Issa Rae’s Raedio and Def Jam sign multi-year deal

Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s epic yet introspective, all-star cast biopic Oppenheimer spawned the summer’s most unlikely double feature.The teams behind both films were smart enough to catch on to the public’s pitting the world’s most famous doll against the man who birthed the Bomb.And the team behind this dual review, having completed the double feature in Barbie–Oppenheimer order, can report that both films are smart enough to recognize, respectively, the stereotypical girlishness that Barbie represents, and the inarguably patriarchal society that J. Robert Oppenheimer both represented and at times resisted.Barbie, co-written by Ladybird and Little Women Oscar nominee Gerwig and her Oscar-nominated husband Noah Baumbach, actually turns examining the toy’s impact on generations of girls and women into its whole raison d’être.

This Barbie is a body-positive queen — and her name is Issa Rae.

channel your Ken-ergy and strap on your roller skates my babies, we’re in the midst of a Barbie summer.Greta Gerwig’s hotly anticipated fantasy comedy “Barbie,” premieres July 21 with Cancer queen Margot Robbie playing the titular role alongside Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Emerald Fennell, America Ferrera, Will Farrell, Dua Lipa, Helen Mirren and Ryan Gosling as the hot, hapless, beach venerating, Ken.In honor of the film’s release and six decades of the doll’s domination we are taking a look at Barbie’s birth chart.Standing pert on tip toes with the modern equivalent of a Mona Lisa smile, Barbie, full name Barbara Millicent Roberts was introduced by Mattel Inc. at the American International Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959.Fun fact; astrology applies not only to human beings but to global events, animals, the incorporation of cities, and the introduction of iconic toys.

3 stars (out of 4)

Selome Hailu Eight years after the last controversy-flanked season of “Project Greenlight,” the show still thrives on movie magic and the drama that follows. Max debuted a revamped version of the docuseries on July 12, this time led by Issa Rae’s production company Hoorae. Rae, Kumail Nanjiani and Gina Prince-Bythewood act as the official mentors, meeting up to select a female first-time feature filmmaker to direct a script they’ve commissioned by an outside writer. They land on Meko Winbush, a writer, director and editor with extensive experience making trailers and short films. Notably, after the selection process is complete, Rae jets to London to shoot “Barbie” and Nanjiani enters production. Their screentime drops dramatically after the first episode. Prince-Bythewood remains more involved thoughout, regularly making time to call Winbush while editing her own film, 2022’s “The Woman King.”

With thousands of Hollywood actors and writers on strike, some are wondering how reality TV will be affected.

draws closer, fans are eagerly anticipating getting a look inside Barbie Land — and what happens when the titular doll is forced to venture into the Real World.Not only that, but the film features a star-studded cast, packed with Barbies and Kens beyond just the central couple, played by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Just like in the toy stores, there's a Doctor Barbie, a President Barbie, a Mermaid Barbie and many more! (All the Kens are just Kens, though.)From an MCU hero to a star to a world-famous pop icon, fans will have a blast seeing the who's who of pop culture as they frolic through the hot pink world of Barbie in the film, directed by Greta Gerwig and co-written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach.Read on to learn more about all the Barbies, Kens — and a few humans — who will be gracing the big screen when the movie premieres on July 21.

Leonardo DiCaprio is standing with his fellow actors. The “Revenant” star took to his Instagram Stories to show his support not long after it was announced that SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) formally approved a strike upon negotiations falling apart between the actors’ union and major Hollywood studios and streamers, who are represented by the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).

Leonardo DiCaprio is standing with his fellow actors. The  star took to his Instagram Stories to show his support not long after it was announced that SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) formally approved a strike upon negotiations falling apart between the actors' union and major Hollywood studios and streamers, who are represented by the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).The actors will now join the writers on the picket line, marking the first time since 1960 that two major guilds will be striking at the same time.

on Netflix. There’s so much that needs to be answered after last season’s . Will Helen decide to pursue a , her ex Ryan, or no one at all? And who hates Dana Sue? Also, why did Miss Frances leave her all that money? Can Cal and Maddie work through what happened at Sullivan’s? See, I told you. The good news is that you’ll get all those answers relatively soon into the season—all episodes drop at once—but new mysteries and conundrums present themselves.

