Based on the iconic villain in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney’s CRUELLA follows the path of Estella/Cruella de Vil (Emma Stone) from being orphaned at a young age, to an aspiring Fashion Designer, and eventually achieving notoriety. Getting there isn’t easy, as she must contend with Fashion’s wicked Queen Bee, The Baroness (Emma Thompson), whom she also happens to works for. Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Lars and the Real Girl), who might know a thing or two about telling a story about a misunderstood hero, this dazzling spectacle combines revenge, phenomenal fashion and family for one of this year’s must-sees.

We had the joy of attending a Press Junket with the talent behind Disney’s Cruella, including:

Jenny Bevan, Costume Designer on CRUELLA, details costuming two characters, Estella and Cruella, for Emma Stone.

Jenny: I think it’s actually quite clear in the Script. There’s a real arc for her. Hopefully we found that arc that you see her change from a child and does things to her school uniform much like I remember my wonderful Associate Designer Sarah Young‘s younger sister was quite the inspiration for that because she used to turn her blazer inside out. But you just see how she develops and I think when she gets to The Baroness, who is a little old-fashioned but a very good designer, she learns quite a lot and hence her skills. So you can use all the elements in the story to make that change come about very naturally.

Fiona Crombie, Production Designer talks to building the fantastical world we see in CRUELLA.

Fiona: I’ve thought of that quite a lot and I think the biggest challenge was actually the number of sets. The Film has great pace and we move around a lot and there’s lots of little moments that are important moments that require different sets. So we were very busy, there were 120 odd sets to do across the course of the shoot and some of them were enormous and some of them were really tiny, like little rooms. One of the things I’m most pleased about with the Film is the level of detail in every single one of those sets. I feel at the moment I’m not busy enough and wonder why that is and it’s because of CRUELLA. It really set the benchmark how to block my day… I’m a bit still at the moment.

How does Hair & Makeup change between the two characters, Estella and Cruella?

Nadia: Her Hair & Makeup is kinda used as a tool of deception. She’s got to disguise herself from The Baroness. When we first see Estella, she needs to be believable she’s a girl growing-up in London at the time and then she’s creating this persona in Cruella who when she first starts arriving to these red carpet moments, there’s kind of a mask-like quality to the Makeup because she’s got to disguise herself. I needed the difference to be huge between the two looks. We had to make Estella quite simple, so we had somewhere big to go for Cruella. I feel very much like Fiona in that it’s never going to be the same again! I’ll never have that many looks to do again!

The Soundtrack heard in CRUELLA is superb, taking us to the time and place this is set in the ’70s. Director Craig Gillespie talks about incorporating Music into the Film.

Craig: I actually designed the Movie knowing that I was gonna have Music, so I had to design shots that give space for Music. I cut on the set as I go so I’ll be putting Music on the scenes as we’re shooting them. So that The Doors track heard when we first meet The Baroness, that I threw on that day and it never changed. There’s a great Nancy Sinatra song which was kinda spontaneous when we’re shooting. She’s (Cruella) in The Liberties and she’s in the elevator, we did four takes and I thought what could she be singing here and I went to my phone and I had Nancy Sinatra‘s “These Boots Were Made for Walkin‘” and she came out dancing to that. So there’s always Music in my mind as we’re looking for opportunities throughout.

The Film features some very talented dogs, which give us glimpse into Cruella‘s character. Gillespie talks to the integral part they play to the story.

Craig: Obviously, the dogs are a large part of One Hundred and One Dalmatians, but I wanted to bring them in, in a more grounded way and definitely we worked on the story a lot with the Dalmatians and her role in relationship to them. One you get into it, you see they’re very intertwined with her emotional journey. And also having these mutts that were part of their crew, and just to be able to have fun with that, we designed these set pieces that were almost grounded in reality and plausible for dogs to be able to do. They were supporting characters in a way and they had their own personalities and concerns. It was great always being able to keep an eye on that and you know what? Let’s see cut to a reaction shot of them here when Cruella‘s going off, just to keep them engaged and present. There were some great little moments.

The Film goes to some dark places, star Emma Stone is asked about this unconventional move for a Disney film.

Emma Stone: They really let Craig and Tony write and make what they wanted to make and it’s definitely dark for a Disney movie, but maybe not for a really intense R-rated film. It was darker than I’ve seen Disney do in a really long time.

