Kino Lorber is presenting the U.S. theatrical release of the 4K restored lesbian-themed film I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, a film written and directed by Patricia Rozema, per a press release. Winner of the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, the film became a queer and indie cinema classic. The film opened the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win numerous awards, and was ranked in TIFF's list of top 10 Canadian films of all time. The film will open at NYC's Metrograph on March 11, and at L.A.'s Alamo Drafthouse on March 18; it will expand to select cities nationwide in the spring.
Patti LuPone tested positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 26, per Variety. The theater legend will sit out her ongoing role in the current Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Company" while she recovers from the virus. She is expected to return to the production Tuesday, March 8, a spokesperson for the show said.
Broadway's mask-and-vaccine policy will remain in effect at least through April despite New York City's just-announced easing of COVID rules, Deadline noted. Broadway leaders will revisit the issue on April 1 for possible updates, but the requirements are currently in place through April 30. The entertainment area's latest decision to hold firm on its policy reaffirms its decision made early in February, when New York state eased statewide mask mandates.
Tony winners Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton; In the Heights) and Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple) are to be honored in July by the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of their respective impacts on the world of music, Playbill noted. Miranda will be granted an honorary doctorate, and queer performer Erivo will be made an honorary member of the academy. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the conservatory that's widely considered to be the preeminent music school in the United Kingdom.
Selina Kyle/Catwoman is often depicted as bisexual in the comics, but the character's LGBTQ sexuality has never crossed over onto the big screen—until Zoe Kravitz took on the role for The Batman, which opened nationwide in theaters March 4, Variety noted. Kravitz recently told Australia's Pedestrian that her character's relationship with friend Anika was something meant to reveal Kyle's bisexuality. Kravitz stated, "That's definitely the way I interpreted that—that they had some kind of romantic relationship."
Out LGBTQ actors Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff are set to star in M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin, joining Dave Bautista, Rupert Grint and Nikki Amuka-Bird, Deadline noted. Set to open Feb. 3, 2023, Knock at the Cabin follows Shyamalan's last film, Old. Aldridge stars in the series Pennyworth, based on the Batman DC Comics. The show recently was renewed for a third season and will move to HBO Max after its first two seasons aired on Epix.
The upcoming 42nd season of CBS' reality competition Survivor will premiere Wed., March 9—and it will feature five out LGBTQ+ folks as competitors, out.com noted. The competitors include Hai Giang, Chanelle Howell, Romeo Escobar, Jackson Fox and Lydia Meredith. This season is also notable for the inclusion of Texas native Fox—the series' first out trans man to join the competition. (Trans man Zeke Smith competed in seasons 33 and 34, but he was outed by fellow castmate and competitor Jeff Varner, who happened to be gay.)
As The Bold and the Beautiful approaches a milestone of 35 years on the air, CBS renewed the daytime drama for two more years, through the 2023-2024 broadcast season, Deadline noted. Since its premiere on CBS on March 23, 1987, The Bold and the Beautiful has won 100 Daytime Emmy Awards and is the most-watched U.S.-produced daytime drama in the world. The show still features two original cast members—Katherine Kelly Lang, who plays Brooke Logan; and John McCook, who portrays Eric Forrester.
Fire Island—starring Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, Matt Rogers, Margaret Cho and more—will debut on Hulu on June 3, a press release noted. Fire Island, set in the iconic Fire Island Pines, is a modern-day rom-com inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The story centers around two best friends who set out to have a legendary week-long summer vacation with the help of cheap rosé and a cadre of eclectic friends.
The second season of GLAAD nominee Power Rangers: Dino Fury debuted on Netflix on March 3, a press release noted. In season two, with the seeming defeat of the villainous Void Knight, Pine Ridge has enjoyed a period of relative calm. However, with villains new and old gathering against them, the adventures will continue. GLAAD has nominated the show for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming along such series as Amphibia, The Owl House, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and Doogie Kamealoha, MD.
Demi Lovato—who had been attached as the star in NBC's multi-camera comedy pilot Hungry for a year—stepped down from acting duties in the project just as it was about to start production, per Deadline. Lovato, along with their manager Scooter Braun, remain executive producers.Hungry follows a group of friends who belong to a food-issues group helping one another; Valerie Bertinelli, Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias and Ryan McPartlin are among the co-stars.
