James Lassiter Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Jacob Scipio is headed back to the “Bad Boys” universe. Actor Scipio, who most recently starred opposite Pedro Pascal and Nicolas Cage in the meta adventure “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” will reprise his role as Armando Aretas – the estranged son of Will Smith’s Miami-Dade police detective character Mike Lowery. Scipio is getting a narrative upgrade from his debut in 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life,” we hear, as the script will see him play the main antagonist in the action film led by Smith and Martin Lawrence.

Sony’s latest Bad Boys sequel had a theatrical release date of June 14, 2024. But the studio really wants June 7, and that’s where it’s now dating the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence reteam.

McKinley Franklin editor Sony has released the first trailer for Jeymes Samuel’s biblical epic “The Book of Clarence,” which is set to make its theatrical debut on Jan. 12, 2024.

Will Smith revealed he almost turned down the role of Agent J in his mega-hit sci-fi comedy "Men in Black" until executive producer Steven Spielberg personally interceded. During a Thursday appearance on Kevin Hart’s "Hart to Heart" talk show, the 54-year-old actor remembered how he initially planned to reject the part since he was opposed to making another alien-themed movie after starring in the science fiction blockbuster "Independence Day" the year prior. Smith said his former manager James Lassiter, who he described as the "arbiter of taste" for his career at the time, strongly advocated for him to take the role.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director When Will Smith was ready to turn down the role of Agent J in 1997’s “Men in Black,” executive producer Steven Spielberg decided to take matters into his own hands. During a recent appearance on Kevin Hart’s “Hart to Heart” talk show (via Insider), Smith told the story of Spielberg sending a helicopter to bring him in for a meeting in which Spielberg questioned Smith’s apprehension over “Men in Black.” It all started with Smith not wanting to make another alien-centric movie after 1996’s “Independence Day,” his first bonafide blockbuster. James Lassiter, Smith’s former manager, urged Smith to take the role of Agent J.

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Primetime Emmy nominee Rhea Seehorn has boarded the fourth installment of the $841M grossing Bad Boys franchise.

McKinley Franklin editor Tasha Smith will join Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the latest installment of Sony Pictures’ “Bad Boys” franchise.  In “Bad Boys 4,” Smith will play Theresa, Marcus Burnett’s (Lawrence) loving and devoted wife, a role previously inhabited by Theresa Randle in the first three “Bad Boys” films. Plot details for “Bad Boys 4” have been kept under wraps. Smith is best known for her roles as Carol in the drama series “Empire,” Ronnie Boyce in HBO’s Emmy-winning series “The Corner” and Angela in Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married?” She has also directed episodes of “Our Kind of People,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Bel-Air.”

EXCLUSIVE: Ioan Gruffudd (San Andreas) has closed a deal to join Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys 4, the newest installment in the hit series of buddy cop action comedies from Sony Pictures.

Eric Dane will join Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for a fourth film in Sony Pictures’ Bad Boys franchise.Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are returning to direct from a script by Chris Bremner, which sees the previous cast from Bad Boys: For Life, including Paola Núnez, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig, returning for the fourth installment.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Bel-Air” has been renewed for Season 3 at Peacock. The dramatic reboot of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” is currently airing its second season on the streamer, with the season finale set to run on April 27. This marks the first official renewal for the show, as it was originally picked up for two seasons back in 2020. Like the sitcom version, “Bel-Air” follows a teenager named Will (Jabari Banks), who moves from West Philadelphia to live with his auntie and uncle in the titular posh Los Angeles neighborhood. Along with Banks, Season of the series also stars Adrian Holmes, Cassandra Freeman, Olly Sholotan, Coco Jones, Akira Akbar, Jimmy Akingbola, Jordan L. Jones and Simone Joy Jones. Tatyana Ali, who played the original Ashley Banks in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” appeared in Season 2 in a recurring guest role.

EXCLUSIVE: Vanessa Hudgens is set to reprise her role as weapons expert Kelly in Bad Boys 4 with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

Sony has just dated Legendary’s Jeymes Samuel’s Biblical-time set feature The Book of Clarence for Sept. 22 this year.

