Entertainment

Paramount Pictures finally dropped the official trailer for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One on Wednesday morning, and it’s intense.

“You can’t escape your past,” warns Henry Czerny‘s Kittridge — the thorn in the side of Tom Cruise‘s superspy Ethan Hunt from the very first film. “Ethan: This mission is gonna cost you dearly.”

Series newcomer Hayley Atwell says in voiceover, “The world is changing. Truth is vanishing. War is coming,” amid footage of a submarine destroying another with a torpedo.

The trailer also gives a closer look at the heavy, played by Esai Morales. “It’s been a long time, friend,” he tells Hunt. “You have no idea the power I represent. It knows your story, and how it ends.”

Guardians of the Galaxy vet Pom Klementieff, her face decorated in harlequin makeup, apparently plays his deadly right-hand henchwoman.

Morales’ as-yet-unrevealed character threatens Hunt’s team, again played by returning players Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Rebecca Ferguson, which is obviously a mistake. “If anything happens to them, there’s no place I won’t go to kill you,” Hunt replies.

“Ethan: None of our lives can matter more than this mission,” Rhames’ Luther tells Cruise’s character. “I do not accept that,” Hunt answers flatly.

Interspersed with the dialogue and hints of the mysterious plot are intense action set-pieces: car chases, gunfights, horseback pursuits and a knife fight on top of a speeding train — and inside it — as it falls from an exploding bridge, rendering everyone inside weightless.

Of course, there’s the feat Cruise has called the most dangerous he’s ever done: His driving a speeding motorcycle off a cliff, launching the actor into the air for a skydiving stunt.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One explodes into theaters July 12.

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Martha Stewart shot back at critics of her Sports Illustrated cover who accused the 81-year-old domestic diva of having cosmetic surgery.

“Well, it’s not true. I’ve had absolutely no plastic surgery whatsoever,” Stewart tells Variety in an interview published on Tuesday. “I have very healthy, good hair. I drink green juice every day. I take my vitamins. I eat very healthfully. I have very good skin doctors. I’m very careful in the sun. I wear hats and I wear sunblock every single day.”

In response to naysayers who contend the photos, which she shared on Instagram, were heavily retouched Martha insists, “They are incredibly accurate,” adding, “I was really pleased that there was not much airbrushing.”

Asked if she would ever consider plastic surgery or fillers, she admits, “Every now and then there are certain fillers that I can do for a little line here or there, but I hate Botox. It’s a weird thing for me. I really and truly don’t do a lot.”

When asked if there’s a Martha Stewart calendar on the way, she shared, “Well, I am sending one to a friend who asked for it. So I am making one for fun.”

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On Wednesday, Paramount+ debuts The Family Stallone, a new reality show starring Sylvester, wife Jennifer and their adult daughters Scarlett, Sophia and Sistine.

ABC Audio caught up with the famous clan and asked if they had to twist Sly’s arm to get him to play the real-life family man on TV.

“At first, you were a little hesitant,” Jennifer said to the action icon.

“I was a little hesitant because it’s uncharted waters,” Sly responded. “I’m used to doing films, you go, ‘Is this a step down?’ I go, ‘No, actually, this is the future in a way.’ So let me try to do it while the girls are still here and they don’t have boyfriends, that kind of thing,” the protective dad says, miming slitting his own throat.

In the series, Sly’s famous friends also pop up, including somebody nobody would have expected to see on a reality show: Oscar winner Al Pacino.

“I totally tricked him,” Sly admitted to laughs. “First of all, I just go, ‘Hey, Al, how about we share a piece of pizza together this afternoon?’ And I didn’t expect him to go, ‘OK.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I’ll meet you at Mulberry Street Pizza.'”

Stallone continues, “He shows up. We’re sitting down, having a piece of pizza. My brother [Frank], Dolph Lundgren. It’s kind of an odd setup. 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?!’ And it was classic Pacino,” Sly laughs imitating the star, “I’m getting out of here!”

Stallone says, “It was just great. And then he loved it. Fantastic.”

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At Disney’s Upfront presentation, held at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Tuesday, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm teased their upcoming projects bound for Disney+.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed the second season of the critically acclaimed Loki, starring Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston — as well as embattled co-star Jonathan Majors — will drop on October 6.

