Otis Redding biopic in the works; John Boyega to star

Otis Redding biopic in the works; John Boyega to star
Otis Redding biopic in the works; John Boyega to star
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

An upcoming film about the legendary singer Otis Redding has found its stars.

Variety reports that Star Wars actor John Boyega has been cast to play the legendary soul singer with Till‘s Danielle Deadwyler playing his wife, Zelma Redding, in the biopic Otis & Zelma.

The film, directed by Channing Godfrey Peoples, will chronicle the life of the famed singer, best known for such tunes as “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and “Hard to Handle.”

According to the description, the film “celebrates the 10 short years Otis and Zelma had together, and their eternal love story after his passing.” Redding died in a plane crash in 1967 at the age of 27.

The description adds, “Zelma’s resilience and determination to preserve his musical legacy for the last 56 years fuels her, just as much as Otis’ love for Zelma fueled him.”

In other Otis Redding news … the singer will be posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday. He will receive the 2,791st star and is being honored in the category of Live Theatre/Live Performance.

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John Amos’ “devastated” daughter says she found out her father died “through the media”

John Amos’ “devastated” daughter says she found out her father died “through the media”
John Amos’ “devastated” daughter says she found out her father died “through the media”
J.Sciulli/WireImage for Cure Autism Now

The late John Amos‘ daughter, Shannon, says she’s “devastated” about the death of her actor father, but also claims in an Instagram post that she was never made aware of his passing.

“I am without words. Our family has received the heartbreaking news that my Dad, John Allen Amos, Jr., transitioned on August 21st,” she began the caption of a video dancing with her father to the Luther Vandross song “Dance With My Father.”

The actual date of his death was confirmed by ABC News on Monday.

She continued, “We are devastated and left with many questions about how this happened 45 days ago, learning about it through the media like so many of you.”

Shannon added, “This should be a time of honoring and celebrating his life, yet we are struggling to navigate the wave of emotions and uncertainties surrounding his passing. Still, there is some semblance of peace in knowing my father is finally free.”

She concluded, “My family and I deeply appreciate the outpouring of love, calls, and texts. Please continue to hold our family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.”

Meanwhile, Amos’ death certificate, which was obtained by Deadline, says Amos died of congestive heart failure at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, California, on Aug. 21 at 5:18 p.m. PT. He was reportedly cremated on Aug. 30. However, news of his death was only confirmed on Monday.

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Apple TV+ renews Colin Farrell series ‘Sugar’

Apple TV+ renews Colin Farrell series ‘Sugar’
Apple TV+ renews Colin Farrell series ‘Sugar’
Apple TV+

Apple TV+ is sweet on Sugar, its crime drama starring and executive produced by Colin Farrell: The show has been renewed for season 2.

This comes as Farrell’s other crime drama, The Penguin, continues to score for Max.

Unlike Penguin, however, Farrell is quite recognizable in the Apple series. 

Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+, trumpeted, “Since its premiere, audiences have been gripped by the mysteries and twists of Sugar, with an incredible performance by Colin Farrell at the center.”

Cherniss adds of the show’s producers, “Colin, Simon Kinberg, Audrey Chon and the entire team behind this series have brilliantly blended genres to create a compelling, can’t-miss series that keeps viewers guessing, and we cannot wait to see where Detective John Sugar finds himself in season two.”

According to the streamer, “Sugar is a contemporary, unique take on one of the most popular and significant genres in literary, motion picture and television history: the private detective story.”

The producers add that “season two will see Sugar back in Los Angeles, taking on another missing persons case as he continues to look for answers surrounding his missing sister.”

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Watch Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Kiefer Sutherland and J.K. Simmons in trailer to Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror #2’

Watch Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Kiefer Sutherland and J.K. Simmons in trailer to Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror #2’
Watch Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Kiefer Sutherland and J.K. Simmons in trailer to Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror #2’
Hoult and Eastwood on set – © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Warner Bros. has released the tense trailer to Juror #2, the latest film from 94-year-old director Clint Eastwood

In the film, Nicholas Hoult plays Justin Kemp, a family man who gets selected for jury duty in a high-profile murder case, only to find out that he has the power to free an accused killer (Gabriel Basso) — but only by implicating himself in a woman’s death that he comes to believe he accidentally caused.

