Entertainment

Apple is teaming with Universal Television and Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video for a scripted TV series on the life of Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig tentatively titled The Luckiest Man, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. The drama was adapted from Jonathan Eig’s book, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, who earned the nickname the Iron Horse for his 17 seasons with the New York Yankees, during which he played in 2,130 consecutive games — a record that stood until Baltimore’s Cal Ripkin Jr. topped it in 1995. Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, the same year he retired after being diagnosed with ALS, which is also now known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”…

Paramount+ announced on Thursday that it has ordered a new Star Trek series, Starfleet Academy. Per the streamer, Starfleet Academy “will introduce us to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they will discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.” Production is set to begin in 2024…

HBO has released the official trailer for its five-episode limited series White House Plumbers, set to debut on May 1. Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux executive produce and star in the series that centers on E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy — played respectively by Harrelson and Theroux — who planned the Watergate burglary that eventually brought down Richard Nixon‘s presidency. White House Plumbers co-stars Lena Headey, Domhnall Gleeson, Judy Greer, Ike Barinholtz, Kiernan Shipka and Kathleen Turner… (Trailer contains uncensored profanity.)

Disney+ dropped a first-look trailer for Season 2 of Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., streaming Friday, March 31. The updated take on the series, the original version of which starred Neil Patrick Harris, follows Lahela “Doogie” Kamealoha, “a half-Asian, half-white 16-year-old girl with a genius-level intellect who has breezed through college and medical school and is now working as a doctor in Hawaii,” per the streamer…

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Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba is on the mend after undergoing appendectomy surgery.

“I had an emergency appendectomy last week and while it’s been quite a painful experience, I also know it’s a gift to even feel this pain. I realize after speaking with my doctor that it could have been much worse,” Inaba, 55, shared Thursday on Instagram, alongside a compilation video of her four-day hospital stay, set to Meghan Trainor‘s “Me Too.”

“Appendicitis attacks happen suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere. And when you are in that much pain, the last thing you want to do is go anywhere. And when you have [an] autoimmune disease, you are often having strange health occurrences that no one can explain or help you with so sometimes, you try to wait it out, like I did. I was wrong,” says Inaba.

She went on to say that she felt a pain in her abdomen and “sudden and violent vomiting that knocked me off my feet.”

“I should have gone when I couldn’t stand without excruciating pain… but I honestly didn’t want to leave my babies, and I’m so accustomed to pain — thought I should let it play out,” she added.

“If you have pain in your abdomen, please have it checked out because it could be something very serious,” she warned.

Inaba concluded the post by thanking the staff at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles for taking care of her, adding, “Thankfully, my appendix will not be bothering me anymore.”

Carrie Ann received well-wishes from her fans and DWTS colleagues, including fellow judge Derek Hough, who replied in the comments section.

“Get well soon,” he wrote. “I had that a few years ago. Glad you got it taken care of. Feel better.”

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The addictive 80s video game Tetris is now a movie, debuting Friday on Apple TV+. It’s not a game about playing Tetris, though, it’s the based on a true story depiction of how it went from a Russian government facility to worldwide video game domination, thanks in part to a salesman named Henk Rogers, played by Taron Egerton, and the game’s inventor Alexey Pajitnov.

Jon S. Baird directed Tetris and he shared that he had no idea this origin story existed.

“Just the fact that this was invented in the Soviet Union at this time and what this crazy sort of computer geek went through to get the rights for us,” he said. “It just kept unfolding, unfolding and becoming more sort of unbelievable as I read, you know.”

Baird added, “Even at the very beginning, like when they said, ‘Oh, did you know Tetris was invented in Moscow in the eighties’, I was like, ‘Come on.’ I said, ‘It has to be like a Japanese thing. It’s got to be.’ Which I think a lot of people probably think.”

As for how the movie stacks up against the historical events, Baird says, “The movie is 100% emotionally true, in terms of his journey and Alexey’s journey and what they went through to get this film to the world.”

“There’s obviously Hollywood all over the film in terms of car chases and various other things. But you wouldn’t believe how much of it actually happened,” he continued. “So I don’t have a percentage for you, but I can tell you what Henk said, yeah. Which I found was a lovely way to describe it.”

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The jury sided with Gwyneth Paltrow in the civil trial over a 2016 ski crash involving her and Terry Sanderson, a retired optometrist.

The jury unanimously found Sanderson 100% at fault in the ski crash after just over two and a half hours of deliberation. They awarded Paltrow $1 in damages.

