Entertainment

Kelsey Grammer recently teased some “OG” cast members popping up in the upcoming Paramount+ revival of his 1990s sitcom Frasier, but he’s disappointed that his former Cheers co-star, Kirstie Alley, who died in December from stage 4 colon cancer, won’t be one of them.

Alley never appeared in Frasier‘s original run, but played Rebecca in Cheers, the series in which he was first introduced as Frasier Crane.

The 67-year-old actor tells Entertainment Tonight that he “would’ve loved” for Alley’s Rebecca character appear in the new Frasier.

“I was talking with the writers at one point and we’re casting one of the characters who could arguably be similar to Rebecca, and I said, ‘Boy, we need to find a girl much like Kirstie, who had a gift like Kirstie,” Grammer recalls. “She was so funny and so wonderful on Cheers. Really great gal.”

The Frasier reboot, which began filming in Los Angeles earlier this month “follows Frasier Crane…in the next chapter of his life as he returns to Boston, Mass., with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and an old dream or two to finally fulfill,” per Paramount+.

While Grammer is currently the only returning original cast member, he assures ET that “the OGs are going to be present” at some point.

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Court is back in session. Just days after Warner Bros. announced the cancellation of Judge Mathis after 24 seasons, Variety reports Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group has tapped Judge Greg Mathis to host a new first-run one-hour show for fall 2023. Mathis Court with Judge Mathis has been given a “firm go” by Allen Media Group, which is now pitching the show for broadcast, cable and distribution platforms…

HBO Max has axed South Side after three seasons, according to Deadline. The comedy, from Bashir Salahuddin, Diallo Riddle and Sultan Salahuddin debuted on Comedy Central before moving to the streamer for season 2 in November 2021. It follows two friends who just graduated from community college and are ready to take over the world, but until they do, they’re stuck working at Rent-T-Own. Season 3 debuted on the streamer in December…

CBS announced on Tuesday that it has renewed nine additional series — including NCIS, NCIS: Hawai’i, CSI: Vegas, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Tough as Nails and Lingo — for new seasons. They join other recently announced renewals, including Fire Country, Ghosts, The Neighborhood, Bob Hearts Abishola and So Help Me Todd. The Equalizer, FBI, FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted will also return as the last part of a two-season renewal given to each in 2022, along with Young Sheldon as the last part of a three-season renewal given in 2021…

The Golden Globes on Tuesday announced January 7, 2024 as the date for their 81st annual awards ceremony, which officially kicks off the entertainment industry’s awards season. Variety is also reporting that, in addition to returning to its traditional Sunday slot, the show — which aired on Tuesday this year — is “entertaining multiple offers from both TV networks and streamers,” including NBC, where the show has aired since 1996. This year’s Globes, hosted by Jerrod Carmichael, reached 6.3 million viewers…

The SAG Awards on Tuesday announced the second round of presenters for the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. They include The Banshees of Inisherin‘s Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson; Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh; The Fabelmans‘ Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle and Michelle Williams; Women Talking‘s Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy and Rooney Mara; and Babylon‘s Jovan Adepo, Diego Calva and Li Jun Li. The SAG Awards will be broadcast live on Netflix’s YouTube channel Sunday, February 26 at 8 p.m. ET from the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles…

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In just a few days, one of the most hyped and anticipated movies of the year, for some, hits theaters – Cocaine Bear!

The film was something star O’Shea Jackson Jr. was excited about — in fact he tells ABC Audio it was his fervor after seeing a tweet about the movie that got him the job.

“It said Elizabeth Banks gets the rights to Cocaine Bear. And I clicked it and I read it and I retweeted something like, you know, take my money or just praising up how crazy that movie sounded,” he recalls. “She got wind of it and made the call. And then they asked me if I wanted to be in it. And I said, ‘Absolutely.'”

“I [had] always been taught to never do a movie you wouldn’t go see. And I was going to go see this movie whether I was in it or not,” Jackson Jr. adds. 

For Alden Ehrenreich, who co-stars in the dark action comedy, it only took reading the script for him to join the project.

“I thought it was so fun and so bizarre,” he shares. “And it’s so great for like a studio movie that’s this big to be an original idea and so kind of unique and out there.”

Being enthusiastic about the project is only half the battle though. Even though Jackson Jr. actively campaigned to be in Cocaine Bear, he admits it wasn’t an easy shoot.

“I don’t really like the woods…I’m a gamer. I’m a city guy. I don’t like fake blood, and wasps and bees love fake blood. So it was a lot of avoiding them,” he explains. “Any type of wind that would blow, now you got leaves in your stubs and, like, it’s just not a good time.” 

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) In a new Rolling Stone interview, Liam Neeson spilled some tea about his career, and about one near miss in the form of a certain secret agent with a license to kill.

