Entertainment

Netflix raised eyebrows when it announced its upcoming Marilyn Monroe film Blonde would be branded with a rare NC-17 rating, and apparently, a pair of them belonged to its star Ana de Armas. 

Gracing the cover of the French magazine L’Officiel, de Armas noted, “I didn’t understand why that happened.”

She explained further, “I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than Blonde. But to tell this story, it is important to show all these moments in Marilyn’s life that made her end up the way that she did. It needed to be explained.”

She added, “Everyone knew we had to go to uncomfortable places. I wasn’t the only one.”

The film was based on Joyce Carol Oates’ bestselling novel of the same name, which detailed the sexual abuse and mental illness Monroe suffered. 

de Armas admired the blonde bombshell, noting, “She wanted to have control of the material she was going to work on. No one was thinking like that [back then].”

Ana also expressed she related to Marilyn in another way, when her former relationship with Ben Affleck made her a tabloid fixture: “Something from this interview is going to be taken [out of context] and become something else,” the actress lamented.

“It’s terrifying because there is nothing you can really do,” she continued. “That’s why having family and people who love you is so important. And [Marilyn] didn’t have that. When you think about that, it’s easy to understand how you can break.”

Ana added, “People can be so cavalier about commenting on someone’s life or body or sexuality or relationships. It can really do damage.”

Blonde debuts September 8 on Netflix.

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When many of the copyrights surrounding A.A. Milne‘s Winnie The Pooh characters expired on January 1 of this year, some might not have envisioned this: A horror movie called Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey. 

The haunting trailer for the movie just dropped, showing that Pooh and Piglet didn’t take too well to Christopher Robin leaving them behind for college.

The beloved childhood characters have been abandoned by Christopher Robin and have turned wild,” title cards read, as Robin makes an ill-fated return to the Hundred Acre Woods to reunite with his one-time pals. 

“You know you’re the first person I’ve ever shared this place with,” Robin tells an apparent girlfriend. But their trip through the woods takes a dark turn when they find a wood sign scrawled with “RIP Eeyore,” the name of the books’ mopey donkey.

Director Rhys Waterfield tells Variety he shot the slasher flick in England’s Ashdown Forest, Milne’s inspiration for the honey gobbler’s home, the Hundred Acre Woods. In his retelling, Robin returns to find his cuddly friends have changed. 

“Christopher, we have to leave!” his companion warns desperately. However, a man-sized Pooh materializes from the shadows and breaks her neck. 

Oh, bother.

Later, both Pooh and Piglet are seen stalking a group of young women, Michael Myers style, after the young women decided to stay in a quaint cabin in the woods. 

ABC News’ parent company Disney owns the copyright to Pooh and pals’ traditional appearances, so here the bear is wearing a red plaid hunting jacket instead of his traditional shirt and no pants ensemble.

Safe to say, it’s not safe for kids. The movie debuts later this year.

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While Batgirl‘s wings were clipped, and an upcoming Batman animated series was scuttled, HBO Max is still ride-or-die with Joker’s best girl.

The adult animated series Harley Quinn, featuring Kaley Cuoco voicing the lead role, has been picked up for a fifth season, the streaming service has announced.

The show, which streams uncensored on HBO Max and runs with its trademark salty language censored on TBS and Adult Swim, also features the voices of Lake Bell as Harley’s girlfriend Poison Ivy, Ron Funches as King Shark, Alan Tudyk as Clayface and The Joker, Christopher Meloni as Commissioner Gordon and Diedrich Bader playing Batman/Bruce Wayne.

The show’s current third season has a 100% critics score on the ratings aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and also features the voices of Kaley’s sister and The Flight Attendant co-star Briana Cuoco as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon, JB Smoove as Frank the Plant, What We Do In The Shadows star Harvey Guillen as Nightwing and Sanaa Lathan as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.

For season four, Harley Quinn writer and Workaholics and Master of None veteran Sarah Peters has been boosted to showrunner.

Kaley posted to Instagram on Wednesday a photo of Ivy and Harley celebrating, noting, “Come on, did you reaaaaallyy think we were goin anywhere?!! @dcharleyquinn season 4 baby!”

She added, “coming to wreak beautiful havoc @hbomax duh!”

(Video contains uncensored profanity)

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It’s only been a month since Jordan Peele‘s Nope hit theaters and he’s already hinting at a potential sequel.

While Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer star in the sci-fi horror film, it’s a character portrayed by Michael Busch and billed as “Nobody” on IMDB that has fans buzzing with theories, in part becuase the character appears in the trailer but not the actual film.

When asked about the character during a recent interview with The New York Times, Peele acknowledged the speculation.

“People are doing a lot of interesting detective work, is what’s going on… The story of that character has yet to be told, I can tell you that,” Peele shared. “Which is another frustrating way of saying, I’m glad people are paying attention. I do think they will get more answers on some of these things in the future. We’re not over telling all of these stories.”

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Charlbi Dean, the 32-year-old South African actress who starred in CW’s series Black Lightning and this year’s Cannes Film Festival winner Triangle of Sadness, has died. Variety reports her death resulted from “an unexpected illness.” Triangle of Sadness was Dean’s first lead role; she and The King’s Man star Harris Dickinson played a celebrity couple who take a cruise on a mysterious yacht, only to find it’s not the luxury trip they thought it was…

Nicolas Cage is gearing up to star in an upcoming comedy titled Dream Scenario, Deadline reports. The only details known at the moment are that it is a comedy and it’s being produced and financed by A24, with Kristoffer Borgli directing. Most recentlym Cage appeared in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which also starred Pedro Pascal and Tiffany Haddish. Next on the docket for Cage is the Western thriller Butcher’s Crossing and an action comedy titled Renfield…

The cause of death for Elvis star Shonka Dukureh has been revealed as “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” according to the coroner’s report obtained by Us Weekly. The death was determined to be “natural.” Dukureh, 44, was found dead in her Nashville, Tennessee home on July 21. Per the outlet, she was “discovered unresponsive in bed by her minor son … [who] ran to the neighbors for help, who then called 911…”

Richard Roat, who made appearances in shows like Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, Murphy Brown, Dallas, Hawaii Five-O and Happy Days, has died. He was 89. According to Deadline, Roat’s family said he died on August 5 in Orange County, California. Roat has also made appearances in popular sitcoms like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, 7th Heaven, Matlock, and more…

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In the new satirical comedy Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., Sterling K. Brown plays Lee-Curtis Childs, a pastor at a Southern Baptist megachurch trying to rebuild his congregation after a huge scandal.

The film is not afraid to dive into deep topics – sexual impropriety, hypocrisy and pride, to name a few – and Brown tells ABC Audio he knows that will possibly upset some people. And that’s OK.

“I’m somebody who’s grown up in the church, has a deep affinity for it, but I feel like there’s some critical thought that could be examined,” Brown says. “Nothing is perfect, everything can be looked at further.”

One of the biggest topics the film handles is marriage. Specifically, Brown says, it asks “what constitutes the breaking of a covenant” and “when is the right time to be out” of a marriage.

Regina Hall, who plays Brown’s wife, Trinity, in the film, agrees, saying that marriage is “defined in this movie specifically, as, ‘are you a Christian?’ And, if so, ‘how much you are willing to endure?'”

“Trinity is a Christian,” Hall says. “She just has to endure Lee-Curtis. That’s a bit of a measure on her Christianity.”

Brown says he was – at first – a bit hesitant to take on a role some might find controversial.

“Not enough to not let me do it,” he says. “But, yeah. I hear my mom’s voice all the time … my mama will ask with every role that I do, ‘Now how does this honor God?’ And I’ll be like, ‘Well, Mama, God made us. And he made each and every one of us and God didn’t make no mistakes.’”

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is in theaters everywhere and streaming on Peacock this Friday.

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It seems Michael Fishman‘s exit from The Conners wasn’t as smooth as first thought.

The news Monday that he was leaving the show on which he played D.J. Conner seemed to indicate he’d be stepping behind the camera more; he had directed five episodes of the reboot.

However, in a lengthy statement to People, he noted, “While I was told I would not be returning for season 5, Lanford was a valuable place to grow up, learn, and develop,” Fishman said referring to the show’s setting.

“As I venture into the world to build the future, I send tremendous love and success to everyone involved in production,” he continued.

Fishman also shared, “It has been my honor to play D.J. Conner…I am proud of the work I did as part of Roseanne and The Conners. Especially the privilege of playing a Military Veteran, Interracial Spouse, and the father of a Bi-racial child, portrayed by the amazing Jayden Rey.”

Rey was also let go from the series, though could return as a guest.

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Oscar winner Ben Kingsley will once again play the man who would be king, hack actor Trevor Slattery, in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Wonder Man series.

