TV/Film
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Looks like A$AP Rocky will be returning to the silver screen. Spike Lee said the rapper will have the “main role” in his upcoming Highest 2 Lowest film in an interview with Deadline on Monday (Dec. 9). “The main role … is A$AP Rocky,” he said during the interview at the 2024 Red Sea International […]
The late country artist and Country Music Hall of Fame member Keith Whitley will be the focus of an upcoming documentary film, thanks in part to his fellow country artist Blake Shelton. The Whitley-centered documentary will begin filming in January 2025.
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Shelton is co-producing the documentary with Lee Metzger of Lucky Horseshoe Productions. Also leading the project are Anomaly Content & Entertainment (ACE) partner and producer Evan Hayes (Free Solo), with ACE partner and CEO Justin Barocas serving as executive producer and Zach Heinzerling (Cutie and the Boxer, McCartney 3, 2, 1) serving as director.
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Whitley died in May 1989 at age 34, with only two full-length studio country albums having been released by the time of his passing (1985’s L.A. to Miami and 1988’s Don’t Close Your Eyes; his third album, 1989’s I Wonder Do You Think of Me, arrived three months after his death). However, the songwriting and vocal prowess displayed on those projects — and in his live shows — has been an indelible influence on generations of artists. Whitley’s “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” earned the CMA’s 1989 single of the year honor, while Whitley’s duet with wife Lorrie Morgan, “‘Til a Tear Becomes a Rose,” was named the CMA’s vocal event of the year in 1990.
The documentary will look at Whitley’s life and career, his struggles with addiction, his romance and marriage to fellow country artist Morgan, and his lasting impact on the music industry. The upcoming documentary will also feature archival footage from the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well as personal collections from Morgan. The film will also look at Whitley’s roots in Sandy Hook, Kentucky, and will highlight reflections from Morgan as she navigates her own career while honoring Whitley’s memory.
Shelton said in a statement, “Keith Whitley released only three albums during his life, but his music has influenced generations of country music artists and fans. Gwen [Stefani] and I love to watch music documentaries, and I looked for his doc one night and couldn’t believe that there wasn’t one. I’m proud and honored we get to bring his incredible story to film.”
“Thanks to Blake, we finally have the chance to uncover the truth behind the legend that is Keith Whitley: a layered and heartbreaking story of talent, hardship, and love that is long overdue,” Heinzerling added. “It’s an honor to bring Keith’s story to a wide audience,” Metzger said. “He’s the kind of singer everyone knows the songs when they hear them but doesn’t know the story of the singer who performed them.” Hayes said, “What drew me to this project was the idea of tapping into a pop culture story that lies slightly beneath the surface. Here is this guy who is so important in the country music world — he inspired the modern Star Is Born, Morgan Wallen wrote a song about him and his music — and a lot of people don’t know his name. To be able to explore this character and this love story that had permeated pop culture country music in such an impactful way and to introduce it to mainstream audiences is exciting.”
In 2023, Shelton and Metzger founded Lucky Horseshoe Productions, which helmed the USA Network series Barmageddon, and is in pre-production on the upcoming singing competition series The Road.
Motown Records icon Smokey Robinson remembers that at one of the storied label’s holiday parties in the late ‘60s, he received a very special gift.
“Stevie Wonder came,” Robinson recalls to Billboard, “and gave me a cassette tape with the music for [the No. 1 R&B/pop hit] ‘The Tears of a Clown.’ But he couldn’t think of a song to go with it and wanted me to write a song for that music. And so I did. And ‘Tears’ became one of the biggest songs I’ve ever been associated with around the world.”
Now, as NBC gets set to premiere its holiday special A Motown Christmas, Robinson is promising music fans a “great night featuring legendary Motown artists and contemporary artists singing music and having a good time together.” The two-hour special bows Wednesday (Dec. 11) at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and will stream the next day on Peacock.
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Halle Bailey and Smokey Robinson in ‘A Motown Christmas.’
Carell Augustus/NBC
Hosts Robinson and Halle Bailey will be welcoming a diverse cast of performers that includes Gladys Knight, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and the Temptations as well as Ashanti, Andra Day, BeBe Winans, Jamie Foxx, JoJo, Jordin Sparks, MGK, October London, Pentatonix and the hosts themselves. More than 25 Motown gems and other songs will be performed via a tuneful array of solos, duets and group medleys.
