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Hocus Pocus initially underperformed at the box office before becoming a Halloween-season classic among millenials. But maybe it would have been an immediate hit if it starred Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Killers of the Flower Moon actor technically auditioned for the lead male role as Max in Hocus Pocus, but he was off limits to actually starring in the Disney film. “[My casting team] called me up,” director Kenny Ortega told Entertainment Weekly, “and said, ‘We’re sending someone in, but you can’t have him.’ They said, ‘We want you to know who he is, we want you to meet him, he’s agreed to come in to meet you, but he can’t do the role. He’s being offered a movie with [Robert] De Niro and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.’”

This was pre-Titanic Leo, but he was already famous (to fans of endearingly corny ABC sitcoms, at least) for playing Luke on Growing Pains. “He came in, and he was just amazing — so extraordinary and unique — he came and he was stressed,” Ortega recalled. “He said, ‘I feel bad that I’m here because I can’t do this, because I’m really focused on these other things,’ and I said, ‘Understandably.’ We shared a sandwich together. He was super cool.”

Ortega did not reveal what kind of sandwich it was. Leo seems like a bison liver on rye kind of guy. Anyway, the part ended up going to Omri Katz, who later retired from acting and now works as an “ambassador of the cannabis culture.” It’s more legit than being a vaping ambassador.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

d4vd might have tipped Uproxx off to “Call Me Revenge,” his collaborative single with 21 Savage for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

“I want to leak too much, but I literally just left a meeting about gaming,” d4vd told Uproxx’s Wongo Okon in an interview published on September 8. “I’m working a lot on Fortnite stuff, the new Fortnite season is dropping, and everybody’s on the game again. Gaming is going back on the radar. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III is dropping. I’m working hand in hand and being more in the gaming space and telling a story because that’s where I came from. I’m more of a gamer than a musician; it’s telling that story even more. I’m working on scoring and a lot of soundtracking, too.”

21’s “Call Me Revenge” featuring d4vd hit streaming services on Thursday, October 19. Per press release, it marks 21 Savage’s first original material as a solo artist since 2020’s “Secret” with Summer Walker.

“21 Savage will also star in an upcoming Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III trailer, and Call Of Duty players can access 21 Savage as an operator in the game now and carry over the playable skin and their progress from Modern Warfare II to Modern Warfare III when it launches on November 10,” the release states. You can pre-order the game here.

In “Call Me Revenge,” d4vd’s smooth vocal runs perfectly complement 21 Savage’s confident flow about loyalty (“Keep my enemies closer / Than I keep my friends / Gotta get my payback / Been on that since way back”) and resiliency (“You gon’ shed blood if you made me shed tears”).

While it’s been three-and-a-half years since 21 dropped “Secret,” he hasn’t fallen off in the slightest — dropping joint albums Savage Mode II with Metro Boomin and Her Loss with Drake. Each project hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, d4vd has released two 2023 EPs, Petals To Thorns and The Lost Petals, and is opening on the second leg of SZA’s SOS Tour.

Below, listen to “Call Me Revenge,” see its cover art, and check out 21 Savage’s upcoming European and UK tour dates.

11/14 — Paris, France @ Zenith Paris La Villette
11/16 — Dusseldorf, Germany @ Mitsubishi Electric HALLE
11/17 — Zurich, Switzerland @ THE HALL
11/19 — Berlin, Germany @ Max-Schmeling-Halle
11/21 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ AFAS Live
11/23 — Manchester, UK @ Depot Mayfield
11/24 — Birmingham, UK @ Forum
11/30 — London, UK @ The O2

Gwyneth Paltrow is currently on a tour of sorts to promote her “accessible” beauty care line (“good. clean. goop”). In doing so, she did suggest that there would be a day when she would evaporate from public view after selling the goop business. First, however, she decided to weigh in on the Nepo Baby controversy, and surprisingly, Gwyneth (who is the daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner) sees no problem with children of famous people following in their parents’ footsteps.

She, of course, ignores the point that people often make about Nepo Babies, which is that they have an easier leg up into a lucrative career like showbiz, where public perception and visibility mean everything. And Gwyneth seems to think that the profession doesn’t matter when children go into the same field as their parents. Here is precisely what she told Bustle when the subject of her daughter, Apple Martin (who, to be clear, does not appear to want to be in show business), was brought up:

Now there’s this whole nepo baby culture, and judgment that exists around kids of famous people. She’s really just a student, and she’s been very… She just wants to be a kid and be at school and learn. But there’s nothing wrong with doing or wanting to do what your parents do. Nobody rips on a kid who’s like “I want to be a doctor like my dad and granddad.” The truth is if you grow up in a house with a lot of artists and people making art and music, that’s what you know, the same way that if you grow up in a house with law, the discussions around the table are about the nuances of whatever particular law the parents practice. I think it’s kind of an ugly moniker.

