It’s easy being green: Mike Myers wishes he could make one ‘Shrek’ film a year

It’s easy being green: Mike Myers wishes he could make one ‘Shrek’ film a year
It’s easy being green: Mike Myers wishes he could make one ‘Shrek’ film a year
ABC/Randy Holmes

In a new video interview with GQ, Mike Myers runs through some of his biggest hits, from Wayne’s World to Austin Powers, to the 2001 animated film Shrek.

While Wayne’s World had something in common with Austin Powers — in that Myers didn’t think anybody except he and his family would like either of them — Shrek especially resonated with the former Saturday Night Live actor.

“There’s an emotional center there,” Myers recalled of making the original film, which he saw as a “dramatic role.”

He adds, “You know the old joke: ‘I wouldn’t want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member.’ I have always felt that way. The concept of going from a self-loathing ogre to a self-accepting ogre was meaningful to me.”

“I love playing Shrek,” Myers continues. “If I had to do one Shrek a year I’d be thrilled.”

The original Shrek went on to be a blockbuster, winning the first Best Animated Film Oscar and spawning three massively-earning sequels.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the newest film set in the ogre’s universe, will debut in December.

Myers latest effort, the secret society comedy series The Pentaverate, is now streaming on Netflix.

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In Brief: ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ hitting HBO Max on May 30, and more

In Brief: ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ hitting HBO Max on May 30, and more
In Brief: ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ hitting HBO Max on May 30, and more

Broadway legend and five-time Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury will receive the special 2022 Tony for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin and American Theatre Wing President and CEO Heather Hitchens, announced on Monday. “Angela Lansbury’s contributions to the stage are insurmountable,” they said in a statement. “[She] has given us a lifetime of unforgettable performances, and it is a great honor to present her with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.” The 75th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Ariana DeBose, airs live coast-to-coast, on Sunday, June 12 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+. Julianne Hough and Darren Criss will host The Tony Awards: Act One, streaming live on Paramount+ at 7 p.m. ET…

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is set to debut on HBO Max on May 30, Warner Bros. announced Monday. The Secrets of Dumbledore finds Jude Law‘s titular character enlisting Magizoologist Newt Scamander — once again played by Eddie Redmayne — to lead an intrepid team of wizards to stop the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald from seizing control of the wizarding world. Mads Mikkelsen replaces Johnny Depp as Grindelwald. The cast also includes Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler and Jessica Williams. The film debuted in theaters globally on April 15, opening to $43 million at the domestic box office and a global tally of $193 million…

Station 19 alum Okieriete Onaodowan has been tapped to play the title role in AMC’s Demascus, according to Deadline. The comedic sci-fi series follows Demascus, “a 33-year-old Black man on a mission of self-discovery and the burgeoning field of digital psychiatry that might be the key to defining his truest self, per the outlet. Onaodowan will next be seen as a series regular in season three of Amazon’s Jack Ryan

Amazon has given a two-season order to The Hospital, the animated sci-fi comedy from executive producers Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne, the streaming service announced on Monday. The series follows Sleech and Klak — voiced respectively by Greta Lee and Keke Palmer — “aliens, best friends and intergalactically renowned surgeons — as they tackle anxiety-eating parasites, illegal time loops and deep-space STIs,” per Amazon. “Risking their careers to take on a remarkable case, they put existence itself in jeopardy. Although considering their dismal personal lives, oblivion might be an improvement.” The voice cast also includes Kieran Culkin and Sam Smith, along with Rudolph and Lyonne…

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‘Thor: Love And Thunder’ official trailer reveals Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher

‘Thor: Love And Thunder’ official trailer reveals Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher
‘Thor: Love And Thunder’ official trailer reveals Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher
Courtesy of Disney

Marvel dropped the first official trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder during Monday’s NBA Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN.

The clip gives us our first good look at Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster wielding Mjölnir, while confirming reports of Christian Bale playing the heavy, Gorr the Butcher.

Narrated by Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi‘s Korg, the trailer catches us up on Thor’s life since the events of Avengers: Endgame, during which he’s gone from “dad bod to god bod.” But just when he thinks he’s ready to reclaim his title as the one and only Thor, he discovers Jane — his old girlfriend who he hasn’t seen in eight years and is clearly not over — has inherited the mantle.

We also get our first look at Bale’s scary Gorr the Butcher, decked out in white robes, white makeup and yellow eyes, and who vows that “All gods shall die.”

Additionally, we see Russell Crowe‘s Zeus, who, in a bit of comic relief, strips Thor of his “disguise” — a little too thoroughly.

Thor: Love and Thunder, also starring Tessa ThompsonChris PrattKaren GillanBradley CooperVin Diesel and Dave Bautista, opens in U.S. theaters on July 8.

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

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Johnny Depp’s lawyers pounce on expert’s claims Amber Heard would have been as big as Zendaya, Jason Momoa

Johnny Depp’s lawyers pounce on expert’s claims Amber Heard would have been as big as Zendaya, Jason Momoa
Johnny Depp’s lawyers pounce on expert’s claims Amber Heard would have been as big as Zendaya, Jason Momoa
Cliff Owen/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images

The final week of testimony continued in the Johnny Depp defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Unlike much of last week’s testimony, most of the witnesses on Monday were live in the Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom.

