Portrait of Joni Mitchell in London, 1970. (Photo by Dick Barnatt/Redferns)/Amanda Seyfried arrives at Hotel Excelsior during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on September 01, 2025 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Many people thought Amanda Seyfried was auditioning to play Joni Mitchell when she showed off her dulcimer skills by performing the singer’s tune “California” during a March 2025 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. It turns out Seyfried actually learned to play the instrument because she had already been cast to play Joni on screen.
In a new interview with British GQ, Seyfried reveals she was supposed to play Joni in a film about her and her manger Elliot Roberts, which wound up not happening.
As part of her prep for the role, Seyfried spent time with Joni at her home in Los Angeles, where they shared a steak dinner and listened to Joni’s iconic album Blue together. Seyfried adds that during the meeting, Joni “told me a lot of stories.”
For the role, Seyfried committed herself to learning how to play all the songs on Blue, along with other Joni classics like “Both Sides Now.” She tells the mag she “f****** wept” the day she finished learning the last song.
“I felt like a bona fide musician, like I belong here,” she says. “I felt like I had put my own flag on the top of the mountain. Because it was a f***** mountain, I tell you.”
Writer/director Cameron Crowe is currently working on a Joni biopic, which will reportedly star Meryl Streep as Joni in her later years.
As for whether she had a chance to be in Crowe’s film, Seyfried tells the mag, “Apparently a lot of people reached out to Cameron Crowe and were like, ‘What the f*** are you doing, dude?'” She noted, “I don’t know what he said, but from my knowledge, his version is, she’s really young and then she’s older.”
ABC’s planning a huge party for the 250th birthday of the USA, live from the country music capitol of the world.
“Mark your calendars — this Fourth of July just got a whole lot bigger,” the network posted on its socials Monday. “Don’t miss Disney Celebrates America: Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash for a night of live music, fireworks, and celebration like no other.”
Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Little Big Town, Brothers Osborne, Clint Black, Elizabeth Nichols and Emily Ann Roberts are set to play, along with The All-American Rejects, Boyz II Men, comedian John Crist, Lauren Daigle, Nick Jonas, Ne-Yo and Sublime.
Ryan Seacrest will host the show, which airs live coast-to-coast starting at 8 p.m. ET. You’ll be able to tune in via ABC, Disney+, Hulu, National Geographic, FX and Freeform.
Tom Holland and Zendaya attend the ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ photocall at Four Seasons Hotel on June 15, 2026 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images)
Tom Holland and Zendaya made promoting their new movie look like a casual date moment.
The duo, who both star in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, posed for photographers during a photocall for the film in Madrid on Monday.
They both wore black, with Holland donning a black suit with a pop of red and Zendaya opting for a black strapless fringed dress.
Zendaya’s longtime stylist, Law Roach, shared on Instagram that Zendaya’s dress was by designer Christian Cowan. He also accessorized her look with details from Rolex and Stéfère Jewelry.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will arrive in movie theaters on July 31. It’s the 38th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The upcoming Destin Daniel Cretton-directed film is the fourth Spidey solo adventure starring Holland and Zendaya, after 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
According to a synopsis for Brand New Day, it follows Peter Parker, who fights crime “full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him” in wake of the events of No Way Home.
The film also stars Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando and Mark Ruffalo.
Holland and Zendaya’s photo moment was their first red carpet together since 2021, when they were promoting No Way Home.
Since then, other outlets have confirmed their engagement after Zendaya was photographed wearing a large diamond ring at the 2025 Golden Globes.
At the 2026 Actor Awards, Roach told Access Hollywood on the red carpet that the “wedding has already happened. You missed it.”
When asked by a reporter if that was true, Roach replied, “It’s very true.”
ABC News reached out to a representative for Holland and Zendaya at the time.
Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News and Good Morning America.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom attends the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium on June 12, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating him as well as his wife, and claimed that President Donald Trump is “coming after me because I’m considering running for president.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens performs at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on June 29, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Sleeping with Sirens has announced a U.S. tour in support of the band’s new album, An Ending in Itself.
The headlining trek launches Oct. 6 in Phoenix and concludes Nov. 12 in Atlanta. Presales are open now, and tickets go on sale to the general public on Thursday at 10 a.m. local time.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit SirensMusic.co.
An Ending in Itself, the eighth Sleeping with Sirens record, dropped Friday. It’s the follow-up to 2022’s Complete Collapse.
