Entertainment

Theater legend Andrew Lloyd Webber has made the “heart-breaking decision” to close his anticipated Cinderella musical before it opened in London’s famed West End. 

Webber took to Twitter to post his disapproval of the government’s “impossible” COVID-19 regulations, which he blamed for the decision. 

Ironically, the multiple Tony-winner’s statement comes on ‘Freedom Day,’ declared by Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s celebration of the end of the U.K.’s pandemic restrictions.

Webber explained two of the show’s preview performances were cancelled when one performer with a “cameo role” tested positive for the virus. Although other performers tested negative, he said, the shows were cancelled as a precaution. Subsequent to that, the main performers re-tested negative, and the show was to go on.

“Despite this, the impossible conditions created by the blunt instrument that is the Government’s isolation guidance, mean that we cannot continue,” Webber wrote. “We have been forced into a devastating decision which will affect the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of people and disappoint the thousands who have booked to see the show.”

The big-budget production, written by Promising Young Woman Oscar winner Emerald Fennell, was to open on July 20. “Cinderella was ready to go,” Webber added. “My sadness for our cast and crew, and our loyal audience and the industry I have been fighting for is impossible to put into words. Freedom Day has turned into closure day.”

A statement from Andrew Lloyd Webber pic.twitter.com/a47FN1anG3

— Andrew Lloyd Webber (@OfficialALW) July 19, 2021

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Broad City star Ilana Glazer and her husband David Rooklin are parents. Glazer announced the fact with a post to Instagram of a photo of herself and their new bundle of joy, both hard at work.

“[B]een breastfeedin in compression socks for the past 3 weeks, hbu?” she noted.

Among the more than 150,000 likes the post got was one from Chelsea Handler, who quipped, “Same minus the socks. you look adorable.” Julia Louis-Dreyfus replied simply with “YAY!!!!!!”

In March, Glazer had announced she was pregnant, while promoting her new thriller False Positive with Entertainment Weekly. She called it “eerie and cosmically funny” that life imitated art: in the new Hulu thriller she plays a woman whose in vitro treatment is successful, but with horrifying results. 

Equally eerie was the timing of False Positive‘s release and the baby’s: the film came out on June 18, putting it very close to the date Glazer gave birth, according to her post.

 

 

 

 

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For Daniel Craig, 2015’s Spectre was the last time he thought he’d be playing James Bond.

“I thought I probably was physically not capable of doing another,” 53-year-old Craig, who suffered a torn meniscus during filming, told Total Film. “For me, it was very cut and dried that I wasn’t coming back.”

However, two or so years later, the opportunity to explore a different side of Bond drew the English actor back in for one last hoorah. 

“It’s interesting to explore his emotions, because he’s a cut-off character. He doesn’t feel like other people, because he’s a killer,” he explained. “On Casino [Royale], he loses the love of his life, and then the shutters come down. On Quantum [of Solace], the flawed movie that it is, it’s about revenge. And Skyfall is about M. It’s about loss. They’re big themes. And I think, ‘Yeah! Why not have big themes?’”

For Craig’s final Bond film, No Time to Die, the theme takes a turn. It’s about “love and family.”

“Because what’s bigger than that?,” he asked. “Bond’s ‘family’ being Moneypenny and Q and M. And then Lashana [Lynch] comes in, and she’s like a distant cousin who you’re not sure about.”

No Time to Die marks the end of Craig’s 14-year reign as James Bond, and while it’s been a rollercoaster ride, there’s no doubt that he’ll miss being a super spy extraordinaire. 

“I’m incredibly proud and honored to have been a part of it in the way that I was,” Craig shared, adding that the reason he got to work with “the best people in the industry.”

“So I just think: if you can’t get excited about a Bond movie, what can you get excited about?,” he added.

No Time to Die opens in theaters October 8.

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Maitreyi Ramakrishnan says she’s still navigating the “pressures” and success of her hit coming-of-age series Never Have I Ever even in its second season.

“It’s funny when people say, ‘Oh, you’re a pro now. Season two you’re a pro,” Ramakrishnan tells ABC Audio. “But reality is… I still only have done a season… So there’s still a huge part of me that’s learning. Every day is a new day on set and I’m learning something that I didn’t know before. Whether it’s behind the camera or in front.”

While the series — which follows Ramakrishnan as Devi, a 15-year-old Indian-American girl looking to improve her social status — is still new for Maitreyi, some of her co-stars see the show as a rare opportunity to “embrace” their culture.

