Entertainment

In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter, The Crowded Room star Tom Holland talked about his superhero success, and pondered hanging up his web-shooters once and for all.

The actor explained that before the writers strike, he, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and Spider-Man movie producer Amy Pascal batted around ideas for a fourth stand-alone adventure as Peter Parker, following the blockbuster success of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.

“The first few meetings were about, ‘Why would we do this again?'” Holland explains. “And I think we found the reason why. I’m really, really happy with where we’re at.”

However, the 27-year-old admits, “But I’m also a little apprehensive about it. There’s a bit of a stigma about the fourth one in all franchises. I feel like we hit a home run with our first franchise and there’s a part of me that wants to walk away with my head held high and pass the baton to the next lucky kid that gets to bring this character to life.”

Holland reiterated how close he got with his fellow Spider-Men and No Way Home co-stars Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. “Myself, Andrew, Tobey — we have this amazing bond as three people who have been through something that is so unique that we really are like brothers. We have a great group chat and we catch up … It’s called the Spider-Boys.”

What do they talk about? “Spider-Man stuff,” he says.

What he wouldn’t expound upon was his relationship with Zendaya. “Our relationship is something that we are incredibly protective of and we want to keep as sacred as possible,” he explains. “We don’t think that we owe it to anyone, it’s our thing, and it has nothing to do with our careers.”

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Netflix pretty much brought the term “bingeing” into public consciousness, so it’s almost natural it will be letting fans binge in the traditional way: at a restaurant.

The streamer just announced plans for a pop-up restaurant experience called Netflix Bites, “an elevated dining experience” from several of the platform’s well-known chefs.

In the announcement, the company asks, “Have you ever watched Chef’s Table…Is It Cake? or Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend and wished you could dive into your TV to sample the delectable dishes on screen? Now, for the first time, you can get a taste of the shows you know and love through this limited-time pop-up restaurant.”

The eatery is opening June 30 in Los Angeles and will spotlight acclaimed chefs from popular Netflix series such as chef Curtis Stone (Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend), Dominique Crenn (Chef’s Table, Iron Chef…), Rodney Scott (Chef’s Table: BBQ), Ming Tsai (Iron Chef…), Ann Kim (Chef’s Table: Pizza), Nadiya Hussain (Nadiya Bakes), Jacques Torres (Nailed It!) and Andrew Zimmern (Iron Chef…).

“These culinary legends will team up to create a special tasting menu that features flavorful bites showing off their unique specialties and giving fans and foodies alike a one-of-a-kind restaurant experience,” Netflix teases.

“To top it all off, fan-favorite mixologists from Netflix’s Drink Masters — including Frankie Solarik, Julie Reiner, LP O’Brien and Kate Gerwin — will craft custom cocktails for the drink menu,” they add.

They’re now taking reservations for this “screen to table” experience.

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In a tale that could have given us one of the most iconic rom-com pairings, Tom Hanks‘ wife, Rita Wilson, has revealed the reason behind Hanks turning down the opportunity to star opposite Meg Ryan in the beloved 1989 film, When Harry Met Sally.

During an appearance on the Tuesday, June 13 episode of the Table for Two With Bruce Bozzi podcast, Wilson spilled the beans.

“People, probably don’t know this, but Tom was offered When Harry Met Sally and he turned it down because he was going through a divorce and he was very happy to be not married,” she shared. “And so he could not understand that a person going through a divorce would have anything other than just like, ‘I’m so happy.'”

In the classic romantic comedy, both Billy Crystal‘s Harry and Meg Ryan’s Sally are devastated by their respective marriages ending.

Hanks and his first wife, Samantha Lewes, had ended their nine-year marriage in 1987, and shortly after, he tied the knot with Wilson in 1988. The couple has been happily together ever since, raising a blended family that includes their own children, Chet, 32, and Truman, 27, as well as Hanks’ children from his previous marriage, Colin, 45, and Elizabeth, 41.

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The big question is who will host Wheel of Fortune after Pat Sajak leaves the long-running game show, and Whoopi Goldberg appears interested in taking over the reins.

