Entertainment

At the Oscars on March 10, Billie Eilish and her brother and collaborator FINNEAS delivered a simple, touching rendition of their Best Original Song nominee, “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie.

On the red carpet ahead of the show, Billie said the most important thing about the performance was that people really focus on the words of the song, and she and FINNEAS made sure of that. He played an upright piano while she stood at a microphone, wearing an oversize black tweed jacket, long straight skirt and Mary Janes, and gave an emotional performance, with her eyes closed.

As the platform the siblings stood on rotated slowly, the pink backdrop behind them opened up to reveal an entire orchestra, raised on a platform high above them, playing along. The performance earned a standing ovation, and Billie and FINNEAS embraced at the end.

If Billie and FINNEAS win Best Original Song, they’ll be the only people to have won two Oscars before the age of 30. They previously won the Best Original Song trophy for their James Bond theme, “No Time to Die.”

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Da’Vine Joy Randolph won Best Supporting Actress at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday night.

She won for her role as Mary Lamb, the head cook at a boy’s boarding school, in Alexander Payne’s film The Holdovers. Her co-star Paul Giamatti escorted her to the stage, where she gave a tear-filled acceptance speech.

“For so long I’ve wanted to be different, and now I’m thankful to be myself,” Randolph said.

Randolph was nominated alongside Emily Blunt, Danielle Brooks, America Ferrera and Jodie Foster.

Five previous winners took to the stage to announce this year’s nominees. Lupita Nyong’o, who won the award for her role in 12 Years a Slave at the ceremony in 2014, announced Randolph.

Randolph ends her awards season run with a full sweep – winning best supporting actress at the Oscars, Golden Globes and BAFTAs.

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Jimmy Kimmel returned to host the Oscars for a fourth time Sunday night, kicking off the show with a monologue that poked fun of everything from the writers and actors strike, the length of the nominated films and more. 

The success of Barbie was a major portion of the monologue, particularly Greta Gerwig’s lack of a Best Director nomination. When he noted that most people thought she should deserved to get a nod, she got a round of applause, at which point Kimmel shot back, “I know you’re clapping but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with this.”

Robert Downey Jr.‘s past addiction problems were also at the center of some of the jokes, with Kimmel joking  the night was “the highest point in Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career,” before adding, “one of the highest points.”

And while Kimmel largely steered clear of political jokes, he got at least one in.

When talking about Emma Stone’s Poor Things character he cracked, “Emma played an adult woman with the brain of a child, like the lady who gave the rebuttal to the State of the Union on Thursday night,” referring to Alabama senator Katie Britt.

He also called out the length of many of this year’s nominated films, mentioning that the average length of the top 10 movies was two hours and 23 minutes. Speaking of Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon in particular he noted, “in the time it takes you to watch it you could drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders yourself.”

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As is tradition, before Hollywood biggest night comes the winners list the stars don’t want to be on: The Golden Raspberry Awards.

The “winners” of the 44th Annual Razzie Awards have been announced, and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey led the pack with five, including Worst Picture, Worst Remake, and Worst Screen Couple for Pooh & Piglet.

The fourth Expendables film took two Razzies.

Sylvester Stallone earned his 38th nomination and 12th Razzie win for the action film, with Megan Fox winning one of two Razzies this year for her supporting turn in the four-quel.

To note, the pair hosting the reveal, viral comedic personalities The Mean Gays aka Aaron Goldenberg and Jake Jonez, repeatedly mispronounced the official title Expend4bles as “Expend-FOURD-ables,” among other attempts.

They also noted some Razzie “snubs,” including Ezra Miller and Ezra Miller as Worst Screen Couple for playing two versions of himself in The Flash.

Here’s the full list of this year’s worst in cinema, according to The Razzies: 

WORST PICTURE
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
 

WORST ACTOR
Jon Voight – Mercy

WORST ACTRESS
Megan Fox – Johnny & Clyde

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Megan Fox – Expend4bles

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sylvester Stallone – Expend4ables

WORST SCREEN COUPLE
Pooh & Piglet as Blood-Thirsty Slasher – Killers in Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

WORST DIRECTOR
Rhys Frake-Waterfield – Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

SCREENPLAY
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey – Rhys Frake-Waterfield

RAZZIE REDEEMER AWARD
1998 Nominee and current SAG/AFTRA President Fran Drescher, for her brilliant shepherding of the actors’ guild through a prolonged 2023 strike with a successful conclusion.
 

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The fourth Kung Fu Panda film flew into theaters Thursday night with a respectable $3.8 million in sneak previews, Deadline is reporting.

That number puts the Universal/DreamWorks Animation offering ahead of animated film debuts, including the threequel How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which earned $3 million in sneaks back in 2019, as well as the $2.5 million opening of Disney/Pixar’s Elemental in June 2023, according to the trade.

The movie starring the voices of Jack Black, Oscar winners Viola Davis, Dustin Hoffman and Ke Huy Quan, and Emmy winner Bryan Cranston has been “Certified Fresh” on the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with an Audience Score of 80%; its Critics Score is a 70%.

Deadline predicts Panda will top the box office this weekend, with an estimated take of more than $50 million.

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Vanessa Hudgens has a few words for those who comment about her body — and women’s bodies in general.

