Watch the brand new trailer of the new film, Birds Of Prey, featuring Harley Quinn.
“Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” is a twisted tale told by Harley herself, as only Harley can tell it. When Gotham’s most nefariously narcissistic villain, Roman Sionis, and his zealous right-hand, Zsasz, put a target on a young girl named Cass, the city is turned upside down looking for her. Harley, Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya’s paths collide, and the unlikely foursome have no choice but to team up to take Roman down.
Orlando Jones proves that “angry gets s*** done.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor’s union SAG-AFTRA is expanding the inquiry into Fremantle, the production company behind both American Gods and America’s Got Talent. This news comes after Jones revealed he was fired from American Gods after suffering through a toxic work environment. Part of that environment, as he revealed in his initial Instagram video, included current showrunner Charles Eglee assuming Jones’ character, Mr. Nancy, was sending “the wrong message for Black America.”
In the show, Mr. Nancy speaks for the disenfranchised and marginalized Black community and their struggle at the hands of chattel slavery. His message of anger relates directly to that frustration of being treated as less than human. Deadline has since been reported that Jones might be mulling over legal action against American Gods’ leadership because the unexpected firing led to monetary losses for him and his family. Not only that, though Jones was fired, he still hasn’t been officially released from his contract.
Union, who was fired from America’s Got Talent, also complained of a toxic working environment in which she was exposed to racism and sexism, including notes on her hairstyles and appearance, and offensive jokes about people of color.
“After initial meetings with Gabrielle Union and her representatives about her experiences on America’s Got Talent, and after learning more about Orlando Jones’ experience on American Gods, SAG-AFTRA is expanding its investigation of Fremantle Media,” the organization said in a statement on Friday. “Our enforcement actions are handled confidentially to protect the members involved, and we typically do not publicize these matters unless the affected members request that we do so. We have nothing further to report at this time.”
Jones commented on the expansion of the investigation on Instagram, writing in a post, “Thank you SAG for believing in me and for standing up for equality and for embracing my team and myself in this battle against injustice and lies and thank you to my fans because without you there is no Mr. Nancy.”
Source: Shadow & Act
MGM has released the first trailer for Respect, the upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson. Franklin personally chose Hudson to portray her in the biopic of her life before her death on August 16, 2018, of pancreatic cancer.
The film is directed by Liesl Tommy, the first Black woman to be nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction of A Play. Straight Outta Compton producer Scott Bernstein and Grammy Award-winning music producer Harvey Mason, Jr. will serve as producers.
In addition to Hudson, the all-star cast includes Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Mary J. Blige, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Saycon Sengbloh, Hailey Kilgore, Heather Headley, Tate Donovan and Skye Dakota Turner.
Whitaker stars as Reverend C.L. Franklin. Known as the man with the “Million-Dollar Voice,” Franklin served as the pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. Franklin was also the father of the American singer and songwriter Aretha Franklin and her manager early in her career. Wayans stars as Ted White, Aretha’s first husband. McDonald stars as Barbara Franklin, Aretha’s mother. Sengbloh stars as Erma Franklin, Aretha’s eldest sister. Kilgore stars as Carolyn Franklin, Aretha’s younger sister. Picked from a nationwide search, young Aretha Franklin will be played by Turner. Blige stars as famed recording artist Dinah Washington. Headley will play Clara Ward, the famed gospel artist and leader of The Famous Ward Singers. Burgess stars as Reverend Dr. James Cleveland, who was known as the “King of Gospel.” Maron stars as legendary Atlantic Records music producer Jerry Wexler. Donovan stars as John Hammond, Columbia Records’ influential music producer.
Watch the first footage below:
Source; Shadow & Act
The sixth and final season of the Fox musical drama Empire has continued on without the inclusion of Jussie Smollett, who played Jamal Lyon. However, in an interview with TV Line, showrunner Brett Mahoney revealed that discussions are underway for a possible Smollett return.
“It would be weird in my mind to end this family show and this family drama of which he was such a significant part of without seeing him,” Mahoney said. “It’s fair to say it’s being discussed, but there’s no plan as of yet to bring him back. There’s been no decision made.”
For those unfamiliar, Smollett was written out at the end of the fifth season following accusations of filing a false police report. The report claimed he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago in January. Charges were eventually dropped against Smollett in March.
Empire‘s midseason finale aired on Tuesday, December 17, 2019.
Former Fam star Tone Bell is returning to CBS with a new multi-camera comedy project. The network is developing the project as a possible starring vehicle for Bell, who is executive producing.
