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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Pamela Anderson Channeled Her Love of Jazz in 'The Naked Gun': ‘I Was a Scat Soloist in 8th Grade' (Exclusive)
Pamela Anderson had the chance to showcase her passion for jazz in her new project The Naked Gun. In an update of the 1988 slapstick comedy, she plays femme fatale Beth Davenport, who becomes involved with L.A. Police Squad lieutenant Frank Drebin (Liam Neeson) as he's investigating her brother's mysterious death. When the case takes them to a private club where a jazz band is playing, Beth hops up on stage to scat with the band while Drebin snoops around. Anderson — who performed on Broadway as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago in 2022 — drew from experience when it was time to film that scene and perform the song "Sassafras Chicken in D." 'Well I was the scat soloist in eighth grade,' she tells PEOPLE. 'I love jazz. I play saxophone, and I have scatted a few times.' 'So when I read that in the script I decided it was meant to be. Who else could do this? I think that's how I [decided], 'Maybe I can do this role,'' she adds. 'I love to scat. It was scripted, it wasn't just impromptu. And I still can't get it out of my head. I still can remember the entire thing, singing the jazz,' Anderson continues. Neeson says that day was a particular highlight. 'I remember your jazz concert. Everybody was just glued to the monitor,' he tells Anderson. Anderson also remembers having jitters, she previously told Entertainment Weekly. "You have to have courage. You have to have courage to be an actor at all. But that's my happy place is when I'm terrified," she told the outlet. "I actually really enjoy singing. I love being on stage…. The feeling is so rewarding because I feel like we repress so much of ourselves, and especially as an artist, and I love to write and journal and write poetry, but performing and working on a movie is another way to express yourself because everything is loaded.' EW reported that the sequence was filmed over the course of 12 hours, with Anderson singing live along with her pre-recorded track during each take. "What you see in the final movie, it's all Pam, but it's a blend of pre-recorded and live. She performed it like a musical number,' said co-writer and director Akiva Schaffer. The Naked Gun is in theaters nationwide on Friday, Aug. 1. Take PEOPLE with you! to get the latest details on celebrity news, exclusive royal updates, how-it-happened true crime stories and more — right to your mailbox. Read the original article on People
BBC News
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The Naked Gun to Freakier Friday: 12 of the best films to watch in August
From The Naked Gun to Freakier Friday – these are the films to watch at the cinema and stream at home this month. Souleymane's Story Boris Lojkine's powerful drama was the winner of two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, and has a 100% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes review round-up site. It's the story of Souleymane (first-time actor Abou Sangaré), an immigrant from West Africa who has come to Paris in the hope of making enough money to support his ill mother. But the title, Souleymane's Story, has another meaning: it also refers to the false life story he has to memorise and recite at a legal residency application interview in two days' time. The trouble is that memorising anything is almost impossible while Souleymane is cycling around Paris as a food delivery worker, crossing paths with the police and with people who owe him money, and trying to find somewhere safe to sleep. "Lojkine's narrative is pacy and moves like an edge-of-the-seat thriller," says Namrata Joshi in the New Indian Express. He "also documents the entire industry that gets built around immigration and asylum". Released on 1 August in the US and Canada Weapons Barbarian, Zach Cregger's twist-filled horror film about the world's worst Airbnb, was a commercial and critical hit in 2022, and now the writer-director returns with a film which, he says, is "more ambitious in almost every way". The Twilight Zone-worthy premise is that 17 children from the same class all wake up at the same moment, walk out of their houses and disappear into the night, never to be seen again. The children's parents (Josh Brolin, among others) are desperate for answers, and their teacher (Julia Garner) is under suspicion. But that, says Cregger, is just the start of the story. Even more intriguingly, he says that he was influenced by Paul Thomas Anderson's multi-stranded ensemble drama, Magnolia. "I love that movie," he told Entertainment Weekly. "I love that kind of bold scale. It gave me permission when I was writing this to shoot for the stars and make it an epic. I wanted a horror epic, and so I tried to do that." Released on 8 August in cinemas internationally The Bad Guys 2 The Bad Guys was a different kind of DreamWorks cartoon – a stylish heist caper in the Ocean's Eleven mould, except that the criminals just happened to be talking animals. Adapted from Aaron Blabey's graphic novels, the film featured Mr Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr Snake (Marc Maron), Ms Tarantula (Awkwafina), Mr Shark (Craig Robinson) and Mr Piranha (Anthony Ramos), a gang of wisecracking criminals who got tired of being stereotyped as scary predators. In the sequel, they're still struggling to be accepted as upstanding members of the community, and things get trickier when they're blackmailed into teaming up with another gang of crooked animals: The Bad Girls. The director, Pierre Perifel, says that the sequel makes the jump from heist film to all-action blockbuster. "We're big fans of Mission: Impossible, and of big action films in particular, and we wanted to dabble and play with that genre," Perifel told Collider. "We're not doing Mission: Impossible, we're doing The Bad Guys, but it has those