Among the highlights: London’s medley of Marvin Gaye songs (including “What’s Going On”); Knight (“Midnight Train to Georgia”); Pentatonix’s Four Tops medley (including “I Can’t Help Myself”); Foxx (“Little Drummer Boy”); Bailey and The Supremes’ medley (including “Stop in the Name of Love”); a Temptations medley (including “My Girl”); Andra Day (“Higher Ground”), Ashanti (“Santa Baby”) and Robinson performing his and the Miracles’ classics including the aforementioned “The Tears of a Clown.” Rounding out the show will be a world exclusive performance from the Broadway company of MJ the Musical.
Gladys Knight in ‘A Motown Christmas.’
Justin Lubin/NBC
Calling fellow host Bailey “a wonderful young woman and a great talent,” Robinson also talked about working with the executive producers of A Motown Christmas, Debbie Allen and Motown alumnus Suzanne de Passe. “Debbie and Suzanne are my sisters,” he says. “I’ve known them forever and ever, so it’s always great to work with them. Debbie is one of the best choreographers and dancers that you’d ever want to meet. And Suzanne is a Motown mainstay. At one point she was our A&R director for music and now she’s a top movie and television producer.”
Asked about Motown founder Berry Gordy’s reaction to the holiday special, Robinson notes, “I think he’s going to love it because, you know, he is the reason for the season. On the very first day at Motown, he sat us down — it was four people there other than him — and said, ‘I’m going to start my own record company, and we’re not just going to make Black music. We’re going to make beats for everybody, make music for the world; quality music.’ So we set out to do that and, thank God, I think we accomplished it. If it hadn’t been for Berry, we wouldn’t be having a Motown special.”
Jamie Foxx and Halle Bailey in ‘A Motown Christmas.’
Todd Williamson/NBC
Just as she prophesied on Cowboy Carter‘s “Protector,” Beyoncé is watching her kids shine on their own.
Following the premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King starring Blue Ivy Carter in the leading role of Kiara, the superstar posted a heartfelt message dedicated to her 12-year-old daughter on Instagram Monday (Dec. 9) and wrote that she “could not be prouder” of her hard work. “My gorgeous baby girl,” Bey began, sharing photos of Blue modeling a gold Christian Siriano ballgown on the Mufasa red carpet. “This is your night.”
“You worked hard and you did such a beautiful job as the voice of Kiara,” added the “Break My Soul” singer, who also stars in the film as Nala. “Your family could not be prouder. Keep shining.”
The new live-action Mufasa comes five years after the 2019 remake of The Lion King, which also found Bey voicing the character of Nala and contributing a self-curated soundtrack album titled The Gift. The LP reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and earned a Grammy nod for best pop vocal album.
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Half a decade later, the vocalist is now sharing the cinematic spotlight with Blue, whom she joined on the red carpet Monday along with Jay-Z and Tina Knowles. The next day, Good Morning America aired a behind-the-scenes clip of the mom-daughter duo recording their parts for the movie — in which Bey’s firstborn at one point asks her mom to stop staring at her, to which the Destiny’s Child alum responds, “I can’t help it — you’re just too beautiful.”
“Seeing Blue as Kiara and hearing her voice come out of that character … it’s really hard to focus and do my job after that,” Bey says in a sit-down interview portion, tears welling up in her eyes. “I can’t believe that’s my baby.”
Blue Ivy adds, “This is just a great experience for me, and I’m really happy that girls who look like me all around the world are able to watch this movie and hear and see themselves in it.”
Bey — who also shares 7-year-old twins Rumi and Sir with the Roc Nation founder — has worked with her eldest daughter before. Blue joined her mom on some of the Renaissance Tour in 2023, performing choreography for “My Power” and “Black Parade” on stage on certain dates of the world trek — an opportunity Bey says the tween had to do some convincing in order to secure.
“She told me she was ready to perform, and I told her no,” the superstar said in last year’s Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé, before noting that the resistance only made Blue train harder.
Mufasa: The Lion King hits theaters Dec. 20. Watch Bey and Blue on GMA below.
As promised, Jamie Foxx is opening up about the health scare that led to his hospitalization in 2023. In his new Netflix special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, Foxx details the brain bleed that led to him going off-the-radar for much of the past two years due after an April 2023 health emergency that led to the Oscar-winner’s hospitalization.
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“You have no idea how good this feels. Atlanta, I’m back,” Foxx says tearily in the special that dropped on Tuesday (Dec. 10), according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I was fighting for my life, but I’m here in front of you.” The emotional return to the stage — which has already picked up an early 2025 Golden Globe nomination for best performance in stand-up comedy on television — is described as a mixture of “laughter, music and sobering truth,” as Foxx gets candid with the crowd about his rehab and recovery.
