Entertainment

David Zaslav, the CEO of Discovery, which recently purchased Warner Media for $43 billion, is apparently eager to iron out some wrinkles in the capes of its superhero properties.

Variety is reporting Zaslav is looking to overhaul DC Entertainment, which is home to superhero icons including Batman, Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, but has so far failed to leverage them into the years-long box office dominance of Disney-owned rival Marvel Studios.

Zaslav is reportedly looking for a figure like Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige, who can bring a “cohesive brand strategy” to the table, and take better advantage of Warner Bros. deep bench of heroes and villains, Variety explains.

DC properties have had successes, most recently with the reboot The Batman, and prior to that with hits like the first Wonder Woman movie, with Gal Gadot, and Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa. The 2019 Todd Phillips drama Joker was not only a blockbuster, it earned 11 Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture, and a Best Actor win for star Joaquin Phoenix. However, DC’s movie misses have rankled fans and made headlines for the wrong reasons, such as the panned sequel Wonder Woman 1984, and the well-publicized Joss Whedon Justice League reshoot debacle.

DC properties have consistently performed on the small screen, however, most recently with HBO Max’s Peacemaker, writer-director James Gunn‘s spin-off of his The Suicide Squad. There’s also DC’s long-running so-called “Arrowverse” TV shows, which include no fewer than six hit series starring Green Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Batwoman and others — success DC would love to echo with their theatrical releases.

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If you’re one of the millions of people who contributed to Bridgerton’s season one record-breaking viewership, you’ve most likely started, or even already finished, season two of the Netflix dramedy. And with the return of the hit Shondaland series, came the commencement of the show’s royal stars, including two of its leading ladies — Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury.

Her majesty Charlotte, played by Golda Rosheuvel, and matchmaker Danbury, Adjoa Andoh, both spoke to ABC Audio about the joy they experience portraying the dignified women on-screen.

“To play a powerful woman who knows how to navigate and strategize the bear pit that would be the Regency Court of this period is fabulous,” Andoh said. “She gets to be manipulative, she gets to be loving, she gets to be hostile and welcoming, and she does it all with great style and elan…”

Rosheuvel expressed a similar sentiment about her character’s regal essence, detailing a vital aspect of the Queen’s fashion: her iconic wigs and luxurious ball gowns.

“It completely transformed the way I walk, the way I hold myself,” she said of her double-corseted undergarments. “The way you walk in those things is quite phenomenal. I quite like it. It’s quite choreographed for me. I like the way it kind of switches and stuff and the way my body moves.”

The powerhouse in each of the women shines through quite clearly in Bridgerton, but they’re also well aware of the overall cast impact. “The core of the show, it is a family…And we felt that in season one, filming it and coming back in season two, it was exactly the same,” Rosheuvel said.

Lucky for fans of the “Ton,” Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury will continue their royal legacy in a new Netflix spin-off show.

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While Tom Cruise arguably certainly doesn’t look like — or perform stunts like — most 59 year olds, he didn’t actually vault over six foot tall funnyman Keegan-Michael Key.

However, you’d be forgiven if you saw him do just that, thanks to a now viral video reportedly taken backstage at January’s AFI Awards.

The footage shows reportedly 5-foot-7-inch Cruise running behind and then vaulting over the taller actor, then shaking his hand, saying, “I just wanted to jump in and wish you luck.”

Cruise then says, “Congrats on the AFI Awards, congrats on life — work on the humor a little bit,” before laughing and walking away.

A shocked Key thanks him, and talks to camera, “Just here at the AFI Awards. That happens every three minutes.”

The video was posted by DeepTomCruise, a TikTok account with 3.4 million followers that uses Deep Fake AI technology to convincingly mimic the Top Gun star doing various things.

This time, while both Key and the jump were real, the star’s face was digitally stuck on whoever it was who stuck the landing.

Oh, and while the gag was fake, the video’s 675,000 likes and counting are very real.

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The Cleveland Guardians — known since 1915 as the Cleveland Indians — are getting a major Hollywood star to throw out the first pitch of the season tonight. 

Tom Hanks, who famously played a wartime baseball team manager in 1992’s A League of Their Own, will do the honors at Cleveland’s Progressive Stadium, when the Guardians take the field in their home opener against the San Francisco Giants.

