Celebrity Coverage
EXCLUSIVE: Lee Daniels on Harnessing Power Majeure and Collaborating with Mo’Nique Again for ‘The Deliverance’

Deliverance. Athony B. Jenkins as Andre in “Deliverance”. Cr. © 2024 Aaron Ricketts/Netflix.
Lee Daniels returns to the director’s chair and tells a story unlike anything he’s ever done before.
His latest film is a supernatural thriller with an all-star solid that diverts attention from the standard, memorable story. It’s a story told with a mix of religion, horror and trauma – a departure from the director best known for creating drama.
finds Ebony Jackson (Andra Day) battling demons, each figuratively and literally, as she grapples with the echoes of pain from her own childhood while attempting to coexist with her mother (Glenn Close) and raise three children of her own (Caleb McLaughlin, Demi Singleton and Anthony B. Jenkins).

Loosely based on the real-life 2012 case of LaToya Ammons and her family, the story is something Daniels looked into shortly after his 2009 success. Although he was desperate to challenge himself and create a “throwback to old-school horror” within the sort of or , the director was hesitant to take it on on the time.
“I didn’t want to make this movie 15 years ago,” Daniels tells ESSENCE exclusively. “I was just upset about it all.”
“Then, over time, I realized that I wasn’t really telling a horror story,” he says. Instead, Daniels realized he could use this true story of darkness to guide viewers to the sunshine. “I think we live in dark times and we need to find our higher power, at least Buddha, Jesus, Allah, someone.”
“Everything I did, whether as a producer or director, I felt was on point. I don’t look at it as a horror film, but rather as a film about trying to find your higher self-worth. power and how I am trying to find my higher power. Can I grow closer to Jesus through this process?”

In creating this path to greater closeness with the Lord, Daniels also found himself reconciled and working again with an old friend.
Mo’Nique won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her last project with Daniels. Famously, there was a long-running dispute between them that was reflected within the press for over a decade. However, after their miraculous reconciliation in 2022, the duo immediately returned to the set to create much more movie magic.
“Unreal, unbelievable, magical feeling, joy, everything. It was perfect,” Daniels said about reconnecting with the actress and comedian. “Listen, we made the decision right away. It was as if our 15 years of fighting had never happened. We just got back to the rhythm of her jumping into character and it’s a tour de force. The two of us together are crazy. We create magic.”

Daniels’ full solid was magical, including three other Oscar-nominated actresses, including eight-time nominee Glenn Close and 2022 Best Supporting Actress nominee Aunjanue Ellis. In the highlight is Andra Day, who earned a nomination during her last project with Daniels. Day gives a transformative performance as Ebony Jackson, a mother of three struggling to beat alcoholism and trauma-induced poverty, yet still on the brink of a very powerful battle of her life.
“I love working with women, especially black women. Love it. We’re becoming one,” Daniels said of Day’s recasting in the lead role. “That’s why I just want to work with her over and over again. She is like a muse to me and she just trusts me.”
“As a director, you possibly can’t expect people to perform if there isn’t any trust. Andra and Monique, Aunjanue and Glenn…It’s rare. My dream is for the director to seek out an artist who will do anything, doesn’t query it, just does it, just blindly jumps into the abyss with you. When we’re in situation and you trust, it’s a strong thing and it shows on the screen.
will hit select theaters on August 16 and shall be available to stream on Netflix from August 30.
Celebrity Coverage
Is the key to increased makeup less powder? Sir John says yes – essence

Tempura / Getty images
In the latest BeautyCon In November last 12 months, a willing crowd gathered to watch the makeup of celebrities Sir John performs a master class. When he constructed the appearance called “dopamine glow”, he talked about his favorite suggestions and wonder opinions. In particular, one got stuck. His powder attitude versus cream aroused curiosity amongst beauty lovers and inspired the essence for further diving.
According to global makeup, Over Matte’s head is an expensive. When his live demonstration occurred, he offered reliable suggestions for the audience to add to his arsenal, akin to the use of front adhesive to attract eyebrows for this laminated appearance or erythema to the temples to carve the face. Although particularly this appearance was favored by the ultra glow, radiant and colourful aesthetics (recalling happiness by name), his sentiments in all appearances still stand.
Not a furnace, rarely reaches for powder bronzers and erythema over their creamy and liquid counterparts, and only the powder sets the T zones. All this makes a devil, a hotter appearance, which, he claims, is the key to the rhythm on the face of the next level. “If you can, choose a powder. For me it’s a bit in 2016 – it’s just my opinion,” he added barely. He balanced the level of honesty and humor in his open conversation with current beauties and explained his justification.
As an artist who created the most radiant and effective look Industry starsSir John definitely improved his methods. Reaching for cream products and scaling on the powder layers helps to stop the appearance of too “cake”. The hydrated appearance makes the skin look more flexible and brings out the heat, dimension and lifetime of the face. With spring in full bloom, plainly there is no such thing as a higher time to activate this recommendation, because we hand over dry winter to make a generally behed, vigorous season.
There will at all times be time and place for powder, but the advantages of cream and liquid makeup products are abundant. First of all, they’re very mixed, which could be helpful for beginners or heavy applications. Formulas offer versatility while working with other products and are excellent options to use for a gradient color effect, akin to a trend Blush at sunset The technique that overtook the channels last 12 months. Creamy and liquid formulas melt into the remainder of the face to get a naturally appealing look. On the other hand, the appearance that is just too matted could seem flattened or one -dimensional, and in such cases with excessive powder, drying. For this reason, products based on cream and liquid for individuals with a dryer are also really useful.
According to Sir JohnThe head look achieved thanks to moisturizing products create a more premium finish. “Radiant Skin has more gloss and looks more elevated, more expensive,” he confirms. If the artist approved by Beyoncé supported him, it’s price a try.
Celebrity Coverage
ICEM: Megan Thee Stallion’s Coachella Red Curls and more – Essence

