Official Trailer To HBO’s Insecure Season 4 Released
HBO has released the official trailer its hit series Insecure, which will return for its ten-episode, fourth season SUNDAY, APRIL 12 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT). INSECURE follows our favorite characters as they evaluate their relationships, both new and old, in an effort to figure out who and what comes with them in this next phase of their lives.
The series will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and partners’ streaming platforms.
Season four follows the main characters in the aftermath of the decisions they made in the last season. Issa pursues a passion project she actually cares about, Molly navigates a real relationship for the first time, Lawrence figures out what leveling-up means for him, and we see the effect of Tiffany’s new baby on the dynamic of the friend group. Along the way, we’ll see these characters evaluating relationships, both new and old, in an effort to figure out who and what comes with them in this next phase of their lives.
INSECURE stars Issa Rae. Other series regulars include Yvonne Orji, Jay Ellis, Natasha Rothwell, Amanda Seales, Kendrick Sampson and Alexander Hodge.
Created by Issa Rae & Larry Wilmore; executive produced by Issa Rae, Prentice Penny, Melina Matsoukas, Michael Rotenberg, Dave Becky, Jonathan Berry, Amy Aniobi and Jim Kleverweis; co-executive producers, Laura Kittrell and Phil Augusta Jackson.
Donald Glover Surprise-Releases New Album Featuring Ariana Grande And SZA
Donald Glover provided fans with a distraction from coronavirus quarantine on Sunday by surprise-dropping a 12-song new album in the wee hours of the morning. The collection, which does not appear to have a title beyond “Donald Glover Presents,” features appearances by Ariana Grande, 21 Savage and SZA. The album was not on streaming services at the time of this article’s publication, but is streaming on a dedicated website — listen to it here.
No information about the album — even song titles — was immediately available. The website features a four-panel illustration depicting a crowd of people in the middle of an apparent riot — some of whom appear alarmed and panicked while others are excited, a scene that recalls Glover’s provocative and subtext-heavy video for his Grammy-winning 2018 song “This Is America.”
Glover, whose public statements are often enigmatic, has said for years that his latest tour and album would be the “final” one by his longtime alter-ego Childish Gambino, although the tour stretched on for months — with multiple dates delayed after the singer suffered an unspecified injury, which reports said was a broken foot, in September of 2018 — and the album never appeared, unless Sunday’s release is it. Since 2005, Glover has released three full-length albums and several mixtapes as Childish Gambino.
Reps for Glover did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for more information, although NME reports that an unnamed member of his management team retweeted a link, apparently confirming its authenticity.
While it is unclear whether the collection is the long-percolating “final” Childish Gambino album that the actor-singer apparently has had in the works for several years, it does include three songs that appeared under Gambino auspices: the 2018 single “Feels Like Summer” (performed on “Saturday Night Live” and on tour), “Warlords” (also performed live) and “Algorythm” (also performed on tour, and used in a Google Pixel commercial). Based on initial listens, it certainly seems that it could be: The songs continue with the feel of the music he released in 2018 — which also include “Summertime Magic” — combining traditional R&B with hip-hop, Caribbean and more aggressive sounds.
Genius.com, an authoritative website specializing in hip-hop lyrics and interpretations of them, lists the song titles, which are presumably educated guesses, as follows:
Intro (Warlords)
Little Foot Big Foot
Why Go To the Party
Feels Like Summer
Don’t Worry About Tomorrow (The Violence)
Under the Sun
We Are (Interlude)
Algorythm
Time (Ft. Ariana Grande)
Vibrate (Ft. 21 Savage & SZA)
To Be Beautiful
Sweet Thing / Thank You
One song features a charming verbal exchange apparently between Glover and one of his two children about whether or not they love themselves (they do, although the mom’s answer is not heard). Glover has two sons, one of whom is named Legend, with girlfriend Michelle White. The closing track features an autotuned vocal and at different times recalls songs by Prince and Frank Ocean.
Glover/Gambino was essentially everywhere during 2018-2019, with his hit series “Atlanta”; several singles riding the success of his 2016 album “Awaken My Love!”; a high-profile North American tour that included appearances at last year’s Coachella festival; a stellar 2018 turn as host and musical guest of “Saturday Night Live“; roles as Lando Calrissian in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and as the voice of Simba in Disney’s live-action version of “The Lion King”; and a short film starring Rihanna called “Guava Island.” However, he surprisingly dropped off of the radar after the last dates of his tour without releasing a long-expected and teased album. Perhaps this is it.
