Charlie Puth in the news

Singer Charlie Puth says his new single was inspired by the “worst year” of his life and an incredibly difficult breakup.

The 30-year-old pop star announced his new single ‘That’s Hilarious’ and said that he based it on a breakup which happened during a particularly tough 2019, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Charlie Puth said: “It just rears its ugly head every time-sorry-every time that I hear it. I’m also really excited for you to hear it as well, because I just heard the master, but it just brought me back to 2019, which was the f****** worst year of my life.”

The ‘We Don’t Talk Anymore’ hitmaker went on to explain that although Charlie Puth e had never opened up about it at the time he had gone through the “worst breakup” of his life that year and had initially wanted to forget all about it before using it as inspiration for his music.

Speaking in a video posted to Instagram, Charlie Puth said: “I never told people what happened to me and the pain that I went through going through the worst breakup of my life in 2019. I just wanted to throw it under the carpet and just start over and surround myself with better people.”

Charlie Puth did not reveal who the song was about, although he was reportedly dating fellow singer Charlotte Lawrence during 2019 and is also thought to have been previously linked to pop star Selena Gomez and actress Halston Sage, but claimed that the song is the “hardest” he has ever had to write.

Charlie Puth concluded: “This is the hardest song that I’ve ever had to put together and I’m so excited for you to hear it. So thank you.”

Who is Charlie Puth

Charles Otto “Charlie” Puth is a popular American pop singer and songwriter. He started gaining fame by posting his original songs and covers to his YouTube channel. After his talents were exposed to the world he was signed in by Ellen DeGeneres for a record label, which led to the start of his official career.

His debut studio album was released in January 2016 by the American record label Atlantic Records. Even though it received negative reviews from critics it peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 published by the ‘Billboard’ magazine. A deluxe edition was also released in November which contained three additional songs.

Puth wrote, co-produced as well as sang the hook on Wiz Khalifa’s hip-hop anthem ‘See You Again,’ included in the soundtrack of the motion picture ‘Furious 7.’ It became a huge hit, reaching the No. 1 spot in nearly 90 countries worldwide. It also reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, Shazam, iTunes and Spotify, undoubtedly becoming one of the most important works of his career.

According to Puth, his family background is not wealthy and during his childhood his family had to struggle to make both ends meet. He has expressed gratitude to his parents who worked hard to help him pursue his musical goals. Being not only a vocalist but also a producer, a songwriter, and an instrumentalist, Puth is definitely a multitalented celebrity.

Charlie Puth has also wrote successful songs for other artists like:

Thomas Rhett – “I Feel Good”

Pitbull – “Celebrate”

Livingston Taylor – “Blue Sky”

Zara Larsson – “So Good”

Maroon 5 – “Lips On You”

Liam Payne – “Bedroom Floor”

Bonnie McKee – “California Winter”

Jason Derulo – “Broke”

Trey Songz – “Slow Motion”

CeeLo Green – “Working Class Heroes (Work)”

For a singer with so many accomplishments, Charlie Puth is definitely not considered “general.”

Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore first reviews praise Mads Mikkelsen’s ‘simmering intensity’, criticise ‘nonsensical’ narrative

Movie Name: Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore

The review embargo for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has lifted, and initial reviews praise the film as an improvement over its immediate predecessor, but are still dubious about the need for a Harry Potter spinoff series. The Secrets of Dumbledore is the third film in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, following Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Like many Hollywood projects, Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore‘s release was significantly delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was supposed to hit theaters in November 2021, but was pushed to April 2022. The film was also hindered by cast issues as both Depp and Ezra Miller, who plays Credence Barebones, dealt with personal issues behind the scenes. Despite this, production pushed through with controversial Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling co-writing the script with Steve Kloves, while director David Yates returns to helm the project after spearheading the first two Harry Potter films. Specific plot details for the film are still unclear, but it will continue to explore Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s complex relationship intertwined with a bigger arc in which the wizards navigate the World War II era.

