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  • Luke Grimes Returns as Fan Favorite Kayce Dutton in New ‘Yellowstone’ Spinoff, ‘Marshals’

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    In the hit show’s fifth and final season in 2024, Dutton rode off into the proverbial sunset at peace, building a new life ranching on his own terms with his wife and son.

    “I thought, ‘This is it,’” says Grimes. “I love the way this ends for him. He kind of got what he always wanted, which is just a simple life.”

    Luckily for fans — somewhat less so for Dutton — that simple life is upended as Grimes once more slips into the role for the prime-time spinoff “Marshals,” which premieres Sunday on CBS and streams on Paramount+.

    In an artful piece of writing, showrunner Spencer Hudnut takes Dutton from a neo-Western family drama to a Western law enforcement procedural, giving him a badge and having him join a band of U.S. Marshals in Montana.

    “We wanted to make it feel organic and we wanted there to be enough of the sort of ethos of ‘Yellowstone’ in there that the original fans could have something to hold on to getting into the show, but then have it have somewhere to go that felt like its own thing,” says Grimes.

    During the pilot, Dutton meets with an old comrade from his days as a Navy SEAL who gradually recruits him into their four-person Marshal team.

    “May look like God’s country but the devil’s running free out here,” Dutton’s friend tells him. “I’m guessing you got your own demons to conquer, and I could sure use another door-kicker.”

    “Marshals” allows the show’s creators to explore the military backstory of Dutton, a combat veteran with Special Forces skills. In the first episode, viewers will see Dutton smartly unlock a cellphone with a dead man’s eyes, a talent that wasn’t exploited on the Taylor Sheridan-led “Yellowstone.”

    “We barely scratched the surface of that,” says Grimes. “In a way, it was kind of a blessing because we have all that stuff to explore now without it feeling like we just made some stuff up.”

    Grimes says Dutton looks beyond the ranching life to take the job as a U.S. Marshal as a way to come out of his shell, help people and recover from personal tragedy.

    “Clearly he’s making an effort to do something different here and change his life and change his son’s life at the same time,” says Grimes. “Because whatever dream that he had is over now, he’s never getting it back.”


    A non-traditional procedural

    The series also stars Logan Marshall-Green, Arielle Kebbel, Ash Santos and Tatanka Means, as well as familiar faces from “Yellowstone,” including Gil Birmingham, Moses Brings Plenty and Brecken Merrill as Dutton’s son.

    Hudnut says the show has twists and turns each week but isn’t a regular crime-of-the-week show: “CBS really wanted this to be a non-traditional procedural, which really allowed us to lean heavily into character.”

    “Marshals” joins a slate of potential future “Yellowstone” spinoffs, including “6666,” “1944” and “The Madison.” Three other “Yellowstone” spinoffs — including “1883,” “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” and “1923” — have already debuted.

    Grimes gets to spend more time inside the mind of fan favorite Kayce Dutton, a watcher and a protector who only speaks when absolutely necessary and, when he does, only speaks the truth.

    The actor says creating Dutton’s persona reflects what Grimes liked watching while growing up, namely actors who told a story without overdoing it, with still excellence, like Paul Newman.

    “He could sort of just sit there and have a flicker in his eye and you knew what he was saying,” Grimes says. “I just was always drawn to those kinds of actors who could do a lot with a little. And so, maybe, that’s just me trying to sort of emulate my heroes in a way.”

    “Marshals” promises plenty of action each week, with the team battling gangs, drug cartels, race warriors, human traffickers and polluters, among others. The pilot kicks off with a bombing.

    “This show is some good people going after the bad people. And if you like that sort of thing, it’ll be right up your alley,” Grimes says.

    The series also marks both Grime’s rise to lead a prime-time TV network show for the first time and also his debut as a producer. He jokes that he’s a little closer to how the sausage is made.

    “I’ve been working professionally as an actor since I was 20 and I’m 42 now, so it’s been 22 years,” he says. “I’ve had plenty of time to think about if I ever do get the opportunity to be No. 1 on the call sheet of something that’s a big investment for some company, then I’ll know how to handle it, not only learning my craft, but by watching professionals be professional.”

    Grimes, a new father, also has an album coming out in April, but won’t be able to tour this year due to his commitments. Fans can hear one of his new songs playing over the emotional final scene of the pilot.

    Hudnut says he’s proud to extend the “Yellowstone” legacy, which has attracted Old West lovers, whether they’re urban dwellers or rugged, outdoor types.

    “Really, at its heart, it’s a show about family. It’s a show about legacy,” he says. “There’s something in there that we can all relate to, whether it’s being the father or being the son or being a sibling.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • ‘Scrubs’ Revival Brings Back the Old Goofy Gang, but Now They’re, Gulp, in Charge

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Early in the first episode of the “Scrubs” revival, Dr. John Dorian jumps onto Dr. Christopher Turk for a piggyback ride down the corridor of Sacred Heart Hospital like nothing’s changed in over a decade. But a lot has.

    For one, Turk, now a father of four, suffers from sciatica, cutting the tomfoolery short as they tumble to the ground. And, two, Dorian needs reading glasses. Turns out plenty has changed in the 17 years since “Scrubs” last ended its run.

    “They’re still 12 years old every time they’re together, but they’re also still both leading very big, responsible adult lives,” says Bill Lawrence, the show’s creator who has returned for the revival. “It just felt like it was time to revisit the old gang.”

    “Scrubs” — whose first two episodes premiere back-to-back Wednesday on ABC and stream next day on Hulu — picks up with the same characters all these years later, but this time, in addition to some physical wear and tear, the one-time interns are the teachers to a group of rookie doctors.

    “We were new and we were scared as interns and scared in this new element of medicine and insecure and unsure of what we were doing,” says Sarah Chalke, who plays Dr. Elliot Reid. “So to get to come back, we really have grown and really become great leaders and great teachers.”


    Back to reality for “Scrubs”

    The revival retains Lawrence’s voice for “Scrubs” — pop culture-hyper-aware and surreal but always with sentiment. The cast admits the show became a little too cartoonish in later seasons, with an ostrich wearing a Kangol hat and J.D. stuffed into a backpack to sneak into a movie theater.

    “Bill Lawrence would be the first to say that what he really wanted to do was sort of ground it again and start back with the based-in-reality thing that we had in the first couple years of the show,” says Zach Braff, who plays Dr. Dorian. “We still have a mix of drama and comedy, but reset to based completely in reality.”

    One thing that had to change was Dr. Perry Cox, the head of medicine played by John C. McGinley with stone-faced rage and fiery contempt. Back in the old days, he could humiliate and berate his interns.

    That won’t fly in 2026: “I can’t work them crazy hours or even abuse them anymore,” Cox complains in the revival, calling the new interns “fragile little Christmas ornaments.” One of the new interns says to him: “You’re giving mean football coach vibes.”

    Lawrence in anticipation of the relaunch consulted medical residents to find out how hospitals and medicine had changed over the years and was told that administrators would have no patience with a brutal Cox in 2026.

    “All the residents we talked about told us that Dr. Cox would be fired immediately nowadays,” says Lawrence. He also added Vanessa Bayer to the cast, playing an HR officer quick to suggest sensitivity training.

