'BMF' stars La La, Davinchi speak on season 4: 'Bunch of action'
Show Caption
Hide Caption
La La Anthony and Da'Vinchi reflect on 'BMF' season 4
"BMF" actors La La Anthony and Da'Vinchi give insight on what fans can expect for Season 4 of the hit Starz crime drama.
"See it, touch it, obtain it" and "womb to the tomb" are the codes that Meech (Demetrius "Lil Meech" Flenory Jr.) and Terry (Da'Vinchi) live by.
Although bonded by blood, their approach to the drug game is different: Meech is rambunctious, while Terry is more prudent. At the nucleus of their brotherhood were love, loyalty, and the zeal to expand their drug trafficking enterprise.
However, "BMF" Season 4 raises the question of what happens when that foundation starts to crumble.
In the first episode of Starz's crime drama titled "Graduation Day," Terry is struggling to keep the business afloat while Meech has been missing in action for months following their temerarious trip to Mexico.
When Meech finally returns to Detroit, unbeknownst to Terry, they get into a heated altercation that foreshadows the direction of their relationship.
Loyal associate Hoop asked what everyone in the room was wondering: "What the (expletive) happened in Mexico?"
'Power Book III: Raising Kanan': Patina Miller discusses season 4, her return as Raq
Season 4 will reveal the mysterious events in Mexico
Da'Vinchi told USA TODAY that the fight between Meech and Terry in the show highlights how their bond begins to crack.
"They were done," the actor said. "And as the season progresses, you start seeing in the flashbacks in Mexico what led to this fight."
The scene was intense on screen, but shooting it was a blast: "This season has a bunch of action, so choreographing that fight was hilarious. Working with [Lil Meech] and then teaching him how to throw a camera punch, it was really funny."
"BMF," executive produced by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, is loosely inspired by the real events of the Flenory brothers, the founders of the "Black Mafia Family," dubbed one of the most notorious drug organizations in the U.S. known for ties with drug cartels.
The story follows Big Meech and Southwest T's humble beginnings in 1980s Detroit and their rise to kingpin status, which thrust them into prominent circles alongside legendary hip-hop acts. Both were sentenced to three decades behind bars, but T was released in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Big Meech was later let out last October to finish his sentence in a halfway house in Florida. His son plays him in the show.)
"I had a conversation with Terry Flenory himself, and he was proud and honored by how I was portraying him on screen," said Da'Vinchi. "And to me, I was like, Yo, that's an Emmy right there. That's an award."
'I'm going to boss up now'
Watch clips from Season 4 of 'BMF'
Starz's "BMF" returned for Season 4 on June 6.
COURTESY 'BMF' / STARZ
In Season 4, Terry's convoluted relationship with Markisha Taylor (Alani 'La La' Anthony) also shifts from personal to professional when she approaches him with a proposition to get involved in the drug business.
"She's tired of relying on men, and now she's like, I want to be my own boss. I want my own independence. I want to do this myself, which a lot of women can relate to," La La said.
"In relationships, a lot of times we lose ourselves, we lose our identity, and Markisha is just tired of it, so she's like, 'I'm going to boss up now. I want to be in charge of my life and the decisions I make.' So it's an interesting journey to see her take this season."
When Markisha is first introduced, she is an insurance company employee and the wife of Boom, a local drug dealer who physically abuses her. La La expressed that playing a survivor of domestic violence "was tough," and she wanted to approach the role with care.
"It was difficult to go to that place and also to see what she went through," she added.
In the first three seasons, Terry and Markisha's connection turns into a love affair that strains Terry's relationship with the mother of his children, LaWanda (Sydney Mitchell), and raises the eyebrows of Meech. Markisha is mature and coaches Terry to get him out of his brother's shadow.
"I think Markisha strokes his ego, whether it's conscious or unconscious," Da'Vinchi said. "She has a knowledge of the game that he doesn't have."
Markisha "reaffirms everything he feels about Meech and the independence that he wants in the game," he continued.
More: Starz's 'BMF' returns for Season 4: Cast, episode schedule, release date, trailer
'So many enemies'
With B-Mickie (Myles Truitt) and Lamar's (Eric Kofi-Abrefa) return to the show, on top of other obstacles, there is a lot of pressure on Meech and Terry.
" It's just so many enemies coming at us at once that it's hard for us to watch each other's six," Da'Vinchi said. " It's super intense. You don't know who to trust. It's almost like our luck ran out this season."
La La calls Season 4 "incredible," adding that it has "so many twists and turns."
