Category: News

Back when I first saw King Richard back in September, I didn’t know much about it other than Will Smith plays Richard Williams, the father of Venus and Serena Williams (played in the film by Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton). It’s about halfway through before Jon Bernthal shows up – you know, the guy best knows for playing the Punisher and, more recently, Tony Soprano’s dad – and he’s got knee-high socks, short shorts, a pretty fun mustache, and an “aw, gee shucks,” attitude – and, yes, it took me a couple minutes to convince myself this was actually Bernthal as the Williams sisters’ trainer, Rick Macci.

For what it’s worth, Bernthal has been getting a lot of that. It’s not the typical role for Bernthal, so much so that director Reinaldo Marcus Green wouldn’t see him until he asked for an audition, in which he lost 30 pounds from his Punisher physique in order to play the lanky Rick Macci. Ahead, Bernthal explains why he wanted to play a role like this, so different than what we are used to seeing, which leads to his own personal philosophy as far as his career path goes – he truly loves auditioning, which seems rare for an actor – and, why, to this point, his philosophy has paid off and when he gets a role, he feels he’s truly earned it.

I know this is not the way it works, but in my mind, you’re having a meeting with your team and you say, “I want to do something completely different where people don’t even recognize me at first. Get me that role.” And then you show up in this.

[Laughs] Wow, man. Nah, dude. It doesn’t go down the way it does in your mind, man.

Well, when they make your biopic, that’s the way it happens.

Are we at a fancy restaurant when that meeting happens?

Yes. In your biopic, that’s the way it happens.

“Come on, guys!”

And the audience watching your biopic then thinks, oh, that’s how that happened.

No, man.

Okay.

Look, take this for what it is. I really do not have a strategic bone in my body. And I think probably to a fault, as far as my career goes. I really do put it out there that I like to read everything. And when there’s something that I really dig, I want to go after it. I read this script, and I just thought it was this just beautiful meditation on family and on fatherhood and on faith and sports. You know, man, I’m an ex-athlete, and I’m raising kids right now who play sports and I’m seeing the full spectrum of how beautiful it can be and how toxic it can be. And then I went and sat down with Reinaldo and we kind of connected immediately. And, look, he didn’t initially see me for it…

Wait, so when you say he didn’t see you for it, did you had to talk him into it?

No, man. I was like, “Let me read for it.”

Okay.

I mean, I was almost 200 pounds. I had just got done doing The Punisher. I said, dude, let me make this easy. Let me make you a tape. Let me show you. And I love that. The double-edged sword of getting to a place in your career where things come to you, rather than you go fight for them, is you lose the ability to go audition for stuff. There’s nothing I like more than auditioning.

Really? Because I’m under the impression most actors don’t like doing that.

Look, I can’t speak for most actors. I’m sure that’s true. I’m just not that way. The audition is the only time you get to go throw your version of the character down with absolutely no one else’s input…

I see.

Where no one else can say shit. It’s your version. And then you get to walk on set sort of feeling like, hey, I earned this, and I’m here for a reason. And, look, was this very different than other things? Yeah. But I knew in my heart, for me, it just meant a lot to me. It was important to me. For me, it’s this kind of mirror to the entertainment business. Where at first, you’re completely shut out, nobody wants anything to do with you, you’re an outsider. And then, all of a sudden, you get a little bit of success and a little bit of heat, and everybody wants a piece.

This is an interesting character because his relationship with the Williams sisters is so important, but the movie does not shy away from some things that happened to his other students, like Jennifer Capriati. So what’s going through your head? Because this involves real people.

Yeah, look, any time it’s real people, it’s sensitive. I think, ultimately, what I love about this movie is that this isn’t just a highlight reel of the greatest moment in the Williams sisters’ lives. It’s this real exploration of what got them there, and their family, and the inner workings, and the nooks and crannies of it. And to me, it’s not sentimental. It’s not delivered through this kind of only-positive lens. They explore the real mistakes. Richard Williams makes mistakes, and it doesn’t shy away from that. And the same with Rick. There is no question there are moments in this film where he’s got dollar signs in his heart.

