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Ahead of former First Lady Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson’s appearance at SXSW, the duo Monday announced a new podcast series, Imo with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson, which will launch Wednesday with two episodes. The two will take the stage in Austin on Thursday where they’ll be recording another episode of Imo.

Higher Ground, the media company that Obama founded with President Barack Obama, is producing the series.

On Imo, the former First Lady and her older brother will give their opinions and candid perspectives to the everyday questions shaping our lives, relationships and the world around us. The first two episodes will feature an intro episode and one with Issa Rae.

Each week, the duo will be joined by a special guest to tackle audience questions with practical advice and relatable anecdotes. Rae will be talking about the challenges of mismatched expectations in adult friendships.

If you’ve ever plumbed the placid seas of yacht rock — that distinct style of jazz-influenced soft pop and rock that surfaced in Southern California in the late Seventies — you know it’s filled with fools.

“There are so many of these songs about expressing your feelings — the fool in love or the heartbreak of a fool,” Garret Price, director of the new film, Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, tells Rolling Stone. “Questlove [in the movie] brought up that yacht rock is emo. It’s emotional music in this hard rock landscape of the Seventies.

Barry Keoghan survived something extremely serious.

The 31-year-old Saltburn star revealed he survived a case of necrotizing fasciitis, otherwise known as flesh-eating disease, in his new GQ cover story.

Writer Alex Pappademas detailed the scene while interviewing the actor on the rooftop pool deck at the Four Seasons in Hollywood, and revealed some shocking details.

Keep reading to find out more…

“We stake out a cabana with better, hotter exposure. Keoghan peels off his shirt, revealing a slightly pale, compactly muscled chest and the gnarly scar tissue that winds its way up his arm like a snake tattoo,” the writer notes.

“A souvenir from a case of necrotizing fasciitis -a.k.a. flesh-eating disease-he caught a few years ago, right before The Banshees of Inisherin started shooting. One in five cases are fatal; amputation, he says, was on the table. He remembers saying to the doctors, But I’m not gonna die,...

Aaron Taylor-Johnson says that he “probably” felt uncomfortable while working on Hollywood projects with more adult material as a young actor, and that for much of his career, he took smaller or more obscure roles because he “smelt the bullshit” of those interested in making him into a star.

As part of an Esquire cover story promoting his upcoming film Kraven the Hunter, the actor opened up about his early career, including wanting to avoid Los Angeles culture, as well as getting married to and starting a family at a younger age with director Sam Taylor-Johnson, whom he married in 2012.

According to reporter Alex Pappademas, he felt “overwhelmed” as a young performer with the culture of the L.A.-based industry amid his early success, and at one point told his parents that he “didn’t want to be the thing these L.A. people wanted him to be.” It...

You could fill a book with all the shady characters you meet in Steely Dan songs. Quantum Criminals is that book. Journalist Alex Pappademas and artist Joan LeMay take a deep dive into the genius of Steely Dan, and the strange world that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker built together. LeMay illustrates her favorite Dan characters, from Rikki to Kid Charlemagne, from Dr. Wu to Peg, all the way to the El Supremo in the room at the top of the stairs. Pappademas gives a mind-bending guided tour of the Steely Dan universe,...

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, will manage ad sales and content distribution for Higher Ground podcasts.

The relationship between Acast and Higher Ground is a win for listeners across the United States and around the globe. Acast will make several Higher Ground podcasts available to audiences for free on all podcast platforms and listening apps globally. Select Higher Ground podcasts will now support sponsorships, advertising, and branded integrations through Acast’s industry-leading technology, which allows brands to reach listeners of those podcasts across all platforms.

Higher Ground produces some of the most popular and iconic podcasts in the industry — including the recently launched Audible Original series Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast; the hit series Renegades: Born in the USA, a series of conversations between President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen and released as a New York Times bestselling book based on the podcast; The Michelle Obama Podcast; Tell Them,...

Higher Ground, the production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama, has struck its latest audio deal with the podcasting platform Acast.

Acast will handle ad sales and distribution for Higher Ground’s library of podcasts, which includes The Big Hit Show with Alex Pappademas, Renegades: Born in the USA with President Obama and Bruce Springsteen and The Sum of Us with Heather McGhee. The pact with Acast is separate from Higher Ground’s multiyear first-look deal with Audible, which began last June after the production company parted ways with Spotify. The first project from the Higher Ground–Audible partnership, Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, was released in March; new episodes of The Light Podcast will have an exclusive two-week window on Audible before being released widely on all major platforms by Acast.

On the advertising and sponsorship side, marketers will be able to use Acast’s ad placement technology on select shows like Renegades,...

