Since 2011, when the project was announced, multiple filmmakers have been attached to direct a “reimagination” of Scarface, including David Yates (Harry Potter), Pablo Larrain (No), and Antoine Fuqua (Training Day). They all dropped out for various reasons, but Universal thinks the retelling has finally found the right guy for the job: Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria director Luca Guadagnino.

Variety reports that Guadagnino will board the project, with a script “off of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen’s version, who’ve been with the project for at least three years, with earlier drafts by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, Jonathan Herman and Paul Attanasio,” according to Deadline. A Coen Brothers-Guadagnino joint project? Say hello to my little… Oscar???

The story has been adapted a number of times, most recently in the 1983 classic starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer with Brian DePalma directing. The new pic is a reimagining of the core immigrant story told in both the 1932 and 1983 films, and will be set in Los Angeles. (Via)

If it’s not too much to ask, I would like to request that Tony and Elvira be played the millennial Pacino and Pfeiffer: Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan. They had natural chemistry in Lady Bird and Little Women, and he’s already got the dance moves down.

Timmy Montana, imo.

(Via Deadline and Variety)

The Trump Administration has approved the largest solar power project in U.S. history. The $1 billion Gemini Solar Project constructed by Solar Partners, XI LLC (Arevia) will be located in the desert just north of Las Vegas, Nevada. The plant will span some 7,100 acres of federal land and generate enough electricity to power 260,000 homes in the region.

When it’s completely finished in 2022, the solar project will become the eighth-largest solar-producing facility in the world.

The project will produce power for NV Energy, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate. It will work to meet Nevada’s requirement to have 50% of the state’s energy produced by renewables by 2030 and 100% by 2050.

The solar farm’s energy may also be shipped out to Southern California.

---

via Bureau of Land Management

The project will annually offset over 380,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s the equivalent of taking 83,000 cars off the road.

The plant will have a 380-megawatt battery storage system that will hold power created during the day to be released when demand peaks in the early evening.

“Despite the challenges of the coronavirus, we’re pleased to see that Nevada will soon be home to one of the biggest solar projects in the world,” Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement.

“The solar industry is resilient and a project like this one will bring jobs and private investment to the state when we need it most,” she continued.

The decision is surprising given Trump’s history of standing against renewable energy.

Trump has incorrectly stated that solar power is “not strong enough, and it’s very very expensive.”

He also significantly hobbled the solar industry in 2018 by placing 30% tariffs on solar imports. The tariffs have since been reduced to 20%, but the economic damage has been significant. The tariffs cost more than 62,000 U.S. jobs and cost $19 billion in new private sector investment.

The goal was to inspire U.S. panel production but that has actually decreased since the tariffs went into effect.

The decision to build the solar panel farm show’s the administration’s lack of cohesive energy policy but it’s a definite positive in an era when the federal government has taken a firm stance against clean, renewable energy.

In spite of the Trump Administration’s war against renewables, the country had made significant strides when it comes to solar installations.

According to the EIA, a division of the Department of Energy, the U.S. produced about 11% of the world’s solar energy in 2018 and it accounted for about 1.8% of the U.S. energy mix in 2019.

“Solar accounted for 40 percent of all new electric generating capacity added to the grid in 2019, more than any other energy source,” the non-profit The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said in a report. That was enough energy to power 14.5 million American homes.

---

View Entire Post ›

Since AEW Dynamite started airing live last week, they’ve made a point of touting onscreen that they’re testing everyone for COVID-19 before allowing them in the arena. Since they’re running shows while many of us are still staying home, they clearly want to offer reassurances that they’re taking precautions to keep their workers (not to mention their workers’ families) safe from the virus. UFC has also apparently been testing people. WWE, on the other hand, has been avoiding talking about the pandemic at all on their shows, beyond references to “this current situation” or whatever.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE hasn’t been testing workers for COVID-19 at all.

[UFC is] doing 1,200 COVID tests in one week…AEW is testing everyone. WWE has still yet to do, as far as I know, one test. Which surprised me, because a lot of people were thinking that now that AEW is testing and UFC is testing, that WWE would follow suit to keep.

It’s reasonable to question, as usual, whether Dave really knows what he’s talking about, but if WWE is testing people, why aren’t they telling the public that? Stephanie McMahon and others have talked multiple times about their safety precautions, but it’s always vague stuff about taking temperatures and wiping down the ring. It could only make them look better if they also mentioned COVID-19 tests. Certainly now that this report has come out, it makes sense to expect that if they have been quietly running tests, they’ll want to make that info public.
As for why there’s been no testing, Meltzer puts the responsibility for that right where you’d expect — on Vince McMahon.

