Entertainment

Everything is not what it seems – unless it’s the premiere of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.

The Wizards of Waverly Place spin-off drops the first eight episodes of season 1 on Disney+ on Wednesday, one day after its premiere on Disney Channel.

David Henrie, who reprises his role as Justin Russo in the new sitcom, told ABC Audio he wanted fans of the original show to feel like this new series was a warm hug.

“Getting to be Justin again has been so meaningful,” Henrie said. “Selena and I have experienced fans all over the world and some of the feedback has just touched our hearts so much, that the show is there for people when they really needed it.”

Selena Gomez returns as a guest star and executive producer on the series, and Henrie said acting together again after 13 years was emotional.

“We didn’t know what to expect … imagine playing a sport you haven’t played in 13 years. There can be some trepidation. But [I’ll] tell you what, the second they said ‘action,’ we both looked at each other and we were just, ‘Bang.’ Spot on. There was no awkward learning how to ride a bike again feelings. We were just right there. The chemistry was there, the magic was there. And we felt it.”

Gomez returned to play Alex Russo in the pilot episode, but can fans expect more characters from the original show to make an appearance? You bet.

“I’ve said from day one we want absolutely everyone on the show,” Henrie said. “We’ve been really careful to make sure when we are bringing someone back – and there are multiple people – but when we are bringing someone back, it’s in a way that is meaningful to the show.” 

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As a kid, Ariana Grande was obsessed with the musical Wicked, and at age 10, she got to go backstage and meet the cast, including Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the role of Glinda on Broadway. In a full-circle moment, Ariana, who plays Glinda in the new Wicked film, recently hosted a screening attended by Chenoweth.

In addition to Chenoweth, the screening was attended by other actresses who have played Glinda and Wicked‘s other main character, Elphaba, onstage over the years. Ariana posted photos of the event and wrote, “a very emotional night celebrating Wicked with some of the beautiful and brilliant Glindas and Elphabas that have come before ours.”

Chenoweth posted a video of herself reviewing the film, saying, “I’m dying. I’m deceased. I’m actually dead. I’m not here. People are not going to be well when they see this film. It is so good. It is so special … Cynthia and Ariana are amazing.”

Ariana responded, “the most special night. i’ll cherish forever. i love you so much.” Cynthia Erivo added, “The queen mother hath spoken.”

She added, “this movie is a love letter to you all, to @kchenoweth and @idinamenzel and to all of our big beautiful Ozian family that has been bringing their life to this material for 21 years,” Ari continued, mentioning Idina Menzel, who originated the role of Elphaba on Broadway. It wasn’t clear if Menzel attended the screening.

“i’m so deeply grateful to be your movie Glinda and to stand alongside the most utterly astoundafying movie Elphaba @cynthiaerivo,” she added. “my heart is very overwhelmed this morning and grateful to our Broadway family. it’s an honor to share Oz with you all forevermore.”

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Teri Garr, whose many films include Young Frankenstein, Mr. Mom and Steven Spielberg‘s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, has died at age 79.

ABC News confirmed the performer died on Tuesday in Los Angeles surrounded by family and friends. In a statement, she was described as “a fierce advocate” for multiple sclerosis awareness after appearing on Larry King Live in October 2002 to share her diagnosis.

Garr initially trained as a dancer and even appeared as such in several Elvis Presley films. Her first significant acting role came in the 1968 Star Trek episode “Assignment: Earth,” which was intended as a pilot episode for a spin-off series that never materialized.

But Garr’s breakout role, and one in which she displayed her gift for comedy, came in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy classic Young Frankenstein, in which she played the sexy lab assistant Inga, more than holding her own against her more experienced comedy co-stars Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman and Marty Feldman.

Garr was in demand in the 1970s and ’80s, with roles that included Close Encounters of the Third Kind opposite Richard Dreyfuss; 1983’s Mr. Mom opposite Michael Keaton; and 1982’s Tootsie, opposite Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray, for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. Later roles included the 1992 comedy Mom and Dad Save the World.

Garr made regular TV appearances from the 1960s through the 2000s, notably as Phoebe’s birth mother on Friends. Her quick wit made her a popular late-night talk show guest, with frequent appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Late Show with David Letterman. She also hosted Saturday Night Live three times.

