The new Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air tells the story of the U.S. Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group, the group of men who bombed Nazi Germany during World War II.
The group’s success came at a great price: 77 percent of them were killed, injured or captured. Barry Keoghan plays Lt. Curtis Biddick in the series and told ABC Audio the story really impacted him.
“They had a mission, they had to get on with it,” Keoghan said. “They’d see their friends come and go and probably not come back … they were dealing with death and there was no time to grieve, and all of these things I got a hint of. I’m not going to say I felt, because that’s unfair, but I got a hint of it.”
Keoghan said working on the show made him appreciate the mental health resources available to young adults nowadays.
“It’s crazy when you get a hint of how it was back then and these kids having to become men quite quick,” Keoghan said. “It really gives you a massive kind of gratitude to just all the things that we have these days, like support systems even or, you know, a place to go and speak to someone.”
Masters of the Air producer Gary Goetzman has brought about two other series about World War II – The Pacific and Band of Brothers. He said there’s a reason these stories need to keep being told.
“I’ve talked to kids at studios who don’t really know what world war Hitler’s from,” Goetzman said. “I think it’s time to have a little brush up, you know, on things. Stories get away from us, and they’re important. We’ve got to remember history. We’ve got to know where the bad left turns are, you know.”
Snubs and surprises are always the big story on Oscar nomination day, and ABC News’ Peter Travers gave his picks for both.
While Margot Robbie was snubbed in the Best Actress category for her role in Barbie, she’s still nominated as a producer on the blockbuster, which was nominated for Best Picture, and in seven other categories.
Instead, in the running for Best Actress is the surprising choice of Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall.
And you can’t mention Barbie without another major snub: Its director and co-writer, Greta Gerwig, was shut out in the Best Director category, even as her movie was nominated for Best Picture.
Gerwig and her husband/writing partner Noah Baumbach were nominated — but for some reason in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.
Bradley Cooper was expected to get a Best Actor nomination for Maestro, but the actor being missing in the Best Director category was a snub — another skipped-over director who helmed a Best Picture nominee.
Another A-list snub? Leonardo DiCaprio for Killers of the Flower Moon. While Leo’s co-star Lily Gladstone emerged with a well-earned and expected nom, and Robert De Niro was nominated in the Supporting Actor category, Travers insists Leo was “robbed.”
The Color Purple was snubbed in the Best Picture category, Travers opines, with Supporting Actress Danielle Brooks being the movie’s only major category entry. By contrast, Travers says, Steven Spielberg‘s nonmusical adaptation of The Color Purple earned 10 nominations in 1985.
Another surprise, Travers says, is three non-English-language films being included among the 10 Best Picture hopefuls. Those would be Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest and Past Lives. South Korea’s Parasite winning Best Picture in 2020 — after 90 years of only English-language films winning — opened the door, Travers says: “It’s about time.”
Bradley Cooper‘s pet project, the biographical drama Maestro, earned seven Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning, including Best Picture; Best Actor for its director, Cooper; and Best Actress for Carey Mulligan.
Cooper and Mulligan respectively play Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein in the Netflix film, which the streamer calls, “A love letter to life and art” and “an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.”
In a statement obtained by ABC Audio, Cooper said, “We are all so grateful to be recognized alongside all of these incredible works of art this year.” He goes on to hail “the performances from every actor who I so admire.”
Now a 12-time Oscar nominee, Cooper was previously nominated for The Silver Linings Playbook and American Sniper, as well as for his directorial debut A Star Is Born, which was in the running for Best Picture in 2019.
In his statement, Cooper also thanked Bernstein’s children Jamie, Alex and Nina “for allowing their parents’ story to be out there in the world,” and naturally thanked the academy. “We are very honored to be included,” he concluded.
Mulligan, a previous Best Actress nominee for An Education and Promising Young Woman, added, “We poured so much love and joy into Maestro. I’m brimming with gratitude today and huge pride for the rest of the Maestro team!”
She added, “Thank you to Bradley for handing me this gift of a role and an experience. I fiddled with Felicia’s lighter all morning, keeping the point of all of this close to my heart.”
