Entertainment

Will Smith took the stage at the African American Film Critics Association Awards, where he and Emancipation director Antoine Fuqua accepted the organization’s Beacon Award. It marked Smith’s first in-person speech at an awards ceremony since the 2022 Oscars, where he slapped Chris Rock onstage.

“Emancipation was the individual most difficult film of my entire career. It was all outdoors, that is true,” Smith joked, drawing laughs from the crowd, according to Variety.

“It was the second day of shooting and 110 degrees…I was in a scene with one of the white actors. The actor decided to ad-lib. So we’re doing the scene. I did my line. He did his line. And then — ad-lib — he spit in the middle of my chest,” Smith recalled generating groans from the audience. “The actor felt that the ad-lib had gone well. So we do take two. I do my line. He does his line — and spits in the middle of my chest again…In the distance, I hear a voice. And Antoine says, ‘Hey, let’s do a take without the spit.’ And in that moment, I knew that God was real.”

“I want to thank [AAFCA co-founder Gil L. Robertson] and AAFCA. I want to thank all of you in this room for doing what you do, keeping our stories alive,” Smith continued. “I want to thank Apple because the budget was one thing. And then the budget was another thing. And then the budget was another thing. And Apple never flinched. It was the first time I had heard from a studio that the story was more important than how much it costs to get it done…They make iPhones. They can do it.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Paramount+’s further adventures of Kelsey Grammer‘s Frasier Crane have landed a major foil: That’s right, Lilith has entered the building.

Stage and screen star Bebe Neuwirth will reprise as Crane’s intelligent, icy ex-wife in an episode of the reboot, ABC Audio has confirmed.

The couple, who first appeared on Cheers, did reunite occasionally on NBC’s spin-off Frasier, with the pair leaving off on good terms as co-parents to their child, Freddy.

However, things are back to normal between Frasier and Lilith on the new show, Paramount+ teases. “When they reunite at Freddy’s birthday party, Lilith, in classic form, is far from pleased about having to share Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) now that Frasier is back living in Boston. What begins as a fun party with friends and family, inevitably becomes a Lilith-and-Frasier showdown for the ages!”

The new Frasier show got underway on Wednesday in Los Angeles live in front of a studio audience, with former Frasier and Cheers director and producer James Burrows calling the shots on the first two episodes.

The streaming service explains the new series 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.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Legendary actor Robert De Niro has locked in his first-ever television series with a Netflix project called Zero Day.

According to the streaming giant, the limited series is a “conspiracy thriller” that will be co-produced by the actor and executive-produced by its creators: Narcos franchise alum Eric Newman and The Maze Runner‘s Noah Oppenheim.

Netflix teases of the six-episode project, “Zero Day asks the question on everyone’s mind — how do we find truth in a world in crisis, one seemingly being torn apart by forces outside our control? And in an era rife with conspiracy theory and subterfuge, how much of those forces are products of our own doing, perhaps even of our own imagining?”

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael S. Schmidt, a co-executive producer on the project, was given a shout-out by Oppenheim, who noted he was inspired by “the stories that kept him up at night.”

Oppenheim, who incidentally was the former president of NBC News, added, “To see this ripped-from-reality thriller come to life, starring the legendary Robert De Niro, is more than we could have hoped.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Actress Jena Malone shocked fans with a heavy revelation captioning a picturesque photo she posted to Instagram Wednesday: She had been the victim of sexual assault.

Explaining the photo was taken in a field in France when she’d wrapped work on 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part Two, Malone wrote, “…I asked the driver to let me out in this field so I could cry and capture this moment.”

She continued, “Even tho this time in Paris was extremely hard for me , was going thru a bad break up and also was sexually assaulted by someone I had worked with , I was so full of gratitude for this project, the people I became close with and this amazing part I got to play. A swirling mix of emotions im only now just learning to sort thru.”

