“God is good…. As I post these pictures, my heart and my soul is filled with nothing but pure joy… on October 3 fourth and fifth I had an opportunity to tell my side of the story and there was no better place than Atlanta Georgia,” the Oscar-winning actor and singer wrote on Instagram about his one-man show, One More Chance: An Evening with Jamie Foxx. “I have to thank you Atlanta you showed up and you showed out, I haven’t been on stage in 18 years but I needed the stage and I needed an audience that was made up of nothing but pure love and that’s what you were.”
An emotional Foxx didn’t think of the performance as a stand-up comedy show, it was “an artistic explanation. Of some thing that went terribly wrong, but thanks to the great people in Atlanta especially piedmont hospital you enabled me to come back and be on stage and do what I love to do the most… #nobaddays as my guy James would say #secondchance.”
Foxx has not publicly divulged the cause of his medical emergency, although he spent time at a rehab facility that specializes in strokes and brain injuries.
Megan Thee Stallion doesn’t need a “weird” biopic to be interesting. Her life is fascinating enough as is, and it will all be on display in a new documentary.
Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words is described as offering “unprecedented access to the multi-faceted woman behind the persona.” It follows the Houston rapper’s journey “on the road to stardom as she tenaciously navigates fame, grief, pressure, and success. The documentary unpacks Megan’s most vulnerable moments in a powerful way that allows fans to meet the real Megan Pete.”
When Will Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words Be On Prime Video?
Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words is directed by Nneka Onuorah, who won an Emmy for her work on Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls. “I feel so honored to work with Amazon MGM Studios, Roc Nation, and TIME Studios to share Megan’s story,” Onuorah said in a statement. “Her raw and beautiful spirit really shines through in the film. She is a champion for all women who deserve their truth to be heard.”
Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words continues Megan Thee Stallion’s huge 2024. She released a No. 1 single “Hiss,” hosted the MTV Video Music Awards (and won Best Trending Video for “Mamushi” and Best Art Direction for “Boa”), and sold out arenas on her Hot Girl Summer Tour.
According to Don Cheadle, though, Lamar could have popped up in another musician’s biopic. During the actor’s recent appearance on Way Up With Angela Yee, Cheadle claimed that Lamar was offered a role in the Miles Davis movie, Miles Ahead.
“To talk about acting, when we shot [the ‘D.N.A.’] video, Kendrick was so with it,” he said. “He stayed in character the whole video. He was really committed. He was someone that I had thought about casting in my movie I did, Miles Ahead, and have him play the role of Junior. We talked about it for a long time, and ultimately he said, ‘I don’t think I’m ready to do that. I’m kind of working on a project right now, and I have to see that through, and I also don’t wanna come in here halfway,’ and I was like, ‘No, I get it.’ And it was [his 2015 album] To Pimp A Butterfly, and I’m like, ‘I think you made the right choice on that one!’”
The list of the 10 highest-grossing music biopics of all-time includes Bohemian Rhapsody (#1), Straight Outta Compton (#2), Walk The Line (#4), Bob Marley: One Love (#5), I Can Only Imagine (#7), and Ray (#8). Some of those are perfectly fine films, but they’re also safe. Most music biopics are. They’re glorified Wikipedia summaries. But it appears we’re entering a new era for movies about famous artists and iconic groups that are willing to take weird risks.
When I first read about Piece By Piece, I thought it was a joke. A movie about the life and career of Pharrell Williams… told through Legos? But the more I thought about it (and once I triple-checked it was real), the more I liked the concept. For one thing, the guy who wrote and/or produced “Milkshake,” “Get Lucky,” “Happy,” “Alright,” “Hot In Herre,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and “Got Your Money,” songs so famous that I don’t even need to list the artist, absolutely deserves the biopic treatment. The Lego connection makes sense, too. Pharrell has synesthesia, which means that when he’s hearing music, he’s seeing it in color. “It’s the only way that I can identify what something sounds like,” he told NPR. “I know when something is in key because it either matches the same color or it doesn’t. Or it feels different and it doesn’t feel right.”