tropes." Released on 1 August in cinemas internationally Caught Stealing Darren Aronofsky is known for his abyss-dark dramas; no one goes to see Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler or The Whale because they fancy a fun Friday night at the cinema. But now Aronofsky has switched to Tarantino / Ritchie mode for a boisterous crime caper set in grimy 1990s New York. Adapted from Charlie Huston's novel, Caught Stealing stars Austin Butler as a baseball-loving barman who is trying to impress his new girlfriend (Zoe Kravitz) when he stumbles into a gangland feud involving a British punk-rocker (Matt Smith), a pair of Orthodox Jewish hitmen (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D'Onofrio), and $4m in ill-gotten gains. "The state the world's in right now... There's a lot going on," Aronofsky explained in Empire. "So, I wanted to get back to the core ingredients that make movies great – entertainment and fun. I wanted to make something filled with joy and adventure… It's a romp." Released on 29 August in cinemas internationally It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley Jeff Buckley's Grace is one of the greatest albums of the 1990s – or, as David Bowie once said, one of the greatest albums ever made. Buckley's poetic songwriting, swirling guitar arrangements and angelic multi-octave voice were stunning, but, tragically, we'll never know what else he might have accomplished: he accidentally drowned in a river in 1997 before he had completed his second album. Amy Berg's documentary examines the conflicted man behind the music, and ponders the dark ironies of his short life. The father he never knew, Tim Buckley, was also a singer who died young. "What the documentary captures is that Buckley was on his way to becoming a staggeringly huge star," says Owen Gleiberman in Variety. "I defy you to see It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley and not fall in love with Jeff Buckley's voice. By the time the film is over, you want to find a way to go back and rescue him to let him live the life he should have had." Released on 8 August in the US Highest 2 Lowest Highest 2 Lowest "fulfils every expectation you might want from a modern Spike Lee movie", says Stephanie Zacharek in Time. A loose remake of Akira Kurosawa's High and Low (1963), this New York music-industry thriller stars Denzel Washington as a record-company boss. He's renowned for signing some of the biggest names in the business, but his company has fared so poorly in recent years that he is struggling to keep control of it. And then he hears that his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) has been kidnapped. Co-starring some real-life music stars, including A$AP Rocky and Ice Spice, Highest 2 Lowest is "smart, hugely entertaining, and profound in a way that's anything but sentimental", says Zacharek. "Lee has made a film that feels modest and grand at once, the kind of movie you can see on a Saturday night just for kicks and still be thinking about the next day." Released on 22 August in the US The Roses One of Hollywood's darkest ever anti-romantic comedies, The War of the Roses (1989) starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a couple going through a blisteringly bitter divorce. Thirty-six years on, it has been remade – or reimagined – with Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch as the unhappy couple. Cumberbatch is Theo Rose, a famous architect, and Colman is Ivy Rose, a small-time cook. But when his career crashes while hers goes into orbit, the Roses' relationship gets thorny. Co-starring Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon, the film is directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Austin Powers), and written by Tony McNamara (The Favourite, Cruella), who says that his screenplay is even more outrageous than the 1980s one, but not, perhaps, as cynical. "We were like, 'Let's do a movie about people who want to stay married rather than two people trying to destroy each other,'" McNamara said on Streaming Movie Night. "A sophisticated adult screwball comedy didn't seem like it had been done for a while in a proper commercial way, and so it seemed like an opportunity." Released on 29 August in cinemas internationally Splitsville Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin have already made one acclaimed indie comedy together, The Climb (2019), which Covino directed, and both men wrote and acted in. Now they've reunited for a higher profile project opposite higher profile co-stars, Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona. Marvin plays Carey, who has been married to Ashley (Arjona) for a year when she announces that she has been unfaithful to him and wants a divorce. When he tells the sorry tale to his wealthy friends Paul (Covino) and Julie (Johnson), they reveal that their marriage works so well because they are free to sleep with other people. Could this work for Carey and Ashley, too? And is Paul and Julie's relationship really as healthy as they make it sound? This "reliably funny romcom about the notion of open relationships makes for a delightful time", says Esther Zuckerman in IndieWire. "The film-makers have created an utterly endearing tale of four people trying to negotiate their own desires in the silliest ways possible with unexpected chaos around every turn." Released on 22 August in the US Freakier Friday Lindsay Lohan spent years in the Hollywood wilderness after she starred alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in 2003's Freaky Friday, so it's heartening to see her back on the big screen in the perfectly named sequel, Freakier Friday. In the first film (itself a remake of a Disney comedy from 1976), Lohan and Curtis played a teenage girl and her mother, Anna and Tess, who swapped bodies for a day. In Freakier Friday, Anna and Tess swap bodies with Anna's daughter and step-daughter – so both Lohan and Curtis get to pretend that they're