Victoria Fox's Blog, page 183

August 7, 2023

Lucid Air Sedan Gets A Big Price Cut, But It’s Still Pretty Expensive

The Air is the first line of EVs from Lucid Motors, which was founded in 2007. The Air Pure is a single-motor, rear-wheel drive sedan, though an optional dual-motor, all-wheel drive model is available. The Pure is capable of 480 horsepower and can go 0–60mph in 3.8 seconds. Lucid claims that its battery can be quick-charged in 15 minutes to enough capacity for 200 miles, while the estimated range of its fully-charged battery is 410 miles.

The Air Touring and Grand Touring are both dual-motor AWDs, though the Grand Touring packs a lot more punch under its hood. The Touring generates 620 horsepower and can go 0–60mph in 3.4 seconds. The Grand Touring is more competitive with the 2023 Tesla Model S, capable of 1,050 hp and able to go 0–60 mph in three seconds flat. The Grand Touring also has the most range of the Air models, able to last 516 miles, while the Touring is limited to 425 miles. Like the Pure, the Touring can charge to 200 miles in 15 minutes, while the Grand Touring can do the same in 12 minutes.

Lucid is currently only producing sedans, but if you’re looking for an electric SUV, the company plans to debut the Gravity in 2024. Not much is known about the Lucid Gravity, but it’s expected to have a very impressive range, flexible seating, sizable cargo space, optional towing capability, and a “next-generation glass cockpit.” For now, though, only the Lucid Air models are available, and if you want to take advantage of Lucid’s Pure Summer Event, you’ll need to buy one before September.

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Published on August 07, 2023 23:15

Apple Music adds a new algorithmic station to let users discover new music

Apple Music has added a new algorithmic radio station to the app called ‘Discovery Station’ in a way to compete with Spotify’s personalized lists.

Apple’s Sweden-based rival service has offered its signature “Discover” playlists for years now. In response to that, Apple Music has started rolling out the new station for people to find new music.

The Discovery Station only plays new songs that you haven’t heard yet — all songs that are not in your playlists, not liked by you, or not in your library. Apple Music already has a ‘New Music Mix’, but it is updated weekly and is limited to only 25 tracks.

The new artwork for the new Discovery Station

The new artwork for the new Discovery Station Image Credits: Screenshot by TechCrunch

Apple also offers a personalized station called ‘[User Name’s] station,’ which plays a mix of your favorites and a few similar tracks.

The company hasn’t made any official announcement about the new algorithmic discovery playlist, but it has started appearing for people on Apple Music on the web and in the apps. As MacRumors noted, there is a direct link to the playlist if you can’t see it in the app yet.

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Published on August 07, 2023 23:14

China’s draft measures demand ‘individual consent’ for facial recognition use

The pervasive use of facial recognition technology across all facets of life in China has elicited both praise for its convenience and backlash around privacy concerns. The widespread adoption has also fueled the exponential growth of valuations in companies specializing in the field, such as AI giants SenseTime and Megvii.

Now the industry is facing some potentially significant changes as Beijing steps up efforts to establish more defined boundaries for the technology’s usage. The move is building upon the implementation of major tech regulations that rolled out in recent years targeting cybersecurity, data security, and privacy protection.

On Tuesday, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the nation’s top internet watchdog, unveiled a series of proposed measures aimed at regulating the application of facial recognition. The technology has been extensively employed in both the public and private sectors, ranging from facial scans used to authenticate payments in supermarkets to identity verification procedures at airport boarding gates — the latter an increasingly common practice not only in China but also across the U.S.

Critics have raised concerns over privacy and bias over the use of facial recognition. They complain that some residential compounds have made facial scans the only way of accessing buildings. There are also concerns about the accuracy and fairness of algorithms, particularly in recognizing the faces of minorities, which could lead to the unjust targeting of certain groups.

The proposed measures appear to provide individuals with more rights to opt out of facial recognition in specific circumstances — but they come with limitations.

The utilization of facial recognition should be limited to “specific purposes and full necessity,” requiring individual approval or written consent, according to the draft measures.

The rules emphasize the need for clear signage in public areas where facial recognition is employed. Venues such as hotels, airports, and museums are prohibited from coercing individuals into accepting facial scans for such reasons as “business operations” or “service enhancements”. Moreover, facial recognition should not serve as the sole means of access to a building.