After expressing her gratitude to the Motion Picture Academy as well, Mulligan said, “[W]e are going to have the best time ever dressing up and paying tribute to this extraordinary couple.”
Martin Scorsese‘s epic Killers of the Flower Moon earned 10 Oscar nominations Tuesday morning, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro.
It was a historic 10th Best Director nomination for 81-year-old Academy Award winner Scorsese.
In a statement obtained by ABC News, Scorsese said, “It’s deeply gratifying to receive this recognition from the Academy, for myself and for so many of my collaborators on Killers of the Flower Moon.”
The film depicts the real-life campaign of terror that was exacted against the oil-rich Osage Nation in the 1920s, and the filmmakers took great pains to collaborate with members of the indigenous community to tell the story correctly.
Scorsese continued, “It was a remarkable experience to make this picture, to work together with the Osage community to tell the story of a genuine American tragedy, hidden in the shadows of official culture for far too long.”
He also hailed musician Robbie Robertson, who was posthumously nominated for the movie’s score. “I only wish that Robbie Robertson had lived to see his work recognized — our many years of friendship and Robbie’s growing consciousness of his own Native heritage played a crucial role in my desire to get this film onscreen,” Scorsese concluded.
For his part, De Niro told ABC Audio through his rep, “It was a privilege and a joy to work with Marty Scorsese, Leo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and the full cast and crew,” calling the film nothing short of “a mission.”
A group of lucky stars got the call they’ve been waiting for Tuesday morning when the nominations for the 96th annual Academy Awards were announced.
Oppenheimer led the pack with 13 nominations.
“Waking up to all of these nominations for Christopher Nolan and his many talented collaborators is an absolute delight,” Best Supporting Actor nominee Robert Downey Jr. said, noting it’s “the honor of a lifetime to be part of the cinematic masterpiece that is Oppenheimer” and “a privilege” to be “nominated alongside such esteemed company.”
Rustin Best Actor nominee Colman Domingo told ABC News he’s “overwhelmed in the most extraordinary way.” He was too nervous to watch the announcements and was “pacing around in his bathroom” when his manager congratulated him on becoming an Oscar nominee.
Another Best Actor hopeful, American Fiction‘s Jeffrey Wright, told ABC News in part, “There are so many people who have gifted me with their talents to allow my work to grow, so it’s pretty cool to be acknowledged for that.”
Nyad Best Actress nominee Annette Bening said she’s “thrilled and over the moon with excitement to be nominated for an Academy Award alongside my partner in the film [Best Supporting Actress nominee], Jodie Foster.”
Another Best Actress hopeful, Killers of the Flower Moon‘s Lily Gladstone said via phone, “I’m definitely bellowing my voice back to my childhood self, congratulating her.”
“I made a point of being in Osage County on the Osage reservation for what hopefully would have been the announcement,” she added, remembering her character Mollie Kyle and “the most incredible community that made this moment possible.”
Danielle Brooks, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Color Purple, told ABC News, “As a young girl, someone who just graduated Juilliard, just needing money to get on the train to get to an audition for regional theater, I never would have imagined a few years later I would be Oscar-nominated.”
Another Best Supporting Actress nominee, The Holdovers‘ Da’Vine Joy Randolph said she is “over the moon” about her Oscar nomination, calling it “a really surreal moment.”
While she may have been snubbed for a Best Actress nomination, Barbie star and producer Margot Robbie can at least take comfort she tops a new ranking of the most popular movie stars.
The website NoDepositRewards.com took a look through Instagram follower counts, monthly average Google searches and 2023 box office figures to find Robbie was on top. She had 2,661,300 Google searches on average per month — despite not even having her own Instagram account.
In second place was her Barbie co-star Ryan Gosling. Fans felt the Kenergy to the tune of 1,713,600 Google searches for the star, who also avoids social media.
Thanks to having two of the highest-grossing movies of 2023 in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and a 2023 box office haul of $2.25 billion, Chris Pratt ranked third on the list, with some 781,100 Google searches per month and 45.8 million Instagram followers.