Kal Penn will appear opposite Tim Allen and Elizabeth Mitchell in The Santa Clause, Disney+'s upcoming limited series from Last Man Standing creator Jack Burditt, Deadline noted. Allen reprises his role as Scott Calvin from the Walt Disney Pictures holiday franchise. In the sequel series, Scott is on the brink of his 65th birthday and realizing that he can't be Santa forever—so he sets out to find a suitable replacement.
The Hollywood Critics Association held its fifth annual awards in person at the Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles, Variety reported. Sian Heder's CODA—which won for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture at the SAG Awards—took the top award for best picture, with Heder winning for adapted screenplay and Troy Kotsur winning for supporting actor. Dune led all films with four awards, including a best-director tie between Denis Villeneuve and Power of the Dog's Jane Campion. Some of the other winners included Andrew Garfleld (Best Actor, for Tick, Tick … Boom!), and queer actresses Kristen Stewart (Best Actress, for Spencer) and Ariana DeBose (Best Supporting Actress, for West Side Story).
Queer actress Ariana DeBose—fresh off her success in the 2021 reimagining of West Side Story—is set to join Sony Pictures' Marvel movie Kraven the Hunter, starring Aaron Taylor Johnson in the titular role, Deadline noted. DeBose recently won a SAG Award and has been nominated for an Oscar for the 2021 film. (Alessandro Nivola will play the villain.) Kraven will be released theatrically Jan. 13, 2023.
The Andy Warhol Diaries will debut on Netflix on Wed., March 9, per a press release. From executive producer Ryan Murphy and director Andrew Rossi, this six-part portrait chronicles Warhol's life from the intimate vantage point offered by the artist's own posthumously published diaries.
Actor Sam Elliott criticized Jane Campion's highly lauded film The Power of the Dog during his visit to Marc Maron's WTF podcast, Variety noted. Elliott compared Campion's cowboys to Chippendale dancers who "wear bowties and not much else," adding, "They're running around in chaps and no shirts. There's all these allusions of homosexuality throughout the movie." Cumberbatch's character is a closeted gay man in the film. Maron told Elliott that these themes are "what the movie is about," but Elliott remained critical of Campion's approach to the Western genre.
Less than a year after he came out to the world, Colton Underwood is engaged, out.com noted. The alum of The Bachelor is engaged to political strategist Jordan C. Brown. Underwood told People magazine that the two got engaged in Big Sur after his birthday. After his time on The Bachelor, Underwood was involved in a nasty breakup that saw him served with a protective order for stalking his ex-girlfriend. Since coming out in 2021, Underwood has been the subject of the Netflix docuseries Coming Out Colton.
Talking with Page Six, former Real Housewives of Orange County co-star Braunwyn Windham-Burke said she experienced homophobia from castmates during her coming-out journey. In a joint interview with 19-year-old daughter Rowan (who is also part of the LGBTQIA+ community), Braunwyn said, "Making off-color jokes about me being intimate with a woman, that's not OK. Those are microaggressions." Kelly Dodd—who, like Braunwyn, exited the show after season 15 in 2021—frequently mocked her over speculation that she had been romantically involved with a woman throughout filming. Braunwyn came out as a lesbian in December 2020.
A lawsuit filed by the family of late Glee actress Naya Rivera against Ventura County over her drowning in July 2020 has been privately settled, Sky News noted. Rivera was boating with her 4-year-old son Josey Hollis Dorsey on Lake Piru, northwest of Los Angeles, when she drowned. The lawsuit for wrongful death and negligent infliction of emotional distress was filed by the family against Ventura County, California, on behalf of her son.
Sean Penn, in Ukraine working on a documentary about the ongoing Russian assault, called the invasion "already a brutal mistake of lives taken and hearts broken," USA Today noted. "If he doesn't relent, I believe Mr. Putin will have made a most horrible mistake for all of humankind," Penn said. The Office of the President wrote in a Facebook post that the actor/filmmaker attended news briefings, met with Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, and spoke to journalists and military personnel about the Russian invasion.
