Entertainment

(SPOILERS) In what was a long time coming for fans of The Witcher star — and a no-brainer for those who peeked at the leaked after-credits for Black Adam — Warner Bros. Discovery apparently wants Henry Cavill back as Superman.

The Hollywood Reporter says a sequel to Zack Snyder‘s 2013 hit is a go, and the studio is currently shopping for a writer and a director to get Cavill back in the cape.

According to the trade, the studio has an “intense desire” for a follow-up to the film, this as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been angling for a Black Adam vs. Superman storyline while he’s been promoting his own forthcoming film.

On the studio’s “wish list” for a Man of Steel 2, according to the trade, is Christopher McQuarrie, who directed Cavill — and his infamous mustache — in Mission Impossible: Fallout. However, the trade explains McQuarrie’s responsibilities to the M:I franchise could leave him out of the running.

As previously reported, Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to capitalize on its deep bench of heroes as part of a more cohesive universe, a la the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that Johnson has offered his services to “guide” them going forward.

Incidentally, THR also noted that Marvel movie vet James Gunn, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy’s writer-director who saw success with the DC gang with his heralded HBO series Peacemaker and the reboot The Suicide Squad, has also been sitting down with WB, “angling for his own DC project (or two),” not counting the second season of Peacemaker.

As The Rock teased about Black Adam, it indeed looks like, “The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change.”

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Elizabeth Debicki plays Princess Diana in the upcoming fifth and sixth seasons of The Crown, and the latter — which is currently being filmed — takes the time-spanning Emmy-winning drama to the point of Diana’s untimely 1997 death and beyond.

In an Entertainment Weekly cover story, the Tenet actress insists show creator Peter Morgan is being careful with the heavy content. “I’ll say that Peter and the entire crew of this job do their utmost to really handle everything with such sensitivity and truth and complexity, as do [the] actors,” Debicki said. “The amount of research and care and conversations and dialogue that happen over, from a viewer’s perspective, something probably that you would never ever notice is just immense. From that very first meeting [with] Peter, I knew that I’d entered into this space where this was taken seriously [in] a deeply caring way. So that’s my experience of the show.”

Actor Dominic West, who portrays Prince Charles opposite Debicki’s Diana, says the filmmakers feel a “heavy responsibility” to do their real-life counterparts justice.

“It’s a hell of a season [season 6], because it deals with Diana’s death and appalling scenes, like having to break that news to your sons,” the actor explained to EW.

Young actor Teddy Hawley plays Charles and Di’s son Prince Harry in season 5, opposite Timothee Sambor as his older sibling Prince William.

West explains, “I’ve got two boys of that age and so it’s a heavy, heavy responsibility to get it right and something I think we all take pretty seriously.”

Season 5 of The Crown debuts November 9 on Netflix.

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Actor Daniel Craig has been bestowed a royal honor also earned by his former alter-ego, James Bond.

No, it’s not a license to kill: At a ceremony at Windsor Castle Monday, Craig was presented with The Order of St. Michael and St. George, “the same honour held by his character James Bond,” the Royal Family’s official Instagram points out.

However, in Craig’s case, it wasn’t for saving the world from a super villain; it was “in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film and theatre.”

The Royals posted a photo of Craig bowing to receive the medal from the Queen’s daughter Anne, the Princess Royal. “We’ve been expecting you…,” the post noted.

Officially, the honor “recognises service in a foreign country, or in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs, for example the work of foreign-service officers and diplomats,” according to the official website of the British Royal Family.

Craig’s now-wrapped tenure as a fictitious member of Her Majesty’s Secret Service allowed him to have some real-life interaction with the late Queen Elizabeth II. In character as Bond, he took part in a sketch with the beloved monarch as part of the opening ceremonies to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) In less than a day after banning the Late Late Show host from his eatery Balthazar, restaurateur Keith McNally says James Corden called to apologize.

In an Instagram post Monday, McNally labeled Corden “a Hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin of a man,” calling him “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.”