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The special was filmed in Atlanta, which is where Foxx was when he became ill while filming his on-screen reunion with Cameron Diaz in the upcoming Netflix comedy Back in Action. It opens with a montage of videos of fans speculation about what happened to Foxx, with his daughter Corinne coming out first to thank the audience. “This is a special moment for me and my family. It is a blessing to even be here,” she says.
Foxx is emotional at first, wiping away tears, before diving into the red-hot internet rumor mill that revved up after his hospitalization, which was stoked by the lack of accurate information on what had befallen the 56-year-old star. “The internet tried to kill me, though,” he says. “They said I was paralyzed. They said I couldn’t walk. Well, look at me now.”
The tone then reportedly gets serious, as Foxx says that his team still doesn’t know exactly what happened to him on April 11, 2023, explaining that it all began as a very bad headache. “I don’t remember 20 days,” he says, noting that the first doctor he saw dismissed his symptoms, though his sister, Deidra Dixon, sensed something was seriously wrong and drove him around looking for a hospital to treat her brother; that hospital, Piedmont Hospital, is just around the corner from the Atlanta theater where the special was filmed.
A doctor there realized Foxx was having a “brain bleed” that led to a stroke and needed immediate surgery. He recalls that the doctor told Dixon that it was possible the actor would make a full recovery from the stroke, but that he was facing the “worst year of his life.” Foxx says that’s why he retreated from the public, remembering that he woke up on May 4 in a wheelchair with no recollection of what had happened.
“I saw the tunnel. I didn’t see the light,” Foxx says in the special. “It was hot in that tunnel. S–t, am I going to the wrong place in this motherf–ker? Because I looked at the end of the tunnel, and I thought I saw the devil, like, ‘C’mon.’ Or is that Puffy [Combs]?”
Foxx says it was hard to accept the diagnosis at first, but that a psychiatrist helped him focus, which led to what he describes as a deep conversation with God that helped him fight hard to recover by leaning into his humor. He says that his mantra became: “If I can stay funny, I can stay alive.” He also thanks his daughter Corinne for cutting off all access to him during that time, saying his family “didn’t want you to see me like that. And I didn’t want you to see me like that… I want you to see me like this.”
Though he was afraid during the first two weeks of hospitalization that he would die, Foxx gives 14-year-old daughter Anelise credit for sneaking into his hospital room and playing her guitar, a scene she recreates in the special. Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… is streaming on Netflix now.
In honor of earning her first Golden Globes nomination since 2009, Miley Cyrus made “Beautiful That Way,” recorded for Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl starring Pamela Anderson, available for listening Monday (Dec. 9) via YouTube. Appearing at the end of The Last Showgirl — which follows the Baywatch actress as a performer facing a reckoning […]
After earning her fourth Golden Globes nomination on Monday (Dec. 9), Cynthia Erivo is practically “Defying Gravity.”
In a series of posts to her Instagram Stories, Erivo celebrated her nomination for the 2024 Golden Globes, along with the many nominations for her smash-hit film Wicked. “Now that my feet are hovering off the ground, I cannot even come close to properly expressing what this moment means to me,” she wrote under a photo of herself as Elphaba. “Not just because of this individual nomination, but because I get to watch as this project and my @wickedmovie family are celebrated, too.”
The actress/singer was nominated on Monday for best performance by a female actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy for her role as Elphaba in Wicked. Erivo’s co-star Ariana Grande also received a nomination in the supporting role category for her work as Glinda on the film, while the film itself was nominated for best motion picture — musical or comedy.
“Being a part of this project has been a dream come true, and playing Elphaba, a woman who speaks to everyone who has ever felt like they don’t belong and lets them know they have the power to defy gravity, has been the honor of a lifetime,” Erivo continued.
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The actress shared special praise for the film’s director Jon M. Chu — who Erivo thanked for his “wonderful dedication to this work,” and his “care for each one of us on your set” — and for Grande, who she called her “little sister” in a post. “I’m so proud of you. You’re so deserving of this moment, and I’m glad I get to share the seconds and the moments and the days and the years with you,” she wrote. “This journey has been so unbelievably special, and I believe it is the company we have kept together that has made it as special as it has been and will continue to be.”
