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We live in an era of hyperpartisanship in the U.S., one that is shaking the very foundations of our democratic experiment. It’s exactly the scenario George Washington tried to warn us about in his farewell address when he called “the Spirit of Party” our “worst enemy,” which would eventually lead to “the ruins of public liberty.”

Politicians are so entrenched in partisanship that it’s rare to see an elected official take a moral stand that goes against the party line. When we do see it, it’s often from a politician who doesn’t have much to lose—someone who is retiring or isn’t up for reelection soon enough for their going against the grain to impact their career.

But every once in a while we see an elected official truly take a risk to do what they believe is right. Such is the case with Utah state senator Daniel Thatcher, who is up for reelection this year and who spoke out against a state bill banning transgender kids from playing sports that align with their gender identity.

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The bill, which did not receive any public input or debate, was amended in the final hours of the legislative session to create the all-out ban on transgender girls competing in girls’ sports, and was passed in the Utah House and Senate earlier in March. However, it hit a road bump when Utah’s Republican governor Spencer Cox vetoed it, citing multiple issues with the bill, including the fact that out of the 75,000 high school athletes in Utah, four are transgender—and only one is a trans girl.

“Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports,” Governor Cox wrote. “That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few.”

He also pointed out that 86% of trans youth report suicidality and 56% of trans youth have attempted suicide.

“I am not an expert on transgenderism,” he wrote. “I struggle to understand so much of it and the science is conflicting. When in doubt however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion. I also try to get proximate and I am learning so much from our transgender community. They are great kids who face enormous struggles … I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.”

Supporters of transgender rights praised Governor Cox for vetoing the bill, despite knowing the veto would most likely be overridden by the legislature. Four out of Utah’s 74 Republican legislators voted against overriding the veto, but of those four, only Daniel Thatcher is up for reelection. He already has three opponents from his own party lined up to run against him in the primaries, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, so going against the party line—especially on a highly visible issue—poses a real political risk for him.

But Thatcher shared that he was willing to take that risk and explained his reasons for opposing the veto on several grounds. For one, he said, it’s unconstitutional. He pointed out that the conservative-weighted Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision written by Neil Gorsuch, ruled that sex includes gender identity. Second, he said it would be a waste of money, especially since there’s no way it would stand. Third, it harms the transgender community—people he has worked closely with and has grown to love in his work as a suicide prevention advocate. Fourth, despite attempting to protect girls and competition integrity, this bill actually harms girls, putting them in a position to constantly have their femininity called into question and their bodies put under more scrutiny than they already are.

Watch him speak on the bill to his colleagues in the Senate:

“And if I lose my race, I lose my race standing for what I believe in, like I always have,” he said. “In my world, conservative doesn’t mean turning your back on your principles.”

Thatcher knew his vote wasn’t going to change the outcome, and he could easily have voted along with his party or even simply abstained. But he chose the path of integrity. With multiple states proposing and passing legislation specifically targeting transgender people in various ways, we need to see more of this kind of open-heartedness and moral courage. Imagine how different our country would be with more politicians who stand for principle before political party, and more elected officials willing to put what’s right ahead of their own political ambitions.

The Utah bill goes into effect July 1.

Teachers across the country are leaving the profession for a multitude of reasons, some of them good and some of them not so good. Schools have been losing helpers at a breakneck pace throughout this pandemic and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified people to take their place. Tennessee has come up with what could be a very real solution to the teacher shortage and other states may want to take note.

The state of Tennessee is offering a path to a four-year teaching degree without going into crippling debt or having to work multiple jobs to afford the education. Tennessee has partnered with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor to create teacher apprenticeship programs across the state to help with the teacher shortage. The first program was launched in the Clarksville-Montgomery County school district with Austin Peay State University as the first teaching apprenticeship program in the country.

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This program is based on the success of existing apprenticeship and training programs for welders, healthcare workers and other skilled labor jobs. The model is referred to as “Grow Your Own,” and that’s exactly what Tennessee is trying to achieve. Growing their own teachers by offering this unique program to people who may otherwise not ever be able to feasibly attend school, or if they did it may take them several extra years to finish due to the financial strain.