Emma Thompson is asked about The Baroness’ meanness and where she channeled that from.

Emma Thompson: I think if my husband were in the room, he’d say ‘No acting required really!’. I had such fun doing her because I’ve been asking for quite a number of years if I could be a proper villain. I’ve spent decades playing what my mother would call ‘good women in frocks’. And now I got to play a really evil woman in frocks. Oh boy, the frocks! They wore me actually really is what happened. I had just the best, best time. And every time Em (Stone) and I’d come on-set, we’d just look at each other and walk around each other like we were sculptures or works of art – which we were! It was in a way, everyone created The Baroness and I sort of just stepped-in and just said the words!

Of course, we’re acting so we’re not really being mean. There is nothing more fun than pretending. And I found when being mean came horribly easily, I was very well brought-up by a kind and wonderful woman, my mom and my dad. I was surrounded by lovely, kind people. My experience of people who are truly mean and hardened and narcissistic is quite rare. But there are quite a number of them in Show Business. And some of those names have come to light recently. So awfulness in any profession and walk of life is always possible. I suppose The Baroness is a mix of all kinds of people. She’s quite venal, her greed is really just for herself. It’s like she can’t bear anyone else to succeed in any way. She has to destroy all the competition, instead of thinking the competition might make her better. In fact, she appears and presents as this very strong personality, but in fact she’s very weak and contains the inevitable seeds of her own destruction because she can’t acknowledge talent in any other person. So when she finally sees someone more talented, younger and more beautiful than her, she finds it very difficult. And of course, I found it very difficult being with Emma Stone who’s more beautiful, young, talented, etc. But I swallowed my bitterness and I dealt with it mostly through drinking Negronis, one after another late into the night. (chuckles)

What was it like getting into these unbelievable outfits, our two stars are asked.

Emma Thompson: My underwear was sort of like a ships rigging – there were people hauling on ropes. It was a lot. So peeing was hard and involved a team of people. Also the shoes were a real challenge because I don’t wear anything higher than a flip-flop really in real life. And also I had wigs that made me a great deal taller than I am used to being. I had to go in and out of spaces sideways. And generally I had three Dalmatians at my feet too. So the underwear was a big old deal – not for Emma Stone, as she’s slender as a lily.

Emma Stone: Your costumes had such structure like that Marie Antoinette look and that silver dress at the end. You had really some very intense, shapely costuming.

Emma Thompson: If you have flesh – which is what they did in the olden days is you take the flesh, like me – and if you squeeze it in the middle, it moves up and down like toothpaste in a tube. So you can really make quite extreme shapes. And that’s really good fun. That’s not fantastically comfortable at the center of the toothpaste tube, but they are wonderful Tailors and Designers, they had such a good time pulling-in the corset tightly enough so that bits of me would squish out the top of the costume and they would push a bit back again and squish it back down and pull-in again. It was kinda kookery.

Like Scarlett O’Hara, The Baroness is only allowed to eat little bits of cucumber here and there and throws her rubbish out the window because she’s monstrous. That was one of the things I really loved hating about her was the fact that she didn’t eat. I don’t trust people who don’t eat. There, I’ve said it!

Emma Stone: My very, very favourite outfit which absolutely was ludicrous, was the dress I wore on the garbage truck because there was a 40 ft. train and that wasn’t attached to the dress because obviously I wouldn’t be able to move anywhere. So they added that to the dress at the last minute when I got on the garbage truck to shoot that part and it was just nothing you’d ever be able to remotely wear in real life. But to be honest, there also was that insane skirt when I cover the car and that was epic too, trying to walk up on a car and cover an entire car with the switch of a skirt was just fantastic. That really is the moment I’m like, ‘I am in a movie right now!’.

Emma Stone is asked about what she found most challenging filming CRUELLA.

Emma Stone: The accents are always a little bit of a learning curve, but I think any time a character has a very important emotional scene – a scene that you know is incredibly poignant and moves the story along in a way that is necessary. I think that is always a little bit of pressure because you only have that little bit of one day and that one time to do it, which is the difference between Theatre and Film. It doesn’t matter how tired you are or how you feel that day. If you’re doing that scene, that’s what the scene will be. I think that always is a sleepless night the night before, when it’s something I know is a pivotal moment that we’re shooting the next day. So that’s probably the most challenging thing, but that’s also why I love it.