    The first seven seasons of “Scrubs” originally aired on NBC, but after Season 7 — which was shortened due to a writers strike — the series moved to ABC for Season 8. A ninth season with J.D., Turk, and Cox was called “Scrubs: Med School.”

    Braff and Faison — real friends offscreen — kept the show in fans’ minds with a string of T-Mobile commercials and a podcast that explored the episodes, Fake Doctors, Real Friends.

    The end of Season 8 — the following season is not considered “Scrubs” cannon — had J.D. having all his fantasies come true — marrying Elliot, having children and keeping up his friendship with Turk, who is married to head nurse Carla. That neat bow had to be jettisoned for 2026.

    “We knew from the start that we couldn’t live in a world that all of his fantasies had come true,” says Lawrence. “Life throws you some blows and throws you to some victories. You drift from people you care about. Sometimes your world gets smaller. Sometimes things get harder and there still have to be mountains to overcome. So we really wanted to thematically show that journey of what the second stage of life looks like.”


    The central bromance of “Scrubs”

    Central to the success of “Scrubs” is the bromance between J.D. and Turk, which doesn’t end when the cameras are turned off. The revival arrives as the topic of male loneliness and friendship is being debated.

    “It’s a half hour comedy, but it takes head on the idea of the joy that you can still find in being silly and having love in your life that isn’t just your romantic love — the joy and love you have with your friends as a man in 2026,” says Braff.

    Faison adds: “I value my friendship. I don’t have many of them, but he’s the one friendship that I do have that I know I can count on, at least right now. Maybe in 10 years, he might change his mind on how he feels about me.”

    “We’ll see how you behave,” Braff jokes.

    Lawrence says he often writes about male friendships because he grew up in a family that wasn’t very demonstrative emotionally. His other current titles include “Shrinking” and “Ted Lasso,” which also explore bonding and mentoring.

    “I started very young writing about friendships and, maybe on some level, the wish fulfillment of how personal I truly hoped they could be,” he says. “I crave those friendships and I craved that mentorship so I maybe write about them too much.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Netflix Releases a Posthumous Interview With Eric Dane After His Death From ALS

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    “I think when the lights go out, it’s over,” he said in an interview for “Famous Last Words,” a Netflix series that’s available now. “I do believe that once we go to sleep or however it is we — we go, once we’re gone, we’re gone.”

    He also hoped in the interview that his two daughters, Billie and Georgia, would remember how he was present in their lives. He went to beach volleyball games and dance recitals, adding that he’d seen “The Nutcracker” many times and his review was, “That thing drones on, man.”

    “Famous Last Words” is based on a show that originated in Denmark. The premise is that a person is interviewed — executive producer Brad Falchuk does the questioning in the Netflix show — and it will not be released until their death.

    Dane’s interview is the second episode. The first was with primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall, who died last October. Falchuk tells The Associated Press he’s recorded five conversations already with plans for more.

    No one else was present on set for the taping last November and even the camera operators were in a different room.

    “The guest needs to be totally safe to speak honestly and say whatever they want and know that they’re leaving something for people to experience with them not here,” Falchuk said on Friday. Only a small number of people work on the production of the show afterward. “Very, very few people have seen it and very, very people even know whose done it,” explained Falchuk.

    “Famous people don’t often get an opportunity to speak honestly about themselves and about what they think in the world,” said Falchuk who is married to Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow. “They have to be very protective, especially nowadays. They say things and it goes everywhere and it gets misinterpreted and they also want to keep working or keep you know doing what they do, so this is an opportunity for them not to have to be guarded.”


    Dane’s ALS advocacy lives on

    After his ALS diagnosis, Dane became an advocate to raise awareness and money to fight the disease. After his death, the organization I AM ALS released clips of him recorded for an upcoming documentary.

    “It’s a tough thing to respond to, it’s a tough thing to live with, yeah. But it’s really hard for the people around me too. And it’s almost like — in a weird way, it’s to some benefit, because I spend a lot of my time consoling others,” he said in a clip released Friday.

    Filmmaker Chris Burke also captured Dane on a trip to Washington D.C. where he lobbied politicians for a bill that would help accelerate research, expand access to treatment and secure one billion dollars in federal funding for ALS patients.

    “He understood that ALS is not just a diagnosis; it is a call to action for families, for answers, and for change,” the organization said in a statement after Dane’s death.


    Dane’s last message to his daughters

    In the Netflix show, Dane also reflected on the lifelong impact of losing his father at age 7 and subsequent struggles with addiction to drugs and alcohol. He said he immediately knew he would marry Rebecca Gayheart when he met her and shared a memory of a family vacation to France where he spent a car ride speaking with a “spot on” French accent that made everyone laugh.

    The most poignant part of the taping was at the end — when Falchuk left the room for Dane to look into the camera and deliver a final message which he dedicated to his daughters. Dane shared that his diagnosis with ALS taught him to be present. He also hoped the girls would “fall in love,” whether it be with a person or something that would make them want to wake up each morning.

    “I hope you won’t just listen to me. I hope you’ll hear me,” he said.

    Falchuk said this final message is something each guest has the opportunity to do. “People do all different kinds of stuff. Some people write it. Jane improvised hers. Eric wrote his,” said Falchuk, who was visibly emotional at the idea of Dane’s daughters watching his message.

    “It’s hard to think about that,” he said. “They’re grieving and he loved them so much. They loved him so much and they’re just a beautiful family. I don’t know. Maybe they’ll watch it. Maybe they’ll never watch it, whatever it may be.”

    Falchuk and Dane had dinner prior to filming and they didn’t know each other well, but a new friendship had developed from the experience.

    ”I’m grieving Eric a lot right now. It’s very hard. I was not expecting this to happen this soon. And I miss him,” said Falchuk. “It’s hard when they die. It is hard.”

    The exchange seemed to also have an impact on Dane, who told Falchuk, “This is probably the most revealing and in-depth conversation I’ve had with just about anybody.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Logan Paul’s Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon Card Sells for Record $16.5M at Auction

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Logan Paul has set a new world’s record — for the auction price of a trading card.

    The wrestling and social media star’s rare Pickachu Illustrator Pokémon card, a “Holy Grail” for collectors, sold for $16.5 million Monday at Goldin Auctions after 41 days of bidding. Paul had purchased the card in 2021 for $5.275 million, a Guinness record at the time for a Pokémon card. He had added a diamond necklace and custom case and wore the card at WrestleMania 38 in 2022.

    Guinness World Records adjudicator Sarah Casson was on hand Monday for the auction’s closure, which was livestreamed on YouTube, and confirmed the price was a record not just for a Pokémon card, but for any trading card sold at auction.

    “Oh my gosh, this is crazy,” said Paul, who placed the card around the neck of winning bidder A.J. Scaramucci, a venture capitalist and son of former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

    The card was designed by Atsuko Nishida for a 1998 contest. Only a few dozen are believed to exist, and Paul’s card is believed the only with a quality rating of 10.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Christian Siriano Invites New York Fashion Week Guests Into His Surrealist Dream

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Christian Siriano barely had 48 hours to design his finale gown for his New York Fashion Week show. The iridescent green liquid fabric Siriano had ordered from Italy was stuck in customs for weeks before it finally arrived shortly before Thursday’s runway show.