With a 60% ‘fresh’ score on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore has fared slightly better than the second film, which has a 36% score, but is lower than the first movie, which has a 74% score. The site’s consensus reads: “Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore avoids some of the pitfalls that plagued its predecessor, but lacks much of the magic that drew audiences into the wizarding world many movies ago.”

Critics also praised Mads Mikkelsen’s performances as Gellert Grindelwald. Mikkelsen took over from Johnny Depp after the actor was asked to resign following his legal difficulties. It’s important to note that Ezra Miller, who will also star in Warner Bros’ upcoming The Flash movie, has been retained despite numerous run-ins with the law.

“Someone break out a real wand and put a spell on this series. It needs all the help it can get,” IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wrote. “It’s good-natured entertainment, though there is still something weightless and formless about the narrative,” the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw countered. Kevin Maher of the Times wrote, “Mikkelsen’s simmering intensity adds a new layer of menace to the character but also suggests a credibly torrid romantic history with Dumbledore.” Polygon’s Charles Bramesco wrote, “An evident attempt to right the ship has turned into a calamitous case of mission drift, as a property with no identity travels in nonsensical circles, looking for a sustainable new direction.”

Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore stars Jude Law, Eddie Redmayne, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams and others. The film arrives in Indian theatres on Friday, a week ahead of its US debut.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has responded to the Will Smith-Chris Rock slap episode that has overshadowed everything else that happened at the 94th Academy Awards.

It said in a statement tweeted on its official account: “The Academy does not condone violence of any form.” Then went on to say: “Tonight, we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.”

Here is what happened, Watch the Video

Damn. So did Will Smith just punch Chris Rock for real? Here is a Japanese network’s uncensored exchange between Will Smith and Chris Rock. #Oscars #WillSmith pic.twitter.com/fjqgypVdue

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) March 28, 2022

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The 94^th Academy Awards were all but hijacked by Will Smith who, shortly before he won the Oscar for Best Actor, punched and swore at presenter Chris Rock who made a joke about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett. In his emotional speech soon after, a tearful Will Smith apologised – although not directly to Chris Rock. ““I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people,” he said, “Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. Love will make you do crazy things.”

In a loaded speech, Will Smith said, “I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile and you got to pretend like that’s okay.”

Will Smith also revealed what fellow Best Actor nominee Denzel Washington told him in the commercial break after the altercation with Chris Rock. ““Thank you, Dee. Denzel said a few minutes ago, ‘At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you,’” Will Smith said.

Chris Rock enraged Will Smith by making a GI Jane joke about Jada Pinkett, in apparent reference to her shaved head – Jada suffers from alopecia As she eye-rolled, Will went up on stage, slapped Chris, returned to his seat and yelled out, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f*****g mouth.” Chris Rock told the audience, “Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me. It was a G.I. Jane joke. That was the greatest night in the history of television.”

Variety’ reports that while presenting the best documentary feature award, Rock, a well-regarded comic actor, joked about Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, starring in ‘G.I. Jane 2’ because of her bald head. He was referencing the 1997 movie ‘G.I. Jane’ in which Demi Moore appears with a shaved head.

Pinkett Smith has been open about her struggles with alopecia, a medical condition causes aggravated hair loss. Smith reacted to the joke by going up on stage, separated from where he was sitting by a foot, and slapping Rock. He then returned to his seat and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f****** mouth!”

Smith won Best Actor for ‘King Richard’ following the incident and issued an apology in a tearful acceptance speech. The actor said: “I want to apologise to the Academy. I want to apologise to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people.”

The point to be noted here is that Smith did not apologise to Rock, the target of his wrathful behaviour that has overtaken the coverage of the otherwise carefully crafted event.

What many thought was a comic improvisation when it took place on live TV, Will Smith’s slap on the face of Chris Rock, an emotion outburst against a joke made in poor taste about Jada Pinkett Smith’s lack of hair, drew a barrage of responses on Twitter.

The reactions, as to be expected, ranged from jokes and memes to serious reminders from the Hollywood community that people must not assault comedians just because their jokes don’t work.

