Entertainment

Director Pablo Larraín‘s movie Spencer just debuted at the Venice Film Festival, and Kristen Stewart is already winning raves for her portrayal as Princess Diana. 

The Hollywood Reporter, for example, piled on the superlatives for the film, calling Stewart “incandescent,” and declares that the actress “has seldom been more magnetic, or more heartbreakingly fragile.”

Variety also praised the Oscar-nominated Jackie director’s new film as “masterly” and “enthralling,” and Stewart a “superb” in the story, which takes place over a Christmas weekend in the 1990s in which Diana’s rocky marriage to Prince Charles finally comes apart at the seams.

For her part, Stewart spoke about the role after the screening, saying she, “took more pleasure into my physicality making this movie than I have on anything.” According to Deadline, she continued, “I felt more free and alive and able to move, and taller even. Now put a leash on that.”

Stewart praised Diana, who eventually divorced Charles and remained an icon of fashion and a tireless humanitarian before her tragic death in a car accident in 1997. “There are some people that are endowed with an undeniable penetrating energy,” the actress explained. “I think it’s just something she was born with.”

Stewart continued, “I think the really sad thing about her is that as normal and casual and disarming her air is immediately, she also felt so isolated and lonely she made everyone else feel accompanied and bolstered by this beautiful light and all she wanted was to have it back.”

Spencer opens in theaters November 5.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In the classic version of Cinderella, a handsome prince rescues Cinderella from her evil stepmother.  But when those parts are played by Camilla Cabello and Idina Menzel — aka Frozen‘s Queen Elsa — there’s going to be a twist to the story.

In the new musical version of Cinderella, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Cinderella dreams, not of a prince, but of owning her own successful business.  And while her stepmother is still wicked, we learn that it’s a result of past trauma.

The new, original songs also have a feminist twist. Idina says her big number, “Dream, Girl,” is “sort of the flip side of the ‘Let It Go’s and the ‘Defying Gravity’s” — two of the songs she’s most identified with.

“It harnesses the frustration and the anger a little bit, and gives voice to all of women or anyone in the world who feels oppressed, or as though someone’s not hearing or seeing them or realizing their dreams with them,” Idina, explains, adding that all the women in the film sing the song with her.

Idina is excited for viewers to see Camila in her big acting debut, telling ABC Audio, “She’s a rock star and she’s gorgeous and funny, and I think we have some great scenes together.”  However, she finds it hard to get used to the way young stars like Camila react to her.

“That’s the one thing about getting older,” she laughs. “It’s nice, but you also realize that when they say ‘I’ve been listening to you since I was three’….I think, ‘Ohhhkay!'”

But once she gets over that, the star of Frozen and Wicked says she realizes, “just how lucky I am to have been a part of some really important projects that have been sort of a zeitgeist for their generation, and I don’t take that lightly.”

Idina adds, “I know how cool that is. And so once I get over turning 50,” she laughs, “then I can take in the fact that these girls think I’m cool still, and um, and take that in and be proud of it.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In a twist of life imitating art that would be right at home in the multiverse-twisting world of Rick and Morty, Adult Swim has released a promo for Sunday’s season finale, starring Christopher Lloyd as Rick Sanchez. 

After all, Lloyd’s Back to the Future character Dr. Emmett Brown was the inspiration for the mad scientist from Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon‘s Emmy-winning animated series — which began as a toon called The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharty. The latter, obviously, referred to Michael J. Fox‘s Marty McFly, which underwent a name change for obvious legal reasons.

Unlike Doc Brown, however, Harmon and Roiland’s Rick is not only the universe’s smartest man, he’s also a sociopath with unrepentant addiction issues, who drags his awkward teen grandson on adventures through space and time. In the short live-action promo, actor Jaeden Lieberher plays Morty, who follows Lloyd’s Rick through one of Rick’s green dimension portals into his garage workshop.

Lloyd, in costume as the character, says, “Morty, we’re home,” belching some of his dialog, in perfect Rick Sanchez fashion. 