Through this program, teachers are able to work full time in the classroom while pursuing their degree in education. The program can work well for nontraditional students and can even be geared toward those that already work in the school system, such as janitorial staff, secretaries or teacher assistants. U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh said, “Registered Apprenticeships have opened the doors to so many good jobs across our economy, and Tennessee’s innovative teacher apprenticeship program now offers a new pathway to the classroom at a critical time for our children, schools and communities.”

This is not the first time Tennessee has implemented a program like this. In 2018, the same university partnered with Clarksville-Montgomery County School System to offer a free accelerated path to become teachers to teacher aides and recent high school graduates. Penny Schwinn, the Tennessee education commissioner, said that the state has been consistently around 2,000 teachers short over the past several years. The program is one of the things Tennessee is doing with its COVID-19 relief funds, bringing this apprenticeship to 63 school districts and partnering with 14 different colleges and universities.

It’s evident that states need help with the teacher shortage and this program could be a model used across the country to not only fill a need within the schools, but to improve people’s lives. Students’ lives would be improved due to the filled vacancies and teachers’ lives would be improved through being able to train for a job they’ve always wanted without taking on debt, thus allowing more financial freedom for their families. It seems like it could be a win-win for all involved.

Beginning with the final game before the All-Star Break, the Memphis Grizzlies endured a minor hiccup. Following a blistering 41-18 start that drew positive attention both locally and nationally, Memphis slipped up, losing four of seven games. In the grand scheme, a brief hiatus from dominance was understandable for a team that some believed was overachieving to that point but, in the days since, Memphis has bounced back to say the least.

The Grizzlies are 9-1 in the last ten games, including an active five-game winning streak. Memphis beat Brooklyn, Golden State, and Milwaukee by double digits during that run, bludgeoning the Warriors and Bucks by a total of 53 points. Though the rest of the schedule hasn’t been grueling, the Grizzlies continue to rack up victories at an impressive clip, entering the stretch run at 53-23 overall.

Because of the unbelievable performance of the Phoenix Suns, the Grizzlies will slide into the No. 2 seed in the West, even with a multi-game lead over the No. 1 seed in the East. Still, Memphis has proven to be resilient, effective, dominant and (especially) deep this season, including a stat that is making NBA observers shake their heads in late March.

Ja Morant, the unquestioned No. 1 option and offensive engine of the Grizzlies, is likely on his way to an All-NBA selection in his third season. Morant is averaging 27.6 points, 6.7 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game, posting a 57.5 percent true shooting mark and a career-best turnover rate of 12.5 percent. Morant’s rise to superstardom has him in the mix for Most Improved Player honors, at least in the minds of some, and the Grizzlies are 35-21 when he takes the floor.

However, one of the craziest stats of the NBA season is that Memphis is 18-2 when Morant does not play. That extends to the on-off splits, with the Grizzlies out-scoring opponents by 8.1 points per 100 possessions with Morant off the court, compared to +3.7 when he plays. Make no mistake, it would be (quite) silly to argue that the Grizzlies are actually better off without Morant in the mix. It does indicate, though, that Memphis has made a lot of its regular season gains with incredible depth, utilizing 12 players for at least 600 minutes this season.

The Grizzlies got a brief taste of playoff life last season, but this year, real expectations accompany Memphis to the postseason. It remains to be seen how long Morant will be sidelined with his current knee issue, and it is difficult to calibrate the impact his absence, or potential limitations upon return, could affect the calculus. Regardless, Memphis has shown itself to be a real threat in the Western Conference, and they can spend the next two weeks tuning up for the playoffs, rather than leaving the pedal on the floor as other teams jockey for position.

Where do the Grizzlies stack up in this week’s DIME power rankings? Well, you won’t have to go far to find them.

1. Phoenix Suns (61-14, Last week — 1st)

A week ago, the Suns were already on a five-game winning streak, but the competition was middling at best. Phoenix decided to ramp it up even more, defeating the Wolves and Nuggets on the road before beating the Sixers at home. The Suns are 8.5 games clear of the field in the NBA with seven games remaining. What a season.

2. Memphis Grizzlies (53-23, Last week — 4th)

The Grizzlies don’t have much to play for, but they will be participating in important games over the next two weeks. Memphis faces Utah, Denver, New Orleans and Boston down the stretch after a tilt in San Antonio on Wednesday.

