Devin Booker was the unsung hero of the United States men’s basketball team’s journey to an Olympic gold medal in Paris. The Phoenix Suns star slotted into the team’s starting lineup and embraced a smaller role, one in which he played dogged defense, kept the ball moving, hit shots when they came to him, and did whatever he needed to amplify the other players around him.
It’s led to Booker getting praise from seemingly everyone in the USA Basketball operation, as he took on the most unglamorous role that the team could give someone and made it his own. And on Tuesday, Booker gave fans a glimpse into what life was like for him in Paris, as he released a lengthy behind-the-scenes video on his Instagram account of his experience on the team. You can check out the link for it here.
The video is titled “I’ll Do It,” a reference to a tweet he sent last September after the Americans failed to medal at the FIBA World Cup where he volunteered to take on a smaller role for the U.S. in the Olympics. And it paid off in a big way for both the team and Booker specifically, as Steve Kerr made it a point to shout him out for his performance throughout the tournament.
“Devin Booker is an incredible basketball player,” Kerr said, per Ben Golliver of the Washington Post. “Nobody asked about him. He was our unsung MVP. I just wanted to say that.”
Madame Web did not turn out as hoped for the Sony’s Spider-Man-adjacent line of films, but that movie did have an unexpected side effect: bringing Sydney Sweeney into the fold for the studio’s upcoming Barbarella reboot.
This sentence ^^^ might look like Hollywood Mad-Libs, but Sweeney did tell GQ UK, “Because I did that, I was able to sell Anyone But You. I was able to get Barbarella.” Well, Anyone But You overperformed with $220 million globally in box-office receipts and Sweeney reaping much studio goodwill. Will Barbarella happen, though? Sweeney is keen to pull the movie together, so let’s talk about where the project stands along with her vision.
Logistics/Plot
Back in October 2022, Deadline exclusively revealed that Sweeney was attached as star and executive producer of Sony’s planned reworking of the 1968 Paramount Pictures film (based upon Jean-Claude Forest’s comic book series) starring Jane Fonda, who moved through the universe in a sci-fi tale filled with tight outfits and enormous hair. That Sony wants to relaunch this IP was initially surprising, considering the long-dead attempt by director Robert Rodriguez in a movie that would have starred Rose McGowan.
Sweeney, however, would probably be the only currently working actress who could reliably put butts in seats for this remake. She certainly has the sense of humor and adventurousness (as evidenced by her recent “thirst trap”) for it. To that end, the Euphoria star maintained her enthusiasm by announcing her involvement on Instagram and recently telling the Happy Sad Confused podcast, hosted by Josh Horowitz, that the remake “is” going to happen. Further, Sweeney raved about how Barbarella “really just embraces her femininity and her sexuality, and I love that… She uses sex as a weapon, and I think it’s just such an interesting way into a sci-fi world.”
Those statements happen at the 42:00 mark below:
Since Sony hasn’t revealed an updated plot synopsis, the 1968 version will do for the moment:
The setting is the planet Lythion in the year 40,000, when Barbarella (Jane Fonda) makes a forced landing while travelling through space. She acts like a female James Bond, vanquishing evil in the forms of robots and monsters. She also rewards, in an uninhibited manner, the handsome men who assist her in the adventure.
Additionally, Dynamite Entertainment (The Boys) might or might not know more than we do about this project’s timing because they announced a new Barbarella comic book series (you can see issue covers here) that will show the character in new adventures in October. The pairing of writer Blake Northcott and artist Anna Morozova adds up to (in Dynamite’s words) “this series [that] will precede an upcoming blockbuster film in development”:
The series finds Barbs fresh off from saving the universe (again), and cherishing a little rest and relaxation with her unique alien pet companion Vix. This is Barbarella after all though, and she’s about to discover that not all pleasure planets are created equal. In fact, some are downright unreal!
Meanwhile, all the way across the galaxy, there is something off about Earth’s oldest and most venerable colony. Altogether, Barbarella’s uniquely well-rounded skills will be in dire need across the cosmos, and she’s sure to run into all manner of unscrupulous figures along the way!
Could this new series be a hint that Barbarella filming is on the horizon? Sony hasn’t tipped their hand on anything other than the film being in development. Deadline, however, has further reported that Edgar Wright is in talks to direct, and Jane Goldman and Honey Ross are negotiating to write the script.
Cast
The promise of Sweeney in the lead role is holding this project together. Will the robots and monsters be CGI or practical, and how out-there will Sony go with the casting? These are relevant questions for the future.