Neeson explains that while he wasn’t expressly “offered” the role by the James Bond-producing Broccoli family back in the day, he might have been had his deceased wife, Natasha Richardson, not forbade it.

“I know the Broccolis. They looked at a bunch of actors. Schindler’s List had come out and Barbara [Broccoli] had called me a couple of times to ask if I was interested,” Neeson explained.

“I said, ‘Yes, I would be interested.’ And then my lovely wife, God rest her soul, said to me…’…If you play James Bond, we’re not getting married.'”

He explained, “So I would tease her by going behind her back, making my fingers as though I’m holding a gun,” Neeson said, humming the Bond theme. “I loved doing that s***!” he added with a laugh.

The Taken franchise star commented, “She gave me a James Bond ultimatum. And she meant it! Come on, there’s all those gorgeous girls in various countries getting into bed and getting out of bed. I’m sure a lot of her decision-making was based on that!” he laughed.

Neeson also admitted he’s “not a fan” of superhero movies, though he “admires” the technology that brings them to the big screen. “They all seem to me to be just the same story,” the actor said.

That said, he did appear in Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy. Of that, he said they were the exception. “They had a noir feel to them. And Chris Bale and Gary Oldman? Come on! What a cast. And Michael [Caine] and Morgan [Freeman]? My God!”

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While critics were lukewarm at Marvel Studios’ 31st film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, most agreed that a highlight was Jonathan Majors‘ performance as Kang the Conqueror.

At a recent press event, Majors explained how he prepared to play the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest antagonist — which he first did as a variant of his Ant-Man character, this one known as He Who Remains, in Loki.

“You can’t antagonize somebody if you don’t know who they are,” the acclaimed actor explained. “If you don’t know, what’s the opposite of them, if you don’t know what their hopes and dreams are. My objective is to do that, antagonize in order to get what I need to fulfill my life, my dream. And so in Loki, I’m dealing with Tom. This opportunity came to me in lockdown. And so I studied Tom Hiddleston for hours a day, you know? And then when that was done, I went, ‘Okay, Paul Rudd, you’re up!’ You know?”

He continues, “You really have to be very clear about what it is you’re doing, who your character is, the spine of the character, what he’s about…what they’re going after. So you build that. And the rest of it, you just play hard…And if they…turn left, you turn it left, you know…and you’re in.”

He adds with a laugh, “You know, Kang gotta Kang.”

After-credit scenes proved we haven’t seen the last of Kang the Conqueror, who will be a part of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which is slated for a May 2, 2025, release.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had a $225 million global debut over the weekend.

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

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Succession Emmy winner Brian Cox certainly thinks Jeremy Strong, one of the scheming siblings on the HBO show, is “gifted” but says how he gets there is “f***ing annoying.”

In a feature in Town & Country, Cox was asked about comments he made last year to the New Yorker, in which he and other Succession co-stars called out Strong’s “intense” Method-like acting. Cox said at the time it’s a “particularly American disease, I think, this inability to separate yourself off while you’re doing the job.”

In the new interview, the Scottish actor was asked again about Strong’s process. “Oh, it’s f***ing annoying,” he said. “Don’t get me going on it.”

Cox continues, “He’s a very good actor. And the rest of the ensemble is all okay with this. But knowing a character and what the character does is only part of the skill set.”

The actor, who plays CEO Logan Roy, cites an example of Strong not letting his character go after a particularly intense scene. “He’s f***ing gifted. When you’ve got the gift, celebrate the gift. Go back to your trailer and have a hit of marijuana, you know?”

For the record, Strong, who plays Logan’s son Kendall Roy, is aware he ruffles feathers. He offered GQ of the Emmy-winning drama, “It is like a family in the sense that…you don’t always like the people that you love. I do always respect them.”

He added, “Everyone’s entitled to have their feelings. I also think Brian Cox, for example, he’s earned the right to say whatever the f*** he wants.”

Succession returns for season 4 Sunday, March 26, at 9 p.m. on HBO.

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Michael B. Jordan is sharing more on why Creed III is an extremely personal project for him.

The actor returns as Adonis Creed in the upcoming film, facing off against his next opponent in the ring, his former childhood friend Damian, played by Jonathan Majors.

While appearing on Good Morning America Tuesday, Jordan said he’s attached to this project because he’s grown up with Adonis.

“I think over the last nine years, it’s the first character I actually had a chance to play three times,” he explained. “So where I was personally with my life, you know in acting, you try to bring your personal life to the role as much as you can, you try to make it relatable.”

He continued, “So for me on this one, I went through some transitional moments in my life and I tried to pour that into the character, into the Creed family as much as I could.”

