The Roots’ Black Thought (aka Tariq Trotter) to Release Memoir, ‘The Upcycled Self’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Lulu Wilson is back as the title character in the new movie The Wrath of Becky and we caught up with her amid the film’s release!

EXCLUSIVE: Sophie Holland has been among the UK’s busier casting directors in recent years. The London-based professional has worked on shows including The Witcher, Wednesday, You and The Continental, as well as upcoming movies such as Heads Of State with Priyanka Chopra and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel. Set up seven years ago, her company Sophie Holland Casting now has a headcount of five.

Kaouther Ben Hania’s powerful drama “Four Daughters” which mixes documentary and fiction to tell the story of Tunisian mother whose two elder daughters joined ISIS is scoring a slew of sales following its well-received Cannes competition premiere. French company The Party Films Sales has sealed deals on “Four Daughters” for: Benelux (Cineart); Spain (Caramel Films); Italy (I Wonder); Switzerland (Trigon); Sweden (Triart); Denmark (Camera Film); Norway (Arthaus); Finland (Cinemanse); Poland (New Horizons); Greece (Ama Films); former Yougoslavia (Discovery) and Turkey (Bir Film). Rights to the film for multiple other territories are under negotiations, the company said.

Sophia Scorziello editor AMC Theaters has partnered with Grindstone Entertainment and Roadside Attractions for an exclusive U.S. release of Uninterrupted’s documentary “Black Ice.” The film reveals a long history of racism in the hockey world as told by both past and Black hockey players. In a sport where only around 5% of professional players are Black, the documentary will give insight into the relationship between the NHL and athletes of color. “Black Ice” is directed by Hubert Davis and is executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Drake and Future. The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival where it was the People’s Choice documentary winner. “Black Ice” will make its U.S. debut in AMC theaters starting July 14.

Black Midi have announced a special festival appearance where they’ll cover a range of tracks by The Beatles.The London trio are due to perform the special “one-off” gig at the festival Le Guess Who?, which takes place in Utrecht in the Netherlands this November.Writing on social media, Black Midi explained that former Standing On The Corner member Slauson Malone 1 – who has curated his own programme – had asked “to play a set of Beatles tunes” at the event.The band will play the Fab Four-themed show on Friday, November 10 – you can find ticket information here.A listing on the official Le Guess Who? website reads: “When listening to Britain’s cacophonous Black Midi, not many would be reminded of the world’s most agreeable band of all time. In fact, apart from sharing a homeland, the two groups seem to have little in common.“Thankfully, Le Guess Who? curator Slauson Malone 1 has enough imagination to disagree.

Callum McLennan There’s nothing quite like having an Oscar-winning actor in your corner, or perhaps a star of one of the biggest TV Series of all time. In the case of Kick Gurry, creator, producer and actor in the forthcoming Stan Original Series “Caught,” the backing of Sean Penn and Matthew Fox has undoubtedly been a boon. After Gurry shared an early teaser of the show crafted with friends in Australia, Penn’s reaction was music to his ears. As Gurry shared with Variety, “He said everyone’s afraid of stories right now and we have to be pushing forward with courage in storytelling.” Indeed, the courage to tell bold, new stories has resulted in an audacious six-episode satirical comedy series slated to premiere later in 2023. The series boasts a formidable cast that Gurry describes as a “murderer’s row of talent.” Among them, Sean Penn, who also serves as an executive producer, Matthew Fox, Ben O’Toole, Lincoln Younes, Alexander England, Mel Jarnson, Fayssal Bazzi, Dorian Nkono, Rebecca Breeds, Bella Heathcote, Bryan Brown, and Erik Thomson. Gurry himself also stars, and further casting announcements are expected.

Bethenny Frankel is royally roasting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for their alleged paparazzi car chase incident.

Maria Bakalova, the Oscar-nominated star of “Borat Subsequent Movie Film,” is set to star in the action-comedy “My Masterpiece” for Sylvester Stallone and Braden Aftergood’s Balboa Productions. Cassandra Brooksbank will make her feature directorial debut from a script by Jason Hellerman. The Veterans and CAA Media Finance will introduce the film to buyers at Cannes this week. According to the official description, “My Masterpiece” follows a hitwoman hellbent on dismantling an unfair system within her industry, who gets stuck on the second floor of an office building after she takes vengeance on a corporate overlord. That means she has to fight her way through fellow murderers and her past to ensure justice prevails. If all goes well, this might just be her masterpiece.