Paltrow did stress that Apple is a “very private person” when asked if she would ever model for goop. She’s concerned for her children, but Gwyneth also could have framed the conversation differently, given that she is arguably a Nepo Baby herself. However, this is not a terribly surprising outcome because Gwyneth has shown herself to not really be in touch with civilian struggles. A handful of years back, Gwyneth took the Food Stamp Challenge and bought a bunch of limes along with a few staples meant to last a week. She later admitted to caving in and enjoying some chicken and licorice.

Yet at least Gwyneth realizes that a survivalist reality show isn’t a feasible career leg for her. Baby steps.

(Via Bustle)

BTS recently announced that their concert film titled BTS: Yet To Come is heading to streaming. Given that the band is on an indefinite hiatus as the members complete their mandatory military service, this allows fans to still feel connected with their favorites.

While it previously had a limited run in theaters earlier this year, the movie will now be available for all to stream on Amazon’s Prime Video platform. Starting November 9, it will be available in 240 countries. Japan will be able to watch it starting December 1.

“We are thrilled to partner with Hybe in welcoming BTS: Yet To Come to Prime Video,” David Simonsen, director of Prime Video in Southeast Asia, said in a statement. “We know the popularity of high-quality Korean content worldwide, and we look forward to delighting consumers around the globe with BTS: Yet To Come. We are excited to see the concert movie and this genre find new audiences from different countries on Prime Video.”

BTS played their biggest hits for free last October at the Asiad Main Stadium in South Korea, which held around 50,000 people — plus fans waiting outside who tried to catch a glimpse of the show. At the same time, it was also livestreamed through WeVerse. However, many fans reported lagging and poor quality.

Thankfully, many will get another chance to watch BTS: Yet To Come as many times as they want when it arrives on Prime Video.

As Jim Jordan lost his second round of voting for Speaker of the House thanks to even more Republicans refusing to back him, The Daily Show decided it would step up and help the embattled Ohio congressman with a nifty campaign video.

In the 20-second spot, The Daily Show reminds everyone that Dennis Hastert exists, and when you think about it, Jim Jordan is slightly better than him. On the scale of awfulness, Jordan is at least one or two notches above the convicted House Speaker, and that’s gotta be worth something, right?

Via The Daily Show on Twitter:

Dennis Hastert was an admitted pedophile. He abused multiple young boys and tried to hide his horrific actions with payoffs. Jim Jordan is only accused of enabling sexual abuse. And the victims weren’t children. He is the progress we need.

Jim Jordan: Not as bad as a pedophile.

Could the campaign video help Jordan’s chances? Well, it certainly couldn’t hurt at this point. The Ohio congressman was humiliated yet again on Tuesday, but has vowed to pursuing his bid for House Speaker. However, Jordan went from 20 GOP votes against him to 23, and the situation is getting very nasty.

According to CNN, Jordan’s colleagues and their spouses have been receiving threatening messages for not backing the MAGA-endorsed candidate for House Speaker. That course of action has clearly backfired as Jordan now faces even steeper opposition from his own party.

(Via The Daily Show on Twitter)

Back on October 12, 1993, Pearl Jam released Vs., their second album that had the unenviable task of following up their successful debut LP, Ten. Vs. came through, though, as it spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and it’s a staple album in the band’s discography. To mark the project’s 30th anniversary, the band is reissuing the album in various formats.

Starting on November 17, the album will be available in new vinyl and cassette editions. Pearl Jam’s Ten Club is also offering an exclusive 2LP “Dreamsicle” (translucent orange with white swirls) vinyl, as well as a clear cassette edition. Target has an exclusive 1LP clear vinyl edition, while a 2LP black vinyl edition will be available elsewhere. Pre-orders for the vinyl and cassette editions are available for pre-order here.

This follows the band celebrating the 25th anniversary of another classic album, Yield, earlier this year.

Check out the cover art and tracklist for the reissue below.

1. “Go”
2. “Animal”
3. “Daughter”
4. “Glorified G”
5. “Dissident”
6. “W.M.A.”
7. “Blood”
8. “Rearviewmirror”
9. “Rats”
10. “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town”
11. “Leash”
12. “Indifference”
13. “Hold On” (digital-only bonus track)
14. “Cready Stomp” (digital-only bonus track)
15. “Crazy Mary” (digital-only bonus track)

Vs. (30th Anniversary Edition) is out 11/17 via Legacy Recordings. Find more information here.

