Entertainment

Tom Cruise turned 61 on Monday, July 3, and while he’s been eligible for AARP benefits for some time, he’s got no plans to slow down.

Tom celebrated his birthday with the Australian premiere of his latest movie, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, and while Down Under, he let the Sydney Morning Herald in on his retirement plans.

In short, he’s not.

In fact, he’s looking to another big screen icon as his role model.

“Harrison Ford is a legend,” Cruise says. “I hope to be still going; I’ve got 20 years to catch up with him.”

The actor, producer, and stuntman adds, “I hope to keep making Mission: Impossible films until I’m his age.”

Apparently, the admiration goes both ways: Indiana Jones star Ford, who turns 81 in July, recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “I like Tom. We talk about flying. But he’s far deeper into physical acting than I ever was.”

He continued, “I don’t mind running, jumping, falling down, rolling around on the floor with sweaty guys. Tom takes it to a whole new level that’s pretty amazing.”

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Disney+ dropped the third installment of Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion on Wednesday, July 5.

While the six-part series deals with Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury untangling a shape-shifting alien race’s takeover of earth’s global superpowers, it’s free of the traditional superpowers usually associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, executive producer and director Ali Selim tells ABC Audio.

Selim calls the cloak-and-dagger series a “sort of human scale” show. “Like ‘boots on the ground’ grounded. No superhero superpowers,” he says.

He adds, “But, you know, Nick Fury has a set of superpowers that are more human scaled, like persuasion and empathy and negotiation. And he’s a very powerful man in that sense but not in that something could come out of the sky and save the day. It really boils down to his human ingenuity that’s going to get him out of a situation.”

Selim says, “I was really drawn to that, and I was drawn to a lot of the human scale themes that are presented in the script, like mistrust and paranoia and the sense of Nick Fury being older, being a little bit broken, having some doubts and having to visit his personal life — which we’ve never done before — in order for him to accomplish his task.”

Jackson has played the character on the big and small screen ever since an after-credits scene in 2008’s Iron Man, but the six-part series is a deeper dive into the person himself, the filmmaker says.

Secret Invasion also stars returning MCU vets Don Cheadle and Ben Mendelsohn as well as Marvel newcomers: Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe winner Olivia Colman; Barbie‘s Kingsley Ben-Adir and Game of Thrones and Solo: A Star Wars Story veteran Emilia Clarke.

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Former Smallville actress Allison Mack was released from federal prison in California on Monday, July 3, after serving a sentence for her part in the NXIVM scandal.

NXIVM was a purported women’s self-help group that prosecutors had portrayed as a sex cult and criminal enterprise.

Mack, 40, had pleaded guilty to blackmailing women and subjecting them to sexual harassment. She received a more lenient sentence of three years in prison in June of 2021, after testifying against the purported self-help group’s leader, Keith Raniere.

Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020, following his 2019 conviction on sex trafficking, forced labor, conspiracy, and racketeering charges.

Prosecutors had asked for a life sentence for what they said was Raniere’s “immeasurable damage” to victims over 15 years of crime and exploitation, while defense attorneys asserted his “complete innocence.”

Mack recruited women as part of a subgroup of the NXIVM cult. Women were approached to be a part of the “self-help group” but prosecutors maintained Raniere collected female “slaves” who were branded with his initials and coerced into having sex with him after giving him nude photographs or revealing embarrassing secrets.

The latter was considered “collateral” in order to prevent them from leaving the “secret society” or disclosing its existence to others, prosecutors said.

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Netflix celebrated the July 4 weekend by releasing the new trailer for season 3 of Sweet Magnolias. The 10-episode season, per the streamer, will picks up in the aftermath of JoAnna Garcia Swisher‘s Maddie’s wrestling with the best way to help Cal following the brawl at Sullivan’s and working to clear her own emotional path; Heather Headley‘s Helen facing difficult decisions about the men in her life; and Brooke Elliot‘s Dana Sue searching for a way to use Miss Frances’ check to help the community, without upending her family. Sweet Magnolias season 3 launches July 20…

Extraction 2 topped Netflix’s English-language film list for the third straight week between June 26-July 2, its third straight week at the top, with 17.5 million views, according to Deadline. The sequel, once again starring Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake, the mercenary who survived being “clinically dead” at the original’s climax, only to take on another risky mission, has 102.5M views to date…

Netflix has revealed the first batch of HBO shows that will be available on the streaming service, starting with all five seasons of Insecure, the comedy series from Issa Rae. Variety reports Netflix has confirmed that the HBO series Ballers, Band of Brothers, The Pacific and Six Feet Under will join its streaming library soon…

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Disney’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is expected to keep up with box office expectations that predicted it would gross somewhere between $80 and $85 million through July 4.

The latest and final chapter in the Indiana Jones saga, starring Harrison Ford, added an estimated $11.8 million to its domestic haul on Monday bringing the total to $71 million. However, Variety reports that, unlike other holidays, Independence Day doesn’t traditionally draw huge crowds into movie theaters, since families are usually hitting the beach, barbecuing, or watching the fireworks. It’s the time off around the holiday that attracts moviegoers, so reaching that $82-$85 million is seeming more likely.

However, while the $82 million domestic gross is in line with predictions, it’s not a great start for a film that cost just shy of $300 million to make, not including marketing.

As for the remainder of the top five, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse landed second and added an estimated $3 million on Monday, bringing its North American tally to $343 million, rapidly closing in on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s $355 million, to become the year’s second highest-grossing domestic film.

Disney-Pixar’s animated comedy Elemental finished third, adding an estimated $3 million on Monday, raising its North American total to $92 million.

Fourth place went to the Jennifer Lawrence comedy No Hard Feelings, which added an estimated $1.89 million on Monday, followed by Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, rounding out the top five with an estimated $1.7 million.

