In May 2024, it was announced that Peter Farrelly had been tapped to direct I Play Rocky. The movie will detail how Sylvester Stallone fought tooth and nail to play the role of Rocky Balboa for the very first time in 1976’s Rocky, which was directed by John G. Avildsen and won the Best Picture Academy Award.
It was previously announced that Anthony Ippolito, known for starring in 2022’s Purple Hearts, will play a young Stallone in the film.
Who is playing Carl Weathers in the Rocky biopic movie?
Per Deadline, it has now been announced that Stephan James will play Carl Weathers in the Rocky biopic.
Weathers, who passed away in February 2024, played Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky movies. While Apollo is initially a foe that Rocky has to face in the ring, the two set their differences aside and team up in 1982’s Rocky III, creating a friendship that lasts until Apollo’s death in 1985’s Rocky IV.
James is known for playing Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt in Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, which was released in 2018, and Jesse Owens in 2016’s Race. His filmography further includes 2013’s Selma, 2015’s Across the Line, 2019’s 21 Bridges, 2024’s The Piano Lesson, and 2025’s Night Always Comes, among other titles. In television, James starred as Walter Cruz in Amazon’s Homecoming series, while he’s additionally appeared in shows such as Degrassi: The Next Generation, Clue, The L.A. Complex, Shots Fired, #FreeRayshawn, Surface, and Beacon 23.
The screenplay for I Play Rocky comes from Peter Gamble. Toby Emmerich and Christian Baha are producing the film, while FilmNation Entertainment is handling production services and international sales.
A release date for I Play Rocky has not yet been set.
The first half of 2024 is over! And we at THP can’t wait to see how the rest of the year will treat us. For now, let’s discuss this month’s K-POP HOTSPOT. June’s K-Pop comebacks blew all our expectations out of the water! We got so many refreshing summer bops and bangin’ new anthems.
Honey bees we know June was a busy one and July is just about to be just as busy but we have some news for you! GI-DLE are finally coming back with their 7th mini album I SWAY on July 8th, they have already started dropping teasers for it and we couldn’t be more excited! But that’s not all the girls are also going to be launching their new world tour iDOL. The tour kicks off on August 3rd in Seoul and we wish all of you wanting to go the best of luck! We hope to grab tickets during the hopefully soon to be released
Speaking of tours, MoAs we have some amazing news for you TXT are bringing their tour as a VR theatre concert tour called HYPERFOCUS : TOMORROW X TOGETHER VR CONCERT to the US and you can catch it in a theatre near you starting off on August 8th in LA! Make sure you watch the teaser for it here because we are hyped!
Now let’s focus on more music releases as Kim Jaejoong is about to celebrate his 20th anniversary with a new album called Flower Garden and in order to kick the celebrations off Jaejoong already released the pre-release song ‘I AM U,‘ and it couldn’t have been better!
But that’s not all when it comes to music our favorite new SM boy group RIIZE is thriving with their newest mini album and to make it even better the boys also released a remix album dedicated to ‘Impossible’ through long-term SM project iSCREAM. This bops hard and we will be raving to it throughout the summer! Stream it here.
Now as a last piece of exciting news you know we always love SEVENTEEN and the boys have now been appointed UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador for Youth. Every day that goes by the boys make us happier and prouder of them. The ceremony for it took place on June 26th in Paris and the boys looked absolutely amazing.
Okay lads! That’s all it’s time to get into this month’s releases!
WAYV
Let’s kick off our June K-POP hotspot with the best news ever! WayV is back with their fifth mini-album, Give Me That. The title track, ‘Give Me That,’ is a catchy love anthem in the Chinese and Korean versions. (Because what can’t they do?) And WayV’s music videos never disappoint! Their new EP has absolutely no skips, and our favorite b-sides are ‘She A Wolf’ and ‘New Ride.’
Our favorite duo is back! AKMU’s new EP, Love Episode, is finally here! The whimsical title track ‘Hero’ has such a soothing vibe. Their concepts and visuals never fail to amaze us, and the music video for ‘Hero’ healed our inner child. We could listen to ‘Long D’ and ‘Answer Me’ all day. Leave it to AKMU to give us the vibes we need throughout the summer.
The girl groups this year really do not play around! BADVILLAIN’s debut single, OVERSTEP, beat all of our expectations. The title track, ‘BADVILLAIN,’ is the hip-hop banger we’ve needed, and our villain era starts now. The fire verses and choreography really speak for themselves. And these girls blessed us with a killer music video for ‘YAH-HO (BADTITUDE)’ and a performance video for ‘+82!’ We’ll be stanning until further notice, thanks.
A month with a single from Lovelyz Yein will always be a good one! Yein celebrates her birthday with ‘I Will Be Your Spring,’ a cute and romantic ballad marking the end of the season. And it sounds even more lovely than we expected (as if that were possible!) The music video has the sweetest vibes, taking us back to our high school years and crushes.