Did you meet him?

I did.

What was that like? Because, again, the movie doesn’t shy away from his relationship with Jennifer Capriati and her troubles in that decade. What did you talk about with him about that?

Look, I think oftentimes… you know, I just got done playing a real character as well, who’s in prison right now, and I was doing extensive conversations with him as well. And I think that the danger in that… and I’ve run the gauntlet there. Like, Scorsese, he wouldn’t let Henry Hill on set. He wouldn’t let Jordan Belfort on set…

Wait, I thought Jordan Belfort, isn’t he in The Wolf of Wall Street? I guess they just let him on set for that one scene then…

Right, but they didn’t let him have any contact. Yeah, you know what I mean?

Okay, got it.

And so, I think that the problem is that anytime you’re going to be portrayed in a movie, you want yourself portrayed in a certain way.

Sure, yeah.

And I’ve often found, one of the old techniques to character work in theater, they tell you the first thing you do is go find everything other characters say about your character, and that’s how you figure out who your character is. It’s not about what you say about yourself. You know, the first thing Serena said to me when I had talked to her about Rick, she said her time at Macci’s was one of the funnest times of her life, that he just made things fun. I loved working with Demi and Saniyya on tennis. I loved making them laugh. I loved when they laughed at me. I loved when they made fun of my short-shorts and my high socks and my goofy mustache. They would laugh at me every time I walked out of the trailer.

Speaking of the short-shorts, when you show up, it took me four or five minutes to convince myself that was you. I’m wondering if you’re getting that from other people, where they don’t recognize you?

Yeah, man, I definitely am.

And it’s not just the look, either. I’m talking about the whole character you’re doing. It’s just not what a lot of people are used to seeing from you.

Totally. And look, man, he’s out there. There’s no question. He is a larger-than-life character in real life. If you go onto his Instagram, if you look the guy up, if you talk to anybody who’s played at his academy, he’s larger than life. And he’s from this very specific place on the border of Ohio and Kentucky, where the accent is just this conglomeration of all these different things. And look, not enough people know who Rick Macci is, and it really mattered that I wanted to sort of get him right. I lost 30 pounds! I really wanted to look like him. I had just got off The Punisher…

I think I saw this right after I saw The Many Saints of Newark, so it was whiplash how different you look.

Yeah, and in The Many Saints of Newark I wore a fat suit to sort of makeup for the weight that I was losing for King Richard.

Oh, I didn’t know that.

Yeah, and also just getting the game of tennis in my bones was just this beautiful benefit to doing the movie, but so important. I was training three to six hours a day, every single day. And not just training tennis, but training on how to coach and learning how to feed, learning how to run drills, learning the vocabulary of that. I know how to coach tennis now! And what an unbelievable kind of opportunity. And you’re sort of halfway there, just at that, and I’m really grateful for it.

Always good to talk to you.

Rock and roll. I’ll talk to you soon.

‘King Richard’ will be in theaters this weekend and also streaming via HBO Max. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City is not going to be the same kind of film as previous entries in the movie version of the beloved video game franchise. The latest release — which is one of several adaptations of the series that will come out in the coming years — will try to go in a direction that is not only more akin to the games, but also embraces its horror routes.

One of the leads of the movie will be Avan Jogia, who plays the traditionally cool, calm, and collected Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4, and Resident Evil 6. Jogia comes to the movie not only as a fan of the horror genre but as a fan of the Resident Evil games themselves — he says he’s put hundreds of hours into the series.

Funny enough, this isn’t Jogia’s first foray into the world of the undead: he played Berkeley in Zombieland: Double Tap. But with Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City, which hits theaters on Nov. 24, he’ll be taking on a character that is highly-regarded among fans of the series. Uproxx got a chance to talk to Jogia about the movie, his time spent playing games growing up, and more.

So how was filming the movie? I’m sure there’s a sense of relief now with everything kind of wrapped up and a chance to relax and wait for it to come out.

