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Category: Entertainment

  • Music Industry Moves: Mexico’s Intocable Partners With Primary Wave; Julia Jacklin Signs With 4AD

    Music Industry Moves: Mexico’s Intocable Partners With Primary Wave; Julia Jacklin Signs With 4AD

    Primary Wave Music has announced a partnership with the Grammy-winning Mexican outfit Intocable. Terms of the deal will see the publisher partner with the veteran group on their catalog of music, as well as name, image and likeness.

    Formed in the early 1990s, the group has sold more than 4 million albums, won two Grammys, sold out arenas throughout the Americas and is set to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Songs included in the deal are the hits “Fuerte No Soy,” “Mi Gusta Mi Vida,” “Sueña,” “Te Amo (Para Siempre),” “Si Me Duele, Que Duela,” and “Un Poquito Tuyo.”

    “We’re excited to partner with Primary Wave and begin this new chapter together,” said Ricky Muñoz. He continues, “Their vision, passion for music, and commitment to preserving artistic legacy make them the perfect team to help us continue expanding the reach of Intocable’s music for generations to come.”

    Intocable was represented in the deal by Jeremy Rosen, Oscar Carrasco (manager), Diana Zapata (catalog manager), and Alex Hartnett (lawyer).

    + Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin has signed with 4AD, the company announced this week. Jacklin has won two ARIA Awards, toured with Mitski and Lana Del Rey, and played multiple festivals, from Glastonbury to Newport Folk to Primavera.

    In tandem with the announcement, Jacklin unveiled tour dates for North America and Europe, launching in October in San Diego and reaching into next year.

    + Merlin, the digital music licensing partner for the world’s top independent labels and distributors, has announced a series of senior promotions across its Partnerships division.

    Leading the promotions is Emma Robinson’s elevation to vice president of partnerships. She joined Merlin in 2018 from the communications agency Name PR.

    The company has also elevated Shannon Bradley to director of commercial partnerships in New York; Alice Moss and Daniele Yandel to directors of partnership operations in Berlin and New York, respectively; and Simon Marcel to manager of partnership operations in London.

    Charlie Lexton, CEO of Merlin said, “These promotions recognize a group of executives who have played an important role in strengthening Merlin’s partnerships and operational capabilities during a period of rapid change across the digital music landscape. As the digital ecosystem continues to evolve, from AI and social platforms through to new rights management challenges, investing in the people helping our members navigate that complexity remains a key priority for Merlin.”

    + United Talent Agency has signed country artist Josh Weathers for global representation in all areas. UTA will work to secure opportunities across live touring, media, filmed entertainment, brand partnerships, and more.

    The signing comes as Weathers is in the midst of his “Life Still Happens Tour,” which follows his latest project “Neon Never Fades,” released earlier this year. The singer is represented by Adam Hale at One Twenty One Management.

    + Hawaii-based singer, songwriter, guitarist, and surfer Hendrix Frankenreiter has signed with Severance Records in partnership with Big Loud Rock, launching the partnership with the single “Wanna Go.”

    “I’ve spent the last year working on a lot of new music, and ‘Wanna Go’ felt like the right song to start this next chapter,” shared Hendrix. “Getting to release it with Severance / Big Loud Rock has made it even more exciting.”

    “Every artist we sign to Severance has a distinct voice, and from the moment I saw Hendrix Frankenreiter perform at the Peppermint Club in LA, I knew his was unmistakable,” said Severance Records President Steve “Stevo” Robertson. Big Loud co-founder and president of Big Loud Rock Joey Moi added, “Hendrix is an undeniable talent who perfectly balances laid-back energy and sharp songwriting in his music.”

    + Creative production agency Killian + Company has named Shauna Alexander senior vice president of strategy and business development, the company announced this week.

    Alexander joins Killian + Company from her most recent role as VP of bizdev at Empire, where she led brand partnerships and experiential initiatives tied to the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Weekend, and Grammy Week. Earlier, she held leadership roles at SoundCloud, the Fader and Moog.

    Founder Joe Killian says, “Shauna’s industry experience and entrepreneurial approach to brand strategy and storytelling make her the perfect extension to our dynamic team of creative marketers. We’re excited to see how we can continue to grow as an agency and expand our services with the knowledge, connections, and culture-driven lens that Shauna brings to the table.”

    + Sunita Kaur has been named President, Asia, for Universal Music Publishing Group, chairman & CEO Jody Gerson announced this week. Based in Singapore, Kaur will oversee the company’s operations across the continent and will report to Gerson. Previously, she was Executive-in-Residence at Singapore Management University and held senio roles at Twitch, Spotify, Facebook, Microsoft and Forbes.

    Gerson said, “Asia represents one of the most exciting and important regions for the future of music publishing, and I’m thrilled that an executive of Sunita’s experience and depth is joining UMPG to lead our continued growth in the region. She has a deep understanding of the evolving digital landscape and the opportunities it creates for songwriters, and her leadership and relationships across the region will be invaluable as we continue supporting and championing the next generation of songwriters.”

    UMPG COO Marc Cimino added, “Sunita brings to the company an exceptional combination of strategic insight, operational experience and deep relationships across the region. Her experience working across both music and technology gives her a valuable perspective on how our business is evolving, and she is exceptionally well positioned to lead this next phase of our work across Asia. I’m proud to welcome her to the UMPG leadership team.”

    + Warner Music has named Jean-Sebastien “Seb” Permal as senior VP of A&R, EMEA and Central Europe. In this newly-created role, Permal will lead all domestic frontline activity across the recently expanded Warner Music Central Europe and its domestic labels across Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium.