Piece By Piece is a playful extension of Pharrell’s unique way of perceiving the world. But why Legos, in particular? “It’s never too late for you to go pick up a Lego set and make things and be a co-creator. It’s never too late to wake up to that. It’s never too late to gain that self-awareness,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “This is my dream, for people to have that.”
If your dream is to see a movie about Robbie Williams told from the perspective of a monkey, you’re in luck!
As a kid, I was confused by the popularity of Robbie Williams. I would read about how he was a massive star in Europe, but in the United States, it was crickets. Even now, I’m only vaguely aware of a few of his songs, so Better Man normally wouldn’t be something on my radar — until I saw the trailer, which has the only acceptable use of “I know what you’re thinking” in voiceover history. He’s right: what is with the monkey? Better Man is “based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams,” per the official synopsis, but instead of Robbie being represented by, like, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, he’s portrayed by actor Jonno Davies in a mo-cap suit to look like a CGI monkey. Obviously.
So, about the monkey: why? “I asked you [Robbie] if you were an animal, how would you see yourself? In your own words, you would refer to being dragged up on stage to perform like a monkey,” director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) said in an interview with the singer. “I immediately thought portraying you not as we see you, but how you see yourself… I am going to see you and relate to you in a way that is going to be more engaging than yet another musical biopic.” It’s a clever creative decision, as it depicts Robbie Williams how he perceives himself, and a smart financial one, too. “Do you want to see the Robbie Williams movie?” Eh, not really. “Do you want to see the movie where that pop star is played by a monkey?” I’m buying tickets now.
Piece By Piece, Better Man, Alex Ross Perry’s experimental Pavements, and before them, Baz Luhrmann’s King of Rock and Roll fever dream Elvis, aren’t the first weird biopics. There’s Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, an experimental short about The Carpenters singer, and I’m Not There, featuring six different actors playing Bob Dylan, both from director Todd Haynes. The hilarious Weird: The Al Yankovic Story literally has the word “weird” in the title! But in a post-Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story world, which brilliantly mocked every rise-and-fall trope, it’s nice to see familiar biopics told in unfamiliar ways. The generic Back To Black‘s of the world are always going to exist, but if Piece By Piece and Better Man do well (they’re both getting solidreviews), maybe we’ll get a Nine Inch Nails Broadway-style musical. Or a Stevie Wonder pixel-art animated movie. Or a Fleetwood Mac erotic thriller. Let’s get weird.
Piece By Piece is out in theaters on October 11, followed by Better Man on December 25
During his recent appearance on Way Up With Angela Yee, Don Cheadle opened up about his part in Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 “DNA” video. He also took the opportunity to reveal that he offered Kendrick a role in his Miles Davis biopic, Miles Ahead. Unfortunately, Kendrick turned it down, but it seems like he had a solid reason.
“To talk about acting, when we shot [the ‘D.N.A.’] video, Kendrick was so with it. […] He stayed in character the whole video. […] He was really committed,” Cheadle explained, “He was someone that I had thought about casting in my movie I did, Miles Ahead, and have him play the role of Junior.”
Don Cheadle Recalls Considering Kendrick Lamar To Play Junior In Miles Ahead
“We talked about it for a long time and ultimately he said, ‘I don’t think I’m ready to do that. I’m kind of working on a project right now and I have to see that through and I also don’t wanna come in here halfway,’ and I was like, ‘No, I get it,’” Cheadle continued. “And it was [his 2015 album] To Pimp A Butterfly and I’m like, ‘I think you made the right choice on that one!’”
Now, several years later, Kendrick is preparing to make his acting debut. He’s set to appear in a film with South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. They were spotted filming earlier this week in Pomona, California. Variety reports that the film will hit theaters next summer. It will follow “a young Black man interning as a slave reenactor at a living history museum who discovers that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his,” according to a post from Discussing Film. What do you think of Don Cheadle revealing that Kendrick Lamar declined a role in his 2015 Miles Davis biopic? Does this surprise you or not? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates.