The High School Musical alum, 35, opened up in the March 6 episode of the She Pivots podcast about being the subject of pregnancy rumors across social media and how that made her feel.

“I literally just had a run-in with the public taking control over their opinion of me in a way that was disrespectful,” Hudgens said, recalling how her social media posts from her bachelorette getaway in October garnered comments theorizing that she was expecting.

“And I was like, ‘That is so rude,'” she continued. “I’m sorry I don’t wear Spanx every day and, like, am a real woman and have a real body.”

Hudgens said she didn’t let the discourse ruin what she called “one of the happiest times of my life” and instead wants to use it as a refresher for people to know “simple rules for being a good person.”

“One of them is don’t make assumptions … in all aspects of life, but especially over other women’s bodies,” she explained.

Hudgens said women “deal with so much with other people trying to control our bodies” and hopes this moment reminds everyone to “be a little more mindful.”

The Spring Breakers actress married husband Cole Tucker in December. During the She Pivots episode, she noted that there’s “nothing wrong about being pregnant, obviously” and said she “can’t wait for the day.”

Hudgens will next be seen Sunday evening on ABC opposite Julianne Hough co-hosting The Oscars Red Carpet Show, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET.

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When it comes to watching TV, a majority of Americans want to see characters with the same issues they face on the daily.

According to survey data from MarketCast quoted by Variety, 84% of respondents say they want to watch shows that accurately portray the struggles of work-life balance and everyday family issues.

MarketCast analyzed conversations TV viewers were having on X, formerly Twitter, and noticed they really respond when “themes of work, family, parenting and caregiving” were represented onscreen.

On those topics, ABC’s Abbott Elementary, Grey’s Anatomy and The Conners got the thumbs up from viewers. Also singled out were the Netflix dramas Virgin River and Maid, as well as FX’s Fleishman is in Trouble and Issa Rae‘s acclaimed HBO show Insecure.

The progressive think tank New America commissioned the study, and the organization’s senior fellow for gender equity, paid leave and care policy and strategy Vicki Shabo said the results are encouraging.

Shabo said the findings can be a “catalyst for policy and culture changes in the U.S.” by underlying the importance of “greater access to paid family and medical leave, affordable and available child and elder care, and pay equity for women, BIPOC communities, LGBTQ folks and people with disabilities.”

Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.

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Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:

The Bachelor (ABC)
Bachelor Nation was left stunned on Monday night after lead Joey Graziadei eliminated fan-favorite contestant Maria Georgas from the dating show. Georgas took to Instagram on Tuesday to write about her experience. “I have nothing but gratitude and love for everyone involved,” Georgas captioned her post. “If you can take one thing from watching me it would be to always be yourself and know it’s ok to not always fit the mold. You won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but you’ll be someone’s shot of tequila.”

The Real Housewives of New Jersey (Bravo)
The trailer for season 14 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey dropped on Wednesday, and it shows off Teresa Giudice‘s return to the franchise. Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Margaret Josephs, Jennifer Aydin, Danielle Cabral and Rachel Fuda make up the rest of the cast. Season 14 debuts May 5 on Bravo.

The Masked Singer (Fox)
Kevin Hart appeared as a giant book on the season 11 premiere of The Masked Singer. He was the final contestant to perform on Wednesday night’s episode, singing Ne-Yo‘s “So Sick.” The panel of judges seemed to recognize Hart’s voice right away, giving each other knowing looks and laughing along to the performance. “There’s only a few people that as soon as they walk in the room, I start smiling and laughing like this and that’s Kevin Hart,” panelist Robin Thicke said.

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With names ranging from Henry Cavill to Aaron Taylor-Johnson to Regé-Jean Page being bandied about as the next possible James Bond, one former 007 has made his choice.

At the Oscar Wilde Awards in Los Angeles Thursday night, Pierce Brosnan told the BBC that Oppenheimer‘s Cillian Murphy should take the tux from Daniel Craig, who hung it up in 2021 with No Time to Die.

“Cillian would do a magnificent job as James Bond on His Majesty’s Secret Service,” declared Brosnan, who played Ian Fleming‘s suave secret agent in four films from 1995 to 2002: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day.

The event celebrated Irish talent. Murphy, who like Brosnan, is of Irish decent and could become the first Ireland-born Best Actor Academy Award winner on Sunday night.

On that possibility, Murphy told the outlet, “I just want to go in and have a good time.”

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Keke Palmer‘s been known to juggle gigs, but with her new role as mother to son Leo, she’s become picky about with projects she agrees to work on.

“[I’m] definitely more selective with projects,” she tells People. “Looking for stuff that allows me to be with him either at home, or it’s somewhere I can go and have a room or a trailer.”

“I also want to respect his individuality and his freedom and space,” she continued. “It’s not just like you come to mommy’s world, only mommy’s world. You have to always think about that, with kids. While we want to take them everywhere and we want them to be our world, they are their own little people, so you have to also give them their own sense of structure. Because as an adult, I’m kind of here, there and everywhere. I really try to keep that in mind.”

Beyond work, turning 30 has changed her overall outlook on life.

“Being 30, it’s put me in a different head space that’s allowed me to kind of feel more observational about my life,” Keke says. “I’m not so in the weeds of everything. I’m really trusting and having faith that everything will work out as it should. I think so much of that peace has come from my son.”

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