State Champ Radio TV/Film
Page: 298
Georgette Jones already has strong ties to the Showtime limited series George & Tammy: Not only is it about her parents and based on the book she wrote, but she also appears in the final episode.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Jones makes a cameo as a backup singer in the finale airing Sunday. In an exclusive clip provided to The Hollywood Reporter, she appears on a tour bus with band members, as well as Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon in the roles of Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Together they sing “Lost Highway,” with Georgette Jones kicking off the second verse.
The 52-year-old daughter of the country music legends said as she was preparing to visit the set of the series, producers asked her if she’d want to make an appearance.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I am not an actress but I will happily pretend to be one,’” Jones tells THR. “If they want to put me somewhere — it would be so much fun to be able to do that.”
George & Tammy is based on her 2011 memoir, The Three of Us: Growing Up With Tammy and George. She said filming her scenes was fun and pleasant — but also sentimental.
“I was swept up in a very emotional state of mind during the whole thing. It was strange, knowing that I’m on a simulated bus with what’s supposed to be my parents and their band, but at the same moment, being able to see the scene play out and know what’s happening, listening to the music and listening to the words of the song, and knowing how this is ending the series — it was very, very emotional,” Jones says. “I think it hit me full swing when we finished filming it. I just broke down at the end because it was just a release of all that emotion building up for that scene.”
The six-episode show debuted in December. It chronicles Wynette and George Jones’ complicated yet stirring relationship and the hits they produced, including Wynette’s signature classic, “Stand by Your Man.”
Jones says playing a backup singer for her parents onscreen was something she was used to doing in real life.
“I actually spent a summer working as a backup singer for my mom when I was starting college,” she recalls. “I have all these memories of — not just working for Mom then — but growing up on the road with one or both of my parents at different times. So I was flooded with a lot of memories of being on the bus and remembering those types of events.”
Chastain’s performance in George & Tammy earned her a nomination for best actress in a limited series at the 2023 Golden Globes, which take place Tuesday. Jones says she approved of Chastain and Shannon’s portrayals of her parents.
“I think they did an incredible job. I really, really do — both with the music and with the acting,” she says.
“Jessica has really been our champion for this entire process,” Jones continues of the Oscar winner, who also serves as an executive producer on the series. “I’m so thankful that she not only signed on, but stuck with it. And there were times where different people at different times, before we got to where we were in the end, were trying to suggest things and wanted it to go in a different direction. And Jessica and [show creator] Abe [Sylvia] and [EP] Andrew [Lazar] all really pushed for an honest portrayal, not just some of the glamorous things on the road. And it meant a lot to me that she pushed for that. She wanted us to have an accurate and real story of my mom and my dad.”
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
50 Cent shared the news on Friday (Jan. 6) that he’s adapting the 2002 film 8 Mile into a TV series with the help of Eminem.
“I’m gonna bring his 8 Mile to television,” the rapper said in an interview with Big Boy TV about Em’s semi-autobiographical film. “We’re in motion.” (50 also confirmed that Eminem will also be involved in the project after host Big Boy asked, “Does he know?”)
“It’s gonna be big. I ain’t got no duds. I’m battin’ a hundred, I’m battin’ a hundred,” he continued, likely referring to his long-running Starz series Power as well as its various spinoffs Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan and Power Book IV: Force. Born Curtis Jackson, the multi-hyphenate also had a role in the 2020 ABC legal drama For Life for the entirety of its two-season run.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Who’s idea is that? Did you have to convince Em? Because 8 Mile is a classic,” Big Boy then queried, leading 50 to respond, “No, I think it should be there for his legacy, because if you don’t see… it’s important to me that they understand it, you know what I mean?”
Back in November, 50 Cent served as guest host for The Drew Barrymore Show while host Drew Barrymore was out sick with COVID. Meanwhile, the artist otherwise known as Marshall Mathers got into a rap battle with Spider-Man on a limited edition cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #1 that same month.
Watch 50 Cent dish on the 8 Mile TV series and Eminem’s legacy below. (Starts at the 24:50 mark.)
Your nightmares have been answered. Netflix confirmed on Friday (Jan. 6) that its massive hit series Wednesday will return for a second season on the streamer. Though a date has not yet been announced for season 2, in an interview with Tudum, creators/executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar talked about bringing back Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) for another go.
