Category: News

Admittedly, “What does M. Night Shyamalan think about everything going on right now?,” was actually something I was curious to know. This is a reason why, the day before our interview, I rewatched Shyamalan’s 2008 film The Happening, a film that did not go over very well at the time but, now, well … look, he gets a lot more right about how a pandemic will go than people give him credit for doing. It is pretty remarkable. For instance, a movie like Contagion has a kook like Jude Law’s character spouting conspiracy theories. In The Happening we all rolled are eyes at the final scene when a cable news anchor claims the whole thing is a hoax. Well, unfortunately, it turns out M. Night was right. And, yes, he has some critical opinions on how the U.S. government has handled the pandemic.

Shyamalan, who just turned 50 a few months ago (as he explains, a good portion of his family all had consequential, notable birthdays during the pandemic), is video chatting from his home in Philadelphia to talk about the second season of Servant. A married couple, played by Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell, have their infant son come back to life after the arrival of a mysterious nanny – Servant, in its first season, set primarily inside a house, seemed like a stylistic choice, but now doesn’t seem all that strange.

(The first season of Servant also got some unwanted attention due to a lawsuit filed against it for copyright infringement, alleging similarities with a film. Not getting as much attention was that Shyamalan and Servant won that case, even recouping their legal fees. Shymalan, ahead, discusses his legal victory.)

We had a little time left over at the end, so after we delved into The Happening, and we got into a couple of other questions I had about some of his past movies. The first was why he drowned Bruce Willis’s character in a puddle at the end of Glass, which seems almost personal. And the second is if he ever thinks about what would have happened if Haley Joel Osment had been cast in The Phantom Menace instead of The Sixth Sense – and this was breaking news to Shyamalan that Osment had ever auditioned for Star Wars.

We are all going to have birthdays during the pandemic, but I feel some empathy for people with big birthdays and you just had a big birthday…

I know. And this was the big year for birthdays for our whole family. I turned 50. My mom turned 80. My daughter turned 21. My other daughter turned 16.

Oh my gosh.

Everybody ended up just having quiet dinner at home. That turned out to be, “All right, what’s your favorite meal? We’re just going to cook your favorite meal.” That’s what it turned out to be for all of us.

Those ages you just mentioned, those are all huge birthdays.

Yeah. I know. The sweet 16, I think, hurt the most.

I talked to you for the first season of Servant and it’s funny to reread that because the theme was basically, “Ah, this streaming thing, I think it might take off.” And here we are.

Yeah. Amazing. I don’t know how it’s all going to shake out. I wonder how it will be at the end of the day? Is everyone going to have 15 different streaming things that they’re going to pay for? Or is it all going to get bundled like a cable thing? How is this going to work out for the average person? I’m not sure.

Well, you had to have thought about it. You have a streaming show. What do you think is going to happen?

When I think about the landscape changing for streamers? As you know, everybody’s going to make good content. Everyone’s going to have, like, if you want to watch that movie, you have to go to this studio’s streaming service. I like being associated with Apple and their brand to separate us a little bit. And, hopefully, people will see us, because it’s going to be so hard to get people’s attention now that there are a thousand shows being made.

So I watched seven episodes of the new season. It hit me a lot different than watching the first season. Because a show set primarily in a house, yeah, that makes a lot of sense right now.

I know, that’s just my taste. Nothing to do with pandemics. That’s what I like. I like isolated, contained stories.

That’s how we all live now.

Yeah. It’s not strange at all now. It’s not unusual.

Your show went from, oh, this is really unusual that they spend so much time at home to, oh, they’re just like everyone else. They spend a lot of time in their homes.

That’s true. That’s true. You don’t even think about it anymore.

So you just got renewed for a third season. Last year you said you wanted to make 60 episodes?

I changed my mind on that over the pandemic. I outlined the whole series over the pandemic and figured out where I wanted it to go and how many episodes it would be. And it came out to 40.

Okay, so now 40.

Instead of 60. Yeah.

So the pandemic made you want to do less?

Well, it made me figure it all out. Two things happened. Well, three things. One was I just wrote out all my ideas and it just came out to that. That was one. Two, I didn’t expect to be as involved in the show as I am. I mean, I do everything. I put in every sound effect. Right now, when I finish here, I’m going to go and listen to a cue. I did the writers’ room right before all this, for season three. Every color timing I do upstairs. I do everything. And I like it! I’m enjoying it!

I just don’t know what my life will be like many, many years from now. So I felt like I can commit at this level through next year and get us to the finish line on this thing. So it’s a combination of that. And also what we just talked about: that the world has changed so much and the streamers are everywhere. And what used to be a long commitment of six seasons feels eternal in this world. Whereas now, you see the impact of Queen’s Gambit has on Netflix, right? It’s powerful – it’s a commitment for the audience – but not that long. And yet it’s what everyone wanted. I feel it. And it affected me and it helped Netflix. And it’s one of the most sticky things that’s happened for them in a long time. And I feel like if I can do something super high quality for a burst of time here, that’s probably the best for me and for them. So it just ended up kind of naturally looking at the playing field, shifting from 60 episodes to 40. So that’s where my head went.

