Beautiful Killer

Trump, first lady to skip Kennedy Center Honors over concerns of ‘political distraction’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/08/19/trump-first-lady-to-skip-kennedy-center-honors-over-concerns-of-political-distraction/?utm_term=.eab388aaff80

Madonna’s 12 Most Memorable Awards Show Performances From The Brit Awards To The VMAs (VIDEO) Including shocking outfits, A-list guests and one very infamous cape. 6 hours ago Daniel Welsh Entertainment Reporter Say what you like about Madonna, but one area she always delivers is when it comes to live performances. Even when confronted with obstacles (or a very stubborn cape), you can always rely on the Queen of Pop to give it her all when it comes to her live routines, and that’s been showcased at an innumerable amount of awards shows throughout her decades-spanning career in music. We’ve delived into the pop vaults and picked just 12 of our favourites... Advertisement ‘Like A Virgin’ - MTV Video Music Awards 1984 YouTube The performance that started it all at the very first VMAs, the controversy surrounding her rendition of ‘Like A Virgin’ that saw her rolling around on the floor seductively cemented Madonna’s place as a pop culture icon. Little did people know, she was just getting started... ‘Vogue’ - MTV Video Music Awards 1990 YouTube Take note, Chezza and BritBrit. If you’re going to lip sync, the only excuse can be that you’re delivering a performance as flawless as this. ‘Sooner Or Later’ - Academy Awards 1991 YouTube This awards performance at the Oscars gave Madonna a rare opportunity to show off her vocals, while still paying homage to her idol, Marilyn Monroe. Sidenote: Her date to the awards that night was none other than Michael Jackson. ‘Bedtime Story’ - Brit Awards 1995 YouTube One of Madonna’s most overlooked tracks was also the only song she’d ever performed live at the Brits... until she finally returned to the UK awards bash for the first time in two decades in 2015, that is. And we all know what happened then (more on that later). ‘You Must Love Me’ - Academy Awards 1997 YouTube Later that evening, ‘You Must Love Me’ would scoop the Oscar for Best Original Song. So you see... Madonna was sort of involved in an Academy Award-winning track, which should come as a shock to anyone who’s seen ‘Body Of Evidence’. ‘Shanti/Ashtangi’ - MTV Video Music Awards 1998 YouTube After taking time out from the music scene, Madonna re-launched herself in full ‘Earth Mother’ mode with her ‘Like A Prayer’ album, helped by this performance at the 1998 Video Music Awards, which she kicked off by singing entirely in Sanskrit. ‘Like A Virgin’/’Hollywood’ - MTV Video Music Awards 2004 YouTube Indisputably one of the most iconic moments of the 21st century. Christina’s inky hair. Madonna’s shock arrival at the top of a cake. Justin Timberlake’s reaction. This performance has it all. ‘Hung Up’ - MTV European Music Awards 2005 YouTube Nothing says “disco” quite like a leotard-clad Madonna emerging from a giant glitter ball, right? ‘Feel Good Inc.’/’Hung Up’ - Grammys 2006 YouTube Over her long and illustrious career Madonna has collaborated with so many greats: Prince, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Missy Elliot, Nicki Minaj, Pharrell Williams, to name but a few. But let’s not forget she also danced with a cartoon pop group at the Grammys way back in 2006, wearing - what else? - a purple leotard. ‘Same Love’/’Open Your Heart’ - Grammys 2014 YouTube And even last year, Madonna put in an appearance at the Grammys as part of Macklemore’s touching ‘Same Love’ performance. While he performed his smash hit single, a number of mixed-sex couples tying the knot live on air, all presided over by, of course, Queen Latifah. As if all that wasn’t enough, Madonna then stormed the stage to perform a stripped-back version of her hit, ‘Open Your Heart’. ‘Living For Love’ - Brit Awards 2015 The fall that was felt around the world... but say what you want about Madonna, she jumped right up and carried on with her performance. A true pro. Prince Tribute - Billboard Music Awards 2016 When it came to paying tribute to one of the biggest pop icons of all time, it felt only appropriate that it should be Madonna who took on the performance on his honour at the Billboard Music Awards. Donning her best purple paisley, she whizzed through some of his most memorable numbers. http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/uk_5993126be4b09096429a23c1

