Q&A: Hit-Boy talks Grammy producer nod, rapper aspirations

Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and her boyfriend Dralin Carswell both had huge smiles across their faces while they enjoyed a romantic afternoon together in new photos from Page Six on Tuesday April 12. The couple went for a walk by a lake nearby her McIntyre, Georgia home. Alana, 16, and Dralin, 20, had some snacks with them, and seemed like they were having a great day as they enjoyed the lake and smiled for a few photos.

Steve Coogan has spotlighted his and Sarah Solemani’s use of comedy to tackle the #MeToo debate in upcoming Channel 4 show Chivalry and talked openly about playing Jimmy Savile, stating: “Things are better talked about than not talked about.”

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRepublic Records is relaunching the Mercury imprint as an “extension” of the label, the company announced Monday. The move is similar to Atlantic’s relaunch of Elektra and Interscope’s of Geffen, an effort to split the parent label’s large roster so that artists receive more attention.

Zack Sharf Michael Bay told Entertainment Weekly that he would “absolutely” work with Will Smith after the actor slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars. Bay directed Smith in two of his signature action movies, “Bad Boys” and “Bad Boys II,” which together grossed over $400 million at the worldwide box office. Smith returned to the franchise in 2020 with the third entry, “Bad Boys for Life,” which earned $426 million worldwide and featured Bay in a cameo role.“Absolutely, 100 percent,” Bay said when asked about working with Smith again.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMichael Bay, the filmmaker behind “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and the “Transformers” franchise, was once the premier architect of big-budget explosive blockbusters. “Ambulance,” the director’s latest detonating action-thriller, proves times and tastes have changed in the days since mayhem and Autobots ruled the box office.Over the weekend, Universal’s “Ambulance,” a heist thriller that largely unfolds on an EMS vehicle, stalled out with $8.7 million from 3,412 North American theaters.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are not in a rush to walk down the aisle!

Ambulance (★★☆☆☆), supposed criminal mastermind Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal) is asked if he has a plan. Among others, his adopted bro Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), lured into another of Danny’s ill-conceived schemes, demands to know, “What’s the plan?!”Will’s question has the ring of an inside joke aimed at director Michael Bay for this hectic adaptation of the 2005 Danish drama Ambulancen.

“Ambulance,” falls somewhere in the middle.Yes, it’s a Michael Bay movie with giant stars (Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II play bank robbers who hijack an ambulance as an escape), giant explosions and equally oversized emotions, but it’s also something of a contained thriller, with a budget of only $40 million. (By comparison, “The Northman” cost $90 million and was directed by the guy who made “The Lighthouse.”)TheWrap spoke to Fischer about what it was like pulling “Ambulance” together, Gyllenhaal’s recent interest in action movies, and whether or not there’s a Michael Bay cinematic universe.  After I watched the movie I read that the budget was only $40 million. Did it really only cost $40 million?I mean, look, you know they don’t like it when producers talk about budgets, but it’s not far off the mark.

Bia takes a tour of the English capital city in her "London" video, taking in both sides of the city: a shopping trip in the bouji west end and a chicken shop in the east. She's joined by J.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios’ BAFTA nominated amateur sewing competition format “The Great Sewing Bee” from Love Productions and “This is MY House,” the guessing game from Expectation, will be adapted for Discovery in Italy.The six-part Italian version of “The Great Sewing Bee,” is produced locally by Blu Yazmine and will stream air on Discovery June in June, followed by Real Time in the fall. Known locally as “Tailor Made – Chi ha la stoffa?,” the competition hosted by Tommaso Zorzi follows a group of competitors who will race against the clock in three sewing challenges each week in a bid to be crowned the country’s best amateur sewer.

Transformers director Michael Bay wasn’t watching the Oscars so he missed everything that went down, including the moment when best actor winner Will Smith slapped Chris Rock across the face on the Oscar stage. 

