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Zendaya might have two Emmys to her name, but she may have received her highest honor at the Challengers premiere in Los Angeles Tuesday (April 16) — and it came from Ms. Tina Knowles.
During a conversation with Variety on the red carpet, Knowles — who recently appeared in an Essence cover shoot in support of Beyoncé‘s Cécred haircare line — gushed over the Euphoria actress and her evolution from child star to leading lady.
“I love Zendaya!” she said. “The first time I saw her, I used to watch her in the Disney series with my grandson [Solange‘s son Julez Smith] and she just reeked of stardom. She is just the most gracious, beautiful girl, and she reminds me of my daughter — she’s a Virgo like my daughter [Beyoncé]!”
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Zendaya, of course, is a card-carrying member of the Beyhive. She appeared in Queen Bey’s 2016 Lemonade film, paid tribute to her iconic “Crazy In Love” Versace look at the 2021 BET Awards and attended her blockbuster 2023 Renaissance World Tour alongside boyfriend Tom Holland.
Challengers, helmed by Academy Award nominee Luca Guadagnino, finds Zendaya starring as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach who must balance both a love triangle and the quest to break her husband’s losing streak as he prepares to play against his former best friend (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend). Co-starring award-winning actors Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, Challengers opens in theaters April 26 with a score crafted by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
The film’s tennis themes also offer another bridge between Beyoncé and Zendaya. In 2022, the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer earned her first Oscar nomination for “Be Alive,” an original song she co-wrote with DIXSON for King Richard, the Will Smith-starring biopic of Venus and Serena Williams‘ father and coach, Richard Williams.
No stranger to the music world, Zendaya has landed several entries across the Billboard charts. On the Billboard Hot 100, the thespian has logged six entries including 2013’s “Replay” (No. 40), 2016’s Chris Brown-assisted “Something New” (No. 93) and 2022’s “I’m Tired” (No. 53, with Labrinth). Over on the Billboard 200, Zendaya’s 2013 self-titled debut album debut and peaked No. 51.
Watch a clip of Ms. Tina Knowles praising Zendaya below.
Tina Knowles on watching Zendaya’s evolution: “She is just the most gracious, beautiful girl, and she reminds me of my daughter — she’s a Virgo like my daughter [Beyoncé].” pic.twitter.com/MMB1hrSVlO— Variety (@Variety) April 17, 2024
The 2024 Tribeca Festival is just around the corner and this year’s selections feature a number of anticipated documentaries about musical luminaries from the rock, pop, country and EDM worlds.
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The festivities will kick-off on June 5 with the world premiere of Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge, a profile of the life of the fashion designer and cultural icon directed by Tribeca alum Trish Dalton and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
Over the course of nearly two weeks (June 5-16) the fest will feature screenings of a number of important music docs, including They All Came Out to Montreux, a look at the half century-old annual jazz festival in Switzerland featuring Prince, Carlos Santana, Sting, Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards.
Attendees will also be able to check out Linda Perry: Let It Die Here, a look at the mega-successful former 4 Non Blondes singer-turned-songwriter-producer featuring Dolly Parton, Brandi Carlile and Christina Aguilera, as well as a film about late EDM superstar Avicci, Avicii – I’m Tim, featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin and David Guetta. In addition to screening the doc Satisfied about actress/singer Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton, Girls5eva), Goldsberry (and Perry) will perform after the world premieres of their respective films.
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Other music films will look at the careers of techno producer Carl Craig (Desire: The Carl Craig Story), civil rights activist/singer Harry Belafonte (Following Harry), Bruce Springsteen guitarist and actor “Little” Steven Van Zandt (Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple), performance artist/singer Genesis P-Orridge (S/He Is Still Her/e – The Official Genesis P-Orridge Doc) and 1990s alternative goddess Ani DiFranco (1-800-ON-HER-OWN), as well as a doc about the the new crop of country insurgents, Rebel Country, featuring Blanco Brown, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson and BRELAND.
“Each year, the Tribeca Festival reflects our culture, capturing the essence of the present moment. We’re thrilled to showcase our 23rd edition, delving into captivating explorations of artificial intelligence with Demis Hassabis, thought-provoking discussions on the future of democracy, and so much more,” said Tribeca CEO/co-founder Jane Rosenthal in a statement. “Storytelling possesses a remarkable ability to bring us together, offering hope in these challenging times. We eagerly anticipate engaging with audiences on difficult yet timely subjects.”
Among the features on tap this year are a film about a young woman growing up on the Oglala Lakota reservation in South Dakota, Jazzy (Lily Gladstone), Daddio (Dakota Johnson, Sean Penn), the Brat Pack doc Brats (directed by Andrew McCarthy and featuring Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald and Lea Thompson), Sacramento (Michael Cera, Kristen Stewart, Maya Erskine) and Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story featuring archival footage of Liza Minnelli.
