Month: August 2021

There was a time when Impeachment, the third installment of American Crime Story, almost didn’t happen. Ryan Murphy temporarily scrapped his telling of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal before thinking better of it. And proof that he’s seeing it through can be found in the new poster for the series, which was debuted by its resident Lewinsky, Beanie Feldstein.

It also gifts the world with the first look at Feldstein as Lewinsky — sort of. It’s just her back as she stands, facing the White House, ready to unwittingly expose a sitting president’s extramarital affairs. Speaking of which, Sarah Paulson will play Linda Tripp, the co-worker who broke the news of her trysts with the commander-in-chief, partly by secretly taping their phonecalls. Meanwhile, Clive Owen plays Bill and Edie Falco Hillary, which sounds great — but not as great as Betty Gilpin’s Ann Coulter or Billy Eichner’s Matt Drudge.

Lewinsky herself has been heavily involved in the production, giving notes and advice on the scripts for every episode. In fact, it was roping her in that inspired Murphy to return to the project, having felt that a series that didn’t feature her input would be “gross.”

Impeachment: American Crime Story debuts on FX starting September 7.

(Via Vanity Fair)

Talen Horton-Tucker is headed back to Los Angeles. After spending the first two days of the NBA’s free agency period as a restricted free agent, Horton-Tucker and the Lakers were able to come to terms on a deal that prevented the promising young wing from signing an offer sheet with another team.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Horton-Tucker put pen to paper on a three-year deal that will keep him in L.A. for $32 million.

As a restricted free agent, another franchise could have potentially put the Lakers in a precarious position by signing Horton-Tucker to a hefty deal and daring them to match. Instead, Los Angeles was able to keep the 20-year-old with the only team for which he’s played during his NBA tenure. He also gives the team someone who is familiar with their style of play, something that could help him compete for early minutes as a number of other players get used to life in L.A.

With the Lakers bringing in a handful of veteran players in free agency, Horton-Tucker gives them the added bonus of a youngster with room to grow. Last season, the former second-round pick averaged nine points, 2.8 assists, 2.6 rebounds, and a steal in 20.1 minutes per game.

Joel and Ethan Coen have made some of the best movies of the past 30 years, including one Best Picture winner (No Country for Old Men), three more Best Picture nominees (Fargo, A Serious Man, True Grit), and a half-dozen other films that should have been nominated for Best Picture (Inside Llewyn Davis, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, etc.). The brothers have never gone more than three years between films, but with no follow-up to 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs on the horizon, that decades-long streak is about to be snapped. In fact, there may never be a new movie from both Coen brothers again, according to collaborator Carter Burwell.

“Ethan just didn’t want to make movies anymore,” the composer, who’s frequently worked with the Coens since 1984’s Blood Simple, said on the Score podcast (via LA Magazine). “Ethan seems to be very happy doing what he’s doing.” As for Joel, he wrote and directed his first solo feature, The Tragedy of Macbeth, which premieres at the 2021 New York Film Festival. “I’m not sure what Joel will do after [Macbeth],” Burwell added.

[Ethan] Coen did say in fall 2019 that he was “giving movies a rest” in order to focus on his solo playwriting. But Burwell’s explanation after about two years of Ethan not participating in the making of any movies sounded more definitive than a simple break.

Now before you bash your head against a chalkboard, Sy Ableman-style, thinking about a world without new movies from the Coens, Burwell did note that the screenwriter brothers have “a ton of scripts they’ve written together that are sitting on various shelves… I hope maybe they get back to some of those because I’ve read some and they’re great. But I don’t know. We’re all at an age where we could retire, but I don’t think that’s exactly what’s going to happen.” It better not. I’m not ready to say fare thee well.

(Via LA Magazine)

Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified: Season 1 (Netflix docuseries) — UFOs are so hot right now, and Netflix is taking a crack at a docuseries ahead of J.J. Abrams’ Showtime series. Things might be coming to a head (as far as public interest goes) after the U.S. government’s so-called comprehensive report on Unidentified Flying Objects revealed zilch. This Netflix original series promises a “factual” approach to dig into the latest information and possible proof that would expose government projects that may have covered up extraterrestrial visits to Earth. The trailer looks fascinating, so here’s to hoping that the show delivers some fresh insight.

Shiny_Flakes: The Teenage Drug Lord (Netflix film) — You’ve probably heard of Netflix’s German series, How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast), and here’s a documentary that delivers the inspiration. A German teenager, Maximilian Schmidt (who went by the “Shiny Flakes” nickhame) got busted in 2015 running several million euros worth of illicit substances out of his family home. This turned out to be an international drug empire, and most of the money’s still missing.

Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail (TBS, 10:30 pm) — Season 3 of this anthology series continues in 1844, when an idealistic preacher (Daniel Radcliffe) must join forces with a wanted outlaw (Steve Buscemi) as they set off on the eponymous trail by wagon. TBS suggests that the promise and peril that they encounter might remind us of our own times. We’ve already seen hipster pioneers and an exploration of toxic masculinity, and this week, there’s a whole lot of debauchery and temptation for Ezekiel.