    Permal will also spearhead A&R strategy, artist discovery and signings, and strategic partnerships.

    Permal joins Warner Music from Sony Music, where he most recently served as VP of A&R for Continental Europe and Africa.  He reports to both Simon Robson, President, Warner Music EMEA, and Niels Walboomers, President, Warner Music Central Europe.

    Robson said, “Seb is a world-class A&R executive who pairs an intuitive ear for talent with a sophisticated grasp of the cultural nuances shaping today’s global market. With Seb’s leadership, we’re perfectly positioned to amplify our artists’ reach and connect them with audiences on a truly global scale.”

    + L.A.-based management and representation company the Familie has named Kenny Hamilton as senior VP of growth and strategy. Most recently, Hamilton led CSH Management Group, representing artists including Rotimi, Inayah, and Grammy-winning songwriter and recording artist Dixson, as well as tennis professional Taylor Townsend. Previously he worked as road and tour manager for global superstar Justin Bieber under the SB Projects umbrella, as well as roles at Beats Music and Apple Music.

    “Throughout his career, Kenny has consistently identified opportunities before the rest of the industry catches up,” said Familie founder-CEO Steve Astephen The. “He’s built meaningful relationships across music, entertainment, technology, sports, and culture, and brings a modern perspective on talent representation that aligns perfectly with where we’re headed as a company.”

  • Tom Holland Once Said Playing Spider-Man in His 30s Would Be Bad, but Now Reveals ‘I Could’ve Been Trying to Leverage Sony’ for a Better Deal: ‘A Strategy to Create Fear’

    Tom Holland Once Said Playing Spider-Man in His 30s Would Be Bad, but Now Reveals ‘I Could’ve Been Trying to Leverage Sony’ for a Better Deal: ‘A Strategy to Create Fear’

    Tom Holland made headlines in 2021 when he told GQ magazine that “if I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.” Well, not only is Holland officially 30 right now but he’s also got a new “Spider-Man” movie, “Brand New Day,” opening in theaters July 31 and does not have any immediate plans to stop playing the web-slinger. So is Holland eating his words? Not exactly.

    “It’s funny, I saw that quote pop up somewhere recently and I kind of reeled, because I was trying to remember what I meant,” Holland recently told GQ magazine for the publication’s summer cover story on Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” adaptation.

    “I think the point of it is that I would love to pass the baton on, and I haven’t achieved that yet,” the actor explained. “It’s definitely something that we talk about a lot at the studio. So maybe I need to change the quote to 37. I could also have been trying to leverage Sony and scare them into thinking I wasn’t going to do ‘Spider-Man 4’ now that I had a new deal on the horizon. So I don’t know what it could have been. It could’ve been part of a strategy to create fear.”

    Holland concluded, “I think the truth is that playing Spider-Man has been the joy of my life. I now kind of stand on the plinth of like, I’ll do it for as long as they’ll have me.”

    Over the years, Holland has played a main role in the workings of his ‘Spider-Man” movies. He called on Sony Pictures to delay the production of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” so that he could act in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” and he made a personal plea to Disney’s CEO Bob Iger in 2019 in which he cried over the phone while asking Disney and Sony to reach a new deal to keep his Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    “Tom reached out to folks who worked for me, ‘Could I please have Bob’s email address or phone number?’ Of course I’m very protected and they were very careful,” Iger said at the time. “I said, ‘Sure, have him contact me.’ And he did. We spoke. Basically he made a… he cried on the phone… it was clear that he cared so much and actually we care a lot about him. He’s a great Spider-Man. I actually felt for him, and it was clear that the fans wanted this to happen. So after I got off the phone with him I made a couple of phone calls to our team at Disney Studios and then I decided to call the head of Sony and I said, ‘We gotta figure out a way to get this done.’ For Tom and for the fans. And we did. That’s how it happened. He called me and I called them.”

    Head over to GQ magazine’s website to read “The Odyssey” summer cover story in its entirety.

  • Michelle Visage on Hopes of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Reclaiming Emmys Dominance and Why the RuPaul Biopic “Needs to Happen”

    With 18 mainstay seasons, the release of the 11th All Stars installment and the franchise’s first feature film on the way, there’s never been a busier time in the RuPaul’s Drag Race universe. 

    RuPaul’s Drag Race wrapped its 18th season in April, where Myki Meeks was crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar. It didn’t take much longer (three weeks, to be exact) before Paramount+ premiered the first two episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, where 18 queens from the show’s past returned for a second shot at the crown. 

    To add to the franchise’s plate, World of Wonder, the Emmy-winning production company behind all things Drag Race, and Bleecker Street are gearing up for the June 12 release of Stop! That! Train!, the first film to hail from the show’s universe. The movie is led by RuPaul (of course) along with a pool of Drag Race alums. 

    But to celebrate the mainstay series’ 18th season, as Emmy voting is about to kick off, The Hollywood Reporter attended an FYC event hosted Sunday on the set of the series. As buzz around Stop! That! Train! continues to grow, THR asked Michelle Visage and RuPaul’s makeup artist David Petruschin (aka Drag Race season two runner-up Raven) about one film that’s bound to be made eventually: the RuPaul Charles biopic. 

    “Oh, I think that’s destiny. It needs to happen,” Visage, who serves as a judge and executive producer of RuPaul’s Drag Race, told THR. “We’ve talked about it for the past 30 years. It needs to happen.”

    Michelle Visage attends RuPaul’s Drag Race season 18 FYC Event.

