Entertainment

Hacks star Jean Smart was crowned Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the 2022 Emmy Awards.

The actress admitted she was “more nervous” than she expected to accept the prestigious honor. This is her second-straight overall win, as she had also collected the honor in 2021.

“I am so blown away by our writers who not only matched season one, but surpassed it,” the actress gushed, adding, “Season two has been a litmus test.”

Smart shouted out her cast and crew, who “went above and above and above,” in her opinion.  She also had special words for fellow nominee Rachel Brosnahan.  “She sent this box of designer cookies, they were like 5 pounds each.  I thought that was so classy until I realized she was hoping I wouldn’t be able to fit into a single dress in Hollywood,” she cracked.  “Thanks anyway.”

Smart, who was dressed in a flattering white gown, also admitted she “lost a bet” and had to make another announcement.  “As promised, thank you for the Botox,” she quipped — marking the second time of the night the beauty treatment was brought up.

A skit involving The Simpsons featured Bart Simpson calling Moe from the bar and asking for a “Boe Tox.”

Smart was in a tight race this year for the Emmy, as she was also nominated against Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Brosnahan, Kaley Cuoco from The Flight Attendant, The Great‘s Elle Fanning and Insecure star Issa Rae.

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Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis collected his second-straight Emmy win for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

The actor admitted he was “not overly prepared” to accept the honor because he was pitted against an impressive list of nominees this year, and quickly thanked the cast and crew of the hit comedy series.  

“It’s a joy to get to work with you guys.  You guys are amazing,” he gushed, adding he was “truly, truly surprised and flattered” to take home the high honor.

It should be noted that an earlier skit may have spoiled the night’s big winner.  An animated bit involving The Simpsons jokingly crowned Homer Simpson the night’s winner, and he loudly bellowed, “I beat Jason Sudeikis!” 

Also up for a trophy was Donald Glover for Atlanta, Only Murders in the Building stars Martin Short and Steve Martin, Bill Hader for Barry and The Great‘s Nicholas Hoult.

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Amanda Seyfried and Jennifer Coolidge won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress and Supporting Actress in a drama series, respectively, during Monday night’s 74th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony.

First up to retrieve their Emmy was Coolidge, whose role as Tanya McQuoid in HBO’s The White Lotus earned her this year’s Outstanding Supporting Actress honor. 

“Gosh, what a night,” she said, before addressing her fellow nominees, which included Connie Britton, Alexandra Daddario, Kaitlyn Dever, Natasha Rothwell, Sydney Sweeney, and Mare Winningham. “I just want to say…  just to be in your company, it’s incredible.”

The Legally Blonde alum then went on to inform the audience that she may have a hard time speaking due to taking a lavender bath before the show that made her “swell” inside her dress. But, before she could get out the rest of her thank yous, the infamous music, which acts as a signal for stars to wrap up their speech, began to play. 

Coolidge pleaded for them to “wait” before giving in and doing little dance before leaving the stage.

Next up, Seyfried snagged the award for Outstanding Lead Actress thanks to her performance as Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s The Dropout.

“This is a really nice feeling,” she said before doling out a list of thank yous to the cast, crew, and network. “It was really hard but it was the best time of my life.”

Seyfried closed with a sweet thank you to her family and instructions for her five-year-old daughter, who was watching at home, to head to bed.

“Bub, you have to go to bed now, thanks,” she said.

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Saturday Night Live alums Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers helped announce history at the 2022 Emmy Awards when actress Sheryl Lee Ralph became this year’s winner of Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

This is a historic win for Ralph, as she is now the the second Black woman in Emmy history to win this honor.  Jackée Harry was the first Black woman to win Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, taking home the honor in 1987 for 227.

The moment wasn’t lost on the Abbott Elementary star, who broke into a joyful song to accept the award. The audience leapt to its feet to celebrate the moment.

“To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your treatment wasn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like, this is what striving looks like,” Ralph declared. “And don’t you ever, ever give up on you!”

Singer Lizzo then helped announce Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. This marks the second-straight win for the cantankerous actor, who picked up the award in 2021. 

This time around, he said he learned a valuable lesson about keeping his acceptance speech clean. The British actor explained, “I was told not to swear and I did and I’m sorry. But it meant the feed got cut back home in the U.K. so my family never got to hear me say this. So thank you for this second chance!”

He then dropped a series of expletives, which also got muted, and joked “I’m so sorry!”

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Matthew Macfadyen and Julia Garner won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress in a drama series, respectively, during Monday night’s 74th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, hosted by Kenan Thompson from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater. 

Macfadyen, who won for his role as Tom Wambsgans in HBO’s Succession, said he was “deeply flattered and thrilled to bits” as he accepted the award from Sofia Vergara. 

“I must say it really is such a pleasure and a privilege for me to play this bonkers gift of a role in this wonderful show,” he expressed, before giving thanks to the entire team who make the show possible.

Shortly after, Kerry Washington and Gael Garcia Bernal presented Julia Garner with the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a drama series for her job as Ruth Langmore in Netflix’s Ozark.

Garner thanked the Television Academy and Netflix before giving a special shout out to the shows leading stars.

“I want to thank Jason Bateman for taking a chance on me,” she said. “And Laura Linney, who you’ve been such a guiding light to me I just feel really grateful, really grateful to be here.”

Rushed with eight seconds left to give her speech, Garner concluded, “I love you all and now I’ve got to go. Thank you all so much, I love you all.”

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The 2022 Emmy Awards started off with a colorful number from host Kenan Thompson and led into “the queen of all thrones,” Oprah Winfrey announcing Michael Keaton as the winner of Lead Actor in a Limited Series.

