In retrospect, it was never quite clear where the “Cain Velasquez in WWE” thing was going. After an impressive MMA career and a couple of appearances in AAA, he made a surprise debut on the first episode of Friday Night Smackdown on Fox, striking fear into the heart of Brock Lesnar immediately after the latter had squashed Kofi Kingston to take the WWE Championship. They announced a match for Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, and then news broke that Velasquez had been signed to a lucrative multi-year deal with WWE. He lost to Lesnar at Crown Jewel, worked a few house shows… and that was it. He wasn’t in the Royal Rumble, despite saying he would be, and he wasn’t at WrestleMania 36. And now, it seems his time in WWE is already over.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Cain Velasquez was released from WWE as part of their recent budget cuts. Meltzer notes that his deal was for a lot of money, so now that they’re cutting back on spending, and considering how little he’s done in the company so far, it was probably an easy choice. There are rumors that it’s been issues with his lingering knee injury that have kept him from working, and if that’s true he’ll now have plenty of time to focus on rehab before moving on to whatever the next stage of his career turns out to be.

Danish actor Kim Bodnia has played characters who you’d never want to meet in a dark (or light) alley, but his uproarious laugh over the phone communicates otherwise. Fortunately, on Killing Eve, he’s able to let several sides of the same assassin-handler character fly. With Konstantin, viewers often don’t know exactly where his loyalties lie first and foremost, and that’s how Bodnia likes it. When it comes to being Villanelle’s primary handler, though, their surrogate father-daughter relationship somehow remains steadfast, as unlikely as that seems when she does things like, you know, shoot him. Now, Konstantin’s third-season arc is leading to more cunning maneuverings as his professional and personal lives threaten to collide, and his showy phone juggling is only the beginning of dealing with The Twelve’s whims.

We’re not sure whether Konstantin can keep managing his delicate balancing act, but if anyone can survive this series, it’s probably him. Similarly, Bodnia’s adept in the art of longevity. He’s been rolling around on film and TV screens for over two decades after breaking out in Nicolas Winding Refn’s 1996 directorial debut, Pusher, and he’s best known for his four-season stint on Scandinavian noir series The Bridge. He’ll also soon appear in The Witcher‘s sophomore season as Geralt of Rivia’s mentor, Vesemir, a different kind of father figure that fans can’t wait to see. For now, though, Bodnia was kind enough to talk with us about Konstantin’s third-season reunion with Villanelle and how they just can’t quit each other.

Your character in the book did not survive very long. Somehow, he’s still kicking, despite a few close calls, which is nice.

I’m so happy for that, too! It was a lovely surprise in the first season that they continued rewriting — so Konstantin was going through the season — because I was hired in to do five episodes. Thank god that everybody loved the relationship between Konstantin and Villanelle, and that paid off, so everybody wanted to see more of that relationship. And it seemed like it happened again in Season 2, and that’s why I’m in Season 3, isn’t that great?

Villanelle shot Konstantin and Eve, yet they both live. It feels like when she shoots someone that she loves, she can’t get it right. Does that seem accurate?

Yeahhhh, it does. But I was nervous when she pointed at me the first time because she was pointing at my head, and that’s against the rules. And the second time, thank god, she was pointing down, and I had a bulletproof vest on, and I was very fond of that. The second time when we reconnected, and she ran against me, and I could see that she had a knife, I tell you that I got scared! And thank god she didn’t stab me. You’re probably right, it seems like she’s not a good killer when it’s people that she loves, and I can only be happy for that. So, I can’t complain.

They also seem like the most stable relationship in each other’s lives.

Yes, I agree. I think, from the beginning, it was very more important for me to react to Villanelle as if she was my daughter. And it has always been the case that Konstantin that really lives Villanelle somehow and really wants to take care of her, and [that comes through in] the idea we had in Season 1 — that Konstantin was training assassins in how to react through senses and feelings so that they can survive any kind of situation when they are on the job and dressing as another person. And through this kind of work, I think they have a special relationship. But it’s definitely not like a daughter because I can’t be safe with her. I mean, Konstantin can’t.

There’s a wonderful scene this week where she surprises him in his bed.

Oh yes, that was scary! [Laughs]

And he’s got some actual family stuff going on, too. Where does his work-life balance stand now?

