Entertainment

Amazon has dropped a new video branding its anticipated J.R.R. Tolkien-based series with an official title: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The multi-season series, costing a reported $465 million — the most expensive ever made — will tell the tales that happened before Frodo trekked to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring, as seen in Peter Jackson‘s Oscar winning Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Quoting Tolkien’s words, a female voice can be heard, as molten metal is poured into a mold.

Instead of forging the rings, in the teaser, the metal forms reveal the series’ title.

“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky. Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone. Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die. One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne. In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

For the uninitiated, the Rings were forged by the Dark Lord Sauron, playing the long game to enslave the world via its varied races. His One Ring, later entrusted to Frodo, is described in the portion of the passage the teaser omits: “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them…”

Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said in a statement, “…The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.”

“Until now, audiences have only seen on-screen the story of the One Ring, but before there was one, there were many… and we’re excited to share the epic story of them all.”

The series debuts globally September 2.

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The cause of death of the late Sidney Poitier has been revealed. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced that the Academy Award winner passed away on January 6 from a combination of cardiopulmonary failure, prostate cancer and Alzheimer’s dementia, according to Deadline.

As previously reported, Broadway theaters in New York City will dim their lights Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. in tribute to the iconic actor. Poitier made his debut on the Great White Way 75 years ago in an all-Black revival of Lysistrata, and earned a Best Actor Tony nomination for the role of Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry‘s groundbreaking drama A Raisin in the Sun.

One of Poitier’s best friends, Harry Belafonte, will be honored at an all-star 95th birthday tribute on March 1 in Manhattan. John Legend, Laurence Fishburne, Doug E. Fresh, Danny Glover, Lenny Kravitz, Q-Tip, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Alfre Woodward are among the confirmed participants. The event will raise funds for Sankofa.org, the social justice organization Belafonte co-founded ten years ago.

“I am honored that so many are coming together to celebrate my birthday, life, and legacy,” the Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winner said in a statement. “I founded Sankofa.org alongside my daughter Gina and Raoul Roach to create additional space for artists and allies to join force to garner an artistic approach to the needs of our disenfranchised communities… to use art as a tool to educate messages of hope and to encourage and energize the public to become engaged.”

Finally, Spike Lee will receive the lifetime achievement award for distinguished achievement in motion picture direction from the Directors Guild of America, Variety reports. The Do The Right Thing director will be honored at the DGA’s 74th annual awards ceremony on March 12.

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Actor Rory Ross has been a Star Wars fan since he was six years old, when he spent a month in Iowa Children’s Hospital, battling a rare fungal condition. He tells ABC Audio he calls it “crazy” his life has “come full circle,” with parts in both The Book of Boba Fett, and the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

“That first day [in the hospital] my mom [brought me] Star Wars: A New Hope,” he explains. “It was my first introduction into Star Wars. And then as I stayed in the hospital…seeing Luke’s journey, it gave me the hope and inspiration…that I was going to be OK.”

He adds, “And…even at such a young age, I was sort of like, ‘I don’t know what to do with my life, but whatever it is, I want to bring hope and inspiration to people just like Luke did for me.'”

In The Book of Boba Fett, Ross played one of the desert planet Tatooine’s Tusken Raiders, who save Temuera Morrison‘s Fett, and allow him to join their tribe. It showed a different side of the Sand People — after all, in the movies, they mug Luke Skywalker in A New Hope, and murder Anakin’s mother in Attack of the Clones. 

“When we saw The Tuskens in A New Hope, we just unfortunately saw them as kind of beasts, we thought like, you know, that’s all they are,” Ross says.

“But with The Book of Boba Fett, it really does humanize Tuskens. It really…shows their society, their culture and how, just like with humans, each tribe or each person, even from that tribe, can be very different.” 

Unfortunately, the tribe that rescued Boba meets a grisly end in the third episode, setting the former bounty hunter on a mission of revenge. However, before he does, he mourns his new family.

“That was sad,” Ross says of seeing the aftermath of his tribe’s slaughter at the hands of a speeder bike gang. “I wish they would have let that draw out a little bit more in terms of the emotional connection there. But man, yeah, seeing Boba crying, it’s a heartfelt moment.”

He adds, “It was really cool to be able to live that.”

