Category: News

After years of waiting, the world will finally get to meet Ellie and Joel, the unlikely duo who must navigate the post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland, in HBO’s adaptation of The Last Of Us.

A series based on the hit Playstation game has been in the works for a while, and will finally come to life when the show premieres on January 15th. Bella Ramsey will portray Ellie, a teen who is immune to the zombifying infection, meaning that she might be the key to a vaccine, as long as she is alive. Pedro Pascal plays Joel, Ellie’s grumpy but loving watcher who is tasked with protecting her. The cast also includes Gabriel Luna, Nick Offerman, Melanie Lynskey, and Anna Torv.

The series is rumored to be one of the most expensive television projects in Canada, where it was filmed from July 2021 until June 2022. So the pressure is on for this show to be good. Luckily for fans, the original game developer Neil Druckmann penned a handful of episodes alongside screenwriter Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) so it should still maintain the show’s original integrity.

After being ordered in 2020, the show was initially set to consist of ten episodes, which was then reduced to nine. According to the WGA writing credits for the series, Druckmann and Mazin co-wrote the first two episodes, Druckmann wrote the eighth, and Mazin penned the final episode. The good news? Episode one is a whopping hour and 25 minutes long! Hey, it’s not Stranger Things length, but that’s a good thing.

The series will air weekly from January 15th to March 12th on HBO.

(Via Variety)

The stars of 1968’s movie adaptation of Romeo and Juliet are suing Paramount Pictures over the movie’s nude scene. Actress Olivia Hussey, who was 15 when she filmed the movie and 71 now, and actor Leonard Whiting (16 and 72), filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment. and fraud; they’re seeking compensation “believed to be in excess of $500,000,000,” according to Variety.

The suit alleges that [director Franco] Zeffirelli — who died in 2019 — assured both actors that there would be no nudity in the film, and that they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene. But in the final days of filming, the director allegedly implored them to perform in the nude with body makeup, “or the Picture would fail.” The suit alleges that he was being dishonest and that Whiting and Hussey were in fact filmed nude without their knowledge.

“What they were told and what went on were two different things,” said Tony Marinozzi, a business manager for both performers. “They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had. Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do? There are no options. There was no #MeToo.”

Their attorney, Solomon Gresen, added, “Nude images of minors are unlawful and shouldn’t be exhibited. These were very young naive children in the ’60s who had no understanding of what was about to hit them… They were famous at a level they never expected, and in addition they were violated in a way they didn’t know how to deal with.”

Romeo and Juliet was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design. It’s also become a staple of high school English classes, although those days are probably (hopefully) over.

(Via Variety)

Billie Eilish is the subject of a new Vogue cover story, and in it, she discussed how health issues have shaped her relationship with her body.

She explained, “Going through my teenage years of hating myself and all that stupid sh*t, a lot of it came from my anger toward my body, and how mad I was at how much pain it’s caused me, and how much I’ve lost because of things that happened to it.”

As far as the loss Eilish refers to, the most significant of it is a growth plate injury in her hip that made her 13-year-old ambitions to be a dancer less possible. She continued, “I got injured right after we made ‘Ocean Eyes,’ so, music kind of replaced dancing.”

Eilish eventually discovered she has a condition called hypermobility. Cleveland Clinic says of the condition, “Joint hypermobility syndrome is a connective tissue disorder. Thick bands of tissue (ligaments) hold your joints together and keep them from moving too much or too far out of range. In people with joint hypermobility syndrome, those ligaments are loose or weak. […] In most people, hypermobility doesn’t cause any pain or medical issues. However, for some people, hypermobility causes joint pain, joint and ligament injuries, tiredness (fatigue), bowel issues, and other symptoms.”

Eilish’s mother Maggie Baird also noted, “Stuff that you and I could do that would help us, like, certain kinds of massage or chiropractors, could actually hurt her.”

This had a negative impact on Eilish’s relationship with her body, as she explained, “I felt like my body was gaslighting me for years. I had to go through a process of being like, My body is actually me. And it’s not out to get me.”

Read the full feature here.

Phoebe Bridgers has lost an important person in her life: On Instagram last night (January 3), Bridgers confirmed the death of her father.