3. Boston Celtics (47-29, Last week — 2nd)

Over the last two months, no team has been better than the Celtics, including the Suns. Boston is 22-4 with a +14.9 net rating over that sample, and they’ve been great. Unfortunately, starting center Robert Williams is going to be out for a while, and that might derail things a bit for Boston. In the meantime, we’ll rank them for what they’ve accomplished.

4. Milwaukee Bucks (47-28, Last week — 5th)

Milwaukee got throttled by the Morant-less Grizzlies on Saturday, and that was a bit weird. On cue, the Bucks went to Philly and on Tuesday behind a ridiculous Giannis performance. Antetokounmpo is playing at an unreal level, and in general, everyone believes in Milwaukee.

5. Dallas Mavericks (47-29, Last week — 6th)

This might seem high for the Mavericks, but it really isn’t when you examine the numbers. Dallas is 12-4 in the last 16 games and 31-11 in the last 42 contests. With that performance coupled with struggles elsewhere, Luka Doncic and company feel dangerous.

6. Brooklyn Nets (40-36, Last week — 7th)

There is a lot of projection in having the Nets at No. 6, as one could see from the team’s record. Brooklyn didn’t eliminate all skepticism with a weird loss to the Hornets on Saturday, and the Nets are capable of a dud when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have an off night. On the flip side, there is open road for the Nets if they can find “it” down the stretch.

7. Miami Heat (48-28, Last week — 3rd)

Danger zone in Miami? The Heat did win a game on Monday over the Kings, but that was at home and against a team going through the motions. Miami lost four games in a row that, and the energy around the Heat isn’t great. They’re still well-coached and potent on defense, but there are more questions now than there were a few weeks ago.

8. Denver Nuggets (45-31, Last week — 9th)

There is a lot more discussion surrounding the MVP race than the Nuggets as a team right now, which is understandable. Denver is still 17-7 in the last 24 games, and Nikola Jokic’s individual brilliance is also fueling strong team performance. Since March 6, Jokic has led the team in scoring and rebounding in every single game and, hilariously, he has also led the team in assists in every game but one. Congratulations to Will Barton on his eight assists in a loss to Phoenix on March 24.

9. Philadelphia 76ers (46-29, Last week — 10th)

Obviously, there is no great shame in losing to the Suns and Bucks, which Philadelphia just did to end the week. It would’ve been nice to win one of those, but we’ll call it a break-even kind of week.

10. Toronto Raptors (43-32, Last week — 13th)

Monday’s overtime win over Boston wasn’t nearly as impressive as it looks, simply because the Celtics didn’t have their full roster in Canada. Toronto still won the game, though, and the Raptors are 9-2 in the last 11 games to climb into the No. 6 spot in the East.

11. Golden State Warriors (48-28, Last week — 8th)

The Warriors are tied for the third-best record in the league. The Warriors are 7-15 in the last 22 games. Both can be true, and that makes it hard to evaluate Golden State. Without Stephen Curry, they are worse than this. With him, they are better than this. Split the difference.

12. Minnesota Timberwolves (43-33, Last week — 11th)

After a wildly impressive 10-1 stretch, the Wolves have lost three of four. That isn’t a disaster when you consider they lost to the Mavs, Suns, and Celtics, but losses aren’t as fun as wins.

13. Utah Jazz (45-31, Last week — 12th)

Utah’s full-season statistical profile is fairly solid, but the Jazz are swooning again. They’ve lost five in a row, headlined by a total collapse in blowing a 25-point lead to the Clippers on Tuesday evening. Utah is tied for the No. 5 seed as a result, and the Jazz could slide as far as No. 7 if they aren’t careful.

14. Chicago Bulls (44-32, Last week — 15th)

It was only a 2-2 week for the Bulls, but there was progress given that Chicago was 3-8 before that. The Bulls are ahead of the Cavs on the strength of a road win in Cleveland, but they also lost to both New York and New Orleans this week. Fortunately, Chicago kicks off a five-game homestand on Thursday.