Variety was first to break the news, about which Marvel is staying mum.

Kingsley first played Slattery in 2013’s Iron Man 3: a washed-up, drugged-out actor who was tasked with portraying a fearsome terrorist known as The Mandarin. In 2014’s Marvel One-Shot short All Hail The King, fans catch up with Slattery behind bars, enjoying his celebrity status as a onetime supervillain — until he’s sprung from prison to be punished by the actual Mandarin.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe catches back up with Trevor in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, where as it turns out he was spared execution and acts instead as something of a court jester for the fearsome group known as the Ten Rings.

The Wonder Man project reunites Kingsley with Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi.

While the Disney+ series won’t necessarily follow the character’s comic origins exactly, Wonder Man was the alter ego of weapons manufacturer Simon Williams. Williams blames fellow iron monger Tony Stark for his father’s company going under and eventually gets superpowers from Baron Helmut Zemo, the baddie played by Daniel Brühl in the MCU.

Incidentally, ABC Audio recently spoke with Marvel Studios producer Brad Winderbaum, who cut his teeth on the One-Shots. A flashback to Kingsley in Caged Heat, Trevor’s failed 1980s TV pilot in All Hail the King, was a high point.

“That Caged Heat video, that trailer for Trevor Slattery’s television show is one of my favorite things we’ve ever put on screen,” Winderbaum laughed.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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While he has what most would consider a glamorous job, Owen Wilson is just Dad to his three kids. That’s one of the reasons he was so interested in Secret Headquarters, which is now streaming on Paramount+.

Wilson plays Jack, a divorced father trying to hide his secret identity as a superhero from his tween son Charlie — who happens to idolize The Guardian, the very hero he discovers is his dad.

“That was one of the things that sort of stood out to me sort of with the script,” Wilson told ABC Audio.

“… I know growing up, kind of looking up to my dad and kind of idolizing him. And then …you get to the teen years and there’s a … kind of a challenge. And I think that’s sort of genuine in this …”

Marvel movie vet Michael Peña plays Ansel Argon, a wannabe supervillain trying to get his hands on the item that gives The Guardian his power; former Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams plays his tech whiz.

However, according to the pair, Wilson already has a superpower.

“When he first showed up, and he sounded exactly like Owen Wilson, then you think like, ‘Wow, this dude is special,'” Peña said.

“You know, he has the distinct way of saying the R’s and stuff. And I, I caught myself watching more than, like, being in the scene. And you’re like, ‘That’s Owen Wilson, dude!'”

Williams agrees. “Anything he says, it’s funny. He could read a menu!”

Peña then cracked himself up imitating his co-star. “‘I got a bird, you know, his name’s Tyrone!'”

“‘Wow,'” the actor said, laughing, imitating a phrase Wilson has uttered in seemingly every film.

Peña then gave another example, “Real. It’s real, you know,” anything with an R, you know?”

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Sherri Shepherd is ready to premiere her talk show next month after receiving advice from one of her idols, Oprah Winfrey.

The comedian says Oprah called her after she sent her texts requesting tutoring from the 19-time Emmy award winner.

“I took 15 pages of notes until my fingers cramped up,” the former co-host of The View told Entertainment Weekly. “I took a potassium pill because my fingers were cramped and I couldn’t write anymore. I said, ‘Hold on, I have to commit this to memory,’ because nobody will believe that I’m talking to and laughing with Oprah.”

“One thing I took from Oprah is, she said, ‘Sherri, the show is not about the ratings, it’s about the energy,’” Shepherd continued. “You put out the energy, and it will come back in direct proportion to you from the audience. It’s your responsibility. You’re in charge of the energy that is on your show.”

Sherri says she embraced those words of wisdom.

“I felt that, because I was like, damn, I just wanted to show some viral videos and make people laugh,” she added. “But it’s true, it’s the energy you give off, which is why we love Oprah.”

Oprah hosted her iconic talk show from 1986 to 2011. Now as Shepherd looks forward to her debut in less than two weeks, she says Winfrey’s advice is precious.

“I’m literally going to frame the 15 pages of notes,” Shepherd shares. “I’m not even throwing them away. Those will be in my memoirs, my biopic, the notes will be on the wall. If I could’ve recorded Oprah, I would’ve, because I said that nobody is going to believe this.”

After filling in as a guest host on The Wendy Williams Show, Shepherd’s own show, simply titled Sherri, premieres September 12.

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