On the Tuesday, June 13 episode of ABC’s The View, Ken Jennings — who has been sharing Jeopardy! hosting duties with Mayim Bialik following longtime host Alex Trebek‘s death in 2020 — was asked by View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin if he had any ideas on a possible replacement.

When Jennings suggested that “Hopefully, Wheel‘s got an envelope somewhere that says ‘What to do when Pat packs it in,'” Joy Behar revealed that Whoopi wanted the job.

And, Goldberg confirmed, stating, “I want the job. I think it’d be lots of fun.”

Behar then joked that she and fellow View panelist Sara Haines “could be Vanna White,” taking “turns walking back and forth, pointing to the letters.”

Sakak, 76, tweeted on Monday, June 12, “Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all.”

Sajak has been the host of the game show since 1981. White, 66, who operates the board and reveals letters as they are guessed by contestants on the game show, has co-hosted Wheel of Fortune since 1982.

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Stephen Colbert has extended his contract as host of CBS’ The Late Show through 2026, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The extension will take Colbert into his 11th year as host of the The Late Show, which he took over from David Letterman back in 2015. It has been the most watched late night talk show for the past several seasons. Prior to the writers strike, it was averaging 2.14 million same-day viewers per week, excluding repeats, per the outlet…

Netflix has acquired the rights to writer David Gauvey Herbert’s 2021 Esquire magazine article “Daddy Ball,” which will be adapted into an eight-episode dark comedy series directed by and starring Jason Bateman, according to Deadline. The series, which will have a different title, will follow two fathers of the Long Island Inferno youth baseball team who became embroiled in an epic battle…

Hotel Transylvania and Samurai Jack director Genndy Tartakovsky on Tuesday announced the voice cast for his first R-rated animated comedy feature Fixed, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Pitch Perfect star Adam Devine will play Bull, a pooch who learns his owners are about to get him snipped. His already-fixed buddies, Rocco, Fetch and Lucky — voiced respectively by Idris Elba, Fred Armisen and Bobby Moynihan — decide to take him out for a night on the town as a last hurrah before the dreaded act takes place, per THR. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse actor Kathryn Hahn plays Bull’s neighbor and love interest, “the glamorous show dog Honey who has an appealingly raunchy side.” A release date has not been set…

Comic book artist John Romita Sr., legendary for his work on characters like Spider-Man and Wolverine, has died at age 93. His son, John Romita Jr. confirmed the news on Twitter with “a heavy heart.” The artist “passed away peacefully in his sleep,” according to his son, who followed in his dad’s artistic footsteps. Tributes sprung up immediately on social media, with Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy writer-director and now DC Films co-CEO James Gunn posting a frame of one of Romita’s depictions of Spidey. “My brother & I wrote Mr. Romita when we were young kids & sent him drawings of superheroes we were working on,” Gunn said. “He wrote us back, telling us what he liked about the drawings! A truly memorable experience in my life, making me feel like the magic of comic books, which seemed so otherworldly, wasn’t actually that far away.”…

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When Travis Braun – creator of the new series Pupstruction – was interning at ABC World News Tonight during his college days, he had no idea how far his journey with Disney would go. But, as he told ABC Audio, his love for the company has stayed consistent.

“My parents had to literally drag me outside and turn off the TV to go play because all I wanted to do was just watch Disney Channel,” Braun said. “I grew up as a Disney kid my entire life and had always loved cartoons and animation and all the Disney classics. Working at ABC World News was a kind of a stepping stone into that.”

Now he’s creating those TV shows he would stay in watching. Pupstruction, which premieres on Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney Plus on June 14, is inspired by Braun’s childhood spent working for his family’s auto racing business alongside their beloved chocolate Labradors.

“Dogs have always been really near and dear to my heart and everything that I’ve made,” Braun said. “It felt natural to me to take those two things – my love of dogs and this mechanical building experience – and put them together and make this show Pupstruction, which is about a family construction team that happens to be all dogs.”

But that’s not where the real-life inspiration stops. “Working on race cars brought my family together. We all had our specific roles on the team,” Braun said. “That made our family so close, I think, in a way that other families didn’t necessarily have.”