“You have about 90 of these, don’t you?” the Dopesick actor joked to Oprah to open his acceptance speech about believing in oneself.  Keaton also spoke about how television shaped his childhood and how he fell in love with acting by reenacting scenes from “all of the cowboy shows” he used to watch.

He revealed his family encouraged him to act out those scenes in front of them and said, “I want to thank them.  I want to just thank all those people in my family for never making me feel foolish, because I went on to do that several times myself!”

After Keaton walked off stage, The White Lotus‘ Murray Bartlett was announced as this year’s winner for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series.

He won out against fellow Emmy-nominated White Lotus alums Steve Zahn and Jake Lacey.

Bartlett kept his speech focused on his castmates, friends and family for their support.  He had a poignant shout out to his mother, who was watching from Australia.  He thanked her for “the most wonderful foundation of unconditional love and inspiring me to believe that we can all do that for each other. Thank you, mom!”

He hoisted up his sparkling Emmy and finished, “And thank you for this!”

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The 74th annual Primetime Emmy Awards aired Monday night live from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater. Television’s biggest night was hosted by Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson, who opened the star-studded event by paying tribute to “the greatest invention in the history of mankind, television.”

“I mean, if it weren’t for TV, what would we do in our free time? Read books? No one in this room has read a book in the last 50 years,” he joked.

Other alternatives to television Thompson mentioned included TikTok, which he joked was just a “tiny vertical television.”

“TV is all we have,” he continued. “From Netflix and chill to Paramount plus and eating dinner alone.”

The actor and comedian then, with the help of dancers and props galore, went on to perform a medley of TV theme songs from iconic shows like Friends, Th Brady Bunch, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and more. 

After that it was time for Thompson to hand over the reigns to the first presenter of the night, Oprah Winfrey. 

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While a sequel to 2009’s Avatar hits theaters in December, Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron says cameras are already rolling on the fourth film in the series.

Cameron’s project was one of many teased at Disney’s D23 expo over the weekend, and he revealed some new footage from the upcoming sequel Avatar: The Way of Water.

However, the Titanic and Terminator director isn’t resting on his laurels: While the team at New Zealand’s Weta Digital is putting the finishing touches on December’s film, cameras are rolling on the fourth installment, due in theaters in 2026.

The as-yet untitled third installment, which was shot concurrently with Way of Water, wrapped late in 2020 and is set for a December 2024 debut in theaters.

The original Avatar still sits at the top of the all-time box office chart, having made more than $2.8 billion in theaters worldwide to date — and that’s not counting the cash that will be added to the pot when the film is re-released in theaters September 23.

Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldaña and Stephen Lang return for Avatar: The Way of Water; joining them for the sequel will be Cameron’s Titanic star Kate Winslet, big-screen legend Michelle Yeoh and Emmy winner Edie Falco, among others.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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The horror film Barbarian took the top spot at the box office over the weekend, in the wake of great reviews and a 93% “Certified Fresh” label from the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie was written and directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Zach Cregger, who explained to ABC Audio that the project began as an exercise: trying to write a scene in which a character encounters many “red flags” when meeting someone new. 

In the movie, Georgina Campbell pays Tess, who finds a mysterious guy is living in the home she rented, and the red flags pile on from there. With that in mind, we wanted to know her own red flags. 

“Well, I suppose in this scenario, like getting into an Airbnb and there being someone there is definitely a red flag,” she said with a laugh. 

“You just have, like, an instinctual feeling of people really, don’t you?” she mused. 

“Sometimes just the way someone looks at you or says something, and you get that feeling in your stomach that like, ‘Ooh … They’re not quite right,'” the actress laughs.

For Justin Long, who usually plays “nice guy” roles, it was a fun stretch to play AJ, a disgraced former star who also ends up in the increasingly creepy rental. 

“I don’t normally get this opportunity to play guys who are so flawed … and so I had so much fun,” he says. 

Of his character, he explains, “I know some guys like that. And so unfortunately, I had some things to draw from.”

He said of the first-time director, “Zach … gave us both a lot of freedom to play … and yet he had such a specific vision. So it was a really great combination.” 

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Halle Bailey has enjoyed musical success with her older sister Chloe as the duo Chloe x Halle, and now she feels she’s maturing as a woman with her starring role in The Little Mermaid.

Bailey portrays the underwater Disney princess Ariel in the upcoming live-action film.

“I’d definitely say coming into this film I was a lot more, I think, just young-minded and a bit more not sure of myself so much,” the 22-year-old entertainer tells People. “The whole experience of filming, in more ways than one, mirrored Ariel’s journey of finding herself and her voice.”

Disney debuted the official teaser trailer Friday at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, and it earned over 104 million global views, according to Variety.

Zendaya, Halle Berry, Keke Palmer, Nicki Minaj and Amanda Gorman were among the celebrities praising the clip on Twitter.

In the teaser trailer, Bailey swims under water, leads viewers through her treasure trove and sings some of the lyrics to the iconic song “Part of Your World.”

“I remember at the end of filming, wrap day, I was just sobbing because I truly felt like I had come out of this cocoon with Ariel,” Bailey adds.

She says the film has “changed my perspective on everything” and “impacted my life in so many ways.” Bailey hopes that Black girls will be inspired by her performance.

“The fact that now it’s getting to be played by me, a person who looks like me, woman of color, I’m just like, wow, I’m so grateful what it will do for all the other little Black and brown boys and girls who will see themselves in me,” she says.

The Little Mermaid opens in theaters May 26, 2023.

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