    The designer of “Project Runway” fame may have been accustomed to executing his designs on a tight deadline but with months to design his other looks, he told The Associated Press, that the last-minute design brought a fresh wave of excitement ahead of his show.

    “The best dresses come at the end because I’m really, really in it,” he said.

    Unlike his previous shows, where Siriano decorated his venues in sync with this theme, this time around the designer pared down the atmospheric drama allowing his clothes to speak for themselves. For his latest collection, the designer experimented with texture and a variety of colors to create his surrealist dream.

    “It was more of an idea of this fantasy dream, maybe like a Dali painting that can never be explained,” he said. “It really is this dreamlike world that hopefully everybody feels really beautiful in.”

    Siriano’s fashionable crew of celebrity friends and loyal customers sat front row, including actors Leslie Jones, Uzo Aduba, Julia Fox, Natasha Lyonne, Whoopi Goldberg and rock singer Taylor Momsen.

    The show opened with black and white structured looks before models emerged dipped in a sea of colors. They stopped along the runway to pose with their hair transformed into a surrealist swoop style, crisscrossed around their necks.

    Siriano’s collection reimagined red carpet silhouettes including eye-catching gowns with dramatic asymmetric necklines and exaggerated tulle sleeves or peplums. Even his black and white designs, featured shimmering fringe, alluring cut outs, feathers or delicate beading.

    Siriano’s looks are not for the wallflower. The designer fashioned several revealing sheer looks.

    In typical Siriano fashion, the runway was filled with models of all sizes and genders.

    “We need to escape and be somewhere else … in a dream world,” he said. This will be a celebration of like, beauty, bodies, age and cultures and we need that.

    Siriano’s standout looks of the night featured pops of color including a chartreuse lace cropped jacket and maxi skirt, and the bright green ombre bubble gown that arrived shortly before his show.

    Siriano’s supermodel muse Coco Rocha closed the show in the ombre bubble gown. As Rocha theatrically posed down the runway, she locked eyes with guests. Celebrity guest Jones cheered on the model, yelling “drama” as she passed by.

    “He makes you feel secure in his clothes,” Jones said of Siriano. “It doesn’t matter what size you are; he’s going to make you feel beautiful and that’s the essence of Christian.”

    AP entertainment producer John Carucci contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Kennedy Center Head Warns Staff of Cuts and ‘Skeletal’ Staffing During Renovation Closure

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    As the Trump administration prepares to close the Kennedy Center for a two-year renovation, the head of Washington’s performing arts center has warned its staff about impending cuts that will leave “skeletal teams.”

    In a Tuesday memo obtained by The Associated Press, Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell told staff that “departments will obviously function on a much smaller scale with some units totally reduced or on hold until we begin preparations to reopen in 2028,” promising “permanent or temporary adjustments for most everyone.”

    A Kennedy Center spokesperson declined comment Wednesday.

    Over the next few months, he wrote, department heads would be “evaluating the needs and making the decisions as to what these skeletal teams left in place during the facility and closure and construction phase will look like.” Grenell said leadership would “provide as much clarity and advance notice as possible.”

    The Kennedy Center is slated to close in early July. Few details about what the renovations will look like have been released since President Donald Trump announced his plan at the beginning of February. Neither Trump nor Grenell have provided evidence to support claims about the building being in disrepair, and last October, Trump had pledged it would remain open during renovations.

    It’s unclear exactly how many employees the center currently has, but a 2025 tax filing said nearly 2,500 people were employed during the 2023 calendar year. A request for comment sent to Kennedy Center Arts Workers United, which represents artists and arts professionals affiliated with the center — wasn’t immediately returned.

    Leading performers and groups have left or canceled appearances since Trump ousted the center’s leadership a year ago and added his own name to the building in December. The Washington Post, which first reported about Grenell’s memo, has also cited significant drops in ticket revenue that — along with private philanthropy — comprises the center’s operating budget. Officials have yet to say whether such long-running traditions as the Mark Twain Award for comedy or the honors ceremony for lifetime contributions to the arts will continue while the center is closed.

    The Kennedy Center was first conceived as a national cultural facility during the Eisenhower administration, in the 1950s. President John F. Kennedy led a fundraising initiative, and the yet-to-be-built center was named in his honor following his assassination. It opened in 1971 and has become a preeminent showcase for theater, music and dramatic performances, enjoying bipartisan backing until Trump’s return to office last year.

    “This renovation represents a generational investment in our future,” Grenell wrote. “When we reopen, we will do so as a stronger organization — one that honors our legacy while expanding our impact.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Puerto Rico Stops for 13 Minutes to Applaud History and Bask in Bad Bunny’s Glow

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    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Super Bowl lasted all of 13 minutes for many Puerto Ricans in San Juan and beyond.

    People turned their backs to TV screens as food, music and chatter filled the first half of the game until a hush fell across the island. The halftime show was starting.

    “He appeared at the right moment in the history of Latin America,” said Marielys Rojas, 39, who is originally from Venezuela but has lived the last 22 years in Puerto Rico.

    She was among the hundreds who gathered by a grassy knoll near a beach in Puerto Rico’s capital to watch the halftime show on a huge screen as waves crashed behind them and the sounds of coquís, an endemic frog, filled the salty air.

    Amarilys Reyes, 55, arrived at the seaside watch party with her 22-year-old daughter.

    She had never watched a Super Bowl and didn’t know who was playing, but it didn’t matter. Like many others, she was only there for Bad Bunny.

    “It’s the biggest show of his life,” Reyes said.

    Energy, nerves and excitement had been building across Puerto Rico ever since the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced that Benito Antonio Ocasio Martínez would headline the Super Bowl XL Halftime Show.

    Watch parties were quickly organized across the U.S. mainland and the island. Some dubbed it “Super Bori Sunday,” a shortened nod to “Boricua,” which refers to someone with Puerto Rican ancestry, while others referred to it “The Benito Bowl: Morcilla, Sancocho, Mofongo, Reggaetón and a little bit of Football.”

    One woman wrote on social media that she would watch the halftime show with her 87-year-old mother in Puerto Rico so they could dance together, while another person posted that they had prepared a PowerPoint presentation for their American friends dubbed “Bad Bunny 101.”

    Creativity flowed as Feb. 8 approached: One bar in Puerto Rico posted a promo featuring the quarterbacks from the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots sitting on the iconic white plastic lawn chairs that grace the cover of Bad Bunny’s newest album.

    Even the Teletubbies got in on the excitement, shaking their colorful rumps to Bad Bunny ’s “Baile Inolvidable” a day before the show.

    Wonder Woman also lent her support, with Lynda Carter noting on social media that she was a “huge fan” of Bad Bunny, whom she noted was an American citizen: “Make no mistake.”

    But criticism of the first all-Spanish NFL halftime show spiked as the first half ended.

    Jake Paul, a YouTuber-turned-boxer who has property in Puerto Rico and has posted about life on the island, wrote on X: “Turn off this halftime. A fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America. I cannot support that.”

    Puerto Ricans quickly responded.

    “Don’t you live where he’s from?” wrote one person while many others noted that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

    Luke Lavanway, a 35-year-old who lives in New York but was vacationing in Puerto Rico to escape the ongoing cold snap, said he had no problem with a halftime show in Spanish.

    “That’s part of us,” he said. “That’s what makes us great, and we should just enjoy it.”

