Entertainment

Amber Heard says that the ongoing defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp is now impacting her professional life. 

In Heard’s latest testimony in court, she claims that her role in the upcoming Aquaman sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, has been significantly cut down as a result of the trial. Heard was in the early stages of scheduling filming for the sequel when Depp sued her in 2019. His defamation suit was filed in response to an op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post in December 2018 speaking out about the alleged domestic abuse she experienced. 

Heard stars as Mera in the Aquaman series, the love interest to Jason Momoa‘s titular character. The actress says that “communications” with Warner Brothers, the studio producing the film, virtually “stopped” once news of the divorce broke. 

“I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it, that depicted my character and another character, without giving any spoiler aways, two characters fighting with one another, and they basically took a bunch out of my role,” she explains in court, according to Variety. “They just removed a bunch out.”

Heard and Depp’s trial began on April 11 in Fairfax County, Virginia. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is slated to hit theaters in March 2023.  

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Drew Barrymore has found a peaceful balance in life. 

Looking back on her younger years, Drew says she lived a “wild, rebellious and fun” youth, and was open about her struggles with addiction, so much so she entered rehab at the age of 13 and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for six months. She was emancipated from her parents a year later.

Despite the troubles she faced, the actress has found a sense of tranquility in life that she knows her younger self couldn’t understand at the time. 

“I like trying to tell myself to please react with grace. Be on the high road. Don’t flip out about everything. Find calm, find peace,” she shares with People about her advice for her past self, adding that she “wouldn’t have listened” to those wise words as a teen. 

“Those are things I wish I could’ve told myself when I was a kid, but I would’ve never thought those things were possible, nor did I really want them at that time,” she expresses. “Now I want them.” 

The Golden Globe award winner’s talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, has been renewed for season three. It will air on CBS later this year.  

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Despite the tragic shooting that occurred on set, the producer behind Rust is hopeful that they’ll be able to finish the film. 

Last year while filming the Western near Sante Fe, New Mexico, star Alec Baldwin was using a revolver as a prop gun when it accidentally discharged a fatal live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. Production has been suspended since the tragic incident occurred on October 21. The case is currently under investigation by the Sante Fe County Sheriff’s Office.  

“Rust is obviously a horrific tragedy. The investigation will hopefully be resolved soon and will unveil what happened,” Rust producer Anjul Nigam tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Obviously, there will be people out there who will have negative perspectives, but we’re confident about continuing to make quality movies.”

Anjul adds that he hopes that after the investigation is complete, they’ll be able to resume filming. 

“We’re confident we’ll be able to complete the movie,” he says, adding in a clarifying statement, “My statement that I was confident the film could be completed was just my optimism, and not an actual plan. Many of those who were involved hope to honor Halyna by completing her last work, but at this point it is just hope.”

Anjul and Alec are working on another project together, financing False Awakening, a horror film by Ben Tomson under a rebrand of their production company, Persona Entertainment. 

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Schitt’s Creek star Sarah Levy is going to be a mom!

Taking to Instagram on Monday, the 35-year-old actress announced the news with a photo of herself wearing striped shorts, a half unbuttoned linen top, and a fedora while cradling her growing baby bump. 

“We’ll take all the salt & vinegar chips and the hottest hot sauce you have, thx,” she captioned the snapshot. 

This is the first child for Levy and her husband, Graham Outerbridge. The two tied the knot in October 2021, which the actress celebrated in a sweet post captioned, “Bells are ringing 10.16.2021.”

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Pete Davidson isn’t kidding around in casting his mom for his upcoming pseudo-autobiographical comedy series Bupkis.

Four-time Emmy winner Edie Falco has signed on to play Pete’s TV mom in the upcoming Peacock comedy series, which promises to take a Curb Your Enthusiasm-esque look at the life of the SNL funnyman and Kim Kardashian‘s current main squeeze.

Falco was introduced as his TV mom live on stage as part of NBC/Universal’s Upfronts presentation in New York City on Monday.

“Finally, I get to play an overwhelmed mother of two living in a world of corruption,” The Sopranos veteran Falco quipped. “Except this time, it’s Staten Island.”

If Bupkis is indeed a “heightened, fictionalized version of Pete Davidson’s real life,” as the streaming service promises, then expect Falco to play a big part. Davidson famously lived with his mom long after stardom from stand-up and SNL found the King of Staten Island star.

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Jodie, the planned spinoff to the late ’90s MTV animated show Daria — itself a spinoff of Beavis and Butthead — is apparently becoming an animated film.

As reported, Jodie will star the voice of former black-ish lead Tracee Ellis Ross, but Variety reports the cast has filled up considerably. Better Things creator and former King of the Hill voice veteran Pamela Adlon has signed on in a stacked cast that now includes Kal Penn, SNL‘s Alex Moffat, The Flight Attendant‘s Zosia Mamet, The Good Place‘s William Jackson Harper and Hanna‘s Dermot Mulroney.

