Movies

Kamaru Usman has an opponent in mind for his next fight after Leon Edwards -- but it's not anyone in the welterweight, or even middleweight division -- the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world says he's eyeing a move to light heavyweight!

"A lot of people think I'm joking when I say [I wanna move up]. I wanted to skip -- skip middleweight and I want the light heavyweight belt because I wanna be a two-division champion," Usman told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1).

The 35-year-old, 170 lb. champ continued ... "One, not only am I the best in the world, but I wanna prove that I am the pound-for-pound best, so I'm gonna skip that pound-for-pound, I'm gonna take that light heavyweight belt and I'm gonna defend the belt."

There's a reason Kamaru plans to jump two divisions, and not just move up one and fight at 185 lbs. ... the middleweight champ is Israel Adesanya.

Kamaru and Izzy are tight ... and have said they'd never fight each other.

Meanwhile, Kamaru and Jiri Prochazka -- the light heavyweight champ -- not so tight.

29-year-old Prochazka, who beat Glover Teixeira for the title in June, stands 6'4" tall. He hasn't lost since 2015. Not to be outdone ... Usman hasn't been defeated since 2013.

But Usman isn't looking to abandon the division he's ruled for 3.5 years ... the Nigerian Nightmare says he's planning to defend both belts once he beats Jiri.

"I'll defend both belts so people can really understand what it means to be pound-for-pound," Kamaru says ... "Not just this fictitious stuff that they make up. When I actually go up and do it and I walk away from the sport, I'll let you decide what you wanna call me or my legacy."

We also talked to Kamaru about landing a role in the new Black Panther movie ... a project that's incredibly important to the star fighter.

"For one, I'm extremely excited because it's my first one. I knew I was gonna be in movies some point, one day, but to be in that movie, I'm extremely excited because that's a movie that transcends just being a movie star. It's a movie that stands for something, it's a movie that represents something so powerful."

And, it won't be the last film in which Usman appears ... despite the fact people have accused him of being "Hollywood."

"It's crazy 'cause people are 'oh he Hollywood now.' Of course! Ya damn right I'm Hollywood now. I wanted to be Hollywood. What's wrong? You don't want me to be Hollywood?!"

"You want me eat Little Caesars and Ramen noodles in my little shack all day every day for the rest of my life? No, I'm gonna be Hollywood, but one thing they're failing to realize is that it took work to get to this point to be Hollywood."

Usman takes on Leon Edwards for the second time (Kamaru won by unanimous decision in 2015) at UFC 278 Saturday night on ESPN+.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are doing their second 'wedding' in style ... with a waterside reception complete with a live piano performance and firework display.

Ben's sprawling estate in Riceboro, Georgia is shaping into full-wedding form Friday, and the latest images show tables and chairs set along a body of water with what looks like a special table for the bride and groom right next to the piano.

If that weren't enough, there's a barge floating in the middle of the water chock full off fireworks ready to light up the night sky once the sun goes down, though it's unclear which night the show will happen.

Ben and Jen's celebrity friends, including Matt Damon have also started to arrive in GA ... and it looks like they're in for a real treat once the festivities begin.

What was initially billed as a weekend bash for family and friends is clearly a much bigger event ... with all the makings of a dream wedding.

Ben's Georgia estate, which was supposed to serve as the wedding location 20 years ago when he and J Lo first got engaged, also has a huge marquee on the ground and a long aisle for his bride to walk down.

The spur-of-the-moment Las Vegas wedding looks like it will have nothing on Ben and Jen's second wedding when all is said and done.

It appears Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are setting up more than just a fancy party at his estate in Georgia, 'cause based on pics, it looks like a full-blown wedding is going to happen.

Ben's place in Riceboro, Georgia is crawling with activity Friday, with construction crews hard at work putting up a huge marquee on the grounds, which is connected to the main house by a very long aisle for J Lo to walk down in what we can only imagine will be a beautiful wedding dress.

The temporary structures going up at Ben's place aren't the only giveaway this star-studded weekend is more wedding than party, caterers and event crews keep showing up to the house in droves.

No sign of Ben and Jen at the house yet, but we already saw them Thursday in Savannah ... where they did some low-key shopping in town.

As we told you, Bennifer 2.0 is welcoming their closest friends and family to a weekend celebration at Ben's estate, which was supposed to serve as the location for their wedding 20 years ago when they first got engaged.

Alec Baldwin says Donald Trump incited his January 6th mob to murder him ... by falsely claiming the actor intentionally fired the shot that killed the cinematographer on the "Rust" set.