Here’s a sample of what Hollywood stars told ‘Variety’ at the Oscars after-party:

Conan O’Brien, celebrity talk show host: “Just saw the Will Smith slap. Anyone have a late night show I can borrow just for tomorrow?”

Minnie Driver: “It was deeply personal. We were all privy to … emotions running really high. I really hope they will make up later. It’s hard to watch somebody’s pain like that.”

Record producer and celebrated rapper 50 Cent: “B!tch don’t you ever play with me. LOL”

Oscar-nominated (‘Judas and The Black Messiah’) identical twins, The Lucas Brothers: “Every comedian should post a Will Smith joke in solidarity with Chris Rock. I’m not. But every other comedian should.”

Colman ‘Les Hombres de Paco’ Domingo: “I thought he’s from West Philly, just like I’m from West Philly. We’re very passionate people.” (West Philly, for the uninitiated, is short form for West Philadelphia.)

‘Parks and Recreation’ star Billy Eichner said he thought he was “dreaming” when Will Smith took the stage and hit Chris Rock: “I thought it was a really great show until it took an odd, unexpected turn.”

Transgender Golden Globe-winning TV star Michaela Jae Rodriguez: “Sometimes human emotions happen. Sometimes human interactions happen. We can’t judge people based on their moments.”

Kathy Griffin, Emmy- and Grammy-winning comedian: “Let me tell you something, it’s a very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a comedian. Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters.”

Film and television writer Kenya Barris: “There needs to be a clear distinction between work and home. We’ve gotten it confused.”

YouTube sensation Michael Ian Black: “So disappointing that Will Smith played Muhammad Ali but he couldn’t even knock out Chris Rock.”

American actor Oscar Isaac, who is awaiting the release of his upcoming superhero miniseries, ‘Moon Knight, recently shared the reason behind signing the project. For him, the internal struggle of his character became his anchor point as an actor.

Speaking on the sidelines of a media interaction for ‘Moon Knight’, Oscar Isaac spoke about the reason for taking up the project. He said, “It just seemed like there was a real opportunity to do something completely different, particularly in the MCU, and to really focus on this internal struggle of this character, and to use Egyptian iconography and the superhero genre and this language to talk about this real internal struggle.”

“And also to create an indelible, unusual character, particularly with Steven Grant. So it felt like for me once I got a real take on how I wanted to play Steven and I brought that to everyone and they welcomed that with open arms, I also realized I had real, incredible collaborators and it was going to be a creative adventure”, Oscar Isaac added.

Egyptian actress May Calamawy, who will be seen essaying the role of Layla El-Faouly in the series, spoke about the traits of her character and how the series allowed her to explore more as an actress, “I love how strong she is. But at the same time, I felt like I got to play the full gamut of a woman with her because she’s strong and she’s for the people and fights for what she believes, but she’s also really vulnerable and scared. So that was fun for me.”

Mohamed Diab, who leads the direction team, remarked that the series blends in all the classic elements to serve a compelling story. He said, “One of the things that I’m really proud of — again collectively every one of us — is putting all those genres together and blending them in a way that doesn’t feel alien. You have horror, you have action, you have comedy, and you have very serious drama.”

For actor Ethan Hawke, the fondest memory of the series is from their shoot in Jordan. Being from a theatre background it was interesting for him to enact within the set-up of green screen.

Ethan said, “Getting to be on the deserts in Jordan and literally being on location where they shot “Lawrence of Arabia”. And one of the things that surprised me about the Marvel Universe is that it’s kind of fun acting in front of a lot of green screens. I come from theatre training. I enjoyed all that, pretending something was there, pretending you’re on top of a pyramid.”

“But then when you’re really in the desert, it’s so beautiful and you feel — I don’t know, I felt some kind of connection to the cinema history of the desert. And the people there in Jordan treated us so well, and it elevated our collective imagination, I think, and it broadened the scope of the show”, he concluded.

Written by Jeremy Slater, directed by Mohamed Diab and filmmaking duo Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Marvel Studios’ ‘Moon Knight’ stars, Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, May Calamawy. The series is set to premiere on Disney+ Hotstar from March 30 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

Oscar Isaac