June was truly a good month for new music, especially when the outstanding vocals of Han Seung Woo joined the fresh releases. SCENE may only have three tracks, but the number doesn’t matter when the quality is superb. The title, ‘Blooming,’ feels perfect for the warm season, giving us a feeling of freedom and positivism. A little encouragement to live our lives the way we want is always welcome. We are also not able to keep away from the two B-sides, giving us a different experience that is not something you’d want to miss out on. Have you checked the special clips for ‘Lost’ and ‘Stay’ yet?
Get ready if you haven’t checked this one out yet. You will have an ‘Awesome day’ with GHOST9 and their latest release. This single is screaming summer song, and we are stacking our playlists for the warm season every chance we have. Adding GHOST9 just makes them even better. Don’t tell us you would skip this song when it’s right here, waiting for much-deserved appreciation.
There is nothing that warms up our hearts the way the guys from INFINITE do with their music. They showcased the sweetest vocals in their special anniversary single, ‘Flower,’ proving their uniqueness again. We got emotional and melted repeatedly while we listened and even more while watching the special Live clip prepared for us. Seeing the members perform in a sunflower-filled area made the experience even more memorable. It is impossible not to fall in love with INFINITE’s charm and sound. If we are their flower, then they are our suns.
Our queens are back to save the summer right when it starts! cignature has released their fifth EP, Sweetie but Saltie. And is it a bop? Of course, it is! The title track, ‘Poongdung,’ makes it easy to get up and dance along. We always love their refreshing and fun music videos! cignature delivers on their b-sides as always, ‘I like I like’ (both versions!) and ‘Melody.’ These girls slayed this comeback!
CSR has dropped their new single album, L’heure Bleue: Prologue, and we’ve been replaying these two songs for weeks! The title track, ‘Pretty Mob,’ is a masterpiece from start to finish! From the groovy vibe to the music video visuals, we’re addicted to CSR. These girls even directed their special music video for ‘HELLO!’ We absolutely loved this comeback and hope CSR can get the recognition they deserve!
SUPER JUNIOR songs always get us in a good mood with their fun sound and humorous music videos. ‘Show Time’ feels like we’re attending a one-song concert that starts with an impactful high note and carries just the right track to groove to with our favorite 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸 stars. You’d catch us vibing to the track when we hear it and learning to follow the dance while enjoying their show-stopping music video.
Second-gen king XIA is back with a summer single celebrating his 20th anniversary since his debut! ‘Our Season’ is a rock ballad with a lovely message and XIA’s lovelier high notes. Yeo Jin Goo stars in the bright and nostalgic music video. We’re glad XIA also gave us the instrumental version of ‘Our Season’ because that guitar solo at the end really sealed the deal for us.
TRENDZ brightened our summer playlists like the shining seven meteors that they are. Their latest single album, DREAMLIKE, offers us a good time, but we always enjoy the musical ride with this group. The title track won us with its bright vibes, giving us a feel-good track to love. We’re just mesmerized by their ‘GLOW’ and that choreography. And we simply can’t take our eyes off of it. We also recommend you listen to the energy-inducing B-side, ‘Out of Control.’
Next in our June hotspot is Candy Shop’s first comeback with Girls Don’t Cry! This mini-album has four tracks, and we didn’t skip through a single song. The title track, ‘Don’t Cry,’ sounds like a perfect addition to your summer soundtrack. Their music video feels like a dream, and the visuals are amazing! And rounding out the rest of the EP, ‘Tumbler (Hot & Cold)’ and ‘Welcome To My World’ are title track-worthy b-sides.
Nobody talk to us right now. We’re too busy crying over Weki Meki’s disbandment to function. Their song, ‘CoinciDestiny,’ hits us right in the feels. It sounds so bittersweet, and we couldn’t help getting emotional over the music video. The girls go on a scavenger hunt, finding clues that ultimately bring them back together. We wish them the best and will continue to support them wherever they go!
WOOAH’s back with a brand new concept! Their latest mini-album, Unframed, has taken over our playlists. The rock title track, ‘POM POM POM,’ is edgy and empowering. The girls sing about being their biggest cheerleaders, and they ate this song up, especially the rap verses. We’re glad to be here to witness WOOAH experiment with different concepts, and we’re replaying this EP all summer.
If we’re talking about summer vibes, we must talk about BTOB Peniel’s new single, ‘MIoBI (Make It or Break It)!’ It’s been too long since we got a solo comeback from Peniel. But we’ll wait forever if it’s a banger like ‘MIoBI’ is! This addictive track stole our hearts, especially with how solid Peniel’s vocals are. He has an incredible range, and we can’t wait for more music!
H1-KEY is SO back! Their third EP, LOVE or HATE, has high-quality songs one after the other. The title track, ‘Let It Burn,’ is a badass breakup anthem. We’re here for the rock vibes, and these girls did not let us down! H1-KEY also wrote the lyrics for their catchy b-side ‘letter,’ making it even more memorable. Another no-skips mini-album for June’s K-POP Hotspot!
SF9’s Hwiyoung is back with his first single album, Traveling Fish! We’re so in love with the relaxing lead single, ‘It Is Love ❤️.’ And Hwiyoung even blessed us with a music video and live clip of ‘It Is Love ❤️!’ We can’t get enough of his sweet voice and English lyrics. Traveling Fish also features his previous singles’ Drive5′ and ‘HBD,’ as if we haven’t replayed them enough already!