Other films on tap include Group Therapy (Neil Patrick Harris, Mike Birbiglia, Tig Notaro), All That We Love (Margaret Cho, Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and a deep dive into the world of queer stand-up, Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution (Lily Tomlin, Wanda Sykes, Rosie O’Donnell, Hannah Gadsby and Joel Kim Booster).
According to a release, this year’s films “speak to today’s political moment and inform voters ahead of the upcoming election,” including the screening of Hacking Hate, a Simon Klose film that “questions the role of social media in amplifying hate speech and extremism.” Among the other politically charged films are McVeigh, an exploration of chilling modern implications of right-wing extremism directed by Mike Ott and America’s Burning, in which Michael Douglas narrates director David Smick’s look at the roots of hate and division.
The Cranes Call is a profile of war crimes investigators for the Clooney Foundation For Justice in which director Laura Warner gives a look at the brave staffers for the organization founded by George and Amal Clooney as they risk their lives traversing war-torn Ukraine to gather evidence for cases against Russian soldiers and commanders. There will also be a look into Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s deadly, repressive regime (Antidote) and a doc about the daring rescue of animals trapped behind enemy lines in Ukraine, Checkpoint Zoo.
This year’s sprawling program will include 103 features from 114 filmmakers from 48 countries — out of a record 13,016 submissions — including 86 world premieres, two international premieres, six North American premieres and eight New York premieres; in addition, half of the films in competition were directed by women and 35% (36) were directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Check out a 2024 Tribeca sizzle reel below.
More than six decades into her storied career, Barbra Streisand is still finding ways to challenge herself. The legend has recorded a new song, “Love Will Survive,” for the upcoming Sky/Peacock original series The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
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The track recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by William Ross) was composed by two-time Oscar-winner Hans Zimmer in collaboration with Emmy-nominee Kara Talve (Prehistoric Planet) and Grammy-winning producer/songwriter Walter Afanasieff (Mariah Carey); the song’s lyrics were penned by Grammy and Golden Globe nominee Charlie Midnight; Afanasieff and Peter Asher produced the track.
“Because of the rise in antisemitism around the world today, I wanted to sing ‘Love Will Survive’ in the context of this series, as a way of remembering the six-million souls who were lost less than 80 years ago,” Streisand said in a statement. “And also to say that even in the darkest of times, the power of love can triumph and endure.”
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The song, Streisand’s first-ever recording for a TV series, will be released by Columbia Records on April 25, a week before the series launches globally on streaming on May 2. Zimmer also composed the original score for the six-part limited series starring Harvey Keitel, Melanie Lynskey, Jonah Hauer-King, Anna Próchniak and Jonas Nay.
The series tells the story of a Slovakian Jewish man, Lali (Hauer-King), who in 1942 was deported to the Nazi death camp where more than one million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. According to a summary, the drama series follows Lali as he is made one of the camp’s Tätowierer (tattooist), whose job it is to ink identification numbers on the arms of fellow prisoners. It then follows Lali as he falls for fellow prisoner, Gita (Próchniak), “leading to a love that defied the horrors around them.”
The story shifts 60 years into the future to find the now 80-something recently widowed Lali meeting an aspiring writer, Heather Morris (Lynskey) to whom he tells his improbable story of finding love in the “darkest of places.”
“Barbra Streisand is one of the most renowned artists in the world, and we are deeply honoured to be working with her,” Synchronicity Films executive producer Claire Mundell said in a statement. “Barbra and her team have crafted the most beautiful song, based on Hans’ and Kara’s main theme for the show, and it sums up the key message of the series – love will survive. Recording the song with Barbra’s iconic vocals and William Ross conducting the LSO at Abbey Road Studios was an unforgettable moment and a memory I will treasure forever. We are thrilled to be able to honour the memory of Lali and Gita in this way, with this beautiful original piece of music.”
The series will be available beginning May 2nd on Sky Atlantic and the NOW streaming service in the UK and Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as Peacock in the U.S. and Stan in Australia.
Kelly Clarkson got emotional on Monday (April 15) when talking to former First Lady Hillary Clinton about the challenges she faced during her two pregnancies and the shocking recent decision by Arizona’s Supreme Court to set the stage for a near-total abortion ban in the state based on a law from 1864.
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“Did you ever think in your lifetime we would see that happen?” Clarkson asked Clinton of the situation in Arizona that has drawn widespread criticism from abortion rights supporters for its lack of exceptions for rape and incest. “It’s just insane to me, the thinking that went on in 1864. It’s a very different world. We know a lot more now. We are going backwards.”