“Aw, geez,” Morty says, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

The clip is not only wish fulfillment for fans and the show’s creators, but also for Lloyd. He told the Phoenix New Times in 2018 that he’d love to participate in Rick and Morty in some capacity. “It is a lot of fun,” he said of the animated series. 

Rick and Morty wraps up its fifth season on Sunday at 11 p.m. on Adult Swim.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by [adult swim] (@adultswim)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A day after Gregg Leakes lost his battle with colon cancer, NeNe Leakes honored his memory by sharing a tender video of the two dancing.

Taking to Instagram, the Real Housewives of Atlanta star captioned her tribute with alternating red heart and broken heart emojis.

The video, which is NeNe’s first post following Gregg’s passing, shows the two slow dancing and flirting while Johnny Gill‘s “It Would Be You” thrums in the background.  The couple is all smiles as they point at each other and sway to the music.  The video ends with Gregg wrapping his arms around the Glee alum, who leans against his chest.

On Wednesday, a representative for the couple told ABC News that Gregg “passed away peacefully in his home surrounded by all of his children, very close loved ones and wife NeNe Leakes.” The family is asking for privacy at this time.

Gregg, 66, had been diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2018.  He underwent treatment and the cancer went into remission. NeNe announced in June that his cancer had returned and that Gregg had undergone surgery.  

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NOTE LANGUAGE) Kathy Griffin is giving fans another update on her health, as well as revealing her new favorite clap back since she underwent surgery after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Taking to Instagram, the 60-year-old comedian shared a text graphic that read, “One thing that sucks about cancer, it’s hard to focus on anything else when one is experiencing shortness of breath, deep coughing, pain, extreme fatigue & in my case, vocal chord [sic] issues.”

It’s not all bad, though. Griffin followed up that statement with the silver lining of it all. 

“One thing that doesn’t suck about cancer… how shameless I am when clapping back at people who dare to sass Ms. Kathy about anything with ‘Really, d***head??? TRY CANCER!'” the Emmy-winner concluded.  She added, “I cannot get enough of it.”

Griffin announced in early August that she’d been diagnosed with Stage 1 lung cancer and subsequently underwent surgery to remove half of her left lung. 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Simu Liu stars in the new Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — out this weekend — but there was a time when he wasn’t so sure he would be chosen for the gig. 

Although he had martial arts experience and campaigned heavily to get the part, he tells ABC News he was nervous about whether or not Marvel would think he was the right guy, admitting that he had “assumptions” — including that Marvel was looking for a “literal kung fu master.” However, the actor soon realized that it was about so much more. 

“From the moment I met [director Destin Daniel Cretton], I kind of clued into what he was looking for, which was something, I think, deeper and something that more spoke to a human experience and to vulnerability and intimacy rather than just playing into the action sequences,” he explains.

Needless to say, Liu landed the role of a lifetime, which also happens to be his first movie role — something he’s ridiculously grateful for and says has “changed [his] life.”

In the film, when we meet Liu, he plays an unassuming guy named Sean who loves his job parking cars in San Francisco and just wants to hang with his best friend, played by Awkwafina. But we soon learn Sean is actually Shang-Chi, son of two ancient mystical warriors, trained in high level combat.

So does Liu feel more like Sean or Shang-Chi?

“I think like Sean, though, I think I’m somebody who feels very much caught between two worlds a lot of the time,” he shares. “And, like Sean, I am also partial to going to karaoke with my buddies on a Saturday night and belting out the lyrics to ‘Hotel California’ or ‘A Whole New World’ or ‘Old Town Road.'” 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Disney+ has announced that its series Big Shot, starring John Stamos, is getting a sophomore season.

In the show, Stamos plays a fired NCAA coach who finds himself coaching his daughter’s high school basketball  team. 

The second season gets underway in 2022. “This show represents everything Disney is to me — family, inclusion, and unity,” Stamos said in part in a statement. “But at its core, @BigShotSeries is about guts and heart, and that is what Disney + demonstrated by giving us a second season.”

Yvette Nicole Brown co-stars with Stamos, playing the Westbrook School for Girls’ dean Sherilyn Thomas. She told ABC Audio it was obvious from the beginning that Big Shot was going to be given, well, a big shot with the streaming service.