The actor explained, “I think as an actor you’re always a part of somebody else’s vision and you’re trying to be the best you can to the best of your ability. But when you have a vision in your head — and you can see it clearly — to get other people to see the exact same thing that you see, I think that’s really satisfying.”

He said time management was the “hardest thing” about being Creed III‘s director and star: “Being able to prep, train and prepare for the next day of shooting,” MBJ explained.

And will he direct again? “I have to,” Jordan vowed. “All the lessons that I learned on this first try, I want to get back at it and do it again. I kind of — I love it.”

Creed III arrives in theaters March 3, 2023.

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On Tuesday, 20th Century Studios released a trailer of two-time Oscar nominee Keira Knightley on the hunt for one of the most notorious serial killers in history, in the Hulu-bound film Boston Strangler.

Knightley plays Record-American newspaper reporter Loretta McLaughlin, the first journalist to connect a string of brutal murders that terrorized the titular city in the 1960s. The studio teases, “As the mysterious killer claims more and more victims, Loretta attempts to continue her investigation alongside colleague and confidante Jean Cole (Fargo Emmy nominee Carrie Coon), yet the duo finds themselves stymied by the rampant sexism of the era.”

In the trailer, she pleads with a skeptical colleague, played by Academy Award-winner Chris Cooper, “How many women have to die before this becomes a story!?”

The intrepid reporters soldier on and “bravely pursue the story at great personal risk, putting their own lives on the line in their quest to uncover the truth.”

Coon’s Cole exclaims at one point, “There’s more than one lunatic out there, and you’re gonna get us both killed!”

The thriller, produced by Oscar winner Ridley Scott, also stars Ant-Man trilogy player David Dastmalchian, Amsterdam‘s Alessandro Nivola and Joker‘s Bill Camp. It premieres on Hulu on March 17.

Meanwhile, ABC Audio also released on Tuesday its audio trailer to Truth and Lies: The Boston Strangler, a free three-part true-crime companion podcast to the film. Premiering on Wednesday, March 1, the first collaboration between ABC Audio and 20th Century Studios is hosted by award-winning journalist and author Dick Lehr. It features ABC News archive material from the case and new interviews with relatives of those involved.

20th Century Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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On Monday evening, Will Smith posted to Instagram a reaction video to a social media user’s challenge and used it to reference his infamous Oscars night outburst.

In the video, Will is shown reacting with interest to a young woman who claimed an “unhinged exercise” will “change your life.”

She explains, “Did you know you can pick any object, look at it, and ask it what it thinks of you? So, for example, you can pick up a pen ask it how it sees you, or what it thinks of you, and you will get an answer in your mind from your intuition.”

“You can ask your car what it thinks of you,” she continues. “You can even ask money what it thinks of you.”

At this, Will reaches off camera and fetches his Oscar. Looking unsure, he inhales as if he’s about to ask his King Richard Best Actor trophy what it thinks about him. The clip ends before he does.

That said, his followers had some suggestions. Andor and House of the Dragon actor Jason Canela snarked, “What are the chances it flinched when you picked it up?”

A majority of the replies were supportive of Will, and his post earned some 207,000-plus likes in just 14 hours.

Smith has apologized for his antics at the last Oscars ceremony, during which he slapped and cursed out presenter Chris Rock before claiming his trophy later in the evening. The incident got Will banned from Academy events for a decade.

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Not much is known about the life of Wuthering Heights author Emily Brontë, but the new romantic drama Emily, out now in select theaters, aims to imagine the life she might have led.

Sex Education‘s Emma Mackey stars as the titular writer, and she tells ABC Audio the film’s central romance, while unlikely, was rooted in curiosity.

“From the offset there’s a mutual fascination,” Mackey says. “There’s an unwanted fascination between the two of them.”

Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays clergyman William Weightman, the other half of the romantic duo. He says curiosity isn’t the only thing that connects the pair.

“What seems to bind them together is this element of creativity. The fact that Weightman is suppressing, to a certain extent, his creativity for what he believes is right,” Cohen said. “Here’s Emily’s creativity kind of coming out of her … I think there’s something incredibly romantic about that.”

Writer/director Frances O’Connor says it was important for Brontë to fall for someone much her opposite, that the challenge of it allowed her to remain true to herself.

“I think it’s really helpful for Emily to fall in love with what really is the patriarchy. Someone who ultimately is never going to accept who she is,” O’Connor says. “Those parts of us that are authentic and different, a lot of the time the patriarchy doesn’t accept it. So, what do you do and how do you still maintain your voice through that?”

While the film explores grief and confinement, Mackey believes it is ultimately a story about hope.

“I think it’s a very sad film. I always feel very heartbroken after … But it is a hopeful film,” Mackey says. “All of the characters show in some way that they’re trying to fight for something and they’re trying to find their voice.”

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