Entertainment

This Sunday’s writer-free Tony Awards telecast won’t be lacking for musical performances. Viewers will see snippets of Camelot, Into The Woods, & Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, New York, New York, Parade, Shucked, Some Like It Hot and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. There will be additional performances from Joaquina Kalukango, 2022 Tony-winner for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Paradise Square, the casts of A Beautiful Noise and Funny Girl. There will also be a salute to 2023 Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre recipients Joel Grey and John Kander. The 76th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Ariana DeBose, airs live from the United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights, Sunday, June 11 8 p.m. ET on CBS…

The CW has picked up Sullivan’s Crossing for a second season — months ahead of the series’ scheduled fall debut. The drama, based on novels by Virgin River author Robyn Carr, stars Morgan Kohan as Maggie Sullivan, a neurosurgeon who finds herself in legal trouble and returns to her hometown in rural Nova Scotia to reconnect with her estranged father Sully (Scott Patterson)…

Hulu on Thursday gave a 10-episode series order for Vanderpump Villa. The new unscripted series, “will follow the hand-picked staff of Lisa Vanderpump‘s luxury French villa as they live and work together to navigate every extravagant desire of their well-to-do guests,” per the streamer. A launch date has yet to be announced…

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Tom Holland says he’s never been this excited for his fans to see something he’s done. The Spider-Man star is talking about The Crowded Room, a new series premiering Friday on Apple TV+, a show he tells ABC Audio “broke” him.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Emotionally, physically, logistically,” he continues. “It was incredibly tough.”

However, as incredibly challenging as it was to make, it was also incredibly rewarding.

“I am always looking for a challenge,” he explains. “I’m always looking for a message that I feel like should be out there. This show comes with a really strong message and I hope that the audiences pick up on it.”

The mysterious drama stars Holland as Danny Sullivan, an outcast teen with a turbulent home life who has trouble fitting in. And he promises it’ll keep you guessing.

“I think we’re really giving audiences something incredibly unique, something that really I haven’t seen before. It’s a mystery. It’s interactive in the sense that you can figure it out for yourself,” he says. “We will give you the puzzle pieces to piece together the mystery. But you can miss it. So you can either be along for the ride or you can figure it out for yourself.”

The Crowded Room‘s ensemble cast also includes also stars Amanda Seyfried, Emmy Rossum, Sasha Lane, Will Chase and Lior Raz along with guest stars Jason Isaacs, Christopher Abbott, Thomas Sadoski and Zachary Golinger.

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Sony Pictures Television is reportedly raiding its catalog for kid-skewing versions of some of its famous properties.

On the horizon, The Hollywood Reporter notes, could be an animated update of the classic sitcom Bewitched, as well as versions of the reality competition show Shark Tank and the classic game show Wheel of Fortune.

“There’s such a vast history at Sony Pictures Television with properties that we could play around with and reinvent, introducing a whole new generation of kids to them,” said Joe D’Ambrosia, executive vice president and general manager of the company, to the trade.

Also discussed was a version of The Partridge Family centering on a Black family from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, with the musical family’s hippie bus from the original show swapped out for a traveling food truck touring New York’s five boroughs.

The Bewitched project would center on a 13-year-old Tabitha Stevens, a show D’Ambrosia describes as Hannah Montana meets Harry Potter, with the character juggling both middle school and a magical academy run by her witch grandma Endora.

The Wheel version could have “physical and comedic challenges” for kid contestants that the traditional show lacks, winning them letters and vowels for the puzzles, the executive explains.

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Robert De Niro turns 80 on August 17, and to celebrate, New York City will be hosting De Niro Con.

“It’s hard to know what to get Bob for his 80^th birthday,” admitted Jane Rosenthal, CEO of Tribeca Enterprises and co-founder of Tribeca Festival.

“He’s already got a gold watch, so we decided to celebrate him and his enduring legacy with a fun filled fan event as well as pay tribute to his unwavering dedication to his films, art, and the city he loves,” she continued.

To be held at Spring Studios in New York City from September 29 to October 1, the organizers explain, “The multi-day fan experience will feature special appearances by De Niro himself, along with recreations of iconic film sets, immersive installations, classic film screenings, musical performances, and panel conversations. It will also include special appearances from co-stars and frequent collaborators,” who will be announced later this summer.