Yeah, it was great. It’s equally great to have time to yourself to reflect and relax. We shot during the pandemic, and we were one of the only films that were able to get out during the pandemic. We feel very lucky to have gotten to the end of the production with everyone being healthy and we’re excited to see it out.

What drew you to work on a project like Resident Evil in particular?

I’m a big fan of the games. I grew up playing them. I put in 500-plus hours as Leon before I was ever playing Leon in a movie. So mostly it’s sort of a childhood dream. It’s one of these moments in your life where you’re like, “Oh wow I’m playing a character that I played as a kid.” It’s an odd one and a really exciting one too.

That’s so awesome because I always think back to when I used to dress up as my favorite video game character for Halloween as a kid, and you get to actually do that for real.

Yeah! It’s crazy. And yeah, I don’t think that if you told me, “Hey, you’re going to play this guy in 20 years or 15 years,” like, no, I would never have been like, “Oh, yeah, that’s totally gonna happen.” It’s a weird thing.

What’s your favorite Resident Evil game?

I grew up with Resident Evil 4. That was my game. The world of that game is super cool and the monks and all that stuff … it was the over-the-shoulder camera switch. I think Resident Evil 3 was still the locked on camera. If you look at Resident Evil 2, the remake, that’s over the shoulder positioning like we’re more used to.

I agree. It’s a lot of fun to go back, but it’s also more terrifying. It’s funny, I go back to play some of the older Resident Evil games and it’s hard to get scared by them. Did you ever play the original game?

Oh yeah, I have to agree with you. The thing about being a game that’s there for the genesis of gaming, Resident Evil is one of those games, it’s a genre-creating title. It’s not even genre-defining. This created the survival-horror genre. And so, when you go back and play the original Resident Evil, it’s not going to be as terrifying because our palette has changed. But you have to respect the originator.

Kinda going off that, how much inspiration did you take from the original Resident Evil movies?

Honestly, I don’t think a lot. I mean, I think that (director) Johannes Roberts was really, you know, concentrated on the games as the jump-off material. Those movies are … obviously, you don’t make that many movies and make that much money, making those movies if people don’t love them. There are fans of those films. I think that this is just a different type of film. It’s more horror-centric less action-centric. It’s really a horror movie first and then it does the action and all that other stuff, but Johannes is a horror film director. So, that’s where he draws his inspiration from.

Have you watched a lot of horror movies yourself?

Yeah, I love the genre. I sorta left the genre in the early-2000s because we kinda got into torture porn and all that genre of horror film. That’s not really my thing, but yeah, I love giallo films, I like schlocky ’80s horror, I like psychological horror like Rosemary’s Baby, and I really like the new horror renaissance that’s happening with films like The Witch and Midsommar and Hereditary, and there’s other really cool films being made that are playing with the elements of horror. I think what makes me gravitate to horror is it’s such a part of our human experience. Fear is something that we experience in our lives and the thing about movies or horror films is it’s a safe way to experience that very human feeling of unease.

Going back to games, what other kinds of games do you like playing? What are some of your favorites?

My mother was a gamer. I’m second generation, she’s beaten every Zelda title, so Zelda was a part of my beginnings. I got into Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Morrowind back in the day. Now, as an adult, I’m playing more like grand strategy games. I’m playing like Crusader Kings, games that require lengthy multi-generational strategy and you have to know about tithes and medieval law and inheritance law. It’s a really boring adult game. It’s funny seeing someone who grew up with games, their taste in games get old and lame. I was playing an Eastern European government simulation game at one point and I was like, this is too much, I gotta play something with a sword or a dragon in it, I don’t know what I’m doing.

So shifting gears here a little bit. You recently wrapped up production on a project you’re directing called Door Mouse. What was that like?

It’s super cool. For me, I’m just a fan of making stuff and creating things. I’m a fan of fans. I wanted to make a movie that sort of felt like a throwback to the films that I liked growing up. And it’s about this woman named Mouse who’s a comic book illustrator, and she doesn’t what she’s doing with her life and she’s working at this club, and these people start going missing from the club, and she has to figure out why they’re going missing. So it’s like a film noir movie where people say the cool line and have the great jacket on and like, I want to make a movie movie. So I did that, and I attempted that, and I had a really good time making it. I’m always exploring new creative disciplines and new creative mediums. I’ve written a book and I’d love to get into game design at some point, but that’s a hard niche to get into. But yeah, I like to make stuff and so directing this movie was a really fun part of myself to explore.