The two-time Oscar winner has professional roots in Cleveland, having once played the Great Lakes Theater Festival as an up-and-coming actor in the late seventies.

Last year, Hanks narrated a video to debut the team’s rebranding. “It has always been ‘Cleveland’ that was the best part of our name,” he intoned.

In a statement earlier this month, Hanks enthused, “I’ve had Guardians fever since 1977 when I caught my first game in Section 19 of Cleveland’s Lakefront Municipal Stadium. I’m honored to return to Cleveland and Progressive Field for the first home game of the Cleveland Guardians era.”

Hanks will be tossing to Larry Doby Jr., the son of the man who became the first Black player in the American League 75 years ago, months after Jackie Robinson first broke the color barrier in professional baseball.

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24 veteran Elisha Cuthbert plays a mom who loses her teen daughter to the mysteries of the basement of a supernatural old Irish mansion in the new thriller The Cellar.

Based on writer-director Brendan Muldowney‘s award-winning short The Ten Steps, the film hits theaters and starts streaming on the Shudder app today.

Cuthbert’s character handles marketing for social media influencer teenagers, but as the film begins, it’s apparent that she’s disconnected from her own daughter, Ellie.

“[My character lives] sort of this distracted lifestyle that we’re all so used to now, and…sort of losing sight of your children sometimes,” Elisha explains. “And so when you see my character…and her daughter at the start of the film…it’s a sort of very tumultuous relationship…which makes…losing her even more difficult.”

The film was shot in an actual creepy mansion in Roscommon, Ireland. “It ended up becoming another character in the film,” the actress notes.

“Being at the same location really felt like it had its own presence in the film. That is undeniable,” she teases.

Speaking of scary, ABC Audio wanted to know what Elisha thought about her former co-star Paul Dano, from 2004’s The Girl Next Door, and his freaking out fans and critics in The Batman.

“To see him play the Riddler, I mean, his career has just been so stellar, and yeah, he’s a brilliant actor,” Elisha says.

She adds, “And even when we were doing The Girl Next Door, I mean, he was so charming and so fun to work with. All those guys were. That movie was such a great experience…and it’s one of those sort of cult things now. But yeah, love Paul!”

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Netflix has scooped up the rights to the action comedy The Man from Toronto, starring Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson. The Sony Pictures film, which also stars Kaley Cuoco and Ellen Barkin, has Harrelson’s titular master assassin mistaken for Hart in an Airbnb mix-up. Deadline reports that the film was supposed to hit theaters on August 12, but will now debut on the streaming service later this year…

Who is Michael Davies? That’s the answer to the question, “Who will be the next executive producer of Jeopardy!?” Davies posted a message Thursday to confirm he’s taking the place of Mike Richards, whose short stint as host last year was derailed by controversial blog posts he’d made. “I am both honored and humbled by the faith the studio and the staff have put in me,” Davies said in part, and he thanked “everyone in the Jeopardy! community for your phenomenal support.” Davies is a veteran of unscripted shows, including Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live…

Oscar winner Susan Sarandon has joined the cast of the Warner Bros. DC Comics adaptation Blue Beetle. According to The Wrap, Sarandon will play Victoria Kord, a villainous new character developed for the movie; the publication noted that Sharon Stone was once in talks for the part. Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña will star as Jamie Reyes, aka the hero Blue Beetle. He’ll be the first lead Latino actor in a DC property when the film comes out in August of 2023…

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Out today, on The Roku Channel, Swimming with Sharks — starring Diane Kruger and Kiernan Shipka — is a drama about the dark side of Hollywood and how an assistant flips the script on an abusive boss. They say art often imitates real life, so just how accurate is the show’s depiction of Hollywood?

“Look, it’s like the Devil Wears Prada, you know, Meryl Streep‘s character is so terrible. But is everybody in the fashion world like that? No. So is everyone in Hollywood like Joyce Holt? No. Right? But is she the most fun to play and watch on TV? Probably,” says Kruger. “Do we really want to see a show about the nicest producer out there? I don’t think so.”

Unlike the original 1994 film, which Kruger admittedly did not watch, this new version is female-led, which is what drew her to the role.

