Beyonce Gets Animated

Superstar Beyonce has been announced as part of the voice cast for the upcoming animated 3D film Epic. The project is being produced by the makers of other popular family fare as Ice Ageand Rio.

Chris Wedge, of Ice Age fame, will be directing the movie, and the story is about “a battle deep in the forest between the forces of good and evil. When a teenaged girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team of fun and whimsical characters to save that world, which in turn saves the real world.”

Beyonce is starring as Queen Tara alongside other stars such as Amanda Seyfried, Aziz Ansari, Colin Farrell, Pitbull, Johnny Knoxville, Jason Sudeikis and Steven Tyler.

The movie is set to be released on May 24, 2013.

Kanye Film Premieres

Kanye West premiered his short film Cruel Summer at the Cannes Film Festival in France and several details surrounding the somewhat mysterious project were shared online. Logan Hill of GQ tweeted some information regarding the film's plot.

“Cruel Summer is the story of a Lamborghini car thief who falls for a beautiful blind Arabic girl who’s father will let them……marry if he can help her see," Hill tweeted. "So he (Kid Cudi) does using strings that lead her around palace to play music. @kanyewest talke synesthesia.”

“[Kanye] says it work in progress but it’s wildly stylish, huge booming soundtrack,” Hill continued. “Vanessa Beecroft production design. immersive fun. @kanyewest needed 20 camels, 100 extras and I’m guessing 20 Lambos. @kanyewest film features fashion he designed and pieces by local Arabic designers, shot in 4 days, 3 months start to almost-finish.”

G.O.O.D. Music artists Pusha T, Big Sean and Kid Cudi attended the premiere, as well as comedian Aziz Ansari, Kanye's girlfriend Kim Kardashian and Theophilus London.

Aziz Ansari Covers Complex's August/September 2011 Issue!

our favorite rapper’s favorite comedian is a scene-stealing Southern boy who somehow became the funniest man on TV. With one foot in Hollywood and one on the stand-up stage, Aziz Ansari is ready to craft a masterpiece.

This feature appears in Complex's August/September 2011 issue.

We’re pretty sure it’s not totally racist to confuse Aziz Ansari with Tom Haverford, his hilariously cocky character from NBC’s Parks and Recreation. In our defense, they are both Indian guys from South Carolina. They both love Waka Flocka and Soulja Boy. They both wear sharp suits (although Aziz’s don’t appear to be from Brooks Brothers Boys). And come on, this guy just plays the hyperactive dickhead so well in movies and on TV (Funny People,Human Giant, Get Him to the Greek), you wanna believe he’s that guy for realsies.

Alas, Aziz is actually a pretty humble, self-effacing 28-year-old, even if he has a lot to feel cocky about right now. His new movie, 30 Minutes or Less, has the summer comedy game on lock, his Dangerously Delicious stand-up tour (filmed for DVD release, of course) just wrapped up, and he’s even voicing a rabbit in the next Ice Age movie. Oh, and in his spare time he’s been kicking it with Kanye in the studio and soaking up game from Judd Apatow. Basically, Aziz is the man Tom Haverford wishes he were. Can you blame him?

Thank you for helping us get Beyoncé on the cover. Word is that since she’s no longer being managed by her father she likes to clear all her major career decisions with you.
Yeah, I replaced Mathew Knowles. It’s kind of supposed to be under wraps.

Sorry, I had to put it out there. That’s a serious power move.
There’s a lot of heat between me and Mathew Knowles. [Laughs.]

You recently moved back to New York after being in L.A. for a few years. Do you still take the subway or are you “cabs only” famous now?
I still take the subway. I haven’t been stabbed or anything yet.

If you had never come to New York—
—I was lying about the subway thing. I travel by helicopter when I’m in Manhattan. It’s really tough, because there aren’t a lot of helipads in New York City. So, a lot of times I just have to ladder down to where I’m going.

[Laughs.] If you had stayed in South Carolina and not gone to school at NYU, would you still be living large?
I owe a lot to being in New York. That’s where I started doing stand-up. Those kinds of opportunities aren’t even there in most places. I remember when I started in comedy, I told a friend of mine who’s pretty funny too that he should start doing stand-up—“It’s pretty fun, just go to a comedy club.” He was like, “What comedy club? I’m in North Carolina, there is no comedy club here.”

 

Sometimes they’ll show me suits on Parks & Rec and I’ll be like, 'That looks like an Aziz suit, not a Tom Haverford suit. Give it a purple tie and that’ll make it a Tom suit.'

 

When you were growing up, what posters did you have hanging on your bedroom wall?
In high school I had a big Metallica Master of Puppets poster. I was really into playing guitar.

Were you a metal head?
Yeah, I liked Nirvana and alternative rock stuff too. But for guitar playing, if you really wanna go at it with the solos, you eventually end up listening to Megadeth. [Laughs.]

Did you play in a band?
Again, South Carolina let me down there. There was no one else who really played instruments, or was into the same music. It was kind of tough, I would just play along with the records.

Did you have a childhood crush? Janet Jackson? Topanga?
I’m trying to think of what female celebrity I would have liked at that age... Oh, Martina Navratilova. [Laughs.] I was disappointed to find out she’s not into dudes.

Damn, sorry, man. Were you surprised to see your home state elect a Punjabi woman, Nikki Haley, as the governor?
They probably just thought she was white—the tone on the TV wasn’t quite right. “Nikki Haley! Yeah, sure! She sounds great!” [Laughs.] But no, that’s good to hear. I don’t think everyone there is racist. I encounter many nice, open-minded people from South Carolina.

It’s interesting that Tom Haverford is also from South Carolina. How similar are you to the character?
The only similarities are we’re both from South Carolina, we both like really silly hip-hop like Soulja Boy and Waka Flocka, and we both like suits. But he has slightly different taste. I try to make sure Tom dresses a little bit different from Aziz. Sometimes they’ll show me suits on Parks and I’ll be like, “That looks like an Aziz suit, not a Tom suit.” I’m usually like, “Give it a purple tie and that’ll make it a Tom suit.”

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