Baldwin told CNN Trump's comment -- that "He [Baldwin] probably shot her [Halyna Hutchins] on purpose" was itself a trigger for his mob to put a target on his head.

As Baldwin put it, "Here was Trump who instructed people to commit acts of violence and he was pointing the finger at me and saying I was responsible for the death."

Baldwin had lots to say ... CNN says the interview lasted 2 hours, although only a small portion has been aired. He reportedly said the stress from the shooting has "taken years off my life," adding, "If I didn't have my wife, I don't know where I would be right now ... If I didn't have her, I probably would have quit, retired, gone off, you know sold everything I owned, got a house in the middle of nowhere and just you know did find something else to do, sell real estate."

Baldwin also says he hired a P.I. and got recon that he almost certainly would not be prosecuted, nor does he think anyone else will be as well. He does, however, lay the blame squarely at the feet of Chief Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Assistant Director Dave Halls, for allowing him to handle a gun with live ammo. Baldwin didn't know the gun was loaded with a live round and says it was their responsibility to check it.

Halls' lawyer says Baldwin is trying to deflect blame, saying "Baldwin is pointing the finger at others because the evidence is pointing at him."

Actor Frank Grillo is speaking out about the senseless murder of his beloved boxing trainer ... and he's not pulling punches when it comes to what he views as L.A.'s crime problem.

Grillo, who played Crossbones in Marvel's 'Captain America' films, was visibly upset as he spoke about the death of Azuma Bennett during an interview at Fortune Boxing Gym in Hollywood on Thursday.

"He made everybody feel good about training," Grillo told KNBC. "I don't know what's happened to Los Angeles that a beautiful guy like this gets shot and killed over nothing."

Police say Bennett died en route to the hospital after he was struck by at least 8 bullets outside a marijuana dispensary in Windsor Hills last Friday. Detectives are still searching for the shooter, and there's not yet a motive.

Bennett was a centerpiece at Fortune Gym with a roster of celeb clients, including Grillo, UFC fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller and musicians Kiana Ledé and Eddie Benjamin.

The staff at Fortune Gym released a statement in Bennett's honor, "Azuma was our family. One of the best of the best. We are all so broken."

It's party time for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez -- the newlyweds just touched down in Georgia -- and are taking in the sights and sounds before their weekend bash.

Ben and Jen were spotted in Savannah Thursday hitting local shops and walking with at least one of their kids ... a pretty low-key stroll considering what's still to come.

As we told you, the couple is welcoming their closest friends and family members to a celebration this weekend at Ben's estate he owns in the coastal town of Riceboro, Georgia. The property is close to 100 acres, with several homes on site, so there's plenty of space for festivities.

TMZ broke the story, the estate was supposed to serve as the location for Ben and Jen's wedding 20 years ago when they were first engaged ... so the party this weekend will serve as a full-circle moment.

It's currently unclear which of the couple's A-list friends will be there, you gotta imagine Matt Damon will attend, but it's sure to be quite the event.

Brad Pitt stepped in to find a resolution with New Orleans homeowners who sued his Make It Right foundation over defective homes, telling us he's "grateful" a $20.5 million settlement was reached.

Our sources tell us the "Bullet Train" star coordinated with Global Green, an environmental non-profit, convincing GG to pony up the cash to settle a lawsuit the org was not even named in.

Brad tells TMZ ... "I am incredibly grateful for Global Green’s willingness to step up and provide this important support for the Lower Ninth families. We collaborated in the early days post-Katrina and we are very fortunate to have Global Green's generous continuing commitment to help address the challenges around these homes and others in need.

Remember ... Brad formed the Make It Right housing foundation back in 2007 to help New Orleans residents in areas hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina find new homes. He had stepped away from the org, but when the issues began, he got back involved to find a solution.

The charity built over 100 futuristic-looking homes in NOLA's Lower Ninth Ward, but the folks who moved in claimed the homes were poorly built and were plagued by a host of issues, including mold and structural damage ... and in 2018 they sued Make It Right and Brad.

Brad promised to follow up and address the issues with the homes that came up over the years ... and under the settlement reached Tuesday, the program's 107 homeowners will be eligible to get $25k as reimbursement for prior repairs.

A judge still needs to sign off on the settlement, and the remaining funds will be divided among the homeowners ... depending on the condition of their homes.

Nicholas Brendon, best known for his role as Xander Harris in "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," has been hospitalized after suffering another "cardiac incident' ... this according to his manager.