Braun made sure that kind of dynamic was represented on the show. “In Pupstruction, it’s building that brings this family together,” Braun said. “I hope that the show can maybe bring families together, too.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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A year after Johnny Depp was awarded a $1 million settlement from his defamation suit against Amber Heard, the actor is reportedly making good on his promise to donate the money to charity.

A source close to the 60-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean star tells People that the money will be divided among five charities, with Make-A-Film Foundation, The Painted Turtle, Red Feather, Tetiaroa Society, and Amazonia Fund Alliance receiving $200,000 each.

Last June, a Virginia jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Heard, 37, was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and no punitive damages. Virginia law states that punitive damages are capped at $350,000, so Depp received a total of $10.35 million.

Both Depp and Heard appealed the verdict but decided to drop them and reached a settlement that was announced in December.

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Patricia Heaton knows a thing or two about playing a medical professional. Her first break in Los Angeles was playing a doctor on Thirtysomething, and now she’s taking on the role of a VA doctor in Mending the Line with Brian Cox and Sinqua Walls.

Walls plays a Marine traumatized by the loss of his unit, and after returning stateside has trouble transitioning back into society, thanks to post-traumatic stress disorder. Cue Brian Cox, who plays an equally damaged vet who shows Walls the healing power of nature through fly-fishing, a sport recognized as positive and impactful therapy for military veterans with PTSD.

“There’s something very meditative about it,” Heaton tells ABC Audio “The sound of the water … visually what it looks like. It being in the quiet of nature … it takes a lot of concentration to fly fish, and patience and humility.”

June is PTSD Awareness Month, and Heaton thinks it’s the perfect time for everyone to look at their own mental health and not let personal fears get in the way of healing. “I think that people are afraid that the trauma that they’re sitting on … if they expose it, will be bottomless,” she says. “That they won’t be able to ever come back from it.”

Heaton speaks from experience, having lost her mother at a young age. But she says there’s strength in numbers when it comes to living fully again. “Sometimes it’s messy and ugly-looking and you’re sticking your head in a towel and sobbing so nobody will hear you … but that’s OK,” she says. “And you will find other people who understand what you’re going through and be beside you as you go on that journey.”

Mending the Line is in theaters now.

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On Tuesday, June 13, Apple TV+ dropped the new trailer to the second season of Foundation, its sprawling sci-fi epic based on Isaac Asimov‘s groundbreaking book series.

The show, which some have dubbed “Game of Thrones in space,” centers on an all-powerful, dynastic galactic empire and a mathematician who predicts, as all empires do, that it’s doomed to fail.

In the trailer, we see tensions mounting. “I have dreams sometimes about things that will happen,” says Lou Llobell‘s Gaal. “Despair, death, destruction. This is even bigger than the last crisis,” she says in voiceover.

Opposing the all-powerful empire is The Foundation, an institute trying to save all galactic knowledge.

Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Lee Pace returns as Brother Day, one in a familial line of emperors. “An empire breathes respect. It requires it for life,” he says. “The Foundation is a threat to us all.”

Chernobyl Emmy winner Jared Harris also returns as The Foundation’s founder, math genius Hari Seldon, who warned all empires eventually fall. “We fight for peace. Not because we will lose. But because we know that if there is war, we will win.”

With footage of battles both in the air and on the ground, a disheveled Harris tells Pace’s bloodied character at the close of the trailer, “It’s time you and I had a reckoning.”

The second season premieres Friday, July 14, on Apple TV+.

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Cormac McCarthy, the acclaimed author whose bestsellers found their way to the big screen, including All The Pretty Horses, his Pulitzer-winning post-apocalyptic novel The Road and the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men, has died. He was 89.

The author’s son John confirmed the passing in a statement, noting his father died of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In response to the news, CEO of Penguin Random House Nihar Malaviya said the author “changed the course of literature” and “demonstrated an unwavering dedication to his craft, and to exploring the infinite possibilities and power of the written word” for the past 60 years.

Malaviya added, “Millions of readers around the world embraced his characters, his mythic themes, and the intimate emotional truths he laid bare on every page, in brilliant novels that will remain both timely and timeless, for generations to come.”

The renowned author recently signed on to adapt his acclaimed Western novel, Blood Meridian, for the big screen, co-producing the film with his son for Regency Pictures.

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