Entertainment

While the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes continue to boil, the unions say the summer heat is too hot to handle in New York City.

The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists let its members know that picket lines will be canceled for a second day in a row in New York City on Friday, July 27.

According to a tweet from the union, picketing at various corporate headquarters — including HBO and Amazon on 33rd Street, Paramount at 1515 Broadway, Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix, elsewhere on Broadway and NBCUniversal at historic Rockefeller Center — were called off for an “Extreme Heat Alert.”

“Stay safe, stay cool, stay #SAGAFTRAstrong,” the union advised.

Similarly, the Writers Guild of America East is canceling its picket lines for Friday and made adjustments to a planned meetup on Thursday morning, in an effort to beat the heat.

As reported back on June 7, the writers union canceled its demonstrations due to poor air quality from the Canadian Wildfire that choked New York City with smoke.

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With fans, both famous and not, mourning the death of 56-year-old Sinéad O’Connor, Oscar winner Russell Crowe added his memories on X, formerly Twitter, of a chance meeting with the “Nothing Compares 2 U” star.

“Last year, working in Ireland, having a pint in the cold outside a Dalkey pub with some new friends, a woman with purpose strode past us,” Crowe began in the thread Wednesday, July 26. “Puffy parker zipped to the nape and her bowed head covered in a scarf.”

He explained someone in his party who apparently recognized the singer jumped up and ran over to O’Connor. They embraced “and he waived me over. There under streetlights with mist on my breath, I met Sinéad. She looked in my eyes, and uttered with disarming softness ‘oh, it’s you Russell,'” the Oscar winner recalled.

Crowe explained O’Connor joined them at their table and had tea. Their conversation touched on various topics important to them, he explained, including politics, her “warm memory” of his native New Zealand, “faith, music, movies and her brother the writer.”

Crowe added, “I had the opportunity to tell her she was a hero of mine.”

He expressed, “When her second cup was taking on the night air, she rose, embraced us all and strode away into the fog-dimmed streetlights. We sat there the four of us and variously expressed the same thing. What an amazing woman.”

“Peace be with your courageous heart Sinéad,” Crowe signed off.

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Fans of The Righteous Gemstones have seen their prayers answered: HBO has renewed its acclaimed original comedy series for a fourth season.

Created by costar Danny McBride, the show about a greedy televangelist family centers on the family members’ jockeying for control of their dollar-grabbing dynasty. It also stars John Goodman, Adam Devine, Edi Patterson, Walton Goggins, Steve Zahn, Iliza Shlesinger, Sturgill Simpson and Casey Wilson, and wraps up its nine-episode third season on Sunday, July 30.

The network notes the series’ audience — an average of “4.9 million an episode and growing” — beats McBride’s other HBO efforts, the beloved Eastbound & Down and the short-lived Vice Principals.

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Apple TV+ released a teaser to the anticipated third season of its Emmy-winning drama The Morning Show on Thursday, July 27.

According to Apple TV+, “In season 3…the future of the network is thrown into question and loyalties are pushed to the brink when a tech titan takes an interest in UBA.”

The streaming service continues, “Unexpected alliances form, private truths are weaponized, and everyone is forced to confront their core values both in and out of the newsroom.”

The new footage sets the stage for the drama to come with a series of voiceovers from the characters.

“I wanted to make a difference,” executive producer and star Reese Witherspoon‘s Bradley laments in voiceover in the opening moments of the sneak peek, which is set to H.E.R.‘s hit “Glory.”

“I need to have a say in the future of this place,” Jennifer Aniston‘s Alex laments off camera as she walks stone-faced through a crowded conference room.

“I need to win,” says Billy Crudup‘s cocky producer Cory. “It’s time to burn it all down…”

The coming attraction also introduces Emmy winner Jon Hamm as a tech titan stepping off a helicopter. “You need a miracle. I’m offering you a lifeline,” he says.

Later, there’s a scene between Alex and Bradley. “Honestly, let all the secrets come out!” the former exclaims. “They didn’t protect me!”

Bradley replies, “They didn’t protect you. I did.”

The 10-episode third season of The Morning Show will premiere with two episodes on Wednesday, September 13, 2023. New episodes will subsequently drop every Wednesday through November 8, 2023.

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Mattel Films, the movie wing of the iconic toy company, has high hopes for its movie slate after the runaway success of Barbie.

As reported, the company was already opening up its toy box looking for IP to turn into grist for movies, with classics like the card game Uno to more seemingly movie-ready properties like Masters of the Universe headed to the big screen. 

Before Barbie came out, Variety caught up with the person shepherding those projects, Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club producer Robbie Brenner. She explained, “Everybody hopes that when you create a movie that there is going to be a franchise…”

Brenner added, “But, in this day and age, you just want to get the first one right.”

With Barbie‘s box office performance, a sequel is the biggest no-brainer since Ken. 

That said, other Mattel properties are getting ready for their close-ups. They include the J.J. Abrams-produced Hot Wheels movie, which Brenner called “grounded and gritty.” Mattel also has a Matchbox movie in play, speaking of little toy cars.

Additionally, there’s a Polly Pocket movie coming from MGM with star Lily Collins and director Lena Dunham. “It’s been an amazing collaboration,” she explains, adding it’s in the development phase.

As reported, a “surrealistic” take of the kids show Barney and Friends is also on the docket, starring Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya. 

Brenner also said Tom Hanks is attached to Major Matt Mason, based on the moon-residing astronaut toy from the ’60s; Vin Diesel will star in Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. As for a movie based on the Magic 8-Ball most kids have had, Brenner says it will “probably be a PG-13 thriller.”

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Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler had a sweet reunion in Beverly Hills, California this week.

Stallone, who starred with Winkler in the 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush, shared a photo of them with comedian Jon Lovitz and Stallone’s brother Frank Stallone at lunch to film Sly’s reality show, The Family Stallone.

“Spending a great afternoon with my very, very long time friend Henry Winkler,” Stallone wrote Tuesday in the post’s caption. “Great guy, great actor, and hysterical Jon [Lovitz] and my very talented brother, the Frankster!”

Lovtiz, who revealed the group outing happened at Mulberry Street Pizza, also shared several photos from the group’s afternoon together.

Incidentally, that’s the same spot Sly told ABC Audio he “totally tricked” Al Pacino into visiting for lunch, only to be captured for the first season of his reality show. “And sure enough, the cameras come in from the curb everywhere, He goes, ‘What is this? What is — What am I being ganged up on?'” Sly recalled, laughing.

Along with Stallone and Winkler, The Lords of Flatbush also starred Perry King and the late Paul Mace. The coming-of-age film was set in 1958 and followed their characters, four Brooklyn teenagers who belonged to the titular street gang in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Winkler and Stallone have been friends for decades, with the former giving Sly partial credit for Winkler’s portrayal of The Fonz on Happy Days, he explained on The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

Winkler also told Eisen he sold Sly’s unknown script for Rocky to ABC, only to ask for the script and the money back when the network wanted to replace Stallone as the writer.

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A man has been sentenced to over two years in prison for his involvement in the overdose death of actor Michael K. Williams.

According to WABC, federal prosecutors said Carlos Macci, 71, is among four people who sold drugs in Brooklyn, including the drugs that claimed the life of Williams in September, 2021. 

During sentencing on Tuesday, July 25, U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams told Macci that selling fentanyl and heroin “not only cost Mr. Williams his life, but it’s costing your freedom,” partly because he continued to sell drugs after the actor’s death. 

Per WABC, court documents show that on or around September 5, 2021, Williams was sold heroin that was laced with fentanyl and a fentanyl analogue. A 39-year-old member of the crew is said to have made the hand-to-hand transaction.

While Macci was not charged directly with Williams’ death, the other three defendants have been. 

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Ryan Reynolds chose a very intimate way of celebrating his pal Sandra Bullock‘s 59th birthday, which was Wednesday, July 26.

Ryan posted to Instagram the famous scene from their 2009 romantic comedy, The Proposal, which saw their characters accidentally, and awkwardly, smacking into each other, face to face, while totally naked.

“Happy Birthday to the inimitable and stunning Sandra Bullock!” Reynolds began his caption.

“For your birthday this year, I got us both intimacy coordinators. And an HR department. And clothing?”

Incidentally, in 2021, Oscar winner Bullock was asked about the famous, cringe-inducing scene, which shows the pair squished together, each unwilling to move lest the other see anything.

She told Adam Ray on his About Last Night Podcast, “Ryan and I had flesh-colored things stuck to our privates…And Ryan’s little — not little at all, it’s just whatever’s there I didn’t see it there, I didn’t look — is protected…We collide together, and we’re on the floor…and they have to say cut…”

Bullock added, laughing, “But he’s lying on his back…And we couldn’t really move, and I hear [director] Ann Fletcher from the darkness saying, ‘Ryan: We can see your b*******”…as loud as you possibly can, and…bringing everyone’s focus to that area.”

She called Ryan, “absolutely unflappable,” adding the only reason she did the scene was because she got to “humiliate herself” with someone she trusts for laughs — not to “appear sexy.”

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Hulu has given an eight-episode series order to an unscripted show about Wayne Brady and his family. The yet-to-be-titled series will follow Brady, who is still best friends with his ex-wife and business partner, Mandie Taketa. Together, they co-parent their 20-year-old daughter, Maile Brady, a student and aspiring artist, as well as running their production company. A premiere date has not been set…

Bo Goldman, Oscar-winning screenwriter on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Melvin and Howard, died Tuesday in Helendale, California, his son-in-law, Tár director Todd Field, tells The New York Times. Goldman was 90. He also wrote The Rose, starring Bette Midler, and Scent of a Woman — the last of which starred Al Pacino in an Oscar-winning performance — and Meet Joe Black, starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. Goldman also worked on scripts for Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy and Wolfgang Petersen‘s The Perfect Storm…

Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae El Moussa’s HGTV docuseries The Flipping El Moussas has been renewed for a second season with an expanded 14-episode order. “The new season will find Tarek and Heather Rae taking risks in the Southern California housing market and adjusting to life with a newborn,” said Loren Ruch, Head of Content, HGTV, per HGTV. “They will have more to juggle than ever before, bringing their millions of loyal fans who have followed their journey from the beginning along for the ride.” Season 2 is slated to premiere in early 2024…

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Anthony Mackie plays a post-apocalyptic delivery driver — think of DoorDash, but much more dangerous — in Peacock’s series adaptation of the video game Twisted Metal, debuting Thursday, July 27.

Mackie’s character drives a beat-up 1990s sports car that is deceptively deadly — a far cry from his first set of wheels, “a 1985 Nissan Sentra,” he told ABC Audio in an interview done before the SAG-AFTRA strike started.

“It was a disaster,” he continues. “In New Orleans, we used to call them bird cars. So some mechanic would get a car from the junkyard, fix it up and sell it to you for like 600 bucks. So he sold me this Nissan Sentra. It had a back seat and a driver’s seat. No passenger seat. It had a radio, no air conditioning. And the radio I put in myself with my cousin and it was like a house radio with speakers in a trunk.”

And topping Mackie’s playlist back then? “It would be A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauder. I played that until it just exploded,” he shares. “Tupac [Shakur]. And then one of the greatest CDs ever released was De La Soul, Me, Myself, and I. Those were my, like, constant rotation in my car.”

Mackie said he actually got to do some of his driving stunts, which you’ll see in an abandoned mall in episode 1.

“I got to like burn out through the mall a little bit and jump out the window and all that stuff,” he recalls. “A lot of the mall stuff actually, I got to do. So we were, I was pressing the limits, like ripping through the mall. I wanted to see. And I’m like, if I wreck, who cares? We’re in a mall that’s closed down.”

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