Entertainment

The beloved Broadway musical Wicked is finally heading to Hollywood and, on Thursday, Universal announced the two leading ladies who’ll bring Elphaba and Glinda to life on the big screen.

Taking on the mantle — or long black cape — of Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West, will be Tony award-winning actress Cynthia Erivo.  Starring opposite of her will be Ariana Grande, donning Glinda’s signature pink sparkly dresses.

The two shared their excitement on social media by shouting each other out and raving over how excited they are to be starring in the beloved movie musical. Erivo shared the gorgeous bouquet Ari sent to her, which contained the note “Dear Cynthia, honored doesn’t even begin to cover it. I cannot wait to hug you. See you in Oz!”

Also in the picture slideshow, the Harriet star shared screenshots of the two learning they nabbed the roles and celebrating over a Zoom call.  She captioned it, “Pink goes good with Green” followed by three green heart emojis.

As for the “Positions” singer, Ari shared an emotional photo taken the moment she learned she landed the role of her dreams.  She also included a snap of the bouquet of pink roses Erivo sent her, along with the sweet note, “Congratulations Miss A, the part was made for you. I look forward to sharing this musical journey with you.”

Fans of Grande know that she had long dreamed of playing Glinda, the role her mentor, Kristin Chenoweth, originated on Broadway.  She tweeted nearly a decade ago, in December 2011, “Loved seeing Wicked again… amazing production! Made me realize again how badly I want 2 play Glinda at some point in my life!”

Wicked, originally starring Chenoweth and Idina Menzel as Elphaba, made its Broadway debut in 2003.

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Kristen Stewart is in the beginning stages of planning her wedding to fiancée Dylan Meyer, but the Spencer actress already knows who she wants to officiate her big day.  Here’s a hint: He has bleached spiky hair and drives his 1968 Chevy Camaro to Flavortown.

Stewart was asked about her dream wedding during her Thursday appearance on Today, where the hosts pounced upon a comment she made in passing about wanting Guy Fieri to officiate… because the Food Network star himself is intrigued by the possibility.

“I heard through the Flavortown grapevine that you are looking for a sweet spiky-haired officiant for your wedding,” Fieri said in a pre-recorded message to the Twilight star. “I’m all in!”

Stewart was struck speechless by the unexpected surprise and, with a wide grin, confirmed she “absolutely” wants him to be there on her big day. Although, she admittedly was unsure if he was being serious. 

The 31-year-old actress hinted she wants to send him a wedding invite and asked aloud, “Do you know where he lives? What’s his address?… We should talk about this!” 

As for Fieri, he tweeted at the actress and affirmed, “Oh that offer is legit!”

The Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host is an outspoken gay rights advocate.  In 2015, he famously married 101 same-sex couples in a single day and threw the attendees a massive wedding feast, free of charge, after Florida lifted its ban on gay marriage.

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The time has come once again for People magazine to crown its new “Sexiest Man Alive.”  While an official announcement is forthcoming, an alleged leak claims that the publication has already decided who will succeed their current champion, Michael B. Jordan.

Page Six claims that Marvel star Chris Evans is the next Sexiest Man Alive and said they’ve heard the news from “multiple sources.”

Those same sources claim that the 40-year-old actor was supposed to take home the title last year, but the timing wasn’t that great considering his September 2020 faux pas concerning scantily clad photos Evans accidentally shared to his Instagram — which resulted in a media frenzy and proved just how fast fans can take a screenshot.

But, according to insiders, the incident did not influence People‘s decision to ultimately hand the crown to Jordan.

The official “Sexiest Man Alive” announcement is expected next week.

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Hailee Steinfeld is back as America’s rebel poet Emily Dickinson in the third and final season of the Peabody Award-winning Dickinson, which kicks off on Apple TV+ today.

Steinfeld is an executive producer on the series, which takes liberties with the author’s real life, imagining her in a new way for modern sensibilities, and often set to modern music. 

Season 3 takes place with the Civil War raging, and Emily trying to find her voice in a forever-changed world.

“It’s been amazing just to see each season come full circle,” Hailee says. “And as an executive producer of the show as well, I feel like I’ve been more involved in really knowing what it takes and knowing what it’s like being a part of seeing it through.” 

Looking back, she adds, “I am so proud of this show, and I’m so proud, and I feel very lucky to have been a part of something that feels very special.”

