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Tawny Cypress is begging me to not hate the entire cast of Yellowjackets before the season ends.

We’re wrapping up an interview where we’ve discussed everything from her character’s nightmarish season two arc — Taissa’s got a new dog and an even more terrifying manifestation of her sleepwalking episodes — to how her co-star Melanie Lynskey helped her embrace being Queer when she was a teen. She’s teased her co-star Lauren Ambrose’s role as the show’s Adult Van and explained how most nights, a couple of glasses of “bubbly” with Christina Ricci helped her decompress from long days of filming this heavier, scarier installment.

Cypress loves being kept in the dark about where the show is going, but she realizes fans might want some answers they’re not likely to get. At least, not yet. Instead, season two is content to take them on a merry chase for meaning amongst all the mysticism, cannibalism, and teenage angst that drives this story of a group of high school soccer players surviving a plane crash in the wilderness and the trauma its wrought decades later.

But who can really complain when the mystery is this good?

We chatted with Cypress about Tai’s “feral” alter-ego, her love of horror, and winning the lottery with her role on Yellowjackets.

In season one you told the showrunners you wanted to know as little as possible about Taissa’s journey. How much did you know going into season two?

I knew just slightly more than last season. I do like to be kept in the dark, only because I want to know what the character knows. I don’t want to live ahead of the character, so I tend not to ask questions beyond what my character would know then and there. So in that regard, I was kept in the dark quite a bit this season as well, and I prefer it that way.

Was there anything that you were shocked to learn when the script came in season one?

Well, yeah. The fricking dog head. They said the dog ran away, and then in the final episode, I read that there’s a freaking altar with the dog’s head on it. And I wrote to them immediately and I was like, “You sons of b*tches.”

We dive into Taissa’s sleepwalking episodes this season. How were those explained to you?

It was a conversation Jasmin [Savoy Brown] and I had with Jonathan [Lisco], Ashley [Lyle] and Bart [Nickerson], really sussing out who this other Taissa was by herself and who she was in relation to our Taissa. It really came down to a lot of minute details. How does the other Taissa hold herself? Is she a feral creature or is she more advanced than that? Does she like our Taissa? Is she trying to hurt our Taissa? All these questions we had a huge conversation about beforehand before we ever put the other Taissa on screen. So that was very helpful.

Did you ever nail down the science behind these psychotic episodes? Did you give her a diagnosis?

In the same way, the supernatural aspect of the show is never really nailed down, we like to keep it interpretive. I did not want to put a label on it. I did not want to say multiple personality or dissociative personality disorder or anything like that. I didn’t want to put a label on it because there are actual cases of that in the world, and it’s not portrayed the way it is on our show. So there’s no way I’m going to put out what I do and be like, “Yeah, that’s what multiple personalities look like.” It doesn’t.

We really created our own thing out of thin air. It was the most I’ve ever felt like a kid playing dress up, because we really just said, “Hey, why don’t we make her like this? And leave it up to the viewer to interpret what they think they’re seeing.”

That must feel really gratifying, to create something wholly your own on the show.

Listen, this whole show has been a dream as far as that aspect goes. I’ve done decades in this industry where I didn’t have a voice, where I would craft a history and a character and I present that to the powers that be and they’d be like, “Good for you. Good second-grade work.” And this is the first time I felt so appreciated and like I am on a team. Acting as a team sport. It’s not something we can do by ourselves. Even a one-man show has people behind the curtain that help make it go. And that’s always been one of the biggest things that I wanted out of being an actor. That’s one of the things that make me happiest as an actor, is creating something with a team of people. So yeah, it’s thrilling to have people that listen to what I have to say, have a clear idea of what they want, but are also willing to listen to input and have that inform the character. It’s very freeing.

Like so many of the older cast, you’ve been working in this business for a long time. How do you hold onto your passion for the work, even when the project and material aren’t there?

My career has mostly been paying the bills, and I’m thankful for that no matter what that entails. I’ve done some B-rated movies out there that hopefully never get seen, but they paid the rent and I never had to get a second job, so I am very thankful for my career as it is. But yeah, I wish it was different. At this point in my career, I never even thought I was going to get a show. I didn’t even know that a show like this was out there for me. So I do feel like I’ve won the lottery. And the girls? I mean Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, are you kidding me? I gotta to pinch myself, it’s a dream.

How did you and Lauren Ambrose craft the relationship between adult Van and Tai?