Jury finds former radio host assaulted Taylor Swift, awards singer $1 http://ew.com/music/2017/08/14/taylor-swift-assault-trial-verdict/

Mariah Carey is performing with 'no f---s given,' says singer's former choreographer “It’s just typical Mariah,” Burrell told Complex in an interview. “Mariah is clear: When she doesn’t wanna do something, she doesn’t do it. She’s performing with lackluster and no f—s given, and it’s taking away her star." http://ew.com/music/2017/08/08/mariah-carey-choreographer-critical-comments/amp/

Bad Movie Night: The Dopey, Kitschy Appeal of Madonna’s ‘Who’s That Girl’ Jason Bailey 23 hours ago Welcome to “Bad Movie Night,” a biweekly feature in which we sift through the remains of bad movies of all stripes: the obscure and hilarious, the bloated and beautiful, the popular and painful. This week, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of its release, we look at the screwball Madonna vehicle Who’s That Girl. Surmising the motivations and chain of decisions that result in the making of a bad movie is a tricky bit of business, but it’s not that hard to put together some educated guesses about how Who’s That Girlcame into the world. Madonna’s previous big-screen effort, Shanghai Surprise, was a very loud critical and commercial failure, and the primary slam was that it took itself too damn seriously. So the singer/actress went back to what worked, and her hit 1985 debut feature, Desperately Seeking Susan, was a New York-set comedy. So she needed another one, stat. Who’s That Girl is a blatant mash-up of Bringing Up Baby (bespectacled intellectual, dizzy dame, jungle cat), Scorsese’s After Hours (with Griffin Dunne reprising the role of a button-up type who spends one long night being chased through NYC), and the previous year’s Something Wild (in which a sexy free spirit meets uptight yuppie), but PG-13. It often plays with that kind of formulaic calculation; the opening “pitch meetings” sequence of The Player didn’t come from nowhere. The producers are ‘80s super-powers Jon Peters and Peter Guber, two years away from Batman; the cinematographer is Jan DeBont (who would go on to direct Speed and Twister, among others). And the director is James Foley, whose weird career brought us both the highlights of Glengarry Glen Rossand Reckless, and the low-lights of Perfect Stranger and Fifty Shades Darker. (His previous film was At Close Range, featuring an original Madonna song and a lead performance by then-Madonna husband Sean Penn, which is presumably how he got the gig.) The film begins with an animated Madonna emerging from the Warner Brothers logo, a Looney Tunes connotation that, mixed with the animated credits and the opening song “Causing a Commotion,” establishes the tone they’re going for (if not the one they always achieve). Madonna is Nikki Finn, a recently paroled con; Dunne is Loudon Trott, a tax attorney, a fact established by his first line, “I’m not an animal trainer, I’m a tax attorney.” He’s also an prototypical yuppie, a piece of information most firmly established when he later notes, of the Rolls-Royce he’s driving for the day, “I’m more a Volvo man myself.” Loudon is about to marry blue-blood Wendy Worthington (Haviland Morris); he works for her father, and as she notes, “Daddy has big plans for Loudon.” But “Daddy” (the great character actor John McMartin) has a small plan first; he nees Loudon to rearrange his many errands on this, the day before his wedding, to pick up Nikki from prison and put her on her bus to Philadelphia. He doesn’t explain why he’s taken such a keen interest in this ex-con, but it sounds simple. “Drive her to the bus station, mile and a half, it’ll take five minutes,” he assures his future son-in-law, though if that were the case, it wouldn’t be much of a movie. That’s not the case; it turns out, she wants to clear her name, and needs Loudon to help her get to a safety deposit box with the information to do so. Hijinks ensue. In other words, it’s classic one-long-day/night-in-NYC movie, full of zany characters, car chases galore (up to and including one, yes, down a sidewalk, knocking over vendors), plenty of gunfire, our heroes leaping from rooftop to