Rappers often talk about retirement. Whether they actually retire is another article entirely, but T.I. seems serious. The Atlanta legend recently stopped by the We In Miami Podcast and doubled-down on his decision to walk away from the rap game.

“It’s time to evolve beyond [my] career as a rapper,” T.I., 43, said. “I think it’s a lot more people who are carrying the torch and pushing the culture forward. So, I’m on my final album, Kill The King.”

After a round of applause from his in-studio company, T.I. added, “OK, this is breaking news: I’ve decided that it’s gonna be a double-album. So, there’s gonna be Kill The King and Kiss The King. One of the first records that I plan to release is a record with me and NBA YoungBoy.”

T.I. has spoken plenty about retiring with his 12th and final LP, even as recently as last month.

“When you look at my first two albums, I’m Serious and Trap Muzik, you’re looking at a young man from the trap who had just been afforded the opportunity to live his dream in a new industry where there was so much to learn and to be done,” T.I. told Insider for a piece published on September 27. “Now it’s like, ‘Okay, this is what I’ve taken from my tenure.’ […] It is reflective in that sense. I’ve been here 20 years now, seen all the sights, rode all the rides. This is my conclusion.”

T.I. also told Insider that the title Kill The King is meant to serve as a metaphor for “killing to ego,” and in this case, his long-standing alter ego as the “King Of The South.”

PinkPantheress recently announced that her debut album, Heaven Knows, is arriving next month. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, she is giving fans some hints about what to expect from the full-length project.

She points out that while she had an initial hope for her debut, the sound shifted into something different. “I actually wanted this album to sound like classic Brit-pop, and then it turned into something I actually don’t know how to categorize,” PinkPantheress said.

Throughout the piece, PinkPantheress cited inspirations like Lily Allen, Imogen Heap, and Grace Jones.

“I think with my essence there’s a constant underlying sadness, even when the lyrics aren’t sad,” she added at another point in the interview, speaking to how her environment guides her songwriting process. “[It’s] also one of hope and lost hope, and, like, gray… My essence was very inspired by Britain. There’s a certain feeling that I feel like none of us can really put our fingers on when it comes to being here.”

With Heaven Knows, she also moved away from what some might have expected to focus on experimenting as an artist.

“It was hard to let go of drum-and-bass, but,” she noted. “It wasn’t, actually — it was so easy. I just realized I had to mature lyrically and do things like sampling in a different way. We’ve got more guitars in there, more live instruments.”

Heaven Knows is out 11/10 via Warner Records UK. Find more information here.

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

For years now, it has been claimed that Lana Del Rey grew up wealthy; A 2012 piece from The Guardian alleges, “Del Rey is in fact the daughter of a millionaire father who has backed her career.” Now, Del Rey has spoken out to deny that.

In an Instagram comment (as Pop Crave noted yesterday, October 18), Del Rey pushed back on the idea that she grew up rich, saying, “we had absolutely no money. And there ya go. that’s a little story the news loved to assign to me… that was back when they were allowed to just write lies about people. I grew up in a mountain town in a little house, and we struggled as much as everybody else in the town of 900, there is no other truth than that- if the story was true, I would own it just like I own my other issues. But I’m not gonna pretend like I can own what having money would’ve been like or felt like- until I made some when I was when I was 26. There are people who are well-known, who grew up rich – I’m not one of them.”

In a Dazed profile from July, Rob Grant, Del Rey’s father, outlined his working history, saying, “I’ve had restaurants, boat-building companies, rustic furniture, advertising, the internet, real estate. And a lot of them I still have.” He also spoke about a successful ad campaign he spearheaded that landed him “a beautiful office of glass overlooking New York City,” and about bulk-buying domain names in the mid-’90s. As of 2012, Grant’s company operated 1,600 websites and owned around 800 domain names, according to Insider.

Grant, by the way, released his debut album, Lost At Sea, this summer.

There needs to be more teaser trailers like the one for Anyone But You. It’s one minute long and doesn’t get into the plot at all, but it has Euphoria actress Sydney Sweeney and Top Gun: Maverick actor Glen Powell in various stages of undress, acting seductively with each other. They were so convincing, there were rumors that they were more than just co-stars. It’s equal opportunity eye candy: the gaze from director Will Gluck is on both Sweeney and Powell.

“It was such a blast!” Sweeney told Entertainment Tonight about filming Anyone But You. “I mean, Australia was such a beautiful place to film, and the cast and crew were so much fun I’ve never laughed so much on a set before. I had a really good time. I was living my best life. I loved it.”

You can watch the teaser above. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

In the edgy comedy Anyone But You, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) look like the perfect couple, but after an amazing first date something happens that turns their fiery hot attraction ice cold – until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple.

Anyone But You (it’s a comedy?!?) opens in theaters on December 22.