Do you feel like the genre aspect of the film Meko had to make presented certain challenges, and at the same time, benefits for viewers to see inside the process?Rae: As a producer, that was a learning lesson. I felt like we were really ambitious on our side to one, I think that finding a talented female filmmaker wasn’t a challenge at all, it’s more just having them produce something with a limited budget in a limited amount of time.

formally approved a strike upon negotiations falling apart between the actors' union and major Hollywood studios and streamers, who are represented by the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers).The actors will now join the writers on the picket line, marking the first time since 1960 that two major guilds will be striking at the same time. The writers' strike began May 2 and is in its 10th week.In addition to Rae, a number of others stars are speaking out following news of the strike, including Josh Gad, Olivia Wilde, Rosie O'Donnell, Margaret Cho, Jamie Lynn Spears, Mandy Moore, Amber Tamblyn, Riley Keough and Kaley Cuoco, who posted messages of support for SAG on social media. A post shared by Josh Gad (@joshgad)star Cynthia Nixon posted to her Instagram Story, «The @sagaftra strike has at last arrived.

Issa Rae can’t wait to stop wearing pink after the Barbie press tour  ends.

Will Ferrell is seen out with his entire family, but that's exactly what transpired Wednesday in London at the premiere.The 55-year-old funny man was seen out with his wife, Viveca Paulin, dressed to the nine alongside the couple's three sons — Magnus, 19, Mattias, 16, and Axel, 13. Ferrell almost looked like his character in Greta Gerwig's highly anticipated look inside Barbie Land, in which Ferrell plays a human.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Raedio, the “audio everywhere” division of Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media, has announced a multi-year deal with Def Jam Recordings. The partnership will give Raedio the opportunity to sign, market, and distribute signed artists through Def Jam’s network, according to the announcement. It includes publishing, music supervision, music library, podcasts, digital content and events divisions. Raedio’s “symbiotic pipeline to Hoorae Media’s ecosystem of film, television production and talent management divisions provides a unique all-in-one infrastructure paving the way for a new, disruptive approach to music label models,” the announcement states.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Saoirse Ronan revealed last September to People magazine that she tried and failed to film a cameo in the upcoming “Barbie” movie, which is directed by her “Lady Bird” and “Little Women” filmmaker Greta Gerwig. It turns out Gerwig eyed even more “Barbie” cameos, including one that would’ve reunited her and Ronan with Timothée Chalamet. The Oscar nominee also appeared in “Lady Bird” and “Little Women.” “Well, it was always going to have to be like a sort of smaller thing because she was actually producing at the time, which I am so proud of her for,” Gerwig said of having to scrap Ronan’s cameo. “And of course, it’s brilliant. But it was going to be a specialty cameo. I was also going to do a specialty cameo with Timmy, and both of them couldn’t do it, and I was so annoyed. But I love them so much. But it felt like doing something without my children. I mean, I’m not their mom, but I sort of feel like their mom.”

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic Each episode of the new season of “Project Greenlight” begins with a worthy mission statement. “We’re choosing a woman director,” executive producer Issa Rae tells us, “because ‘Project Greenlight’ has never had one before.” Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of films including “The Woman King” and also an executive producer here, adds, “It’s about time the world sees how many dope women directors there are just waiting to get their shot.” These are statements that are hard to argue with — “Project Greenlight,” this season, did choose a woman director, the first-time filmmaker Meko Winbush, to pull together a feature film, the sci-fi family drama “Gray Matter,” in just 18 days of shooting. And Winbush, who is Black, is one of many who deserve a chance of the sort the industry doesn’t tend to hand out freely to women of color, something both “Insecure” creator Rae and Prince-Bythewood surely understand well. (They’re two of three putative “mentors” for Winbush on the show, along with actor Kumail Nanjiani, who also co-wrote “The Big Sick.”) And yet the show is purpose-built not to elevate or to celebrate Winbush but to somewhat ruthlessly pull apart the ways in which she might be made to look unready for the job and unsteady on her feet. It’s a shockingly watchable series that evinces that sickly feeling of humiliation from a past, crueler era of reality TV — “The Comeback,” but make it indie.

Hollywood’s biggest names proved life in plastic is indeed fantastic at the Barbie premiere in Los Angeles on Sunday, July 9. 

America Ferrera stepped out on the pink carpet in a stunning two piece look for the premiere of Barbie in Los Angeles on Sunday (July 9).

EXCLUSIVE: Jacob Romero (Greenleaf) and Kyle Bary (Ginny & Georgia) have joined the Season 2 cast of Issa Rae’s Max series Rap Sh!t in key recurring roles.