The more present you can be, the more the nerves go. That’s why I wanted to become an Actor in general because I’m naturally very anxious. The time I found I was most present was when I was doing Improv, Comedy or Theatre because you don’t have time to think about all the other things you are worried about. You have to just be in the moment. That’s the great gift of acting I think – not getting rid of the nerves, but using presence to move through it.

Emma Stone and Emma Thompson reflect on their experience working with the dogs in the Film.

Emma Stone: There was quite a bit of Dog CGI, but those dogs were always on-set. As many scenes as we could possibly have those dogs be comfortable in, they were in!

Emma Thompson: They were great and they were very sweet. They CGIed them to be a bit nasty. They were such sweet dogs, they were so nice, and they worked so hard. And they had little crosses, were sent back to their marks like little canine actors and they would just go stand on their marks and wait. And then get a little treat.

Emma Stone: Estella’s dog Buddy, whose real name is Bobby, is genuinely the cutest and sweetest dog I’ve ever known in my life and I’ve had a lot of dogs, so that’s saying something.

I’ve been jealous of Wink (Bluebell) since Day One and I’ll say it right here. I saw Bluebell and would say ‘You bitch!’. But that just means ‘female dog’.

Emma Thompson: I tried to get Wink fired and said she’d come and widdled on one of my costumes and nobody believed me. They just knew I was lying and that it was a vicious attempt to get rid of this dog that was frankly upstaging me and getting in my light!

Walt Disney Studios Canada release Disney’s CRUELLA on Friday, May 28, 2021 in theatres and Disney+ with Premier Access.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

After 13 Tony Award nominations and four wins, Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Musical IN THE HEIGHTS, based on the Novel by Quiara Alegría Hudes, is ready to be seen by the world. A dazzling love letter to the people of Washington Heights in New York City, the story centers on a bodega owner named Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) who is in a relationship with Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), but longs to go to the Dominican Republic to reconnect with his roots. Vanessa works at a beauty salon but dreams of a career in fashion. We meet also Nina (Leslie Grace), finishing her first year at Stanford, but what her proud family and the tight-knit community don’t know is that she is dropping-out. Through Latin rhythms, Hip-Hop and breathtaking choreography, stories of love, dreams and the uphill battle immigrants and descendants of immigrants face, are told through this Jon M. Chu-directed Adaptation of this beloved Musical.

We had the pleasure of chatting with Chu and several cast members in advance of the Film’s eagerly-awaited release, including:

See the Trailer:

Was ask Gregory Diaz IV, Daphne Ruben-Vega and Dascha Polanco about the experience of working with Jon M. Chu and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Gregory: I think the combo of Jon, Lin and Quiara, their minds are just so creative and you see the bigger picture that I know for me personally, I could never really see at first when it came to the Film. Jon is just great and thinks on a such a big spectrum. If there was a scene where I was struggling to reach that point that I wanted to get to, he would take me to the side and tell me one, two or three things and immediately I was like, ‘Yeah! That’s what I wanted.’. Lin and Quiara, it’s such a beautiful story they’ve crafted. I think it’s really evolved from the Broadway production.

Daphne: For me it was one of the first movies where the Director brings you in and has a conversation with you and shows you the Mood Board and the skeleton of the story and so forth.

Dascha: At first I was wondering, the Director’s calling me in… I was wondering if I still had a job or not! (laughs) And it was like, ‘Oh! You want me to see what the sets are going to be like and what I’m thinking, what you want me to bring to life and what my thoughts are.’. That doesn’t really happen, especially when we do this for a while and IN THE HEIGHTS was really that. Everybody was included. We had a set vision, but wanted to incorporate what everyone artistically can bring forth. In that regard, Jon was really careful of – to stay respectful and authentic to the community and beyond. So as an Actor, I then understood how necessary it is for you to be included and feel it, but when you’re actually doing it, it makes sense.

Daphne: Jon‘s just a Homie, a guy who’s so approachable. And that allows us to have a conversation. So we’re no longer just the Talent, we’re the participators in a collective experience. With Jon, Lin and Quiara leading the way, we feel comfortable that we can bring our A-Game and trust them.

Olga Merediz’s performance as Abuela Claudia, the woman who helped raise Usnavi and many of the kids in the neighbourhood, delivers the Film’s showstopping moment. She embodies what it meant to be an immigrant in a country that speaks a language she can’t. Having originated the role both off and on Broadway, we ask what different approaches she took in the Film.