As it was explained to me, Vince McMahon is not receptive to the outside world. He finds what’s going on in the outside world to be an annoyance because it is getting in the way of his vision. He’s got a vision, and all these people are getting in the way of what he wants to do.

That certainly sounds like the attitude we’ve all come to expect. But like I said, if they have been testing for the virus, now would be a good time to say so. And if they haven’t been, it’s time to start.

This week’s episode of UPROXX Sessions takes a turn from the pattern previously established by Yella Beezy, Eddy Baker, and idontknowJeffery thanks to Horse Head, who brings an acoustic vibe to his set with his guitar and the lovelorn trap ballad, “Numb,” originally released in 2014 with a sample from Canadian rock band Silverstein.

Horse Head, a member of Lil Peep’s GothBoiClique, comes from Los Angeles and first built his buzz with tracks like “Cry Love,” “Digi Dash,” and “True Blue.” Naturally, he received his biggest boost from his “Girls” collaboration with Lil Peep off the late emo rapper’s 2016 album Hellboy. Like other members of the clique, Horse Head croons his way through moody tunes inspired in equal parts by SoundCloud and Kurt Cobain. He’s also an accomplished producer, creating a series of beat tapes on his own a few years ago.

Watch Horse Head’s forlorn performance of “Numb” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Kehlani is fresh off the release of her latest album, It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, and she seems to think the album has a shot at topping the next Billboard 200 chart and making a bit of history in the process.

Earlier today, she shared a screenshot of a tweet on her Instagram Story, which reads, “If Kehlani goes #1, Her album will probably be the first female R&B album since ‘Lemonade’ to go #1 (need to fact check) & the first R&B #1 album of the decade. That would be such a Win for the Genre. She’s so close to getting it. Let’s do this for R&B !” She added, “need to fact check this, but if so, wow! stream and lets (possibly) make some history?!?!” She later shared the same tweet again and wrote, “since solange* RNB AINT DEAD. lets do this!”

She then took her call to action to an Instagram post, in which she shared her album art and wrote, “last day to stream to get the first strictly RNB first week #1 album in a long time. our genre isn’t dead, our genre deserves!” Justin Bieber has apparently been monitoring this situation, and he seems to believe his No. 1 album Changes, which is certainly indebted to R&B, has been excluded from the conversation: He wrote in the comments, “Changes was rnb ;).”

To Bieber’s credit, in addition to topping the Billboard 200 chart, Changes also went No. 1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the Top R&B Albums chart. That was his first time topping either chart. His songs “Yummy” and “Intentions” also both reached the peak of the Hot R&B Songs chart.

Regardless of whatever distinctions It Was Good Until It Wasn’t may or may not be up for, fans who want to help the record reach No. 1 can do so by checking out new merch and vinyl bundles Kehlani just dropped.

Read our review of It Was Good Until It Wasn’t here.

As film production prepares to slowly open up across Europe, there hasn’t exactly been a rush from Hollywood to jump-start stalled projects. Until now.

According to Deadline, Warner Bros. is already making moves to resume filming for The Matrix 4 in Germany beginning in July. The studio has reportedly locked down eight-week contract extensions from the cast, which includes Keanu Reeves. In theory, this extension will make up for the time lost when production on the fourth Matrix film was forced to abruptly shut down in March. Of course, that all hinges on production resuming smoothly in July, which is not at all certain given the different variables involved in protecting cast and crew from the still active COVID-19 virus while also not spreading it to the local community.

Reeves signing an extension for The Matrix 4 will undoubtedly have repercussions for John Wick 4. In April, Wick director Chad Stahelski explained to Collider that the fourth installment in the assassin film series is essentially on hold until Reeves finishes filming The Matrix, so there’s no way he can even begin to nail down a release date.

“Between how much we want to expand the John Wick — let’s just call it a ‘franchise’, I guess — and the pandemic, I couldn’t tell you a release date for the next one. I mean, Matrix was only four weeks in when this all happened. So, Keanu’s gotta go finish his commitment up on The Matrix, which is a big deal and which I think will probably take him until the end of the year. Then we have to go into our prep mode… Release dates, who knows right now.”

As of this writing, The Matrix 4 is still scheduled for a May 21, 2021 release date, but maybe don’t get your hopes up just yet.