Acting couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively pledged to match up to $1 million in aid to displaced Ukrainians, per NBC News. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have arrived in neighboring countries, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "In 48 hours, countless Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes to neighboring countries. They need protection. When you donate, we'll match it up to $1,000,000, creating double the support," Reynolds retweeted.
Also, Ukraine-born former Dancing With the Stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy was arrested and released in his home country during the ongoing Russian invasion, and later made plans to leave Kyiv, Deadline noted. In a five-minute video posted today on his Instagram page, Chmerkovskiy updated his followers on his plans to leave Kyiv, where he's been filming a project called World of Dance UA, and cross the border into Poland.
Director, Oscar-winning actor and special envoy for the UN refugee agency,Angelina Jolie signed a three-year international filmmaking agreement with producer and distributor Fremantle, Variety noted. Under the agreement, effective immediately, Jolie and Fremantle will jointly develop a "sophisticated, powerful, and internationally focused slate of feature films, documentaries, and original series in which she will produce, direct, and/or star — based on each individual project," Fremantle said in a statement.
Sarah Jessica Parker, in partnership with independent publisher Zando, will launch her own imprint that will result in four to six books over a three-year span, Deadline noted. The imprint, SJP Lit, will publish books described by Zando as "sweeping, expansive, thought-provoking, and big-hearted literary and commercial works that are inclusive of international and underrepresented voices."
Mark Wahlberg and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in the high-octane sci-fi action film Infinite, arriving for purchase on Digital April 12 from Paramount Home Entertainment, a press release noted. Based on D. Eric Maikranz's book The Reincarnationist Papers and directed by Antoine Fuqua, Infinite is a race against time in the fight between good and evil. Co-stars include Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend and Liz Carr, with Toby Jones and Dylan O'Brien.
Former Netflix-Marvel comic book series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher and The Defenders will officially call Disney Plus their new streaming home, Variety noted. Disney confirms all six series will begin streaming on the platform in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand starting March 16. The shows left their original home at Netflix on Feb. 28 after rights to the series reverted back to Disney.
The singer The Weeknd announced his first-ever global stadium tour, per a press release. The After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour will kick off in his hometown of Toronto on Friday, July 8, at the Rogers Centre, with stops at iconic U.S. stadiums such as Metlife, in New York City; Soldier Field, in Chicago; Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami; Allegiant Stadium, in Las Vegas; and more before wrapping Friday, Sept. 2, at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium. This is the first leg of The Weeknd's massive world tour, with additional dates in Mexico, South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa and the Middle East to be announced soon.
Diplo's self-titled new album—his first full-length of electronic music in 18 years—is out now on the Higher Ground imprint of his own Mad Decent, a press release announced. Also out is the video for the previously released track "Don't Forget My Love," with Miguel that was directed by the Kinopravda collective and shot by Euphoria cinematographer Marcell Rev. (The video is at www.youtube.com/watch; Diplo played some sets throughout Europe (including London's Fabric, the first European club to book him in the early 2000s) to celebrate the album's release.
Salt Lake City-based non-binary musician and TikTok star Addison Grace released his second single, "Makes Me Sick," a press release noted. "Makes Me Sick" follows "I Wanna Be A Boy," where Grace discovers more of themselves and their gender identity, feeling best with they/he pronouns.
Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan will star and produce an I Am Legend follow-up feature, penned by Akiva Goldsman for Warner Bros., Variety noted. Oscar winner Goldsman adapted Richard Matheson's 1954 novel for the original 2007 film and returns to pen the follow-up.
On the heels of Hulu airing the miniseries Pam and Tommy, Pamela Anderson will unveil a new documentary at Netflix, Variety noted. Anderson announced the news on social media with a handwritten note on Netflix letterhead that read: "My life/ A thousand imperfections/ A million misperceptions/ Wicked, wild and lost/ Nothing to live up to /I can only surprise you /Not a victim, but a survivor /And alive to tell the real story." The film's logline describes the project as "an intimate portrait embedded in the life of Pamela Anderson as she looks back at her professional and personal path and prepares for the next steps on her journey."
Neneh Cherry released the hit "Buffalo Stance" in the late '80s—and now it's being reissued as a collaboration involving Robyn and Swedish-American recording artist Mapei, a Republic Records press release noted. Recently, Cherry received the honorary Icon Award at the NME Awards 2022, following previous winners Courtney Love and Shirley Manson, in celebration of her continued contribution to music and individuality over the past three decades.