So I don’t know if this is a touchy subject or not, but the show was sued for copyright infringement. I read the judge’s decision, that you won. Did you feel vindicated? The judge wrote, “many of the alleged similarities in the First Amended Complaint are mischaracterizations of one or both of the works at issue,” and you were awarded your legal fees back.

It’s so par for the course, too. I didn’t even really spend any on it. When it happened, I was like, whatever, here’s the mountain of stuff. Let’s figure it out. And actually, whenever somebody goes, “Hey, I thought of an alien movie first.” I’m like, “Please, I know you did, but here’s all my stuff. Please, please, please just look at it carefully. Look at the dates. I know you feel like somebody took something from you, but we all have so many similar pools of ideas and thoughts. Nobody took anything, that’s not how I run. In fact, if you want to do a game, I bet you I can come up with movie ideas right now. Right off the top of my head, ten of them right now.”

And, so, I sent these people that and said, “Please, please. I totally understand. Just, here’s all the information. Clearly, clearly, this was done way, way before anything that you were thinking of. And I wish you the best, I really do.” And they kept pursuing it anyway. It went exactly as you thought it would. But yet they never write about how it was ridiculous. They just write about the negative part of it.

So I rewatched The Happening. As far as the pandemic, you got a lot right. Have you thought about that recently? It starts in the Northeast. People are nonchalant at first. It hits the cities, then it hits the towns, then it goes to rural areas. There’s a weird MAGA-type gun guy. You can’t be around other people.

Well, you know what’s similar is I guess it’s an unseen enemy, right? It’s a conceptual enemy, which is hard to wrap your head around. And as you can see, by the way the country reacted to a conceptual enemy, the framing of the storytelling is everything. Do they give credence to the fear? Do they feel restricted? And because of the way the administration chose to be ambiguous about what was happening to all of us, you have all these bizarre reactions across the spectrum.

I remember when I first saw that movie I rolled my eyes at the final scene with the newscast calling it a hoax and a government conspiracy. And then that happened.

Dude, no one would believe what happened here in these last four years. No one would believe that any of this stuff could actually play out. No one would believe what we’ve witnessed in these last four years. No one. I have so many doctors in my family and their patients, as they’re being told they’re dying or what are they dying of, “You’re dying from the coronavirus.” They go, “No, that’s a hoax. What am I really dying from?” That’s being said to the doctor! “I don’t know what to tell you. You’re dying from the coronavirus.” And it’s incredible.

Well, that was my long way of saying I think you deserve more credit for that movie, because you got more right than anyone gave you credit for at the time.

That’s funny.

And you cast both Jeremy Strong and Alan Ruck. So you were ahead on the Succession craze, too.

Yeah, that’s true!

So, I’m curious, why did you drown Bruce Willis in a puddle at the end of Glass. Because it seemed almost personal.

[Laughs] Well, in the end, that the simplest thing can take the strongest person down. That it’s like more of Achilles’ heel that, in the mythos of it, you don’t need an army to take down the strongest man if you know their weakness.

It’s been reported Haley Joel Osment auditioned for the part of Anakin in The Phantom Menace. Do you think about that? Because chances are then he’s not in The Sixth Sense and everything would be different.

Oh, really? I didn’t, it’s funny, I never heard that! You’re the first one actually I’ve ever heard that from. That’s interesting.

I’m breaking news to you.

I mean, jeez. I mean, always I’m astonished by filmmaking. The kind of serendipity involved with filming who’s available at what time, what person comes to audition for me, all these things. The particular cinematographer, the sun on that day. That’s what I love about filmmaking. It is all this happenstance that comes together and becomes this alchemy of magic that’s caught. I’m astonished by it, but I’ve kind of learned to celebrate it and enjoy it. And even this last movie, that I’ve done so much of that came to the table.

Old, right?

Yeah. So much of that. Like, I couldn’t make that movie now if I wanted to with the same cast. It would be so hard to do all the things that we did and it’s just amazing. And that’s what makes it so precious for me.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

On the way to an unexpected 44-28 record and a slot in the 2020 NBA Playoffs, the Oklahoma City Thunder earned a great deal of respect. The Thunder were widely seen as a potentially solid team in advance of the 2019-20 season but, with a rebuild looming and key cogs with injury history like Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari, overall expectations were tempered and Oklahoma City greatly exceeded them. Fast-forward to the 2020-21 season and, before tip-off in late December, projections were even more skeptical of the Thunder.

After losing Paul, Gallinari, Steven Adams, head coach Billy Donovan and more, the Thunder had the lowest over/under win total in the entire NBA for the 2020-21 campaign. Given the team’s operational pivot to rebuilding, that seemed reasonable, especially with the expectation that the Thunder would give developmental reps to rookies in Aleksej Pokusevski and Theo Maledon. On cue, the Thunder opened the season 1-3 with three home losses, and the stage was set.

Then, something funny happened, and the Thunder rattled off a 4-1 record during a five-game January road trip. It has to be said that there are many strange results thus far, and Oklahoma City shouldn’t be expected to maintain this pace. Still, the Thunder have allowed just 1.06 points per possession defensively during the five-game run, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is carrying the offense.

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 22.2 points, 6.8 assists and 5.4 rebounds over the course of the road trip, posting 49/38/82 shooting splits along the way. Hamidou Diallo added 15.6 points per contest while shooting 64 percent from the floor, and steady hands like George Hill and Al Horford provided defense, acumen and just enough on the offensive end.