“We can’t wait to dive headfirst into another season and explore the kooky, spooky world of Nevermore,” showrunners Millar and Gough exclusively told the Netflix news site. “We just need to make sure Wednesday hasn’t emptied the pool first.”
The news came along with a video trailer teasing the return cued to the viral TikTok hit launched by Wednesday’s dance to The Cramps’ 1981 single “Goo Goo Muck,” which inspired users to swap in Lady Gaga‘s 2011 Born This Way deep cut “Bloody Mary.” In the 45-second clip, perennially dyspeptic teen detective Wednesday recaps being hunted by monsters, haunted by ghosts and mocked on the internet.
“It’s been pure torture,” she says grinning as the sped-up version of Gaga’s “Mary” swells in the background and the screen reads, “More misery is coming.”
“[Wednesday] sticks to her guns, and she’s not out to please anybody,” Ortega told Tudum of the series that smashed records for Netflix, with 411.29 million hours viewed in its second week, 22 billion views on TikTok and 1.237 billion hours viewed, making it the second most-popular English-language hit in the streamer’s history. “Which, as someone who used to be an immense people pleaser, I really respect.”
The viral “Bloody Mary” phenomenon helped push the Gaga track into the top 40 of the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart las month despite it not being featured in the series proper; the revamped dance sequence also helped propel “Bloody” onto the Billboard Global 200. The trend blew up so big, in fact, that even Mother Monster got in on the action, posting a black and white response video in early December in which she slips into the signature Wednesday Addams look and dancing with her hands, hands, hands.
“It’s been incredible to create a show that’s connected with people across the world,” Millar and Gough said while (spoiler alert) hinting that the stalker running around Nevermore in the season one finale remains a threat to Addams. “We’re thrilled to continue Wednesday’s torturous journey into Season 2.” Millar and Gough said that casting and plot news will be revealed at a later date.
Check out the video below.
Dolly Parton honored her friend, the late actor-comedian Leslie Jordan, by making a surprise appearance on the television series Call Me Kat — on which Jordan co-starred — on Thursday (Jan. 5).
The country icon spoke to Jordan during her pre-taped message, which introduced a collection of the actor’s most memorable moments on the Fox comedy that stars Mayim Bialik as Kat.
According to TV Line, Parton began her message by singing a portion of “Where the Soul Never Dies,” which the show tweeted a brief clip of.
“I know usually at a memorial people talk about somebody. Well, I’m going to talk to you, because there is that place on the other side and I’m certainly going to see you there, little brother,” she then said. “You left a lot of people here with a lot of precious, precious memories. Everybody loved you, but I doubt many of them loved you more than I did. I just want you to know that we all love you.”
“We all miss you, and I bet you’re having a big laugh over all of us being sad and sorrowful, and I know that would be the last thing you would want us to be.”
“You made us happy while you were here and we’re happy that you’re at peace,” she added. “I just want you to know that I will always love you. Goodbye, my sweet Leslie. See you over there.” Parton ended by singing a bit of her hit “I Will Always Love You.”
In 2021, the actor-singer released the album Company’s Comin’, which featured a collaboration with Parton on “Where the Soul Never Dies.”
Jordan died Oct. 24, 2022, at age 67, following a car accident in Hollywood, Calif. He was known for his work on shows including Call Me Kat, Will & Grace, The Cool Kids, and The Book of Queer.
See Call Me Kat‘s brief Twitter clip of the tribute:
No major spoilers, but if you tuned in to the second season of HBO’s hit vacation nightmare series White Lotus you may have missed a super low-key guest appearance from Oscar-winning actress Laura Dern. On Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday night (Jan. 5), the host asked Dern to describe how she ended up making a hush-hush cameo on the series.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
And, of course, what it’s like to be spotted by Taylor Swift fans in the wild thanks to her role in the singer’s “Bejweled” video.
“Recorded from the closet of my room,” Dern said of the secret bit she laid down as a favor to her old friend, Lotus writer and creator Mike White, who previously teamed up with Dern on his previous HBO series, Enlightened. As explained by Kimmel, Dern had an uncredited voice role as star Michael Imperioli’s estranged wife, who is heard, but never seen, in the show.
“It was amazing,” Dern said of the drop-in. “I loved literally recording into my phone and him saying, ‘just go to town, be as angry as you want.’” Dern said she didn’t tell anyone about phoning it in, but noted that her son figure it out when they watched the show together.