When it comes to collecting facial biometric data from individuals under the age of 14, the consent of their parents or legal guardians must be obtained.

Organizations and individuals will bear higher operational costs for using the technology. Entities in possession of facial data on more than 10,000 individuals must register with a local branch of the CAC. The filing needs to explain the purpose of collecting such data and plans for data protection. Unless authorized by individuals, collectors are prohibited from retaining facial images in their original resolution.

The proposed measures, If effectively enforced, hold the potential to enhance security within an industry that has been relatively loosely regulated so far and lower the risk of data mishandling. China has seen several major biometric data breaches in recent years, compromising the sensitive information of millions of people.

The country has also drawn fire for deploying facial recognition systems to identify people’s ethnicities, particularly in the case of Uyghurs; but that won’t change with the new rules. According to the proposed measures, any organization or individual should refrain from utilizing facial recognition technology to create profiles based on race, ethnic group, religion, health, social class, or other sensitive information, unless it’s deemed necessary for reasons including national security and public security.

The proposal is seeking public opinions until September 7.

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Published on August 07, 2023 22:05

Remembering Amanda Seyfried’s Netflix Horror Film And The Beating It Took From Critics

Set in the 1980s, “Things Heard and Seen” is about a woman named Catherine Clare (Amanda Seyfried) who moves to the Hudson Valley after her husband (James Norton) starts a new job as an art history teacher, reluctantly becoming a stay-at-home mom on an old dairy farm after a life in Manhattan. As is the case with most horror films where someone moves to the country, Catherine starts to suspect there is a sinister presence in her new home, and something seriously wrong with her marriage. If you have read Brundage’s book, you’ll know the reveal is that there’s nothing supernatural happening at all, so the horror-thriller quickly goes the route of true crime.

Unfortunately, this means that “Thing Heard and Seen” then pivots into a paint-by-numbers true crime film, and the horror set up in the first three-fourths of the movie is abandoned for a drama. It’s a shame, because there is an effective, lingering sense of unease enveloping the entire movie and a handful of truly spooky moments, but it isn’t enough to save the final product. 

All of the actors are committing to their characters and it never feels like anyone is phoning it in, but condensing Brundage’s novel to a feature runtime doesn’t allow the film to breathe, and much of the creeping dread found in the book is abandoned … so when the even bigger twist is revealed, it feels completely unearned. Honestly, this is one of the few instances where a mini-series adaptation would have been preferable to a film, if only so the tension had more time to build. All of the elements are there to tell a truly great thriller, it just didn’t come together in the end.

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Published on August 07, 2023 20:50

How Catherine McKenzie And Quiana Burns Are Leading The Way With Kindness And Diversity

Between the Internet’s Barbenheimer phenomenon, heatwave headlines, and the recent Trump indictment, you might have missed that six Black women left their prominent film and TV jobs this summer. The senior leaders ran diversity initiatives at Netflix, Disney, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Warner Bros. Discovery. With rumors swirling that more BIPOC leaders are expected to announce their exits, Forbes.com Contributor, Jessica Abo, sat down with two Black powerhouses in television – GMA3: What You Need to Know’s Catherine McKenzie and Tamron Hall’s Quiana Burns to discuss being the ‘first and only’ Black woman throughout their careers and what they’re doing to foster an inclusive environment on their respective teams.

Behind Catherine McKenzie’s Kindness Revolution

Looking back at her childhood, Catherine McKenzie lights up when she talks about her parents and her hometown. “My parents are Panamanian immigrants. I grew up in Saint Paul and it was great. We would go to the orchestra or to the ballet or the theater, and my dad would be like, ‘we’re the only polka dots here!’”

Her family attended an all-Black church, where she was surrounded by prominent people. Among them were trailblazers like the first Black police chief of Saint Paul, the first Black lawyer, and the first Black judge in Minneapolis. All of whom were just as quick to compliment her on her clarinet skills as they were to praise her reading of the lessons during the service.

McKenzie says both of her parents made it clear that education serves as the great equalizer in life, so they sent her to a prestigious school. Race wasn’t really on her radar until she showed up to a figure skating lesson when she was 10 years old.

“I started doing private lessons, which meant you had to buy private ice time. Just before I went out for my time, my mom overheard a parent say she didn’t want her daughter on the ice with a Black person.”

