Entertainment

The premise of the new pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death is so crazy, it just has to be true — and it is. The HBO Max series is based on the real life of Stede Bonnet, an 18th century wealthy English landowner turned pirate.

Show creator David Jenkins first learned about Bonnet from his wife and then ran to Wikipedia for more information. He tells ABC Audio that Bonnet “had a health crisis and left his family and became a pirate. And then, he very quickly got stabbed and then he met Blackbeard, the greatest pirate.”

“And then there’s wonderful holes in the narrative,” he adds. “Why did he leave his family? He says he was being nagged, but you’re like, dude, what did you do? How did you mess this up? I want to know. And then are you with Blackbeard? What’s up with that?”

While Jenkins couldn’t help but research about the Barbadian pirate, Rhys Darby, who plays Bonnet on the show, jokingly tells ABC Audio he didn’t do any research to play the role.

“You don’t have to do any. I mean, all these people are raving on about research. I mean, the audience aren’t doing research. They’re not ticking off a box. ‘Oh, he didn’t do that!’ And if they are, you know, shut up and just watch the entertainment,” he quips.

Even without doing research, Darby says that pirate life is often romanticized, but in practice doesn’t seem that great.

“There’s an element of everyone imagining what that might be like,” he explains. “Imagine being James Bond, having those mad skills. But you’d only ever want to do it for five minutes because, you know, it’s a horrendous life.” 

Our Flag Means Death is streaming now.

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Actor Jussie Smollett is scheduled to return to court in Chicago today to learn if a judge will order him to serve prison time after he was convicted for lying to police and staging an attack.

In January 2019, Smollett reported to police that he was the victim of a hate crime, alleging that two men yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him and tried to wrap a noose around his neck in Chicago.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the former Empire actor faces up to three years in prison for each of the five felony counts of disorderly conduct that he was convicted of last year. Part of the December trial included the testimony of two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who told jurors Smollett paid them $3,500 to carry out the attack, with a promise of an additional $500 later.

Because he doesn’t have an extensive criminal history and the conviction is for a low-level nonviolent crime, court observers do not think that Smollett will serve any prison time.

In February, Judge James Linn ruled that news cameras will be allowed in the courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Court Building for sentencing.

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Move over Batman, it’s The Penguin’s time to shine.

HBO Max announced Tuesday that they’ve officially given a straight-to-series order to The Penguin, a limited series based on the Dark Knight’s nemesis.

According to the streamer, “The DC drama expands upon the world filmmaker Matt Reeves has created for Warner Bros. Pictures’ global blockbuster The Batman and centers on the character played by [Colin] Farrell in the film.” 

“The world that Matt Reeves created for The Batman is one that warrants a deeper gaze through the eyes of Oswald Cobblepot,” Farrell said. “I couldn’t be more excited about continuing this exploration of Oz as he rises through the darkened ranks to become The Penguin. Will be good to get him back on the streets of Gotham for a little madness and a little mayhem.”

Reeves adds, “Colin exploded off the screen as the Penguin in The Batman, and having the chance to thoroughly explore the inner life of that character on HBO Max is an absolute thrill. Dylan and I are so excited to work with Lauren in continuing Oz’s story as he grabs violently for power in Gotham.”

The news comes after the successful March 4 release of Reeves’ The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson. The film, which also stars Zoë Kravitz, grossed $258 million globally in its first weekend in theaters. 

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Warner Bros. has shuffled the release dates for a few of its upcoming movies. Variety reports the Jason Momoa-led sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is being pushed back from December 16, 2022, to March 17, 2023. Meanwhile, The Flash, starring Ezra Miller, high-tails it from November 4, 2022, to June 23, 2023. Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam is being pushed back three months to October 21, 2022; and DC League of Super-Pets — in which Johnson voices Superman’s canine partner, Krypto the Super Dog — is moving into Black Adam‘s original July 29, 2022 spot. Super-Pets was originally slated for a May 20, 2022 release. Finally, Shazam! Fury of the Gods will move up a few months. The Zachary Levi-starring pic switches from June 2, 2023, to Dec. 12, 2022…

Paramount+ on Wednesday debuted the first teaser trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The Star Trek: Discovery spinoff will be set a decade before the Kirk era, and will follow Pike and the USS Enterprise on their own intergalactic adventures. Anson Mount will return as fan-favorite Capt. Christopher Pike, along with Rebecca Romijn as Number One, Pike’s first officer, and Ethan Peck as science officer Spock. Strange New Worlds launches May 5 on Paramount+…