Source: Variety
Taye Diggs Talks The Possibility Of ‘The Best Man 3’
Backstage at “The Talk” Taye Diggs dishes on the possibility of a third edition of “The Best Man.”
“I do think it will happen. We’ve all been in discussions with the director, Malcolm Lee. I think it might end up being a TV series, maybe on a streaming platform, but the script has already been written, so we’ll see. I’m just waiting on Malcolm Lee.”
Regina Hall ‘Shocked’ By Showtime’s ‘Black Monday’ Season Premiere
Regina Hall returned to her Showtime series Black Monday for a big surprise. After the historic 1987 stock market crash occurred in the Season 1 finale, Dawn Towner (Hall) has started her own brokerage firm. Hall said she did not find out this detail until she read the script.
“I was even shocked,” Hall told UPI in an interview. “It’s always fun to read and discover more about your character.”
If Dawn were a historical figure, she would be making history. She was formerly a partner in The Jammer Group, also a fictional black-run brokerage firm in the ’80s. Jammer CEO Mo Monroe (Don Cheadle), has fled from charges of financial terrorism and the double homicide of Rod Jaminski (Bruce Dern) and Lenny Lehman (Ken Marino).
“We’re talking about things that never existed, an all female firm headed by a black woman on Wall Street,” Hall said, adding that she enjoys carving a new path through the world of finance in the ’80s.
Dawn hires more female brokers and allows working mothers to breastfeed in the office.
“Maybe [this is] what it would have looked like had we had a female firm,” Hall said.
As Black Monday continues to explore drama through the late ’80s, the show also flashes back to the ’70s, when Mo and Dawn met. Mo invites Dawn to be part of The Jammer Group, but won’t make her a full partner.
Hall said she could relate to such deflating moments.
“I think we’ve all had moments where we have expected one thing and received another,” Hall said. “I think Dawn certainly felt like she deserved it — that she put in the time, the work and also had the knowledge to be able to be a partner. She kind of got [expletive]ed again. I think Dawn is probably used to it.”
Dawn stuck with Jammer and came out on top in 1987. Hall sees parallels between the personal one-upmanship she plays with Mo and the high stakes buying and selling in the market.
“For Dawn, it’s exciting because it’s about winning,” Hall said. “She’s a winner. She’s competitive and, in her mind, she’s smart and persuasive, and she’s driven to make a lot of money.”
Hall also sees Dawn’s rise on the trading room floor as an aspirational tale.
“She’s very driven to success, and Wall Street is a world where there aren’t many women who are afforded the opportunity to have success,” Hall said. “I’m sure they would have been having success [if they had the opportunity]. It’s just such a male-dominated field.”
Before Black Monday, Hall was enjoying a thriving movie career. She starred in the hit comedy Girls Trip, the acclaimed The Hate U Give, and the indie Support the Girls, and had supporting roles in Little and Shaft.
Hall wasn’t necessarily looking to transition to television. She still films movies between seasons. The role of Dawn appealed to Hall whether it would be in a film or series.
“I was looking for something that was exciting, and that my storyline didn’t have to be necessarily connected to the man as the wife,” Hall said. “This was perfect because Dawn was her own person, always in a fight to show who she was. She’s connected to Mo, but she’s her own entity. So it had the love story, it had the comedy, it had the drama.”
Hall was not aware of any movie offers she did not receive while she was committed to Black Monday. If there were, she has no regrets.
“I never feel like I’m missing out, probably because I’m really happy with what I’m doing,” Hall said. “I always feel like you only feel like you’re missing out when you’re not excited about what you’re doing. When I’m not available, I’m just not available, but I feel incredibly grateful to be where I am.”
Girls Trips fans are waiting for Hall to reunite with Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah for a sequel. The cast is interested, but they’re all waiting for a script.
“I did hear a rumor that they were writing it, but that’s all I know,” Hall said.
In the first film, four friends took a trip to New Orleans. Hall says she’s heard a lot of speculation on destinations for the sequel, but no draft of a screenplay.
“Everyone has an idea like, ‘We should go here’ but really people are just picking places they want to go,” Hall said.
Black Monday returns Sunday at 10 p.m. EDT on Showtime.