Being a fast-thinker, her mom approached the woman and asked if she had a dollar in her purse. When she said “yes” McKenzie’s mom pulled out a dollar from her own purse and said, “‘these dollars are the same. We paid the same amount to have our daughters on the ice,’ and she looked at me and said, ‘Catherine, go out and skate.’”

For McKenzie, this early lesson shaped her understanding of what it means to embrace your identity, while modeling how to deal with people.

Over the past 25 years, McKenzie has worked in different news markets, with all types of temperaments, and says she’s used kindness as her compass through it all.

“Everyone who works for me knows my number one rule is no jerks.”

Cat McKenzie, Executive Producer, “GMA3: What You Need to Know” on ABC. (ABC/Heidi Gutman)

ABC NewsBringing Together Kindness and Diversity

Kindness is such a strong core value of hers that she launched a whole new series called “It’s Cool to Be Kind” to bring more kindness to our country. As part of her efforts to launch a kindness revolution, she dedicated a one-hour episode of GMA3 to the topic, created a pop-up picnic, and has more installments for the series in the works.

While she’s focused on kindness on the air and behind the scenes, she’s equally driven to champion diversity, given the TV industry’s scarcity of Black leaders in the C-Suite. According to a McKinsey & Company report, “Black women are more likely to face isolation as an ‘only’ and more likely to lack role models who share their identity.” McKenzie hopes being the first Black woman to executive produce a primetime special for ABC News, and holding an EP title at the network level, not only shows people what’s possible for them, but also inspires other leaders to see that diversity goes beyond the color of our skin. “Diversity is not only about race, it’s about what part of the world you are from, it’s about economic diversity, educational diversity – there are many ways to be diverse and we have to embrace all of them,” she explains.

McKenzie believes having so many diverse voices on her team makes it strong and enables GMA3 to create content that makes their viewers feel seen and understood.

Cat McKenzie, Executive Producer, “GMA3: What You Need to Know” on ABC. (ABC/Heidi Gutman)

ABC NewsHer Advice For Other Women Leaders

While the companies that lost their diversity chiefs move forward with new hires and brand announcements, McKenzie is aware of the expectations that come with this moment in time and shared one final piece of advice for women leaders. “You’ve got to take time to recharge,” she stresses. Whether you’re the ‘first and only’, one of many, a small business owner, entrepreneur, or have a corner office, she says the pressure that comes with being in charge is real; but, you can’t be effective if you put yourself last. “When we were in the pandemic and we were doing zooms, my sign-off was always ‘take care of yourself so you can take care of each other.’”

Quiana Burns, Executive Producer, “Good Morning America Weekend” (ABC/Heidi Gutman)

Disney Entertainment Television/Heidi GutmanFrom News to Daytime, How Quiana Burns Is Putting Diversity Front And Center

Over at Tamron Hall, McKenzie’s close friend, Quiana Burns, is one of two Black executive producers running the daytime program, the other being Hall herself. She first discovered the thrill of working in TV news when she was 15 years old and ran into her parents’ friend at a concert. He had access backstage because of the teen talk show he ran at their local ABC affiliate, and encouraged her to join the program. Little did Burns know at the time, she’d be one of a handful of Black female executives working at ABC News at the national level decades later.

Burns made stops along the way at the University of Missouri, where she majored in broadcast journalism, NBC, CBS, ABC News, MSNBC, and Good Morning America before accepting the Tamron Hall job.

During our Zoom conversation, she shared there have been lots of twists and turns in her life that led her to where she is today. “I grew up across the street from housing projects. I’ve had friends that have died due to violence. I didn’t grow up dreaming about this career.”

For years, Burns said she felt conflicted. “I almost got out of the business early in my career because I was seeing people who were getting promoted or people who were seemingly thriving who were not nice. And I thought, do I have to be that way to be successful in this business? Do I have to start screaming in the control room? Do I have to treat junior members of my team in a certain way?”

After much prayer, and talking with some of her friends and mentors, she found her answers. “I was like, you know what? I don’t have to change who I am. I can still be soft spoken, but still have a strong hand.”

Quiana Burns and Tamron Hall

Personal photo from Ebony Power 100 eventThe Influence of the Midwest

Like McKenzie, Burns grew up in the Midwest (Wisconsin). “When I walked into national newsrooms, most people working around me, and in the C-suites, were from the East Coast or the West Coast. They were from Ivy League schools. There weren’t a lot of people who brought a Midwestern mindset and there was a lot of groupthink.”