rooftop, and a vaguely racist trip to Harlem. The script isn’t terribly clever (writers Andrew Smith and Ken Finkelman think the height of wit is a scene in which our uptown/downtown protagonists are mixing up the definitions of “fencing”), frequently harboring the delusion that complications, in and of themselves, are funny – not the reactions of well-established characters to them, or smart dialogue bouncing off them. So we don’t just have the safety deposit box McGuffin or the impending nuptials to deal with; there’s the delivery of an endangered jungle cat to a rich client, and the kidnapping of the bridesmaids, and angry gangsters in pursuit, and a pair of typical ‘80s-movie mismatched cops keeping tabs, all to further busy up the plot. And, of course, it’s an opposites-attract romance, in which our Loudon initially loathes this low-class troublemaker, but finds himself drawn to her sense of danger and casual sensuality. Sure, he spends the first half barking things like “Listen to me, you little insane person,” but by the hour mark, we’ve got a montage of Loudon walking and daydreaming about Nikki, to the sounds of (what else) a Madonna song with painfully on-the-nose lyrics. And that’s followed by the inevitable slow-tilt close-up of our gal Madonna, revealing how nicely she cleans and glams up; she makes bedroom eyes, chews on her bottom lip, and purrs “Louden, it’s been a long time.” (Side note: Who’s That Girl shares with Nothing in Common the weird, apparently specific to the mid-‘80s notion that animal breeding is a giant turn on for observing humans.) It’s easy to see why Madonna took Who’s That Girl: it’s a movie that presents her, through action, photography, and explicit references in dialogue, as tough, funny, street-smart, and sexually irresistible. However, since Loudon’s engagement is part of the plot, the script has to give him an escape valve – so, as a running gag, he keeps encountering cab drivers who say of Wendy, “I had her in my cab once.” You see, if the fiancé turns out to be promiscuous, then we’re all okay with him hooking up with Madonna (gotta say, all things considered, it’s sort of odd for her to appear in a slut-shaming flick). At any rate, they spend the night together and then part ways, leading to what’s basically an Arthur ending, wackily but weakly gathering all the strands for the aborted wedding and the predictable happily-ever-after. Dunne, always a joy to watch, does his very best even when the material fails him (he has, for example, a very funny, utterly random bit freaking out in the back of a cab). He’s supposed to be the straight man, but his reaction shots and dialogue (“Are you the Antichrist? You can tell me, I won’t be mad”) garner most of the picture’s laughs. Madonna does herself no favors by adopting an exaggerated accent and inflated sexy-baby voice, but she looks fierce, takes no shit (“DON’T YOU SHUSH ME! NOBODY IGNORES NIKKI FINN!”), and has her moments; there’s a great throwaway line, during the climactic big fight, where she sing-songs a “Hurry up, I’m bored!” to Loudon as she skips around, chewing on a hunk of wedding cake. It’s not really a good performance, per se, but it’s an energetic one, and that kind of goes for the movie too. They’re going for a “madcap” vibe that sometimes lands and sometimes just sweats desperately, but Who’s That Girl is so eager to please, it ends up being a very hard movie to hate. Sure, it’s formulaic and overcooked, but it’s ultimately a pretty typical ‘80s comedy, no better or worse than average, and most likely over-scorned at the time due to the Madonna-movie-failure narrative. (It’s certainly better than, say, a hit like Mannequin.) Look, we’re not talking about an overlooked treasure here. But Who’s That Girl was one of those movies that got quite a bit of late-‘80s HBO airtime, and I’ve always recalled it with a fondness easily chalked up to both shabby pre-teen taste and understandable pre-teen Madonna crush. Revisiting it for this column, for the first time since then, its flaws were more apparent. But it still has its charms. http://flavorwire.com/608945/bad-movie-night-the-dopey-kitschy-appeal-of-madonnas-whos-that-girl/amp