2022 GRAMMY Awards! On Sunday night, Derrick Barry, Naomi Smalls, Alexis Mateo, Kameron Michaels, Trinity K. Bonet, Jaida Essence Hall, Coco Montrese, and Kahanna Montrese each walked the Las Vegas red carpet paying tribute to iconic looks of GRAMMYs past.Barry channeled Britney Spears, Smalls replicated a Cher look, Mateo did the same with a Selena outfit, Michaels gave Lady Gaga vibes with her gown, Bonet wore a purple ruffled dress à la Ariana Grande, Hall went as Beyoncé, Coco Montrese represented Janet Jackson, and Kahanna Montrese stunned as Toni Braxton.Grande reacted to Bonet's tribute on her Instagram Story, gushing «omg omg omg» alongside a pic of the star.Bonet also took to her Instagram Story to share a comment Grande left on her post, which read, «oh MY GOODNESS.

Ellise Shafer BTS brought the house down at the Grammys on Sunday night while performing its mega-hit “Butter.”Jungkook swooped down from the ceiling in spectacular fashion while other band members sat in the audience, including V, who was playfully flirting with Olivia Rodrigo. In a blink-and-you’d-miss-it-moment, J-Hope almost slipped while making the transition from one stage to the next, but made a smooth (as butter) recovery. It was announced on Tuesday that BTS member Jungkook had tested positive for COVID-19.

referencing the indefinite delay of the awards show due to the Omicron variant. “Better late than never.”Hosted in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena Sunday night, Noah threw jokes at the “music royalty” in the room, including Justin Bieber.“The best thing to happen to peaches since that Timothee Chalamet movie,” joked Noah, who’s dating “Titans” actress Minka Kelly, before Olivia Rodrigo hit the stage to perform her chart-topping “Driver’s License.”Earlier this month, the comedian noted that the Grammys, albeit a time to celebrate everyone’s favorite artists, would also highlight political topics, like the crisis in Ukraine.“I think the show is going to find the right place and the right space to do something,” the Emmy-winner said weeks prior to his big moment on stage.

Will Smith's show-stopping slap at the2022 Oscars this past Sunday, the producers of the upcoming GRAMMY Awards admitted they're considering that «anything can happen» when it comes to music's biggest night on Sunday.GRAMMYs executive producer Ben Winston and co-producer Jeannae Rouzan-Clay spoke with ET's Kevin Frazier on Friday to preview the upcoming ceremony and talk about what they learned from the already-infamous Oscars moment.«It makes you more on your game,» Winston admitted. «It makes you go, 'Oh yeah, we're doing a live show for three and a half hours, where anything can happen.' ... It reminded us to be ready for anything that could happen and to talk about anything that could happen and it made me lose a lot more hours of sleep than I would have done if it hadn't happened, 'cause I was like, 'Oh yeah, we're doing that in a week's time!'»The pair shared that they're excited for Sunday's bevy of live performances, which range from Silk Sonic opening the show, to Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Lady Gaga and more!«I think the whole show, to be very honest, is one big, diverse, ball of fun,» Rouzan-Clay noted. «I mean you have performers like Jon Batiste, who is gonna bring his own flavor of energy and excitement to the show, up to Chris Stapleton, who brings a completely different energy of flavor, so I think when you talk about bringing a show together with interesting mixes, the entire show is like one big salad bowl.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn the day before Thanksgiving 2021, Variety interviewed Michelle Zauner about her close friend Sasami and her new album “Squeeze” for our “Up Next” series — and since Zauner had just received two Grammy nominations two days before, we asked her about those as well, along with the success of her moving memoir about the death of her mother, “Crying in H Mart” and its forthcoming film, her songwriting process, and what might be coming next.We’d originally thought that we’d be publishing this article just a few weeks later, in advance of the Grammys Awards that were then scheduled for January 31, but the pandemic had other plans; the awards are now taking place this Sunday, April 3, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Regardless, Zauner’s comments on all of the above are relevant and a revealing look at her creative and craft processes and inspirations — and check out our “Up Next” video on Sasami here.

Paramount International boss Raffaele Annecchino has talked up the streamer for “launching quicker than others” in key European markets, as he unveiled a tied-up with global Lupin and Narcos production house Gaumont and set titles from France, Argentina and Germany.