Entertainment

(NOTE LANGUAGE) The Time Traveler’s Wife debuts Sunday night on HBO, based on the best-selling book by Audrey Niffenegger.

The time-travel love story stars Theo James as Henry, the guy who moves through time, and Rose Leslie as his wife, Clare. James tells ABC Audio it’s all about what would change — or not change — if you could travel through time.

“Time travel is an interesting concept, not only for changing where you’re going to go, but also imagining what you could have changed in the past as well,” he explains. “…Would you change things in your life or are all the things that happen in our lives, mistakes, warts and all, did they make us the person that we are?

There are several rules to time travel within the story, and the first, says James is that “for Henry, things happened to him once. So in the larger scheme, there’s a cycle of time that’s going like that essentially, and the main Henry’s in the middle of it and these things happen to him once.”

Additionally, Henry is “brought back to moments that are significant to him and he visits people that are significant to him in life,” which James explains “is a metaphor for, you know, traumatic events in our history… and how we perhaps would visit them more than the more mundane ones.”

Another rule is that Henry “can only travel within his lifespan” — or does he? James and Leslie can’t seem to agree.

“It’s a bulls*** rule I guess,” jokes Theo.

“No, it’s not a bulls***. rule. It’s not,” Leslie interrupts. “I’m thinking of, but I’m going to be giving away a spoiler. But I have a line whereby you can only time travel within your lifespan, but only occasionally do you go beyond that.” 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

It’s curtains for the musical adaptation of Robin Williams‘ 1993 hit movie comedy, Mrs. Doubtfire.

The production that opened December 9, 2021, was plagued by COVID-1 delays, and also hurt by Broadway’s post-pandemic restrictions. It will close May 29.

“Even though New York City is getting stronger every day and ticket sales are slowly improving, theatre-going tourists and, especially for our show, family audiences have not returned as soon as we anticipated,” explains producer Kevin McCollum in Playbill. “Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to run the show without those sales, especially when capitalizing with Broadway economics on three separate occasions.”

The production recently earned a Tony nomination for lead Rob McClure, who played Williams’ role as a divorced dad who pretends to be a British nanny just to see his kids.

For his part, McClure had no regrets. He posted on Twitter, “When I was a kid… I would practice for 4 months, 7 hours a day, for a show that we knew we would get to perform 3 times. 3. Those 3 performances were heaven.”

He added, “I have 18 performance left of Mrs. Doubtfire. That’s 6 heavens. That kid demands I treat them as such. See you there.”

The producers say the musical will start a U.K. run in fall 2022, then reportedly return to the U.S. for a 2023 tour.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NOTE LANGUAGE) Following his termination as executive producer and director of ABC’s hit Wonder Years reboot, Fred Savage is reportedly doing “a lot of self-reflection.”

That’s according to a source who told Page Six he’s “committed to reflecting on any wrongdoing.”

Savage was fired from the show after what the network called an investigation into “allegations of inappropriate conduct” by the actor. The allegations were not sexual in nature, the publication confirmed.

Savage “knows he can be an a**hole at times,” the source explained, noting, “There are some unresolved issues that Fred wants to deal with.”

“Fred has really taken this issue very seriously and is doing a lot of self-reflection about how he could and should have handled different circumstances better,” the source says.

The former child star has logged serious time behind the camera in the years following the original Wonder Years, directing shows like Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the recently wrapped black-ish.

Page Six reports Savage is getting “overwhelming support” from friends and his former Wonder Years colleagues, as well as his wife, Jennifer Lynn Stone.

The new Wonder Years focuses on a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama during the 1960s and follows preteen Dean Williams, played by Elisha “EJ” Williams.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Lincoln Lawyer is driving on to a TV set near you this weekend –- the Netflix series about a lawyer who works out of the back of his various Lincoln cars is based on the wildly popular book series, which was made into a movie starring Matthew McConaughey in 2011. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo Garcia-Rulfo stars in this latest version, and he tells ABC Audio he plays it different than McConaughey, though he loves him. 

“I remember watching the film, Matthew McConaughey’s film, back in the day, when it came out and loving it, loving what he did. I mean, it’s Matthew McConaughey, he’s amazing,” the actor gushes. “I especially remember the character, because I wasn’t familiar at the time with the books… what a great character.”

Stepping into the lead character’s shoes as a Mexican actor is a dream come true for Garcia-Rulfo, who says, “That’s the great thing about America…it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can make it.”

“I think I was very thankful to be playing not the cartel,” he continues. “It’s such a cool thing to be a lead as a Mexican actor, to be playing that is really, really something.”

“When I when I got [the lead role], I’m like, wait, am I playing the lawyer? You know, like, is this the lead, are you sure?” the actor recalls. “It’s so important. It’s it was such a pleasure. And I’m really thankful for that.“

Although thankful for the role, if Garcia-Rulfo were a lawyer he wouldn’t be working out of the backseat of a moving car like his character does. 

“I get car sick very easy,” he admits. “Like I can’t read, you know? No I couldn’t do it.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

They’ve toured the world and elsewhere, but apparently David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls — better known as Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer from Spinal Tap — are playing one last show.

That’s the idea behind an apparent sequel to the beloved 1984 mockumentary, from its director, Rob Reiner.

Reiner, who played Scorsese-spoofing filmmaker Martin “Marty” DiBergi in the original, there to document “England’s loudest band,” tells Deadline he’ll be back to direct Spinal Tap II, with a March 19, 2024 release date.