A new episode of The Book of Boba Fett dropped today on Disney+. 

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At 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Broadway will dim its lights in honor of stage and screen legend Sidney Poitier.

The legendary actor and activist, who died at 94 on January 6, made his debut on the Great White Way 75 years ago in an all-Black revival of Lysistrata, and went on to earn a Best Actor Tony nomination for creating the role of Walter Lee Younger in Lorraine Hansberry‘s groundbreaking drama A Raisin in the Sun. 

After becoming the first Black actor to win a Best Actor Academy Award, for 1963’s Lilies of the Field, Poitier returned to the stage as a director, with Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights.

Charlotte St. Martin, president of The Broadway League noted in the announcement, “Although Sidney Poitier’s brilliance shone on Broadway stages as a performer and director in just a small number of productions, his presence on Broadway was both titanic and influential.”

Calling him a “true icon and an inspiration to so very many,” St. Martin said, “I know that Broadway fans worldwide recognize the incredible impact Mr. Poitier had on our art form.”

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Gaspard Ulliel, an award-winning French actor who starred in the acclaimed film A Very Long Engagement and the prequel Hannibal Rising, has died after a skiing accident, reports The Guardian.

The actor, who will appear in the upcoming Disney+ Marvel show Moon Knight was 37. 

Quoting French media outlet France Bleu, the Guardian noted Ulliel collided with another skier in the Alps, but later died of head trauma after being airlifted to a hospital. 

The actor was a favorite among voters for the Cesar, the French film equivalent of the Oscars, first winning a Promising Young Actor trophy for his role in 2004’s A Very Long Engagement, and later its Best Actor prize for the 2016 Xavier Dolan film It’s Only the End of the World.

Ulliel’s passing was mourned on Twitter by France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex, who said the actor, “grew up with cinema and cinema grew with him.”

Ulliel, who will appear as Midnight Man opposite Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke in Moon Knight, leaves behind a 6-year-old son Orso with his model and singer girlfriend Gaëlle Piétri.

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NBC has canceled the Ellen Degeneres game show Ellen’s Game of Games after four seasons, coinciding with the conclusion of DeGeneres’ long-running daytime talk show, Ellen, set to end in the spring after 19 seasons, according to Deadline. DeGeneres served as host and executive producer of Ellen’s Game of Games, which includes supersized versions of the most popular games from the talk show…

Paramount+ has set March 3 for Star Trek: Picard‘s highly anticipated second season, the streamer announced on Tuesday. New episodes of the Patrick Stewart-led series will air weekly after that. Picard was renewed for a third season in September. Star Trek: Discovery and the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, have also picked up early renewals. Discovery, which kicks off the second half of season four February 10, has been picked up for a fifth installment, while Strange New Worlds, premiering May 5, scored a season two pickup ahead of its launch…

Entertainment Tonight reports F. Murray Abraham, Adam DiMarco, Tom Hollander and Haley Lu Richardson have been added to the cast of HBO’s The White Lotus, joining Aubrey Plaza, Michael Imperioli and season one star Jennifer Coolidge, who’s also rumored to be returning, though HBO hasn’t officially confirmed it. The second installment, which is the follow-up to Mike White’s breakout social satire limited series, will leave Hawaii behind for a new White Lotus property, rumored to be Italy. Abraham will play Bert Di Grasso, an elderly man traveling with his son and grandson; DiMarco will play his grandson; Albie Di Grasso; Hollander will play an English expat named Quentin, who is vacationing with his friends and his nephew; and Richardson will appear as Portia, a young woman traveling with her boss, according to ET…

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Willem Dafoe is set to make his Saturday Night Live hosting debut on January 29, the late-night comedy series announced on Tuesday. It will be the multiple Oscar nominee’s first time on SNL‘s stage at Studio 8H.

Dafoe will be joined by musical guest Katy Perry, who will be making her fourth appearance on the show.

The actor can currently be seen in theaters reprising his role as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in the blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home, and alongside Bradley Cooper in the film Nightmare Alley.

Former SNL cast member-turned MacGruber star Will Forte is set as host for January 22’s show, alongside musical guests Måneskin.