LOS ANGELES, (UPI)
WATCH: New ‘Soul’ Trailer Featuring The Voices Of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Phylicia Rashad, Angela Bassett, And Ahmir Questlove Thompson
Over its many years of making people of all ages believe there’s good in the world, Pixar has made magic from writing stories about toys having feelings, cars having feelings, even feelings having feelings. In its latest offering set to hit theaters this summer, the beloved studio will yet again animate a seemingly intangible concept to ask: What if souls had feelings?
That’s the premise at the beating heart of “Soul,” which sees Jamie Foxx voice a middle school jazz teacher with performance ambitions who still dreams of his big break. When a manhole accident nearly takes his life, however, he enters a netherworld of unborn souls on their way to earth. Comedy ensues when he befriends a particularly reluctant baby soul, voiced by an almost unrecognizable Tina Fey.
Here’s the official synopsis from Pixar:
Joe Gardner is a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22, who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions.
Featuring the voices of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Phylicia Rashad, Angela Bassett, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Daveed Diggs, “Soul” is directed by Academy Award® winner Pete Docter (“Inside Out,” “Up”), co-directed by Kemp Powers (“One Night in Miami”) and produced by Academy Award nominee Dana Murray (Pixar short “Lou”). Globally renowned musician Jon Batiste will be writing original jazz music for the film, and Oscar®-winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”), from Nine Inch Nails, will compose an original score that will drift between the real and soul worlds.
In addition to Foxx and Fey, “Soul” also features the voices of Phylicia Rashad, Angela Bassett, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, and Daveed Diggs, making it Pixar’s first film with a predominantly black cast.
“Soul” is directed by Oscar winner Pete Docter (“Inside Out,” “Up”), co-directed by Kemp Powers (“One Night in Miami”) and produced by Oscar nominee Dana Murray (Pixar short “Lou”). Globally renowned musician Jon Batiste (“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”) will be writing original jazz music for the film, and Oscar winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”), from Nine Inch Nails, will compose an original score that will drift between the real and soul worlds.
Disney/Pixar will release “Soul” in theaters on June 19. Check out the charming trailer below.
Source: Indie Wire
‘Spawn’ Will Reportedly Still Push Through To Production With Jamie Foxx
A movie reboot is being planned for Todd McFarlane’s “Spawn,” 23 years after the first movie premiered in cinemas. Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner have been approached to play significant roles in the film, with Foxx set to take on the role of ex-Army man Al Simmons, who died, went to hell, and became the demonic anti-hero, Spawn.
News initially came out of Jamie Foxx’ departure from the project due to undisclosed reasons. CBR, through Shoryuken, said that McFarlane had commented on the matter indirectly. He said that an “academy award-winning guy” was supposed to be the movie but had changed his mind and declined. Most people took this to be the award-winning actor, Foxx.
It has since been confirmed that the person McFarlane referred to was a writer and not Foxx. Foxx, reportedly, was still confirmed to push through with the project since he signed in May 2018. The actor had also allegedly been “pursuing the project” for years.
The comic book was a huge hit in the 90s. It was so popular at the time, people voraciously bought various merchandise of the comic book character and watched the animated series that soon followed. It was enough to merit a film, with actor Michael Jai White giving life to the character of Spawn, the wronged soldier who ended up in hell.
Since then, McFarlane had produced his own “gritty, low-budget” version of the film, since he had not found a team that understood his vision. He wanted a dark R-rated movie for this character, and he wanted his dark hero to be a “silent” version — one that’s a man of few words and one that doesn’t tell Spawn’s origin story all over again.
As for Foxx, the “Spawn” creator said that the actor came up to him five years ago with an idea about Spawn. He said that Foxx had become his “visual guy” for the remake, and when the time came, McFarlane came knocking and Foxx was still interested to be the main character.
The movie will be written and directed by Todd McFarlane, with Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner being confirmed for important roles. No release date has yet been announced.
Kim Fields Joins Wanda Sykes/ Mike Epps New Netflix Comedy Titled ‘The Upshaws’
Kim Fields, who is known for her roles in classic sitcoms like “Facts of Life” and “Living Single,” has joined Wanda Sykes and Mike Epps in a new Netflix multi-cam comedy titled “The Upshaws.”
The series, which was ordered by the streamer in August 2019, centers on a working-class African American family in Indiana struggling to make it work and make it right without the blueprints to do it.
Fields will star as Regina Upshaw, Lucretia’s (Sykes) sister and Bennie’s (Epps) high school sweetheart, now wife, and the mother of his three children. Regina works in medical billing at a local hospital and struggles to stay upbeat and keep her family happy and her husband in check while pursuing goals of her own.