“[It’s] the character that I brought most of myself to,” says Poorna Jagannathan, who portrays Devi’s mom Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar. “There’s a sense of a continuous self. So who I am outside of the set is also who I am on set. And that’s the first time that I’ve experienced that fluidity, even though I’m not Nilini at all in real life.”

Richa Moorjani, who plays Devi’s cousin Kamala Nandiwadal agrees, noting that she too has been able to bring “most” of herself to Kamala without “feel[ing] like [Richa has] to change.”

“I didn’t have to hide away from my Indian-ness,” Moorjani explains. “That was just so rare and such a blessing for me as a South Asian actor. It’s just been an incredible experience.”

Jagannathan concurs, calling it a “privilege” to “immerse” herself into her character. 

“I’ve never felt that before,” she says. “Now that I have it, I’m not going back.”

Season 2 of Never Have I Ever is now available on Netflix.

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Courtney Stodden clearly doesn’t have much sympathy for Chrissy Teigen‘s latest social media post about the consequences for her former penchant for cyberbullying. 

The now non-binary Stodden posted a TikTok video of themself giggling, superimposed over screenshots of Teigen’s latest online post, in which she admits to being depressed for having been “cancelled” for her behavior.

“Just be nice,” is Stodden’s captioned reply. 

As previously reported, Stodden was one of Teigen’s targets; the model and former reality show star revealed months ago that when they were 16, Teigen urged Stodden to kill themselves.  Teigen has since apologized.

Last week, Teigen posted a lengthy message to her fans, which read in part, “I feel lost and need to find my place again, I need to snap out of this. I desperately wanna communicate with you guys instead of pretending everything is okay.”

Teigen also mentioned, “Going outside sucks and doesn’t feel right, being at home alone with my mind makes my depressed head race” — without noting that she’d just returned from a picturesque Italian vacation with her husband, John Legend, and their two children. 

The controversy has cost Teigen endorsements and at least one acting role: a voice-over gig on Netlfix’s popular teen comedy Never Have I Ever.

@courtneyastodden

Just be nice ?? ##fyp ##fyp? ##bully ##bekind ##mentalhealth ##chrissyteigen

? original sound – CourtneyStodden

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Spike Lee had a rough time on Saturday when he inadvertently announced French actress Julia Ducournau as the winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or, for the horror-thriller Titane, at the top of the show, instead of the end.

It started when the event’s hostess asked Lee, in French, if he could reveal the “first prize” of the evening. Lee apparently took that to mean first place, instead of the chronological first prize, resulting in the embarrassing moment.

Lee himself spent several moments with his head in his hands before apologizing profusely for taking a lot of the suspense out of the evening, according to the New York Post.

“I have no excuses,” Lee told reporters afterward. “I messed up. I’m a big sports fan. It’s like the guy at the end of the game who misses the free throw.”

“I messed up,” he added. “As simple as that.”

After several false starts, Lee convinced Sharon Stone to make the Palme d’Or announcement, explaining, “She’s not going to mess it up.”

Ducournau is only the second female filmmaker to win the Palme d’Or in the Cannes festival’s 74-year history.

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Space Jam: A New Legacy, the follow-up to Warner Bros. 1996 live action-CGI feature Space Jam, pulled off a major upset over the weekend, stealing first place from Black Widow at the box office with an estimated $31.7 million weekend — $10 million more than projected.  It marked the biggest opening for a kids-targeted film since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Families can also watch the movie, starring NBA legend LeBron James, on the HBO Max streaming service.

Marvel’s Black Widow, meanwhile, fell to second place with an estimated $26.5 million — a sharp drop from its record-breaking $80 million debut a week ago.  So far, the film has delivered $132 million stateside and $100.7 million overseas for a worldwide total of $232.7 million.  Black Widow is also available on Disney+ for a $30 surcharge.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, the sequel to the 2019 thriller Escape Room, pulled in an estimated $8.8 million domestically in its opening weekend.

Fourth place belongs to F9: The Fast Saga, which earned $7.6 million in its fourth weekend in U.S, theaters. Its U.S. total now stands at $154.8 million.  Internationally, where it debuted earlier than it did in the U.S., F9 has racked up $436.4 million — bringing its worldwide gross to $591.3 million.

Rounding out the top five is The Boss Baby: Family Business, the animated follow-up to 2017’s The Boss Baby, which delivered an estimated $4.7 million in its third week of release.

Elsewhere, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, a documentary about the life and death of the chef and travel show host, who died by suicide in 2018, debuted in eighth place with an estimated $1.9 million — the best opening for an independent film in 2021. 

Pig, the thriller starring Nicolas Cage, premiered to an estimated $945,000 from 552 theaters.

