Latest news with #TeenVogue
Express Tribune
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Was Jennifer Lawrence always meant to be Katniss?
More than a decade after The Hunger Games hit cinemas, casting director Debra Zane is peeling back the curtain on the decision that defined a generation: choosing Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen. While Lawrence is now inseparable from the role, it turns out her casting was far from guaranteed, especially with every major young actress in Hollywood chasing the part. Speaking to Teen Vogue, Zane said the choice was less about fame and more about instinct. 'It's hard to explain. It's gut instinct,' she shared. Lawrence had just earned serious critical acclaim for Winter's Bone, with Oscar buzz swirling around her name, but Zane wasn't impressed by hype alone. 'She just was Katniss,' she explained, adding that casting is often about finding the most emotionally layered performance, even when it's unexpected. 'That's the most exciting part, when someone exceeds what you imagined.' Zane's longtime casting partner, Dylan Jury, also reflected on the process behind Sunrise on the Reaping, the newest instalment in the franchise. Unlike previous films, this one was cast while the book was still being written. 'That made it very crazy and challenging for different reasons,' Jury said. Fan buzz has been especially strong around Maya Hawke's casting as Wiress, which Zane proudly called a perfect match. As for Whitney Peak, cast as Lenore Dove, it was her chemistry with co-star Joe that sealed the deal. A test shoot captured on an iPhone gave Zane a sudden, intuitive certainty. 'We were shooting them on an iPhone and Dylan was operating the iPhone and I was peeking over his shoulder into the screen and could just… it was really like, Oof. You know?!' Sunrise on the Reaping is set 24 years before the original story and features a star-studded cast including Ralph Fiennes, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, and Glenn Close. It premieres on 20 November 2026.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
When life became overwhelming, he found an outlet with ‘Piano & Prayer'
Jonathan Singletary is almost ready to go live on Instagram. He scans his short-sleeve button-up — it's clean and different from the one he wore last time. He takes a few deep breaths. He throws up a quick thank-you to God, opens Instagram, hits the white circle and goes live at 5:30 p.m. People from across the country begin to tune in for improvised music in a welcoming spiritual space. It's time for 'Piano & Prayer.' The late afternoon Los Angeles sunlight shines through gauzy curtains behind Singletary, who sits at his piano with fingers poised over the keys. The music starts. On Instagram, members of the 'Piano & Prayer' community greet one another and share where they are listening from: Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Houston, New York City, Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey and even Chile. Singletary riffs with the confidence of a musician who began playing a toy piano at the age of 5 in his family home in Nashua, New Hampshire. Now, a 38-year-old father of two, he starts vocalizing as he plays, sometimes forming words, but always in a soothing harmony. During the early days of the pandemic, from his living room in New York, Singletary started 'Piano & Prayer,' a weekly spiritual, but not necessarily religious gathering, for people to connect and share. For him, it was the perfect antidote to the isolation he was feeling. 'Hello, hello, welcome to 'Piano & Prayer.' Happy Monday,' Singletary says. He stops playing and turns toward the camera with a warm, welcoming smile. Singletary's eyes light up. 'Jaden, good to see you, my mom's in here, so many familiar faces, Hannah, good to see you, Aunt Jeanette, good to see you. I missed y'all, I missed this.' Singletary and his family had been on vacation for a couple of weeks, and he's excited to be back. 'Debra, good to see you.' Debra Mazer, a 'Piano & Prayer' original, is watching from Atlanta. ' I had Jonathan's sessions on my pandemic roster . I had a schedule for myself that I put in the calendar because the Zoom groups were very important to my mental health and well-being,' Mazer says. She discovered this gathering by following Singletary's then-financée, now wife, Elaine Welteroth, former editor in chief of Teen Vogue. It was a tough time to be a professional musician in April 2020. ' I made music. I've done a lot of shows, but all of that was shut down,' Singletary says. He credits Welteroth with encouraging him to combine social media with music. He remembers her saying, ' Go on in there and just play, just play some music.' Singletary confesses it was a bumpy start. The first iteration was him playing acoustic versions of his songs: 'I t didn't fully resonate with me.' So he returned to his first instrument, the piano. 'Piano & Prayer' wasn't set up to be a moneymaking endeavor at first, but Singletary recently launched a Patreon, which allows creators to collect money directly from fans. ' I was always playing piano for fun. I would go into the chapel at my Catholic high school, and I would play piano, and my friends would come in and lie on the floor and just zen out while I played,' he remembers. 'This thing ['Piano & Prayer'] has existed for a while.' Fast forward to 2020, instead of a chapel floor, isolated people from across the country carved out 45 minutes to connect. Mazer notes that while the world has moved on from COVID, 'Piano & Prayer' is one of the online activities she started during the pandemic that she still attends regularly. The Monday evening sessions are a blend of gentle piano music, meditation, prayer and community. During a recent livestream, 40 people gathered — those who want to share what they are thinking and feeling in the chat, offering prayers for themselves and others. 