While she acknowledges there’s been a shift in the right direction, she knows that more has to be done in the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging space, which is why she was eager to be part of ABC News’ historic launch of its Culture Council. “For a little over a year, we’ve listened to our colleagues and identified things in the areas of retention, leadership, talent development, and workplace culture as far as people being kind to each other.”

The first time she addressed Tamron’s team, she stressed that workplace culture is extremely important to her. Every day, she works hard to create an environment where having an open door policy, taking ideas from everyone, and recognizing staffers’ contributions is the norm. She also makes it clear when bringing someone new onto the team that there is no room for anyone who is unkind.

Throughout her life, Burns says she saw the way her parents and grandparents treated people and she wants to bring that same kindness into the workplace. “I actually think it’s just so ingrained in me that I don’t think I would be able to function if I weren’t respectful of people and kind.”

Burns shared she feels a tremendous sense of pride that Tamron Hall is run by two Black executive producers and she’s overwhelmed by the impact the show is having on its audience. “I think this news cycle for the past three years has been brutal. From the racial reckoning stories, the pandemic, war, it was a lot,” she explains. “Sometimes people just want to turn on something that’s going to make them laugh or dance.” When it comes to the hard subjects, Burns believes people tune into Tamron because they want to feel like they’re getting the news from a friend.

Like Tamron Hall has developed a strong sense of connection and trust with its audience, which the show affectionately calls the TamFam, Burns is trying to change the narrative in the industry at large. “Many times in this business people mistake kindness for weakness. I view it as one of my strengths. My hope is that one day more leaders will truly believe the same about themselves.”

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Published on August 07, 2023 20:14

War Machine To Street Machine: How Gulf War Humvees Became The Hummer

In 2005, GM unveiled the smallest Hummer yet — the H3 — which was based on Chevy’s new Colorado compact pickup truck that replaced the aging S-10. Along with the new model was a fresh advertising campaign targeting a wider demograhpic. A spokesperson for the brand told Slate that the H3  was an “approachable vehicle that will appeal to introverts, extroverts, vegans, and carnivores” and surprisingly enough, it did. In 2006, a record 71,524 Hummers rolled off the assembly line, but the celebration would be short lived.

While the H3 boasted better fuel economy than the H1 or H2, it still only managed about 16 miles per gallon at a time when fuel prices were spiking and consumers were wounded by the bursting of the housing bubble and ensuing Great Recession. Following GM’s bankruptcy in 2009, an attempt was made to sell the Hummer brand, but with no buyer stepping forward, GM decided to kill it off instead.

Most enthusiasts probably thought that was the end of the Hummer legacy until a surprise move by GM in 2020 to bring back the hulking off-roader as a battery electric vehicle. In 2022, the Hummer triumphantly returned as the Hummer EV (or just HEV), a model within GM’s GMC truck brand. Even though the all-electric powertrain is a kowtow to modern social norms, everything else about the truck is pure Hummer. The HEV weighs more than 9,000 pounds, costs well over $100,000, and has serious off-road chops with up to 16 inches of ground clearance available. Maybe history does repeat itself after all?

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Published on August 07, 2023 19:41

‘Jules’ Review: Ben Kingsley Stars in a Sweet Dramedy About Aliens and Aging

If it’s true that youth is wasted on the young, then so are friendly aliens.

Sure, the kids in E.T. had a great time with their pint-sized buddy from another planet, and so have countless other children in family-themed sci-fi films over the years. But it’s about time that seniors get in on the fun, and there’s plenty of it in Marc Turtletaub’s whimsical sci-fi dramedy that’s as much about the burdens and loneliness of old age as it is about extraterrestrial bonding. Featuring sterling performances from an uncharacteristically underplaying Ben Kingsley alongside Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin, Jules emerges as a low-key delight.

Related Stories Jules

The Bottom Line A heartwarming ‘E.T.’ for the senior set.

Release date: Friday, Aug. 11
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Jane Curtin, Jade Quon, Zoe Winters
Director: Marc Turtletaub
Screenwriter: Gavin Steckler
Rated PG-13, 1 hour 27 minutes

Set in the sort of western Pennsylvanian town that has clearly seen better days, the story revolves around 78-year-old Milton (Kingsley), who lives alone and whose early signs of dementia are made evident by his repeated verbatim requests at town hall meetings that the town motto be changed and that a traffic light be installed at a busy crosswalk. Although his loving daughter Denise (Zoe Winters, Succession) pops by occasionally to lend support, Milton is living a very isolated existence.