Depp’s attorneys had a chance to cross-examine a series of expert witnesses brought to the court by Heard’s team. Among them was Dr. Richard Moore, a hand surgeon from Wilmington, North Carolina, who claimed the actor’s fingertip could not have been severed by a vodka bottle thrown by Heard, as he claimed.

On cross-examination, however, Moore admitted he never treated Depp and, in the end, he couldn’t “definitively” say what happened to the actor’s finger, except that it appeared “crushed.”

Another witness who was brought to testify by Heard’s attorneys was Kathryn Arnold, who was billed as an expert in the movie industry.

She testified that Heard could have been as big a star as Jason Momoa, Chris Pine, Wonder Woman herself Gal Gadot and Emmy winner Zendaya, but for negative social media attention Heard got as a result of her controversial Washington Post op-ed that Depp claims defamed him.

She missed her “Star is Born moment,” Arnold insisted.

On cross-examination, one of Depp’s attorneys, Wayne Dennison, managed to flummox Arnold, insisting these names were not “comparable actors” to Heard.

“She’s never been the title character in a movie, she’s never been on, what, eight TV shows [like Momoa],” Depp’s attorney said. “You are giving her the same career as Mr. Momoa,” he insisted, incredulous.

“Zendaya is so famous she goes by one name,” the attorney pressed, sarcastically.

On Wednesday, Depp‘s ex Kate Moss is expected to testify live via video. The model, who dated Depp from 1994 to 1997, previously defended Depp against abuse allegations.

Depp’s lawyers were previously seen celebrating quietly when Heard mentioned a tabloid story that claimed Depp threw the model down a flight of stairs. The moment on the stand opened up the opportunity to have Moss defend their client during this trial — and gives Depp’s lawyers the chance to question Heard’s exes, if they choose to do so.

Judge Penney Azcarate has set closing arguments for May 27.

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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ star Lewis Pullman says film has heart, humor and excitement

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ star Lewis Pullman says film has heart, humor and excitement
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ star Lewis Pullman says film has heart, humor and excitement
Karwai Tang/WireImage

After being delayed several years, Top Gun: Maverick opens around the country Friday, and the cast can’t wait for it to finally be out.

“I think that what this movie does is it puts you in the cockpit so you really feel as close as possible to what these Top Gun pilots really do,” Lewis Pullman, who plays one of the elite fighter pilots, tells ABC Audio.

“And it has heart. It has humor. It has excitement. It’s got every element that I think a massive blockbuster movie should have,” he adds.

Sharing some behind the scenes secrets, Pullman reveals that they didn’t use a green screen when flying the planes.

“We are sitting in those cockpits and we’re actually flying in the planes,” he says. “I think the Navy was real smart to not let us green pilots man these million dollar machines…we didn’t quite have enough time to get the training. And I think, you know, maybe insurance, but we’re in those cockpits and we’re pulling all those Gs.”

Speaking of training, Pullman says it was pretty intense but the most grueling part, preparing for a water rescue after ejecting out of the plane, wasn’t even in the movie.

“Blindfolded, put in like a mock cockpit of a helicopter, dunked underwater, flipped upside down. And then you have to hold your breath,” he explains. “It’s the most disorienting, discombobulating experience.”

Even though Pullman never questioned the training, which Tom Cruise designed, he admits, “… there’s moments in your mind where you’re like, ‘What would a green screen feel like?’ But then you watch the movie and you’re like, Thank the Lord, man.”

Top Gun: Maverick flies into theaters Friday, May 27.

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Amazon’s ‘Night Sky’ is sci-fi flick with a twist

Amazon’s ‘Night Sky’ is sci-fi flick with a twist
Amazon’s ‘Night Sky’ is sci-fi flick with a twist
Amazon Studios

What exactly is in that shed? The new sci-fi series Night Sky is streaming now on Amazon Prime.

Academy Award winners J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek play an aging couple with their fair share of life stories and secrets, including a portal in their backyard shed that seemingly leads to another part of the universe. Simmons tells ABC Audio there is a very human story here underneath the show’s fantastic premise.

“I didn’t even know when I started reading the script that we were going to go off into sci-fi land. I just started reading from page one in complete ignorance and I fell in love with the characters,” he recalls. “And then as our…universe in the show sort of expands it was just one pleasant, sort of jaw-dropping moment after another.”

So what drew the Spider-Man: No Way Home star to the script? Simmons says it was a couple of things.

“Sissy was already attached when they sent me the script that had me very interested right up front. And then really it was Holden Miller’s script and the insight that he has into a couple of 70-somethings and as we learn in future episodes — you know insights that he has into a lot of things,” he explains.

Night Sky also tackles some pretty big life topics, too, such as aging and our purpose in the world. Spacek told ABC Audio she’s not sure if we’re meant to get all the answers to this life’s burning mysteries.

“I don’t think so, I think this life is a bit of an experiment,” she shares. “A process. That when by the time we get to the end of it hopefully, we’ll understand. But at this point I’m still kinda in the dark!”

