Pixar Alums Ricky Nierva & Michal Makarewicz Join Spire Animation Studios In Senior Roles

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorBest friends and comedy writers Amy Aniobi and Grace Edwards — who worked together on Issa Rae’s “Insecure” series for HBO — are launching a new weekly talk show podcast as counterprogramming to doomscrolling.The show, produced by APM Studios and distributed by American Public Media, is set to premiere March 30 on major podcast platforms and at antidoteshow.org. The duo’s first guest on “The Antidote” is actor and entrepreneur Tracee Ellis Ross, who starred in ABC’s “Black-ish”; additional upcoming guests include comedians and actors Nicole Byer and Ilana Glazer.“The world is a Dumpster fire,” reads the description of “The Antidote.” Co-hosts Aniobi and Edwards, “in response to the madness in the news,” will share the culture that lights them up and activities that bring them joy, as well as strategies they use to cope.

Bao, a Pixar short in which a woman’s bao bun lunch comes to life and grows from an adorable dumpling into a surly steamed-up teenager. It was an allegory for motherhood. Following the film’s warm reception (it eventually won the Oscar for Best Animated Short), her Pixar colleagues asked her to pitch ideas for a feature.

Ethan Shanfeld A Billy Joel biopic titled “Piano Man” is in the works at Michael Jai White’s Jaigantic Studios, with Adam Ripp attached to write and direct.The biopic will follow Joel’s early years — from being discovered by his first manager Irwin Mazur at age 16, to playing in a Long Island cover band in the 1960s, to his breakout performance in 1972 that captured the attention of Clive Davis.However, Billy Joel’s rep says that Joel is not involved with this film project, and that no rights in music, name/likeness or life story will be granted.Instead, Jaigantic has acquired the life rights to Mazur, who managed Joel from 1965 to 1972, the year before his commercial breakthrough. Joel’s hit album and song “Piano Man” were released in 1973.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterParamount Pictures is calling home its speciality label Paramount Players, folding the lower-budget and genre operation under the stewardship of the studio’s larger motion picture group. As a result of the decision, current Paramount Players chief Jeremy Kramer is exiting his post.Paramount motion picture group co-heads Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland will run point on the unit moving forward.

Ricky Velez may be a comedian, but he took to his Instagram to make clear when it comes to good friend Pete Davidson, threats are no laughing matter. In a now-deleted story, Ricky, who starred alongside Pete in his semi-autobiographical 2020 film The King of Staten Island, shared his thoughts on Kanye West‘s social media attacks on Pete. Emphasizing that Kanye’s actions weren’t “funny or entertaining,” Ricky wrote: “a 44 year old man internet thugging is just sad.”

EXCLUSIVE: Woodman Park Productions, the All3Media-backed production company behind series such as Discovery+’s Battle of the Brothers and CNN’s Declassified, has bolstered its leadership ranks.

Campbell Hatton has revealed he has enlisted the help of another son of a boxing legend as he looks to prove his doubters wrong and become a superstar.

Disney and Pixar debuted a fictional boy band! – Just Jared Jr The royals just confirmed a big trip – Celebitchy Did you know this about Lori Harvey? – Popsugar DNCE is back! – Just Jared Jr

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust three days after two of his bandmembers tested positive for Covid-19, John Mayer has as well, and rescheduled four tour dates for May.“Whelp. More members of the band tested positive for Covid today, and I was one of them,” Mayer wrote on Instagram late Thursday.

HBO‘s new LA Lakers drama.The actor is set to portray former Lakers owner Jerry Buss in the forthcoming basketball drama Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty, which is due out next month.Reilly was the third choice for the role in the Adam McKay drama after Will Ferrell and Michael Shannon dropped out.“I’d been sitting at my kitchen table, thinking, ‘Man, I’m dead in the water, all this work, 80 movies, and I got nothing going on,’ when I got the text from Adam,” Reilly told The Hollywood Reporter.He landed the part after Ferrell fell out with his longstanding collaborator McKay over the role.“It ended not well,” McKay said in a recent interview with Vanity Fair after Ferrell, a die hard fan of the team, had his heart set on playing Buss.McKay thought that Ferrell’s Step Brothers co-star Reilly would be better suited for the role.“Ferrell just doesn’t look like Jerry Buss, and he’s not that vibe of a Jerry Buss,” added McKay. “And there were some people involved who were like, ‘We love Ferrell, he’s a genius, but we can’t see him doing it.’ It was a bit of a hard discussion.” To make things worse, McKay didn’t personally notify Ferrell of the choice.