It was a balance to find out what direction they wanted to go within Season 3, and how to deliver the work through the eight episodes, but the world is crumbling down around Konstantin. When he has those personal issues around his family, they’re not fun. But as an actor, it’s wonderful to work with, and it gives a lot of positivity to show a lot of sides of the character that, normally, I can’t do. When they put me in these different and difficult situations, I had a lot of fun.

Can you tell me what his intent is with Villanelle right now?

Well, of course not! [Laughs] He’s kind of a double spy, so it’s difficult to say something about his plan. It’s also difficult because where at a point where, with every episode, new things are coming in, and in the first episodes of Season 3, he doesn’t know where he’s going, and Konstantin doesn’t know what way all of the departments are going to react to what’s going on right now. And what’s going on with personal stuff, so we can say that [he has knowledge about a case] that he knows that Villanelle will find out. So he conveys the information to her because Konstantin has work that he wants her to do, and that’s the case that he uses to get her back on track with that knowledge, to get her back into working with him.

Do you find out where Konstantin’s going week-by-week?

We have a wonderful meeting before we start shooting where we have an opportunity to meet with the writers and producers to talk about the way that Konstantin could move, and they are telling me what way they’re looking at it. And before we’re shooting, they tell me how to work as an actor through the season in accordance with the way the show should run. So I know what direction it’s going, but you never know! It can change, like whether I’m alive, so I’m always open for suggestions and a new way of going, and it’s always exciting. I like that kind-of movement that we have together in this type of business. That’s very funny to work with.

The head writer changes each season on this show. Do you ever sense any type of difference in the flow of language?

I often have a concern about the whole idea of the show and how it’s going to run out. How new writers are coming in, how they are putting their new ideas and their own lives into the story? For me, I just join that type of co-creation.

Going back almost 25 years though, we’re almost at the anniversary of Pusher, which is a really great action-crime, street-level movie.

Ahh, that was kind of a one-shot. It was perfect timing, and we all had great energy. We all wanted to work with the new system of video cameras that was coming into the distance. We could move around with that kind of camera and make it more natural, integrated on the street level. That was perfect for how we were wanted to work in the future. So for us, at the time, it was fantastic. The equipment that we have now is developing all the time, and I really love it every time we have possibilities to change the way we are doing things and keep on doing that. And I’m just happy that when you have success at the right time, the right moment, it can still go on. It can still be a show that people can watch and enjoy. That’s fantastic.

And decades later, the technology now sees YouTubed clips of you blazing down a street and landing in water.

Yeah, it was perfect. At the time, I was a really fast runner, and the cameraman had to be behind on a motorbike to get the right speed, and it was fantastic. You can only do that when you have that type of camera, so that’s an example of what we could do at that time, and jumping in the sea was very fun.

BBC America’s ‘Killing Eve’ airs on Sundays at 9:00 PM EST with simulcasting on AMC.

Lil Baby has established himself as one of hip-hop’s biggest rising stars over the past couple years, thanks to singles like “Drip Too Hard” and his new album, My Turn, his first No. 1 release. He raised some eyebrows recently when he suggested that his relationship with his record label, Quality Control, may not be on the best of terms.

In a recent Instagram Live video, Baby said that he gave Quality Control an ultimatum: “I told my label they need to give me $5 million or I’m going to hustle, f*ck it. […] Give me $5 million or I’m doing what I do.”

Now, though, both Baby and Quality Control confirmed that the rapper was just messing around when he said that.

In an Instagram Story, Baby tagged Quality Control leader Pierre “P” Thomas and dispelled the nation that he had an issue with the label, writing, “@qcmceo_p tell theese people it was a joke !!! How many 5ms we done ran up.” Thomas shared the post and responded, “Too Many Times Idiots. Y’all MF’s Love A Story. ‘My Turn’ Deluxe Come Out Friday. Go Run That Up.”

Indeed, Lil Baby’s deluxe edition of My Turn does arrive this week, and it comes with a handful of new tracks, including the recently shared “All In.”

My Turn (Deluxe) is out 5/1 via Quality Control.

