Entertainment

Chris Pine is clearing the air about what happened between him and Harry Styles during the infamous “spit-gate.”

Rumors sparked in September that Harry had spit on his Don’t Worry Darling co-star at the movie’s Venice Film Festival premiere. Pine’s team dismissed the reports, while Harry used the rumor as a punch line at one of his Madison Square Garden shows.

Esquire chatted with Pine about the alleged incident, to which the actor insisted, “Harry did not spit on me. Harry’s a very, very kind guy.”

While Pine agreed the viral video in question does makes it “look, indeed, like Harry spit on me,” he said what actually happened was an exchange of words.

So, what did Harry say? According to Pine: “I think he said, ‘It’s just words, isn’t it?'”

Apparently that was a running joke between the two, as the actor explained, “We’re all jet-lagged, we’re all trying to answer these questions, and sometimes when you’re doing these press things, your brain goes befuddled and you start speaking gibberish,” he explained. “So we had a joke — ‘It’s just words.'”

Shortly after the “spit-gate” rumors took off, Harry joked during his September 7 show he had “popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine.”  

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A Stranger Things play will debut late this year at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End, Netflix announced Wednesday.

Based on an original story by the Duffer Brothers, who created the streaming phenomenon, as well as former show writer Kate Trefry and English theater veteran Jack Thorne, Stranger Things: The First Shadow will be directed by Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin.

The production will take place before the famously ’80s-set show. The producers tease, “Hawkins, 1959: a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy… and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.”

Netflix adds, “Brought to life by a multi-award-winning creative team, who take theatrical storytelling and stagecraft to a whole new dimension, this gripping new adventure will take you right back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story – and may hold the key to the end.”

For their part, a “beyond excited” Matt and Ross Duffer enthused, “Collaborating with the brilliant Stephen Daldry has been nothing short of inspiring, and Kate Trefry has written a play that is at turns surprising, scary, and heartfelt. You will meet endearing new characters, as well as very familiar ones, on a journey into the past that sets the groundwork for the future of Stranger Things. We’re dying to tell you more about the story but won’t – it’s more fun to discover it for yourself.”

The added, “Can’t wait to see you nerds in London!”

Fans can preregister for tickets now.

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On Wednesday, Paramount+ dropped the steamy, intense teaser to its forthcoming series based on the hit 1987 film Fatal Attraction, which starred Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. 

The series stars Joshua Jackson as Douglas’ Dan Gallagher and Lizzy Caplan as Close’s bunny-boiling jilted lover, Alex Forrest. 

The pair are shown meeting on an elevator, and getting increasingly — and eventually intimately — closer as the sneak peek builds to a crescendo: When Amanda Peet, playing Jackson’s wife, Beth, “introduces” Dan to Alex in their home.

“I know him already,” Alex says to Beth, as a smile drains from Dan’s face.

The streaming service calls the eight-episode series a “deep-dive reimagining of the classic psychosexual thriller and ’80s cultural touchstone” that will “explore fatal attraction and the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control.”

The first three episodes of the show premiere April 30 on Paramount+. 

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Three generations of women in a religious colony convene to chart out their futures in Sarah Polley’s Women Talking. The film is up for two Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards – picking up the coveted Best Picture nomination, as well as a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The recognition means a lot to Polley, who tells ABC Audio about one of the biggest challenges she faced in getting to this point.

“People hear the title Women Talking differently than they hear a title like 12 Angry Men,” Polley says. “For some reason, the very act of women talking sounds offensive to some people. So, I think, just getting people to watch it is the biggest challenge.”

Polley says she never expected this kind of reception for her film.

“I’m just sort of enjoying every second of this. I mean, we didn’t know if we were going to end up part of this at all,” Polley says. “It’s really such a gift, the whole experience, I mean, truly.”

And while Women Talking focuses on hardships that the colony’s women faced, Polley says the story is universal and, in the end, hopeful.