Dave Chappelle’s The Closer controversy has caused plenty of backlash over his trans jokes, including how he called himself “Team TERF” (in agreement with JK Rowling’s trans-exclusionary radical feminist position). He’s been cancelled from film festivals and disinvited at his alma mater (to which Chappelle responded with a slight slam), which has also pumped the brakes on the renaming of a theater in his honor. The comedian, however, is not without support, and that includes Caitlyn Jenner declaring that Chappelle is “100% right” and Jay-Z calling the comedian “brave.”

The host of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher has also stepped up to defend Chappelle. In particular, Maher takes issue with how detractors are using the “transphobic” label for Maher’s jokes, and he was also clear (while visiting with CNN’s Chris Cuomo) on this point: “I’m team Dave and free speech.” Here’s more of what Maher said, via The Wrap:

“You say ‘going after.’ You use terms like ‘homophobia.’ I was speaking recently about ‘-phobia.’ There’s a word that’s traveled quite a bit from its original meaning. He’s not afraid of homosexuals. It’s not transphobic. This trans stuff is very new. I don’t think he, myself or any other right-thinking person thinks there aren’t such things in the world as people who are trans, who are born in a body that doesn’t align with what their brain is telling them.”

The thing is, Maher’s trying to read Dave’s mind, and Dave hasn’t actually articulated what Maher is inferring here. Chappelle did, however, declare that “gender is fact” during The Closer. His reaction to the resulting fiasco has not adopted much nuance, either. Rather, he’s been defensive, joking of his alma mater, “They’re canceling stuff I didn’t even want to do.” Of being cancelled in general, he previously claimed, “I love it.” And he also issued demands for speaking with trans Netflix employees (who haven’t taken him up on the offer as of yet).

Still, Chappelle’s receiving support for his side of the argument, and that includes Jon Stewart, who recently insisted that Dave isn’t a “hurtful” person.

(Via The Wrap)

Time to fix that beret and touch up your red lipstick — new Emily in Paris is just around the corner and we now have our first trailer for it. Earlier today, Netflix unveiled the first trailer for the romantic comedy series second season, and somehow, it looks even more chaotic (and endearing) than the first one.

Based on the trailer, Emily in Paris season two seems to pick up immediately where the show’s first season left off: in Gabriel’s (Lucas Bravo) bed. Following “the most incredible night of sex” Emily (Lily Collins) has ever had, however, the twenty-something-year-old finds herself consumed by guilt for sleeping with the boyfriend of her very first French friend, Camille (Camille Razat). Emily then proceeds to throw herself into her career, expensive parties, and plenty of couture fits as she grapples with the weight of her decision as well as the feeling that ever since she moved to Paris, her life has been perhaps a bit too chaotic for her liking. Luckily for Emily, she has a lot of friends, co-workers, and mentors to help her embrace the Parisian lifestyle and reinvent herself.

In addition to lead star Collins, Bravo, and Razat, Ashley Park, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Samuel Arnold, and Bruno Gouery will all be returning for the series’ second season. Lucien Laviscount (Scream Queens) is also set to make his Emily in Paris debut as Alfie, “a 30-year-old, London-born, sarcastic charmer who refuses to immerse himself in French culture and instead prefers a pint at an English-speaking pub,” according to Entertainment Weekly.

Award-winning creator and showrunner Darren Star is of course back for the Emmy-nominated show’s second season, alongside renowned Emily in Paris costume designer Pat Fields. The series is slated to hit Netflix on December 22.