De Niro and Rosenthal’s Tribeca Festival opened Wednesday and runs until Sunday, June 18. Right before the event’s kickoff, De Niro received a key to the city from Mayor Eric Adams.

The former New York City Police Department officer noted, “From Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to Raging Bull and Goodfellas, Robert De Niro’s work remains an iconic part of New York City, as much as he is himself,” and his contributions to cinema “will stand the test of time.”

The mayor added, “Despite his success, Robert has never forgotten his roots as a lifelong New Yorker, co-founding the Tribeca Festival and helping revitalize and re-energize our city after 9/11.”

Director Martin Scorsese was also on hand to honor his friend, calling him a “visionary,” and added, “It’s amazing he did all of this without having the keys until now.”

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As part of Variety‘s continuing “Actors on Actors” chats, Rogue One veteran and Andor lead — and massive Star Wars fan — Diego Luna flew from the Disney+ show’s London set to Los Angeles just to talk shop with a fellow fan, Star Wars prequel series actor Hayden Christensen.

Apart from their shared love for George Lucas‘ galaxy far, far away, the pair also shared the surprise of being called back in: In Luna’s case, to lead and co-produce Andor after his character, Cassian Andor, perished at the end of Rogue One, and for Christensen, returning to the Star Wars fold after 2005’s Episode III – Revenge of the Sith with 2022’s Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Luna revealed that they’d “joke” on the Rogue One set that his doomed team, which successfully stole the Death Star plans before dying, could return. “But … we had to wait for the film to come out to understand that there was room for something like this,” he says of Andor, which is set before Rogue.

Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, expresses, “Star Wars holds a very special place in my heart. I enjoyed getting to go back to being a fan again and just watching these stories like everyone else. But there was a part of me that missed it, too.”

He adds, “So when I got the call, it was a very easy decision. And the fact that it was the Obi-Wan show with Ewan McGregor, who is a good friend of mine, and that I’d get to swing a lightsaber with him again, it was a thrilling invitation.”

Luna says he felt “shock … in a good way” about “the love around this project and this universe,” praising the “connection” fans have with the material.

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Lindsay Lohan is opening up about her life as she prepares for motherhood.

In her cover story for Allure‘s June issue, the actress, who is expecting her first child with husband Bader Shammas, discussed her feelings during her pregnancy, her career aspirations, how she met her now-husband and more.

“I can’t wait to see what the feeling is and what it’s like to just be a mom,” the actress, who announced her pregnancy in March, told the outlet. She added that her life as of late has been filled with “happy tears.”

“That’s just who I am,” she said. “Though now, it’s probably baby emotion. It’s overwhelming in a good way.”

Lohan has remained tight-lipped on her relationship with Shammas and only subtly revealed the two had married when she referred to him as her husband in a social media post last year. She told Allure they shared an instant connection when they first met.

“I said, ‘You look like someone I know.’ He was like, ‘No, I don’t, who?’ … and then I said to him, ‘I feel like you’re the person I’m going to be with forever,'” she told Allure. “I’d never been able to talk to someone like this.”

Lohan hopes to venture into producing romantic comedies, she told Allure, as it’s a realm she feels she knows “so well.”

She also previously said in an interview with The New York Times that she and Jamie Lee Curtis “are both open” to returning for the Freaky Friday sequel that’s in development from Disney.

She told Allure Curtis has also given her motherhood advice.

LiLo notes, “She was like, ‘You just bring the baby with you and everything will be fine.'”

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On Thursday, Paramount+ revealed the trailer of Special Ops: Lioness, the spy series from Yellowstone franchise and Tulsa King creator Taylor Sheridan.

As previously reported, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman stars and serves as an executive producer on the series, with Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar franchise lead Zoe Saldaña and Laysla De Oliveira.

Oscar winner Morgan Freeman also stars.

Based on a real-life CIA program, the show follows De Oliveira’s Cruz Manuelos, “a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within,” according to the streaming service.

For her part, Kidman plays the program’s supervisor, Kaitlyn Meade, and Saldaña plays Joe, “the station chief of the Lioness program tasked with training, managing and leading her female undercover operatives.”

In the trailer, Joe instructs Cruz, “We locate the wives and daughters of these high value targets, and we place an operative close to them, and we kill the target.”

Kidman’s character says in voice-over about the operation, “If we play this right, it’s over before it’s begun.”

Apparently, however, things go sideways. “So we’re just going to pretend that a CIA Quick Reaction Force didn’t just execute a kill mission in front of CBS News?” Freeman asks, incredulous.

The series also centers on the political maneuvering behind the scenes, with Kidman’s character icily questioning her operatives as to what went wrong.

The series, which also stars Sam Asghari, actor and Britney Spears‘ husband, as well as Jack Ryan‘s Michael Kelly, starts streaming July 23.

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To all the boys – and girls – Kitty Song-Covey has loved before.

When Anna Cathcart found out that her To All the Boys fan-favorite character would be exploring her sexuality as part of Netflix’s spinoff XO, Kitty, she “was just so excited,” she told ABC Audio. In celebration of Pride Month, Cathcart spoke about what it was like to develop Kitty as a queer character on the new series.

“I think our show does it in a way that is really special,” Cathcart said. “We have a lot of different queer characters on our series, as well, and it shows that queer stories are not always the same and everybody’s journey is not always the same. And I hope viewers find comfort in that.”

XO, Kitty offers up multiple love interests for Kitty, including Yuri, a classmate who goes from a romantic rival to a friend she develops feelings for.

“I love that Kitty is just giving herself the space to figure it out. And she doesn’t have to have all the answers,” Cathcart said. “By the end of the season she still doesn’t, and that’s what she’s learning. It’s OK, and it’s part of the process, and what makes it so beautiful.”

One of the best parts of developing Kitty’s character in this way, Cathcart says, is now having this kind of meaningful representation out in the world.

“Seeing this kind of storyline on screen, especially two Asian girls, is really special. To see that dynamic and that specific type of representation is really not super common,” Cathcart said. “Those are the moments that are the most special, when you can tell that it actually impacted somebody in the real world, real life. And it’s always very, very touching to get to be a part of that.”  

XO, Kitty is streaming now on Netflix.

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Survival expert Bear Grylls is putting a whole new group of celebrities to the test.

National Geographic has just dropped a new trailer to a new season of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: THE CHALLENGE, in which he’ll put Oscar nominees Bradley Cooper and Benedict Cumberbatch, comic and actor Russell Brand, Oscar winner Troy Kotsur, Tony and Grammy winner Daveed Diggs, Rita Ora, Tony and Oscar winner Cynthia Erivo and Emmy Award winner Tatiana Maslany through their paces in harsh environments all over the world.

The clips show the stars rappelling off of cliffs, dunking themselves off of moving motorboats and — always a classic from former Special Forces soldier-turned-survival show host Grylls — eating gross stuff.

Stars who have survived previous run-ins with Bear include Oscar winners Natalie Portman and Brie Larson, Florence Pugh, Simu Liu, Gina Carano, and Marvel movie stars Anthony Mackie and Dave Bautista.

The new season of Running with Bear Grylls: THE CHALLENGE kicks off with Bradley Cooper surviving an ordeal in the unforgiving canyons of the Wyoming Basin on July 9 at 9 p.m. ET on the National Geographic channel.

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Hold onto your spooky hats, because Wednesday Addams is about to take a chilling turn in the upcoming season of Wednesday. Star Jenna Ortega spilled the black beans, revealing that a romance between Wednesday and her Nevermore Academy pals is just not in the cards for its second season.

During a recent Actors on Actors interview with Elle Fanning for Variety, Ortega teased the shift in tone for the second season. “We want to lean into the horror aspect of the show a little bit more because it is so lighthearted,” she explained. “I think we’re kind of ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday, which is really great.”

As a producer on the show, Ortega is making sure Wednesday’s journey delves into the depths of darkness. That means saying goodbye to season one’s love triangle between Wednesday, Tyler, and Xavier, played by Hunter Doohan and Percy Hynes White, respectively. However, she does see more of a friendship growing between the characters.

“I think there’s an opportunity there for a really sweet platonic relationship, almost sibling-like, between her and Xavier,” she shared.

Romance aside, there are still intriguing storylines to savor. Ortega gushed about working with the “incredible female leads” and her desire to bring back the talented Gwendoline Christie, who portrayed Principal Weems. “I’m doing everything in my power to throw the most insane plots that would possibly bring this woman back from the dead. I’m trying!” she exclaimed.

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