Olga: So much to talk about. I’m so happy you were touched. She touches me. When I think of Abuela Claudia, I think of women like her, like your mother. I just tried to maintain her dignity even though she went through so much. There’s a big difference between the stage and the Movie because Jon Chu really just broke the barriers of the Fourth Wall and his visual genius allowed me to just to be in it and for him to all around me create that magical world of Paciencia y Fe (Patience and Faith) – which is the number I sing. I just wanted to make her into this quintessential matriarch we all wanted in our lives, whether you had a wonderful mother or not, because that’s complicated. So I took a little bit of my mother, my aunties, my grandmothers and I wanted to give her that giving nature where the people in the community could go to her for advice, or wisdom, or a cooked meal, or just to rest their heads. And I’m humbled that I was able to have this incredible journey with this character from workshops, to readings to off-Broadway to the Movie.

Jimmy Smits and Merediz are asked where this Film ranks in their careers.

Olga: This is number one for me. It’s a climactic point in my career and life.

Jimmy: I have been fortunate to have been in a couple ensemble pieces throughout the decades and we always feel this is the one that’s going to break through. But then there’s always that one or two. The difference is – and I think this relates to so many topics, not just in the Latinx community. And now that we’re coming out of this pandemic, where the world got jolted and we had to think about other social things that relate to inclusivity, this is gonna be a little bit of joy that I think the audiences are really gonna relate to because of the universal themes. Not just because of the specificity of the culture. We’re trying to be as authentic, spot-on and positive as possible. Because it’s time. Because the population in both Canada and the U.S. are changing and different, but are the same having immigrants come with a dream. Whether you’re from Ireland or the Caribbean, you want community and you want your children to do better than you. Am I thinking about the home that I left, or the new home that has all of those things? I think this resonates really well in the Film and I’m hoping audiences will take this little bit of joy and go with it!

We ask Melissa Barrera and Leslie Grace about landing the gig of a lifetime here and the fantastic vocal work we hear, and what it took to get to that level.

Leslie: The gig of a lifetime. I felt so many times I felt unworthy of the experience because I felt I was being spoiled. I was reminded every day by my lovely castmates, ‘Yo! It’s not always like this!’. And so I was walking around like I was in Disney World every day. And even in production when we were sweating and sometimes bleeding on each other learning all these dance steps, it just felt like home and I just feel so fortunate and blessed to have gone through this process. So much of our hearts are in this. They are our stories. We finally get to tell what feel like our stories on the big screen and in a feature film, so it is the gig of a lifetime with amazing people.

Melissa: We both had really long casting processes. It took us over a year from the first time we auditioned. She auditioned, I sent a tape and then over a year I got called-in and she also over a year later got called-in, so it was a long process. But I think for both of us, it was perfect because it gave us time to prepare. For Leslie she was like, taking acting classes because she was an incredible singer already. And for me, I needed to work on my voice, so I had the time to take voice lessons and really feel comfortable with the material because Lin writes really hard songs to sing! (laughs) For me it was that, nailing the vocal aspect.

Leslie: And that you did, darlin’!

Melissa: But I think the amount of time, the timing was perfect because it let us get to where we needed to take on these roles.

At the heart of IN THE HEIGHTS’ story is community, but also the love stories. We ask the two stars how they built that believable chemistry that jumped-off the screen.

Leslie: It’s all real. We were just on Zoom for the first couple weeks together and every time each of us started to talk, we’d cry. Just having these people in your life, it’s not something everyone gets to experience and it’s not every day you come across people you just met and feel like you’ve known your whole life. If we had just done the experience of this Movie and nobody ever really saw it – which would be sad – the experience alone changed our lives. Sometimes you do a movie, waiting for everyone to see it so your life will be changed. But there’s a before and after for me in my life, after doing this Film with Melissa, Anthony, Corey, Jon, Lin and all the family. So that joy you feel from the screen is real.

Melissa: I think we were lucky we got such a long rehearsal period. We got ten weeks. During those ten weeks, we spent a lot of time together bonding over our frustrations, bonding over not getting Choreography. And going into a corner and wanting to cry, wondering if we were ever going to get this! All of that being there for each other really brought us so close and we became family. So the love and the chemistry that you see is real. We got so close that we became family and I think in a way it was perfect. These characters grew-up together and knew each other their entire lives. They live in this neighbourhood and it’s like a tight-knit community and for that to feel so real, I think we needed to have that in real life.

