Entertainment

Yellowstone actor and country singer Luke Grimes made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Friday.

“I can’t believe it’s happening, first of all,” Grimes told Good Morning America backstage before he hit the iconic stage. “I’ve always loved music. I’ve played music since I was really young. I never thought I would do it to a level where I got to play the Opry, and it means the world.”

Grimes said he was equal parts honored and “so nervous” for the moment “because so many of my heroes have done it.”

“Just to feel like I’m part of that community at all is amazing,” he continued.

Grimes released his self-titled debut album in March, a milestone he said “feels like a dream come true.”

He explained of the music, “This is kind of who I really am. This is my real story.”

That story is told through songs like “No Horse to Ride” and “Hold On,” which he performed during his Opry debut.

Grimes said one of his biggest musical inspirations came from growing up playing music in church, saying gospel music had a “huge influence” on him, as well as the music from his childhood.

“My dad loved all the ’70s outlaw country stuff. That was huge in our house. Elvis was huge in our house. So anything sort of Americana, that kind of thing,” he explained. “And then, growing up … ’90s country radio — like Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, you know, all those guys.”

Grimes and his wife, Bianca Rodrigues Grimes, announced the arrival of their firstborn child, a son named Rigel, in October.

“I’m still processing how it’s changing me, you know, day by day,” he said, calling fatherhood “the biggest event that’s ever happened in my life.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Angelina Jolie will be the recipient of the Palm Springs International Film Awards’ Desert Palm Achievement Award – Actress for her role in Netflix’s Maria. Jolie’s performance “captures the heart and complexity of an artist whose life was as captivating as her music,” Nachhattar Singh Chandi, festival chairman, said in a statement Monday. Other honorees include Adrien Brody, Nicole Kidman and Colman Domingo. The ceremony is set for Jan. 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center during the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which runs from Jan. 2 to Jan. 13 …

Josh O’Connor has been tapped to star in Steven Spielberg‘s latest yet-to-be-titled film, joining Emily Blunt, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth and Eve Hewson, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Details are being kept under wraps, but the project is said to have “sci-fi elements,” per the outlet, and is based on a story by Spielberg with a screenplay by his collaborator David Koepp …

Bridgerton‘s Luke Newton has been cast opposite Pretty Little Liars‘ Lucy Hale in the upcoming sci-fi thriller White Mars, according to Deadline. The film, set in an isolated Aquila research facility, “follows microbiologist Sammie as she and Leo fight to save their fellow crew members from a malevolent entity whose sole intention is to extinguish them all,” per Deadline. Hale and Newton will play Sammie and Leo, respectively …

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Paul Mescal is giving Saoirse Ronan all the praise.

Both actors appeared on a recent episode of The Graham Norton Show, where Mescal and fellow guest Eddie Redmayne made light of the idea of having to use a cellphone as a weapon.

The men joked, asking who would ever have the time to reach for their phone if attacked. Ronan interrupted them and said, “That’s what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right, ladies?” Her response has since gone viral.

During an appearance on The Late Late Show, Mescal reflected on the moment.

“I’m not surprised that the message received as much attention that it got because it’s a massively important,” Mescal said.

He then went on to praise Ronan.

“She’s quite often — more often than not — the most intelligent person in the room, and I think she was spot-on, hit the nail on the head,” Mescal said. “And it’s also good that messages like that are gaining traction. That’s the sort of conversation we should be having on a daily basis.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Javier Bardem is set to star in a brand-new series, which he’ll be executive producing along with Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

Cape Fear, based on Scorsese’s 1991 film and a preceding novel, will come to Apple TV+, the streamer announced on Monday.

“In ‘Cape Fear,’ a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Amanda and Steve Bowden when Max Cady (played by Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison,” reads a synopsis of the show.

The series will run 10 episodes and is described as “an examination of America’s obsession with true crime in the 21st century.”

The story was originally inspired by The Executioners, a 1957 thriller novel that was turned into a Gregory Peck movie in 1962 before being remade in 1991 by Scorsese under the name Cape Fear. Spielberg also produced the 1991 film.

The 1991 Scorsese-directed movie starred Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

If you think you won’t get enough Wicked a month after it hits theaters in November, Universal Pictures is singing your tune. 

Variety reports the studio will be launching interactive versions of the musical starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande across 1,000 North American theaters starting on Christmas Day. 

That means you and your fellow witches in waiting can belt out “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and many of the musical’s other songs — without bothering other moviegoers like those Swifties did in theaters in 2023 during the Eras Tour movie.

Director Jon M. Chu‘s Wicked Part 1 debuts on Nov. 22; the second part hits theaters Nov. 21, 2025.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good are getting ready to walk down the aisle. They announced their engagement at the EBONY Power 100 Gala Sunday while discussing the upcoming holiday season.

“We’re feeling great,” Good told PEOPLE while showing her ring off to the camera. Majors added, “It’s a season of joy.”

Good said it’s also “a season of all the good things,” to which Majors agreed, saying, “Amen.”

Speaking to E! News, they explained their decision to break the news at the gala had everything to do with their first encounter at the same event two years ago. “EBONY Power 100 is the event that we met at in the bathrooms, in the unisex bathroom,” Jonathan said.