The 75th annual Tony Awards will return to New York City’s legendary Radio City Music Hall on June 12, and for the first time ever, they’ll air live coast-to-coast on CBS. The four-hour ceremony will once again be split between Paramount+ and CBS. Coverage will start on the streaming platform at 7 p.m. ET, with the remainder of the ceremony airing live on CBS at 8 p.m. ET. Paramount+ will also stream the telecast alongside the live show, and the show will be available on-demand in its entirety after airing. Nominations for this year’s Tonys will be announced May 3…

CBS announced on Wednesday that it has renewed four of its popular reality shows — Survivor, The Amazing Race, Tough as Nails and the home makeover series Secret Celebrity Renovation — for the 2022-2023 broadcast season. The renewals will take Survivor through its 44th season and The Amazing Race to its 34th cycle. Tough as Nails will run through its fifth season and Secret Celebrity Renovation is headed into its second season…

Conrad Janis, the character actor best-known for playing Fred McConnell, the father of Pam Dawber’s Mindy in Mork & Mindy, the 70s sitcom that also starred Robin Williams, died March 1 in Los Angeles, business manager Dean A. Avedon tells The New York Times. He was 94. A cause of death was not given. Janis appeared on many popular TV shows, including The Untouchables, Get Smart, My Favorite Martian, The Waltons, Maude, Happy Days, The Jeffersons, Laverne & Shirley and Frazier. On film he appeared in Airport 1975, Billy Crystal’s Mr. Saturday Night and Ben Stiller’s cult favorite The Cable Guy, starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick, among others. Janis was also a successful and lifelong jazz trombonist who performed regularly with his group, the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band…

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If you think you know the Tiger King story, think again! The new Peacock series, Joe vs. Carole, aims to give you a broader understanding of the feud between Joe “Exotic” Schreibvogel and Carole Baskin.

John Cameron Mitchell plays the exotic animal aficionado, and he tells ABC Audio people are going to see something they didn’t expect.

“You’re going to see real people dealing with real situations. Bizarre ones. But you might find yourself able to identify and say, ‘wow, that could have been me,'” he explains.

Adds Mitchell, “You got to see these as real, well-rounded people who are survivors, who are admirable in one way because they’ve created their own world, but…really horrible…because the paranoia and the hostility doesn’t stop on both sides.”

“They both could have stopped that war,” he continues. “And it kind of destroyed them both.”

The 58-year-old actor reveals he wasn’t exactly a fan of the original Netflix series because it felt like watching “freaks on the side of the road.”

“[It] felt like Real Housewives, and I don’t like those shows because I want to care for somebody,” he says.

And if you’re wondering how they get those tigers to act in the show, well, they didn’t — and they’re not tigers. Mitchell says they used Great Danes as stand-ins for the wild cats and the rest was done with CGI, adding the dogs were cooperative — most of the time.

“They’re very docile. Didn’t always follow instructions. But one, when I’m doing my gubernatorial election speech, every take came right up where it was supposed to, so I could pet it,” he shares.

(Trailer contains uncensored profanity.)

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Making the new Netflix movie Against the Ice was not a posh, fancy experience, says star, producer, and co-writer Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.  

In fact, Coster-Waldau tells ABC Audio they shot most of the early 1900s explorer film in Iceland and Greenland, in temperatures of -22 below Fahrenheit, with raging storms that put lives in danger.

“We were in a storm on a glacier in Iceland, where suddenly, they were like, we got to go…the video assist guy was sitting in a van, and suddenly literally rocks were flying through the windows.”

He adds, “The van got smashed up, and that’s when they said, ‘OK, time to get out.'” 

Coster-Waldau reveals that he also ended up with a concussion while trying to work out a scene where his character gets into a fight with a polar bear. 

“The director…kept asking if it wasn’t possible to do it with a real trained polar bear. And I was like, are you f****** crazy?” he recalls. “So instead, we’ve got this Olympian, this judo heavyweight champion of Iceland, to stand in for the bear. And he was a strong lad. So he was throwing me around and after six, seven takes I had a concussion. I had to leave for the day.”

All the craziness aside, Coster-Waldau says making Against the Ice “was so much fun.”

“It was everything I hoped for. It was as tough as I thought it was going to be and more,” he shares. “From the beginning we were very clear, we wanted to shoot it in the Arctic, we wanted to be on location, we wanted everything to be in camera and we got to do that.”

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A first look at the new live-action adaptation of Pinocchio is finally here.

Disney+ released an image from the new movie — set to premiere on the streaming platform in September — featuring Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth voicing Pinocchio.

You can check out the photo, showing Hanks as the puppet maker and his creation looking at each other, at the streaming channel’s social media sites.

The film, from Hanks’ Oscar-winning Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis, is described as a “retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.”