Based on a story by Bell and inspired by real-live events, the untitled comedy is from from writer-producers Craig Gerard and Matt Zinman (Happy Together), director-producer Richie Keen (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Cedric the Entertainer’s A Bird and a Bear Productions, and CBS TV Studios, where Gerard and Zinman are under a deal.
Written by Gerard and Zinman from a story by Bell, in the Untitled Tone Bell Project, after a pregnancy scare, a carefree thirty-something decides he’s ready to settle down and tries to change his life so he can go from Mr. Right Now to Mr. Right.
Gerard and Zinman executive produce with Bell and Keen, along with Cedric and Eric Rhone for A Bird and a Bear Productions via Cedric’s development deal with CBS. CBS TV Studios is the studio.
Bell starred opposite Nina Dobrev in comedy Fam, which aired on CBS for one season. He also previously starred as Carter on Netflix’s Disjointed. He’s repped by CAA, Black Box Management and Hansen Jacobson.
Keen’s episodic directing credits include It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, AP Bio and The Goldbergs. He’s repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson.
Gerard and Zinman served as writers/co-executive producers on CBS’ comedy series Happy Together as well as writers/co-executive producers on NBC/WBTV anthology comedy series Trial & Error. The duo started their writing careers on CBS’ How I Met Your Mother, which was produced by 20th TV. They also served as co-executive producers on CBS/CBS TV Studios’ short-lived freshman comedy series Me, Myself & I. Gerard and Zinman are repped by Hansen Jacobson.
Cedric is star and executive producer of CBS’ sophomore multi-camera comedy series The Neighborhood.
Source: Deadline
Eddie Murphy made his first episodic Saturday Night Live appearance since 1984 last night, and he reprised a quartet of his most memorable characters from that 1980-84 stint as a castmember in new sketches.
And it probably wouldn’t be an Eddie Murphy return to Studio 8H if there wasn’t at least one network-mandated bleeping. There were two — one during a spoof of a holiday baking show and another when Gumby crashed “Weekend Update.” More on that reprisal below.
During the NBC late-night skit-a-thon, the man who pretty much singlehandedly rescued SNL after the Not Ready for Primetime Players left busted out Buckwheat, Gumby and Velvet Jones. Watch below as the Little Rascals refugee — do folks in 2019 even a-member them? — get revealed on The Masked Singer and proceed to, er, belt out hits by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and Aretha Franklin. Good thing Buckwheat survived that horrific, nationally televised assassination attempt in 1983.
Then there was Murphy’s Gumby redux, as the Christmas-green Claymation being grumbles his way through setup after setup by Colin Jost and Michael Che on “Weekend Update” before threatening to light his cigar and eventually overstay his welcome. The poor head-writer duo don’t even try to keep a straight face.
Then we are welcomed to “Black Jeopardy,” where the smooth-talking pimp Velvet Jones returns to hawk his latest edition of How to Be a Ho and a couple of other new books. Not sure how far that $1500 a week stretches in 2019, but Murphy repeatedly stumbled with the cue cards during that sketch — likely because of those nearly-closed eyes.
As a bonus, here is Murphy — who appeared on SNL‘s 40th anniversary special in 2015 — as the semi-proud father who gives a holiday toast to his family that has gathered for Christmas:
Source: Deadline
In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
Watch the trailer below!
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Writers: Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, and Cary Joji Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Producers: Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, with Jeffrey Wright, with Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes as “M”
Also starring Rory Kinnear, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, and Billy Magnussen
Official Website: https://www.007.com
Twitter: @007
Facebook: @JamesBond007
Instagram: @007
YouTube: James Bond 007
Actress & Comedian B. Simone has recently launched a cosmetic line. The line features an assortment of lip glosses, mattes, and liners to enhance the natural beauty of the everyday woman. The up-and-coming beauty mogul reached a whopping $100,000 in sales in just 24 hours on Black Friday. B. Simone Beauty is available exclusively at bsimonebeauty.com‘Laughter Knows No Color,’ the debut comedy album from Ruben Paul, will be released this Friday, December 6th, 2019 on the Comedy Dynamics Network via Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and more.
A hilarious and meaningful testimony to his background growing up in a mixed-race neighborhood in Carson California, Ruben’s foundation of social ‘colorblindness’ is the driving force in his debut special.
His credits include performances on Comedy Central, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Lopez Tonight, Showtime’s Special Russell Peters Presents, B.E.T’s Comic View, Comics Unleashed and HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, to name a few. He’s toured extensively and collaborated with Jamie Foxx, George Lopez, Cedric The Entertainer, and most recently with Russell Peters on both of his record-breaking world tours, Notorious and Almost Famous.
Pre-order HERE, and get a feel for Ruben’s comedy from his recent Just for Laughs set HERE