A 1990 interview with Eddie Murphy has taken the internet by storm.
Writer Nti Aning tweeted a free-wheeling 1990 Playboy interview with Eddie Murphy. In the interview, Murphy talked about his time filming Coming to America with director John Landis, who he compelled Paramount to hire even though Landis had gone to court for a deadly helicopter crash on the set of his 1982 film, Twilight Zone: The Movie. The crash killed actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shinn Chen. Both child actors were also hired in violation of California’s child labor laws. Landis and four others, including the pilot and the special effects coordinator, were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter, but the accident led to new safety standards for using helicopters during filming.
When asked by Playboy why he gave the directorial job to Landis instead of directing Coming to America himself, Murphy said, “I wanted to help out…Landis. I figured I’d give this guy a shot because his career was [expletive]. But he wound up [expletive] me.” But, Murphy continued, Landis became a horror on set to Murphy. “As it turned out, John always resented that I hadn’t gone to his Twilight Zone trial. I never knew that; I thought we were cool. But he’d been harboring it for a year. Every now and then, he would make little remarks, like, ‘You didn’t help me out; you don’t realize how close I was to going to jail.’ I never paid any mind.”
“I don’t want to say who was guilty or who was innocent,” Murphy continued regarding Landis’ trial. “But if you’re directing a movie and two kids get their heads chopped off at [expletive] twelve o’clock at night when there ain’t supposed to be kids working, and you said, ‘Action!’ then you have some sort of responsibility. So my principles wouldn’t let me go down there and sit in court. That’s just the way I am.”
Murphy claimed Landis tried to bully him on set, by telling Murphy’s co-star Shari Headley that he was only trying to have a get-to-know-you dinner with the cast to try to sleep with her. He also accosted two of Murphy’s writers on set.
“They were writing a TV show called What’s Alan Watching? that my company was producing,” he said. “They were at our location in New York, and Landis was asking them, ‘Why are you guys here?’ They said, ‘We’re working on something for Eddie.’ And he said…, ‘The production’s not picking that up.’ And they said, ‘No, we’re working through Eddie’s company. Right now we’re waiting for the deal to go through.’ And Landis said, ‘So you’re not being paid yet? That company should be paying you! Don’t come to New York unless you’re being paid.'”
“The whole crew was standing around–extras and actors–and Landis started screaming. ‘Don’t be afraid to ask Eddie Murphy for his money,'” he continued. “You go up and ask for your [expletive] money!’ I walked in and he said, ‘Eddie! Your company is [expletive] these guys out of their money! Guys, don’t be afraid to go up to Eddie and say, ‘[expletive] you!'” He’s screaming about my deal-making in front of the cast.”
Murphy said that he “playfully” grabbed him by the throat and put his arm around him before asking one of his people, Fruity, “What happens when people put my business in the street?”
“And Fruity said, ‘they get [expletive] up.’ I was kind of half joking,” said Murphy. He said Landis reached down to grab Murphy’s genitals, “like he also thought it was a joke.”
“[A]nd I cut his wind off,” he said. “He fell down, his face turned red, his eyes watered up…and he ran off set.”
The story continues later when Landis comes to Murphy’s trailer after the incident to make, as Murphy put it, “this big speech.”
“His voice was trembling,” he said. “And it all came out: that he didn’t think I was talented, that the only reason he did Coming to America was for money, that he didn’t respect me since I hadn’t gone to his trial and all this [expletive].. Called me ignorant, an [expletive]…I’m sitting there shattered; I’m thinking, This [expletive] guy. I bent over [expletive] backwards to get this guy a job. He probably won’t even acknowledge what happened. He didn’t realize that his [expletive] career was washed up.”
Murphy said, in expletive-filled language, of course, that the next time he tried something with him, he would beat him up.
“‘Your’e gonna have to give me either some fear or some respect. I want one of them, because this is my [expletive] and you’re working here.”
One would think that the Coming to America 2 set will be a lot less traumatic, seeing how Craig Brewer will be helming the film. The sequel will be in theaters in December 18, 2020.
Source: Shadow & Act
While Donald Glover is making his rounds as Simba for the highly-anticipated Lion King live-action remake, many still want to know what’s going on with the third season of his series Atlanta.
The FX show has already been given the green light for season three to return this year, but production hasn’t even started yet. It’s possible that Georgia’s new anti-abortion law could have an impact on filming for Atlanta, as Disney and Netflix are just some of the platforms who have considered a boycott from filming in the state.
