Entertainment

John Turturro plays the ‘Only Living Pickpocket in New York’ : NPR

Actor John Turturro might be able to pick your pocket, but it depends on how you’re dressed.
“Horizontal pockets that are really tight with tight jeans are hard; back pockets are easier,” he says. Even better, he adds, “If your purse or your backpack is on your back and your zipper isn’t completely zipped up.”
Lifting wallets was part of his training for the new film, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. In it, Turturro stars as Harry, a skilled pickpocket who is also the primary caretaker for his wife, who’s in a catatonic state. Harry’s life takes a turn when he steals the backpack of a college-age kid who turns out to be the grandson of a crime boss.
To prepare for the role, Turturro practiced with Apollo Robbins, a famed sleight-of-hand artist, who coached him on the art of misdirection. “He really helped me, gave me exercises, and worked with me,” Turturro says. “I [practiced picking pockets] in the production office and on the set all the time.”
Harry isn’t the first morally dubious character Turturro’s played during his lengthy career in Hollywood. His film credits include Five Corners, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Do the Right Thing. In recent years, he’s been on TV in the critically acclaimed series The Night Of, The Plot Against America, and Severance.
Turturro says he’s attracted to complex roles — and he’s always willing to learn something new: “I really do try to take the elevator down into the sub-basement and mine everything I possibly can because I’m a student,” he says. “I love to begin something because you never know. There’s the unknown of, ‘I may fail. I may not be able to do that.’ And I find that exciting.”
Interview highlights
On being a legal guardian to his late brother who had schizophrenia
I had to find different residences and then I put him in an apartment. I had to hire all the aides and then someone who was in charge of the aides so I could function and he wasn’t used to being outside [the hospital]. So a lot of times he was not appreciative of that. He could be very abusive and very unpredictable, so you never knew what was going to happen. So I was always on sort of a high alert. No matter where I was in the world, I tried to protect my own family from him. And then eventually we finally got him on a medicine which he could take monthly. …
But there were times he’d be in a hospital because he acted up, he got thrown out of a lot of apartments. It was really hard to do because there’s no system. [Many] mentally ill people, they wind up on the streets. I’ve had many encounters with police, and then he wound up in the hospital of New York Presbyterian, and sometimes I’d bring him food for lunch, and if he was in a bad mood, he’d throw it all over me, and I would just have to decide: Do I leave? Do I stay? But I know he depended on me and he had a major effect on my life as a person and I did learn a lot about myself, how much I could withstand and how I learned to protect myself somewhat, because you have to be able to sort of form a little barrier around you.
He was a very complex and very perceptive person. He could be quite generous, not that he had that much to be generous with. He was a very good musician. … I guess I learned a lot about human behavior with him and all the people around him. … My brother said to me once, he said, “I’ve given you a lot of material.” And I said, “You’re really right — but at a high cost.”
On growing up around a lot of volatility
My father was in the war, so he had PTSD [from] World War II. He was in D-Day and got blown up and everything. And he was on a destroyer. It hit a mine, they were in the front, the destroyers, and they were stuck there for, like, two or three days.
So he had that, so he and my brother … it was not a great combination. And I was sort of the person who would calm things down. I’m the middle child, but I became like my mom’s protector for a lot of my life growing up. And not that I chose to do that, I just did it. I guess you have that nature or you don’t. But my mother and father were very moment-to-moment in their relationship, and I learned a lot in that house. It was like being in an acting class, but it was real-life in some ways. … My mother was very dry and funny. But you learn how to diffuse the situation. … When I was younger and I played all these explosive characters and stuff, I understood the reality of that, versus just the imaginative reality of that. I saw a lot of violence growing up and I was in the middle of it a bunch of times.
On the impact of growing up around women
I realized early on in my life that many of these households, which were tumultuous and from all different backgrounds, that it was the women who were keeping everyone together. They were the glue. And I used to want to eavesdrop on their conversations because I thought this is where it’s happening and they would exchange information about their husbands, who was doing what, who was cheating, this and that, and I found it really fascinating, you know? And I felt very comfortable, and I still feel very comfortable working with women. And I think it’s because of my mom. She was a dressmaker, and when she made dresses, I would help her with the patterns. … Sometimes when she made wedding dresses, and our dummy was too small and the lady was too tall, she would ask me, ‘Would you put it on so I can do all the hems and the beads?’ and my father came in once and I had a wedding dress on and he was looking at me and I was like, I don’t care. … It was a pretty free household that way.
On growing up in a Black neighborhood and his friendship with Spike Lee
I grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood for the first six years of my life in Hollis, Queens. It was in a little garden apartment. I had no white friends. My best friend was Black. The guy who was the nerdy guy was Black, the bully was Black. Everybody was different. And we had some white people on our block, but I didn’t really have any friends my age that were white. And I think that had a huge — musically, friendship-wise, sense of humor-wise — had a huge influence on me.
When I moved to Rosedale, it was more of an Italian, Irish and somewhat Jewish neighborhood. And that was the first time I felt kind of prejudiced against the color of my skin. Everyone thought I was Puerto Rican. So I found it much more aggressive personally to me, even from people who were supposed to be from a similar background to me. So my experiences growing up have sort of helped me, I think, navigate a multicultural world. …
I think that really bonded me and Spike [Lee], because he grew up in an Italian neighborhood. … I was like oh my god, this is like someone I know my whole life. … When he showed me the movie [the screenplay for Do the Right Thing] I said I know a lot of people like this and I said, I’d rather play the racist guy because that’s what it’s about, the movie. And he doesn’t have a Ku Klux Klan hood on him. He’s just the guy who sells pizza. I worked in a pizzeria before that and the guy wasn’t that different from the guy I was playing. The thing was to expose it, in a way.
On his film roles becoming more interesting as he ages (Turturro is 69)
Seventy is the new 50, I guess. Listen, I try to stay in shape and keep my memory sharp. I think as an actor, if you get the opportunity, you have a bigger toolbox of experience. You can’t jump over a fence as quickly or run as fast, but you can distill things and understand what stillness is and be really precise because your toolbox is much fuller. You’ve experienced so many things. And I feel very rich in that way right now. I do. And when I see The Only Living Pickpocket, I see a person who has lived a lot of life that way, and that’s me too.