June is THE month for new singles! Only four months after his full album release, iKON’s DK has just released his latest single, ‘Umbrella!’ We weren’t expecting to be moved to tears because of DK, but here we are. ‘Umbrella’ feels like the type of song we’d listen to before we fall asleep. DK sings about comforting a lover and letting them cry as much as they need, which is enough to soothe us on our worst days.
We always have a soft spot for TWS. These boys have just released their second mini-album, Summer Beat! The title track, ‘If I’m S, Can You Be My N?’ is bubbly and so much fun to hear! Their music video makes this track even more enjoyable. We’re also obsessed with their b-sides ‘Keep On’ and ‘Fire Confetti.’ Whatever you do, don’t sleep on TWS’s vocals and concepts!
Do our ears deceive us? N.Flying is back with a new single, and we’re hyped! ‘Into You’ is an upbeat summer track about someone who is so in love that they can’t help but confess! It doesn’t matter if they look like fools; they just want to give as much affection as possible. We already can’t wait for the next comeback!
The ever-iconic U-KISS is back with a new EP! When they released ‘Morse Code’ back in April, we thought we’d have to wait a while before their next release. But we’re so glad to be proven wrong! Their 13th mini-album, Let’s Get Started, has us falling in love with them all over again. The title track ‘Stay With Me’ has U-KISS’s signature sound with a killer guitar instrumental. And they sure gave us nostalgia with a new version of ‘Man Man Ha Ni!’
SHINee will always and forever have a special place in our hearts, and the fact that they never disappoint us is one of the reasons why. After what felt like a draught, Key finally gives us a bit of food with his newest single, ‘Tongue Tied.’ Can we just say this is exactly what we needed to end the month of June with? The song fits right in with Key’s previous albums. This futuristic but mysterious sound is what suits him so well. ‘Tongue Tied’ and his b-side ‘Fresh’ have been on repeat!
Guess who else debuted this month? Project group B.D.U has released their first-ever EP, Wishpool! B.D.U features Bitsaeon (MONT), Seunghun (CIX), Jay Chang (ONEPACT), and Kim Min-Seo. AKA four incredible vocalists, dancers, and all-rounders. The mini-album’s title track, ‘My One,’ is so high quality it’s hard to believe it’s only their debut! We also love the b-side ‘Forget All’ and the ballad ‘Everlasting Miracle.’ Congrats on debuting, B.D.U!
NCT WISH came back with their second Japanese single album, Songbird! And one of our favorite things about these boys is their youthful and fun concept! The title track, ‘Songbird,’ embodies that perfectly, from the music video to the dance break. We’d play this track any time we need a mood booster, especially on our way to and from work!
Name an artist that’s more well-rounded than ROCKY. That’s a tough one, right? He just released his new EP, Blank, comprised of four tracks you won’t want to skip! The music video for ‘Jealousy’ shows off his talents as a dancer and actor. ROCKY sings about being overcome with jealousy and not wanting to share his lover’s affections. The vibes are it! We can’t get enough of this anthem.
What a jam-packed month! June’s K-POP HOTSPOT has been blessed with new additions to our vacation playlist, and we couldn’t be happier!
What was your favorite June comeback? Which ones are you most excited about for next month? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet us @TheHoneyPOP!
A casting agency in Atlanta has cut ties with the production of “Tulsa King” over claims that Sylvester Stallone, the star of the Paramount+ series, made disparaging remarks about background actors during a recent shoot for the mob drama’s second season.
Rose Locke Casting announced Sunday on Facebook that it had “chosen to part ways” with the series after Stallone and an unnamed director called some of the extras “ugly,” referring to one of them as a “tub of lard” and another as a “fat guy with a cane,” Deadline reported Monday. The casting agency also claimed Stallone, 77, made the suggestion that the production should bring in “pretty young girls to be around me” instead of the actors who were hired.
The accusations reportedly stemmed from last week’s filming of a bar scene in the series, which follows Stallone as a New York City mafia capo sent to Tulsa to establish criminal operations there after completing a lengthy prison term. The series premiered in 2022 and was renewed for a second season, becoming Stallone’s biggest role since he reprised his iconic Rocky Balboa character in the first two installments of the “Creed” trilogy. Production began at the beginning of the month.
“Tulsa King” director and executive producer Craig Zisk told TMZ that there was a conflict over how the scene was cast, but he denied that Stallone or anyone else insulted the background actors. Zisk claimed the actors were supposed to be between 25 and 35 years old, but the extras on set were instead older than expected. The actors were included in the scenes, Zisk said, but he confronted casting supervisor Rose Locke to require that she begin submitting headshots of extras for approval before hiring them.
Locke reportedly didn’t want to work that way and quit about an hour later.
Stallone has not publicly responded to the accusations against him.
Some of the claims about Stallone’s comments were discussed on private Facebook pages used by background actors.
“What the f— is up with these f—ing ugly background …” Stallone was accused of saying to a director, according to the moderator of one Facebook page who urged Georgia actors not to seek work on “Tulsa King.”