    Jesse Grant/Getty Images for MTV

    When asked when the potential project could come out, Petruschin says, “I think it’s already been in the works. But as far as curating it and getting together, I don’t know. But yeah, that should happen.”

    Visage and Petruschin are shoe-ins to be featured in the film, as the Drag Race Down Under host has been a dear friend and collaborator of RuPaul’s since the ‘80s and the former Drag Race contestant became his makeup artist in 2017. 

    So who should play them in the biopic? Petruschin isn’t so sure yet, but knows “they’d have to have a fierce tan.” As for Visage, she’d like to portray herself, but if that’s not an option, she offers a few leading women as potential options.

    “I think about that a lot, and I feel like Reneé Rapp would be a good person to play me. Julia Garner could be a good me, even Miley Cyrus,” Visage says. “Depends on what age we’re going for here, kids.” 

    The “tougher cast,” Visage notes, will be pinpointing a performer to portray the Queen of Drag. Both Visage and Petruschin agree that either an actor or drag queen could take on the part of RuPaul, but the role should end up going to “whoever is good at the job.” 

    “I can’t remember who he said wanted to play her,” Petruschin teases. 

    Mia Starr, Kenya Pleaser, Myki Meeks, Discord Addams and Mandy Mango attend RuPaul’s Drag Race season 18 FYC Event.

    Jesse Grant/Getty Images for MTV

    The original RuPaul’s Drag Race series has long been a powerhouse at the Emmys, with a whopping 29 awards (and 79 noms) under its belt. The show was the resident reality competition program winner in recent years, before The Traitors began its dominance in 2024. 

    Visage says Drag Race snatching back that title with the upcoming Emmys cycle would be “a statement without saying it’s a statement.” 

    “I think it would be a championship in a way that voices are being heard without saying things. It’s a statement without saying it’s a statement, do you know what I mean?” Visage said of the show reclaiming its reality competition Emmys win. “Especially with what’s going on in the political climate. But, we are grateful just being in that class of people that we’re in; being nominated, being included, being thought of is truly an honor. We spread the love. We’re still celebratory, but if we did [win], it’s definitely a ‘We’re not going anywhere’ type of statement.” 

    The Traitors is RuPaul’s Drag Race‘s key competitor at the Emmys — RuPaul won the reality host award for eight consecutive years before Alan Cumming won the title in 2024, as did the main show in the reality competition category from 2018-2023 (with a one year break in 2022 when Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls won).

    Visage is very busy judging the main and All Stars iterations of Drag Race, also serving as a judge on the UK vs. the World spinoff and serving as host of Drag Race Down Under (and its upcoming spinoff Down Under vs The World). 

    But that doesn’t mean she’s entirely written off appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race’s biggest awards competition. 

    “Would I ever do The Traitors? I would love to be a Traitor,” Visage says when asked if she’d partake in the Peacock show. “But I fear that, if I did, people would automatically assume that I was a Traitor. But then, I said, Lisa Rinna was a Traitor. Bob the Drag Queen was a Traitor. Boston Rob was a Traitor — and if they didn’t think he was a Traitor, then, um, you never know!”

    Michelle Visage, Myki Meeks, Nick Murray, Tom Campbell, Michael Jacob Kerber, Raven, Gus Dominguez, Jamie Martin, Natasha Marcelina, Jamal Sims and Jen Chu speak onstage during RuPaul’s Drag Race season 18 FYC Event.

    Jesse Grant/Getty Images for MTV

  • Sean “Diddy” Combs May Face Sex Assault Case as L.A. Prosecutors Review Publicist’s Claims

    Sean “Diddy” Combs May Face Sex Assault Case as L.A. Prosecutors Review Publicist’s Claims

    Imprisoned rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs could soon face additional legal jeopardy as he serves a 50-month prison sentence at a New Jersey federal facility, after the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office confirmed it is reviewing sexual assault allegations made by a Hollywood publicist to authorities in Florida last year.

    On Tuesday, the office led by Nathan Hochman confirmed Combs is the subject of a probe in L.A. The investigation stems from allegations of sexual battery made by publicist Jonathan Hay, who filed a report in September 2025 in Largo, Florida, just before Combs’ sentencing and after his federal trial ended in a split verdict. The case was referred to L.A. authorities because the alleged incidents occurred there in 2020 and 2021. In September 2025, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said Hay’s accusations were being reviewed by its Special Victims Bureau.

    The two alleged incidents of sexual battery occurred during moments when Hay was alone with Combs while working on remix sessions involving Christopher Wallace, the late rapper Notorious B.I.G.’s son. Hay, present that day as part of a photo shoot, claims the 2020 incident involved Combs masturbating into a shirt belonging to the late Notorious B.I.G. Combs, he claims, “removed the shirt to uncover his penis and told Hay to come finish him off.” According to Hay’s account, Combs then ejaculated and threw the shirt at him.

    Hay alleged that in 2021, Combs forced him to perform oral sex. He stated that he had suicidal ideation after the incident.

    The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors are now evaluating evidence submitted by local investigators; no charging decision has been announced.

    Hay told CNN he had contemplated coming forward roughly 10 months before Combs’ girlfriend of a decade, singer Cassie Ventura, filed the civil case that eventually helped trigger last summer’s federal trial — and which Ventura settled for $20 million the day after it was filed.

    Hay’s allegations first surfaced in a civil suit filed anonymously in July against Combs, Wallace, and others, in which Hay claimed they “conspired” with the powerful mogul to “allow or assist in Combs’ ability to carry out” the alleged sexual battery. Wallace responded with a defamation suit against Hay, claiming Hay was upset that music recorded in 2020 was never released by the Notorious B.I.G.’s estate.