Entertainment

‘Breaking Bad’ star Dean Norris’ secret divorce revealed amid $1M bankruptcy filing

Dean Norris and his wife, Bridget Norris, are getting divorced and are in serious financial debt.
Bridget quietly filed for divorce from the “Breaking Bad” alum on Feb. 14, 2025, according to court docs obtained by Page Six.
Dean responded in May of that year, but it appears the divorce is not yet finalized.
The split news comes as the two are also dealing with financial issues. The now-exes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for their restaurant Swing Inn Cafe, located in Temecula, California, on Sept. 25, according to docs obtained by Page Six.
The company has $147,809.58 in assets but has $1,811,598.46 in liabilities, per the docs.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to restructure its debts in order to stay in business.
The old school diner and barbecue joint — which they purchased in 2002 — has been open since 1927.
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The restaurant has made no mention of its bankruptcy filing on social media. On Monday, its Instagram page posted Dean getting interviewed by a local news outlet about the eatery and encouraged followers to preorder their Thanksgiving meal from Swing Inn Cafe.
The page also shared video of Dean meeting fans at the restaurant over the weekend.
Dean, 63, is best known for playing Hank Schrader on AMC’s “Breaking Bad” from 2008 to 2013.
He married Bridget, a former entertainment lawyer, in October 2021. They share five children together, including two minor children — daughter Zoe, 17, and son Dean Jr., 16.
Bridget is asking for joint legal and physical custody of their kids, as well as spousal support, TMZ reported Wednesday.
She cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their split, listing their separation date as Jan. 15, 2025, per the outlet.
Page Six reached out to Dean’s rep for comment, but didn’t immediately receive a response.
Meanwhile, the Swing Inn Cafe isn’t their only joint venture. In 2018, they opened the Norris Performing Arts Center in Murrieta, California. The center offers dance, vocal, acting and musical theater training for students ages 3 to 18.
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Entertainment

‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Eyes $60M WW Box Office Opening, ‘Ramayana’ Huge