On another Facebook page for actors in South Carolina, moderator Dee Dee McDaniel Simmons said she didn’t want to believe what she had been hearing.
“At first I had hoped it was just a bad rumor started by 1 person who may have felt some type of way; but there have been countless people who were on set and have stated what they saw, how they were treated, etc.,” McDaniel Simmons wrote. “Sadly it seems Sly Stallone and crew made things miserable for the background artists and many have said the set was completely unprofessional and a total mess.”
An email Locke had sent to her team — shared by writer Julie Benson, who’s not connected to “Tulsa King” — said the resignation was due to a “clear toxic environment” on the set of the show.
Got this disturbing news from my Atlanta friend who’s background on Tulsa King this wk. Casting agent quit because she was so disgusted. My friend is feeling anxious about working now. @TheSlyStallone what do you have to say for yourself, sir? Beyond disappointed, I’m livid. pic.twitter.com/EYEuiaWtkf
Zisk said Stallone’s wife, former model Jennifer Flavin, was on the set last week and that Stallone didn’t say anything about “pretty women” being cast as background actors.
Deadline reported that one of the extras said it “hurt his soul” to be described negatively by Stallone.
Stallone’s longevity has been fortified by the staying power of the “Rocky” series and many of his earlier films. He was in Philadelphia in December to celebrate the city’s first “Rocky Day,” joining fans who traveled from far and wide to attend the event and see the fictional boxing hero’s statue outside the Art Museum. City officials now plan to expand the “Rocky” celebration into a festival.
Rose Locke Casting said it will finish out its commitments with the “Tulsa King” production until Friday.
“We send well wishes to whomever takes over the show,” the agency said. “We thank all of you great background artists for your continued support.”
Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft’s long-running open-world RPG series, and Vanderpump Rules, Bravo’s long-running reality TV series, are connected—kind of. It’s rare that two of my biggest, most disparate interests collide so spectacularly as this, but here we are, and it’s all thanks to a man named Jax Taylor.
The Week In Games: Pokémon With Guns And More New Releases
Taylor, one of the former stars of VPR (he left/was fired after season eight, depending upon who you ask) has been claiming for nearly 15 years that the face on the Assassin’s Creed I box art(or II, depending upon who and when you ask) is based on his visage. Taylor, who was previously a model, even lists it as one of his (unverified) credits on his old Model Mayhem page.
Before we go any further, it’s important to note that Taylor has, historically, been considered to be, well, um, a liar. As any VPR fan knows, and as a 2019 Vulture article pointed out, Taylor was accused of infidelity in back-to-back seasons and “both times [he] convinced both the show’s behind-the-camera staff and his friends that he was wrongfully accused; both times, he was caught red-handed as the season ended.” Taylor was also tied up in a lie in season six, after he was caught cheating on his future wife (then-girlfriend) with another co-star. There are other lies you’ll find deep in the Bravo subreddits: that he was roommates with Channing Tatum, that he almost got a job working for the NHL, that he loved the tea set Lisa Vanderpump gave him as a wedding gift.
But the reality TV star doggedly insists that he is, indeed, the face on the cover art of an Assassin’s Creed game. He recently doubled down on this claim at Lexington Comic Con, which took place in the Kentucky city over the March 7-10 weekend. Taylor and several of his former and current castmates (he’s starring in a new Vanderpump Rules spinoff called The Valley alongside his maybe-future-ex-wife, Brittany Cartwright) had their own tables at the convention, which were decorated with images of their professional appearances. On Taylor’s table: A picture of the Assassin’s Creed I cover art.
Is Jax Taylor the face of the Assassin’s Creed box cover art?
Screenshot: Jax Taylor on X / Ubisoft
Now, here’s where things get confusing. Taylor first claimed this video game connection back in 2012, when he posted “Me on the cover of assassins [sic] creed II” on X (formerly Twitter). The picture accompanying the text certainly looks like cover art for an Xbox 360 game, but there are some notable discrepancies. First, the image depicts Assassin’s Creed I, not II, and second, that picture doesn’t appear to have ever been used for a physical release of the Ubisoft game. An intrepid reporter asked about this alleged cover art back in 2022, and the replies only unearthed more questions: It appears that the image Taylor posted is from a website called Customaniacs, which, back in the Xbox 360 era, would share hi-res, downloadable, custom pieces of box cover art for people to print out and slip into the plastic shells.
On March 12, I reached out to Taylor’s PR via email, who initially confirmed that Taylor was “on the first season” of Assassin’s Creed. When pressed for clarification, the representative confirmed that he was the model for “the very first game” and “just the box art.” I thanked them for the clarification.
An hour later, unprompted, Taylor’s representative emailed me an image that only made things more baffling: a picture of the cover of PlayStation: The Official Magazine’s Holiday 2009 issue, which featured the publication’s review of Assassin’s Creed II. Yes, a review of the sequel, not the first game like his representative initially confirmed. To add more layers to this confusion cake, the PlayStation mag cover does not depict the box art for any Assassin’s Creed game, but bespoke art. (Unrelated, but hilarious: the image is clearly just the cover torn off the magazine, the rest of which Taylor ostensibly threw out.)
