Entertainment

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.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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! …

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new trailer for the forthcoming series Landman, starring Billy Bob Thornton, is bringing the drama.

The series, which Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan co-created with Boomtown podcast host Christian Wallace, stars Thornton as Tommy Norris, a crisis manager for an oil company. It’s described as “a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs,” which is “set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas.”

“Texas. It ain’t any different than Tombstone or Dodge City. First comes the dreamers, then the bankers and then the desperate,” Thornton’s Tommy says in the trailer.

When his son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) asks him which of those descriptors he is, Tommy answers, “A divorced alcoholic with $500,000 in debt — and I’m one of the lucky ones.”

We also see glimpses of Jon Hamm‘s Monty Miller and Demi Moore‘s Cami Miller, a power couple in the oil industry who are close with Tommy, as well as Ali Larter as Tommy’s headstrong ex-wife, Angela.

The trailer ends with Thornton delivering a line that hints at what may sum up the show: “Men die. Oil companies don’t.” 

The cast also includes Andy Garcia and Michael Peña.

The first two episodes of Landman premiere Nov. 17 on Paramount+.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jennifer Aniston is remembering her late friend and co-star Matthew Perry.

The Friends actress shared a collection of photos of Perry on the one-year anniversary of his 2023 death.

The first photo Aniston shared was a black-and-white shot of her under Perry’s arm while the pair posed for the picture. A second shot shows Perry and Aniston on the set of Friends while Perry leans over and kisses Aniston on the forehead. In another picture, the cast of Friends is huddled together arm-in-arm. The final shot shows Perry smiling in a suit.

Aniston captioned the slideshow “1 year” and tagged the Matthew Perry Foundation. 

Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine on Oct. 28, 2023, at 54 years old. Five people have been charged in connection with his death.

In an Instagram post last November following Perry’s death, Aniston remembered Perry.

“Oh boy this one has cut deep… Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before,” wrote Aniston, who played Rachel Green opposite Perry’s Chandler Bing on Friends.

“In the last couple weeks, I’ve been pouring over our texts to one another. Laughing and crying then laughing again,” she continued. “I’ll keep them forever and ever.”

Aniston opened up to Variety in December, saying, “He was happy. He was healthy. He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy — that’s all I know.”

“I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy,” she said.

“I miss him dearly. We all do. Boy, he made us laugh really hard,” Aniston told the outlet.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

It was announced Monday that Oscar winner George Clooney will make his Broadway debut in the drama Good Night and Good Luck on March 12, 2025, with an opening night set for April 3, 2025. 

Co-written by Clooney and his longtime creative partner Grant Heslov, the play will be based on their Academy Award-nominated 2005 film of the same name. 

However, while actor David Strathairn portrayed legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow in the picture, Clooney will take on the role onstage at the historic Winter Garden Theatre. 

The production will be directed by Tony winner David Cromer. When the project was first announced back in May, Cromer noted, “Edward R. Murrow operated from a kind of moral clarity that feels vanishingly rare in today’s media landscape. There was an immediacy in those early live television broadcasts that today can only be effectively captured on stage, in front of a live audience.”

Clooney added, “I am honored, after all these years, to be coming back to the stage and especially, to Broadway, the art form and the venue that every actor aspires to.”

Presale for American Express cardholders run from Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. ET to Nov. 15 at 3:59 p.m. ET.

The general sale will begin Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. ET at www.telecharge.com.

Fans who sign up at goodnightgoodluckbroadway.com will have priority access to tickets beginning on Nov. 14 at 10 a.m. ET. 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.