Bridgers wrote on Instagram, “rest in peace dad.” No information about her father’s death has been revealed and his name does not appear to be publicly known. In the photo from the post, a younger Bridgers and her father each have an earbud in as they smile and listen to something together. The photo appears to be from around 2011, since Bridgers’ pink/red hair in it is similar to a 2011 photo Bridgers’ mother previously shared.

Bridgers’ post got supportive comments from people like Boygenius bandmate Lucy Dacus, Clairo, Jason Isbell, Sleater-Kinney, Wayne Coyne, Violet Grohl, Cat Power, Bartees Strange, Benee, Gracie Abrams, Muna, Samia, Andy Richter, and others.

Bridgers has addressed her complicated relationship with her father on multiple occasions. In a 2020 interview with The New Yorker, she said of their relationship, “I feel so much f*cking empathy and so much f*cking anger toward him. […] It’ll always be day to day: Are we talking, are we not talking? What’s the vibe?”

She also sings about him in “Kyoto”: “You called me from a payphone / They still got payphones / It cost a dollar a minute / To tell me you’re getting sober / And you wrote me a letter / But I don’t have to read it / I’m gonna kill you / If you don’t beat me to it.” In a recent Chicken Shop Date interview, Bridgers said she no longer wants to kill him.

In a 2020 interview with NPR, she also said of “Kyoto” and her relationship with her dad, “It’s a very weird combination of, like, emotionally unavailable, but very present in a weird way. And I think, as an adult, I’m just kind of, like, looking back with more sympathy for my parents, which feels great.”

What happens when second-generation K-pop royalty teams up with third-generation royalty? Perhaps the most legendary collaboration ever.

With the news of BIGBANG’s Taeyang departing YG Entertainment and signing with its subsidiary label The Black Label, the possibility of new music from the second-gen idol coming soon seemed very close.

First, it was sharing a new portrait since switching his label yesterday. Today (January 4), it was sharing the official poster for his first single featuring Jimin of BTS. The song titled “Vibe” is set to release on Friday, January 13 at midnight ET/2 p.m. KST. This will mark as Taeyang’s first single under The Black Label.

Considering both artists carry smooth vocals with range, making them some of the industry’s iconic crooners, one can only assume the vibes between these power players will be nothing but immaculate all around.

However, the news of the collaboration may not be new to some. As some fans and followers of the BIGBANG member speculated the BTS member was seen next to him in one of his now-deleted Instagram posts from a few days back.

Since the official announcement of the single, Taeyang’s posts before yesterday have all been archived or deleted, making this collaboration highly anticipated and exciting for K-pop fans of both acts and generations.

One of the best games of the 2022-23 NBA season happened between a pair of upstart squads in the Western Conference, with the Sacramento Kings and the Utah Jazz going blow-for-blow for 48 minutes. It appeared that Utah was able to just eek out a win on their home floor thanks to some heroics by Lauri Markkanen, but unfortunately for them, his game-winning effort needed another fraction of a second to get out of his hand. As a result, the Kings picked up a 117-115 victory.

It took quite the effort from one King, in particular, to get them across the finish line. De’Aaron Fox scored 37 points, 22 of which came in the game’s fourth quarter. This included this layup in which he blew past Markkanen and made a layup with less than a second remaining in the game.

Utah was out of timeouts after Fox’s layup and damn near had a prayer answered. Markkanen sprinted up the court and threw his hand in the air. Jarred Vanderbilt saw this and threw the ball exactly where Markkanen wanted, which allowed the big man to grab the ball, square up, flick his wrist, and get a shot off that didn’t touch the rim. Unfortunately for Utah, it is very hard to do all of this in 0.4 seconds, which meant Sacramento moved to 20-16 on the year.

It wasn’t that long ago that people were worrying about the Avatar sequel. It had been too long since the first, they said, claiming the first hadn’t left any “cultural footprints.” Even James Cameron was worried. Now mere weeks into its theatrical run, it’s already on point to outgross the excessively profitable Top Gun: Maverick. You know what that means: It’s time to talk about all those sequels Cameron has long threatened. And it sounds like the third is going to take the franchise in yet another unexpected direction.

Where The Way of Water was about, well, water, Avatar 3, Cameron recently teased, will be about fire. In a new interview with the French outlet 20 Minutes (as caught by Total Film), the decidedly non-prolific filmmaker said his next installment will show “different cultures from those I have already shown.” So far we’ve only seen goody-goody Na’vi, who only want to live their lives and fly freaky birds and swim with weird fish. Pandora could really use some jerks.

