While voters ultimately will make their choice for president in November, Deadline is reporting Saturday Night Live has reelected former cast member Maya Rudolphto again play Vice President Kamala Harris when the show returns this fall.
Harris, of course, is now the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee after President Joe Biden‘s announcement on July 21 that he was dropping out of the 2024 race.
The Loot star first played “America’s fun aunt” on SNL during the 2019 primaries, earning a shout-out from the real Harris for her efforts. In 2020, when Biden chose Harris to be his running mate, Maya earned an Emmy for her portrayal.
Maya’s appointment will continue through the 2024 election, according to the trade.
Following the first chapter of Kevin Costner‘s Horizon: An American Saga fizzling at the box office in June, its sequel will debut at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.
The organizers of the event will in fact screen both the first and second chapters on the final day of the fest, Sept. 7. The 81st annual event kicks off Aug. 28.
The second installmentwas originally envisioned as a four-film Western epic was initially supposed to hit theaters on Aug. 16, but the poor box office reception of the first, which debuted to just $11 million on June 28, caused Warner Bros. Discovery-owned New Line and Costner’s own Territory Pictures to pull the sequel from its release date.
The strategy was coupled with releasing the original film to video on demand and Max to give audiences a chance to see it and build potential interest in the second.
Costner gambled tens of millions of dollars of his own money to get the Horizon franchise started, but despite a high-profile premiere at Cannes in June, the first film earned mixed reviews.
Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone and Costner’s former Yellowstone co-star Danny Huston appear with the director and producer in the Horizon sequel, which has yet to secure a new release date.
Costner commented on the announcement, “My dream was always to show Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter Two at the Venice Film Festival. The fact that now they have decided to show Chapter One earlier in the day and then the World Premiere of Chapter Two that evening shows not only their belief in how the two films work together but their support of a director’s vision.”
On July 26, Varietypublished a headline-making video that alleged Francis Ford Coppola acted inappropriately towards a female extra on the set of his self-funded epic Megalopolis, and now the actress in that video is calling the story “all false.”
In an interesting bit of journalistic sibling infighting, Deadline — the sister publication to both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which ran with the story — is pushing back.
Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. accuses Variety of posting “for clicks” the video that shows the legendary director dancing with a woman on set. He also interviewed Rayna Menz, the actress at the center of the story.
Variety had alleged its video “shows the legendary director trying to kiss young female extras on the set of his ambitious sci-fi epic,” but Menz took to Instagram and called the allegations “gross.”
Renz posted in part, “none of the claims … are true,” adding she was, “disgusted” by the allegations.
To Deadline, Renz explained, “He did nothing to make me or … anyone on set feel uncomfortable,” adding she was “blindsided,” because the footage was taken on what was supposed to be a “closed set.”
She added of Coppola, “It’s gross because he only ever spoke about how wonderful his wife is.”
Coppola lost his filmmaker wife of 60 years, Eleanor, in April of 2024.
“His wife was on set with us, most days,” Menz said.
The actress insisted Coppola was “nothing but professional,” adding of the footage, “I was the one who asked him to dance … in front of everybody else.” “He even said something along the lines of … ‘I’m a gentleman, and I would never say no to a lady,'” she said. “And then we waltzed, to club music.”
“It feels gross, seeing that video and [the] way they were trying to convey a message,” she added. “Just gross.”