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While an upcoming big-screen movie starring the purple dinosaur Barney might not exactly come to mind when thinking of heavy movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once or Uncut Gems, that’s apparently what its producers are going for.

The in-development movie, to which Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya is attached, will lean “into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids,” executive producer Kevin McKeon tells the New Yorker, comparing it to something that might come from the aforementioned films’ independent studio, A24.

He says of the Mattel co-production, “It’s really a play for adults. Not that it’s R-rated, but it’ll focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being thirtysomething, growing up with Barney — just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”

McKeon says the “surreal” project shows toy company Mattel “is here to make art.”

Incidentally, the angsty angle is also a through line in another Mattel movie co-production, Greta Gerwig‘s upcoming Barbie, the trailer for which trumpeted, “If you love Barbie this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie this movie is for you.”

Barney and Friends, which debuted in 1992 — and incidentally at one point starred a very young Selena Gomez — certainly has enough people in both of those camps.

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Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hollywood studios have commonly used virtual interviews to give journalists access to stars — and comedian and actress Amy Schumer took full advantage of this practice to get some face time with the cast of the road trip comedy Joy Ride. 

She posted the sweet moment to Instagram.

While Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu and her co-stars Ashley Park, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu were goofing around waiting for their next interview, a woman wearing sunglasses popped up on screen. 

Amy identified herself as “Amy Schumer from I love Joy Ride dot com,” to which Park shrieked, “Oh my God!” Wu shook her head in disbelief and waved her hands, saying, “No, no!”

Schumer said, “I loved the movie so much. The cast, everyone involved. I cannot tell you how much I loved this movie and how much I needed it.” She added, “You guys rock.” 

“Is this real?!” Wu asked, peering into the monitor in front of her.

For her part, Hsu’s mouth stayed open for nearly a full minute. “We’re getting bamboozled right now, this is f****** amazing,” she said when she regained the capacity to speak.

“Are we on a hidden camera show?” Cola asked.

“This is real,” Amy assured them. “I want to go on a trip with all of you, please? I laughed, I cried. It was the ride of the summer and I love you all.” 

To Schumer’s post, Park said, “This. Made. Our. Day. Slash. Year.” 

The raunchy, well-reviewed Joy Ride opens Friday.

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Former The Good Place co-star Jameela Jamil posted to her Instagram a snap that’s likely to warm the hearts of fans of the sitcom.

It seems Ted Danson recently threw a slumber party and invited everyone from the series, which ran for four seasons on NBC before wrapping in 2020.

Pictured were Danson, who played Michael, along with his wife, Mary Steenburgen, and their dogs; Jamil (Tahani); Manny Jacinto (Jason); D’Arcy Carden (Janet); William Jackson Harper (Chidi) and their respective partners.

Jameela commented in all caps, “THOUGHT YOU MIGHT NEED THIS PICTURE OF OUR GOOD PLACE CAST SLEEP OVER AT TED AND MARY’S [Mary Steenburgen] FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH BECAUSE THE WORLD IS AWFUL AND WE NEED TO SEE PEOPLE LOVE EACH OTHER IN PYJAMAS SOMETIMES.”

One fan noticed Kristen Bell wasn’t in the shot, to which Jameela explained, “she was busy and is the only one of us with babieeeees.”

The fan then replied, “oh thank god. I know it shouldn’t matter to me but it does,” adding a crying laughing emoji. “I’m sorry on behalf of all of the internet,” he added.

Evidently, Danson is a fan of the cast sleepover, telling Today in 2020 that he invited his fellow former players to his home after the show wrapped. “It makes a party even better when you can wake up, have a coffee and reminisce,” he told Savannah Guthrie at the time.

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Michael Imperioli got fired up after the Supreme Court ruled last week that a company could refuse service to an LBGTQ+ customer.

“I’ve decided to forbid bigots and homophobes from watching The Sopranos, The White Lotus, Goodfellas or any movie or tv show I’ve been in,” the actor posted on July 1. “Thank you Supreme Court for allowing me to discriminate and exclude those who I don’t agree with and am opposed to. USA ! USA!”

He later added, “hate and ignorance is not a legitimate point of view.”

While his initial post garnered tens of thousands of likes, Imperioli also got some smoke from followers, and sparred with them on his Instagram feed. “Should you be forced by law to make a movie that has a message you don’t believe? Learn what discrimination means,” one offered.

Imperioli replied by saying of the plaintiff in the case, a web designer who reportedly refused to work on a site for a gay wedding, “it’s her belief that is the problem. laws that allow dehumanization is not freedom of speech.”

Another replied to the actor, “That’s not what discrimination means, boomer,” to which he replied, “snooze.”

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Disney+ has dropped the latest edition of its ongoing Gallery series, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Mandalorian, and it features Star Wars superfan Lizzo.

As previously reported, the recording artist and Jack Black respectively played The Duchess and Captain Bombardier, a power couple who rule the democratic planet Plazir-15 this past third season.

The Gallery peek sees Bryce Dallas Howard, who directed their episode, talking about the infectious enthusiasm about all things Star Wars the pair had, as evidenced in their social media posts and elsewhere.

It also shows the moment Lizzo met Grogu, the little one formerly known as Baby Yoda.

“Oh my GODDDD!” she shrieks, before addressing Grogu as if he was a living being. Showing him her Grogu hoodie, complete with a facsimile of his little head, she tells the doll, “I’m a huge fan!”

Later on, while with Jack, Lizzo improvises, a capella, a ballad called “The Moons of Paraquat,” a riff on the moon to which her Duchess banishes fellow guest star Christopher Lloyd‘s character for leading a droid rebellion on the peaceful planet.

“That’s a hit!” fellow musician Black enthuses.

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