Month: August 2024

Francis Ford Coppola, the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt and Arturo Sandoval were among those revealed as the 47th Kennedy Center honorees.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts named rock icons Grateful Dead, acclaimed singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt and legendary jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval among this year’s honorees, who will receive the 47th Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements. The Apollo Theater will also be recognized during the December ceremony, which will take place on Dec. 8th and later air on CBS on Dec. 23.

Coppola is known for his work on The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, and he also produces wine and runs the literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story. Bonnie Raitt has been awarded 13 Grammy awards and has made a name for herself as a social activist, while Arturo Sandoval received President Obama’s Presidential Medal of Freedom among numerous other awards.  The Grateful Dead has already been recognized with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions.

Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein shared in a statement: “The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes artists who have made an extraordinary impact on the cultural life of our nation and continue to have an immeasurable influence on new generations.”  Kennedy Center president Deborah F. Rutter added: “Our honorees this year have each played an invaluable, pioneering role in developing American culture. Not with one act of art but with their decades-long devotion to pushing creative boundaries. In December, we are thrilled to pay special tribute to New York City’s renowned Apollo Theater on its 90th anniversary. Throughout its history, The Apollo has guided us and the world forward by discovering and nurturing raw talent, molding a unique cultural identity that defines American culture still today.”

Surviving Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, 84, Mickey Hart, 80, Bill Kreutzmann, 78, and Bob Weir, 76, wrote in a collective statement: “It goes without saying that the Kennedy Center Honors represents the highest of reaches for artistic achievement. To be recognized alongside the artists who have in the past received this honor is beyond humbling. The Grateful Dead has always been about community, creativity, and exploration in music and presentation. We’ve always felt that the music we make embodies and imparts something beyond the notes and phrases being played — and that is something we are privileged to share with all who are drawn to what we do — so it also must be said that our music belongs as much to our fans, the Dead Heads, as it does to us. This honor, then, is as much theirs as ours.” Acknowledging their almost 60-year journey, the musicians also said that they’re “beyond grateful for this recognition .. Thank you, Kennedy Center, and to all the folks who had a hand in bringing us here, for this incredible honor.”

Coppola, 85, said in a statement: “I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to collaborate with great artists and wonderful people throughout my career, and I have never stopped learning. There is no greater honor than to be included along with those who inspired me, who I looked up to, and who gave me encouragement when times were dim. I am grateful to the Kennedy Center, my beloved colleagues, to those who equate beauty and truth, and to all the children of the world.”

Raitt, 74, wrote in a statement: “I am deeply honored and thrilled to have been chosen to receive one of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. I have long been an admirer of the awards and have been so blessed to be able to participate in several shows honoring others. There is no higher level of esteem nor as delightful a celebration, and I want to extend my sincere thanks to all who have chosen me to receive this honor. I look forward to the upcoming ceremony and festivities, which I know will be one of my life’s peak experiences.”

The 47th Kennedy Center Honors will take place at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington D.C. on Sunday, Dec. 8, and will later broadcast on CBS on Dec. 23. The ceremony will also stream on Paramount+.

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MTV has announced the nominations for the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday, with Taylor Swift leads the nominees with 10 nominations (including Artist of the Year and Video of the Year for “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone).

Post Malone closely followed Swift with nine nominations, while Ariana Grande, Eminem and Sabrina Carpenter each earned six nominations, Megan Thee Stallion and SZA earned five nods each, and LISA, Olivia Rodrigo and Teddy Swims earned four nods. Carpenter and Swims are among the 29 first-time nominees, which also includes Benson Boone, Tyla, Chappell Roan, Jelly Roll, Rauw Alejandro, Sexxy Red, Victoria Monét and more.

If Swift were to win Video of the Year, she would break her own record to become the only artist to ever win the award three times in a row and five times in the category.

The MTV VMAs will take place Sept. 10 at UBS Arena in New York and air at 8 p.m. EDT on MTV. Beginning Tuesday, fans can vote for their favorites in 15 categories at vote.mtv.com through Friday, Aug. 30.

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Disney+ is shared a teaser trailer for the new series Agatha All Along featuring Kathryn Hahn.

Agatha All Along is a spinoff of WandaVision and takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hahn reprises her character Agatha Harkness, who seeks to regain her power following the events of WandaVision; the series also stars Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn and Debra Jo Rupp.