Gkids’ release of Toho’s Godzilla Minus Zero — now who the heck saw this coming?
In what’s expected to be a slower November, at least stateside, sans a Wicked, a Moana or a Zootopia movie in the marketplace, along comes Takashi Yamazaki’s sequel to the Oscar-winning 2023 Japanese-language, English-subtitled movie with a $25 million-$30 million domestic forecast and another $30M+ abroad from 23 territories, per industry forecasts. All in, it is an estimated global start of around $60M.
But the lizard could get tripped up by the worldwide launch of Indian epic Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, and projects are running wild with anywhere from $30M-$75M+ for the country’s most expensive movie ever (the two-part epic cost a reported $420M-$500M). Note, we’re being conservative. Sony only has select territories abroad including North America. Scroll down for more.
Even if Godzilla Minus Zero has smaller fire than expected and files in the mid-$20M range in North America, that’s the still the biggest opening ever for frosh distributor Gkids, beating its previous high opening for Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron ($13M) in 2023.
In the Godzilla follow-up, winged three-headed beast King Ghidorah wrecks havoc on post-World War II Japan as the humans look to find an ally in Godzilla.
Yesterday, Tuesday, Nov. 3, was Godzilla Day, commemorating when Toho bowed the first movie in theaters in 1954; this year marks the 72nd anniversary. Already, Godzilla Minus Zero has posted a massive $5.7M first day in Japan (¥910 million), exceeding 590,000 attendees. Toho is calling it an opening-day record for a live-action title in Japan (on both a local and foreign basis). We can’t verify that stat exactly, but what we can tell you is that the number is under the first-day opening of July 2025’s Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (¥1.64 billion, or $11.1M), which was a record opening day in Japan. We’re hearing the Imax opening-day B.O. for Godzilla Minus Zero also bested that of Infinity Castle.
Godzilla Minus Zero‘s first day take in Japan exceeds the first day of Godzilla Minus One by 201%. The expectation is that Godzilla Minus Zero will open to north of $11M, which would be higher than local Japanese hit from earlier this year Kingdom 5 ($9.75M opening weekend, final $42M cume) and Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($9.9M opening weekend, $36.6M final cume). Japanese forecasts have Godzilla Minus Zero projected to final there at north of ¥10B, or $63.2M.
The pic raids Australia, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, UK, Spain and Japan this weekend. Italy and South Korea won’t be going in this opening suite. Japanese movies aren’t given theatrical releases in China.
In U.S./Canada there were Imax fans shows Tuesday as well as today that will be rolled into Thursday previews which begin after 10 a.m. The R-rated movie was made for Imax, and Gkids has booked the title at 3,250 theaters including all, yes, all Imax auditoriums and PLFs. We understand that the marketing budget for the domestic release, which was largely social, was under $10M. The movie is 89% certified fresh with critics.
By comparison, Godzilla Minus One opened to $11.4M in the No. 2 spot during the first weekend of December 2023 and finaled at a great 5x multiple of $57.1M (there was also a black and white print), and $113.9M global ($48.2M of that came from Japan). The pic, made for $10M, won Best VFX at the Oscars in 2024 and received a solid A CinemaScore.
Warner Bros Pictures Animation has its first theatrical release under division boss Bill Damaschke in the feature animated take of Dr. Seuss’ all-time classic The Cat in the Hat, which is looking at around $20M give or take at the domestic box office at 4,000 theaters including 3D, PLFs, motion seats and Dolby Cinema. The last time we saw the Cat in the Hat, Universal unleashed him as a live-action movie with Mike Myers in the title role. The movie opened to $38.3M domestic and finaled at $101M U.S./Canada and $134M worldwide, but it was considered a dud with a $109M production cost and 11% RT with critics and a B- CinemaScore (quite low for a family movie).
The film will receive a staggered offshore release which is par for the course for an animated family title during the holidays. Sixty territories are going this weekend in 17,000 screens, specifically Mexico, Spain, Italy, Korea and China. The UK is going on December 4, France on December 9, Germany on December 10, Japan on Christmas Day and Australia/New Zealand on December 31.
Angel Studios has the colonial-set movie Drummer Boy at 2,840 theaters and eyeing around mid-single digits. We hear it has around $3M in presales. The movie directed by Ben Smallbone and Joel David Smallbone follows a young drummer boy, an enslaved woman and a divided family in search of freedom. Through battle and loss, music carries hope in a deeply human story of faith and forgiveness. Previews start Thursday after 11:30 a.m.
Searchlight is bowing Martin McDonagh’s R-rated political comedy Wild Horse Nine at 1,100 theaters per Rentrak with a forecast of $4M-$6M. The pic starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell follows two CIA agents on trust-testing mission to Easter Island on the precipice of revolution in 1973 Chile. Malkovich won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor out of the pic’s Venice Film Festival world premiere. McDonagh is up for screenplay and Malkovich outstanding lead performance at the Gotham Awards. Previews start Thursday after 2 p.m.
Searchlight held early access screenings on October 30 in the top 50 markets at 400 theaters. The studio teamed with the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA for exclusive, limited 35mm screenings. Rotten Tomatoes critical score is excellent at 94% certified fresh.