Scratch Jimmy Kimmel and John Mulaney‘s names off the list of potential Oscars hosts — sources say both have passed on hosting next year’s show, although there’s no official comment from ABC or the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Kimmel has hosted four times, including the 2024 Oscars, for which he earned rave reviews. Mulaney earned high marks for his turn as host of the Governor’s Award earlier this year, which many saw as an audition for the Oscars job. While he said no to this year’s show, he left the door open to host a future Oscars telecast, per THR. The 97th Oscars are set to air March 2, 2025 …
Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s Late Night, has a new stand-up comedy special set to air on HBO and Max this fall, the premium cable channel has announced. The Saturday Night Live alum taped the special in front of a live audience at The Vic Theatre in Chicago. “Critics say it’s the special my kids will be talking about in therapy twenty years from now!” Meyers joked in a statement. Meyers’ first comedy special, Lobby Baby, aired on Netflix in 2019. In addition to his Late Night duties, the busy comedian co-hosts two podcasts: Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers and The Lonely Island and Seth MeyersPodcast. He also co-headlines a monthly residency with John Oliver at the Beacon Theatre in New York …
Netflix has dropped the first trailer to the animated musical Spellbound. The feature, from Toy Story creator John Lasseter and Shrek director Vicky Jenson, features Rachel Zegler as the voice of Ellian, who must go on a daring quest to save her parents — voiced by Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem — after a mysterious spell transforms them into monsters. John Lithgow, Nathan Lane, Jenifer Lewis and Tituss Burgess round out the voice cast. Spellbound premieres Nov. 22 …
The Morning Show has tapped Logan veteran Boyd Holbrook to play Brodie, “a popular and provocative talk show host,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. He joins Jeremy Irons, William Jackson Harper and Marion Cotillard in the show’s fourth season. The cast of Apple TV+’s workplace drama also includes Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Jon Hamm and Nicole Beharie …
Richard Gadd, the man whose repeated run-ins with a stalker inspired his Netflix hit Baby Reindeer, says he’s willing to testify in defense of Netflix in a lawsuit filed by Fiona Harvey.
Harvey claims the show’s Martha character was based on her, and that the depiction of the stalker character in the show was exaggerated and has “ruined her life.”
Netflix is attempting to get the suit dismissed, and Gadd has issued a declaration in support of that attempt.
Gadd’s document says that the show, in which he plays Donny, isn’t a documentary, and while it is fictionalized, it is “emotionally true.”
Gadd insists, “My personal struggles with my sexual identity, and experiences with sexual abuse, harassment, and stalking, inspired me to write and star in the theatre version of Baby Reindeer, and subsequently, the [Netflix] Series.”
The performer details his history with Harvey, from a chance meeting at the pub in which he worked to her allegedly stalking him over two years.
Gadd says Harvey sent him “thousands of emails, hundreds of voicemails, and a number of handwritten letters” that “often included sexually explicit, violent, and derogatory content, hateful speech, and threats.”
He even attached “a fraction” of those to his declaration as proof.
He also insists, “I never intended the Series to identify any real person as Martha Scott,” including Harvey, claiming that she was the one who outed herself.
Referring to a recent Piers Morgan Uncensored appearance Harvey made, Gadd said, “[S]he claimed that she was the inspiration for the Martha character, and that she never sent me thousands of emails nor left me any voicemails.”
He insists, “She harassed and stalked me over several years, and … other individuals have contacted me … and said they were also harassed by Harvey, but all were too scared of her to come forward.”
During an appearance on Good Morning America July 30 to chat about the ballet documentary she executive produced, Swan Song, Neve Campbell talked about her return to the Scream franchise.
After sitting out of the sixth installment due to a salary dispute, it was announced in March that Campbell would bring her iconic final girl Sidney Prescott back for the seventh film in the series.
“I’m really excited about it,” she told GMA of the forthcoming film.
Neve added, “You never expect a movie to be as successful as that and you never expect a movie to turn into a franchise. For a film like that, with a horror movie, you would hope that perhaps that can happen, but for it to become such a part of pop culture is beyond.”
When asked what her favorite Scream film has been to be a part of, Campbell’s answer was simple.
“The first because it was the first,” she shared, calling it “magic.”
“We had such a beautiful experience on that [film], a lot of fun, and obviously its success was exciting,” she continued. “But we’ve had a blast on all of them, to be honest.”
There’s no release date set for the seventh Scream film.
In a new social media post, Netflix tells fans that You‘s Joe Goldberg is back on the prowl in New York City.