    The crowd that had gathered for the halftime show began streaming out of the watch party as soon as the second half started, smiling as they reflected on what they had just witnessed.

    “I thought it was phenomenal that Bad Bunny brought all Latinos together in one place and represented them all equally,” said Carlos Ayala, 36, of San Juan. “It’s an important moment for Latino culture.”

    He also thought it fantastic that Ricky Martin sang Bad Bunny’s, “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii,” which laments gentrification in Puerto Rico, a worsening issue for many on an island with a more than 40% poverty rate.

    “Transmitting that message is extremely important in these times,” he said, adding that he also appreciated the light posts and exploding transformers featured during the show, a nod to Puerto Rico’s chronic outages “so the world can see what we live through.”

    Among those beaming after the show was Juliana Santiago, 35, who said her heart swelled with pride on Sunday night.

    She said Bad Bunny proved that “you can accomplish things, that the American dream truly is real.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Paul Thomas Anderson Wins at 78th Directors Guild Awards for ‘One Battle After Another’

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Thomas Anderson won the top prize at the 78th Directors Guild Awards, putting the “One Battle After Another” filmmaker on course to potentially win his first Oscar.

    The DGA Awards, held Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, is among the most reliable Academy Awards precursors. In the last 10 years, nine DGA winners have gone on to win best director at the Oscars. In the guild’s nearly eight-decade history, only eight times has the guild not predicted the Oscar winner.

    The award adds to a virtual awards-season sweep for “One Battle After Another,” which has won with critics groups, the Gotham Awards and the Golden Globes. It’s considered the favorite for best picture at the March 15 Oscars. Academy voting begins Feb. 26.

    The other nominees were Ryan Coogler (“Sinners”), Guillermo Del Toro (“Frankenstein”), Josh Safdie (“Marty Supreme”) and Chloé Zhao (“Hamnet”).

    As he’s often done through awards season, Anderson in his brief speech paid tribute to late assistant director Adam Somner, who died in 2024. “Obviously,” he said, “we are up here minus one.”

    “In 2024, our employment in our guild was down about 40%, and that was followed by another decline in ’25,” said Nolan. “The amount of money that people spend on our work, on entertainment, is very, very stable. Audiences are invested in us, we have to be sure that we’re able to repay that investment.”

    Other winners Saturday included “The Plague” filmmaker Charlie Polinger for first-time director; “2000 Meters to Andriivka” director Mstyslav Chernov for best documentary filmmaking; and “The Studio” directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg for comedy series.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Pieter Mulier Named Creative Director of Versace

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    MILAN (AP) — Pieter Mulier has been named the new creative director of the Milan fashion house Versace starting July 1, according to an announcement on Thursday from the Prada Group, which owns Versace.

    Mulier is currently creative director of the French fashion house Alaïa, and was previously the right-hand man of fellow Belgian designer and Prada co-creative director Raf Simons at Calvin Klein, Jil Sander and Dior.

    In his new role, Mulier will report to Versace executive chairman Lorenzo Bertelli, the designated successor to manage the family-run Prada Group. He is the son of Miuccia Prada and Prada Group chairman Patrizio Bertelli.

    “We believe that he can truly unlock Versace’s full potential and that he will be able to engage in a fruitful dialogue,’’ Lorenzo Bertelli said of Mulier in a statement.

    Mulier takes over from Dario Vitale, who departed in December after previewing just one collection during his short-lived Versace stint.

    Mulier was honored last fall by supermodel and longtime Alaïa muse Naomi Campbell at the Council of Fashion Designers of America for his work paying tribute to brand founder Azzedine Alaïa. Mulier took the creative helm in 2021, after Alaïa’s death.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter of Iranian Drama ‘It Was Just an Accident’ Arrested in Tehran

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    Representatives for the film on Sunday said that Mehdi Mahmoudian was arrested Saturday. No details on the charges against Mahmoudian were available. But his arrest came just days after Mahmoudian and 16 others signed a statement condemning Islamic Republic leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the regime’s violent crackdown on demonstrators.

    Two other signatories, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, were also arrested.

    “Mehdi Mahmoudian is not just a human-rights activist and a prisoner of conscience; he is a witness, a listener, and a rare moral presence — a presence whose absence is immediately felt, both inside prison walls and beyond them,” Panahi said.

    Panahi was also a signatory on the Jan. 28 statement. It reads in part: “The mass and systematic killing of citizens who bravely took to the streets to bring an end to an illegitimate regime constitutes an organized state crime against humanity.”

    Panahi, one of the most acclaimed international filmmakers, has made films through various states of imprisonment, house arrest and travel ban. “It Was Just an Accident,” a revenge drama and t he Palme d’Or-winner at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, was inspired by Panahi’s most recent stint in prison. It was there that he met Mahmoudian. Panahi called him “a pillar” to other prisoners.

    “It Was Just An Accident” was written by Panahi, Mahmoudian, Nader Saeiver and Shadhmer Rastin.

    The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists New Agency, which relies on a network inside Iran to verify its information, says that more than 6,713 people have been killed and 49,500 people have been detained in the recent government crackdown. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll and arrest figures, given authorities have cut Iran’s internet off from the rest of the world.

    Panahi has repeatedly spoken out against the crackdown.

    “As we stand here, the state of Iran is gunning down protesters and a savage massacre continues blatantly on the streets of Iran,” Panahi said last month at the National Board of Review Awards in New York. “Today the real scene is not on screens but on the streets of Iran. The Islamic Republic has caused a bloodbath to delay its collapse.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • In Minneapolis, All-Encompassing Immigration Story Tests a Newsroom in Midst of Digital Transition

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    With the eyes of a nation fixed on the unrest in Minneapolis, the events haven’t left local journalists overmatched.

    Over the past month, the Minnesota Star Tribune has broken stories, including the identity of the immigration enforcement officer who shot Renee Good, and produced a variety of informative and instructive pieces. Richard Tsong-Taatarii’s photo of a prone demonstrator sprayed point-blank with a chemical irritant quickly became a defining image. The ICE actions have changed how the outlet presents the news.

    At a time when many regional newspapers have become hollowed-out shells due to the decline in journalism as a business, the Star Tribune has kept staffing relatively steady under billionaire Glen Taylor, who has owned it since 2014. It rebranded itself from the Minneapolis Star Tribune and committed itself to a digital transformation.

    It was ready for its moment.

    “If you hadn’t invested in the newsroom, you wouldn’t be able to react in that way,” said Steve Grove, publisher and chief executive.


    Minnesota’s robust journalism tradition

    The Star Tribune hasn’t operated in a vacuum. Minneapolis has a robust journalism tradition, particularly on public radio and television. Sahan Journal, a digital newsroom focusing on immigrants and diverse communities, has also distinguished itself covering President Donald Trump’s immigration efforts and the public response.

    “The whole ecosystem is pretty darn good,” said Kathleen Hennessey, senior vice president and editor of the Star Tribune, “and I think people are seeing that now.”

    While national outlets have made their presence felt, strong local teams offer advantages in such stories. The Star Tribune’s Josie Albertson-Grove was one of the first journalists on the scene after ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead on Jan. 24. She lives about a block away, and her knowledge of the neighborhood and its people helped to reconstruct what happened.