Anyone who has ever held a job likely knows the feeling of having that one co-worker whose non-stop antics can throw off the balance of the entire workplace—and it seems that the same can be said for the House of Representatives. At the moment, according to Politico, the two biggest sh*t disturbers are the freshly censured Paul Gosar and perpetual troublemaker Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Just as many of us are sick of hearing about MTG’s latest attempt to get the country’s attention, her colleagues are apparently even more tired of them. In a piece for Politico titled “GOP can’t escape ‘self-inflicted injuries’ as they fight to reclaim House,” Olivia Beavers and Sarah Ferris write that some of the biggest challenges Republicans face in reclaiming the House come from within their own party:

[S]ome Republicans say leadership loses their ability to keep members in line once they’ve already been kicked off a committee, leaving them with limited to no tools to rein in troublesome members.

On the other hand, [House Minority Leader Kevin] McCarthy is facing a push by members of the House Freedom Caucus and some rank-and-file members who are arguing for action against the Republicans who voted to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this month.

Greene, the freshman firebrand, is calling on those Republicans to lose their committee assignments. Adding to the tension, some of those Republicans say Greene posting their office’s phone numbers on Twitter—which she did because of their vote—has led to death threats for members like [Rep. Fred] Upton.

Of the 13 Republicans who voted with their Democratic counterparts to pass the infrastructure bill, Politico says that it’s Rep. John Katko (R-NY) who has faced the most backlash, with some colleagues pushing for him to be stripped of his position as ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

But then there are the GOPers like Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who would just like all of the bickering and silly bullshit to stop. “I never even saw the video Gosar posted,” Crenshaw said. “It’s probably stupid. And this movement to punish those 13 Republicans is also stupid.”

Wait ‘til MTG gets a load of that line! Or maybe she’ll just do us all a favor and quit her job.

(Via Politico)

Girl In Red’s Marie Ulven is just a few weeks away from embarking on her nearly sold-out tour. But first, the singer is celebrating the success of her debut album, If I Could Make It Go Quiet, by releasing a video to her fan-favorite track, “I’ll Call You Mine.”

Ulven, the Norwegian singer behind the moniker Girl In Red, first debuted “I’ll Call You Mine” during a cathartic performance on Late Night With Seth Meyers. Now following up the performance, Ulven co-stars in its video, directed by Jared Hogan. The visual plays up the theme of the track, which sees Ulven singing of finding a woman to call hers even on her worst days.

The protagonists in the video find that intense form of passion that Ulven longs for in “I’ll Call You Mine,” but it ends up going a bit too far. After a whirlwind romance, the two eventually turn to crime by robbing convenience stores. One of the woman realizes that their relationship has led her down the wrong path and makes the painful decision to both end things and turn herself into the police. Ulven makes brief appearances in the visual, almost as if watching their relationship unfold from afar.

If I Could Make It Go Quiet is out now via World In Red/AWAL. Get it here.

Rico Nasty has been buzzing lately as fans defend her from the negative reception she’s received as an opener on Playboi Carti’s ongoing Narcissist Tour, but today, she’s once again recentering attention on where it should be: Her new music. Teaming up with fellow flourishing female rapper Flo Milli and boisterous producer Boyz Noise, Rico returns to the spotlight with the upbeat “Money,” a hyperactive call-and-response anthem with big jock jam energy.

In the colorful video, which you can watch below, Rico and Flo rock matching money green ensembles as they pull in pop culture references from over-the-top infomercials and re-colored classic films — yep, that’s Milli taking a stroll down the Yellow Brick Road of Wizard Of Oz fame — while declaring they would rather have money than love because love doesn’t pay the bills. The video was directed by frequent Rico collaborator Roxana Baldovin, who also helmed the video for another girl-power anthem, “Tia Tamera” with Doja Cat.

And while some members of Playboi Carti’s fanbase feel differently, Rico’s certainly got plenty of backers in her corner, including Memphis rapper NLE Choppa, who included her in his list of female rappers who “got next,” NPR, who put Rico on the beloved Tiny Desk Concert series last month, and Red Bull, which is bringing back its SoundClash series with Rico, Danny Brown, and more later this month.

Watch Rico Nasty’s new video for “Money” featuring Flo Milli above.

Click to download here.