That all changes with the crash landing of a flying saucer in his backyard late one night, which mainly upsets him because it’s destroyed his bushes. He attempts to notify the authorities, but the 911 operator doesn’t believe him. The next morning, he wakes up to discover the spaceship’s apparently sole inhabitant, a small, humanoid-like creature (Jade Quon) who seems terribly weak. Milton brings him a blanket and a glass of water and eventually invites him to his house, where he discovers that the alien has a taste for apples. Meanwhile, television news bulletins indicate that the government is searching for a “weather satellite” that crashed down somewhere in the vicinity.

Things get more complicated when fellow oldsters Sandy (Harris) and Joyce (Curtin) discover the alien guest in Milton’s house, whom Sandy promptly dubs “Jules.” The shy, gentle Jules proves a nice companion, sitting quietly with Milton watching television when he’s not outside attempting to repair his spaceship. Although he doesn’t speak himself, Jules listens very attentively to whomever is talking, his large blank eyes seeming to register comprehension.

“His eyes are so understanding!” Joyce exclaims, shortly before confiding in him and regaling him with a rendition of “Free Bird.” The three humans and their alien visitor soon form a deep bond, especially when Jules demonstrates his psychic powers by violently interceding when Sandy gets attacked by a man attempting to rob her. They resolve to help Jules fix his spaceship so he can return home, the necessary ingredient for which turns out to be dead cats.

Those last two plot details give you some idea of the quirkiness and dark humor of Gavin Steckler’s screenplay, which occasionally feels a bit over-the-top in its baroque flourishes. But it mainly works beautifully nonetheless, thanks to its movingly incisive depiction of the older characters, who all seemed spiritually adrift at first, bonding together over a common purpose. Even if it does involve hunting down cat carcasses to fuel a crashed spaceship.

Veteran film producer Turtletaub (Little Miss Sunshine, The Farewell) employs the same subtle, relaxed style as his last directorial effort, the underseen Puzzle, to excellent effect. Kingsley, outfitted with a horribly unflattering wig and glasses, never once winks to the audience with his dignified, unshowy performance that is all the more effective for its restraint. Harris and Curtin provide delightful support; the former’s hilarious double-take reaction to first encountering the alien visitor casually sitting on Milton’s sofa should be required viewing in comedy acting classes.

But the true acting honors go to Quon, a stunt performer (Transformers: The Last Knight, Iron Man 3) who delivers a wonderfully expressive physical turn despite not uttering a word and being covered in make-up and prosthetics. Her Jules is so touchingly endearing that it makes you wish that every lonely senior could have an alien friend to call their own.

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Published on August 07, 2023 19:31

Threads app is rolling out to a way to see your liked posts

Meta’s text-based app Threads is rolling out the ability to see your liked posts through an app update. The company started testing of the new feature on Android beta last week, but over the weekend, Meta started making it available to all users.

Users can find their liked posts in Settings > Your Likes, which is accessible through the profile page. In comparison, you can access your like on Twitter (now X) through a separate “Likes” tab on your profile.

The Threads app Settings menu, which now displays an option to access your liked posts

Image Credits: Screenshot by TechCrunch

Apart from the feature to look at liked posts, Meta has introduced a new media upload quality option — accessible through Settings > Account > Media quality — that lets you upload images and videos in higher quality.

Additionally, Threads is now allowing users to sort out their following list based on ‘Latest first’ and ‘Earlier first’ criteria. To look at your following list, go to your profile, tap on the followers facepile under your bio and then go to the ‘Following’ tab.

While these are small nice-to-have updates for the app, Mark Zuckerberg hinted last week that some of the most demanded features like post search and web version are coming in the next few weeks.

Launched last month, Threads got off to a stellar start with 100 million users signing up for the service in the first five days. However, stats from various analytics companies have indicated that the app’s usage has dipped over time.

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Published on August 07, 2023 00:14

August 6, 2023

How Disney’s Tight Security Blindsided Some Loki Cast Members

Every evil corporate entity needs a friendly mascot. For the TVA, Miss Minutes is that welcoming face that greets every new variant that comes through to disrupt the timeline. By the end of season 1, it’s revealed that Miss Minutes has been covering up the real truth that Kang is actually behind the TVA, not the Time-Keepers that are supposed to be the trusted stewards keeping the universe in order.