Feige also touted that Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once star Ke Huy Quan has joined the cast for the second season, and while footage also showed Majors reprising as Kang the Conqueror, he wasn’t mentioned by name. The series was already wrapped before Majors’ arrest on domestic violence charges; the actor has denied the allegations.

On November 29, the studio will debut every episode of its Hawkeye spin-off Echo, starring deaf actress Alaqua Cox reprising as the title character, aka Maya Lopez. The show will also star Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin and Charlie Cox as Daredevil/Matt Murdock.

Feige also showed a scene between MCU veterans Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Don Cheadle (James Rhodes/War Machine) from Secret Invasion, premiering June 21 on the streaming service.

On the Star Wars side of things, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy introduced sneak peeks of the upcoming shows The Acolyte, starring Logan‘s Dafne Keen and Amandla Stenberg, and Skeleton Crew, led by Jude Law. There was also an extended look at Ahsoka featuring lead Rosario Dawson in her own spin-off from The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Hulu has given The Kardashians a 20-episode extension ahead of the show’s May 25 season 3 premiere, the streamer announced on Tuesday. The show’s initial order of 40 episodes was divided into three 10 episode “seasons,” meaning the extension would take the show through season 6. The Kardashians — starring Kris Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian Barker, Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner — ranks as the most watched debut in the platform’s history, per Hulu…

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Chiwetel Ejiofor is set to match wits with Venom. Deadline reports the actor has inked a deal to co-star in the Sony Pictures franchise’s third installment, opposite Tom Hardy, who plays the titular character and his alter-ego Eddie Brock. Ejiofor’s part has not been revealed. He’ll next be seen in Rob Peace, which he also directed…

ABC has renewed The Conners and Not Dead Yet for a sixth and second season, respectively, the network announced on Tuesday. America’s Funniest Home Videos, American Idol, The Bachelor, Bachelor in Paradise, Celebrity Jeopardy!, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and Shark Tank are also set to return, along with the recently renewed Abbott Elementary. ABC is also adding 911 to its lineup…

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The 2023 Cannes Film Festival opened with the premiere of Johnny Depp‘s first major on-screen role since his controversial defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, and he got a warm reception.

Following the screening of Depp’s French-language film Jeanne Du Barry, he received a seven-minute standing ovation, according to a clip shared on Variety‘s Twitter page, bringing him to tears.

The Cannes bow of the film, which doesn’t have a U.S. premiere date at the moment, came a year after he and Heard’s high-profile defamation trial over her 2018 op-ed accusing him of domestic abuse.

Last year, a Virginia jury found that Heard defamed Depp in the piece, awarding him $10 million in compensatory damages, and $5 million in punitive damages. The couple later settled.

Meanwhile, Eve Barlow, a journalist, activist and close friend of Heard’s, launched a new social media campaign with the hashtag #CannesYouNot calling out the Cannes Film Festival for “celebrating abusers for 76 years.”

“Cannes seem proud of their history supporting rapists and abusers,” Barlow posted on social media with the French expression, “Plus ça change,” which roughly translates to, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Barlow included a series of photos depicting accused men who have been prominent presences at Cannes over the years including Depp, Roman Polanski, Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen, Gerard Depardieu and Luc Besson. “If you support Cannes, you support predators,” Barlow’s post says.

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It’s Patricia Arquette, Private Eye.

The award winning actress plays an on-again, off-again addict in search of purpose after the death of her mother in the new Apple TV+ series High Desert, out Wednesday. That search leads her to a private investigator’s office, where her knack for figuring stuff out comes in handy. But in real life, is Arquette a good sleuth? 

“Not really,” she tells ABC Audio. “My friends are always like, ‘Come on, you couldn’t see this or that?'”

“I’m kind of actually gullible and maybe willfully gullible,” she continues. “I like to look on the bright side, and I don’t want to be some neurotic person who’s constantly putting things together. It’s like, ‘Hey, man, if you’re doing something that’s your problem.'”

High Desert is classified as a comedy, but it has some serious stuff at the center. It’s hard to really pinpoint the genre, but to Arquette that’s not so important.

“I don’t think they matter, but I do think it’s a nice time for us to all laugh a little bit,” she explains. “The world’s super heavy. We’ve all been through a lot. There’s a lot of love in this show. People are looking for connections and a safe place.”

