Entertainment

Swifties. The Beyhive. The fanatical fans of certain artists are so well known that their names are part of pop culture. Another name for these fans is “stans” after Eminem‘s 2000 classic “Stan.” And that’s why Eminem is now making a documentary exploring the culture of superfans.

Variety reports that Eminem is co-producing the film, which will be distributed by Paramount/MTV. The movie has the working title of Stans; according to Variety, it’s a “revealing, edgy, and disarmingly personal journey into the world of superfandom, told through the lens of one of the world’s most iconic and enduring artists, Eminem, and the fans that worship him.”

In a statement, Em’s manager Paul Rosenberg and Stuart Parr of the rapper’s Shady Films company say, “Stans will be the opportunity for us to turn the camera around and ask the audience about being fans — and in some cases, fanatics.”

They add, “This is a study of the relationship between fanbase and artist through the lens of one of Eminem’s most fascinating songs and one of the world’s most important entertainers.”

While the song “Stan” wasn’t a chart hit, it’s become one of Eminem’s signature songs. Featuring sampled vocals from Dido‘s song “Thank You,” it tells the story of a fanatical fan named Stan who becomes increasingly unhinged after he writes letters to Eminem and gets no response. He ends up tying up his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk of his car and driving it off a bridge.

The song ends with Eminem writing back to Stan and urging him to seek help, before he ends up like a guy he just heard about on the news who drove his car off a bridge.

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The newest series in The Walking Dead universe is billed as an epic love story, and its trailer has arrived just in time for Valentine’s Day.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live follows the romantic story between iconic characters Rick Grimes and Michonne, played by Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira.

“I love you so, so much,” Lincoln’s Rick says in the trailer.

“It’s been so long,” Gurira’s Michonne replies.

The series follows the couple, colloquially known as Richonne, as they’re thrown into another world built on a war against the dead. According to the official synopsis, they’ll try to find each other while in a situation unlike anything they’ve ever known before.

Pollyanna McIntosh, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Terry O’Quinn, Matthew August Jeffers, Craig Tate and Andrew Bachelor also star.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premieres February 25 on AMC and AMC+.

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Arrow alum Stephen Amell has been tapped to lead the cast of NBC’s upcoming Suits spinoff, Suits: LA, according to Variety. He’ll play Ted Black, “a charismatic force of nature who puts his own needs above others,” per the network. The spinoff, from creator Aaron Korsh, will follow a new group led by Black, a former New York prosecutor whose L.A. law firm, specializing in criminal and entertainment law, “is in crisis,” forcing him to “embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career.” The staff’s loyalties to Ted and each other will be tested, as events from his past unravel, revealing his reason for leaving everything and everyone he loved behind …

Bleeker Street dropped the trailer for Sasquatch Sunset, David and Nathan Zellner’s bizarre comedy that looks into the lives of a family of nonverbal bigfoots as they “fight for survival as they find themselves on a collision course with the ever-changing world around them.” Daisy Jones & the Six‘s Riley Keough and Fleishman Is in Trouble‘s Jesse Eisenberg — unrecognizable under prosthetics — play two of the sasquatches … 

HBO reports True Detective: Night Country, starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, has become the most-watched installment of the premium cable channel’s anthology’s history, averaging 12.7 million viewers across all platforms since its January 14 premiere, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Those numbers top True Detective’s first season, which averaged 11.9 million viewers across platforms. HBO measures viewing for 90 days after a season premiere …

There’s good news for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale. Elisabeth Moss, who plays June Osborne, revealed at a recent Television Critics Association panel that production on the Hulu series’ long-awaited sixth and final season is set to begin this summer, according to Entertainment Tonight. The series last aired new episodes back in the fall of 2022. Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich on Tuesday, February 13, confirmed the news to Deadline, adding that the show will premiere in 2025 …

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Cillian Murphy is telling us how he really feels about movie press tours.

In a new interview with GQ, the Oscar-nominee admitted to finding faults with the current model of film press tours — including the red carpet interviews and press junkets.