15. Cleveland Cavaliers (42-33, Last week — 14th)

The Cavs stopped the bleeding with a win over Orlando on Monday, but Evan Mobley had to leave the game with an ankle issue. It remains to be seen as to how much that might set the rookie back, but injuries are really taking a toll on the Cavaliers. Cleveland is currently in the play-in, which would be kind of brutal after the way this season began.

16. Atlanta Hawks (38-37, Last week — 17th)

Atlanta’s schedule has opened up considerably, and they’ve taken advantage with seven wins in ten games. Monday’s win over Indiana put the Hawks over .500 for the first time since December, and Atlanta can threaten the No. 8 seed with a strong close to the regular season.

17. Charlotte Hornets (39-37, Last week — 16th)

There is a rather large gap between No. 17 and No. 18, which perhaps softens the blow for the Hornets. Charlotte is 9-4 in the last 13 games and, if not for a bad home loss to the Knicks last week, the Hornets would be higher. They still hold a narrow lead over the Hawks for the No. 9 spot, and home-court could be valuable in that potential matchup.

18. L.A. Clippers (37-39, Last week — 21st)

Paul George is back, and the Clippers made a statement in his return. L.A. came from 25 points down to beat Utah on Tuesday, stopping a losing streak in the process. George may not make L.A. a title contender on his own, but he strengthens a team that has done credible work without its stars.

19. San Antonio Spurs (31-44, Last week — 23rd)

It’s a great time for a four-game winning streak, and the Spurs have one. All four victories came on the road, including a meaningful win over New Orleans. Some of the competition (Rockets, Blazers) was not fantastic, but the wins count the same. San Antonio is firmly in the mix and playing well.

20. New York Knicks (34-42, Last week — 20th)

The vibes aren’t necessarily fantastic, but the Knicks have won four games in a row and six of the last eight. That keeps New York within 4.5 games of Atlanta, even if the Knicks have a (very) small chance of closing that gap with less than two weeks remaining in the season.

21. New Orleans Pelicans (32-43, Last week — 19th)

It was a winning week for the Pelicans, though New Orleans lost a home game to San Antonio that stung. The Pels have a full-game edge on the Spurs and Lakers, and New Orleans is above .500 since a 3-16 start.

22. Washington Wizards (32-43, Last week — 22nd)

Washington is technically alive in the playoff race, but they are functionally dead. A 9-22 record in the last 31 games will do that.

23. Los Angeles Lakers (31-44, Last week — 18th)

The Lakers were once 24-24. They are 7-20 since. Tuesday’s loss to Dallas was an annihilation, even if you extend some grace for the absence of LeBron James. Regardless, the Lakers are currently on the outside looking in at the play-in tournament. At least Anthony Davis seems to be close.

24. Sacramento Kings (27-49, Last week — 25th)

Given the hideousness of the race for the No. 10 seed, the door was actually open for the Kings to hang around in the playoff hunt. Sacramento is 3-8 in the last 11 games. They did not hang around.

25. Detroit Pistons (20-56, Last week — 28th)

Detroit is just 2-9 in the last 11 games, but the flashes have been notably better than the teams below them on this list. Tuesday’s loss to Brooklyn was a notable example, with the Pistons leading at times behind 34 points from Cade Cunningham. It helps to have a future franchise player on the roster.

26. Indiana Pacers (25-51, Last week — 24th)

Indiana has been quite bad for a while, but things crested this week. The Pacers went 0-4 in the last seven days and, in the last three losses, Indiana was out-scored by 27.8 points per 100 possessions. Indiana’s available roster is not exactly suited to competitiveness, but it’s been gross lately.

27. Oklahoma City Thunder (22-53, Last week — 30th)

After slipping to the basement a week ago, the Thunder went 2-1 this week. Granted, the wins came against Orlando and Portland (see below), but they happened nonetheless. Oklahoma City’s injury report is incomprehensible, but they still have recognizable faces in the middle of the long rebuild.

28. Houston Rockets (20-56, Last week — 29th)

We’ll get to the Blazers in a moment, but Houston did win back-to-back games this week. Both wins came over Portland, but they had to rise a little bit after that. Jalen Green is averaging 19.8 points per game since mid-February, shooting 48 percent from the floor and 39 percent from three-point distance in the process.