McNally added, “I don’t often 86 [ban] a customer, [until] today I 86’d Corden…”

The restaurant owner detailed two incidents in which Corden reportedly berated staffers at the eatery, including one instance where a strand of hair was found in his food, and he demanded free drinks for his entire stay. “This way I write any nasty reviews in yelp or anything like that,” the comic reportedly threatened.

Another incident reportedly saw Corden dining with his wife, when she became irate because “there was a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk” in her omelette. When a new dish was prepared, the side was incorrect, and McNally claimed Corden screamed at the server, “You can’t do your job! You can’t do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!” leaving the staffer “very shaken.”

After the post was picked up by several news outlets, however, McNally posted that Corden called and “apologized profusely.”

The restaurateur continued, “Having f***ed up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances.” He added, “anyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere,” concluding with, “All is Forgiven.”

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde have addressed the shocking allegations by their former nanny that, contrary to the ex-couple’s claim their split was amicable, Olivia left Jason to date pop singer Harry Styles.

“As parents, it is incredibly upsetting to learn that a former nanny of our two young children would choose to make such false and scurrilous accusations about us publicly,” they said in a statement obtained by Access Hollywood. “Her now 18 month long campaign of harassing us, as well as loved ones, close friends and colleagues, has reached its unfortunate apex. We will continue to focus on raising and protecting our children with the sincere hope that she will now choose to leave our family alone.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail published on Monday, the nanny claims the split left Jason “just out of control crying,” and saying, “he was going to get her back and he loved her.”

The nanny claims things got really bad in 2020 when Olivia made a salad for Harry in the family’s kitchen and “Jason had chased after her, videotaping her in the house. Olivia was saying, ‘I’m scared of you, Jason, I’m scared of you.’ And he said: If you’re scared of me, why are you leaving your kids with me?'”

“So then, Jason went outside and lay under her car so she wouldn’t leave,” the nanny continued. “She went back into the house and he went in, it was back and forth. He said he was doing it on purpose to make her late going to see Harry.”

Olivia denied that she had dumped Jason for Harry, telling Vanity Fair in September the accusations were “completely inaccurate,” insisting, “Our relationship was over long before I met Harry.”

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Jesse Williams will reprise his role as Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital physician Dr. Jackson Averyis one more time. He’ll be guest starring on a Grey’s Anatomy episode titled “When I Get to the Border,” set to air November 3, according to Entertainment Weekly. Williams will also direct the episode. Williams left Grey’s Anatomy as a series regular last spring after 12 seasons, though he returned for a cameo in the season 18 finale, when it was revealed his character would move to Boston to take over the family foundation…

Loving‘s Ruth Negga, Yesterday‘s Himesh Patel and Beauty and the Beast‘s Luke Evans have been tapped to star in Good Grief, the feature directorial debut from Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek co-creator Dan Levy, according to Deadline. The movie follows Marc Dreyfus, who enters into a comfortable marriage in order to distract himself from the loss of his mom. However, the loss of his husband forces Marc to face his grief, sending him and his two closest friends on a Parisian weekend of self discovery, according to the outlet. Better Things and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel‘s Celia Imrie, BPM Beats Per Minute and Spring Blossom‘s Arnaud Valois, Game of Thrones‘ David Bradley and Jamael Westman also star…

Fox has given an early second season renewal to its upcoming animated comedy Grimsburg, according to Variety. The series features Jon Hamm as the voice of down-on-his-luck detective Marvin Flute, who “must return to Grimsburg, a town where everyone has a secret or three, and redeem himself in the eyes of his fellow detectives, his ferocious ex-wife and his lovably unstable son.” Grimsburg doesn’t currently have a premiere date, but is expected to launch in 2023…

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Selma Blair is stepping down from Dancing with the Stars.

During Monday night’s show, the Cruel Intentions actress said she “has to pull back” after getting results from several MRIs.

“I had these MRIs and the results came back and it all adds up to — I can’t, I can’t go on with the competition,” Blair told her dance partner, Sasha Farber, in a taped clip during rehearsals.

“My body is definitely taking a hit,” she added. “It’s way too much for the safety of my bones…so I could do extensive damage.”