“I think it’s a broken model,” Murphy said. “The model is—everybody is so bored.”

He also revealed he was somewhat relieved when last year’s SAG-AFTRA strike began right ahead of Oppenheimer’s opening weekend, meaning he was able to cut promotion of the film short. He noted that the movie became a word-of-mouth hit regardless.

“Same was the case with Peaky Blinders,” Murphy said. “The first three seasons there was no advertising, a tiny show on BBC Two; it just caught fire because people talked to each other about it.”

Speaking of Peaky Blinders, Murphy discussed the status of a potential reunion film.

“There is no status, as of now. So, I have no update. But I’ve always said I’m open to it if there’s more story,” he said. “I do love how the show ended. And I love the ambiguity of it. And I’m really proud of what we did. But I’m always open to a good script.”

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Three-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce is adding film producer to his resume.

Kelce is using President Joe Biden’s renewable energy tax credits to finance My Dead Friend Zoe, Variety reports. The indie film is headed to the SXSW festival and stars Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Sonequa Martin-Green.

This marks Kelce’s first foray into the film industry. He’ll serve as an executive producer on the dark comedy movie. My Dead Friend Zoe follows an Afghanistan veteran who comes head-to-head with her Vietnam war vet grandfather at their family’s lake house.

The project’s investors, including Kelce, are the first to take advantage of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to finance a film. The low-budget movie costs less than $10 million.

The Inflation Reduction Act marks the largest investment in climate and energy in American history. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s website, it enables “America to tackle the climate crisis, advancing environmental justice, securing America’s position as a world leader in domestic clean energy manufacturing and putting the United States on a pathway to achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate goals, including a net-zero economy by 2050.”

Kelce, along with producers Mike Field and Ray Maiello, are also using the same strategy to finance a second film titled King Pleasure. It’s a documentary about Jean-Michel Basquiat directed by Quinn Wilson.

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Jimmy Kimmel reunited several Barbie cast members in a promo for the 96th annual Academy Awards.

In the clip that debuted during Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Ryan Gosling and Helen Mirren got together to promote the upcoming Oscars ceremony.

McKinnon reprised her role as Weird Barbie, taking Kimmel on a journey through the year’s nominees for Best Picture on their way to OscarsLand. The pair drove past “weirder Barbie” aka Emma Stone in Poor Things.

They also passed by the Oppenheimer set, where Kimmel took a shot at Matt Damon, in costume as Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr., calling him “that poor, incredibly hideous, disgusting, ugly man.”

After Kimmel and Weird Barbie make it to OscarsLand, they run into Ferrera, who gives a variation on her speech from Barbie about how hard it is to be a woman.

“It’s literally impossible to host the Oscars,” Ferrera says. “You have to be extraordinary, but somehow you’re always doing it wrong. You have to make fun of people, but you can’t make too much fun of people. You have to give everybody enough time, but you can’t go long.”

The promo wouldn’t be complete with Gosling’s Ken, who pops up from the back seat of their car wearing his “I am Kenough” sweatshirt, holding a bag from In-N-Out. Kimmel tells Ken the trend is actually to get food from In-N-Out after the ceremony. Gosling recovers with this: “Good thing Greta [Gerwig] has got director in the bag.”

Ken then screams upon discovering Gerwig was not nominated for Best Director, prompting Mirren’s voice-over.

“Girls grow into women, but not all boys grow into men. Some remain hopelessly stuck in a loop of infantile foolishness,” Mirren says.

The 96th Oscars air March 10 on ABC.

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Deadpool & Wolverine has claimed the record for the most-watched movie trailer of all time.

The first trailer for the third film in the Deadpool franchise has broken global records, garnering 365 million views in just 24 hours. It made its initial debut during Super Bowl 58, which is estimated to be the most-watched telecast in history. 

This film introduces Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shawn Levy reteams with Reynolds to direct the film, which also stars Hugh Jackman, who reprises his iconic role as Wolverine, for which he appeared in nine films. This also marks Jackman’s introduction to the MCU.

Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni and Matthew Macfadyen also star.

In the trailer, Reynolds’ Deadpool is captured by the Time Variance Authority, an organization that monitors timelines, which was first introduced in the Disney+ series Loki.

“I smell what you’re stepping in, sensei,” Deadpool says in the trailer. “Your little cinematic universe is about to change forever. I’m the messiah. I am Marvel Jesus.”

Deadpool & Wolverine opens in theaters on July 26.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Marvel.

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When it was announced that Jennifer Lopez would be the musical guest on the SNL episode hosted by Ayo Edebiri, the Emmy-winning star of The Bear, things got awkward — because in 2020, Edebiri had bad-mouthed J.Lo on a podcast. But Lopez tells Variety that they’re good, and that Edebiri apologized.

“She was mortified and very sweet,” Lopez tells Variety about talking to her after SNL. “She came to my dressing room and apologized with tears in her eyes, saying how terrible it was that she had said those things.”

What Edebiri said in 2020 was, “I appreciate a good scam. Today I was actually thinking about one of my favorite scams of all time, because J. Lo is performing at the Super Bowl halftime show.” 

“She felt really badly and loved my performance because we had just done my soundcheck and she actually got to hear me perform,” J.Lo continued. “She was just like, ‘I’m so f****** sorry, it was so awful of me.’ It’s funny. I’ve heard similar things said about me throughout my career, so it really didn’t affect me.”  

Jennifer’s new album, This Is Me … Now is out on Friday, as is her Amazon original musical film, This Is Me … Now: A Love Story. A documentary called The Greatest Love Story Never Told comes out February 27. Jennifer tells Variety she put $20 million of her own money into financing this three-part project.

She tells Variety, “I do think this is a beautiful project. The message is strong and the message is true. I think it’s a true piece of art, and I’m very proud of it.”

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It’s estimated that more people watched Taylor Swift’s boyfriend win the Super Bowl than watched man land on the moon.

Super Bowl 58 is now the most-watched telecast in history, surpassing 123.4 million viewers across all platforms. Not only did it set the record for the most-watched Super Bowl of all time, but CBS also set the record for the largest audience ever for a single network with 120 million viewers.

Nielsen Fast National and Adobe Analytics delivered this data, confirming that the coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 win in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers, as well as Usher’s halftime show, was the most watched in the history of television. The broadcast streamed across multiple platforms, including CBS Television Network, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, CBS Sports and NFL properties, such as NFL+.

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Jon Stewart returned to his Daily Show desk after a nine-year break on Monday night.

The comedian will host the series on Mondays during the 2024 election cycle. He originally departed the series in 2015, with Trevor Noah taking over hosting duties. Noah left the show in 2022, and the series has continued with several rotating potential hosts since then.

“Welcome to The Daily Show, my name is Jon Stewart. Now, where was I?” Stewart said as the broadcast began, picking right up where he left off. He was welcomed with cheers and applause before he went on to address his grand return head-on.

“I have committed a lot of crimes, and from what I understand, talk show hosts are granted immunity,” Stewart said.

After joking about the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift conspiracy theories, Stewart focused on the 2024 presidential election, narrowing in on the expected race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Stewart then reached out to news team correspondent Dulcé Sloan, who gave her opinion on the options Americans have when it comes to voting this year.

“This is just the same s*** all over again, it’s just a reboot. We need more than just the same show with an older but familiar face,” Sloan said.

“You… you’re talking about the two candidates, right?” Stewart joked.

“Yeah! I mean, they already had this job,” Sloan replied. “Now these old white dudes gotta come and reclaim it? Like, come on, sir. Go do something new. It’s so desperate. Like, let someone else run the show.”

Again, Stewart asked: “You’re talking about the election, right?”

“I said what I said,” Sloan replied. 

The Daily Show airs weeknights on Comedy Central, with new episodes available the next day on Paramount+.

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