Well, again, we talked to the creators, and we nailed down when the relationship ended, how it ended, who ended it, all these sorts of questions — because of course that’s going to color their relationship as adults. But I think Tai, she’s so desperate to fix what’s going on with her, and the last time this happened to her, she had Van to rely on. So she falls back into relying on Van very quickly this season.

Is Tai coming back into her life going to dredge things up for both of them?

Of course. God, this is probably the worst thing Tai could do. Honestly, she should just go to therapy, for crying out loud. If she wants to fix her life there are so many other better, healthier things she can do than seeking out an ex-girlfriend and expecting that ex-girlfriend to fix her. So yeah, I think that Tai really only thinks about herself, and going to Van disrupts Van’s life in a way that stirs things up for her and it’s not fair. Nothing Tai does is fair.

She’s like the toxic ex-boyfriend you can’t get rid of.

[laughs] Oh my God, what a good way to put that.

Is Tai actually serving as a Senator yet?

First of all, no. But also, you have to know that the events of season two take place over about a week and a half to two weeks. It’s going to seem long, everybody’s going to be like, “What the f*ck? Why isn’t Tai working?” I know, because I asked the questions and they were like, “No, it hasn’t been that long. You haven’t really even been sworn in yet.” I asked all these same questions, and I gotta to tell you, at end of the season, you’re not going to get any answers. Not for Tai, not yet. Series three is yet to come and she’s got a lot to answer for.

In a Queer for Fear horror docuseries, you credited Beautiful Creatures with helping you to embrace your own sexuality. Have you told Melanie Lynskey any of that story?

God, yes. As soon as I met her. It was the first thing I said to her. And she’s so gracious about it, honestly. But thinking back on it, it’s probably not something people want to hear about their 15-year-old self. Because she was 15 when she shot [that movie]. And I’m like, “You helped me with my sexuality, darling. I love you.” In fact, to this day, I work with all these legendary women, but Mel’s on … I hold her above everybody. She’s just affected my life in a different way than everybody else. And that was just a story that relates to my life. It happened; it wasn’t like I was coming out. I’ve never been in the closet. I’ve just been who I am, take it or leave it. I’ve never hidden it. It’s just never come up before.

And now you’re carrying the torch with your character on this show.

I’m so proud to do that. About half the characters I’ve played throughout my career, have been under the queer umbrella, and it’s something I’m super proud to represent. It’s who I am. The important thing is to see that people come in many shades and you have to celebrate them all.

What’s your favorite horror film?

The Strangers with Liv Tyler scares the sh*t out of me because it actually could happen. But my favorite scary movie of all time is Halloween, the original with Jamie Lee Curtis. She’s just phenomenal. It’s just this lurking-around-the-corner bad guy that scares the sh*t out of me.

I think in season two, you’ll be scaring the sh*t out of people. Maybe you’ll be someone’s nightmare.

Wouldn’t that be cool?

Showtime’s ‘Yellowjackets’ returns on March 26.

The lives of celebrities are different from those of the average non-famous person in a number of ways, but some things stay the same. For example, no matter how noteworthy or wealthy you are, as an American, you can still be summoned for jury duty. That just happened to Lizzo and she shared some of the process with her fans.

In a TikTok video posted on March 21, Lizzo takes viewers through her morning of getting ready for jury duty. As she does, she explains, “I’m not excited about jury duty. I’m actually really stressed about it because I’ve just heard people getting really gruesome, violent cases, and I have a really sensitive mind and I don’t like hearing or seeing that. I would cry.”

In a follow-up video, she responded to a commenter who wondered if she was chosen to serve on the jury. Sharing a photo of herself outside a jury assembly room, Lizzo wrote, “I GOT RELEASED FROM JURY DUTY YALL I WONDER WHY THO [thinking emoji].”

There were some funny comments on both videos. One user wrote, “IMAGINE you’re on the stand trying to prove to Lizzo you’re innocent.” Another wrote, “Your Honor she’s slaying.” Another said, “I would pass away if it were my trial and I turned and saw LIZZO in the stands.”

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On Tuesday more bad news hit the movie wing of the Star Wars-verse. Damon Lindelof, he of Lost, The Leftovers, and the Watchmen series, up and departed the secret Star Wars movie he’d been writing along with Justin Britt-Gibson. It seemed like yet another grim note for a franchise that helped create the modern movie blockbuster. And yet the Star Wars gang were able to turn up a replacement but quick.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, the baton is being passed to no less than Steven Knight, scribe of movies like Eastern Promises, the Tom Hardy solo movie Locke, Spencer, and perhaps most beloved of all, Peaky Blinders. Knight also wrote and directed the much-mocked Serenity — not the Firefly movie spinoff but the one with Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and a ridiculous twist for the ages.