teenagers. "[Freakier Friday] is a feelgood movie, which is what I want to give people," Lohan said in Elle. "And it's fun. When I saw the second cut, I wanted to get up and dance at the end." Released on 8 Aug in cinemas internationally The Naked Gun How can you make a Naked Gun film without the franchise's beloved star, the late Leslie Nielsen? The answer, it seems, is to cast Liam Neeson – not just because his name is so similar to Nielsen's, but because he knows how to be gruff and deadpan while surrounded by silliness. "Liam Neeson is probably the only actor alive in the 21st Century who could do what Leslie Nielsen did," the film's producer, Seth MacFarlane, said in Entertainment Weekly. The casting of Pamela Anderson as the love interest / femme fatale was an inspired move, too, especially as Anderson was so acclaimed for her previous film, The Last Showgirl. MacFarlane is hoping that his spoof cop thriller will be that rarest of things, a Hollywood comedy that is a cinema hit. "It's been a long time since a really high-profile hard comedy has been put out there. This is a true comedy, with a whole bunch of laughs. And hopefully, if the movie does well, it brings a few more of those kinds of movies back into our shared landscape." Released on 1 August in cinemas internationally The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club has been a publishing sensation since it came out in 2020. Not only was it a bestseller, but it helped established the genre of "cosy crime" detective novels – although Osman might not use that term himself. "When I started writing The Thursday Murder Club, the successful crime books of the time were mainly dark psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators," he told the BBC in 2023. "I just wanted to write an Agatha Christie-style thriller but with some humour and with a modern twist. A book I'd love to read, but couldn't find. I'd never heard the term 'cosy crime'." The inevitable screen adaptation is produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Chris Columbus, the maker of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films. Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie play four pensioners in the same retirement community who hit upon an unusual hobby: solving mysteries. Released on 28 August on Netflix Nobody 2 Bob Odenkirk, the star of Better Call Saul, doesn't look like a typical Hollywood action hero – but that's one reason why Nobody (2021) was so entertaining. The idea was that Odenkirk's character, Hutch, was a mild-mannered, middle-aged suburban dad. But it turned out that he had a secret past as a government assassin, so when he got tangled up with Russian mobsters, we had the cathartic pleasure of seeing this average-looking fellow participating in some of modern cinema's most gloriously brutal fight scenes. In the sequel, Hutch is on a summer holiday with his wife (Connie Nielsen) and children when a crime boss (Sharon Stone) interrupts their family time. "For me, what mattered in the second movie was: what's something that a couple could relate to as a tension in their life," Odenkirk said in Discussing Film. "One of the big ones in America is the inability to take a break and not work constantly or worry about our jobs… Hutch just can't do it. Most people can't do it. I've struggled to do it myself." Released on 15 August in cinemas internationally -- For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
41 years later, the movie sequel I've always wanted is looking like a comedy masterpiece
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Quick Summary One of the greatest comedies of the 1980s is finally getting a sequel, with Spinal Tap II: The End Continues hitting cinemas this September. We can now see what to expect too, with a few production stills having been released by the studio. If you're of a certain age, there are a handful of comedy movies made in the 80s that were absolute must-sees (usually on VHS). Airplane, The Blues Brothers, The Naked Gun and Spaceballs near the top of that list for sure. However, there's another that's arguably even more fondly remembered. This is Spinal Tap was released in 1984 and almost instantly became a cult hit. Directed by Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men), its mockumentary style and exemplary performances by Christopher Guest (Saturday Night Live), Michael McKean (Better Call Saul) and Harry Shearer (The Simpsons) made stars of the cast and even enabled them to go on tour as the fictional band they portrayed. Even today I laugh whenever I drive past Stonehenge, and was turned into a giddy mess when visiting Marshall's UK headquarters where I saw and touched the actual fabled amp that goes up to 11. So the fact that, 41 years later, the trio are back (along with their 12th drummer) is the stuff of dreams. And newly released images of the movie give me hope that it'll be everything I've hoped for. Image 1 of 3 Image 2 of 3 Image 3 of 3 Spinal Tap II: The End Continues will be released in cinemas on 12 September 2025 and reunites the main cast with Reiner. It once again focuses on the band as they get back together for one final concert before permanent retirement. Cue the hilarity once more. We're yet to see a full trailer (beyond a brief teaser released earlier this year), but the images show at least one extra special guest will be joining Tap on stage – Elton John. There are also some visible nods back to the original, with the crowd in one shot holding up their homemade 'Henges. I cannot wait and will certainly be watching the first film again in preparation. Thankfully, it's also been remastered in 4K HDR for a new release. So if like me you fancy a trip back in time, or you've never seen it before, you can catch the new version of This is Spinal Tap on the likes of Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV – having been released in the US this week and hopefully elsewhere soon. I guarantee a fair few laughs ahead.