'For those affected by the flooding in TX,' one person shares. 'Praying for my students that they make up their work this summer session and pass to graduate,' someone types. 'Praying for the families in Texas. Lord, have mercy,' pops up. Singletary adopts a friendly approach, meeting people where they are with their religiosity or spirituality. Never preachy or too churchy — sometimes God is never mentioned. He was raised in a churchgoing family. 'The church was a huge part. Has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember.' For Singletary, the idea of going to church every Sunday changed during the pandemic. He didn't feel safe, and then he moved to a new city and finding a new church was hard with social distancing. On the other side of the country, it's 8:30 p.m. and Bobby Brown's four children, ages 5 to 12, are in bed. 'Piano & Prayer' plays on his phone while Brown and his wife are hanging out in the humid night air. ' It's just like a romantic thing in the background while we're talking,' Brown explains. 'Then he [Singletary] throws out some prayers. We pause and take some deep breaths, because he tells us to and he reminds us to.' Before relocating to Atlanta, Brown lived in Inglewood. He runs a nonprofit group called Donuts For Dads, a supportive community for fathers. This is where he and Singletary first connected. Brown says he didn't realize his friend had this growing online community. ' He doesn't even promote it. It was just like, 'Hey, I'm going live, '' Brown laughs. 'Whenever I see any of my friends go live, I just click to support them. Even if I can only hop on for a couple of minutes, try to throw some hearts in there.' Both Mazer and Brown could be considered part of a larger trend of individuals who identify as spiritual rather than religious. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 41% of U.S. adults report having grown more spiritual throughout their lifetime, compared with only 13% who say they have become less spiritual. This data makes sense to Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, an associate professor in social studies and legal studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, where her area of expertise is the sociology of religion. ' It's like, no, religion's not for me. But I like spirituality. All these shifts have happened across generations, especially amongst younger cohorts, the term religion itself now has almost a negative connotation in some contexts, but spirituality doesn't.' Singletary, who has about 25,000 followers, publishes the Instagram Lives on his grid and says the views on each 'Piano & Prayer' session are usually around 1,000, but have reached as high as 5,000. 'This isn't about people watching me do a thing. The most touching to me and maybe validating as well, is that I see people engaging with each other and encouraging each other and praying for one another and responding to each other's prayer requests.' For the moment, if it's a Monday at 5:30 p.m., you can find Singletary at his black lacquered piano ready to welcome anyone who needs it into the 'Piano & Prayer' family.
Daily Mirror
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Prime Video fans given 'zero tolerance' warning as hit drama returns after 2 years
Viewers have received a list of rules to follow. Prime Video subscribers have received a stern warning against bullying and hate speech, as new episodes of a beloved teen drama are set to drop. The Summer I Turned Pretty premiered on the streamer back in 2022 and is set to debut its third and final season on Wednesday, July 16. Based on Jenny Han's bestselling YA novels of the same name, the show follows teenager Belly Conklin (played by Lola Tung) as she navigates a love triangle between brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno). Ahead of the new episodes, The Summer I Turned Pretty's official Instagram account issued a warning to viewers. "Cousins is our safe place. Everything good, everything magical. Let's keep the conversation kind this summer," they wrote in an Instagram story posted on Monday, July 14. The statement then clarified: "We have a ZERO tolerance policy for bullying and hate speech." The community guidelines include no 'hate speech or bullying,' no 'targeting cast or crew,' and no 'harassing or doxxing members of the community.' Those who break any of these rules will be banned. While the light-hearted series has received overwhelming praise from viewers, with some dubbing it the "best show ever," it has also sparked heated debates among fans. The book series already had a dedicated fanbase before Prime Video got its hands on the story. Therefore, readers were attached to the characters before the first season even dropped. As such, fans have been known to share impassioned social media posts about which brother Belly should pursue. In fact, lead actress Tung has previously addressed the sometimes "scary" responses from viewers. Speaking to Teen Vogue earlier this month, she said: "I think we see with a lot of these love-triangle stories, people want the leading girl to end up with someone. "When people have an attachment to the characters, they want to see it come together at the end. I'm so grateful that they care so much, but people get a little scary about it." She continued, voicing her own plea for viewers: "Please don't threaten to kill someone if something doesn't go your way — I promise you, it's not that serious. Jenny [Han] is so smart and she cares so much about the story and making it the best story that it can be. It will be okay." Although readers already know that Belly eventually chooses Conrad in the novels, author Han has confirmed that the forthcoming series will not be a page-by-page adaptation of the final book, We'll Always Have Summer. So some fans may be disappointed with how the teen drama ends.