The 2020-21 season is, unquestionably, about molding the organization for the future, and that means accentuating Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Bazley, Luguentz Dort (who has been fantastic this season), Maledon, Pokusevski and others. From there, the cupboard is overflowing with draft capital, giving Sam Presti the flexibility to not worry too much about the 2021 draft if the Thunder happen to stay hot for a while.

It remains to be seen as to how good the Thunder actually are this season and, from a roster standpoint, regression seems to be in the offing. With that said, Oklahoma City has been fun to watch, and they seem to be playing hard, inspired basketball.

Where do the Thunder stand in this week’s DIME power rankings? Let’s explore the space.

1. Los Angeles Lakers (8-3, Last week — 1st)

As noted last week, it’s not particularly close right now between the Lakers and everyone else, especially when accounting for the prior of Los Angeles winning the 2020 title. The Lakers went 3-1 this week, and the only loss involved the Spurs shooting 16-of-35 from three-point range.

2. Milwaukee Bucks (7-4, Last week — 4th)

It is the Bucks, not the Lakers, that leads the NBA in net rating (+11.1) and it isn’t particularly close right now. Milwaukee has won five of the last six games, and the Utah Jazz needed a record-setting performance with 25 three-pointers to knock off the Bucks in the only loss. Let’s just say that any regular season questions have dissipated for this Bucks team, provided reasonable health.

3. Boston Celtics (7-3, Last week — 8th)

Health and safety protocols have been at the forefront of almost every NBA discussion this week, and the Celtics are in the middle of it. Boston has endured back-to-back postponements, so they haven’t played in a while. With that said, the Celtics are tied for the longest winning streak (four) in the NBA, and Kemba Walker is coming back in short order.

4. L.A. Clippers (7-4, Last week — 3rd)

The insane loss to Dallas is still making the numbers look odd for the Clippers overall, but they’re in fine shape. Some priors are still in the mix, at least for me, in evaluating the early part of the season, and L.A. looks the part of a top-five team. They’re going to have to play better defense, however, so that is something to monitor.

5. Philadelphia 76ers (7-4, Last week — 2nd)

Nuance is going to be key this season. If you just saw the scores of Philadelphia’s games against Denver and Atlanta, you would be baffled by this ranking. The 76ers were without half of their roster in both games, so I’m going to lean on the previous sample and priors, at least for now.

6. Portland Trail Blazers (6-4, Last week — 10th)

The run didn’t come against the most elite competition, but the Blazers are on a three-game winning streak. CJ McCollum capped things with a beautiful game-winner on Monday evening, and Portland is scoring almost 1.14 points per possession on the season. There are things to work out defensively, but improvement is coming on that end, and the Blazers are suddenly rounding into form.

7. Utah Jazz (6-4, Last week — 5th)

Home-court advantage doesn’t mean as much as it usually does right now, but teams like Utah and Denver should still benefit from the altitude this season. With that in mind, it is noteworthy that the Jazz are 1-2 at home and a blistering 5-2 on the road in the early going. Just something to note.

8. Phoenix Suns (7-4, Last week — 6th)

The Suns have alternated wins and losses in their last six games, treading water for all to see. Phoenix still has solid metrics, but losing to Washington and Detroit in the same week isn’t enough to keep their standing in this space.

9. Denver Nuggets (5-5, Last week — 12th)

No potential contender wants to be 5-5 after ten games, but the Nuggets are better than that. They’ve won four of the last five games, and Denver has the No. 2 offense in the league right now. Nikola Jokic is out of his mind and, after a brutal start, Denver’s defense is now bringing something to the table. That’s all they need to do on that end.

10. Dallas Mavericks (5-4, Last week — 15th)

Before a postponement on Monday, Dallas received some (very) good news in the form of Kristaps Porzingis being cleared to play. The Mavericks, like many teams, are dealing with health and safety protocol issues, but Dallas has won three in a row and Porzingis should help to raise their ceiling a great deal.

11. Brooklyn Nets (5-6, Last week — 9th)

In all honesty, I wish anyone luck trying to “rank” the Nets. Brooklyn has the third-best net rating in the NBA and their highs have been quite high. They also have a 5-6 record, Spencer Dinwiddie is gone for the season and Kyrie Irving hasn’t been playing and likely won’t for the rest of this week at minimum. Let’s just split the difference for today.

12. Indiana Pacers (6-4, Last week — 7th)

Indiana isn’t as good as their top-five net rating indicates, but two losses in a row shouldn’t pour too much cold water on the proceedings. It helps that Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon are playing fantastic basketball, but Indiana operating without TJ Warren isn’t ideal. That shouldn’t be overlooked.

13. Golden State Warriors (6-4, Last week — 11th)

Since their Christmas debacle, the Warriors are 6-2 with a +4.2 net rating. It remains to be seen as to whether Golden State is that good, but Draymond Green helps tremendously and it was always going to take this group some time. Also, Kelly Oubre and Andrew Wiggins may not be elite wing options, but they were never going to shoot 12 percent (all numbers approximate) from the perimeter all season.