They were later linked in May 2023, with Meagan being a huge support during Majors’ trial.

Majors was convicted of one count of misdemeanor third-degree assault and one count of second-degree harassment following accusations from his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari. He was ordered to complete a 52-week in-person batterers intervention program in Los Angeles, continue mental health counseling and stay away from his ex.

Good, who was previously married to pastor DeVon Franklin, told PEOPLE Majors initially tried to discourage their relationship in order to protect her.

“I was like, ‘My love, first of all, you’re dealing with a Black Leo. And also, I grew up in this industry,'” she said. “The things that I’ve been through gave me the bandwidth to love other people, regardless. So when we got together it was like, this is going to be a lot, but you got the right one.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Red One wasn’t quite the box office gift that its producers hoped it would be, with a debut of $34 million against a budget said to be $250 million. 

The movie is essentially a Christmas kidnap caper: When J.K. Simmons‘ Santa Claus is snatched, his head of security, Callum, played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, taps an unlikely ally to try to find him: Chris Evans‘ bounty hunter Jack O’Malley, who is firmly on Santa’s naughty list. 

At a recent press event, Evans and Johnson said an action comedy through the snow globe-lens of Christmas isn’t as odd as it may seem.

“There’s such great Christmas lore, folklore, not just the stories we all grew up with, but internationally, you know what I mean?” Evans says.

“When you hear some of these creatures and stories and mythology, it almost begs for some sort of, you know, action-adventure movie. So it’s not quite as hard as you think.”

Johnson agrees, saying the movie’s “heart” is really what makes it all possible: “It’s one of my favorite parts of the movie where J.K. as Santa Claus reminds me that it’s our job to see the best in people and look at that child.”

“Look beyond if they’re on the naughty list like this guy,” he says pointing to Evans. “Look beyond it and look at the kid in everybody. As Chris was saying, it really wasn’t that hard.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Paramount Pictures has dropped a final trailer to Gladiator II, as overseas box office receipts for the film are already proving as muscular as its lead Paul Mescal. 

According to BoxOfficeMojo, the movie that opened in foreign markets on Nov.13 has already made $87 million; the follow-up to director Ridley Scott‘s Oscar-winning original opens in the U.S. on Nov. 22. 

The film also stars Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington, as well as original Gladiator star Connie Nielsen. 

The new trailer jams in the action, with sieges, epic set pieces and of course swordplay — along with glowing critics’ blurbs about the film. 

Paramount calls the movie an “epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome.” 

The studio continues, “Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.”
 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

 Timothée Chalamet and the cast of A Complete Unknown recently talked to Rolling Stone about the making of the Bob Dylan film, and Chalamet shared some insight into his commitment to what he calls a “role of a lifetime.”

“It was something I would go to sleep panicked about, losing a moment of discovery as the character — no matter how pretentious that sounds — because I was on my phone or because of any distraction,” he says. “I had three months of my life to play Bob Dylan, after five years of preparing to play him. So while I was in it, that was my eternal focus.” 

He adds, “He deserved that and then more … God forbid I missed a step because I was being Timmy. I could be Timmy for the rest of my life!”

Chalamet was listed as “Bob Dylan” on the film’s call sheet, and it fooled co-star Elle Fanning, who got an invite to a preproduction meeting with director James Mangold and “Bob,” thinking she was meeting the rock icon.

“I’m probably the first person in life to be let down by having a rehearsal with Timothée Chalamet, right?” she tells Rolling Stone. “Like, the first girl in history.” 

Monica Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez, said Chalamet “wasn’t so full-on” with his method acting, but she noted he was “in his own world” on set, “in a way that I think Bob often was as well.”

And Ed Norton, who plays Pete Seeger, described Chalamet’s commitment as “relentless.”

“No visitors, no friends, no reps, no nothing,” he said. “And I agreed totally — it was like, we cannot have a f****** audience for this. We’ve got to believe to the greatest degree we can. And he was right to be that protective.”

A Complete Unknown opens Dec. 25.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Actor Josh Brolin is opening up about his sobriety after cutting out alcohol over a decade ago.

The Dune: Part Two actor discussed maintaining his sobriety and life events that led him to become sober in a recent interview with British paper The Times published on Saturday.

“I was born to drink. I was birthed to drink. My mother drank exactly like I did, and I was raised to be a man and drink like the male equivalent of my mother,” writes Brolin in an excerpt of his new memoir, From Under the Truck, obtained by The Times.

Brolin told The Times he had decided to commit himself to sobriety after visiting his grandmother on her deathbed when he was intoxicated in 2013.

“I knew that was going to be the last time I drank,” said Brolin, who entered rehab, according to The Times interview.

Brolin, who is 56, said aging has made being sober all the more easy.

“I like getting older. It’s like a great excuse to finally go, ‘OK, just mellow out, you don’t need to constantly spin,'” he said.

In reflecting on his sobriety, Brolin shared that he has enjoyed staying away from drinking.

“I love being sober. I have more fun,” he said. “There’s nothing that I go through that I am absolutely certain wouldn’t be worse if I was drinking.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.