Release Date
That’s a tricky detail. Edgar Wright is gearing up for reboot movie for Stephen King’s The Running Manstarring Glen Powell, and Sweeney has numerous projects on her slate, including the third Euphoria season along with a biopic of boxer Christy Martin, Eden, and Echo Valley. Still, Sweeney and Sony appear to be committed to the project, so keep those space fingers crossed.
Trailer
Filming hasn’t begun, so we can’t even begin to hope for a legit trailer yet. However, this 1968 trailer for the Jane Fonda version is out of this world:
Taylor Swift had a few surprises in store for the final European show of The Eras Tour. Florence Welch joined her for the first live performance of “Florida!!!” while Jack Antonoff later came out for a mashup of “Death By A Thousand Cuts” and “Getaway Car.” Swifties in attendance were also treated to a first look at the music video for The Tortured Poets Department fan favorite “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” which is now available in full above.
“I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” is about the pressure of going through something difficult in your life but still having to (lights, camera, bitch) smile in public, whether in front of 20 people or 80,000 people. As Swift sings in the chorus, “I cry a lot, but I am so productive, it’s an art / You know you’re good when you can even do it with a broken heart.” The music video takes the form of a behind-the-scenes look at the record-breaking The Eras Tour, including footage of Swift with backup singers, dancers, and her long-time band.
Swift is on hiatus from touring until October when The Eras Tour resumes in Miami, Florida, before wrapping up in December in Vancouver.
Now that Doechii has revealed the title and release date of her upcoming full-length project, Alligator Bites Never Heal, she’s followed up with the countrified tracklist. The Florida native’s debut mixtape features 19 tracks with titles such as “Boiled Peanuts” and “Fireflies,” while there’s only one listed feature: Atlanta rapper Kuntfetish. You can see the tracklist below.
Previously released songs “Bullfrog,” “Catfish,” and “Nissan Altima,” all appear on the tracklist, while “Alter Ego” with JT, “Florida Wata,” and “Sunday’s Best” do not (whether this means an extended version featuring these songs is also in the works remains to be seen). The Top Dawg Entertainment rapper also hasn’t had too many songs featuring her TDE cohorts — other than SZA, who appeared on her debut single for the label, “Persuasive,” and Isaiah Rashad, who featured her on his songs “Wat U Sed” — so perhaps those are being saved for a future project, as well.
So far, the singles released from Alligator Bites Never Heal have been a departure from the house-inspired cuts that had become her signature. Now that she’s branching out, it seems that her haters will have to find something else to nitpick.
Alligator Bites Never Heal is due on 8/30 via Top Dawg Entertainment. You can find more information here. See below for the tracklist.
Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Camila Cabello, GloRilla, and Rauw Alejandro were the first announced performers for this year’s VMAs, and now they’ve been joined by a few more acts: Lisa, Halsey, Benson Boone, and Lenny Kravitz. Of those four, Boone is the only one who will be making his VMAs debut: The White Lotus star Lisa was there with Blackpink at the 2022 ceremony, while Halsey teamed up with The Chainsmokers to sing “Closer” in 2016. As for Kravitz, he hasn’t performed during the VMAs since 1998, when he accompanied Madonna on “Ray Of Light.”
Taylor Swift (who is not expected to perform despite her The Eras Tour break) leads with 10 total nominations at the 2024 VMAs, followed by Post Malone with nine; Sabrina Carpenter, Eminem, and Ariana Grande with six each; and SZA and Megan Thee Stallion with five. Katy Perry will also be presented with the Video Vanguard Award and “perform a career-spanning medley.”
You can see the full lineup (so far) below.
2024 MTV Video Music Awards Performers
Chappell Roan
Sabrina Carpenter
Camila Cabello
GloRilla
Rauw Alejandro
Lisa
Halsey
Benson Boone
Lenny Kravitz
Katy Perry (Video Vanguard Award)
The 2024 MTV VMAs will air on September 11 (not September 10) on MTV.
Indie-pop group Hundred Waters proved to be a consistent force in the 2010s, and now singer Nicole Miglis is giving a new journey a shot: a solo career. She has her debut album, Myopia, coming out in just a few days, and today, she’s unveiled “Sleep All Day,” which will presumably be the final pre-album single before the project’s August 23 release.
Miglis previously said of the album, “There’s the myopia of desire, love, obsession–the feeling of only being able to see that one person in everything, everywhere,” she explains. “There’s also personal myopia of not seeing your potential or your power, of not zooming out; limiting beliefs. […] Because I made a lot of the record with my portable setup while traveling, there are a lot of meaningful stories behind all of the sounds for me. A lot of it came from different periods of time, in a lot of different places.”
