. I’m excited for fans around the world to feel that same connection through the film and get to experience the ‘Friends & Family’ shows before the album release,” Mendes said in a statement.

Trafalgar Releasing SVP of content acquisitions Kymberli Frueh added, “Shawn Mendes’ relatable lyrics and ability to connect with fans through his music are on full display in this intimate and authentic performance of his new album. This exclusive cinema event will be a special experience for fans across the globe.”

To date Mendes has released the singles “Why Why Why,” “Isn’t That Enough” and the moody “Nobody Knows,” which he debuted at last month’s 2024 VMAs. Mendes will continue his tour of Shawn live debut shows with an Oct. 14 gig at the iconic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, followed by an Oct. 18 show at the Brooklyn Paramount in Brooklyn, NY and an Oct. 22 stop at the Ford theater in Los Angeles.

Charli XCX told us that in order to properly embrace “Brat Summer” you need to be a little chaotic and “trashy.” But between dropping her Brat album in June, then cueing up the all-star deluxe edition, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat version (due out on Oct. 11), co-executive producing the soundtrack for the movie Mother Mary and launching her Sweat Tour with Troy Sivan on Sept. 14, the 32-year old singer/songwriter has been anything but messy so far this year.
In fact, she’s been super productive and totally focused. Case in point: did you know that Charli filmed her debut movie role in director Pete Oh’s upcoming drama ERUPCJA? According to Variety, Charlie popped over to Poland for a few weeks in August to film her co-starring role in the drama that also features playwright/actor Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play) and Lena Góra (Imago). The film reportedly explores the volatile relationship between two women — the title is the Polish word for “eruption” — Góra and XCX (whose character is named Bethany) on the latter’s visit to Warsaw.

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How is it possible to film a whole movie that co-stars the singer whose whole aesthetic was copped by Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign? It kind of isn’t, according to director Ohs. “[Charli] definitely got recognized a bunch of times,” Ohs said. “She was always really sweet. She took selfies with many a Polish fan.”

Co-star Harris said those photos are how their “secret project” got leaked. “I had a gut feeling that our plan to keep it low key was going to be difficult,” he said. “And that was affirmed the first night I went out in Poland. We were staying at the Nobu Hotel, and that’s close to the queer section, so I walked over to a gay bar, and there was a sign advertising a ‘Brat’ party.”

Harris said when the production moved to a nightclub to film a scene it was “almost impossible” to get it done because of the buzz about the “365” singer. “Every single person in the club was like, ‘Oh my god, Charli XCX is here to do a secret performance.’ And it was like, ‘She is, but not the one you think,’” he said. “We were shooting the same week Obama put her on his playlist as well, which is hilarious.”

Ohs also explained how he roped the pop star into one of his signature seat-of-your-pants productions, which are shot in order and written as they go along, with dialogue often conjured the day before, or morning of, filming. Before Charli dropped Brat in May, she bumped into Ohs and Harris — who had previously worked together on the HBO doc Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play – at a bar in New York’s Lower East Side at 3 a.m., where Harris introduced her to Ohs.

After Harris described Ohs’ unique filmmaking process to Charli, the director said she responded, “‘I want to do one,’” to which he replied, “‘What are you doing in August? Want to come to Warsaw?”

Charli then reportedly DM’d Ohs the next day and said she was in. “The way he talked about making his films felt akin to making an album and the chance meeting also felt equivalent to the conversational and spontaneous nature of his film making,” Charli emailed Variety about working with Ohs. “Our processes felt linked in some kind of way and it felt right and exciting to pursue some kind of collaboration.”

Those pre-production chats also reportedly included Charli’s suggestion that she play against her brash, unapologetic persona. “She was like, ‘I think it should be completely not me. I feel like I could play super shy,’” Ohs said. “So we’re talking like, Charli XCX is completely unrecognizable as Bethany.”

Ohs added that, “Charli is an excellent actress. She is a performer. She understands what it’s like to have a camera pointed at her. She understands how to convey things through all the different ways in which we communicate, whether it’s with body language or your voice or your facial expressions. She had a scene where she cried, without being asked – she could deliver all the goods. She’s a legit actress. I am proud of us for making a movie this way during Brat summer.”

According to Variety, the film is the first in an upcoming string of big screen roles for Charli, which will also include Greg Araki’s erotic thriller “I Want Your Sex” with Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman, a remake of 1978’s documentary-style horror film Faces of Death, as well as Julia Jackman’s graphic novel adaptation 100 Nights of Hero. She is also producing original music for the Amazon comedy series Overcompensating.

The Brat remix album due out on Friday will have reimagined tracks featuring Robyn and Yung Lean, Ariana Grande, the 1975, Troye Sivan, Addison Rae, Lorde, Tinashe, Bon Iver and Billie Eilish, among others.

