Entertainment

Rita Moreno became the first Latina to win a best supporting actress Oscar in 1961 for her portrayal of Anita in the iconic musical West Side Story. Now, half a century later, the 89-year-old actress is starring in Steven Spielberg‘s version of West Side Story.

“I don’t think of it as a remake….I think of it as Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. It’s a reimagining,” Moreno told ABC News.

The musical, which is inspired by Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet, is set in New York City in the 1950s and tells the story of rival gangs — the Sharks, who are Puerto Rican, and the Jets, who are white. At the story’s heart is the relationship between Tony, a former member of the Jets, who falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks.

Anita, who is Bernardo’s girlfriend and Maria’s friend and confidante, is played by Ariana DeBose in the new film. Moreno and DeBose told ABC News that Moreno gave DeBose advice about something she regrets not doing in a certain scene, but neither actress would say what scene that was.

“[Moreno] was very graceful with me, because, I’ll be very candid — I was awkward AF,” DeBose admitted. “She was, like, ‘I think there’s more power in a different delivery. So if that is helpful to you.’ “And I took the note. It was a good note.”

Moreno said, “I said, ‘I think it’s immensely effective, and I never — it never occurred to me to do the scene that way.’ Well, I’m thrilled that she used it.”

You can see more of the interviews in the primetime ABC News event Something’s Coming: West Side Story – A Special Edition of 20/20, airing on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio both star in Netflix’s upcoming comedy Don’t Look Up, but Lawrence’s paycheck was $5 million less — and here’s why she’s okay with that.

Speaking with IndieWire, the actress, 31, candidly said of her 47-year-old costar, “Look, Leo brings in more box office than I do.”

“I’m extremely fortunate and happy with my deal,” Lawrence explains. “But in other situations, what I have seen — and I’m sure other women in the workforce have seen as well — is that it’s extremely uncomfortable to inquire about equal pay. And if you do question something that appears unequal, you’re told it’s not gender disparity, but they can’t tell you what exactly it is.”

Don’t Look Up, which was directed by Adam McKay, tells the story of two astronomers, played by Lawrence and DiCaprio, who try to warn people about a comet that could destroy the Earth. Although the Hunger Games star took a lesser payout for the film, she did receive top billing, which means her name will appear before the Titanic star’s in the credits. 

“I was number-one on the call sheet,” Lawrence shared. “[Am I ok] with being number one on the call sheet? Yeah. And I thought [the credits] should reflect that.”

“Leo was very gracious about it,” she continued. “I think we had something called a Laverne & Shirley, which is this billing they invented where it’s an equal billing. But I guess maybe somewhere down the line, I kicked the stone further, like, ‘What if it wasn’t equal?'”

Don’t Look Up hits Netflix December 10. 

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Wendy Williams‘ brother, Tommy, is speaking out after reports emerged that the talk show host has been confined to a wheelchair and is showing signs of dementia. 

According to The Sun, Tommy said Wendy is not “displaying that type of behavior to the family.”

“We haven’t had any alerts like that and I haven’t seen anything like that or have had conversations with her that would lead me to believe that,” he said, adding that he and the rest of their family, all of whom reside in Florida, “routinely” visits and checks on Wendy.

Tommy continued, “So no, we don’t have any concerns concerning her mental state. It’s all physical.”

Wendy’s brother even shared that his sister could possibly be traveling down to Florida to spend the upcoming holiday with the family, adding, “I am trying to find out if she’s coming down for Thanksgiving. I mean, she’s normal like that.” 

Tommy’s update comes after The Ricky Smiley Morning Show’s Toine The Don, also known as Antoine Edwards shared the supposed update on Wendy’s health. “It is being reported that the 57-year-old talk show host has completely lost all blood circulation in her legs and in her feet,” he said.

Wendy last gave fans an update on her health on November 8. 

“HOW YOU DOIN’? I MISS YOU ALL! As everyone knows, my health has been a hot topic,” Williams said in a statement. “I’m making progress but it’s just one of those things that’s taking longer than we expected.”

Due to Wendy’s absence, The Wendy Show has aired its 13th season with a slew of celebrity guest hosts, including Leah Remini, Michael Rappaport and Sherri Shepherd. Fat Joe and Remi Ma are co-hosting for Thanksgiving week.

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One new movie opening this week may get you in the mood for Thanksgiving — or just happy that you’re not stuck in this family.

The Humans stars Beanie Feldstein, Amy Schumer, Steven Yeun and Richard Jenkins in a tense, funny, and dark drama. Stephen Karam wrote and directed the film, based off his own play, and he tells ABC Audio why it’s a great movie to watch on Turkey Day.