The trailer opens with Agatha playing a detective who investigates Wanda’s body after Wanda appeared to die in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Agatha later teams up with another witch (Aubrey Plaza) and teen (Joe Locke) to create her own coven.  An official series synopsis reads: “The infamous Agatha Harkness finds herself down and out of power after a suspicious goth teen helps break her free from a distorted spell. Her interest is piqued when he begs her to take him on the legendary Witches’ Road, a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they’re missing. Together, Agatha and this mysterious teen pull together a desperate coven, and set off down, down, down The Road.”

Agatha All Along will have a two-episode premiere Sept. 18 on Disney+. See the trailer: here.

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Searchlight Pictures released its first trailer for its upcoming movie A Complete Unknown, featuring Timothée Chalamet (Wonka, Dune) as iconic folk and rock musician Bob Dylan. The film covers Dylan’s early years in New York City, and initial rise to fame in the 1960s.

The film is based on the Elijah Wald book Dylan Goes Electric! and is co-written and directed by James Mangold (‘Walk the Line’, ‘Logan’, ‘Ford v Ferrari’). Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Folger, Norbert Leo Butz and Scoot McNairy also star.

An official synopsis for A Complete Unknown reads: “Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.”

The trailer for A Complete Unknown opens with Dylan (Chalamet) performing the early hit “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” on a small stage, following an introduction from Edward Norton’s Pete Seeger.  As he sings, the two-minute teaser cuts to shots of Chalamet walking the streets of 1960s New York City, romancing Elle Fanning’s Sylvie Russo (who is inspired by Dylan’s past girlfriend artist Suze Rotolo) and falling for Monica Barbaro’s Joan Baez.

A Complete Unknown does not yet have a specific release date, but it will begin playing in theaters in December, per a press release. See the trailer for A Complete Unknown – here.

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Halle Berry has left Ryan Murphy’s new legal drama All’s Fair for Hulu, with Variety reporting that Berry, 57, is no longer attached to the series as a star and executive producer. The outlet cited a scheduling conflict as the reason she parted ways with the production. 

The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that Berry was joining the cast and executive producing team, alongside  Kim Kardashian and Glenn Close, who are producing alongside Murphy and 20th Television. Kardashian (who worked with Murphy on the most recent season of American Horror Story: Delicate) is said to be playing a successful divorce lawyer and owner of an all-female law firm in Los Angeles, while Berry’s role had yet to be revealed.

All’s Fair would have been Berry’s first TV role since CBS’ Extant in 2015; she will next be seen opposite Mark Wahlberg in the comedy-thriller The Union (premiering August 16 on Netflix) and the horror flick Never Let Go, out September 27. Her upcoming projects in pre-production are the thrillers Maude v Maude (with Angelina Jolie) and The Process, which she is starring in as well as producing.

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Justin Timberlake pleaded not guilty plea to a revised misdemeanor charge in connection to his arrest for driving while intoxicated in Sag Harbor, New York this past June.  Timberlake’s drivers license was also suspended in the state of New York.

Timberlake, 43, was performing in Antwerp, Belgium over the weekend and appeared virtually on Friday in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court in New York before Justice Carl Irace. During the hearing, Irace urged caution and threatened Timberlake’s counsel with a gag order, referring to comments made outside of court to the media by the singer’s lawyer, Edward Burke. Burke previously disagreed with the claim that Timberlake was intoxicated, disputing to reporters that the police made “very significant errors” and asserting that “he was not intoxicated.”

Burke told reporters after court regarding the suspended license: “This is standard procedure with every DWI case. In New York, the suspension stays during the pendency of the case and is resolved at the end. Other states have similar regulations. .. We are very confident that charge, that criminal charge, will be dismissed.”

Timberlake was pulled over and arrested in June in Sag Harbor, with police stating that he drove through a stop sign and swerved into another lane. Authorities determined the pop star was driving drunk, had bloodshot, glassy eyes and “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” emanating from his breath, according to the criminal complaint. He also had slowed speech, was unsteady on his feet and performed poorly on a field sobriety test, the complaint said. Timberlake told the arresting officer he had only one drink, according to the complaint.

A further conference hearing in the case is scheduled for August 9, which Timberlake is not required to attend. The judge asked the singer’s attorney to find a date when Timberlake can appear in person, perhaps as soon as Sept. 13.

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