Still, as far as Atlanta is concerned, it’s not really clear what the hold up is.
During a sit-down on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the host asked Glover if he’s been working on the new season of Atlanta. Glover, who was wearing a full-body lion costume said,
“Um, I think my contract says I have to say ‘Yes.’ Yes.”
Kimmel then asked,
“So you’re supposed to be working on ‘Atlanta’ right now?”
Glover joked,
“Oh, I am working on ‘Atlanta’ right now.”
Kimmel went along with the joke and said Glover would start working on the show when he goes to Australia. Glover then pointed to a card on the desk and said,
“Literally, this is a script for ‘Atlanta,’ if anybody asks,”
The Lion King will hit theaters on July 18.
Source: The Jasmine Brand
Coming off the second-biggest-grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame ($2.77 billion), Don Cheadle is joining LeBron James in Warner Bros.’ Space Jam 2, which is currently in production.
Terence Nance is directing the follow-up to the 1996 movie which grossed over $230M at the global box office. The pic is seen as a reboot of the studio’s classic Looney Tunes stable. Cheadle’s role is being kept under wraps.
Most recently Cheadle starred in the Showtime Wall Street comedy series Black Monday set in the year leading up to October 19, 1987 stock market crash (aka Black Monday). Showtime renewed the series and Season 2 will premiere in 2020.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Cheadle is known for his role as War Machine in the Avengers, Captain America and Iron Man movies. Cheadle will also star in the upcoming sci-fi drama series Don’t Look Deeper for Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s short-form video platform Quibi alongside Emily Mortimer and Helena Howard.
Cheadle is also producing the film adaptation of the book Amari and the Night Brothers for Universal Pictures and is set to appear alongside Lil Rel Howery and Kevin Hart in Black Stallions. The comedy film about rival brother jockeys was acquired by Netflix for distribution. Other feature producer credits include St. Vincent (EP), the Best Picture Oscar winner Crash, Talk to Me (EP) and The Guard (EP) and the doc Darfur Now.
Cheadle directed his first feature film with the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead, which he also co-wrote, produced and played the title role in. Cheadle received an NAACP Image Award nomination for his role, and the pic won the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. In 2005, Cheadle received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Hotel Rwanda. Cheadle is repped by United Talent Agency.
Producers on Space Jam 2 — which is set to tip off July 16, 2021 — are Ryan Coogler, NBA star James under his SpringHill Entertainment label, Duncan Henderson, and Maverick Carter of SpringHill. EPs are Justin Lin, Sev Ohanian and Jamal Henderson.
Source: Deadline
Tracy Morgan hosted the 2019 Espy Awards last night, and not everyone thought he was in top form.
In case you hadn’t noticed, he was trending on Twitter but it definitely wasn’t raving about his performance. Tweets complained that the beloved comedian had an off night, with even fans saying he wasn’t himself, and others claiming it was a terrible audience.
Twitter was brutal but to say he bombed seems like a stretch.
Either way, it’s shocking to see audiences react so negatively to Morgan who has become a beloved cultural icon.
To be fair, he did stumble on a few words and maybe rushed things a bit, but otherwise joked about sports, his Walmart truck accident, and his recent fender bender with his brand new Bugatti.
Those who weren’t watching, but saw Morgan trending on Twitter, feared the worst (is this where we are social media?) and were relieved to learn the actor was still alive and breathing and had only been accused of dying on stage.
Did he bomb? Watch and judge for yourself.
Snap is opening up Snapchat to let celebrities and influencers to create their own shows — and make money from the content — in the same short-form, vertical-video orientation as Snap’s slate of 80-plus original series.
Creator Shows will start streaming Wednesday on Snapchat, with more rolling out through the summer. The shows include those from Serena Williams, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Maddie Ziegler, Emma Chamberlain, Rickey Thompson, Loren Gray, FaZe Banks and Baby Ariel. In addition, Snap is partnering with digital studios for some of the Creator Shows, including Brat, BroadbandTV and Studio71.
Schwarzenegger’s show, for example, is called “Rules of Success with Arnold Schwarzenegger,” with motivational advice from the actor-politician.