Malone expressed, “I wish it wasn’t tied to such a traumatic event,” noting, “I’ve worked very hard to heal and learn…how to make peace with the person who violated me and make peace with myself.”

One follower replied to the actress, saying, “whoever violated you got to walk away with no reprocussions.” But Malone said that isn’t true, adding, “I used restorative justice to allow healing and accountability and growth with the other person. It was a hard process but one I believe truly helped me move thru some of the hardest parts of the grief.”

The former Goliath star also said she didn’t want to name her alleged attacker. Malone added, “I also don’t fully see how the criminal justice system could fully repair my healing…”

If you are affected by abuse and needing support, or know someone who is, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). You can also chat online at thehotline.org or online.rainn.org, respectively.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jason Reitman, son of the late Ivan Reitman, who directed the original Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel, posted to his Instagram a photo that will get any franchise fan fired up.

The black-and-white snap shows the Ghostbusters: Afterlife director smiling next to co-writer Gil Kenan, who is taking the reins behind the camera for a new movie that will presumably follow the events of Jason’s hit Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

There’s a wall between the two collaborators, literally: a tiled one marked by the set construction crew as “Firehouse: Ground Floor, Main Entrance.” That would be set decoration standing in for the real-life FDNY Hook & Ladder 8 in downtown Manhattan, the firehouse most know as the Ghostbusters’ HQ.

Afterlife‘s end credits saw Ernie Hudson‘s now-mogul member of the original team entering the vintage firehouse, getting it ready for a new generation of professional paranormal investigators/eliminators.

Afterlife starred Mckenna Grace as Phoebe and Finn Wolfhard as Trevor, both grandchildren of Dr. Egon Spengler, who was played by Ghosbusters co-creator Harold Ramis before and after his 2016 death. He reappeared at the climax of Afterlife, thanks to the magic of computer effects. The original two films’ co-creator and writer Dan Aykroyd also returned, as did Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz, Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett and Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman. The sequel also starred Paul Rudd as the younger busters’ science teacher, who ends up getting a little too involved in a paranormal invasion in a small town.

Not much is known about the movie, which will be the fifth to bear the Ghostbusters name but the fourth in official canon — sorry, 2016’s all-female reboot — except that it will haunt theaters this December.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Chris Pine is clearing the air about what happened between him and Harry Styles during the infamous “spit-gate.”

Rumors sparked in September that Harry had spit on his Don’t Worry Darling co-star at the movie’s Venice Film Festival premiere. Pine’s team dismissed the reports, while Harry used the rumor as a punch line at one of his Madison Square Garden shows.

Esquire chatted with Pine about the alleged incident, to which the actor insisted, “Harry did not spit on me. Harry’s a very, very kind guy.”

While Pine agreed the viral video in question does makes it “look, indeed, like Harry spit on me,” he said what actually happened was an exchange of words.

So, what did Harry say? According to Pine: “I think he said, ‘It’s just words, isn’t it?'”

Apparently that was a running joke between the two, as the actor explained, “We’re all jet-lagged, we’re all trying to answer these questions, and sometimes when you’re doing these press things, your brain goes befuddled and you start speaking gibberish,” he explained. “So we had a joke — ‘It’s just words.'”

Shortly after the “spit-gate” rumors took off, Harry joked during his September 7 show he had “popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine.”  

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A Stranger Things play will debut late this year at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End, Netflix announced Wednesday.

Based on an original story by the Duffer Brothers, who created the streaming phenomenon, as well as former show writer Kate Trefry and English theater veteran Jack Thorne, Stranger Things: The First Shadow will be directed by Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin.

The production will take place before the famously ’80s-set show. The producers tease, “Hawkins, 1959: a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy… and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.”

Netflix adds, “Brought to life by a multi-award-winning creative team, who take theatrical storytelling and stagecraft to a whole new dimension, this gripping new adventure will take you right back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story – and may hold the key to the end.”