Steinfeld says all involved knew this season would be the last one, so they left it all on the field.

“We have only ever showed up every day at work wanting to deliver the best possible product,” she notes. “And I think when we knew that this was going to be it, we all came in ready to go!…I have felt this way about the show since day one, [and about] every single person in our cast and on our crew who have continued to come back for three seasons. I am so grateful for that.”

Reflecting on the series coming to an end, Steinfeld says, “I am sad, of course…but I’m so excited for this final season to be out. I think it’s our best one yet.”  

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Marvel’s latest massive superhero film, Eternals, is in theaters this weekend! Don Lee stars as Gilgamesh, one of the Eternals who is tasked with protecting humans from outside forces that want to destroy them. As for how they do that, Lee tells ABC Audio that each Eternal has their own unique power.

“Gilgamesh is most powerful and strongest fighter among Eternals, and then his superpower is he’s got courageous strength. Also he has this one punch knockout power,” he spills.

Although Lee’s character has super strength, he says that’s nothing compared to when the Eternals work together as one — a message he hopes resonates with people after the film.

“Each of us have this unique superpower, but we are more powerful when we are together. That’s a very important message and that is about diversity,” the actor explains. “We are showing that no matter what gender or race is, we are stronger when we are together.”

Speaking of diversity, Lee, who is a famous South Korean action star with a massive following, admits that he jumped at the opportunity to reach a worldwide audience by being in the film, because he “saw the potential of inspiring younger generation as a first Korean superhero.”

“And then hopefully I can open up some more space for my actor friends in Korea,” he adds. 

Another perk of the gig was getting to work closely alongside Angelina Jolie, who plays Thena in the film. 

“She’s one of the greatest actress in history and also she’s a great person. I was a big fan of her. She’s a goddess of action film,” Lee raves.

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What if the mystery glow from the briefcase in Pulp Fiction was a cache of never-before-seen scenes from the Oscar-winning film?

Quentin Tarantino has announced that a collection of unreleased material from his 1994 crime classic will be up for grabs, in the form of Secret NFTs — encrypted Non-Fungible Tokens — in partnership with Secret Network. 

According to a new website, “Each NFT contains one or more previously unknown secrets of a specific iconic scene,” and promises the purchaser “will get a hold of those secrets and a glimpse into the mind and the creative process of Quentin Tarantino.”

Seven never-before-seen clips will be up for grabs, along with annotations and other notes from the writer-director himself.

The site adds, “The owner will enjoy the freedom of choosing one of these options: To keep the secrets to himself for eternity…to share the secrets with a few trusted loved ones,” or, “To share the secrets publicly with the world.”

The filmmaker himself spoke this week at the crypto art gathering NFT.NYC, where he explained his fellow director — and Inglorious Basterds star — Eli Roth first told him about NFTs, and the more he learned about them, the more intrigued Tarantino became about the technology, reports Artnet.

Tarantino’s certainly not the first filmmaker to embrace the collectable format. MGM recently released James Bond-related NFTs tied to the release of No Time to Die, and Warner Bros. announced fans will be able to collect NFTs from the upcoming The Matrix Resurrections.

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Emmy winner Anthony Hemingway has signed on to direct the upcoming The Preacher’s Wife remake.

According to Deadline, the new film will be a present-day “reimagining” of the 1996 original film and will feature original cast member Courtney B. Vance. As you may recall, the original film, directed by Penny Marshall, starred Denzel Washington as Dudley, an angel who comes to Earth to help a preacher, played by Vance, and his wife, Julia, portrayed by the late Whitney Houston, save their church and family. The film became a popular holiday staple and its soundtrack remains one of the best-selling gospel albums of all time. Additional casting on the new The Preacher’s Wife has yet to be announced.

In other news, Regina King is teaming up with producer David E. Kelley to adapt Tom Wolfe’s novel A Man in Full for Netflix, Deadline has learned. King will direct and exec-produce the limited series as part of her first-look deal with the streamer. Published in 1998, the book follows Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker who, after facing sudden bankruptcy, must “defend his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace.” Casting details on A Man in Full have not been revealed.

