‘Dear Mama’: Tupac Docuseries Draws FX’s Biggest Unscripted Premiere Ever

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The U.K. distribution rights for black comedy “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” which stars Daisy Ridley, have been acquired by Vertigo Releasing. The film, which world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section, is being sold by New Europe Film Sales. Oscilloscope is distributing the film in North America, Imagine in the Benelux, and Filmarti in Turkey, as previously announced. The film, directed by Rachel Lambert, centers on Fran, who likes to think about dying. It brings sensation to her quiet life. When she makes the new guy at work laugh, it leads to more: a date, a slice of pie, a conversation, a spark. The only thing standing in their way is Fran herself.

posted the video to her TikTok account @taysqueezeslemons with the hashtag #prayforjohn. She advertised the video in her Instagram story with a link captioned “Tap here to pray for John.”In the video, which is set to Swift’s “Dear John,” the “Twilight” actor gets down on his knees in a white bathrobe and puts his hands together in prayer for the “New Light” singer, who is believed to have inspired the almost seven-minute ballad.Lautner also unfolds his hands and raises them upward to continue his joking prayer.On the “Today” show Tuesday when asked how he feels in anticipation of Swift’s rerecorded third album, which will release July 7, he didn’t seem too concerned with any songs popping up about him.

Taylor Lautner has a tongue-in-cheek reaction to Taylor Swift’s upcoming album.

McKinley Franklin editor The life, legacy and journey of tennis superstar Serena Williams will be put on full display in the upcoming ESPN docuseries “In the Arena: Serena Williams.” The new series was announced at the Walt Disney Company upfront presentation held in New York on Tuesday. With a longstanding career in the world of tennis spanning over the past two decades, Williams has accumulated 23 Grand Slam titles, making her one of the most decorated tennis players of all time. Her dominance in the sport has undoubtedly shifted both the athletic and cultural American landscape.  Williams’ presence not only as an athlete but a cultural cornerstone will be put on display in ESPN’s “In the Arena: Serena Williams.” The docuseries will highlight some of Williams’ most defining career and personal moments with accounts from Williams and other figures in her life.

When the Biebers aren’t hitting up an exclusive red carpet event, they’re most likely at home enjoying a low-key lifestyle despite their stardom.

“Justified: City Primeval,” the long-awaited spinoff to FX’s Western drama, finally has a premiere date. Ahead of Fox’s upfront, the network announced that “City Primeval” would premiere on July 17. Additionally, FX announced the premiere dates for “What We Do in the Shadows” Season 5, “Reservation Dogs” Season 3 and “Archer” Season 14.First premiering in 2010, “Justified” quickly became a critical darling.

Naman Ramachandran British singer-songwriter Craig David (“22”) and singer and stage actor Beverley Knight (“Sister Act”) will headline the Windrush 75 celebration at London’s Royal Albert Hall on June 9. The event is being curated and hosted by DJ and radio presenter Trevor Nelson. The Windrush generation came to the U.K. from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971. The ship MV Empire Windrush had arrived in Tilbury on June 22, 1948, bringing workers from the Caribbean to help address a post-war labor shortage in the U.K. The concert will aim to capture the breadth of musical influence which the Windrush generation has had on British culture over the last 75 years, with performances including R&B group Loose Ends’ “Hangin’ on a String,” G-folk’ pioneer Hak Baker’s “Windrush Baby” and David’s “Fill Me In,” as well as renditions of classic tracks like Lord Kitchener’s “London is the Place for Me,” Bob Marley’s “Is this Love,” and Goldie’s “Inner City Life.”

Jennifer Lopez is baring some midriff on the red carpet for the premiere of her new Netflix movie The Mother.

Sophia Scorziello editor A brand new divorcee competition series and “The Real Housewives of Miami” Season 6 are just some of the shows included in NBCUniversal’s all-new 2023-2024 slate. With a portfolio spanning across networks like E!, Bravo, Syfy and USA Network, NBCUniversal is bringing plenty of new programs to cable for fans of unscripted reality television and sci-fi drama. “The Real Housewives of Miami” Season 6 will bring the sunshine back to Bravo after the series’ run on Peacock. “Below Deck Down Under” will also make the move from the streamer to cable. As previously announced, “Project Runway” will get an all-star makeover as 14 designers from past seasons compete against one another starting on June 15. In July, Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan arrive in a small town of Ilinois in the premiere of “Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake.”