Years before, Kemp thought he hit a deer while behind the wheel in the dark of night, but as he learns details of the case, he comes to suspect he unknowingly struck the victim in the high-profile case.

Kemp “finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma … one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict — or free — the accused killer,” the studio teases.

Toni Collette stars as the prosecutor in the case, who is hell-bent on convicting the suspect, with J.K. Simmons‘ character admonishing her, “Did you guys ever look at any other suspect?”

Kiefer Sutherland plays the only one Kemp confides in, and the end of the trailer has him advising gravely, “You know what to do.” 

The movie, which also stars Chris MessinaZoey Deutch and Leslie Bibb, opens Oct. 30.

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‘Agatha All Along’ creator Jac Schaeffer still can’t believe she conjured up Patti LuPone

‘Agatha All Along’ creator Jac Schaeffer still can’t believe she conjured up Patti LuPone
‘Agatha All Along’ creator Jac Schaeffer still can’t believe she conjured up Patti LuPone
Marvel Television

The fourth episode of Marvel Television’s WandaVision spin-off Agatha All Along drops Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.

The show’s creator, W/V alumna Jac Schaeffer, tells ABC Audio she’s still pinching herself over the cast, which includes Kathryn Hahn reprising in the title role of Agatha Harkness, but also her fellow women of the witchy persuasion Sasheer Zamata, formerly of Saturday Night Live; Parks and Rec favorite Aubrey Plaza; and Broadway legend Patti LuPone.

The latter “get,” Schaeffer tells ABC Audio, seemed impossible.

“With Patti, it was suggested and I was like, ‘She’s not gonna to do it,’ And then … you know, we heard through agents and stuff that she was open to it. And I was like, ‘That’s not happening.'”

Schaeffer continues, “And then they told me I had a Zoom with her, and I was like, again, ‘This is not a thing that happens in the world.'”

Her doubting aside, Schaeffer said LuPone immediately sparked to her eventual role, 450-year-old Sicilian witch Lilia Calderu. “I got on with her and I said, ‘You know, you’ll be playing a witch.’ And she said, ‘Well, I am a witch.'”

Laughing, Schaeffer said, “And, like, you believe that when Patti LuPone says that to your face!” 

Marvel Television is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News. 

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Nicole Kidman’s daughter Sunday Rose makes runway debut at Paris Fashion Week

Nicole Kidman’s daughter Sunday Rose makes runway debut at Paris Fashion Week
Nicole Kidman’s daughter Sunday Rose makes runway debut at Paris Fashion Week
Victor Boyko/Getty Images

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban‘s daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, walked her first runway show on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old opened the Miu Miu spring/summer 2025 fashion show during Paris Fashion Week, an event that also saw Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe and Oscar winner Hilary Swank strutting their stuff. 

“I’ve been wanting to do this for so long,” Kidman Urban told Vogue in an interview published Tuesday. “So when the offer came through, it was really exciting and now the day’s finally here.”

Kidman and Urban are also parents to daughter Faith Margaret Kidman Urban. The actress also shares two now-adult adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise — daughter Isabella Jane and son Connor Cruise.

Babygirl star Kidman supported her daughter Sunday Rose’s runway debut by resharing a post of the teenager walking the runway on her Instagram Story. She also attended a Miu Miu dinner party on Tuesday with her daughter.

The star-studded Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2025 Fashion Show also saw model and actresses Cara Delevingne and Alexa Chung on the catwalk.

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In brief: Leighton Meester joins ‘The Buccaneers’ and more

In brief: Leighton Meester joins ‘The Buccaneers’ and more
In brief: Leighton Meester joins ‘The Buccaneers’ and more

Gossip Girl‘s Leighton Meester has joined the season 2 cast of Apple TV’s The Buccaneers in an as-yet undisclosed role. The period drama follows “a group of fun-loving young American girls [who] explode into the tightly corseted London season of the 1870s, kicking off an Anglo-American culture clash as the land of the stiff upper lip is infiltrated by a refreshing disregard for centuries of tradition,” per the streaming service. Season 2 finds the Buccaneers settling in quite nicely to their news lives, with Kristine Frøseth‘s Nan now a duchess, while Alisha Boe‘s Conchita has become Lady Brightlingsea and Imogen Waterhouse‘s Jinny, wanted for kidnapping her unborn child, now a celebrity …

