inSiDE Ho L LY W ooD with Neily Dickerson Summertime & The Blockbusters Are Coming Summer officially starts June 20 and the blockbuster movie season is upon us and I am so ready. Get out a pen & paper to prepare yourself for what’s to coming; May releases included Guardians of the Galaxy - I liked the first one best, King Arthur - loved this film, Snatched, Alien: Covenant, Baywatch - it delivered the satire I expected, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales - I could see it again! In June, Wonder Woman will be released. For all you 1970s babies, can’t you hear the Wonder Woman theme music in your head? I’m excited
about this film and ready to do Wonder Woman’s signature spin. The Mummy looks a lil’ scary, but I might be brave enough to view it. All Eyez On Me this is destined to be a sing/rap-a-long moment for all Tupac fans. Cars – I’m going to find a one of the babies in my life to take as an excuse to see this. One Transformers: The Last Knight it’s part of what we do… Baby DriverThe cast includes Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx so I’m definitely there. Despicable Me 3 - again, using babies for this one. Because he’s always good for a laugh, The House featuring Will Ferrell will definitely be seen. July brings some goodies to the big screen including Spider-Man: Homecoming, War for the Planet of the
Apes. Look forward to Girls Trip with Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Regina Hall & Tiffany Haddish. Atomic Blonde should be good. I don’t think I’ll need the babies for The Emoji Movie. August offerings include The Dark Tower starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. With Idris Elba starring, I’m already seated in the theater for this one and ladies you know why. The Hitman’s Bodyguard should be a fun ride with Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds. Those are some of the stand out films that are slated for this summer. Grab your popcorn and your blanket y’all, this year’s summer box office films are sizzling hot!
DUE in tHEatErS tHiS montH
All Eyez On Me June 16
Better Off Wed June 16
TV’s Newest Divas Daytime TV is about to get hotter with the June 5 premiere of Daytime Divas on VH1. The show, starring Vanessa Williams and Tichina Arnold, is based on Star Jones’ fiction novel, Satan’s Sisters, which delves into the behind the scenes catfights of a popular talk show called “The Lunch Hour”. The drama –filled hour long show has a recurring cast that includes Patti LaBelle, Eve, Tasha Smith and La La Anthony as well as special guests like Tamera Mowry, Kelly Osbourne, Star Jones, Joy Behar and Sonny Hostin. Star Jones will serve as an executive producer. Williams plays Maxine Robinson, the creator and executive producer of the daytime talk show.
Tyra Banks Sued
HoLLYWooD BUZZ
The parents of a reality show contestant is suing the creators of America’s Got Talent alleging that their daughter was verbally abused and “physically manipulated” by Tyra Banks during a March 19 performance. According to documents filed in L.A. Superior Court, the young lady and her husband by publicly humiliated by judges, some audience members and Banks, who allegedly shook the lady’s shoulder, pulled her hair back and physically manipulated her. Banks went on to suggest that the woman was accidentally conceived while also poking fun of her performance on camera. As a result, the woman claims to have been traumatized as well as suffered deep depression. Seeking a jury trial, the suit claims intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress along with civil battery and civil assault. While it is normal for reality show contestants to sign waivers against taking such
Q&a
ZoeKravitz
Transformers June 23
action, her parents maintain that they got her to sign a contract without their consent. Speaking of lawsuits, Barry White son, Daryl White filed suit against his former stepmother, Glodean White, claiming that the agreement that he made for payments from the star’s widow had stopped rendering him cash-strapped and nearly homeless. He maintains that he has never viewed his Dad’s will and is taking the legal action to see what was in it and to finally find out what his Dad intended for him to have.
Showbiz News Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan is expanding into production under a new deal with ITV America in which he and his company, SMAC Entertainment, will create unscripted programming for television. ITV America and SMAC Entertainment already are in business together on the series Tackle My Ride for the N F L Network ( w i t h Leftfield Pictures) as well as projects i n development includi n g Spark t h e
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Baby Driver June 28
Future with Wiz Khalifa (with ITV Entertainment), Pros vs. Kids and Not for Primetime, and Guinness World Records (with High Noon & ITV Entertainment). Strahan also serves as the host of ABC’s The $100,000 Pyramid and is a NFL analyst. Things are about to heat up for Halle Berry. Aside from starring in “Kidnap (due at the box office in August) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, due out in September, Berry has been tapped to star alongside Samuel L. Jackson in a yet another remake of the 1958 horror classic, The Blob. She is also wrapping work on Kings, a drama about a foster family in South Central, set a few weeks before the L.A. riots in 1992.
Briefly: Bad news for all you Underground fans. The hour-long series—starring Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Aldis Hodge, exec produced by John Legend, and centering around the Underground Railroad —was cancelled. Insiders say that the show was being shopped to other networks, but at post, there were no takers…Good news for Madea fans. With Boo! A Medea Halloween beating out Jack Reacher on its opening weekend at the box office and going on to gross over $75 million, cinched the chances that there would be a Boo 2! A Medea Halloween and it’s happening this October…Mixed news for writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood. While Shots Fired—the police drama she cocreated with her husband—was cancelled, Prince-Bythewood has been tapped to direct Silver & Black, the film that is based on Silver Sable & Black Cat (aka Felicia Hardy) characters from Sony’s Marvel Universe revolving around its signature hero Spider-Man. Prince-Bythewood, who wrote and directed Beyond The Lights and Love & Basketball is the latest female filmmaker to direct a superhero film.
Hometown: Los Angeles Big Break: Californication Current Project: Rough Night, Divergent Series: Allegiant - Part 2, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 As the daughter of musician Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet, Zoe Kravitz is no stranger to Hollywood. Instead of leaning on her parent’s fame, the actress, model and singer has built a name for herself, chasing her passion for acting. After high school, the hard-working teenager worked on “Assassination of a High School President” with Bruce Willis and since then, appeared in X-Men: First Class, Divergent and The Road Within for which she won the Milano International Film Festival award for Best Actress and Napa Valley Film Festival award for Best Supporting Actress. Kravitz currently plays Bonnie Carlson in the TV mini-series Big Little Lies. Describe the character Bonnie and how you get the role. Bonnie is a sensitive soul with a moral compass. She is a mother whose close relationship with her teenage stepdaughter threatens Witherspoon’s character. I was cast without an audition. During an initial meeting with director Jean-Marc Vallée, he said to me, “You feel very Bonnie.” Was it easy for you to relate to the character Bonnie? I think how the script is written, every character appears to be one way and we are all painted in this way where we think “okay, I know who she is” and then as the story goes it kind of ripped and you realized, I knew nothing, that’s how we walk into this world thinking that we know what people are like and you actually know less than we think. I definitely had that moment with both of my parents when I realized: I’m a human being who is still trying to figure it out. What was it like working with Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, and Reese Weatherspoon? It was great. It was nice for me and Shailene to work together in a different and more grounded environment. This role is so much more human than the Divergent world and also to get to play more mature characters because Shailene and I grew up together so it was a beautiful journey to come to this point where we get to play young mothers together. This entire experience was so warm and full of laughter and tears and we all became so close. As an actress, what challenges do you face in the casting community? I’ve had many experiences in this industry where my ethnicity has been a problem. I was once told that I couldn’t have an audition for a small part in The Dark Knight Rises because the casting directors weren’t “going urban”. The issue is people don’t think outside their own box. You can read a script, and the character description will say, Jane, 26, beautiful and outgoing, and you’re just supposed to assume that person is Caucasian. But then it will say Sarah, 27, AfricanAmerican, funky. That has always been shocking to me. continued to page 26