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Followers feel ‘abandoned' as plus-size influencers embrace weight loss, blame Trump for cultural shift
Fans of overweight influencers are reportedly feeling "abandoned" as those they look up to are choosing to lose weight. "I think the audiences that are feeling abandoned, in my opinion, largely the feedback is not, 'I'm mad that you're skinny,'" Lydia Okello, a writer and model who was quoted in a recent Teen Vogue article entitled, "The Community Ozempic Stole: As Influencers Lose Weight, Their Followers Feel 'Abandoned.'" "The feedback is, 'why are you acting like the body that I have is not worthy any more,'" Okello added, who calls herself "fat enby fashion bud" on her X profile. Some even go so far as to blame President Donald Trump and his administration for the changing landscape. "We're in a time when we have an administration which is trying to control us in every sense," said Wray Serna, founder of the clothing brand, WRAY, that calls itself an "inclusive, fine art inspired clothing line." "I think it's a broad cultural message people are receiving that is about control, about conforming, about making yourself as 'perfect' as possible," Serna added. "I think it's deeply rooted in patriarchy. I think it's deeply rooted in racism." She said the industry has given her community. "[Fashion] was such a disappointing industry … until I opened up my sizing and discovered this whole other side of fashion that I didn't even know about," Serna said. "That was one of the most surprising things that could have happened," she added. "It made me believe in fashion again, in humanity again. I found that community to be so welcoming and kind." Some celebrities who have recently made news with their weight-loss achievements include Lizzo, who recently celebrated reaching her weight-loss goal, saying she hadn't seen that number on the scale since 2014. The singer had in the past criticized speculation that her weight loss was due to taking Ozempic. Others on weight-loss journeys include Kelly Clarkson, Kathy Bates, Eric Stonestreet, John Goodman and Adele. Okello said she thinks the fascination of some with losing weight is contradictory to the body-positivity message they have embraced. "I don't believe it's my right to tell someone [my opinion on] whether or not they want to lose weight," Okello told Teen Vogue. "But I have seen influencers who talked a lot about accepting their body where it was, or appreciating how they look regardless [of weight] really flipping the script and using the way they looked previously as a negative contrast to where they are now. That part is what I really disagree with." Emma Zack, founder & CEO of Berriez, a vintage and plus-sized clothing shop, also sees inconsistency in the trend toward weight loss. "It's this weird dichotomy, when a plus size influencer who has made their entire business on being plus size gets thin, we're not entitled to talk about their body changes," Zack told Teen Vogue. "They don't owe us this explanation. However they've built their entire platform on body positivity. So when they're getting thin and ignoring it, what's going on?"
Cosmopolitan
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty' Instagram Warns Against Bullying
Trolls, be warned: The Summer I Turned Pretty's Instagram is ready to shut down any inappropriate behavior—even if it is in the name of fandom. Ahead of season 3, The Summer I Turned Pretty official Instagram issued a warning to fans, asking them not to engage in hate speech, doxxing, or any harassment of stars or fans. 'Cousins is our safe place. Everything good, everything magical. Let's keep the conversation kind this summer,' the show's official account wrote in an Instagram Story shared Monday, July 14. The show then laid out a series of community guidelines, announcing a zero-tolerance policy. These include: No 'hate speech or bullying,' no 'targeting our cast or crew,' and finally, absolutely no 'harassing or doxxing members of the community.' Any user that breaks one of these rules will be banned. Now, you might be thinking that this seems a little too serious for a show that's central conflict is a love triangle between Belly and two brothers, Jeremiah and Conrad. But in today's world of extreme fandom and constant social media debate, you can really never be too careful. (Love Island USA recently had to put out multiple statements asking fans to be nicer to contestants.) And fans do go hard for their fave TSITP ships. Their passion is something star Lola Tung recently commented on in an interview with Teen Vogue. 'When people have an attachment to the characters, they want to see it come together at the end. I'm so grateful that they care so much, but people get a little scary about it,' she said. 'Please don't threaten to kill someone if something doesn't go your way—I promise you, it's not that serious.' Lola added that the fans were in good hands with The Summer I Turn Pretty author Jenny Han running the show. 'Jenny is so smart and she cares so much about the story and making it the best story that it can be. It will be okay,' she added. As long as Belly chooses Conrad, I'm sure she's right. 😉 Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty premieres Wednesday, July 16 on Prime Video.