Garr revealed in 2002 that she’d been diagnosed with MS, which required her to essentially go into semiretirement. She also suffered a brain aneurysm in 2006 that left her in a coma for several weeks, but from which she recovered. She was briefly hospitalized in December 2019 for what was described as dehydration.

Garr was married and divorced once and leaves behind a daughter, Molly O’Neil, and grandson Tyryn, 6.

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While he’s been scanned digitally during his tenure with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Robert Downey Jr. is warning “all future executives” against the idea of reanimating him using computer graphics tech. 

In a sit-down with the On with Kara Swisher podcast, Downey talked about McNeal, his Broadway debut, which deals with artificial intelligence. 

The conversation soon switched to one of the sticking points of the recent Hollywood strikes: studios using digital replicas of actors without their permission.

With regard to his previous digital likenesses — and their possible future use — Downey said of the Marvel Cinematic Universe gang, “I am not worried about them hijacking my character’s soul because there’s like three or four guys and gals who make all the decisions there anyway and they would never do that to me, with or without me.” 

That said, he warned anyone else from doing so. “I would like to here state that I intend to sue all future executives just on spec,” he said, using a Hollywood term for a trial balloon script project.

“You’ll be dead,” Swisher noted, to which Downey replied, “I know, but my law firm will still be very active.”

Downey also admitted that despite the ubiquity of AI like Chat GPT and other tech, “I haven’t really played with any of these things,” adding of the play, “I wanted to maintain a bit of innocence going into this, and really have the character’s point of view, as this is taking place in the supposed near future, where it will all be different anyway.”

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The Simpsons will once again tackle the NFL with an ESPN team-up on Dec. 9 with the return of The Simpsons Funday Football.

Using Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology, the Monday Night Football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys will be “transformed in real time” into a gridiron face-off set at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium, promising a “fully immersive fan viewing experience” that will see the players animated in Simpsons style as they play.

According to the teaser, Bart will be playing with the Bengals, and Homer will suit up with the Cowboys.

The traditional Monday Night Football telecast will be available on ESPN, ABC and ESPN Deportes, with Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli on ESPN2, starting at 8 p.m. ET.

It will also stream on Disney+ and ESPN+.

According to the producers, “The legendary Simpsons creators have collaborated on the look, sound and feel with ESPN and the NFL to ensure the authenticity of the longest running primetime scripted series with more than 750 episodes.”

ESPN and The Simpsons are owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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On Monday evening, Courteney Cox followed Jennifer Aniston with a tribute to their former Friends co-star Matthew Perry, who died of a drug overdose on Oct. 28, 2023.

Along with a photo of herself with Perry, Cox wrote, “Missing you today and always.”

This followed Aniston’s Instagram post earlier in the day, which marked the somber occasion with the caption “One year.”

Another who paid tribute to Perry was Simpsons voice star, Friends guest star and Perry’s longtime friend Hank Azaria, who noted on X, “One year without Matthew.” 

To a collage of pictures of the pair together, Azaria added, “He helped me get sober and made me laugh harder than anyone else. I miss him every day. The world isn’t the same without you, brother!”

Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine at 54 years old. Five people have been charged in connection with his death.

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Supermodel Gisele Bündchen is reportedly pregnant with her third child, her first with her jiujitsu instructor boyfriend, Joaquim Valente.

A source tells People, “Gisele and Joaquim are happy for this new chapter in their life and they’re looking forward to creating a peaceful and loving environment for the whole family.”

Bündchen is also mom to Benjamin, 14, and Vivian, 11, with her ex-husband, NFL champ and football commentator Tom Brady.

The former super-couple divorced in 2022 after 13 years of marriage.

Rumors began swirling that Gisele, 44, was romantically involved with Valente, 37, shortly after she finalized her divorce from Brady. However, she denied they were anything but friends to Vanity Fair in 2023, until finally going public in 2024, with Bündchen telling the New York Times, “This is the first time I am seeing someone that was a friend of mine first.”