To a photo of Joe’s alter-ego Penn Badgley — now clean shaven — on the streets of the Big Apple, the streamer notes, “Back to where it all began,” signaling the start of production on the fifth and final season of the serial killer series.
Deadline reports Baby Reindeer star and Emmy nominee Nava Mau has joined the cast this season in a guest starring role, playing Detective Marquez.
The fourth season of the show, which dropped in February of 2023 segued the action to London, where Badgley’s Joe comes to realize the so-called Eat The Rich Killer who has been murdering the well-heeled, is actually (spoiler alert) him.
There’s no official release date for the fifth and final season.
Daryl Dixon and his post-apocalyptic ride-or-die Carol Peletier are back together again in the new trailer to The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol.
The trailer shows Melissa McBride‘s character Stateside, and looking for her long-lost friend — who had been kidnapped and shipped to France.
While Norman Reedus‘ character has adjusted to life there, he dreams about going back to America, and the friends he left behind. “I wonder if they’re still thinking about me,” he expresses.
Unbeknownst to him, Carol hatches a plan to commandeer a plane to fly to France to find him. As a title card professes, “Some bonds have no borders.”
While both characters are seen separately fighting enemies both alive and undead in Europe, the trailer ends with a moment that fans have been excited to see since the pair parted ways in the finale of The Walking Dead in 2022: Daryl is shown in the foreground, while Carol saunters into frame, out of focus.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol, which is the second installment of Daryl Dixon’s spinoff series, debuts on Sept. 29 on AMC and AMC+. The spinoff has already been renewed for a third season.
Richard Simmons‘ housekeeper of over three decades has spoken out for the first time since Simmons’ death.
In an interview with People published Monday, Teresa Reveles, who began working with Simmons in 1986 after finding the job through an agency, opened up about her bond with the late fitness guru and how she wants to honor him.
“I want to celebrate Richard. He always celebrated everyone else,” Reveles said of her former boss and friend, who died July 13, at the age of 76.
Reveles, who said she discovered Simmons in his bedroom after he died, said, “I still can’t believe what happened,” adding, “He died happy.”
Despite the public thinking that Simmons had “disappeared” and had become “reclusive,” Reveles said the reality was the opposite, and that Simmons spent his days outside of his house all the time.
Reveles said Simmons decided to step away from his public life due to his health, among other reasons.
“He could not exercise,” she explained. “He could not teach his class. [He said,] ‘Teresa, my knees hurt… I think it’s time for me to stop.'”
Reveles also said Simmons told her at one point that he did not like the way he looked.
“I don’t want people to see me. I don’t look that beautiful anymore, Teresa,” she recalled him saying, despite her belief that Simmons always “looked the same.”
Reveles said in the interview that she has come to terms with the loss and believes Simmons had found his peace at the end.
“Everything happened the way he wanted,” she said, adding, “I’m very happy because Richard was really very happy. He died very happy.”
(L-R): Joe Russo, Downey, Anthony Russo – Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney
After Robert Downey Jr.‘s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo commented, “We’ve always said green is your color.”
Turns out that’s true of more than just his sage-colored suit: Variety is reporting Marvel Studios is shelling out lots of green to bring the Oppenheimer Oscar winner back into the fold.
The trade says Downey would only return if the Russos did, and the directing duo who also helmed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War will be paid $80 million to direct him as Dr. Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.
For his part, Downey will reportedly be getting “significantly more” than that for his work in the films.
In addition to however many zeros are in his paycheck, Downey will also be getting perks like “private jet travel, dedicated security and a whole ‘trailer encampment’,” according to the trade’s sources.
Thanks to salary and profit participation deals from playing Tony Stark across 10 MCU films, Variety says Downey has been paid like Tony Stark, too: To the tune of between $500 million and $600 million.
The Russos won’t get profit participation from Doomsday and Secret Wars‘ box office take according to the trade, but the pair whose four Marvel films made $4.85 billion-plus for the studio will get bonuses when and if their two new films cross the $750 million and $1 billion marks.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