Since 2018, Blair has battled multiple sclerosis, a chronic disorder in which cells from the immune system attack the central nervous system. In a 2021 documentary, “Introducing, Selma Blair,” she spoke about her battle with the disease and how it has changed her life.

In her final performance Monday night, Blair danced to “What the World Needs Now Is Love.”

“To see the audience react to each and every one of us and our efforts, it’s so heartening and I wish I could stay and learn,” she said after her last performance. “I’m so proud of everyone and this audience for seeing us.”

“I came into this competition late,” she added. “I definitely was so excited to be active and learn…but it’s tough on your body. I know as a mom and someone who wants to represent people, some people who are taking chances, sometimes there are consequences. Mine is fine, I’m gonna be OK, there are little tears, but I don’t want it to be something serious.”

“This competition showed me how much I love to be around people,” she said before taking the dance floor a final time, with her son, Arthur, next to her. “How much I love to want to do something again.”

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On Monday, HBO Max released a teaser to its upcoming holiday film A Christmas Story Christmas.

The snippet opens with a nostalgic trip through the home seen in the beloved 1983 film, as audio clips — such as “‘Fra-gee-lay.’ That must be Italian” and others — play.

“On November 17, the wait is finally over,” a title card reads. “Ralphie Returns” follows next, complete with a now all-grown-up Peter Billingsley smiling and putting on his character’s glasses, as his younger self says, “Oh … Fudgeee.”

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What was recently a rumor has apparently come to pass: Harrison Ford is going from a galaxy far, far away, to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While Marvel is characteristically tight-lipped, Variety reports Ford will replace the late William Hurt as General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross in the next Captain America film, the first with Anthony Mackie in the title role.

It had been previously reported that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige had approached Ford at the D23 expo about succeeding Hurt in Thunderbolts, a Disney+ series centering on Ross’ team of Marvel baddies recruited for impossible missions.

In fact, The Ankler’s Jeff Sneider, who broke that news, says Ford will be seen in both the big screen and small screen projects, though Variety claims that’s not the case.

However, the interconnected nature of the MCU could certainly make that plausible.

Julius Onah, the Nigerian-born director of 2018’s hit The Cloverfield Paradox, will be directing the fourth Captain America movie, which is being written by Malcolm Spellman, who created, co-wrote, and produced the hit Disney+ show The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Another vet from the show’s writers room, Dalan Musson, is co-writing the screenplay.

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

(A previous version of this story published on 10/17 erroneously listed Ford as signing onto “Thunderbolts.” The text above has been updated to correct the error.)

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As reported in April, shooting on an Aziz Ansari-directed movie was suspended for an investigation into Bill Murray‘s inappropriate behavior.

Chatting with Variety at the Academy Museum Gala in LA on Saturday, a “devastated” Keke Palmer said she hopes the adaptation of Atul Gawande‘s book Being Mortal can be saved.

Palmer said diplomatically, “Obviously, we got cut short at a certain point, but I will say that I am pretty devastated. It’s an amazing film. If there is some way to be able to complete, salvage it, I would want to do it.”

She cautioned it would take a “major rewrite” presumably to excise Murray from the film, adding, “If somebody could figure it out, it would be Aziz.”

It was recently reported that Murray reached a six-figure settlement for allegedly straddling a female crew member on set; in May, Murray told CNBC, “I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way.”

In other Bill behaving badly news, Family Guy star Seth Green explained he had a run-in with Murray behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live when Green was just 9.

Green told YouTube show Good Mythical Morning that Murray took issue with him sitting on a couch backstage and insisted he move.

“He picked me up by my ankles, held me upside down,” Green recalled. “He dangled me over a trash can and he was like, ‘The trash goes in the trash can.’ And I was screaming…he dropped me in the trash can, the trash can falls over. I was horrified. I ran away, hid under the table in my dressing room and just cried.”

Green explained cast members Eddie Murphy and Tim Kazurinsky later consoled him in his dressing room, and he took part in a sketch as planned.

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