Not much of anything is known about the movie Lindelof and Britt-Gibson were working on, but it was one of the few Star Wars movies left in the pipeline. Earlier this month, films in the works from Kevin Feige and Patty Jenkins were both cancelled, leaving this this one and the one by Taika Waititi, which is still allegedly happening. Now the former is quickly back on track, though when it finally arrives, whenever that is, it will have been quite a long time since the last time a new Star Wars was on the big screen.

(Via THR)

(WARNING: Spoilers for this week’s episode of Snowfall will be found below.)

There have been several points of no return throughout Snowfall. There was Franklin’s entrance into the game and his infatuation with making money and having a chance to become something in his Los Angeles hometown. There was Jerome and Louie’s involvement in Franklin’s drug empire, followed by the entrance of Franklin’s parents Cissy and Alton. Franklin getting shot is also a point of no return, as is Jerome and Louie’s decision to branch out from Franklin and flap their own wings in the drug game. We can’t forget Alton’s presumed death and Franklin’s unconfirmed realization that Teddy killed him. Of course, there’s Teddy’s robbery of Franklin’s $73 million dollars and every point-of-no-return decision that came after that, all of which we’ve seen go down so far this season. Throughout season six of Snowfall, you just hoped that Franklin and everyone in his world would get it together and somehow stop each other from tearing each other down. Unfortunately, as season six, episode six shows us, that did not turn out to be the case.

For the sixth episode in the latest season of Snowfall, titled “Concrete Jungle,” we pick things up in the immediate aftermath of the events in episode five. Veronique and Cassandra are shaken, the latter more than the former, at Franklin’s decision to kill Teddy’s father. Cassandra begs Veronique to make a run for it with her and avoid the slippery slope of chaos that will certainly follow the murder of Teddy’s father. However, Veronique’s entire childhood was lived on the run, and now that she has someone who will provide and fight for stability, she has no plans to leave. So she splits with her mother for the umpteenth time in her life. Moments later, we return to Jerome and Louie’s world to see that Jerome wants to exit from the drug game. Though his announcement occurs during a drunken rant, Jerome couldn’t be more serious as he reconfirms the following morning. Louie isn’t ready to leave the game yet, but that doesn’t matter to Jerome. However, because of his love for her, he commits to handling one last drop for Louie and it quite literally cost him his life. Louie gets kidnapped, Franklin and Jerome devise a plan to save her, and well, if you watched you know the tragic ending that concluded this episode.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways that we have after season six’s sixth episode: “Concrete Jungle,”

Veronique May Have Earned Our Trust

There’s a really big emphasis on “may” here but look, I was pretty convinced that Veronique was heading on that plane to who knows where with Cassandra after Franklin killed Teddy’s father. I mean, the look on their faces in that living room screamed that they were unprepared for this gruesome turn of events. Both in a slightly surprising and character-confirming turn of events, Veronique stands beside Franklin despite it all while opening the door for her mother to once again abandon her as she’s done throughout her life. The thing with Veronique’s character is because of her mysterious demeanor at times, and lack of a backstory, she’s been incredibly hard to trust. We have to give credit where credit is due though, she did stand beside Franklin in his time of need while also providing a brutally honest reason for doing so. This reason is delivered with almost a slap of the face to Cassandra, and despite all of that, you have to wonder (and hope) that Veronique’s reasons for sticking beside Franklin were indeed for the sake of their soon-to-be-family and her love for him and not some hidden reason. For now though, it’s fair to trust her a bit more.

Jerome’s Achilles Heel Was Louie

In “Concrete Jungle,” Jerome joined Leon as the only people within the Saint family circle to realize that enough was enough. For both, their realizations came at respective lows rather than through the satisfaction of their earnings. Jerome, fed up with a family at war willing to kill to survive and come out on top, arrived at his breaking point in last week’s episode. This week, came his decision to walk away, but he couldn’t do it without telling Louie and giving her the opportunity to depart the game with him and the madness that came with it — madness that normalized attempts to kill family members. Jerome had a limited amount of weaknesses in Snowfall. Sure, he was a bit quick to anger and took things to a level that was sometimes a bit much as the group’s enforcer, but there was little that could knock Jerome and keep him down. With his death in episode six, we see learn of the one thing that’s always been his Achilles heel: Louie. Her desires and dreams and his love for her often had him make decisions that may have been different if it were just up to him. Your wife being your kryptonite isn’t a bad thing at all, in fact, it’s quite admirable if we’re being honest. However, for a man who wanted to be free and out of a war with his family, it’s sad to see that he was also the first to be taken out because of it this season. Everyone has a weakness and Jerome’s became more obvious than ever as he took a gunshot to the chest and fell to the ground.