Entertainment

Pregnant Mormon Wives’ Jen Affleck, Zac Affleck Divorce

While Taylor Frankie Paul’s romance with Dakota Mortensen—they welcomed son Ever in 2024—bloomed on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, they called it quits due to Dakota’s infidelity.
“Right after Ever was born, Dakota and I were living together and in bliss with our new baby, and I was even considering engagement,” Taylor—who began dating the real estate agent in July 2022—revealed during the season two premiere of the Hulu series. “And then I learned that he was lying this entire time.”
Taylor was told by a woman named Jenna that she and Dakota had been intimate and he had “spent the night more than once.” (He has denied the claims, writing in a September 2024 TikTok that he “never cheated.”)
On the series, Taylor said that Dakota accused Jenna of instigating their affair.
“No, it was him,” she emphasized in the confessional. “He said he had just kissed her on the couch. No, he went on the couch, they hooked up on the couch, and then they went to the room and they hooked up.”
Since ending her romance with the Basin Tiling founder, the mom of three (she shares two kids with ex-husband Tate Paul) was set to find love once again on season 22 of The Bachelorette, but things got a bit thorny when news broke in March 2026 of an alleged confrontation between the exes weeks earlier.
A spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department confirmed to People that there was an open “domestic assault investigation,” telling the outlet “allegations have been made in both directions.”
Days later, a video of a previous 2023 physical altercation between Taylor and Dakota surfaced online, prompting ABC to cancel the MomToker’s season of the dating franchise.
As for Dakota, he has kicked off a romance with show guest star Shinia Powell, though he previously apologized to Taylor for hooking up with her during a season four episode.
Whitney Leavitt found the perfect dance partner in Connor Leavitt, whom she wed in 2016. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing for the couple—who share kids Sedona, Liam and Billy—as they navigated life in the spotlight.
For instance, the Dancing With the Stars alum, who announced during her Broadway run in May 2026 that she’d be leaving Mormon Wives, had to shut down rumors about her husband’s sexuality.
“Do I need to put out a sex tape, or something? Like, trust me,” she said on the Off the Vine podcast in October 2024. “We’re good. Everything’s fine.”
“I think it’s because when we were going through our personal stuff—and I know you haven’t seen it—but he struggled through a porn addiction,” she explained. “There’s a scene where one of my friends says something along the lines of how they could see how he was confused sexually.”
Through the ups and downs, the reality star emphasized that she and Connor—who were 23 and 22, respectively, when they got married—are stronger than ever. In fact, they even renewed their vows in February 2026 for their 10th wedding anniversary.
“We got married really young,” Conner told Brides after their ceremony. “It felt like our wedding day, as much as it was for us, it really felt like it was for our families. So we really want to do something to make it ours, and this felt like a really fun way to do it.”
While Jen Affleck and Zac Affleck—no relation to Ben Affleck, despite jokes to the contrary—have been married since 2019, the couple has been at the center of breakup rumors since season one.
In fact, their fight after Jen attended a Chippendales striptease show in Las Vegas became a focal point of the first season. The couple—who share kids Nora, Penelope and Lucas—made up, however, and the Dancing With the Stars contestant later defended their relationship.
“It can be tiring and draining, just because it gets old having to hear the same things,” Jen told E! News of the speculations in November 2025. “For me, I’m like, ‘People will always talk and people will always have their opinions.’ I think it is frustrating for him when people don’t see what’s happening behind closed doors and how much work and effort he’s putting in.”
So, she and Zac are focusing on what really matters: “We’re working on just tuning out the noise of the world—I think it still is hard for him.” Jen announced in June 2026 that she’d be adding to their dance troupe with baby No. 4.
Bumps in Jessi Draper and Jordan Ngatikaura’s five-year marriage emerged after the hairstylist admitted to having an emotional affair with Vanderpump Villa’s Marciano Brunette, though initially it appeared they were working towards smoother roads.
“We are back together,” Jessi—who shares kids Jagger and Jovi with Jordan—told E! News in November 2025. “We’re trying to work on it. Relationships are not perfect. I think a situation like ours—it’s going to take time. It’s not going to something that’s just amazing overnight.”
Sadly, the reconciliation appeared to be short-lived, with Jordan also dad to daughter Peyton from a previous relationship, filing for divorce in March 2026 after five years of marriage.
However, days later, Jessi said she was “blindsided” by his filing and accused him of rushing to submit the paperwork because “he wanted the headline first.”
Admitting that her “heart sunk” seeing the news, she explained, “because we agreed to tell our children together before filing and we haven’t done that.” (E! reached out to attorneys for Jordan for comment but haven’t heard back.)
Though Jessi told E! News that she was “just casually dating and living life,” when she brought Marciano as her date to the 2026 American Music Awards in May 2026, he revealed a tattoo dedicated to her that August.