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Last year’s celebrations for the 20th Anniversary of Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical landmark film Almost Famous were toned down because of the pandemic.  In celebration of the milestone, star Patrick Fugit took ABC Audio on a walk down memory lane.

Fugit recalled working alongside a bevy of A-listers when he scored his breakout role as Rolling Stone journalist  William Miller going out on tour in the 70s with “Stillwater.”

Fugit adds he was only 16 when he was offered the role and recalled what it was like filming alongside powerhouse acts like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup and Frances McDormand.

“Frances would give more like sagely advice you know, and sort of be there with me and pass to me the things that she had learned over time,” the 38-year-old actor reminisced. “Billy was straight-up hostile towards me. He’d be like ‘Where the hell are you from again?’ I’d be like ‘Salt Lake City, Utah.’ And he’s like ‘How old are you?’ I’d be like ‘Sixteen’ and he’s like ‘God.'”

When it came to working alongside Crowe, Fugit said the director helped immerse him into the sounds of the era.

Fugit said Crowe burned him “a bunch of mix CD’s that he had put together that were sort of tonal” so he knew what emotion to convey during certain scenes. 

The actor also reminisced about one the film’s most beloved sequences — the sing along to Elton John‘s “Tiny Dancer.”

Although it took “over two, maybe even three days” to complete, the actor said, overall, filming that scene while maintaining that level of energy, “was amazing.” 

To mark Almost Famous‘ 20th anniversary, Paramount released a newly remastered version of the movie on Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD.

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The cameras just started rolling in New York City on the Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That…, but the fashions worn by its cast members on and off the set have already spawned a viral Instagram page called @AndJustLikeThatCloset.

The brainchild of a 23-year-old fashion student from Ukraine named Victoria Bazalinchuk, the feed focuses on the fashions the cast members are seen wearing, and adds information about where to buy those same looks.

And just like that, the page has started getting noticed by the show’s stars.

“The first to notice my account was Sarah Jessica Parker,” Bazalinchuk tells the New York Post.  Parker, of course, plays the series’ fashion icon, Carrie Bradshaw.

“She watched my stories and replied to one of them. Then Willie Garson reposted my post, as well as Nicole Ari Parker, who also followed me,” Bazalinchuk added. “All of them, including Kristin Davis, occasionally watch my stories.”

The popularity of the fashion in the original Sex and the City — which put the words “Jimmy Choo” into the mouths of millions — inspired the sharp-eyed student. 

“I knew there is a rush around SATC fashion, and this time I didn’t want to make people wait because by the time the show airs, most of the clothes will be sold out, and I know how upsetting that might be,” Bazalinchuk tells the paper.

“Knowing [a] brand’s DNA and having basic knowledge in fashion helps a lot, and some brands have reached out to me with the products they sent to the costume design team,” she explains. 

She explains that her nearly 18-thousand-and-growing followers are also sharing information, and act as detectives to deconstruct the clothing if she draws a blank.

 

 

 

 

 

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Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh is stepping behind the camera for her next big project.

According to Deadline, Andoah is set executive-produce a film adaption of Vanessa Riley’s recent novel Island Queen. The book was optioned by acclaimed film and television director Julie Anne Robinson via her U.K.-based production company, Longboat Pictures. Like the book, Island Queen will be based on the true story of Dorothy “Doll” Kirwan Thomas, a woman who was born enslaved but bought her freedom, and became one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the early 1800s Caribbean. Casting details have yet to be announced.

In other news, the premiere dates for ABC’s new series The Wonder Years and Queens have been unveiled. The Wonder Years, featuring Don Cheadle as the narrator, will air Wednesday, September 22 at 8:30 p.m. ET. Unlike the original a reboot of the 1980s-early 1990s ABC family comedy, which followed Fred Savage, the new Wonder Years focuses on a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama during the 1960s. Meanwhile Queens, which stars Brandy, Eve, Naturi Naughton, and Nadine Velazquez as original members of the popular rap group Nasty [Women], will premiere Tuesday, October 19 at 10:01 p.m. ET.

Finally, OWN will premiere a two-part The Haves and the Have Nots cast reunion special on Tuesday, July 27 and Tuesday, August 3 at 8 p.m. ET. The special comes as the cast says goodbye to the series after eight seasons. Filmed in front of a live audience, the reunion will recap “all of the greatest moments, iconic scenes, and tumultuous relationships of OWN’s beloved number-one drama series.” Hosted by Egypt Sherrod, The Haves and the Have Nots cast reunion includes Tika Sumpter, Angela Robinson, Crystal Fox, Renée Lawless and Tyler Lepley, among others.

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