Franklin Can’t Save Everyone

Alton, Melody, Black Diamond, Fatback, and others. They’re all people that Franklin was unable to save from life-altering scenarios, which was death more times than not, and with the ending of “Concrete Jungle,” we can add Jerome’s name to that list. The events of Snowfall season six prove that the demise of an empire is in store, and with four episodes left in the season, things are only ramping up. Before the end of season five, Franklin had the option to save his close friends and family from complete demise, but with their war, the compassion and consideration to do so has gone out the window. Though you can commend him for making a last-minute attempt, with help from Jerome and company, to save Louie after she’s kidnapped by Jerome, you can’t help but think that maybe they wouldn’t have been in this position if they didn’t turn on each other. As for Franklin, the attacks against him and his people won’t stop especially with Teddy on the hunt for him now. Maybe it’s karma, maybe it’s a series of unfortunate events, or maybe it’s something else, but the worst has yet to come for Franklin. He’s the target for many, which makes people around him at risk of being collateral damage in the mess. To make a long point short, Franklin Saint simply can’t save everyone, but nonetheless, with the losses he’s experienced, he should at least try.

Louie’s Guilt Will Eat At Her For Life

A few scenes before Louie watched Jerome get shot and killed, her last moments with him came during a conversation in the living room of their home. Jerome confirmed that his drunken rant from the previous night about wanting to exit the drug game was as sober of a thought that he’s ever had. In fact, he called it “the realest” thing he’s ever told her. While Louie doesn’t try to change Jerome’s mind, she does explain her choice to remain in the drug game despite all the money they’ve made. In addition to more money, Louie is also in search of respect and appreciation. Jerome has long been the face of their business, both as a result of him being the muscle and a man, and it’s something that bothered Louie over time. She’s contributed heavily to the success they’ve had and it wasn’t until recently that she’s begun to earn that respect. While Jerome somewhat understands her reasoning, he also asks at what cost? Lives have been lost and their family will never be same, and with the end of “Concrete Jungle,” that statement only becomes truer. If a search for more respect and acknowledgment is what kept Louie in the game, then you can absolutely believe that pain, guilt, and revenge will keep her there too. It will be a long time before Louie is truly happy and satisfied enough to walk away, and with four episodes left in the season, it won’t be long until we see how things turn out.

New episodes of ‘Snowfall’ are available on FX on Wednesdays at 10pm EST/ PST.

Only a day after news broke that Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson were leaving their secret Star Wars movie, word comes down that Steven Knight is replacing them to write a new script for the project which will ultimately be directed by Ms. Marvel helmer Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

The only thing currently known about the movie is that it’s meant to take place after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. Sadly, that timeline means that the incoming screenwriter won’t be Steven Knight of the Old Republic.

And we don’t know much. It’s also possible that we won’t see the film until 2025 or later.

Thus, it’s also unclear why Lindelof and Britt-Gibson are off the project or why Knight is in. With the speculation hat on, these writers are all talented but vastly different stylistically. Lindelof is great at twisty, strange, mystery box stuff and can play it straight in the genre sandbox as well. Knight, on the other hand, is known for taut, tension-ratcheting drama with hefty doses of violence tossed in from time to time. Yes, he created the Cillian Murphy period gangster show Peaky Blinders, but Knight also wrote blood pressure-popping movies like Locke, Burnt, and Dirty Pretty Things — the last for which he was nominated for an Oscar.

Again, it’s speculation, but it’s possible that the powers that be were looking for more intensity and less plot complexity.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

April 22 is going to be a great day for music lovers. The date marks Record Store Day, an annual celebration of record stores. It turns out that the picks for this year are more exciting than ever.

Taylor Swift’s Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions is a highly anticipated exclusive release. Along with that, The 1975 have a live album that fans are dying to get into their hands. Other releases include artists like Pixies, Carole King, Dolly Parton, U2, The Police, Yard Act, piri & tommy, Celeste, and Baby Queen.

“We’ve been part of RSD a number of times before and we have some exciting releases for you, which look and sound awesome,” Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago said in a statement. “The local independent record stores are the lifeblood and hub of any local scene, and I feel they have played a big part in the success of Pixies over the years.”

Last year, Swift was the first global Record Store Day ambassador. “The places where we go to browse and explore and discover music new and old have always been sacred to me. Record stores are so important because they help to perpetuate and foster music-loving as a passion,” she shared.