29. Orlando Magic (20-56, Last week — 26th)

The tank is certainly on in Orlando, even if they have a couple of solid wins in the last couple of weeks. The Magic have lost to the Pistons, Thunder, and Kings in the last 13 days, and Orlando crumbled in amusing fashion against Cleveland on Monday to stick in the runner-up position.

30. Portland Trail Blazers (27-48, Last week — 27th)

If you examine the active roster for the Blazers in any recent game, it won’t be a surprise that Portland is struggling. In this case, struggling isn’t a harsh enough description, as Portland is in its own tier of disaster at the moment. Since the All-Star Break, the Blazers are 2-14, the worst record in the NBA. That doesn’t do it justice, though, as Portland has a -20.6 net rating that seems impossible over a 16-game sample.

Just a few hours after being arrested in Hawaii for harassment and disorderly conduct, The Flash star Ezra Miller was hit with a temporary restraining order for allegedly threatening a couple in their bedroom and stealing their belongings. Miller was reportedly staying with the couple at a youth hostel. However, the situation took a turn for the worst when Miller began accosting the couple shortly after posting bail for the prior arrest at a nearby bar.

Via Variety:

According to Hawaii Police Assistant Chief Kenneth Quiocho, police escorted Miller off the property hours after they posted bail. A resident on the property called the police and asked for advice on removing two houseguests. The restraining order against Miller says the actor burst into the Hilo couple’s bedroom and threatened them. Miller allegedly stole some of the couple’s belongings, including a passport and wallet.

In light of the restraining order, local police also revealed that Miller has been the source of 10 police calls since arriving on the island on March 7. However, the AP reports those incidents were mostly of the nuisance variety “such as filming people at a gas station, refusing to leave the sidewalk area of a restaurant and arguing with people.” Clearly, the situation has escalated as Miller has now been arrested and hit with a restraining order for a separate incident all within the span of a few hours.

As of this writing, neither Variety nor the AP were able to get a comment from the actor’s agents, lawyers, or representatives.

(Via Variety, AP)

Only 49 movies have ever made over $1 billion at the global box office. It’s a lot of Marvel, and Star Wars, and Jurassic World, and James Cameron, but between Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War at #22, there sits Minions. Rightly so: Kevin, Stuart, and Bob are banana- and fart-loving icons, and deserve to be treated as such. It’s unlikely that the sequel, Minions: The Rise of Gru, will cross the $1 billion mark (only one movie, the MCU’s monstrous Spider-Man: No Way Home, has joined the club since the start of the pandemic), but don’t be surprised if it’s another huge hit for Illumination.

Minions: The Rise of Gru follows Despicable Me evil mastermind Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) as a 12-year-old boy growing up in “1970s suburbia, plotting to take over the world from his basement,” according to the official plot description. His chaos is not going well until he “crosses paths with the Minions, including Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto, a new Minion sporting braces and a desperate need to please… Together, they build their first lair, design their first weapons, and strive to execute their first missions.”

The Rise of Gru also introduces the Vicious 6, a supervillain supergroup made up Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), Jean Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme), Nunchuck (Lucy Lawless), Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), Stronghold (Danny Trejo), and Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin) — until he gets ousted by the other members. That’s when Gru, a Vicious 6 fanboy, interviews to join the club, but he’s rejected. Here’s more:

The Vicious 6 is not impressed by the diminutive, wannabe villain, but then Gru outsmarts (and enrages) them, and he finds himself the mortal enemy of the apex of evil. With Gru on the run, the Minions attempt to master the art of kung fu to save him, and Gru discovers that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.

Also, the Minions fly a plane and get sucked into a toilet. That’s the good stuff. Minions: The Rise of Gru comes out on July 1.

A couple days ago, Diddy insisted that Will Smith and Chris Rock settled their differences after the former infamously slapped the latter during the 2022 Oscars. He said at the time, “That’s not a problem. That’s over. I can confirm that. […] It’s all love. They’re brothers.”

Since then, though, there have been reports that what Diddy said isn’t entirely accurate, as a TMZ report indicated Smith and Rock have not spoken since the slap. That report was later updated to note, “A source in Diddy’s camp tells us he never claimed Chris and Will met up — he spoke with them individually — and then reiterated what he said on stage, the two are brothers and ‘it’s all love.’”