Today on social media, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence announced that they’re definitely reteaming for a fourth Bad Boys movie which is in early pre-production at the studio with Bad Boys for Life Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah returning to direct from a script by Chris Bremner. 

EXCLUSIVE: Following the critical acclaim of his Netflix western The Harder They Fall, Jeymes Samuel’s follow-up, The Book of Clarence, has gained momentum with a new producing partner and two major stars to lead the ensemble. Sources tell Deadline that Legendary has acquired the BAFTA Award winner’s next film project with LaKeith Stanfield (Atlanta)and Omar Sy (Lupin) set to star.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Bel-Air” is getting a new showrunner — again. The Peacock drama series is undergoing a change at the top behind the scenes for the third time as it prepares its second season at the NBCUniversal streamer. Carla Banks Waddles, who previously served as a writer and co-executive producer on Season 1, will now take over as showrunner and executive producer. She takes over from TJ Brady and Rasheed Newson, who have departed the series over creative differences, an individual with knowledge of the situation says. They will still be credited as executive producers going forward.

Peacock’s breakout hit Bel-Air is making a change at the helm for Season 2, which is currently in production. Carla Banks Waddles has been promoted to showrunner. She takes over for TJ Brady and Rasheed Newson who have stepped down from the role over creative differences. The duo remain executive producers on the series, from Westbrrok Studios and Universal Television. The series is taking a brief hiatus as the showrunner transition is taking place.

EXCLUSIVE: Four-time Emmy Award and two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will make her narrative feature directorial debut on Brilliance, the Paramount Pictures adaptation of the Marcus Sakey novel. Pic has been a passion project for Will Smith and Akiva Goldsman who did I, Robot, I Am Legend and Hancock together. The hope remains that the film is a star vehicle for Smith though sources said he hasn’t committed to star. Goldsman wrote the script.

Michaela Zee editor“Cobra Kai” is stirring up some action in the dojo once again as Netflix releases the first official trailer for Season 5.Following last season’s All Valley Karate Tournament, Season 5 reveals that Terry Silver — who now has complete control of Cobra Kai — is planning to expand the dojo across the San Fernando Valley. If Terry goes unchecked, he and his Cobra Kai teachers will spread their form of brutal karate like wildfire.

Netflix has released a batch of first-look images for Season 5 of featuring The Karate Kid Part III star Sean Kanan returning to the ‘Miyagi-Verse’ as Mike Barnes, and Alicia Hannah-Kim’s debut as South Korean sensei, Kim Da-Eun.

EXCLUSIVE: Buffalo Tens, a single-camera comedy, written, executive produced and potentially starring Another Period creators Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero, has been set up at Fox for development. Lindhome and Leggero are executive producing the project with fellow Another Period executive producer Debblie Liebling as well as James Lassiter. Lindhome and Leggero are expected to play the leads in the comedy, produced by Fox Entertainment, if it is picked up to series. (Under its modified development model, Fox often skips the pilot stage and goes script-to-series for both drama and comedy.)

EXCLUSIVE: Andy Fischel has joined Yahya Abdul Mateen II’s House Eleven10 after spending four years at Netflix on the Original Studio Film team. In this role, he will oversee production and development for House Eleven10.

EXCLUSIVE: has cast Alicia Hannah-Kim for Season 5 of the hit Netflix series as the formidable South Korean sensei Kim Da-Eun who factors into Terry Silver’s (Thomas Ian Griffith) plans for accelerating Cobra Kai’s expansion. Dallas Dupree Young, who joined the show last season as Kenny Payne, has been upgraded to a series regular.

As its title suggests, Women of the Movement was conceived as an anthology chronicling the civil rights movement as told by the women behind it. ABC in 2020 greenlighted a six-episode first installment that tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley (Adrienne Warren), who risked her life to find justice after her son Emmett (Cedric Joe) was brutally murdered in the Jim Crow South in 1955.