Beverly D'Angelo is reflecting on her "unique" relationship with Al Pacino.  The "Christmas Vacation" star took to her Instagram Monday to share an inside look of her and the "Scent of a Woman" actor’s intimate moments, including rare photos of their twin children.  "My story with Al began 27 years ago, two artists meeting, falling in love. We lived together for seven years, had two children, broke up, but continued steadily on our journey as co parents – and came to share our lives with a deeper kind of intimacy, honesty and acceptance than a ‘traditional’ relationship would have allowed, (for us at least)," D’Angelo wrote on her social media caption.

There have been quite a few millionaires made on Jeopardy!!

Severance is the latest series to be shut down as a result of strike picketing.

Marta Balaga Danish sales agent LevelK has fallen for stop-motion animation “Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light” (“Tonda, Slávka a kouzelné světlo”), set to premiere in Annecy’s feature film Contrechamp competition in June. Directed by Filip Pošivač and written by Jana Šrámková, the film is produced by Pavla Janoušková Kubečková and Jakub Viktorín for nutprodukce (Czech Republic) and nutprodukcia (Slovakia), with Hungary’s Filmfabriq, Česká televize and RTVS – Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska also on board. “I believe we are creating a film which, on one side, can be entertaining for the whole family, but it can also motivate the upcoming generation of viewers to be more open to different art genres. And, most importantly, to be open to diversity and tolerance in our society,” says Viktorín, also behind Oscar submission “Victim.”

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Richard Dreyfuss doesn’t get it, but most grouchy, self-proclaimed keepers of the old Hollywood guard never do when it comes to creating an industry that gives a chance for everyone to thrive.  It was Sept. 8, 2020, and I was one week into my job as the awards editor for Variety when the Academy dropped its bombshell news that as part of its Aperture 2025 initiative, the organization was introducing new representation and inclusion requirements for submitting in the best picture category. There are four standards a film must meet in order to be eligible. So naturally, the news designed to promote and encourage diversity in the Hollywood system was met with divisive reactions. Some, such as Viggo Mortensen, said, “It’s about exclusion, which is discrimination.”

Former “7th Heaven” co-stars, Jessica Biel and Beverley Mitchell, reunited over the weekend at Monster Jam in Los Angeles.

BreAnna Bell FX’s latest docuseries opened on a high note, the network reveals. According to multi-platform ratings, the “Dear Mama” debut scored FX’s most watched premiere for an unscripted series ever. The show opened on FX on April 21 and became available to stream the following day on Hulu, which combined for the record setting performance. From director Allen Hughes, the five-part docuseries explores the lives and legacies of mother and son, Afeni and Tupac Shakur. A renowned revolutionary, Afeni became a feminist figure of the ’70s, a female leader in the movement amidst the macho milieu of the Black Panther Party. Tupac, a rapper and poet, also became a political visionary, philosopher and one of the greatest rap artists of all time. “Their story chronicles the possibilities and contradictions of the United States from a time of revolutionary fervor to Hip Hop culture’s most ostentatious decade,” reads the official description.

Tupac Shakur was murdered, meaning he's been gone longer than the 25-year-old was alive. Throughout his life, the rapper's ambitions warred with his personal struggles as his portrayal in the media fought to outshine his rising star onscreen. Since his death, many have tried to encapsulate how his legendary music career and passion for acting influenced hip-hop long after he died.

Joshua Alston Director Allen Hughes has evolved into a deft and imaginative documentarian, just the latest pleasant surprise in a long, eclectic career. His best-known films are the scripted fare he co-directed with his twin brother Albert, including “Menace II Society” and “Dead Presidents,” which dove deep into the lives of young, disaffected Black men. The brothers dabbled in documentary with 1999’s “American Pimp,” another film about Black men thriving (and suffering, and causing suffering) in a brutal subculture, but the film’s insights were mostly washed out by its prurience. Since then, the Hugheses have pursued solo projects, but Allen found new traction with “The Defiant Ones,” the HBO docuseries chronicling the durable and fruitful partnership between Dr. Dre and Interscope Records founder Jimmy Iovine. The brilliance of that show, which earned a Grammy and five Emmy nods, was in its format and structure. Hughes plots the key points of their professional and personal journeys, from their initial meeting to their eventual $3 billion sale of Beats Audio. Because the hip hop producer and music executive affected so many aspects of their industry at the time, an exploration of their friendship became a microcosmic portrait of a seminal period for American music. 

Hulu — two of Tupac Shakur’s cousins recount, in chilling detail, how they first heard the titular classic.They were hanging in an Atlanta hotel room with the late rap icon on Halloween 1993, just after Shakur shot two white off-duty cops. Law enforcement was standing by in the hallway.“But Tupac — he’s calm,” Billy Lesane said, recalling his weed-smoking cousin before his arrest.