His manager, Theresa Fortier, posted several IG photos of the 51-year-old actor on a stretcher being taken to the hospital via ambulance, as well as a picture of him in a wheelchair with a mask over his face.

In the social media post, his manager wrote, "Nicky sends his love and wanted me to apologize that he hasn't been going live as much lately and to give everyone an update. Nicky is doing fine now but he had to be rushed to emergency about two weeks ago because of a cardiac incident (tachycardia/arrhythmia)."

His manager went on to say that NB had a similar health scare last year after getting spinal surgery for a rare condition known as Cauda Equina, which attacks the nerve roots. She ended by saying that NB "is trying to get a little more rest and has been concentrating on medical appointments."

NB's manager is placing the blame for some of his spinal issues on being forced to sleep on a concrete floor of a jail cell following his 2021 arrest for using a false ID to try to buy prescription drugs. NB was convicted of obtaining legend drugs by using false name and sentenced to one year of probation.

Fortier reportedly said NB had to get surgery for paralysis in his genitals and legs after sleeping on the floor of the cell aggravated his already injured spine.

"He hoped to bounce back from the off-screen drama to promote his new movie, Wanton Want, but is 'devastated' with his medical woes," Fortier told the Daily Mail.

An age-old debate about Bruce Willis' signature film seems to have finally been resolved once and for all by his own flesh and blood -- and yes, Santa's coming to town!

We got Rumer and Scout Willis Tuesday in Beverly Hills, and while they seemed to be in a hurry -- they were nice enough to quickly answer a burning hot question that we just had to ask on behalf of the public and cinema lovers everywhere.

Namely ... is 'Die Hard' a Christmas movie??? That's what our photog was trying to ask, anyway, but Scout cut us off before we could even get the words out with a firm answer.

Check it out -- SW doesn't just say it once, but twice ... seemingly clarifying that this isn't just how she feels personally, but that this might be the position of the Willis family at large ... including Bruce himself. Ya gotta imagine they've talked about it as a unit.

This is a pretty big deal, frankly -- people have gone back and forth on whether 'DH' is actually a holiday-time classic. The plot takes place on Christmas Eve, but it came out during the summer of '88 ... and became a box office hit. Plus, it takes place in always-sunny L.A.

Also, Bruce recently revisited the Nakatomi Plaza building where the flick was shot -- overlooking the city from the top, just like he did all those years ago. So, yeah ... full circle.

Scout's position is different than Bruce's mother, though, we spoke with her back around Christmas and she said she didn't think "Die Hard" was a Christmas movie.

Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox haven't called it quits despite breakup reports, TMZ has learned ... in fact, he still refers to her as his wife.

Sources close to the couple tell us ... they're doing just fine -- no big issues. They obviously can't be together 24/7 -- both of them work and have kids, but we're told they're solid.

Megan's been posting pics online without MGK recently, with their last upload together back in June -- fans took his absence as a sign they're dunzo.

She also didn't show up to his hometown show in Cleveland over the weekend, and that fueled the breakup rumors.

We found this video from MGK's Cleveland concert where he said he talked to Megan before he got on stage, calling her his wife, which he's said before. The video was posted by a fan account who only has a few thousand views, so it didn't really circulate. If it did, it probably would have laid the breakup rumors to rest.

He went on and on about Megan. Earlier in the show he got so amped up he smashed a wine glass on his face, creating a bloody mess.

Sounds like all is well for the bloody lovebirds.

Jamie Foxx's 2016 project about two basketball fanatics has been sitting on a shelf for years ... and the actor thinks cancel culture is why it hasn't seen the light of day.

Jamie stars alongside Jeremy Piven in "All-Star Weekend" -- a flick about two superfans who snag tickets to the NBA event out in Los Angeles ... it was supposed to debut in 2019, but it still hasn't come out, and no official word on the holdup.

Jamie thinks he knows why the movie's been delayed, telling CinemaBlend that the material may simply not be woke enough for the current climate ... "It’s been tough with the lay of the land when it comes to comedy." The buzz ... it has to do with casting a white star to play a Mexican man.

He thinks the film could be a great way to ease the tension, noting "We're trying to break open the sensitive corners where people go back to laughing again."

The cast includes Benicio del Toro, Gerard Butler, and Eva Longoria ... as well as Robert Downey Jr. playing a Mexican man.

Jamie, who plays a white racist cop in the film among other roles, thought RDJ was the man for the role after he played a white man in blackface in "Tropic Thunder," but the actor apparently needed some convincing before signing on.

Jamie says he had to tell Robert, "You played the black dude and you killed that s***. We got to be able to do characters."