Chances are you didn’t see Joker: Folie à Deux over the weekend because the much-hyped sequel to the Oscar-winning 2019 Batman-adjacent film vastly underperformed expectations with an estimated $40 million opening frame; by comparison the original raked in more than $96 million and ended up grossing more than $1 billion. But even if you were […]

What’s the most difficult way to follow-up a terminally bleak, billion-dollar, Oscar-winning blockbuster superhero (adjacent) movie with no super heroes? Add in some live song and dance numbers, naturally. That’s what Joaquin Phoenix said the team behind the anticipated Joker: Folie à Deux decided to do, a choice that terrified the notoriously fearless actor from day one.
“How could we possibly do the music in the most honest way possible?” he asked in a joint interview with co-star Lady Gaga and director Todd Phillips that aired on Good Morning America on Friday (Sept. 27) about the bold decision to have untrained singer Phoenix and Grammy-winner Gaga sing together live on stage during the film’s fantasy sequences. “When we first started, I did not want anything to be spontaneous and I wanted to sound as good as possible,” said Phoenix, who was previously described as being “sick” with nerves over singing alongside Gaga.

Phoenix noted that it was Gaga’s idea to do it live, which he thought sounded great for her, since that’s what she does for a living. “You were really cool and kind of made me feel comfortable about that,” he said, with Gaga adding, “I can assure you that Joaquin using his natural voice was just so much more compelling than any lip synching would ever be.”

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While Phoenix said that he just didn’t want his Joker ride to end after his Oscar-winning first spin as washed-up clown Arthur Fleck in 2019’s intense Joker, Gaga said that original film really interested her in joining Phoenix and director Phillips’ demented world. “I loved Arthur so much, like, who would be the love in his life?” the singer said she wondered.

Plus, she added, there was something “so completely freeing” about playing Quinn, including the ability to sneak some bits of herself into the character that she’s always been a bit embarrassed, or private, about. “When I first saw the film I was like, ‘Oh, that’s in there! That part of me that I want no one to know about,’” said Gaga of her third starring role in a major motion picture following her breakout in 2018’s A Star is Born and a strong showing in the all-star ensemble in 2021’s House of Gucci.

Though she seems to always be poised and powerful, Gaga said those moments she sees herself in Quinn are when her chracter seems “so uncomfortable… she’s like on the edge. There’s definitely been times in my life where I felt that way.”

Even more challenging, Gaga recorded an entire Joker-themed album, Harlequin, out today, in which she channels her character Harley Quinn on a series of classic covers and a few originals. “Lee’s not a performer and I am and in a scene as a different character it’s just completely different,” Gaga said of tapping into what makes the Joker’s equally off-kilter love stand out from Gaga’s stage persona.

“It’s Lee’s reality, it’s their shared reality, it’s coming from that character not from me as a performer,” she said. “I don’t just sing that way in this movie, I also sing with my full voice.”

The 13-track album features a number of Harley-fied covers of “Good Morning” (from Singing in the Rain), “If My Friends Could See Me Now” (Sweet Charity), as well as a soul-funk version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” (here titled “Oh, When the Saints”), “That’s Entertainment,” the Carpenters’ “Close to You” and “World on a String” as well as two originals, “Folie à Deux” and the rock-edged “The Joker.”

The surprise companion album to the film was recorded alongside the sessions for Gaga’s upcoming as-yet-untitled seventh studio album, which is due out in February, with a first single dropping next month. Joker: Folie à Deux opens in theaters on Oct. 4

After opening the book on her private life in her expansive, best-selling 2023 memoir My Name is Barbra, Barbra Streisand will dive even deeper into her private life in an upcoming mutli-part documentary. Sony Music Vision, Columbia Records, Jigsaw Productions and the Kennedy/Marshall Company announced on Thursday (Sept. 26) that production has already begun on a definitive biopic about the EGOT winner.
“For years I’ve been thinking about the best way to share the vast amount of content I’ve been safely storing in my vault. These films, photos and music masters — many never seen or heard by the public — hold some of my most cherished memories,” said Streisand in a statement about granting the production unprecedented access to her personal archives, including hundreds of hours of never-before-seen video, photos and audio recordings, as well as personal items from throughout her career.

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“I’m so pleased that producer Alex Gibney and director Frank Marshall have agreed to take this journey with me,” she added of director Marshall (Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story) and Oscar-winning producer Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side). “My appreciation to Tom Mackay, head of Sony Music’s Premium Content team, for his belief in the project. And especially to Sony Music Chairman Rob Stringer who has unwaveringly supported so many of my creative endeavors.”