Michael Bublé and Luisana Lopilato just revealed they're expecting their fourth child together, confirming the happy news to Hello! after Luisana appeared to be pregnant in her chart-topping husband's new video. The couple are already parents to Noah, 8, Elias, 6, and Vida, 3, and we're thrilled their family is set to expand! MORE: Michael Bublé and Luisana Lopilato are expecting their fourth child!They'll be in good company when they welcome their little one, too, since there are plenty of celebrities who also have four of their own kids! Keep scrolling to see some of the A-listers who are also members of families of six! The couple secretly married in 2018 after having dated for about two years, and quickly welcomed their first child together that same year. Little Lucia Martin-Yosef was born on Christmas Eve, and she shares a birthday with her chart-topping dad.

Director Brad Bird is returning to animated feature films, but won’t be heading back to Pixar. Bird previously worked with the Disney-owned animation house leading two Best Animated Feature Oscars for his work on “Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” According to Deadline, Bird is teaming up with disgraced former Pixar head John Lasseter and Skydance Animation for an original feature film, “Ray Gunn” that the filmmaker will direct from a script he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s a fair bet that anyone who clicks on this article does not need a backstory on Woody Guthrie — legendary singer-songwriter, activist, poet, artist, writer of “This Land Is Your Land” and many other standards and the single greatest influence on Bob Dylan and a generation of musicians.But as a stunning, just-opened exhibit at the Morgan Library & Museum shows, there was much more to him than his most well-known songs might indicate. Most striking of all, as manuscripts of his writings show, he was an amazingly deft wordsmith who would have made a hell of a rapper — and many of his verses and casual writings show a rustic, ribald sense of humor that is rarely present, or at least rarely obvious, in most of his songs.

Grease is the word! When Grease hit theaters in June 1978, it was an instant hit — and its cast members became instant stars.

Manchester boxing legend Ricky Hatton has confirmed his interest in making a boxing comeback this year.

Sex and the City, actor John Corbett is a gentleman…with a sense of humor. star Sarah Jessica Parker recently revealed that he reached out to her after, uh, lying about his role in the reboot.Back in April 2021, when basically everyone who'd ever appeared on HBO was being asked about their involvement in the buzzy new series, Corbett gave an exclusive: “I’m going to do the show,” he said, calling it ”very exciting" and predicting that he “might be in quite a few” episodes.Now, if you haven't watched AJLT, minor spoiler: There's no Aidan. Natasha comes back.

Sarah Jessica Parker spoke about those John Corbett “And Just Like That…” comments on Monday’s “Watch What Happens Live”.

Chris Willman Music WriterThe Hollywood Bowl’s 2022 summer season will include a three-night stand by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees Duran Duran, a fireworks-laden 4th of July engagement by the comedy/bluegrass team of Steve Martin and Martin Short, a Loggins & Messina reunion, a fully staged production of Cyndi Lauper’s Broadway musical “Kinky Boots” and a salute to Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee that will feature Billie Eilish and Debbie Harry, among others.Artists with shows on the summer agenda include Ricky Martin, Pentatonix, Sheryl Crow, Diana Ross, CHVRCHES, John Fogerty, A-ha, Grace Jones, John Fogerty, UB40, A.R. Rahman, Lang Lang, Pink Martini, the Gipsy Kings, Boyz II Men and TLC.As always, the LA Philharmonic may be the biggest star on the lineup, with 34 shows scheduled, 10 of which will be under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel.