Sister reveals Sandra Bullock was “caretaker” to partner Bryan Randall before his ALS death

Sister reveals Sandra Bullock was “caretaker” to partner Bryan Randall before his ALS death
Sister reveals Sandra Bullock was “caretaker” to partner Bryan Randall before his ALS death
Randall and Bullock in 2018 – Jackson Lee/GC Images

Gesine Bullock-Prado, Sandra Bullock‘s sister, has memorialized the Speed star’s longtime partner Bryan Randall, who died on Saturday, August 5, after a private three-year battle with ALS.

The photographer, who has been linked to the Oscar winner since 2015, was 57, and was being cared for by Bullock in their home before his death, according to her sister.

To a smiling photo of the former male model enjoying a cigar, Gesine wrote, “I’m convinced that Bry has found the best fishing spot in heaven and is already casting his lure into rushing rivers teaming with salmon.”

She added, “ALS is a cruel disease but there is some comfort in knowing he had the best of caretakers in my amazing sister and the band of nurses she assembled who helped her look after him in their home. Rest in peace, Bryan.”

Her statement was met with support online, including from My Big Fat Greek Wedding‘s Nia Vardalos, who said she, “was always touched by his gentlemanly manners,” adding, “I’m sorry for your loss. Sending much love to your sister, you and your family.”

A rep for the star confirmed Randall’s death to ABC News on Monday, August 7, noting Randall wished to keep his battle with the disease private.

The statement added, “We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours.”

ALS is a progressive, incurable neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, according to the ALS Association. The initial symptoms of the disease can be varied and can include trouble grasping a pen or lifting a coffee cup, while some may experience a vocal pitch when speaking.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In Brief: ‘Jeopardy!’ boss reveals strike plans, and more

In Brief: ‘Jeopardy!’ boss reveals strike plans, and more
In Brief: ‘Jeopardy!’ boss reveals strike plans, and more

Jeopardy!‘s 40th season will move forward despite the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike but with recycled clues and contestants. Showrunner Michael Davies explained on the latest episode of Inside Jeopardy! that the long-running ABC game show will 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.” Season 40 of Jeopardy is set to premiere on September 11, 2023. Celebrity Jeopardy! is also set to return in September, but with completely original material that Davies said was completed before the WGA went on strike. As for Jeopardy! Masters, a spring 2024 return date is expected…

HBO’s Succession and FX’s The Bear earned top honors at the 39th annual Television Critics Association’s annual awards, the organization announced Monday. Rhea Seehorn earned the win for individual achievement in drama for the final season of AMC’s Better Call Saul, while Natasha Lyonne took home the individual achievement in comedy prize for her role in Peacock’s Poker Face. Netflix’s Beef won for movies/miniseries/specials and the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel won for family programming. Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson won for variety/talk/sketch show, and Freevee’s Jury Duty took home the award for best reality program…

Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid will hit on Disney+ on September 6, the streamer announced on Monday. The Disney+ release will include special features, such as a song breakdown of “Under the Sea,” and Javier Bardem’s performance of “Impossible Child.” The remake of the classic 1989 film — starring Halle Bailey, Bardem and Melissa McCarthy — premiered at the end of May and went on to gross more than $542 million at the global box office. Disney is the parent company of ABC News…

 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘The Bachelorette’ recap: A former flame returns

‘The Bachelorette’ recap: A former flame returns
‘The Bachelorette’ recap: A former flame returns
ABC/Craig Sjodin

Monday’s episode of The Bachelorette saw Charity and her three remaining suitors heading to Fiji for the all important fantasy suite dates, but what was she to do when an unexpected visitor crashed the trip?

Aaron, still reeling over his elimination at last week’s rose ceremony, wasn’t willing to go down without a fight, especially after Charity told him that she wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision. So he flew from San Diego to Fiji to go after the woman he loved. Charity revealed to him that she’d been thinking about her decision “every single day,” and, though she hadn’t verbalized it to Aaron, she was “falling in love” with him.

Earlier, Charity was blindsided by Xavier‘s admission that two years into his last relationship, he’d been unfaithful “multiple times,” and that he couldn’t say with complete certainty whether he could be loyal to her at this point in their relationship. Instead of a night in the fantasy suite, Xavier ended up with a car ride home.

Dates with Joey and Dotun went much better, with both men telling Charity they were in love with her and Charity declaring her love for both men.

The question now for Charity is which of those two relationships will end with an engagement, or will Aaron’s unexpected return ruin both men’s happy ever after.