(Via Deadline)

After two years as an analyst on Monday Night Football for ESPN, Booger McFarland is done, though not without some regrets. McFarland will remain in a prominent role on ESPN’s football coverage and isn’t sweating his demotion, but wishes that ESPN gave he and Joe Tessitore more time to feel out their tag-team relationship.

“You go through your growing pains and the only way you grow through them is on the job,” McFarland said in an interview on Thursday with the New York Post. “It happens to be one of those jobs that you have to do it in front of 15 million people.

“I just wish that you have an opportunity to, as we do in football, you make mistakes, you learn from them and you correct them and you move on. That is the one thing that I wish we had an opportunity to do, but we don’t.”

McFarland infamously began his MNF tenure in a monstrous go kart of a broadcast chair that became affectionately (or resentfully) known as the Booger Mobile, and also, unfortunately, ruined the view of many a fan in the front few rows of the lower level of NFL stadiums.

“Overall, when you talk about broadcasting, it was tough for a three-man booth to be as cohesive as it could be with one of the people 75 yards away,” McFarland told Andrew Marchand of working with Tessitore and Jason Witten in 2018.

As a viewer, it was always clear McFarland knew his football. That was proven again, even after his demotion, on the 2020 NFL Draft broadcast, as McFarland quickly broke down prospects and passed the baton to his coworkers. Maybe his skill set will shine through better in a studio setting, which Marchand reports is where ESPN plans to put him next football season in a return to the role that he had prior to being thrust onto the Monday Night stage.

The blame probably is not with McFarland for how things turned out, but more so with ESPN’s inability to nail down a broadcast team it believes in for Monday nights. Hopefully the next booth will get more opportunity to grow together as a team and build the necessary chemistry needed for broadcasting success.

With World Whiskey Day coming up this weekend (May 16th), there’s going to be a lot of celebrating of whiskey going around. In previous years, distilleries would fling open their doors for partying, cocktail mixing, tastings, and general merrymaking. Those days are gone (for now). So distilleries are making plans to change up the game while still celebrating all things whiskey.

Jameson Bow Street Distillery is leading the way this coming weekend. The huge Irish whiskey tourist destination in the center of Dublin has been shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To keep the celebrations for World Whiskey Day alive, they’ve shifted to a streaming celebration via Jameson’s YouTube channel. Since you don’t actually have to fly to Dublin to participate, anyone from anywhere can take part this year. Though you may want to pre-order a few bottles of Irish whiskey before the weekend.

The live stream will start with the Jameson team leading Irish whiskey classes. There’ll also be a tour of the Bow Street Distillery, cocktail classes from bartenders around the world, and a live musical performance from a special guest. According to Jameson’s press release, the musical act will be “a once in a lifetime virtual concert from one of Ireland’s favorite musicians.”

Gotta be Bono, right? Sinéad O’Connor? Van Morrison?

Jameson’s World Whiskey Day Live stream will kick off at 3 pm EST on May 16th. Head over the Jameson Irish Whiskey’s YouTube channel to watch along.

There’s a subtle beauty to the chimichanga. The crunch of the fried tortilla, the flaky outer layer. Inside, a mash of beans, protein, and spice mix to create a classic “burrito” filling. It’s the ideal one-hander food — as nostalgia-inducing as it is delicious. And one of the best ones around is Disneyland’s Chimichanga from their Edelweiss Snacks kiosk.

Beyond its deliciousness, the classic Disneyland Chimichanga is one of the best values you can get at the park. The extra-large chimi costs about $7 and fills you up without the need for a side dish. At a company known for innovation, this is one of the few things that hasn’t changed over the years — the always perfectly fried tortilla around a mash of beans and beef with a “spicy” chili sauce in packets for dousing each bite as you eat. It’s ostensibly Mexican but also feels like classic Americana.

Since Disneyland has been closed for months (and will likely remain so a fair bit longer) and we have an abiding love of recreating classic Disneyland recipes like the giant turkey leg and corndog, I thought it was high-time to recreate the chimichanga. One, I love chimichangas but rarely eat them since I live in Berlin. Two, while I can make a mean burrito, I’ve never actually made a chimichanga. And what is quarantine for if not trying to make new foods while worrying over the state of the world?