    Responding to the D.A.’s office decision this week, Hay said in a statement that he is pleased the case is moving forward.

    “Standing as a survivor of the actions involving Sean Diddy Combs and Christopher CJ Wallace, I view the validation of my accounts by the LAPD and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office as a critical juncture,” he said. “This development represents a substantial advancement in my pursuit of complete accountability. Justice is prevailing.”

    Combs has denied the allegations in Hay’s suit and all other claims against him. In addition to this potential L.A. indictment, he faces roughly 70 civil complaints related to his alleged conduct over the years, most involving claims of drugging and sexual assault.

    Combs and Ventura, who have not been a couple for nearly a decade, are named together in one of those cases. Sex worker Clayton Howard, whom the couple allegedly hired, claims abuse by both Ventura and Combs. Howard alleges in his complaint that he impregnated Ventura during a drug-fueled encounter and contracted a sexually transmitted infection after participating in a “freak-off” with the couple.

    In a declaration requesting that Howard’s legal action be transferred from L.A. to New York, Ventura revealed she has left the country, stating: “I am not a resident of the State of California. I reside outside of the United States. I do not intend to move back to the United States.”

    Ventura has also filed a countersuit against Wallace, denying his claims.

    In July, a jury found Combs guilty of two federal counts of transportation to engage in prostitution; he was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. In October, he was sentenced to 50 months in prison, which he is serving in New Jersey while his attorneys appeal the case.

  • ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Finale’s Hallway Scene Took Three Days of Prep and One Day to Shoot

    ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Finale’s Hallway Scene Took Three Days of Prep and One Day to Shoot

    Disney+ series “Daredevil: Born Again” is renowned for its iconic hallway fight sequences, so it’s only fitting that the season concludes with another epic moment.

    The episode follows Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) as he gets patched up and is running late to Karen Page’s (Deborah Ann Woll) trial after he was shot in the last episode. Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva) and Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), both testify in the anti-vigilante case, but Murdock steals the show as the key witness when he reveals to everyone in the courthouse that he’s actually Daredevil. When Kingpin’s case gets dismissed, he’s sued by the attorney general and told to step down as mayor — but not before he incites a riot at court. He orders his police force to march on the courthouse, while pro-Daredevil civilians put on red masks and fight back.

    Action director Philip J. Silvera had three days to prep each fight: three days for Daredevil, and three days for Kingpin. He adds, “Each one of them I shot in one day.”

    In designing the fight he knew that Daredevil and Kingpin share a common bond. He says, “They each love New York so much, and they want the same thing from two different sides of the same coin. And that’s the juxtaposition of these two characters.”

    Silvera, having worked on Season 1, is no stranger to the world of stunts and “Daredevil.” But no matter how big the fight sequences needed to be, storytelling remained of the utmost importance for Silvera, and any action needed to be driven by the characters’ emotions. “It’s never so much about the fact that we’re trying to outdo ourselves,” he says.

    With Kingpin, the season begins with him being voted in by the people of New York City as mayor. But in the end, the city and the people have turned against him. Silvera explains that when Kingpin gets into an emotional moment, he loses all sense of calm. “This is the first time that everyone sees it,” he explains. Silvera says, Kingpin is seeing red. “From that first hit, you saw how lethal and powerful he was.” Kingpin walks out into the hallway and “takes out the biggest guy immediately after that, and you start to feel like you’re trapped.”

    The courthouse riot scene intercuts with the anti-vigilante task force. Silvera also got the chance to work with Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones and Camila Rodriguez as White Tiger. “I had never gotten to work with her until the season, so she had now been part of a hallway scene with Matt, and then Camila, who plays White Tiger, she’s amazing. She is short but powerful in how she enters the scene.”

    Despite the action, the storytelling remains front and center, reflecting each character’s way of handling the moment. “Matt and Jessica end up grabbing reporters in the way, and they’re trying to protect these bystanders, whilst trying to stop Fisk. And then you have Jessica Jones, whose powers are finally coming back with full strength. As the scene progresses, you see her regain her strength progressively more and more, and there are key things that we see her grab someone by the arm and pick him up, and we see Fisk doing that in a very human way, so you’ll get the juxtaposition of each one of their character traits and powers, but also the contradiction to the emotional moments they’re going through.”

    Having worked with Cox and D’Onofrio since 2014, Silvera knows how far he can push them. However, this marked his first collboration with Ritter. “I shot a sequence with her earlier where we really got to know each other, and I understood how much she wanted to do and how involved she wanted to be.” He adds, “That being said, when we design the action, you can see them doing 90 to 95 percent of the action.”

    And when things get too risky for the actors, stunt doubles step in. “We have great stunt doubles,” he says.

  • ElevenLabs Partners With Hasbro’s AI Studios to License Transformers, Mr. Potato Head, Clue Characters and More for AI Use

    ElevenLabs Partners With Hasbro’s AI Studios to License Transformers, Mr. Potato Head, Clue Characters and More for AI Use

    Mr. Potato Head, Optimus Prime and Mr. Monopoly are uniting — in the world of AI. 

    AI audio startup ElevenLabs has partnered with Hasbro to bring a collection of the toy and game company’s suite of characters, including some from Transformers, the board games Monopoly and Clue, Mr. Potato Head and to its Iconic Marketplace, its collection of celebrity voices and likenesses that companies can license for commercial use. Some of the characters were available as of Wednesday, while others, including Mr. Monopoly and Optimus Prime, will be available soon.