“I felt that acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity,” Paltrow said in a statement. “I am pleased with the outcome and I appreciate all of the hard work of Judge Holmberg and the jury, and thank them for their thoughtfulness in handling this case.”

Paltrow’s attorney, Steve Owens, said in a statement, “We are pleased with this unanimous outcome and appreciate the judge and jury’s thoughtful handling of the case. Gwyneth has a history of advocating for what she believes in – this situation was no different and she will continue to stand up for what is right.”

The civil trial centered on a ski accident involving Paltrow and Sanderson that occurred on Feb. 26, 2016, at Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah.

The trial began on March 21 and both sides rested on March 30, handing the case over to the jury for deliberation.

Sanderson’s original complaint, filed in January 2019, accused Paltrow of having “skied out of control” into Sanderson and “knocking him down hard, knocking him out, and causing a brain injury, four broken ribs and other serious injuries.”

Paltrow filed a countersuit in February 2019 in which she claimed it was Sanderson who “plowed into her back,” delivering a “full ‘body blow'” and leaving her “shaken and upset.” Ultimately, she said she sustained “relatively minor” injuries.

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The outcome of a civil suit concerning a 2016 skiing accident involving Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow is now in the hands of a Utah jury.

As reported, Terry Sanderson, a retired optometrist, filed a lawsuit in January 2019 accusing Paltrow of crashing into him on the slopes at Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah, claiming he was left “seriously injured” as a result.

Sanderson’s original complaint claims that Paltrow “skied out of control and hit” Sanderson in the back, causing various severe injuries.

In an amended complaint filed in February 2019, Sanderson changed the value of damages he is seeking in the lawsuit from $3.1 million to $300,000.

Paltrow filed a countersuit in which she claimed it was Sanderson who crashed into her, delivering a “full ‘body blow'” when he “plowed into her back.” The award-winning actress called Sanderson’s lawsuit an “attempt to exploit her celebrity and wealth.”

Paltrow said her injuries were “relatively minor” and that she is only seeking “symbolic damages” of $1 plus costs for lawyers fees from Sanderson for defending herself against “this meritless claim.”

The trial saw both Paltrow and Sanderson, and their respective family members and medical experts, testifying about what they witnessed both before and after the accident.

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On Thursday, Netflix revealed it has snagged the full cast of the 2010 cult hit Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for an anime film set in that world.

Edgar Wright , who directed the anime and video-game inspired live action film, is bending the movie back into the animation genre that inspired it, executive producing Scott Pilgrim: The Anime.

Also back on board are Michael Cera voicing his title role of Scott Pilgrim; Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Ramona Flowers); Chris Evans (Lucas Lee); Aubrey Plaza (Julie Powers); Anna Kendrick (Stacey Pilgrim); Brie Larson (Envy Adams); Satya Bhabha (Matthew Patel); Kieran Culkin (Wallace Wells); Alison Pill (Kim Pine); Brandon Routh (Todd Ingram); Jason Schwartzman (Gideon Graves); Mae Whitman (Roxy Richter); Johnny Simmons (Young Neil); Mark Webber (Stephen Stills); and Ellen Wong (Knives Chao).

Based on the graphic novel series, the 2010 movie centered on awkward Scott’s attempts to defeat the Seven Evil Exes of his love, Ramona Flowers. And although it was a dud at the box office, in the years since it has become a fan favorite.

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A sharp-eyed photographer managed to get a few shots of the cast of Captain America: New World Order, including Liv Tyler‘s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The scene was apparently being shot at a cemetery in Georgia, one of Marvel Studios’ prime production locations, with Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson standing solemnly at a funeral.

Next to him, also in an Air Force uniform, is actress Xosha Roquemore. One photo in the collection posted by the gossip site Just Jared shows both actors suspiciously eyeing the spoiler-hungry shutterbug.

Tyler’s Betty Ross is seen in the photos as well, wearing mourning black, as is Israeli actress Shira Haas.

For fans, the rumor mill started spinning fast — after all, we don’t know whose burial they’re attending — though Betty’s reappearance hints it could have something to do with her former love interest, Bruce Banner/The Hulk.

While William Hurt, who played Betty’s father Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross onscreen passed away in 2022, it’s not him: Harrison Ford has succeeded Hurt in playing Ross in the forthcoming movie.

The fourth Captain America film, this time with Mackie as Cap, is slated to open May 3, 2024.