The Lumineers perform onstage during the 2023 Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival at The Park at Harlinsdale Farm on September 23, 2023 in Franklin, Tennessee. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival)
Before tennis players start grunting their way through difficult matches, attendees of the U.S. Open will also be able to hear exclamations of “Ho!” and “Hey!”
The Lumineers are set to perform at the U.S. Open kickoff concert, taking place Aug. 21 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.
US Open Insiders will have access to a presale beginning Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
The Lumineers released their latest album, Automatic, in 2025. Their upcoming live plans also include performances at the Zootown, Minnesota Yacht Club and Newport Folk festivals.
Keith Urban and Stevie Nicks perform during Jack Daniels Music City Midnight: New Years in Nashville on December 31, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jason Davis/Getty Images)
Back in 1978, Stevie Nicks sang backup on a top-10 hit by Walter Egan called “Magnet and Steel,” which she also inspired. Now she’s miffed that an artist who just covered the song didn’t invite her to sing on it.
Country superstar Keith Urban has released a yacht rock album called Flow State, featuring covers of classic songs like Stephen Bishop’s “On and On,” Ambrosia’s “How Much I Feel,” Seals & Crofts’ “Summer Breeze” and Robbie Dupree’s “Steal Away.” He also covered “Magnet and Steel” and invited country group Little Big Town to sing on it with him. And that, he says, caused a problem.
Speaking to Billboard, Keith says, “The full weird story about all of that … is [Stevie Nicks’ guitarist] Waddy Wachtel is a good friend of mine. … I sent Waddy the record, he played it for Stevie, and he sent me a text: ‘Stevie’s very angry that she wasn’t asked to sing on the song with you.'”
He laughs, “I’m like, ‘Oh my god, that’s fantastic!’”
While Stevie doesn’t sing on the album, the king of yacht rock, Michael McDonald, does. He guest stars on a song called “We Go Back.”
Netflix is getting in on the hockey romance action.
The streaming service is set to air an adaptation of Hannah Grace’s popular college hockey love story, Icebreaker.
The story follows aspiring Olympic figure skater Anastasia Allen, who’s forced to share a rink with NHL prospect Nate Hawkins.
Gossip Girl’s Amanda Lasher is on board as showrunner and will co-write the series with Jade Bartlett. Alex Cooper’s Unwell Productions is producing.
“I have been a fan of steamy YA since the seventh grade, reading Judy Blume stealthily hidden behind a textbook,” Lasher says. “I love this genre, and it’s been a joy working with Jade, the team at Unwell, and Netflix to bring Hannah Grace’s beloved Icebreaker novel to the screen.”
The series will follow other recent successful hockey romance adaptations, including Crave/HBO Max’s Heated Rivalry and Prime Video’s Off Campus.
Payton Gendron (C) is escorted back into the courtroom by deputies after a disruption during sentencing in Buffalo, New York, Feb. 15, 2023. (Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images)
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — More than four years after he gunned down 10 Black people in a racially motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, Payton Gendron’s federal trial reaches a crucial point on Monday in selecting a jury that will decide whether he lives or dies.
Gendron, who will turn 23 next week, has already pleaded guilty to state charges stemming from the May 14, 2022, attack at a Tops supermarket, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate. He is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gendron, according to his attorneys, has proposed pleading guilty to the 27-count federal indictment, including 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, but the Department of Justice has rejected his offer.
“The United States believes the circumstances in Counts 11-20 of the Indictment are such that, in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified,” federal prosecutors said in January 2024, when they announced the decision to pursue the death penalty against Gendron.
On Monday, about 1,200 potential jurors who filled out an initial questionnaire were summoned to appear at the U.S. District Court in Buffalo to complete a more extensive inquiry to determine whether they can serve as fair and impartial jurors.
Based on their responses, Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, who is overseeing the case, and the attorneys involved hope to whittle the potential jury pool down to several hundred.
Those who make the cut will be brought back in August to be questioned by the lawyers and judge, who are hoping to seat 12 jurors and at least six alternates for the trial scheduled to begin in October.
Gendron has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
Garnell Whitfield, the former Buffalo fire commissioner, whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the supermarket attack, said he plans to attend Monday’s court proceedings.
Whitfield told ABC News that he’s hoping that the upcoming trial will expose those whom he says helped radicalize Gendron, including the social media companies that allegedly provided the addictive algorithms that fed Gendron’s hate of Black people.