“The film is ultimately for everybody. It’s for, you know, people from every background, every gender,” Polley said. “I think it was really exciting to realize that enough people had seen it and had responded to it to end up here today.”

The 95th annual Academy Awards ceremony airs Sunday, March 12, only on ABC.

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Disney+ debuted the first episode of The Mandalorian‘s third season on Wednesday.

The series concluded its second season with the surprise reappearance of Luke Skywalker, in his prime, around five years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

After rescuing Pedro Pascal‘s Din Djarin, Ming-Na‘s Fennec Shand, Gina Carano‘s Cara Dune and Katee Sackhoff‘s Bo Katan from a squad of impossibly powerful Dark Troopers on villainous Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito‘s) ship, Luke leaves with the little one who called him there through the Force: Grogu.

However, chapters 5 and 6 of the Book of Boba Fett also play directly into The Mandalorian‘s third season: Din is cast away from his beskar-wearing bretheren by Emily Swallow‘s character, The Armorer, for the sin of removing his helmet in the presence of others; he’s tasked with redeeming himself by returning to the Imperial-sacked home planet of Mandalore.

Din won’t be alone: Luke later gives Grogu the option of either completing his training as a Jedi or returning to his armored guardian, and the little one decides to go with Din.

Meanwhile, Bo Katan seeks to bring Mandalore back to its former glory, but she can’t do that without the fearsome Darksaber, a weapon Mando took from Gideon — and which she can only reclaim by besting Din in combat.

Officially, Lucasfilm says, “The journeys of the Mandalorian through the Star Wars galaxy continue. Once a lone bounty hunter, Din Djarin has reunited with Grogu. Meanwhile, the New Republic struggles to lead the galaxy away from its dark history. The Mandalorian will cross paths with old allies and make new enemies as he and Grogu continue their journey together.”

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

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On Today Wednesday morning, the show addressed the absence of Hoda Kotb, who has been missing on both the morning show and Today with Hoda and Jenna since Feb. 17.

Co-anchor Craig Melvin explained, “a lot of of you have been wondering how she’s doing. We can tell you that Hoda’s okay, she’s got a family health matter that she’s been dealing with.”

Earlier this week, their colleague Savannah Guthrie left the show early after a positive COVID-19 test.

“We look forward to seeing Hoda and Savannah back on the desk very, very soon” Melvin continued, adding they wished the latter “a speedy recovery.”

“Yeah, we love you both,” Al Roker replied, leading his co-anchors in blowing kisses to the camera.

Kotb has not mentioned her situation on the air, on social media or on her podcast, Making Spice, the latter of which hasn’t posted a new installment since February 20.

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Deadline reports She Hulk: Attorney at Law executive producer and director Kat Coiro will direct and produce the pilot episode of a reboot of Matlock starring Kathy Bates in the title role. Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Bates is executive-producing the reworking of the original show, which starred the late Andy Griffith and ran for nine seasons altogether from 1986-1992, six on NBC and a final three on ABC…

Showtime announced on Tuesday that Damian Lewis is returning to Billions for season seven. The actor, who left at the end of the show’s fifth season, will reprise his role as Bobby Axelrod in six of the new season’s 12 episodes. Bobby was last seen going on the run from legal troubles and settling in Europe. Showtime reveals that in season seven, “Alliances are turned on their heads. Old wounds are weaponized. Loyalties are tested. Betrayal takes on epic proportions. Enemies become wary friends. And Bobby Axelrod returns, as the stakes grow from Wall Street to the world.” Billions — which also stars Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll and Maggie Siff — returns later this year…

The Office alum Jenna Fischer is joining the cast of Tina Fey‘s upcoming Mean Girls film, based on her hit Broadway musical, set for Paramount+, according to Deadline. Fischer will play Cady Heron’s mother, originally portrayed by Ana Gasteyer in the 2004 movie. Fischer joins previously announced castmembers Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Fey, Tim Meadows, Avantika, Christopher Briney and Bebe Wood. The first Mean Girls film grossed over $130 million worldwide…