    The move is a partnership between ElevenLabs and Hasbro’s AI Studio, which is overseen by CEO Bertie Thomson. Thomson and Dustin Blank, ElevenLabs’ head of partnerships, revealed the news at Axios’ AI+NY event in New York — alongside demos of the AI versions of Peppa Pig and “G.I. Joe” character Cobra Commander. (Peppa Pig is currently only available in demo mode.)

    “We’ve approached this with very detailed and robust asset guardrails, so starting right from the whole direction of the character itself,” Thomson said, who called the licensing model “behavioral licensing.”

    “You have so many brand-new atmospheres and opportunities where their characters can be dynamic and interactive,” Thomson added, suggesting AI-backed voices for the characters’ appearances at theme parks.

    Many of the characters’ original voices, such as Peter Cullen’s portrayal of Optimus Prime or Frank Welker’s of Megatron, have remained, while voice actors were cast for characters without voices, such as those from Clue.

    “This partnership is really the first of its kind, where businesses of all kinds can now come to ElevenLabs and they can request to license these iconic characters from Hasbro today,” Black said. “It really sets the stage for the future of licensing.”

    The news reflects the continued interest by entertainment companies in finding new revenue streams for their intellectual property through AI, months after Disney’s sweeping licensing deal to license its characters for OpenAI’s Sora platform collapsed upon Sora’s closure.

    The news comes a week after ElevenLabs added Marvel legend Stan Lee’s voice and likeness to its platform, with the Iron Man and Spider-Man co-creator joining the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, Judy Garland, David Hasselhoff and Albert Einstein. “This partnership is a way of continuing that. Fans have always told us that when they read his comics, they hear the words in Stan’s voice, and now, thanks to ElevenLabs, we can make that a reality,” Chaz Rainey, a lawyer and board member for Stan Lee Universe, said in a statement last week.

    ElevenLabs raised $500 million in a Series D funding round earlier this year at an $11 billion valuation — five months after the company, which launched in 2022, offered employees a $100 million tender offer at a $6.6 billion valuation.

  • Linda Cardellini Loves a Challenge

    DTF St. Louis might have been in a categorical pickle if it weren’t a limited series. As anyone who’s watched the seven-part HBO series can attest, it can be both devastating and deliriously funny. That’s not easy to pull off. Unless, of course, you’re Linda Cardellini.

    In some of the series’ more memorable moments, Cardellini is swimming in an oversized umpire’s uniform. It’s something her character, Carol, wears for the part time job she’s taken to make ends meet — providing physical comedy to a woman navigating a lost marriage and a troubled son in a manner that keeps things from ever getting too dark.

    Cardellini’s eclectic career has been punctuated by quite a few tragicomic performances: Dead to Me’s Judy Hale, perhaps the most notable. But in DTF St. Louis, where she’s one point of a love triangle that also includes Jason Bateman and David Harbour, she treads an even finer line. This is something Cardellini quite enjoys. “I feel grateful that I’ve had a career for this long, for sure,” she says. “But the idea that I’ve been able to do this for many decades, and things are really fun right now? I’m especially grateful for that.”

    During a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Cardellini spoke about her work on DTF (she trained with a real umpire!), the movie that most frequently comes up when she’s stopped by fans and why she’s got two horror projects lined up.

    Looking back at the time between a first audition and getting an offer, what’s been the longest or most circuitous route to a role you’ve ever taken?

    The longest are ones that I don’t get. When I first started, I think I went in for a television show almost 10 times — and then did not get it. That year broke my heart. The following year, I got Freaks and Geeks. So I think I learned early on that when you go in too many times, it’s not going to be you. And that’s OK. But you still get your heart broken.

    And you were like, what, 20 years old when they had you come in 10 times?

    Back in the day, it was just a big, long process, which I’m happy to be out of at this point in my career. Offer only as a huge perk of having a long career, but it doesn’t always happen.

    Linda Cardellini in DTF St. Louis.

    Photograph by Tina Rowden/HBO

    I read somewhere that people thought you’d left the industry when, in reality, you were starring on six seasons of ER late in its run.

    I had somebody say, “Where did you disappear to?” And I didn’t know that that had happened. (Laughs.) Meanwhile, I remember going to Europe and people coming up and saying, “Emergency room!” Sometimes, what the industry is talking about is not necessarily what people who come up to you on the street are talking about.

    What were the indications that you got from the industry that you had no longer “disappeared?”

    While I was on ER, I was also in Brokeback Mountain. So, by that point, if you believed that I had disappeared, I think I was back in your eyesight. I’ve been lucky to be able to support myself since I started. So I may have disappeared here and there, but I was probably still working somewhere on a set.

    What did you think DTF St. Louis was going to look like when you were making it? Tonally, it’s one of the more unique shows I’ve seen in a while and I imagine there could have been many different versions of it depending on the edit.

    I loved the script so much. I loved how it was written. I remember reading Carol and thinking, “I know who she is.” By episode three, she’s this one person. Then, when it gets to be four or five, you realize she’s different than you thought. The idea that she’s not as dishonest as you think she is was fascinating to me. Because what you’ve seen [up until then] is this manipulative, kind of greedy person. And that’s not exactly who she is. The men, you get to know them really easily. But her, not so much.

    In your experience, is it often not like that?

    Somebody like Judy in Dead to Me, you know her. You know her heart. You don’t know what she’s done, necessarily, but you know her heart right away. Somebody like Carol, she’s impassive in a lot of ways. I thought that the show had a beautiful tone. The outcome of anything you never truly know, but I just thought that everybody involved was so incredibly talented.