Screenshot: Jax Taylor Instagram / PlayStation: The Official Magazine
Not long after my conversation with his PR person, Taylor posted a picture of the PlayStation: The Official Magazine cover that had been emailed to me to his Instagram story, with the caption “Flashback to when I did the cover art/box art for #assassinscreed 2009.” He tagged the Instagram accounts for Lexington Comic Con and PlayStation.
The thing is, a French-Canadian model named Francisco Randez has been widely credited as the face of series protagonists Desmond, Altair, and Ezio. Randez has done interviews about his role in the series and has an IMDb credit for it. In a 2011 interview, Assassin’s Creed devs discuss creating the digital likenesses of the character, referring to the “handsome model” as a “neighbor” of the game’s producer in Montréal…though they have trouble remembering his name and call him “Rafael.” (It’s around the 8:50 mark.) Is there more than one “Assassin’s Creed guy”? Is Jax Taylor one of them? Is he none of them?
I reached out to both Ubisoft and Francisco Randez. Ubisoft declined to comment, and Randez has yet to respond.
So, it’s still unclear if Jax Taylor is, indeed, the face on the cover for either Assassin’s Creed I or Assassin’s Creed II. As a VPR fan, I’m inclined to believe he’s not, but what do you think?
Devoted fans of the “Rocky” franchise stunned Philadelphia planners in December when the city held its first Rocky Day outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Sylvester Stallone, the writer and star of the classic films, was greeted by.thousands of people – including some from distant countries – who had come to celebrate boxing’s greatest fictional hero. They took pictures in front of the Rocky statue at the foot of the museum’s iconic steps and bought merchandise from the new Rocky Shop, a shipping container adjoined to the nearby visitor center.
The success of Rocky Day so far exceeded the city’s expectations that there are now plans taking shape for a larger Rocky festival later this year, one that likely will become an annual tradition.
“It was bonkers,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Visitors Center Corp., the nonprofit that markets the city and connects tourists with local experiences.
The Dec. 3 event — held on the 47th anniversary of the original film’s release — wasn’t expected to be much more than a press conference and a ribbon-cutting for the Rocky Shop. Even factoring in the appearance from Stallone, who had also visited in 2018 to promote “Creed II,” Ott Lovell and her colleagues think they downplayed the potential for “Rocky” to generate more tourism in Philly. There was a downpour on Rocky Day, but that didn’t stop people from showing up.
“I think ‘Rocky’ has always been sort of a marketing gimmick for us in the tourism industry,” Ott Lovell said. “It’s like cheesesteaks and Ben Franklin, but I think Rocky Day helped demonstrate that ‘Rocky’ is actually a draw for tourism. People are coming to the city to have a ‘Rocky’ experience.”
The story of Rocky Balboa is generally beloved in Philly — it encapsulates the city’s underdog ethos — but the lore attached to the film’s backdrop isn’t necessarily enthralling to the average resident. The bronze Rocky statue, made as a prop that first appeared in “Rocky III,” even generated some controversy over where it should be kept when the city accepted it as a gift from Stallone. It spent some time outside the former Spectrum in South Philly before it was permanently placed outside the art museum in 2006.
Since then, the statue has been a year-round magnet for tourists. Its pop culture appeal contrasts somewhat oddly with the more elevated art museum, whose leaders have only recently warmed to leveraging Rocky’s mystique as a way to increase visitation.
Many of the Rocky Day attendees in December traveled internationally from places including Venezuela, Chile, France and Germany. Ott Lovell said Philly is “a mythical place” to “Rocky” fans who identify the city with the Oscar-winning film and its five sequels. For some, Rocky Day showed that scenes from movies are pilgrimage sites.
“I think what we don’t understand is that what Sylvester Stallone created was a fairy tale — a fable,” she said. “He wrote an allegory and that’s what this is to the rest of the world. It’s not just a Hollywood movie. It holds a much deeper meaning and it is symbolic of what the American dream is.”
On Wednesday, PVCC held its first meeting to begin planning this year’s Rocky festival, which could be held over several days or weeks. A date has not yet been set, but it will overlap with Rocky Day. Specifics need to be ironed out, but the event could involve developing organized tours at notable locations from the movies.
“What we hear from visitors is that (the art museum) is just one stop on their ‘Rocky’ tour,” Ott Lovell said. “People are actually creating their own tour to go to Mighty Mick’s Gym, to go the Victor Cafe, to go see Adrian’s grave at Laurel Hill Cemetery or go to the Italian Market. People are doing this on their own.”
The festival also could involve participation from Philly businesses that embrace “Rocky” themes and promotions for travelers. Ott Lovell expects the next two years to build up to a huge occasion celebrating the 50th anniversary of “Rocky” in 2026, which will be a banner year for tourism in Philadelphia with the nation’s 250th birthday celebration and the FIFA World Cup coming to town.