Controversial 2018 Met Gala Theme Revealed Charles Sykes/AP The relationship between religion & fashion. BY JESSINTA SMITH MON, 2017-08-07 13:15 The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute will focus on the relationship between fashion and religion for its May 2018 exhibit, according to WWD—a theme that could easily spark controversy on the Met Gala red carpet. Sources say the idea came long before the Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: The Art of the In-Between show opened, also revealing that the concept is currently in very primitive stages of planning. Despite this circulating information, a spokeswoman for the MET refused to comment on the subject. Religion has often been inspiration for fashion, with designers incorporating religious references, such as symbols and Saints, into their clothes. From Jeremy Scott including visuals of Jesus to Dolce & Gabbana representing the Madonna on the runway, religion in fashion always causes a stir and one shouldn’t expect anything less from the First Monday in May. https://www.out.com/fashion/2017/8/07/controversial-2018-met-gala-theme-revealed

Drama series based on Mariah Carey's life in the works at Starz We’re already ‘Obsessed’ DEREK LAWRENCE@DEREKJLAWRENCE POSTED ON JULY 17, 2017 AT 9:36PM EDT Starz is lining up a series about one of music’s biggest stars. The network behind Outlanderand Power is developing a fictional drama based on the life of Grammy-winner Mariah Carey, EW has confirmed. Set in 1986 New York City, the prospective series will follow the rise of an ambitious bi-racial 16-year-old who overcomes a difficult childhood to become the highest-selling female artist of all-time. Carey will executive produce alongside Rush Hour director Brett Ratner, while Nina Colman, who wrote the series, will serve as showrunner. The ‘We Belong Together’ singer’s life was previously the subject of last year’s E! docuseries Mariah’s World. Carey has recently been in the headlines for her axed cameo in Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler’s The House. Many of the actors involved with the project have slammed her “unprofessional” and “borderline abusive” behavior. Deadline first reported the news. http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/17/mariah-carey-starz-drama-series/

So did I!

Mariah Carey called out by The House costar for set behavior: 'It did not go well' CHRISTOPHER ROSEN•@CHRISJROSEN POSTED ON MAY 24, 2017 AT 8:38PM EDT Today in unlikely celebrity feuds, it’s Rob Huebel vs. … Mariah Carey? Huebel, who has appeared in numerous film and television comedies over the last decade (including this weekend’s Baywatch), slammed Carey during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Entertainment Weekly Radio (ch. 105) for her behavior on the set of the Will Ferrell-Amy Poehler comedy The House. “We did some reshoots with a pop star named Mariah Carey. It did not go well,” Huebel said before asking if he was allowed to swear on the broadcast. After being told he was, Huebel continued, “F—ing, what is going on with her? It was bananas.” According to Huebel, Carey showed up “four hours late” to the set and then made what he called “amazing requests,” including that the pop legend needed “all white roses” in her trailer along with stuffed animals (lambs, he said, on account of Carey’s fans being called “lambs”). In The House, Ferrell and Poehler play parents who turn into low-level casino magnates in an effort to pay their daughter’s college tuition. Carey, per Huebel, was cast to play herself in a cameo. “She was hired to sing one song, and she was like, ‘You guys, I don’t want to sing that song.’ They’re like, ‘We hired you to sing this song,'” Huebel said of the film, which is produced by Ferrell and Adam McKay, among others. “So then they were going to do this bit where they shoot her, I think, and they kill her — in the movie. Not in real life. But she didn’t want that. She was like, ‘I don’t think my character would get killed by bullets. What if I deflected them like Wonder Woman?’ They were like, ‘Mariah, we don’t have time for [this]. You’re getting paid so much money. We have you for one day. We don’t have time to argue with you. Just do it.’ She just didn’t want to do what they wanted her to do. Anyway, why am I talking trash about her?” Pressed if Carey remains in the film, Huebel said he wasn’t sure. “Just know, if you see her, they had to work for it,” he said. Representatives for Carey had no comment. Warner Bros., which is releasing The House, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. http://ew.com/movies/2017/05/24/mariah-carey-rob-huebel-the-house/amp/

MSNBC is reporting 20 dead.