Former First Lady Michelle Obama is set to release next month Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast on Audible, an audio product based on her book The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times.

The eight-episode podcast is the first to emerge from a first-look production deal signed by Obama’s Higher Ground venture and Audible. The move to Audible followed Higher Ground’s exit from Spotify, where the production company — founded by Barack and Michelle Obama — previously had a multiyear deal to create podcasts exclusively for the Stockholm-based audio giant.

Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast will debut exclusively on Audible on March 7 for two weeks before it becomes available elsewhere to all podcast listeners. Obama’s The Light We Carry book, which included a six-city marketing tour at its launch, features conversations with celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, Tyler Perry, Conan O’Brien, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Hoda Kotb, David Letterman and others,...

Exclusive: Higher Ground, the production company founded by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, has made a number of hires and promotions in its audio team.

This comes after it signed a first-look deal with Amazon’s Audible following its exit from Spotify.

Mukta Mohan, who was previously a VP at the company, has been promoted to Head of Audio Content.

Spotify’s Corinne Gilliard joins Higher Ground as SVP, Documentaries, Pushkin Industries’ Nick White joins Higher Ground as SVP, Original Audio and Andrew Eapen has joined as Director of Audio Production.

This team reports to Higher Ground’s Head of Audio Dan Fierman.

Gilliard was previously Senior Executive, Studios & Partnerships at Spotify, where she oversaw the music and audio streaming company’s partnerships including Higher Ground and Bad Robot.

She was a producer on Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special, having worked on the final seasons...

Pierce Brosnan was James Bond before he was James Bond. As Remington Steele, the fictional creation of private investigator Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) for five seasons during the 1980s on NBC, Brosnan nailed the part of a debonair rake who could handle himself in a scrape and look downright spiffy doing it. One look at the actor in a tuxedo was all you needed. He'd just entered his thirties, and was everything fifty-plus-year-old Roger Moore, who'd huffed-and-puffed his way through "A View to a Kill," was not. He was the 007 heir apparent.

It was time for a change, and after a successful screen test, the Bond producers offered Brosnan the part. The timing was perfect: "Remington Steele" had been canceled due to declining ratings, which seemingly thrust the Irish actor into free agency. NBC, however, kiboshed the deal by exercising a 60-day option in Brosnan's contract, forcing him into an...

Pierce Brosnan may have an acting career spanning decades, but it’s not an industry he wants his kids to get into.

Pierce is joined by his sons Dylan, 25, and Paris, 21, for a new interview with GQ. The actor shares the boys with his second wife, Keely Shaye Smith, whom he married in 2001.

The magazine speaks to the trio at their house in Malibu, with Dylan and Paris sharing what it was like growing up with a famous father.

Dylan admits a few years ago he had some of his closest friends come to his home for his 21st birthday party, but they had no clue Pierce was his dad.

Dylan laughs, “I don’t tell anybody that, under any circumstances.”

Read More: Pierce Brosnan Undergoes Amazing Transformation For ‘The Last Rifleman’

He admits of his father getting a lot of attention, “I always thought he had a lot of friends,...

President Barack Obama & Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground has found a new podcast home.

The company, which is behind audio series such as Renegades: Born in the USA with Bruce Springsteen, has struck a first-look deal with Amazon’s Audible.

The deal comes after the former President and his wife parted ways with Spotify, where they previously struck a deal in 2019. There had long been rumors that the former Commander-in-Chief was unhappy with his company’s deal with Spotify.

It’s not clear whether the deal will give the Obama’s more flexibility in terms of distribution – given that Audible is also a walled-garden platform – but the fact that it is a first-look deal rather than an overall pact, means that it might be able to sell shows to other platforms outside of the arrangement.

Audible noted that the Higher Ground slate of shows would “the companies’ shared mission to...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe Cannes Film Festival has announced its official poster, a tribute to the late Agnès Varda. The poster depicts Varda on the set of her very first feature, La pointe courte (1955). We are saddened by the news that the brilliant Swedish actress Bibi Andersson died at the age of 83. Best known for her remarkable turns in The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, and Persona, Ronald Bergan provides a thorough obituary of the timeless artist for The Guardian.Recommended VIEWINGThe first teaser for J.J. Abrams conclusion to the new Star Wars trilogy, Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker. We published an extensive 5-part dialogue conducted last year that wrestles with George Lucas's much contested prequels.Kino Lorber's trailer for the re-release of Frank Simon's The Queen (1968), a documentary about the Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest,...

Multi-hyphenate may also star as auto pioneer.

MGM has struck a first-look deal with Smokehouse Pictures co-heads George Clooney and Grant Heslov and has set Clooney to direct a drama about the life of car engineer and designer John DeLorean.