14. Charlotte Hornets (6-5, Last week — 27th)

No team had a better week than the Hornets. Charlotte won all four of its games, including a sweep of the Hawks, and LaMelo Ball looks the part of the guy who many had atop their big boards for the 2020 Draft. The Hornets now have a positive point differential for the season, and James Borrego has designed a quality defense despite some roster limitations.

15. Oklahoma City Thunder (5-4, Last week — 28th)

In practical terms, the Thunder aren’t the 15th-best team in the league. They had a great week, though, and earned this placement.

16. Miami Heat (4-4, Last week — 16th)

Miami would probably love a mulligan on the start of the season. Honestly, they are better than what they’ve shown and everyone knows it, but the results haven’t been bad enough to put them too far behind the eight-ball. The Heat will likely take it as they too work through COVID-19 protocol issues.

17. Atlanta Hawks (5-5, Last week — 14th)

The Hawks badly needed a win, and the 76ers arrived in Atlanta on Monday with only nine players and very few perimeter options. Thankfully for the home team, that was enough to snap a four-game losing streak, but the Hawks now face a tough, three-game trip to the West. That should tell us a lot about Atlanta, and the Hawks are also (quite) banged-up right now.

18. Orlando Magic (6-5, Last week — 13th)

It shouldn’t surprise anyone if the Magic keep dropping on this list, simply because of their roster realities. Orlando isn’t a playoff-caliber team on paper right now, and they’ve lost three in a row. Steve Clifford’s team is above .500, but they have the 24th-best net rating in the league and that is probably more indicative of where they are at the moment.

19. Houston Rockets (3-5, Last week — 18th)

Houston, along with Miami, has the smallest sample size of any team with only eight games. As such, they’ve lost three out of the last four, and that really drags them down, but the Rockets also dropped games to Indiana, Dallas and the Lakers. That’s not the end of the world, and they get the rematch (at home) against Los Angeles on Tuesday.

20. San Antonio Spurs (5-5, Last week — 24th)

San Antonio isn’t good necessarily, but they are fun. The Spurs do fundamental things very well, headlined by the No. 1 turnover rate in the NBA offensively, but San Antonio also just has a million guys. Keldon Johnson is fun. DeMar DeRozan might have it going on any night. Patty Mills is playing great. It’s basketball nerd stuff, but the Spurs are Spurs-y.

21. New Orleans Pelicans (4-5, Last week — 17th)

The Pelicans had a game postponed on Monday and, before that, New Orleans lost three straight games by single digits. Granted, all of those games were at home, which isn’t ideal, but New Orleans is currently the statistical embodiment of a .500 team. This might just be what they are all season.

22. Cleveland Cavaliers (5-6, Last week — 20th)

It’s really impressive that the Cavs continue to lead the league in defensive rating, and they are truly clamping down on that end of the floor. In contrast, Cleveland is dead-last in offensive rating (by a considerable margin) and it is hard to win at a high level when that happens. Both sides should regress on some level, but trying to find the baseline will be interesting, and it would be wise to keep in mind that the Cavs have been dealing with real personnel absences, particularly on the perimeter.

23. Toronto Raptors (2-8, Last week — 21st)

This is a weird one, folks. The Raptors being 2-8 is almost mind-blowing, particularly without widespread absences for their top players. Some of that is luck, with Toronto having a respectable-ish net rating (-1.4), but they haven’t been good on either end of the floor, particularly late in games. The offensive scuffles are understandable, but the Raptors really need to be awesome on defense, and they aren’t right now.

24. Memphis Grizzlies (4-6, Last week — 26th)

Memphis is unquestionably in trouble as long as they have the roster limitations they are currently facing, headlined by the absence of Ja Morant. The Grizzlies did just win two games in a row, however, and perhaps they can hold the line just long enough to remain in the peripheral mix for the playoffs.

25. Sacramento Kings (5-6, Last week — 25th)

The Kings still have the worst defensive rating (116.6) in the NBA and they have a bottom-five net rating after all. On the more favorable side, Sacramento picked up a nice win over the Indiana Pacers on Monday, breaking out of a spell in which they had lost five of the previous six.

26. Washington Wizards (3-8, Last week — 22nd)

Washington was going to be even lower if not for a nice win over Phoenix on Monday. The Wizards have been wildly disappointing through 11 games, but it is worth noting that they are snake-bitten. Washington has a -0.8 net rating and, well, that doesn’t usually translate to a 3-8 record. The wins still need arrive at some point, but perhaps things will balance out for Scott Brooks and company.

27. New York Knicks (5-6, Last week — 19th)

Yes, the Knicks are almost .500, but they have a bottom-five net rating. Also, New York lost to Oklahoma City (at home) and Charlotte this week in fairly decisive fashion. Tom Thibodeau’s bunch can certainly play better than they have recently, but that doesn’t mean the results have been incredible.

28. Chicago Bulls (4-7, Last week — 22nd)

It’s been quite an up and down season, even in a short sample, for the Bulls. Chicago has now lost three games in a row and, within the last week, the Bulls allowed 121.1 points per 100 possessions. That didn’t help what is currently the second-worst defensive team in the NBA by the numbers.