PopCrush did a Best Dance Breaks vid:

EXCLUSIVE: Madonna Explains Her Crazy Met Gala Army Dress, Reveals She Has Rosé in Her Canteen by Jennifer Drysdale 7:13 PM PDT, May 01, 2017 Madonna's got a little extra help to get her through the Met Gala. ET's Carly Steel caught up with the 58-year-old singer on the red carpet ahead of the event in New York City on Monday, where she revealed that her army-inspired look came with a canteen of rosé. Photo: Getty Images "I am of legal age. I know I look young," Madonna joked, before explaining the thought process behind her unique ensemble. "We knew we wanted to go with camouflage from the very start. We started with the flak jacket, and then we worked our way down inside," she said of her Moschino look. "So, you know, we're ready. We're ready to go to fashion war." "Combat Barbie," designer Jeremy Scott added. Photo: Getty Images Wasn't just a collaboration between Madonna and Scott -- her newly adopted daughters, Stelle and Estere, gave their mom the OK. "They're great. They also approve of my outfit," the mother of six revealed. "It's very important." With the kids at home, however, Madonna and her canteen are ready to party. "It's going to be a fun night," she shared. "As long as I drink the rest of my canteen." Madonna's army-inspired look is a little more covered up (and family friendly) than the lacy Givenchy number she wore last year. http://www.etonline.com/fashion/216490_exclusive_madonna_explains_her_crazy_met_gala_army_dress_reveals_she_has_rose_her_canteen/ampdoc.html

Sheryl Crow’s War on Madonna and ‘Sexual’ Pop Stars Pits Women Against Women Policing how women behave doesn’t advance feminism By Daryl Deino • 04/27/17 7:00am Sheryl Crow performs during the American Country Awards. Ethan Miller/Getty Images In a recent interview with Dan Rather, who shared some of Madonna’s recent speech on misogyny from the Billboard Music Awards, Sheryl Crow hinted that Madonna and other female pop stars damage the image of women when they use sex as a “form of power” in their “business form.” This kind of slut-shaming is surprising coming from Sheryl Crow, a woman who has defended all types of liberal feminist causes throughout her career. Even though Crow said she wouldn’t put it “all on Madonna,” the Queen of Pop’s fans were furious and took to Twitter to let Crow know what they thought. Madonna’s fans noted that the “Like a Prayer” crooner has never presented herself as an object of men’s sexual desires; she presents herself as the conductor of her own—something that has always bothered heterosexual men. The provocateur helped take something that males controlled for centuries and turned it on them. Because of Madonna, women are allowed to want to “get laid.” This was something completely looked down upon just 25 years ago. Unfortunately, Madonna’s sex-forwardness has made her an easy target. How many times have we read that Madonna “ruined it all for women” or she was “a horrible role model” who taught girls to be sluts? Madonna has fit the “degrading woman” label many have given her in very few instances (SEX book, performance with Drake at Coachella). One also cannot deny there is some truth to Crow’s interview when it comes to women in the industry as a whole. For every Madonna and Beyonce, there is a Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus. To be sure, both pop stars are great entertainers, but they have rarely presented any type of sexual power beyond “Look at me! Watch me take off my clothes!” One could argue that there has been—and continues to be—a complete double standard in the music industry, which Madonna touched upon in her Billboard speech. “If you’re a girl, you have to play the game. You’re allowed to be pretty and cute and sexy. But don’t act too smart. Don’t have an opinion that’s out of line with the status quo. You are allowed to be objectified by men and dress like a slut, but don’t own your sluttiness,” the “Rebel Heart” singer told the audience, adding that Prince and others have been able to get away with things women haven’t. Anybody who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s knows the double standard. Prince was certainly criticized for his sexually explicit songs and videos early in his career, but he was never a pariah accused of “ruining young boys.” Remember when the Parent’s Resource Music Center brutally criticized Madonna’s relatively innocent songs such as “Like a Virgin” and “Dress You Up,” but had nothing to say about Bruce Springsteen’s hit “I’m on Fire,” which was released around the same time period? The highly-sexualized song talked about “waking up at night with the sheets soaking wet” among other things. Was Bruce ever accused of making young boys victims of their teenage desires? One could add Donna Summer, Sheila E, and Christina Aguilera to the list of the slut-shamed. Early on, Beyonce was also a target of the double standard. And we can never forget about Janet Jackson. Janet’s Super Bowl Halftimeperformance with Justin Timberlake in 2004 is what many consider ground zero for sexual double standards. The uncovering of her nipple became one of the biggest events in entertainment history. Sure, Janet shouldn’t have been immune from any criticism, but it produced a torrent of slut-shaming, body-shaming and “moral” shaming that destructed Jackson’s career like a wrecking ball. Jackson received the brunt of the backlash from the American public and the network while Justin Timberlake remained relatively unscathed. Wasn’t Justin the one who ripped her clothing to reveal the breast? Did those who accuse Janet of spreading the wrong message to young women say the same about Justin negatively influencing young men? The sexist double standard still exists. While Miley Cyrus’ performance at the 2013 VMAs was certainly ridiculous, the public and the media resorted to slut-shaming the singer and accused her of being a poor role model. As Crushablenoted weeks after the performance, Miley rightfully pointed out that barely anybody criticized Robin Thicke, the man “behind the booty.” Unlike the stars previously mentioned, Sheryl Crow has not used her sexuality as a main element in her act, but she has used it in ways that make people think she’s being hypocritical. There are pictures showing Crow on stage submitting to John Mayer with a bikinias well as one where she grinds up against Kid Rock, touching his buttocks. Let’s not forget that Sheryl began her career touring with the Rolling Stones, a band who oozes sexuality in their performances. Sheryl Crow is a passionate and talented woman with a catalog of hits that have stood the test of time. She has also turned her breast cancer scare into an open dialogue. But Crow is wrong in thinking she’s helping feminist causes by policing how women should behave. Furthermore, she is aligning herself with men who have tried to do the same. Before criticizing other women in the music industry, Sheryl Crow needs to take a long look at herself and how her words could hurt women more than their artistic desires ever could. http://observer.com/2017/04/sheryl-crow-madonna-slut-shaming-feminism/