Finally, ICYMI, fans will get to see Kid Cudi open up about his years of battling depression, anxiety and drug abuse in the highly-anticipated Amazon documentary A Man Named Scott. The new doc, which features commentary from Kanye West, Timothée Chalamet, Shia LaBeouf, Willow Smith, and more, which chronicle his rise to fame as well as his troubled upbringing. A Man Named Scott hits Amazon Friday, November 5.

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Season three of the Emmy-nominated superhero skewing series The Boys has wrapped, and all involved have a reason to smile — in fact, co-star Jack Quaid was way ahead of them.

The producers of the Amazon series just posted a gag reel from the second season of the show, and it consists of one single scene that a giggly Quaid messed up over and over again. 

All he had to do was pretend to be unconscious in a hospital bed, after his character Hughie had suffered a serious injury. But his co-stars Karl Urban and Erin Moriarity ad-libbing about Hughie had Quaid figuratively in stitches, while Hughie was literally in stitches. 

It didn’t help that Urban’s Billy Butcher was trying to tell Moriarity’s Annie/Starlight about Hughie’s child-like grooming habits, including his need to apply the diaper cream Desitin to his behind.

Butcher’s trademark use of nearly non-stop profanity didn’t make it any easier for Quaid to keep a straight face, and even after they gave up trying to have Quaid in focus, Urban’s ad-libbing the sensitive details proved too much for his co-stars.

“Wow, @jackquaid92 takes his job WAY too seriously,” the post reads.

A release date for season 3 of The Boys has not yet been revealed.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

 

 

 

 

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Even though Dickinson‘s third and final season takes place during the Civil War, series creator Alena Smith and her cast found some eerie parallels from that time to our pandemic times. 

Like many shows, the cast and crew of Dickinson eventually returned to work following the industry-wide COVID-19 production shutdown, but like it did for everyone, the world they’d left behind was forever changed.

Shooting this season in 2020 amid the pandemic, racial tensions and a contentious election called to mind the strife going on in America during the time the show’s final season is set, Jane Krakowski tells ABC Audio. “I can certainly say I never saw any of that coming,” laughs the Emmy nominated 30 Rock vet, who plays Emily Dickinson‘s mother, Emily Norcross. “Nor did I ever think that Alena’s trajectory could be so timely to flow alongside of what’s happening in the world today.”

Krakowski explains that going through the pandemic, and the strict COVID-19 protocols when they returned to work, really turned up the volume for her performance. “I think it was interesting for me as an actor, I felt like the emotions felt almost stronger inside of me because we didn’t get to film anything for 18 months,” she says. “And so when you had a scene of sorrow, the sorrow felt quite real and quite deep, obviously reflecting the times that we had just gone through.”

She continues, “And when there was joy, the joy felt a higher sense of relief and joy because we were able to feel joy for a little bit of time. And so it was very interesting to film something at this time in the world.”  

Executive-produced by and starring Hailee Steinfeld as the titular rebel poet, Dickinson returns to Apple TV+ Friday.

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Fans may still be mourning that their beloved Duke of Hastings will no longer appear in Bridgerton, but one person is applauding Regé-Jean Page for exiting the show.

Speaking to Variety, showrunner Shonda Rhimes explained why she bares no ill-will toward Page, and instead is fully supportive of his decision to star in just one season.

Rhjimes recalled, “Rightfully, he said, ‘I signed up to do this one lovely story, this closed-ended storyline. I’m good!’ And I don’t blame him for that.”

“I think that he was really smart to leave the perfection as the perfection,” Rhimes continued, noting his exit sets his character’s happily-ever-after in stone.

Season one ended with Simon choosing wife Daphne, played by Phoebe Dynevor, over revenge and starting a family of their own, thus continuing the family line.

“What I loved was we were going to create this powerful, exciting, amazing romance,” Rhimes said of the first season before comparing it to other long-running shows. “For once in television, they were going to get to have their happily ever after versus — well, you know!”

In a possible gentle reference to Grey’s Anatomy, where the show’s protagonist has lost several lovers across the years, Rhimes elaborated, “In network television, you have to come up with 15 years of why a couple has to be apart.”

And while she is thrilled that a beloved character gets to enjoy a happy ending, Rhimes is also delighted by how the internet burned over Page’s departure.

“People’s attachment to couples is real — I mean, I know that better than anybody,” she laughed. “And I think that means success. But I do understand their despair.”

Rhimes hinted the door will always be left open for Page, since Netflix has renewed Brigerton for multiple seasons.

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