Beware of black flies, they are the first to smell death. That is what rookie FDNY paramedic Ollie Cross is told by a colleague as he ventures into an abandoned apartment where a swarm is buzzing around a decaying dead body in a bathtub. It is clearly a metaphor for the job of first responders like Ollie and his partner Gene Rutkowsky who are also the first to “smell death,” repeatedly, on a job that takes its toll not just on those in need of medical help, but also on those who provide it.

Prepare yourself for a roller coaster ride this week, y’all.

The long-awaited sequel to “Beetlejuice” now has a release date, scheduled to come out in 2024.

There have long been attempts to sequelize Tim Burton’s hit horror-comedy “Beetlejuice” going back to the never-made script “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian,” but a second film is finally moving forward at Warner Bros. with Burton, Michael Keaton, and Winona Ryder returning.

Black Thought, the renowned emcee for The Roots born Tariq Trotter, has announced a memoir via Variety. The Upcycled Self will be published on November 14 through One World; preorders are open now. The book is described as “a beautifully bluesy story of a boy genius’s coming of age” in a statement from the publisher.

may or may not have “Yellowstone” in his future, but he’s definitely due to team with Andrew Patterson, the director behind the acclaimed 2020 indie “The Vast of Night,” on the new film “The Rivals of Amziah King.”Patterson wrote and will direct the film, which is described as “a deeply atmospheric, character-focused crime thriller set against the unique backdrop of remote Oklahoma.” McConaughey will play Amziah King for Patterson, who lives in Oklahoma.Black Bear Pictures will fully finance the film with Heyday Films’ David Heyman, Black Bear’s Teddy Schwarzman and Michale Heimler, Heyday’s Jeffrey Clifford, Will Greenfield and Patterson producing. Executive producers include Heyday’s Rob Silva and Black Bear’s John Friedberg and Christopher Casanova.Black Bear International will launch international sales in Cannes, with WME Independent representing the U.S.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has nabbed worldwide rights to Spanish filmmaker Chiqui Carabante’s black-comedy whodunnit “The Fortress” (“La Fortaleza”) and is debuting its trailer ahead of the Cannes Film Market. The film centers on the death of Arturo Viaplana and its aftermath as his offspring, hoping to inherit a great fortune, discover that instead of leaving them the estate, their father has devised a macabre, posthumous game in which his children must first locate his body and bury it themselves in a specified location. Working together to carry out their father’s instructions and pass a series of tests, the siblings are forced to come to terms with a deeply hidden family secret.

Propublica reported that Thomas has been treated to expensive luxury vacations by close friend and Texas billionaire Harlan Crow, but never reported them on financial disclosures. A few weeks later, it was revealed that Thomas made more than $130,000 when he sold several properties to Crow in 2014 – including the house Thomas’ mother currently lives in – far in excess of their market value.Most recently, it was revealed that Crow has also apparently been paying the tuition of Thomas’ nephew, which is more than $60,000 a year.

EXCLUSIVE: Amid simmering unease over the impact of the writers’ strike, the upcoming Cannes market is getting a shot in the arm with the arrival of Guy Ritchie’s next project, a big-budget untitled action movie which will star Henry Cavill (Man Of Steel), Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Spider-Man: Far From Home) and Eiza González (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw).

Parents’ night out! Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas had an epic date night on the Met Gala 2023 red carpet.

Lisa Kennedy “I hate dolls,” writer-director Lagueria Davis states early in her debut documentary “Black Barbie.” By turns a celebration and an interrogation (sometime both simultaneously), the film delves into the history of the titular Black doll Mattel released in 1980. That was 31 years after the first Barbie began her rise to becoming the most iconic, uncomfortably influential, doll in American history. Davis makes a jam-packed argument that the road to Barbie diversity and inclusion has been long and marked by detours, intersections and, maybe a dead end or two. Davis’ first-person, inflected journey — often witty, often weighty — will lead her to a reconsideration of her antipathy (which she attributed to being a tomboy). Her reason for this rethink is personal — and adorable.

J. Kim Murphy Actor Matthew Lawrence opened the April 28 episode of his Brotherly Love podcast on a serious note, reflecting on the #MeToo movement and his own experience with sexual harassment in Hollywood. On the show, co-hosted by his brothers, fellow actors Joey and Andrew Lawrence, the 43-year-old actor recounts his experience refusing to engage with a director involved with a Marvel project, who asked Lawrence to take his clothes off during a meeting. “There’s been many times in my life where I’ve been propositioned to get a huge role,” Lawrence says on the podcast. “I lost my agency because I went to the hotel room” where, the actor alleges, a prominent director “showed up in his robe, asked me to take my clothes off, said he needed to take Polaroids of me and said if I did X, Y and Z, I would be the next Marvel character.”