For Snap, the Creators Shows initiative provides a way to give its most popular creators to extend to their reach — and keep them invested in building their businesses on Snapchat through monetization, as YouTube has done for years. Snap will provide a revenue share of advertising for Creators Shows but isn’t disclosing terms of the partnerships. According to industry sources, Snapchat’s standard deal with media companies is to share 50% of revenue although that can vary. Both Snap Ads and Commercials can appear in Creator Shows.
Like all Snapchat Shows, the Creator Shows will appear on the Discover page, to the right of the camera. According to Snap, over the last year, the time spent watching shows on Snapchat every day more than tripled. However, the company isn’t disclosing viewing time or other metrics.
Singer and YouTube personality Loren Gray enthused over Snapchat’s Creator Shows, saying in a statement, “Having the opportunity to convey the importance of confidence through my passion for makeup with the Snapchat community has been an amazing experience.”
Rickey Thompson, who rose to prominence with comedic videos on Vine and Instagram, added that “Snapchat has always been a place where my fans can get to know the real, authentic me. Making a show with Snap was a really fun experience, and I’m excited for everyone to see it.”
Also Wednesday, Snap is rolling out Highlights for Official Accounts. Highlights are a collection of photo and video content that creators can add to their profile from their Snap Stories or camera roll. For the first time, creators will be able to save and share their favorite creative moments with new and existing fans.
Meanwhile, Snap recently launched its first Scripted Comedy Creator Initiative, a program designed to inspire the best up-and-coming comedy writers, performers and directors to imagine what sitcoms should look like for a mobile audience. The company received hundreds of submissions and selected a group of creators to experiment with the mobile format and storytelling to produce a new type of comedy show. The comedy shows include sitcoms, mockumentaries and animation, with each episode 3-5 minutes in length and a season averaging 8-10 episodes.
Snap funded the series in the Comedy Creator Initiative, which include include “Apocalypse Goals” from Olivia DeLaurentis and Sydney Heller; “All Dog$ Get Money” from Gerald Grissette; “Relationship Goals” from Ben Waller; and “The Daily Realness” from Skyler Fulton, a mockumentary series about a clickbait-driven website.
On the heels of that program, Snap is launching a short-form Animated Comedy Creator Initiative, and plans to greenlight up to 10 series. Creators can pitch a one-page treatment (including storyboards, animatic or full pilot) for an animated comedy series. Submissions open today for creators in the U.S. (through this Google Docs form) and will be open through Aug. 26, 2019.
Source: Variety
All Def Digital, the hip-hop and urban youth culture media company founded by Russell Simmons, has gone through a major restructuring but is not folding, according to president and CEO Chris Blackwell.
Last week, citing anonymous sources, internet-video publication Tubefilter reported that All Def Digital was shutting down after broad layoffs and that an unnamed business-advisory firm was “divvy[ing] up assets” of the company.
Reached via email, Blackwell denied that the company was closing its doors. “We are reorganizing the company in advance of a strategic deal,” he wrote, declining to provide additional details. Greycroft partner Mark Terbeek, one of ADD’s board members and a lead investor in the company, declined to comment (referring inquiries to Blackwell).
Simmons, the co-founder of music label Def Jam Recordings, originally launched ADD as a YouTube network in 2013 in partnership with AwesomenessTV. The company expanded into a multiplatform network and studio, which had deals with HBO and YouTube for originals, along with live events, and brand partnerships through its in-house agency ADHD.
All Def, based in downtown L.A. near the Staples Center, has raised about $18 million from investors including WPP Ventures, Allen DeBevoise’s Third Wave Digital Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Nu Horizons Investments, Greycroft, e.ventures and Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital.
Source: Variety
Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella and Marisol Nichols have joined the cast of Saw, the new installment of the Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures horror franchise that stars and is being executive produced by Chris Rock. Production is now underway in Toronto.
It was Rock who came up with the story for the latest pic in the series launched by original creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell in 2004. The franchise has spawned seven films, with the last, Saw 3D, hitting theaters in 2010.
The latest incarnation, directed by three-time Saw helmer Darren Lynn Bousman from a script by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg, sees Rock playing a police detective investigating a series of grizzly crimes. Jackson will play Rock’s father. Minghella will play William Schenk, Rock’s partner, and Nichols will play Capt. Angie Garza, Rock’s boss.
The film is being produced by longtime Saw duo Mark Burg and Oren Koules. Rock, Saw veteran Daniel Heffner, and Wan and Whannell are executive producers.
The untitled pic has an October 23, 2020 release date.
Source: Deadline