All told, this dish was actually easier than I expected. In fact, I 100% made it harder than it has to be. I did a very low and slow barbacoa beef and homemade refried beans. You could, theoretically, use your favorite can of beans with ground beef in taco seasoning if you wanted. But I just got a new oven and wanted to fill my house with the smells of fatty beef, chili, and spices slow-cooking.

I regret nothing.

PART I: The Low And Slow Beef

Since I don’t have a backyard to dig a pit in to fill with hot rocks, I’m using a very chef-y kitchen approach to barbacoa. I’m taking a nice five-pound top round roast with a decent fat cap and slow-roasting that in veg, chili, braising liquid, and corn husks (I couldn’t find agave leaves).

Ingredients:

• Five lb. Top Round
• Six cups Beef Stock
• 12 Corn Husks
• One Carrot
• One Yellow Onion
• Four Cloves of Garlic
• Two Sweet Pointed Peppers
• Two Cayenne Peppers
• One Dried Pasilla Pepper
• Half-can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
• One Cinnamon Stick
• Five Juniper Berries
• Five Allspice Berries
• Two Fresh Bay Leaves
• One tbsp. Dried Oregano
• One tbsp. Ground Cumin
• One tbsp. Smoked Paprika
• One Lime
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• Black Pepper

Prep:

First, I get the corn husk soaking in warm tap water. They need about five to ten minutes to loosen up.

Next, I trim the top round roast. I remove the silverskin and about half of the fat cap, leaving about one-quarter inch of fat on the lean. I generously salt and pepper the whole chunk and set aside. Quick note, take the meat out about 30 to 45 minutes before you start working with it. You want it to be close to room temp when you start cooking.

Next, I do a very rough chop on all my chilis and vegetables. I cut the onions into eighths, the carrots into large cubes, and the peppers into fairly large and small chunks.

I also get my beef stock warming with the Pasilla chili in the stock to rehydrate it a bit and add an extra layer of depth to the stock.

Cook:

I put a large saucepan on the stove on medium heat. I add the top round, fat side down, into the cold pan and let them heat up together. This will help render out the fat a bit better and create a better Maillard reaction.

Basically, you don’t need to touch the roast as it sears. Just let it do its thing until you smell a sweetness to accompany the sizzle. Give the pan a shake, if the meat wiggles and moves, the Maillard reaction has happened and freed the meat from the bottom of the pan. I use a large set of tongs to flip the meat and sear off the other side.

After the roast is fully seared, I set it aside on a plate and start to get some color on my peppers and veg and also, crucially, bring up all that delightful fond from the bottom of the pan. I use a wooden spoon to scrape up that fond as waters come out of the vegetables in the pan.

Next, I add in my spices and slightly toast them in the hot pan to activate them a bit. It should be very aromatic already.

I then add in all the beef stock and pasilla. I increase the heat a bit and bring to a bare simmer. In the meantime time, I ready my roasting pan.

I’m using an eight-quart stainless steel chafing pan (sometimes called a “steam pan”). That’s what you’d generally use in a pro kitchen as they’re perfect for low-and-slow roasts like this. Plus, they’re closer to $20 compared to the hundreds you’d spend on a Le Creuset pan of the same size.

Anyway, I line the bottom of the pan with a layer of corn husks so that they start coming up the sides of the pan. I then place the top round roast on top and then pour everything from the searing pan over the top.

Next, I use the rest of the corn husks to “seal” the roast in the chili-filled stock. I cover that tightly in tin foil.

I place the pan into a pre-heated oven on gas mark 2. That should be around 275 to 300F.

I don’t touch it for six hours until…

… it looks like the photo above.

The meat should be so tender that you barely need any effort to stick a fork in it.

I fish the roast out and set it aside. It’ll fall apart easily, so be careful. I let it rest for about an hour before I started breaking it up.

I then remove the corn husks and remove about three cups of the braising liquid, making sure to bring along all the chipotle and pasilla chili peppers and more of the veg. I then hit that with a hand-mixer until it’s silky smooth.

I put that onto a low flame on the stove and cover. This is going to be my Chipotle chili dipping sauce for inside and outside of the chimichanga.

I taste and add a little salt and the juice of half a lime.

I let that cook down, stirring occasionally until it’s simmered down by half — about 30 minutes.

The sauce should coat a spoon when you stir it. I set this aside and let it cool.

PART II: Refried Beans Done Right

Refried beans are the second crucial part of this filling dyad. Making a good pot of beans is very straight-forward, ingredient light, and low-impact as far as kitchen time goes. Let’s dive right in.