“I’m more concerned with that than I am with him. He’s a dead man walking as far as I’m concerned,” Whitfield said.
Social media companies are not defendants in the trial, have not accused of any wrongdoing by prosecutors.
Whitfield and other relatives of those killed and wounded in the attack filed a lawsuit in May 2023 against several social media companies alleging they facilitated the teenage killer’s white supremacist radicalization by allowing racist propaganda to fester on their platforms. The outcome of the case is still pending in the state Supreme Court. The social media companies have denied all wrong doing.
During his sentencing in the state case in May 2023, Gendron apologized to the relatives of the victims, saying he was “very sorry for all the pain” he caused and “for stealing the lives of your loved ones.”
“I did a terrible thing that day,” Gendron said in court. “I shot and killed people because they were Black. Looking back now, I can’t believe I actually did it. I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. I know I can’t take it back, but I wish I could, and I don’t want anyone to be inspired by me and what I did.”
Gendron planned the massacre for months — including previously traveling twice to the Tops store he targeted, a more than three-hour drive from his home in Conklin, New York — to scout the layout and count the number of Black people present, according to state prosecutors. Wearing tactical gear, body armor and wielding an AR-15-style rifle he legally purchased and illegally modified, Gendron committed the rampage on a Saturday afternoon when prosecutors said he knew the store would be full of Black shoppers.
The attack was caught on a Tops supermarket surveillance camera and a helmet camera worn by Gendron that he used to livestream on Twitch. Before the attack, he also posted a racist screed online containing the names of past mass shooters he admired.
Brian Buckmire, an ABC News legal analyst, said Gendron’s attorneys are aiming at seating jurors who can set aside the defendant’s guilty plea and decide the case based on the facts presented at trial.
“This is not a case of guilt or innocence; this is a case … of attempting to save his life,” he said.
Buckmire said that in the current phase of jury selection, potential members of the panel will likely be asked about their personal beliefs about the death penalty.
He noted that the judge in the case has already denied a request from the defense to move the trial from Buffalo in Erie County to Rochester in Monroe County.
“So, it’s deep in the heart of where all of this harm happened,” Buckmire said.
Buckmire said the defense is facing an uphill battle and will likely focus on trying to persuade the jury that Gendron should not be put to death.
“From a fact-based standpoint, it’s hard to say he’s not guilty,” Buckmire said. “I think the only argument here and the only strength of anything they can make out here is he doesn’t deserve the death penalty because of his age [and] the influences he had.”
(SENATOBIA, Miss.) — A child was killed after an officer fired upon a vehicle following a reported shoplifting at a Walmart in Mississippi, authorities said.
An adult was also critically injured in the shooting, which occurred Sunday afternoon outside a Walmart in Senatobia, according to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
Law enforcement officers who responded to a shoplifting call at the Walmart encountered two adults allegedly fleeing from the store with a child and going into a vehicle, the bureau said.
“Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one,” the bureau said in a statement, noting that the information is preliminary. “An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene.”
The individuals in the vehicle went to a local hospital, where the child was pronounced dead, according to the bureau. One of the adults also had critical injuries, it said.
Authorities did not provide further details on the shooting victims, including the age of the child killed.
The Senatobia Police Department and Tate County Sheriff’s Office were involved in the shooting incident, according to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which did not provide details on the officer who discharged the weapon or how many times the gun was fired.
No officers were seriously injured, the bureau said.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting and will ultimately share its findings with the state’s attorney general’s office.
“This is an open and ongoing investigation. No further comment will be made at this time,” a spokesperson with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation told ABC News on Monday in response to multiple questions on the incident.
Senatobia is located in northwestern Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee.
The Senatobia Police Department said the officer-involved shooting occurred just after 2 p.m. Sunday.
“We are committed to full transparency,” the Senatobia Police Department said in a statement. “As the investigation progresses and facts are verified, we will share as much information as possible.”
A Walmart spokesperson said they are working with law enforcement amid the investigation.
“We’re saddened by what took place at our Senatobia, MS, store,” the spokesperson said. “The safety of our associates and customers is a top priority.”
Senatobia Alderman Chris McConnell urged residents to “rely on official information and allow the investigative process to proceed.”
“Please join me in praying for everyone involved, their families, our law enforcement officers, first responders, and the entire Senatobia community,” he said in a statement.