“I think what’s unique about the show and what drew me to it is that now it’s 2022 and we’re women in these positions of power finally, right, to a certain extent anyways. And what that means for us, you know, in terms of wanting it all, wanting a family, wanting a happy home life…how to navigate our newfound power,” the actress explains.

Overall, Hollywood has made strides in the almost 30 years since the original SWS, which is something Shipka has noticed as well.

“The truth is that I’ve always been very protected and really kind of lucky in the circumstances that I’ve been in growing up and working in this town. But I think things are absolutely changing and absolutely improving,” she shares. “And I think, if anything, more things are just being talked about now and addressed.”

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John Travolta shared an Instagram tribute to his late son Jett to mark what would’ve been his 30th birthday on April 13.

“My dearest Jetty, I miss you more than words can say,” John wrote, alongside a photograph of him and Jett. “I think about you everyday. Happy Birthday. Love, your Dad.”

Jett died in January 2009 at the age of 16 after suffering a seizure at the family’s vacation home in the Bahamas. John Travolta’s attorney at the time said Jett “had seizures in the past.”

John and late wife Kelly Preston‘s second child, Ella, 22, commented on her father’s tribute, “Happy Birthday Jetty, we love you so much.” Travolta’s post was also flooded with love and support from friends and fans.

John often shares tributes to Jett and discusses his impact during interviews.

During a 2021 appearance on Hart to Heart, Kevin Hart‘s talk show, the Grease actor discussed how he has spoken about death with his youngest child, 11-year-old Benjamin.

“He said to me once, ‘Because mom passed away, I’m afraid you’re going to,'” the actor recalled about Benjamin to Hart. “I said, ‘Well, it’s a very different thing.’ And I went through the differences about my longevity and her limited life.”

He said he then told his youngest, “You know, Ben, you always love the truth, and I’m gonna tell you the truth about life. Nobody knows when they’re gonna go or when they’re gonna stay…your brother left at 16 — too young. Your mother left at 57 — that was too young. But who’s to say?”

John concluded by telling Ben, “So let’s look at life…it’s part of life, you see? You don’t know exactly. You just do your best at trying to live the longest you can.”

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Following her split from her second husband, Karl Cook, Kaley Cuoco is done walking down the aisle.

The Flight Attendant Emmy nominee and former The Big Bang Theory star tells Glamour plainly, “I will never get married again,” once her divorce to Cook is finalized.

She added, for effect, “Absolutely not. You can literally put that on the cover.”

Incidentally, the magazine didn’t, choosing instead for a stunning cover shot of the actress, with the headline “Kaley Cuoco Isn’t Holding Back.”

Kaley explains, “I would love to have a long-lasting relationship or a partnership,” but says a third marriage is out of the question.

The actress was hitched to Cook in June of 2018. She filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court in September of last year.

Kaley was previously married to tennis player Ryan Sweeting from 2013 to 2016.

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— Georgia State University will present Chris “Ludacris” Bridges with an honorary Bachelor of Science in Music Management degree on May 4. Ludacris took classes at Georgia State in the early 90s before signing with Def Jam Records.

“We are proud that Chris Bridges got his start at Georgia State,” said University President M. Brian Blake. “He has gone on to become a cultural and philanthropic icon, representing Atlanta and giving back in many ways.”

The “Stand Up” rapper will be honored for his contributions as a mentor to students of the university’s Creative Media Industries Institute.

“Georgia State helped me get my start and I am so honored and excited to share this milestone with the world,” Ludacris said. 

— Taraji P. Henson will serve as the commencement speaker for the 2022 graduating class at her alma mater, Howard University. The HBCU announced the news on Thursday, sharing the sentiment that they are excited to welcome Henson “back home.” 

“Ms. Henson exemplifies the University tenets of excellence in truth and service,” reads a university statement. “We could not be more excited to have her join us in celebrating the graduating Class of 2022.”

The award-winning actress is a 1995 graduate of what is now Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.

“Returning to Howard always feels like coming home, and I cannot wait to share this incredible moment with Howard students as they prepare to take the next step in their journeys to success,” Henson said.

— Cardi B made her return to social media this week, most likely because of her new song dropping on Friday.

As previously reported, the rapper deactivated her Twitter and Instagram accounts after an intense back-and-forth with fans, who were upset that she didn’t attend the 2022 Grammy Awards.

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