Variety reports Heroes and NOS4A2 alum Zachary Quinto, who also played Spock in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek film trilogy, has been tapped for a starring role in the NBC drama pilot Wolf, inspired by the books The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars by the late Oliver Sacks. Wolf, per the network, will follow “a revolutionary, larger-than-life neurologist — played by Quinto — and his team of interns as they explore the last great frontier, the human mind, while also grappling with their own relationships and mental health”…

Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard are set to star in the upcoming feature comedy Summer Camp, according to Deadline. The movie follows three childhood friends who spent their childhood summers together at sleepaway camp. After drifting apart they attend a camp reunion, where they’re reminded of how much they need each other. The film is set to begin shooting in April…

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Jon Hamm and his former Mad Men co-star Anna Osceola are reportedly engaged after nearly five years of dating.

“The engagement happened a while back, but they are still on cloud nine,” a source tells Us magazine. “They have so much fun together and already feel married.”

The 51-year-old Top Gun: Maverick star and Osceola, 34, first sparked romance rumors in 2020, after being spotted together “multiple times,” according to the outlet. They made their red carpet debut two years later at an Oscars afterparty.

The couple co-starred in Mad Men‘s final season in 2015 and teamed up once again for 2022’s Confess, Fletch.

Hamm previously dated Kissing Jessica Stein actress Jennifer Westfeldt from 1997 to 2015.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) While Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania currently has a respectable 83% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received a nearly record-low Critics Score for a Marvel movie, with 48%.

Its Emmy-winning screenwriter Jeff Loveness tells The Daily Beast he witnessed this disconnect firsthand.

“To be honest, those reviews took me by surprise,” the Rick and Morty vet explains. “I was in a pretty low spot … Those were not good reviews, and I was like, ‘What the … ?'”

He continued, “I’m really proud of what I wrote for Jonathan [Majors, who plays Kang the Conqueror] and Michelle Pfeiffer [Janet van Dyne]. I thought that was good stuff, you know? And so I was just despondent, and I was really sad about it.”

However, Loveness saw the other side of the coin when he saw the movie with actual moviegoers. “The audience was laughing … I’m like, Godd***! No, [the reviews] are wrong! I’m right! MODOK is great!” he said of Corey Stoll‘s big-headed, pretty-out-there baddie, ripped right from the pages of Marvel Comics.

The writer explains, “I’m pretty happy with it overall, and I think I learned how to take a punch this week. And now that I learned that it’s not too bad, I can just get on with making things.”

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While he appears to be on the path to the Oscars podium for his work in The Whale, Brendan Fraser detoured with a stroll down memory lane during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show Tuesday.

Clarkson asked the actor if it was true he “almost died” on the set of the 1999 blockbuster The Mummy during a scene where his swashbuckling adventurer, Rick O’Connell, was nearly executed by hanging. “Nearly,” Fraser admitted, explaining he was “choked out by accident.”

In the sequence, he’s dropped from the gallows and left to struggle with the noose around his neck while Rachel Weisz‘s Evelyn literally bargains for his life.

Fraser got to his feet and mimed the situation, explaining he was on his toes, with the noose around his neck.

Director Stephen Sommers then said, “‘Hey, it doesn’t really look like you’re choking — can you sell it?'” Fraser recalled. “And I was like, ‘All right, fine.’ So I thought, ‘One more take, man.'”

He adds, “And the camera swooped around and I went up on the toes, and the guy holding the rope above me, he pulled it up a little higher and I was stuck on my toes — I had nowhere to go but down. And so he was pulling up and I was going down.”

Fraser continued, “The next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways, there was gravel in my teeth and everyone was really quiet.” The actor said he was slapped backed to consciousness by a cheery British stunt coordinator singing his name. “‘Brendan? Brendan, wake up!'”

He explained the stunt guy noted, “‘Congratulations, you’re in the club — the same thing happened to Mel Gibson on Braveheart!'” Fraser shouted his response: “Thanks, I think?! I wanna go home!”

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