Ott Lovell joined PVCC last July after previously serving as director of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and working with the Fairmount Park Conservancy before that. She played an instrumental role in developing the project — now in its early stages — to redesign the Benjamin Franklin Parkway into a greener, more walkable public space in the years ahead. The current plan would connect Eakins Oval to the Parkway and art museum to create one giant, landscaped park capable of hosting future events like the Rocky festival.
Ott Lovell said she wants to take a more parks-centric approach to cultivating tourist attractions in Philly.
“What we’re doing with the visitor center and Rocky Shop at the base of the art museum steps is just a proof of concept,” she said. “We definitely need to think more ambitiously about a much larger visitor center that can provide the important resources and amenities for all the people who want to have that experience. There’s a much larger conversation and narrative that we need to shift here around the value and the power of public space in terms of attracting visitation and tourism.”
As the golden era of action movies wound down in the late 1990s, Weathers became a consistent figure on the big and small screen, including a well-regarded comedic turn in 1996’s Happy Gilmore.Adam Sandler, who played that film’s title role, wrote on Instagram that Weathers was “smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell. Loved his sons more than anything. What a guy!! Everyone loved him.”
Weathers was introduced to a new generation of fans in 2019, when he joined the Star Wars world in Disney+ series The Mandalorian. As a character named Greef Karga, he was nominated for an outstanding guest actor in a drama series Emmy in 2021.
Carl Weathers at the launch event for season 3 of “The Mandalorian” held at El Capitan Theatre on February 28, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Speaking to Hypebeast as the most recent season of The Mandalorian wound down, Weathers spoke to his life as an actor — but his remarks arguably apply to how his fans are feeling today. “As always, when you have success you want more,” he said. “It’s bittersweet because you know that come next Wednesday, audiences aren’t going to be gathered to witness another episode.”
“For those of us who are performing, we’re eagerly awaiting whether we’ll see a fourth opportunity to bring it all back again,” he said. “But, at the same time, it’s really fulfilling to have gotten through three seasons now and still have people wanting more.”
Actor and former Oakland Raiders player Carl Weathers stands on the Las Vegas Raiders sideline before the team’s game against the Houston Texans at Allegiant Stadium on October 23, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Beloved actor and former NFL player Carl Weathers, whose Hollywood legacy includes an iconic role as boxing heavyweight Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” franchise, has died at 76, his family said Friday.
Weathers’ manager, Matt Luber, told the Associated Press that Weathers died Thursday. The Weathers family said the actor “died peacefully in his sleep.”
Starting with the first installment of “Rocky” in 1976, Weathers played the world champ who gave Sylvester Stallone’s underdog character, Rocky Balboa, the chance to rival him in a title bout in Philadelphia. Weathers developed the Creed role further in subsequent films, becoming the Italian Stallion’s trainer in “Rocky III.” And in the next movie, Creed dramatically dies in the ring during his bout with Soviet fighter Ivan Drago. His character’s son, Adonis Creed, later goes on to helm the “Creed” trilogy starring by Michael B. Jordan.
Stallone and Jordan had not publicly commented on Weathers’ death by early Friday evening.
Though Adonis Creed helped put Rocky on the fictional map, Stallone had a similar impact on Weathers in real life.
In a 2015 interview, Weathers told the The Hollywood Reporter that he nearly ruined his chance to be in “Rocky” because he had mouthed off about Stallone during his audition. Weathers said he had been told there was nobody available to read lines with, so he’d have to do so with the writer of the movie — Stallone.
“And we read through the scene, and at the end of it, I didn’t feel like it had really sailed, that the scene had sailed, and they were quiet and there was this moment of awkwardness, I felt, anyway,” Weathers said. “So I just blurted out, ‘I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with.’ So I just insulted the star of the movie without really knowing it and not intending to.”
Stallone reportedly felt the outburst was in character for Creed and that Weathers’ mistake made him stand out for the role.
Prior to becoming an actor, Weathers played linebacker in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders and also spent time in the Canadian Football League, during which time he pursued a degree in drama.
Weathers’ memorable roles included his appearances in “Predator,” in which he starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in “Action Jackson,” for which got a nomination for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. More recently, Weathers starred as Greef Karga in Disney’s “The Mandalorian” and directed two episodes of the “Star Wars” series.
Weathers’ most-quoted character may be Derick “Chubbs” Peterson, the quirky golf guru who mentors Adam Sandler in “Happy Gilmore.” Chubbs famously clasps his arms around Happy Gilmore ahead of an important putt — showing off the false wooden hand he wears to replace the appendage he lost to an alligator bite — and tells Gilmore that the game of golf is “all in the hips.”
Sandler, who invited Weathers to reprise the Chubbs role in “Little Nicky,” shared a message on X, formerly Twitter, remembering his longtime friend.
A true great man. Great dad. Great actor. Great athlete. So much fun to be around always. Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell. Loved his sons more than anything. What a guy!! Everyone loved him. My wife and I had the best times with him every time we saw him. Love to… pic.twitter.com/Gi2lPWFTgt
Weathers’ death came after he filmed a Super Bowl commercial with former football player Rob Gronkowski, who’s slated to participate in FanDuel’s “Kick of Destiny” before Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and 49ers. Fans are invited place bets on whether Gronk will make or miss the kick — which, in the commercial, Weathers tells him he “won’t miss.”
