Entertainment

A family in Warwickshire, England got an unexpected visit from Tom Cruise when his helicopter landed in their garden — or as we’d say in the U.S., their yard.

The 59-year-old actor, who’s in the U.K. filming Mission Impossible 7, needed to use the family’s yard to land while the nearby Coventry Airport was temporarily shut down, according to BBC News.

The owner of the property, Alison Webb, says her family had only been told an unnamed VIP needed somewhere to land as the nearby airport was shut.

“It turned out to be an incredible day,” she adds.  “It was surreal, I still now can’t believe it happened.”

Cruise posed for pictures and even gave a free helicopter ride to Webb’s children and her partner’s kids.

“He went straight over to the children for a chat, then came over and elbow bumped us and said thank you very much,” she revealed. “Then he said if the kids would like they could go up in the helicopter.”

Mission: Impossible 7 is expected to open in theaters on May 27, 2022.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) In a wide-ranging feature chat with The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Keaton drops some hints about his upcoming return as the Caped Crusader in the upcoming Flash film. 

Although the Oscar winner starred in 1989’s Batman, which kicked off the superhero movie craze — and also played the villain Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and appears in the upcoming Mobius — Keaton says he knows nothing about comic books. 

For Mobius, a Sony/Marvel film starring Jared Leto as the vampiric anti-hero, Keaton says the filmmakers walked him through recent MCU lore. “I’m nodding like I know what the f*** they’re talking about,” Keaton admits. 

He adds, “So finally, they were looking at me, and they just started laughing. They said, ‘You don’t know what we’re talking about, do you?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t, no idea what you’re talking about.'”

As for returning as Batman in Flash, Keaton says it was It director Andy Muschietti‘s vision and Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson‘s script that hooked him. But there was something else, too.

“Frankly, in the back of my head, I always thought, ‘I bet I could go back and nail that motherf*****,” Keaton says of the Dark Knight, after refusing to star in Batman Forever back in 1995.  That said, the script that sees a time-shifting Ezra Miller‘s Flash exposing various timelines — and Batmen, including Ben Affleck‘s — was puzzling to Keaton.

“They had to explain that to me several times,” he confesses.

Keaton also admits, “What’s really interesting is how much more I got [Batman] when I went back and did him [again]. I get this on a whole other level now. I totally respect it…It’s iconic…”

Sony’s Mobius opens in January of 2022; Warner Bros.’ Flash debuts in November of 2022.

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Jake Gyllenhaal is heading to the comic-book world once again. The Spider-Man: Far from Home baddie will star in and produce an adaptation of Oblivion Song, the sci-fi comic series created in 2018 by The Walking Dead‘s creator Robert Kirkman. 

Some time ago, Kirkman explained the Oblivion Song plot to ABC Audio, and it’s clear to see just who Gyllenhaal will be playing.

“Basically, there was an event called The Transference that happened 10 years ago where a large chunk of Philadelphia switched places with another dimension,” Kirkman said, setting the stage. “Nathan Cole is one of the last remaining guys who would…pop into the other dimension and rescue people that were stranded there…in this other dimension that they’ve coined Oblivion now.”

He says of the hero, “[I]t’s a big question as to, you know, what’s wrong with his life that he feels the need to do this and why is he so obsessed.”

Oblivion Song, meanwhile, will be produced by New Republic Pictures, which helped bring the Oscar-winning 1917 to theaters in 2019, with Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories company and Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment.

Kirkman’s Invincible was recently made into a hit animated series for Amazon Prime, as his first adaptation, The Walking Dead, marches into its final season on AMC.

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The season-six trailer for Netflix’s Emmy-nominated series Nailed It! has been released.

Hosted by the hilarious Nicole Byer, the upcoming season will once again bring amateur bakers together for a chance to win $10,000. Some of the new challenges include “paranormal pastries” and an opportunity to celebrate Black History with various confections. Jacques Torres will return as judge, while Sam Richardson, Wayne Brady, Reggie Watts, Big Freedia, June Diane Raphael and Sasheer Zamata will step in as celebrity guest judges. Nailed It! hits Netflix on September 15.

In other news, Billy Porter has been tapped to direct Gabrielle Union‘s forthcoming queer teen comedy feature, To Be Real. According to Variety, the film landed at Amazon Studios after “a competitive bidding war that received multiple offers.” Described as an LGBTQ Superbad mixed with Booksmart, the film centers on three queer friends who leave their hometown for Pride Weekend in New York City, where they discover that “life over the rainbow is an insane, raunchy, often divisive, but ultimately FIERCE non-stop party.” Casting details for the film have yet to be announced.

Finally — ICYMI, Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green is re-teaming with star Jurnee Smollett for an upcoming spinoff to DC’s Birds of Prey. Variety reports that the new standalone film will center around Smollett’s Black Canary character and will be produced for HBO Max. Smollett confirmed the news on Twitter, writing in part, “Guess the Canary is out of the cage!  So excited to finally embark on this adventure with my creative soul sis @MishaGreen.”

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Beanie Feldstein learned an important fashion rule the hard way at the 2020 Oscars.

“I was wearing a stunning dress that had a halter clasp at the neck,” the Booksmart star recalls in an interview with W magazine, published Monday. 

“The gown had boning and a sort of shelf for the bust, but there was no bra involved,” she continues, then jokes, “I’m all about representation, and I’m here to represent big, low-hanging Jewish breasts.”

“The halter on the dress was struggling.  It was hanging on for dear life,” adds the 28-year-old actress.  “There was a countdown clock backstage, and there was a minute and 20 seconds left before I had to go on in front of an audience of millions…I was nervous and accidentally stepped on the front hem of my dress, and with that step, the clasp gave way.”