Now, somebody close to Rock — his brother, actor and comedian Tony Rock — has weighed in, reiterating that Rock and Smith have not made up. Somebody asked Tony Rock on Twitter, “so Diddy was lying when he said Chris and Will made up that night and are good now?” He responded simply, “Yup.”

It would appear, then, the closest thing to contact the two have had since the incident was Smith’s public apology, which reads in part, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”

While putting the finishing touches on his full-length debut album, singer Giveon spoke with Rolling Stone about his signature sound. Known for his deep, sultry, mature voice, Giveon has had a slew of hits over the past few years, including the viral TikTok hit “Heartbreak Anniversary” and “For Tonight.”

But the Grammy-nominated singer admits he initially wasn’t sure how to go about singing with his distinct voice, noting that the change in his voice in middle school took him by surprise.

“It was a baritone,” Giveon said. “I had no idea how to use it.”

After high school, Giveon attended a program at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, where he says he “gained confidence and support.” At the program, he was encouraged to listen to Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me To The Moon” for the first time. “I hadn’t heard anyone that sounded like me,” he said of hearing Sinatra’s voice.

Giveon also says he was surprised witnessing the success of “Heartbreak Anniversary” months after its official release.

“…[W]hat was also great was it had this [viral] moment, [and then] people stopped and listened to the song and decided they actually liked it,” he said.

Giveon is nominated for six Grammys this year, including Best R&B Song for “Heartbreak Anniversary” and Record Of The Year with his Justin Bieber and Daniel Caesar collaboration, “Peaches.”

Moon Knight is a very complicated show. One that, on paper, probably shouldn’t work. A show that dabbles in horror, comedy, adventure, and a serious discussion about dissociative identity disorder almost feels like it works through sheer force of will between its star, Oscar Isaac, and his collaboration with the filmmakers, one of them being Mohamed Diab, who directed over half the episodes, including the premiere. With Moon Knight, Oscar Isaac is going for it.

It helps that our protagonist, Steven (played by Isaac), knows about as much as we do. He’s a timid man who hears voices in his head. One is from Mark (also Isaac), a very confident alter ego. Another is from an Egyptian moon god with the booming voice of F. Murray Abraham. Steven is prone to blacking out, then waking up in far-off lands and having no clue what transpired in-between. He also sometimes becomes an entity known as Moon Knight. (Even writing this out is confusing and I’m still a bit dumbfounded that this series doesn’t just work, but is excellent.)

For his part, the Egyptian-born Diab has been making headlines lately, taking on Wonder Woman and The Rock for their depictions of Egypt. In that their depictions look nothing like Egypt. And, no, as Diab says ahead, Moon Knight also did not physically film in Cairo, but, as he explains they got as close as possible.

I guess you could say this with any project, but there’s a world where this easily does not work. There’s so much going on it’s remarkable this works as well as it does.

Smart, smart question. The biggest challenge for the director of this show was: how are we going to make this one unit? We have action, thriller, horror, comedy, and we’re talking about dissociative identity disorder very seriously. And at some point, the drama’s actually moving, so how can we feel that we’re not switching on and off from genres?

Right, that’s tough to do, because if it’s too scattershot it won’t work.

Absolutely. And I don’t know, we just kept working on this script, kept developing it, and kept going back to its core. And its core is the character study of it. Its core is someone who’s trying to live with himself and discovering that he is pulled into this crazy world. And in the same time, I think Jeremy Slater, who created the show, was leaning towards the Lemire run, which is disorienting, and it feels like we are in someone’s head. It’s just like you want to see the world. That was our intention, seeing the world from someone who’s living with DID.

I like how in the first episode we are only with Steven. In a show like this where it’s so complicated, if all the characters have everything figured out and know what’s going on right away, we in the audience going to be confused. But when the main character is as confused as we are, it brings us into it.

That was intentional. There’s so much to unfold, so much to talk about. So if the two of you, I mean the audience and the character, are having that journey? We can understand or actually wait and understand with him. And I think one of the most brilliant things from Marvel and Jeremy was grounding Steven into an everyday guy, because usually he isn’t. He’s actually a rich guy in the comics. Grounding him into an everyday guy and discovering, seeing things through his eyes and then discovering that he has another identity and going through that. I love that. I love that about it.