    Journalists with kids in school learned about ICE efforts to target areas where children gather by hearing chatter among friends. While covering a beat like public safety can carry baggage, Star Tribune reporter Liz Sawyer developed sources that helped her, along with colleagues Andy Mannix and Sarah Nelson, report on who shot Good.

    Besides those contacts, the staff simply knows Minnesota better than outsiders, Hennessey said.

    “This is a place with a really, really long and entrenched tradition of activism, and a place with really deep social networks and neighborhood networks,” she said. “People mobilize quickly and passionately, and they’re noisy about it. That’s definitely been part of the story.”

    A Signal chat tipped Tsong-Taatarii about a demonstration growing raucous on Jan. 21. Upon arriving, he focused his lens on one protester knocked to the ground, leaving the photographer perfectly placed for his richly-detailed shot. Two officers hold the man face-down with arms on his back, while a third unleashes a chemical from a canister inches from his face. The bright yellow liquid streams onto his cheek and splatters onto the pavement.

    What some have called the sadistic cruelty involved in the episode outraged many who saw the photo. “I was just trying to document and present the evidence and let people decide for themselves,” Tsong-Taatarii said.


    ‘A badge to prove I belong’

    In one enterprising story, the Star Tribune’s Christopher Magan and Jeff Hargarten identified 240 of an estimated 3,000 immigrants rounded up in Minnesota, finding 80% had felony convictions but nearly all had been through the court system, been punished and were no longer sought by police. Hargarten and Jake Steinberg collaborated on a study of how the size of the federal force compared with that of local police.

    Columnist Laura Yuen wrote that her 80-year-old parents have begun carrying their passports when they leave their suburban townhouse, part of the “quiet, pervasive fear” in the Twin Cities. Yuen downloaded her own passport to carry on her phone. “A document that once made me proud of all the places I’ve traveled is now a badge to prove I belong,” she wrote.

    A piece by Kim Hyatt and Louis Krauss detailed the health consequences of chemical irritants used by law enforcement — or thought to be used, since questions about what specifically was deployed went unanswered.

    “I really think they’ve done a commendable job,” said Scott Libin, a veteran television newsman and journalism professor at the University of Minnesota. He praised the Star Tribune’s story about the criminal backgrounds of immigrants as thorough and dispassionate.

    Since Hennessey, a former Associated Press editor, began her job last May, the Star Tribune has experienced a run of big stories, including the shooting of two state lawmakers and a gunman opening fire at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. And, of course, “we have a newsroom that still has muscle memory from George Floyd ” in 2020, Grove said.

    News compelled fundamental shifts in the way the Star Tribune operates. Like some national outlets, it has rearranged staff to cover the story aggressively through a continuously updated live blog on its website, offered free to readers. There’s also a greater emphasis on video, with the Star Tribune doing forensic studies on footage from the Pretti and Good shootings, something few local newsrooms are equipped to do. Traffic to its website has gone up 50 percent, paid subscriptions have increased and the company is getting thousands of dollars in donations from across the country, Grove said.

    “People have changed the way that they consume news,” Hennessey said. “We see that readers are coming back. You know, they’re not just waking up in the morning, reading the site and then forgetting about us all day long. They’re coming back a couple of times a day to check in on what’s new.”

    Most people in the newsroom are contributing to the story, including the Star Tribune’s food and culture team, and its outdoor reporters. “There are no normal beats anymore,” Albertson-Grove said.


    A rapid transformation to a digital-first newsroom

    Under Grove, a former Google executive, the Star Tribune has attempted a digital-first transition, turning over about 20% of its staff in two years. The paper shut its Minneapolis printing plant in December, laying off 125 people, and moving print operations to Iowa.

    “We face every single headwind that every local news organization in the country does,” Grove said. “But we do feel fortunate that we’re the largest newsroom in the Midwest and it’s part of the reason we’re able to do this now.”

    As a reporter, Sawyer says the public response to the outlet’s work, sharing stories and images, has lifted her spirits. Readers see it as public service journalism. Still, she could use a break. She and her husband, Star Tribune photographer Aaron Lavinsky, have a baby daughter and make sure to stagger their coverage. They can’t both be tear-gassed or arrested at the same time; who makes the daycare pickup?

    “I think both residents and journalists in this town are running on fumes,” she said. “We’re tired of being in the international spotlight and it’s never for something positive. People are trying their best to get through this moment with grace.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • From Stilettos to Safety Concerns on Inauguration Day: 4 Takeaways From Melania Trump’s New Movie

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The new documentary “Melania” opens on a close-up of the trademark stilettos of first lady Melania Trump as she walks the halls of Mar-a-Lago, her Palm Beach home, in early January 2025, following her as she climbs into a dark SUV for the short drive to the airport and a flight aboard her husband’s personal plane to New York and their Trump Tower penthouse home.

    The movie, which stretches nearly two hours, is a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the first lady’s life during the 20 days before she resumed the role last year. The first lady, who is known to fiercely protect her privacy, had film crews follow her in Palm Beach, Florida; New York City and Washington, during that window to show her transition from a private citizen to public figure to an audience that mostly regards her as kind of a mystery.

    “With this film, I want to show the American people my journey,” she says in the documentary, which opened Friday in theaters in the U.S. and around the world.


    The first lady focuses on getting details just right

    Viewers follow Melania Trump through a variety of meetings — and fittings — where the former fashion model appears keenly focused on the precise fit of her inaugural coat and hat and the gown she plans to wear to the balls. In one of the scenes where she’s wearing the coat, she asks for it to be tightened around her hips. In another, after she comes downstairs in the strapless gown, her request is for the black trim at the top to be fixed straight across and to not flop.

    She reviews the minute arrangements for a pre-inaugural candlelight dinner in Washington for President Donald Trump’s donors, such as the invitations and the caviar served inside a golden egg. And she works on furnishing the family’s private living quarters on the second floor of the White House. She asks her interior designer for a bigger bed for their son, Barron, “because he’s much taller now” than in Trump’s first term.


    She meets with powerful women

    Melania Trump, who was involved in every aspect of the film’s development, includes scenes from meetings with some powerful women before Inauguration Day: a video call with Brigitte Macron, the French president’s wife, to discuss working together on children’s initiatives, and a sit-down with Queen Rania of Jordan.

    She also meets with Aviva Siegel, who had been held hostage by Hamas militants after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and whose husband of 44 years was still in captivity at the time of the meeting. The film’s credits say Melania Trump played a key role in winning the release of Siegel’s husband.


    Melania was concerned about safety on Inauguration Day

    She and President Trump attend a meeting with Secret Service officials to review plans for the day. Told that there will be several points along the parade route where they could get out of the limousine to walk along Pennsylvania Avenue, she asks, “Is it safe?”

    She doesn’t appear reassured by the answer, and says she knows Barron will not get out of the car. Trump had been the target of two assassination attempts during his campaign, including one at a rally in Pennsylvania in which his ear was grazed by a bullet and a supporter standing behind him was fatally shot.

    Trump eventually moved the traditional outdoor inauguration ceremony indoors due to concerns about bitterly cold weather, and the parade was moved indoors to the Capital One Arena.

    Melania Trump, who narrates the documentary, calls it a “practical decision” to move the parade. “But in truth, I was relieved,” she says.