“The plan is to do a sequel that comes out on the 40th anniversary of the original film and I can tell you hardly a day goes by without someone saying, why don’t you do another one?” Reiner explains.

“For so many years, we said, ‘nah.’ It wasn’t until we came up with the right idea how to do this. You don’t want to just do it, to do it. You want to honor the first one and push it a little further with the story.”

According to Reiner, the band is forced to reunite.

“They’ve played Albert Hall, played Wembley Stadium…They haven’t spent any time together recently, and that became the premise,” he explains. “The idea was that Ian Faith, who was their manager, he passed away…Ian’s widow inherited a contract that said Spinal Tap owed them one more concert.”

“She was basically going to sue them if they didn’t,’ Reiner goes on. “All these years and a lot of bad blood we’ll get into and they’re thrown back together and forced to deal with each other and play this concert.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In the months before his death from cancer in September of last year, stand-up comic Norm Macdonald recorded a final stand-up performance.

His former SNL co-star, David Spade, revealed as much in an installment of his Fly on the Wall podcast with Dana Carvey.

“We went to a memorial…and it was supposed to be more of a celebration, we never had a funeral for him,” recalled Spade, who noted Netflix cameras were documenting everything for an upcoming project.

“The audience was peppered with SNL people, writers, comedians, Conan O’Brien hosted, Bill Murray from SNL, comedians, [Adam] Sandler…,” Spade told Carvey.

Afterward, Spade and five others were “sequestered” in a private room, and watched the last stand-up set Macdonald ever performed.

“He just said, ‘You know, I keep trying to do my set,’ and he was getting weaker, which we didn’t know,” Spade of Macdonald before his death. “They keep shutting down theaters [for COVID], and they wouldn’t let him go, so then he goes, ‘I’m just gonna run it once, just kind of say it out loud.'”

Spade described the footage, shot by Macdonald’s assistant, with no audience, featured, “classic Norm stuff,” but added some of it was unpolished. “But for what he does, it was perfect. I was excited to be a witness for that,” Spade said.

“I definitely cried,” he admitted. “…You’re watching a guy…he looks a little different, a little gaunt, [but] he was better than my special,” Spade added with a laugh.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Elizabeth Olsen can currently be seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but in a profile in The New York Times, she admits she had some early “frustrations” being a contracted part of the MCU.

“This is me being the most honest,” Olsen said of her commitment to the Marvel Studios series, in which she plays Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.

“It took me away from the physical ability to do certain jobs that I thought were more aligned with the things I enjoyed as an audience member,” the actress admits. “I started to feel frustrated. I had this job security but I was losing these pieces that I felt were more part of my being.”

“And the further I got away from that, the less I became considered for it,” she said.

Olsen’s since come to love the character, which earned her an Emmy nomination for WandaVision. When asked if she’d do a standalone movie about the powerful magic user, she said, “I think I would. But it really needs to be a good story.”

Olsen also recently defended in the MCU against criticism from those who don’t consider the movies art. She told The Independent, “From an actor’s point of view…I get it; I totally understand…there’s a different kind of performance that’s happening.” But she adds, “I do think throwing Marvel under the bus takes away from the hundreds of very talented crew people. That’s where I get a little feisty about that.”

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

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

James Corden is marking his final season as the host of The Late Late Show by returning with a week’s worth of shows staged in his native London.

The four-show stint will be shot at Freemasons’ Hall in Central London, starting Monday, June 27 through Thursday, June 30. It will be the fourth time The Late Late Show will stop in the U.K., and the first time since the pandemic.

When Corden announced last month that he was stepping down from the chat show, he promised to “make the most” of his final season, and the U.K. trip is part of that: CBS hints Corden will “share highlights of his homeland with American viewers, and The Late Late Show‘s signature musical and comedy segments will get a British makeover.”

In the past, Corden’s staged “Crosswalk the Musical” and “Carpool Karaoke” across The Pond.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Francis Ford Coppola‘s cast for his big-budget, long-gestating film project Megalopolis has been revealed

The Hollywood Reporter reports that the legendary 83-year-old Godfather series filmmaker’s upcoming movie will feature Oscar nominees Adam Driver and Lawrence Fishburne, and Academy Award winners Forrest Whitaker and Jon Voight, along with Fast and Furious series and Game of Thrones alumna Nathalie Emmanuel.

Five-time Oscar winner Coppola is financing the reportedly $120 million film himself. While the exact plot is a secret, it has been described as an “epic story of political ambition, genius, and conflicting interests,” centering on the goal of creating of an ideal society.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bridgerton‘s upcoming third season will see a new face playing a familiar character. Deadline is reporting Hannah Dodd will play Francesca Bridgerton in the bodice-ripper series, taking over for Ruby Stokes.

Stokes, who played the dry-witted character for two seasons, left during production of the sophomore frame to star in a new Netflix series called Lockwood & Co., based on the Jonathan Stroud book series.

It’s possible that with the new casting, the third season could focus more on the enigmatic Bridgerton sibling, in the way the second season has turned the attention to Jonathan Bailey‘s Anthony Bridgerton and his conflict between what his heart wants and his familial duty to find a bride.

The official Bridgerton Twitter account acknowledged the casting swap from Stokes to Anatomy of a Scandal vet Dodd with a post responding to Deadline’s headline. It reads, “The only thing the Ton loves more than a scandal is a celebration. Do joyously welcome the newest member to the Bridgerton family.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.