“Because it’s not your family, the joy of, I think, the entertainment value of this story is that no matter how bad things get, it’s not your family, he explains. “So I feel safe recommending it at any moment, both before or after eating.”

Karam says the beauty of The Humans is that while people relate to different characters, they always identify with someone.

“Maybe some people are the mother and are likewise this daughter’s so spoiled, and some people are 25 going, ‘Oh my God, I feel similarly clinically insane when I go home and I become like a teenager again. Like, what is this insanity, I’m 25. I shouldn’t be doing this anymore,'” he explains.

Jenkins tells ABC Audio that the squabbling family at the center of it may not be that different from your own.

“They make horrible mistakes. They do, they say, mean things to each other,” he says. “But you know, I think if we saw a film of our own Thanksgiving dinner, we’d be a little surprised at, it may not be exactly what you think it is.”

The Humans opens Wednesday in theaters and on Showtime.

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Iman Shumpert is this year’s champion of Dancing with the Stars, taking home the Mirror Ball Trophy on Monday night’s season finale. Iman’s victory is historical, as he is now the first NBA player to ever compete in the DWTS finals…and win it all!

His pro dance partner, Daniella Karagach, praised Iman’s tremendous improvement over the past season, noting that he was one of the few competitors who never danced “a day in [his] life” and but worked hard to defy all expectations by making it into the finale.

Iman says his status as this season’s underdog fueled his desire to come out on top, and lead to him performing never-before-seen stunts on the ballroom floor with perfect execution.

Aside from a glittering new trophy, he ended his DWTS journey with two perfect scores for his foxtrot/cha-cha fusion, which saw judge Bruno Tonioli declare him the “king of the ballroom,” and for his Chicago-themed freestyle that was deemed one of the best in show’s history.

JoJo Siwa, who also made history by becoming the first contestant to compete with a same-sex partner, came in second. Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby ended the season in third and The Talk co-host Amanda Kloots took fourth place.

The finale also saw a small change at the judges’ table. After Derek Hough tested positive with a breakthrough case of COVID-19 last week, his sister and a former DWTS pro dancer, Julianne Hough, rose to the occasion to fill in for her big brother.

Julianne enjoyed doling out advice and praise to the competitors because, as she said, “I’m so excited to be here in person, so I don’t have to yell at the TV anymore!”

That wasn’t the only welcome return to the ballroom. Spice Girls‘ Melanie C belted out an emotional rendition of the girl group’s pop ballad, “2 Become 1,” as the show revisited some of the season’s most memorable and tear-jerking moments.

Country star Jimmie Allen also took the floor to help bring the season to a close, performing his hit “Good Times Roll.”

While another year of Dancing with the Stars may be over, fans can relive the magic of season 30 when the cast hits the road on a nationwide tour, which kicks off January 7, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia. Jimmie, Amanda and last year’s champion, Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe, will also be part of the fun.

Tickets are on sale now on the official live tour website.

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James Van Der Beek and his wife, Kimberly, have a long-awaited new baby to add to their family. They now have five children.

The pair has been very open with their fertility struggles, including the losses of two pregnancies at 17 weeks, and so they’re celebrating the birth of their new son, little Jeremiah Van Der Beek, with their fans as well. 

In a darling Instagram post, which includes a video clip of his daughter Annabelle cradling the baby — who his parents call “Remi” and who she calls “dinosaur” — Van Der Beek says, “After experience late-term pregnancy loss twice in a row…we kept this one quiet.”

He continues, “But we found a doctor here in Texas who diagnosed the last two as having been caused by an: ‘incompetent cervix’ (I asked him what kind of misogynistic old dude invented that term and he laughed — which made me like him even more),” the Dawson’s Creek veteran joked, noting thatthe condition is now known as a “weakened cervix.”

James then notes, “A simple surgical cerclage was done, removed at full-term, @vanderkimberly gave birth naturally on the ranch… and here we are.”

The actor wanted to “spread the word” about the procedure to spare other prospective parents of the heartbreak of losing a child in utero.

“Each child brings their own energy, their own manifestation of consciousness, their own lessons,” he says. “The ones we lost each gifted us with different pieces of the puzzle…leaving us that much more grateful for the ongoing master class we get to enjoy with this sweet, wise little one.”

In the past, Kimberly told her followers that her fall 2019 and June 2020 miscarriages were “so tough,” and “one of them almost killed me.”

 

 

 

 

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Former NBA player Iman Shumpert is competing in the Dancing With the Stars season 30 finale Monday night at 8 p.m. on ABC with his pro partner, Daniella Karagach, and he says his popularity from the show is far different from his fame on the court.