Leslie: You definitely can’t fabricate that in a Movie like this which has so much heart.

We ask Jon M. Chu how as a Taiwanese-American from the West Coast, what are some of the conversations and questions he had to ask when coming into a Film like this, which is so deeply-embedded within the Latinx community and set on the East Coast?

Jon: I had so many questions, even the question ‘Should I be doing this?’. And I think that’s a fair argument to have. What a great argument to be able to go back and forth on. But the fact they allowed me to ask stupid questions was huge. I couldn’t understand things like, ‘The blackout in this show is a really big deal, but we get blackouts all the time, what’s the thing?’. Lin and Quiara explained ‘You don’t know how one feels when the plug goes out and you don’t know when you’re gonna get it back and you’re the last person to get it back. And that’s what power is essentially about. And I was like, ‘So is it all negative and do bad things happen?’. And they were like, ‘Actually it’s the opposite. It’s about love. When God pulls that plug, you turn to the people you take care of and who take care of you.

So this brilliant night that was supposed to happen – this brilliant dinner – never happened because of a fight. And in the end it did happen because they turned to Abuela Claudia for safety and they all came together and had this moment. In a weird way, I look at right now. The world has gone through a really tough year where we feel isolated and we turn to all the people that we care about the most. Usnavi actually says that in the Movie. Once you get there, how do you get back up, how do you get back out? Daniela goes out and does her last makeover for the evening for the neighbourhood and says, ‘Believe in yourself, you are beautiful. You never needed me for the Air Conditioning for your hair to be done. Grab your flag and be proud and dust yourself off, and you have each other!’. This is the message that the world needs right now and how appropriate that the neighbourhood is Washington Heights showing the world how to survive, how to get back up and it’s going to guide the world out of darkness and into the next light.”.

See our Chat on Video:

Warner Bros. Canada release IN THE HEIGHTS in theatres and on-demand Thursday, June 10 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Warner Bros. Canada)

As we approach Pride month, Hollywood Suite is gearing us up with the opportunity to see HBO Max Docu-Series EQUAL! The Docu-Series recalls the trail of Activism and all its unsung heroes that landed us where we are today. It also speaks with several high-profile subjects including Cheyenne Jackson, Anthony Rapp, Shannon Purser, Heather Matarazzo, Jamie Clayton, Isis King, Samira Wiley and Gale Harold. Most of all, Billy Porter narrates.

Schedule is as follows:

Episode 1 – The Birth of a Movement

Broadcast premiere Monday, June 7 at 9pm ET

Available on demand Tuesday, June 8

In response to a repressive 1950s culture that considers homosexuality illegal and immoral, two iconic gay rights groups organize, fight back, and lay the foundation for the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. 

The episode 1 premiere will be followed by the Hollywood Suite premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s Oscar, BAFTA and Spirit Award-winning film Call Me by Your Name (2017).

Episode 2 – Transgender Pioneers

Broadcast premiere Monday, June 14 at 9pm ET

Available on demand Tuesday, June 15

The incredible stories of three trans trailblazers from across the ages help illuminate the significance of the 1966 uprising at San Francisco’s Compton’s Cafeteria. 

The episode 2 premiere will be followed by Colette (2018) and Kinsey (2004).

Episode 3 – Black is Beautiful, Gay is Good!

Broadcast premiere Monday, June 21 at 9pm ET 

Available on demand Tuesday, June 22

We meet three very different activists whose lives and work epitomized the intersection of gay and civil rights in the 1960s: Lorraine Hansberry, Bayard Rustin, and José Sarria. 

The episode 3 premiere will be followed by Moonlight (2016).

Episode 4 – Stonewall: From Rebellion to Liberation

Broadcast premiere Monday, June 28 at 9pm ET

Available on demand Tuesday, June 29

The events of the historic Stonewall Uprising are told through the voices of the activists and icons who were there, and who helped usher in a new era of being, out, proud, and EQUAL. 

The episode 4 premiere will be followed by the Hollywood Suite premiere of Xavier Dolan’s Cannes Grand Prix, César and Canadian Screen Award winner Juste la Fin du Monde (2016) and A Single Man (2009).

