Entertainment

On Wednesday, August 2, actor Courtney B. Vance, president of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, announced the organization has raised more than $15 million in the past three weeks for its Emergency Financial Assistance Program.

Among the biggest donors were the program’s patrons, who donated $1 million or more — including George and Amal Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne Johnson, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness, and Matt Damon and wife Luciana Barroso.

In the announcement, Lovecraft Country star Vance added, “Thanks to the support of some of Hollywood’s top-earning stars, the Foundation is preparing to bring aid and hope to thousands of journeymen actors facing tremendous economic hardship.”

The work stoppages from both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes have all but shuttered production in Hollywood, leaving thousands of set workers, and working actors whose names one wouldn’t recognize, like a Damon or a Clooney, without paychecks.

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Special Ops: Lioness, the military spy thriller from Yellowstone hitmaker Taylor Sheridan, debuted with a bang.

The series starring executive producers Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman delivered nearly 6 million total viewers across Paramount+ globally when it launched with two episodes on July 23.

Lioness also became the biggest 24-hour series debut in the history of the streaming service, besting the previous record set by Halo in March 2022.

The first episode also ran on Paramount Network on the same day, adding to the viewership total. The second installment aired on Sunday, July 30, on the sister linear channel.

The total numbers on streaming and linear made Lioness cable’s #1 new scripted premiere of 2023, beating out hits like The Last of Us and The Lazarus Project, the streaming service touts.

Based on a real-life CIA program, the show follows Laysla De Oliveira‘s Cruz Manuelos, a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine recruited by Saldaña’s steely Joe to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team and help bring down an international terrorist by going undercover.

Oscar winner Morgan Freeman also stars in the show; new episodes drop Sundays on Paramount+.

In response, David C. Glasser, CEO of 101 Studios, one of the show’s producers, noted, “We are thrilled audiences have discovered the power of Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman & LayslaDe Oliveira. These three incredible actors delivered and make Lioness an action packed, dramatic, joy-ride week after week.”

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Robert Downey Jr. is taking an already worthwhile effort and doubling down.

The Marvel movie and Oppenheimer star recently launched Downey’s Dream Cars on Max, in which he re-engineers some classic vehicles in his collection to be emissions-free.

Per his Instagram Story on Wednesday, August 2, he’s now giving away six of them — Downey’s eco-retrofitted 1965 Chevrolet Corvette, a 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SE, a 1972 Chevrolet K10 Pickup, a 1972 VW Bus, a 1966 Buick Riviera, and a 1985 Chevrolet El Camino — as the prizes in a charity-sponsored sweepstakes.

The giveaway benefits the Edward Charles Foundation, a nonprofit which claims to disburse a million bucks a week to various charities dedicated to fighting poverty, saving endangered animals, providing health care and more.

Donating to the charity at various levels — from $10 bucks to $5,000 — gives one a corresponding number of entries. However, the rules state, “Your donation will not increase your chances of winning but will help the charitable work of the Edward Charles Foundation fba FootPrint Coalition,” the latter being Downey and wife Susan Downey‘s organization seeking a greener world through technology.

The rules stipulate there’s no purchase necessary to win, and entry dates for each vehicle will begin on January 24, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. ET, running through July 16, 2024.

All information on the giveaway can be found here.

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Step into the future, but hold onto High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

The Disney+ series comes to an end with its fourth season, which drops August 9. Ahead of the SAG-AFTRA strike, its cast and creator chatted with ABC Audio to commemorate the show’s run.

“I have not began to process that this is ending,” Joshua Bassett, who plays Ricky, said. “It’s so rare that a show gets a pilot, let alone gets picked up, let alone gets put out, let alone gets loved by people. And then gets multiple seasons. We’re just so fortunate.”

Sofia Wylie, who plays fan-favorite Gina, agrees.

“We’ve finished this off in such a wonderful way,” Wylie said. “Anything good ending never feels good in the moment. So, of course there’s an element of me that wants to cry and scream and kick until we get a fifth season. But also, an element of me that’s just so, so grateful.”

Showrunner Tim Federle recalls the incredible talent his show produced: “I always thought they would explode in a big way. I don’t know if I expected it to happen so fast, and I’m just so proud of them.”

One of those talents is Olivia Rodrigo. Her character, Nini, was written out of the series as Rodrigo’s real-life music career soared. “She’s left such a legacy on all of us, and such a thumbprint, handprint on our heart for the series, that she of course stays with us in a lot of meaningful ways emotionally,” Federle said.

Speaking of, Federle has an idea of what he hopes the legacy of his show will be.

“That we were inclusive and safe for people, our audience, and then for future theater kids who are looking for their own club,” Federle said.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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As he continues to recover from the medical complication he suffered in April, Oscar winner Jamie Foxx took some time out to shout out one of his sisters, Deidra Dixon, on her birthday, and credited her with saving his life.

While it’s not yet known what condition left Foxx hospitalized, the Oscar winner noted, “Happy birthday to my beautiful for sister @frequency11,” adding, “‘D’… you are magical you are beautiful you are the courageous lionesses … And without you I would not be here.”

Without elaborating, Jamie added, “… had you not made the decisions that you made I would’ve lost my life….”

He closed with, “I love you forever and ever happy birthday sis,” adding the hashtag “#swipeleft.”

On July 21, after months of speculation, Foxx broke his silence about his health situation, explaining he has been through “hell and back.”

He added, “I went through something that I thought I would never, ever go through” and that his road to recovery “had some potholes,” but he is on his way back to good health and able to work again.

Jamie’s message also shouted out his family, noting, “I cannot tell you how great it feels to have your family kick in, in such a way. They kept it airtight, didn’t let nothing out, they protected me and that’s what I hoped that everyone could have in moments like these.”

