Names and faces
■ Under a new agreement with the WWE, under which Dwayne Johnson will also join the board of TKO Group, Johnson will finally own the name “The Rock.” “The Rock” is a name is derived from Johnson’s father, WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson, who was the first Black champion in WWE history, alongside partner Tony Atlas, according World Wrestling Entertainment. Johnson, in an interview on CNBC, would not discuss the financial value of the deal with WWE, but said the name “The Rock” means a lot to him personally. “I owe that name everything,” Johnson said. “Without that name there’d be no wrestling career. There’d be no Hollywood career.” Johnson said this will be his first time serving on the board of a publicly traded company. TKO Group is the sports and entertainment company that houses WWE and UFC. “I’m very motivated to help continue to globally expand our TKO, WWE, and UFC businesses as the worldwide leaders in sports and entertainment — while proudly representing so many phenomenal athletes and performers who show up every day putting in the hard work with their own two hands to make their dreams come true and deliver for our audiences,” Johnson, 51, said in a prepared statement. “I’ve been there, I’m still there and this is for them.”
■ Former first daughter Malia Obama is making her directorial debut at Sundance Film Festival. Obama, who already has built a career in Hollywood, wrote and directed “The Heart,” a comedic drama that she says examines loneliness through the story of a man grieving his dead mother. The project is credited to Malia Ann, which is Obama’s middle name. In a video describing the film alongside stills, the 25-year-old also describes the short film as “somewhat of a fable” about the “unusual request” left in the mother’s will. “The film is about lost objects and lonely people and forgiveness and regret,” Obama says in a “Meet the Artist 2024” video, adding that it also “works hard to uncover where tenderness and closeness can exist in these things.” The eldest daughter of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, Malia Obama entered the entertainment industry in 2017 as an intern for now-disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein. One of her most recent projects is Donald Glover’s Emmy-nominated horror comedy “Swarm.”