In a statement on X, FanDuel said it is “deeply saddened” by Weathers’ passing. The company told AdAge it plans to adjust its campaign accordingly out of respect for the family.
Over the past few years, there has been a mass exodus from the liberal state of California, with even A-list stars jumping ship in search of a better life. Back in 2021, the former Rocky star Sylvester Stallone became the latest celebrity to do this when he picked up and moved to Florida with his wife Jennifer Flavin and their daughters.
Now, his wife is speaking out to say that she has no regrets about making this move.
Flavin ‘Really Happy’ With Move
“It’s an incredible move, I have to say I’m really happy with our move and our change,” Flavin, 55, recently told Fox News.
“I was born and raised there, two of our kids were born there, but now everyone’s out, our daughters moved to the East Coast … so there wasn’t really anything left for me in California,” she continued. “A few of our best friends also moved, so I think it’s [a] good change, just making new friends, living a totally different lifestyle, I love it, I’m really happy.”
Stallone, 77, himself also addressed the move at the beginning of his Netflix documentary Sly.
“I wasn’t moving because ‘Oh, wow, I wanted another beautiful view,’” he explained. “Any time changing that paradigm which you become used to, it’s literally to jump-start that process again.”
Though many celebrities have said that they have left California because of the crime there, Flavin was quick to say that this is not why her family made the move.
“There’s crime everywhere, there’s crime in Florida, too, so I didn’t move because of crime,” she said. “You can find it anywhere you look, even in small towns.”
“I think California is probably the most beautiful state in the United States, I absolutely love it, but I just needed a change,” she added. “I felt like I’ve been there long enough, and life is short, so I wanted to make a change and not just be sitting in one house the rest of my life.”
This comes after the former “Superman” star Dean Cain fled California to start a new life in Nevada.
“I love California. It’s the most beautiful state,” Cain, 57, explained to Fox News earlier this year. “Everything’s wonderful about it except for the policies. The policies are just terrible. The fiscal policies, the soft-on-crime policies, the homelessness policies.”
“The things that our leaders in California have been doing have driven out anybody who can really afford to get out,” he continued. “People are flocking out of there in droves.”
The former “Happy Days” star Scott Baio also recently fled California to move to Florida due to rising homelessness and crime.
“I see people… When I drive with my kid, I gotta turn her head away. She’s 14 years old. I see people defecating on the sidewalk,” Baio lamented during a call with the Clay & Buck show. “You see people in parks shooting up. There’s people passed out everywhere. I mean it. It’s not the isolated. It’s all over the place. And I’m about ready to get out of the state. So, you know, just so you guys know, that it’s no joke out here.”
“I think, probably since Governor Newsom, it’s really gotten bad, and maybe a little before that. So, maybe four or five years ago,” he continued. “It’s just… It’s out of control, guys. Listen, I’ve been here for 45, almost 50 years. I’ve seen this place go from an absolute paradise into a cesspool…”
After 45 years, I’m making my way to finally “exit stage right” from California.
“The most recent survey conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority found approximately 69,000 people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County and 41,000 in the city in 2022.” pic.twitter.com/fBCeNyhhhx
In the end, it’s easy to see why so many people are fleeing the radically liberal state of California. If the leftists running California want to keep the likes of stars like Stallone, Cain, and Baio in their state, they might want to start rethinking some of their policies.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust. The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”
Mention the name “Sylvester Stallone” to a casual fan, and it’s probably unlikely that the first word they associate with the Rocky and Rambo star is “artist.” But in Sly, a new documentary about Stallone coming to Netflix this Friday, director Thom Zimny wants to make the case for Stallone, The Artist.
“I was looking at him as an artist from day one,” Zimny says during a recent interview. “I never came to him with a certain POV that defined who he was.”
Sly, which premiered earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival, paints a portrait of Stallone through his work on screen and off, as a star, writer, and director in franchises like Rocky, Rambo, and, yes, even The Expendables. Zimny portrays his subject as a cinematic rebel who carved out a place in Hollywood by creating his own material—and grappled, in his work, with his contentious and at times abusive relationship with Frank Sr., his father.
At the center of the film is Stallone himself, who talks with Zimny in his home office, sometimes going through tapes on which he recorded old interviews. (The house, full of memorabilia, was being packed up at the time, because Stallone had sold it to Adele.) There are talking heads—Quentin Tarantino and Wesley Morris provide film history perspective, while the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Henry Winkler talk about their personal relationships with the man in question—but mostly this is the Sly show. (Well, there’s also, you guessed it, Frank Stallone.)
Zimny has tackled towering figures in pop culture before. He’s worked extensively with Bruce Springsteen and directed films and TV series about Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson. Stallone and his producing partner Braden Aftergood had seen some of Zimny’s work, and reached out to him as they were discussing doing a doc on his life. Zimny was a fan, he says, but he had no take on Stallone going into their first meetings.