All available titles are listed on The Vinyl Factory website.

John Wick has been absent the big screen for four long years. A lot has happened since then. But the forthcoming fourquel will be making up for lost time, in part by being super, super long. (Though at one point it was even longer.) Will audiences also be able to make up for lost time by seeing it on the biggest screens around, namely IMAX?

The answer, as per Collider, is yes. Though unlike movies like Top Gun, Dune, and Tenet, which were all shot partially with IMAX cameras, John Wick: Chapter 4 is one of those movies that wasn’t but will be exhibited that way anyway. Viewers only have one week to enjoy it on gigantic, square-shaped screens, so hop to it if that’s the option you want.

John Wick 4 will be released one week after the passing of one of its actors, Lance Reddick, who played Charon, the concierge of the hitman-friendly Concierge Hotel across all four films.

“Lance was a beautiful person, [a] special artist, a man of grace and dignity, and such a passion for his craft,” Reeves told Deadline during a red carpet chat. “And to have the chance to work with him over 10 years and four films is something that is very special to me and it f***ing sucks he’s not here.”

John Wick: Chapter 4 will open theatrically the night of Thursday, March 23..

The other week, Hit-Boy shared the artwork for his first-ever rap album Surf Or Drown, arriving in just a couple of days. It’s packed with exciting collaborations with artists like Dom Kennedy, The Alchemist, Curren$y, and more. Today (March 22), he shared a track with a particularly prestigious guest: Nas.

“The Tide” comes with a video directed by ThirdEyeRaz that watches the rapper pondering at paintings in an art gallery and playing a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. It reckons with the all-too-common ill fate of rappers: “‘Cause when you make it from the bottom, they gon’ come for your top / Yeah, when you doin’ you, they don’t like that sh*t,” Hit-Boy raps, name-dropping the late PnB Rock and Takeoff.

The pair’s chemistry isn’t surprising; last year, they unleashed their fourth collaboration in three years, King’s Disease III.

About Surf Or Drown, Hit-Boy recently revealed that he did the production for the songs himself.

“I’m literally dropping a whole album next week with me rapping,” he said in an interview with Home Grown Media Group. “I got features on it. It’s produced by me, and a couple of the homies did some little pieces, but it’s a real good body of just what I’m on right now. … It’s gonna be like 11 joints.”

Listen to “The Tide” above.

Surf Or Drown is out 03/24 via Surf Club.

Taylor Swift sold 1.695 million total vinyl records last year, as reported by Billboard in January. The week ending in December 25, 2022 was the third-largest vinyl sales weeks since 1991, per Luminate, with the likes of Swift, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Kendrick Lamar, Adele, and more leading the way in 2022 as a whole.

In February, it was announced that Swift will release her Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions in vinyl form on 2023 Record Store Day, which is exactly one month away. Swift was the first global Record Store Day ambassador in 2022.

This year, Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires Amanda Shires are serving as Record Store Day ambassadors — the first couple to do so.

“We’re happy to be your Record Store Day Ambassadors for 2023,” Isbell said in a video shared to his Twitter on January 30. “We think record stores are so important, not only to the musicians who play in them — like Amanda did so many times this year and I’ve done in the past — but also to the communities and to people who love music and people who love art.”

The Vinyl Factory shared all the titles that will be available on Saturday, April 22, and Record Store Day’s official website provides a list of participating record stores.

The Warriors and Mavs met in Dallas on Wednesday night in a pivotal game in the crowded Western Conference playoff race, as the winner would exit the game with a tenuous hold on the 6-seed, which is the final guaranteed playoff position.

As such, every basket was important in a back-and-forth game where neither team was able to take more than a 9-point advantage. So, coming out of a Mavs timeout in a one-point game late in the third quarter, there was mass confusion when the Warriors just got a free dunk for Kevon Looney after Dallas failed to have anyone on the defensive end of the floor because they thought it was their ball, being advanced into the frontcourt.

Jason Kidd was very mad on the sidelines, running out to midcourt to try and get an explanation from the officials, but despite his protest, the bucket counted. The official play-by-play lists the play prior to the Mavs timeout as a missed three from Anthony Lamb rebounded by Looney. How the Mavs called a timeout on defense without the ball, I’m not sure, but in a game of this magnitude it is rather wild to see this kind of lapse and no one to recognize what happened until the Warriors were given the ball and allowed to inbound it.

The dunk made it a three-point game and we’ll see if this play is just a weird moment or a pivotal one in a game that could very well be decided by one possession.