Entertainment

HBO has greenlit The Franchise, a half-hour comedy from Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning director of American Beauty, and Veep and Avenue 5 creator Armando Iannucci that pokes fun at superhero movies. Himesh Patel and Aya Cash star in the series about “the crew of an unloved franchise movie fighting for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe,” per the premium cable channel. HBO teases, “The Franchise shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every f***-up has an origin story.” Incidentally, Cash recently starred as Stormfront in another superhero-skewing series, Amazon’s The Boys…

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie has signed on as a lead producer of the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of The Outsiders, the producing team announced on Wednesday, August 9, according to Deadline. The musical, based on the 1967 coming-of-age novel by S.E. Hinton and the 1983 film adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola, had its world premiere engagement at La Jolla Playhouse earlier this year. Coppola’s 1983 film featured up-and-coming stars Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez…

Robert Swan, the actor best known for his roles in the sports films Hoosiers, Rudy and The Babe, died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer at his home in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, his friend Betty Hoeffner tells The Hollywood Reporter. He was 78. Swan’s other film credits include Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, as well as Who’s That Girl and Mo’ Money. He also was a voice actor in commercials and founded and performed at the Harbor County Opera in Three Oaks, Michigan…

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a film set south of Santa Fe in 2021, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

State District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer has set December 5 as the start date for the trial, beginning with jury selection.

Gutierrez-Reed was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Hutchins, 42, on the New Mexico set of the Western in October 2021. Special prosecutors added a charge of tampering with evidence in June, accusing the armorer of giving cocaine to another person.

She could receive up to three years in prison if convicted.

Gutierrez-Reed is the only person who still faces charges from the incident. The two charges of involuntary manslaughter against actor Alec Baldwin, who was holding the gun when it went off, were dropped in April.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Not the happiest of anniversaries — the Hollywood writers strike hit 100 days Wednesday, with no end in sight. Talks briefly resumed on Friday, August 4 and then broke off almost as quickly as they started.

John Hoffman is a WGA member, and also the co-creator of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. He’s trying to stay positive, but firm, telling ABC Audio he’s “very hopeful for an end in sight, if it’s fair.”

As for the strike hitting the 100 day milestone, Hoffman shares, “I don’t want to say that I expected it, but I don’t find it too unexpected either. The business is having a moment, and it’s a complete reframe.”

“To me, it feels so evident that something has to move,” he adds. “You know, the business has moved and the ways in which people are paid and cared for just to live a very basic life for work that is very necessary for all of the work that’s getting done right now, there’s great justice in pushing for that in these moments, but it’s not without its great hardships.”

Hoffman and his show are up for a bunch of Emmys this year, including Outstanding Comedy and Outstanding Writing. He offered his thoughts about the chances of an Emmy ceremony this year, given the twin strikes.

“I’m hoping there’s an Emmys,” he says. “It would be lovely to go and celebrate all of the incredible work. But from what I understand, it might be after the first of the year, and that’s hopeful, and please let it be sooner than that this has moved on.” 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Fox’s Gordon Ramsay-fronted reality series MasterChef unveils its 250th episode August 9, and to celebrate, the network has given the green light to a 14th season.

The show, which is officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Cookery Television Format, will keep cooking for another season, with Ramsay as host and judge alongside acclaimed chef Aarón Sánchez and renowned restaurateur Joe Bastianich.

The series has been hot for the network over the summer, averaging 3.1 million total viewers in what’s known as the Live + 7 Day metric — good enough to be Wednesday’s #1 entertainment program in the key 18-49 demographic.

“Its impressive performance this summer and tonight’s 250^th episode are a testament to the strength, distinction and longevity” of Masterchef, said Allison Wallach, president of unscripted programming for Fox Entertainment, who called the series “a beloved staple of the FOX brand.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jamie Foxx is proving he’s still got moves as he recovers from that undisclosed medical emergency that led to his hospitalization in April.

Olympic volleyball veteran turned pickleball player Casey Patterson posted to Instagram part of a doubles match he was recently playing against the Oscar winner and a teammate.

Jamie returned Patterson’s teammate Taylor Chien‘s serve with a wicked drop shot that virtually stopped dead when it cleared the net and dribbled in front of Patterson.

“That Jamie Foxx spin will get ya,” Patterson captioned the video.

“I got dead balls out here, dead balls,” Foxx says in the clip.

While some wondered if Patterson was going easy on the star in flubbing the return, The Kitchen Pickleball, an online community dedicated to the growing sport, added, “Jamie is too modest. That wasn’t a dead ball, that was his nasty cut.”

Foxx is a die-hard pickleball fan and started his The Best pickleball gear company with Chien.

In fact, when outlets said Foxx was seemingly at death’s door, his daughter, Corinne, insisted back in May her dad was already back to the court.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Even if you’re not familiar with the web comic series Strange Planet, there’s still a good chance friends of yours have DM’ed you the comics that became a New York Times bestselling book.

Creator Nathan W. Pyle‘s humanoid-like characters point out the absurdities of our own world by peeking at theirs. As an example, “Mouthstones” highlights exactly how weird going to the dentist is when you think about it.

Pyle explains before the pandemic, the comics caught the eye of Dan Harmon, the co-creator of Community, and the Emmy-winning animated series Rick and Morty. Their collaboration, an animated series based on Pyle’s planet, debuts Wednesday, August 9, on Apple TV+.

“It became pretty popular in 2019 in that that fall was when I sat down with Dan Harmon and Steve Levy, and then we sat down with ShadowMachine as well — and ShadowMachine’s made a lot of amazing things, including BoJack Horseman,” Pyle explains.

