LIGHT SPOT HO L LY W OOD

“Creed III is that moment – a time in my life where I’ve grown more sure of who I am, holding agency in my own story, maturing personally, growing professionally, and learning from the Greats like Ryan Coogler, most recently Denzel Washington, and other top tier directors I respect. All of which sets the table for this moment. This franchise and in particular the themes of Creed III are deeply personal to me. I look forward to sharing the next chapter of Adonis Creed’s story with the awesome responsibility of being its director and namesake.”

They are the words Michael B. Jordan, who makes his directorial debut in “Creed III” due in theaters March 3. And while Creed III is a continuation of the Rocky franchise, it

Out This Month

Zendaya Joins the Million Dollar Per Episode Club

Well, it’s official. Zendaya has joined the A-list of celebs that receive $1 million per episode thanks to her part in making HBO’s Euphoria one of the most viewed shows in the network’s history. The 26-year old actress expanded her role with the show last year when she became one of its executive producers, stating that the move felt like “the right thing”.

“The show,” she said, “has allowed me to come out of my shell as an actress, but ‘Hey, what if we tried this?’”

Zendaya’s portrayal in the show of 17-year-old Rue–a drug addict fresh from rehab with no real desire to stay clean as she navigates high school, sex and social media–has earned her two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe.

Chris Rock to Open Up About “The Slap

Chris Rock’s upcom ing Netflix TV spe cial on will not include Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa.

Instead, the story picks up in Los Angeles where Adonis Creed (Jordan) has been thriving in both his career and family life with his wife (Tessa Thompson) and their daughter (Mila Davis-Kent) after dominating the boxing world. That is until a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Da- mian (Jonathan Majors), resurfaces after serving time in prison eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring and believing that Adonis stole his place. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter who has nothing to lose.

Critics have praised Jordan’s skills both in front of and behind the camera with rave reviews for the supporting performances of Majors, Thompson and the rest of the cast. While family and heart are at the core of the film, the fight scenes were spectacular. Don’t waste any time in hitting your neighborhood cinema, scoring a box of popcorn and settling into that theatre seat to watch this film on the big screen. Creed III is a winner!

Footnotes

TessaThompson

Hometown: Los Angeles

Age: 39

First Break: Veronica Mars

Breakout Role: Dear White People

Upcoming:

Growing up in L.A., Tessa Thompson had plans of studying law and considered acting as more of a hobby until she joined the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company. The actress–who also sings–got her first big break in the TV series, Veronica Mars. It has been up since then thanks to starring roles in such box office blockbusters as Creed, Thor: Love & Thunder, Avengers: Endgame; and Selma; and such critically acclaimed films as Passing and Dear White People. This month she returns as Bianca in Creed III

March 4 is getting a lot of play and for good reason. It seems the 58-year old comedian is going to speak on Will Smith slapping him at the Oscars one year ago in the live stand-up special. While Rock has previously mentioned the incident at past performances during his Ego Death tour, he has not opened up or gone into detail about the incident. The much anticipated special titled “Selective Outrage” will feature such A-list celebrities as Amy Schumer, Cedric the Entertainer, IceT, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Paul McCartney, Sarah Silverman and Wanda Sykes. The show will stream live from Rock’s performance in Baltimore. A show after the special will feature Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, JB Smoove and Arsenio Hall.

As to Will Smith…

It will be interesting to see whether or not he will be watching. And while the Oscars may have named a crisis team to counter incidents like Will Smith’s slapping of Chris Rock, but Smith–who was named outstanding actor for Emancipation at the NAACP Image Awards–appears to have moved on. It is confirmed that he will team with Michael B. Jordan for a sequel to the 2007Apocalyptic hit film, I Am Legend. Smith reportedly wasn’t that high on the idea of doing the sequel until hearing that Jordan had signed on. But that’s not the only sequel that will have fans getting excited. Smith and Martin Lawrence have officially announced that yes, there will be a fourth in- stallment of the Bad Boys franchise with Miami-Dade police detectives Mike and Marcus.

DeVon Franklin To Star in New Series

After years of being behind the camera, prolific producer DeVon Franklin will now be in front of it, starring as a TV talk show host in a scripted comedy chronicling the trials of a dysfunctional dater. The show, titled “Played”, is one of two projects at BET for Franklin (whose bestselling books include Produced By Faith and The Truth About Men). The other project is a family drama inspired by the life of baseball Hall-of-Famer Andre Dawson turned mortuary owner. Franklin’s current project for BET include the hit drama, “Kingdom Business”, which is now in its second season. But with three films in the works–“Flamin’ Hot”, “Masters of The Universe and Gran Turismo–Franklin is not giving up his day job as producer.

From Bridgerton to The White House?

While the latest installment of Shonda Rhimes Bridgerton stories–Queen Charlotte–is set to make its debut on May 4, it’s not all Shonda Rhimes has brewing. In fact, Shondaland is teaming with Netflix for a murder-mystery drama, The Residence, based in part on Kate Anderson Brower’s book, “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House”. High-power stars cast in the eight-episode screwball comedy set in the upstairs, downstairs, and back stairs of the White House include Andre Braugher, Uzo Aduba, Isaih Whitlock Jr., Edwina Findley and Susan Kelechi Watson (This is Us).

On the price of fame: I don't like being the center of the discourse when it's around my personal life or when things are in the press that I know are untrue, but it feels like relatively speaking it's a small price to pay. I sometimes wish that people would remember that a performer they see in the media might be playing a character at any moment. This idea that they know you is faulty.

On being an introvert/extrovert: There is this idea that if you’re a performer, you’re comfortable with or interested [in] being watched. For me, that’s not necessarily the case. My work has sometimes meant that I’ve had to pass as more of an extrovert.

On cheating at Monopoly:

If I don’t show a natural aptitude, I don’t like it, typically. I always cheated as a kid. Famously in my family, I was always cheating at Monopoly. And I was really good at sleight of hand, but they’d still let me be the banker. I was always stealing money

On her character in Creed III:

In the past, it's been a lot of work to make sure that she [her character Bianca] has agency and an arc in the context of these sports films, essentially. I wanted to make sure that she's not just moving the plot forward, and that she actually has something interesting to do. I typically do that work with the writers, but this time around, I could do that work more actively with Mike. I also had a lot more freedom to improvise. He gave me a lot of license to do that, so that felt different. But it didn’t change the dynamic between these characters. We’ve been making these films for almost eight years, and Mike and I have grown up a lot. So there’s ways in which the trajectory of the characters also has an interesting poetry to our own personal journeys.”

On her favorite performers:

All my favorite performers have been masters of artifice, whether it’s Eartha Kitt, David Bowie or Prince — they are all inventions. There’s just beauty in invention, particularly if it sets you free to be your authentic self. Which is not to say that their inventions are not part and parcel of who they are, but they’re inventions they had to create to get outside the parameters of the time or place in which they were born. And that, to me — that is so cool.