“At that point, there was 18 seconds to go.  Luckily, someone backstage had a safety pin and re-clasped me, but I almost flashed the entire world that night,” she says.

“The moral of this story,” concludes Feldstein, “is, I’m a busty, low-hanging Jewish girl, and you have to be who you are.  Which means no more halters.”

Feldstein stars as Monica Lewinsky alongside Clive Owen, Edie Falco, Sarah Paulson and Annaleigh Ashford in Impeachment: American Crime Story, premiering September 7 on FX.

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Laverne Cox is opening up to fans about her decision to not have children.

Taking to Instagram on Monday, the Emmy nominated actress made it clear that she isn’t interested in raising children, because she’s still working on herself.

“I see so many friends and colleagues becoming parents.  I’m happy for all of you,” said Cox, 49, in an infographic. “I’m even happier for me, ecstatic even that I am NOT becoming a parent ever, never ever.”

She declared, “The thought brings me so much joy!”

“Enjoy the most important job on the planet, raising children.  I’m enjoying watching you from a distance,” Cox went on.  “I’m doing the work of reparenting my inner child.  That’s more than enough work.”

Cox captioned the announcement, “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”

 

 

 

 

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Elliot Page says the film But I’m a Cheerleader helped him overcome loneliness, shame and self-hatred. 

The Umbrella Academy star was honored with Outfest’s Achievement Award on Sunday and in his acceptance speech spoke about the importance of representation, especially while growing up, according to Variety. 

“I for one know that without the various representation that I was able to stumble upon as a kid and a teenager — there was very little — I just don’t know if I would have made it,” Page said. “I don’t know if I would have made it through the moments of isolation and loneliness and shame and self-hatred that was so extreme and powerful and all-encompassing that you could hardly see out of it.”

“And then, you know, at 15, when you are flipping through the channels and you stumble on But I’m a Cheerleader and the dialogue in that film, and scenes in that film just transform your life,” he continued, referencing the 1999 satirical rom-com starring Natasha Lyonne as a high school teenager whose parents send her to conversation camp after suspecting she’s gay.

“I almost think we don’t talk enough about how important representation is and enough about how many lives it saves and how many futures it allows for,” the Oscar nominee shared. 

“It’s [Outfest] and organizations like yourself that are completely changing that. And helping get stories out in the world that I know are reaching people in moments where they feel desperately alone and afraid and like they have no sense of community. And it offers somebody a lifeline,” Page added. “And I know that representation has done that for me.”

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Alex Levy and Bradley Jackson are back! The Morning Show returns to Apple TV+ on September 17, and the second season’s final trailer makes one thing certain — the show’s leading ladies have to work even harder to outsmart the nefarious forces working against them.

The season apparently takes place nine months after Jennifer Aniston‘s Alex and Reese Witherspoon‘s Bradley expose their media company — live on their morning show — for covering up for the show’s former male anchor Mitch Kessler, played by Steve Carell, who preyed upon several female coworkers.

Season two starts with Alex being convinced by Billy Crudup‘s Cory Ellison to return to the UBA network, telling her, “You are the only thing that can save us.”

The events then start to play out, with the arrival of COVID-19 and several employees of color taking note of the racism that holds them back from promotion, with Desean Terry‘s Daniel explaining, “There is a pattern of behavior around here that disadvantages the people of color.”

Not to mention that the journalistic exposé about UBA’s misdeeds that was being written during the events of the first season is now public, with the network also reeling from falling ratings and public outcry.

In all, season two will find even more UBA employees being pitted against each other in a play for power — with special focus placed upon tearing apart the truce between Aniston’s Alex and Witherspoon’s Bradley.

The trailer also introduces new characters, such as Greta Lee, who plays executive Stella Bak, and Julianna Margulies as Laura Peterson — a TV anchor with an agenda of her own.

Hasan Minhaj, Ruairi O’Connor, Tara Karsian, Valeria Golino and Holland Taylor will also join the new season.

The Morning Show‘s second season premieres September 17 on Apple TV+.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander in the series, has been arrested for drug possession. 

TMZ obtained a copy of the 50-year-old actor’s mug shot and reports that the arrest happened last week when Brendon was driving erratically in Vigo County, Indiana.  Police, saying he was swerving his vehicle and disregarded a traffic signal, pulled over Brendon’s vehicle and noted he was sweating “profusely,” and also “appeared nervous due to a visibly racing pulse on his neck and shaking hands.”

The website reports when police asked for Brendon’s ID, he allegedly provided them with one bearing the name Kelton Schultz, saying it belonged to his twin brother.  Brendon does have a twin brother by that name, who goes by the stage name Kelly Donovan.

A search of the actor’s car yielded a “small plastic bag that contained crystal/powder residue,” along with a pill bottle with medication prescribed to a “Nicholas Bender.” The prescription was for amphetamine salts, which are commonly used to treat conditions like ADHD and narcolepsy. Brendon told police he and his twin “have the same prescription and they fill each other’s prescription.”  He also allegedly admitted to taking some of his brother’s pills.

Police brought out a K-9 search unit but the dog failed to locate more narcotics, only plastic bags that contained an unknown residue.

Brendon was arrested and charged with obtaining a prescription by fraud — along with failure to identify — with police writing in their report, “He was using his brother’s ID to procure more or that the ID he initially handed me belonging to Kelton is fraudulent.”

Brendon has struggled with addiction for many years, with rehab stays, incidents and arrests going back more than 15 years.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.