You’re Not Dead. You’re on Pod Yourself A Gun

On this week’s episode of Pod Yourself A Gun, there’s a fresh casualty in the battle of the blank pod. Matt and Vince are joined by writer, comedian, and author of one of Vince’s favorite tweets, Ashley Ray to talk about The Sopranos season six, episode three, “Mayham.”

The episode contains the conclusion of the Kevin Finnerty saga, and the introduction of Christopher’s passion project, Cleaver. It’s a digital horror movie about a wiseguy with a big mouth and bigger dreams, which is also how I pitch this podcast to prospective listeners. Just a couple of wiseguys with big mouths, bigger dreams, and a functional knowledge of Audacity’s autotune feature.

The Sopranos writers room’s favorite punching bag, J.T. Dolan, is back. He’s tasked with writing Cleaver to settle his debts with Christopher, and to remind the viewers that all writers are ineffectual cowards who will just watch as you get beat and kidnapped.

Leave your tips on how to be a man’s man with an Applebee’s down the street in a five-star review on Apple Podcasts

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Support the Pod: become a patron at patreon.com/Frotcast and get more bonus content than you could ever want, AND if you sign up for the Pod Yourself a Shoutout tier, you can bask in the glory of hearing your name on the podcast like this week’s newest members: Rube, The Jet, Jimmy Peeps, & The Tween.

-Description by Brent Flyberg.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Rudy Giuliani trotted out “star witness” Mellissa Carone who quickly became a viral sensation thanks to her wild wine lady testimony during a voter fraud hearing in Michigan. (It also didn’t hurt that Giuliani audibly farted during the proceedings.) Despite being parodied by Saturday Night Live and Amy Schumer, Carone fell of the radar after a series of reports on her sordid history of harassing people with sex tapes became public along with significant holes in her story about allegedly witnessing voter fraud while employed by Dominion Voting Systems.

However, almost a year later, the wine lady is back, and once again, her story continues to fall apart. According to Michigan’s Gongwer News Service, Carone never even voted in the 2020 election despite touting herself as an expert witness on alleged fraud, which she claims to have personally witnessed. Except there’s also a problem with that story: Carone only worked for Dominion for one day as a cleaner, which was revealed in a cease and desist letter from the voting software company. Via Raw Story:

“We write to you now because you have positioned yourself as a prominent leader of the ongoing misinformation campaign by pretending to have some sort of ‘insider’s knowledge’ regarding Dominion’s business activities, when in reality you were hired through a staffing agency for one day to clean glass on machines and complete other menial tasks,” the letter continued.

Obviously, learning that Carone never even voted during the election is a shocking development. Normally, people who tell senators that they look like a penis are reliable witnesses and definitely aren’t prone to making false claims about election fraud, or let’s say, Barack Obama personally funding the creation of the coronavirus. Wine Lady would never do that. (She did.)

(Via Raw Story)

Martin Scorsese turned 79 years old yesterday (happy birthday, Marty!), but he’s not slowing down as he approaches the big 8-0.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker recently wrapped filming on Killers of the Flower Moon, his $200 million film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jesse Plemons, and internet hero Brendan Fraser, and on Thursday, Deadline reported that he’s “on board” to direct a biopic about the Grateful Dead with Jonah Hill as frontman / ice cream legend Jerry Garcia.

“Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who have received rave reviews for penning American Crime Story: Impeachment, are writing the script,” Deadline reports, while “insiders add that with the band and the groups management participating in the film, Apple has rights to use the groups musical catalogue for the film.” The Grateful Dead formed in 1965 and continued touring after Garcia’s death in 1995, so it’s unclear what era the biopic will cover. But considering Scorsese’s track record of movies based on real people (The Wolf of Wall Street, Raging Bull, The Irishman, etc.) and his deep appreciation of rock ‘n’ roll (The Last Waltz, No Direction Home), it’s going to be good.

As long as there’s a complete recreation of this moment:

As for Killers of the Flower Moon, it doesn’t currently have a release date, but it should hit Apple TV+ sometime next year.

(Via Deadline)