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@gannett.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
38 minutes ago
- Business Insider
How Katherine Heigl spends her 5 to 9 — from raising teens to maintaining her 100-day Peloton streak
Katherine Heigl thinks a strongly worded letter should be sent to whoever's responsible for moms experiencing perimenopause while parenting teens. The Emmy-award winning actor, best known for her roles in " Grey's Anatomy," "27 Dresses," and " Firefly Lane," has three children with her husband Josh Kelley: two daughters, Naleigh, 15, and Adalaide, 13, as well as a son, Joshua, 8. Heigl, 46, told Business Insider that everyone's hormones changing at once is "really difficult," but she prioritizes her and her kids' physical and mental health as best she can, even if it sometimes means making the same "kid-friendly" dinners on repeat. Speaking to BI to promote the dog food brand she founded, Badlands Ranch, in the latest installment of our "5-9" series, Heigl shared how she spends her days in her rural Utah home. She also detailed how she's relearning her body during perimenopause and how she's changed her relationship with exercise for the better. Coffee and chilling with her dogs On an average day, what time do you get up, and what's your morning routine? Typically, I'm up around 8 a.m. or 8:30 a.m., and the first thing I do is let my little dog sleep in bed with me. Then we all come down, the dogs go out, then they get their breakfast, I make a cup of coffee, and then we just sit in our little sitting room off the kitchen. I either journal, read, or sometimes scroll, but typically, I give myself an hour to just sit, have a cup of coffee, and chill with the dogs before I get going — whether working or working out. Coming down to see your dogs in the morning is the best because they're so excited. You can leave the room for two minutes and come back, and they're equally as excited. So right. So what do you have for breakfast most days? I just cannot make myself eat until about noon. So it's just a cup or two of coffee, and that's it until lunch. I love food — I'm a total foodie — but I have no patience to make it for myself. So I typically will just throw a smoothie together really quickly, and that will be that until dinner. I used to really love to cook, and I used to cook a lot, but now, I live in the mountains of Utah. We can't even get a pizza delivered. When you're forced to cook every day, come up with meals, and figure it out every day, I'm so over it now. I have not been a great mom in that way lately. I've been like, "Hey, guys, let's just have ramen." So I'm giving myself a break, but I'll get back to it, I'm sure. I'm sure your kids aren't complaining. Are they fussy eaters? My oldest daughter, Naleigh, she'll eat anything. She and I have very similar tastes — we both really like spicy food, we love Indian food. My other two are fussy, yes. I had a work trip to Vegas recently and decided to take the whole family. We had some beautiful dinners and lunches, and I was shocked: My son ordered a white truffle pizza. I didn't think he'd like it, but he looked at me and said, "Really good food makes me feel like I'm floating." So I'm hoping he'll be a bit more adventurous. I get really sick of making the same kid-friendly dishes all the time. Working out for mental health You mentioned you sometimes exercise in the morning. What does movement look like for you? Dog walking? Actually, no. I live on 20 acres of land, so they are very happy roaming and running around the yard. I used to do quite a bit more hiking: Where I live is on a paved road, 7,000 feet up, so it's all uphill. I got us a Peloton a few years ago. I didn't realise they have everything from strength training to yoga to meditation to stretching classes. So I do no less than three days a week. Right now, I'm really proud of myself because I'm on a 100-week streak. That's amazing. It's probably the first time in my life I've ever made that kind of commitment to exercise. About three years ago, I changed my perspective — instead of it being about beating my body into submission because I wasn't happy with my body, I made it about my mental health and feeling better. Once I shifted to thinking about how exercise can help me go about the rest of my day in a better, more energized way, it became way less of a chore. Exercise used to be something I hated and had to talk myself into, but now I look forward to it because it does make me feel better. I just feel healthier inside my head. It's such a refreshing shift to make, but it's also hard to do, especially for women, because for so long, we've been told to exercise to shrink ourselves. Yes, and it's something I really try to teach my daughters now. It's not about changing the way you look, it's about changing the way you feel. And if you can approach it from that place, it's less of a challenge to get yourself to do it and to have that self-discipline. I do have to make them, though. Well, they're teenagers aren't they? So, that's tricky. Yeah. Send help, please. Perimenopause and holistic health So you have eight dogs? Yes, we were down to five, but then we adopted three new puppies. I think my husband wants me to stop, but I say to my family: "Listen, I do a lot for you guys and the dogs bring me so much joy, happiness, and comfort, so your help with these dogs is really about helping and supporting me so I can do the same for you." I'm going to use that argument. It really works. Who can argue with that? You don't want me to have comfort or