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Bob Saget‘s longtime friend, fellow comedian and “Roastmaster General” Jeff Ross is dishing on the beloved comedian and Full House patriarch’s funeral. 

To Page Six, Ross emailed details about last weekend’s send-off for Saget, who was found dead in his Florida hotel room on January 9. He was 65.

Calling it the “best funeral ever,” Ross explained of last Friday’s service, “The crowd was star-studded, just the way Bob would have wanted.” Guests reportedly included fellow comedians like Dave Chappelle, Billy Crystal and Jimmy Kimmel. The publication noted that Ross also acted as pallbearer, along with others including Jonathan Silverman, John Mayer, and Saget’s Full House co-stars Dave Coulier and John Stamos, as well as Netflix head Ted Sarandos.

Ross also said, “The next night, we threw him an impromptu rock and roll shiva in the small room above The Comedy Store in Hollywood, where Bob started his career as a teenager.”

An “overwhelmed and so heartbroken” Ross closed by saying, “There will be other tributes, but I wanted the comedy fans to know that although Bob’s giant heart may have stopped while he was alone on the road, he still went out with a giant bang.”

Last week, Ross and Mayer Instagrammed their “rescue” of Saget’s car from a parking lot at Los Angeles International Airport, explaining that doing so was what Bob would have done for anybody. “[I]f you need a doctor, if you need a lawyer, if you need a pastrami sandwich at 3 in the morning because some girl just broke your heart, Bob was that guy,” he noted.

Friends for years with Saget, Ross emceed the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, which initially aired in 2008, but which the network recently re-ran in his honor.

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It’s been a week of joy and pain for Tiffany Haddish. On Friday, she was arrested for DUI, and on Tuesday, she was nominated for the NAACP Image Awards Entertainer of the Year. This follows breaking up with her boyfriend Common in December. Now, the Emmy and Grammy winner jokes that she will formally assess potential boyfriends like they were applying for a job.

“I’m going to drop applications next week and I’m going to hold my interviews. I’m gonna go through the applications, right? Then I’m gonna hold interviews on Instagram Live,” Haddish tells Entertainment Tonight.

“I’m gonna go live,” she continues. “I’m gonna interview them in front of everybody, you know, let their girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, whatever, say what they gonna say.”

In other news, Shaquille O’Neal is bringing his All Star Comedy Jam to LA to kick off Super Bowl weekend.

“From delivering numerous sold-out tours to being among the first to give a national stage to current comedy legends such as Mike Epps, DeRay Davis and Kevin Hart, All Star Comedy Jam has been a fixture on the comedy scene, dedicated to elevating the brightest up-and-coming comedic voices,” Shaq said in a statement.

Davis will host the show on Thursday, February 10, at the Microsoft Theater in LA. The event also will feature Bill Bellamy, Mo’Nique, Earthquake and Michael Blackson. The next day, O’Neal will host his annual Shaq’s Fun House Super Bowl Party at the Shrine in LA, featuring a performance by Lil Wayne.

Finally, Netflix announced Tuesday that Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming will premiere on February 25. The comedy revolves around Madea’s great-grandson’s college graduation, as hidden secrets and family drama threaten to destroy the happy homecoming.

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Last night, fans of Oscar Isaac got a taste of his portrayal of the Marvel Comics superhero Moon Knight in a trailer for the forthcoming Disney+ series.

And while his character Steven Grant suffers from what used to be known as split personality disorder, some on the Internet snarked at one of those personalities — specifically Isaac’s British accent as Grant.

“Oscar Isaac’s accent in the #MoonKnight trailer is literally like ‘ello guvna wot are ya dewin?!” one Twitter user jabbed. Another offered, “Oscar Isaac’s Dick Van Dyke-esque British accent is singlehandedly going to make this immensely watchable, isn’t it?”

That said, Oscar had his defenders, too. “Nah I love it lmao,” said one, offering a possible explanation: “It totally works with how one of his identities, Steven Grant, thinks a British accent sounds.”

“I think, if anything, it’s almost too good,” said another Twitter user. “It’s a legit sounding accent – it just sounds like it couldn’t come out of Oscar Isaac.”

Hear it for yourself when Moon Knight, which also stars another Oscar nominee, Ethan Hawke, playing a cult leader, debuts March 30.

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