“In basketball, it’s more so, ‘Did you guys win? That determines if I like you till the next game.’ With Dancing with the Stars, people fall in love with your story,” the 31-year-old athlete tells the NY Post. “They fall in love with you as a person, as an individual. I think Dancing With the Stars has done a tremendous job of promoting me as a father and husband, and that’s one of the most relatable things in the world. The fame is more personal in this regard.”

Shumpert, who is married to Teyana Taylor, has followed in her footsteps into the music business. He released his Substance Abuse EP in 2018, and now is planning to drop his first studio album titled, This Car Ain’t Stolen. Ironically, Teyana recently announced she is retiring from music after releasing three solo albums.

In other news, Kevin Hart and Damon Wayans will star in a live reenactment of the ’80s sitcom Diff’rent Strokes in Live in Front of a Studio Audience on December 7 on ABC, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Hart will portray Gary Coleman‘s character, Arnold Drummond, and Wayans will play his brother Willis, originally portrayed by Todd Bridges.

Finally, following the success of 50 Cent’s new BMF series and the season finale Sunday on Starz, he will also produce an eight-episode BMF documentary series. BMF tells the true story of brothers Demetrius and Terry Flenory who led an infamous crime family in Detroit in the 1980s.

 

 

 

 

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Dolph Lundgren is no amateur when it comes to firepower on a movie set, as seen in many films, including The Expendables franchise. 

As both an actor and director, Dolph was stunned by Alec Baldwin‘s fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust, caused when an unchecked gun was apparently loaded with a live round. 

“I’ve done a lot of movies. I’m very, very concerned and very…involved in that,” he says of gun safety.

He adds, “If anybody hands me any weapon that can fire rounds, then I will always check it myself and dry fire it,” meaning pulling the trigger to make sure it’s empty. 

“In The Expendables, for instance, they use blanks…so it’s real weapons [on set],” Dolph continues. “But they have these ex-British Army guys [advising on set]. They’re serious about this s***. And there’s no way that any gun is handed to any actor without being triple checked.”

Lundgren’s new directorial effort, Castle Falls, instead used replica firearms, with digital effects added later to simulate them firing.

Lundgren predicted that “in the future, that’s probably the way it’s going to go,” noting, “I’m sure this incident that happened, which was tragic, will speed that up, and I have no problem with not firing blanks, for sure.”

He says using visual effects now is “such a standard procedure that it can actually look better [than blanks].”

Speaking of his cinematic past, Lundgren explains that he’s yet to see the new Director’s Cut of Rocky IV.

“I’m sure it’s good, and I’m sure Sly [Stallone] has made it more interesting…more modern and…probably more character development, from what I heard,” he says. 

Dolph’s thriller Castle Falls, starring martial artist and Marvel movie veteran Scott Adkins, hits streaming services on December 3.

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Bachelorette stars Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark have ended their year-long engagement. 

Rumors of a split surfaced last week when Tayshia, who now co-hosts the series, was spotted without her engagement ring.  A rep confirmed to People on Monday that the two have parted ways.

“Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark are no longer a couple,” her representative said. No further information was provided.

Tayshia and Zac met last year during the volatile 16th season of The Bachelorette, which saw original star Clare Crawley exiting the show midway to pursue a relationship with Dale Moss.  Tayshia stepped in and completed the season, giving the final rose — and her heart — to Zac.

Both have yet to address the breakup on social media.

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Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey lost his arbitration case against the House of Cards production company, Media Rights Capital, and has been ordered to pay nearly $31 million in damages.

Spacey was fired from the popular Netflix show in 2017 after he was accused of sexual misconduct and harassment.  Production of the sixth and final season was suspended so it could be rewritten entirely, and the two episodes Spacey had already filmed were scrapped. The series killed off his character, President Frank Underwood, which reflected Netflix’s decision to cut all ties with the actor — who also served as the series’ executive producer.  

MRC later sued Spacey in 2019 for breach of his contract, claiming his firing cost the company millions of dollars in lost revenue because they had to completely overhaul the final season.  

Following a years-long and bitter court battle, an arbitrator ruled in MRC’s favor and ordered the actor to pay $29.5 million in damages, in addition to $1.4 million in attorneys fees.  The finding was made public on Monday.  

MRC said they are pleased by the outcome and, in a statement to ABC News, announced, “The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability. We thank Michael Kump and Gregory Korn of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP for their commitment and hard work in this case.”

Kump also spoke with ABC News, and said in a statement, “It was a privilege representing MRC in this matter. MRC stood its ground, pursued this case doggedly, and obtained the right result in the end.”

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