Mayci didn’t expect to find love with Jacob Neeley. In fact, after the unexpected death of her boyfriend Arik Mack in 2015, when she was just 14 weeks pregnant with their son Hudson, she was prepared to be a single mom.
But it all changed when she met Jacob in 2016 at age 21, whom she would marry two years later.
“After everything I’d been through, I was very guarded, but Jacob was kind and we got on really well,” Mayci said in her memoir Told You So. “For a long time, we remained just friends and because we weren’t really dating, I was OK with him meeting my son.”
“Jacob was amazing with him, which made him appear even more attractive,” she continued. “I was terrified of getting hurt again but, after four months, I couldn’t deny my feelings any longer. He was kind and funny and made me feel safe.”
Mayci and Jacob went on to welcome daughters Harlow in 2021 and Charli in 2025.
Demi Engemann and her husband Bret Engemann tied the knot in 2021, one year after she and Blake Corbin divorced. As the couple’s relationship played out on the reality show, their sexual explorations became a major plot point after Whitney gifted Demi a box of Fruity Pebbles.
The truth behind the joke gift wasn’t revealed until Jessi shared on Instagram in November 2025 that “grandpa Bret likes to drink her piss like it’s dirty soda and he gulps it down like water.”
But Demi and Bret aren’t crying over spilled secrets—or pee. In fact, she told Entertainment Tonight that December that she and Bret “have nothing else left to do other than own it and have fun with it.”
Although their sex life raised eyebrows, the couple has been embracing life with their blended family. While Demi shares daughter Maude with her ex, Bret is dad to his and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City alum Angie Harrington’s sons Rome and Cole.
“I’ve never seen a dad so involved or love their kids harder, the most devoted step-dad to Maude, and future father to our own children one day,” Demi wrote on Instagram in June 2024. “Your ability to remain consistently loyal to your role as father/step-father while navigating all that life throws your way, will never cease to amaze me!”
Mikayla Matthews and Jace Terry have been through it all together. While The reality star first met Jace in 2015 when she was 15 and they welcomed their first son Beckham two years later. Since then, the couple—who tied the knot in 2018—welcomed kids Haven, Tommie and Lottie.
While Mikayla and Jace have been loving life with their four kids, Mikayla admitted that she hopes to grow their family even further.
“When people ask me how many kids I want, I’m like, ‘I’ve always wanted three or four, but I could see myself having six,'” she told People in February 2025. “I’m excited to hopefully move into a new house. I want a big lot for my herd of kids.”
However, Mikayla confirmed in the ninth episode of the show’s fourth season that she and Jace were taking time apart amid ongoing intimacy struggles.
As Mikayla began unpacking her trauma surrounding years of sexual abuse as a teen, as well as her chronic illness—which causes flare-ups due to heightened stress—their marriage had been deeply affected.
“I think it’s hard anytime you bring up the stuff with the sex or the intimacy,” she admitted to Jace. “I feel like it’s hard on me ’cause I feel like, again, my nervous system’s already in fight or flight and I’m already maxed out. My bucket is full.”
After Layla Taylor and Clayton Wessel—who are parents to sons Oliver and Maxwell—divorced in 2023, the reality star teased her new romance with Mason McWhorter in July 2025.
Their relationship was a bit complicated on paper. Hang with us: Mason’s brother is Chase McWhorter, the ex-husband of Layla’s costar Miranda McWhorter. But the pair had been willing to put their romance to the test.
“Right now, I’m kind of scared of marriage but I just want to get to know somebody very well before I even consider that,” Layla told Us in November 2025. “I’m just happy and content where me and Mason are. And if somehow that ever were to come up, then we would see.”
Unfortunately, the mom of two confirmed that she and Mason had split in February 2026.
“I think we were just on two different paths right now, and he felt in order for him to grow, he had to be on his own,” Layla shared. “I respect his decision, and I truly hope that he gets what he wants in life.”
As for Layla, who came out as bisexual in June 2026, she soft-launched her romance with a mystery woman a month later in an Instagram video. She later seemed to confirm her relationship with Colorado-based content creator Kelsie Chesser.
Although Miranda is a newer addition to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, joining in season two, she played a major role in the infamous MomTok “soft swinging scandal.” Despite the situation with Taylor, Miranda revealed that drama wasn’t the reason for her 2024 divorce from Chase.
“The reasons why we decided to split were things that were issues far before that,” she explained on the Weekly Trash podcast in August 2024. “That might not have helped, for sure, but it definitely did not play a part in the decision process.”
Nonetheless, she and Chase have been committed to parenting their kids Brooks and Cohen.
“With co-parenting, you’re always having to work on it,” she reflected. “The thing is that if we got along perfectly all the time and it was just rainbows and butterflies, we probably wouldn’t have gotten divorced.”
“The thing with him and I,” she continued, “we’ve always had a pretty good foundation of a friendship prior to even having a romantic relationship. I feel like that’s something that set us up for some level of success when it comes to co-parenting.”