    This show could have strictly focused on male loneliness and mostly followed Jason and David’s characters, making you the wild card. What did Steve tell you about Carol when you were talking about coming on board?

    Well, Steve always contends he loves Carol. He loves her as a character. So, his care for her and us discussing her always made her feel vital to that triangle. Even though the men and their relationship is really the center focus, I think her being the third in there really helps with the mystery. It helps you see what is happening beyond just the two of them.

    Most importantly: what did you learn about umpiring?

    I learned it’s a good way to make cash. You get to be out in the sunshine. I learned how to do strike and the counter in my hand. I took a little class with a local umpire. It was great. I don’t know that I could really ump a game, but Carol wasn’t the best umpire either.

    The show was billed as limited, but, by all accounts, was incredibly successful. Do you think there’s a world where it keeps going?

    I think that would be wonderful because it would be fun to see what Steve would do with it. As far as the St. Louis crowd goes, we are limited for sure. It’d have to be DTF Omaha.

    Some of your most prominent TV work — Freaks and Geeks, Dead to Me, DTF — really straddle the line between comedy and drama. That’s more common now, but it wasn’t at the top of your career. Has this throughline been by design or accident?

    I never really thought about it like that. Thank you for noticing. (Laughs.) At the helm of those shows, they had people with very specific voices who had a very specific vision of what they were going to do. What they thought was funny. What they thought was dramatic. And I think that really is something that separates it. And those [people] also chose me. So there’s something, I guess, about me that sort of straddles that line.

    Linda Cardellini in DTF St. Louis.

    Photograph by Tina Rowden/HBO

    You’ve been in a lot of cult hits and many mainstream successes. So, if you’re at the mall, what are people approaching you about the most? What comes up the most with interactions with strangers?

    Scooby-Doo comes up a lot. A lot. It’s shocking to me because, when it came out, it wasn’t the same as it is now. Those kids have grown up. They watched it so many times when they were young and now they’re grownups. It means something to them that it did not for the grownups watching it during the time. That’s one that I have noticed, as years have gone on, I’ve gotten more and more and more. But it’s also Judy from Dead to Me and then Freaks and Geeks.

    In recent years, you’ve really leaned into horror: La Llorona. You’re filming the new Bill Hader movie. You wrapped Crystal Lake, the Friday the 13th prequel series for Peacock. Were those roles not your thing earlier in your career?

    Yeah, I didn’t really do that. I didn’t really do that. So now I’m doing it! Sometimes they’re just really great roles for women. With La Llorona, it’s just this story about this woman trying to protect her kids. And we shot it in L.A. and it took place in the seventies and all those things just seemed fun to me. With Crystal Lake, A24, Peacock and [creator] Brad Caleb Kane all came together and they just had this concept for making this story about Pam Voorhees. And if you watch the original movie, it really operates like a whodunit. Spoiler: at the end, you find out that it was Pam Voorhees.

    A character who’s barely seen.

    She’s only in the movie for the last little bit, but she leaves this impression on the entire franchise. There’s so many movies subsequent that you’d think Jason’s always been in that mask doing what he’s doing. But that wasn’t the case. I don’t think he gets the mask a few movies down. It just seemed like something that I had never done. I haven’t seen that many female slashers like that. To dive into who she might have been, I thought, well, that’s something I’ve never done. When I’m looking for things to do next, I ask myself what’s something I haven’t done yet. And that was one of them.

    To your point, the original Friday the 13th is just about a pissed off mom who’s seeking vengeance.

    Yeah, because they let her son drown! There’s fertile backstory there!

  • Emilia Clarke on Moving Forward After Suffering Two Brain Hemorrhages: ‘Recovery Is as Important as Survival’ 

    “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke gave a moving speech while being honored at Variety‘s Power of Women London about surviving two brain hemorrhages in her 20s.

    Clarke went in depth about surviving the hemorrhages in her cover story last week, but still maintained a sense of humor 15 years after the health scare.

    “For a number of years, I felt that I had cheated death, and it was coming to get me,” she said. “I truly felt like I had done something wrong, and I shouldn’t be here. I also thought it ruined my ability to act — which some people might agree with!” 

    Clarke and her mother founded the charity SameYou in 2019, when she publicly revealed what she had been through, and their goal has been to help fellow survivors on brain bleeds. “When I finally shared my story in 2019, we were overwhelmed by the response,” she said at Power of Women London. “Mostly young people reached out to tell us their own stories. Today we have tens of thousands of survivors in our community saying essentially the same thing: the journey to healing feels like falling off the edge of a cliff without anyone there to catch you.”

    The “Game of Thrones” star was honored alongside Emma Corrin, Hannah Waddingham, Suki Waterhouse and Cynthia Erivo. Read her full speech below and watch the video above:

    Hello everyone,
    Thank you, Thea, for that wonderful introduction and thank you Variety for celebrating this incredible group of honorees. It is a privilege to be in a room full of people who are using their platforms to highlight such important causes near and dear to them.
    I am personally here to talk about a shocking health inequality that affects millions of people yet remains largely invisible. In Hollywood, that’s usually a superpower. In healthcare, it’s a problem. It’s also my story, and the reason I founded my charity, SameYou.

    This is the fact: one in three people will suffer a brain injury at some point in their lives, and if you survive your brain trauma, you might expect to be cured and get back to life as normal. But you would be wrong.