    Melania says she wants to modernize the role of first lady

    She says in the film that she wants to move beyond the traditional “social duties” of first ladies. In some ways, she’s already done so, especially with the documentary.

    Presidents and first ladies generally wait until they leave the White House to pursue such projects to avoid questions about possible conflicts of interest or ethics.

    The film, announced before the Trumps returned to the White House, is the product of a reported $40 million deal with AmazonMGM Studios. Amazon does business with the federal government, and co-founder Jeff Bezos has sought to improve relations with the president.

    Melania Trump also has not been tied to living in the White House. In Trump’s first term, she took the unusual step of living in New York for several months so that Barron, then in elementary school, could finish the school year. In the second term, she spent much of the first year in New York and Florida working on the film.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Longtime Festivalgoers Say the Final Sundance in Utah May Also Be Their Last

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    PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Attendees at this year’s Sundance Film Festival could not stand in line, step onto a shuttle bus or walk into a lounge without hearing one common question: “Will you go to the festival when it moves to Boulder?”

    The media professional from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, considers this the last year of the festival in its true form, “because a Sundance outside Utah just isn’t Sundance.”

    A group of women walked down Main Street on Saturday wearing yellow scarves that read “Our last Sundance 2026.” Another festivalgoer with a film reel balanced atop her head held a sign dubbing this “the last Sundance.”

    “It’s not just a resistance to change,” said Suzie Taylor, an actor who has been coming to Sundance on and off since 1997. “Robert Redford’s vision was rooted here. And isn’t it poetic that he passed right before the last one?”

    For Julie Nunis, the joy of Sundance is grounded in the tradition Redford created in Park City more than four decades ago. The actor from Los Angeles has come to the festival nearly every year since 2001 and said she doesn’t want to experience it any other way.

    Redford, who died in September at age 89, established the festival and development programs for filmmakers in the Utah mountains as a haven for independent storytelling far from the pressures of Hollywood. Before his death, Redford, who attended the University of Colorado Boulder, gave his blessing for the festival to relocate.

    Boulder emerged victorious from a yearlong search in which numerous U.S. cities vied to host the nation’s premier independent film festival. Sundance organizers decided to search for a new home because they said the festival had outgrown the ski town it helped put on the map and developed an air of exclusivity that took focus away from the films.

    Some film professionals and volunteers said they were willing to give Boulder a try but worried Sundance could lose its identity outside its longtime home.

    Lauren Garcia, who has come from Seattle to volunteer at Sundance for the past six years, said curiosity may lead her to Boulder for future festivals. She described feeling a sadness lingering over the final Utah festival and wondered if Redford’s death means it’s time for Sundance to close this chapter.

    “How is the festival going to express itself in a new place and continue his legacy? It’s a huge question mark,” said Garcia, an anthropologist. “The truth is, it’s never going to be the same now that he’s gone.”

    Redford’s daughter, Amy Redford, who serves on the Sundance Institute’s board of trustees, said she’s excited about the transition, even if it comes with a steep learning curve.

    Nik Dodani, an actor and filmmaker passionate about telling LGBTQ+ stories, said he’s excited to experience the festival in a new state that embraces diversity, but he worries the departure will create a “vacuum” of those stories in Utah.

    Amy Redford assures that won’t be the case.

    The piece of her father’s legacy that she said meant the most to him — the institute’s lab programs for emerging screenwriters and directors — will remain in Utah, at the resort he founded, about 34 miles (54 kilometers) south of Park City. Filmmakers will continue to “create the civil discourse that we really need to be having in the state,” she said.

    “Boulder, Colorado, will be a new adventure. It will feel like our beginnings when we were trying to figure things out, and that will have an important impact on what we do,” she told The Associated Press. “But the way that we meet artists where they need to be, well, that evolves out of a heartbeat that is here” in Utah.

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  • Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. Lead Road Movie Gone Wrong, Bringing Comedy to Sundance

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    One of the latter comes from filmmaker Macon Blair, a Sundance veteran and grand jury prize winner for “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore,” whose new movie might best be described as a road movie gone wrong.

    Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. play two down on their luck guys and general screwups who are hired to transport a troubled teen (Mason Thames) to a treatment facility in “The S—heads,” which had its world premiere in Park City, Utah Friday night. It’s one of the films looking for distribution at the indie film festival.

    Blair and Alex Orr started working on the script over 10 years ago. It almost got made in 2017, but financing fell apart when they were in pre-production.

    “Over time it got a little darker, a little seedier, a little angrier. It’s still a comedy, it’s still meant to be fun and breezy and a good time,” Blair said. “But there was a current of something that became a little more pronounced.”

    When they decided to try again, Franco was the one who helped get it across the finish line, joining as a producer, finding the money and suggesting Jackson and Thames for their roles. Blair loved watching Franco work, in particular.

    “Every single thing he does, you’re like, ‘Oh that could go in the movie,’” Blair said. “He’s so prepared, so dialed in. It was impressive to watch.”

    The film also features surprising supporting performances by Kiernan Shipka and Peter Dinklage, who Blair became friends with after getting a beer at Sundance not too long ago. His hope is to find a distributor who might be open to a theatrical release, citing a movie like “Friendship ” as an example of a more unconventional movie that audiences turned out for.

    “I hope someone gets the vibe of the movie on its own terms,” Blair said. “You don’t name a movie this because you want it to be a Merchant Ivory thing. But there’s other things in it. I think about O’Shea’s performance and how vulnerable he gets in this. I’m hoping people laugh, I’m hoping people have a good time. But I’m also hoping people see that he’s a great actor too.”

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  • Stars and the Public Say Final Good Goodbye to Fashion Icon Valentino at Rome Funeral

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    ROME (AP) — Global fashion celebrities will join the public on Friday morning to say goodbye to iconic designer Valentino at his funeral service in Rome at the central Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.

    After a two-day public viewing Wednesday and Thursday at the Valentino foundation’s headquarters in the Italian capital, the funeral marks the final tribute the internationally acclaimed designer.

    Top fashion names including designers Tom Ford and Donatella Versace along with longtime Vogue magazine powerhouse Anna Wintour and Hollywood stars like Anne Hathaway are expected to attend the funeral service.

    Valentino Garavani, who died aged 93 at his Rome residence Monday, was adored by generations of royals, first ladies and celebrities such as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Jordan’s Queen Rania and Julia Roberts who swore the designer always made them look and feel their best.

    Hundreds of people have already paid their respects to the “last emperor” of Italian fashion during the public viewing. Valentino always maintained his atelier in Rome, while he mostly unveiled his collections in Paris.

    His sumptuous gowns have graced countless Academy Awards, notably in 2001 when Roberts wore a vintage black and white column to accept her best actress statue. Cate Blanchett also wore a one-shouldered Valentino in butter-yellow silk when she won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2005.

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  • How Duckwrth’s Imaginary Grammy Button Led to a Real Grammy Nomination

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Duckwrth manifested a 2026 Grammy nomination for his album while in the recording studio. He just didn’t know it.

    The singer, songwriter and producer would pretend to press an imaginary Grammy button whenever he and his friends finished a new track.

    “It would be certain moments when we’ll be done with the song, and we’ll come up with this thing called ‘Grammy button.’ It’s an invisible Grammy button — we’ll be like, ‘Grammy, Grammy.’ And we said that over and over again … it was an interesting, beautiful manifestation,” the artist told The Associated Press.