Fast X lead and Guardians‘ Groot, Vin Diesel, ranked fourth, with 648,800 Google searches and 102 million Insta followers.
Vin’s Fast X co-star John Cena rounded out the top five on the list, with more than 20 million Instagram followers, 754,900 Google searches on average per month and a 2023 box office take of more than $2.1 billion, thanks to Fast X and supporting turns in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Barbie.
While Jenna Ortega ranked seventh on the list, the Scream VI star boasts more than 39 million Insta followers and had the highest number of average monthly Google searches with nearly 3 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was Oppenheimer‘s Florence Pugh (#7), her co-star and new Oscar nominee Cillian Murphy (#8), Aquaman and Fast X‘s Jason Momoa (#9) and Mario‘s Princess Peach, Anya Taylor-Joy (#10).
Former Modern Family star Sofía Vergara has opened up about her split from Joe Manganiello after seven and a half years of marriage.
“My marriage broke up because my husband was younger,” the 51-year-old actress told the Spanish newspaper El País. She said the 47-year-old Magic Mike alum “wanted to have kids and I didn’t want to be an old mom.”
She added, “I feel it’s not fair to the baby. I respect whoever does it, but that’s not for me anymore.”
Sofía has a 32-year-old son, Manolo,with her ex-husband Joe Gonzalez. Though she doesn’t want to be a mom again, she’s ready for her son to be a dad.
“I had a son at 19, who is now 32, and I’m ready to be a grandmother, not a mother,” she continued. “So, if love comes along, he has to come with [his own] children.”
Sofia expressed, “I’m almost in menopause; it’s the natural way of things. When my son becomes a dad, let him bring the baby to me for a while and then I’ll give it back to him and go on with my life; that’s what I have to do.”
Sofia and Joe divorced in July of 2023. She recently told CBS Sunday Morning she was happily
“surprised” the media response to the split “wasn’t bad.”
“I have to say the press was very respectful and very nice,” she said. “I thought they were going to invent more things. You know how they usually [do that], and I was surprised. They kind of just said what it was, and that was it. I’ve been moving on.”
Vergara can now be seen as notorious Colombian drug queenpin Griselda Blanco in Netflix’s Griselda, a series she also produced.
Lucy Hale and Nat Wolff share their entire romantic pasts with each other as they fall in love in the new romantic comedy Which Brings Me to You.
It’s a mature premise for a rom-com, one Wolff told ABC Audio was new for him.
“Most of them I’ve done were when I was, like, wearing backpacks and slamming lockers and going to prom,” Wolff said. “It’s exciting to play a character that’s my own age and can kind of reflect back on previous relationships and try to make room for a new one.”
Hale knew she wanted Wolff as her on-screen partner from the very beginning.
“Lucy used her power as an executive producer to get me hired,” Wolff said. “I’m not even kidding. She got me the job.”
She wanted someone charming and endearing, who could also add layers of nuance.
“I had wanted to work with Nat for years,” Hale said. “He is such a talent and such a fun actor to work with, because sometimes I didn’t really know where he would go, but you have no choice but just to go along with him.”
Because the film takes place over a single day, Hale and Wolff wore the same costumes — a maroon dress and a navy blue suit — in almost every scene.
“I definitely was tired of the outfit, but I wasn’t tired of the experience,” Hale said.
Wolff felt differently. “I will never f****** wear a blue suit again,” he said. “I’m over it.”
What he wasn’t over, however, was getting to act alongside Hale.
“There was some magic on the set where something felt kind of effortless,” Wolff said. “I felt that in the movie … there’s an effortlessness to Lucy and I picked up on that and it was really nice.”
On Tuesday morning, Joker‘s Zazie Beetz and The Boys‘ Jack Quaid announced the 96th Oscars nominations in all 23 categories in a live presentation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Oppenheimer led the competition with 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Christopher Nolan, and Best Actor, Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, respectively for Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and Emily Blunt.