Netflix surprised fans in Los Angeles Thursday night at the “Cobra Kai: Live & Bad Ass” event with a first-look teaser for the upcoming fifth season and also announced that Season 5 will premiere globally on Netflix September 9.And since we all know you’re here for the trailer, watch it at the top of the page right now.After the shocking results of the All Valley Tournament in the fourth season finale, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) is expanding the (new, way more evil) Cobra Kai empire. With Kreese (Martin Kove) behind bars and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) setting karate aside to focus on repairing the damage he’s caused, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) must call on an old friend for help… Chozen (Yuji Okumoto).Daniel and Silver square off in the trailer, with the Cobra Kai heavy telling him, “You’re playing with fire, Danny boy.” To which Chozen responds, “And I am gasoline.” We also see Johnny head to Mexico to find Miguel (Xolo Maridueña).

Serena Williams isn’t opposed to a King Richard sequel. 

his starring role in X, a slasher following a group of amateur auteurs on a doomed porno shoot in rural Texas, Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi) has signed on to direct and star in a new film for Netflix: the semi-autobiographical Teddy.The film will mark Mescudi’s directorial debut, with Jay-Z attached to co-produce alongside Jeymes Samuel and James Lassiter, as well as companies Mad Solar and BRON. Mescudi announced Teddy overnight (March 22), saying in an Instagram post that he’d first started working on the film in 2013.He explained that over the course of nine years, the project evolved from a film into a TV series, before he reverted the concept back into a film.“I can’t wait for [you] all to meet Teddy, his friends, his family and take a walk in his world for a bit,” Mescudi wrote.

Kid Cudi has announced that he has written, and will direct and star in, a forthcoming Netflix movie titled Teddy. "I've been waitin to tell you all about this for a long long time," he wrote in an Instagram post this afternoon.

A deconstructionist remix of the genre, the series dramatizes how the world’s greatest hero — The Plutonian — snapped under the pressure of his responsibilities and charted a dark path to become the world’s greatest supervillain. “Irredeemable’s” sister series, “Incorruptible,” flipped the coin and followed supervillain Max Damage as he responded to the Plutonian’s evil by gradually transforming himself into a superhero.

Netflix is developing a live-action feature take of the bestselling Boom! Studios comic series Irredeemable and its sister title Incorruptible with BAFTA-winning The Harder They Fall filmmaker Jeymes Samuel directing, Oscar-nominated scribe Kemp Powers writing and producers Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter and James Lassiter on board.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. is really upping the stakes to its I Am Legend franchise to a stratospheric level and bringing back for the next chapter, not just original star Will Smith, but he’ll be joined by Black Panther actor Michael B. Jordan in what will rep the duo’s first big movie together as stars and producers. Talk about two big stars getting together, between Smith and Jordan combined, their movies have grossed a massive $12.3 billion at the box office.

Terrible news…

killed eight other people and left hundreds injured following Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston last Friday night.

Ellise Shafer administratorBharti Shahani, a 22-year-old senior at Texas A&M University, died on Wednesday night from injuries she sustained at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival, her family’s lawyer confirmed to the Associated Press.“Bharti was a shining star in the community,” attorney James Lassiter said during a press conference, according to the AP.

HOUSTON -- Una estudiante universitaria de 22 años que resultó gravemente herida en el festival Astroworld en Houston ha muerto, dijo el abogado de su familia el jueves, por lo que aumentó a 9 la cifra de víctimas mortales tras una avalancha humana hacia el escenario durante la presentación del artista estelar Travis Scott.Bharti Shahani falleció el miércoles por la noche, dijo el abogado James Lassiter durante una conferencia de prensa.“Bharti era una estrella brillante en la comunidad”, señaló

Regina King hits the red carpet in major style for the premiere of her new movie, The Harder They Fall during the 2021 BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday (October 6) in London, England.

(“Soul Assassin,” “Cowboy Bebop,” “Marvel’s Luke Cage” and “The Deuce”) plays Cailloux, a free Black man who serves in the Union Army.The film is inspired by the famous photo circa 1863 known as “The Scourged Back.” The photo, taken during a Union Army medical examination, depicts a runaway slave dubbed “Whipped Peter” who became a symbol for the abolitionist movement when he was photographed in Harper’s Weekly with severe whipping scars all along his back.Smith, James Lassiter and Jon Mone are