I’ll say this before I ask because when you watch the show it works great. But I’ll admit when the trailer came out, we all think we know what Oscar Isaac sounds like, so when you first hear his Steven voice, it’s like, what is this? Were you worried about the reaction out of context?

Well, in everything you do, you worry about how people are going to receive it. Because I was working closely with Oscar, I have absolute trust in what he’s doing. By the way, he’s the one who came up with this accent. And I thought it was such a brilliant add to the story because it immediately distinguished between the two of them. But I would say that what really makes the difference between them is his acting. He becomes each one of them. I always tell him, you get taller when you are Mark. You see the demeanor changes.

Yeah, now having seen it, it makes sense why everyone wants to be involved. Oscar is going all out in this…

He carries the show on his shoulders. But I want to tell you something to what you’re saying. Someone was asking me, what’s your dream project as a comic book fan or whatever? And I thought about it for a second, and then I said, I already did it. It is this show. What else would I dream of? You know what I mean? It has every element that any director would want to do. And at its core, my small intimate films, this feels like an extension of them. I feel like I brought who I am to the show.

I agree. And this is such a self-contained story. There’s so much going on in this, I don’t need anything else in the MCU to happen or show up…

I am proud that it stands on its own. It didn’t need any help from any other crossovers or whatever. And I’m proud that a lot of people are telling us that if there was no Marvel logo, you would think this is a different show. It stands on its own. It’s different. And it shows from the numbers of the trailer that people actually are eager to see something new.

When you said this is already your dream superhero project. Well, if there is another one you want to do, you’ve got every genre in this one to show someone to convince them to let you do it.

I agree, but it’s going to be… It is a risk, and it’s always crazy to do this recipe, and it worked. So I hope one day, I’m dreaming of one day expanding that world if I got the chance. By the way, Marvel doesn’t say anything about the future, so no one knows. I think it’s back to the fans. They decide if they want to see the character again or not. I’m optimistic that they’re going to love him.

I saw you mention that Marvel approached you, I think you said, just out of the blue. What does that mean? What does out of the blue mean? How does that work?

What I meant is usually I was writing my own projects. I am someone who doesn’t connect to every project. I only want to pitch to the projects that I feel I was born to do; I’m the best guy to tell that story. So my agents told me that project: it’s written, and they’re looking for a director. So I read it, and then me and Sarah, my wife, we put in this 200-page pitch and we knew right away we were going to get it. This is the project that we’re looking for. It has everything that we want: the drama elements, everything that as a director that I want to show. And it shows Egypt in the past and the future, which is something I’m so interested in. Ironically, one of the challenges was I kept saying I hate it when people shoot Egypt outside Egypt. That’s what we had to do at the end. But I’m so happy with my set designer, Stefania Cella, and my costume designer, Meghan Kasperlik, because they did what I dreamed of. What I kept criticizing in everyone else, they gave me Egypt. And without telling you what I just told you, you wouldn’t know. You would really think it’s Egypt.

Well, that’s what I wanted to ask you because as you just said, criticizing other projects, you’ve been making some headlines the last couple of days. You’re a braver man than me. You know, The Rock, he’s a big guy. I don’t know if you’ve ever been around him, but that’s a very large man.

Well, I want to tell you something. Honestly, the press is just like… I wish we only talked about Moon Knight, but sometimes I think I should focus on what we did, and that’s actually the best answer to those kind of things…

Well, I think you were talking about what you did, and I think what you’ve said are valid complaints. And what I did want to ask is, because you just kind of addressed it, how close did you get to actually getting to film in Egypt? And what was the final barrier to not being able to do that?

We wanted to get into production very fast, so the permits and stuff, it didn’t align with our schedule. Marvel really gave me everything that I dreamed of to create Egypt. We have a great visual effects supervisor, Sean Faden, and as I told you, Meghan and Stefania. The moment that we had that huge square in the middle of Budapest?

Yeah, it looked great.

That is Egypt. And I got all the Egyptian extras there. People, some of them were so emotional, told me, “I haven’t been in Egypt for five years, and I feel I am there.” I felt home all through the shooting because of that square being next to us every day.