Geek Culture
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
'The Naked Gun' Fan Screening - Win Tickets To Geek Culture Event
Fans of the old Police Squad franchise, buckle up! The Naked Gun is about to hit the screens again on 7 August 2025, this time starring Liam Neeson ( Taken franchise) as Frank Drebin Jr., son of Leslie Nielsen's Frank Drebin, who was the protagonist of the previous films. With his gun and badge in hand, Drebin will stop at nothing to fight crime, whether it's a cafe toilet queue or a man's laughter. Neeson is back in this legacy sequel, once again as a man who has a particular set of skills, but this time to follow in his father's footsteps and lead Police Squad, an elite task force, to save the world. Along with his trusty partner, Capt. Ed Hocken Jr., played by Paul Walter Hauser ( Blackbird ), Drebin will have to solve a crucial murder case brought to him by the mysterious Beth, portrayed by Pamela Anderson ( Baywatch , The Last Showgirl ). Paul Walter Hauser's Ed Hocken Jr. and Liam Neeson's Frank Drebin Jr. in The Naked Gun (2025) Together with UIP Singapore, we've got 90 pairs of tickets up for grabs to attend the The Naked Gun fan screening on 6th August 2025 at GV Plaza Singapura. Don't miss this chance to be among the first few to catch a glimpse of Neeson's Drebin in this thrilling and hilarious adventure! FAN SCREENING EVENT DETAILS Date: 6 August 2025, Wednesday Time: 7pm Location: GV Plaza Singapura Hall 8 (Assigned Seating) Rating: NC16, Sexual References and Violence Runtime: 85 min
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pamela Anderson Accessorizes Her Peplum Look With $20,000 of Vintage Diamonds and Emeralds
Her opulent earrings are literally straight out of the '70s. Pamela Anderson paired a popular 2010s trend with thousands of dollars worth of jewels at the Berlin premiere of her new film The Naked Gun. Anderson modeled a forest green Danielle Frankel set featuring a peplum bodice—a fad that's reappeared on red carpets in the 2020s thanks to stars like Emma Stone and Demi Moore—and a pleated skirt. The Baywatch actress's coord also came with a matching scarf and a floor-length train. As for Anderson's accessories, she piled on diamonds and emeralds from Saidian Vintage Jewels. Her 1970s-era drop earrings, priced at $20,000, include 6.72 carats of emeralds set in 14kt gold. She also added on a matching cocktail ring. Anderson wore her flippy bob in a subtle side-part, while her minimal makeup consisted of eyeliner, dewy blush, and lip gloss. The former Playboy Playmate revives one of her iconic hairstyles in The Naked Gun. Anderson co-stars alongside Liam Neeson in the 2025 reboot of the detective spoof franchise. Portraying his love interest Beth, Anderson goes back to her voluminous blonde roots, rocking retro-inspired waves reminiscent of her tousled '90s tresses. The Last Showgirl star debuted a chin-length bob at the Met Gala in May. In a recent interview with Who What Wear, she explained how her new 'do makes her feel like "a feminine warrior." "For the Met, I wanted something strong, brave, and committed—aligned with the night's theme of tailoring from head to toe," Anderson said. On the red carpet, she wore a structural Tory Burch gown covered in sequins, which paired well with her blunt cut. "I believe the world needs more of a feminine warrior presence, and this was my small contribution," she added. "It wasn't about looking 'good.' That's subjective anyway. [Tory Burch's] dress was the star. I was just blessed to wear it." Read the original article on InStyle Solve the daily Crossword