Before we find out the answer to those questions however, The Bachelorette will return with a special “Men Tell All” episode on Monday, 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘Sharknado’ getting a 10th anniversary edition, with limited theatrical run

‘Sharknado’ getting a 10th anniversary edition, with limited theatrical run
‘Sharknado’ getting a 10th anniversary edition, with limited theatrical run
The Asylum

The year was 2013. Daft Punk‘s “Get Lucky” was on the radio, and in the air, there was a funnel cloud full of sharks.

That was the year that gave us Sharknado, the campy SyFy Channel special starring Tara Reid and Ian Ziering, a whole lot of maturely rendered sharks and, well, tornadoes.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, production company The Asylum is bringing the fish franchise’s original into theaters, with a special two-day event.

According to a new teaser, Sharknado: The Tenth Anniversary Edition boasts “new kills, new thrills, more sharks and more ‘nado.” By that, they likely mean the hundreds of enhanced and added special effects to the original camp classic.

The movie will be coming to theaters just for Tuesday, August 15, and Wednesday, August 16.

The Hollywood Reporter got a peek of a spoofy Barbiefied version of the upcoming movie’s poster, which features a pink sports car, a knockoff Barbie-style font and “Ken” wielding a chainsaw over his head from the passenger’s seat.

For theaters and showtimes, check out the movie’s official 10th Anniversary Edition website.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sandra Bullock’s romantic partner, Bryan Randall, dies at 57 after battle with ALS

Sandra Bullock’s romantic partner, Bryan Randall, dies at 57 after battle with ALS
Sandra Bullock’s romantic partner, Bryan Randall, dies at 57 after battle with ALS
Randall and Bullock in 2018 – Jackson Lee/GC Images

Bryan Randall, who Sandra Bullock had called the “love of my life,” has passed away at 57 years old following a private battle with ALS, People is reporting.

According to a statement from his family, Randall died peacefully on Saturday, August 5, after a “three-year battle” with the degenerative neurological condition.

The family added, “Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request. We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours.”

People reports that Oscar winner Bullock, two years Randall’s senior, first met the model-turned-photographer in January 2015, when he was shooting her son Louis’ birthday party. They went public with their romance later that year, appearing together at the wedding of Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux that same year, and at subsequent red carpet events.

In an installment of Red Table Talk last year, Bullock called Randall “the love of my life.” She told co-hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris that the blending of her two children with his daughter into a family was “the best thing ever.”

She added that the couple saw no need to tie the knot, commenting, “I don’t wanna say do it like I do it, but I don’t need a paper to be a devoted partner and devoted mother. I don’t need to be told to be ever present in the hardest of times. I don’t need to be told to weather a storm with a good man.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Buffy alums Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seth Green reunite to see Taylor Swift slay at LA concert

Buffy alums Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seth Green reunite to see Taylor Swift slay at LA concert
Buffy alums Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seth Green reunite to see Taylor Swift slay at LA concert
Gellar and Green in 2008 – Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

From slaying vampires to Swifties watching Taylor slay.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer alums Sarah Michelle Gellar and Seth Green reunited over the weekend at Taylor Swift’s August 5 Eras Tour show in Los Angeles.

Gellar, 46, shared a photo of her and Green, 49, posing for a selfie to Instagram on Sunday amid a slideshow of all her favorite memories from the epic night out. “Officially in my Eras Era,” she wrote in the caption.

“Look who I found @sethgreen,” she captioned another snap, making a kissy face near the cheek of the Emmy-winning Robot Chicken creator and Austin Powers series star.

Elsewhere in her Instagram slideshow, Gellar shared a clip of her and Green jamming along to Swift as she sang “I Knew You Were Trouble” off the Red album.

Gellar and Green’s friendship goes back to when they starred together on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which ran for seven seasons between 1997 and 2003.

While Gellar played the titular Buffy, Green played Oz, the rocker and werewolf ex-boyfriend of Alyson Hannigan‘s Willow. He appeared in a recurring role in season 2, and later as a main character for seasons 3 and 4.

For the record, the duo’s former co-star Charisma Carpenter — who played Cordelia on Buffy — replied to Gellar’s Instagram post in the comments, writing, “FOMO and Hi.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied reportedly separate after his alleged affair

Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied reportedly separate after his alleged affair
Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied reportedly separate after his alleged affair
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

After 11 years of marriage, Black Swan Oscar winner Natalie Portman and her husband, Benjamin Millepied, have reportedly separated.

Us Weekly reports the split occurred in the wake of the news that Millepied, 46, allegedly had an affair with Camille Étienne, a 25-year-old climate activist. The magazine previously reported that 42-year-old Portman appeared to be willing to work things out, for the sake of raising their 12-year-old son, Aleph, and 6-year-old daughter, Amalia.