Other Queer Cinema selections airing during Pride month include: The Children’s Hour (1962), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), The Color Purple (1985), My Beautiful Laundrette (1986), Paris is Burning (1990), My Own Private Idaho (1991), The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994), The Celluloid Closet (1995), The Birdcage (1996), Fire (1996), Mulholland Dr. (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Closet Monster (2015) and Sleeping Giant (2015).

(Photo credit: HBO Max)

In case you couldn’t get enough BORAT, there’s plenty of content coming your way on Amazon Prime Video!

Synopsis:

On the heels of the massive global success of BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: DELIVERY OF PRODIGIOUS BRIBE TO AMERICAN REGIME FOR MAKE BENEFIT ONCE GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN,  Amazon Prime Video will premiere BORAT SUPPLEMENTAL REPORTINGS RETRIEVED FROM FLOOR OF STABLE CONTAINING EDITING MACHINE, a multi-part special featuring never-before seen footage from BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: DELIVERY OF PRODIGIOUS BRIBE TO AMERICAN REGIME FOR MAKE BENEFIT ONCE GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN – which was nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Maria Bakalova), and winner of two Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Actor (Comedy or Musical). The specials feature never-before-seen footage from Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat and Maria Bakalova as Tutar, and reveal some of the danger and high wire acts that went into the creation of the smash hit film.

BORAT SUPPLEMENTAL REPORTINGS RETRIEVED FROM FLOOR OF STABLE CONTAINING EDITING MACHINE features the following parts:

BORAT: VHS Cassette of Material Deemed “Sub-acceptable” By Kazakhstan Ministry of Censorship and Circumcision

Never before seen footage from the Oscar-nominated movie Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

Borat’s American Lockdown

See the 40 minute reality show  of Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) as he spends five days at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic with two conspiracy theorists.   

Debunking Borat (Documentary Short Specials)

In six documentary shorts, watch Borat’s two roommates have their theories debunked by some of the world’s leading experts. 

“Vaccine Microchip”

“Mail-in Ballots Scam”

“Soros”

“China Virus”

“Gates’ Bricks”

“Hillary Clinton & Blood Libel”

BORAT SUPPLEMENTAL REPORTINGS RETRIEVED FROM FLOOR OF STABLE CONTAINING EDITING MACHINE arrives May 25, 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.

(Photo/video credit: Amazon Prime Video)

18-year-old Actress/Singer/Songwriter OLIVIA RODRIGO absolutely is owning the Pop game right now. The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star debuted earlier this year with DRIVERS LICENSE, taking her straight to the top of the charts, the US Billboard Hot 100 and Canadian Hot 100 importantly – a huge feat for a new artist and a first single.

While it is a tall order to top that, her follow-up singles from debut Album SOUR cohesively follow post-breakup teenage angst, but she does it in such a delicate way that connects and is so relatable. Her lost love found new love quickly and she isn’t quite ready to cope with it. And so the 11-track collection explores the various emotions – sadness, anger and envy – and subsequent feelings of victimization. As she sums-up in single-worthy TRAITOR, “It took you two weeks to go off and date her/
Guess you didn’t cheat/But you’re still a traitor”. HAPPIER has her wishing them happiness but not happier than when they were together. Understandable.

The mostly Pop-Rock-driven Disc is produced by Dan Nigro who is responsible for Rodrigo‘s musical counterpart Conan Gray‘s debut Disc also, plus working with the likes of Lewis Capaldi and more. Taylor Swift even has given her blessing openly calling Rodrigo her “baby”, also allowing her to interpolate her track NEW YEARS DAY into the newcomer’s track 1 STEP FORWARD, 3 STEPS BACK. The two finally met recently at The BRITS!

Check-out some selections from SOUR, which quickly has gained critical acclaim and is primed for great commercial success.

DRIVERS LICENSE

GOOD FOR YOU

DEJA VU

TRAITOR

1 STEP FORWARD, 3 STEPS BACK

BRUTAL

HAPPIER

SOUR is available to purchase and stream now, via Universal Music Canada.

Stream it in full below:

(Photo/video credit: Universal Music)

The final group of Canadian Screen Awards were announced tonight, capping-off a seven-part celebration honouring Canada’s best scripted and non-scripted Digital, Film and Television. While traditionally held in-person, the Gala again went virtual this year.