Other cast members include Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket, Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy, Keegan-Michael Key as “Honest” John, Lorraine Bracco as a new character named Sofia the Seagull, and Luke Evans as The Coachman.

The story of Pinocchio is based on the 1883 Italian children’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.

The most famous version is Disney’s 1940 animated classic, although there have been numerous versions over the decades, including one from another Academy Award-winning director, Guillermo del Toro, that will debut this December on Netflix.

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Actress and singer Samantha Aucoin tells ABC Audio that she “never even stepped on a TV set” before being cast in SyFy’s new supernatural series Astrid & Lilly Save the World, but fans clearly think producers made the right choice.

When the titular high school outcasts have had enough of the figurative monsters they deal with in high school, Aucoin’s Astrid and her BFF Lilly, played by Jana Morrison, attempt to put a hex on them. 

However, the pair’s tinkering with the occult opens a portal, loosing literal monsters on their small town. Together, the very unlikely heroes have to put the creatures in their place, and in doing so, gain a confidence they’ve never had. 

Aucoin admits, “We would have loved to have this kind of show on when we were in high school, because, you know, getting to see yourself in this sort of lead or…as a hero or a heroine, I mean, that would have been amazing.”

She adds, “For me…I think for anyone…I think high school is such an impressionable time, and when you don’t see yourself represented in the media, you know, that can take a toll on your mental health. It can be like…’Am I not thin enough? Do I not look the right way?'”

Aucoin notes, “To see people…just embracing the show and embracing, you know, the way we look, and to realize that it’s OK to look the way you look, and…you should love that, and you should love yourself.”

Meanwhile, Samantha admits to having one selfish goal for the show: Seeing Astrid & Lilly cosplayers. “That would be absolutely incredible!” she declares. 

Astrid & Lilly Save the World airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. on SyFy.

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With spring inching ever closer, Home Town Takeover stars Ben and Erin Napier have some advice on what projects you should plan on starting soon.

“Spring cleaning is a thing for a reason!” Ben told ABC Audio, saying one of the first thing he does is fire up the pressure washer to give their home’s exterior a “deep clean.”  He and Erin also say spring is when they “paint the front porch floor” if it needs a little freshening.  That also includes other areas of their home, like the baseboards or door frame.

“That’s a that’s a way that you can freshen things up without really, really taking on a big project,” Ben suggested.

As for things one shouldn’t be doing at this time, Erin warned, “Don’t plant your flowers until after Easter!  It doesn’t matter how warm it is, it can still freeze.”

The HGTV stars also caution those looking to get a jump start on home renovating projects — such as getting that long-overdue addition started — to “make sure you know what you’re getting into.”

On that note, Erin warned against doing everything on your own: “Hire professionals to do electrical and plumbing.”

The couple, who share two young daughters, wished they had professionals helping them with their year-round “ritual” — constantly cleaning their home. 

“We’re in the season of life where we have a toddler and a baby,” Erin noted. “It’s spring cleaning for us every day. We actually used our Swiffer Wet Jet Wood this morning because breakfast got a little bit messy.” 

She explained their daughters tried “feeding each other” but managed to feed the floorboards “smashed strawberries and bananas” instead.

Home Town Takeover airs on HGTV and is streaming on Discovery Plus.

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On the same day Entertainment Weekly posted a first look at Obi-Wan Kenobi, Disney+ did one better and dropped the first trailer for the anticipated Star Wars spin off. 

“The fight is done. We lost,” Ewan McGregor‘s exiled Jedi master admits in voiceover, as we see him for the first time in the flesh in the years after the events of Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. At the end of that film, he promised to stay on Tatooine to watch over a young Luke Skywalker, and he’s shown doing just that — using binoculars to watch a young Luke Skywalker apparently already dreaming of being a pilot, as he’s shown wearing a helmet and mimicking working a ship’s controls. 

“Stay hidden,” McGregor can be heard saying — either to Luke, or to himself.

Meanwhile, we see there’s great reason for them both to do so.  Inquisitors have been dispatched all over the galaxy by Emperor Palpatine to hunt down the remaining Jedi, like Kenobi, who survived the Empire’s purge.

Rupert Friend, who plays the fearsome, pale-skinned Grand Inquisitor, tells his lieutenant, Moses Ingraham‘s Reva, “The key to hunting Jedi is patience. Jedi cannot help what they are. Their compassion leaves a trail. The Jedi Code is like an itch: He cannot help it.”

“Where is he?” he screams to an unseen character, with his fearsome spinning red lightsaber making his point. 

As John Williams‘ unforgettable “Duel of the Fates” plays, we see Reva also slashing away with her Sith saber, as a legend reads, “Between darkness and defeat hope survives.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi debuts on Disney+ May 25, aka Star Wars Day.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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