29. Detroit Pistons (2-8, Last week — 30th)

Detroit actually has two pretty good wins, beating the Celtics and the Suns at home. Everything else has been pretty shaky, though, and the record doesn’t seem to be a fluke. The Pistons are a bottom-tier team on both ends of the floor, and it stands to reason that Jerami Grant, who is currently averaging 25.1 points per game, might cool off at some point.

30. Minnesota Timberwolves (3-7, Last week — 29th)

The Wolves don’t have the worst record in the league and they actually won their last game, sneaking past the Spurs at home. Why, then, is Minnesota dead-last this week? Well, the Wolves have the worst net rating by a comfortable margin (-9.3) and, even the win over San Antonio was mitigated by a loss to the same team in the previous game. The return of Karl-Anthony Towns should help to stabilize matters, but it’s been pretty ugly so far.

Kyrie Irving has not played in the Nets last three games, as he has been listed as out, first for “personal reasons” and recently the wording has shifted to him being on “personal leave.” Steve Nash has declined to offer anything in the way of specifics surrounding the reasoning for Irving’s absence, noting that he would leave all conversations between the star point guard and the team private, but the shift in wording seems to indicate an agreement between the two sides has been reached.

Late Monday night, video of Irving at a birthday party for his sister, Asia, began making the rounds on social media and naturally became a hot topic of conversation, as it appeared to be a relatively large gathering with no one appearing to be wearing masks. On Tuesday morning, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews reported that the league was going to begin an investigation into the video as well as reporting that Irving wasn’t expected to return to the Nets for at least three more games, as he is out tonight and is likely to miss Wednesday and Saturday’s action as well.

On top of a continued absence, it’s very possible that Irving will have to enter a quarantine period once he returns to the team, which could extend his absence for another full week. As for the investigation, NBA Twitter sleuth Worldwide Wob dove into the particulars of the Irving soiree.

It certainly seems like this was indeed a recent video from this weekend and as we learned with James Harden, it’s very possible that, even on personal leave, if the league deems Irving broke COVID-19 protocols he could face a $50,000 fine as well as a quarantine period. The optics of him being at a party while away from the team aren’t the best, but given it’s a family birthday party it’s not exactly the same as him galavanting around town.

Chadwick Boseman was the posthumous recipient of the Actor Tribute award for his Academy Award-worthy performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Monday’s Gotham Awards. His wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, accepted the award on his behalf and gave a moving speech about the Black Panther star’s “practice of telling the truth.”

Simone Ledward praised Boseman, who died in August 2020 after a years-long battle with colon cancer, for being the “most honest person I’ve ever met because he didn’t just stop at speaking the truth, he actively searched for it. In himself, in those around him and in the moment. The truth can be a very easy thing for the self to avoid, but if one does not live in truth, then it’s impossible to live in line with a divine purpose for your life. And so it became how he lived his life, day in, day out. Imperfect, but determined.”

The Da 5 Bloods star “was able to give himself over fully in every moment, to be totally present in his own life and in the lives of people he became. He was blessed to live many lives within his concentrated one. He developed his understanding of what it meant to be the none, the one, and the all,” Simone Ledward added, concluding her tearful speech with, “Chad, thank you. I love you. I am so proud of you. Keep shining your light on us.”

Cardi B has come a long way since she released her debut mixtape Gangsta B*tch Music Vol. 1 in 2016. She’s gone on to headline festivals, had a number of singles debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and won a Grammy for Best Rap Album. Though she’s gained many accolades, it can be hard to put things in to perspective. But after seeing a resurfaced tweet from 2016, Cardi reflected on her success.

A few months after the release of Gangsta B*tch Music Vol. 1, Cardi took to Twitter to set her musical intentions. “IDK where my music going to take me ,I just want people to say she puts out good tracks,” she wrote. “Respect the talent.” Nearly five years later, Cardi stumbled upon the tweet once again. Sharing it to demonstrate where her music took her career, she wrote: “WOW 2016…..Claim it !!!”

Ahead of finding her old tweet, Cardi stumbled onto another marker of success: having iconic musician Dionne Warwick cosign your music. Warwick was apparently introduced to Cardi through her niece, saying she loves how the rapper is “authentically herself.” However, discovering Cardi’s music ended in one question for Warwick: “What does Offset mean?”

See Cardi’s 2016 tweet above.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Vh1 reality show Love & Hip Hop will have been on-air for a decade this spring. The show is best known for helping to launch the career of hip-hop’s current biggest star Cardi B after she appeared on the show from 2015 to 2017, but this week, we learned that the show just missed being part of another huge star’s come-up.

Looking back at the past decade of shenanigans, Vh1’s Love & Hip Hop Unlocked has been recalling some of the show’s most eyebrow-raising moments and behind-the-scenes info — including the audition tape of one Megan Pete, aka Megan Thee Stallion, who petitioned for a role on the show with a bubbly video reeling off her many, many alter egos and revealing a bit of her backstory.

In the video, Megan recalls the conversation with her mother that led to her pursuing rap as a career, while detailing her full-time student status and making a bold prediction. “Megan Thee Stallion is just gonna become a household name,” she manifested. “When you’re talking about the popping rappers, I’m definitely gonna be in that conversation.”