peace or joy? You can't say that. That's horrible. Genius. Caring for our dogs and all dogs is so important to me. That's why I wanted to work with the team creating Badlands Ranch dog food. It aligns with my passion for holistic health — we're all learning more and more how important our digestive health is, and if we keep that healthy, how much of the rest of our system functions better and healthier. It's the same for dogs. What other lifestyle essentials do you have to keep yourself healthy and happy? I have had to learn to really make my mental health a priority and recognize the triggers when stress gets too much. Every year I get older, I've learned how to better manage and not necessarily predict, but notice those triggers before it goes too far. Meditation has become really important. I do not do it nearly enough, but I try to do it at least three days a week. That has helped me a lot just with clarity, purpose, and perspective. With three kids and obviously a house full of pets, of course, there's stress, and things are going to come up. But to be able to take a step back, give yourself even just an hour a day to approach everything calmly, has made a huge difference to my health, my mentality, and even just ensuring I get a better night's sleep, which then ensures that my body and mind and everything functions better the next day. I know you've spoken about perimenopause before. Yeah. Whoever designed it so that women would be going through perimenopause while raising teenagers should be sent a strongly worded letter. It's really difficult. Their hormones are all over the place, they're trying to adapt and get used to their new bodies and their new ways of thinking, and I am too. So the only thing I can do is look at them and go, "Well, at least we're in it together." I just started researching something called Eight Sleep — it goes over your mattress to keep the bed cool at night. The number of nights that I wake up so hot and drenched in sweat. The good news is that I live in Utah, and nine months out of the year, it's freezing, so I can just step outside and cool off. Perimenopause is like having to relearn your whole system and body again. I feel like it happens almost every 10 years. In my 20s, my hormones were crazy and tumultuous, and I was trying to figure myself out. And then I had 10 years in my 30s where I had a good handle on it all, and then it all started shifting and changing again at about 40. Great. Just endless changes, that's exhausting. Get used to it. How do you wind down to give yourself the best chance of a good sleep? There are nights where we'll watch a show — my husband and I have gotten really into " Succession," but I prefer to read for an hour before actually putting my head on the pillow. If I scroll for too long at night or in bed, it really messes with my circadian rhythm. It just makes sleep really restless, and I think the blue light and onslaught of sensory overload is a thing. So we all put our phones down a good hour before bed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Blessed be the comeback? ‘The Handmaid's Tale' is on track to return to this major Emmy category for final season
After being The Handmaid's Tale's only Emmy nomination for the fifth season, Elisabeth Moss is probably the show's best shot at being recognized for its sixth and final season this year. At the moment, Moss is in fifth place in Gold Derby's odds for Best Drama Actress, which is set to have five slots. But if the 2017 drama series champ gets a farewell hug from voters, don't be surprised to see it pop up in other races, including the acting category it once dominated unlike any other: Best Drama Guest Actress. Up until the fifth season, the Hulu series had fielded at least one nominee in the category each time it was eligible. For the first season in 2017, it landed a lone nomination for Alexis Bledel, who prevailed. The following year, it tripled its Season 1 total with bids for Kelly Jenrette, Cherry Jones, and eventual winner Samira Wiley. While it wasn't eligible for a full season in 2019, it was allowed to enter the final three outings of Season 2 as orphaned episodes and occupied a slot with Jones, who gave the show its third straight victory in the category. For the third season in 2020, it picked up another mention for Bledel, who was also cited alongside Mckenna Grace for the fourth season in 2021. Grace was eligible again for the fifth season two years later, but she was likely hurt by the general apathy toward the season, which earned 20 fewer noms than the prior one. More from Gold Derby 2025's 10 best TV shows so far: 'Adolescence,' 'Cobra Kai,' and 'Severance' among our editors' top picks 'No way we're changing the title': 'Trainwreck: Poop Cruise' director on creating Netflix smash hit and why a sequel is 'screaming to be made' This year, Handmaid's has double the chance to return to the category, fielding two contenders in Jones and Season 6 addition . Of the two, only the former is currently expected to crack the six-person lineup, sitting in fifth place in Gold Derby's odds, but that's not surprising. A five-time nominee and three-time winner — including a second time in this category, for Succession in 2020 — Jones is an Emmy fave, and she's already been recognized for her role on the series. As Holly, June's (Moss) activist mother who was presumed dead but turns up alive in one of Season 6's most shocking moments, she gets her best material yet in the show's farewell installment, and has the benefit of not just sharing most of her scenes with Moss but