Entertainment

Christopher Nolan has a warning for anyone planning to go see his new film Oppenheimer.

Apparently, after rounds of test screenings, Nolan has noticed a trend.

“Some people leave the movie absolutely devastated,” Nolan told Wired magazine in an interview released June 20. “They can’t speak. I mean, there’s an element of fear that’s there in history and there in the underpinnings. But the love of the characters, the love of the relationships, is as strong as I’ve ever done.”

The film tells the story of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as he works with the Manhattan Project to make the atomic bomb to end World War II.

Nolan further explains that the film is an intense experience “because it’s an intense story.”

“I showed it to a filmmaker recently who said it’s kind of a horror movie. I don’t disagree,” Nolan said.

Oppenheimer releases in theaters everywhere on July 21.

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Lorne Michaels is planning a Radio City Music Hall extravaganza to celebrate 50 years of Saturday Night Live.

The sketch comedy show, which finished up its 48th season on April 15, will commemorate the five decades spent making households laugh on Saturday nights with a celebration filled with nostalgia at the iconic venue, Deadline reports.

Michaels made the announcement at the Cannes Lions Festival on Wednesday, June 15, during an event covering the long-running series.

“It will be emotional, but everyone will show up because it’s important. The planning for it, which has taken the last six months and it’s not happening for another year and a half – there are a lot of events happening,” Michaels said.

Michaels says the event is being planned for a Friday “homecoming” night, and that it will feature several musical acts and stand-up routines.

“You’ll see bands that have left a mark on the show, and stand-ups that were part of it from the beginning or relatively recent,” Michaels said.

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Step into the future, but hold on to High School Musical.

Disney+ released the teaser trailer for the fourth season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on Wednesday, June 21.

Along with the trailer came the announcement that season 4 will be the last. It will debut on August 9, and it’s bringing back a bunch of familiar faces.

“Folks, we’re getting the whole gang back together,” Bart Johnson proclaims to bleachers filled with East High students in the new trailer.

Johnson, who played Coach Bolton in the original High School Musical trilogy, will be portraying himself this season, alongside other returning original cast members Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Lucas Grabeel and Alyson Reed.

Season 4 will follow Ricky (Joshua Bassett), Gina (Sofia Wylie) and the gang as a fictional High School Musical 4: The Reunion movie shoots at East High during their school year. As if that wasn’t meta enough, the school’s drama department is also putting on High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

“This series was always about found family, and about making something you love with people you love. In other words, it was a tribute to theater kids,” series creator Tim Federle told The Hollywood Reporter. “I can’t wait for our dedicated fan base to watch this world-class cast take a final bow.” 

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Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly shopping some of its HBO titles to one of its biggest rivals in the streaming game: Netflix.

This report comes from Deadline, which states that insiders have stressed the deal is not yet closed and still has the potential to fall apart. Regardless, this indicates a shift in strategy from Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns the streaming service Max, formerly known as HBO Max.

So, what does this mean for consumers?

Well, it means that you might be able to watch certain HBO shows and movies on both Max and Netflix sometime soon. The titles would be distributed to Netflix on a nonexclusive basis, which means they could be available on both streaming services at the same time.

It’s good news if you are a fan of Issa Rae — the first of the titles reported to be part of this new system is her comedy series Insecure. The show was nominated for 14 Emmy Awards over the course of its five-season run and won one in 2020. 

While deals of this nature existed for HBO in the broadcast landscape, this would be the first of its kind in the streaming era.

It is the latest move from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav as he continues the companywide cost-cutting plan he instituted at the beginning of his tenure in 2021.

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The life of Priscilla Presley is on display in the new official trailer for A24’s Priscilla.

Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, the film was adapted from Priscilla and Sandra Harmon’s 1985 book, Elvis and Me, and follows the life of the woman who was married to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Caliee Spaeny stars as the eponymous Priscilla, while Euphoria star Jacob Elordi takes on the role of Elvis Presley.

While no release date has been announced yet, the trailer promises the film is coming soon.

The 45-second trailer shows flashes of Elvis and Priscilla’s life together — from the Army days to their iconic wedding and the early years at Graceland.

“The hardest part of writing the script was just editing down so many incredible details from Priscilla’s memoir,” Coppola told Vogue in October 2022. “I was interested in trying to imagine what growing up in that world must have looked like through her eyes.”

As for what made Spaeny the right choice for the title role, Coppola said it was her ability “to act and age across a big span of time.”

“The character goes from the age of 15 to 27 over the course of the film,” Coppola said. “It was really important for me to have the same actress playing Priscilla at those different stages of her life, and I think Caliee can pull it off.”

And while it may seem like an impossible task to cast someone who can fill Elvis’ blue suede shoes, Coppola said Elordi “has that same kind of magnetism.”

“He’s so charismatic, and girls go crazy around him, so I knew he could pull off playing this type of romance icon.”

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After three years, Armie Hammer and Elizabeth Chambers have reached a divorce settlement, according to Entertainment Tonight.

The Declaration of Default, obtained by the outlet, states “the parties have entered into a written agreement regarding their property and their marriage or domestic partnership rights, including support, the original of which is being or has been submitted to the court” and that the pair are asking “the court [to] approve the agreement.”

The estranged couple, who have two children, 5-year-old daughter Harper Grace and 3-year-old son Ford Douglas Armand, tied the knot in 2010, before Chambers filed for divorce in in 2020 citing irreconcilable differences.

“Thirteen years as best friends, soulmates, partners and then parents. It has been an incredible journey, but together, we’ve decided to turn the page and move on from our marriage,” the former couple shared in a joint statement, adding “As we enter into this next chapter, our children and relationship as co-parents and dear friends will remain our priority.”