    We have a universal crisis when it comes to brain injury aftercare. The combined number of people currently living with the life-changing consequences of stroke and traumatic brain injury in the UK and the US is more than 15 million people alone. Yet our healthcare systems still don’t have a clear way out of this crisis or the ability to help those in need.

    That is why, with my mother Jenny, we founded SameYou. Because finding the essential support you need to return to life is often a lottery—a social inequality that rarely gets airtime, let alone focus and funding. It’s one of the biggest gaps in health and social care systems, wherever you live.

    I was 22 when I suffered my first brain haemorrhage. 24 when I had my second. I was also 22 when I filmed the first season of Game of Thrones, and 24 when I made my Broadway debut. Id like to blame my brain haemorrhage for the bad reviews but it happened after we closed, early…

    Fifteen years after my first bleed, I have the hindsight to see how difficult that time truly was. I never had the chance to reflect on what my two brain traumas had done to me because I could walk, talk, be myself, remember my lines and was back on camera within weeks of both brain injuries.

    I was fine, right?

    I ignored what was going on with my hormones, or rather my lack of them, my extreme fatigue that no one else I knew in their 20s suffered? What about my anxiety? Surely that’s normal working in our image obsessed industry? Breaking a rib after filming a sex scene? Well, maybe that was his fault. But sometimes even blacking out after long night shoots? The pain all over my body? I didn’t even think I should find out why. I just put it down as stress and my non-stop work schedule, that I wasn’t too good at coping with. I thought I had been fixed. So did my doctors. None of us could see the pattern, so I blamed myself.

    It never occurred to me that maybe the problem wasn’t me…that it was because brain injury is extraordinarily complex, and we’re still only beginning to understand the impact it can have long after you’ve supposedly recovered.

    What usually happens when you’re rushed to hospital with a brain injury is that doctors do everything possible to save your life. They stop the bleeding, remove the clot, find the source, cut it out, stitch you up, and send you home. But what many people don’t realise is that whatever symptoms remain—physical, cognitive, emotional, linguistic—the consequence is unresolved trauma. And there are simply too few neuropsychologists and specialist rehabilitation services for that reality to change without a major shift in priorities.

    When everyone around you thinks you look fine, they treat you as though you are. Eventually, you start believing you should be too. I often compare brain injury today to where cancer was a century ago: misunderstood, stigmatised and hidden from view.

    When rehabilitation is available, it’s usually measured in weeks rather than years and focused on only the most visible symptoms. Brain injury recovery is still in its infancy, leading to lost potential, lost livelihoods and too many people falling through the cracks.

    At SameYou, our mission is to help rethink recovery.

    In 2011, I didn’t want anyone to know about my brain bleeds. I was ashamed and overwhelmed by a diagnosis I didn’t understand. We didn’t even tell HBO until we knew I wasn’t going to die which in TV terms, is usually when they kill you off anyway. After my second haemorrhage in 2014, I started to think that perhaps speaking publicly might help. But it still took years for me to grapple with my truth.

    When I finally shared my story in 2019, we were overwhelmed by the response. Mostly young people reached out to tell us their own stories. Today we have tens of thousands of survivors in our community saying essentially the same thing: the journey to healing feels like falling off the edge of a cliff without anyone there to catch you.

    I knew I had to do something. It started with wanting to buy a new sofa for the family room in my hospital’s ICU. Then it became supporting the nurses who held my hand, cleaned my body and talked to me while I tried to understand what was happening. Then I started imagining what recovery would have looked like if I hadn’t had my family. If I hadn’t been financially stable. If I hadn’t had a job that was willing to wait for me. Eventually, all of that became SameYou.

    Recovery is every bit as important as survival.

    People need guidance. They need answers. They need support—physically and mentally.

    Because when you think about who you are—your personality, your intellect, your humour, your memories, your excellent taste—where do they live? Your mind.

    And when that fails you, it can shake your trust in yourself. It can leave you frightened and convinced you’ll never be who you were again.

    But we know that the recovery to yourself is possible. Hence the name: SameYou.

    I’ve recently been on my own very belated recovery journey, fifteen years after my first brain bleed. Through the guidance and help of the extraordinary David Putrino at Mount Sinai in New York, I now have the energy and positivity I had in my twenties.

    This was a journey, not a miracle cure.

    One in three of us will suffer a brain injury in our lifetime. That’s an awful lot of people living with life-changing consequences.

    So if it happens to you, or someone you love, they deserve a way forward.

    Thank you for giving me this platform to tell my story. Thank you to the tens of thousands of SameYou survivors who continue to inspire us every day.

    And thank you for listening.

  • Shia LaBeouf Gets Probation After Pleading Guilty to Battery in New Orleans Bar Fight

    Shia LaBeouf Gets Probation After Pleading Guilty to Battery in New Orleans Bar Fight

    Shia LaBeouf pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of simple battery and was sentenced to probation for a Mardi Gras brawl in New Orleans.

    He will be required to attend an alcohol treatment program, Laboeuf’s attorney, Sarah Chervinsky, told the AP.

    The “Transformers” actor was arrested shortly after midnight on February 17 after being escorted out of a bar in the French Quarter. A video of the altercation showed LaBeouf shoving a person to the ground and hitting a person in the face. A New Orleans police report said the punch to the victim “caused his nose to possibly dislocate.”

    Judge Juana Marine-Lombard gave LaBeouf a six month suspended sentence plus two years of probation. He was ordered to stay away form the three victims as well as the bar. LaBeouf had been ordered to attend drug and alcohol treatment after he was originally charged.

