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When young R&B star Halle Bailey was announced as the star of Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of the beloved animated 1989 classic The Little Mermaid, not everyone was as enthused about the update to the Disney Renaissance favorite as her co-stars. To put it plainly, the subset of genre fans who always complain loudly whenever a minor change is made to a character’s skin color or gender really came for Halle, denouncing her casting as a case of “race-swapping” gone overboard — despite the fact that the main character Ariel’s race is in no way important to the story of her trading her voice for legs.

And unfortunately, due to the ever-pervasive nature of social media, those complaints made their way back to the actress herself. However, she was undeterred by the criticism, as she told Variety in a long-form feature published today. This was thanks mainly to her grandparents, who encouraged her in the face of the racist #NotMyAriel movement.

“It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement,” she said, “telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you.’” Their words helped put things into perspective for her: “What that would have done for me, how that would have changed my confidence, my belief in myself, everything,” she explained. “Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.”

Elsewhere in the feature, Halle recounted how the time spent away from her sister Chloe while filming during 2020, the height of COVID lockdowns, affected her. “She couldn’t visit me; everything was on lockdown,” she said. “It was that agony, that pain of being pulled away from something that’s like your arm, so I was pulling from that.”

The Little Mermaid is set for release on May 23, 2023.

Even though Disney+ keeps hitting subscriber highs while Netflix feels the struggle, there’s no reason why the streaming home of the MCU and Star Wars can’t benefit from using ad dollars to keep cranking out original TV shows. That’s especially the case because Baby Yoda’s a diva and it ain’t cheap to keep that kid in macarons, and someone needs to be paid to write the inevitable Grogu/Frank Castle crossover.

In all seriousness, though, Disney+ is fast approaching the three-year mark, and they’re switching things up, so they can keep staying fresh. Rather than outright raise prices, though, they’re giving people the option to stay at the same $7.99 current monthly price and watch ads in the middle of The Empire Strikes Back (under the new Disney+ Basic plan), or pay a few dollars more to stay ad-free at $10.99 per month (a plan that will be known as Disney+ Premium). The new structure shall begin on December 8, and Variety has more on how many ads, exactly, that one should plan to see:

Disney+ Basic will launch with about four minutes of ads per hour. It will start with 15- and 30-second spots but will expand to a “full suite of ad products” over time…The strategy appears aimed at mitigating Disney+ subscriber irritation over the price hike on the no-ads plan — and the inevitable cancelations.

Notably, the ads will stay family friendly, which won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but is better kiddos inadvertently seeing inappropriate stuff when parents walk out of the room. And let’s get real, there’s no way to tell who’s watching what based upon title, so we can all deal with child-appropriate ads, even while watching Alien. If you’re a bundler, here’s some more confusion to sort through:

[A]s of Oct. 10, Disney will increase the price of Hulu with ads, from $6.99 to $7.99 per month, while the ad-free tier will go from $12.99 to $14.99 per month. The Disney Bundle in the U.S. (Hulu with ads, Disney+ no ads, ESPN+) will go from $13.99 to $14.99 per month; the premium version of the bundle (Hulu no ads, Disney+ no ads, ESPN+) will remain at $19.99 per month.

Good luck keeping it all straight, but it’s still better than ending up with an overpriced cable plan where you can’t pick and choose your poisons.

(Via Variety)

As more details emerge from the FBI “raid” of Mar-a-Lago, which is already being downgraded to a “low-key” search, a new report claims that White House officials were growing increasingly concerned with Donald Trump‘s habit of carting around documents in cardboard boxes. Following his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, top staff members realized the issue could easily become a concern as Trump was showing no signs of complying with the Presidential Records Act.

More worryingly, nobody knew what the heck Trump was even carting around. Via The New York Times:

For many months before he left office, Mr. Trump would tell aides to bring documents up to the residence for him while he was in the Oval Office, and they complied, but there was no process in place, meaning that officials whose job it was to keep track of paperwork did not always know exactly what had gone up there, according to people familiar with the events.

By the end of his presidency, and as Mr. Trump was fighting to overturn his election loss, some of his aides were concerned with preserving the work of the office itself. His habit of transporting material around in cardboard boxes, with either a personal aide or a valet carrying them, was well known, but the contents were not always clear.

According to the Times, White House staff held meetings on how to get Trump to surrender his boxes, but it’s unclear if he was ever asked or “officials simply did not take the issue to him.” Clearly, the problem has escalated as evidenced by the search warrant served on Mar-a-Lago. Newsweek recently reported that an informant supplied the FBI with information on which documents Trump had and where to find them.

As for why the sudden concern over the documents that the National Archives has tried to retrieve from Trump since he left office, Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice are remaining silent.

(Via The New York Times)

One of our favorite emerging acts of the year, Domi & JD Beck have been on a tear since their debut album, Not Tight, came out last month. Jointly released via Anderson .Paak’s Apeshit Records along with Blue Note Records, the album features appearances from Anderson .Paak, Snoop Dogg, Herbie Hancock, Thundercat, and more. And now for the jazzy hip-hop instrumentalist pair’s latest trick, they’ve delivered a rousing NPR Tiny Desk Concert, where they quite literally, get their flowers.