To cap off last week, Post Malone linked up with Travis Barker and performed a livestream concert that doubled as a Nirvana tribute, as his set consisted solely of songs by the legendary grunge group. Like many livestream concerts these days, the covers-only performance was a fundraising effort, and it turns out the livestream did extremely well on that front.

As of this post, the total money contributed sits at over $4.3 million, and TMZ notes that the $1-million mark was crossed within the show’s first hour. Donations are still being accepted now through the livestream’s YouTube page. Additionally, Google.org has pledge to double the first $2.5 million in contributions, so they will be giving $5 million as well. The money will go to The United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for The World Health Organization (WHO).

Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic was a big fan of the show, as he conveyed in multiple tweets. “So proud of @PostMalone and crew,” he wrote in one tweet. He later added, “I don’t think these fellows can play any better. They are on fire!!!!,” and, “I am holding emotions back the whole show.” Courtney Love, who gave the show her stamp of approval before it started, was also excited about the performance, writing on Instagram, “GOOSEBUMPS! F*CK YES. Go have a margarita @postmalone . nothing but love from here .”

Watch Malone’s full performance above.

It’s safe to say that any pushback that HBO received during the last Game of Thrones season has been overcome with their post-Thrones lineup. Not only did the premium cable channel keep favorites like Succession and Barry going strong over the past year, but they also deftly handled the Watchmen reinvention along with adapting Stephen King’s The Outsider in a more than respectable manner. Now, horror is on the menu again, and the project’s landed a director who’s successfully reinvigorated another horror franchise and has plenty of HBO time on his side as well.

David Gordon Green, who helmed 2018’s Halloween (and has two followups, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends in the cards) and also executive produced Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones, will put a new-ish face on pain to resurrect the iconic Pinhead in a Hellraiser TV series. Interestingly enough, this isn’t the only Hellraiser project in the works, given that there’s an entirely separate film coming from Spyglass Media Group (and Sundance-acclaimed director David Bruckner of The Night House) in what’s being characterized (via EW) as “a loyal, yet evolved reimagining.”

Meanwhile, Hollywood Reporter characterizes the HBO project as “a continuation and expansion — not a reboot” of the film franchise’s already established mythology (which spawned nine official films, not counting the upcoming Spyglass project) that revolves around Pinhead, who heads up the Cenobite creatures from Hell. As such, Gordon and writers Mark Verheiden (Daredevil, Heroes) and Michael Dougherty (X-Men United, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) will likely adhere to the spirit of Clive Barker’s inception of the film franchise with his novella, The Hellbound Heart. Barker also penned a book series with five full-on novels, although he’s not currently involved with the HBO series.

It feels somewhat important to note that Barker’s not vocally opposed to the project either, unlike how Alan Moore (and his alleged “magical curse”) has historically been with any efforts to adapt Watchmen. Of course, Barker’s already well accustomed to having other writers and directors handle the various Pinhead-centered movies, and they’re an entirely different beast than Moore’s work. That is to say, the grotesesque, often campy stories about the leader of ritualistic, torture-happy extra-dimensional creatures — who are pretty straight-up in their motivations — from the bowels of Hell begs for a different handling than the expansive, layered story of Watchmen. But you never know! Maybe David Gordon Green will toss in a few extra few dimensions for Pinhead, rather than a simple continuation of the bloodthirsty character. Since it’s coming from HBO, the odds are that it will be handled in a faithful but still inventive way.

(Via Hollywood Reporter & EW)

Over the weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s wish came true. Well, one of his wishes. If this were a Genie situation, it wouldn’t make the top three; he’s got other, more important things on his mind than Brad Pitt playing him on SNL. But still, it was a cool moment for the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — we should all be so lucky as to have Brad Pitt pretend to be us, even from the comfort of his home.

The Oscar winner put on a wig and glasses during this past weekend’s SNL, where he spent much of the cold open responding to President Donald Trump’s “disinformation” about the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t know if I would describe the test as ‘beautiful,’ unless your idea of beauty is having a cotton swab tickle your brain,” Pitt as Fauci said. “Also, when he said everyone can get a test what he meant was almost no one.”