“One of his initial conversations with me, he mentioned his father, and I realized suddenly that his father was a big part of of the work,” Zimny says. “This story turned out to be one of the biggest stories to tackle because his life was so rich, and there’s so much to unpack with his childhood and adolescence and rejection. It was pretty daunting in the editing process at times, because there were so many connections between Sly’s body of work and his actual life.”
Calling fans of all things supernatural: It’s your last chance to stream a number of paranormal movies and shows on Netflix.
More than 100 titles are joining the streaming service in September, but 25 are set to depart, including the 2014 comedy horror film “Vampire Academy” and all five seasons of the “Vampire Diaries” spinoff “The Originals.”
Other eerie offerings on the way out include the 2013 zombie rom-com “Warm Bodies” and the horror anthology series “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”
“Warm Bodies” is leaving Netflix in September.
Currently, TV and film writers and actors ― including those who worked on the aforementioned shows and movies ― are on strike over fair pay and working conditions in the streaming era.
Fans of the “Rocky” franchise will also want to take note of what’s leaving in September. The first five “Rocky” movies will be gone at the end of the month.
Check out the full list of movies and shows leaving Netflix below. And if you want to stay informed about everything joining Netflix on a weekly basis, subscribe to the Streamline newsletter.
Every year, film buffs and casual viewers alike get excited when the Academy releases their annual list of nominations — especially when it comes to the Best Picture category. You see, unlike every other category, the Best Picture trophy carries a bit more weight to it. There are less quantifiable elements to it than a more specific category, such as Sound Editing or Costume Design. In those categories, you can pinpoint certain merits based on technique or attention to craft. As a concept, “Best Picture” implies that a film manages to score highly in several departments — but even beyond that, it leaves the biggest impression on its audiences.
The term “Oscar bait” refers to a movie (typically, a drama) that seems particularly geared toward a certain demographic — the industry professionals who get to decide the nominations each year. These films often feature A-list actors in challenging roles, heavy-hitting themes, and sweeping scores. They’re the clear front-runners, and no one is really surprised when they take home the big prize. But other times, a movie has an unexpected victory. Whether it falls into a genre that isn’t typically celebrated at the Academy Awards, or it snubs a more “Oscar-worthy” title, sometimes a film’s win comes as quite a shock to the audience. At the end of the day, though, the news shouldn’t come as a shock to the Academy — they’re the very ones who picked it, after all.
Below, you’ll find 10 of the most shocking Best Picture winners in Oscar history.
The 10 Most Shocking Best Picture Winners In Oscar History
These movies shocked the film world on their way to winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The Worst Oscar Best Picture Winners
These movies won the Academy Awards for Best Picture over better, more deserving films.
I sure as shit did not! But since 2009 she has been posting photos online as TommyBoy, to a website cataloguing photos of abandoned spaces in locations as diverse as Japan, Alaska, Bali and Mexico. The site’s bio simply says
Hi! I’m Japansese urban explorer ‘Tommy’. I enjoy urban exploration all over the world.
But today publisher Read-Only Memory announced that TommyBoy was actually Nakamura, and did so because they’ve decided to release a book together, collecting some of her favourite photos in print for the first time ever. That book is called Project UrbEx, and it looks gorgeous.
Sounds good These headphones have stunning sound range and quality, up to 15 hours of playtime, can switch between two Bluetooth devices at a time, and look great.
Described as “a thrilling photographic adventure around an offbeat selection of the world’s abandoned buildings, captured by one of the videogame industry’s most beloved creatives”, it’s 256 pages of photos and diary excerpts by Nakamura, and is available in a number of different formats.
Famed videogame creator Ikumi Nakamura became widely known after she gave a speech about a “spooooky” game, Ghostwire: Tokyo, at the prestigious E3 conference. Her talent, infectious personality and strong sense of wonder for the world – “I think I haven’t changed much since I was a kid” – has attracted a global cult following. What many fans don’t know, however, is that Nakamura has a secret alter ego in the form of ‘TommyBoy’ – a fearless urban explorer.
For years Nakamura has been traversing the planet to go to under-the-radar abandoned buildings, from the Igloo Hotel in Alaska, a magnificent dome structure housing an intricate carousel-like wooden framework, to a mysterious liquor factory in Mexico with a giant replica bottle on its roof and the disused Blue Horizon Boxing Ring, where Rocky (1976) was filmed. Working in the gaming industry for nearly two decades, Nakamura has dreamt up many imagined worlds, but it’s these forgotten corners of the real world that truly fire her creative vision. Her photographic eye evokes the survival-horror feel of her own dystopian videogames.
With Google Maps at our fingertips, it can often feel impossible to get lost or discover anything novel, but through her daring escapades Nakamura taps into a lost spirit of true adventure. Hers is an enthusiastic brand of tour guiding, taking the reader to eye-opening spaces and atmospheres through exceptional photography and transporting – and sometimes amusing – stories.
Her pictures, gathered here in print for the first time, reveal that, from Japan and the United States, from Belgium to Taiwan, and from Spain to Bali, our planet is teeming with human-made structures lying derelict and undisturbed, waiting to be discovered by intrepid explorers.