Recorded in NPR’s Washington D.C. studio (as opposed to the “at home” Tiny Desk variety that’s become popular in the post-COVID era), Bob Boilen’s desk is adorned with an array of colorful flowers that are surrounding Domi on the keys and JD Beck on the drums. Beck drapes a towel over his snare to muffle the sound a bit and make it come across more intimately. Domi plays a double-stacked Nord keyboard setup as they course through “Not Tight,” “Smile,” “What Up,” and even flash their vocal chops on “U Don’t Have To Rob Me.”

And it’s not just their dexterous instrumentals that are once again on full display in this session. But the pair’s quirky disposition is too. “Thank you for coming to our Tiny Desk. It’s pretty sick to be here,” Domi says with a giggle. The rest is pure heat.

Watch Domi & JD Beck’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert above.

As Better Call Saul heartbreakingly comes to a close next week, it’s time for Breaking Bad writer, creator, director, and producer Vince Gilligan to set his sights on something else. Maybe a Kim Wexler spinoff? A Mike Ehrmantraut Philly-based cop drama prequel? A Holly-centric teen slasher comedy-drama a la Pretty Little Liars? Whatever it is, it will probably be very good, and it seems like it’s already in the works.

According to reports, Gilligan already has a plan for his upcoming series, which will come from Sony Pictures TV. The series is allegedly closer aligned with Gilligan’s work on X-Files, not because of aliens, but more because of its take on humanity and the human condition.

The untitled series is being compared to The Twilight Zone, and we all know how much Better Call Saul loves dramatic black and white footage, so this seems on-brand for him! The show is also expected to feature a blend of humor and drama and an over-arching storyline that will play out over several seasons.

While the project is not yet attached to a network, it’s no surprise that he has something lined up after the success of Better Call Saul. Though it really depends on how he decided to end the story because, if Kim dies, Gilligan will never be forgiven.

(Via Deadline)

It’s fair to say that Jason Momoa hit a few stumbling blocks early on in his career. There was that Baywatch: Hawaii stint and his iconic yet limiting Khal Drogo role in Game of Thrones. Momoa found it hard to find subsequent work due to him perhaps being too convincing as a Dothraki chieftain, and even when he found success, casting directors still wanted him to be the muscle bound guy who wore fur coats like a champ. It’s no wonder that, these days, he’s still somewhat typecast even through enormous success. And he’s so weary of always playing the tough guy that Momoa admits his Fast X role feels like a godsend.

No, he’s not shaking off the tough guy reputation by calling out “f*cker” Michael Bay for making him cry (twice) during Ambulance. Rather, the Aquadude sat down with British GQ to discuss his neverending quest rid the oceans of plastic. This turned into a wide-ranging interview, in which Momoa says that his Vin Diesel-adjacent role means a lot to him because his villain isn’t obsessed with looking masculine:

In the tenth Fast and Furious film, Momoa plays a villain whose toenails are painted purple and pink, with a lavender car to match, and who enjoys laughing maniacally as he blows up co-star Ludacris’s car. “I’m a peacock at the highest level and I’m having the time of my life,” he grins.

Momoa previously opened up about how much he loves the color pink and doesn’t care what people think. He digs those pink scrunchies, and who can blame him? They’re kind to the hair. Also, now we know that that the lavender car in a recent Vin Instagram video belongs to Momoa’s villain, and Momoa was having a grand time “trying to do the new Whitesnake video” for Vin’s followers. Let’s relive this again.

Surely, this will finally take the Conan the Barbarian taste out of Momoa’s mouth, too:

“I’ve been a part of a lot of things that really sucked, and movies where it’s out of your hands… Conan [the Barbarian] was one of them. It’s one of the best experiences I had and it [was] taken over and turned into a big pile of sh*t.”

All water under the Hawaiian bridge! Fast X stars most of Hollywood, including Charlize Theron, Brie Larson in addition to the usual gang. Expect the Momoa car to zoom into theaters on May 19, 2023.

(Via British GQ)

Even without a debut album out, Normani has established herself as a star; She has two top-10 singles to her name with the Khalid collaboration “Love Lies” and the Sam Smith link-up “Dancing With A Stranger.” As for that debut album, though, fans are still waiting. Some have even turned on Normani, believing that her success has led to a loss of drive in the singer. Per Normani’s passionate response to recent tweets making those allegations, that just isn’t true.

As Newsweek notes, a tweet from a user who has since set their profile to private read, “No idea where Normani’s motivation (no pun intended) has gone but I just [don’t] see the same passion from her as I used to. Before [y’all] start, [it’s] not depression so [don’t] even go THERE!” Another user wrote in response to the tweet, “What happens when you’ve gotten comfortable and you’re not HUNGRY anymore.”

Normani herself replied to the latter tweet yesterday (August 9), writing, “just shut the f*ck up.”