According to the release announcing the project, the series will “offer an intimate and comprehensive exploration of every facet of the iconic multi-hyphenate, who, in a career spanning six decades, has excelled in every area of entertainment.” The release promises that the access to Streisand’s personal archives alongside contemporary verité will provide an “in-depth look at Streisand’s star-studded past and her current artistic endeavors.”

At press time a title and release date for the doc had not been announced.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Alex again and to have the opportunity to bring Barbra’s incredible life story to the screen,” said Marshall in a statement. “We have been given unprecedented access to archival footage from decades of her groundbreaking career and intimate visibility to the trailblazing she continues to do in life today.  Uncovering these remarkable moments illustrate why she has become an enduring icon to a global audience of all generations.”

Producer Gibney added, “People have been talking about the need for the definitive documentary on Barbra Streisand for years. After a series of wonderful conversations and rigorous research, we are moving forward with Frank Marshall at the helm. I am delighted to produce this film on Barbra, a legendary singer, extraordinary actor, director, and political activist who inspires us all. Did I forget to mention that she’s a great storyteller who is funny as hell?”

Leave it to Lady Gaga to give one of the most famous faces in the world a maniacal makeover. On Wednesday morning (Sept. 25), the singer released a tantalizing 80-second preview of one of the songs from her surprise Joker: Folie à Deux companion album, Harlequin. “The Joker,” a rock-edged track that seems to be co-star Joaquin Phoenix’s theme song is accompanied by a video in which Gaga’s Harley Quinn takes a midnight stroll through Paris’ Louvre Museum for a bout of midnight mischief.
“There’s always a joker in the pack/ There’s always a lonely clown,” Gaga sings over the sound of subtle guitar as she meanders by the signature IM Pei-designed glass pyramid and dances down the steps with the Winged Victory of Samothrace sculpture in the background. Wearing a modest prairie dress, low-top Chuck Taylor gym shoes and polka dot tights, her hair colored red, Gaga (as Quinn), sings, “The poor laughing fool falls on his back/And everyone loves when he’s down/There’s always a funny man in the game/ But he’s only funny by mistake,” a succinct summary of tragic anti-hero Jack Oswald White’s killer clown persona.

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With the whole place to herself at night, Gaga/Quinn takes aim with her finger guns and blasts away at priceless artworks as the song’s tempo and intensity rise to match her character’s sinister plans. “And everyone laughs at him, just the same/ They don’t see his lonely heart break,” she sings as her voice reaches a crescendo and Quinn ekes out a crooked smile and wave while taking in the Mona Lisa.

With the electric guitars cranking up and drums kicking in, Gaga wails, “They don’t care as long as there is a jester/ Just a fool, as foolish as he can be/ There’s always a joker/ That’s the rule, but fate is the hand that I see/ The Joker is meeeee!!” as Harley pulls out a tube of lipstick and gives the most iconic painting of a smiling woman a new, Joker-worthy blood red Chelsea grin.

Satisfied with her work, Gaga walks away, her eye makeup starting to melt across her face as the guitars get louder and she repeats “the Joker is me,” while strutting through the darkened Louvre galleries. “There’s always a joker,” Gaga captioned the video preview, along with hashtags for the museum, the movie and the upcoming “Figures du Fou” exhibit at the Louvre. Not for nothing, the august institution is clearly all-in on the movie promo, as it changed the official image on its X account to the Joker-ized Mona Lisa lipstick smile.

The Figures Du Fou exhibition (which translates to Figures of the Fool), opens on Oct. 16 and is described as examining, “the omnipresence of fools in Western art and culture at the end of the Middle Ages, and attempts to parse the meaning of these figures, who would seem to play a key role in the advent of modernity. The fool may make us laugh, with his abundance of frivolous antics, but he also harbours a wealth of hidden facets of an erotic, scatological, tragic or violent nature. Capable of the best and of the worst, the fool entertains, warns or denounces; he turns societal values on their head and may even overthrow the established order.”

In other words, the Joker.

On Tuesday, Gaga surprised Little Monsters when she announced that the Harlequin album will drop on Friday (Sept. 27). On the LP’s cover, Gaga is depicted standing in a shower fully clothed, with the water causing her clown makeup to drip down her face as it does as the end of “The Joker” video.

On the back of a milk carton Gaga appeared to preview the 13-song album’s track list, which features some recognizable standards, including “Get Happy,” “That’s Entertainment,” “Oh When the Saints” and “World on a String.”

Gaga recently revealed that her upcoming, untitled seventh studio album is due out in February, with a lead single slated to drop next month. Joker: Folie à Deux is due in theaters on Oct. 4.

Watch “The Joker” preview below.