Entertainment

Pope Leo XIV welcomes Bob Dylan to the Vatican in a brief visit

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Bob Dylan came knockin’ on Pope Leo XIV’ s door Wednesday, as the American singer-songwriter and poet visited with the American pope at the Vatican during a break between concert dates in Italy.
The Vatican said the encounter was brief, with Leo giving Dylan a rosary and Dylan presenting the pope with a copy of his autobiography, “Chronicles: Volume One.”
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Leo had quoted from an unpublished protest song Dylan penned in 1963, “Go Away You Bomb,” in his 2026 book “Disarmed and Disarming: Peace Is a Gift.”
Leo was warning against the race to rearm and the recourse to nuclear weapons and quoted the lyric, addressed to a hypothetical atomic bomb: “I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned, an’ man-handled.”
Two Vatican officials accompanied Dylan: the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican culture ministry official who also accompanied Patti Smith to a July audience with Leo; and Andrea Monda, the editor of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
Spadaro said Dylan had wanted to speak with Leo, and the two met in private for a few minutes. In an essay in L’Osservatore Romano, he recalled that the former Robert Prevost, who was born in Chicago in 1955, grew up familiar with Dylan’s music.
He also noted that Dylan was very familiar with St. Augustine of Hippo, the inspiration of Leo’s spirituality and Augustinian religious order, penning “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” for the 1967 album John Wesley Harding.
Dylan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, wore a black hoodie and a loose tie. Vatican photos of the encounter showed him with the hood over his head.
It wasn’t Dylan’s first papal encounter: He played for Pope John Paul II, and thousands of other people, in 1997 during a concert capping a religious congress in Bologna, Italy.
Dylan, who changed his name from Robert Zimmerman, was born to a Jewish family in Minnesota. He famously became a born-again Christian in 1979 and alienated some of his longtime fans with songs like “Gotta Serve Somebody” and “Saved.”
In more recent years, Dylan has been more circumspect about his religious beliefs. In a 2022 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Dylan said that he was a “religious person” who reads the scriptures, meditates and prays.
Dylan met with Leo in between concert dates in Italy. He played in Milan on Monday and is playing Rome on Thursday. In his most recent concert before the meeting with the pope, Dylan sang his 1997 song “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” that contains the lyric, “I’ve been all around the world, boys/Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door.”
AP reporter Scott Bauer contributed from Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Entertainment

Scarlett Johansson Says ‘The Batman II’ Role Was “Hard To Crack”

Although Scarlett Johansson is no stranger to a big-budget superhero flick, she found herself in uncharted territory when making the jump from Marvel to DC.
The 2x Oscar nominee admitted she had “a lot of existential angst” on the set of The Batman: Part II, which she explained was “hard to figure out” as she joined the cast of the Matt Reeves sequel.
“It gave me a lot of existential angst, for some reason,” Johansson told Entertainment Tonight. “It was very hard to figure out. I don’t know why, whether it was just the role or it was just where I am in my life, but it was just hard to crack it. That’s all I can say about it. It was a tough role in a lot of ways.”
In May, Johansson joined the cast of Reeves’ sequel to The Batman (2022), in which she reportedly plays Gilda Dent, the wife of Gotham district attorney Harvey Dent (Sebastian Stan).
James Gunn previously revealed last July that the script for The Batman: Part II was finished, following several delays. In August, a letter to Warner Bros. Discovery’s shareholders revealed that filming on the sequel would begin filming in the spring, with the release date recently pushed to Feb. 18, 2028.