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Vanessa Hudgens to host 2022 ‘MTV Movie & TV Awards’

Vanessa Hudgens to host 2022 ‘MTV Movie & TV Awards’
Vanessa Hudgens to host 2022 ‘MTV Movie & TV Awards’
ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua

tick, tick…BOOM! co-star Vanessa Hudgens has been announced as the host of the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards.

The event will be held live from the Barker Hangar in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 5, at 8 p.m. and will precede MTV’s celebration of this year’s reality shows, Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED. More details on the later shows will be forthcoming, the network promises.

Spider-Man: No Way Home, which has grossed more than $1.8 billion, leads all other contenders with seven nominations for this year’s MTV Movie & TV Awards. Euphoria, which also stars No Way Home‘s Zendaya, was a close second, with six.

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Laura Dern, Sam Neill say their ‘Jurassic Park’ relationship was “inappropriate”

Laura Dern, Sam Neill say their ‘Jurassic Park’ relationship was “inappropriate”
Laura Dern, Sam Neill say their ‘Jurassic Park’ relationship was “inappropriate”
Murray Close/Getty Images

While 1993’s blockbuster Jurassic Park is universally thought of as a family-friendly film, two of its stars now say there was something “inappropriate” about it.

That is to say, Laura Dern‘s paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler and her love interest, Sam Neill‘s paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant, were quite the May-December romance.

“I am 20 years older than Laura! Which at the time was a completely appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady,” Neill tells the Sunday Times.

“And it was only now, when we returned in a moment of cultural awareness about the patriarchy, that I was, like, ‘Wow! We’re not the same age?'” added Dern.

However, the actress commented, “Well, it felt completely appropriate to fall in love with Sam Neill.”

Neill joked to the paper, “It never occurred to me until I opened a magazine and there was an article called ‘Old Geezers and Gals.’ People like Harrison Ford and Sean Connery acting with much younger people. And there I was, on the list. I thought, ‘Come on. It can’t be true.'”

In their defense, the characters were closer in age in the late Michael Crichton‘s original Jurassic Park novel.

Dern, 55, and Neill, 77, reunite with other Jurassic Park original stars Jeff Goldblum and BD Wong, as well as Jurassic World‘s Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, in June’s Jurassic World Dominion.

The Universal Pictures film opens June 10.

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Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker say I do, again, in Italy

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker say I do, again, in Italy
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker say I do, again, in Italy
Robino Salvatore/GC Images

The third set of “I dos” vowed by Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker on Sunday was to die for.

The couple, who had a Las Vegas wedding in April and then jumped the broom officially in a private ceremony in Santa Barbara, California, a few weeks later, were apparently warming up for their nuptials at a lavish ceremony and reception in Portofino, Italy, on Sunday.

Kourtney wore a Dolce & Gabbana wedding dress with an enormous train to the ceremony before changing into a short black number for the after-party — all the better to hit the dance floor. Travis, for his part, wore a traditional black tux to the ceremony, and a swishier, almost pajama-like outfit with sunglasses for the reception.

According to the Instagram Stories from Alabama, the Blink 182 drummer’s 16-year-old daughter, the couple cut the rug to hits from the Jackson 5, and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé. The happy couple also swayed to Etta James‘ “At Last.”

According to Page Six, the star-studded celebration ran into Monday morning.

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Zendaya, Andrew Garfield, Pete Davidson make ‘TIME”s 2022 “100 Most Influential People” list

Zendaya, Andrew Garfield, Pete Davidson make ‘TIME”s 2022 “100 Most Influential People” list
Zendaya, Andrew Garfield, Pete Davidson make ‘TIME”s 2022 “100 Most Influential People” list

TIME has released its list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2022, and among them are Emmy winner Zendaya, multiple Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield, Simu Liu and now-former SNL star Pete Davidson.

As always, each of this year’s class was hailed by their colleagues: Emmy winner Sandra Oh praised Shang-Chi star Liu; legendary director Martin Scorsese hailed his Silence star Garfield; rapper Jack Harlow praised Davidson; and director Denis Villenueve honored his Dune star Zendaya.

Scorsese described tick…tick…BOOM!‘s Garfield as “a remarkable artist, one of the greats of his generation.”

Villenueve lauded Zendaya as “timeless, and she can do it all,” and an “an autonomous creative force herself. A cultural icon in the making. A person driven by pure inspiration, empathy, and respect for her craft, who uses authenticity as a new superpower.”

Authenticity was also a key to Davidson’s power, Harlow explained: “Pete’s appeal to the world has everything to do with his authenticity. He doesn’t try to hide the person that he is.”

Harlow added, “We don’t have another one of him. He’s daring, thoughtful, and simply hilarious. And he’s only 28. An icon with so much more left to accomplish.”

Oh said of Liu, “It’s been amazing to see how beautifully he’s balancing representing our community and staying true to himself.” She added, “Simu has been working hard to get through closed doors, and now he wants to hold those doors open for others.”

Other honorees this year were Oscar winner and Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika WaititiThe Batman‘s Zoë Kravitz, and And Just Like That… star and executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker.

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