Speaking of comedy, Bernadette Peters, who plays Arquette’s mom in the series, shares that the best advice she every got about comedy came from a legendary comedian.

“Well, as George Burns said to me, ‘Don’t try to be funny, kid, because Gracie was a great tragedian actress,'” recalled Peters. “Because I was lucky enough to do a Gracie sketch with him and comedy is serious. Comedy is just so real. That’s what makes it funny.” 

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The 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards have become the latest awards ceremony to be affected by the writers strike.

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced that the ceremony, slated for Friday, June 16, is being postponed, along with the Creative Arts & Lifestyle event planned for the following day, “pending a strike resolution.”

The message says, “We look forward to our community gathering together as one to celebrate our Golden Anniversary and all of the talented nominees and honorees at a later date.”

NATAS points out that voting hasn’t been affected: “[T]his postponement has no impact on the winners,” the message clarifies. “Simply put, the winners were already determined. The winners’ identities are and remain secure with the independent accounting firm of Lutz & Carr.”

Recently, the Peabody Awards announced it was canceling this year’s event, which was to be the first since the pandemic and the first ever in Los Angeles.

The broadcast of June’s 76th annual Tony Awards was in jeopardy as late as last Friday. The show was in the crosshairs of picketers, which meant winners and presenters might not have shown up.

However, its producers struck a deal with representatives from the Writers Guild of America Monday that will allow it to proceed on June 11.

That said, The Hollywood Reporter explains certain concessions were reportedly agreed upon that would allow the show to proceed. One of these was that the show, airing on CBS and Paramount+, would be unscripted.

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Bucket Listers, the media brand that brought pop culture fans pop-up experiences like The Golden Girls Kitchen, the 90210 hangout The Peach Pit and Saved by the Bell-inspired diner Saved by the Max, has stepped into Barbie’s world.

The brand has cooked up The Malibu Barbie Café. Starting May 17 in New York and June 7 in Chicago, fans of the iconic doll will be able to enjoy “a truly unique dining experience that celebrates Barbie and all the brand represents,” according to Mattel’s senior director of location based entertainment, Julie Freeland.

According to Bucket Listers, “The Malibu Barbie Cafe allows guests to experience the ultimate form of Barbie inspired dining.” The “fast-casual restaurant” with a food menu created by Master Chef semi-finalist Becky Brown boasts items like the Beach Burger, Pacific Paradise Rainbow Pancakes, The Golden Coast CALI-flower Bowl and the West Coast Wave Wedge Salad, in addition to signature drinks.

“The family friendly pop-up restaurant channels the groovy beachside energy of 1970s Malibu, California, inspired by Malibu Barbie, the beach-bound doll that made its debut in 1971,” the company enthuses.

There’s also exclusive merch and plenty of places to snap that perfect pic for your Insta feed ahead of the release of Barbie in theaters in July.

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A settlement has been reached for the estate of Lisa Marie Presley, who died January 12.

Priscilla Presley‘s lawyer, Ronson Shamoun, told reporters outside of court on May 16 that the “families are happy” and that “everybody is happy and unified and together and excited for the future.”

Attorneys will file the settlement and a motion to seal it by June 12.

The next court date in this case is set for August 4, at which point it is expected the court will approve of the settlement and its sealing.

This development comes months after Lisa Marie’s mom, Priscilla, disputed the “authenticity and validity” of her late daughter’s trust, known as The Promenade Trust.

In the court documents, filed January 26, Priscilla contested a “purported 2016 amendment” to the trust that removed her and Lisa Marie’s former business manager, Barry Siegel, as co-trustees and replaced them with Lisa Marie’s children, actress Riley Keough and son Benjamin Keough, after her death. Benjamin died in 2020.

The Naked Gun actress noted in the filing that she believed she and granddaughter Riley would become co-trustees upon Lisa Marie’s death.

Priscilla had earlier claimed in the court documents that there were “many issues surrounding the authenticity and validity of the purported 2016 amendment,” including it not being delivered to her during her daughter’s lifetime as required by the trust, the date of the document being added to the PDF days after it was created, Priscilla’s name being misspelled in it, Lisa Marie’s signature appearing “inconsistent with her usual and customary signature” and it being “neither witnessed nor notarized.”

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