Motherland: Fort Salem: Season 2 (Freeform, 10:00pm) — In this world, witches not only enlist in the U.S. Army, but they also use their spells to rule the world and take down terrorists, who are (in turn) hell-bent upon getting witches out of the military. This week, vengeance becomes more of a priority Abigail and Adil, and Raelle is fighting a life-and-death battle.

In case you missed this pick from last week:

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast): Season 3 (Netflix series) — The controversially named hit series launches a new season with Moritz feeling alienated yet trying to keep it together as the MyDrugs CEO. Meanwhile, Lenny’s condition deteriorates, so Moritz must step in to assist. This season’s pulling the “one last job” trope with these best friends, and expect some explosive consequences.

Just in case sarlaccs and force ghosts weren’t spooky enough, Disney has announced a new addition to their upcoming Lego Star Wars Halloween Special: Christian Slater. According to the official Star Wars blog post, Slater has signed on voice the tall, dark, and fearsome Kylo Ren in the upcoming special entitled Terrifying Tales. While we still have a few months to go until the special hits Disney+, the description revealed earlier today already has us pretty hype — I mean terrified — for it:

“After the events of The Rise of Skywalker, Poe and BB-8 must make an emergency landing on the volcanic planet Mustafar where they meet the greedy and conniving Graballa the Hutt who has purchased Darth Vader’s castle and is renovating it into the galaxy’s first all-inclusive Sith-inspired luxury hotel. While waiting for his X-Wing to be repaired, Poe, BB-8, Graballa, and Dean (a plucky and courageous young boy who works as Graballa’s mechanic) venture deep into the mysterious castle with Vader’s loyal servant, Vaneé. Along the way, Vaneé shares three creepy stories linked to ancient artifacts and iconic villains from across all eras of Star Wars. As Vaneé spins his tales and lures our heroes deeper into the shadowy underbelly of the castle, a sinister plan emerges…”

Based on that description and Slater’s role, it seems like we can pretty safely say Kylo Ren will be one of the “iconic villains from across all eras” Vaneé will be telling stories about. That is unless Disney wants to do some serious retconning that I personally would be okay with, but don’t worry I’m not bitter or anything.

In addition to Slater, Disney announced Arrested Development star Tony Hale will also be joining Lego Star Wars: Terrifying Tales as aforementioned creepy storyteller Vaneé. Furthermore, former Lego Star Wars voice actors Jake Green (Poe Dameron), Raphael Alejandro (Dean), Dana Snyder (Graballa the Hutt), Trevor Devall (Emperor Palpatine), and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (NI-L8) will all be reprising their roles, and David Shayne will serve as the special’s writer and executive producer while Ken Cunningham (The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special) is on board to direct. The Lego Star Wars Halloween Special is set to hit Disney + on October 1, just in time for some spooky streaming.

Before he was a world-renowned hip-hop impresario and multi-hyphenate businessman with designs on starting a political movement, Sean “Puff Daddy/Diddy/Love” Combs got his start A&Ring R&B acts like Jodeci and Mary J. Blige at Uptown Records. For his next endeavor, he’s getting back to those roots, as he told Vanity Fair in the magazine’s upcoming September issue. Although he did previously announce he was putting out an R&B album, here he goes a step further, announcing that he’ll be starting a new, R&B-centric record label as well.

And before any of his many critics could point out that his previous label, Bad Boy, has a less-than-stellar record in how it treated its artists, Combs explained that he’s doing things differently this time, explaining that he wants to get back to R&B because “I feel like R&B was abandoned and it’s a part of our African American culture,” he says. “And I’m not signing any artists. Because if you know better, you do better. I’m doing 50–50 partnerships with pure transparency.”

He also elaborates that his purpose in launching such a label is so “we can own the genre; we don’t own hip-hop right now. We have a chance to — and I’m going to make sure that — we own R&B.” Although he hasn’t announced any projects or even a name just yet, it may be interesting to find out whether or not he can be the person to drive innovation in the music business.

You can read the full profile here.

The team behind the transcendent, and highly meme-able, Michael Jordan documentary, The Last Dance, is prepping to launch a new docuseries for Netflix that will focus on Inspiration4, Elon Musk‘s contribution to the ongoing billionaire space race. In an ambitious move, the series, titled Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space, will air before and after the SpaceX mission launches, which is always a dicey proposition given that the slightest change in weather can scrub the launch.

However, should Inspiration4 get off the ground, it will be the first all-civilian mission to orbit the Earth, which will make Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson‘s recent space flights look like 11-minute joyrides. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Inspiration4 is the brainchild of Jared Isaacman, the CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments. The mission, which will raise money and awareness for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, is scheduled to launch in mid-September and will orbit the planet for three days in a SpaceX Dragon vehicle before returning to Earth. The mission is notably longer than recent high-profile flights led by Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.

