Jeff Bridges and Helen Mirren will lend their voices to Bob Dylan’s new audiobook

Jonathan Martin is returning to Politico after almost a decade at The New York Times.

Hosted by Helen Mirren, the venerable public television staple “Documentary Now!” enters its 53rd season. Or so goes the running joke that ties together the fourth season of the satirical IFC comedy, back after a nearly four-year hiatus.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Apple took the wraps off its third-generation Apple TV 4K streaming device, which promises faster performance, HDR10+ support and more — while dropping the starting price to $129 compared with $179 for the prior-generation model. The new Apple TV 4K is available in two configurations: Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi), which offers 64 gigabytes of storage, for $129; and Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi + Ethernet), which offers support for Gigabit Ethernet and 128 GB of storage, priced at $149. The products will ship beginning Friday, Nov. 4, and are available for pre-order. The next generation of Apple TV 4K features the A15 Bionic chipset, offering CPU performance up to 50% faster than the second-generation of Apple’s 4K streaming boxes, and graphics processing unit performance up to 30% percent for “even smoother gameplay,” the tech giant said. It also adopts USB-C port for charging — dropping the previous generations’ use of the proprietary Lightning connector.

John Legend is opening up about Blake Shelton‘s exit from “The Voice”. ET’s Cassie DiLaura spoke to the “Wonder Woman” singer at Ralph Lauren’s 2023 Spring-Summer fashion show at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California where he shared what he thought about the “heart” and “soul” of the show leaving after 23 seasons.

J. Kim Murphy As Nintendo’s Bayonetta 3 closes in on its long-awaited release date of Oct. 28, the video game franchise’s fanbase has been rocked by a statement shared by the series’ original lead voice actor, Hellena Taylor, who shares that she did not return for the new entry after being offered only $4,000 to reprise her role. “The Bayonetta franchise made approximately $450 million. That’s not including merchandise. As an actor, I trained for a total of seven and a half years,” Taylor shared in a statement on her Twitter. “What did they think this was worth? What did they offer to pay me? The final offer to do the whole game — as a buyout, flat rate — was $4,000. This is an insult to me [and] the amount of time that I took to work on my talent and everything I’ve given to this game and to the fans.”

Hellena Taylor, the actress who voiced the title character in the first two Bayonetta video games, is asking fans to boycott the upcoming third game.

The woman who has voiced Bayonetta through two editions of the video game is claiming on social media that she’s being stabbed in the back when it comes to her fee for part three.

Selome Hailu Marin Ireland has been cast in “Sinking Spring,” the upcoming Apple TV+ drama series from Peter Craig. Ireland plays Kristy Lynne, a fiery, foul-mouthed woman entrenched deeply in a high-intensity drug trafficking area in rural Pennsylvania, who survives a life-threatening assault. As she reclaims her voice and health, she becomes obsessed with finding the culprits and unraveling the plot that nearly destroyed her. She joins previously announced stars Brian Tyree Henry and Michael Mando. Based on Dennis Tafoya’s 2009 novel “Dope Thief,” “Sinking Spring” follows long-time Philly friends and delinquents who pose as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside, only to have their small-time grift become a life-and-death enterprise, as they unwittingly reveal and unravel the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern seaboard.

EXCLUSIVE: Marin Ireland is set as the female lead opposite Brian Tyree Henry and Michael Mando in Apple TV+’s crime drama series Sinking Spring, from Top Gun: Maverick writer Peter Craig. The series is directed and executive produced by Ridley Scott via his Scott Free Productions, with Henry also executive producing.

Realm hopes to scare up listeners for an election-timed, star-studded audio thriller from Trudie Styler.

Variety Audio Honors, presented by Wondery, are the next generation of storytellers, and have been selected in recognition of their innovations in audio storytelling by a committee of distinguished audio industry professionals, chaired by award-winning podcast creator, producer and new host of NPR’s “It’s Been a Minute,” Brittany Luse. The Gotham/Variety Audio Honors are set to take place in person as a luncheon and a staged presentation in New York City on Oct. 14. “As an organization dedicated to celebrating and nurturing independent creators, we are proud to recognize these brilliant, innovative, and groundbreaking audio storytellers,” said Jeffrey Sharp, executive director of the Gotham Film & Media Institute. “As audio content reaches a pivotal point of engagement and innovation, it is crucial that we launch new platforms of recognition, such as The Gotham/Variety Audio Honors, to celebrate the most daring creators in our industry.”

Brendan Fraser and Sam Heughan were just two of the big celebs spotted at 2022 New York Comic-Con over the weekend in New York City.

Paramount+ today debuted the official mid-season trailer for season one of its original animated kids’ series, Star Trek: Prodigy. The trailer was introduced by executive producers Kevin and Dan Hageman, during the “Star Trek” universe panel at New York Comic Con.

David O Russell’s oeuvre, it’s that great film-making chops (Three Kings!) meet wildly divergent outcomes (often within a single film); Russell will fall out with some of his cast, and said cast will be star-filled. His latest is Amsterdam, a period crime romp led by Margot Robbie, Christian Bale and John David Washington, abetted by Robert De Niro, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Rami Malek, Mike Myers, Andrea Riseborough, Zoe Saldaña, Michael Shannon and Taylor Swift. Results may vary.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Josh Gordon and Will Speck’s live-action musical “Lyle Lyle Crocodile” lives up to it name. The story, about a crocodile named Lyle voiced by Shawn Mendes that can dance and sing, features songs penned by the award-winning Justin Paul and Benj Pasek. The dup then brought in a team of songwriters to carve out toe-tapping, infectious earworms. From the get-go songwriting and composing duo Pasek and Paul knew Lyle would be a singing crocodile which made the project all the more exciting for them. “But when the voice actor became Shawn Mendes, that really informed a lot of the style and what we were going to write for,” explains Pasek. 

James McAvoy speaks on stage during the His Dark Materials interview at New York Comic Con 2022 on Thursday (October 6) in New York City.

Mindy Kaling and Constance Wu sat down at HBO Max’s Velma panel during New York Comic Con 2022 on Wednesday (October 6) in New York City.

The conversation around Chris Pratt’s casting as the voice of Mario in Illumination and Nintendo’s upcoming The Super Mario Bros Movie was well underway before Thursday. But it hit a new gear after the first trailer – and first listen of Pratt’s interpretation of the video game icon — was released at New York Comic-Con. It hits theaters April 7, 2023.