Hollywood Takes on 9/11-Era Warfare in "12 Strong"
The start of America's longest war is the subject of the new movie "12 Strong." Navid Negahban joins Cheddar to discuss portraying a real-life character in this retelling of America teaming up with Afghan forces to fight the Taliban on horseback. The actor reveals how he went about taking on this challenging role, and how much he knew about the source material before shooting.
The majority of the film is shot on horseback as the soldiers find unique ways to take on the rough Afghan terrain. Negahban discusses tearing his groin while training for the production. He also reveals what he learned about co-star Chris Hemsworth during their time on set together.
Negahban plays the sultan in Disney's upcoming live-action "Aladdin" remake. The film is the subject of criticism over allegations of "white washing" and "browning up" actors with makeup. The actor weighs in on the controversy and shares his thoughts about how Hollywood is embracing diversity.
Natalie Fertig, federal cannabis policy reporter at Politico Pro, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new YouGov poll that looks at how Americans feel about marijuana and politics.
A virtual gathering in the online space, Decentraland, of Elvis Presley impersonators is looking to grab the Guinness World Record for most Elvis impersonators in one place after the record-keeping org recently approved the use of avatars as stand-ins for people.
A powerful winter storm hit the Northeast over the weekend leaving 100,000 New Yorkers in the dark as well as snowfall up to 30.9 inches in parts of Massachusetts. The nor'easter hit with blizzard conditions of wind speed and poor visibility.
After classic rocker Neil Young demanded removal of his music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation coming from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the platform made the decision to take down Young's songs and continue supporting Rogan with whom they have an exclusive contract. The move touched off a firestorm of controversy, leading to responses from both the streaming service and the podcasting host. Evan Nierman, CEO of Red Banyan Crisis PR, joined Cheddar to break down the latest on the fracas. "I think when [Spotify] initially said, we're not going to be commenting on that, that was a silly move because guess what? They did end up commenting about it, and nine times out of 10, when an organization says they're not going to be issuing a comment, they ultimately do," Nierman noted.
The 1999 cult classic "Fight Club" has been given a very different ending in China — and this time, the authorities win. Cheddar News speaks with Joan Solsman, senior media reporter at CNET who breaks down how China is using films for political messaging.
NFT art platform TRLab recently raised $4.2 million in funding. TRLab launched just last year but says its platform focused on NFT curation and distribution is growing quickly. The company hopes to bridge traditional and digital art worlds and help artists explore NFTs as an emerging medium. TRLab co-founder and chairwoman Xin Li-Cohen and co-founder and CEO Audrey Ou joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