Seems like a bold claim for an unknown rapper from Houston who went on to have the No. 1 record in the country twice in one year — the second time with Cardi B, no less. It’s probably safe to say that dream worked out for her.

Watch Megan Thee Stallion’s Love & Hip Hop audition video above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Dexter‘s eight seasons recently departed Netflix as Showtime gears up to start shooting a limited series revival. Original showrunner Clyde Phillips plans to make good on remedying the maligned (and rather silly) “lumberjack” ending to the series, and the show is primed to attract an even bigger audience for Showtime. However, it looks like at least some of the wishes from fans may not be in the cards, unless Showtime is planning on announcing returns from the original cast later. For now, it sure looks like Michael C. Hall is the only familiar face onboard, but that could change. We’ll see.

Alright, so the good news is this: Dexter (who originally faked his own death) is no longer lumberjack-ing in Oregon. However, he isn’t returning to Florida, either, which means that it’s unlikely that we’ll see his old police-force pals again. Fingers might stay crossed for Jennifer Carpenter’s Debra to somehow return as a dark passenger, but Carpenter hasn’t been confirmed, and Showtime has revealed that Dexter will be heading to upstate New York. It doesn’t seem as if he’s retiring to a nice farm up there, but one never knows. However, news of the new supporting cast more than suggests that he’s working with (or at least tangling with) local law enforcement. We’ve already heard that the new villain will be played by Clancy Brown (of SpongeBob SquarePants fame), who will play the mayor of fictional Iron Lake. Here’s more of the cast via Deadline:

Julia Jones (The Mandalorian), Alano Miller (Sylvie’s Love), Johnny Sequoyah (Believe) and Jack Alcott (The Good Lord Bird) have joined Michael C. Hall and Clancy Brown in the 10-episode limited series, which begins production next month in Massachusetts.

Jones will play Angela Bishop, the first Native American Chief of Police in her town in upstate New York. Sequoyah portrays Audrey, Bishop’s brash and opinionated teenage daughter. Miller will play Logan, a sergeant for the Iron Lake Police Department and the assistant wrestling coach for the local high school. Alcott is Randall, with whom Dexter (Hall) has a meaningful encounter.

Well, it doesn’t sound like Yvonne Strahovski returning as poison-happy Hannah is in the cards, but one never knows. It truly seems like the revival would want her onboard, but she’s probably still in Argentina, enjoying her new life while Harrison might be easing steadily toward some serial killer tendencies of his own. And we haven’t heard a thing about Harrison, but wouldn’t it be something if he tracked dad down to upstate New York, where the two would clash over the whole abandonment thing? Dexter’s own dad would never have abandoned his son, no matter what, and even though Dexter probably thought he was giving Harrison a better life, this still leaves room for a lot of resentment. All of this is wild speculation on my part, but hey, I’d be here to watch the show end with Dexter and Harrison facing off. Why not? It’s better than chopping wood.

As of now, the Dexter limited series revival is scheduled for a fall 2021 launch.

(Via Deadline)

Idles haven’t phoned it in when it comes to the videos for their latest album, Ultra Mono. They dropped an animated video, one made with Michel Gondry, and now they’ve returned with a left turn of a visual for “Reigns.”

The video goes back and forth between people sitting down to watch a nature documentary and clips of animal violence, with the people seemingly reacting in glee as nature brutally does its thing. In fact, some of the clips are so gory that it’s worth including a warning about here.

The band’s Joe Talbot previously said of the song, “This was written around the bass, obviously. Again, another movement — techno — and that idea of togetherness and the love in the room is always apparent. Techno is motorik, it’s mesmeric, it is just a singularity — minimal techno, especially. It’s just the beat or the bass line and that carries you through, that’s all you need. Obviously, we’re a chorus band, so we thought we’d throw in something huge to cut through it. But we didn’t want to overcomplicate it. That sinister pound just reminds me of my continual disdain for the Royal Family and everything they represent in our country, from the fascism that it comes from to the smiley-face racism that it perpetuates nowadays.”

Watch the “Reigns” video above.

As the music industry begins ramping up for the new year, many big-name pop musicians released new music this week. Taylor Swift added a few tracks to a deluxe version of her Evermore album, elusive ex-One Direction member Zayn returned with a new single, and Saweetie tapped Doja Cat to embark on antics in a fun collaboration.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Taylor Swift — “It’s Time To Go”

“It’s Time To Go” is one of a pair of tracks Taylor Swift unveiled this week to keep eyes on her surprise Evermore release. A quiet ballad, Swift sings of learning the hard lesson of letting go of toxic relationships, even if they used to be a close friend.

Zayn — “Vibez”

Fans thought Zayn was gearing up for a new era of music when he dropped the single “Better” as his only track of 2020, and they were proved right this week. Zayn returned to promise fans that new music is, in fact, on the horizon with the shuffling single “Vibez.” The single arrived in tandem with the announcement of his album Nobody Is Listening, which includes “Better” and “Vibez” within the LP’s 11 tracks.

Saweetie — “Best Friend” Feat. Doja Cat

Though Saweetie and Doja Cat’s “Best Friend” was prematurely published by her record label in late 2020, the duo teamed up for a captivating visual to award fans for patiently waiting for its official release. The song is a swaggering single devoted to dynamic duos and serves as a hyped-up anthem for women everywhere to shake their hips to with their best friends.