Fauci was a fan of the impression, telling Telemundo’s Un Nuevo Dia, “I’m a great fan of Brad Pitt, and that’s the reason why when people ask me who I would like to play me, I mention Brad Pitt. He’s one of my favorite actors. I think he did a great job.” He added, “Everything he said on SNL is what’s going on. He did a pretty good job of putting everything together.” Fauci also called the Oscar winner a “classy guy” for his message at the end of the cold open, when he “thanked me and all of the health care workers.”

Fauci called his shot, and now I will, too: if they make a movie about my life, I want to be played by Chris Pine. He’s a perfect fit for the lead role in The Cheeto-Stained Blogger.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

The long-running feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye West gained some newfound steam last month after the full “Famous” phone call between Kanye and Swift leaked. In the days that followed, multiple parties involved shared their thoughts, and now a producer who worked on “Famous” decided to chime in.

A number of producers contributed to the song, and one of them was Mobb Deep’s Havoc. In a recent interview with Daily Beast, he downplayed the situation and insisted that Swift should probably “chill out”:

“I think artists are artists, and she should really chill out. It’s not that serious. She has an awesome career, and she don’t need to be fighting with another awesome artist. Freedom of speech is alive and well — or should be — and she shouldn’t be going out there complaining about not clearing this He was giving props — it wasn’t like he was trying to diss you. Some people are a little too sensitive for the game, but this is the game that we’re in. There’s no time for soft skin — and I’m not just saying that because she’s a female. Everyone has to display tough skin for this industry since everyone is gonna come at you, and you might like it or you might not.”

Read more from the interview here.

This time last year, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame had just hit theaters and was already breaking box office records (it would eventually become the highest-grossing movie of all-time, not adjusted for inflation). To celebrate the one-year anniversary of “I love you 3,000,” directors Anthony and Joe Russo took to social media on Monday night for a tweet-along, where they shared behind-the-scenes videos and fun facts about the film. For instance, here’s Brie Larson meeting the cast for the first time (Captain Marvel came out first, but she shot Endgame before making her MCU debut).

The Russos, using their joint Twitter account (Comic Book was hosting the event), also uploaded footage from Robert Downey, Jr.’s last day on set (“The very definition of a legend”) and the final time Chris Evans suited up as Captain America, “ever.”

Later, they shared their “favorite shot” in the movie.

“That long crane shot to find Cap and Peggy in the window… our favorite shot in the movie,” the Russos tweeted, referring to the lovely scene where we see a reunited Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter dancing to “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.” That’s their favorite shot, and this is my new favorite Endgame story, one shared by RDJ on Instagram.

Downey shared an anecdote in which he talked to director Paul Thomas Anderson, who revealed that when he saw Avengers: Endgame he recorded fan reactions in the theater to remind him of “the power of cinema” and the unifying power it has.

It’s fun to imagine the director of There Will Be Blood and The Master losing his shit when Captain America holds Thor’s hammer, and then showing the footage to his wife, Maya Rudolph. The power of the cinema!

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Like his TV peers, Jimmy Kimmel has been hosting at-home editions of his show since the coronavirus pandemic forced late-night programs out of their usual studios. This had led to changes in formats for these shows, and while in quarantine, Jimmy Kimmel Live! has introduced a new segment where they name a “healthcare hero” of the week.

On yesterday’s episode, Kimmel spoke with emergency and trauma nurse TJ Riley, from Jacobi Medical Center in The Bronx, New York. It turns out Riley is a big Foo Fighters fan, so Kimmel got Dave Grohl to join his video chat with Riley, which absolutely made the nurse’s day.

Grohl dedicated an acoustic performance of “Everlong” to Riley, and said after the performance, “TJ, thank you so much for everything that you’d done for so many people. It’s much appreciated. And Jimmy, thanks so much for honoring such brilliant people for doing the right thing.”

Before Grohl joined the call, Riley spoke about the situation at his hospital, saying most of the staff is now focused on coronavirus-related medical care. Riley himself contracted the virus, but fortunately came out the other side of it alright after dealing with symptoms for 12 days. He estimated that about 60 percent of his co-workers also contracted the virus. Oh, and Kimmel also teamed up with Life Is Good to give Riley $10,000 and to give gift packages to the other nurses in his department.

Watch Grohl perform “Everlong” above.

Dating is definitely not cancelled. But how does it even work now? Buzzfeed and Bumble are here to show us, and it turns out it’s changed less than you might think.

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