Madonna, masked producer Sickick and Nigerian singer Fireboy DML released a remixed version of her hit song "Frozen," a Warner Records press release noted. Sickick's sweeping remix first exploded on TikTok in 2021, before being officially released on DSPs by Artist Partner Group/Warner Records in December. In August 2021, Madonna and Warner Music Group announced a new partnership for publishing and recorded music as well as a career-spanning multi-year series of releases that will revisit her whole music catalog.
J. Cole has revealed the lineup for his Dreamville Festival, which returns to Raleigh, North Carolina, on April 2-3, per Pitchfork. In addition to Cole, the lineup features Lil Baby, J.I.D, Rico Nasty, Kehlani, Moneybagg Yo, EarthGang, Wizkid, Fivio Foreign, Blxst, Bas, Mereba, Wale and more. The event will also include a reunion of Ja Rule and Ashanti.
Dua Lipa was sued for copyright infringement by Florida reggae band Artikal Sound System, which claims the British pop star stole her smash hit song "Levitating" from a lesser-known 2017 track, per Billboard. The band said "Levitating"—which spent 68 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and was the No. 1 Hot 100 song of 2021—was ripped off from the band's "Live Your Life." The lawsuit also named Warner Records, as well as others who helped create "Levitating."
Tennis trailblazer Serena Williams was frustrated with The New York Times after the veteran publication erroneously used a photo of her older sister Venus when it printed its business story highlighting the more than $100 million the 23-time Grand Slam winner raised for her new venture capital fund, Yahoo! News noted. "No matter how far we come, we get reminded that it's not enough," Serena tweeted. The official Twitter page for NYT Business quickly apologized for the blunder.
Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles star and celebrity real-estate broker Josh Flagg is divorcing his husband, Bobby Boyd, following a months-long separation, Page Six revealed. "Bobby and I are divorcing," Flagg wrote on Instagram. "This might sound abrupt but I felt I should be transparent from the top rather than bury the headline. This was not a rash or impulsive decision. We have been very thoughtful before coming to this conclusion." Flagg wed Boyd in a lavish September 2017 ceremony. In a statement of his own, Boyd said he "will forever be grateful" for his relationship with Flagg.
Jennifer Hudson is coming to daytime this fall with the launch of The Jennifer Hudson Show, on Fox Television Stations, per Variety. While the new one-hour talker is not technically Warner Bros. TV's replacement for The Ellen DeGeneres Show—which is ending this year—Hudson's show is positioned to be the studio's new flagship daytime talk show once DeGeneres has said her final goodbye after a 19-season run.
Marilyn Manson is taking ex-fiancee Evan Rachel Wood to court over her allegations of abuse that occurred over the course of the relationship between the widely accused shock rocker and the Westworld star, according to Deadline. The pugilistic multi-claim suit (against Wood and alleged co-conspirator Ashley Gore) comes just over a year after Wood took to social media to publicly name Manson as "horrifically" abusing and "grooming" during their relationship from 2007 to 2010.
White Party Global announced that platinum-selling, British singer-songwriter Raye headline the White Party Palm Spring's "Eternal" main event, taking place Saturday, April 30, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, a press release noted. White Party Palm Spring is slated to run April 29-May 1. Information on weekend pass pricing, the host hotel and additional event details can be found at www.whitepartyglobal.com . (All tickets purchased pre-pandemic will be honored for Palm Springs White Party 2022 and 2023).
Actress Vivica A. Fox called trans actress Laverne Cox "tacky" for the latter's interview with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith on the red carpet at the SAG Awards, Eurweb noted. At one point, Cox said, "Thank you. We can't wait for more Red Table Talk and more entanglements"—an allusion to the Matrix star's extramarital relationship with singer August Alsina in 2015. Fox, while co-hosting Fox Soul's Cocktails with Queens, added that "maybe [Cox] was trying to have her Joan Rivers moment." Cox later said, per HotNewHipHop.com, "My intent was not to mock or make fun of, but obviously, I understand there's a difference between intent and impact. … If the Smiths need an apology from me, I'll find out privately and I'll do that privately."