    The 37-year-old musician first started turning heads with his genre-fluid debut mixtape “I’m Uugly” in 2016. Soon his eclectic sound could be heard across films and television shows like “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and HBO’s “Insecure.” Since then, Duckwrth’s music has gone against the grain, seamlessly blending elements of hip-hop, funk, rock and soul throughout his projects.


    Immersive sound for a unique project

    Duckwrth’s latest album, “All American F—Boy,” is nominated at the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 1 for best immersive audio album, a category that honors the technical work of albums mixed using multichannel audio recordings.

    If they win, the trophy will be awarded to immersive mix engineer Andrew Law, who formatted the album’s previously mixed stereo recording for Dolby Atmos surround sound, a three-dimensional experience that allows listeners to feel as if they are at the center of the songs’ layered instruments and melodies.

    “The difficult part is you have to keep the essence of the actual song so that when people listen to it on headphones or on other mediums, and not like in the (Dolby Atmos) studio, that it still sounds like the song without making it too crazy,” said Law. “I try to take the approach of keeping the song how it was meant to be heard. And then turn it into a big soundscape and something really, really fun when you’re sitting in an Atmos studio.”

    The project is immersive in more ways than one. While brainstorming his next project, Duckwrth knew he wanted to center it on a character who was a bit more “brash and more a Sid Vicious type.”

    “So, I feel I had to find a way to blend what they already knew me for,” he said. “I told my friend I gotta trick people, I gotta secretly drop a rock album, but people not know it’s a rock album.”

    At the time, he was listening to audiobooks, like George Orwell’s “1984,” and wanted the album to feel like the layered soundscapes in a film or audiobook. So, he sat down and, over the course of 2 ½ years, created his own audio drama within the album, starring himself and featuring narration from actor LaKeith Stanfield. The album was produced alongside BLK ODYSSY and 2Fresh, featuring artists like Tanerélle, Sherwyn, Tommy Newport and IDK.

    The album follows the titular “All American F—Boy” as he navigates the ups and downs of dating while grappling with a fear of commitment. His character ultimately is forced to confront his toxic playboy tendencies and break the patterns that have kept him in a constant loop of failed relationships. The loosely autobiographical project weaves into its coming-of-age story the invitation to explore the ways generational trauma, patriarchy and toxic masculinity affect romantic relationships.

    “I was highly uncomfortable dropping this album, but I think when the wind pushes you so hard, it’s like when you’re like a child throwing a tantrum, and you’re just like, ‘No, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna go to school,’ but then your mom is like pushing you out the door, like ‘Boy, if you don’t get in that car,’” said Duckwrth. “So I think making this album, it was a strong wind against my back, pushing me forward to go as deep as possible and be as vulnerable as possible.”

    When looking back at the album’s journey, both Law and Duckwrth knew they had something great on their hands. For Law, it was an instant win from the narration to the music.

    “I was like, this is the one,” he said.

    Duckwrth says the album and Law’s immersive engineering work receiving a Grammy nomination is rewarding and a reminder to trust himself, his creative intuition and to be just as vulnerable with future projects.

    “Yeah, to get a Grammy nomination for just being all out rebellious is pretty cool,” he said with a smile on his face. “And I’m excited for the kids who come after me to see that, whether we win or not, just having a nomination, especially for my album.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Han Kang, Angela Flournoy, Arundhati Roy Nominated for National Book Critics Circle Awards

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    The critics association announced nominees in eight competitive categories and three honorary winners, including the celebrated author-journalist Frances Fitzgerald, who will receive a lifetime achievement award.

    “Out of the many hundreds of titles that our organization carefully considered this year, these singular and striking finalists rose to the top,” NBCC President Adam Dalva said in a statement Tuesday. “They interrogate the lives we lead, broaden our creative and social horizons, move us, and continually surprise us. Especially in this difficult time, every one of these writers and translators deserves to be celebrated -– and to be widely read.”

    Han’s “We Do Not Part” (translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris) is a fiction finalist, along with Karen Russell’s “The Antidote”; Katie Kitamura’s “Audition”; Solvej Balle’s “On the Calculation of Volume (Book III),” translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell; and Flournoy’s “The Wilderness.”

    Roy is a nominee in autobiography for “Mother Mary Comes to Me,” with other books cited including Geraldine Brooks’ “Memorial Days”; Beth Macy’s “Paper Girl”; Hanif Kureishi’s “Shattered”; and Miriam Toews’ “A Truce That Is Not Peace.”

    Finalists in other categories range from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s “To Save and to Destroy” for criticism to Nicholas Boggs’ “Baldwin: A Love Story” for best first book to Kevin Young’s “Night Watch” for poetry.

    Winners will be announced March 26.

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  • Channing Tatum to Bring His Dancing, Ab-Heavy ‘Magic Mike Live’ to New York City

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Channing Tatum is bringing the stage spin-off of his wildly successful “Magic Mike” film franchise to New York City, promising to “turn up the gas” on a show that already generates plenty of heat.

    “Magic Mike Live” — which offers plenty of chiseled abs and sex-positivity — will open its specially designed 425-seat immersive experience Oct. 8 at the onetime Copacabana nightclub on the corner of 47th Street and 8th Avenue.

    “We’re going to turn the gas up a little bit and make it a little hotter, just pour some gasoline on it. It’s New York. So you’ve got to throw everything at it,” Tatum tells The Associated Press.

    “Magic Like Live” flips the traditional, cheesy male review on its head, putting the women in the audience first at a time when toxic masculinity is under fire.

    The show features 13 ripped male dancers and a female MC, combining songs, aerial acrobatics, comedy, plenty of drink service and audience participation, only if wanted.

    “It’s kind of like a dance spectacular that has a sexy twist, and sexy for us is a lot of things. Sexy is funny. Sexy is athletic. Sexy is smart. So we try to approach the dance with all of those things in mind,” says Alison Faulk, co-director and choreographer.

    “There’s very few spaces that are made with women in mind,” she adds. “This is made with the woman in mind and making her whole night happy and easier and fun, just to like to take a load off. There’s few places like that.”

    Some of the songs will include Ginuwine’s “Pony,” which is featured in the films, 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop,” Gallant’s “Open Up,” James Brown’s “Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine” and Ro James’ “Permission,” as well as original music.

    The creators say the new venue is a hybrid between a really beautiful nightclub and a theatrical space, with multiple bars and lounges and seating that ranges from couches to traditional theatrical seats, to bar stools, cabaret tables and banquets.

    “What we really try to do is to create an evening of surprise and delight that gives you a bit of what you expect and then a whole bunch of things you never thought you’d ever get,” says Vincent Marini, creative director and executive producer. “What we did for the male revue is very similar to what Cirque du Soleil did to circus.”

    Tatum, who spent time in a Chippendales-like revue as a young dancer before becoming a movie star, conceived of the nightclub-style shows but warns visitors not to expect a live version of the “Magic Mike” movies.

    “One of the biggest reasons why I wanted to make this show was to kill that old version of male entertaining, because I’ve worked in that version and it’s misogynistic and degrading to women,” he says.

