Boots Riley on new film ‘I Love Boosters’ + working with Keke Palmer: ‘She’s such a bright, shining beacon’
‘I Love Boosters’ official poster (NEON)
Boots Riley follows up Sorry to Bother Youwith his new film I Love Boosters, now in theaters. Like his previous film, the movie blends surrealism, comedy and a star-studded cast, including LaKeith Stanfield, Taylour Paige, Naomi Ackie and Demi Moore.
“[I Love Boosters] takes place in the world of professional shoplifters,” he tells ABC Audio. “You could roughly say it’s a heist comedy, and then you just add the fact of the cast, and you don’t have to say more. If you want to know more than that, you want to know too much.”
While Sorry to Bother Youused telemarketing to critique capitalism, this film focuses on boosters aka professional shoplifters. Boots says he had personal experience with that world during his years as a “broke rapper” trying to keep up with fashion.
He explains, “I’ve spent decades being a broke rapper … and when you have no money and you’re trying to stay fly, you better call a booster.”
The film follows a group of professional shoplifters who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven by stealing her clothes and reselling them.
Boots says his interest in boosters comes from how often they are “villainized,” suggesting they play a role in working-class communities and communities of color.
“Boosters serve in a world in which style … is generated from communities of color and other poorer communities that can’t afford the stuff that gets generated from those inspirations,” he argues. “And so boosters actually end up … being something that holds the community together while people are trying to survive.”
The film also stars Keke Palmer, whom Boots says he wanted to challenge creatively.
“People think she’s inspiring on film, and on TV and on Instagram. She’s more so in person,” he says. “She’s such a bright, shining beacon and she is smart as hell.”
He adds that he believes the film is both of their best work.
Blake Lively attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 4, 2026, in New York. Justin Baldoni speaks onstage at the Vital Voices 12th Annual Voices of Solidarity Award, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images | Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
A New York federal judge has ruled that Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, must pay his former It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively’s attorneys’ fees, after the parties reached a settlement last month in Lively’s lawsuit against the actor and production studio.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman denied Lively’s claim for punitive damages but wrote that the actress was entitled to attorneys’ fees under California Civil Code Section 47.1.
Section 47.1 states in part that a “prevailing defendant” in a defamation case is “entitled to their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for successfully defending themselves in the litigation,” as well as any additional damages permitted by a judge.
In a statement to ABC News following the ruling, Lively’s attorneys Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb said the judge’s decision “makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant under Section 47.1.”
“Ms. Lively is gratified that her lawsuit shows how Section 47.1 and laws like it create a path for survivors to hold accountable those who weaponize online attacks and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors,” they added.
ABC News has reached out to representatives for Baldoni for comment.
Friday’s decision comes after the parties reached a settlement in early May in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, ending their nearly year-and-a-half legal dispute.
According to settlement documents filed May 7 in the Southern District of New York, Baldoni, via his Wayfarer production company, and Lively agreed to settle their ongoing dispute on terms that Lively could still seek to recover attorney’s fees and additional damages.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle kicked off in December 2024, when Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department alleging “severe emotional distress” after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film — which Baldoni also directed — sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni followed up the action by filing a lawsuit against the New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy on Dec. 31 after it published the article about Lively’s California complaint.
Lively subsequently formalized her complaint into a lawsuit against Baldoni in New York, also on Dec. 31.
Baldoni responded by filing a civil lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and others for, among other things, extortion and defamation.
The suits were consolidated into one lawsuit in January 2025.
In June last year, Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane, as well as Baldoni’s defamation suit against the Times, was dismissed by Liman.
A federal judge in New York gutted much of Lively’s case against Baldoni in April of this year, including claims she was subjected to sexual harassment on set.
The judge determined in a ruling at the time that Lively would be allowed to pursue certain claims of retaliation against Baldoni’s public relations team over alleged harm to her reputation.
In May, after reaching a settlement in their protracted legal dispute, the two actors issued a joint statement via their respective legal teams, saying, “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
Jane Fonda attends the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar party hosted by Mark Guiducci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 15, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)
Jane Fonda is set to star in a film adaptation of the bestselling book The Correspondent.
Lionsgate made the announcement to its social media on Wednesday. The studio shared a screenshot of Deadline‘s article on the subject.
“#TheCorrespondent – based on the best-selling novel by @virginia.l.evans. Coming soon,” Lionsgate’s caption reads.
In addition to starring, Fonda will produce the film alongside Todd Lieberman for his company Hidden Pictures. Cat Vasko will write the film’s script and executive produce the movie.
The Correspondent is the debut novel by Virginia Evans. It was published in April 2025 and has since sold over 1 million copies. Evans will also executive produce the film.
The novel’s plot follows an opinionated, retired lawyer named Sybil Van Antwerp who writes letters every single day to a litany of different people in her life. When she one day receives letters from someone in her past, she’s forced to examine one of the most difficult times in her life.
A scene from Disney and Pixar’s ‘Hoppers.’ (Pixar)
Hoppershas bounced its way to a #1 debut at the box office.
The latest film from Pixar brought in $46 million in its first weekend, according to Box Office Mojo. That knocked the previous week’s box office leader, slasher movie Scream 7, to #2, which added $17.3 million to its total.
The Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed The Bride! came in third place with an opening weekend total of $7.26 million. The film stars Jessie Buckley as the titular bride of Frankenstein’s monster, played by Christian Bale.
Two holdovers rounded out the top five. Animated sports comedy GOAT took fourth place with $6.6 million, while the romantic literary adaptation Wuthering Heights slotted in at #5 with $3.375 million.
Here are the top 10 films at the box office:
1. Hoppers — $46 million 2. Scream 7 — $17.3 million 3. The Bride! — $7.26 million 4. GOAT — $6.6 million 5. Wuthering Heights — $3.75 million 6. Crime 101 — $2.07 million 7. Send Help — $1.6 million 8. I Can Only Imagine 2 — $1.525 million 9. EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert — $1.524 million 10. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle — $1.3 million
Disney is the parent company of Pixar and ABC News.