Who should play Madonna in the ‘Blond Ambition’ biopic? JOEY NOLFI•@JOEYNOLFI POSTED ON APRIL 25, 2017 AT 5:23PM EDT It might not have the blessing of the music legend it’s based on, but Universal’s Blond Ambition has the potential to provide a game-changing role to a young actress in Hollywood. EW confirmed Monday that the studio was in the early stages of developing a biopic chronicling the rise of Madonna throughout the formative years of her burgeoning pop career, charting the inspiration for — and subsequent success of — her 1983 debut album, which laid the foundation for her ascension into the pop cultural stratosphere. Before the film gets deeper and deeper into production, read on for a list of actresses we think should play the queen of pop (in alphabetical order), and make your own suggestions in the comments section below. Frances Bean Cobain Though she’s never acted in a major production, Cobain’s tenacity would add a palpable edge to the refreshingly bold attitude that largely punctuated Madonna’s blossoming image in the 1980s. Lily Collins While Collins has a more commercial look than Madonna did at the time she broke into the mainstream, her Golden Globe-nominated acting chops — coupled with a lifelong exposure to the music industry (she’s the daughter of musician Phil Collins) — make the Rules Don’t Apply star an ideal candidate to explore the grittier aspects of Madonna’s heyday. Cara Delevingne She’s got the disposition (and the thick eyebrows) to keep up with Madonna’s likeness, and, after taking smaller roles in bigger productions (Suicide Squad, Pan) she’s primed for a major hit of her own. Leading Blond Ambition could be the perfect way for her to transition from supporting player to Hollywood’s center stage. Sarah Gadon Gadon wowed the U.S. specialty crowd with her starring turn in James Schamus’ brilliant Indignation opposite Logan Lerman. The film saw the 30-year-old actress tapping into her dramatic side as a troubled college student who becomes entangled in a mysterious, life-altering relationship with a peer (Lerman) at a conservative college in 1950s Ohio. Much of her performance came alive in its subtleties, but Blond Ambition could be the right opportunity for Gadon to unabashedly show off her wild side on a much bigger scale. Taylor Momsen If there’s one thing people remember about Madonna in the 1980s, it’s her unwillingness to conform to standards. Momsen embodies the rebellious spirit that made Madonna a superstar and the musical inclination (she fronts The Pretty Reckless, a rock band formed in 2009) to match. Maika Monroe Monroe is light-years ahead of the supporting part she played in last year’s Independence Day: Resurgence. An essential part of the fabric of indie hits It Follows and The Guest, the 23-year-old’s fearlessness deserves to strike a pose in front of a wider audience, even if she hasn’t had the proper chance yet. Chloë Grace Moretz Though she found her stride at a young age, Moretz has never been defined by her status as a “child actress,” having garnered the attention of the masses in adult-oriented, R-rated flicks (Kick-Ass, Let Me In, and Carrie, to name a few) over the years. She’s since proven her range in high-profile comedies (Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising) and YA romances (If I Stay), but it’s her work playing a hardened starlet in 2014’s Clouds of Sils Maria — a role that required her to channel a young woman forced to grow wise beyond her years to combat the cutthroat world of moviemaking that was threatening to swallow her whole — that sells