Epps’ Bennie Upshaw is described as the lovable, charming, thug-adjacent head of the Upshaw family. Sykes’ Lucretia is someone who collects disability after falling from a jetway at the airport. She is a real estate owner and silent partner in Bennie’s garage, only stomaching his antics for her sister.
More recently, Kim starred in and served as an executive producer on Lifetime’s “You Light Up My Christmas.” She also directed HBO’s “Insecure” season 3 show-in-a-show “Kev’yn,” which was itself a parody of “Living Single,” and is set to guest star in a season 4 episode of the Issa Rae comedy.
Fields is represented by Art Rutter and Michelle Grant at Critical Mass Management.
Sykes will executive produce and serve as co-showrunner in addition to starring in “The Upshaws,” with Regina Hicks serving as showrunner and executive producer. Epps will also executive produce, along with Page Hurwitz of Push It Productions, Dan Spilo, and Niles Kirchner.
Source: Variety
Lena Waithe And Halle Berry’s BET Comedy Series ‘Boomerang’ Sets Its Return
The second season of Lena Waithe and Halle Berry’s BET comedy series BOOMERANG is set to premiere on Wednesday, March 11th at 10:30pm EST, after Lena’s latest series “Twenties.” For the series return, two women of color take the helm as co-showrunners, Dime Davis (A Black Lady Sketch Show, The Chi, Boomerang S1) and Angeli Millan (The Cleveland Show, Us and Them, The Muppets). The entire season will be directed exclusively by women of color, with Dime Davis returning to the director’s chair for half of the season. The effort for increased leadership behind the lens by women of color is an effort that Hillman Grad Productions, 606 Films, BET, Paramount, and Viacom all supported.
“This season, we really wanted to go bigger and bolder,” Said Davis. “Keeping everything we loved from the first season and dumping the rest, we were able to find a unique approach to the storytelling in Season 2. We were given the freedom to make BOOMERANG our own, and Angeli and I ran with that.”
Other directors this season include Tiffany Johnson ((Dear White People, Black Monday, and Twenties) for two episodes and first-time director Katrelle N. Kindred for two episodes. Kindred was brought on to the show through Davis but is also a member of the ViacomCBS’s ViewFinder Emerging TV Directors Program.
Produced through Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions and Halle Berry’s 606 Films, in conjunction with Paramount Television, “Boomerang” is based on the 1992 American rom-com in which Berry starred alongside Robin Givens and Eddie Murphy. The series will continue to follow the lives of Jacqueline Boyer’s son, Bryson (Tequan Richmond) and Marcus and Angela Graham’s daughter, Simone (Tetona Jackson) as they try to step out of their parents’ shadows and make a legacy of their own. Actors Leland Martin(Ari), RJ Walker (David), Brittany Inge(Crystal), and Lala Milan (Tia), will return as series regulars.
“We’ve truly made this season of BOOMERANG an ensemble show, delivering dynamic character arcs that ask a lot of our cast,” Continues Davis. “And it’s all been worth it – the performances, this season, are truly magical. As is the show.”
Guest stars for the series will include Kim Wayans, Jaleel White, Walter Emanuel Jones, Nicole Williams, Cameron J. Ross, Elle Lorraine, and Zoelle Griggs.
Dave Chappelle And Chris Rock Lead New Netflix Comedy Festival Line-Up
Netflix is known for going big or going home — whether that means its original programming slate, awards campaigns or subscriber base. Now, the streamer is applying the principle to an old-school format: the comedy festival.
On Monday, the company announced Netflix Is a Joke Fest, with more than 100 performances from some of comedy’s biggest names across 20-plus Los Angeles venues and culminating in a hall-of-fame tribute to four late legends: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers and Robin Williams.
Participants in the festival, which is set to run from April 27 to May 3 and is produced in partnership with Live Nation, are a who’s who of contemporary comedy — with an emphasis on the ever-growing stable of performers with a Netflix series or special. The lineup includes Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, Amy Schumer, Ali Wong, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, Jamie Foxx, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Hart, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Ken Jeong, and Martin Lawrence.
“It’s our honor to transform L.A. for one week into the funniest place on earth,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer, said in a statement. “This festival is a unique celebration of the art of comedy, and the role it plays in reflecting our lives and defining culture. It’s a chance for comedy lovers to come together and see their favorite artists as well as discover new ones, and for us to be able to share the electricity and excitement of the festival in Los Angeles with Netflix members around the world.”