Former Sec. of State Clinton was on The Kelly Clarkson Show to promote her new Broadway musical about the woman’s suffrage movement, Suffs, which she co-produced. “It is horrifying. I feared it would happen but I hoped it wouldn’t happen,” Clinton said of the latest fall-out from the conservative majority Supreme Court’s striking down of Roe v. Wade two years ago. “Now here we are in the middle of this very difficult period for women in about half the states of our country, who cannot get the care that they need.”
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In the wake of the Roe decision, 21 states have enacted laws to either ban or severely restrict abortion earlier in a pregnancy than the standard set by the law that codified abortion protection in 1973.
Clinton noted that the Arizona law — which was codified before Arizona was even a state — has no exceptions for rape or incest and serves as a potential danger to women. “And the danger to women’s lives as well as to our right to make our own decisions about our bodies and ourselves is so profound,” said Clinton. “And there’s another element to it, which I find so troubling. I mean, there’s a kind of cruelty to it. No exceptions for rape, incest, really?”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Clarkson got emotional when talking about her two pregnancies, during which she said she was hospitalized and feared for her life. “I literally asked God, this is a real thing, to just take me and my son in the hospital for the second time, because I was like, ‘It’s the worst thing,’” Clarkson said, apologizing for being overcome with emotion while discussing the difficult births of daughter River Rose, 9, and son Remington Alexander, 7, who she shares with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock.
“It was my decision and I’m so glad I did it, I love my babies, but to make someone …” Clarkson added. “And you don’t realize how hard it is. The fact that you would take that away from someone, that can literally kill them. The fact that if they’re raped by their family member and they have to — it’s just like insane to me.”
Speaking to the former 2016 presidential candidate, Clarkson then encouraged her viewers to get involved in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, saying it’s sometimes uncomfortable to keep hammering away at the importance of voting, but fearing that things could dramatically escalate over subjects we should be able to agree on.
“It’s hard to preach at someone that you have to care about something but at the same time, I feel like we’re going to end up in some kind of — not to sound dramatic but — some kind of civil war over things that I feel like we shouldn’t be divided on,” Clarkson said. Clinton agreed and said “all you can do” is try to inform people and let them know that, for instance, the Arizona legislature had a vote to try and repeal the 1864 law.
“So that there could be a much more sensible approach. It lost. It matters who is representing you,” Clinton counseled, urging viewers that voting is “your superpower — and it may not seem like it but it really is.”
The conversation had some lighter moments as well, including Clinton talking about her early days dating husband former President Bill Clinton and why Clarkson would never, ever write a memoir.
Watch Clinton and Clarkson below.
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Forget “The Power of Love,” the world is going to get an up-close behind-the-scenes look at the power of Céline Dion in her new documentary, which finally received an official release date. On Tuesday (April 16), via a joint Instagram post on the official pages for Dion and Prime Movies, Amazon MGM Studios announced that […]
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It’s Dune day! Dune: Part Two, the sequel to the science-fiction blockbuster, arrived on Prime Video and other streaming platforms on Tuesday (April 16).
Timothée Chalomet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, David Batista, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem star in the film adapted from the science-fiction novels of the same name.
In Dune 2, Paul Ateides (Chalamet) unites with Chani (Zendaya) and the other Fremen “while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family,” per the film description.
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The bonus edition of Dune 2 is available on Prime Video for $24.99 to rent, and $29.99 to buy a digital copy. If you want to order now and stream later, Prime Video gives you up to 30 days to start watching the movie, and 48 hours to finish streaming. You can stream Prime Video on your smart TV, computer or phone via the Prime Video app.
The VOD released is also available on Apple TV, YouTube TV and Google Play.
Dune 2 is one of Prime Video’s in-theather movie rentals, but Prime members also get access to a bunch of exclusive series, movies and sporting events for free.
Prime Video is free for Prime members. If you’re not subscriber, you can join with a 30-day free trial to give it a test run. Prime Video’s selection of exclusive programs includes Fallout, Road House, J-Hope on the Street, Gen V, Musica: Love Story, Daisy Jones & The Six, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Invincible and The Boys.
Prime Video allows subscribers to add Paramount+, Max, Starz, BET+, AMC+ and other streaming channels.
Amazon Prime costs $14.99 per month after the free trial. The subscription includes access to Amazon Music, Prime Gaming and Prime Reading, free shipping, exclusive deals, and other member-only benefits, plus Prime is 50% off for qualifying students and SNAP/Medicaid recipients.
Want to own a physical copy of Dune: Part Two? It’s available for pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD. The Steelbook edition sold out at Amazon and Walmart, but you can find it on resale sites such as eBay.
