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Amanda Seyfried

Ariana Grande’s that girl — but it could’ve been an Oscar nom.

The “Dangerous Woman” singer, 29, may have scored the coveted role of Glinda the Good Witch in the long-anticipated film adaptation of “Wicked,” but Amanda Seyfried revealed this week that she wasn’t just in the running, but trying to land the role while filming Hulu’s “The Dropout.”

“I have dreams that I’m still auditioning for ‘Wicked,’” the Academy Award-nominated “Mank” star, 36, told Backstage in a new interview.

While portraying Theranos founder-turned-convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes in summer 2021 — a role that earned Seyfried an Emmy nomination — the actress said she spent weekends “auditioning in person to play Glinda in the movie version of ‘Wicked’ — because I wanted it that much that I was like, ‘You know what? Yeah, I have to play the last scene of ‘The Dropout’ on Tuesday. I’ll give my Sunday to you.’”

The mom of two said she “literally bent over backwards while playing the hardest role of my life.”

Though the role, originated on the stage by Kristin Chenoweth, has since gone to Grande, Seyfried credits the experience with having “taught me how far I’ve come as a singer, which I really wanted to prove.

“Because ever since ‘Les Miz,’ I was like, I need to be better. I need to do better. So whatever comes next in terms of musicals, I’m finally prepared,” continued Seyfried, who played Cosette in Tom Hooper’s Oscar-winning 2012 film adaptation of the epic stage musical.

Seyfried has also showed off her singing chops in both the 2008 big screen adaptation of ABBA jukebox musical “Mamma Mia!” as well as the 2018 sequel, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.”

Grande and two-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo took to social media late last year to announce that they had been cast as Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in Jon M. Chu’s two-part “Wicked” film. The first installment is currently slated for Christmas 2024.

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Joey Badass

Joey Badass is in the midst of a major tour, but if you let him tell it, Delta Airlines is doing its best to throw him off.

On Tuesday, the rapper and actor hopped off the plane in Portland, Oregon, to discover his equipment had apparently been damaged midflight. While sharing footage of the studio rig on his Instagram story, he went off on Delta Air Lines, alleging that the external case had been removed and several of the knobs were broken.

“Yo Delta, what the (expletive) is going on?” he asked. “You guys just messed up my whole studio rig, bro. First of all this (expletive) had a whole case on it ... y’all broke my (expletive) knobs, do you know how much this cost? Y’all going to have to reimburse all of that.”

Joey, whose given name is Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, said there is $12,000 in damages. Delta did not immediately respond to the L.A. Times’ request for comment.

In 2018, Joey had pledged his allegiance to Delta after accusing American Airlines of racial profiling. While putting his luggage into the reserved overhead compartment, he said a flight attendant told him he couldn’t put his bag there because it was for “first-class customers.”

“So I show her my ticket and the whole plane just laughs at her,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “American Air is the best airline for racial discrimination. This is why I’m #teamdelta.”

But on Tuesday, he seemed to sing a different tune as the luggage mishap happened in the midst of his cross-country tour, which is set to touch down at the Novo in Los Angeles on July 28. On Friday, he’ll drop his long-awaited album “2000" — which arrives five years after his last album, “All-AmeriKKKan Bada$$,” and is a sequel to his breakthrough 2012 mixtape “1999.”

The new album was previously set to be released June 17, but the day before, Joey said on Twitter that he had to delay the release indefinitely due to “sample clearance issues.”

Joey’s acting career is in full swing too, including stints on “Mr. Robot,” “grown-ish” and “Wu-Tang: An American Saga.” He is set to reprise his role as Unique in “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” when Season 2 premieres on Aug. 14.

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LOS ANGELES — Federal authorities are offering a $5,000 reward for information about the man who allegedly shot Lady Gaga's dog walker last year in Hollywood and stole two of the pop star's French bulldogs. He was mistakenly released from custody in April and remains missing.

James Howard Jackson, 19, was one of five people arrested in connection the violent robbery in February 2021. He was facing an attempted murder charge when he was released from Los Angeles County’s jail “due to a clerical error.”

Detectives do not believe that the thieves initially knew the dogs belonged to the pop star, who was in Rome filming a movie at the time. The motive was supposedly the value of the French bulldogs — which can run into the thousands of dollars. The dogs were later returned by a woman who claimed she’d found them; she was later arrested and found to be in a relationship with another suspect's father.

U.S. Marshals, in a statement Monday, said Jackson should be considered armed and dangerous. The reward is for information that leads to his arrest. Authorities previously said Jackson is a documented gang member but have not provided additional information.

Representatives for Lady Gaga did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.

The dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was with Lady Gaga’s three dogs — named Asia, Koji and Gustav — in Hollywood just off the famed Sunset Boulevard when he was attacked.

Video from the doorbell camera of a nearby home shows a white sedan pulling up and two men jumping out. They struggled with Fischer and one pulled a gun and fired a single shot before fleeing with two of the dogs, Koji and Gustav. The video captured Fischer screaming, “Oh, my God! I’ve been shot!” and “Help me!” and “I’m bleeding out from my chest!”

Fischer — who was shot once in the chest with a bullet from a .40-caliber handgun — previously called the violence “a very close call with death” in social media posts.

From combined wire services

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