her ability to embody recording artist royalty like Madonna. Courtney Nelson Known primarily for her appearance on the 23rd cycle of VH1’s America’s Next Top Model, the 25-year-old high fashion stunner’s thick eyebrows immediately drew comparisons to Madonna — enough so that Nelson was assigned to portray the singer-songwriter for a celebrity look-alike photoshoot. Needless to say, she pulled it off, and would go on to blow the other contestants out of the water during an acting challenge. Nelson has the look, the swag, and the performative talent to take her own career to the next level at the center of Blond Ambition. Imogen Poots If you were casting Blond Ambitionsolely based on physicality, few actresses seem better suited for the part than Imogen Poots. The London native has a keen ability to excel in roles where she’s fighting back against seemingly insurmountable odds, whether it’s hordes of zombies in 28 Weeks Later or murderous neo-Nazi skinheads in Green Room, and she’d be suited to challenge the patriarchy — just like Madonna did at the dawn of her career — amid the backdrop of New York City grit in Blond Ambition. Kristen Stewart It’s been nearly a decade since Stewart first helped translate the Twilight book series into a worldwide cinematic success, even if the role of Bella Swan didn’t do much to sell the public on her skills as an actress, which had already been put to good use in movies like In the Land of Women, Into the Wild, and Panic Room in years prior. Since then, she’s worked with renowned auteurs (Olivier Assayas on Personal Shopper, Woody Allen in Café Society) and held her own against screen vets like Juliette Binoche (Clouds of Sils Maria) and Julianne Moore (Still Alice). Aside from 2012’s Snow White & the Huntsman, Stewart’s reinvention tour as a serious actress has notably failed to generate a major mainstream hit, and Blond Ambition could reposition her at the peak of the box office without sacrificing her commitment to the art of the craft in the process, given that we already know she’s capable of doing justice to a music figure (she portrayed Joan Jett in 2010’s The Runaways). Stewart’s versatility could be a perfect match for Blond Ambition, even if her overall aesthetic is a little more 1994 David Letterman interview than “Lucky Star” music video. http://ew.com/movies/2017/04/25/who-should-play-madonna-blond-ambition-biopic/amp/

Live Nation Sued Over Postponed Janet Jackson Tour: Report Jackson delayed her Unbreakable world tour in 2016 to start a family BY: MATTHEW STRAUSS In 2016, Janet Jackson postponed the remaining dates on her Unbreakable world tour to start a family. (She gave birth to her son Eissa in January 2017.) As of April 2016, Live Nation said that the tour would be rescheduled for 2017, but new shows have not yet been announced. Now, a fan has filed a class action lawsuit against the entertainment company, according to TMZ. The fan, Tiana Adams, reportedly claims that Live Nation is avoiding issuing refunds by saying the Unbreakable tour is “rescheduled” and not “cancelled.” Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Live Nation and Janet Jackson for comment. Janet Jackson began her Unbreakable world tour in summer 2015. In December of that year, she was first forced to postpone the tour to undergo surgery. She rescheduled shows in the United Kingdom and Europe, but was then forced to cancel again. Shortly after, she postponed the North American tour leg, which has not yet been rescheduled. http://pitchfork.com/news/52841-live-nation-sued-over-postponed-janet-jackson-tour/