Well, I’m out of time. Anyway, I’m over the moon for this. “Over the moon,” I didn’t mean to make a pun.

By the way, I wish we can talk again after seeing the rest of show because it gets darker and more emotional. It gets crazier.

I would love to talk to you again after the show.

I would love that.

‘Moon Knight’ begins streaming on March 30th. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

With Moon Knight now streaming on Disney+, Marvel fans not only got their first look at the live-action version the comic book hero, but also of the Egyptian deity who grants Moon Knight his powers: Khonshu. In the comics, Moon Knight is a “high priest” of Khonshu, who over the centuries has chosen a human avatar to do his bidding on earth. The mercenary Marc Spector (played by Oscar Isaac in the Disney+ series) has been the most prominent vessel for Khonshu in the comics. After a desert mission let Spector for dead, he was revived by the diety and began serving as his protector of the night.

Here’s how the Marvel Database describes Khonshu’s current iteration in the comics:

Khonshu is the nocturnal “God of the Moon”, “God of Vengeance” and the “Shepherd of to the Lost”. He was described as the “Greatest God of the Great Gods”. He represented the Moon, a universal symbol for the redemptive power of insubordination, femininity and sensitivity. He was protector of travellers in the night and guardian of travellers through time. He was a member of the Heliopolitan race of gods who lived in the extradimensional realm of Celestial Heliopolis adjacent to Earth and was worshipped by the people of Ancient Egypt.

A couple of things are going to jump out at MCU fans: Namely time-travel and the extradimensional realm business, which sounds a whole lot like the multiverse that’s been making its presence know in Marvel’s Phase 4 slate. As for whether the live-action version of Khonshu will explore those concepts remains to be seen yet. For now, he’s appeared briefly in the Moon Knight series during a terrifying scene where he attempts to rein in Steven Grant, one of Marc Spector’s split personalities.

However, Khonshu was heard several times during the episode. The disembodied voice calling Steven an “idiot” and telling him to protect the scarab from Ethan Hawke‘s Arthur Harrow? That was F. Murray Abraham as the Egyptian god. In true Marvel style, the live-action version of Khonshu will apparently have a little more… personality than in the comics, and frankly, we’re here for it.

Moon Knight is available for streaming on Disney+

On Machine Gun Kelly’s new album Mainstream Sellout, Lil Wayne makes two appearances, on “Drug Dealer” and “Ay!.” Kelly made an appearance of his own last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he told the wild story of how Wayne got on the album at almost the last possible minute.

Kelly said he and Travis Barker called Wayne and asked if he wanted to drop by the studio and record a verse for “Drug Dealer.” Kelly continued:

“He was super down. He was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna pull up.’ This is around 8 o’clock. He pulls up around 1 a.m. The sprinter’s there and there’s all these security cameras. We’re like, ‘Dude, that’s Lil Wayne’s sprinter, this is crazy.’ We wait about an hour. The sprinter door opens, we’re like, ‘Oh my god, the door’s opening.’ He walks out, he comes in. He says ‘what’s up’ to everybody, I play the song, he’s like, ‘This is what we’re doing?’ I was like, ‘Yup.’

Then, he’s like, ‘You guys got time?’ We’re like, ‘All the time you need.’ He goes in this courtyard, walks around. He walks on the courtyard for like five… comes back in at like 6 in the morning. He’s like, ‘I didn’t make you wait too long, did I?’ We were all like, ‘No, man, no. What? No.” And he goes in the booth, does it in like one take. We freak out. I get in the car, I go wake Megan [Fox] up. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, Lil Wayne just got on the album.’”

As for how “Ay!” came together, that was a little more nerve-wracking, as Kelly continued:

“And then the album has to be turned in. We have this song called ‘Ay!.’ We’re like, ‘It just sounds like Lil Wayne should be on this one, too. Should we try?’ We call and they’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s gonna skate ’til 7 a.m. but like…’ And we’re like, ‘But the album needs to be turned in at 9:30.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, he got it.’

I set my alarm for 8:30. I woke up and I’m like, ‘Dude, Lil Wayne didn’t cut a song at 8 in the morning.’ Dude, the verse was there. He did a song at 8 in the morning.”

Watch the full interview above.