UK fashion illustrator and designer Hayden Williams responded to Normani’s tweet, “It’s so interesting that people that have no clue what it’s like to be in the music industry & the complexities that can come with that, but will dish out unwanted & rude opinions all the time smh.” Normani shared that and added, “on top of real life sh*t going on in my personal life.”

It was a Yeah Yeah Yeahs-less decade, but Karen O, Nick Zinner, and Brian Chase have returned all up in their feels and we’re absolutely here for it. Where the Perfume Genius-featured “Spitting On The Edge Of The World,” called attention to the harsh reality of living frivolously at the cost of our environment, the newly released “Burning” is about preserving that which we individually love most.

The song has a cinematic string arrangement over a classic soul-inspired thump and affecting keys. It further builds anticipation for the impending release of their new album, Cool It Down, on September 10th.

“If the world is on fire I hope the most beloved stay protected and that we do all we can to protect what we cherish most in this life,” Karen O said in a statement. She also talked about the creation and meaning of “Burning,” and she got deep:

“Back when I was 19 living in the East Village, one night a roommate dragged me out of the apartment for an impromptu drink across the street, I left a votive candle burning on a plastic yaffa block which in my absence set flame to my room. Within an hour and a half of having one drink down the block firefighters had come and gone extinguishing the fire, I came home to find that a natural disaster had occurred (to my room) and most of my stuff, lost in the flames. All electronic goods were melted and demolished like my laptop, cameras etc. but oddly enough the items that held the most sentimental value remained intact like sketchbooks, a favorite sweater with hearts across the chest, and photographs. I had photos of my parents in their youth where the fire burnt around the two of them as if there was some intangible force field protecting them, many photos like that, mysteriously leaving the beloved subjects untouched.

If the world is on fire I hope the most beloved stay protected and that we do all we can to protect what we cherish most in this life. ‘Burning’ is a song about that feeling, smoke signals for the soul. Begging to cool it down, just doing it the best we know how. Nick and I nodded to Frankie Valli’s ‘Begging’, with the line ‘oooh lay your red hand on me baby.’ We’ve cut a rug to many a soulful sixties bangers in our day, it was in our DNA by the time we wrote ‘Burning.’”

Listen to “Burning” above.

Cool It Down is out 9/30 via Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.

When Uproxx interviewed 50 Cent about his sprawling Power universe earlier this year, he was charmingly abashed about the level of explicit content in his shows, expressing some concern for younger viewers who might end up accidentally watching “soft pornography.” However, when it comes to his upcoming horror film, Skill House, he’s apparently a bit more liberal.

Despite the fact that a scene from the movie was supposedly so gnarly that a cameraperson fainted on set (I remain skeptical; maybe craft services didn’t have any vegan options or something), it looks like 50 Cent doesn’t mind exposing one younger viewer to the carnage: His son, Sire Jackson, who apparently has been hanging around the set, according to some photos 50 posted on Instagram. In the first, Sire sits with director Josh Stolberg, perhaps listening intently to some stage direction. However, in the second, which proud papa 50 clearly shot sometime later, Sire’s slumped on the couch, seemingly out for the count after a long day of shooting.

It remains to be seen whether Sire has an on-camera role in the film or was just learning the inner workings of the film industry, but I wouldn’t put it past Mr. Cent to be getting his kids in on the ground floor as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Skill House, which also stars TikToker Bryce Hall and UFC veteran Paige VanZant, is set for release in 2023.

Michael Mann recently made his book debut with Heat 2, the sequel to his 1995 classic crime thriller Heat starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Val Kilmer. The movie was obviously a hit, so it only made sense that Mann would want to continue the story where it left off, and turn it into a novel, so he could have some creative control (and not have to re-cast various characters who are, let’s say, a little older now).

While promoting the book, which dropped this week, Mann has been giving various interviews surrounding the iconic ’90s era of crime films, when it was revealed that it was actually Leonardo DiCaprio that inspired him to work on Heat.

Mann was interested in making a biopic about James Dean and even went as far as to screen-test a fresh-faced young actor before settling on making Heat instead. That actor turned out the be DiCaprio, who was deemed too young for the part and made Mann leave the project to work on the crime film instead. Mann explained:

It was a brilliant screenplay. And then it’s who the hell could play James Dean? And I found a chap who could play James Dean, but he was too young. It was Leo. We did a screen test that’s quite amazing. I think he must’ve been 19 at the time. And from one angle, he totally had it with him. I mean, it’s brilliance. He would turn his face in one direction and we see a vision of James Dean, and then he’d turn his face another direction and it’s no, that’s a young kid. I found the absolutely perfect act of the play, in about three years from that.

If you’re thinking to yourself, hey, why didn’t they just wait a few years and cast DiCaprio? Mann added that DiCaprio “respectfully undid the James Dean bio for me.” It ended up being okay for Leo, though, who was then cast in the little-known movie Titanic a little over a year later. He turned out fine!

(Via Deadline)