Watch the “Sleep All Day” video above and find the Myopia cover art and tracklist below.
Nicole Miglis’ Myopia Album Cover Artwork
Sargent House
Nicole Miglis’ Myopia Tracklist
1. “All I See Is You”
2. “Heaven Sent”
3. “City Rats”
4. “One & Only”
5. “Autograph”
6. “Lure”
7. “Silver Wild”
8. “Sleep All Day”
9. “Blink Of An Eye”
Myopia is out 8/23 via Sargent House. Find more information here.
After the past few months of rollout for Big Sean’s new album, Better Me Than You, the video for his latest single, “Yes,” may come as a shocker. After all, he kicked things off on the wellness tip with “Clarity” and “Precision,” while his recent singles, “On Up” and “Together Forever” with The Alchemist have suggested a more soulful direction for Sean’s sixth studio album.
However, “Yes” finds him firmly in his gothic trap bag, in a similar vein to songs like “Blessings,” “Clique,” and “Mercy.” Over a haunting, thunderous instrumental, Sean reels off a string of defiant bars, anchored by the hook’s fiery mission statement: “When they tried to tell me, ‘No,’ I said, ‘No, motherf*cker, yes.’”
The Lyrical Lemonade-produced video is a suitably grungy affair, shot in murky greyscale with imagery including masked men raging around Sean, a dappered-up Sean taking over a chess match, and then swapping out his Sunday best for coveralls and paint splashing. It’s a little punk, a little polished gangster, and yet, it’s still very much in line with Sean’s past work, with Lyrical Lemonade’s signature flair for thrash aesthetics, which undoubtedly rubbed off on Sean when he teamed up with Eminem in the LL-produced videos for “Doomsday 2” and “Tobey.”
You can watch Big Sean’s “Yes” video above.
Better Me Than You has been delayed, but is coming soon via FF to Def Entertainment. Find more information here.
Can a sequel ever truly capture the magic of what came before? Those viewers who adore Aliens, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Godfather II, and heck, (arguably) A Quiet Place Part II consider that to be a question that no longer needs to be asked. That’s a fair take, but the (arena) stage is now set to see if Ridley Scott can do it again with Gladiator 2. The first movie was not only a box-office success that raked in $460 million worldwide but also took home multiple Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Russell Crowe), and Paramount Pictures would love to replicate that success and beyond.
Of course, the first Gladiator movie landed in 2000, so a full two decades have passed, and for various reasons (including Maximus’ demise), Russell Crowe is not returning for this film. However, Denzel Washington is on hand as an arms dealer named Macrinus, and Pedro Pascal is poised to remind viewers of his Game of Thrones performance by stepping into sandals as General Acacius. Paul Mescal will be in leading-man mode as Lucius, which will do as much or more to snag the younger generations as Taylor Swift did while asking TIME magazine, “Are You Not Entertained?” With that, let’s detail some of the latest updates for this return to Ancient Rome.
Plot
Before this sequel actually came together, Nick Cave (really) wrote a prospective dream-fever script that revolved around Maxiumus on an odyssey in the Roman afterlife. In doing so, he would have observed how Emperor Lucius had followed in the worst ways of his Uncle Commodus’ (Joaquin Phoenix) footsteps. This ghostly take clearly did not come to fruition, and now, Ridley Scott has gone in an entirely different direction with Lucius.
The sequel will pick up with adult Lucius, son of Roman empress Lucilla (the returning Connie Nielsen), who had sent him away to Numidia. He has been far away from bread and circuses, and Scott revealed, “He’s been in the wilderness” after having “lost touch with his mother.” In the sequel, Lucius is pulled away from peaceful family life and forced into a life of slavery by General Marcus Acacius’ (Pedro Pascal). As Vanity Fair first revealed, Lucius ends up fighting Acacius in the ring, and to make matters more complicated, Acacius is, to Lucilla, “the man she loves.”
The trailer has already previewed the film’s action-packed nature that somehow includes naval battles with sharks and a marauding rhino. In a conversation with Empire, Scott teased, “We begin the film with probably the biggest action sequence I’ve ever done. Probably bigger than anything in Napoleon.” Bigger than Napoleon, Blade Runner, or the chestburster scene in Alien? Apparently so. As Scott further declared, the rhino was constructed to have eight wheels and be made out of plastic, but the details were digital:
“Computerisation and AI — you have to embrace it. I can have a computer read every molecule and wrinkle on a rhino and then cut it on a thick piece of plastic, absolutely as a rhino’s body, which is then tailored to a skeleton shape. … I have this thing that can do 40 miles an hour, spin on the spot, wag its head and snarl,” Scott grins. “A two-ton rhino with a guy on its back! I mean, it’s a lot of fun.”