Given the nature of the character, Strong (a veteran voiceover actor) was told as little as possible about the role. She told EW:

“Typically you’ll get a drawing of the character, a description, sometimes a portion of the script. I use all that information when I’m doing my audition. I’ll have the drawing up to the side, so I can really dive into what production had in mind for this character. But when it came for ‘Loki’ audition, I got an email minus all of that information. Like, I didn’t know what it was for, I didn’t know who this character really was, I didn’t know anything about her world.”

To avoid the possibility of any leaks, the description for Miss Minutes was left intentionally vague. Strong explained:

“I remember calling my agent because it was sort of described as an ‘animated Siri-type voice.’ I was like, I’m trying to understand this character. Is she sentient? And they were like, ‘We don’t really know.’ I just remember playing around with a few different versions.”

Season 2 of “Loki” also features Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Eugene Cordero, Rafael Casal, Kate Dickie, Liz Carr, and Neil Ellice. Meanwhile, Oscar-winning actor Key Huy Quan will also be making his MCU debut when the season premieres on October 6, 2023.

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Published on August 06, 2023 23:11

Will Smith says Steven Spielberg ‘sent a helicopter’ to convince him of ‘Men in Black’ role: ‘Had me at hello’

Will Smith revealed he almost turned down the role of Agent J in his mega-hit sci-fi comedy “Men in Black” until executive producer Steven Spielberg personally interceded.

During a Thursday appearance on Kevin Hart’s “Hart to Heart” talk show, the 54-year-old actor remembered how he initially planned to reject the part since he was opposed to making another alien-themed movie after starring in the science fiction blockbuster “Independence Day” the year prior.

Smith said his former manager James Lassiter, who he described as the “arbiter of taste” for his career at the time, strongly advocated for him to take the role.

“In the heyday, the 10 movies I made at the top of my career, [James] was choosing the films,” the Oscar winner said, via Insider.

WILL SMITH JOKED ABOUT CHOOSING ‘CHAOS’ BEFORE CHRIS ROCK SLAP AT OSCARS

will smith in independence day

Will Smith came close to rejecting playing Agent J in “Men in Black” until Steven Spielberg stepped in.  (Getty)

Smith continued, “He just had an eye. I didn’t want to make ‘Pursuit of Happyness.’ I didn’t want to make ‘Ali.’ And [James] picked ‘Men in Black.’”

“I kind of understood ‘Men in Black’ a little bit but I didn’t want to make ‘Men in Black.’ That was the next year after ‘Independence Day.’ So I didn’t want to make two alien movies back to back.”

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However, once Spielberg, whose company Amblin Entertainment was producing “Men in Black,” caught wind of Smith’s reluctance, the famed director took matters into his own hands.

will smith tommy lee jones men in black

Smith revealed Spielberg sent a helicopter to bring him to a meeting after learning the “King Richard” star was reluctant to take the part.  (Columbia Pictures/Getty Images)

Steven Spielberg speaks with Stephen Colbert about varied topics

Spielberg served as an executive producer for “Men in Black.” (CBS/YouTube)

“Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me,” the Pennsylvania native said. “I was in New York. It landed at his house. And, like, he had me at hello.”

“And it was the first time I ever had lemonade with carbonated water. You can’t say no to that,” he added.

WILL SMITH SHARES REGRETS OVER KIDS’ CAREERS: ‘NOBODY IN MY FAMILY WAS HAPPY’

“He said the coldest s–t,” Smith recalled. “He said, ‘Tell me why you don’t want to make my movie…’ And he was the producer.”

will smith pointing at men in black poster

After Spielberg said “the coldest s–t,” Smith said he agreed to take on the movie, which would become a global hit and spawn a major movie franchise. (Eduardo Parra/WireImage)

“And he put the ellipsis at the end, it was the dot, dot, dot. If he had continued, he would have said, ‘Joker, you know I made ‘Jaws,’ right? You know I made ‘E.T.’‘”

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After meeting with Spielberg, Smith was convinced to sign on to the film, which would become a global hit and spawn a major movie franchise.

The “King Richard” star went on to reprise his role as Agent J, alongside co-star Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, in 2002’s “Men in Black 2” and 2012’s “Men in Black 3.” 

Ashley Hume is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to ashley.hume@fox.com and on Twitter: @ashleyhume

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Published on August 06, 2023 22:21

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