The Jodie film will follow the title character’s life after college and her first job as an intern for a tech startup.

Daria debuted in 1997 and ran for five seasons. Jodie Landon was Daria’s bestie, voiced by Jessica Cyndee Jackson on the original series.

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On Monday, Netflix let rip with the trailer to its 2022 edition of Geek Week, a celebration of bingeworthy content for “the geek, the geek adjacent, the geek curious — basically anyone who likes to geek out.”

Stranger Things veteran David Harbour provides the R-rated voice-over for the sizzle reel, which shows tantalizing peeks of the upcoming fourth season of Stranger Things, the third season of The Umbrella Academy, and a look at the adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s The Sandman comic, The Gray Man with Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, Jamie Foxx‘s vampire hunting action pic The Day Shift, and more.

Geeked Week runs from Monday, June 6, through Friday, June 10, and Netflix subscribers will get more content from the forthcoming projects, and a peek of Netflix’s new online gaming capabilities to boot.

(Video contains uncensored profanity)

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The second of the Star Wars prequels, Attack of the Clones, turns 20 Monday.

The film follows the now 20-year-old Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen, and his master, Ewan McGregor‘s Obi-Wan Kenobi, trying to unravel a plot to assassinate Natalie Portman‘s Queen Padmé Amidala.

In the meantime, Ian McDiarmid‘s Chancellor Palpatine continues to pull the strings behind the scenes as Darth Sidious, which will eventually lead to the Clone Wars, and his ascendancy to Emperor.

The second film in the prequel series had some surprises for fans. It revealed that Clone troopers — the forebears of the Empire’s Stormtroopers — were duplicates based on the genetic template of Temuera Morrison‘s Jango Fett, a bounty hunter in chromed-out Mandalorian armor who was also the father of Boba Fett.

Attack of the Clones often gets dragged for its coverage of proceedings in the Galactic Senate, as Palpatine makes his machinations. However, the film ends with a breathtaking battle scene on the planet Geonosis, where an army of Jedi faces off with a legion of battle droids, only to be rescued by the clone army led by Yoda. There’s also a face-off pitting Anakin and Obi-Wan against Christopher Lee‘s Count Dooku, with the two Jedi rescued by Yoda himself, who for the first time shows off his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-like skills with a lightsaber.

The film also ends with the secret wedding between Padmé and Anakin, which eventually leads to her pregnancy with Luke and Leia.

Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones made more than $653 million worldwide, leading to the prequel saga’s conclusion, 2005’s Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.

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On Monday, Fox announced its upcoming slate for the fall season, and in addition to returning hits like 9-1-1: Lone Star and The Cleaning Lady will come new shows with serious cred.

Included is the “Texas-sized drama” Monarch, centering on “America’s first family of country music” and starring Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon and country superstar Trace Adkins.

Also in the mix is Alert, a drama series produced by Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx and focusing on the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit.

Fox is also adapting the award-winning BBC drama Accused, which looks at a crime through the eyes of the defendant.

Gordon Ramsay will continue his long relationship with the network with a new series called Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars, in which the famed chef will search for “the next food and drink entrepreneur,” and which will see him investing his own money in their efforts. Additionally, his Next Level Chef will return, as well as his long-running Hell’s Kitchen.

On the animation side, some newcomers will join longtime Fox tentpoles The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers, including Grimsburg, in which executive producer Jon Hamm will voice the title character, an ace detective who can’t crack the case of his own family.

Additionally, Emmy-winning Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon will debut Krapopolis, an animated show starring the voices of Ted Lasso Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham and What We Do in the Shadows star Matt Berry. The show, billed as the first-ever animated series curated entirely on the Blockchain, will center on “a flawed family of humans, gods and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other.”

The Blockchain relationship will also see Krapopolis producing exclusive NFTs and other digital collectibles.

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It’s official: The third season of the Netflix’s hit Bridgerton will focus on the love story between characters Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, played by Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton, respectively.

The announcement regarding the period drama, which is based on Julia Quinn‘s books, was made during Sunday’s FYSEE panel, Variety reports, and is a change for the series, which previously followed the book order. The first two seasons of the show aligned with the first two novels, with season one focusing on the love story of Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Page Jean‘s characters, Daphne Bridgerton and Simon, and season two moving on to Anthony Bridgerton and Kate, played by Jonathon Bailey and Simone Ashley.

Penelope and Colin’s love story is actually the fourth installment in Quinn’s collection; the third novel dives into the love life of Luke Thompson‘s Benedict Bridgerton.

The season-three reveal, which ABC Audio predicted, comes after it was reported that Hannah Dodd will play Francesca Bridgerton in the bodice-ripper series, taking over for Ruby Stokes. Stokes, who played the dry-witted character for two seasons, left during production of the sophomore frame to star in a new Netflix series called Lockwood & Co., based on the Jonathan Stroud book series.

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