    “Mr. LaBeouf came to court today wanting to take accountability for his part in what happened, and he has done so,” Chervinsky told the AP. “Now he’s looking forward to focusing on family, work, and new creative projects.”

    A local entertainer identified as Jeffrey Klein, aka Jeffrey Damnit, said LaBeouf had pushed him at the bar earlier that night and shouted homophobic slurs.

    However, LaBeouf’s attorney said it was “a minor Mardi Gras bar tussle” and said there was “no evidence it was about bias or prejudice.”

    The actor was previously court-ordered to attend rehab following a 2017 arrest in Georgia for public intoxication and disorderly conduct during the filming of “Peanut Butter Falcon.” He then had a lawsuit filed against him by FKA Twigs alleging sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit was settled in July of last year.

  • Hasbro Launching an AI Studio That Will Let Companies License Its Stable of Characters

    Hasbro Launching an AI Studio That Will Let Companies License Its Stable of Characters

    Tired of seeing unauthorized AI-generated versions of its characters proliferate on various platforms, Hasbro is launching its own AI studio called Sixth Wall, which will enable the toy giant’s stable of characters to be deployed by third parties across the new experiences that the technology allows for.

    And of particular note to Hollywood: Hasbro is working with real voice actors, including the original voice actors for many of its most popular characters, to help it do so.

    “Every IP owner looks at all of the millions of unauthorized versions of their characters on other tech platforms and frontier models, and it’s not a great experience for fans, and it’s not on brand for us,” says Sixth Wall CEO Roberta Thomson, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “So you have a few choices as an IP owner: You could decide to enforce on everything, whack a mole, send a bunch of cease and desists. You could decide to enable the UGC directly with consumers … but the question we posed was, what if we just offered the authorized end-to-end blue check version of the character that a company could license from us? And then we can guarantee that they’re going to show up in a context that we already approve of and feel comfortable with, and show up in a way that is within the guardrails that we have set with the character.”

    “Right now all of our IP is sitting in static media, trapped in a toy on a shelf, a movie, a video game, but as these characters come to life and interact and speak in real-time, you have to govern their behavior, which is a different set of technical and brand challenges, and it’s that expertise that we’ve developed,” she adds.

    So the company has developed its own internal platform called CharacterOS (Thomson calls it a “golden record” for each piece of IP), that sets guardrails and personality traits for each character. Mr. Potato Head, for example, won’t be giving any tips on how to cook the best french fry. Cobra Commander is primarily focused on conquering planet earth, not giving power lunch recommendations, as The Hollywood Reporter tried to get out of him in a voice chat.

    “CharacterOS is compelling because it unlocks a bigger creative canvas while addressing a real challenge in AI: the unauthorized use of content. It is built around a creator-first model that gives voice talent and creatives a meaningful seat at the table. It gives brands a trusted way to bring characters into new AI-enabled platforms without losing what makes them authentic,” said Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro. “And most exciting to me, it opens entirely new surfaces for play and storytelling, from making a store greeting feel magical to transforming a call waiting experience into a moment with a fan’s favorite character.”

    The initial slate of characters will include Mr. Potato Head, Megatron from Transformers, Cobra Commander from GI Joe, and the cast of the Clue board game. Others will be added later on. There’s even Optimus Prime, voiced by Peter Cullen, who has been voicing the character since the 1980s. For characters without an established voice actor, the company approached professionals in the space and found some that were interested in participating.

    In fact, Thomson says that using real voice actors is a”crucial” part of the company’s strategy in the space: The studio will not use the voices to create films or TV shows, only for AI-enabled interactive experiences.

    “We could have decided to move forward with synthetic voices, and all of the models give a good approximation of those voices because they’re out there, but it didn’t feel like the right thing to do,” she says. “As we talked to the voice talent, we said very sincerely, this should be a new source of revenue for you. Because these experiences are enabled by the technology, they’re dynamic, interactive, and personalized. They’re not replacing something that you would currently go into the studio for, like a long-form movie voiceover. So, we’re not going to use the voices for those purposes, but for something that wouldn’t have existed before.”

    Instead, she said, Sixth Wall will function “almost like the talent agents who are offering up these characters to licensees who might want to build fun experiences with them,” with the real voices a part of that package.

    The company is also partnering with ElevenLabs to bring select Hasbro characters to its audio marketplace.

    Sixth Wall has already held conversations with potential licensees, and Thomson says that the enthusiasm from those partners is real.

    The company is currently focused on experiences and enterprise use-cases that cater to consumers 13 and older, with a particular focus on specific areas like: Interactive storytelling experiences; Conversational games and digital companions; Connected physical products and robotics; AI-powered brand ambassadors; Location-based entertainment experiences; and Dynamic customer engagement agents.

    “Imagine like giant animatronic robot [say, perhaps, Optimus Prime?] walking around in a theme park and entertaining guests as they’re waiting in line. Suddenly, your one hour wait in line becomes a really fun and delightful and engaging experience,” she says. “Imagine you’re waiting on hold for a customer service agent playing a voice game of Trivial Pursuit. Suddenly, you wouldn’t mind your 10 minute wait. You might actually be like, ‘wait, I haven’t finished.’ At its most basic, there storytelling experiences with infinite branches, where, because these experiences are new and additive, they’re dynamic, they’re personalized. You can take a story in any direction.”

    Sixth Wall is perhaps a model for a new path forward for IP owners, which are all grappling with the misuse of their characters in new places. Last year, Disney cut a deal with OpenAI to bring its characters to its Sora platform after seeing them misused there, though that deal ended up being short-lived. Perhaps licensing the traits and voices of those characters is the next logical step.