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella
From red hair and a round blush in Coachella to the resurrection of the minimum manicure for Easter, this week the celebrity Beauty moments concerned heat and length within the spring.
Megan Thee Stallion took over the Coachella weekend in curly red hair. This color has recently been signed by many celebrities, comparable to Keke Palmer in Medium length cutting and Chloe Bailey in very long locations.
After presenting the SS25 collection last yr, Martine Rose rejected a pastel nail trend for a gray manicure, within the meantime, Lori Harvey’s micro-French suggestions reminded us of how small the impact could also be.
Hairdresser Vernon Francois showed an intensive consistency of her editorial work, while Lizzo and the Paloma Elsesser model undressed to underwear and bikini accordingly – distinguishing his bodies some love.
Finish the week, S’able LabsSabrina Elba revealed her supply chain in Ghana, on the occasion of the month on the occasion of the Earth-walking women behind their ingredients.
If you missed this, take a look at the 11 best moments of the great thing about celebrities from the week.
Celebrity Coverage
Jozzy says a new album, Old Faiters and “Stage Play 2 Get Her Back” – Essence

Jozzy, 2025. Photo Credit: Kobe Boateng
,,,, all of which became the premise of black cinema, but increased to larger heights as a consequence of the undeniably music accompanying their visualization. Today, it appears that evidently the outcomes have develop into a less priority, almost non -existent. In addition to such and – of which Ryan Coogler, for irony – sound backgrounds to probably the most memorable moments of the silver screen at the moment are limited to conversations about previous years. Fortunately, the artist is recognized with Memphis who goals to revive this nostalgia in some ways.
“I fell in love with R&B through soundtracks,” he says JozzyThe singer/creator of the lyrics on the sting of the superstardom and one in all the resumption. “They were a big part of me. Watching movies with a great song, and you would be:” Damn – what’s it? “And so I found a lot of my music, but now I don’t know what happened to the soundtracks – I think it’s lost art. “
Born Jocelyn Adriene Donald, combining musical media, and the film film was essential in telling its full story. Then she combined her craft with the theater to her stage debut. The just one -day event took place at El Portal Theater in North Hollywood, which provides viewers insight into the consistently evolving craftsmanship of Jozzy. The solid included Clarke Lauren, Janina Gavankar, Angel Ann Craig, Khadi Don and Sarae; Written by Brianca Williams, acquired by Stevie J, and presented a visual direction led by Pierre York. This undertaking was each passion and the goal of the musician, and the emotions were felt throughout your entire production.
“Making this art was an experience outside of the body and I love to create my own belt with things,” says Jozzy Essence. “I wanted to do something destructive because I needed people to eat music in a different way.” Today, the common date is a bit greater than just dinner and film, about which Donald is fully aware. “People want to enjoy something outside the norm,” he says. “So I thought that violating these two worlds – they both go hand in hand.”
She also served as the correct introduction to her upcoming set of albums to release this 12 months. Jozzy, who has been standing within the industry for many years, just isn’t a foreign to the creative process. Her subtitles for writing songs are “Old Town Road”, “Mr. At the moment”, “low” Sha and “Virgo’s Groove” Beyoncé with many others. She also appeared as a performance in songs with Lil ‘Wayne, Lecrae and SKOOLBOY Q, but now the 34-12 months-old is able to the world in her profession.

“People have not heard music from me as an artist – actually my shit,” he explains. “I was blessed that I was on the last album Q. I was blessed that I was on one of the biggest home songs,” 10 “with Fred. So I still dropped the songs. But it’s not like giving your own things – your own project that allows people to hear what comes from your mind and heart. ” Although this just isn’t the primary trip of Jozzy as a soloist (see 2023), her upcoming album means a little more.
“To practice this in the world – it will be a moment for me,” he says. Jozzy began implementing with the discharge of “MaybePlaying as the first installment of her theatrical history of love and turmoil. Strange, the singer feels that she has “Bigger Songs on the Album”, but she wanted to be “sensitive” for this particular song. Falling into the spirit of the legend R&B/Soul, Jozzy says: “I feel she needed a song within the atmosphere.”
“I just had to spend it because I was thinking about” what would Anita Baker did? “(It was in relation to the award -winning Baker’s performance in 1994” from 1994 “Sorry“The song that Jozzy felt was no less than unique.) She published [that song] And since then there was no album wherein the girl apologized to the person – he continues, laughing between the answers.
As an artist with several distinctions to her name, Penning Hits for Chris Brown, Summer Walker, Mary J. Blige, Chlöe and the artists’ collection, Jozzy still has a layer for her, which has not yet been seen. She wants the listeners not only enjoy music, but in addition understand every thing that concerns her process and how hard she works along with her craft. “I want them to see vulnerability,” he notes. “I want them to see a student in me.”
“I didn’t drop anything as an artist last year,” adds Jozzy. “I was in a dark space. I think I had to cleanse. I think I had to find my real goal – and this album was for me.”
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