American actress Lindsay Sloane was 22 years old when she was cast as Big Red -- the captain cheerleader at Rancho Carne High School who tends to be bossy, full of herself and guilty of stealing cheers from other schools -- in the 2000 cheerleading film "Bring It On."

Lindsay shared the big screen with Kirsten Dunst as the new team captain, Torrance Shipman, Gabrielle Union as Torrance's rival cheer captain, Isis, Eliza Dushku as the new student and gymnast turned cheerleader, Missy Pantone and Jesse Bradford as the electric guitar player and Torrance's crush, Cliff Pantone.

Christian Slater's Florida home didn't last long ... selling way above asking price after just 3 days on the market!

Real estate sources tell TMZ the "Mr. Robot" actor sold his 4-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom pad in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood for $4.258 million ... which was 10% above the $3.950 million asking price.

The Italian-inspired home comes with all the bells and whistles, with an oversized primary suite with a balcony and a huge rooftop terrace. There's also a detached guest suite with an entertaining area, bedroom and full bathroom.

Of course, the backyard comes complete with a pool for the Florida heat.

Aaron Rodgers is going all-in on his Nicolas Cage obsession -- the superstar quarterback now has a bust of the actor's head in his locker ... and he showed it off to reporters on Tuesday.

38-year-old Rodgers was all smiles as he brought the Cage head down from the top shelf of his changing space to give a closer look ... chatting it up as folks in the crowd got their jokes off.

Some said the bust doesn't really resemble Cage ... but we gotta admit -- it looks pretty spot-on. Another joked there was a camera inside it ... and uh, yeah. Let's hope not??

The 4-time MVP's been really leaning into his inner Nicky C recently -- as we previously reported, he even showed up to Packers training camp fully dressed as the Cameron Poe character from "Con Air."

It's clear Rodgers is having a lot more fun at the start of this season -- something he says was a result of his use of the psychedelic ayahuasca two years ago.

Eli Manning and Brady Quinn never duked it out on the football field -- but the two are squaring off in a different arena -- debating the best football movies of all time ... and let's just say their picks ain't exactly shocking!

The two former NFL QB's caught up on the second episode of season 2 of "Eli's Places" (premieres Wednesday on ESPN+) ... and went back and forth about football movies they hold near and dear to their hearts.

Quinn said "Any Given Sunday" (starring Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, and Cameron Diaz) is high on his list, but the 1999 classic "Rudy" (featuring Sean Astin and Ned Beatty) would be "way up there" ... as Brady gestured way above his head.

Of course, "Rudy" was based on the true story of the University of Notre Dame walk-on Rudy Ruettiger, an undersized player who wasn't exactly the best athlete, but had incredible heart and work ethic.

Brady starred at Notre Dame ... albeit long after Ruettiger was on the team.

BQ also rattled off two Adam Sandler movies ... "The Waterboy" and "The Longest Yard."

It's hard to argue with any of Quinn's selections ... Rudy is considered by many one of the best few sports films ever made. His other picks, particularly "The Longest Yard," had a bunch of big stars like Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds, Nelly, Terry Crews, Michael Irvin, Bill Goldberg, Tracy Morgan, and Sandler.

But Eli, the two-time Super Bowl champ for the NY Giants, pushed back against Quinn's list ... saying the 1994 movie "Little Giants," starring Rick Moranis, was his fave.

Quinn didn't seem too impressed with Eli's pick ... saying Moranis gave a better performance in the iconic film, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."

FYI, it's not just Eli with his own show ... there's a diverse group of stars including Vince Carter, Abby Wambach, Ronda Rousey and David Ortiz who have their own "Places" show.

Anne Heche was trapped in her vehicle as fire quickly spread and onlookers worked desperately to get her out ... and the panic plays out in the 911 call from the scene.

The caller -- who appears to be a neighbor of the home Anne crashed into -- tells the dispatcher Anne's car went through the home "very fast." At first, it doesn't appear the caller is aware of the fact Anne is trapped in the car, but you can hear people yelling in the background making it clear that someone is in trouble.

The call gets much more desperate when smoke starts to surround the vehicle -- and the caller works to get a water hose to the crash scene.

You can start to hear sirens in the background as the caller states the smoke is getting really black and fire breaks out ... and there's more shouting in the background about someone being trapped.

TMZ broke the story, it was August 5 when Anne crashed into the home -- an event that put her in a coma and eventually killed her. Law enforcement sources told us the actress had cocaine and possibly fentanyl in her system at the time of the crash.