As the amount of lawsuits filed against Diddy continues to rise, so, too, does the number of stories about his allegedly shady past.
A source told US Weekly that back in 2003, Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington and his wife, Pauletta, attended a party where Diddy was also in attendance. The couple “had been partying until dawn [with Diddy], and they had seen something and stormed out,” according to the insider, who added that Washington reportedly told the rapper “you don’t respect anyone.”
A few years before the alleged incident, Diddy predicted to Entertainment Tonight that his parties would eventually get him arrested. “They’re going to probably be arresting me, doing all types of crazy things just because we want to have a good time,” he said in 1999. “Whenever you bring up a different element into people’s environment, things that broaden people’s horizons, people get intimidated. It’s a lot of people out there that feel intimidated by it.”
Diddy — who has been denied bail — is currently locked up in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center after being charged with racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution. He also faces “at least 120” new sexual assault lawsuits, according to HuffPost, including 25 underage individuals.
Pharrell Williams probably isn’t the first musician you would think of to have their life be turned into movie, let alone a Lego movie — until you take a look at how many hits he’s had a hand in.
With The Neptunes, there’s over a dozen top-10 hits, including “U Don’t Have to Call” by Usher, “Hot In Herre” by Nelly, “Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake, “Milkshake” by Kelis, “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg, “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani, and “Money Maker” by Ludacris. Pharrell also produced “Blurred Lines” and wrote “Happy” (which he also sings) and “Get Lucky,” two impossibly catchy songs that will be played at weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs until the end of time. So, yeah, with that context, the Pharrell movie Piece By Piece makes a lot more sense.
Here’s everything to know about Piece By Piece, including plot details, the voice cast, and when it comes out.
Plot
The trailer for Piece By Piece begins with Pharrell telling Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) that it would be cool “if we told my story with Lego pieces.” It’s not dissimilar from how it happened in real life. “That’s how the conversation went down in my head,” Neville told Variety. “I didn’t know what it was going to be, but it was going to be interesting and I was completely in.”
Pharrell was initially wary of participating in a biopic or documentary about himself because “everyone was doing them at the time, and I was like, ‘Hell no.’ I never want to do what everybody else is doing. Everybody’s taking the Lincoln Tunnel, then I want to take a plane,” he explained. “But when [Neville] finally said the magic words, ‘You can do it any way you want,’ I knew deep down inside that I wanted to do it through Lego.” Sounds like enjoyed Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga as much as I did (fun game!).
Piece By Piece features animated reenactments of key moments in Pharrell’s life and interviews with some of his famous collaborators, including Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, and Jay Z. Except they didn’t know they were going to appear in Lego form. “We purposely did not tell anyone that that would be the finished product. We wanted people to just answer the questions and really give their full, unedited reactions to the opportunity to do the interviews,” the hit-maker confessed. “Because if we would’ve said, ‘Okay, this is going to be in Lego,’ then people would have sort of curved what they were saying.”
Pharrell’s hope with Piece By Piece is to inspire people to follow their ambitions, as he did. “It’s never too late for you to go pick up a Lego set and make things and be a co-creator. It’s never too late to wake up to that. It’s never too late to gain that self-awareness,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “This is my dream, for people to have that.”
Cast
The voice cast consists of [famous person] as themselves, beginning with Pharrell Williams as, well, himself. There’s also Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z, and Snoop Dogg.
Release Date
It’s surprisingly been five years since the last big-screen Lego movie, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. That streak comes to an end on October 11, when Piece By Piece opens in theaters (the same weekend as Saturday Night, Terrifier 3, and We Live In Time — and they say counterprogramming is dead).
Trailer
You can check out the trailer for Piece By Piece below.
Kendrick Lamar was spotted in California, this week, filming scenes for South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s next project. In a video circulating on social media, the “Not Like Us” rapper gets to work on the highly anticipated live-action comedy. He and his collaborator, Dave Free, are serving as producers behind the scenes. It’s slated to hit theaters on July 4, 2025.