Poor Things was in second place with 11 nominations, including Best Picture, and Best Actress for star and producer Emma Stone, while Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon scored 10.
Barbie earned eight noms, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling, and Best Supporting Actress for America Ferrera.
Here’s the list of nominees:
Best supporting actor
Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction
Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things
Best costume design
Barbie – Jacqueline Durran Killers of the Flower Moon – Jacqueline West Napoleon – David Crossman, Janty Yates Oppenheimer – Ellen Mirojnick Poor Things – Holly Waddington
Best makeup and hairstyling
Golda Maestro Oppenheimer Poor Things Society of the Snow
Best live action short film
The After Invincible Knight of Fortune Red, White and Blue The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Best animated short film
Letter to a Pig Ninety-Five Senses Our Uniform Pachyderme War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko
Best adapted screenplay
American Fiction – Cord Jefferson Barbie – Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan Poor Things – Tony McNamara The Zone of Interest – Jonathan Glazer
Best original screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall – Justine Triet, Arthur Harari The Holdovers – David Hemingson Maestro – Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer May December – Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik Past Lives – Celine Song
Best supporting actress
Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple
America Ferrera – Barbie
Jodie Foster – Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
Best original song
“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie
Best original score
American Fiction Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Killers of the Flower Moon Oppenheimer Poor Things
Best documentary feature film
Bobi Wine: The People’s President The Eternal Memory Four Daughters To Kill a Tiger 20 Days in Mariupol
Best documentary short film
The ABCs of Book Banning The Barber of Little Rock Island in Between The Last Repair Shop Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
Best international feature film
Io Capitano (Italy) Perfect Days (Japan) Society of the Snow (Spain) The Teachers’ Lounge (Germany) The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)
Best animated feature film
The Boy and the Heron Elemental Nimona Robot Dreams Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Best production design
Barbie Killers of the Flower Moon Napoleon Oppenheimer Poor Things
Best film editing
Anatomy of a Fall The Holdovers Killers of the Flower Moon Oppenheimer Poor Things
Best sound
The Creator Maestro Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Oppenheimer The Zone of Interest
Best visual effects
The Creator Godzilla Minus One Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Napoleon
Best cinematography
El Conde – Edward Lachman Killers of the Flower Moon – Rodrigo Prieto Maestro – Matthew Libatique Oppenheimer – Hoyte van Hoytema Poor Things – Robbie Ryan
Best actor
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction
Best actress
Annette Bening – Nyad
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller – Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Emma Stone – Poor Things
Best director
Justine Triet – Anatomy of a Fall
Martin Scorsese – Killers of the Flower Moon
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Yorgos Lanthimos – Poor Things
Jonathan Glazer – The Zone of Interest
Best picture
American Fiction Anatomy of a Fall Barbie The Holdovers Killers of the Flower Moon Maestro Oppenheimer Past Lives Poor Things The Zone of Interest
Norman Jewison, the director of classics like the Oscar-winning romantic comedy Moonstruck and the groundbreaking racial drama In the Heat of the Night, has died, ABC Audio has confirmed. The filmmaker, who also called the shots on the beloved filmed musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof, was 97. He was nominated for seven Oscars but never won. In 1999 he was presented with the academy’s honorary Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award …
Variety reports Lindsay Lohan and Kristin Chenoweth have been tapped to star in the new Netflix rom-com Our Little Secret. They’ll play a pair of “resentful execs … forced to spend Christmas together after discovering their current partners are siblings,” per the outlet. The film will reunite Lohan with her Mean Girls co-star Tim Meadows, along with Jon Rudnitsky, Chris Parnell, Dan Bucatinsky, Henry Czerny, Katie Baker, Ash Santos, Jake Brennan and Brian Unger …
As a result of last year’s writers strike, Rick and Morty‘s eighth season won’t premiere until 2025, according to The Hollywood Reporter. On the bright side, the show’s entire seven seasons are available to stream on Max. Additionally, Adult Swim has released the first in-show footage from the spinoff Rick and Morty: The Anime, which will debut later this year …