Zara Larsson — “Talk About Love” Feat. Young Thug

Returning after her hit “Wow” went viral on TikTok, Zara Larsson tapped Young Thug to “Talk About Love” in a new single. “’Talk About Love’ is about that phase before two people work out what they are to one another,” Larsson said. “That specific window is so beautiful and fragile, as soon as you start asking ‘are we doing this?’ or ‘how do *you* feel?’, for some people that ruins the magic. ‘Talk About Love’ is savoring that moment before you have to decide.”

Alice Glass — “Suffer And Swallow”

It’s been nearly seven years since Alice Glass left Crystal Castles after saying she survived “almost a decade of abuse” from bandmate Ethan Kath. Now, Glass is pivoting back to her solo career with the new single “Suffer And Swallow.” In a statement about the song, Glass said: “The song is true to the singular vision that Glass has crafted over the course of her career, but finds her exploring the dichotomy of pain and beauty in a manner more stark than ever before.”

Charlotte Lawrence — “Talk You Down”

If Charlotte Lawrence has taught us anything over her career, it’s that she’s perfected the club-ready beat drop. Following a handful of 2020 singles, including one that landed on the Birds Of Prey soundtrack, Lawrence returns with another banger. “Talk You Down” explores times the singer has been needlessly in her own head underscored by a sparkling beat.

VanJess — “Curious” Feat. Jimi Tents and Garren

Sister duo VanJess have been turning heads since their 2018 debut album but now, they continue to tease a new era of music. Along with announcing their upcoming EP Homegrown, VanJess share the sultry single “Curious” to showcase their project’s captivating harmonies.

Olivia Rodrigo — “Driver’s License”

After coming into stardom with her lead role on Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Olivia Rodrigo has shared her debut solo single. “Drivers License” offers a vignette of the aftermath of one’s first heartbreak, with Rodrigo writing: “When I came up with ‘Drivers License,’ I was going through a heartbreak that was so confusing to me, so multifaceted. Putting all those feelings into a song made everything seem so much simpler and clearer.”

JC Stewart — “Break My Heart”

Following a string of mellow pop hits, JC Stewart’s distinctive sound has captured the attention of many, including Niall Horan. Stewart teamed up with Horan to co-write “Break My Heart,” a bouyant tune about knowing a relationship isn’t right, but taking the risk anyway. “‘Break My Heart’ is big, fast, and fun,” Steward said. “It’s about someone who can catch you so off guard that they can ruin a city for you and tear your life apart. But sometimes that can be addicting.”

Aaron Frazer — “Can’t Leave It Alone”

Aaron Frazer is gearing up for the release of his debut solo album Introducing… this week, produced by Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Sharing the grand single “Can’t Leave It Alone,” Frazer said: “I have a soft spot for mid 2000s hip hop with marching band vibes. It just takes me back to the formative songs I heard emanating from 92.3 on my boombox. […] I wanted to write something in tribute to that sound, and who knows maybe a marching band out there will play it at a football game someday.”

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Hollywood’s preference for neatly categorizing the legions of good-looking thespians that grace our screens every year is fairly obvious. We used to silo the men and women who are cutting a check for acting out fantasies in theaters and on TV as either movie stars or dramatic actors. The former was the hook that studios hung tentpole blockbusters on: charming, impossibly masculine, glamorous, famous as much for their real-life personas as they were for the characters they played on screen. The latter? Those were the Oscar-winners, the critical darlings, the Jeremy Strongs making bold choices, begging directors to tear-gas them on sets in the name of storytelling.

The divergent path has merged some over the years. There’s no clear, defining line separating bankable talent from actual talent. Chris Evans can brandish a shield in Marvel behemoths one second, then don an unkempt beard and heavy demeanor for a limited drama on Apple TV+ the next. Jon Hamm, who rose to fame playing an arrogant, adulterous ad executive in ’60s era Mad Men is now one of the most unpredictably exciting comedic actors in the game. Chadwick Boseman brought a royal Wakandan superhero to life in Black Panther, but he’ll also probably take home posthumous awards for his brilliant turn in an August Wilson adaptation this year.

In Hollywood, you can now be both a movie star and a serious actor, which is what makes Michael Sheen even more interesting. Michael Sheen is decidedly not a movie star. He’s also Welsh, which means he likely doesn’t sport the kind of ego that would make him capable of attaching gravitas to his acting career. He has 93 credits on his IMDb page. He’s played former British Prime Minister Tony Blair thrice, earning awards recognition for his impersonation in the Helen Mirren-starring The Queen. And he’s lit up the small screen with guest stints on everything from 30 Rock to The Good Wife.

Michael Sheen is, by all accounts, a serious, or at least seriously talented, actor. But he’s also weird as f*ck. I hope he’ll take that as the highest of compliments because it’s the truly bizarre character actors that should be propped up on a pedestal. That’s what Sheen really is: a character actor in his prime, a fearless conqueror on-screen, blazing a path by brandishing his quirky habits and secret love for creating chaos while leaving behind a scorched Earth of conventional conformists in his wake. He’s not like the other girls, and that’s become more apparent as time drags on.