“No matter what words they use, the question beneath the question remains the same. … ‘Which one of you will hurt me?’” That’s the input offered to Anna Kendrick in the official trailer to her directorial debut, Woman of the Hour. The “stranger-than-fiction story,” based on real events, also stars Kendrick as “an aspiring actress who crosses paths with a serial killer (Daniel Zovatto) on the set of the popular show, The Dating Game,” according to a synopsis in the trailer’s description. Woman of the Hour premieres Oct. 18 on Netflix …

MGM+ has renewed Billy the Kid for a third and final season. The epic romantic adventure, inspired by the life of the famous American outlaw, played by Tom Blyth, follows him from his early days as a cowboy and gunslinger to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond. The season 3 synopsis reads, “The Lincoln County War may be officially over, but both Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett (Alex Roe) have important issues to resolve — there is a reckoning to come. Billy is still at large, and Garrett is out to capture him, dead or alive. And with a bounty on his head, Billy has the opportunity to quit New Mexico altogether and pursue a future with Dulcinea, the love of his life,” portrayed by Nuria Vega

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‘Scream 7’ sets February release date

‘Scream 7’ sets February release date
‘Scream 7’ sets February release date
Neve Campbel in 2021’s “Scream” — Paramount Pictures/Brownie Harris

Following a series of setbacks, Scream 7 will finally be creeping its way into theaters Feb. 27, 2026.

Neve Campbell, who is returning to the horror franchise after sitting out the sixth installment due to a salary dispute, and series creator Kevin Williamson shared the news in an Instagram post that showed the date on a blood-splattered calendar with the words “Scream 7” scribbled at the bottom.

“It’s gonna be a killer 2026,” reads the caption.

Jenna Ortega, who co-starred in Scream 6 opposite Melissa Barrera, reportedly left the project due to her shooting schedule for Netflix’s Wednesday, shortly after Barrera was reportedly fired from the film for her social media comments about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, according to Variety.

Additionally, Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon dropped out of the project in December 2023 over creative differences. Production was further delayed by the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The Scream franchise, originally launched in 1996 with Wes Craven helming the first installment, has grossed over $908 million globally.

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Ryan Murphy’s Menendez brothers story stays atop Netflix’s TV chart as audience grows in second week

Ryan Murphy’s Menendez brothers story stays atop Netflix’s TV chart as audience grows in second week
Ryan Murphy’s Menendez brothers story stays atop Netflix’s TV chart as audience grows in second week
Netflix

Ryan Murphy‘s newest Monster series on Netflix stayed atop the streamer’s English TV List for the week of Sept. 23, and in its second week at #1, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story managed a bigger audience than its debut week.

The drama that co-stars Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny was Netflix’s most-watched title of the week, attracting 19.5 million views — and it was in the top 10 in 89 countries.

The based-on-real-life true crime series debuted with 12.3 million views in its first week on the streamer. 

Debuting in second place was the new rom-com Nobody Wants This, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. It drew 10.3 million viewers in its first week. 

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UK company reportedly looking to serve up British version of ‘Cheers’

UK company reportedly looking to serve up British version of ‘Cheers’
UK company reportedly looking to serve up British version of ‘Cheers’
Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank

Thirty years after Ted Danson‘s Sam Malone declared, “Sorry, we’re closed,” to end the 11-season classic sitcom Cheers, a U.K. company is reportedly interested in serving up an English version.

That’s the news from Deadline, which reports that the U.K. company Big Talk has tapped Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye to develop a new version of the show that was based at that Boston bar where everybody knew your name. 

Cheers opened for business on NBC on the evening of Sept. 30, 1982, and its finale, “One for the Road,” attracted 40 million viewers on the evening of May 20, 1993 — one of the most-watched finales of all time. 

During its run, the show earned a total of 179 Primetime Emmy nominations and 28 wins, and spun off another Emmys magnet, Frasier, in 1993.

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