Clooney may also star as DeLorean. Keith Bunin (upcoming Which Brings Me To You) will adapt the screenplay from the Epic magazine article Saint John by veteran journalist Alex Pappademas.

“We are thrilled to bring George, Grant and their spectacular team into the MGM family,” MGM president of motion picture group Jonathan Glickman said of the two-year deal. “Smokehouse has an undeniable pedigree,...

MGM has signed Smokehouse Pictures partners George Clooney and Grant Heslov to a two year first look deal. First up is an untitled film that Clooney will direct and possibly star in about controversial car engineer and designer John DeLorean. MGM Motion Picture Group president Jonathan Glickman made the deal.

The film will be written by Keith Bunin is writing the script based on Saint John, an article for Epic Magazine written by Alex Pappademas. Depending on how it all turns out, Clooney might play DeLorean. DeLorean oversaw development of numerous cars and the first muscle car, the Pontiac Gto. Then he started his own line anchored by the vehicle best remembered for its appearance in Back to the Future. Then the youngest division head in General Motors history, DeLorean left to start his company in 1973. It took eight years to ready the car line named after him and soon...

MGM has inked a first-look deal with George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures, the studio’s motion picture group president Jonathan Glickman announced on Tuesday.

The deal will span two years, and the first film under the deal will center on motoring engineer and designer John DeLorean.

“We are thrilled to bring George, Grant and their spectacular team into the MGM family,” Glickman said in a statement. “Smokehouse has an undeniable pedigree, representing the high quality and entertaining slate of talent we look to work with as we expand the MGM slate.”

Also Read: Annapurna and MGM Expand Theatrical Distribution Venture By Launching United Artists Releasing

Clooney is set to direct the untitled John DeLorean feature, with the possibility of playing DeLorean.

The film will be written by Keith Bunin (“Which Brings Me to You”) and is based on the Epic magazine article “Saint John,” written by journalist Alex Pappademas.

MGM has signed a two-year, first-look deal with George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures.

Jonathan Glickman, president of MGM’s Motion Picture Group, announced the deal on Tuesday.

The first film under the new deal will center on motoring engineer and designer John DeLorean, with Clooney set to direct the movie with the possibility of playing DeLorean. The pic will be written by Keith Bunin, based on veteran journalist Alex Pappademas’ Epic magazine article “Saint John.”

“We are thrilled to bring George, Grant, and their spectacular team into the MGM family,” Glickman said. “Smokehouse has an undeniable pedigree, representing the high quality and entertaining slate of talent we look to work with as we expand the MGM slate.”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Jon and all the folks over at MGM and look forward to a long successful partnership,” Clooney and Heslov said.

Smokehouse’s upcoming projects include Hulu’s “Catch-22,...

George Clooney and Grant Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures have signed a feature film production deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The two-year first-look deal with the Catch 22 producers was unveiled by Jonathan Glickman, motion picture group president at MGM. Clooney is set to direct the first film under the new deal, an untitled feature about John DeLorean, the 1980s automotive executive and founder of the DeLorean Motor Company.

The film will be written by Keith Bunin and is based on the magazine article "Saint John" by journalist Alex Pappademas. Clooney could possibly play DeLorean, though that hasn't been decided. Epic'...

George Clooney and Grant Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures have signed a feature film production deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The two-year first-look deal with the Catch 22 producers was unveiled by Jonathan Glickman, motion picture group president at MGM. Clooney is set to direct the first film under the new deal, an untitled feature about John DeLorean, the 1980s automotive executive and founder of the DeLorean Motor Company.

The film will be written by Keith Bunin and is based on the magazine article "Saint John" by journalist Alex Pappademas. Clooney could possibly play DeLorean, though that hasn't been decided. Epic'...

Every Friday, we’re recommending an older movie available to stream or download and worth seeing again through the lens of our current moment. We’re calling the series “Revisiting Hours” — consider this Rolling Stone’s unofficial film club. This week’s edition: Alex Pappademas on Paul Schrader’s 1978 working-class raunchcom/working-man’s crime drama Blue Collar.

Two Detroit auto-plant workers are meeting up for a substance-fueled orgy at the home of a third. Zeke (Richard Pryor) and Jerry (Harvey Keitel) are both married; their host is Smokey (Yaphet Kotto), who isn’t.

Every Friday, we’re recommending an older movie available to stream or download and worth seeing again through the lens of our current moment. We’re calling the series “Revisiting Hours” — consider this Rolling Stone’s unofficial film club. This week: Alex Pappademas on Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs.

In real life, the house where most of Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs takes place is a three-story Craftsman-style mansion in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. When the neighborhood’s well-to-do white population...