Given Musk’s recent obsession with cryptocurrency, it’s easy to forget that the electric car maker is also a mogul in the space flight industry. But that wasn’t the case for Jon Stewart, who made it a point to include and roast the hell out of Musk alongside Bezos and Branson in a parody trailer for his upcoming Apple TV series, The Problem with Jon Stewart.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

After one of the most well-rounded seasons of his NBA career, DeMar DeRozan hit unrestricted free agency as one of the most intriguing names on the market. Would he return to San Antonio, where he’s been one of the franchise’s best players and put into a system where he isn’t asked to stand behind the three-point line and stretch the floor? Would he search for a big payday from a team with ample cap space? Or would he take a little less money and head to a team that can help him chase a championship, even if that meant taking on a reduced role.

In the end, a sign-and-trade between the Spurs and the Bulls will see DeRozan head to Chicago. The news of the move was first reported by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Shams Charania of The Athletic brought the terms of the sign-and-trade and the contract that DeRozan will acquire.

DeRozan has spent the last three years in San Antonio as a member of the team’s post-Kawhi Leonard era. The team had not made the postseason in each of the last two seasons. One thing that had happened with the Spurs, though, was DeRozan became more of a distributor, as his three-best campaigns in assists per game came with the franchise.

Last season, DeRozan scored 21.6 points per game with 4.2 rebounds and a career-high 6.9 assists in 33.7 minutes a night.

As Canada’s women’s soccer team prepares for its gold medal match against Sweden this week in Tokyo, it also prepares to make history as the first Olympic team to have an openly transgender, non-binary athlete win a medal at the games.

Quinn, the 25-year-old midfielder, announced their non-binary identity on social media last September, adopting they/them pronouns and a singular name. Quinn said they’d been living openly as a transgender person with their loved ones, but this was their first time coming out publicly.

“I want to be visible to queer folks who don’t see people like them on their feed. I know it saved my life years ago,” they wrote. “I want to challenge cis folks ( if you don’t know what cis means, that’s probably you!!!) to be better allies.”

Quinn is originally from Toronto and is playing for Canada’s national team at the Olympics, though they play soccer professionally in the U.S.

According to the CBC, Quinn was the highest-drafted Canadian in National Women’s Soccer League history when they were chosen by the Washington Spirit in 2018. They now play for the OL Reign based in Tacoma, Washington.

Some people have made transgender people participating in competitive athletics a hot-button political issue, prompting controversial legislation banning transgender students from school sports in many states. While Quinn’s medal win will be historic, the handful of openly transgender athletes in the Olympics are not dominating their sports—which is the fear many people cite as their reasoning for creating or supporting such laws.

The International Olympic Committee established regulations for transgender athletes and it will be releasing an updated set of guidelines in the coming months, according to the CBC. While questions remain about how qualification rules will account for various gender identities and expressions, seeing trans people like Quinn succeed in sports provides visibility and representation that’s long been missing.

As Quinn told CBC Sports on Monday, “Athletics is the most exciting part of my life and it brings me the most joy. If I can allow kids to play the sports they love, that’s my legacy and that’s what I’m here for.”

Canada’s soccer team narrowly beat out the favored U.S. women’s team 0-1, taking the reigning champions out of gold medal contention. Now Canada and Sweden will battle it out for gold and silver as the U.S. hopes to bring home the bronze.

As the NBA’s free agent pool becomes thinner and thinner, one of the most intriguing names still on the market is DeMar DeRozan, who should theoretically help teams that need veteran savvy and the kind of wing scorer who can change games when he’s really cooking. Add in that DeRozan’s coming off of his best year as a playmaker and it’s not hard to see why he’d bring value to teams that want to compete.

On Tuesday, one team reportedly began pushing hard to acquire his services via a sign-and-trade, while another is bringing him in for a meeting to see if they can convince him to put pen to paper on a contract. According to Marc Stein, the Chicago Bulls want to try and figure out a sign-and-trade with DeRozan’s ostensibly soon-to-be former team, the San Antonio Spurs, with Lauri Markkanen a potential name that could be moved.

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports that the Los Angeles Clippers are likewise interested in figuring out a way to bring DeRozan on board with Kawhi Leonard sidelined following ACL surgery, although that might be a little tricky.

The Clippers do not have the cap space to sign the four-time All-Star to a deal near his true value. It would take some major cap contorting to clear the necessary cap space.

All the team has at its disposal is the $5.3 million taxpayer midlevel exception. A sign-and-trade with the San Antonio Spurs — DeRozan’s previous team — could also be an option, but it’s unclear if the Clippers have the assets the Spurs would want.

Both of these teams are in slightly different places — the Bulls made a ton of moves to make themselves a playoff team when free agency began, while the Clippers have had championship aspirations for several years — but DeRozan appears to have some options as to what he’s going to do next.