Purchase Dune: Part Two on Blu-ray below.
Dune Part Two
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Travis Kelce is heading from the field to the hosting stand! The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is officially the host of Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, a spinoff of the popular Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? game show, according to Extra. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest […]
Although BTS‘ Suga has another year left on his mandatory South Korean military service stint, the K-pop superstar is still lighting up the charts from afar. On Tuesday (April 16), Trafalgar Releasing and HYBE announced that the limited run of the concert film from the singer’s alter ego, Agust D, set box office records in […]
Katy Perry is on her way out of American Idol, with season 22 being her last before another musical sensation steps in to take over her role as a judge alongside Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.
And in an interview with E! News posted Tuesday (April 16), the pop star revealed who she would choose to take the reins following her exit: a certain breakout country superstar with face tattoos and a heart of gold. “I gotta say Jelly Roll was crazy when he came on the show,” she told the publication. “I was convinced at anything he said.”
“He could run for president, he could be my pastor, I might go back to church for him,” she added. “He could sell me anything … To have any of these guys plus Jelly on the show would be amazing. I love you, Jelly!”
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The interview comes about a week after the “Son of a Sinner” singer appeared on the April 8 episode of Idol, serving as a guest mentor and coaching the show’s top 24 contestants in Hawaii. “I realized how life-changing this is for these kids,” he told Billboard at the time. “Even if they go on and don’t have music careers, they have this story forever and I felt it on them. I took away the spirit of genuine happiness to be where you are, because it happens so fast that sometimes you don’t realize how special a moment it is.”
Even if it isn’t Jelly, Perry said she hopes that her successor shares her knack for being straightforward with the singing show’s competitors. “I want a truth teller,” she told the publication. “I want someone that is not afraid to tell the truth in a graceful way.”
“Unfortunately, when you’re a woman and you have an opinion or you’re a boss, sometimes you’re also considered a B-I-T-C-[H],” she added. “So just someone that has a strong sense of self, that listens to their intuition.”
The “Firework” singer has been a part of Idol since 2018, when the show was rebooted after three years off the air. She now has her sights set on recording a followup to her 2020 LP Smile, telling Jimmy Kimmel in February that she wants to “go see the world and maybe bring new music.”
“I just have yet to make a record from a place of feeling really happy and whole and full of love,” Perry, who shares 3-year-old daughter Daisy Dove with fiancé Orlando Bloom, said in an April interview with Access Hollywood. “Sometimes artists are like, ‘Oh, that’s boring, you want to make music from kind of like a tougher place,’ but actually it’s very bright and joyful, like pure joy and fun and playful and celebratory and a party.”
Three years after he blew Fab Four fans’ minds with his The Beatles: Get Back series, director Peter Jackson is dipping back into his Beatle bag on May 8 with the re-release of Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s legendary 1970 documentary Let It Be.
The film chronicling the final days of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr will be available for the first time in more than 50 years when it airs exclusively on Disney+ on May 8.
According to a release, the film recorded during the midst of the group’s breakup “now takes its rightful place in the band’s history. Once viewed through a darker lens, the film is now brought to light through its restoration and in the context of revelations brought forth” in Jackson’s Emmy-winning 2021 docuseries.
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“Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’” director Lindsay-Hogg said in a statement. “And it very much darkened the perception of the film. But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs. And then you get to the roof and you see their excitement, camaraderie and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
In fact, the restored Let It Be features footage that appeared Get Back, taking viewers into the studio and onto the Apple Corps London rooftop in Jan. 1969 for what would be the quartet’s final live performance. It also features the band in the studio writing and recording their Let It Be album. In the wake of the rapturous appreciation for Jackson’s series, and with Lindsay-Hogg’s support, Apple Corps asked Jackson’s Park Road Post Production team to restore Let It Be from the original 16mm negative, a process that also included the remastering of the film’s sound using the same MAL de-mix technology that was employed on Get Back.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” said Jackson in a statement. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and Let It Be is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970. I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and enhance each other: Let It Be is the climax of Get Back, while Get Back provides a vital missing context for Let It Be. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made Get Back, and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word…looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
On Monday, prior to the announcement — and six months after the Fabs dropped what was billed as their final song, the melancholy “Now and Then” — the Beatles site teased “There will be an answer,” a lyric from 1970’s “Let It Be.” The post was accompanied by four blank frames positioned to resemble the Let It Be album artwork, as well as what seemed like a cryptic clue, “At last…” and the Disney+ and Apple Corps logos.
Though Let It Be premiered in movie theaters in 1970 and was released on home video formats in the early 1980s, it has never been officially issued on DVD, blu-ray or streaming.