“But when we all sat down together, it was nice that the work had already proliferated on the Internet. There was a lot of knowledge: All right, here’s what Strange Planet is. Here’s how it celebrates humanity.

The cast includes Community veteran Daniel Pudi and Lori Tan Chinn, resident scene stealer on Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, among others, which is thrilling to Pyle.

“Oh, man. See, Lori Tan Chinn is a good example, where that character that we drew for Lori is so unique and Lori’s voice is so special,” he says. “[It’s] really special when you get to design a character specifically with a voice in mind and make sure that character and the voice match. So I know we’re so proud of how it looks and sounds.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On Wednesday, August 9, Peacock released the first full trailer to The Continental: From the World of John Wick, the prequel series spinoff.

As reported, in the 1970s-set series, Colin Woodell plays the younger version of Ian McShane‘s character Winston from the films.

“This sacred institution wields power beyond your imagination,” Gibson’s Cormac tells Winston of the mysterious hitman hotel. “Your brother stole somethin’ from me. What he took is very important to a lot of very dangerous people. Find him, ’cause if you don’t, I’ll bring the entire weight of this institution down on you both.”

He then ushers him out by asking Ayomide Adegun‘s Charon to show Winston the door. The character, who becomes Winston’s concierge, was played on the big screen by actor Lance Reddick, who passed away unexpectedly in March.

However, instead of turning his brother in, however, Winston decides to get a team together to take on The Continental, meaning “every freak in that hotel” is going to be loaded for bear to stop them.

The trailer is punctuated with all the bone-crunching action you’d expect from the Wick series, with Winston giving a nod to the Baba Yaga himself, when asked what he needs. “Guns. Lots of guns,” he says in a callback to the Wick movies and Keanu Reeves‘ Neo in the Matrix.

“Let’s take this house and all that comes with it,” he says in between the action, before ending with the line made famous by McShane: “And away we go…”

The three-part series kicks off September 22.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Although he doesn’t come out and say it, Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer is seemingly pointing out the hypocrisy from the show’s executive producer’s plans to shoot its 40th season amid the writers’ strike.

Holzhauer, the third-biggest winner in the show’s history, posted a link to Michael Davies‘ recent comments to the Inside Jeopardy podcast, in which he outlined plans to use “a combination of material that our WGA writers wrote before the strike, which is still in the database, and material that has been re-deployed from multiple seasons of the show.”

Holzhauer noted, “If you don’t have time to listen, here’s the executive summary of today’s announcement,” before paraphrasing Davies. “1:00-2:00: Jeopardy’s writers are invaluable and we couldn’t produce the show without them 2:00-15:00: Here is how we will produce the upcoming season without them.”

As previously reported, Ray Lalonde, a Jeopardy! winner who won more than $386,000 on the game show in 2022, said he’s boycotting the show’s upcoming Tournament of Champions in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America strike.

The player bristled at using “recycled material” to make up for striking writers who are unable to write new questions.

Another veteran player, Dan Wohl, agreed, replying that although he qualified for a Wild Card slot, he “will certainly never cross the picket line for [it].”

At least eight other former players were spotted at the time replying in solidarity to Lalonde’s post.

Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik walked away from Jeopardy! in May in solidarity with the WGA strikers, leaving counterpart Ken Jennings to shoot the remaining episodes of season 39.

Season 40 of Jeopardy! is set to premiere on September 11, 2023.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Octavia Spencer says her friend and fellow Oscar winner Sandra Bullock lost her “soulmate” with the death of her romantic partner Bryan Randall to ALS.

On her Instagram, Spencer, who starred in two films with Bullock, including the sequel to Miss Congeniality, posted a split-screen picture of the couple, adding, “My heart is broken for Sandy and Bryan.”

She continued, “Sandy lost her soulmate and the world lost a talented, handsome, all around good guy! My prayers and condolences to their families. RIP Bryan Randall.”

To Randall, Spencer referenced her own late mother: “In heaven, there’s a tiny little lady up there who looks an awful lot like me bossing the Angels around. Especially Gabriel. She’ll get him to play any song you want to hear. Give her a kiss from me.”

Meanwhile, Bullock’s promise to take time off last year is getting new attention, now that it was revealed she was a caretaker to Randall until the end. Randall’s ALS diagnosis was a secret to all but a handful surrounding the Speed star, but according to Page Six, that circle included Bullock’s buddy and The Lost City co-star Channing Tatum.

While promoting that 2022 film, Bullock noted she planned to take an indeterminate amount of time away from the spotlight.

“I want to be at home,” the actress told CBS Sunday Morning.

She added, “‘Cause I was always running, I was always running to the next thing. I just want to be present and responsible for one thing.”

In that interview, Bullock was asked to rate her life from 1-10, and replied “9.2.” When asked why she replied so specifically, The Blind Side star said, “Because the other shoe will drop. It will.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes, actor Billy Porter shared the personal toll it has taken on him revealing that he has no choice but to put his house up for sale.

“I have to sell my house,” Porter shared in a recent interview with the Evening Standard. “Because we’re on strike. And I don’t know when we’re gonna go back [to work].”

“The life of an artist, until you make f***-you money — which I haven’t made yet — is still check-to-check,” the Emmy winner continued. “I was supposed to be in a new movie, and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening.”

“So to the person who said ‘We’re going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments,'” You’ve already starved me out,” the Pose actor said, referencing a controversial comment made by an unnamed studio executive. 

Porter, who is currently in London for work, added that he plans to join the picket lines when he returns home. 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.