having the bulk of her screen time in the first two episodes. Though certainly not a new name to Emmy voters as a previous nominee herself, for The Good Place in 2020, Carden faces a bigger hurdle as a late cast addition who also doesn't make her first appearance until the seventh episode of the final season, meaning voters have to have stuck around until the end to see her performance. But if they did, they ought to have been impressed by her fierce turn as Ava, a CIA operative working undercover as an Aunt in Gilead to help take down the totalitarian theocracy from within. SEE D'Arcy Carden on her 'dream come true' joining 'The Handmaid's Tale' and Phoebe's 'different Aunt energy' The big question for both actresses is whether Handmaid's can rebound after almost being shut out for its fifth season. Though it's made a massive comeback before, nabbing a series-high 21 bids for its fourth season after dipping to what was at the time a series-low 10 for its third, it did so under different circumstances. Not only was the show aiming to recover from a considerably higher nomination total that notably still included a drama series nom, but it did so in a wide-open year for drama that was littered with ineligibilities due to the pandemic. This year's field is much more crowded, with multiple returning heavy-hitters, including The Last of Us, The White Lotus, Squid Game, and Severance, as well as several breakout hits, including The Pitt and Hulu stablemate Paradise, in contention. But what Handmaid's has going for it is timing. Much like the third season, which aired in the summer of 2019, the fifth one aired in the first half of the eligibility window, from September to November 2022, likely making it a distant memory by the time voting began the following June. For its final season, the dystopian drama returned to its usual mid-spring slot, having premiered with three episodes on April 8. Its series finale dropped on May 27, just a little over two weeks before voting opened on June 12, which means the show was probably top of mind for TV Academy members as they marked off their ballots. Of course, that's assuming they were caught up on the series by then, but if its streaming numbers for the week of the finale are anything to go by, there's little reason to believe they weren't. Bolstered by its best reviews since Season 2, the show has also received a renewed push from both critics and its streamer in the home stretch. Though final-season narratives don't always pan out at the Emmys (ask This Is Us, which was expected to make a big splash for its sixth and final season but wound up with just a single bid for one of its original songs), Handmaid's can flaunt a unique legacy. Not only has it changed the game for streaming shows at the Emmys as the first one to win a series prize, but it has also permeated real-life politics, with the red cloaks and white bonnets worn by the namesake concubines on the series having become international protest symbols in the fight for women's rights and reproductive freedom. Even if that legacy isn't enough for Handmaid's to make a full-scale comeback, it may suffice to push it back into the acting categories, in which it's historically performed well, earning 28 of its 76 total nominations and six of its 15 wins there. Of this year's acting races, Best Drama Guest Actress is arguably the most unsettled one, with only the top four in the odds — The Last of Us duo Kaitlyn Dever and Catherine O'Hara, and Severance's Gwendoline Christie and Merritt Wever — being safe bets for noms. Hilary Swank is in sixth place for Yellowjackets, but the Paramount+ with Showtime series hasn't exactly been a hit with the acting branch and has to overcome the polarizing reception to its eligible third installment. So if voters looked to fill the final few slots on their ballots, they may have just gone back to one of their former faves in the category and sent Handmaid's some good weather one last time. Best of Gold Derby Cristin Milioti, Amanda Seyfried, Michelle Williams, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actress interviews Paul Giamatti, Stephen Graham, Cooper Koch, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actor interviews Lee Jung-jae, Adam Scott, Noah Wyle, and the best of our Emmy Drama Actor interviews Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Squid Game 3' — instant Emmy predictions for the bloody final season
Warning: this item contains spoilers for the final season of — read at your own risk! Humans are ... in the hunt for Emmys. More from Gold Derby 'No way we're changing the title': 'Trainwreck: Poop Cruise' director on creating Netflix smash hit and why a sequel is 'screaming to be made' Blessed be the comeback? 'The Handmaid's Tale' is on track to return to this major Emmy category for final season Seong Gi-hun's (Lee Jung-jae) final line of dialogue in Netflix's survival drama may have been unfinished, but it was poetic all the same. "We are not horses, we are humans, and humans are ...," Player 456 declared before sacrificing himself so that Player 222, aka the newborn baby of Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), could survive and win the entire prize pot of 45.6 billion won (about $33.6 million USD). Season 3 of Squid Game might not be eligible until the 2026 Emmys (Season 2 is in contention right now for the 2025 edition), but here's how the emotional ending might affect the show's chances for next year's awards. Gi-hun's act of bravery in the finale only needed to be made because he foolishly killed Player 333, aka the