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John Wick hasn’t fought zombies on screen — yet — but Keanu Reeves did on the set of John Wick: Chapter 4.

The franchise’s director, Chad Stahelski, is a former stuntman — Keanu’s own Matrix stunt double, in fact — and in staffing the film’s fight scenes, he pulled an old trick out of his hat that has served him well in the franchise: He kept resurrecting dudes Wick had already “killed.”

This apparently led to a cheeky wrap gift from Reeves.

An article in the New York Times details the climactic staircase fight near the end of the latest installment and reports Keanu had T-shirts made up for the stunt team, including a personalized body count for how many times each performer had been “killed” during the film.

“Some had more than 20 deaths,” the article notes.

In the supplemental material for a previous installment in the franchise, Stahelski reveals Wick stuntmen sometimes grow out their hair and beards before a shoot, so that after they’ve been killed on camera, they can get a trim between scenes and be recycled as different dudes for Baba Yaga to dispatch.

The Times article dives deep into Wick’s arduous climb up the 222 steps outside France’s Sacré-Coeur Basilica, with fight coordinator Jeremy Marinas saying sarcastically of Stahelski, “You want 100 guys falling down the stairs and you want me to make every reaction and fall different. Of course you do.”

The director says the team was more than game: “You never saw three stunt guys smile faster when we saw those stairs.”

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Speaking on the U Up? podcast, Rebel Wilson explained that she was “dumped” by a famous, apparently closeted woman before she met her now-fiancée, Ramona Agruma.

The Pitch Perfect star, 43, explained the “dalliance” with the other woman, whom she didn’t name for privacy reasons, fizzled, but credits it for her current relationship.

“I met a woman and had, like, feelings for her, which totally came as a blindside,” Rebel recalled. Seeing as her dating life had previously been limited to “dudes,” Wilson said she was nervous.

“It was so embarrassing,” Rebel said, describing how they were “hanging out as friends” in her apartment at the time. “I said the words, ‘I don’t want to offend you, but are you interested in women?'”

She recalled, “I’ve never had a conversation like that because I was normally just dating dudes, and never had to talk about sexuality and stuff,” she admitted.

The feelings were mutual.

However, the person she was referring to wanted to keep her sexuality out of “the public eye” for the sake of her career. Rebel said eventually she “kinda got dumped.”

However, the actress credited “that whole experience with opening my heart up” to a same-sex relationship.

After the celebrity dating app Raya didn’t work out for her, a mutual friend introduced Rebel to Ramona, “thinking it might just be a friendship thing, but then it progressed.”

The experience of looking for love led Rebel to start a new dating app called Fluid, for people whose attractions don’t necessarily “tick a box.”

She noted, “If your preferences start changing,” the app changes along with you.

Rebel and Ramona’s relationship made headlines in 2022, as the actress simultaneously came out.

The Disney fan couple were engaged last month in front of Cinderella’s castle in Disneyland.

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Dancing With the Stars pros and new parents Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson are opening up about a miscarriage they had before welcoming their son, Rome, to the world in January.

In an interview with Good Morning America, the couple said that Rome is their rainbow baby after they miscarried in 2021.

“We were in Dallas for a show, and while we were practicing, we did something, and I just turned to him. I’m like, ‘Oh … I think I’m bleeding,'” Johnson recalled.

“And immediately my heart just dropped. I could see in his face just went, like, white,” Johnson said. “And I sprinted to our hotel room, and I lost the baby in our hotel room.”

At the time, Johnson had kept her pregnancy a secret, and when she miscarried, she felt isolated and alone.

“No one knew that we were pregnant,” she said. “And we were so excited.”

“I was so, so sad,” she added. “I was hurting so much.”

Johnson said losing the baby made her not want to dance for a while because she was so angry. But it also turned out to be a way for her to escape.

In July 2022, Chmerkovskiy and Johnson announced that they were expecting in an Instagram post. In her caption, Johnson called it, “Our biggest dream come true yet.”

As they navigate parenthood together, Chmerkovskiy told GMA he has never loved or appreciated his wife more.

“The rush of love, I think, definitely flooded me more in regards to my wife,” he said.

“He was my biggest support system while I was pregnant,” Johnson said about “tender and sweet” Chmerkovskiy. “Those exhausting, tired moments when you’re up at 4:00 a.m. together, and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s my teammate, and he’s willing to do this with me.'”

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