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Another behind-the-scenes video of the upcoming Bob Dylan movie A Complete Unknown has been released, giving us another look at Timothée Chalamet as the future Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.

The latest clip is soundtracked to Chalamet’s performance of “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and features footage of the actor shooting the classic video for the song, which had Dylan holding cue cards with lyrics from the tune.

There’s also behind-the-scenes footage of the production shooting scenes of the Newport Folk Festival and Monterey Pop Festival, and more.

Set in New York in the ’60s, A Complete Unknown follows a 19-year-old Dylan at the beginning of his career, through to his historic electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. 

In addition to Chalamet, A Complete Unknown stars Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash and Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax. Elle Fanning plays Sylvie Russo, a character based on Dylan’s real-life girlfriend and muse Suze Rotolo.

A Complete Unknown is set to open Dec. 25.

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Variety reports Columbia Pictures is gearing up for Jumanji 3, with franchise stars Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart and Jack Black all expected to return, along with director Jake Kasdan, who helmed the first two movies in the series, 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and 2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level. The series follows a group of teenagers who get sucked inside a video game and must defeat the enemy in order to survive. Welcome to the Jungle earned over $960 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2017, per the outlet. The Next Level was not far behind, grossing over $800 million globally. Jumanji 3 is slated for a December 2026 release …

Justin Long and Michael McKean have been added to the cast of the upcoming Marc Maron comedy In Memoriam, joining Lily Gladstone and Sharon Stone, according to Deadline. Maron plays a veteran Hollywood actor obsessed with securing a spot in the Oscars’ in memoriam montage following a terminal cancer diagnosis, per the outlet. His campaigning leads to a heartfelt journey of self-exploration. Long and McKean’s roles have not been revealed …

Uma Thurman, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Bridgerton‘s Phoebe Dynevor have been tapped to star in the romantic film The Housekeeper, according to Variety. The film, a fictionalized version of the inspiration behind Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, is set in Cornwall, England, where Thurman’s Danni, a housekeeper at the estate of a wealthy, widowed lord, played by Hopkins, falls in love with the novelist Daphne Du Maurier, portrayed by Dynevor. “For one, their affair is an all-consuming love, for the other an intoxicating realization of her secret longings,” per the outlet …

The Daily Show‘s Ronny Chieng will return with his third Netflix stand-up comedy special, Love to Hate It, on Dec. 17, according to Deadline. The special, taped during a sold-out five-night stand at the Hawai’i Theatre in Honolulu, “unpacks the indignities of the IVF process, the pitfalls of being a man on the internet, American politics and the place of the older generation in today’s world,” per the outlet. Love to Hate It follows his previous Netflix specials, 2022’s Speakeasy and 2019’s Asian Comedian Destroys America! …

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As the year winds down, celebrate the upcoming holiday season with The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a new feel-good family film coming to theaters on Nov. 8.

Judy Greer and Pete Holmes star alongside a whole bunch of young actors in the movie, and they told ABC Audio their talent left them intimidated.

“It was pretty humbling,” Greer said. “I was like, ‘Wow, these kids are really good.’ And they all know their stuff, and they’re emotional and they’re funny, and they can ad-lib and improv. And I definitely had to step up my game.”

Holmes recalled all of the kids sobbing when the film wrapped.

“It was so sweet. It broke my heart. It was like the last day of camp,” Holmes said. “I do think that camaraderie comes through on the screen. These kids really liked each other, and we really liked them.”

As for the Christmas movies that inspired them, both Greer and Holmes looked toward Elf for inspiration. Somebody told Holmes his holiday-loving dad in the film reminded them of Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and then, suddenly, it all clicked for him.

“I realized in that moment, I was like, ‘My God, that’s clearly what I was going for.’ I’m not saying I did it, but that was what I was reaching for. That’s my goal,” Holmes said.

Ultimately, Holmes said the movie captures what you’d want from a classic Christmas film.

“It’s exactly what you want, and it captures that Christmas spirit,” Holmes said. 

Tickets for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever are available now. For a limited time, a child’s ticket to see the movie is free when you buy an adult ticket through ATOM tickets with code CHRISTMASGIFT on Nov. 2.

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