Kimmel also asked Dern about her on-screen cameo as the evil stepmother to the Haim sisters in Taylor Swift’s Cinderella-inspired “Bejeweled” video. “Taylor asked me and it sounded like such an incredible time and I was amazed by what a great filmmaker she is, how prepared she was, how improvisational and fun it was. I had the time of my life,” Dern said of Swift’s turn as a director on the shoot for the song from her Midnights album.
Sure, it was fun and tens of millions of people saw the video, but Dern noted that on a recent trip to Hawaii with family she happened to be standing near a sign for a tour of scenes from the Jurassic Park series — Dern has appeared in three films in the series — when a Swiftie spotted her in the wold. Not wanting to do the “whole Jurassic Park thing” while trying to enjoy a vacay with her family, Dern was expecting the girl to ask for a selfie with legendary paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler.
Instead, the fan squealed, “‘Oh my God! Oh my God! Aren’t you the girl in the Taylor Swift video?’” A good sport, Dern said she agreed to a photo marking her pivotal role as a Swift-adjacent actress, which, of course, was framed with the “Welcome to Jurassic Park” sign in the background.
Watch Dern on Kimmel below.
Legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has signed on to write the music for Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s forthcoming feature film Monster (Kaibutsu), Tokyo-based production company Gaga Corporation revealed Thursday.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Sakamoto will provide newly written compositions as well as some of his pre-existing music for the film, producers say. A musical polymath, Sakamoto made his film debut with the iconic score for Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), starring David Bowie. He later won an Oscar with his music for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) and a Golden Globe nomination for his compositions for Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant (2015). The partnership with Kore-eda marks his first work on a high-profile Japanese title in some time.
Monster is also Kore-eda’s first Japanese film since he won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2018 with Shoplifters. It follows the director’s French film The Truth, which opened the Venice Film Festival in 2019, and his Korean title Broker, released earlier this year.
Story details for Monster are being kept under wraps, but Gaga revealed Thursday that Sakura Ando, the breakout star of Shoplifters, will lead the new film’s cast. Rounding out the cast are Nagayama Eita (Hokusai), Mitsuki Takahata (Japanese Girls Never Die), Akihiro Kakuta (Spring Has Come), Shido Nakamura (Twisted Justice), Yuko Tanaka (Midnight Diner), and child actors Soya Kurokawa and Hinata Hiiragi.
Currently in postproduction, Monster will release in Japan on June 2. The release date sets the film up for a potential world premiere in May at Cannes, where Kore-eda is a regular.
Monster will be the second movie directed by Kore-eda that he didn’t also write himself, following Maborosi, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival way back in 1995. The new film is scripted by Yuji Sakamoto, the writer of such Japanese TV series hits Mother, Woman and Matrimonial Chaos. Prolific writer-director Genki Kawamura, whose directorial effort A Hundred Flowers recently won best director at the San Sebastián festival, is lead producer of Monster.
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
Attention, Navy: Rihanna‘s Amazon documentary could be coming out any day now — but of course, the last person who gets to hit the “approve for release” button is the Bad Gal herself.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Thursday (Jan. 5), Peter Berg — director of Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor and more — gave an update on the long-awaited Rihanna documentary filk that has been more than six years in the making.
According to Berg, the only thing left to do is “waiting for her to approve it. It’s done and sold, and Amazon’s ready.” He continued, “She’s a perfectionist, so we keep adding. It’s been six and a half years of filming, so, yeah, it’s ready to come out. We’re just waiting on her to say, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ I don’t know. Maybe it’ll be a 10-year project.”
While it’s possible that the “Work” singer will want to extend the project, Berg is not worried about Rihanna giving the green light. When asked if there were any concerns about the singer not approving the documentary, Berg replied, “Not really.”
The Friday Night Lights director also revealed that he was surprised Rihanna wanted him to direct her documentary film. “When Rihanna asked me to make a doc, I thought she was joking. My work tends to be a bit more masculine, at least on the surface. But this has allowed me to dip in and out of her life while I’m doing other things,” he said. “I’ve loved it — watching her in the studio, seeing her turn Fenty into this billion-dollar entity and, now, being a mom. It’s such an enriching experience, I don’t really care how long it takes.”