Ingredients:

• Two cups Dried Pinto Beans
• Four cups Chicken Stock
• One small Yellow Onion
• Two Cloves of Garlic
• Two tbsp. Pork Lard
• One tsp. Dried Oregano
• One tsp. Ground Cumin
• One tsp. Smoked Paprika
• Half tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• Half tsp. Ground Allspice
• Half tsp. Ground White Pepper
• Two Fresh Bay Leaves
• Sea Salt

Cook:

About two hours before you start cooking your beans, you’ll need to soak them. I’m using an accelerated method whereby I place two cups of dry beans in a small bowl and cover in boiling water until there’s about an inch of water over the beans. I place a plate over the bowl and let it sit for two hours, untouched.

When I’m ready to cook, I dice the onion and peel the garlic. In the meantime, put a medium-sized pot on medium heat and melt the pork lard.

Once that’s melted, I add in the onions with a pinch of salt and slowly sweat until fully translucent. I use a garlic crusher to add the garlic. I stir until fragrant — about 30 seconds. I add in the spices and allow to toast/bloom until fragrant too.

I add the chicken stock and bay. I then set the temp on the stove to the lowest setting and cover the pot. I stir occasionally as the beans simmer away for about 2 more hours. Or until they look like the beans below.

They should be soft enough to eat but still have a bit of a bite — what the Italians would call al dente. The liquid should have cooked down to just under the surface of the beans.

The last step is to mash ’em. I remove the bay leaves and use a regular potato masher to get them to the consistency I like, which is still a little rough.

PART III: The Whole Chimichanga

We’re ready to put this beast together! My flourish is that I’m not pulverizing the beef and beans to create a mush for the filling. I’m keeping them separate components so that you get the feel of each with a bit more chew. Plus, this beef is just too damn nice to mince.

Assembly:

I shred all the beef by hand and pour some of the leftover braising liquid over the whole plate. This beef is outstanding as is. It’s super moist, fatty, well-spiced, and hard to stop eating.

I also make a paste (thanks to Binging with Babish for the tip) to seal my chimichangas with before frying. It’s a simple one-part all-purpose flour to three parts tap water, mixed until smooth. A tablespoon of flour will be enough.

I’m using 12-inch flour tortillas that I didn’t make (sorry, I just didn’t have the time).

The construction goes like this:

• Tortilla
• Line of Chipotle Sauce
• Spoon of Beans
• Pile of Barbacoa
• Smaller Spoon of Beans
• Smaller Line of Chipotle Sauce

Although I didn’t do it here (so that I could adhere to the Disneyland version), you can also add some shredded cheese as well.

I then fold the whole thing like a regular burrito. I start from the edge closest to me and fold over once. I then fold each side, making a package. Then I use a brush to paint the flour-glue to the whole exposed section of the tortilla. Next, I simply roll the chimichanga package until it’s a perfect little pouch.

I gently press down on the burrito to help the seal, well, seal. It should be obviously affixed almost immediately.

Cook:

I’m using my trusty wok to deep fry. I add about one-and-half quarts of vegetable oil and bring that up to 350f.

I use tongs to gently lay the chimichangas in the oil, sealed side down. Keep an eye on them. It’ll take about two minutes for one side to brown to that golden brown you’re looking for. I use the tongs to gently flip the chimichanga over for another two-minute fry.

I place them in a warming oven on a wire rack over a baking sheet to stay warm as I fry the rest of the batch.

I’m kind of shocked how beautiful these turned out.

PART IV: Order Up

There’s a couple of options here. I wrap up one of the chimichangas in paper to get the whole hand-held experience of being in the park.

I also whip up some crema. It’s simply a half cup of good sour cream with the juice of half a lime. Mix until smooth. Done.

The first iteration, wrapped in paper, was pretty much perfect. The outside was super crunchy with a flaky interior. Keeping the beans and meat separate was a big step up from the mush that’s in the Disneyland version. The meat was still succulent and juicy and beans were the perfect umami-bomb with a velvety texture.

Holding the chimichanga in my hand like that brought back a flood of memories like that critic at the end of Ratatouille. I’m not going to lie, I ate chimichangas two days in a row that way.

The great thing about chimichangas though, is that you can serve them as a sit-down meal too. Add a nice drizzly of the crema and chipotle sauce and tuck in with a knife and fork.

Still, my preferred way is the Disney way: in the hand and dripping with sauce. Even the mouse himself would be jealous of this one.