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The Vermont State Police has announced it has charged a Dorset resident in the June 12 motor vehicle accident that took the life of Everwood star Treat Williams.

According to the press release from the department, the 71-year-old was riding his motorcycle when a Honda Element driven by 35-year-old Ryan Koss turned into the star’s path, and collided with Williams’ Honda VT700c just before 5 p.m.

Investigators also detailed that Williams died at Albany Medical Center in New York of “severe trauma and blood loss as a result of the crash.”

The local prosecutor’s office requested that the Vermont State Police issue a citation to Koss “on a charge of grossly negligent operation with death,” and that happened on Tuesday evening, August 1, according to the release.

Koss turned himself in at the Shaftsbury Barracks, where he was processed on the charge and released. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 25, 2023, at the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in Bennington.

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The first trailer for the second season of Marvel Studios’ Loki, released Monday, July 31, has become the biggest online trailer debut ever for any series on Disney+ with 80 million views, according to Deadline.

The first season of the series, which focused on Tom Hiddleston‘s titular God of Mischief, remains Marvel Studios’ most watched program on the streamer.

The new season, debuting on October 6, sees Loki slipping between time periods, and trying to stop the end of the world. Also returning for season 2 are Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, Jonathan Majors, and Richard E. Grant.

Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan also joins the sophomore season’s cast.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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Apple TV+ has canceled Suspicion after one season, according to Deadline. The thriller series, a remake of Israeli drama series False Flag, followed five ordinary Brits accused of kidnapping the son of a prominent U.S. media mogul and embark on a desperate race against time to prove their innocence. Suspicion starred Katherine Newman, The Big Bang Theory‘s Kunal Nayyar, The Americans‘ Noah Emmerich, Black Mirror‘s Georgia Campbell, Scorpion‘s Elyes Gabel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Elizabeth Henstridge and Dancing on the Edge‘s Angel Coulby. Uma Thurman appeared in six of the episodes…

Netflix’s Disenchantment, the animated comedy from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has been renewed for its fifth and final season, debuting September 1. Set in the crumbling fairy tale world of Dreamland, Disenchantment features the voice of Broad City‘s Abby Jacobsen as a hard-drinking princess named Bean, The Descendants actor and screenwriter Nat Faxon as Elfo, Bean’s Elvish sidekick and Eric Andre as Bean’s “personal demon,” Luci. Netflix dropped a teaser trailer for the fifth season on Monday…

Comedian Hasan Minhaj appears to be the odds-on favorite to host Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, replacing Trevor Noah, who left the show in late 2022, sources tell Variety. However, the insiders add that a deal has not been finalized. Minaj is a former Daily Show correspondent who went on to host his own weekly Netflix program called Patriot Act…

Marc Gilpin, who played the youngest son of Roy Scheider’s Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws 2, died Saturday in Dallas after a long battle with glioblastoma. His older sister, Frasier actress Peri Gilpin, broke the news, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Marc was 56. A year after Jaws 2, he guest starred on an episode of CHiPs, and followed that up with appearances on Fantasy Island, Silver Spoons, China Beach and the ABC telefilm Surviving. Marc also appeared in the films The Legend of the Lone Ranger, Earthbound, and She’s Out of Control, before trading acting for a career as a software engineer…

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No more breeding for Breeders — the FX comedy about a messy British family just started its final season on FX, streaming next day on Hulu. Before the start of the actors strike, show co-creator and star Martin Freeman told ABC Audio that he learned from his time on The Office — which ran for just two short seasons — and from other short-lived British shows like Fawlty Towers, “Knowing when to get off stage is vital,”

“Even from an egotistical point of view, like even if you want to kind of think about your legacy or what you leave behind, I think you’re more likely to have good favor with people if they still like what you’re doing when you stop doing it,” he adds.

Freeman’s goal was to portray that “the idea of a perfect family doesn’t exist. And the idea of this sort of identikit, lovely, colorful, sunshiny family just is not true. And we know it’s not true. And we’ve always known it’s not true.”

“So let’s make people feel okay about the fact that they come from dysfunctional, weird families,” he continues.”

Freeman says the show has always been about how messy family can be, especially for the kids, explaining, “If you’re a sibling, you have not chosen any of this, right? You haven’t chosen any of it. So it’s hard, you know, but it’s worth the struggle because I think family can be the most beautiful thing in our lives.”

For Daisy Haggard, who plays Aly on the show, “it’s about showing the other side, the real side, of family life, and allowing people to identify with the slightly darker moments rather than feel ashamed. So if the show can do that for people, then I’m delighted.” 

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Zendaya is paying tribute to her Euphoria co-star Angus Cloud one day after his family confirmed he had died at the age of 25.

The actress, 26, took to Instagram on Tuesday, August 1, writing, “Words are not enough to describe the infinite beauty that is Angus (Conor).”

“I’m so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear his infectious cackle of a laugh (I’m smiling now just thinking of it),” she continued.

She added in part, “I know people use this expression often when talking about folks they love…’they could light up any room they entered’ but boy let me tell you, he was the best at it. I’d like to remember him that way. For all of the boundless light, love and joy he always managed to give us. I’ll cherish every moment.”

Zendaya stars in Euphoria as Rue, a teen struggling with drug addiction and finding her place in the world; Cloud played Fezco, a local drug dealer and Rue’s friend.

Her Euphoria co-star Sydney Sweeney also posted a tribute to Cloud Tuesday, calling it “the hardest thing ive ever had to post.” She said in part, “You will be missed more than you know, but I’m so blessed to have known you in this lifetime, and I’m sure everyone who has ever met you feels the same.”

News of Cloud’s passing came July 31 via a statement obtained by ABC News from his family, who called Angus “an incredible human.”

Cloud’s family said he’d been struggling with the recent loss of his father, stating, “The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend.”

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