In its sixth and final season, CBC Series SCHITT’S CREEK took home Best Comedy Series, Best Direction, Comedy* honour for Director/Screenwriter Andrew Cividino and Daniel Levy; and the sixth win in a row for Actress Catherine O’Hara in the Best Lead Actress, Comedy category.

The first season of Canada’s Drag Race also took home five Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Reality/Competition Program or Series. Season Two currently is being filmed in Toronto.

After gaining much acclaim out of TIFF’ 20, Tracey Deer’s BEANS went on to win Best Motion Picture tonight, while it was BLOOD QUANTUM that would sweep seven awards in the Film categories, including Michael Greyeyes for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role category.

Christopher Plummer also would be awarded posthumously for his work in TV Series DEPARTURES for Supporting Actor. Television icon Alex Trebek also posthumously was given the Academy Icon Award award, one of eleven 2020 Special Awards handed-out throughout the week. 

Complete list of winners can be found here.

(Photo credit: CBC)

Great news! If you loved BIG LITTLE LIES, you’ll love Hulu Original eight-episode Series NINE PERFECT STRANGERS starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy, coming this Fall to Amazon Prime Video.

Synopsis:

The highly anticipated drama series Nine Perfect Strangers, starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy, based on the 2018 novel by Australian author of Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty and directed and produced by Jonathan Levine, will premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in countries outside the U.S. and China later this year.

Set at a boutique health-and-wellness resort that promises healing and transformation, nine stressed city dwellers try to get on a path to a better way of living. Watching over them during this ten-day retreat is the resort’s director Masha (Kidman), a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies. However, these nine strangers have no idea what is about to hit them.

Filmed on location in Australia, the cast includes Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy,in their first project together, alongside Luke Evans, Tiffany Boone, Bobby Cannavale, Melvin Gregg, Regina Hall, Manny Jacinto, Asher Keddie, Michael Shannon, Grace Van Patten, and Samara Weaving.

(Photo/video credit: Amazon Prime Video)

Some 28 years after its release, HOCUS POCUS finally sees its Sequel begin production this Fall! Details below.

Synopsis:

Singer/actress Bette Midler (“The First Wives Club,” “Beaches”) returns as Winifred Sanderson, with Sarah Jessica Parker (“Sex and the City”) and Kathy Najimy (“Sister Act”) back as her sisters, Sarah and Mary, respectively. In “Hocus Pocus 2,” three young women accidentally bring the Sanderson Sisters back to modern day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on the world.

“Hocus Pocus 2” will begin production this fall under the direction of Anne Fletcher (“The Proposal,” “27 Dresses”), who is taking over directing responsibilities from her friend and colleague Adam Shankman (“Hairspray,” “The Wedding Planner”), with Lynn Harris (“The Shallows”) serving as producer. Shankman is currently in production on “Disenchanted” for the studio, which he is directing, but will remain on this project as an executive producer along with Ralph Winter (“Adrift”) and David Kirschner (“Curse of Chucky”). Steven Haft (“Tigerland”) is co-producer.

(Photo credit: Disney)

Tony Hale stars as Mr. Benedict in upcoming eight-episode Disney+ Series THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY! See the new Trailer.

Synopsis:

After winning a scholarship competition, four gifted orphans are recruited by the peculiar Mr. Benedict for a dangerous mission to save the world from a global crisis known as The Emergency. Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance must infiltrate the mysterious L.I.V.E. Institute to discover the truth behind the crisis. When the headmaster, the sophisticated Dr. Curtain appears to be behind this worldwide panic, the kids of “The Mysterious Benedict Society” must devise a plan to defeat him.

“The Mysterious Benedict Society” stars Tony Hale, Kristen Schaal, Ryan Hurst, MaameYaa Boafo, Gia Sandhu, Seth Carr, Emmy DeOliveira, Mystic Inscho and Marta Kessler. 

THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY arrives on Disney+ June 25, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

They’re back! Much-talked-about FRIENDS: THE REUNION arrives on HBO Max and Crave in Canada!

Synopsis:

Our favorite friends are back on the set that started it all. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, and special guests reunite to discuss everything from their casting process to whether or not Ross and Rachel were really on a break. Witness the unbreakable bond of the group that perfectly captured the moment in life when your friends become your family.

FRIENDS: THE REUNION arrives May 27, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: HBO Max)