In a statement provided to Variety, earlier this year, Paramount CEO Brian Robbins said: “This script is one of the funniest and most original scripts we’ve ever read and it’s certain to create some fireworks.” According to Entertainment Tonight, it will “depict the past and present coming to a head when a young Black man who is interning as a slave re-enactor at a living history museum discovers that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his.”
Kendrick Lamar Accepts Best Rap Album Grammy Award
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: Kendrick Lamar accepts the Best Rap Album award for “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Lamar previously collaborated with Stone and Parker on his “The Heart Part 5” music video in 2022. They helped him work on the deep fake technology used to switch his face between Kobe Bryant, Will Smith, Jussie Smollett, and OJ Simpson. It’s unclear whether Lamar will be making an appearance in the film, but if he does, it won’t be his first time stepping in front of the camera. He acted in 50 Cent’s hit series, Power, as well.
Kendrick Lamar Collaborates With Trey Parker & Matt Stone
The film with Matt Stone and Trey Parker continues a busy year for Lamar who has already dropped one of the most popular songs in the last several months in “Not Like Us.” Additionally, the NFL announced that he’ll be headlining the upcoming Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. Be on the lookout for further updates on Kendrick Lamar on HotNewHipHop.
Amid Diddy’s longwinded legal battle, one of his most vocal critics has been 50 Cent. He consistently trolls the Bad Boy Records founder online and even began teasing a documentary about his legal woes late last year. In May, Fif made this a reality and sold the doc to Netflix. Now, the Alexandria Stapleton-directed doc has been confirmed, and its proceeds will go towards helping victims of sexual assault.
“This is a story with significant human impact. It is a complex narrative spanning decades, not just the headlines or clips seen so far,” 50 Cent and Stapleton told Variety exclusively today. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to give a voice to the voiceless and to present authentic and nuanced perspectives.”
Alexandria Stapleton To Direct 50 Cent’s Diddy Doc
Sean “Diddy” Combs attends Sean “Diddy” Combs Fulfills $1 Million Pledge To Howard University At Howard Homecoming – Yardfest at Howard University on October 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs)
“While the allegations are disturbing, we urge all to remember that Sean Combs’ story is not the full story of hip-hop and its culture,” they also added. “We aim to ensure that individual actions do not overshadow the culture’s broader contributions.” An official title and release date for the doc has yet to be revealed. The news arrived shortly after Diddy was arrested in New York City last week and hit with multiple charges. He was later denied bail for a second time and is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Despite the circumstances, his lawyer Marc Agnifilo insists he’s “strong, healthy, confident and focused on his defense.” What do you think of 50 Cent’s upcoming Diddy documentary being confirmed for Netflix? Are you looking forward to seeing it when it finally comes out? What about the proceeds going to help victims of sexual assault? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates.
Kendrick Lamar isn’t the only current or former member of the Top Dawg Entertainment family with a movie coming out next year.
An R-rated buddy comedy starring SZA and Keke Palmer will release in theaters on January 24, 2025. There’s no official title or even plot details yet, but Variety reports that the cast also includes Lil Rel Howery, Janelle James, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Maude Apatow, Katt Williams, Joshua Neal, Aziza Scott, Patrick Cage, and Amin Joseph. Lawrence Lamont is attached as director, while Rap Sh!t showrunner Syreeta Singleton wrote the screenplay.
Palmer and SZA previously teamed up in 2022 when the Nope actress hosted SNL with the “Kill Bill” singer as her musical guest.
SZA is currently working on her third studio album, Lana, and first since 2022’s SOS broke records.
“You know, this round, I actually don’t want to say anything,” she told The Hollywood Reporter when asked about the album earlier this year. “Just because I feel like I do myself a disservice because you can shift the energy of the album. You got to let it form itself. Because I’m not really forming anything. I’m just kind of here while energy is forming and I’m just trying to allow it to do what it needs to do, and my voice just follows whatever the frequency is. So I feel like I want to allow it to finish shaping itself and form itself before I speak on it and possibly change the trajectory of what it could be. But I will say I’m in a beautiful space creatively and I feel just very new.”