My fascination with Sheen’s filmography began, to my shame, late in his career. His current gig is playing an irresistibly charming serial killer and lauded surgeon named Dr. Martin Whitly on Fox’s Prodigal Son. Perhaps the best praise I can heap on Sheen’s performance is that it convinces me to tune into a network drama every week, a rare feat in the age of streaming. But even that adulation doesn’t paint the whole story of what Sheen’s doing on that show.

Sporting the kind of knit cardigan Ransom Drysdale would be envious of and a crop of wild, grey-dusted curls with just enough kink in them to hint at the perverted madness housed underneath, Sheen’s Whitly is charismatic, comical, and shockingly likable. His unnerving ease at see-sawing between philosophical convos on life and love with his son Malcolm (the excellent Tom Payne) and pragmatically outlining how to dismember a body is at once jarring and, oddly, mesmerizing. Sheen plays him as a perpetually amused psychotic genius, an Einstein whose intelligence is so far above those that keep him captive, it’s almost a joke. And we’re in on it, as the audience, gleefully cackling when Whitly gets overexcited about consulting on the most gruesome homicide cases or, even more disturbingly, momentarily forgetting he once stuffed a woman into a box when he shares a tender exchange with his son. And Sheen embraces the strangeness of the man, rejoicing in his eccentricities, adding a musical flair to every “My boy,” he greets Malcolm with and relishing the more awkward moments by exploiting their inherent comedy. Really, when has a slow-rising hospital bed and distasteful Stephen Hawking joke been funnier?

Lest you think playing a serial killing diva was the most oddball acting choice Sheen has ever made, may I point you to the rest of his film catalog. There’s his mustache-twirling clichéd villain in Dr. Dolittle. The eerily robotic bartender of Passengers. The long-haired alpha Lycan of Underworld. The Tony Blairs (all three of them) and the heavily-bronzed game show hosts of Quiz. The Hot Tub Time Machine hating settling soul mate of Liz Lemon in 30 Rock.

And then there are a handful of performances that live in my own brain, rent-free, like when he played Aro in the Twilight series. Other actors would’ve balked at the challenge of turning a 4,000-year-old Italian vampire riddled with boredom and consumed by unchecked power into something more than just a two-dimensional, cartoonish stereotype, but not Sheen. No, while Robert Pattinson flaunted his constipated sullenness and Kristen Stewart fidgeted and fought to make her character likable, Sheen basked in the camp of it all. He over-enunciated, he exaggerated Aro’s mercurial nature with rapid eye movement, twitchy physicality, and shrieking giggle fits. In the franchise’s final film, just before a climactic battle is set to take place, Sheen throws the atmospheric tension every other actor in the scene has worked so painstakingly hard to build into turmoil. It’s like watching Georgia O’Keefe destroy a room full of paintings, or Heath Ledger’s Joker burn a mountain of money, and it is glorious.

In Tron: Legacy he plays Castor, a maniacal nightclub owner with a consuming love for theatricality. As his guests fall into his well-laid trap, he dances and kicks and shuffles and shouts, wielding a neon-tinted cane like a Barnum and Bailey’s ringmaster and a slicked-back shock-white hairdo that turns him into an analog-style Bowie wannabe. His accent careens into the absurd, from high-pitched lilts to German parody to something I can only describe as Marvel supervillain Arnim Zola on steroids.

In Neil Gaiman’s Amazon Prime comedy Good Omens, Sheen played the anxiety-ridden angel, Aziraphale, a heavenly kiss-ass who befriends David Tennant’s demonic Crowley, and together, the two try to save the world. Playing the more uptight celestial being might not be as fun for any other actor, but Sheen has a hell of a time, dealing nervous spasms and twitchy eyeballs and exaggerated gulps with such a heavy hand, you can’t help but feel sympathy for the straight-laced seraph.

And just when I was ready to conclude my research, feeling quite confident dubbing Sheen’s extensive resume as one of the wilder, diverse acting careers in Hollywood, I stumbled upon Michael Bolton’s Valentine’s Day Special on Netflix. It’s here that Sheen truly goes above and beyond in the name of weird, playing a Bob Fosse parody named Carl Flossy: a gruff, chain-smoking choreographer whose manners are as coarse as his constantly-displayed chest hair. Shouting obscenities at Bolton as he tries to map out a musical dilly that will convince punk kids that old-time rock-n-roll is, in fact, badass, Sheen’s growling criticism and shouted anger is muffled only by the ever-present cigarette dangling from his mouth. He’s an aging Guido-type with an open-neck satin shirt, and inflated confidence, and a mysterious way of drawing out the best in his dancers, one that usually involves throwing the nearest folded chair.

I suppose that’s what’s so great about Sheen’s career so far. He’s happy to sacrifice whatever level of stardom and recognition he may have been afforded thanks to his talent and good looks for something even more elusive that blockbuster fame and Academy trophies: the unique ability to disappear into even the most bizarre of characters; to convince audiences he’s no longer Michael Sheen, affable Welshman and ex-husband of thee Kate Beckinsale, but instead, an amalgam of the oddities and freakish individuals he plays on the screen. Michael Sheen might, in truth, be as weird and out there as the characters he inhabits. That’s what makes him great.

FOX’s ‘Prodigal Son’ returns on Tuesday, January 12.