For their part, a “beyond excited” Matt and Ross Duffer enthused, “Collaborating with the brilliant Stephen Daldry has been nothing short of inspiring, and Kate Trefry has written a play that is at turns surprising, scary, and heartfelt. You will meet endearing new characters, as well as very familiar ones, on a journey into the past that sets the groundwork for the future of Stranger Things. We’re dying to tell you more about the story but won’t – it’s more fun to discover it for yourself.”

The added, “Can’t wait to see you nerds in London!”

Fans can preregister for tickets now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On Wednesday, Paramount+ dropped the steamy, intense teaser to its forthcoming series based on the hit 1987 film Fatal Attraction, which starred Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. 

The series stars Joshua Jackson as Douglas’ Dan Gallagher and Lizzy Caplan as Close’s bunny-boiling jilted lover, Alex Forrest. 

The pair are shown meeting on an elevator, and getting increasingly — and eventually intimately — closer as the sneak peek builds to a crescendo: When Amanda Peet, playing Jackson’s wife, Beth, “introduces” Dan to Alex in their home.

“I know him already,” Alex says to Beth, as a smile drains from Dan’s face.

The streaming service calls the eight-episode series a “deep-dive reimagining of the classic psychosexual thriller and ’80s cultural touchstone” that will “explore fatal attraction and the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control.”

The first three episodes of the show premiere April 30 on Paramount+. 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Three generations of women in a religious colony convene to chart out their futures in Sarah Polley’s Women Talking. The film is up for two Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards – picking up the coveted Best Picture nomination, as well as a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The recognition means a lot to Polley, who tells ABC Audio about one of the biggest challenges she faced in getting to this point.

“People hear the title Women Talking differently than they hear a title like 12 Angry Men,” Polley says. “For some reason, the very act of women talking sounds offensive to some people. So, I think, just getting people to watch it is the biggest challenge.”

Polley says she never expected this kind of reception for her film.

“I’m just sort of enjoying every second of this. I mean, we didn’t know if we were going to end up part of this at all,” Polley says. “It’s really such a gift, the whole experience, I mean, truly.”

And while Women Talking focuses on hardships that the colony’s women faced, Polley says the story is universal and, in the end, hopeful.

“The film is ultimately for everybody. It’s for, you know, people from every background, every gender,” Polley said. “I think it was really exciting to realize that enough people had seen it and had responded to it to end up here today.”

The 95th annual Academy Awards ceremony airs Sunday, March 12, only on ABC.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Disney+ debuted the first episode of The Mandalorian‘s third season on Wednesday.

The series concluded its second season with the surprise reappearance of Luke Skywalker, in his prime, around five years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

After rescuing Pedro Pascal‘s Din Djarin, Ming-Na‘s Fennec Shand, Gina Carano‘s Cara Dune and Katee Sackhoff‘s Bo Katan from a squad of impossibly powerful Dark Troopers on villainous Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito‘s) ship, Luke leaves with the little one who called him there through the Force: Grogu.

However, chapters 5 and 6 of the Book of Boba Fett also play directly into The Mandalorian‘s third season: Din is cast away from his beskar-wearing bretheren by Emily Swallow‘s character, The Armorer, for the sin of removing his helmet in the presence of others; he’s tasked with redeeming himself by returning to the Imperial-sacked home planet of Mandalore.

Din won’t be alone: Luke later gives Grogu the option of either completing his training as a Jedi or returning to his armored guardian, and the little one decides to go with Din.

Meanwhile, Bo Katan seeks to bring Mandalore back to its former glory, but she can’t do that without the fearsome Darksaber, a weapon Mando took from Gideon — and which she can only reclaim by besting Din in combat.

Officially, Lucasfilm says, “The journeys of the Mandalorian through the Star Wars galaxy continue. Once a lone bounty hunter, Din Djarin has reunited with Grogu. Meanwhile, the New Republic struggles to lead the galaxy away from its dark history. The Mandalorian will cross paths with old allies and make new enemies as he and Grogu continue their journey together.”

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

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.