Aside from the action, the trailer also became bizarrely controversial with trolls review bombing the sequel over the inclusion of a Jay-Z and Kanye West song. Those trolls must not remember that the first movie did promotion with a Kid Rock song.
Cast
As the story goes, Paul Mescal went shirtless onstage in A Streetcar Named Desire (West End revival), and Paramount Pictures execs Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland found him “electric” and cast him accordingly. From there, returning actors include Connie Nielsen (as Lucilla), Derek Jacobi (as Senator Gracchus), and Djimon Hounsou (as Juba).
Additionally, the cast includes Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, May Callaway, Lior Raz, Fred Hechinger as Emperor Caracalla, and Joseph Quinn As Emperor Geta.
Release Date
Gladiator 2 is going for both blockbuster and awards glory with a November 22 release.
As Muna’s Katie Gavin announced last month, she’s giving the solo life a try with a new album, What A Relief. That’s out on October 25, but she graced today (August 20) with a video for the new single “Casual Drug Use,” a The Chicks-inspired number.
Gavin says of the song in a statement:
“This is a song about being young and on bad behavior, and the comfort of having friends by your side. I wrote it in 2016 after a day trip I took with a friend, and so I thought it would be sweet to film the video on a road trip I had planned with my childhood best friend. The different colored potions in the video are meant to be a stand-in for whatever external substance we use to change our internal states.“
Watch the “Casual Drug Use” video above. Some changes to Gavin’s upcoming tour were also just announced, so find her upcoming dates below.
Katie Gavin’s 2024 Tour Dates
09/07 — Evanston, IL @ Evanston Folk Festival
09/10 — London, UK @ Rough Trade East ^
09/11 — London, UK @ The Old Church ^+
09/22 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre #
11/18 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos ^ tickets
11/19 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos ^
11/20 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom ^
11/22 — San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 365 Club ^
11/24 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy + Harriet’s ^
11/25 — Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever ^
11/26 — Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever ^
11/27 — Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever ^
12/08 — Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room ^
12/10 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom ^
12/11 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom ^
12/13 — Washington, DC @ The Atlantis ^
12/14 — Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall ^
12/16 — Toronto, ON @ The Opera House ^
12/18 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall ^
^ headline
# supporting Bleachers
+ support from jasmine.4.t.
What A Relief is 10/25 via Saddest Factory Records. Find more information here.
Up until recently, it was impossible to watch Emily in Paris and then immediately switch over to The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon because the two were on different platforms, despite both having various Parisian adventures. Well, now you don’t have to!
Thanks to a new deal between AMC and Netflix, a handful of AMC shows have landed on the streamer under the new AMC collection, which features a wide variety of AMC favorites, including the hit vamp drama Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and the meta-comedy Kevin Can F*** Himself.
After the announcement, CEO of AMC Networks Kristin Dolan said in a statement, “This agreement puts our high-quality shows in front of the vast audience of Netflix subscribers with the AMC brand clearly represented. These curated titles are also being strategically windowed to drive interest in current and upcoming seasons on our direct-to-consumer and partner platforms,” Dolan explained, adding that they hope to attract a slew of new fans to the already beloved shows on the steamer.
She added, “We believe this significant expansion of our Netflix relationship will drive viewership and engagement on Netflix, while also raising awareness and interest in our award-winning content on AMC-branded and partner platforms across our distribution ecosystem.” The shows will join fan-favorite AMC titles Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
Here is the full list of added titles, which will be available on Netflix for 12 months:
A Discovery of Witches Seasons 1–3 Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches Season 1 Dark Winds Seasons 1–2 Fear the Walking Dead Seasons 1–8 Gangs of London Seasons 1–2 Into the Badlands Seasons 1–3 Kevin Can F*** Himself Seasons 1–2 Monsieur Spade Season 1 Preacher Seasons 1–4 That Dirty Black Bag Season 1 The Terror Season 1 The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1 The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1, beginning January 15th, 2025. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Season 1, beginning January 15th, 2025.
What does this mean for your favorite AMC shows? For one, Netflix has a much larger audience than AMC+, so more fans will be exposed to the magic of Anne Rice and the other shows. Newfound interest could also inspire the streamer to order new seasons or spinoffs of the shows, as we’ve seen happen with all of that Suits magic last summer. For now, the internet seems to be enjoying the newfound gems now that they are more accessible. And maybe one day, Daryl and Emily will meet in Paris.
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