And so you’ll finally see some not great Na’vi. Cameron says Avatar 3 will focus on “fire,” which he said be represented by what he called the “Ash People.”

“I want to show the Na’vi from another angle because, so far, I have only shown their good sides,” Cameron explained. “In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vi examples,” he added. “In ‘Avatar 3,’ we will do the opposite. We will also explore new worlds, while continuing the story of the main characters. I can say that the last parts will be the best. The others were an introduction, a way to set the table before serving the meal.”

There’s a chance Cameron will be making Avatar sequels until the end of recorded time, and surely Pandora’s an even bigger joint than it seems. Could one of the sequels show a Na’vi city? Some Na’vi spelunking sounds like it would be cool. Maybe there’s a Na’vi casino somewhere. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. In the meantime, it will be nice to see Na’vi fighting each other, not just mean humans or mean humans who died and then got their own avatars.

(Via 20 Minutes and Total Film)

Late in the third quarter of Tuesday’s game between the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder, Marcus Smart drove to the rim and earned a non-shooting foul. Presumably, Smart thought it was a shooting foul because he expressed significant displeasure with multiple referees as he headed to the bench and Payton Pritchard replaced him on the floor.

As he made his way toward the sideline, one official ejected him from the game. That likely frustrated Smart more, who had to be held back by multiple Celtics coaches, as well as teammate Sam Hauser, and reportedly yelled “you’re f*cking horrible” at the refs. He continued to voice his substantial frustrations while coaches escorted him away from the action and into the locker room.

Officials have long taken exception to players directing expletives their way. Smart is the latest example of that and he seemingly made the most of his ejection, continually expressing himself, even after he’d been tossed from the game. Across his 26 minutes, Smart tallied seven points, eight assists (three turnovers), four rebounds and one block. Despite his wide-ranging stat line, the Celtics were routed by the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-less Thunder, who torched their defense to the tune of a 150-117 victory.

Smart and the Celtics, who have now lost two straight games, will hope to start fresh when they face the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

Like the millions of Americans eager to kick off the new year through self-improvement, JT is also looking to get healthier in 2023. The City Girls rapper recently created a “FitCity” Instagram account dedicated to trekking through her new health journey. The name comes from the #FitCity hashtag the Miami rhymer created while she was getting in shape for her April 2022 Coachella performance.

So far, the account has less than 400 followers and only one post, which bears the caption “Nothing is forced. Fun Fitness.”

This isn’t the first time JT, whose real name is Jatavia Shakara Johnson, has opened up to fans about wanting to trim some pounds. Last spring, the “Jobs” rapper shared that she was trying to shed some pounds and had begun working with a nutritionist in preparation for her festival performance. JT would later share photos of some of her healthy meals, complete with fruit and many leafy greens.

When it comes to music, last year, the City Girls released two singles in 2022, “Top Notch” with Fivo Foreign and “Good Love,” featuring Usher. While it’s unclear when JT and her partner in rhyme, Yung Miami, will release a new project, the Miami rap duo have fans on the edge of their seat.

Mercedes Varnado, formerly known as WWE’s Sasha Banks, is confirmed to appear at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 17, but her WWE status has remained very much a mystery up until seemingly now.

Ahead of Varnado’s first appearance at a wrestling event since walking out on WWE in 2021, she appears to have closed the chapter on her WWE tenure with a slew of “thank you” notes to the like of WWE, William Regal, Triple H, the WWE Universe, Vince McMahon, and a special one to Sasha Banks.

Banks will not be heading to NJPW alone, as her former partner Naomi, as well as apparently one of her fiercest rivals, Bayley, will be in attendance for her match, per PWInsider.

Bayley is under WWE contract and reportedly is unlikely to appear on camera. Naomi will also reportedly “almost certainly be returning to WWE” herself, according to the Wrestling Observer.

Varnado became a free agent when the calendar turned to 2023, after reportedly attempting to negotiate money in the range of what Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch make. WWE allegedly balked at that price, per the Wrestling Observer. Since her WWE exit, Varnado has also apparently requested a trademark for ‘Mone’ Banks, and ‘Bank Mone’ signaling what could be her post-WWE ring name.

Varnado’s appearance at Wrestle Kingdom is still very much a mystery as to what to expect, but we’ll get an answer very shortly.