In 2021, sexual assault allegations surfaced against Hammer, with Chambers saying at the time that she was “shocked, heartbroken, and devastated.”

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Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens has joined the cast of Hulu’s Solar Opposites‘ fourth season as the new voice of grouchy alien Korvo, replacing series co-creator Justin Roiland who was ousted from the show amid domestic violence charges against him that were later dismissed. The streamer promises the upcoming season will “pack up the sci-fi and get normal … for a second. Then it’s back to classic Solar chaos, mayhem in the Wall, and some all new Silvercops adventures!” The voice cast also includes Thomas Middleditch, Sean Giambrone and Mary Mack. Solar Opposites season 4 will premiere August 14 on Hulu with 11 episodes, followed by a Valentine’s Day special coming in 2024…

Ryan Murphy may be heading to Disney when his five-year deal with Netflix made back in 2018 comes to an end, according to Deadline. The Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Watcher creator and Disney are still in the talking stages, but the potential move would reunite him with his former 20th Century boss Dana Walden, who is now Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, as well as reunite FX Chairman John Landgraf, who greenlit his series American Horror Story and its spinoffs, as well as Feud and Pose. Murphy still has projects with Netflix, including a second season of Monster, centering on Lyle and Erik Menendez, and a second season of The Watcher. Disney is the parent company of ABC News…

Paramount+ has ordered a second season of School Spirits, its teen mystery starring Cobra Kai‘s Peyton List as Maddie, a student who dies at her school and investigates her murder in the afterlife. The streamer reports the eight-episode premiere season, which debuted earlier this year, ranked as the top YA series on the service during its run. Coming off season 1’s major cliffhanger, season 2 will go into production in 2024 and premiere at a later date exclusively on Paramount+…

Following Universal Pictures’ announcement in March that its adaptation of the hit Broadway play Wicked will fly into theaters Thanksgiving 2024 — a month earlier than expected — the studio has announced that Wicked Part Two — originally set to bow on Christmas 2025 — will now hit theaters November 26, 2025. Jon M. Chu is directing both films with Cynthia Erivo set to play Elphaba and Ariana Grande on board to play Glinda. The movies are based on the 2003 Wicked Broadway musical, which originally starred Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel as Glinda and Elphaba, respectively. The musical, in turn, was based on the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire…

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Michael Shannon, known for his role in The Flash, recently shared his decision to decline an undisclosed role in the Star Wars franchise back in 2016.

“I’m always a bit wary about those giant movies. Because they take a lot of time and I don’t find them very stimulating to work on,” the acclaimed actor said in a print interview with Empire Magazine, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“I don’t ever want to get stuck in a franchise. I don’t find them interesting and I don’t want to perpetuate them,” he continued. “If I’m making something, I want there to be some kind of purpose to it — I don’t want to make mindless entertainment. The world doesn’t need more mindless entertainment. We’re inundated with it.”

Although Shannon’s stance may seem contradictory, considering his involvement in the DC Extended Universe as General Zod in Man of Steel and The Flash, he clarified that joining the DC franchise was different. He viewed Man of Steel as a story with relevance at the time, exploring the consequences of a civilization destroying its own planet and seeking refuge elsewhere.

“When you hear that hypothetically, if we destroy the Earth, we might go live on Mars — It’s the same thing,” he said. “I didn’t look at Zod as a villain. I just saw him as a guy whose job is to protect his people.”

Shannon added that when he originally took the role in Man of Steel he saw it as a “one and done” project and was “pretty shocked to hear about this reprisal of the role.”

“But I like the story that The Flash is telling and I wasn’t there for a long amount of time — I was just there a couple of weeks — so it didn’t break my back to do it,” he shared.

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Samuel L. Jackson is standing up for his friend and co-star Brie Larson.

In an interview released on June 20, Jackson spoke to Rolling Stone about the hate Larson received at the hands of “incel” Marvel fans when their 2019 film Captain Marvel was released.

The film was review bombed by internet trolls who were upset that a woman was given the lead role in a superhero film. According to Jackson, Larson is a “stronger person than people give her credit for.”

“She’s not going to let any of that stuff destroy her. These incel dudes who hate strong women, or the fact that she’s a feminist who has an opinion and expressed it? Everybody wants people to be who they want them to be,” Jackson said. “She is who she is, and she’s genuinely that.”

Jackson and Larson first met on set of the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island. That same year, Larson cast Jackson in her feature film directorial debut, Unicorn Store. And, when Marvel reached out to Larson for the role of Carol Danvers, it was Jackson she went to for advice before accepting the part.

“We bonded through the election while we were doing her movie when Donald Trump won. She was broken and I was like, ‘Don’t let ‘em break you. You have to be strong now,’” Jackson said. “Then, when she got Captain Marvel, she called me and was like, ‘They want me in the Marvel Universe. Should I do it?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s do it!’”

Jackson reprises his role as Nick Fury in the Disney+ Marvel series Secret Invasion, available to stream Wednesday, June 21. Larson will appear as Carol Danvers in The Marvels, which comes to theaters on November 10.

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Zendaya takes on the world of tennis in her upcoming film Challengers.

In the official trailer for the film, which was released on Tuesday, June 20, Zendaya stars as Tashi Duncan, a pro tennis player who is caught in a love triangle between Art (Michael Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor).

Challengers will follow Tashi as she transforms her husband into a world-famous Grand Slam champion, according to a synopsis of the film.

In a 2022 interview with Variety, director Luca Guadagnino said Zendaya, Faist and O’Connor trained for three months.

“They spent like three months working very hard. Everybody — technically, athletically,” Guadagnino said. He also described the film as a “sexy comedy.”

Challengers will be released on September 15, 2023.

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