The one-time couple met on the set of the Darren Aronofsky drama Black Swan, on which Millepied worked as a dancer and choreographer, and for which she won a Best Actress Academy Award, mentioning him and their baby-to-be in her acceptance speech.

They subsequently announced their engagement in 2010 and reportedly tied the knot in a private ceremony near Big Sur, California, in 2012.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘The Exorcist’, ‘The French Connection’ director William Friedkin dead at 87

‘The Exorcist’, ‘The French Connection’ director William Friedkin dead at 87
‘The Exorcist’, ‘The French Connection’ director William Friedkin dead at 87
Rosdiana Ciaravolo/Getty Images

William Friedkin, the filmmaker behind 1973’s adaptation of novelist William Peter Blatty‘s The Exorcist, has died at 87.

Stephen Galloway, dean of Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University, and also the biographer of Friedkin’s producer wife, Sherry Lansing, confirmed the news to ABC Audio, explaining the filmmaker passed away in Los Angeles.

Galloway said, “Friedkin was truly one of the great American originals – the films he made back in the 70s, French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer, they haven’t dated in any way. He was an absolutely remarkable original mind – right to the end he was as sharp as a razor, and funny.”

The Chicago-born Friedkin got his start in television and documentaries, logging his first film directing credit with the 1967 musical Good Times, starring Sonny and Cher. Just four years later, his big-screen adaptation of Robin Moore‘s gritty cop novel The French Connection earned four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Gene Hackman.

His next project, The Exorcist, went on to earn 10 Academy Award nominations, and it stands as one of the highest-grossing films of all time, adjusted for inflation.

Friedkin’s box office success faltered in the 1980s, though his 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A. remains a cop genre classic.

He also worked with Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones in the military thriller Rules of Engagement in 2000, and with Matthew McConaughey in 2011’s acclaimed Killer Joe.

Incidentally, Friedkin was still working behind the camera, with his final film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial starring Kiefer Sutherland, set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Will Smith on the “coldest” comment Steven Spielberg said to get him to sign onto ‘Men In Black’

Will Smith on the “coldest” comment Steven Spielberg said to get him to sign onto ‘Men In Black’
Will Smith on the “coldest” comment Steven Spielberg said to get him to sign onto ‘Men In Black’
Peacock

In an appearance in the season finale of Hart to Heart, Kevin Hart sat down over some wine with his friend Will Smith, and the pair discussed Will’s global big-screen success.

Will explained that when his movie career was starting, studios were convinced a Black actor couldn’t find an international audience.

“That was like central in my career when I first went out. I hated hearing I can’t be in the movie [because]… Black actors weren’t gonna be able to cover the numbers,” he expressed.

Will explained he looked to Tom Cruise as a “blueprint” to how to market himself and his films overseas, saying, “Tom is unbeatable.”

Will admitted that after the global success of Independence Day, he nearly turned down Men In Black — the 1997 film that kicked off a blockbuster franchise.

Will credited his former manager James Lassiter, who steered him to a string of huge hits, like MiB and acclaimed performances. “He just had an eye,” Will said.

“I didn’t want to do Pursuit of Happyness, I didn’t wanna do Ali,” Smith admitted of two of his Oscar-nominated roles.

“I didn’t want to do two alien movies back-to-back,” he said of Men In Black.

However, “[Producer] Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me,” Will continued before Kevin countered with, “You’re a goddamn liar.”

“It landed at his house. He had me at ‘Hello,'” Will said.

He added, “He said the coldest s***. He said, ‘Tell me why you don’t wanna make my movie. And he put the ellipses at the end. It was the dot, dot, dot… If he had continued, he would have said, ‘Joker, you know I made Jaws, right? You know I made E.T.?'”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kate McKinnon’s “Weird Barbie” can now be yours

Kate McKinnon’s “Weird Barbie” can now be yours
Kate McKinnon’s “Weird Barbie” can now be yours
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

For a movie spawned from a doll line, Barbie is, in turn, spawning dolls from the billion dollar-plus grossing movie.

On Mattel’s website, you can not only scoop up more traditional looking dolls, like one based on Issa Rae‘s President Barbie, fans can now get their hands on Kate McKinnon‘s Weird Barbie.

According to the film, McKinnon’s character has been put through the ringer by an overaggressive owner with a badly chopped ‘do and magic marker lines on her face.

While the Barbie version is arguably more glamorous than McKinnon’s presentation onscreen, it still features the magic marker face tats, colorful clothes and her self-described “funky haircut.” It’s not known, however, if it “smells like basement,” like the SNL vet describes herself in the movie.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.