baby's father, Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), before the final game officially started. Whoopsie! Since the rules of "Sky Squid Game" stated that a death had to occur after the "start" button was activated, Gi-hun decided to push the button and then fall over the edge, thereby ensuring that the child would be the last player standing crawling. Player 456's final words were spoken to the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who took them to heart. In the last moments of Squid Game 3, the villain ensured that Gi-hun's remaining winnings from the first season were personally hand-delivered to his daughter in Los Angeles. Later, the Front Man came into contact with a character played by a two-time Oscar winner. More on her below — including whether she's actually eligible for an Emmy Award with such little screen time. Here are Gold Derby's instant Emmy predictions for Squid Game 3. Lee Jung-jae won the Emmy for Season 1 in 2022, beating out such hot contenders as Adam Scott (Severance), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), Jason Bateman (Ozark), and Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong (Succession). Lee's undoubtedly the show's strongest chance at an acting nomination for Season 3, particularly if he gets in for Season 2 (those bids will be announced on July 15). In the final six episodes, Jung-jae went on an emotional roller-coaster with Gi-hun. Not only did he deal with the loss of his childhood friend at the end of Season 2, for which Jung-jae felt personally responsible, but he built a relationship with a young mother, and had a face-to-face meeting with the mastermind behind the games. Gi-hun may have been a man of few words, but viewers always knew where he stood thanks to the actor's deeply expressive performance. Lee Byung-hun returned as the mysterious Front Man, aka Hwang In-ho, and viewers witnessed a softer side of him in Season 3. Not only did he take a backseat to the much more cutthroat — and, yes, annoying — VIPs, but his backstory was also explored. During a flashback, it was revealed that the Front Man had won a previous cycle of Squid Game by cheating, something that clearly still haunted him in the present-day. (He slit everyone else's throats at night, using the knife that was secretly handed to him by O Yeong-su's powerful leader, Oh Il-nam.) Due to his increased screen time, Byung-hun should certainly be in the Emmy discussion for Season 3, as should the aforementioned Jo Yu-ri and Im Si-wan as the baby's parents. In addition, supporting players who made a big impact include Wi Ha-joon (Detective Hwang Jun-ho), Kang Ha-neul (Player 388 Kang Dae-ho), Park Gyu-young (North Korean defector Kang No-eul), Park Sung-hoon (Player 120 Cho Hyun-ju), Yang Dong-geun (Player 007 Park Yong-sik), Kang Ae-shim (Player 149 Jang Geum-ja), Lee David (Player 125 Park Min-su), and Roh Jae-won (Player 124 Nam-gyu). Shortly after the new season premiered it was spoiled that Cate Blanchett has a surprising cameo in the final moments as an unnamed American who is recruiting down-on-their-luck people for, presumably, a state-side version of Squid Game. The scene seems to hint at speculation that Netflix will continue the story or create a spin-off set in the United States, but official details are yet to emerge. Even though Blanchett has won two Oscars (The Aviator and Blue Jasmine) and been nominated for two Emmys (producing and starring in Mrs. America), she won't be winning an Emmy for Squid Game. Why? The minimum screen time for guest star eligibility is 5 percent of the total running time of the submitted episode, and Blanchett only appears in 35 seconds of the roughly 55-minute finale, or about 0.01 percent. Who said there wouldn't be math?! South Korean filmmaker Hwang Dong-hyuk won the Emmy for directing the Season 1 premiere in 2022, and also earned bids for producing and writing. As the only writer and director of Squid Game, it would be a surprise to see him missing from the Emmy nominations list for Season 2 (in 2025) and Season 3 (in 2026). Even when reviews criticize certain aspects of the show, such as those cringe-worthy VIP scenes, they are always quick to mention how well-executed Dong-hyuk's overall vision is for the project. Simply put, there would be no Squid Game without Dong-hyuk, and Television Academy members are well aware of that fact. As important as the acting, writing, and directing are for Squid Game, the technical achievements are perhaps even more astounding. In Season 1, the show received nominations for cinematography, main title theme music, picture editing, production design, stunts, and visual effects, winning for the latter three. (Guest actress Lee Yoo-mi also won a Creative Arts Emmy for playing Ji-yeong, who was killed off in the "Marbles" game.) Whether it's the striking pink costumes, the neon-colored staircases, the bloodied makeup and hair, or the intense action sequences, Squid Game is a feast for the eyes, and will be a force to be reckoned with yet again in all of the below-the-line Emmy categories. What do you think Squid Game 3's chances are at the 2026 Emmys? Be sure to join the discussion in Gold Derby's TV forum. Best of Gold Derby Cristin Milioti, Amanda Seyfried, Michelle Williams, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actress interviews Paul Giamatti, Stephen Graham, Cooper Koch, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actor interviews Lee Jung-jae, Adam Scott, Noah Wyle, and the best of our Emmy Drama Actor interviews Click here to read the full article.