In one final post on her Stories, Erivo shared a special shoutout to the other women nominated in her category — Amy Adams, Karla Sofía Gascón, Mikey Madison, Demi Moore and Zendaya. “Being named alongside you powerhouses is one of the truest honors of them all,” she wrote. “I can’t wait to be in a room celebrating you all!!”
The new posts come just after Grande herself shared her own thoughts on being nominated, saying that she was “floored and honored to be recognized by members of the @goldenglobes” for the annual ceremony.
Ariana Grande and Wicked were very popular among the Golden Globes voters this year, something the 31-year-old singer-actress celebrated with a heartfelt message on her Instagram Stories on Monday (Dec. 9).
Sharing a post highlighting her own best supporting actress nod — which the Golden Globes announced earlier that morning along with the rest of its 2025 nominations — Grande began, “oh my goodness oh my goodness.”
“I am floored and honored to be recognized by members of the @goldenglobes,” she continued. “crying (of course) … It’s impossible to find my words, but I am simply so deeply grateful for this acknowledgement.”
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In addition to the R.E.M. Beauty founder’s recognition in the best supporting actress category — which she shares with Emilia Pérez‘s Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana, The Brutalist‘s Felicity Jones, The Substance‘s Margaret Qualley and Conclave‘s Isabella Rossellini — Wicked also took home nominations for best motion picture, musical or comedy, and cinematic box office achievement. Co-leading lady Cynthia Erivo is also up for best performance by a female actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy, which Grande shouted out in her post.
“Congratulations to my brilliant, dear sister @cynthiaerivo, and all of our Ozian family on this celebration of our work,” she concluded. “I can’t possibly express my gratitution.”
The first wave of awards recognition comes shortly after Jon M. Chu’s Wicked premiered in theaters on Nov. 22. In the couple of weeks since, the project’s soundtrack album has debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 — the highest ever debut for a big-screen adaptation of a stage musical on the chart — and the film has become the highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office based on a Broadway musical.
Grande’s performance as Glinda in the film has been specifically recognized by other institutions as well, including the Palm Springs International Film Awards — which is set to award her with the Rising Star Award — and the Astra Awards, which recently crowned her best supporting actress in a tie with Saldana. Of the latter recognition, the “Yes, And?” musician wrote on her Story on Monday, “thank you so so so much for this honor.”
“and yes, @zoesaldana we did it :’) !” she added. “i’m so grateful to share this with you.”
Selena Gomez has a lot to celebrate. In addition to receiving a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress on Monday (Dec. 9), the 32-year-old singer-actress also has two friends up for the same category — Emilia Pérez costar Zoe Saldaña and fellow pop star Ariana Grande — whom she cheered on in a post […]
Eugenio Derbez is walking back his harsh comments about Selena Gomez‘s performance in the Netflix musical movie Emilia Pérez.
During a recent appearance on the Hablando de Cine podcast, the Mexican actor and comedian criticized Gomez’s attempt at speaking Spanish in the film, calling her performance “indefensible.”
Gomez, who plays Jessi del Monte in the Jacques Audiard-directed film, speaks Spanish in the movie but is not fluent in the language.
“Selena is indefensible,” Derbez said in a clip from the podcast, which was shared on TikTok. “I was there [watching the movie] with people, and every time a scene came [with her in it], we looked at each other and said, ‘Wow, what is this?’”
Derbez agreed with Hablando de Cine host Gaby Meza, who suggested that Gomez struggled to add nuance to her performance because Spanish isn’t her first language and she didn’t fully understand what she was saying.
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Gomez responded to the criticism in the comments section of the TikTok post. “I understand where you are coming from. I’m sorry I did the best I could with the time I was given,” the Only Murders in the Building actress wrote. “Doesn’t take away from how much work and heart I put into this movie.”
The Grammy-nominated singer and actress also addressed Derbez’s comments directly: “Also, do not ever say my fans are the problem standing up, as you say, for me.”
The CODA star later posted an apology to Gomez in a letter posted to TikTok. “I truly apologize for my careless comments — they are indefensible and go against everything I stand for,” Derbez wrote. “As Latinos, we should always support one another. There’s no excuse. I was wrong, and I deeply admire your career and your kind heart.”
Emilia Pérez tells the story of cartel boss Manitas del Monte (played by Sofía Gascón), who retires from the business to undergo gender reassignment surgery and become the titular character. The film’s plot is further defined by musical numbers that blend rock, pop and rap, all sung in Spanish, capturing the transformation of its central characters. The film also stars Zoe Saldaña.