News of the documentary first arose in 2016, and by 2019, it was publicized that the documentary sold to Amazon for $25 million. The untitled doc, which will be narrowed down from over 1,200 hours of footage as of 2019, will serve as an unfiltered look into Rihanna’s life and a glimpse into the evolution of one of the world’s most well-known pop artists. Berg and Rihanna previously worked together on Universal’s Battleship.
Coming out can be a strange experience for queer folks — but as Noah Schnapp can now attest, Stranger Things have happened.
In a TikTok posted Thursday (Jan. 5), the Stranger Things actor revealed that he identifies as gay. Lip-syncing along with another creator’s sound saying “You know what it never was? That serious,” Schnapp wrote a message over the video saying, “When I finally told my friends and family that I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years, and all they said was ‘we know.’”
In a caption for his post, the actor kept the mood light, writing “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.” The comment references a scene from season 4 of Stranger Things, in which it appeared that Schnapp’s character, Will Byers, was admitting his love for his best friend, Mike Wheeler. Following fan speculation from the scene, Schnapp told Variety that there was no question about Will’s sexuality: “It’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike.”
The actor made headlines in 2022 when he revealed an online exchange he had with Doja Cat, wherein the “Woman” singer asked him to set her up with co-star Joseph Quinn. Doja would later go on to call Schnapp posting their conversation “borderline snake sh–,” before Schnapp later revealed that he had spoken with and apologized to the rapper. “Everything is all good I apologized and I still follow her and love her music,” he wrote on TikTok.
Check out Schnapp’s coming-out video below:
Julia Fox made an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Wednesday night (Jan. 4) and dished on her relationships with both Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
“I have not talked to Kanye in almost a year,” the Uncut Gems star confessed. “And I have, like, been in the same room as Kim, but we’ve never spoken about anything.”
When host Andy Cohen pressed for more details about her interaction with the SKIMS mogul, Fox added, “Well, it was a very big room. So I was here, she was here. That was it.” She also clarified that her headline-grabbing relationship with Kanye only lasted “a month” before they broke things off.
And even though she’s never talked to Kardashian, Fox claimed in a TikTok video late last year that her whirlwind fling with Ye was actually all for the reality TV star’s benefit. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, maybe I can get him off of Kim’s case. Maybe I can distract him, just get him to like me and I knew if anyone can do it, it’s me.’ Because when I set my mind to something, I do it,” she said at the time. However, Fox “realized pretty quickly that he wasn’t gonna take my help” and added that the moment the rapper got back on Twitter, she was “out.”
Since their breakup in early 2022, West has become embroiled in wave after wave of controversy due to his barrage of antisemitic remarks and hate speech on social media and in the press. In late December, he was named “Antisemite of the Year” by nonprofit watchdog group StopAntisemitism, suspended from the social platform Clubhouse and had his honorary doctorate degree rescinded by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Watch Fox’s interview on WWHL above.
Harry Styles completely surprised his fans last April when he brought out the one and only Shania Twain as a guest performer at Coachella. But it turns out, the two go way back.
In a recent appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Twain opened up about how her friendship with the 28-year-old “As It Was” singer began long before their partnership at the music festival. “He was playing a show in New York,” she explained on Wednesday (Jan. 4). “This is before he really blew up.”
“I went backstage to meet him became,” she continued. “We became texting friends.”
Later, the “You’re Still the One” musician was asked by Styles to wish his mom a happy birthday over the phone, she recalled. “‘My mom was a big influence on me and why I grew up with your music,’” Twain remembered Styles telling her.
“I called her up and wished her happy birthday,” she added. “Harry and I have been friends ever since.”
Afterward, the 57-year-old singer-songwriter was just one call away for Styles to invite her to perform her hits “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and “You’re Still the One” with him in Coachella Valley. The pair wore matching sparkly outfits and danced with each other onstage.
Twain, whose album Queen of Me drops next month, also spoke with Colbert about being an inspiration to some of today’s top artists including Post Malone, Taylor Swift and, of course, Styles. “Things have gone full circle these last 25, 30 years for me,” she said. “These are artists that were kids … growing up to my music. And now, they’re grown up and able to express whatever that inspiration was to me. It feels really, really good.”
Watch Shania Twain talk about her friendship with Harry Styles above.