Netflix Is a Joke Fest, named for the streamer’s comedy brand, won’t be the biggest of all comedy festivals — that title likely belongs to Montreal’s Just for Laughs, which runs for two weeks and boasts more than 2 million attendees each year.
But the L.A. event has already attracted more than 130 artists, with additional names to come, and Netflix projects attendance to be around 80,000. Individual tickets will range from about $15 to about $500 per event, according to organizers. (There will be no festival-wide passes.) For those who can’t make it in person, 11 of the live shows will be available to stream on Netflix at a later date.
Among the schedule’s highlights, Chappelle (and friends) will appear in “an evening of music and comedy” at the Hollywood Bowl. Letterman will host an event at the Fonda Theatre, mixing stand-up performances with live interviews. The cast of “Schitt’s Creek” will lead a “live, interactive” farewell tour that takes fans inside the making of the Emmy-nominated comedy. Foxx, Schumer, Lawrence, and Fonda and Tomlin will all host comedy nights at the Palladium. Other festival headliners include Bill Burr, Pete Davidson, Chelsea Handler, Jenny Slate, Whitney Cummings, Marlon Wayans, Iliza Shlesinger and Michelle Wolf.
A number of themed events during the festival bring together comedians to highlight national or regional talents — such as showcases of Indian and Latin American performers — or queer comedians — as with “Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration” at the Greek Theatre, featuring Sandra Bernhard, Alan Carr, Margaret Cho, Hannah Gadsby, Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes and others.
Festival venues also include the Wiltern, the Orpheum, the Largo and the Laugh Factory, among others.
During the closing event at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, “The Hall: Honoring the Greats of Stand-Up,” Chappelle, Crystal, Goldberg, Hart, Rock, Seinfeld, Silverman and Sykes will fete Carlin, Pryor, Rivers and Williams. In addition to the event being recorded as a Netflix special, an exhibit of the same name will have a physical home in a newly designed wing of the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, N.Y. Inductees were determined by a nominating committee composed of agents, managers, producers, TV executives and comedy club owners.
“Netflix has become the dominant player in the comedy space, which made them the ideal broadcast partner for this long overdue acknowledgment of the art of stand-up comedy,” “The Hall” director Marty Callner and fellow executive producers Randall Gladstein and David Steinberg said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “The relationship with Netflix and the caliber of our four beloved inductees have made it possible for us to bring together, for the first time, every leading voice in stand-up to honor those that paved the way.”
The festival’s official charity partner is nonprofit organization Comedy Gives Back, which provides mental health, medical and financial crisis support to comedians in need.
Pre-sale tickets are available starting Tuesday via a unique code to be published on artist, venue, Ticketmaster, Live Nation and Netflix Is a Joke social media accounts. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday. The full lineup and ticketing information are posted at the festival website.
Source: The Los Angeles Times
Jermaine Fowler To Star In New Netflix Comedy ‘Cocaine Hippos’
Hollywood is a zoo, and Netflix is now home to some hippos.
The streamer has picked up the comedy package Cocaine Hippos, with comedian Jermaine Fowler set to star.
The story, which comes from writer Jordan VanDina, who is also writing the script, was inspired by the hippopotamuses that were brought into Colombia from Africa in the 1980s to populate the palatial estate of drug lord Pablo Escobar. When Escobar was killed in 1993, his menagerie of animals were taken to zoos or sold, save for the hippos, who were left to their own devices and populated, becoming an invasive species.
Cocaine Hippos will follow a group of friends who stumble across a clue leading to Escobar’s lost treasure. They then embark on a wild trip that pits them against con men, local drug lords and the deadly hippos that Escobar smuggled into Colombia back in the ’80s. The tone is being described as The Hangover meets Tropic Thunder.
Adam Goodman, former president of Paramount’s motion picture group, will produce through his Dichotomy banner, along with Matt Skiena. Fowler will also produce.
Fowler, repped by WME and 3 Arts, is best known for starring on CBS’ Superior Donuts. His upcoming credits include the Coming to America sequel and the Warner Bros. title Jesus Was My Homeboy about the assassinated Black Panther activist Fred Hampton.
VanDina, repped by UTA, 3 Arts and Ginsburg Daniels, also penned The Binge, which is set up at Hulu, and American High, with Vince Vaughn and Skyler Gisondo set to star.