    “It’s just gross a little bit. I ain’t gonna lie. Like, I did it for like about 10 months and I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy. This is nuts,’” he adds. “Most of the people that end up loving our show, I think, the most are the people that kind of hate that type of thing the most.”

    The success of the films first spawned a Las Vegas stage show in 2017 that now has outposts in London and Berlin and is touring Australia. The version that lands in New York will be tweaked to reflect the city and creators say they’ve fine-tuned the story.

    Tatum says the creators have learned that audiences in different cities act differently — London’s were more staid than Vegas, for instance — and that whoever is the MC can really change the experience by setting the tone.

    “This New York production is the culmination of 10 years of work and thought and watching millions of people, men and women go to this show,” says Marini. “We want to come to New York with the very best version of this that we’ve ever done.”

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  • Box Office: ‘28 Years Later: the Bone Temple’ Opens Behind ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’

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    “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” may have scored well with critics, but slightly more moviegoing audiences chose to spend the holiday weekend catching up with “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” James Cameron’s epic topped the North American box office charts for the fifth straight weekend with $13.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Walt Disney Co. also celebrated another win as their Thanksgiving release “Zootopia 2” became the highest grossing animated Motion Picture Association release of all time.

    Meanwhile “The Bone Temple,” directed by Nia DaCosta, landed in second place with $13 million through Sunday. By the end of Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, it’s expected to be at $15 million, still trailing “Avatar’s” projected $17.2 million. The film, released by Sony Pictures and starring Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell, opened wide this weekend in 3,506 theaters on a wave of hype and strong reviews. It currently has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 72% of audiences said in a PostTrak poll that they would “definitely recommend” the movie. Considering it’s also solidly in the horror genre and arriving in January, often a dumping ground for lesser movies, “The Bone Temple” should have done better. Internationally, it made $16.2 million from 61 markets.

    But perhaps in a case of too much too soon, the sequel also comes less than a year after the previous installment, “28 Years Later,” which opened to $30 million in June. Going into the weekend, “The Bone Temple” was expected to make at least $20 million through Monday. With a reported $63 million production budget, not including marketing and promotion, it also has a long journey to break even.

    “It’s one of those head-scratchers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore. “There may be a little bit of confusion from audiences. But word-of-mouth might sustain it in this marketplace, like we saw with ‘The Housemaid’ and ‘Zootopia 2.’”

    Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the team who started it all with “28 Days Later,” which came out in 2002, are also working on a third installment.

    Third place went to “Zootopia 2,” with $8.8 million in its eighth weekend. With global grosses currently at $1.7 billion, it surpassed “Inside Out 2” as the highest grossing MPA animated release of all time. The MPA distinction means that the Chinese blockbuster “Ne Zha 2,” which has made over $2.2 billion, is not included in the rankings. “Zootopia 2” is also now the ninth biggest global release of all time

    “The Housemaid,” one of the other major blockbusters of late, landed in fourth place with $8.5 million. Made for only $35 million, the Lionsgate release has grossed nearly $250 million worldwide.

    Rounding out the top five was “Marty Supreme,” which became A24’s highest grossing North American release with a running gross of $79.7 million, unseating “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Josh Safdie’s mid-century adrenaline rush may get another boost after Oscar nominations are announced Thursday.

    “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Two Towers” were also back in theaters this weekend and both in the top 10, grossing $3.6 million and $2.4 million respectively.

    Outside of the top 10, Focus Features’ “Hamnet,” which won best drama and best female actor for Jessie Buckley at the Golden Globes last weekend and is considered another top Oscar contender, expanded to 718 locations this weekend where it made $1.3 million through Sunday.


    Top 10 movies by domestic box office

    With final domestic figures being released Tuesday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore:

    1. “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” $13.3 million.

    2. “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” $13 million.

    3. “Zootopia 2,” $8.8 million.

    4. “The Housemaid,” $8.5 million

    5. “Marty Supreme,” $5.5 million.

    6. “Primate,” $5 million.

    7. “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” $3.6 million.

    8. “Greenland 2: Migration,” $3.4 million.

    9. “Anaconda,” $3.2 million.

    10. “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” $2.4 million.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – January 2026

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  • A Rare ‘Thank You’ to the Media From the Trump Administration

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    In the wake of last weekend’s U.S. military action in Venezuela, the news media got something it has seldom heard from the Trump administration: a “thank you.”

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited news organizations that had learned in advance about last Saturday’s strike that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with not putting the mission in jeopardy by publicly reporting on it before it happened.

    Rubio’s acknowledgment was particularly noteworthy because Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has cited a mistrust of journalists’ ability to responsibly handle sensitive information as one of the chief reasons for imposing restrictive new press rules on Pentagon reporters. Most mainstream news organizations have left posts in the Pentagon rather than agree to Hegseth’s policy.

    Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Rubio said the administration withheld information about the mission from Congress ahead of time because “it will leak. It’s as simple as that.” But the primary reason was operational security, he said.

    “Frankly, a number of media outlets had gotten leaks that this was coming and held it for that very reason,” Rubio said. “And we thank them for doing that or lives could have been lost. American lives.”

    Semafor, citing “people familiar with communications between the administration and news organizations,” reported that The New York Times and The Washington Post had both learned of the raid in advance but held off reporting on it to avoid endangering U.S. military personnel. Representatives for both outlets declined comment to The Associated Press on Monday.

    Withholding information on a planned mission for that reason is routine for news organizations, said Dana Priest, a longtime national security reporter at the Post who now teaches at the University of Maryland. Even after the fact, the Post has asked government authorities about whether revealing certain details could endanger people, she said.

    When The Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently included in a text chain last spring where Hegseth revealed information about a military attack in Yemen, the journalist did not report on the events until well after U.S. personnel was out of danger and the information had been thoroughly checked out.

    Most Americans learned of the Venezuela attack in the predawn hours of Saturday when President Donald Trump announced it on his Truth Social platform upon completion.

    While The Associated Press did not have advance word that the operation would happen, its journalists in Venezuela heard and observed explosions taking place there, and that was reported on the news wire more than two hours before Trump’s announcement. The U.S. involvement was not made clear until Trump’s post, however.


    Decisions on publication have many dimensions

    Hegseth, in defending rules that restrict reporters’ movements and reporting in the Pentagon, told Fox News last year that “we have expectations that you’re not soliciting classified or sensitive information.” The Times last month filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the rules.

    Decisions on whether to report information that could put lives or a mission in danger often involve high-level discussions between editors and government officials. But Priest stressed that in a country with freedom of the press, the ultimate decision on whether to report the information lies with the news organization.

    Generations ago, President John F. Kennedy persuaded editors at the Times not to report when it learned in advance of a U.S.-backed attack by Cuban exiles on Fidel Castro’s forces at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The mission proved a monumental failure and a Times editor, Bill Keller, later said that Kennedy expressed regret that the newspaper had not reported on what it had known because it could have prevented a fiasco.

    Many mainstream journalists covering the military and national security have extensive experience dealing with sensitive issues, Priest said. But there’s a difference, she said, between reporting information that could put someone in danger and that which could prove embarrassing to an administration.

    “The reporters are not going to be deterred by a ridiculously broad censorship edict by the Trump administration,” Priest said. “They’re going to dig in and work even harder. Their mission is not to curry favor with the Trump administration. It’s to report information to the public.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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