“It’s not my first rodeo, I know what it’s like when they believe in a show. I know what the launch is like when they don’t,” said Brown. “They believe in this show as much as we believe in the show. And we’re so happy to find out that people actually really enjoy it.”

As for Stamos, the Community and Avengers: Endgame vet said, “I feel like God gave with both hands with him because he’s not just attractive, he’s also talented. He’s also kind.”

She recalled, “I happened to mention one time that my dad loved salmon and vegetables for dinner. And I look up and FedEx is dropping off an ice box of — it was the biggest piece of salmon. I think he emptied a lake.”

“He’s just very kind…and thinks of others,” said Brown, “which you don’t usually find that in the package that he’s walking through the world in.”  

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lionsgate has released the first look at Hally Berry‘s upcoming disaster film, Moonfall.

The film, which centers on the moon being knocked out of orbit and dramatically hurling toward Earth, comes from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich. It follows Berry as a NASA exec who enlists a former astronaut and a conspiracy theorist to help her stop the moon from wiping out the planet. Patrick Wilson, Charlie Plummer, John Bradley and Michael Peña also star. Moonfall hits theaters on February 4, 2022.

In other news, Common is getting into the boxing ring for his latest project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor-rapper will star and produce The Faith of Long Beach, an indie boxing drama directed by Snowfall creator Eric Amadio. The film follows a “soft-spoken street fighter” from Long Beach, California, who is “torn between his street life past and a promising future” in professional boxing. Common will play Clifton Battles, a “washed-up boxing trainer” who works to transform the street fighter into a legitimate fighter.

Finally, HBO has announced a premiere date for the fifth and final season of Insecure. The Issa Rae-led comedy will return on Sunday, October 24 at 10 p.m. ET. As previously reported, filming for the final season wrapped back in June. Rae is expected to return, along with Yvonne Orji, Jay Ellis, Natasha Rothwell, Amanda Seales and Courtney Taylor.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

CBS has found their fourth co-host to lead their Emmy-winning daytime talk show, The Talk.

The network shared on Thursday that former NFL player and current American Ninja Warrior host Akbar Gbajabiamila (BAH-juh-bee-uh-MILL-uh) will serve as a permanent fill-in on season 12 of the series, which premieres Monday, September 13. He joins Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots and recently announced co-host Jerry O’Connell. As you may recall, Gbajabiamila appeared as a guest co-host on multiple episodes of The Talk during the summer. His addition comes less than a month after Carrie Ann Inaba and Elaine Welteroth both exited the show.

“It is an absolute honor to be joining The Talk as a host! I am so excited for this new generation of such a long-standing establishment,” Gbajabiamila said in a statement. “To be a part of this diverse group, is truly a dream and a new statement for The Talk. In a world as divided as ours, I look forward to showing up as my fun and authentic self every day and advocating for conversation over confrontation.”

The Talk executive producer and showrunner Heather Gray called Akbar’s hiring “a new day in daytime.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Akbar to the family,” she said. “His engaging personality, openness and quick wit really impressed us when he appeared as a guest co-host last season.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

With a new teaser, Apple TV+ has announced that the third and final season of its Peabody-winning series Dickinson will debut on Friday, November 5.

The show, which is co-executive produced by star Hailee Steinfeld, presents a new origin story for arguably America’s most famous female poet, Emily Dickinson.

The new footage shows Emily’s family at odds as the country is torn apart by the Civil War. One scene shows Emily — likely pulling a Mulan — suited up as a Union Soldier in the heat of a battle.

The teaser also shows Emily striving to leave a legacy behind, telling Wiz Khalifa‘s personification of Death, “I believe poetry can be powerful. Even more powerful than you.”

The series also stars Emmy and Tony winner Jane Krakowski and veteran character actor Toby Huss, and this season will see Saturday Night Live cast member Chloe Fineman playing Sylvia Plath, Billy Eichner as Walt Whitman, and Ziwe, who also co-writes this season, as Sojourner Truth.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.