This weekend on the show it's a Wild Youth special. The boys will be joining me on air both days for chats and lockdown performances from their studio to celebrate the launch of their brand-new EP Forever Girl.
I’ll also be talking to Atlanta star Zazie Beetz about her brand-new Amazon Prime superhero series Invincible, and director Kari Skogland talks Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
Wild Youth are back with their EP Forever Girl, six new songs that elevate their sound to a whole other level. Talking about the concept behind the release, Conor gave me the rundown.
"The first EP was like saying goodbye to a previous relationship and overcoming heartbreak," he says. "And this is all about the journey of starting out again, by yourself and the different things you go through when suddenly you're single and you're thrown into this unknown world to then actually finding the girl that you think is your forever girl.
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The last time I caught the boys live was in The Olympia Theatre in Dublin where they put on one hell of a show. The energy of Wild Youth live is contagious, and the fans bring as much to the band as they do on stage.
Without that feedback from the audience over the last year, they questioned themselves and how they felt as a band.
"There’s definitely been ups and downs for sure," Conor says. "Getting to release music has been the one thing that's kind of pulled us together and made us feel like a band during all of this.
"Because at the end of the day, we are very much a live band. We love turning and we love meeting people face to face and interacting with our fans and without that, being in a band is strange experience."
Dave and Conor will be joining me this weekend to break down the EP and have recorded two lockdown safe performances for us to enjoy over both shows along with Ed and Callum. You’ll be able to catch them on The Late Late Show this evening too.
From The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, and based on the comic of the same name, Invincible is an hour-long, adult animated superhero series that revolves around seventeen-year-old Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), who’s just like every other guy his age - except that his father, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons), is the most powerful superhero on the planet.
But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers that his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems. Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2, Atlanta) stars as Amber, a classmate of Mark's, who starts dating him after he stands up for her against a bully.
Speaking on the show this weekend, Zazie said she was immediately hooked after reading the first script of the new series.
"They offered me the role of Amber and I read the pilot and I looked into the comics and I just thought it was such an interesting and fresh take on comic writing," she says.
"I was really excited to be a part of it. I also really loved that Robert Kirkman, the creator, was a part of the series and that the animation would be mimicking how the original comic animation was. And, obviously the cast was incredible!"
Let’s talk about that incredible cast! The series stars Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, J. K. Simmons, Zachary Quinto, Seth Rogen, Ezra Miller, Jon Hamm, Mahershala Ali, Jon Hamm, Mark Hamill, and many more very famous voices. Oh, to be in a room with them all!
"Unfortunately, like many animation works and primarily because of the pandemic, none of the voice actors ever actually met during production.
All their characters were recorded individually in different locations, something which Zazie saw the positives and negatives in.
"It is very odd to do that. I have to say I don’t love that element of animation work," she says.
"But animation is a lot of fun, I think you can really, really go for it because you have much more time to play because if you're shooting a movie every time you want to start over, you have to like reset a whole scene.
"But with animation, you just say the line again. And, I guess in some ways, by recording alone, you know, I wouldn’t be nervous to do it in front of this whole cast. I'm freer to just sort of do my own thing!"
Invincible is available to stream on Amazon Prime now and has received rave reviews across the board from critics, currently averaging 96% on reviews aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. If you’re looking for a superhero series with a twist, dive in immediately!
Speaking of Superheroes, Marvel is back with a brand-new series on Disney+ In The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson aka The Falcon and Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier team up on a global adventure that tests their abilities and their patience.
The series had its debut on the streaming platform on March 19th after the success of Wandavision, which finished up on a couple of weeks prior. It has the cinematic feel of a feature film but plays out over six episodes.
The series takes place following the events of Avengers: Endgame - rooted in the monumental moment when Steve Rogers, notably aged following an alternate life well lived, presents Sam, The Falcon, with his shield.
But it’s clear that Sam is reluctant, and that’s where the story ends - until now. This weekend I catch up with the series’ director Kari Skogland (The Handmaids Tale, Boardwalk Empire) to find out all about it.
Speaking of how she dived into making the show, Kari says she kept it very simple. "Well, you know, character, character, character. We knew the story, the fundamental story we were telling, which was the exploration of a black man carrying the shield. And will he, or won't he pick that up now? Obviously, the shield means something different to everybody."
The beauty of Marvel’s much anticipated use of television to tell more stories within their universe has given fans a chance to spend more time with characters they’ve grown to love over the years on the big screen and allows the actors to flesh out the inner workings of their roles that they never could dream of doing in a two-hour running time.
Kari says this was something that they all relished.
"Believe me, they enjoyed it a lot because of that. As, as the series unfolds, there are some really big twists and turns, dramatic moments and comedy moments and their performing muscles are really in full gear," she says.
"It was challenging, and it was also challenging because they had lived with these characters over time for ten years and never really knew the characters like this. So, there was a whole new path that they were following.
Falcon and The Winter Soldier is available to stream of Disney+ now, with three episodes already up for viewing. If you’re missing the MCU, jump in! It’s like catching up with old friends before a massive road trip.
